Chapter 76

See-More PoV

It’s official.

We…had gotten our butts kicked.

This fact was only further cemented in my mind as we were all forced into the back of a police van. Every single member of the H.I.V.E. five. Gizmo seemed especially bitter, throwing aggravated looks towards the officers who were escorting him forward.

Which wasn’t something I was willing to risk. If it was any other city sure, but the police in Jump City were no joke. The guns and armor they had was top of the line. It wasn’t just the good stuff; it was some of the best on the market.

They were less like police, and more like a private army.

They probably got the money from H.I.V.E. bribes, but even so. This just seemed…excessive.

Kyd Wykkyd was silent. Only shuffling forward after an officer pushed him forward. It was obvious that this defeat was fresh in his mind. As it was for pretty much everyone, actually.

I mean, it felt like it was only a few days ago that we had planned out the attack. Using tactics taught to us by the Academy.

But apparently all that had happened almost an entire month ago!

It was obvious that the Titans had us in some sort of stasis or something. The only thing I could really remember about being locked up was just how tired I was. So, were we just constantly sleeping that entire period? Like some sort of induced coma?

…That was a scary thought.

Billy Numerous was pretty nervous. Which stood out considering he was one of the few of us that wasn’t actually completely dependent on tech. Tech that was uh…confiscated from us. And we would likely never see again…

Which was more than a bit painful to think about. Considering how long it took me to build my helmet and everything that went into it.

Though it was pretty hard to blame Billy for being a bit on edge. Even if there was only one Titan overseeing us getting shipped off, that Titan was none other than Law.

The head honcho of all the Titans.

What Jinx was to us, he was to them. Though obviously he was lacking in several areas. Jinx was several levels stronger than he was, even if she did lose to him. That was only because it was a bad matchup. Like a wizard fighting a warrior in close quarters. Even though there’s a level difference, wizards can’t do a lot if the distance between them and a warrior is shortened.

And then there was looks! Sure, he was somewhat good looking, but that was nothing compared to Jinx. Her beautiful pink eyes, her supple fingers, her pretty hair, and her feet…

That is to say, Jinx was obviously the superior leader. The only reason we lost was because of bad positioning and matchups. I mean, what kind of hero uses guns!? Aren’t they supposed to be holding back? If they can just go for the kill, what’s even the difference between us and them?

Speaking of Jinx being a great leader, she was already glancing around the place. She was the only one of us that had already recovered from the previous loss, and was looking for a way to escape. She hadn’t bended, nor did she give up.

It didn’t matter what Gizmo or Billy said, she was meant to be in charge.

She kept glancing warily to the biggest threat nearby. Fortunately, the redhead was busy talking to some fat officer. Probably telling him to keep his eyes on us or something.

Eventually we were all pushed into the nearby van. Not only were our hands handcuffed, but so too were our legs. Forcing them to connect to the metal bench inside the van.

We were all silent as they closed the door. Leaving us in the dark. It didn’t help that it was cloudy, so there wasn’t much light shining inside.

It was only as the van started to roll forward did Jinx finally begin to speak.

“Our escape window is in five minutes. If we miss that, not even H.I.V.E. will be able to pull us out of prison again. Not with how much heat is on us.”

Everyone’s attention was now on her. The defeated and crestfallen looks that had enveloped my comrades was now turned to more excited and readied gazes. It only took a few sentences for them to no longer accept their current situation, and to be looking around for a way to get free.

“We’re not exactly going to get far with these cuffs on us.”

Kyd Wykkyd mentioned in a neutral fashion. Practically asking for any advice. Gizmo also gave Jinx a judging look. As if expecting her to have all the answers.

“The crud sniffers took all my tech. Without it, I can’t get us out of this mess.”

Jinx simply smiled at the crude child genius before pointing her index finger at her cuffs. A pink light emanated from her hand, and seconds later they simply fell apart.

“…That works, I guess.”

Gizmo offered, rubbing the back of his head before extending his arms out. Causing Jinx to idly roll her eyes at his attitude. I hoped he was acting this way because he was just annoyed at having his tech taken away, but it was also pretty likely he was still upset that Jinx became the team leader instead of him.

Slowly but surely, Jinx went around the van. Freeing everyone of their shackles. I was the only one who gave her an audible thanks, which lead to her giving me a strange look.

Shit, was that too much?

Just as she was finishing up with Billy’s bindings, Kyd spoke up.

“Time’s almost up.”

Jinx grimaced before sliding over to the side of the van. Pressing her ear to the side in an attempt to hear something.

She seemed to already have some sort of plan. Maybe it was something H.I.V.E. instructed her on in these sorts of situations. Or even better, maybe she herself made emergency plans in case something like this happened. Studying the streets of Jump City down to the very noises outside.

As expected of our leader.

“What are you doing?”

Gizmo asked, only for Jinx to silence him with a look. Something that normally wouldn’t work on him, but considering the current situation…

Not even he was willing to risk possibly getting on the headmaster’s bad side.

Eventually we all felt the van slowing down to a crawl, before stopping altogether. Leading to Jinx to have a small relieved grin on her face as she took a step back. Pink light started to gather in her hands.

“Grab onto something.”

There…wasn’t really much to grab on in the first place. Everyone was struggling to look for something as Jinx pressed her hands against the side of the van. Causing the entire vehicle to glow pink for just a moment.

Then nothing happened.

“…Uh, I reckon that you might need to put a bit more juice into it.”

Billy’s voice rang out, tinged with a southern accent. Jinx rolled her eyes a second time, but said nothing. Eventually, the van started to move again. This time it was Gizmo who spoke up hurriedly.

“Again! Do it again!”

“Just wait.”

As the Van started to turn, I grimaced. Had we missed the moment?

The van was rocked back as something slammed into it. Causing the van to flip hard onto its side. Which meant that everyone was thrown forcefully to the side of the van.

It took several seconds to get our bearings. It was an unfortunate truth that some of us had crashed into each other due to the force.

Or perhaps I should say it was uh…pretty fortunate. As Jinx’s body was pressed up close to mine.

My heart beat frantically as I slowly looked up. I couldn’t imagine how red I was getting. Finally me and Jinx’s eyes met.

And just like that, it was as if time had stopped. Leaving just us in the van. The moment between us stretched on for eternity as neither of us made a move to end the-

“Get. Off.”

I grunted as Jinx’s hand slammed into my face. Hissing as she forced me off of her, likely out of shyness. I couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed as well. Billy and Kyd were already up, and were working on the door. It took a bit of work due to having been bent inwards, but eventually we were able to force it open.

Once we had enough Billys, at least.

“Get rid of them. We need to keep a low profile for as long as possible.”

The clone Billys seemed to be upset, but the original simply nodded. Leaving them to simply poof away as Jinx and Kyd, surveyed the area. A car had crashed into the front of the van, and it seemed the police escort was checking on the driver.

Huh. Expected more police to be escorting us, to be honest. There was much less here than when we had originally started to drive away.

Seems like we got pretty lucky this time. But I wasn’t willing to wait to see if our luck would change.

Neither was Jinx, as she silently signaled for us to begin running away into a nearby alley. It wasn’t the stealthiest exit, but at the very least it didn’t seem like any of the police spotted us.

Jinx was constantly looking back for trouble before focusing on the path forward. The alley was pretty gross. Having several large dumpsters overflowing with filth around the place. At the very least it helped give us cover.

There was a nearby door that seemed to have been graffiti’d on. I had ignored it until Jinx kicked it open. Showcasing a large concrete staircase.

While the door didn’t seem like it had been used recently, the staircase at least showed signs of having frequent traffic. Even if it was pretty dirty. Jinx started to funnel us downwards. Leading Gizmo to speak up.

“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“If you doubt me so much, why don’t you just try to find your own way?”

Gizmo muttered something under his breath but continued to follow Jinx’s path. Eventually leading to a dark basement area. One that had a lot of room…

In response to our movements, a light suddenly came on. Causing everyone to panic for a second before realizing it was just a motion sensor light. Around us was just a large underground parking lot. Filled up with a selection of cars.

Maybe there was an apartment or something nearby.

Jinx continued to lead us forward. Having gained enough courage to speak at a normal level instead of whispering, she pointed out where we were heading next. Some sort of service elevator that would go further down.

As she explained our next steps, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of nervousness. I thought a bit of sound would make this place a bit less creepy, but if anything, Jinx’s voice just made the place more nerve-wracking. As if there was something distinctly wrong in the shadows.

It…it wasn’t important. I needed to put such distractions out of my mind. Looking over to my side, I saw Kyd Wykkyd with his ever-present emotionless frown. Jogging at a decent speed over to the elevator.

He wasn’t bothered by this place. So, I shouldn’t be either. Honestly, I was starting to feel like a kid who was afraid of the dark.

It was just an underground parking lot. What’s the worst that could happen?

Kyd suddenly glanced to the side towards the nearby cars only to have a boot slam into his face. His body rocked back due to the force as blood splattered about the place. Kyd tried to weakly catch himself, but couldn’t stop himself from stumbling onto the ground in a daze.

With no small amount of trepidation, we all looked over to the red-haired teen who had suddenly lunged out from between the cars. His gaze neutrally falling onto each one of us before finally staring at Jinx.

“Surprise.”

Law stated with a trace amount of amusement in his voice before suddenly moving forward. This time towards me.

I…froze up. My breath catching in my throat as he reached for me. His hand coming within inches of my face before I finally took a step back.

Only to immediately fall down on the floor in front of him.

He immediately pivoted on his foot, jumping up just in time to avoid a head on collision with a car as it crashed into the parked vehicle on his other side. Causing the alarms of both to start sounding off.

While he didn’t get crushed between the two cars, he didn’t get off completely spotless. As he was pushed off the car due to the sudden stop.

“See-More!”

Jinx called out, her hands already glowing with light. It must have been her who saved me. Damn it…if only I had my helmet! As I ran over to the others position, I noticed that Gizmo was already making his way to the elevator. Billy was helping drag Kyd towards the elevator while glancing backwards.

Kyd was out of it. His head lulling this way and that. It was a miracle that he was even conscious enough to walk with us.

Looking back, I noticed Jinx hitting pretty much every car between her and Law with her powers. Causing them all to lose their brakes and start rolling forward. In response however Law continued to steadily approach Jinx. Uncaring about the cars that were seconds away from colliding with him.

This wasn’t good. Jinx was the only one holding him off. Which…which didn’t exactly bode very well for us. But there wasn’t anyone who could help her. The best fighter we had was Kyd, but he was out of commission. Even if he wasn’t, without his cape, he couldn’t really do much of anything to a guy that could take you out with just a touch.

Me and Gizmo were pretty much worthless without our tech. Which left…Billy! His power was all natural. He could make copies of himself to back Jinx up!

I looked over at him to say something, only to see the look on his face. He was shooting a terrified expression backwards as he continued to drag Kyd with him towards the elevator.

“…Billy, you need to back up Jinx.”

I warned him, taking the other side of Kyd in order to try to take him off Billy’s hands. Only for Billy’s eyes to bulge out before shaking his head.

“She has it handled…”

“Billy! She needs-”

We both flinched as loud explosions seemed to ring out behind us. Yet there didn’t seem to be any fire. Several of the cars seemed to have been thrown this way and that though.

Jinx wasn’t anywhere in sight, but Law sure was.

And he was heading straight towards us. His ponytail bobbing in the wind as he attempted to run us down. The motion detector light only illuminated a small area of the parking lot. Casting long shadows around the place. Something he took advantage of as he sped forward.

As he did so, his limbs seemed to stretch in the shadows. Becoming long and thick with muscle. He seemed to grow several feet within the darkness, his moving form being the only reason we knew he was still coming. It was as if it was Mammoth in there instead of Law.

Billy trembled as he started to run with all his might. Yanking Kyd’s arm behind him as he did so. Even so it was all for naught as a large pale arm stretched out of the shadows…

Only for a nearby car horn to go off. One that must have been exchanged with a train horn due to how loud it was. Billy and I winced a bit as my eardrums seemed to almost pop, but it was a different story for Law.

His arm immediately retracted into the shadows as his hands went to his ears. He seemed to writhe in pain before letting out inhuman sounding groans of pain. Ones that seemed to almost reverberate across the parking lot.

Jinx quicky ran past him before pushing the two of us forward.

“Gizmo! Start the elevator now! Bottom floor!”

It didn’t take long for the four of us to quickly pile into the elevator. As the doors began to close, a normal looking Law emerged to rush the elevator. The door closed before he could get into it, and it began to descend.

A collective sigh of relief sounded from just about everyone in the elevator besides Kyd. Though there was still a bit of panic in the back of my mind as I awaited the sound of a sudden thump to hit the top of elevator, or perhaps for it to stop moving altogether.

Thankfully, that never came to pass.

*~o~*

My head rested onto the back of the chair. Having just left the room where they were treating Kyd. Thankfully it looked like he was getting better.

If anything, he was the lucky one. Everyone else got a thorough tongue lashing from the headmaster. And that wasn’t even going into the punishments that we were supposed to smile and nod to.

The only reason it wasn’t worse was because H.I.V.E. didn’t need to pull us out of prison.

“Hey, you alright?”

I opened my eyes to see Jinx standing beside me. The door to Kyd’s room having just closed. She must have visited him before talking to me…

Wait, Jinx was talking to me!

“Y-yeah. That was…something, huh?”

She hummed at that before taking a seat next to me. Making me feel a bit hot under the collar. I mean, there was still an open chair between us, but still. It was practically the same thing.

Jinx’s lips were twisted into a frown. Her eyes were elsewhere, showcasing that she was deep in thought about something.

…Probably about Kyd, and the team…

“Don’t worry, Jinx. You did everything you could.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, before nodding with a slight smile.

“Oh, thank you.”

Judging by her reaction, maybe that wasn’t what she was thinking about? But then what could make her so deep in thought?

…Maybe she was just as nervous as I was. Maybe…she felt the connection between us as well.

“You did pretty well, against Law, I mean.”

I complimented, causing the frown on her face to deepen. So that’s what she had been thinking about. She extended an open hand in front of her, as if to take someone’s hand to dance. Before suddenly closing it into a fist.

“…I wasn’t strong enough.”

“Don’t say that! You were the only one who was even capable of fighting him off. Everyone else…I…”

I sputtered a bit. Trying to not come to terms with my own inaction. Jinx hummed before closing her eyes, and laying back against her chair.

“I…I’m sorry I didn’t help.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Not like you could really do anything without your helmet. Besides, you should always put yourself first before everyone else, or you’ll be eaten alive here.”

I winced from her words. She was…right. Without my helmet I…I didn’t have anything. I was helpless.

She was also right about it being every man for himself. But even so…

I wanted to change that. With her.

“I…need to get stronger.”

I mumbled it under my breath. Not really meaning to have said it out loud, only for Jinx to suddenly towards me. Her eyes suddenly opening to gain a sharp edge.

“Do you really want that?”

My head tilted to look at her.

“H-huh?”

“Do you want more power?”

I scratched the back of my head before giving an embarrassed grin.

“Uh…well yeah. Who doesn’t?”

She paused for a moment. Searching for something in my eyes before finally sighing.

“If you’re serious about wanting to get stronger, I think I can help…”

Her hand going towards her pocket and pulling something out. It looked like…a pill bottle?

I was a bit doubtful, but if it was Jinx…I guess I could give it a try.