Disclaimer: The Teen Titans characters and animation are the property of Glen Murakami and Warner Bros. Animation. The circus is owned by Britney Spears. Or...at least the song "Circus", anyway.

Prologue – Get the Show on the Road

"I still don't understand why I have to be here."

"Because we're obligated, that's why. Now, come on."

Raven sighed. This wasn't exactly how she wanted to spend her free time. It usually consisted of peace, quiet, tea, and reading.

Not calamity, noise, soda, and ruckus.

It had been one week since the night Slade had almost blown all of them to kingdom come. Since then, things had fallen back into its regular pattern. The villains had started to come out of hiding since being unfrozen, and the first ones to feel it were the bank tellers. Luckily, it was nothing that the Titans couldn't handle.

Gizmo, they began to realize, only had so many toys that he could throw at them.

Robin had made it a point to bring in several other Titans into the mix, but those were mostly hit or miss. While Bushido and Jericho were quiet and didn't bother Raven during their patrol, Kid Flash had more than a few things to say about everything under the sun.

Next time, Beast Boy's going with him, she thought.

Other than said patrols and Gizmo's shenanigans, Slade had not reared his head again. This was a double-edged sword: no attacks from him meant good news, but that just meant he was gearing up for something worse.

"Raven, you coming?"

Of course, she would probably have preferred to be in another exploding warehouse than be where she was right now. Hence the circus.

Once a year, Jump City hosted a traveling circus, and they would set up just off of the shoreline, right near the Titans tower. Normally, Raven would be perfectly content to sit in the tower and not be associated with anything fun, according to Cyborg and Beast Boy.

But someone had roped her in this year.

"Is it not glorious, Raven? There is the candy that is not quite cotton and the corn that is popped!"

…Not to mention any names.

Actually, it wasn't fair to single out Starfire. This year, the circus was honoring the team, and the flyers encouraged the visitors to dress up as their favorite Titan. Thus, most of the kids were running around in make-shift costumes. It wouldn't be a very good time if the actual Titans weren't there, right?

"Haha! That's so awesome!" Beast Boy was busy admiring the wearings of a young boy, who had painted himself to match the Titan's skin color.

Raven watched a young girl sputter past her, cloak flapping in the wind. "Couldn't I just stay at the Tower?"

"Oh, come on Raven! Don't be such a downer," Cyborg said. He was walking next to her, two larges cones of cotton candy in his hands. "All the kids love us. You can at least like them for one day, right?"

No response.

"...You can acknowledge them for one day, right?"

Raven ignored his question. "And why exactly can't Robin be here with us again?"

Not getting a response, she looked up at her teammate to see his death glare staring back at her.

Oh. Right.

"You know very well why, Raven. Trust me, I tried to get him out. But he used his usual of excuse of 'having to go recruit' or 'follow a lead' or 'iron his dog' or something." Cyborg slurped up one of his cones. "But I'm not going to press the issue."

"Sorry. I...forgot."

"Apology accepted." The Titan ate his other cone in one bite, licking his lips. "Now c'mon, the main event's about to start. Beast Boy should have our seats ready for us."

Raven and Cyborg made their way to the largest tent in the area and climbed up the back stairway. The reserved seats were at the middle of the bleachers, two of which were already occupied by the green-skinned teen and the Tamaranian.

"And then...and then...they're going to bring the lions out and have them run around with funny hats on!" Beast Boy was no doubt getting Starfire in the mood.

"Hehehe! I do love the Earth felines with the funny hats!"

"Where have you two been off to?" Beast Boy chided the arriving duo. "They're going to start any second."

"Oh, you know. I had to get Raven to chisel out a smile before stepping in here." Cyborg turned to the spellcaster, who did not appreciate his joke.

"...Guess you should've gotten a bigger slab of rock."

FWOOM!

A giant pillar of smoke erupted from the center of the ring, signaling the beginning of the show. From the cloud came a man in a large black cloak, his giant black hat obscuring his face.

"Probably a packet of smoke under the ground, lit by an incendiary charge-Ow!"

Raven rubbed her side, sore from where Cyborg had elbowed her. Sometimes she wondered if he ever forget he was part robot. The thought went out of her mind, however, because the booming voice of the ringmaster started to roll through the entire tent.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boy and girls! People of all ages! Greetings and welcome to the Graham Brothers Family Extravaganza!" A thunderous amount of applause rang out as the man continued. "We have all sorts of excitement and fun for you this evening, but let's not forget our special guests with us tonight! The Teen Titans!"

Another round of applause flared up for the local heroes, Beast Boy in particular hamming it up for the audience.

"The gallant guardian Cyborg! The champion changer Beast Boy! The joyful warrior Starfire! And last but not at all least, the enigmatic enchantress Raven!"

The noise escalated at Raven's mention, who noticed that most of the children in attendance were wearing cloaks very similar to hers. She couldn't help but smile at that fact.

"See, Raven?" Cyborg whispered. "They love you!"

And that's when she noticed the man was starting to walk toward them.

"Ah yes, the Titans! I see that the young sons and daughters of Jump City took our advice and wear the costume of their favorite Titan. Good! Very good! Your wonderful work will be the spectacle of all sorts of wonder and amazement tonight!"

"Something's not right here," Raven said.

"Oh, would you come off it, Raven?" Beast Boy yelled from beyond Cyborg's arm. "Why do you have to ruin everything?"

"No, shut up. I can feel someone else's presence here. A magical one."

"For you see, citizens of Jump City, your entertainment tonight will be coming from the Titans themselves!"

The deep voice shifted into a high-pitched one. One that caused the four Titans to snap their heads down to center stage.

"So hang on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen..."

The top hat sprang off of the man's head and slowly fluttered down to reveal a blue face, a large nose and thin white hair, the mouth creaking into a maniacal smile. A wand flew out of the sleeve as the cloak turned a bright red. The wand came forward and stopped right in front of Mumbo Jumbo's face...

And aimed right at Raven's chest.

"Because we're going to have a blast!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wanted to sub in a shorted version of the theme song at the end, but...I can't think of one. I could just shove the Go! one in there, but hey. I think we're all thinking in our heads where the theme song should be.

So this is "Episode 2", one that will be centered on Raven, not just in the choice of villain, but in the aspect of her relations to the public and her acceptance of that. I won't spoil too much, but hopefully this won't take me eighteen months to complete like Episode 1 did.

Robin will show up at some point. I'm not purposefully ignoring him. He's not there right because of obvious reasons.

Chapter 1 should be up soon. Until then, read and review, if you like. See you next time.