Re-educating Miss Roth
A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald
Authors Notes: I've received several reviews of this story recently, asking for an update. It has been awhile, and I was close to done with it anyway, so I turned the rest of it out over the past few days, and got it all edited up. Here it is. As stated before, however, this IS a side project, and will be treated as such. The next chapter of GCC is coming along nicely, and will be up in a short time as well.. I hope.
Chapter Three: That which doesn't kill us...
Jinx winced as she pulled on a t-shirt. Her ribs were bruised, she was sure of it. Robin hadn't hurt her too badly, but he had smacked her around enough to prove who the better fighter was. The part that hurt most was that he had been able to go easy on her at all... he hadn't just beat her, he had beat her gently.
Glancing over at Raven's empty bed, she pulled a long strand of hair in front of her face and looked it over. Blond was her natural color, but she'd dyed her hair religiously every month for the past five years, and without it's pink hue, it looked strange to her.
Shrugging, she walked over to the floor length mirror and inspected her face. Raven had healed most of her injuries, but had left a few noticeable ones so that the other girls wouldn't grow suspicious. A split lip, and an ugly yellowness under her left eye marred her usually pretty features. Not the first time she'd looked like this, but it was the first time she'd looked like this in front of a school full of snooty rich brats.
Robin's words came back to her from the week before and she whispered them to the mirror, "Not winning an popularity contests any time soon, eh Jenny?"
"You're not really winning too many popularity contests in here are you?" Robin said with an arched eyebrow.
Jinx stared back at him from across a table in the prison's visitors ward. She wore a scowl and a fat lip.
"One of the other girls got a lucky shot it. Named Kitty, or Kitten or something like that."
Robin grinned and nodded his head, "Way to go!"
Even with her hood drawn up and her face hidden in shadow, Jinx could see Raven roll her eyes from where she stood behind the seated Boy Wonder, "Robin, could we please get on with this?"
"Down to business then." Robin hesitated, as if debating weather he should speak or not. Jinx waited patiently while he made up his mind and spoke, "Jinx, we're ready to offer you a shortened sentence, or maybe even complete parole if you'd be willing to help us out."
She arched an eyebrow, "No way."
"Excuse me?" Robin looked flabbergasted, "You don't want to get out sooner?"
"No, I'd love to." Jinx leered at him, "I just don't want to help you, bird boy."
Robin looked stunned, then angry, and he was about to retort when Raven stepped up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He calmed down and let her speak, "We have a mission that we believe you to be uniquely suited for. Or I should say, Robin and Cyborg see you as being uniquely suited for. I think you're an evil twit that should stay locked up in here for the rest of eternity, but it's not my call to make."
"Tons more mature than what I was going to say, Rae, thanks." Robin shook his head, "Look, Jinx, here's the skinny. We need you to help us protect Senator Pullman's daughter at her exclusive private school. There's been death threats leveled at her to try to force Pullman to put thorough some rather shady legislation regarding toxic waste disposal laws."
"You want me to go back to school with a bunch of kids and protect this girl until you track down whoever it was that made those threats, right?"
"Not alone." Robin shook his head, "Raven would be with you."
"Whoa... wait, wait... back up..." Jinx snorted, "You're going to send Raven?"
"What's wrong with that?" Robin arched an eyebrow, "She's perfectly capable of blending in and-"
"Oh, I don't think she can't do it..." Jinx snorted, "It's just that... well, frankly, she's going to be the out cast goth girl on campus. How is she going to protect Pullman's daughter if she can't even get close to her?"
"Which is one reason I agreed to have a..." Raven struggled with the words for a moment, then finally spit them out, "sister come to school with me."
Jinx burst out laughing, "Oh man! I'm half tempted to do it just so I can bug the hell out of you!"
Stepping into the main room of the second floor, Jinx found Raven sitting on the couch with her legs folded under her. Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing deeply. Meditation, she had said, was important for her to control her powers.
Being careful not to disturb her, Jinx walked to the stairwell and started down to the main floor. She wanted to sneak some food back up to the dorm so the other girls wouldn't have to leave if they didn't want to. After such a hard time the night before, she felt like doing something nice for all of them, especially if it meant getting on their good sides a little better.
As she entered the lobby, Jinx saw several girls milling about. Checking her watch, she saw that it was still only half past seven, "Early risers club I guess." she muttered and started for the doors.
Just as she was about to walk out, there was a gasp from next to her. She started and looked over to see what the problem was.
"My God!" a shorter girl covered her freckled face with one hand, "What happened to your face?"
Jinx blinked. Oops.
"I... uh... fell down the stairs a little way. Face planted." she rubbed the back of her neck, "Yeah, lost my balance and tripped."
"Does it hurt very badly? You should go see the nurse-"
"I'm fine. Ribs are a little sore, but I'm fine." Jinx winked, "I'm a tough little cookie."
"Well, okay, but if it starts to hurt any more than it does, you should see the nurse. She'll fix you right up."
"I'll do that, thanks." Jinx nodded with a smile and set off for the cafeteria, more memories of the recent past rising unbidden into her mind.
Jinx walked through the prison yard slowly, finally coming to a stop in front of the hulking mass that was Cyborg.
"Hey Jinx." he said softly, a frown etched on his face, and his eyes averted from hers.
"Hey Vic." she replied with a weak smile.
"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked as he motioned for them to take a walk. It was her cell block's time to be out in the yard, working out, stretching their legs, and getting a little exercise so they wouldn't fall apart from sitting in jail cells all day long.
"Yeah... I talked to Robin and Raven about this mission thing you guys want me to do, and Raven... well, she mentioned that you and Robin thought I was the best girl for the job."
"Yeah. I convinced him." Cy still wasn't looking at her, but he had responded quickly, giving her the impression that he already knew why she'd asked him here.
"Why?" she reached out and touched his arm, making his stop and stare down at her small hand. She drew back and looked away from him even as his eyes finally rested on her, "Why'd you convince Robin to ask me to do this for you?"
He took a deep breath and then let it out. With a wave of his large, metal hand, he spoke, "I just... thought you deserved a second chance. After all, the last time we fought, Brother Blood was controlling you. I thought that maybe... you know... you weren't all bad."
"Those times when we were in class, the school dance... the times when we flirted..." she blinked a few times, "He didn't make me do those things. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know. I don't know how, but I could tell he wasn't controlling you for those times... you made the HIVE feel more like... well, anyway, I just kind of felt like I owed you this."
"You don't owe me anything." she started to walk away from him, but his hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"I owe you more than you think, Jinx." he pulled her back and wrapped an arm around her chest, hugging her to him from behind, "You were half the reason I lost track of my mission while I was at the HIVE... I saw... a different side of you then, and that made me realize... the criminals we fight aren't just bad guys that need to be pummeled... they're people too... people that probably just need some love and direction."
"So you're offering me love and direction?" she asked as she gripped his hand.
"Well... direction anyway. Love... well, that's up to you I guess, after the mission is over."
"You're a nice guy, you know that Vic?"
"And I think you could be a nice girl if you tried... Jenny."
As she climbed the steps back up to the second floor of the dorm, Jinx smiled at the memory. It had been the first time she'd heard her real name used in years, and it had seemed oddly appropriate that it had come from Cyborg. The more she thought about him, the more she fell for him.
"Wudda man..." she murmured dreamily as she stepped through the door and into the main room of the floor. She was only half surprised to see that Janice and Ami had joined Raven.
"Food." she stated simply as she lay down the filched tray of bagels and cream cheese.
"Oh good." Ami grabbed one of each, as well as a plastic knife to spread with, "I was hoping I wouldn't have to try and traverse the stairs for a day or two."
Raven smiled slightly at Jinx's thoughtfulness, "I'm going to check on Hanna and Becka. Be right back."
"Kay." the three other girls said in unison. Jinx inspected Ami's face, and flinched.
"Damn. You made out worse than I did." she frowned, "Sorry I didn't get to that bastard before he hit you that last time."
Ami touched the bruising around her nose lightly and winced, "So'kay. It was stupid of me to try an fight someone so obviously out of my league. I'm surprised he didn't break my nose to be honest."
Jinx nodded. She suspected Raven had something to do with that, maybe using her healing powers on the sly. Turing her attention to Janice, she smiled, "And how are you doing?"
"I'm tiered, and a little worried that Cassie is going to scold us like she's our mother or something, but I'm fine other than that."
Again, Jinx nodded, "Yeah, Cass can be like that... all maternal and stuff." They lapsed back into silence, and the recent past came back to Jinx again as they chewed their light breakfast.
Raven glared at her across the table, and Jinx fidgeted, "Could you stop staring at my soul please?"
"I'm just trying to tell if you're pulling my leg or not. You're sure you want to except this mission?"
"Yeah. I... it's time to grow up. I can't keep acting like all the things I've done haven't been wrong or evil... I'm not fifteen anymore, and I can't act like it." Jinx held her chin up, proud of her decision. It had taken her two days of thinking about it, but she had finally believed what Cyborg had told her. She could be a good guy if she tried.
Raven slowly nodded, "Okay... I'll buy that for now." she looked over at the warden, who was standing in the corner, and nodded. He smiled nervously and rushed off. "The paper work will be taken care of in less than an hour, and you'll be remanded to my custody-"
"Whoa... wait..." Jinx waved her hands, "You're custody? I thought I'd be answering to the Titans leader... meaning Robin."
Raven arched an eyebrow, "Actually, since I was the one who approached him about founding the Titans in the first place, I have more seniority on the team than he does." Jinx's mouth fell open and she stared.
"The Titans were your idea?"
"Yes." Raven nodded, supremely calm, "The second item of consideration is that while he is a fine, upstanding young man, Robin is still an eighteen year old boy, and the JCPD expressed certain... concerns about remanding an eighteen year old girl to his custody."
"They think he'd try to take advantage of me?" Jinx looked even more stunned.
"If there's one thing we've learned dealing with the adults who run this city, it's that while they trust us as crime fighters, they don't trust us as teenagers any more than they do their own sons and daughters. They wanted you placed in the charge of another female, and since I'm slightly more... responsible than Starfire, and since I'll be going on the mission with you, I was the obvious choice."
Jinx picked up something else in Raven's tone, though, and leaned forward a little on the table, "What else? There's something else."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Come on... I can see it in your eyes. You might be Miss Ice Queen to everyone else, but I can read another girl like a book. What's bugging you?"
"Why do you care?" Raven started to stand up.
"Because we're sisters, remember?" Jinx pinned her with a glare, and Raven returned it for a moment, then sat back down. She took a deep breath, let it out, then glared again.
"I realize that I'm not exactly the most... personable girl in the world. I'm hoping that by spending a good deal of time around you, I might be able to pick up a few traits that will allow me to blend in better with the girls at this school we'll be going to, and maybe even... allow me to understand my friends better."
"Whoa." Jinx blinked, "I wasn't really expecting that much honesty..."
"Get used to it. We're going to have to do more than act like sisters if we're going to pull this off... we're going to need to think like sisters."
"How do you suggest we do that?"
"We can start by caring about each other." Raven lowered her hood and pushed a strand of hair out of her face, "My full name is Raven Cassandra Roth. For the purposes of this mission, I'll be Cassie Roth, and you'll be Jenny Wrangler. Step sisters."
"I want to have the father we share then." Jinx smiled weakly, "It'd be nice to pretend I actually had a dad who cared..."
"That's fine..." Raven looked away, "It'll be nice for me to pretend I have a mother who I could actually see and talk to, and that she found me a better father."
There was an oppressive silence in the room for a few moments, then Jinx stretched and stood up, "So," she said with a half grin, "what do we do now, Sis?"
Raven reappeared fifteen minutes later, Becka and Hanna in tow. The two of them looked exactly how they felt, which was hung over and exhusted.
"So why did you drag us out of bed, Cassie?" Becka asked as she fell to the couch next to Janice and leaned her head on the dark haired girls shoulder.
"Yeah... I'm still kind of drunk and I need to sleep this shit off..." Hanna's foul language didn't seem to shock anyone, and she sat heavily on a chair across from where Jinx was sitting.
"I just wanted to have a quick floor meeting." Raven looked around at all of them and, satisfied that she had their attention, continued, "If the four of you want to sneak out from now on, that's cool. We're not going to tell on you, but you have to trust us enough to tell us when you're going to do it." The four girls exchanged looks, slightly shocked that she wasn't yelling at them, "Either we'll want to go with you, or we'll be able to stay back and come up with a good cover story if Veerlin comes looking for you. It's just smart." shrugging, Raven sat down on the arm of the couch, waiting for anyone else to speak.
"Okay." Ami shrugged, "I don't see a problem with that."
"The only problem I see is you going to another fight." Jinx pointed at the red head, "You're not ready."
"And you're an expert?" Ami snapped, then thought about it, "Well, after seeing you fight Robin like that, I guess you kind of are aren't you?"
"Whoa!" Becka sat up a little bit, "You fought with Robin?"
"Only for a few minutes..." Jinx blushed lightly, "And he kicked my ass too..."
"Try ten minutes, and you got a few good shots in." Janice spoke softly, "Jenny is one hell of a fighter."
"Years of practice." Raven said.
"And you..." Becka motioned to the black haired girl, "You saved me from that jerk last night."
"I don't like date rape." Raven shrugged.
"Years of living in Gotham." Jinx put it. Raven nodded.
There was silence for a few moments, then Hanna spoke, "I think we'll all be staying in for the rest of the weekend."
"I think that's a good idea." Raven nodded, "Becka, Hanna... get some more rest. Doctors orders." she smiled, then turned to Ami, "The same goes for you. You got beat up pretty bad. We'll fix your hair later tonight."
Ami fingered the spot on her skull where she'd lost a good chunk of her hair the night before, "Yeah." she frowned.
"Any orders for the two of us, doc?" Jinx asked, motioning to herself and Janice.
"Yeah. You get more rest as well, then finish your homework, since I know you wont unless I tell you too." Raven glared at Jinx, then turned to Janice with a smile, "And you and I can work on your portrait."
Janice nodded with a smile. Ami looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment, then smiled a little as well. "Hey," she poked her southern born roommate, "Let's get your stuff together. I have a question for you anyway."
Janice nodded, "Okay." and they got up and walked down the hall to their room. Becka and Hanna both waved a little as they stumbled back to their room as well, leaving Jinx and Raven alone.
"Trust is hard to build sometimes." Raven noted.
"I think we're doing a good job of it. It really feels like we've all been friends for way longer than we have."
"Yeah." Raven nodded, "Mostly thanks to you, I might add. You've already been a great help on this mission."
"Told you I would be."
"I never said I didn't believe you." Raven stood up, "I'm going to see if Janice wants me to wear anything in particular. Rest up, Jenny."
"Yeah." as Jinx watched Raven's retreating back, she thought back to a conversation they had had less than a week ago.
"Damnit!" Raven hurled the eye liner across the room from where she sat in front of a pink vanity in Starfire's room, "Kori, could you please go get something easier to work with than this crap?"
Starfire, standing next to her, blinked, "I am sorry, Raven. I will venture to the mall of shopping in an attempt to find liner of the eyes in a liquid variety for you. It goes on much easier."
"Sorry for snapping." Raven sighed, "I just don't do makeup."
"But Cassie Roth does, cause she's a normal goth chick." Jinx walked into the room, "What'da ya think, Star?"
Starfire turned and took in the pink haired girls wilding grinning visage. She had done herself up perfectly, and looked quite stunning. Star squealed, "You look wonderful! If only Raven would take to the making up like you do!"
"I'm still here, you know." Raven glared at her red headed friend. Star made a slightly strangled noise and nodded fervently.
"Yes! I am sorry, Raven! I shall return with the liner of the eyes shortly!" and she flew off at a rapid pace.
"Having trouble with the eye liner?" Jinx asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Yes." Raven turned back to the mirror of Starfire's vanity. She had managed to master all the makeup except the eyeliner. Sticking things in her eyes didn't seem logical to her, even if it made her pretty.
"It's a hard one to learn. Took me almost a month to get it right."
"Yeah, when you were twelve. I'm eighteen and I can't even put on lipstick without a mirror."
"Why not? Haven't you ever wondered what you would look like-"
Raven cut her off, "No. I can't afford to want anything. All I can do is keep control."
"Bummer." Jinx rubbed her arm, and Raven glanced at the bandage there. It was left over from the minor surgical procedure Cyborg had preformed to put the tracking chip in her arm. Raven sensed that it didn't hurt so much as it itched. Still, she herself hated having an itch she knew she couldn't scratch, so she gave in to her instinct to help.
"Let me see that." she sighed and held out her hand.
"What? Cy said it would be fine by tomorrow."
"Let me see your arm, Jenny." Raven repeated in a softer voice. Jinx was hesitant, but eventually held out her arm. Raven gently removed the bandaged, then held her hand over the surgical scar. A black glow later, and Jinx's flesh was smooth and unmarred once again.
"Whoa... white magic..."
"Empathic feedback healing, actually. It's not hard."
"Guess not. Hey, thanks."
Raven blinked, "You feel so surprised."
"Stop doing that, it's creepy. And why shouldn't I be? You hate me."
"I never said I hated you." Raven tilted her head to the side, "Sorry if you got that impression. I might even be forming a bit of a friendship with you. In a... step sisterly manner."
"That's odd. Didn't think we'd ever get along."
"I have far more in common with you than I do with the other Titans. We can... understand each other, I think."
"Yeah." Jinx nodded, "So, want me to show you the eye liner trick?"
"Goddess, yes..." Raven rolled her eyes, "Kori means well, but I don't think she quite grasps the idea that human eyes poke out when extreme force is applied to them..."
Jinx sat at her desk in the room she and Raven were sharing, staring at the worksheet she was supposed to be working on. Robin had insisted that they do all the work themselves, since it would seem more natural that way, getting some of the answers wrong, and doing well in certain subjects.
The only problem with his idea was that Jinx wasn't really good at any normal subjects. The majority of her classes had been things like Grand Larceny 101, and Doomsday Device Construction. She could wire a C4 detonator in ten seconds flat, and she knew how to kill people by poking them in just the right way, but history of the Napoleonic Wars? Who actually needed to know that kind of stuff?
A tapping at the window drew her attention away from her blank worksheet. Glancing over, she saw a green starling sitting on the sill outside, eyeing her. Rolling her eyes, she got up and let him in.
As soon as he fluttered to Raven's bed, Beast Boy became himself again and grinned at her, "How you holding up?" he asked in a low tone.
"I'm fine, except now I realize that if I'm going to change, I'll have to do it with the blinds closed." she frowned and glanced out the window again, "You haven't been peeking have you?"
"No!" he replied a little too quickly, and his voice was a little higher pitched than normal. Jinx narrowed her eyes.
"Free shows are over, B. And I'm telling Raven."
"Wha...? No way! You can't! I mean, she'll kill me!"
"Nothing you wouldn't deserve."
"Please!"
She eyed him with a nasty grin, "On one condition."
"Anything!" Beast Boy was glancing at the door now, as if he expected Raven to burst in at any second and dismember him.
"I want you to convince Robin to take Starfire out on a date tonight."
Her condition was met with ringing silence. Of all the things he had expected her to demand of him, Beast Boy certainly never expected that one, "Um... you sure that's it?"
"Yep. That's all I want."
"Um... okay." he relaxed a little, "Speaking of Robin, he wanted me to stop in and check on you. Heard he beat the crap out of you last night."
"Yeah..." she grinned, "Raven healed me up pretty good, but had to leave enough for me to look like he'd kicked me around. The bruised ribs are the worst of it, really."
"You're a tough girl, you know that?"
"I try to be." she grinned suddenly, and turned to the door. Holding out her hands, she mumbled a few words under her breath and tossed a flash of pink energy at it. It glowed once, then was normal again.
"What the hell was that?" Beast Boy looked confused.
"Silencing spell." she said in a normal tone, "Now no one can hear us."
"Oh, that's cool."
"Are you ticklish?"
"Yeah, Star loves to pin me down and-" he stopped as she grinned, "Oh no! You're hurt and I don't want to hurt you more by thrashing around!"
"Then don't thrash too much!" she grinned wider, "Come on! You're a boy in my girls dorm room, and you're sitting on my roommates bed! Let me live a fantasy!"
"I am not boffing you on Raven's bed!"
"I'll be the judge of that!" and she pounced on him.
"Jinx!" he cried as she started tickling, "Cut it out!" he was laughing too hard to fight her though, and she continued to wrestle him down and tickle him mercilessly.
After a few more moments of the torment, the door latch clicked at they froze. Raven stepped into the room, inspected the situation with wide eyes, then quickly shut the door behind her. She frowned at the two of them.
Beast Boy lay on his back, his hands on Jinx's shoulders, and his legs intertwined with hers. Jinx was laying on top of him, her hands on his chest and side, fingers splayed out. They both had wide eyed looks of terror on their faces as Raven glared at them.
The dark psion stared for a few moments, then, in a soft, deadly voice, asked, "What in the seven hells are the two of you doing on my bed?"
"Um..." Beast Boy started to open his mouth, but Raven held up a hand.
"You know what? Never mind. Just... Gar, get out of here before I kill you both."
"Okay!" he moved Jinx off of him jumped for the window, turning back into the starling as he did. Jinx lunged after him and squeezed the squawking bird in her grasp before it could escape.
Bringing him up to her eye level, she glared at him, "Remember our deal, Beast Boy." The bird nodded, so she let it go and watched it fly off.
"What deal?" Raven sounded suspicious.
"Can we pull the blinds when we change from now on?" Jinx asked.
Raven stopped for a moment, looking utterly shocked, then horrified, then enraged, "That little green pervert! I'll kill him!"
"I promised not to tell you if he did me a favor. You figured that one out on your own."
Raven was already ripping the sheets off her bed, "Can't believe I didn't think of that... damnit all..."
Jinx eyed her, "Um... Rave, we didn't actually DO anything on your bed you know..."
"Not even you could be desperate enough to fuck Beast Boy, Jenny. No, this is what I'm wearing for Janice's portrait."
"A sheet?"
"Kind of a toga thing." Raven shrugged, "We'll be on the roof if you need us."
"Okay... hey, don't forget to report in to Robin."
"I'll do it later."
"Okay." Jinx watched her a moment longer, then turned back to her work sheet as Raven stalked out of the room with her sheet.
Jinx and Raven sat next to each other at the table of the seldom used briefing room in Titans Tower. Robin had left them just moments before, after giving them their identity packages and a basic run down of what their false history together was going to be.
The two of them sat in silence, both reading the finer details of who they would become for the mission they were about to undertake. Jinx's heart wasn't in it though. She had always been a cram-at-the-last minuet kind of girl. She turned to Raven.
"Hey..."
Raven's eyes didn't leave the page she was reading, "What?"
Jinx grinned, "I think Beast Boy has a little crush on you..."
Again, Raven didn't seem to be letting her attention wander far, "I know."
The pink haired girl frowned, "So, if you know, why haven't you done anything about it?"
"I have." Raven glanced at her for the first time, "I told him to forget about it. If he continues to harbor romantic feelings for me even after I've told him we have no future together, that's his problem."
"Damn. You're cold, Rae."
"Don't call me that."
"Cyborg and Beast Boy call you that."
"Cyborg and Beast Boy are my friends."
Jinx was silent for a moment, then spoke again, more softly, "Did I do something to piss you off? I thought we were getting on pretty well..."
"We were, until you decided to ignore your responsibilities to this mission to yak about Beast Boy's pathetic crush on me."
"Pathetic? Raven, the guy likes you, and he thinks you're cute. That's not pathetic. It's actually kind of adorable."
"You date him then."
"But he doesn't want me..."
"I told you not to get any ideas about hooking me up with some random guy."
"Beast Boy isn't a random guy, he's-"
WHAM! Raven slammed her fist into the table, and her eyes flashed a dangerous looking red color, "Would you drop it already? Do you see what emotion does to me?"
Jinx shrunk back a little as Raven struggled to regain control. After a moment, she was fine. The purple haired psion quickly gathered her papers together and stood up. Jinx hastily followed suit.
"Look, Raven, I'm sorry I pressed so much, I just..."
"It's fine." Raven held up a hand to cut off further protests, "You just need to learn that I can't feel. It's not a matter of what, or how much. I just... can't."
"Is there anything I can-"
"I'm going to meditate. The best thing you can do for me right now is leave me alone."
Jinx stood and watched the flapping blue cloak as the dark Titan swept out of the room.
Raven climbed up through the roof hatch and on to the top of the girls dorm. Glancing around, she saw Janice setting up her easel near a chair that had also been brought up. Smiling, she walked over to the burnet.
"I brought the sheet." she held it up for emphasis, "How do you want to do this?"
Janice glanced around her canvas and examined the sky line behind the chair. It was quite the panoramic view of Jump City, with the buildings providing an excellent back drop. The view she had chosen made it look as if the sky scrapers were parting, and letting the ocean beyond climb ashore. It made for some stunning sun sets.
"Just sit in the chair I guess. We'll work on pose later. Right now I just want to get stuff set..." she paused, then gained a little confidence, "Um... you'll have to... take off your shirt."
Raven shrugged, hoping Beast Boy wasn't still flapping around, "Sure."
As she sat down, she stripped off her shirt and wrapped the sheet around herself like a toga. Looking down at her exposed shoulder, she frowned, and shoved the bra strap down to hide it. "This okay?"
Janice looked up again from where she was preparing her paints, "Oh, yeah, that's perfect." she smiled widely, "Let's see... could you... turn just a little to the left, then raise your chin a bit... perfect. Can you hold that?"
Raven nodded a little, "I think so. Sketch away."
Janice smiled again and started drawing out a rough design on her canvas with a pencil.
A half hour later, the southerner stood back from her drawing and shook her head, "It's not right. I don't think this piece is going to work with the mixed Greek/cityscape thing. It's just not the urban isolation theme I was going for..."
Raven blinked, and decided to help out a little. She pushed her powers out and scanned the other girls emotions. Nodding in understanding, she said, "You're looking to show how we're really just people under all the civilization. That we came from the past, and we live in the present, right?"
"Yeah." Janice nodded, and Raven started to change her pose while she expounded, "It's like... we all live here and now, but before the here and now, there were the people that came before us... but we really are just like those people. Just in bigger cities, with more worries and stresses, and... Cassie! What are you doing!"
Raven looked up from where she was arranging the sheet around her waist as a kind of skirt. She'd kicked the chair aside, and stood up in front of the building backdrop. Her pale skin shown white against her dull black hair, almost glowing in the sunlight.
What had shocked Janice, however, was that Raven had discarded her bra, throwing it on top of her shirt next to the kicked over chair. She now looked like she was wearing a flowing white skirt, and nothing else.
"Does this accomplish your goals better?" the psion asked her friend.
Janice was gaping at her, "Damn... you look even better than I thought you would..."
"Try to stay focused, Jan." Raven rolled her eyes.
Janice shook her head, "Right... that painting..." she tried to inspect the scene before her in a purely artistic manner, "You know... you're right! This is perfect! Okay, starting over... damn. Can you lift your arms a little?"
Raven posed, and Janice thought she was going to swoon, "Ohmigod! Okay, that's better than perfect! Hold it, and I'll draw fast!"
"You know, for a girl who hardly ever leaves her room, you have an awful lot of clubbing clothes." Jinx lifted a tight, blue, mid-drift bearing top up to her eye level and inspected the intertwining silver patterns more closely.
"Missions sometimes require us to wear things other than our costumes." Raven shrugged as she folded a t-shirt neatly and placed it in her suitcase, "I recall a time I impersonated a scarecrow, and I'm not afraid to admit that Robin looks pretty good in a tux."
"Whoa..." Jinx looked over at the purple haired psion with a hint of fear in her eyes, "Who are you and what did you do with Raven? Was that a comment about a boy's physical attributes I just heard come out of your mouth?"
Raven almost smiled. Almost. "Just because I can't feel emotion, doesn't mean I can't appreciate the sights around me. Sunsets are one of my favorite times of day, and a handsome man in a good tux has always caught my eye."
Jinx grinned, "Maybe there'll be a prom or something while we're at WJCIE. No shortage of hot boys in tuxes there."
Rolling her eyes, Raven folded a pair of jeans, "One track mind much, Jinx? You haven't talked about anything except boys and my love life all day. Which, of course, is pretty pathetic, considering I have no love life."
"You know... I think Robin may have ulterior motives for sending us on this mission." Jinx said out of the blue as she put down the blue top. She stared at Raven intently.
"What motives would that be?" Raven asked in a lazy sort of way, not really caring to hear the other girls theories.
"I think he might want you to loosen up a bit."
"Oh, yes, definitely." Raven nodded fervently, "Sending me into high school to protect a girl I don't even know from what could be very lethal and dangerous assassins is certainly what I would call loosening up."
"Point. But look at it this way. You're being sent into a high school where you'll live in an all girls dorm, be hit on my cute boys your own age, spend an inordinate amount of time with yours truly, and quite possibly, make a few new friends."
"We're not going on this mission to make friends, or to play games, Jinx. We're going to prevent the assassination of Rebecca Pullman."
"And while we're there, I'm making it my mission to get you to loosen up."
"Oh really?"
"Mark my words..." Jinx grinned, "When you come back to the tower, you'll have one of these." and she stuck out her tongue, revealing the black bar through it, topped on both ends by pink balls.
Jinx sat up with a start. Glancing around the room, she saw that it was rapidly getting darker, and the sunlight that was left was shining through the windows in blood red slats. Sitting up off her desk, she noted to small puddle of her own drool marring her untouched homework, and shook her head once to wake up.
"Must have fallen asleep." she muttered, then rose from the chair. Unless she missed her guess, Beast Boy would have switched up patrols by now, which meant that Robin would be there. By Robin was suposed to be out on a date with Starfire, so that meant the final Titan would be standing watch this night.
Moving quickly, she opened the window and checked all around to see if anyone was watching. Satisfied that she was alone and undetected, she crouched on the sill and then leapt like a cat across the gap between the window and the wall, landing on top of the stone with ease. With another application of power, she was sailing off the wall and down to the street below.
Landing in a crouch, she glanced around at the rooftops, then took off at a sprint. She had made it to a fire escape a moment later, and was on top of the building it was attached to a moment after that. Taking one last look around, she spotted her quarry.
Running full out across the rooftop, she jumped out over the street and added a burst of pink energy behind herself to propel her. Flying across the street, she landed on the building top there, not more than six feet from the hulking form of Cyborg.
"Hey tall, dark, and mechanical." She grinned a feral grin, "You come here often?"
He arched an eyebrow back, "Aren't you supposed to be undercover?"
"I doubt anyone saw me, and if they find me missing they'll just assume I went to dinner." she shrugged, "I wanted to see you."
"Is that why you convinced Beast Boy to set up Star and Robin?"
"Yep."
"Tricky girl." he grinned, "Same old Jenny."
"Same old Vic, too. How've you been these past few days?"
"Well, with Robin and Beast Boy pulling twelve hour sentinel duty over here, it's down to me and Star to take care of the city. Nothing major yet, but we've stopped a fair bit of crime."
"That's cool." He smiled at her and sat down, looking out at the sunset beyond the buildings, the fiery orb sinking into the ocean. She followed his gaze and saw Raven standing on the roof of their dorm, topless.
"Holy shit."
"She's been like that for almost four hours now. Hardly ever lowers her arms. Beast Boy was beside himself."
"And she was freaking out about him peeking in the dorm room window." Jinx walked over and took a seat next to him.
"That's just one of those funny things about Raven that you get used to after awhile. She doesn't like it when it's taken from her, but if she offers it willingly, she's fine with it."
"I'm getting prints made of that painting, and sending them to Playboy."
"Your funeral."
They sat in silence for a short time, watching the sunset together. Eventually, Jinx leaned her head over to rest on his shoulder and sighed in a dreamy kind of way.
"Hey," he poked her, "What's going on in that crazy head of yours?"
"Nothing much," she responded as he put an arm around her and drew her a little closer, "Just thinking about the future."
"Well, if you keep up the good work down there, you stand a good shot at becoming a Titan. Robin's pretty impressed with you so far."
She snorted, "Wouldn't have known it the way he kicked the shit out of me last night."
"Yeah, well... he's funny like that sometimes."
"Oh yeah. He's a real riot."
Cyborg chuckled, "You should get back soon."
"Yeah." Jinx snuggled a little closer to him, and hugged his massive frame, "But it'll be easier to do when it's dark, don't you think?"
Cyborg laughed again, and they continued to watch the sun dip below the horizon.
Raven and Janice kept at the painting as long as they could before it got to dark to continue. After Raven had dressed and the two of them had cleaned up the painting supplies, they set off back to the second floor.
"You up for dinner?" Raven asked as Janice stopped outside her and Ami's room.
"Sure. I'll be down in a bit... just want to check in on Ami really quick."
"Alright." Raven nodded with a brief smile, then started off for the mess hall alone. She trooped down the steps to the entrance hall of the dorm, then started for the doors. A group of girls giggled at something as she walked past them, and she turned her head to see what it was.
As she shook her head at the picture of a boy they were twittering over, she pushed open the main doors and ran squarely into another girl. They both started to fall back, but Raven shot out her hand and grabbed the girls arm, steadying herself on the door frame.
"Whoa... sorry." she mumbled.
"It's quite alright." the girl replied with a faint smile. She was slightly taller than Raven was, and had a slim built. Her hair was so light and fair that it looked white, and her light, pale skin marked her as being from somewhere other than California. Raven's violet eyes met the other girls blue ones, a color so intense that it cause a shiver to run up the empath's spine.
A brief flash of one dark eye staring out of the darkness burst into Raven's mind, but was gone before she could decipher it. She let go of the other girls arm.
"Guess I wasn't watching where I was going."
"I should have been paying more attention myself. I was absorbed in bidding Wintergreen fair well." at Raven's blank look, she explained, "He's the servant my family employs. Almost like a second father to me."
"Ah. I see." Raven took in the girls smart dress and blouse, as well as her traveling coat, "You're new?" she asked, noting the suitcase sitting behind the girl on the steps as well.
"Yes. I just arrived, actually."
Raven nodded. She was supposed to act normal, and make friends. She was supposed to make networks, and gain contacts to help her surreptitiously keep an eye on Becka. This was a good opportunity, especially since she wasn't feeling anything except genuine politeness from the girl before her.
"I'm Cassandra Roth, second floor." she held out her hand.
"I'm please to meet you, Cassandra. I'll be on the first floor down here," she pointed to the door that led to the hallway with the private, one person rooms, "and my name is Rose." she smiled a smile that somehow tugged at a memory in the back of Raven's mind, "Rose Wilson."
Closing Notes: Ah ha! Two chapters before I get to the back story, and now three chapters before an actual plot line begins to take form! Tune in next time for more mad cap mayhem, and lots more pointless banter!