Chapter Text
The scent of burning rubber filled Jinx's nose. Disgusted she pressed her fingers on her nose. Sam looked at her puzzled. He was blessed with having a chronic stuffy nose. Not once in his life he had to smell anything.
“He has those cheap tires on, they smell the absolute worst”, her voice sounds distorted because of her fingers. Sam pressed a hand on his mouth, but he couldn’t stop the giggle.
“Very funny”, she said with a grin and her fingers still on her nose.
He stood up from his chair and walked a few steps in the small room they were in. JInx turned her attention to the screen in front of her. The driver just rounded the first corner. It already felt much slower than the others. Annoyed she flicked through a few pages that were on a clipboard. Her fingers were no longer on her nose.
“Doesn’t seem like any of them are half decent as delivery drivers”, she muttered as she nibbled on her thumbnail. Sam had calmed down enough to sit down: “We still have three more and one of them is the guy Aki suggested.”
She nodded not paying any attention to the driver on screen she leaned back and massaged her neck. The guy Aki suggested was something of a gamble, because he was apparently a good driver, but he was a convicted criminal with marks all over his face. It really shouldn’t be a huge problem, because their delivery service was known for their speed not for their prestige. It still would ensue a few problems down the road, if he was the typical thug. But Aki wouldn’t hang around with such a person, would she?
Sam had gotten out of his chair again and stood behind Jinx. “Mind if I take over?”, he whispered near her ear. “You may massage me”, she answered, lowering her arms. She instantly relaxed under his touch.
The massage was cut short when he lowered his mouth to hear ear and asked in a hushed tone: “Wanna make out?”
“No, but don’t stop”, on her face was a slick smile.
“You are such a tease”, he said in a normal voice, but he did continue with the massage.
Jinx glimpsed at the screen. The driver was about to come back. The timer on the side was way too high to consider him. Groaning she got out of the chair. “You talk to the snail while I get the next driver ready”, her voice was low and sounded different than before.
“Aye, aye Captain”, Sam saluted lazily before her and went out on the test track.
Jinx took the clipboard. She knew who was next, but this looked more professional. She stepped out of the room. The sun was already low on the horizon soon the world would turn deep orange. Her fingers slid through her dark purple hair which she had grown out onto her shoulders. She looked around the area. Four D-Wheels were standing nearby. The white one belonged to Sam.It was a bit beaten up, and it hurt to see it treated that way.
Next two it were two similar ones. The newest models of D-Wheels in fact they looked so new they must have been straight from the fabric. Not even a spot of dust was on them.
A few feet away was the forth one. It was a black one with orange highlights. On the sides were some extensions which seemed to protect the feet or something like that. The back was like a seat of a car clearly only made for one person. The tires were driven off. If someone would drive fast with that, they could potentially die. But the rest of the wheel was in a much better condition. The owner clearly took personal care of it.
Jinx returned her focus and took a peak at the list: “Next up is... Crow Hogan.” The suggestion by Aki. When she lowered the list and looked around she let out a huge sigh. Two men were sitting on a small bench and looked rather bored. Their clothes seemed to be just as fresh out the fabric as their D-Wheels. The material seemed genuine, no fake leather but real one. They clearly didn’t need a delivery job. Neither of them looked directly at her. They were avoiding her gaze. Like most people did. Crow on the other hand was not there.
“Do you know where that guy is?” They looked at each other briefly before shaking their heads.
“Well, well, well. Let’s move right on”, she cleared her throat and-
“Wait! I’m here!”, surprised she looked up once more. The orange head was storming out from behind the building Jinx and Sam had been in. He had dark rings under his eyes. “Sorry I just wanted to catch a few minutes of sleep. Didn’t get much last night”, he smiled apologetic. Jinx just raised her eyebrows at him.
“What’s going on?”, Sam walked back from the snail driver.
“So we have one sleeper”, she pointed at Crow he gulped at her remark,” and two lying pieces of shit.”
“Hey!”, the two other drivers jumped at her words.
“We were just trying to save you from some Satellite scum. You don’t want people like that in your company anyway.” Crow made a small noise. Jinx inspected him without looking directly. He was clearly holding himself back from doing something stupid. His fists were clenched and his teeth gritted. But he stood still. He didn’t notice her gaze.
“Thanks for stopping by but I as a fellow Satellite scum asks you to get lost”, Sam’s voice was calm. Jinx couldn’t count how often she had heard this lie from him. But it was always fun to watch the reactions of the listeners. Everyone looked surprised at the tall man with his clothes and the way he behaved it was painfully obvious that he was not from Satellite. The two drivers exchanged another look. “You know what? We should clean our streets from idiots like you are. How about a tag duel?”
Jinx held back a loud groan. She had wished for a fist fight soooo badly. But no. Everything had to be settled with duels. Which would have been fine if her D-Wheel was here, but it wasn’t. So she couldn’t participate which was honestly the worst part of the whole situation.
Sam didn’t look at Crow when he said: “Are you on board with that?”
“Hell yeah.”
While the four men were getting prepared for the duel Jinx sat back down. She decided to call Aki and let her know about how her birdy did.
“Did he make it?”, was her first question.
“Sort of yes and no. So he is about to duel some thugs who wanted to clean the ‘Satellite scum’”, at the last words Jinx did the air quotes before realising Aki couldn’t see her. Well her friend would know she didn’t mean it literally.
“And that’s good?”
“He is bonding with my coworker Sam so I guess yes. Anyway have you prepared your part of the presentation for tomorrow?”
“No worries, the teachers are going to be blown away”, Jinx heard the smile while Aki spoke. When you listened to her now you would never guess that she was known as a bad witch just a few months ago. She hadn’t dueled with her yet. Mainly because of Aki’s powers and how she couldn’t control them. Jinx was brave, but not stupid. If she got hurt even in an accident, she wouldn’t be able to work and that would make her starve in the long run. So up until recently the two rarely hung out together. When Aki came back from an extended sick leave she was very different from before. The other students still avoided her but Jinx and Delilah both didn’t care.
“I talked with Delilah”, that name alone sent a shiver through her body. Her coffin nail. Anytime she was near her she felt like she was going insane. All sorts of emotions were sweeping through her. Not all of those feelings should be acted upon. Especially not the most prominent one.
Pure Spite.
“And what did she cry about this time?”
Aki let out a loud groan on the other side of the phone: “Honestly you two should get along better. This is getting exhausting.”
Jinx bit her tongue as she said: “Sorry you are right. Did she finish her part?”
“Yes she did. She also sent you her version so you can put everything together.”
“Perfect. I guess I’ll be done around...midnight.”
A voice got louder at Aki’s end of the line, Jinx couldn’t understand them but it sounded like Dinner was ready.
Aki put her hand over the speaker before she shouted something back.
“Sorry I need to get going. Catch you tomorrow”, she sounded stressed, but happy.
“See ya.”
Carelessly Jinx threw her phone on the table. The duel had started and Crow was leading the pack. Linx tilted her head at that sight. Was Sam playing nice because he wanted Crow on the job?
It didn’t really matter, they had to take whatever was left, because the rest of the drivers on that day were really bad. Either they could barely control their machine, drove as lame as snails or they thought they were the new king of riding duels.
She leaned back in her chair and watched the duel her eyes were peeled on Crow the whole time. While she was watching him her hand wandered to her shoulder. It started to hurt again. This time she paid closer attention to the pain. It was more on her shoulder blade not directly on her shoulder. And it felt sort of round. A little bit like the tattoo she had there. Lost in her thoughts she massaged herself.
The duel was not as long as she had thought. Crow had used a Blackwing Deck which complemented Sam’s dark type deck perfectly. Even though the two others tried their best such a perfect combo was barely beatable.They went down and acted like sour losers afterwards, driving off without saying a word, just mumbling more slurs.
Jinx looked after them as they became a part of the usual traffic. This would surely have some consequences and she would be the one to fix it. With a sigh she started to wrap everything up.
Crow and Sam had stopped a few meters off, they were still on their D-Wheels and talking excitedly to one another. Sam gestured wildly with his hands.
“That was an awesome duel!”, he said while grinning. Without thinking he extended a hand for a fist bump, Crow without missing a beat did the same.
“You're from Satellite as well?”, Crow asked excitedly.
“Not quite”, Sam had started to fiddle with his fingers,”my father came from Satellite, but he got away somehow. They were assholes either way.”
“True.”
For a moment silence swole between them, then Crow cleared his throat and asked: “So about that job?”
“Oh RIGHT!”, Sam jumped off his D-Wheel, but Jinx was already next to them. She handed Sam his backpack while carrying her own.
“Why did you pack our things? Crow still has to do a test run.”
She just looked at him with one hand on her shoulder.
“You already decided didn’t you?”, with raised eyebrows and a smirk she challenged him.
“Well yeah, but you probably want more proof”, he had pulled off his helmet to breathe easily. His light blonde hair was slick from the sweat.
“I actually watched the duel, that's enough for me.”
“Oh? What did you see during the duel?”, Crow was intrigued.
Jinx turned to him and raised a finger with each point she made: “Great head start. At the third corner there was a wobble, probably because of your slicks. When you finished the first round there was a mechanic clicking I would check that out. And last but not least you were fully immersed which is great, too many accidents happen because of carelessness.”
“You saw all of that on that tiny monitor?”, Crow's expression was a mix of impressed and terrified.
She shrugged, while Sam was looking at her from the corner of his eye.
“Honestly I only paid half attention”, she lied.
“Anyway I do want to have a talk with you before you get onboarded. But I’m hungry, so I’ll be treating you to dinner”, she took a peek at her phone to check the time. The happy hour at a burger joint was about to start. Perfect timing.
“Is this your way of asking for a date?”, Sam had trouble holding his laughter back.
Now Crow started to sweat.
With a horrified look she answered: “I’m trying not to starve here, don’t get so scared just because I pay for Dinner. Geez.”
Crow let out a short sigh of relief: “Okay sure where is your wheel?”
“At the job. You’ll need to give me a lift.”
He looked at his D-Wheel then back up at her: “You do see there is no place for you to sit?”
“I’ll be standing on the suspensions on the back”, she pointed at them. They were tiny and didn’t look very promising to hold all the way.
“Are you sure?”, he was starting to question her sanity.
“The place we are going to is just 2 blocks away. If you keep this up I’ll be quicker if I walk over there”, her fingers had started to tap the side of her leg. She scrambled to remain calm.
“You could just wait and go over to Delilah's place with me”, Sam suggested.
“I’d rather crawl through glass than spend an extra minute in her presence”, Jinx said with an angry glare. That name again and she could already feel everything all at once. With a huff she asked Crow: “So?”
He looked helplessly to Sam who shrugged in return. With a sigh he finally said: “Fine, but I’m going to tell the cops it was your fault if anything happens." She opened her mouth to say something about his criminal markers, but she decided against it. He got off the D-Wheel and got another helmet out of the trunk. It looked exactly like his with something like wings on the side.
Jinx looked at it skeptically, as she adjusted the size settings she said: “You REALLY love birds don’t you?”
Staggered he looked at her. In the meantime she put on the helmet and wobbled her head around, it fit. Now both of them looked at her as if she just summoned a flying pig.
“Safety first”, she said with a blank expression. Sam put his hands over his face and Crow just shook his head with a grin.
A roaring engine stopped them. They looked for the source.
In an instant Jinx felt her body tense and the feelings started to rush again. Delilah was here. Most of her dark hair was sticking out from underneath her helmet and even though her visor was done her eyes glowed through it. At least it felt like they were glowing. She was wearing her usual dark blue riding suit and rode her D-Wheel which had the same colour. With grace she stopped her D-Wheel right in front of the trio.
For a moment Jinx and Delilah just stared at each other. Both of their bodies were tense.
“Hi there Delilah”, Sam said with a sweet smile. Only then broke Delilah the look.
“Hey”, she answered, not missing the obvious song reference.
“Are you finally done with testing the drivers?”
“Yes, but Jinx wants to have a talk with him”, Sam shrugged.
Delilah just nodded, a guy with criminal markers like that as a delivery driver, that would definitely become a problem, but not hers. So she didn’t care.
“Perfect than the two of us can drive off, no?”, she asked Sam.
“I actually thought it would be nice for the four of us-”
“No!”, both women shouted at the same time.
In an attempt to defend himself Sam put his arms and made calming gestures.
“Okay, that’s my sign. Let’s get going”, Jinx signaled to Crow to move it. She climbed on the suspension noting that it would only hold her for this short drive, she could practically feel how it caved under her weight.
“Don’t drive too fast”, Jinx commanded.
Delilah looked mouth agape. Jinx grimaced at her.
“Wait a sec”, Crow murmured as he navigated through the menu of his D-Wheel. When he was finished a mechanical buzz started on the opposite side of the wheel.
Jinx, Delilah and Sam looked at the source and Jinx had a really hard time not to start laughing. The thing which she had assumed a guard for his feet was in fact a wing.
All three of them looked at Crow dumbfounded. They had never seen such an addition to a D-Wheel.
“What? I need to get some balance”, Crow justified himself.
“Sure. That’s the only reason you have freaking wings on your wheel”, Delilah stated dry.
“Just drive”, Jinx said. The pain in her shoulder was getting worse and she wanted to get something to eat.
The engine of the D-Wheel revved up. It was a bit deeper than the usual machine.
Delilah crooked her head and inspected the machine. It seemed like there was an issue, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
Crow and Jinx were driving off. Sam kept staring after Jinx.
“Why can’t you two get along?”, he whispered.
Delilah huffed as she answered: “I don’t know. It just feels wrong to be near her. Sorry I know you want us to get along...”
She smiled, but in her eyes formed tears. She hated this feeling, hated not being perfect especially for Sam.
“I’m sure you are doing your best. We will figure this out”, his smile should have been encouraging, but to Delilah it just felt like a huge accusation. She looked away.
“Let’s go to your place and watch a movie”, he suggested in a hushed tone.
With a sad smile she nodded and both of them got on their wheels.
“This tastes fantastic”, Jinx exclaimed as she bit off yet another piece of her burger. Greece was dripping down her fingers and onto the pavement.
They had to sit in the park, because the burger joint was packed. Which was to be expected during the happy hour. The food there was incredibly cheap.
While they were eating the sun slowly started to dip the world into a burning orange. The air was getting already. A few other people were walking or jogging through the park.
Crow was also eating a burger, but with much less enthusiasm than her. He glanced at her and couldn’t help, and giggle. But he made sure she didn’t notice. He still had no clue how much or how little of a date this was.
While she was chewing down a bite she asked: “So, how did you get those marks?”
He had expected such a question so he answered without hesitation: “Mostly stealing food and stuff like that. Except this one”, he pointed at the m that was right on his forehead, “they made up some charges, because they knew I was up to no good.”
Jinx looked at him intently. Her eyes usually made the other person uneasy and they would barely look directly at them. Crow simply looked back.
“You told the truth”, she simply said, as she slurped on the drink that was sitting beside her.
“Did you expect me to lie?”, he narrowed his eyes at her. With every sentence she was getting more confused by her.
“Huh, I’m not sure. I think I didn’t expect you to be this open, that’s what I was trying to say”, her finger wandered to her mouth. Without noticing she started to nibble at her thumbnail. Her gaze was fixated on something in the distance.
“You are aware that people will be hostile against you, right?”
“Well it’s not illegal for me to be here anymore”, he chewed on his burger, it was cooling out.
“True, but”, she sighed,” New Domino City is no paradise even if the people say it. You saw two assholes just today. And those were at the end of the food chain.”
He raised his eyebrows and waited for her to continue.
“Those two didn’t have any power. If you deliver a package to say, the majors secretary she could react similarly and if you make one”, she emphasized the one with her extended index finger,”mistake it might cost you more than a duel.”
There was no trace of a smile on her face. She needed him to hear her. He stopped chewing and slowly nodded.
“Also you will need to communicate differently”, she straightened her back and pronounced the words with empazise.
Unwillingly Crow leaned back a few inches. She suddenly had a very different presence. The quirky woman who ate like an animal was gone now there was a woman who could have attended a business meeting and now one would bat an eye.
Jinx noticed his uncertainty and she dropped the act. Her shoulders slumped again. She wiped her fingers with a napkin.
“You are now flying with vultures and hawks. You need to be able to adapt, birdy.”
Crow slowly nodded, then he looked confused: “Did you just call me birdy?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“Why yes?”
She started to count the reasons with her fingers again: “Your name is Crow. Your D-Wheel has wings. Your helmet has wings. You have a bird deck. And you are going to work for a company called Blackbird delivery. You are begging for that nickname and if none of your friends call you that I’m honestly disappointed in them.”
For a moment he frowned, then started to laugh. Jinx couldn’t help but start as well.
“I hope you’re not too disappointed”, his laugh still wasn’t under control and he could barely bring out the words.
As his laugh slowly stopped he wiped over his face. Jinx saw the small yawn when he did.
“You should get some rest”, she commented with a warm smile.
“Don’t you have more questions?”, he couldn’t hold back the yawn.
She could tell him how much she despised eating alone, but she decided against it.
“Nah, you are good. Tomorrow, 6 pm shift at the warehouse. Now shoo before you fall asleep in the park like a homeless”, she was already on her feet. Her arm was extended towards her. With a slight hesitation he grabbed it.
The moment he took her hand a sharp pain shot through Jinx's shoulder. She moaned slightly under the pain as she pulled him up.
“Are you okay?”, he noticed her pained expression. But instead of comforting her he held his own arm. It looked more red than before. Probably just the dying sunlight.
“Yeah, I just need a painkiller, that’s all”, she answered still with a pained expression.
Carefully she moved her shoulder around. The pain didn’t get worse so it wasn’t her muscle. And probably not her joint.
“Anyway I need to get to work. We will see each other tomorrow and drive carefully” she said while turning away to pick up her trash. Crow followed her example.
“Should I drive you to the warehouse?”
“It’s on the other side of the park. I can walk. See you!”, with a hand on her shoulder she was already walking away. She didn’t dare to look at him or anyone her face was distorted from the pain she currently felt. Instead of panicking she tried a breathing technique she knew.
All the way in.
All the way out.
30 times.
By the end of it her head felt light, but the pain was still there.