Jester

Rekindling.

"Wake up princess." A gravelly voice mused as they shoved Jess out of her bed.

She was confused, to say the least, last she remembered she was fighting Batman at the harbor. She looked around to find herself in a cell with Devastation being the one who woke her up.

'Guess Bat's put me in Reve.' She concluded. She gathered herself off the floor and replaced the blanket back on the bed. 'This should be fun.'

"Nice to see you back in here. Thought you were dead, guess you were just pulling the same stunt again." Devastation mocked as she left the cell. Jess glared at her leaving form.

'Won't be as nice a trip as last time I guess.' She left the cell as well and followed the other inmates to the cafeteria. A simple meal, with balanced nutrients, so she couldn't really complain. There wasn't much flavor though.

After eating her quiet meal she wandered over to the bleachers and sat by herself to observe the other inmates. Frost, Devastation and Tuppence were chatting close to where the separation wall was. On the other side of the glass were Junior and Tommy, both of whom kept glancing her way.

She ignored them and waited for the time to pass. It wouldn't be long before something happened.

A bell rang dismissing them all back to their cells. She got up to leave the room but was approached by another prisoner.

"Joker's little brat isn't so tough without that clown backing her is she?" The other woman mocked. She only cocked her head to the side slightly trying to figure out what the other prisoner was playing at.

"Seems like she could use a little refreshing on who runs the place." Another one stated. She went to walk around them when the first one shoved her back.

"Where do you think you're going?" She pulled away to again go around the two. The other one went to swing at her, but she caught the hand. "We aren't finished with you yet." She narrowed her eyes and twisted the hand she was holding to get the lackey away. The leader went to strike but she caught the hand as well. Only the leader reacted differently, instead of just letting her catch the hand the leader swung an elbow hitting her in the nose. With her nose now bleeding she let go of the lackey's hand and struck back.

The fight was short-lived as the guards activated the collars. The two antagonizers fell to their knees while Jess grit her teeth and glared at the guard. The shock was kept on until her nose started bleeding more steadily. When they finally turned off the collar she stumbled slightly. She kept her glare up, but another guard came in and disturbed her stare by shoving her forward by the shoulder.

"Move it kid. This ain't the place." She turned her glare to the other guard. He happened to be close enough to hit, so that's exactly what she did. She punched him right in the jaw knocking him back a step. The first guard turned on the shock collar again and then shoved her down.

"This ain't the time kid. Knock it off." She glanced up from her spot on the floor and saw the small group of villains watching this unfold. She let out a silent growl and went to stand, even with the shock from the collar still on. The guard she hit, hit her back, just above her shoulder making her fall back to the ground.

"You're gonna regret picking fights kid." The guard said as he administered a sedative. The collar got turned off again and her vision started going fuzzy.

"Devastation, get her back to her cell."

That was the last she heard before blacking out.

She woke in the cell and looked around.

"Fighting won't get you anywhere around here you know." She looked over to see Devastation was in the cell as well. "The collar mess with your voice?" She shook her head and looked around for something to explain what happened.

Devastation narrowed her eyes.

"What happened then?" Thinking over how to explain she remembered that the last time she was here Devastation saw the scars on her back. She got off the mattress and turned her back to show the lack of scars. She only showed her back. "How'd you get rid of the scars?"

She fixed her top and turned around with a shrug.

"You didn't get rid of them yourself." It took a minute before she started to piece things together. "You really did die, didn't you?" She shrunk on herself a little, that was all the confirmation Devastation needed. "How are you back?"

She shrugged, not everything was clear. Knowing her recovered memories didn't come back in order she wasn't sure what exactly killed her either.

"Stick close. I'm sure we could work something out, maybe even get Psimon to help figure out what's wrong with your voice." She nodded, only slightly disheartened by having a relatively easy way back into villainy.

The rest of the night went quietly. The following day they were allowed to go outside in the mixed courtyard. She stuck kinda close to Devastation as they wandered about. They got closer to the small group Devastation was with yesterday.

"Tommy, Jr. You worked with Jester before?" Devastation asked as she approached the group she was with yesterday. The two named nodded, and Jester glanced around Devastation's arm.

"Hey beautiful, you still running with Kaldur?" She tilted her head a bit trying to remember the name. It came back as a fragment, the man in black that hit the one in blue, one of the first memories from the mirror maze. She shook her head no.

"Can't talk doll?" Tommy asked. She looked to Devastation for help.

"Not sure when it happened, but she died. When she was brought back, something happened during the process and now she can't talk." Junior walked closer and pulled her out from behind Devastation.

"For a dead girl, you still look fine beautiful." He stood in front of her, completely ignoring the look Tommy was giving him. She gave him a half smile and pulled him in for a hug. He held her at arm's length. "No kiss this time. I'm still trying to get over the last one." She looked at him confused, which in turn confused everyone else. "You don't remember you kissed me?" She shook her head.

"Maybe Psimon can help with the memory problem too." She nodded and Junior pulled her in for a side hug.

"Whatever happens I'm sure we could make this work beautiful." She smiled and hugged him back.

This could work out in her favor, having Junior as a 'boyfriend'. Tommy didn't seem too keen on the idea, but Junior didn't seem to mind. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. He in turn pulled her closer with his arm around her waist.

"We shouldn't talk business out in the open, but we can get her caught up on the plan right? She'd be a major asset to our team." Junior looked around at the others when Killer Frost walked up.

"We shouldn't involve her, for all we know she's still with those heroes," Tuppence said as she stood by her brother.

"I trust her. I think we could work together." Junior defended. The others all contemplated before ultimately agreeing to fill her in on the plan.

They were dismissed to go back to their cells and Junior gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"See you soon beautiful." She smiled with a nod and headed back with Devastation.

"You hurt her and I end you." She overheard Tommy say as they walked off to their own cells.

Another person with an easy leverage point. Yeah, this could work. All she has to do now is show she's now a villain and not part of the heroes. Forager and Halo will be disappointed, but it'll be for their benefit.

"You know your eyes are the wrong shade of green?" Devastation said pulling her out of her thoughts. She tilted her head in confusion. "They're darker than before. Same with your hair, it's less neon and more auburn. You think it has something to do with your revival?"

Jess shrugged, she knew her hair looked different. It was black for almost a year. But to have it be a different shade was something she hadn't thought about.

———

A/N: sorry this took so long, writers block has hit me hard and I am having trouble writing at the moment. v.v But I will try to keep things posted, if only on an irregular schedule. I may also post one of the starts to an other story, see if the creative juices flow again that way. As always have a wonderful day/night. ^.^