"Titans, report to the ops room immediately. I repeat, report to the ops room immediately."
Raven opened her eyes with a flash of annoyance at having her meditation interrupted. However a feeling of apprehension quickly suppressed the annoyance – something seemed off about Robin's tone – and so she quickly left the peace of her room and made her way to where the rest of the team was gathering.
"Got any idea what's goin' on?" Cyborg inquired when he met up with her in front of the doors. Raven just shrugged in response as the doors 'whooshed!' open, before floating over to where Robin and Starfire already stood. Several moments passed before Beast Boy finally joined them and Robin opened his mouth to speak.
"Dude! There's a massive wave of zombies coming to end the world, isn't there!" Beast Boy exclaimed, waving his arms wildly.
One could have heard a birdarang snap open, such was the silence as the other four titans collectively turned to stare at Beast Boy.
Robin cleared his throat, and bravely continued. "Um, actually, the mayor has asked us to covertly infiltrate the school system to…
"Say what?" Cyborg exclaimed.
"He wants us to go to school." Robin said, shifting his weight uncomfortably. "There's a new group of metas, and the mayor wants to make sure they're on our side. There's also reason to believe that most of the H.I.V.E. Academy's old students, and many of the younger super villains are leading double lives. Have you noticed that Angel, Kitten, Punk Rocket, and a lot of others never attack during school hours?"
"Dude, didn't we just fight Punk Rocket yesterday?" Beast boy whined, desperate to prove Robin's theory wrong, so that he didn't have to go to school. But Robin pointed out that the attack had been during lunch hour. Of course, that didn't mean they'd come quietly.
Starfire had to be assured that normal schools didn't have hypnoscreens or vengeful school property. Cyborg wanted to know what school he would be going to. Upon hearing it was a technical institute, he helpfully noted that Beast Boy was probably just afraid of embarrassing himself in front of civilian girls. That left only one titan, who hadn't said a word the entire time. As the other three titans headed for their rooms, with varying degrees of excitement, the team's darkest member continued to stare mutely into her mug of tea.
Robin sighed before sitting down next to Raven. "What do you think about all this?" He questioned her.
Raven turned to face him, violet eyes seeming to pierce through his mask as she said icily "There's a bit of a flaw in your plan. 2,000 students in the same campus, each with raging hormones, worrying about tests, dates, and learning how to drive. I'm an empath, Robin. I get a headache whenever we pass Jump City High, 90 yards away from the road. Exactly how did you expect that to work out?"
Robin froze, dumbfounded. He'd forgotten that Raven was an empath, forgotten how hard it was for her to suppress her emotions and keep her powers under control with just the four of them spread throughout the tower. Now what was he supposed to do?
"Um… I was hoping you would know how to resolve that?" He tried. All he got from that statement was a glare that made him glad looks couldn't kill.
"Okay, okay, sorry, I forgot about your empathy, but the mayor made me promise, what was I supposed to do?"
Raven knew very well just how tolerant of them the mayor had been thus far. There was probably a fund set aside for 'City Property Broken by the Teen Titans in Battle.' She also knew that if Robin allowed her to man the tower while everyone else went on the mission, neither of them would ever hear the end of it from Beast Boy. There was nothing else she could do. Shoot.
)o(
A few hours later found Raven researching the schools in the Jump City School District. There were about a half dozen high schools listed on the website, each of which seemed to be at or beyond maximum capacity, with the one possible exception being the technical institute Cyborg was expected to attend. Noticing a (rather small and out-of-the-way) button for schools within the zone but not affiliated directly with the public School Board, she found a much longer list of potential schools. Rejecting a couple all-boy schools, tech magnets, and religious based institutes she found herself hovering over one that sounded familiar. Morvan's Academy… where had she heard that name before? A quick search yielded many results, ranging from online news articles to reviews and blog posts. Skimming through each sites description and a couple of the articles, she deemed it safe to believe two things; Morvan's was a school for geniuses - namely those gifted in art, music, and drama – as well as a center point for many strange happenings in the area. Raven narrowed her eyes, printed a couple of the news articles, and closed the internet.
)o(
It seemed that no matter how many years passed, Raven would never get used to waking up. Invariably she was disoriented, entrapped within her own sheets (assuming there were sheets to be had), and covered in blood, sweat, or tears - sometimes a combination of the three. However, today she mused that perhaps her nightmares were useful after all – useful to her, not Trigon. She had an hour and a half until Robin woke up and bee lined for his 6 o'clock coffee. In the meantime, she intended to investigate Morvan's first hand.
It took all of ten minutes to shower, brush her teeth, and brush/cut her hair. She had already started to drape her cloak over her shoulders when she paused.
'This is supposed to be a covert mission', she reminded herself. Reluctantly, she hung her cloak back up and stared at the small collection of civilian clothes Starfire had persuaded her to purchase. Honestly, she hated the dead, restricting feeling of muggle clothes, especially on her legs, and considered wearing shorts. But she also didn't like people looking at her. In the end she compromised, wearing her leotard under loose capris and a hoodie to hide her, uh, more notable features. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she realized she had absolutely no civilian footwear. Shrugging, she made a note to get some before school started, and padded to the roof barefoot.
Staring at the city, it only took a moment of thought before she found herself in the very alley she had seen Starfire's crash landing on Earth before the beginning of the Teen Titans. Turning away from the road, she began to traverse through the dimly lit alley ways, weaving through the shadier, more familiar – familiar to her - half of Jump City. Aside from the occasional drunkards, who looked as though they hadn't even gone to bed the night before, she didn't see another waking soul until she emerged in Chinatown. Already, many restaurants, markets, and bakeries were preparing for the day. Breathing deeply, she allowed herself to appreciate the more or less quiet that she knew would be broken in little more than an half hour. Then she refocused on her little excursion, crossed the square with its growing amount of tai-chi-doers, and did not stop until the buildings became noticeably older – the Jump City Historic District. Raven had been here on several occasions to buy books, but that didn't mean she knew the area very well. The houses and shops she passed now were an unfamiliar assortment of 1800's architecture mixed with that of the early 20th century, a result of the 1906 earthquake.
Except for this street.
Not a single building on Calaveras Street looked as if it had been rebuilt after its neighbors or given somewhat makeshift repairs. As if to alienate it farther, the whole street emanated a rather morbid aura, and reeked of magics whose origins Raven could not place. In short, if she was looking for a place of strange occurrences, this was a better lead then she could hope for. The street was cobbled, narrow, and meandering, eventually opening up to a broad square with a cathedral like building at one end, which Raven could not help but eye wearily. And there, at the end of one of the roads attached to the square, was Morvan's Academy. It was a large, vaguely gothic looking building, built of stone with arches, towers, and turrets. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Raven slipped once more into the shadows and allowed them to encompass her.
)o(
Alright, so this is my first fanfic, and reviews are extremely welcome - that includes flames as long as they are not completely senseless. This is going to be a crossover between Charlie Bone and Teen Titans, but for those not familiar with C.B, it's no big deal because Raven isn't going to Bloor's Academy. For those who have read the series, you may remember the Hundred Heads gathering, where Morvan was one of the four or five headmasters whose names were briefly mentioned. Some of Jenny Nimmo's characters will appear, in later chapters. I will not begin the next chapter until I get a good review, so por favor click the button!