Those Darn Dogooders

6

Kid Flash

NO!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! Please not now….please!

…But I can't stop it. For all of my powers, for all of my strengths, for all of the work that I've done and the trouble I've gone to in order to make Jinx rethink everything-her status as a villain, her 'hatred' of me-I can't stop this from happening. I can't save Jinx from the only thing other than her trust that I fight for. I can't save Jinx from the law.

"You're under arrest."

Jinx sees the callused hand pull her wrist behind her back. She snaps her head around, panicked and confused. I step to her side to watch what the police chief is doing, and in my shock, I can't act. I can't physically move my feet or my hands, I can only watch on in horror as she's forced into police custody.

"Kid Flash, help me!" she yells as she fights to break away from the chief, who is now being aided by the other officers who are fighting to keep Jinx down. I…still can't move…! C'mon, Kid, MOVE!

But it's a no-go. Jinx scrunches up her eyes in an attempt to curse them all 50 feet away from her, to escape. When nothing happens, she looks up in shock, her heart rate picking up. She throws her head over her shoulders and looks at the restraints she's been placed in.

I can't believe this. I really can't believe this. This night was going so well!

I gasp as I look too. They're no ordinary handcuffs-The police put Jinx in power inhibitors! I have to do something—anything… Again, Jinx begs for my help.

"Kid Flash, please!" she yells as she struggles more and more with the jerks who are handling her like an object. One of them comes up from behind her and throws his arms around her middle, holding her down as another orders her to be taken to the armored car they're using as prisoner transport.

As they haul her off backwards, Jinx keeps fighting her hardest against them. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" she screams, thrusting her head back into the face of her holder, breaking his nose and causing him to drop her. The others take this as their cue to advance on her. "Kid Flash, please, help me!"

"Jinx…!" I want to help her, pick her up and run a thousand miles away where there are no police, but these guys are in the same business as I am, and in a very indirect way, we work under the same oath. But I still can't move. My feet are glued to the ground, and it's the most paralyzing, awful thing I've ever felt. Why can't I move! I can't let them take her!

Kid—Flash—HELP HER!

As I try to will my feet to pick up and run to fight off the boys in blue, I see yet another one making his way towards her, carrying a syringe full of some dangerous-looking blue liquid. "Clear the way!" he yells as the cops step aside to let him through, although still keeping Jinx surrounded. That's it-my feet are free.

"NO! You won't hurt her!" I can't hear myself yelling as I run to Jinx's side and stand in front of her, forming a human shield between her and the law. I can feel her cowering behind me, clearly happy that I'm following through on my unspoken promise to be there for her, whenever she needs me.

"Step down, boys," comes the voice of the police chief. "This isn't necessary." The cops lower their guns, and both Jinx and I relax for a moment.

But only for that moment.

"We've already got her in power inhibitors, so there shouldn't be all this fuss," he says, unknowingly stabbing me in the back as he orders the police to take Jinx, decisively. She screams again, and I'm about to beat up the entire force when the chief calls me over.