After the mission in Central City, Gabe had assessed his wounds. None of them were too bad, but there were two cuts on his arms that needed stitches, and his supersuit needed some touching up from all the cuts Double Down's cards had inflicted. Lucky he had a spare.

Both he and Jin had found out from Batman about Aquaman's murder at the supposed hands of Deathstroke. But Slade Wilson was dead. Gabe had run through all the possibilities of who the killer was- he had come to the conclusion that there were only two plausible ones- either that Slade Wilson had somehow survived, or that it was an impostor. But Gabe was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as Jin landed a kick into his ribs. They were in the War Room, sparring each other.

"Where's your head, Gaby-baby?" Jin flashed her teeth at him as she danced back and wound up for another strike. "I started that kick last Tuesday!" Central City had set Jin back a bit, not that she'd told anyone. Landing on her back in the scrapyard had definitely bruised a rib, if not caused a mild fracture. It only hurt when she breathed, and the bruises meant she wouldn't be running around with no shirt for a long time.

Pain was fleeting, though. What bothered her more is that one of their team members had been basically eaten alive. Even though she hadn't really gotten to know Cyber- none of them had- death was death. It just made her realize that any of them could be snatched away in an instant. That thought alone was enough to make her train ever harder, and sleep ever less. There were dark circles under her eyes that almost matched the tint of the bruising on her side. 

"Wake up, Gabe. Inattention is pain! Sleep is death!" She feinted another kick and lashed out with her opposite foot in a stomp.

"Oh, I'm awake, Jin. Believe me," Gabe retorted. He wondered where this mindset of Jin's had come from- sure, she could be serious, but not [i]that[/i] serious. Something was bothering her. Pushing Deathstroke out of his mind, Gabe instead focused his mind on trying to figure out what was bothering Jin. Beating her in a fight would come later.

Thinking Jin would follow through with her feint, Gabe lifted his leg to block with his shin. But, quickly realising that the feint was just that, he switched feet, only barely dodging Jin's foot stomp. Off balance, Gabe swiftly attempted a spinning hook kick to Jin's head, knowing full well that she would take advantage of his lack of balance.

"Tch. I hope you're sleeping!" She darted back out of his range and ducked him low, quickly trying to sweep his leg. Since he was already unsteady, it was simple to drop him. Once he was on the ground, she straddled him, her knee to the hollow of his throat. There she carefully rested her weight. Enough to keep him pinned without causing pain, but easy enough to start applying pressure. "You had better be thinking of something [i]real[/i] important, because it'd be a shame if you start sucking." She raised a fist and brought it down in a stabbing motion, right to his eye. Stopping millimeters from his eyelash, she looked down at him.

Her black eyes were ringed with dark circles of exhaustion. The fist she held above his face trembled lightly, as if her fine muscles weren't quite under control. Silently, she glared at her partner, her friend, the one person she trusted beyond any other in the known universe. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as her jaw clenched. Slowly she brought her fist down, to rest briefly against Gabe's eye, blocking his vision completely. 

"I just killed you, Gabe." Her voice shook. "You're dead... so whatever's on your mind, it's not more important than your life." In one motion, she rolled off of his body and stood away from him.

Gabe stood up. His concern for Jin was overflowing in his mind. The way she spoke to him just then... It was as if he actually [i]did[/i] die. He took a step closer to Jin, his eyes searching for hers.

"Hey... I'm still here. We're just training. But... Are you okay, Jin? Something's bothering you. Let me help you. You can tell me," he said, his brain repeating the same thought, over and over: [i]What's wrong with Jin is she okay what's wrong with Jin is she okay[/i]. 

Jin's eyes were slightly unfocused, as if she was here, and yet not. For all her talk about being focused on the fight, she didn't seem to be quite aware of everything at this particular moment. Her hands hung limply at her sides, and her fingers twitched slightly every so often. "I'm fine, Gabe. Just haven't slept in a bit, that's all." Even though she wasn't lying, it was clear that the truth wasn't there either.

Lack of sleep, she said... the most common cause for lack of sleep was stress. Was Jin stressed? Maybe all this superhero team business was taking its toll on her. It was then that Gabe decided to hopefully relieve her from the stress. He'd been planning to do this anyway, but now seemed like as appopriate a time as ever.

"You know, Jin... I've been getting a bit tired of this superhero work, and I think that you deserve a bit of a break. So, I've been thinking... Do you want to maybe go watch a movie? You know, to eat some popcorn, sit in comfy seats and forget about all this... Even if it's just for an hour or two. How does that sound?"

Jin seemed to come back to the room a bit, and she peered at him curiously. "I... I guess we could see something, if they don't give us crap about leaving the base. I was meaning to drag you to that new comedy about the two guys and the monkey." A weary, but definitely grateful smile appeared on her face, and for a moment, the old Jin was there. "I'm buying." She'd earned a decent amount of money on the back streets of Star City. A few sleepless hours at night caused her to dig for her old leather motorcycle jacket and gloves. After a few more wardrobe adjustments, a pair of colored contacts, and washout dye for her hair, she hit the bars and alleys after midnight, when everyone else was sleeping. Batman had forbidden her from stealing, but he'd never said anything about hustling a few pool games. She had money to spare.

"You buy? Okay then... Sure. It's a date then," he said, before panicking at his choice of wording. "I mean, if you want it to be a date, or it could just be us as friends watching the movie, it's up to you, really..." he said, the words speeding out of his mouth, cheeks turning bright red. Man, this was awkward. Or maybe Gabe just didn't know how to speak to the strange creatures that were girls. Either way, Gabe was embarrassed way beyond redemption. The only way he could possibly redeem himself was to take his wallet anyway and at least buy the popcorn and drinks.

Jin's smile faltered at Gabe's stammering. "...isn't it always just us watching a movie together? You know Bats hates fiction." She reached out and lightly punched him in the shoulder. "Come on. Let's go before someone catches us leaving." She headed to the door of the War Room and opened it. Almost immediately, her instincts rang out that something was wrong. And then she heard the screaming. 

As soon as Gabe heard the screaming, he ran to Jin. "Stay. Here." he commanded, holding her shoulders tightly, before proceeding to run out of the War Room and making his way to his room. It was time to suit up. 

"...stay here, my sweet ass." Jin barely waited for Gabe to clear the room before she was on the stairs behind him. She dashed to her own room, her small feet barely touching the ground as she traveled. Her suit was on in less than a minute, and she slapped her orb belt around her waist. Where were the others? What was going on?

-Dizzy/GG-