Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or any characters in the DC Universe.
2. Before Final Exam
"Most interesting," concluded a man with an orange-and-black facial covering that encased the entirety of his head, with one eye-slit on the orange-side of the mask. There were several monitors splayed out on the wall in front of him, replaying scenes of five teenaged superheroes fighting crime. One was zeroed in on a ruby-haired girl grabbing a masked teen's neck, locking him in a kiss. Others showed kittens and puppies being rescued from an apartment set ablaze, altercations with Cinderblock, and other crime-fighting feats. Nearby, gears ground and groaned, an occasional hissing noise emitting the otherwise silent lair. He leaned back in his large, black armchair, and called patiently for his servant, "Wintergreen."
"Yes, Master?"
"Find out what you can about Batman and Robin," Slade commanded, as the videos zoomed in on the spikey-haired teen. "I have an alternative solution to our dilemma."
Slade had intended magnificently ambitious plans for Jump City, but he was momentarily sidelined by the arrival of a tan princess, Batman's former sidekick, a cybernetic teen, a mysterious hooded girl, and the Doom Patrol's former pet project. It would have been more convenient to take the city over without heroes guarding it, but the presence of Batman's sidekick made for a most interesting turn of events.
He had been in the need of an apprentice for some time. It was a facet he knew he would require before the end of his life, whenever that should be, but one he wasn't all-too keen to pursue. Apprentices require patience, discipline, and a great amount of time to manipulate. In fact, he had high hopes for his children to follow in his footsteps, but unfortunate circumstances caused an unfortunate abandonment of that plan. Given the sudden rearrangement of his most recent plans, it now seemed more expedient to pursue an apprentice while pursuing revenge.
"And Wintergreen?"
"Yes, Master?"
"Give the headmistress of the HIVE Academy a call. I may require her services." Yes, he could see the plan coming together perfectly. He needed to work out a few additional details, but with a little more time and refinement, it very well could be the best plan he had concocted yet. For now, he needed to find a way to deliver a message, then he would begin his series of tests. Wintergreen smirked and bowed, disappearing into the darkness.
"Titans, together." Robin directed the four other Titans, who immediately surrounded their leader. "Great workout today," he smiled at them encouragingly as they caught their breath. "Cyborg, I think we have a few kinks to work out before we try the Sonic Boom out in the field, but it's coming along nicely. Beast Boy, I liked how you turned into a fly to maneuver yourself out of that last attack out there. Smart thinking. Raven and Starfire, I like how you two combined your powers early on. I think we a little bit more coordination, we can turn that into a killer combo attack." He paused, looking the haggard teens over. "We need to improve our endurance; that round was only about five minutes' worth of drills."
"Or," Cyborg interjected, somewhat impatiently, "maybe we need to take longer than a minute to catch our breath between drills after five hours' worth of training."
Robin tried to hide his grimace toward his second-in-command, "I appreciate the input, Cyborg, but villains won't be as forgiving in a real fight." He noticed the disgruntled, exhausted faces of his teammates, "But I suppose a five-hour practice is more than plenty for the morning. Hit the showers, team."
The rest of the crew breathed a sigh of relief and turned toward the entrance of the Tower. Beast Boy, with a sudden burst of energy, challenged them to a race, "Last one back is rotten tofu!" Cyborg and Starfire blasted off with him.
Raven rolled her eyes, strolling gradually behind. She was relieved Beast Boy was distracted by a light-hearted competition for a few moments. Her biggest regret was telling the green teen he was "kinda funny." It was true, at the time, but now he spent just about every waking moment trying to get her to laugh again. It made it difficult to focus, and she was slightly embarrassed by the near-constant attention. She much preferred living in the shadows, but that was nearly impossible with Beast Boy around. She began to lock herself in her bedroom to get more than five minutes of quiet.
Robin made a mental note to be more judicious with their time as he surveyed the condition of the training field. They had been practicing since 5 a.m. He would never admit it to Cyborg, but he was right, to some extent; if there were an attack on the city, the team would be in no condition to put up much of a fight. He briefly considered canceling combat practice later that day but decided against it; it wasn't planned until three in the afternoon, so they had plenty of time to rest.
He cracked his neck after wiping the sweat off his face, then twisted his torso, feeling a satisfying pop glide up his spine. To his surprise, he felt a buzz in his pocket from the T-Communicator. He hadn't expected any of the Titans would want to chat with him, particularly so soon after he had worked them so hard. He flipped open the communicator, even more shocked to see the pretty, slender masked face of Batgirl. He swallowed a lump in his throat. Instead of dwelling on the feeling of his heart sinking, he narrowed his eyes and scowled, doing his best not to offer any satisfaction to the red head.
Raven practiced her breathing exercises as she walked behind her friends. As the door shut behind them, she felt a blast of anxious energy from Robin. That combined with Starfire's exuberance, Cyborg's heated internal grumbling, and Beast Boy's poor attempts at cracking jokes, was disrupting her focus. She determined it would be best to make a cup of herbal tea and meditate in her room. She was so consumed with her focus on breathing, she didn't notice Starfire break from the group or hear Beast Boy addressing her.
"Rae!" Beast Boy called back for the third time to her from the entrance to the main ops room.
Raven stopped walking and blinked, "Don't call me that."
"You didn't answer my question," Beast Boy continued quizzically, not acknowledging her distaste for the nickname he christened her with.
Raven blinked again, waiting for him to repeat his question.
"Do you want to watch an episode of Stunt Fest with me and Cy before lunch?"
"No." Raven looked bored, but, noticing Beast Boy's crestfallen features, she added, "Watching TV isn't really my thing, but I can grab my book and read it out here while you watch it."
A smile crept back on Beast Boy's features, "Sweet! Deal."
As she turned on her heel, Raven suddenly felt queasy about the interaction. She had no clue why she felt the need to accommodate Beast Boy the way she offered. Nor did she understand the fluttering in her stomach as he smiled at her. She quickly dismissed her confusion as not having a chance to meditate. As she was walking, she could hear Cyborg question where the remote was.
"Man, it isn't in here, what did you do with it?" Cyborg shook his head in frustration at Beast Boy. He had left the remote on the coffee table, right where it was supposed to be, like he had done every day since they moved in, yet it was missing. Again. He was already feeling aggravated with Batman, Jr. prancing around acting like he owned the place. Maybe that isn't fair, he chided himself, but he can act like a little punk sometimes. All he wanted to do was watch some mindless television before their next practice. I swear, that kid pushes us harder than Coach ever did... 'Course, Coach wasn't putting us in life-or-death situations.
Raven was relieved she wasn't facing the two anymore because she couldn't contain her smirk. The quest to find the remote control was a daily occurrence, even as they hadn't lived in their new home for long. It was almost laughable, incredibly annoying, and made absolutely no sense. There were at least twenty remotes for the same TV, and no one could find one when they needed it. Ridiculous.
As she maneuvered down the hall, she wasn't surprised to see Starfire slip out of her bedroom with a beach towel and her iPod. While Raven's routine after practice was to drink herbal tea, meditate, or read, it seemed like Starfire enjoyed listening to music and falling asleep on the roof of the tower. Raven had been surprised by her one day when she thought about meditating on the roof, and determined it would be better to meditate inside from there on out.
Raven liked Starfire well enough, but having friends was new for her, and Starfire had incredibly strong emotions constantly. Raven understood why, but that didn't make it any easier to be around. She had to prepare herself to be in the alien's presence. Raven also arrived to the conclusion that Starfire would benefit from privacy…
"How did you retrieve access to this frequency?" Robin briefly considered if taking the harsh approach did much to accomplish his goal of seeming unbothered by her.
The blue-eyed girl rolled her eyes, "Nice to see you, too, Dick."
Robin covered his reaction to his secret identity well, noting anyone who may have overheard would probably assume someone was cursing him out. "What do you want, Barbara?" He hissed, walking toward the entrance of the Tower as his teammates had done earlier.
Barbara didn't miss a beat, "Batman said the League is tracking someone named Slade. Dangerous dude. Seems to be bent on revenge for an incident involving some of his kids, but it's unclear who he's trying to take it out on." A picture of a grimacing masked man flashed on the communicator's screen before Barbara's concerned face reappeared. "Sources have narrowed down his location to Jump City, but determining his exact location is proving to be more difficult."
Robin grunted as he made his way to the elevator, riding it to the top floor, "So what's your angle?"
"Be careful, Dick." Barbara cautioned with concern evident in her tone, causing Robin to pause. "He's seeking global domination, but he's motivated by vengeance. He is starting small-scale, locally. Batman directed the League to back off for the time being, until they can find more intel –"
"—you mean, until I can find more intel for them," Robin corrected.
"That's not what I said—"
"It's what you meant," Robin retorted, trying not to let his anger show. "I appreciate the heads-up Barbara, really, I do, but we'll be fine without the help from the League or Batman and his posse."
Barbara sighed out of frustration, "Hey! I'm sorry things went down the way they did, Dick, but –"
"Robin out," Robin disconnected the transmission before she could finish her thought. He was now making his way toward the staircase that poured out onto the roof of the tower. He needed a moment to collect his thoughts.
He had wished the last time he had spoken to Barbara had ended more amicably, but it had, unfortunately, been largely tied to his reason for leaving the Bat Cave for good. Not the main reason, he assured himself, but definitely a part of it. He forced the door leading outside open aggressively. He had tried to put what had happened with Barbara out of his mind, and he believed he had been successful. That is, until she called. Barbara: one of his former best friends and one of the few people he trusted in the world. She, Wally West, and Dick were like the three musketeers at one point. He shook his head, dismissively, not wanting to reflect too deeply on the past.
Winning Batman's financial support over proved not to be too difficult, thankfully, but Robin still held deep-seated resentment and indignation about what had happened prior to his leave of the Bat Cave.
He lifted his eyes just in time to avoid tripping over Starfire, who was lying on her stomach with her eyes closed, limbs sprawled out across a lumpy, turquoise beach towel. Her bare back glimmered radiantly in the sunlight. Robin caught himself gaping, blushed, and averted his eyes sheepishly, but not before noticing the ugly, thick scars sprawled across her upper back, the area normally covered by her uniform. It was an unsettling and unexpected reminder of the life she lived before she came to Earth. "Uh, Star?" He tapped her on the shoulder lightly.
Starfire jolted upright, tugging a pair of earphones away as she pressed pause on her lime green iPod. She smiled up self-consciously at him while Robin quickly turned around as to maintain some level of decorum.
"Robin," Starfire gasped, "I apologize, did I miss the afternoon practice? I must have fallen asleep…"
"Uh…" Robin coughed, "No, that's not for another few hours. I was just looking to get some fresh air before lunch, but… Starfire?"
"Yes, Robin?" Starfire returned innocently.
Robin cleared his throat uncomfortably once more, feeling his face redden as he focused on the door he just waltzed through, sweat dripping down the back of his neck once more. He didn't dare turn to look at her again, having an odd desire to instead be talking to Barbara. Anything would be better than the embarrassment he was now enduring. "Where… Where's your uniform?"
Starfire studied the back of her leader's head, feeling perplexed. "Robin, are you lacking the comfort?"
Robin hesitated and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Do you, uh, always come up here, uh, naked?"
Starfire thought carefully about his question. The Tower hadn't long been constructed before she developed the practice, but it now occurred to her that her choice was not normal, or even acceptable, given his tense and embarrassed reaction. "My powers are strengthened by direct sunlight," Starfire explained carefully, feeling one of her stomachs drop as if she had done something wrong. "It is quite normal for my people to present themselves this way, when we are not in a formal event or facing battle. Is this not the case on Earth?" She reflexively wrapped her arms around her waist, as if to cover herself, though she didn't understand why. As she waited for Robin to respond, she silently acknowledged she had never viewed any of their friends in the nude before, but her behavior was perfectly normal where she was from.
"Uh," Robin shook his head, still not daring to look at her, "I'd feel more comfortable explaining to you if you had your clothes on."
Without another word, Starfire pulled her uniform from underneath her towel and dressed herself. After a minute, she invited Robin to continue their conversation, and Robin turned to face her. He was embarrassed when he noticed he had let out a sigh of relief upon seeing her fully-clothed again, but recovered quickly. "Thanks, Star." She waited for him to explain expectantly. He coughed for what felt like the millionth time that day, "So. Uh. I guess, I appreciate that your culture is cool with that sort of, er, uh, openness, but on Earth that can be," he paused, uncertain of what he was going to say. Is it offensive? Is it inappropriate? How do I explain it to her without upsetting her? She clearly never intended to behave in any of those ways, but she should probably know she can't just hang out naked… "On Earth it's not the best choice to go around naked where others can see you."
"I see," Starfire nodded, placing an inquisitive finger on her chin, and began to question him if there were times in which it would be appropriate for her to be in the nude. Robin assured her it was quite normal to bathe or shower while being naked, though he decided against telling her about nude beaches. He encouraged her, however, to continue to tan and sunbathe, just with clothes on in the future so she wouldn't surprise any of the others as she had him.
Starfire took the feedback graciously and seemed to understand, so Robin took the opportunity to change the subject and invited her to get some lunch downstairs and find out what the rest of the team was doing. While they made their trek to the kitchen, Robin asked her less-probing questions about Tamaranean culture, like if all Tamaraneans were able to fly. Starfire explained her peoples' flying ability, qualifying that not everyone was able to fly through space like herself and her sister.
Robin began to feel less tense as Starfire went into extensive detail about the intricacies of flight, the techniques, and how her people utilized their positive emotions to harness their abilities. He was amazed at the level of detail she explained the science behind it in. The memory of his conversation with Barbara faded, as did the Tamaranean's earlier nakedness, as he zeroed in on her explanation of the speed of light.
"That's fascinating," Robin gave her a lopsided grin, causing her heart to flutter. "So you know technically how to fly faster than the speed of light?"
"Oh, I have flown faster than the speed of light."
Robin's eyes widened and his mouth formed a small hole as he asked, "How did you manage that?"
"It is what I believe you would call the 'common knowledge of the book' on my world, but not everyone has, as you would say, 'the knowledge of the street.' It takes years of practice and advanced training, but when it comes down to it, it is really quite simple." Starfire then began going into detail about the secret of accomplishing such a feat.
Meanwhile, Cyborg and Beast Boy were in the main ops room, still arguing about the lost remote control for the TV. Raven, now sitting at the kitchen table attempting to read her book, felt her temple pulsing from the oncoming migraine their arguing caused. She was sure she had actually seen a remote control in the gym where they were practicing earlier. She didn't know if it was the same one they were talking about, but she didn't entirely care. The case of the missing remote had an easy solution that required much less effort than they were expending with their fruitless argument, as always.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading so far! Sorry it took so long to get the update posted; sometimes life happens. I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you think. Also, thank you to TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne for correcting me on Cyborg canon in the last chapter - it's been corrected. :)