It was around three thirty the next morning before Raven had to make her first stop at a gas station. She drove into a small one at the side of the road and parked her car at the nearest gas pump. There were three or four trucks at the station, no doubt the drivers were in for the night, sleeping in the tents that were pitched on the small, slightly yellow patch of grass just a few metres from their trucks.

She turned off the engine and grabbed her purse before opening the door and getting out. She walked round to the pump and opened the little door in her car where the petrol would go in. She put the pump in the door and the petrol began flooding in.

She watched the meter which showed how much was going in. She didn't mind how much it cost. She had a well paying job and had quite a bit of money in her pocket. After she had decided that she had enough petrol to last her until the end of her trip, she put the pump away and closed the small door in her car.

She began making her way towards the building where she guessed she would pay for the petrol. She noticed some men hanging about at the door having a cigarette. They were both tall and muscular as far as she could see. They both looked as if they were in their late twenties and the taller one of the two was holding a coffee in his hand.

She didn't think this to be an unusual situation so she just kept on walking. She made it to the door and they let her pass. She walked over to the counter and paid for her petrol. While she was waiting for her receipt, she could hear the two men outside talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but they weren't talking at a normal volume.

She got her receipt and made her way over to the door. The two men were still there, but they had stopped talking at the sound of the door opening. Raven walked out, aware of her surroundings.

The door closed behind her and she began walking back over towards her car when one of the men spoke up. 'Hey there lil' missie. Where you goin' on a night like this?' He had a smooth voice with a slight okie twang to it. She stopped moving. The other man laughed. The tall man spoke up again.

'You got a fine frame there lil miss. Why don't ya come stay with me tonight?' he was smirking as he said this. She turned around to face them. They looked at each other, smiling. They turned back to her and the taller one began walking towards her.

'I wouldn't come any closer if I were you' she said. She caught the man off guard and he stopped walking. She kept staring at him, trying not to break off eye contact.

'Now now there lil missie. I was only commenting on how fine your lookin. So, whacha say? Come spend the night with me. I got a bottle of wine in ma tent. I'm sure we can come to some sorta arrangement'

He made her skin crawl. 'No. I wont be doing that tonight' she said. He looked back towards the other man who was now making her way towards them.

He turned back to her. 'I'm sorry lil miss. That was the wrong answer.' He began moving towards her. The other man had almost caught up to them. She couldn't let them get any closer.

'No, I'm sorry' she said to them both. She splayed her hands and his coffee cup burst on his hand. He screamed in pain as the coffee burnt his skin. Ravens eyes were glowing black/white. He looked up at her and his face hardened. His other hand reached into his back pocket and he pulled out a gun.

Raven could see it coming and she instantly picked it up and threw it away, near the patch of grass. (with her powers) She focused on the tall okie man and lifted him into the air. She threw him against the other man who was now retreating obviously scared out of his mind. They both fell and her eyes stopped glowing, as she no longer needed to protect herself.

She watched them crawl away before getting into her car. She put her purse back on the passenger seat. She put her key in and turned on the engine. It instantly sprang to life. She turned the wheel and drove out of the exit, trying not to think about the incident that had just happened.

It had been the first time in ages that she had used her powers. Yeah, at first she would use them to help neighbourhood cats stuck up trees and fallen trash cans. But she had moved to a quiet neighbourhood, and there wasn't exactly masses of crime. She had faded into the background, continuing life as just another human being. And everyone believed it.

Once she was back on the main roads, she calmed down, concentrating on the journey before her. She would be at the tower in just a few hours, and then she could relax until the party. Then a thought trailed into her mind. Most of them would already be there. And she might have to share a room. With Starfire. Definitely not relaxing conditions.

~Cyborg was tired. He needed to charge himself up. And he would've if not for having to be a chauffer for the past few days. He had only these last few stops to make, and then it was home word bound. He already had Jinx in the front, Aqualad in one of the trunk seats and Bumblebee in the back behind him. Aqualad had been given the job to look after all of the bags that they had brought. The seat next to him wouldn't need to be used anyway as there were only two more honoraries to go.

As he turned the next corner in the T-car, he could see the bus stop where he was supposed to pick them up. He pulled in, and guessed he would have to wait a while before they finally arrived there. He stopped the engine and looked over at Jinx, who had been silent the whole trip. A bit odd for her he thought, as their conversations on the phone usually took up hours on end. Just as he decided to ask what was wrong, there was a blur of yellow and red, and then Mas Y Menos were standing at the bus stop. He sighed and opened the door for them.~

Raven had taken a wrong turn at the roundabout, then taken a left where she should have taken a right, and had wound up in the middle of nowhere with cornfields on both sides of the road and a phone box half way up a telegraph pole. She had spread her map out over the hood of her car and was trying to calculate her route. But the thing was, she didn't know where she was, so she couldn't plan a route. And it was the middle of the day, so it was scorching heat. She sighed and packed the map back into the car. She looked up at the telephone on the pole and decided she had to give it a go.

She hovered so that her head was just above the cornfields. She looked around in all directions to make sure there was no one coming. When she was sure nobody was around, she looked up at the telephone box once more, and flew up to it. Once she was in front of it, she picked up the phone and called the number on the small white card underneath the reciever. It rang twice, then beeped for a very long time. She put it back down on the holder, and dropped to the ground, landing on her feet softly.

She walked back over to her car and sat on the front seat with the door open, trying to figure out her next move. Just then, she heard a sound from down the road. She stood up and looked in front of the car. There was a tractor, slowly coming along the road. Well, this might be my chance she thought. She waited until it was closer to her, then she stood next to the road, and stuck her thumb out. The driver obviously saw her as the tractor was beginning to slow down. She thought.

It came to a halt a few centimetres away from her. She looked up at the driver. He was an old man, obviously a farmer. He was wearing a blue cap, blue dungarees and some flip flops. The tip of his nose was red from the sun and he had a single piece of corn in his mouth. When he looked down at her, she saw he had thick, round, old fashioned glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He smiled a toothless smile at her. He only had three teeth. She stared at him for another few seconds, and then began to talk.

"Hi. You wouldn't happen to know where the nearest town was from here, would you?'' she asked.

He rubbed his chin and took a few minutes before giving her a reply. "Well, yes, yes I do. Grab your bags and hop on. I'll take you to the next town down this road" he proposed.

Raven didn't give it a second thought. She grabbed her bags, and got into the other seat in the tractor. He took a few minutes before starting up the engine, and continuing on down the road. At 15 miles per hour. Great.

~ The T-Car was going down the A-14 at just under the speed limit. They had only a few hours to go before reaching the tower. Cyborg pulled off the main road, following the signs to a nearby rest-stop. A few minutes later, he parked the car and they all got out, except for Jinx. Cyborg filled up the T-Car while the others headed for the small shop at the end of the main building to buy snacks and drinks. Once Cy had paid for the petrol – it was a Pay-At-The-Pump system- he got back into the drivers seat to wait for the others.

He looked over at Jinx. She still hadn't said a word. She just stared out the window. He couldn't see her face, but from the rest of her body language, he could tell that she must have been sad. Or carsick.

"Nice view?" he asked.

She turned her head to face him. She most definitely looked sad. In fact, she looked worse than sad, she looked as if she had been crying. Cyborg must have been too busy watching the road to notice. She gave him a weak smile. He knew it wasn't real.

"So, how ya been?" he asked.

She took a minute before answering, as if she was thinking up a believable answer. "I'm fine" she croaked.

"Do you really think I'm gunna believe that?"

"It was worth a try." She shrugged her shoulders and turned her head away from him again.

"C'mon Jinx, I know there's something wrong. You can trust me."

"I'm fine, it's just that, me and Flash have been going through a rough patch lately and well he…he uh…."

"Look, if I'm intruding, you don't need to.."

"He broke it off Cyborg"~

By the time Raven had gotten to the small town of Oakbirch, she had fallen asleep twice, got drenched in a 'small' rain shower and had listened to seventeen stories about 'back in the day'. Yes. Seventeen. Once he had dropped her off at the local church, she had walked around for about half an hour before she had found the small inn at the end of the road.

She pushed open the door to be greeted by stares from the local townspeople. She stood for a minute, letting them gawk before she walked up to the bar. Serving, was a young girl, round about her early twenties. She had short blond hair that framed her face in small ringlets. Her face had soft features, a small, ski jump nose, curved at the end. Small, rounded ears, big, blue eyes that sparkled when the light hit them, and her lips curved round into a warm, welcoming smile.

She had a checked red shirt on, with a thick, brown belt and what looked like a pair of blue skinny jeans which hung just above her hips. She finished serving the man before Raven just as she came to stand at the bar. She turned to Raven with a smile. "Can I get you anything darlin?" she asked. She had an okie accent that was warm and welcoming.

"Um, yes. Do you have a phone that I could use?"

"Sure darlin, just gimme a minute. ROBBY!"

"WHAT?" A mans voice came from the background. It sounded familiar somehow.

"SOMEONE WANTS TO USE THE PHONE!"

"WELL SEND THEM THROUGH THEN!"

She looked back at Raven and gave her a wide smile. Her teeth nearly blinded her. She wandered how she had got them so bright.

"Follow me"

She opened the divide in the bar and led Raven into a small backroom. In the corner stood a small television on top of a broken side table. In front of it was a small, brown leather couch where a man was sitting watching the football game. Just beside the door, there was a small, white phone mounted on the wall. "First ten minutes are free, after that, ya gotta pay"

Raven nodded as the barmaid left the room. She put down her things and lifted the phone, keying in the number for Cyborgs arm. It rang twice, but there was no answer. She pushed the cancel button and typed in the number for Robin's cell phone. He picked up instantly. "Robin speaking"

"Hey robin, I'm going to be a bit later than expected" When she began to talk, the television went off.

"Don't worry, a few others are going to be late too. Thanks for informing me. I'll see you when you get here. Bye"

"Bye Robin" She put the phone down and turned to see the man, quivering behind the couch. He was pointing at her and just staring. She squinted her eyes at him and recognised him as the okie man from the gas station. She slowly bent to pick up her things and made her way back out to the bar. "CLARA! GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!" he shouted.

The barmaid groaned and walked through. Raven had almost made it to the door when she began to walk faster. Once she reached the door she heard the barmaid come back into the room. Raven walked faster and was out the door in two seconds flat. She turned a corner and hid behind the open shutter on the window. She took a minute to breathe, then stopped suddenly as she heard the door open.

She looked round and the barmaid was standing there, looking all around her. "Come back here you freak! I'm gunna get you for what you did to my Robby!"

Raven sighed. She hid her head again as the barmaid looked round. She sighed again, this time hearing footsteps coming closer. The barmaid was just around the corner Raven had to think quick. Then, the light bulb above her head flickered on. The barmaid came closer, and once at the corner, she slowed down. Suddenly she jumped out screaming at the top of her voice to..to….nobody?

Raven was in the air looking down on the barmaid. She allowed herself a smile. Why hadn't she thought of this in the first place? It wouldn't take her as long if she flew. Looking at the barmaids confused searching, she smirked. Then, she turned round and started heading in the general direction of the tower. Or what she thought was the general direction of the tower. She sighed, realising that it wouldn't be too long before she was reunited with her old teammates. And her ex.