The Phantom Raven

by Erin Griffin

Rating: For now, PG

Pairing: None yet (but getting there)

Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own the Birds of Prey (otherwise there would be major subtext in every episode, heh heh heh heh heh...).

Summery: Born a meta human herself, Gabby Andrews struggles to make sense of her gifts as she tries to make it in the real word. When a conversation is overheard, she is forced to put on a mask to hide her face as she goes out to save the day. She meets Huntress and a romantic adventure begins.

Author's Note: Dedicated as Always to Angel. Love ya' baby. That being said, please enjoy the story. I am sorry if these chapters seem short. (They seemed short even as I was writing them out.)

Prologue

"So, you wanna some over to my house this weekend? I've got a couple new DVD's I haven't watched yet." I asked my best friend Dinah Redmond as we walked to the last class of the day, which was P.E.

"Can't. I have to help Helena clean out her apartment, and knowing how she lives, we'll NEED the whole weekend." Dinah giggled as I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Okay, what did you 'borrow' this time?" I asked, knowing that she'd only hang out doing work at Helena's house if she was being punished for 'borrowing' some article of her adopted older sister's clothing. I know for a fact that is wasn't one of her leather jackets that she's known to always wear, otherwise I wouldn't have been talking to her, as Helena would have beat her to the ground.

"Nothing," she lied. I looked at my mysterious friend.

"Mmm-hmm." I murmured. "C'mon, fess up." Dinah rolled her eyes at me in annoyance.

"Alright, Helena let me borrow this shirt she made that had the Thundercats on the front-"

"The one you were wearing yesterday when you slipped in the mud during soccer because you weren't watching where you were going while trying to impress Brett Jackson, the Derek Jeeter wannabe?" I rambled in one breath. Dinah playfully slapped my arm.

"Shut up." She said to my smirk. "And yes, that one. Sorta scraped something while wearing it after school and got blood on it. So now she's making me make it up to her by cooking breakfast and cleaning out her apartment." Dinah rolled her eyes again and I grinned.

"Sheesh, with how clumsy you are with your- and HER- clothes, Helena should let you borrow clothes more often so she can make you her own personal slave for life."

"Thanks for the moral support. Anyway," Dinah and I stopped outside of the girls' locker room and waited for the rest of the girls to finish changing for class. We do this so the girls aren't uncomfortable because a lesbian is in the room, though no one would have even known about that if a girl who used me as a part of her experiment hadn't told people. Dinah doesn't mind it when we dress together. She knows I never liked her as anything more than a friend. Helena on the other hand... Dinah seemed to know what I was thinking, because she said, "I bet you wouldn't mind having Helena as your own personal slave."

"Hell no, I wouldn't mind, but my crush on her is not on trial here." Dinah peeked into the locker room after a large flow of girls left in a group. Then, she motioned that it was safe to go inside. I watched as Dinah threw everything into her locker and then tore off her shirt. 'How the hell does she always stay that lean when I've seen the way she eats?' I asked myself. I turned my back and started changing myself for P.E. "So, you think you'll have a chance to see a movie this weekend? I wanna see Gina Davis in her action flick that'll be coming out."

"I doubt it, Gabs. Finals to study for, remember? SAT's and all that." She looked disgusted by the thought. "Sorry." She said apologetically.

"Hey, that's cool." I said, putting my head through the neck of the baby blue T-shirts we had to wear. I was about to pull it down over my stomach when I felt Dinah touch my back.

"Hey- uh, what happened to your back?"

"WHAT?!" I asked, alarmed.

"Yer back... It's all bruised. 'Please don't do this here.' I pleaded, but sure enough, a familiar singe was felt on my shoulder blades.

"Crap. Dinah, tell Ms. Lowry that I'm going to have to miss role call. I'm going to have to put muscle relaxer on my back again." I lied. I knew she wouldn't believe my lie. She had an eerie knowledge for medicine, and she didn't even plan on becoming a nurse or anything like that after high school and college. It used to make me wonder if someone used to beat her, and that was how she knew so much, but she leaves her past behind her.

"For a bruise?"

"Uh... yeah." I don't know if it was the panicked look on my face that made her give up questioning, or if it was the fact that she herself would miss role call that made her leave.

"I'll let her know, but if you aren't out in15 minutes, I will be coming back in here. I'm timing you, Andrews." She called over her shoulder as she left.

"Fine, I'll be out by then, I promise." I watched my friend leave, then trotted over to one of the bathroom stalls and slammed the door shut. I ripped off my shirt and bra, holding them to my front as the burning had become almost unbearable. Then it happened. Both shoulder blades sprouted large black wings like a raven, my left one hitting the stall door. I mentally cursed, wishing I'd run to the handicapped stall, which had more room. I sighed. 'It's too late now.'

I have had this happen to me quite often. Well, not often, but this isn't a new occurrence. It happened for the first time when I was nine and a half years old. I was at home on summer vacation playing with a little girl named Kimberly in the inflatable pool. Out of nowhere, the wings sprouted from my back. Kimberly freaked out as much as I did, then Kimberly calmed me down and told me that she could move water. "Just like Moses" she'd said. So we became better friends knowing we had something else in common. By now, I've learned how to retract them when they come out, but every now and then they just come out on their own. This has been happening more and more lately, and since Dinah and I have become friends, I have this urge to tell her because somehow I know she wouldn't freak out. She would be just as cool with that as she is about me being a lesbian. I want to tell my parents as well, but between telling then I am a lesbian or telling them that I was 'one of them freaks on the news' as my dad had put it, I gladly came out of the closet to them when I was 15.

"Why couldn't you have waited until I got home? One hour- ONE hour, but no, you're more determined than ever to prove how much of a freak I am, huh?" I scolded myself. I moved my shoulders as I usually do to get them to go away, but it wasn't working this time. "Come on, go back in." I whispered urgently. I felt as if I was now forcing them in, and it was hurting more than the burning did when they fought to come out. 'What am I? Why is this happening so often now?' I asked myself as I put my shirt back on 5 minutes later. I walked out of the locker room to join my class and Dinah before anyone got suspicious (especially Dinah, who hadn't bought my lie to begin with).

"What happened; are you okay?" Dinah asked when she saw me.

"Sorry about that." was all I could think to say, "So!" I clapped my hands together, all too eager to start class. "What are we doing today?"

"Tennis..." Dinah said uncertainly.

"Great!"