"I find shelter in this way.

Undercover, hide away.

Can you hear when I say

I have never felt this way?"

-Shelter, Birdy

{Beast Boy}

"Aww man! I can't ever get past this level!" Beast Boy complained, watching as his animated character exploded, yet again, into a giant ball of fire. He had been feeding quarters into the machine for almost an hour now, trying to beat the boss of level 12. All he wanted was to finally finish this game and move onto something else—the video arcade had only gotten it a week ago, but he was already sick of it. Yet something compelled him to keep trying instead of giving up, which he was already regretting.

"You've made it farther than anyone else has." The guy running the front desk said, flipping through a comic about some obscure superhero.

"I know, Stan." Beast Boy pouted, leaning against the troublesome machine. "But I want to be the first one to beat it, you know?"

"You've gotta try some different tricks then. Obviously what you're doing now isn't working." Stan looked up from his comic to give Beast Boy a wry smile. "You'd think that a Teen Titan would have realized that by now."

Beast Boy rolled his eyes, saying, "Ha-ha, aren't you the funny guy all of a sudden."

Stan grinned. "Gotta keep myself entertained somehow."

"You know, you're pretty lucky that we aren't in a horror movie right now."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

Beast Boy flashed a grin at him. "The funny guy always goes first."

"I'm shaking in my boots over here." Stan pasted a pretend look of fear on his face, before he started laughing. "Go play your game, man."

Beast Boy laughed too. "Oh I will."

He turned back to the machine, reaching out with one hand to insert another quarter. All of a sudden, the wall behind the game exploded. Instinctively, Beast Boy jumped to the side to protect himself from the force of the blast. The game was blown to pieces and a gaping hole in the wall remained, which is how the man ran into the building. As soon as Beast Boy saw him, he experienced a feeling which he never thought would be possible again.

The man didn't look much older than him, but it wasn't this fact that registered with his brain. It was the tall, slender body, the long, blonde hair, and the glowing hands as he raised the earth around him into projectiles, aimed for the hole in the wall.

"What the hell?" Beast Boy cried, his voice directed at the man. He couldn't believe the resemblance—it was impossible.

The man didn't even turn around to look at him. He just shouted, "Don't just stand there! It's coming back!"

Beast Boy didn't know what 'it' was, but he knew it wasn't gonna be good. He quickly morphed into a tiger, going to stand by the man who looked too much like his memories. All at once, a large, menacing robot flew towards them at record speed, eyes glowing. The man hurled the rocks in its direction, but the robot slipped out of the way before any damage could be done.

"Get behind me!" The man yelled, forcing the earth into a shield in front of him. Beast Boy jumped out of harm's way just as the robot began shooting at them. The impact was powerful but the man's hold on his shield didn't waver. While the man had the robot distracted, Beast Boy ducked to the right and whirled around, charging it as fast as he could. At the last second, he morphed into a gorilla and smashed it to the ground. Without wasting a moment, the man brought the roof down around it with one hand; collapsing the ground underneath with the other.

Beast Boy jumped back but the man had perfect control of the collapsing floor. He didn't even change his expression as he sealed up the ground with just a wave of his hand. It was suddenly quiet in the video arcade.

"Would you mind telling me what just happened?" Beast Boy asked, looking around the building in shock. A quick look over at the front counter told him that Stan was hiding behind it.

The man said grimly, "You just saved my life."

"Why was that thing after you?" Beast Boy asked, gesturing to the ground where the man had sealed it over the robot.

"That's not important." The man replied, eying the green changeling with a guarded look. "We destroyed it. That's the end of this."

Beast Boy was incredulous. "Not even close, dude. I defend this city—it's my job. The least you can do is tell me what's happening. I did save your life, after all."

The man sighed, visibly irritated with the younger boy. "It's better for you if you don't know."

"Why?" Beast Boy asked, getting more curious by the second.

"It just is."

Without another word, the man walked away from him towards the front door to the arcade. Beast Boy hurried after him, burning with a need to know. Before he left, he remembered that Stan was hiding behind the counter. He yelled over his shoulder as he walked out, "Sorry about the wall, Stan! And the ceiling!"

The visibly shaken guy barely raised his head above the counter, eyes staring wide at the Titan. Another piece of the ceiling fell as Stan reached for the phone behind the counter. "Hey boss? You aren't gonna believe what just happened…"

{Beast Boy, cont.}

"Why are you still following me?" The tall, blonde man asked, not even glancing over in Beast Boy's direction as he walked down the sidewalk.

"Because I need to know what's going on."

The man stopped and turned to look at him. "How old are you?"

His question was so out of place that it caught Beast Boy off guard. He answered it automatically. "Sixteen."

"How did you get caught up in all this shit anyways?"

Beast Boy shrugged, "I've been in it since I was really young. You don't get much of a choice when you have powers."

The man's blue eyes softened a little. It seemed like he was thinking about something else, something far away from where they stood on the mostly empty sidewalk. "No, you don't."

Inching closer, Beast Boy tried not to think about someone else with eyes like his and then said, "Please, just let me help you. Tell me why you're here."

At that moment, the man looked the age he truly was. He was young and vulnerable and very afraid. With a pained look on his face, he said, "I'm looking for the people who murdered my sister."

{Raven}

Raven couldn't meditate today. She tried several times to achieve the inner peace she so desperately needed, but something was wrong. Something horrible was happening. As she intently concentrated on the disturbance she sensed, Raven was lost to the world around her.

It didn't take her long to realize that she was in someone else's mind. This person was frantic with fear and desperate for a way out. She probed further, searching for more information. Their mind kept repeating the same two words over and over again. 'No. Please.' Raven couldn't understand what was going on. She reached out, mentally trying to establish a link with them. 'Let me help you. Show me what you see.'

Suddenly, she opened her eyes and she was in someone else's body. She was restrained by something, but she couldn't figure out what. Her whole body was numb and Raven realized that this person had been injected with some sort of muscle paralyzing drug. They couldn't move or escape from what terrified them.

Someone was coming towards her. She felt sick to her stomach as she saw the electrical prod in their hands, sparking with electricity. The surgical mask covered their face but Raven still made out their eyes. She would never be able to forget how cold and unfeeling they were.

"Subject 257-494 will be subject to a series of electrical shocks to stimulate brain activity. This will allow us to get a closer look at how her mind processes pain and subsequently responds with her powers."

'That is not my name!' Raven heard the person's voice in their head like it was her own. 'My name is Jinx! Jinx, you bastard!'

Raven was in shock. 'Jinx?'

'Raven! Help me!'

The electrical prod was shoved into Jinx's side and the sudden jolt of pain broke Raven's mental link with the girl. She opened her eyes, staring into the darkness of her bedroom. All she could hear was Jinx screaming in pain, begging for it to stop.