The cafeteria was so packed, so filled with unfamiliar faces. People dressed in costumes. People that she always used to warn us about. But these weren't heroes. Not the kind of costumed freaks that we were told to avoid, not the kind that killed my friend. They were a new thing-- criminals, thieves, like I was trained to be, only dressed up. Only gifted.

 My cape draped over me, like some kind of cold blanket. I wasn't gifted. Not like all these other people. What I had was a choice, and I chose wrong.

....

"That kid. He hasn't spoken at all yet, has he?" Jinx spoke up, her eyes trained on someone across the cafeteria.

"What kid?" Mammoth asked, his focus still on the food he was buried face deep in.

"The new kid. The one with the cape and bat ears. Gizmo, you see who I'm talking about?"

"Yeah, he's a nobody," Gizmo replied, his back to where the boy in question was sitting. "The scarf for brains won't even talk and he's got nothing special about him. I don't even know why the headmistress let him in. It's not like he's going last long."

Jinx looked from Gizmo and then back to the new kid. Her eyes seemed intent on something until she finally shrugged before taking a bite out of her own food.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

....

I could hear them talking about me. It sounded as though they were sitting right next to me, talking as though I wasn't there. I hated the new ears. I always had uncommonly good hearing, but what I had now...it was maddening.

But it didn't help that I was focused on them. The headmistress told me about them when I first arrived. How they were the first of her students to take on the Titans, how they had the Titans beaten until Robin ultimately defeated them. She said they were the most promising of her students, that with the right tutelage and training, they could be hired by worldwide criminal organizations. But I was only half listening at that point. All I needed to hear were two words. Titans and Robin.

"Hey there, man! How's it going?" A cheery voice suddenly asked.

Number 72?

And there I was, back in that dimly lit warehouse. Alone in a sea of pale faces and dark leather. And there he was, the only one with a smile on his face. Walking up to me and introducing himself. Holding out his hand like we were some regular children in some regular school.

I looked down at the hand extended towards me. It's glove white, not black. I looked up into the face of the one with the white glove, his skin was dark, not the pale white I was expecting. Nor was I expecting the reflection of myself that I could clearly see in his large, green, and singular eye.

"The name's See-More, what's yours?" He asked me, hand still outstretched. I could only look from his giant eye to his hand and back again. It was uncanny, how could he have the exact same smile?

"See-More, don't waste your time with him," Jinx spoke up. Immediately afterwards, all the idle chatter in the cafeteria quieted down.

"But...why?" See-More asked, his hand lowering as his eye looked from Jinx to me.

"Cause the guy is a nobody!" Gizmo blurted out, looking at me with squinted eyes. "He's got crud for brains."

"He does?" See-More asked, before bringing his attention back to me. "You do?"

I only looked back at him.

"Yeah! What are you even supposed to be anyways?" Mammoth chimed in, his mouth full of food. "Some kind of creepy little bat boy? I bet he can't even fight!"

I remembered someone like him. Another big lug we all had the displeasure of training with. He was the first to call me out on my ears. Number 72 made sure he was the last. 

I kept my eyes on the big Mammoth, though in the corner of them I could see that See-More was starting to back off, looking very uncomfortable.

"What's the matter, little bat? Something I say hurt your feelings?" Mammoth said with a grin. There was dead silence in the cafeteria now. The big lug who called me out in the warehouse was a nobody and was quickly shut down, but Mammoth and his friends were different. They were the big time. The kings of this place.

"Mammoth, you're wasting your own time as well. I don't think he even understands what you're saying," Jinx said, and even though she sounded sympathetic I did not miss the mocking smile she then threw me. Neither did Gizmo.

"Ha ha, see! I told you he had crud for brains! I bet he wouldn't understand if I said he was a weak little skuzz-head who wasn't worthy of licking my shoes!" He held his small feet up for emphasis, long mechanical legs extended from his backpack to keep him afloat as he mocked me. His laughing was apparently infectious as the rest of the students soon started to follow.

I stood up then, the seat that I was sitting in falling to the ground. The noise it made as it clattered cut through the laughter like a heated knife. I never liked laughing. Never liked the carefree recklessness of it. Never liked how it made it so easy to mock others. How he managed to laugh seconds before he died.

"Heh. Hey, Gizmo, I think you made him mad," Mammoth pretended to whisper, still loud enough for everyone to hear. 

Gizmo's at first surprised expression was quickly replaced with a grin. "Yeah, not liked he can do anything about it."

And then I was gone, pulled into the ice cold blackness. I returned in the midst of my classmates letting out surprised gasps. With a smooth motion, I placed a hand on Gizmo's bald head. The little twerp let out a surprised yelp before flailing forwards, away from me.

"Hey!" Mammoth cried. I did not need to look over to know that he was attempting to attack me. This gave me enough time to grip my cloak and disappear into the darkness again. I returned to see that Mammoth had knocked off all the food on the table in his attempt to strike me.

"NO! Where'd he go?! He's going to pay for that!"

"There!" Gizmo cried out, aiming some sort of gadget at me. It soon began to glow red so I vanished again. When I reappeared, on top of one of the tables, Gizmo already had it pointing at me again, a scorch mark on the wall where he had previously missed. Once again, I disappeared just as soon as he fired, only to return to him pointing it back at me.

Is he tracking me somehow?

With that in mind, I disappeared again, only dodging it by a hair. When I returned I was just where I wanted to be: in front of Mammoth.

"Hah! Got you now!" the giant ape of a man declared, reached for me with both arms. Knowing I had no time to use my cape, I simply ducked under him. It was all I needed.

Mammoth let out a roar of pain as the red blast struck him in the face.

"Hey, you can't do that! That's cheat-!" Gizmo tried to say, but the darkness drowned him out as I vanished again. I reappeared directly behind him and swung an already prepared fist, aimed at the back of his little bald--

A wave of pink was all I saw before my fist suddenly missed him and went straight into the corner of one of the tables. If I could have cried out in pain, I would have. Instead, I gripped my throbbing hand as I stumbled backwards.

"You really need to work on your predictability," Jinx spoke up, still sitting in her same seat, studying me with those bright pink eyes of hers.

"Ha ha! Got you now, skuzz-head!" Gizmo declared, pointing his device back at me. I went to pull my cape, only to discover that it resisted me. Looking down, I realized in horror that it had tied itself around one of the poles that kept the tables connected to the ground.

"Oh my, how unlucky," Jinx said with a chuckle. Gizmo's grin widened as his device began to glow red.

"And what is the meaning of this?"

"Headmistress!" Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo all said at once. Mammoth quickly patted out the small fires that still clung to his hair while Gizmo quickly pressed a button on the device, the glowing instantly died down. I turned to see the small old lady herself standing in the center of the cafeteria, as if she had been there all along.

"Would one of you care to explain why my three best students have resorted to petty school yard scuffling?" she questioned as she approached us. Stopping next to me, she then grabbed the hem of my cloak and pulled, the material instantly untying itself from around the pole. She then turned to the three in question. "Well?"

"He started it, Headmistress!" Gizmo declared, pointing an accusing finger at me. I could begin to hear murmurings and chuckles rise up from the students around us.

"Yeah! He-!" Mammoth began, only to be interrupted when the Headmistress suddenly stomped one high healed boot to the ground, the resulting echo rang loudly in the room and quickly silenced everyone.

"I do not want to hear excuses," the old woman affirmed, looking each one of the three dead in the eyes. One by one, all their heads fell/ "You three are the pride of this school. You should be setting examples to the rest of your fellow students, not acting like untrained children."

"Yes ma'am," the three of them said in perfect unison. 

The Headmistress looked at them for a moment before throwing me a sideways glance and looking back at them. "Now tell me, did Kyd Wykkyd truly instigate anything? Was he the first to attack? Was he the first to insult you?"

"Well...you see..." Gizmo started to say, only to drift off when See-More suddenly stepped out from the crowd.

 Our eyes met. "Ma'am, if I may. I saw everything, Kyd Wykkyd didn't start anything. He was just...just defending his honor."

"Oh?" The Headmistress said as See-More turned his eye to her. "Are you being honest with me?"

"Yes ma'am," See-More affirmed. I could immediately hear muffled cursing from Gizmo and Mammoth, though Jinx only kept her head bowed.

"What of the rest of my students? Surely you all witnessed everything. Does See-More speak the truth? Was Kyd Wykkyd merely defending his honor?"

The room was quiet at first, but as the Headmistress's stern eyes scanned over each and every face there quickly grew a quiet murmuring of agreement between all of them.

"Well then I must say I am impressed," the Headmistress said as she turned to me. I looked back at her, genuinely confused. "None of my other students could ever say they took on the three of my best and were still conscious enough to get them in trouble for it."

"But, Headmistress--" Gizmo and Mammoth both muttered.

"Enough!" the Headmistress interrupted before turning on all three of them. "There is a fine line between what is acceptable and what is unacceptable within my school and while I do not pride my students in their abilities to follow rules I do expect them to know where that line is and how they should cross it. You three have not only defied me but have also managed to make me ashamed to call myself your teacher..."

The Headmistress then looked into each of their faces before looking out amongst the rest of the students.

"Let these three's embarrassment be a lesson to the rest of you all. The next student who so blatantly crosses my line will receive more than just a tongue lashing. Now, off to class with all of you, I believe the cafeteria will be closing early today."

With that, the students dispersed, all mumbling and grumbling and shooting me dirty looks. We all knew who was really to blame. But no one would dare get upset with those three. Not the three that could take on the Teen Titans.

"See-More, I would like you and Kyd Wykkyd to stay behind for a moment."

"A-Are we in trouble, ma'am?" See-More asked as he walked up to us. 

The Headmistress waited until all the students left and silence had fallen into the cafeteria. "No, See-More, you are not in trouble." The Headmistress finally replied, See-More in turn letting out a deep sigh of relief. "But there is a favor I would ask of you."

"...ma'am?"

"When I started this school, I had always wanted either of two things to evolve when it came to my students relationships with one other. Either complete unity or complete individuality. I still strive for either one to this day, but I am not blind. Students succeed today by forming groups, not one complete one, but numerous, smaller groups, doing all they can to avoid other groups of students. I've seen many a potential child leave my school all because they could never find a group of their own." The Headmistress then turned her eyes to me. "I do not want this to become of you, Kyd Wykkyd. There is much potential I see in you, and I do not wish to lose it simply because my other students refuse to accept you. That is why I am asking you, See-More, to allow him to join your group, or if you do not have one, to form one with you."

"You mean...be his friend?"

"Friendship is not necessary. I personally would advise against such attachments. All I ask of you is to accept Kyd Wykkyd."

See-More than turned to me, I looked back at him, trying my best to avoid looking at my reflection in his giant lens. Then he smiled, such a care-free, familiar smile I felt my heart skip a beat and for an instant 72 was standing before me, pale skin, dark hair, and happy, happy smile.

"I think I can do that, ma'am," See-More said, breaking the illusion, but he then stretched out his hand towards me, smile still firmly in place. "What do ya say, Kyd Wykkyd, wanna be my fr-- ah, be a part of my...group?"

And as awkward as he was, as scary as the Headmistress's eyes were, and as forced as this all felt I couldn't help but let the smallest of smiles escape my control as I gripped See-More's hand in acceptance.

...

"Whatcha thinking about?" Kid Flash asked, Jinx jumping in response.

"I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that!" Jinx shot before turning away from him, arms folded.

"Sorry about that. You just looked like you were lost in your thoughts. Didn't know how else to get your attention without scaring you," Kid Flash explained as he approached her. "So, what--"

"Are Robin and Cyborg still looking for their bad guy?" Jinx interrupted, still not looking at him.

"Yeah," Kid Flash answered, moving to stand beside her. "No luck yet so far."

"That's too bad."

There was silence between the two then. Kid Flash kept trying to catch her eyes but Jinx kept her gaze focused straight forward, not even giving a sign that she knew what Kid Flash was doing. After a short while, Kid Flash gave up and turned his gaze so that they were both looking out to the expanse of the sea.

"You know, if you're upset about how the Titans are treating you--"

"I'm not upset."

"Well, it would be natural if you were. I mean, they keep a tracker on you at all times and--"

"I used to be one of the bad guys, Kid Flash, remember? They aren't going to suddenly welcome me with open arms just because I helped them against the Brotherhood of Evil."

"But that took a lot of courage to leave your friends and your life like you did. More courage than what a lot of these 'Honorary Titans' have if you ask me."

"They weren't friends, Kid Flash, they were classmates and accomplices. And in case you haven't noticed, a few of them were with the group that attacked the Tower and took Raven and Beastboy."

"I remember you and I were brainwashed to be a part of that group. Who knows what other tricks they could have used on your former teammates to get them to work for them? Robin can't suspect it was you who had anything to do--"

"He can and he does," Jinx interrupted, finally turning on him. "I knew what Kyd Wykkyd was capable of should he get released. I knew that See-More wasn't with them when they got frozen, but I didn't say anything to the Titans."

"You didn't say anything because you didn't know all this would happen!" Kid Flash argued. "I mean, none of us would think that Titan's sister would find a way to come to Earth and be able to bust out any of the bad guys, or that any of the Titans who weren't captured being unable to handle the ones who went for them. None of us saw this coming, Jinx, and you shouldn't blame yourself for--"

"I'm not blaming myself!" Jinx shot, pink flashes of energy shooting from her eyes. "I was just standing here daydreaming until you showed up and started accusing me of all these thoughts and feelings that I don't have!"

"Okay, okay!" Kid Flash quickly replied, holding his hands up defensively. "It's just...you've seemed sadder than usual is all..."

"Yeah, well, it's just your imagination," Jinx replied, fire gone from her eyes as she turned away from Kid Flash. It grew quiet again and Jinx was about to turn around to see if Kid Flash had left when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her waist.

"Kid Flash? Wha-?"

"I worry about you, okay?" Kid Flash whispered in her ear. 

Jinx felt a blush rise on her face; her small hands placed themselves gently on Kid Flash's larger, gloved ones. "I know, but you don't need to. I'm fine."

"You know I can tell when you're upset. That's how I knew you weren't meant to be a villain when we first met."

"Oh yeah?" Jinx asked, allowing her eyes to close as she fell into his body slightly.

"Yeah. And that's how I can tell something is bothering you right now."

"...I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's fine. It's mostly just good to know I was right."

Kid Flash let out a chuckle that was quickly replaced with a grunt when Jinx sent a playful elbow into his side.

"Just kidding, just kidding!"

Kid Flash then slowly sat down on the cool, grassy ground, Jinx going down with him willingly, remaining held in his arms.

"I never thanked you, you know," Jinx said, breaking through the silence this time.

"Thanked me for what?"

"For helping me leave. Helping me realize I could be more than just a criminal."

"Oh, I didn't really do anything. When it came down to it, you're the one who made the big choice."

"Well, if it wasn't for you, I could have very well been with the rest of them in one of those frozen cells," Jinx said softly, letting herself fall all the way into him. "Just...thanks for helping me see that there was even a choice for me at all."

Kid Flash chuckled softly before placing a light kiss on the back of Jinx's head. "There's always a choice, Jinx. Thank you for making the right one."

Despite the turmoil growing in her mind, despite the guilt and pain hidden deep within her chest, Jinx could not help but smile and enjoy the simple feeling of being safe in his arms. If only just this once.

...