A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far!

When Jinx had originally suggested that Raven join the H.I.V.E Academy, Raven hadn't expected to wake up on her first day feeling like she'd been hit by a truck. Everything ached, though Raven didn't look as bad as she had been expecting. After Jinx's fourth and final wakeup call shortly after three thirty in the morning, the empath had given up on the idea of sleep and headed to the showers.

A look in the mirror had confirmed that her lip was split no more – while the skin was tender, it didn't hurt half as much as it had the day before. The black eyes had appeared, as Jinx had predicted, however the rest of the bruising had gone from an angry red to a sickly yellow. It wasn't attractive but Raven hoped by the end of the day it'd be barely visible.

She had retreated to her room – decorated simply with grey paint, a single bed, chest of draws and a desk – to meditate and was still levitating over the end of the bed when she heard a knock on her door, Jinx slowly opening it and popping her head through the gap. She looked almost as bad as Raven felt, bags under her eyes and her hair not its usual perfect shape. Raven could help but feel slightly happier she wasn't the only one feeling rough.

Jinx stared at her a moment, dazed. "You're awake?"

"Am I? I never noticed," Raven told her dryly, lowering herself to the bed before untucking her legs and standing up.

Jinx moved into the room. "You actually don't look like you got the shit beat out of you yesterday."

"I heal quickly. I did note it on the form."

"I know but… seeing it is kinda different." She shook her head. "How you feeling?"

"Rough, but I'll manage. Doubt the Headmistress would be impressed to hear I skipped my first day of class."

Jinx smiled, then yawned. "That's the spirit. Come on, we'll go get breakfast. We've got History first, then a free period before we have to see your favourite person again." Raven frowned at her, and she added, "Mrs Connelly. We got gym class today. Not that I would call it gym. More like hell."

Jinx motioned for her to follow, and they made their way through the girls' dorm. Raven could hear people scrambling to get ready in their rooms. A few girls rushed past them, and Raven noticed they all looked back over their shoulder at the pair, breaking into hushed whispers as they disappeared around the corner.

"News travels fast here," Jinx told her. "No doubt everyone knows about your entrance fight. You're the first person to make Mrs Connelly back off like that. It's gonna gain you some attention."

"Great," Raven muttered, feeling anything but.

"It really is – it'll gain the Headmistress's attention too. I still can't believe you didn't tap out earlier. Some of those hits looked nasty."

"What was I supposed to do? I don't have any fighting skills to showcase. That's the first time I've actually tried to use my powers in that way – and half of what I did was an accident."

"A happy accident," Jinx grinned.

They left the girls dormitory, the corridors back to the bright yellow. It didn't feel any more comfortable on Raven's eyes than it had the day before. "A dangerous accident. Jinx, I can't go around accidentality hurting people."

"What causes the accidents?" Jinx asked seriously. "I used to have a lot too, when I was younger. Figured out that the more I dispel my energy, the less accidents I have. If I don't use my hexes in a while, it all just kinda builds up until it spills out. Don't get me wrong, I still have the odd accident, but it's no longer major."

Raven thought about not answering her, not sure what help she could be when the Monks hadn't been able to control it. "Emotion. Strong emotion. Sometimes it's when I'm angry or scared or… when I stop thinking about controlling it. I have to focus, all the time, to not let it leak out."

"Okay, so before you fought Connelly, you were nervous right. I imagine you were during the fight too. So, maybe that's the reason. You were worried about accidentality hurting her, so you did."

"I don't think it's that easy, Jinx."

"Well, whatever the solution, we'll have months to work on it. We have a class every Thursday that's all about training and improving - we're split into our designated categories to help as well, so like I'm in a different class to Mammoth and Mammoth is in a different class from Gizmo. The categories are somewhat limited by who's in the Academy at the time though. Bumble Bee is in my class, though god knows why because her powers aren't like mine. Guess they didn't have a fit for her. Kyd Wykkyd is with me too – he makes portals, kinda like the one you used yesterday. Maybe we'll be in the same class?"

Raven didn't bother asking who these people were, not convinced a class would help her. How could they help her if she couldn't really tell them what her powers were – where they came from and how they worked?

"Look, you didn't exactly do that bad yesterday. Sure, it wasn't exactly graceful, and you fight like a boy, but some of it was damn impressive."

"Like what?" Raven asked, unconvinced.

"Like when you punched a hole in the wall. Imagine if that had made contact!"

The thought didn't cheer here up any, and Raven muttered, "I only dented it."

"Who cares? That wasn't on the sheet yesterday! How come you didn't mention your strength?"

"Because I've never done anything like that before. I didn't even know I could." It was something that worried her. Raven couldn't imagine she'd simply not noticed that kind of strength all her life and wondered where it had come from – as well as the possible consequences if she didn't manage it. Jinx was right in one thing – if that punch had made contact the fight would have been over, and not for her.

"Well, you did say you've never been in a fight before. Maybe you didn't know because you've never had to use it?"

Raven didn't reply, unconvinced. She had lashed out at her mother, Mother Azar and the Monks of Azar in fits of anger plenty of times as a child, and it had always been her powers that had been destructive, never her strength.

They reached the cafeteria, the noise instant. Raven followed the girl like her shadow to the line for breakfast. Looking round, it was more people than she had seen the previous day, even for lunch, and everyone looked so different. Some had unusually colouring, like her and Jinx, some could have passed for a normal human in any crowd while others had features that were not human.

"Exactly how do the school find people?" Raven asked.

"From the streets, mostly. They like people who won't be noticed as missing. Some, like Gizmo, find the school themselves." Jinx shrugged. "One or two came from orphanages – they tend not to like keeping children with powers.

"And you?"

"The streets. I'd been in America about three years pulling off small robberies before they found me."

Raven tried to imagine living so long on the streets and couldn't – she hadn't even made it through a week without disaster.

As they reached the front, Jinx took the tray that was offered her and stepped aside to wait for Raven. The empath looked at the tray she was given with bittersweet relief. Today's breakfast was oats, two slices of toast and fruit. It was completely meat free to her relief, though she would have preferred a cup of tea. They made their way over to where Mammoth sat, the teenager standing out above the crowd even sat down. He was sat with Gizmo, the six other chairs unoccupied.

"If you ever get here first, this is our table," Jinx told her as they sat down. "You see anyone else sat here, kick 'em for it."

"You're late." Gizmo scowled.

"What do you expect? I had to get up every few hours to make sure Rae was still breathing. I don't feel like I've slept."

"How are you feeling?" Mammoth asked Raven.

"Like I've been hit by a train," She replied. "But better than I did yesterday."

"She looks better too, doesn't she?" Jinx pointed out, still fascinated with how quickly Raven was healing. "You'd have thought the fight was a week ago."

"Well, there's already twenty different versions of what happened going round school," Gizmo told them. "Some of our class are gonna be disappointed when they see Mrs Connelly's still alive today." He chuckled. When Jinx glared at him, he admitted, "Okay, I started that one. Couldn't resist."

Raven happily tucked onto her food, choosing to ignore the conversation.

"I also saw this morning that those stinkin' heroes have moved into Jump City. They made a deal with the mayor or something."

There was a collective groan at the table.

"I understand the worry around the Tamaranian, but why the others?" Raven asked. "Aren't they just… like us? People with abilities?"

"Robin's a normal human as far as I can figure," Gizmo told her. "But he used to work with Batman, see?"

Raven froze, eyes shooting to the small boy. "What? As in Justice League Batman?"

"Is there another one?" He asked impatiently. "Of course, that Batman."

She looked at Jinx. "You mentioned yesterday all your assignments are in Jump City."

"Yup. And they won't change that just because some wannabe heroes have moved in either. The Academy will consider it extra training."

Raven could feel her panic back. If this Robin was still talking to his mentor and they crossed paths in Jump City…

"They're a new team – they won't know how to fight together," Mammoth told them, uninterested. "It'll be a piece of cake."

"Yeah, we'll I bet Angel doesn't have anyone in her city." Jinx scowled.

Seeing Raven's confused look, Mammoth told her, "Angel's competition. She's currently teamed with Kyd Wykkyd and Bumble Bee. They're one below us on scoring." He looked round, not trying to be discrete as he pointed her out. "Her with the big wings."

"It's not that big a deal," Gizmo told them. "We've got Raven, remember? We'll been in and out of places before they ever knew we were there." He finished his food, pushing his tray away before grinning. "So, anyone prepare for the History test today."

Mammoth's face dropped. "We have a test?"

"That'll be a no then."

"It's only on tacticians," Jinx tried to reassure him. "We've been studying it for months, it'll be easy."

"Maybe for you."

"Don't worry – you should at least score higher than the newbie," Gizmo laughed, standing up. "We better get a move on or we're gonna be late."

"They're going to make me sit a test on my first day?" Raven asked Jinx as they stood.

"Probably. Mr Blyth is right miserable. If it was English, you might have gotten away with reading while everyone else did the test. Don't worry, if you fail you get a second chance to re-sit. Mammoth usually passes second time."

They put their trays on a stack at the side of the room, Gizmo taking lead as he excitedly reeled off facts he had learnt for the exam. Mammoth listened to him intently, trying to remember as much of it as he could while Raven and Jinx trailed behind.

"You mentioned tacticians. Exactly what kind of tacticians have you been studying?"

"Military for the most part. Don't worry if you don't know any of it – we'll sit down with Mammoth and study anyway." She leaned in closer and quietly told her, "Mammoth rarely passes anything first time. He usually get's it on the second go."

The room Gizmo led them to wasn't like the classrooms on Azarath, where small tables were spaced out across the floor, the teacher's desk situated at the top of the room. This room had benches that stretched out the length of the room, starting from high up in the room and each bench stepping down until the space opened up, where the teacher was stood watching people file into the room. Each bench had a narrow desk that ran unbroken. As Gizmo chose a spot and everyone found their seats, Raven ended up in-between Mammoth and Jinx, she realised using the desk space meant a fair bit of leaning over and wondered how on earth it had been considered a practical set up.

While waiting for the class to start Raven spent her time look around at the other students who entered the room, most choosing to sit in groups as they had, a few sitting on their own.

"Don't expect much conversation," Jinx told her. "It's pretty competitive here. The better your team does, the more perks you get."

Raven wanted to ask what sort of perks, when the teacher cleared his throat, trying to gain everyone's attention.

Mr Blyth was a long-faced man with an even longer nose which supported a pair of wide-rimmed tortoiseshell glasses. He didn't seem to care in the slightest that he had a new student in his class. There was no introduction, nor talk on what they'd been studying.

He started up the steps, a large pile of papers in one hand, and stopped at each row, counting the students sat there before giving so many sheets to the student closest and moving on to the next.

"Test day. You will have an hour to complete. If any of you manage to reach a grade 'C', I will be impressed. Those of you who don't will have to retake the test in your own time. They will be graded for next week."

Jinx took the stack of papers he handed her, keeping one booklet before passing the rest along. Raven copied her but before she had time to look at the paper a textbook was handed to her, the teacher telling her, "For your studies. Put it away during the test."

Most of the paper went over her head and there were only a few questions Raven had answered confidently. Beside her Mammoth looked ready to pull his hair out by the time the class was finished. Jinx had sat calmly throughout it all, and flashed Raven a smile when she noticed the girl watching her.

The room burst into noise as Mr Blyth dismissed them, Gizmo quickly asking everyone, "So, how did you think you did?"

"Not too bad," Jinx shrugged as she stood from the bench.

"I did terrible," the behemoth answered glumly. "Mind went completely blank. Couldn't even remember names, never mind dates."

Gizmo didn't try to hid his smug expression as he looked at Raven. "What about you, newbie? Manage to answer any questions?"

"I believe I completed at least half of the test. Modern tacticians are unknow to me, but I've done some reading on pre-1400s history. Ancient history is where I excel however, so it was nice to see a question about General Immortus. I couldn't speak about his recent activity but managed to write a fair bit about his past actions. One mention to Genghis Khan and Alexander Magnus - of course, I don't know how I'll mark against what the Academy is expecting."

Gizmo frowned at her a moment, expecting a more concrete version of 'I failed', before asking, "So, you still failed then?"

"Probably," Raven told him indifferently. "I studied magic and scriptures, not common war tales."

The free students slowly filed out the room, no one in any rush, a free hour between them and the next class.

"So what's the plan?" Mammoth asked, coming to a stop in the middle of the corridor. No one felt the need to move out of the way of other students – they quickly changed directions to avoid Mammoth.

"There's still some parts of the Academy Rae still hasn't seen yet." Jinx looked at the girl in question. "Any requests?"

Raven hesitated, not exactly sure what to ask for. "Does this place have a library?"

"Now you're talking on my level!" Gizmo grinned, quickly taking charge. "They could do with a few more books surrounding computational science but it's not bad. Librarian's a complete stiff though. Don't even think about sneezing while you're in there – she'll be over in record time breathing down your back for 'making too much noise'."

Gizmo took off, leaving the rest of his team to catch up.

"How are you feeling?" Jinx asked, expanding when Raven frowned at her, "Your bruising. It's almost gone."

She put a hand to her cheek, happy when it didn't ache. "So it is."

"You know Mrs Connelly is going to push you hard when she realises you're in the class. Even more so if it looks like you didn't take any damage that fight."

"How can it be much worse than yesterday?" She shrugged.

(…)

A quote about 'famous last words' entered Raven's head as she started her tenth lap of the arena. Raven had lost Jinx ages ago – in fact she was certain the girl had lapped her at least twice. She could still see Mammoth ahead and beside her Gizmo wheezed, red faced, determined not to fall behind Raven.

She didn't think she'd ever run so much in her life.

Upon entering the gym she'd received some smiles from other classmates, no doubt still amused about her fight with Mrs Connelly. Mrs Connelly hadn't smiled. She – like Mr Blyth – had decided to all but ignore her presence, and promptly told the class they would be working on their endurance. It had quickly wiped the smiles off the faces of all the students.

Raven herself would have quite happily given up a few laps earlier, but each time her gaze found the teacher, stood in the middle with her arm in a cast and offering scathing comments to any student who dared slow to a walk, she found new energy to keep going. Raven knew Mrs Connelly didn't like her – could feel it from the woman each time she looked her way - so was determined not to show any weakness.

Ahead of her, Mammoth slowed to a walk. Raven quickly moved round him – as other students were forced to do – but Gizmo slowed to join his friend, feeling able to stop now that he wasn't the first out of their little group. Raven tried to keep her pace as steady as she could.

Jinx caught up to her again, slowly down slightly as she asked, "Still going?"

Raven didn't answer her, not sure she could. It was taking most of her energy just to keep her legs moving forward.

"Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth," Jinx told her. "Two more laps and you can stop."

"Go… finish your … laps then." Raven told her between breaths.

"I have. Here on moral support."

Raven glanced towards the middle. Sure enough some students had already joined Mrs Connelly and were taking a moment to catch their breath as they waiting for everyone else to finish. Finishing last would clearly come with a price as she wondered what the teacher would make them do next. Gym was a double period, which meant two hours of potential torture.

"I think… Gizmo and Mammoth… need it more." Raven tried to shake her head, then stopped. She needed to keep her eyes focused on the person in front of her. When she needed to, she would look at Mrs Connelly again – draw from the woman's anger. "I'm fine."

"You're doing well," Jinx told her with a smile before dropping back.

She caught up with someone dressed head to toe in black, accented with indigo and grey. Like Raven he wore a cloak and Raven silently wondered if he was regretting his choice of outfit as much as she was. As she reached level with him, he turned and looked at her with completely red eyes, blinking twice before picking up speed.

She didn't try to match him but ran behind, wondering if he had a rivalry with Jinx's team. Hadn't she said most of the students were in competition with each other?

She finished the twelfth lap and slowly walking into the middle of the area, away from those still running – or in Gizmo's case, walking. Mammoth had picked up speed again, Jinx jogging beside him, trying to keep her friend going. As she watched, the boy in the cloak approached her.

He stared at her silently and Raven stared back, her stare turning sour as she waited.

"Did you want something?" She finally asked, realising he wasn't going to speak first.

The boy pointed at her, before opening his hand up and raising it palm first. Raven watched as a dark swirl appeared, hovering above his palm.

"Kyd don't speak much."

Raven jumped at the voice, looking away from the boy to find they'd been joined by someone in a white and green suit. His face only had one eye, where there should have been two. It was too big for his face and framed by his mask.

"We saw your fight in here yesterday. He's letting you know he uses portals too."

Raven didn't know how to respond, so she didn't.

"Only you two here who can do that."

"Alright…"

Before she could look for a quick exit, Jinx was next to her, Mammoth – who looked ready to drop – in tow. "She's already spoken for See-More."

"I know!" They one-eyed boy frowned. "Kyd just wanted to say hi." He put his arm around his friend and steered them away. "Come on, before Angel wonders what we're doin'."

"Hey, since when were you with Angel?" Jinx asked, taking a step after him.

"Since my team kept hitting the bottom of the leader board," See-More waved her off.

Raven watched them move away before asking Jinx, "Has Gizmo finished yet?"

Jinx looked back towards the outskirts of the arena. It didn't take her long to spot him. He was jogging again, desperately trying to keep up with the last few people. "He's never been very good at anything physical. Suppose his height doesn't help him. But we're a balanced team. That's what counts."

The three waited for Gizmo to join them, Mammoth patting his friend on the back as he offered a weary "Well done."

"Alright!" Mrs Connelly's voice rung through the large room like a bell. "Pair up. You're each to do twenty sit-ups, then move on to push-ups. One of you will spot while the other completes the exercise, then swap."

Gizmo groaned. "She's going to kill us."

"I'll go first," Mammoth told him as they went to go find a space.

"So, ever done a sit up before?" Jinx asked Raven. When the girl shook her head, she found a clear piece of ground and sat down, her knees pulled up. "Sit down, hold my feet down and I'll show you."

(…)

A/N: I will have a few chapters of HIVE life dotted in between the action. Don't worry – next chapter should lead towards more of the gritty stuff!