Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans show/story/comics/whatever else you want to call the universe. I only own Basil in this chapter, and a few others later which I will point out as we go along. My friends have characters who shall waltz in later...but that's much later. So I'll let you know when that happens. In the meantime, read and enjoy!
1: Visitor
The longest week in Titan history droned on. No calls, no alerts, not a single bank robbery, not even a rogue jay-walker roamed the city. The Titans were stuck in their tower simply trying to find something to do. A selected one of the Titans had hidden herself in her room along with many books. Another had taken up practice in the kitchen, the others were afraid of her concoctions. Two of the members were currently in a state of total emersion with the game counsel in the main room. As for the leader, he sat by the emergency phone line waiting…waiting for what he did not know. Was it the call of duty, a call of valor, a call from a telemarketer? He did not care. Just any call would suffice to end this dull week.
There came another explosion from the kitchen area. Third time from what he counted. He sighed and braced himself for what the Tamaranean had gotten into. He made his way into the main room.
As he entered the main room, a stench had come from the area where the mini-kitchen had been set up. The area was covered in some strange goo that he feared could possibly conceive life if left uncheck and eat them all in their sleep. The Tamaranean stood in the middle of it all, holding a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. She had a triumphant look to her.
"Very good news, Robin," she hovered over to him. "I have found what not to mix and place in an extreme heat environment."
Robin continued to look at the mess. "That's great, Starfire. But what are we going to do about the mess?"
Starfire turned to look at the damage. She wore a puzzled look. "I am not sure."
"Hey," there came the cry of one of the others from behind the couch. He wagged a finger in the air with some goo on it. "It's not as bad as it looks." There came a noise which proved to them that he had licked the goo off his finger.
"Dude," A green boy popped up and sat on the back of the couch. "It may sound gross, but its true."
"I am relieved," Starfire sighed.
"What's going on here?" there came the fifth member. She had pulled her hood off and was surveying the area with remote interest. She was carrying the book she had been dragged from with her.
Starfire held out the spoon with some of the goo on it. "Would you like to try?"
Raven looked at it for a second, as if contemplating what to say. "I'll pass."
Beast Boy bounded off the couch and took the spoon. "I will!"
Cyborg had come from around the couch. "I guess we have something to bide the time over with."
"I guess we do," Robin nodded.
Starfire had sat the mixing bowl on the counter. "I shall get the mops and brooms to clean up."
She soared a few feet off the ground to gather the supplies. Raven set the book down on the most clean spot in the room. Beast Boy had transformed into a dog and started to slurp up the goo. Cyborg shook his head at his friend's unique way to clean up and started to gather up some of the other cooking utensils which Starfire had used.
As Cyborg turned the water on to do the dishes, Raven had started to gather up the goo with in a dark sphere and levitate it to the trash can. Robin grabbed another rag and helped Cyborg with the dishes and countertops.
A good fifteen minutes later, the group had the counter top cleaned, and the floor spotless thanks to Beast Boy's efforts. Robin looked towards the entrance of the room.
"It's not like Star to skimp out of cleaning," Cyborg commented while he set the last bowl in its correct spot.
"Yeah," Beast Boy was back into his humanoid form and sitting on the counter. "Especially when she made it."
"I won't think too much on it," Raven again picked up her book. "After all, she might have seen an animal need help outside."
Robin took that into consideration. "If she isn't back in ten minutes, I want to set up a search for her."
As if on cue, their came footsteps in the hallway. It was odd, Starfire usually hovered everywhere.
Starfire flew out from the entrance with the mops and brooms. "We have a visitor."
"A visitor?" Robin took the mops and brooms from Starfire and set them aside. "Who is it?"
"Allow me to introduce myself," the voice sounded British from a man standing in the entrance. He seemed to be an older gentleman of perhaps fifty or so. He had slicked back white hair underneath his fedora, which he took off before walking fully into the room. He had khaki pants, a crisp iron dress shirt underneath a sweater vest. He was carrying a brief case along side with him. "I am Basil Edgewood. I'm sorry if I am intruding on anything."
"Not at all," Robin was taking a cautious yet genuine kindness with this man. "We were just doing a bit of cleaning."
Starfire looked around to see the kitchen was near spotless. "I am terribly sorry."
"Don't sweat it," Beast Boy waved it off. And in his best impression, spoke in the same accent as Basil. "So what can we do for you, old chap?"
Basil was taken aback by this but quickly recomposed. "Well, I am here to ask if you five would like to improve your skills."
"Improve?" Cyborg crossed his arms. "What's there to improve?"
Basil chuckled. "I can see why you say that. After all, you are the legendary Teen Titans."
"What do you mean by improve?" Starfire was genuinely curious about this.
"Well," Basil thought aloud. "Sharpen your abilities, pushing yourself to the limits, seeing just what you can do."
"Are you some kind of door to door salesman?" Beast Boy asked.
"No, no. I can assure you I'm not," Basil set down the briefcase on the counter and started to open it. "I am the headmaster of the School of Concealment."
"School of Concealment?" Raven raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Basil pulled out a stack of papers and started to hand them out to the Titans. "We are a school for students not unlike yourselves, those who would like to enhance their abilities for the greater good."
"What is this school?" Starfire asked.
"School's a place on Earth where-" Robin had begun to explain but was cut off by Beast Boy.
"It's an Earth version of hell!" Beast Boy stomped.
"Now," Basil seemed interested on where he was going with this. "Ms. Starfire, School is a place on Earth where young minds are molded. It has an environment which it is easy to learn in and makes learning fun-"
"NUH-UH!!" Beast Boy interjected. "School is not fun! There's homework, evil teacher's who'll fail you for no apparent reason. You sit in a classroom for an hour listening to some old person drone on and on about something that you're not even interested in and then they give you a test and then if you fail you're stuck in summer school and then-" Beast Boy continued to rant but everyone else seemed to tone him out.
"You didn't have school on Tameran?" Robin asked Starfire.
She shook her head. "No. But from the sound of it, I had tutors who taught me all the Tameranean customs, history, and social behavior."
Basil nodded. "Earth school's are much like that, except Concealment."
Robin smirked. "Why, because you can't find it?"
Basil had a glimmer in his deep blue eyes. "To only those with no desire to understand themselves."
"So it's like a test to find it," Raven concluded.
Basil nodded. "Very much so. We have many programs which can increase how well you know your powers and your strategies. Our teachers are very skilled in what they do."
"What kind of departments do you have?" Cyborg seemed interested.
"We have a Cybotics department, Enhancers, Elementals, Illusionists, Shape-shifters, and Anima departments. Each one of you can be fit into a course which would enhance your skills in combat."
"This all sounds very interesting," Starfire was hovering up and down very excitedly. "When shall we start?"
"I don't know Star," Cyborg cut in. "After H.I.V.E, I'm not so sure."
"The H.I.V.E was created by a power hungry lunatic," Basil spat.
"I suppose that's our answer," Robin pointed out.
"Brother Blood took control of students to increase his own numbers," Basil continued. "He had no respect at all for their powers, their abilities, their lives! Why, if I had caught on before it had gotten out of hand, I would have sent my colleagues after him."
Basil seemed furious about the topic, almost as much as Beast Boy, who was still ranting about school. Basil had noticed how all this must have seen to them, and ran his hand through his hair.
"I apologize," Basil huffed. "I seemed to have lost myself."
"You won me over," Cyborg gave in. "So your Cybotics department, is it good?"
"The best for fighters," Basil regained his composure.
"It's worth a shot," Raven agreed. "And we haven't had much to do around here anyways."
"That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about," Basil grew serious. "We have noticed that there has been a dramatic decrease of criminal activity in the major areas all over the world. We at Concealment feel that something big may happen, which is why we are recruiting anyone with abnormal abilities. We are not forcing this on you five, but I feel that if you know your allies a bit more, then you will be able to success more during the next disaster."
"I know," Robin crossed his arms. "I feel that too."
Raven, Cyborg and Starfire all nodded in agreement.
"If we do join," Robin started slowly. "If we get a call-"
"We have missions to dispatch to the students," Basil explained. "We keep full tabs on the crime waves."
Robin nodded. It did make sense to have an inside knowledge to any person who would be working alongside them. Yet, something was nagging him.
"Just what happened to the H.I.V.E students after that school was destroyed?" Raven asked the question for him.
"We have taken those willing and have trained them to steer clear from the path Brother Blood had set," Basil answered sternly.
Robin was sold. "When do we start."
"Excellent," Basil handed Robin the stack of papers. "Here are the forms, just fill them out and hand them in sometime during the first week of school and we shall settle you in just fine."
"I am very glad to be meeting new friends," Starfire could not contain her excitement.
"It'll be nice to go back to school," Cyborg said while looking at his right hand, remembering the time when he was full human.
There came a thump from behind Cyborg. They all looked. It appeared that Beast Boy had passed out due to lack of oxygen through his ranting. He lay now in a heap on the floor, catching his breath.
"Will he be alright?" Basil looked worried.
"Don't worry," Raven sighed. "He does this all the time."
"Very well then," Basil knew when to let something drop. "I shall see you all there."
Basil closed the briefcase and set the fedora back on his head. He left shortly afterwards while the Titans tried to find something to do with Beast Boy.