Made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, or so she thought.

“Elias Cain. The splinter in my mind’s eye finally reaches the center of my soul.”

I blinked at her and said something very articulate, like ‘huh’.

She glared at me. “Did you understand what you saw?”

There was only one right answer to that. “Listen, lady, I’m a glorified security guard. Here’s what I got from what I saw: ‘Jesus fucking Christ, you can produce a lot of fire.’”

Slight muscle relaxation suggested I’d made the right call by pretending not to see anything else, which also meant she didn’t know what I’d seen, but she frowned as if she was upset. “That will make this tricky as getting us out of here will not be easy.”

“Freeze is in here too, somewhere.”

“No, he is not. He must be in the mind of the Homo Magi,” she sneered at that last phrase.

I looked bewildered, because I wanted more information, though context made the implication obvious. How had that happened? Had it been because we went separate directions?

She rolled her eyes at me. “Zatanna. She is Homo Magi.”

“Pretty sure she’s dated a lot of men, at most she’s Bi Magi.”

She closed her eyes in frustration. “Homo Magi, like Homo Sapiens. Different species. It makes magic natural, her powers do not need to be taught or awakened.”

I was pretty sure that wasn’t true, based on the little bit I knew about Zatanna and her father’s careers and the fact that she had to speak her spells backwards which didn’t seem like a genetic thing at all. But maybe she had natural advantages that Jinx resented? That would fit with everything I saw.

“Seems a little unfair.” She opened her mouth, but I kept talking, “But at least it means she can get herself and Freeze out, right? Should I just go looking for her and get out of your hair?”

“No, idiot! We need to work together to get out of here.”

Could I run? Maybe if I left she couldn’t get out? But I didn’t want to risk that. Also, we’d been in here a long time and Batman had been right behind her when this all went to shit, by now, unless our physical bodies had disappeared, surely the physical was in hand, I just had to get out of here. And Jinx should want me out alive, as she wanted to sacrifice me, not have me living inside her…soul? Mind?

So, she should want me out and I wanted out, that was a sufficient basis to reach a deal, right? And if we could reach one, Parley should mean that she had to keep it, even if it was made here, right?

“I mean…if you need me to do something then you need to promise not to kill me when we get out of here.”

“I need to complete this ritual! I need that power!”

I gave her a completely flat look, as that was a supremely unconvincing argument for allowing myself to be sacrificed. “Well, I need to live.”

We sat there, stalemated for a moment, her eyes locked on mine…then the world began to darken until we were standing in a circle of light. There was movement outside the circle, something was surrounding us, moving in the darkness. Jinx looked supremely confident…I was less so.

“This is my mind. Now that I am awake, do you truly want to stay here?”

I glanced around, not having to fake being afraid, but if we didn’t make a deal, I was probably fucked. And not in the fun way. I needed…”Freeze couldn’t even touch me.”

“This is not his mind.”

“Yeah, but you ain’t touched me either,” I said with growing confidence.

Massive dark tentacles appeared, slithering out of the darkness to form up above and around her. “Would you like me to?” she asked with a cruel smirk.

I shrugged with a blatantly false bravado. “I mean, I’d prefer to touch you, darlin, but--” her tentacles slammed down towards me and I screamed, but they stopped right above me.

“Are you sure about that?”

Okay, so this was a bluff.

“I’m not claiming to be a big fan of hentai, but,” I **** myself to reach up and my hand went right through the tentacle, just like Freeze’s hand had gone through my head earlier. “Aw…”

The darkness didn’t vanish, but the tentacles did. “You are not quite as dumb as you look. I cannot touch you, just as you cannot touch me, here.”

I smiled smugly.

“But I still control my own mind, which is your entire environment, so--” screams suddenly surrounded us, so loud I jumped and covered my ears, bright eyes flashed so bright I scrunched my eyes shut and a truly foul smell, so bad I wretched, filled the air. “Do you really want to stay here as my enemy?” I choked as I tried to reply and suddenly we were back in the temple, perfume in the air, silent and beautiful. “Or shall we be friends?”

“Friends don’t sacrifice one another, lady. And given Batman probably isn’t in here and so is free to tie you assholes up, it’s in my best interest to hold out as long as I can! You gotta offer something if you want my cooperation and not torturing me won’t do it!”

She snorted. “Men and their pride. I could break you of it, but that would take time. Time, you are correct, I do not have. And if Batman is out there…then my efforts have failed.”

I very much doubted that she was actually giving up.

“Then you promise to let me go and leave me alone, alive and unharmed, if I go along with getting out of here?”

Her glare could have set things on fire, and probably would in the real world. “No,” she growled.

I blinked, surprised she hadn’t just promised, then broken it. Maybe Parley was actually still working for me?

“Then I guess--”

“I can promise not to sacrifice you, but there is an…alternative.”