Standard disclaimers apply. Some dialogue from the show used for canonical purposes. Enjoy the chapter.

OOO

It didn't take much to find out who the pink-haired villainess was. A little digging in the newspaper files of the local library and Pietro had a name for her, as well as for her apparent team mates. It seemed that his wasn't the only group of professional juvenile delinquents; in fact, it seemed there had been a whole school of them at one point.

"Obviously an inferior school," he muttered, reading another article. "Seeing as they didn't invite us."

Jinx. That was her name. Jinx. It made him smile and think of hexes, like the ones his sister used. The bad luck associated with a jinx seemed to be all hers, however. Her team didn't seem to have much success. They were stymied by the Teen Titans at every turn (do-gooders were evidently everywhere too) and when the Titans were out of town by some anonymous speedster.

A speedster who had given her a rose.

Unsure of what else to do, Pietro decided to keep tabs on her teammates when crimes were committed. He dashed around, patrolling the city at first until he learned the location of their hideout, then waiting for them to leave. He watched them get caught over and over again by the same fast hero, always observing from a distance; Jinx never seemed to be involved, so there was no reason to get too close, and he didn't want to risk being seen himself. At least not until the time was right.

Then one night, Jinx herself came out. She and the rest headed for the museum and Pietro grinned; figuring that he would finally have his chance to approach her, he went to go and get ready himself.

OOO

Jinx gritted her teeth. There had been no way to catch the do-gooder as long as he was speeding. The only way to get to him, given the persistent gifts of roses he'd been making, was to go out herself and offer herself up as bait.

Do-gooders were, after all, all alike.

Once they got to the museum and were all in place, Jinx headed out and took care of the guards, as easy as anything.

"Looking for a little luck?" She heard a voice behind her. "Because I think someone got to it already."

She spun around, angry. "Yeah! I did! I just came to finish the job. Who are you anyway?"

"Kid Flash." He smirked. "Fastest boy alive."

"Are you supposed to be a good guy or something?" She snarled.

"One of the best."

"Well?" She asked, taunting. "Aren't you gonna take me to jail?"

"I thought I'd get to know you first."

He approached her and she snorted in derision.

"Why do you hang around with those losers? That team of yours is only holding you back."

"I know!" She exclaimed, exasperated. "That's what I keep telling… What do you know?!"

"I know that you're too smart for all this."

"Oh, is this the part where you try and convert me? Make me see the error of my ways? You're wasting your time." She glared at him and in the back, unbeknownst to her, Pietro smiled.

"When you're as fast as me, time is something you've got plenty of," Kid Flash said with a grin. He dashed off and was back in an instant with a bag and a beret. "Croissant?"

Jinx turned around, ready to act like she never had before. "It's too la…" she began.

"I don't think she needs converted," a third voice broken in. Jinx spun around and saw a boy dressed in blue spandex, standing in front of her and holding out two orchids in shades of pink and purple. Kid Flash was looking at him, equally dumbfounded and affronted. "Quicksilver," he said smugly. "And I'm pretty fast myself. And you know what? This guy – as terrible as his fashion sense is – is right. Your team is holding you back.

"But I think you're pretty smart too; which is why I know there's no way you'd go in for all the hero crap this guy is spouting."

"Oh?" She snapped, annoyed with both of them.

"Yeah. Changing sides isn't what you need to do; just changing teams."

"I'm listening…"

"Don't!" Kid Flash shouted suddenly, running up and pushing Pietro out of the way. "Don't listen to him Jinx; he's just trying to keep you trapped in this destructive lifestyle."

"How do you know? Have you even seen him before?"

"Well, no…"

"You could join my team," Pietro said quickly, jumping back in. "We have experience with people with your talents – my own sister in fact has power similar to yours – so we know how to help you best capitalize on them."

"My powers?" Her eyes widened. "There's someone else out there like me?"

"There's nobody like you, Jinx," Kid Flash said. "And turning to this guy you've never even met for some sort of quick solution or momentary acceptance -"

"Who asked you!" She shouted at him. "I don't know who you are either, 'Kid Flash!'" She turned back to Pietro. "What group are you with?"

"The Brotherhood of Evil…" Her eyes lit up "…Mutants." And it fell again.

"Oh. I thought you were going to say Brotherhood of Evil," she sighed, clearly disappointed.

"There's a Brotherhood of Evil?" He sounded shocked. "I should look into copyright infringement…"

Her curiosity swiftly fading, Jinx sighed in annoyance.

"Look. I'm flattered. I really am. But you interrupted at kind of a bad time."

"What? Is this joker giving you trouble? I'll take care of him."

"You? HA!" Kid Flash smirked. "You can't be serious."

"Fast or not, you're nowhere near as smooth," Pietro taunted, looking at Jinx. "He gives you roses? He probably pays for them; I can steal roomfuls of them for you. He's trying to get you to change? I won't mind you just as you are. You don't have to change into some annoying, do-gooding, upright hero type. Trust me, you listen to this guy and you'll be throwing away everything that makes life awesome."

"But I wasn't listening to him!" She shouted. "I got him to come here so I could… ah, forget it." She shot a hex at Kid Flash, sending him flying.

A fight broke out almost immediately, and while the HIVE Five battled Kid Flash, Pietro kept running out and then back into the museum, each time carrying gifts with him of chocolate, jewelry, flowers (more orchids) and wads of cash. Jinx sighed as he continued and then grabbed the 'slippery when wet' sign left on the floor while her teammates cornered Kid Flash.

The red-head slipped, as hoped, and she raised the board above his head. Just as she was about to bring it down, however, the ground beneath her feet lurched violently as if there'd been an earthquake.

"PIETRO!" A voice screamed.

"What? Oh, hey Lance."

"What the hell do you think you're doing Pietro?" Lance fumed, stomping up to the silver-haired boy, each step jolting the ground. "You stayed behind and made me leave Wanda and those two clueless morons with a highly sensitive artifact, heading back to New York on their own, just so you could chase some bimbo?"

"HEY!" Jinx, Kid Flash and Quicksilver took offense at the term in unison.

"We are leaving, NOW!" Lance shouted, his patience at an end.

"Only if you catch me first," Pietro said evading smugly.

"We are going or I will get Wanda to come!"

"You wouldn't…"

"Try me."

Kid Flash snickered. "You'd better listen to your mommy," he taunted, pointing and laughing.

"Oh whatever," Pietro rolled his eyes, grabbing the sign away from Jinx and bashing him over the head before he could stand up from the puddle.

"I was going to do that," Jinx snapped.

"Just offering my services to a lady," he replied, picking up one of the orchids and putting it in her hair. "Need help getting this stuff back?"

"No!"

"Pietro, I'm hearing sirens! Come on!" Lance began making for the door and the silver-haired boy followed suit, grumbling as he left.

"See you soon, Jinx!" He called over his shoulder.

Jinx turned to her silent, watching teammates.

"You five! Don't just stand there. Grab this stuff and let's book."

Mammoth grabbed the fallen hero and the rest began taking the gifts. As they were picking up the valuables and Jinx was sampling the chocolate, See-More took a glance at the expensive variety of presents and sighed.

He hadn't even started and already he was being beaten by a mile.

OOO

"Dang it Lance! Couldn't you be my wingman, just this once? Back me up for a change?"

"What, so you could bring another Wanda into the house? Besides, we live on a completely different coast; we just came out here to do a job. It would never work out."

"Well I won't know if I don't try, will I?"

"Let's just get back to New York."

"Oh come on…"

"I mean it!"

"You know what?" Pietro froze. "No. You can look for me all you like, go and get Wanda all you want. But I'm staying until I do what I came to do or get mercilessly and repeatedly shot down until I can't stand it anymore, whichever comes first."

Lance glared at him with an infuriated gaze.

"Whatever." He stormed off down the street and after a moment Pietro turned and ran in the opposite direction.

OOO

Fred pulled the wrapper off of another candy bar and shoved it in his mouth while Todd looked on with a grimace.

"This is boring," he moaned. "And I don't wanna go back to New York. It's cold there and it's warm here."

"We need to go back," Wanda told him firmly, keeping her eye on the speedometer. "We need to get back to New York and give that package to Magneto."

"Well I don't see why Pietro gets to stay. Why are we always doing his dirty work? It's his dad, anyway."

"And mine."

"I guess," he grumbled. "But I still think we should turn around. Enjoy the coast while were here and not rush off so soon. Stay a while longer."

"Absolutely not.

"But it isn't fair that we have to return while Pietro and Lance have fun!"

"Yeah, I wonder what Pietro's doing right now," Fred mused between bites.

Wanda froze and exchanged a glance with Todd, then sighed.

"I'll turn the car around at the next exit."

OOO

Hope you all enjoyed. :) Leave a review if you liked or if you have any suggestions and I hope you'll hang around for the next chapter in which one more character will come to the party and more people will find out just how much they have in common.