Re-Educating Miss Roth
A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald
Opening notes: More set up in this chapter, and a little bit of action just to make it interesting. Read on!
Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans, and you know it, so neeaaaa!
Chapter 2: Girls just wanna have fun...
"Wake up, Jenny."
Jinx opened her eyes a tiny bit and stared over at Raven, who was already gathering her things for a quick shower down the hall, "Hmmph?"
"It's almost 6:30, and we have to be down to homeroom by 8:00. There's four other girls besides us that need to shower and make themselves pretty for class today, so you need to start getting around soon."
Jinx nodded and closed her eyes again.
A solid thump told her that she'd been tossed out of her bed. She grumbled and quickly stood up, "Alright! I'm up! Jeez..."
"Jeez nothing, Jen!" Raven was shouting, "It's 7:13! You've already missed breakfast, so just take a quick shower and hurry downstairs. I'll meet you there so we can get to class."
"Didn't you say it was 6:30?" Jinx squinted.
"I said it was 6:30 almost AN HOUR AGO WHEN I WOKE YOU UP THE FIRST TIME!" Raven shouted back, making Jinx flinch away, "GET MOVING!"
"Eep!" Jinx jumped back from Raven's glowing red eyes and grabbed her shower basket, "I'm going!"
"You didn't have to scream at me so much..." Jinx mumbled as they walked briskly down the path that led to one of the two school buildings on the campus.
"If you had actually gotten up at a decent hour, I wouldn't have had to." Raven replied, cool as ever, "The others are already there, and we're being lax in our duty to protect Becka by not staying with them."
"You could have gone ahead of me-"
"You would have fallen asleep again. Do not screw this up, Jenny. We can' afford for you to be in detention your first day!"
As they walked through the doors of Westpost Hall (both of their first three classes were there, as well as their homeroom) Raven turned a hard right and walked up a staircase, Jinx hot on her heels. Down the hall at the top of the stairs, Raven stopped abruptly in front of room 210.
"Okay. Veerlin will probably introduce us to the class in some embarrassing manner or another. Try not to be too spastic." Raven glared as she smoothed out her skirt.
"Try not to be too cold and bitchy." Jinx winked.
Groaning, Raven pushed the door open and they walked in. The class was already seated, and they were chatting amongst themselves. All conversation stopped when they saw that the two new girls were in their class.
Ms. Veerlin motioned them forward and in front of the class. She stood next to them, a good head shorter than even Raven, and motioned with a warm smile and a heartfelt tone, "This, class, is Cassandra Roth, a new student here at WJCIE. She has transferred in from Gotham, as has her step-sister, Jennifer Wrangler." she smiled at Jinx, who smiled back, "Would you girls like to say anything?"
"We're pleased to be here, and hope to meet as many of you as possible in the next few days." Raven nodded to the class and gave a slight smile.
"You'll have to forgive me if I mess up the first thousand times I'm talking to you," Jinx added with a grin, "I'm terrible with names."
"Alright then, girls! Take your seats please!" Raven moved to the right, near the window, and Jinx walked down the center of the room to a desk in the back. Both places had their names on them in little paper tents, so they were easy to find.
As Raven took her seat, she looked to her right and saw a young man with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. He smiled warmly at her and she sensed that he was trying to be friendly, even though he felt she was a bit odd.
Turning her eyes forward again, she saw that a girl with thin, blond hair was seated in front of her, a book open on her desk. Reading over her shoulder, Raven saw it was H.P. Lovecraft. A horror buff.
Since she was being soundly ignored, Raven paid no mind to that girl for now. She turned and looked behind herself.
Ami sat there, and stuck her tongue out at Raven with a slight giggle. Raven smiled back and turned forward again, listening as Ms. Veerlin began to speak. A bird flew by the window on her right, and she ignored it completely.
Jinx spent the first few moments in her seat adjusting her skirt. It was all twisted funny from having been yanked on so hastily just minutes before, and she wanted it to sit right if she was going to be stuck in it all day.
As Ms. Veerlin started into the days announcements, Jinx took stock of the nearby desk dwellers. Becka sat directly to her left, and waved slightly as Jinx looked at her. She nodded back and poked the African American girl sitting in front of her. The young woman glanced back and Jinx mouthed, 'What's your name?'
The girl smiled a little and mouthed back, 'Jenna.'
Jinx grinned and patted her shoulder, turning and looking to her right.
Ginger Hammilton glared right back at her.
With a frown and a sigh of disgust, Jinx decided to pay attention to what her homeroom teacher was saying.
"... and that brings us to the topic of hallway smoochery." Jinx blinked as the whole class let out a light chuckle. Veerlin continued, "While we realize that it's impossible to keep you kids from dating one another, we ask that you refrain from exorbitant public displays of affection. Principal Cain would like me to remind you that if you are caught necking in a public forum," she paused as another wave of giggles swept the room, "then you will be assigned one hour worth of detention that she herself will personally oversee." she placed the sheet of announcements down on her desk and hopped up so she was sitting there as well. Kicking her feet, she looked out over her class with a smile, "Any questions?"
The class was silent for a moment, then all heads turned to where Raven was sitting, her hand firmly up in the air.
Veerlin smiled at her, "Yes, Miss Roth?"
Raven lowered her hand, and with a deadpan voice and an expressionless face, she asked, "I would like to ask about the reminder of the church service on Sunday."
"Yes? What about it?"
"Is it mandatory?"
There was a minor buzz of commentary at this, and Jinx arched an eyebrow at the dark girl. Veerlin held up a hand and silenced the class as she responded to Raven's question.
"There are no rules stating that you must attend church with the rest of us, Miss Roth, but I do highly encourage you to go. It would be a good opportunity to get to know many of your classmates better."
Raven shook her head, "Thank you, but no."
"No?" Ginger spoke up from Jinx's right and the young sorceress closed her eyes and shrank back in her seat, waiting for the battle that was about to be fought, "What are you, a Satan worshiper?"
Raven turned slowly as Veerlin's mouth dropped open. She gave Ginger a cool look and blinked, "No, you empty headed twit. I'm a paganist, and therefore do not wish to be included in your worship of a God I don't believe in."
"So you do worship Satan." Ginger looked triumphant.
"Didn't she just say that we're paganists?" Jinx snapped, "What part of that didn't you understand?"
"I'm talking to your sister dear. Please don't butt in."
Veerlin was still staring slack jawed at the battle of wills being played out in her classroom, too shocked and interested to see what would happen next to interfere.
Raven narrowed her eyes, "A paganist doesn't worship Satan. We worship the Earth Mother Ghea, Luna, the Moon Goddess, and many other spirits of the natural world." she turned away from Ginger, "Your refusal to understand anything but what your parents and peers have drilled into you as being 'right' and 'wrong' shows quite clearly that you are not only immature, but also that you're a close minded clone that walks through modern society believing more of what's on TV than what's taught in a class room." Ginger's mouth dropped open at that as well, but Raven wasn't done yet, "The freedom to worship how ever one wishes is a right afforded to the citizens of this country, and being pressured into worshiping something you don't want to is tyrannical and unjust. The fact that this school freely assumes that all it's students want to be part of it's Christian community is disturbing to say the least, and frankly, I'm rather insulted by it."
There was ringing silence through the room after Raven's speech, and everyone was staring at her.
Everyone except Jinx, who grinned widely and pumped her hand in the air, "You tell 'em Sis!"
Ginger finally snapped out of her funk and grinned her sick little grin, "Well, I guess this just proves what freaks you both are-"
The class never got to hear her reasoning for calling the two new girls freaks, because she was cut off quite effectively by Jinx's fist.
"Can't believe we both got detention 'cause you decked that bitch." Raven muttered as she and Jinx walked out of homeroom, "I mean, yeah, maybe I shot my mouth off a little and called everyone close minded idiots, but you're the one that almost broke her jaw."
"She deserved it. And at least we don't have detention together. One of us can keep an eye on Becka while the other is... I dunno... writing 'I will not slug other students' on the board or something."
"Gee... that's comforting."
"Hey guys!" they both stumbled a bit as Hanna slammed into them from behind, throwing her arms around their shoulders, "What classes do you have next."
"Trig." Raven replied with a soar face.
"Chem." Jinx smiled, "We're in the same class, aren't we?"
"Yeah!" Hanna smiled widely, "You, me, Becka and Janice. Only Ami was dumb enough to take another math class this year." she stuck her tongue out at Raven, who rolled her eyes.
"I'll see you two jokers in English class." Raven waved over her shoulder as she walked down the hall to her math class.
"Alright!" Jinx and Hanna started down the hall in the opposite direction, "We doing anything cool today?" Jinx asked.
"We're in the lab today! This experiment is supposed to be wicked cool! Like, little balls of fire and everything!"
"Great!" Jinx grinned in a rather sinister manner, "I like fire!"
"Are you any good at this stuff?" Ami asked as she scanned her notes from where she sat next to Raven in their Trigonometry class.
Raven glanced over at her and shrugged, "I did fairly well back in Gotham. Since Mr. Hathorn is requiring me to take a test over material I haven't studied yet, I guess we'll find out just how good I am."
"He's making you take the test?" Ami looked at her in horror, "What a bastard!"
"Tell me about it." Raven frowned. While she was good at math (she was good at anything that required thought, instead of action) she didn't know if she could pass a Trig test without at least seeing what it was over.
"You want to borrow my notes?" Ami asked, "After the religion debacle in homeroom, you can't want to screw up any more today..."
"I didn't screw up. Jen is the one who smashed Ginger's face in." Raven frowned at the red head.
Ami grinned, "It was a good punch though, wasn't it?"
Raven had to chuckle at that, "Yeah. I have first hand experience with how well Jenny can throw a punch."
"Don't you think that's a little much?" Becka asked as Jinx lifted the two half full flasks of chemicals in front of her and prepared to mix them into a bowl. Both of them, as well as their third lab partner, Janice, were dressed in fire retardant smocks and had their hair pulled back, safety glasses firmly in place.
"I just want a bigger boom, you know?" Jinx grinned a Cheshire like grin, "I figure more chemicals means a more spectacular experiment, and a more spectacular experiment means a higher grade, right?"
"I'm not sure that's how it's supposed to work..." Janice took a few steps back.
"We'll never know 'till we try though!" Jinx happily dumped both chemicals she held in equal amounts into the bowl in front of her.
The resulting explosion blasted her halfway across the room.
Raven flipped open her English text book as she sat down. Glancing at the board, she saw that they would be studying the early 20th century playwrights, and nodded. She knew enough to ace a high school class on that subject.
She looked to her left and blinked as Becka sat down, looking slightly singed. Looking back right, she saw Jinx sitting down, her hair a good inch and a half shorter, and her eyebrows much thinner.
As she opened her mouth to speak, Jinx held up a hand, "Don't ask."
Raven shut her mouth, nodded, and went back to reading.
After English and History, the six second-floor-girls gathered at their usual table in the cafeteria for lunch. Jinx dug right in, along with Hanna, but the other four of them took a few minutes to talk.
"So Cassie," Ami asked as she stirred her mashed potatoes in with her peas, "you mentioned how much you dislike gym class... it's next period, you know."
"I'll manage." Raven rolled her eyes.
"Don't worry if you're not that good at anything," Becka spoke up, "I'm not half as good as Ami or Janice at anything we do in gym, but I still get decent grades."
Raven shook her head, "While I don't necessarily enjoy physical exertion, I never said I wasn't good at it. I keep in shape."
"Good to hear..." Janice spoke in her quite, southern accent, "we could use some more strong players on the softball field."
"Just put us on opposing teams then." Jinx said thorough half a mouth full of food, "Cassie might not look it, but she enjoys the heck out of beating me at everything we do."
"Really? I don't see you as being the competitive type, Cass..." Becka gave her a smile.
"I'm not." Raven glared at Jinx.
"Oh, sure she is!" Jinx laughed and swallowed her food, "Better grades, beats me in gym class all the time, bigger bust..." she got a sly smile on her face, and Raven's eyes narrowed as she sensed what was coming next, "cuter boyfriend..."
"No way!" Raven groaned as Ami spun around and grabbed her arm, "Tell us all about him, Cassie! You never let on you had a man! Is he back in Gotham? Is he... dark and gothic like you?"
Raven sighed, and glanced at Jinx with a death glare before launching into a story, "We broke up just before Jen and I moved here. Long distance wasn't our thing."
"What was his name?" Becka asked, taking a bite of food.
Raven smiled a little and looked Jinx right in the eye, "Rob."
Jinx grinned and shook her head.
"What was he like?" Janice asked, a little red in the face.
"Well, he was just a little taller than I am, so he was kind of short, and he had spiky black hair... he was... mysterious. Like there was another side of him that he never let anyone know about." Jinx almost laughed as Raven continued, "He was definitely cuter than anyone Jenny ever dated though."
"He had a killer ass." Jinx said with a grin.
Raven smirked, "I was always a bigger fan of his chest. When he was all sweaty after working out..."
Jinx arched an eyebrow, "And how often did you see him half naked and all sweaty, Cassie? Hell, how many times did you see him fully naked and all sweaty?"
There was a collective gasp from the other four girls at the table as Raven smiled slyly and said, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
Gym class was indeed softball that day. As the girls stretched (they all had gym together) Raven and Jinx eyed each other. Gym uniforms were blue shorts and white t-shirts, cross trainers and knee high tube socks.
"You look pretty good in short shorts." Jinx noted as Raven pulled an arm over her chest and stretched her shoulder.
"You too. They make your butt look better than it actually is." Raven replied, "And I think I finally see what you mean about my breasts." she glanced around, "Only two other girls come close to my size."
"Don't feel too bad..." Jinx grinned, "You still have Star too look up to."
"Who's Star?" Hanna asked as she stretched her calves next to them.
Both girls froze and turned their heads slowly to look at the perky blonde. Raven spoke fist, "A friend from back home... Olga Starmore. We called her Star because she hated the name Olga."
"Well, can't blame her for that..." Hanna shrugged, "We have our own 'Star' out here in Jump. Starfire is a Teen Titan!"
"Yeah, we've heard about them." Jinx laughed nervously, "That Cyborg is kind of... cute."
"You think Cyborg is cute?" Raven blurted, utterly shocked.
Jinx blushed, and Hanna giggled, "Who do you think is the cutest one then, Cassie?"
Raven looked sideways at Jinx and shrugged non-committed.
"Oh, I'll drag it out of her by the end of the night." Jinx said with a wink to Hanna, "I want to know now."
"Tell me when you do. There's so little to nettle her about that we need something."
Raven groaned... again... and motioned them over to where the students were gathering.
"Come on, Jenny!" Hanna shouted from the dugout, "Home run, girl!"
Jinx smiled from under her batter's helmet and saluted. Hefting her bat into position, she prepared for Ami's pitch.
The red head stared past Jinx for several seconds. She shook her head once, then twice, then grinned and nodded. With a sinking feeling, Jinx realized she was being set up for a difficult pitch through hand signals being exchanged by the pitcher and her catcher.
As Ami wound up, Jinx glued her eyes to the ball. The red head let it fly, and she braced herself for a solid swing.
It was a perfect curve, coming in high, then dipping in low over the plate at the last second. Any normal high school student would have found it exceptionally hard to hit.
Jinx, however, had been trained in several different martial arts styles, including kendo. She easily dipped the bat in a hard swing through the lower right attitude and up into the Red-Leaves-Cut maneuver, hitting the ball squarely six inches down from the tip of the bat.
The softball flew up high, way over center field. Jinx groaned and didn't even bother running as she watched Raven walk right under it and catch it as if it was being handed to her.
"That was a great hit!" the gym teacher, Miss Lovit exclaimed. She was average height, and had short black hair, tied back in a pony tail. She wore a blue WJCIE jump suit, the color of which set off her lightly tanned skin. She continued from where she was acting as the umpire, "Too bad it didn't go another ten yards or so... it would have been out of the park!"
"Yeah..." Jinx frowned slightly and glared out at Raven, "Guess I didn't hit it hard enough."
After gym, the only classes they had left were their chosen electives. Becka played the flute in the schools symphonic band, and as one of them had to stay with her at all times, one of them had to join the band as well.
The responsibility had fallen to Jinx by default, since she knew how to play the oboe. Raven had seemed quite amused by the fact that the former HIVE student knew how to do anything other than blow things up and beat the snot out of people.
"You'd think I wasn't allowed to have hobbies..." Jinx muttered to herself as she sat down at the end of the row of woodwinds and opened her oboe's case. Carefully pulling the pieces out and sticking the reed in her mouth to wet it, she began to assemble the instrument.
Once she was finished, she inserted the reed and played a few simple scales. Sitting up straighter, she smiled a little, then began a light jazz tune. She was just starting to get into it and tap her foot when someone cleared their throat.
Jinx looked up to see the entire class was seated and staring at her, some of them only part way through putting their interments together. She blushed a little and mumbled, "Sorry... guess jazz isn't you guys' thing, huh?"
"Actually," the music teacher, Mr. Quats, replied, "That was quite good..." he pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose and frowned a little, taking stock of his players. He motioned further down the line of woodwinds, to another of the oboe players, a young man with dark hair and a look of surprise and wonder on his face, "Why don't you take Peter's spot. The rest of you, move down..." Peter shrugged, acknowledging the superior player, and stood up with his oboe.
Jinx blushed and stood up to move as well.
As Raven cleaned oil paint out of her brushes, the stern voice of Mrs. Cain floated throughout the art studio, "As you know, the deadline for your portraits is quickly approaching. If you have not yet chosen your subject, find a friend who can sit still for long enough soon." The Principal not only over saw the administration of the school, but also taught the oil painting class, a position Raven found her to be quite good at. The stern woman continued, "Though your subject can be anyone, I do encourage you to find a creative element to add to the painting to make it... more real. Unusual lighting, or a unique background. These will add to the paintings interest, and of course, raise your grade."
Raven wondered briefly who she should use as a modal. Any of the girls would do nicely, with their varying skin tones and hair colors, but for some reason, she felt she needed something special for this piece. Painting was a hobby she had picked up shortly after joining the Titans, and she had done numerous landscape pieces all around the island, as well as portraits of Beast Boy in various animal shapes (mostly sleeping, as he didn't move as much then) and several of Starfire, who had an exceptional presence in oil.
On one side of her, Janice worked silently at cleaning her own brushes, but on the other side of her, the girl from the homeroom class that had been reading the Lovecraft book smiled brightly. She was taller, almost a head above Raven's height, and lean. She didn't have any truly outstanding physical qualities, and she wore thin framed oval glasses. Her thin, blonde hair was tucked back behind her ears, and it briefly summoned images of Terra to Raven's mind. She shook the dark thoughts from her head and attempted to strike up a conversation.
"You seem much more attentive in this class than you did in homeroom." she remarked.
"Oh, that's so early, and the announcements never really interest me that much." the girl replied as she placed a still wet canvas on a rack to dry. She turned to Raven and offered a hand, "I'm Maggie Delmont." she said with a half smile.
"Cassie Roth." Raven shook her hand, the paint they both wore smearing together as she did. With a light laugh, they both turned back to their tasks. Maggie looked critically at the still life she had just turned out during the class period.
"I don't like it." she finally said, and shrugged.
"It's just a quick practice piece." Raven shrugged.
"And it turned out much better than mine." Janice noted, motioning to the painting she had just completed as well. It was rough to say the least.
"You've always been better at doing people though." Maggie replied, "I just can't get mouths right."
"What about you, Cassie?" Janice asked shyly, "What do you prefer doing?"
"Mostly I do landscapes." Raven replied, staring off into space, "I've done portraits as well though, and they always turn out to be my best work... I... enjoy capturing the emotion on them."
"Tell you what..." Maggie turned her attention across the room and followed a well built young man with her eyes, "I wouldn't mind doing a nude of Brian Berklin. Growrrr."
Janice covered her mouth with one hand and giggled as Raven arched an eyebrow. Maggie looked back at them, "What? He's hot."
"He's okay." Janice spoke with an amused smile as she went back to cleaning her brushes. Her eyes flicked over to Raven, and the empath felt a spike in her arousal. She ignored it.
"Let's get finished here," she said instead, "I want to do a little homework before dinner."
Raven stepped back into the dorm room she shared with Jinx, and was immediately accosted by her roommate. Jinx yanked her into the room and kicked the door shut, spinning Raven around and tossing her to her bed.
"The hell... Jinx, what's wrong with you?" Raven scowled up at her.
"You hampered the flight path of my homerun, didn't you?"
Raven blinked, "Well, yeah. It was unnoticeable that high up, and I made the catch and got my team an out. I thought the point of the game was to win."
"The point here is that you used your powers! We're supposed to be undercover!"
"Like I said, no one noticed." Raven glared, "Stop being so upset because I one upped you. If you can use martial arts training to hit the ball, I can use my powers to catch it."
Jinx sighed and rubbed her eyes, "There's no point in trying to act upset with you is there?"
"Not really." Raven shook her head, "How was music class?"
"Fine... Becka's fine too. She's down the hall doing... something."
"Good." Raven glanced at the other girl, "I'm sorry if it upset you so much."
"No... it was just a really good hit, and you stole my thunder. I'm completive, sue me."
"Let's just focus on the mission tonight. We're getting carried away with being in school, and not paying enough attention to the fact that an assassin could attack at any time."
"Yeah." Jinx nodded.
Raven's bedside alarm went off and she leaned over to shut the beeping down. Jinx stared at her, "Why was that set for the middle of the day?"
"Time to report in." Raven replied and pulled a drawer open. She lifted out a locked jewelry box and pulled a key out of her pocket. As she opened it, Jinx leaned over and stared at what was inside.
A strange looking mirror that didn't reflect the outside world, and Titan communicator were the only two things sitting in the bottom of the ornate wooden case. Jinx arched an eyebrow, "What's the mirror for?"
"Meditation. Don't ever touch it if you want to stay alive." Raven pulled out the communicator and set the box aside. Flipping it open, she hit a few buttons, "Raven to Robin. Checking in."
There was a pause, then Robin's voice crackled over the speaker and his face lit up on the screen, "Report, Raven."
"We've made contact, established friendships, and are quickly integrating ourselves into Becka Pullman's social circle."
"Becka?"
"It's what she prefers to be called." Raven shrugged.
"Any findings?"
"Nothing about the assassin. I did find out that Jinx thinks Cyborg is cute though."
"Hey!" Jinx protested. She jumped on Raven and struggled to get in front of the communicator's screen, "She used you as a fictional ex-boyfriend, Robin! What does that mean to you, huh?"
Robin blushed lightly, and cleared his throat, "Are you behaving yourself, Jinx? Beast Boy reported something about you punching people...?"
"Oh yeah... I have detention in a half hour." Jinx stopped struggling with Raven, and the dark girl shoved her off the bed and on to the floor, "Ompf!" she landed on her back.
"We'll report back in tomorrow. Until then." Raven nodded and flipped the com unit shut. She turned a death glare on Jinx, "You're a dead woman."
"So you think Robin is the cutest one, huh?" Jinx grinned up at her from the floor.
Raven growled and tossed the communicator back in the box, then slammed the lid shut.
Detention turned out to be scrubbing desks clean of graffiti. Most students were prone to doodling on their desks while a teacher was droning on about some boring subject or another, and it usually fell to the students in detention to clean away the lewd words, silly pictures, and quickly jotted test answers.
As soon as Raven waked in to Ms. Veerlin's room, Jinx walked out. Both had been allowed to wear normal clothes, and Jinx had her hair up in a bandana while she walked past Raven, "You'll need some elbow grease for this one..."
"Oh, joy." Raven droned, and walked to where Jinx had left her bucket of soapy water and sponge.
Veerlin sat at her desk, grading papers, and smiled brightly as Raven came in, "Now I hope the helps you to learn your lessen, Miss Roth. While differing perspectives and religions are respected here at WJCIE, we do not condone lecturing whole classes on how they're ill informed morons."
"I was only lecturing Ginger." Raven replied, "Sorry if you got the wrong impression." She could sense that Veerlin had been slightly insulted by her speech in homeroom that morning, and also that the woman was slightly afraid of her.
"We just want you to understand that-"
"It's okay, Ms. Veerlin." Raven cut her off as she lifted the sponge, "I'm quite used to people misunderstanding me and persecuting me for my spiritual views."
"I'm not trying to persecute you, Miss Roth-"
"Call me Cassie, please." Raven started scrubbing away at a desk with teddy bears drawn on it. She scrubbed extra hard at their faces.
"I'm sorry, Cassie, but you have to understand that this has nothing to do with your religion or your sister's actions. This has to do with you disrupting a class with an overlong exposition on how silly and stupid Miss Hammilton is."
"So even you admit that she's stupid." Raven scrubbed harder. She was growing agitated.
"I never said that, I just-"
With an almighty crash, half the light bulbs in the room's florescent track lighting exploded, raining sparks and bits of glass down on both of them. Veerlin hurled her hands over her head with a shriek, but Raven stood perfectly still, breathing hard and trying to regain control of herself. When she was okay again, she turned back to her teacher.
Veerlin was peaking out from under her arms and glancing up at the ceiling. Raven shrugged and brushed some glass from her shoulder, "Must have been a power surge or something."
The short blonde woman looked at Raven, who stood in half light, one of the shattered light fixtures flickering sparks and blinking on and off in her direction. The entire corner behind the young woman seemed to be swallowed in shadows that the light couldn't penetrate.
"Y-you can go, Miss Roth. I think you understand what I've been trying to say, and without half the lights in the room, your task would be much too hard." she smiled a little, and as Raven felt the teacher's fear ebbing away, she drew her Soul Self back in, banishing the darkness around her, "I'll have to call maintenance and have them fix these lights before Monday."
With a start, Raven realized that it was indeed Friday, and they wouldn't have class again until after the weekend. She nodded to Veerlin, "I'll just be on my way to dinner then." she said and hurried out of the room.
Down outside the building, Raven stumbled across the path and into the shadows of a several large trees that lined the side of Westpost Hall. She leaned against one of the trunks and shook her head, banishing the cobwebs that Rage always left there.
"Hey, you okay?" with a start, Raven looked up into the tree, and sighed as she relaxed. Beast Boy crouched on one of the branches, probably having just resumed his humanoid form from that of a bird or a squirrel.
"I'm fine, Beast Boy. Just... a little out of breath."
"What'd she say to get you so worked up?" the changeling asked as he silently dropped to the ground next to her. It was impressive just how agile and silent he could be when he wanted to. He was such a goofball that she forgot sometimes that he had the same training all of them did. Robin had drilled stealth and combat into them for almost four years, and it paid off big time in situations like these.
"She just... wouldn't shut up. You know how I like my silence."
"Yeah... listen, if you ever need me to pop in so you can get a sense of normalcy-"
"Beast Boy, this is normalcy out here." she waved a hand around, "What I need is a dose of the abnormal."
He grinned, "Are you calling me abnormal?"
"I'm calling you annoying." she growled with a frown, "Aren't you supposed to be keeping track of Becka? Wait, aren't you supposed to be back at the Tower? Robin patrols the perimeter at night."
"She hasn't left the dorm yet, and I'm free to do whatever I want in my free time. It's not like Robin is going to complain about me putting in overtime." Beast Boy shrugged, "Thought I'm come... you know... check in on you..." he blushed a little.
"Oh... hell." she looked up at the moon, just starting to make it's self visible, "You're laughing at me, aren't you?" she muttered at Luna. With a sigh, she looked back down at Beast Boy, who was giving her a funny look, "We've been over this before, Gar." she tried to soften her voice. She knew he never liked it when she reminded him, "Your... crush is just that... a temporary thing." she held up a hand to cut off his protests, "I know you think I'm pretty, and I know you think that I just need a little love to break out of my shell, but what you have yet to fully grasp is that it's not just anger and fear that make my powers spiral out of control. Love, joy, or... passion..." she looked him right in the eye, "Those can make me blow things up too. Your skull most likely if you try to kiss me."
Beast Boy froze from where he had been steadily moving his face closer to hers. He was only six inches away now and he grinned sheepishly, "Sorry." he stepped back, "I know... I'll get over it someday, Rae, but for now... well, at least I can stare at your ass, right?"
"Urg." Raven turned away and started walking to the cafeteria, "Stare at this, Garfield, but don't touch, and don't dream about it."
As she walked across the campus in the moonlight, Beast Boy tilted his head to the side and watched her back. He nodded and whistled a low tone, "Very nice." he grinned and stretched, then became a bird and flew back up into the tree.
Raven plopped down in a seat across from Hanna at the dinner table and started digging through her food with a plastic fork a moment later. Only the two of them, Jinx and Janice were there, Becka and Ami strangely absent.
"That was a quick detention." Jinx arched an eyebrow.
"Power surge blew half the lights in the room up." Raven met Jinx's eyes and blinked once. The other girl understood quickly and nodded almost imperceptibly, "Veerlin sent me on my way."
"Couldn't have happened while I was there." Jinx grumbled, and took another bite of her baked ham.
"Not your day I guess." Hanna shrugged, "You guys busy tonight?"
"We had a few things to unpack yet." Jinx said quickly and shot a look at Raven.
"Yeah." Raven nodded, "There's no lights out time on Friday's though, is there? We can hang out after we're done with our stuff."
"We usually... go to bed early on Friday nights." Janice replied with a smile, "You know, so we can get a good start on Saturday."
"Oh, okay." Jinx shrugged, but Raven just nodded and ate faster. As Hanna finished her fourth helping of the night, she and Janice stood up and said their goodbyes, promising to see them in the morning.
As soon as they were gone, Jinx turned to Raven, "You blew up the classroom?"
"You're not one to talk, little miss Chemistry disaster." Raven shot back, eyeing Janice's retreating back, "They're lying. They don't go to bed early on Friday nights."
"You think they're up to something?" Jinx arched an eyebrow.
"I don't think the good little second floor girls are as good as they seem."
"Heh... you think..."
"Finish quickly. We'll have to follow them if they leave."
Jinx and Raven silently crept back into their room, and quickly shut the door. As Jinx started to prepare spell components to cast the Circle of Oden, Raven stuck her head out the window. Looking to her right, she saw that the light in Becka and Hanna's room was off. Frowning, she shut the window.
"Their lights are off." she reported to Jinx, who was placing candles, "I'm going to check Ami and Janice's room in a-" she stopped as they heard a scraping from the room next to them.
"Um..." Jinx arched an eyebrow and spoke in a quiet voice, "Who's in the room next to us?"
"No one." Raven shook her head, "It's used for supplies and storage."
"So... who's in there, making all that noise?" The sound of a window opening punctuated her question.
Raven shrugged and went back to the window, looking out as best she could while it was still closed to see the window next to them.
After a moment, she saw a 2x12 plank being extended out of the window. She arched an eyebrow as it was extended the ten feet to the wall, and propped there, making a perfect bridge between the building and the outside world.
The first one to cross was Ami, dressed in tight jeans and what looked to be steel toed black hiking boots, as well as a light pink halter top that left most of her back exposed.
Next was Janice, who was wore baggy jeans and sketchers, and a mid-drift bearing sleeveless black mock turtle neck.
Raven felt Jinx hovering over her as they watched Becka crawl across next, wearing a short black skirt with a red baby tee, featuring a picture of a half dressed fairy outlined in sparkles. Hanna came last, wearing a strappy red dress and matching heals. One by one, the girls dropped off the other side of the wall. Hanna took the plank and pulled it from the window, propping it up against the wall so they could reach it when them came back.
Raven looked up at her partner with a sigh, "Dress for damage, Jinx. It looks like we're going clubbing."
"What do you think?" Jinx asked, striking a pose.
Raven looked over at her from where she was finishing the light touches of black makeup to her eyes. The former HIVE agent was dressed in tight pleather pants, a red spandex top that said 'Girl' across the front of it, and a silver link belt. Her feet were clad in black boots, and she had applied ruby red lipstick and lighter red eye shadow.
"Nice." Raven nodded, turning from her mirror. She wore tight black jeans, combat bots, a dark blue baby tee, and the same gold belt she wore with her uniform. She picked up a leather jacket from her bed and pulled it on, "They already have a good head start on us, but we'll find them. Let's move."
Jinx nodded and they walked to the window. Raven opened it and stepped out on the sill, looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied, she jumped and glided over the wall, touching down lightly on the other side.
Looking back up, she saw Jinx land on the top of the wall from where she had jumped from the window. Grinning down at her, the blonde haired girl leapt from her perch and performed an acrobatic flip in mid-air, landing in front of Raven with a florish.
"Show off." Raven muttered and turned to the city beyond them. She scanned the rooftops until she saw a familiar figure with a blowing cape. She nodded and he pointed off to the North.
"Let's go." Raven said, and they set off.
"How do you know where they are?" Jinx asked as they half jogged down the street.
"Robin has been tracking them from the rooftops." Raven replied. She glanced back up to check the Boy Wonder's position, and found he had disappeared. She stopped.
"Here, Raven." a voice came from the ally way next to them, and both girls turned and saw the twin pricing eyes of Robin's mask staring out of the darkness.
"What's going on?" Raven asked as she stepped into the shadows with him, Jinx hot on her heals.
"They've split into two groups. The blond one and Pullman went to the dance club around the corner, but the other two continued on down the street."
"Our interest is only in Becka." Raven shrugged, "Ami and Janice can do whatever they want."
"But..." both Titans turned and looked at Jinx, who was blushing lightly, "Um... I know I'm not really a Titan or anything, and I know I don't have any say in the matter, but I'd like to follow Ami and Janice."
"Why?" Robin arched an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.
"I want to know where they're going, and I want to make sure they'll be alright..." Jinx trailed off. Raven and Robin were staring at her with frowns, "What?" she threw her arms out, "They're cool kids, alright? I just want to make sure they don't get hurt or something."
Raven glanced at Robin and he nodded to her. She turned back to Jinx, "I'll stay after Becka and Hanna then. You go after Ami and Janice, but stay back and don't let them know you're there. Robin will be with you, but you wont see him unless he wants you to. Go on before they get too far away." with that, Raven turned on her heal and stalked out of the ally.
Jinx sighed with relief and turned to the Boy Wonder, "So, where am I going?"
"West." he replied with a straight face, "To the industrial quarter."
Raven hated clubs. They were loud, smelly, and full of too many people.
As an empath she could sense far to many conflicting emotions, and it created a sea of discord in her otherwise ordered and calm mind. Extra control was needed to keep from blowing apart the whole building.
She stood in line several places behind Becka and Hanna, waiting to get in to the club. The people around her were talking and laughing, having a good time, and generally making her feel like running back to her room at the Tower and meditating for the next week. They were all such... stupid people to her.
She watched as Becka stepped up to the bouncer outside the door and flashed a drivers license at him. He nodded and let her past, then repeated the procedure with Hanna.
A few minutes later, it was her turn. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a wallet, from which she produced a license and handed it to the bouncer. He glanced at it, then at her with an arched eyebrow, "This some kind of joke?"
"Hmm?" Raven took to license back and inspected it. It was true she didn't really have a drivers license, but Cyborg's fake looked exactly like the real thing. In fact, it was the real thing, except for the fact that Cassandra Roth didn't exist, "No, that's me."
"You're only seventeen." he pointed to the sign by the door, "Twenty-one and up, girl."
Raven felt her stomach bottom out. Becka and Hanna must have had fake ID's, and now she wasn't able to follow them. Unless...
Robin had told her not to use certain powers unless she absolutely had to, but she figured that this was a situation that called for it. "Have you ever heard of the Jedi mind trick?" she asked the bouncer.
"What?" he frowned at her, "Get out of line and go home, girl. You can't get in here."
She waved her hand in his face and smiled lightly, "But I can get in here."
"You can get in here."
"I'm twenty-one."
"You're twenty-one."
"You hate smoking, and you want to quit."
"I hate smoking and I want to quit." he nodded an motioned her into the club.
As she walked through the doors and into the pounding music and sweaty bodies, she smiled lightly. Influencing other peoples thoughts wasn't exactly a moral pass time, and she disliked doing it. On the rare occasions when she had to, and her limited ability to actually worked on a relatively weak mind, she liked to leave the person with a little bonus. In this case, she was sparing the bouncer from a prolonged bout of lung cancer.
"Another day, another victory." her smile slipped away as she headed for the bar. If she didn't miss her guess, that was where she would find Hanna and Becka.
Jinx peered around a dumpster and watched Janice and Ami walk past, both of them keeping to the shadows. They were doing their best to remain hidden, and stay out of sight, but next to the HIVE's training, they were as obvious as if they were shouting and flashing around spotlights. Here in the run down industrial area of town, there were several miles of old condemned buildings that cast more than enough shadows for her to keep up with them and remain unseen.
She looked up and saw Robin glaring down at her from the top of the building she was next to. He nodded and motioned her forward, and she nodded back. He'd been shadowing her the whole time, and she knew he had her back if she needed help at any time.
Moving back out into the street, Jinx walked along a half a block away from the two WJCIE students on the opposite side of the street. She had her hands jammed into her pockets and her head down, glancing up at them from time to time.
She watched as they stopped next to a wide ally and started talking. Ducking into the shadows of an abandoned car, Jinx crept along until she was directly across the street from them. The night was still, with no wind at all, so their voices carried over the crisp air clearly.
"... think you're going to do it tonight?" Janice asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah." Ami replied, "I've been working out pretty hard, and I think I can kick enough ass to at least win a few bouts."
"But what if someone challenges you?"
"I'll decline and give back the money." Ami shrugged, "They don't force you to fight here."
"I know, but... you have such a temper, and you're really competitive... I don't think it's a good idea to enter yourself as a fighter."
Jinx started as Robin's voice whispered in her ear, "Illegal street fighting club." she looked over at him and found he was crouched very close to her. She blushed lightly at his proximity, but turned back to the two girls as he continued, "There's some pretty tough guys in this thing that could take that girl apart. She'd better be careful."
"I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen."
"You have to stay out of sight, Jinx."
"And I will, unless Ami needs help." she turned her head and glared at Robin, "Don't think you can stop me."
"Don't assume I can't." Robin narrowed his eyes, "You were right when you said you weren't a Titan Jinx. I'll have you tossed back in jail if you mess this up."
"Aren't you supposed to be all about helping people?" she glared at him, "This girl needs our help, and you're just going to let her get beat up, and possibly hurt badly?"
"She'll learn her lesson." he shrugged, "I don't condone what she's doing, but it's her choice. If she'll live and learn, then all the better for her."
"You're an idiot, you know that?"
"You're under my direct order to not interfere, you know that?"
"Fuck you, Robin."
"I wouldn't let you even touch me, Jenny."
"Yeah?" Jinx grinned wickedly, "Not even if I promised to give you the best blow job you've ever had?" she got a surprised look on her face for a moment, then her grin melted back into place, "Oh wait! You've probably never had a blow job! Or maybe Starfire is a little naughty sometimes?"
"Don't you talk about Star like that you-" he cut himself off as she grinned one last time, then vaulted over the car and ran for the ally way the two girls had just disappeared down.
"Jinx!" he shouted, and gave chase with a frown.
Becka took a sip of her Long Island through a straw and smiled over at Hanna, who was doing the same with her Gin and Tonic, "Good stuff, huh?"
"Expensive." Hanna replied, "They're raping us on the prices here."
"It's top shelf stuff though, so I can see it." Becka grinned and turned to the dance floor, "See any thing you like?"
"The guy with the spiky black hair there is pretty cute, and he looks like he knows how to dance."
"I'm thinking the guy over there with the red shirt looks good."
"I'm thinking you like guys with well muscled chests too much..."
Both girls giggled as Raven stalked along behind them. They were fine for now, but they were playing a dangerous game. She'd have to stay close and-
"Hey girl!" a hand fell on Raven's waist and her eye twitched, "You come her often?"
"No." Raven turned a glare the tall, thin young man who had just slinked up next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. His thumb rubbed at her side, and she noted the smell of beer on his breath. His mind was fuzzy, and he stumbled a little as she tried to move away.
"Well, why don't you let me show you around then?" he asked with a leer.
"Why don't you remove your hand from my waist before I break every bone in your body?" she growled, "You're drunk, stupid, unattractive, and far to flirty for my tastes. Go. Away."
He blinked at her, then grinned, "Playing hard to get, huh?"
"I don't play." Raven took hold of the hand he had on her waist and wrenched his thumb to the side, twisting his arm around with it, "Fuck off." she said as he gasped in pain and stumbled away from her.
"Alright! Alright!" he howled, and she let him go. He walked off, cursing under his breath, and she turned away from him and looked for her two marks.
She blinked when she found them. Hanna was already leaning on the young man she had pointed out, and Becka was talking into the ear of her chosen target.
"They move fast..." she mumbled, and started moving to a better observation point.
Jinx stood in a yelling and shouting crowd and watched with a fair amount of surprise as Ami pummeled the crap out of her opponent. The girl had good execution, and she dodged and blocked with intelligence. He only real flaw was her power, as she was a smaller girl, and couldn't throw punches or kicks very hard.
"Fast though..." she muttered as she watched the red headed girl duck under a punch from the brute she was fighting. He stumbled forward and she took the opening and exploited it for all it was worth, slamming home four solid hits to his side and back. He went down and coughed blood as she slammed a boot into his kidney.
The large man wasn't stupid, and he knew when he was too hurt to keep fighting. He stayed down and gave her the match. Ami jumped around and shouted at the crowd, then walked back to where Janice was collecting the money the two of them had just won.
"You gonna fight, chicka?" Jinx glanced to her left and saw a well muscled Hispanic man with a scar across his cheek and a black bandana looking at her with a critical eye, "You got a fighter's build."
"I know a few moves." Jinx replied, "I'm really just here to keep track of a few friends."
"Too bad. I bet you're pretty good." he shrugged, "That new girl though... she's pushing the limit." he shook his head and looked over to where Ami was helping Janice count their money, "She's only picking off the big slow guys. If one of the decent fighters here goes up against her, she's toast."
"I saw that too." Jinx nodded, "She's going to get her ass handed to her if she doesn't quit soon."
"I hear that." the man looked over at another of the fighters, and large young man with a shaved head and no shirt, "Dusty there, he doesn't like it when people come here to take our money. He doesn't like it when people only target opponents they know they can beat. He pushes himself you know? He likes a challenge. When it comes to posers like those girls though? He makes an exception and puts them in their place."
"What place is that?" Jinx arched an eyebrow.
"The hospital." the Hispanic man said with a sideways glance at her, "If you want to help your friends out, you'd get them out of here."
Jinx didn't ask how he figured that Ami and Janice were the ones she was keeping an eye on, but nodded instead. She started to move through the crowd, but her heart sank when she saw that Dusty was closer. He walked right up to Ami, and started talking to her. Ami's face got more and more red, but she seemed to keep her cool and size him up. She nodded and said a few things back to him that made the crowd around them all cheer.
Ami seemed to think that Dusty was big and slow, much like her last two opponents had been. Jinx had seen the way he walked though, and knew that this guy had more grace and speed than he seemed to. She glanced up at the rooftops and saw Robin staring back at her. He slowly nodded, and pointed to Ami.
"Alright, girl." Jinx turned back to where Ami was squaring off with Dusty, "Let's see if you really know what you're doing Ami."
Raven watched in disgust as Becka continued to make out with the young man she was sitting on top of. Hanna sat a short distance away, not at all perturbed by the way the guy she had been dancing with was rubbing his hands over her butt.
"They're... sluts..." Raven couldn't seem to get a grip on the situation at hand. These two girls seemed so nice and sensible back at the school, but now they were acting totally different. They were making out with strange men, drinking under age, and skipping out of school grounds when they weren't supposed to.
"What is going on in their heads?" Raven muttered to herself. With a shrug she sipped at the bottle of water she had bought. As long as no assassins were attempting to kill Becka, she was content to let them do whatever they wanted. It wasn't any of her business what these two got up to on their weekends...
So why did she feel so upset by it?
Ami ducked another punch and frowned in concentration. She was quickly learning that Dusty was a bit out of her league. The two fighters had been ducking and dodging up until this point in their bout, neither one landing a punch. Ami was growing visibly concerned about her ability to beat him.
"Don't show fear." Jinx mumbled, "Come on girl, you can do this... just don't let him know that you're afraid of him, and keep your head clear..."
It wasn't meant to be though. Dusty feinted, then came back in with a hard right, slamming Ami solidly across the cheek. She went down hard, crying out in pain.
It was obvious she hadn't been working on her endurance or her falls, and she hit the ground hard, scraping her arm in the process. She was dazed, and was much to slow on her defensive roll to get away from Dusty's foot as it slammed into her ribs, kicking her away from him. She moaned and tried to roll over, but his knee came down hard on her stomach.
Ami gagged and spit up blood as he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her to her feet. He spit in her face and hauled back a fist.
"This is what you get for trying to act tough, bitch!"
Jinx surged forward out of the crowd and reached out as he let the punch fly, "No!" she screamed, but it was too late, and there was a sick crunch as he punched her in the nose, blasting her back off her feet, and leaving a chunk of her hair in his hand.
As Dusty turned to see who had shouted at him, Jinx hauled back her own fist. With a shout, she slammed it home in his face, sending him reeling. A follow up kick to his ribs, then a quick open handed strike to his neck sent him to the ground, gasping for breath. Her final attack came as a well aimed punch, directly into his temple, blasting him to his back, out cold.
There was a hush as the crowd stared at the girl who had just ripped into one of their best fighters. A murmur started, then one of the men stepped forward, "Bitch! You gonna attack him like that when his back is turned?"
"You think you can take me?" Jinx shouted back at him, "Then come on! I'll beat the shit out of all of you if I have to!"
As several of them surged forward to take her up on that offer, Janice dragged Ami back and helped her come awake. The red head moaned as her eyes fluttered open, "What happened?" she asked in a groggy tone.
"You got hit really hard... but then... Jenny just came out of no where!" Janice was staring wide eyed at the spectacle before them. Ami's eyes widened as well as she took in the fury that was Jinx.
Two more men already laid on the ground, out cold. Another two were currently trying their best to find a hole in her defense, but she wasn't having any of it. With a few well aimed blows, the two fighters stumbled away from her and left her free to deal with them on an individual basis. Soon, they joined their friends.
With five men at her feet, Jinx glared at everyone around her, "You guys want me to prove just how much I meant what I said?" she asked.
There were several shaking heads and a few people declining to find out in a verbal manner as well, and Jinx grinned. Her smile vanished however when a dark form dropped into the ring of men around her.
Robin straightened up and glared at her, then at the fighters all around him, "This a bad time guys? I was going to break up this little illegal party you have going on, but I thought it was just too amusing to watch you guys get beat up by a girl." he grinned and they all took a step back from the legendary Robin, "Scatter, all of you, and I better not find you doing this again... ever."
Most of them started to run, but a few stayed and watched in wonder as Jinx stepped up to the Boy Wonder, "You don't scare me, bird boy. Everyone back in Gotham knows you moved out here because you couldn't cut it with the Bat."
Robin turned slowly and leveled his best glare at Jinx. She had to admit, it was a pretty good one, "If I were you, Miss, I'd help your friends get home. You don't want to start something you can't finish.
"Oh..." Jinx took up a fighting stance, "I think I can finish you off pretty damn quick, Boy Blunder."
Robin glared at her, and she knew he was wondering what the hell she was doing, but she just grinned. She couldn't pass up an opportunity to go one on one with Robin... her pride just wouldn't let her not do it...
Raven checked her watch as she followed a stumbling pair of high school students out of the club. It was just past midnight, and they were tanked.
"Lightweights." she muttered and followed at a safe distance. Hanna stumbled on ahead of Becka, as the burnet was still hanging on the man she had picked up at the club. They were still kissing now and then, and talking in loud voices.
"You wanna come back to my place tonight, Babe?"
"I would, but I have to get home..." Becka giggled, "Can't be out too late... gotta get up in the morning..."
"I can drop you where ever you need to be..." he grabbed her about the waist and pulled her with him up against a wall, "Come on, Babe... you've got me wanting you bad... don't be a dick tease..."
"Oh... I can show you some great things I can do to your dick, stud... just not tonight." Becka pushed him away from her and tried to walk down the street again, "Gotta go now... see ya next Friday?"
"You don't need to go anywhere, Babe..." he pushed her back to the wall and she frowned.
"Lemme go! I gotta get home!"
"Aw, don't be like that..." he ran his hands up her sides and over her breasts, "Come on Babe... you know you want it..."
"I thought I just heard her say she didn't." the young man turned to find the source of the cool voice, and saw Raven standing behind him. He arched an eyebrow.
"Fuck off." he said, and turned back to Becka, "Alright Babe, you and me are gonna have a good time tonight..."
"No! Help me! Hanna!" But Hanna was already too far away to hear. Becka looked desperately over at Raven and sobbed out, "I don't wanna... hey... Cassie?"
"Yeah." Raven reached out and grabbed the man by the hair. He cried out in pain as she yanked him back and shoved him into a parked car. He turned back to her with wild eyes and started to scream something, but stopped when he saw her.
Raven was glaring at him, her back to Becka. Her eyes were glowing with a sinister black light, and hair was blowing around her head in a non existent wind. The young man with the nice pecs gulped and ran for it.
By the time she turned back to Becka, Raven was back to normal. She stooped down and looked at the brown haired girl, "You okay?"
Becka shook her head, made a sick noise, then quickly scrambled away to an ally. Raven followed her, and carefully held back her friend's hair as she threw up for several minutes. When she was done, Becka fell back into Raven's arms and sobbed.
"Don't tell on me... I swear I don't usually get this drunk... Hanna and I were just looking for a good time is all... Cassie... don't tell my Father... don't tell anyone that... that I almost got..."
"Shhh..." Raven stroked her hair, "We'll talk in the morning. Let's just get you and Hanna back to the school for now."
With a weak nod, Becka let Raven help her up, and limped along next to her, one arm over the black haired girls shoulders.
Jinx spit a little blood and looked at Robin with a wide grin. He was actually smiling as well, a small cut above his eye telling the tail of one of her sharp kicks.
"You're kicking my ass." she said.
"I know." he replied, and attacked again. They came together in a flurry of punches, kicks, blocks and dodges, but in the end, Robin scored another several hits, finally toppling Jinx. She hit the ground and groaned.
As he took a step forward, she held out a hand, "Okay... you win..."
"Get out of here then. You're not hurt that bad... help your friend get home."
"Alright... but I'll be training, you hear me? We'll fight again someday, Robin, and when we do, I'll win."
"I'll be waiting." Robin grinned and pulled out a grappler. Firing it off, he swooped out of the ally and up into the night.
Jinx turned back to where Ami and Janice were staring at her with wide eyes. She grinned and shrugged, "I've always wanted to go toe to toe with one of Batman's apprentices. Man, he kicked my ass good."
"I've never seen anything like that before! You actually went ten minutes with Robin!" Ami was beside herself, "If I could walk, I'd be running around screaming my head off at how cool that was!"
"You can't walk?" Jinx arched an eyebrow as she stood up.
"Well... maybe... it'll be slow going..."
"Then we take it slow. Janice, get one of her arms." Jinx bent down and helped the dark haired girl lift the fair skinned red head up to her feet.
"What are you doing out here?" Janice asked in her soft voice as they started down the ally.
"I followed you guys, of course. Cassie and I saw you sneaking out, so we decided to find out where you were going."
"Oh... so she followed Hanna and Becka?"
"Yeah. Man... this is so gonna suck in the morning..."
"How much hair did I loose? Be honest..." Ami moaned.
"Enough so that we'll have to give you a shorter hair cut." Jinx noted, "Anyone know how to cut hair?"
"Hanna can do it." Janice replied.
"Good. Now why don't the two of you tell me why the hell you thought this was a good idea in the first place..."
Raven stepped out of Hanna and Becka's room with a sigh, shutting the door quietly. After getting them back over the wall and in the building, she had tucked them in and made sure they were asleep. They'd be having a meeting in the morning with all the girls on the floor, that was for sure, but until then, she was far too upset by the evenings events to do anything constructive. She needed to meditate.
Almost as soon as she sat down on her bed to do so however, she heard the tell-tale scraping noise of the plank being extended to the supply room window. She sighed again and walked over to the next room to greet her returning friends.
She was slightly shocked to see Jinx and Ami so abused, and Janice looking sheepish. With an arched eyebrow, she motioned for an explanation, "Jenny? You were supposed to make sure they stayed out of trouble."
"And I did." Jinx grinned, "Well, mostly. We're still alive, and that's the point."
"How the hell did you get so beat up? No one can beat you up." Raven reached out and relived Jinx of the burden that was Ami as Janice shuffled her feet. With blond hair flying as she shook her head, Jinx replied,
"I went a few rounds with Robin, of the Teen Titans. He broke up the little fighting club I found these two at and I just had to have a go at him..."
Raven blinked. She had been stupid enough to fight with Robin? "Okay, that's... stupid. Go to bed, and I'll patch you up when I get back. Janice, can you help me with Ami?"
"Sure." she replied quickly, "I've been stockpiling medical supplies just in case..."
Ami had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion as they worked on patching up her wounds and wrapping her bruised joints. Raven was tender in her ministrations, careful not to wake the red head after she had gone through so much.
Janice proved to be an exceptional aid, field dressing wounds like an expert. She had the hands of a surgeon, Raven noted, careful and dexterous. She would make a good doctor some day.
"Um... Cassie?" the dark haired southerner asked.
"Yes?"
"Are you... upset with us?"
"A little. This was stupid."
"Oh... sorry."
"I can see Ami doing something like this, but... why did you go?"
Janice was quiet for a moment, then she spoke up, "When I first got here... I was placed in a room with Ami... she became my best friend."
"So you went to support her?"
"No, I don't really like the fact that she likes to fight so much... it's just..." she blushed, "I... um... she was my first real... crush."
Raven blinked as she finished cleaning the large scrape on Ami's arm, "Oh."
"You're... not surprised?"
"I've seen the way you look at me."
"... Oh."
They worked in silence for a few more minutes, then the two of them tucked Ami in and left the room. They walked to the study room, both sensing the need to finish their conversation.
"So..." Janice settled on one end of the sofa and curled her legs up to her chest, playing with the hem of her jeans, "You don't think it's weird that I'm... attracted to girls?"
"No." Raven blinked as she settled on the other end of the couch, "Should I be?"
"Are... you attracted to girls?"
"No," Raven smiled, "I'm not a lesbian."
"But... you don't care that... um..."
"I may not have the best self image in the world, Janice, but I'm not exactly blind to the fact that many people find me attractive. You staring at my boobs is no different than a guy doing the same thing."
Janice blushed at that and hid her face, "Stop it. You're teasing me."
"So what?" Raven smiled again, "You are who you are, Jan, and I'm not going to freak out about that."
"I guess... I guess I'm glad, you know?" Janice smiled, "You're only the second person I've ever told..."
"Ami was the first, wasn't she?"
Janice nodded, "She knows I still harbor romantic feelings for her... but she treats me just like a sister. It's... why I take care of her."
"I'm sorry I can't return the feelings you have for me, Janice, but I'm sure that you'll find someone once you get out of this over inflated, prim and proper boarding school hell."
Janice giggled, "You don't really like it here, do you?"
"Not at all." Raven huffed, "I don't know why Mom sent me here."
"I'm glad she did... you and Jenny. We wouldn't have made it out of there without having to go to the hospital if it wasn't for her."
"And Becka would be in a sorry state if it wasn't for me." Raven sighed, "I'd like to have a floor meeting tomorrow to sort all this out. No more secrets." she glared, "If Jen and I are going to live with you, we're going to know everything."
"Okay." Janice sounded meek.
"And while we're at it... maybe you should tell the others about being a lesbian."
"Oh... I don't know, Cassie... they might... freak out, or-"
"They're your best friends, Jan." Raven said in a soft voice, "I'm sure they'll be fine."
Janice swallowed hard, "I'll think about it..."
"That's all I ask." Raven stood up, "It's been good talking to you, Janice, but I have to go patch Jenny up. Stupid bitch, trying to take on Robin of all people... I should just finish the job and kak her once and for all..."
Janice giggled and stood up as well, "Don't be too hard on her. She probably saved my life tonight." Raven nodded to her and they started in opposite directions to go to their rooms. Just before she reached her door, Raven heard Janice speak once more, "Hey, Cassie?"
"Hmm?" Raven turned and looked at her. Janice tugged at her short shirt in a nervous fashion.
"Do you think... you could... be my portrait subject?"
Raven thought about it for a moment, more surprised than anything else. She slowly nodded her head, "Sure. I'd love to."
"Okay... I think... I might have some good ideas. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
"Okay." Raven smiled, "Goodnight, Janice."
"'Night!" Janice smiled and ran back to her room, giggling.
"Made her night." Jinx said from where she was poking her head out of the doorway.
"Shut up." Raven replied good naturedly, "Sit down on your bed and let me patch you up."
"Thanks... really." Jinx smiled in a genuine fashion.
Raven just shook her head as she entered the room, "Can't bu-leeve you tried to go a round with Robin... stupid..."
Closing Notes: Aw, poor stupid girls. I know, I built them up as so perfect at first, then sent them crashing down with all kinds of inner conflict in this chapter. Wait for it... I screw them up even more next time! Also look for a little more back-story to explain away the minor detail of WHY THE HELL JINX IS THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!