Jinx On A Rampage (Open)

Jinx closed her front door, not looking back as she pushed it close with a foot. She threw her groceries on the floor, flicking on the TV as she unloaded them. It didn’t take long – it was just the essentials. Milk. Bread. The usual.

So she found she was actually able to focus on the TV, for one of those few wonderful moments. And she was remotely intrigued. It seemed that the Titans were getting some sort of recognition, and she raised an eyebrow as she recognized the girl from the mall that one time, Julie. But she was speaking now, so that was certainly different.

It was strange, seeing all the new faces. Some she recognized from elsewhere – Static had been around a while, Ben 10 she’d heard of. That Honest guy had been in the newspaper, so on and so forth. But she nearly did a double take when her old foes – alien girl, angsty Empath who’s father nearly destroyed the whole city, green guy and…Cyborg. They were all here too?

It was strange. She couldn’t see much of a change to any of them. But then there was a shot of the Justice League, and Jinx paled, seeing Flash. She quickly flicked the TV off, knowing that if the Flash was there, then Kid Flash wasn’t far. And she knew if she saw Kid on TV, she’d never be able to let it go, knowing he was back here and hadn’t contacted her. Better not to know that.

What annoyed her more was he nearly converted her to good, and then left. Now, she didn’t know where she stood. Sometimes, she was good. Other times, she went on a bad-guy streak and cost the city a bunch in damages. She didn’t ever know what to do, any more, and it was killing her.

She hesitated, before standing up and heading to her bedroom, rooting around in a drawer before finally grasping the HIVE communicator. It was old, and beat up, but it still worked. And she weighed it in her hand, tempted to start it up. Call someone. Anyone.

Then she hesitated again. No. See-More. He was always one for advice. And she needed it now, because she was having that impulse to destroy something, again. Last she’d heard, he made his way out of some high-tech prison. Maybe he’d respond.

Pressing the button labeled ‘See-More’, she waited for the static to clear.

“See-More?” She asked, haltingly. “See-More, it’s Jinx. Please answer.”

She waited five minutes before deciding he wasn’t going to send a message back. But then he did.

“Yeah, Jinx. I’m here,” he sighed, sounding tired. “I thought you were done associating with criminals.”

“Yeah, so did I. I just…Don’t know any more.”

“And why are you telling me? In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been years.”

She paused, before sighing.

“I don’t know. Maybe I was hoping you suggest we find Gizmo and Mammoth, and cause some trouble.”

He hesitated.

“No, I’m done with the HIVE Five. Well, six, Jinx. Sorry.”

And that was it. So short and abrupt. See-More had changed and Jinx had wasted her time.

Flinging the communicator back on her bed, she picked up her keys and left the apartment, locking the door vehemently. She was going to cause some trouble, with a team or without, and that was that.

She strode through the apartment building, making her way out of the building in record Jinx timing. People didn’t mess with her. Not at all. No one quite realized she lived in an apartment not far from here, but either way, she was making fast progress to the section of Jump City which housed most restaurants and bars. She then stopped – She hadn’t been noticed quite yet here, in the dimming light and busy place.

She did this far too often. One day, the new Titans would kick her ass and that would be it. But now, as her hands began to glow a very faded pink, she wondered if she even wanted to destroy some buildings and ruin people’s lives now. Now she thought about it, she wasn’t sure if she even wanted the attention any more.

A noise from next to her made her jump, and for a moment those ‘bad-guy’ thoughts faded away. She snapped her head sideways, focusing on the intrusion.

(Give jinx someone other than ethan to deal with. Speaking of deal with. *slaps on sunglasses* deal with it.)

It was then Jinx stood on in wide eyed horror, at a scene which even she in her worst HIVE days had never even imagined. Maybe she truly wasn’t evil, as she watched the man figuratively disappear. And Jinx just watched – It happened too quickly for her to even register what had happened, until it had happened. She just stared blankly, open mouthed.

And that girl, or whatever the hell she was, because she almost certainly wasn’t human. Maybe genetically altered or an alien or whatever, because they all existed around here. Anyway, the thing didn’t even seem to care. She took sociopathic tendencies to a new level. One which Jinx wasn’t sure should have even existed. That was not normal. Not normal at all.

And now, most people had noticed – And then she realized those who had noticed had equally noticed her. And they were looking at her like she should do something. Do what? Get her ass handed to her? She didn’t have the best track record.

Then she realized she was Jinx, and while she might not have been a teen Titan, she was still powerful enough.

Her cat eyes wide, she took a step backwards, extending her fingers shakily towards the thing and sending a weak hex towards her. Then she realized that just wouldn’t cut it, and her eyes snapped back into a narrowed position, her stance more confident and she sent three more hexes at the thing, before backflipping out of the way and scraping a strange of pink hair from her face, like she did this every day.

And she realized that she was enjoying herself, being the good guy, as a lamp post fell over as one of her hexes bounced off it.

Well, a somewhat good guy.

(Sure thing. This should be interesting. *puts sunglasses on*. The duel is on.)

Down the street from where Jinx and Mansluaghter were duking it out, the roar of an engine could be heard, approaching the two at a rapid rate. As it came closer, a motorcycle came into view, going even faster. The bike went at high speeds, and as the lamp post was about to hit Jinx, the rider jumped off the bike and tackled her out of the way. He got up, and quickly took off the helmet he was wearing, revealing a teenage boy with white hair, sporting a red-orange streak.

"Looks like you needed some help.." he said, and happened to notice Manslaughter was the one swinging the lamp post. "Uh.."

OOC: Hope you don't mind me jumping in.

And the day had started off so well too...

Across the street from where the brawl between Jinx and Manslaughter was taking place, a raven haired male in his late teens/early twenties that was wearing a somewhat strange casual suit was leaning against a wall, watching the fight that was about to take place with a great deal of interest through tainted sunglasses. Despite the fact that his suit was one half purple and half orange no one seemed to notice him at all, the fight either taking up their attention and causing the 'normal people' to flee in terror as quickly as possible.

To be honest, Senshuken was in Jump City to settle a matter that had caught the attention of his network. A number of young children had simply been vanishing into thin air. This had caught his attention, since there was no evidence of just where they had been taken or even how they had vanished. When the child of one of his agents started having nightmares about a freakishly tall and thin humanoid in a black suit who's arms and legs seemed to stretch out forever, they had been dismissed as nightmares... until the child vanished like the rest of them.

While he knew a little about what he was up against, Senshuken knew that he would need the help of some of the locals. The lack of information he had on the Slender Man was rather worrying, causing him to seek out support before he attempted his search for the supernatural being. Thus bringing him here.

While he considered joining the battle on the side of the lovely Jinx, the demon lord found a major problem with that plan. He was almost completely useless in battles like this. He won most of his battles through indirect means. While on this plain his powers were limited since he needed to take on a human form, he could fight just as well as a normal human being. This also meant he would just get in the way if he got involved. For now, he would sit back and wait for his chance.

Jinx was doing alright – besides the fact she’d provided the thing with a potentially deadly weapon, of which was being swung straight at her. She couldn’t just gracefully pirouette out of this one, and she figured if she jumped it she’d just end up in some long, drawn out game of jump rope. With a thing and a lamp post. Oh, and potential death for the loser.

Quite quickly, as she was preparing to use the lamp post as some sort of distraction (she wasn’t quite sure how. She hadn’t really thought it through), she’d been quickly floored and felt herself make contact with the pavement, the whoosh as the lamp post swooped dangerously closely over her head making her realise exactly how powerful a lamp post was as a weapon.

Realising that someone must have tackled her (as she hadn’t chosen the ground by choice), she quickly jumped to her feet, slicing the air with multiple hexes now as she tried to get closer, briefly taking note of the guy next to her. Thank God, help of some sort. She hoped.

“Yeah, help would be nice,” she called in response, ducking the lamp post again before it came around, again, and she used it like a sort of springboard, propelling herself off it with one hand and flying throwing another hex. Jinx was too afraid to try any hand to hand combat – With what she’d seen earlier, she was afraid to even touch the thing, lest she become a weird mummy thing too. And a crowd had quickly gathered – what were they, stupid or something?

“Um, how about you guys leave?” She called to them, worried more that they’d be used by Manslaughter for some sort of leverage.

“By the way,” Jinx called behind her, remembering the guy helping her, wincing as she flipped over the lamp post, grazing her back on the metal, “I don’t think she’s normal. She just did that,” she stated, ducking as she gestured to the shriveled husk of a man, “In like, ten seconds.”

Then she sighed as the lamp post was swung at her, again.

“Oh come ON,” she called, ducking, "Is that all you've got?"

Of course, she shouldn't have tempted fate - the lamp post was starting to worry her now - but maybe that was still the bit of villain left in her. Bring it on.

OOC: Alpha? It's Lightshow. Sorry, should've clarified.

Lightshow realized he was totally out of league compared to Jinx and Manslaughter. But, that didn't mean he couldn't help in some way. Noticing the crowd around the fighting metahumans, or whatever they were, and decide to take action. His hands began to spark, and he shot some fireworks in front of the crowd. Of course, they ran away, screaming. "Sorry..!" Lightshow quickly apologized, and turned back to the fight, forming his plasmic hammer in his hands.

As the crowd fled in terror, Senshuken sighed a little as he started to shake his head from side to side.

He honestly didn't have time to bare witness to such a brawl. Besides, the longer this went on the more likely one of those gathered would suffer a sidelining injuring. That couldn't be allowed to happen. All he could hope for was that his current vessel body was killed in the process. While it was only temporary, being forcefully banished from the mortal world was always such a hassle.

Taking a few steps away from the wall and waiting for a small lull in combat to open up, he quickly put his lips together and let out a long, sharp attention seeking whistle. "Sorry to interrupt, but would you two lovely ladies mind putting this aside for a while? There is a parasite of humanity that I need your assistance in dealing with."

Taking advantage of what he was hoping would be the following silence, Senshuken smiled as he looked at and admired Jinx. "It is a pleasure to see you in person again Ms Jinx. A shame it couldn't be under better circumstances, but after this mess is over I would love to get a drink with you somewhere."

Turning towards the self named 'Manslaughter', an understanding look of sympathy crossed the demon in human forms face. "It's been a long time Symbi. You have my condolences about how your relationship with Spider Girl ended. Break ups are never easy. However, I'm glad to see that you have found someone who loves you for you. You're looking great." It was a risk bringing up the nickname that he called the black substance like alien. There was a chance that it would get really mad at him for bringing up the past, but it was the kind of thing you wouldn't know for sure until you said something.

Honestly, he paid the male little heed. While getting him on board would be useful it wasn't as vital as the two women.

Lightshow's hammer dissipated, as he heard a man's voice. Looking around, he noticed the guy in a suit, who wanted Jinx and Manslaughter to stop fighting and help him. "Who in the world are you? And how can you possibly pull off orange and purple clothes?" Lightshow was getting annoyed, as this fight was actually getting sorta fun. But, men in suits are men in suits.

Maybe she’d just tempted fate, but when you were a super powered teen, you were pretty much just tempting fate on a daily basis anyway. So that was kind of a moot point.

She wouldn’t pretend she wasn’t kind of grossed out about the...thing’s eating habits. I mean, if Jinx was hungry, she might go get, you know, a pizza. Or to be a healthy, a veggie pizza. Not suck the life out of some guy and leave him propped up on a bench somewhere.

She had to admit, there was a small amount of satisfaction when Manslaughter tripped, but she was running at her at full speed, and even when Jinx skilfully dodged out of the way, Manslaughter still got a few good hits in – One of which had probably given Jinx a black eye, and one of which would have knocked her out had she not ducked at the last moment.

Jinx recognised Senshuken as she barely dodged Manslaughter again.

“Kind of...Not a good time,”Jinx went to say, sending a few hexes towards the ground, hoping that maybe she could trip Manslaughter up again, but that would have been entirely too easy. But when she completely realised who it was, there was a brief lull in the fighting.

“Normally I’d say sure, but I’m kind of being beaten up by a weird thing,” she stated, turning to Lightshow, “And I’m pretty sure most people are asking that question, buddy.”

(Finally got that dern post up.)

"We think you have the wrong person. We're not this symbi you speak of, nor do we know you, nor have we ever bonded with some spider-girl,"

For the first time in a long time, Senshuken looked honestly embarrassed at the revelation. Rubbing the back of his neck, he kicked the dirt a little as he said "Sorry about the mix up. You're not the only Symbiote I know you see. In fact, since you appeared shortly after the Symbiote I knew had a falling out with its host because she had an overly powerful sense of life and refused to kill people, I had come to the conclusion that you were the same Symbiote and that you had just moved on to a more welcoming host. My mistake. Still, your help would still be vital."

Seeing as only one person in the group knew who he was, Senshuken smiled as he took a polite little bow before them. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Senshuken. It's a pleasure to meet you all. But the reason I am currently here is because I need you to help me deal with this...thing."

As he spoke, Senshuken reached into his suit and removed three identical photographs before taking the steps needed to hand them out to each of the people present. When he gave her her picture, Senshuken's hand accidentally brushed against Jinx's, causing a small smile to cross the demon lord's face before returning to something more somber.

The picture in there hands was one of the few pictures of the Slender Man that had ever been taken. While there were others, the one they were holding was one of the best ones. It even showed exactly what they were fighting for it they joined this battle.

"The creature you are seeing goes by many names. It is known world wide but almost everyone believes it is nothing more then a myth. A children's story designed to scare naughty kids into behaving. While it suspected that all Boogieman tales are connected to the creature you are looking at, it is better known as the Slender Man. "

"As much as it pains me to say, I know very little about this creature. There is evidence that it has been around for at least six thousand years. While I don't really know why it does it, the Slender Man's sole purpose in existence is to abduct children. None of it's victims are ever seen again once they vanish through. "

Placing his hands behind his back, Senshuken started to pace a little as he continued to speak. "In the last month, twenty nine children vanished without a trace in Jump City. At least twelve of them were confirmed to be suffering the signs that most victims get when the Slender Man targets them. I have already confirmed that a new child has been marked as a victim. I want you to help me ensure that this thing doesn't get another child. I want your aid in taking this creature out and putting it down once and for all. "

Managing a small, sad smirk, Senshuken added "As for the weird colors of my suit. The Slender Man is well known for wearing a suit when he appears. Since I like wearing suits myself, I felt that this was the best way to avoid getting caught in friendly fire by mistake. Does that answer all your questions?"

(OOC: The picture. http://ufosearchonline.com/ufo/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Slender-Man-2.jpg )

Jinx looked puzzled, and she slowly back out of punching distance of her new found enemy, regarding Senshuken with some hesitance.

What he was saying was freaking her out more than it should have, and she wanted nothing more than to get rid of whatever that thing was. But she wasn’t quite sure why Senshuken was asking her.

She didn’t want to be the hero or the villain. She didn’t really want anything. She wasn’t even sure why she’d left her apartment today, and right now she was kind of wishing she hadn’t. What could she say to the guy? No way?

And there was no way she was going to be doing anything if this weird as hell symbi-whatever was going to be there as well.

“Er, I appreciate what you’re saying, and whatever,” she said, still in a defensive stance, “But, why are you asking for my help? I’m hardly the super-powerful kind, and honestly I only came here to trash some stuff. I don’t know what makes you think I could help you get rid of this thing. I’d like to help, but seriously, what could I do?” she responded, shrugging her shoulders. If he could explain that to her, maybe then she’d agree.