The Extraordinariness of Normality
Chapter Two: Preparations
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
"No."
"Pretty please with whatever you want on top—"
"Couldn't you just play indoors in one of the simulation rooms? Or play one of your video games?"
"But —"
Raven opened her eyes and faced Beast Boy. "If you say one more word, I swear I will throw you into another dimension."
It was a cold, wet and windy Saturday in Jump City and Beast Boy and Cyborg complained about the weather; their Stankball tournament would need to be postponed again. They had been looking forward to playing their Championship Round. They even woke up earlier than Raven in their excitement. Raven almost pitied them. Almost. When Beast Boy had the (not) brilliant idea of using Raven's "depressing but useful knowledge of magic and rituals" to change the weather, he just wouldn't stop talking about it and kept nagging Raven.
Raven turned back to gazing out of the window when Beast Boy slumped. She vaguely heard Starfire behind her trying to comfort the downhearted Beast Boy and suggesting other "gloriously fun stuff" they could do while it rained.
Raven sighed. She couldn't really blame them for being "bummed out", as Beast Boy gracefully put it. Last week was hectic and the Titans hardly had any time to themselves. Gizmo kept breaking in several computer companies. He never really got to take anything when the Titans were around but he was still a thorn to their sides. Red X was being even more annoying, making his own lot of trouble without an apparent motive. He just seemed way too happy for someone who could end up in a dark, depressing prison cell. And then there was that meeting with the mayor and Mr. Helsom. Things were interesting yesterday, to say the least. Raven never actually thought she could experience the thing they called school and, well, she didn't know how things worked out in that place. Not that she was completely ignorant of the system of education but… The concept of struggling, learning and thriving with a group of people instead of being trained alone, like how she was brought up in Azarath, seemed strange.
But anyway, Raven couldn't understand why Beast Boy and Cyborg even bothered to wait for better weather. Couldn't they just play inside?
Behind her, Raven heard Cyborg mumble something about making a weather machine.
She continued to mind her own business and stared at the storm outside.
"I got it!"
She sighed as she turned around and waited expectantly for Beast Boy to voice out another idea. It was probably best to ignore him and let him do whatever it was he was thinking (Raven almost snorted) of doing but Beast Boy had a knack for doing things that potentially endangered the world (by annoying Raven), so she listened.
"Guys, I heard about this thing that people before used to do to change weather and stuff. They would, like, sing and dance and offer animal sacrifices to appease harvest gods and all that," he explained in excitement.
Raven noted in amusement at how proud he sounded when he said 'appease'.
"What if we tried doing a sun dance or, or make up a sun song or something?" he asked. Then he added hastily with a grimace, "Of course, we won't be sacrificing any animal to appease anyone."
Cyborg looked unconvinced, "I don't know Beast Boy. I think it'd be better to make a weather machine. I still got some extra parts from my latest project."
"Aw, come on, Cy! It'd be fun doing a dance in the rain anyway even if we'd fail."
"Oh! I think that the dancing to bring out the sun you speak of is also practiced in Tamaran, although there is a bit of a difference in the methods and goals," Starfire said in excitement and proceeded to explain about a Tamaranean tradition of wrestling and eating live Glorgs to bring in rain. No one asked any further information from the beaming girl.
Cyborg shrugged, "I guess we can try it out or something—"
Beast Boy shot an arm to the air, "Oh yeah! Rain beware, the Titans are out to get ya!"
Raven just rolled her eyes. Well, at least they weren't doing anything that could potentially harm themselves and/or others around them. Except maybe catching a cold and passing it around…
"You coming, Rae?" asked Cyborg.
"No thanks," the girl turned back to watch the storm outside.
"You're gonna miss out on all our sun dance action," Beast Boy sang out, trying to sound tempting.
"The only thing I'm gonna miss out is seeing you act like an idiot, Beast Boy" Raven turned a little to smirk at Beast Boy, "Not that you usually act otherwise."
"Hah. Very funny, Raven," Beast Boy grumbled before facing Starfire and Cyborg, "Anyway, I suggest we perform our sun dance on the roof."
"Oh, yes!" Starfire nodded.
"I still think building a weather machine would be better," mumbled Cyborg.
"Hey, I wonder if Robin would want to join us," Beast Boy asked excitedly. It wasn't everyday that the team (well, half of the team, besides himself) actually listened to any of his ideas.
Starfire's face lit up upon hearing Robin being mentioned. "We should go and ask him," her face flushed, "It would be polite."
So they went in search of the Boy Wonder while Raven stayed put and stared outside. She knew he was probably still sleeping, judging from the waves of peaceful calm she could feel radiating from a presence in—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Yo, Robin! Wanna join me, Cy and Star in a sun dance?!"
Raven cringed in annoyance when she heard another set of banging.
A moment of silence passed.
"Interesting wake up call," Raven mused.
When the silence seemed to stretch on, she decided to meditate.
"Isn't this all so exciting?! I'm going to school! Thinking about all the fun things I can get to do is making me giddy!"
"Are you kidding me? Think of all the possibilities for things to go wrong! I mean, what if the people in school don't like me? What if I don't like them? What if someone annoys me so much to the point where I can't control myself? What if they find out the truth? What if things turn so bad that–"
"Oh, will you please cut that out? And I mean both of you. I can't think with you two extremes being so noisy."
"Aw, lighten up. I can handle anything that comes my way."
"Ever heard of the saying 'there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity'?"
"And when did you become involved in this conversation?"
"I became involved ever since you started being stupid; you know how I love pointing out those kinds of things. Now that I think about it, weren't you always stupid? Aren't you all stupid?"
"Ugh. I really don't need to hear from you right now."
"Yes, somebody contain her for the moment, please. It's hard enough to think things through without the verbal abuse."
"My pleasure."
"Don't you dare!"
Silence.
"Now, where was I? Ah, yes, school. It should all go fine as long as I stay calm and not let my emotions get the best of me."
Gasp of delight. "See? Even she thinks it would be okay."
"You seriously think everything's going to go fine? You're supposed to be smart. Do you even realize how dangerous a place school can be for—?"
"I know that. I don't have a choice though, do I? Even though my team and I protect this city, we're not the people who actually run the place." A pause, "Besides, it'll be a learning experience."
Sigh. "Of course you wouldn't be opposed to it, you bookworm."
"She has a point though. Do you really want to go against this whole thing? Do you want to go against the town mayor? The council? Do you want to go against the Titans? I can sense excitement from the team among all their other emotions about school…"
"Seriously..."
"Oh, relax. Think of the whole experience as training for keeping your emotions in check."
Giggle. "And it'll be fun too, no doubt!"
Raven opened her eyes when she sensed Starfire's presence. The girl waited for her to step out of meditation and Raven appreciated that.
"I'm guessing the sun dance was a failure, judging from the weather outside."
Starfire's reflection on the glass nodded. "It was fun though. You and Robin could have enjoyed watching Beast Boy dance around in the rain while changing into different animals. It was silly, but still fun."
Raven shrugged and looked at Starfire. "So what are you guys up to now?"
"I suggested we play Uno," Starfire smiled, "And we were wondering if you would join us, friend Raven?"
After a quick pause, Raven answered, "Maybe later, Starfire."
The Tamaranean was a bit disappointed but smiled anyway. "Okay."
Raven sighed as Starfire bounced away, still bubbly as ever, towards the coffee table where the game was being held. It was getting harder to say no to the ever-friendly girl. Maybe she'd actually play later, after reading a few short stories from the book she had picked up from the couch early that morning and drinking some good, calming tea. Damp and chilly days made the stuff taste so much better than usual.
She went into the kitchen to prepare her tea. While waiting for the water to boil, she sat down on the nearest chair and started leafing through pages of the book.
Raven raised her brows. The story was pretty disturbing (not that she minded) but the atmosphere was thrilling and the sense of mystery the author created was pretty intense. It was about a guy who kept going on about an old man's eye and being sane and...
She scrunched her nose as she read through the story.
This guy is far from being sane and he doesn't even realize it. What a horrible thing, to be oblivious to your own insanity…
"I see you've found my book."
Raven blinked, drew the book away from her face and eyed a groggy-looking Robin.
"Where'd you find that?"
"It was on the couch. If I didn't take it with me it would have been obliterated by Beast Boy and/or Cyborg's behinds," she said tactfully.
Robin stretched and smiled at her response, "A noble thing for you to do, I'm sure, and not an excuse for you to be able to entertain yourself with Poe's macabre stories."
"Of course," Raven said with feigned seriousness. She looked at the boy in front of her and added, "But you wouldn't mind if I do entertain myself with your book, would you?"
Robin shrugged and proceeded to prepare himself a glass of water, "Nah. Go ahead and read to your heart's content."
"Poetic," Raven mumbled dryly.
She would have continued reading if it weren't for the hissing kettle signaling that the water was now boiled and ready for her tea. She snapped the book shut and set it down on the table. Raven poured hot water on to her cup and afterwards placed the kettle on the counter.
She was about to go back reading when Robin stifled a yawn and ran a hand through his face.
"Late night?" she asked, using her hand to bookmark the page she last read, "I'm assuming you already tried to verify Mr. Helsom's statement?"
He nodded and sat down across from Raven, placing his half filled glass on the table. "I called back home. Alfred told me Bruce was away on a business trip but he'd left instructions for me. He said that he couldn't really stop the city from implementing its own laws and we should just go along with it as much as we can."
"Can't stop the city, he says," Raven smiled wryly, "That's rich, coming from the night time vigilante himself."
"Well, to be fair, he does abide by the laws during the day."
Raven shook her head. "But anyway, what were you saying?"
"Bruce trusts you guys. He's been keeping track on our movements, apparently," Robin said, a little annoyed by the fact that Batman was still trying to mother him.
"You're practically a son to him," Raven soothed, "Of course he'd want to know how you are".
"Yeah, I know, but I can take care of myself and he should know that. Anyway," Robin said warily, "Bruce suggested that I use my human identity."
Raven's eyes widened slightly and she briefly wondered why nothing had exploded in her surprise and worry, "Batman suggested that?"
"He said it was Helsom's idea," Robin said quietly.
"He knows who you are?" Raven murmured, "How in the world…"
"Bruce didn't say anything about it."
Raven frowned. "Are you going to do it?"
He shrugged, "I guess now's a good time as any to introduce Richard Grayson to the team."
"You don't have to do it just because he already knows you."
"I know that," Robin crossed his arms, "But I am a little curious to see how things will work out."
"Curiosity killed the cat," Raven mumbled.
He smiled. "Good thing I'm a robin then."
Raven shook her head and stared silently at the table as his words sunk in. "Did Batman have anything to say about Mr. Helsom?" she asked, trying to shake off the weirdness of the thought of an unmasked Robin.
"Mr. Helsom," Robin frowned, "personally asked for the Teen Titans to be in his school."
"We're supposed to be hiding our identities so the school won't gain any prestige with us being there. The only benefit for him I can think of is keeping watch on his so-called young offenders. Do you think he has another motive?"
"I don't really know. Bruce didn't leave anything more than that. But that principal knows things that shouldn't really be known."
"Like your real identity and connection to Batman."
Robin nodded and drank his glass of water.
Raven felt waves of confusion and anxiousness from the boy. Taking a calming sip from her tea, she asked, "You're bothered by the fact that Mr. Helsom knows who you are and managed to contact Batman?"
He rested his arms on the table and faced away from Raven. "Well, I am wondering how he knows things. But I'm more curious as to how he got to let Batman say yes."
Raven nodded.
"If I were Batman…" Robin said slowly. "I'd wonder why this guy knows my real name and why he's asking for the Teen Titans particularly. I'd be suspicious and," the masked boy paused sullenly, "I'd rather not let my little apprentice and his friends take the risk."
"You think Mr. Helsom is either blackmailing Batman or is an old, trusted acquaintance of his?"
"Yes, with the former being the more plausible of the two. If he was to be trusted, Bruce would have said something that would indicate his approval of the man. Sure, he says that we could go with Helsom's plans but he doesn't really say why. Bruce knows I'm careful, even in dealing with his… pleasant acquaintances. He's always told me to be vigilant."
Raven nodded again and the two lapsed into serious silence.
After a while, Robin sighed, "I guess we'll just see how things go." He moved to place the glass in the sink and went back to his seat, his steps vaguely echoing throughout the kitchen.
"The Tower's really silent," Robin observed.
Raven shifted in her seat, turning to face the table as she flicked back open the book in her hand, "They're playing Uno and Beast Boy is probably concentrating."
"Oh," Robin said, amusement in his voice, "And that explains everything?"
Raven shrugged, "Of course, it'll get noisy again once—"
"5-3-1! The C-Man wins!"
"No fair! Lemme' see that tally sheet! You cheated, didn't you?!"
Robin heard Raven sigh. He looked at her to see she had put the book she was reading down as the loud duo stormed into the kitchen with a smiling Starfire at their heels.
"No rematch for now. I can practically hear my stomach grumbling," Cyborg patted his stomach.
"Hearing your stomach grumble is one of the starting symptoms of a horrible Tamaranean disease, friend Cyborg," Starfire said looking concerned.
"Err, don't go worrying Star…" Cyborg turned and waved his hands in front of the girl, "It's just an expression that means I'm hungry."
Starfire let out a quiet "ah". She paused as she noticed Robin in the kitchen and smiled at him, "Good morning, friend Robin."
Robin smiled back as she sat beside him, "Morning, Star."
"Hah. Nice one, Robin" Beast Boy snickered and the team looked at him questioningly. "Cause you know, Starfire's like, from another planet that would be considered a star by people in Earth. It's also a pun on her name and a term of endearment and you know, she's Robin's star and—don't you guys get it? Cause—ah forget it." He continued on with his tirade against Cyborg.
"I won fair and square, you sore loser," gloated Cyborg while heating up the stove to cook breakfast.
Lately, Robin noticed, Cyborg was willingly doing cooking duty whenever they weren't eating take-out. Well, ever since Raven tried cooking for them…
"Oh please, you just got lucky," mumbled Beast Boy as dumped himself beside Raven.
"No, I just used my head," retorted Cyborg, "Now shut up or you won't get any pancakes."
The kitchen was relatively silent until Beast Boy got a hold of his breakfast.
"So, uh… How are things going to work anyway?" asked Beast Boy, "And what's our school called? I keep forgetting the name."
Robin crossed his arms and leaned back. "I suppose we can discuss school matters right now. First of all, Beast Boy, our school is called Jump City High School."
Beast Boy raised an eyebrow and said, "That's an incredibly uncreative name. No wonder I keep forgetting it."
Cyborg snorted and Raven rolled her eyes.
"What? It is true," Beast Boy defended.
"Don't let the name fool you," Robin said seriously, "That school is one of the best in the country. Students there excel in a whole range of subjects, from sciences and mathematics to the arts and sports."
Cyborg nodded, "The things that their Robotics students come up in contests occasionally surprise even me."
"They also manage and participate in various activities that benefit society. Once, when I was in the mall of shopping, I saw students trying to sell food to fundraise for the aged," chimed in Starfire.
Beast Boy managed to whistle with his mouth full of food. "You guys do a lot of research?"
"It doesn't take research," Raven voiced out. "You get bombarded with info about the school just by reading the paper or watching the news."
Things you virtually do not do.
Robin smirked as he felt her thought in his head. Ever since she literally entered his mind, there was a peculiar connection between them. It was strange at first, feeling another person's thoughts and emotions in his head, but it was not entirely unpleasant. It wasn't too distracting either because what he could sense, he could only sense occasionally and subtly. He thought it was probably due to the fact that the girl practically trained and meditated everyday to keep her emotions in check. Well, either that or she was blocking him out of her head. He couldn't really blame her for doing that. Everyone was entitled to privacy after all.
He had worried before about his thoughts and rampant emotions leaking into her mind but, after mulling things over, realized that she was an empath and probably was accustomed to feeling other people's thoughts and emotions.
In the end, he had openly expressed his concerns to her, just to make sure.
She had told him that she had already noticed something strange between them ever since she'd been through his mind, that she had been a bit frustrated because it was taking more effort to block him out. She was surprised though to hear about him sensing what she thought and felt.
After pausing to think, she had told him that the training she did every day not only made her control her emotions but also served to create a wall of protection for her thoughts, so he shouldn't really worry about that. There could be moments, however, when a thought would slip from her grasp.
In regards to his thoughts slipping into her mind, she told him that she always could sense people's thoughts and emotions and block them out. Apparently, the only difference was that his presence was now more pronounced in her head.
"I would try to stop whatever this thing between us is if it bothers you too much but I don't really know how to," he said apologetically.
"I don't either," Raven shrugged and moved towards the door, "But a little more effort from me won't exactly kill me."
"So it's got an amazing reputation, huh?" Beast Boy asked more to himself than to his teammates. "I wonder if it'll be any good once we're actually in the place," he scrunched up his nose, "I think that loony principal's up to something."
Robin considered his team's current situation. "Well, whatever it's like over there, we'll make it through as a team," he said determinedly. "Speaking of being in the school, Cy, how's the project?"
"Oh!" Cyborg suddenly sprang from his seat. "Now that you've reminded me—" Cyborg dashed out so quickly that he never got to finish his sentence.
He also returned so fast that the rest of the Titans weren't able to actually talk about other things while he was away.
"Ta da! I introduce my new baby, the Altering Identification Device," Cyborg exclaimed, holding up a blue hand band on one hand and a green one on the other, "Or the AI-D for short."
"Seriously? Altering Identification Device? That's the best you could come up with?" asked Beast Boy with his arms crossed, leaning towards Cyborg.
"Oh, you can come up with a better one?" huffed Cyborg, crossing his arms too and leaning towards the morphling.
Consequently, they ended up squishing Raven.
"Are you guys seriously starting an argument over a name?" Raven huffed, pushing them off.
"The name's fine, guys," Robin cut in, "It's convenient. How does the AI-D work, Cy?"
There was an excited glint in Cyborg's eye as he strapped the normal-looking green band on Beast Boy's left arm and started explaining about the device. "In simple terms, it basically scans the body of the individual it's latched on to, you know, for calibration purposes, and once it finishes, I can program how a person can look from any of the Tower's computers," Cyborg pointed at the table.
"With the table?" Beast Boy asked slowly.
Cyborg smiled smugly before tapping on the table, making a keyboard and holographic screen come out, "I never really told you guys about the recent upgrades I made for the Tower, did I? I figured better tech and security would be handy since we're going to be away now more frequently."
Robin was impressed. He could tell the others were as well.
"It can do that?" asked a dazzled Beast Boy, "That's so cool."
Cyborg grinned. "What do you guys want green boy here to look like?"
"Any look's okay as long as he won't stand out too much," Robin said before Beast Boy could demand anything. They really shouldn't draw too much attention to themselves.
"The important thing is that he has normal human skin, ears and hair," Robin turned to Cyborg, "You can choose from there how he's going to look. He needs to blend in with the norm though."
"I don't get to choose how I look?" Beast Boy asked indignantly.
Robin shrugged. "You could suggest things to Cy," when Beast Boy's eyes gleamed, Robin added "But no wild hairdos or hair colors."
"No neon purple mohawk?"
"No."
"No as in I don't get my mohawk or no as in—"
"Just no, Beast Boy."
"Aw, come on Robin, can't we at least zest ourselves up?" pleaded Beast Boy.
"No."
"Or at least make me look more awesome than I usually am?"
"Your idea of 'more awesome' probably entails something conspicuous, so no."
"It's not like they expect us to—"
"Beast Boy," Robin said seriously, "No."
Beast Boy squinted at Robin. "Whoa, déjà vu moment here."
Robin raised a brow.
Beast Boy gave a dramatic sigh. "Fiiine. Since I'm much more amazing than you guys ever hope to be, I'll just leave everything up to fate," he gestured to Cy, "and I won't make myself more awesome."
Robin felt Raven marvel at Beast Boy's delusions of grandeur.
"What about you, friend Robin? What is your disguise?"
Robin turned to look at Starfire.
"Well…" Robin paused, not really sure how he should break it to them gently. He eyed his friends one by one before settling to stare back at a poker-faced Raven. He was a bit surprised with how well she had taken the news earlier. "A friend of mine advised me to just use my "real" identity."
It was a little unnerving to feel everyone's eyes on him.
"You mean to say that you will," Starfire breathed in, "allow us to see your actual self?"
"You're taking the mask off in front of us," Beast Boy's eyes widened, "Seeing you without a mask would be, like… so weird."
Cyborg eyed Robin seriously, "You okay with that, Robin? It should take a whole lotta trust for you to be okay with that."
Robin looked at him and chuckled, "Please, there are times when I trust you guys more than I trust myself."
"I still think it's a bad idea, man. I mean, what about the principal? You okay with him knowing about you?"
"He already knows about me, Cy."
Cyborg's robot eye narrowed.
"Yeah, things are a bit complicated."
"Guuuuys, can we please not discuss complicated business this early in the morning? It's not even 10 yet," Beast Boy groaned.
Cyborg glared at Beast Boy but relented.
"And can we put off this unmasking thing until tomorrow?" Beast Boy asked, shaking his head, "It just feels so strange."
"Is the unmasked me really that strange a concept to grasp?" Robin mused.
"It's just weird okay," Beast Boy grumbled, "Robin without a mask is like… Not Robin."
Robin without a mask is plain old Richard, Robin thought wryly. "Okay then," he said, "Enough about me for now. Is the device ready for Beast Boy to try out?"
Cyborg turned back to typing furiously on the keyboard, "Just a few more adjustments, aaand, yup, ready to go".
Click.
The green band glowed and suddenly flashed bright green light, dazing the on-looking Titans. When they looked at Beast Boy, they were momentarily speechless.
He looked… Unnervingly normal. He was the same old Beast Boy but with black hair, lightly tanned skin and normal human ears. His eyes still had the same forest green tint to it though.
"So…" Beast Boy drawled nervously, "How do I look?"
"I am so excited for tomorrow!" Starfire exclaimed as she dragged Raven around the mall, carrying her purchases, "Are you not, friend Raven? It will be so fun meeting many new people and making friends and being normal in human terms."
They had just bought a few new clothes that might come in handy and they had been to the store that sold eye products.
Raven had picked out dark blue contacts to cover up her purple irises. It was a precaution, just in case someone got close enough to her face to notice her otherworldly eyes.
Starfire, on the other hand, thought that if her irises were any other color, the greenness of her sclera would be accentuated. Raven agreed. So she ended up not buying contacts for herself.
"Those aren't really my ideas of fun," Raven muttered, "Although the experience would probably be interesting."
Starfire smiled at her reserved friend as they entered a hair care shop.
Yesterday, when Robin had mentioned taking off his mask and when Beast Boy had his appearance altered by the AI-D, Starfire could not help but suddenly feel the… hugeness of what they were doing. Well, it was not really that huge of a deal, going to school. She herself had gone to school in Tamaran. What made it different was that right now she was a proud member of the Teen Titans, the protectors of Jump City, and was supposed to go to school while hiding her hero identity. It was not like the existence of aliens, shape-shifters, demons and all the other things she had learned through personal experience was a secret here in the planet of Earth, but still, they would have to be humanly normal in school as much as possible. They had a big secret to guard.
When Beast Boy had asked how he looked yesterday, Starfire had clapped her hands, took off and returned with the full body mirror from her room. She had then asked Cyborg to try his AI-D as well. He had only masked the robotic parts of his body with a holographic eye and skin but Cyborg's transformation had made her mind explode as much as Beast Boy's had.
The thought of going to school in a disguise excited her. And because she liked playing dress-up, after breakfast yesterday, she had excitedly blurted out to Raven a mixture of an invitation and a plea to go shopping with her.
After a moment of pondering silence, Raven had said yes. She said she had needed to buy hair dye and eye contacts anyway. Raven requested for them to go shopping on Sunday, when there were less people around.
And now, here we are, Starfire thought happily.
"I don't want to dye my hair," Raven complained, scrunching her nose at the colorful sight of a shelf full of hair dye products.
"Why not, friend Raven?"
"I don't know," Raven shrugged, "I like my hair the way it is, I suppose, and I think dyeing it is just a waste of time, money and effort."
Starfire contemplated on what to say. "Think of it as something to be done for the greater good, maybe? It would not be a waste then since you have a purpose for doing it."
"Dyeing my hair for the greater good?" Raven gave her a small smile, "Well, it doesn't mean I would actually like doing it."
"Then maybe get a wig?" Starfire suggested when she spotted a section of the room filled with wigs.
Raven shook her head. "There are more risks wearing a wig. Dyeing my hair would be more practical since I could just wash it off with a special solution if ever the need arises. If things get urgent, I could always just fight with my hood on."
They both looked at the various colors available.
"Star, do you think I should dye my hair black since Robin's supposed to be my brother?"
Starfire felt suddenly uncomfortable as a memory was brought back by Raven's question. Until Mr. Helsom's visit, it had never really occurred to her that Raven could be a... rival. She had tried to disregard the thought as soon as it had entered her mind. Raven was one of her close friends. She was her best female friend. She was her only close female friend in Earth, now that she thought about it.
Raven is also the only other female member in the team, a little voice inside her head said. Everybody in the team knows who you like, but does anybody know who Raven likes?
Starfire frowned at herself and shook off her disturbing thoughts. "Was he not made a step-brother?"
"Yes, but I really couldn't care less what color I should dye my hair," Raven said as she picked up a box labeled with 'Martian Green'. She raised an eyebrow and added, "As long as it doesn't stand out too much, any color's fine."
Starfire picked out a box, "How about Sunshine Yellow?"
Raven made a face. "I take back what I said about not caring for color. I'd like my hair to have a dark shade, thanks."
Starfire laughed. "I picked that out at random," she put the box back and grabbed another one that displayed a darker shade of color, "Wild Rose?"
Raven considered briefly before shaking her head.
"Ash Brown?"
It was still a no.
"Dark Chocolate?"
Raven looked at Starfire and chuckled. "You know what? I'm just gonna go for black to make my life less complicated." She frowned, however, when she turned back and saw the different kinds of black colors available.
"What in the world is the difference between Midnight Black, Jet Black and Raven Black?" Raven asked incredulously, crossing her arms.
Starfire thought that Jet Black most appropriately described Robin's hair.
Raven sighed. "I'll just take this then," she said, taking out what she calculated as a month's worth of hair dye, all labeled 'Raven Black', "Must be a sign."
Starfire nodded but stared at the two labels that shouldn't really be bothering her. Her thoughts were just so silly today…
"Are you considering dyeing your hair too?"
It would be nice to have the same hair color as Robin but I would look so much like my sister, Starfire mused sadly.
"Hey Star, are you okay?"
Starfire blinked and averted her gaze from the shelf. "Huh?"
Raven looked concerned. Starfire's eyes widened when she realized her friend could probably feel her inner turmoil. She just hoped Raven would not know what exactly was making her uncomfortable.
"Oh, I apologize for not answering. I was considering having black hair," she explained, "But then I realized I would look like Blackfire." What she said was not entirely untrue.
Raven nodded in understanding and Starfire hoped her friend concluded she was being "out of it" because of her sister.
"Have you got any other colors in mind?" Raven turned back to the shelf.
"What would you recommend?"
"… Perhaps a darker or lighter shade of your own hair color?"
Starfire scanned the different shades of red available. She stopped as a light red color with a slight pinkish tinge caught her eye.
Raven followed Starfire's gaze and picked a box out. "This?"
Starfire nodded and smiled sheepishly.
Raven eyed the label in amusement. "Strawberry Swirl it is then."
Starfire turned to look at a mirror. "Do you think it will look okay on me, Raven?"
"It's fine, Star," Raven turned to look as well and touched her own forehead, "What should I do with this?"
Starfire eyed a shelf of hair accessories reflected in the mirror and smiled.
"Okay, let's make this meeting brief."
Beast Boy snorted, earning him a glare from a black-haired Raven sitting on the living room armchair across from him. He just grinned back.
It was sort of refreshing, seeing the team with new looks.
First of all, there was Raven with her black hair. She looked nice. And the headband she wore to hide her chakra gem thing made her seem more... He didn't know really. She just looked nice, even though she seemed like she was going to rip off the thing from her head any minute now, with all the fussing she was doing.
A blur of reddish pink passed by him and stopped in front of Raven. It was Starfire, trying to keep Raven's hands off of the headband. Starfire looked nice too. She was totally into the disguise thing. Her hair was dyed into a lighter shade, braided and she wore fake glasses.
Beast Boy heard a chuckle to his right. He turned to see Cyborg leaning over to pat Raven's head soothingly and giving Starfire a thumbs-up. Cyborg looked as intimi—err—huge in his holographic human disguise as he did in his half-robot body. Jeepers, it felt weird, seeing him in his human form.
Maybe they find it weird too, seeing me like this, he thought vaguely. Wasn't it ironic? To use one's apparent "normal" form as a disguise?
"Guys, we really should get on with this. We have school tomorrow," Robin sighed beside him, although Beast Boy thought he didn't really look like he was tired or anything.
"Yes, let's," Raven mumbled, shooing away Starfire and Cyborg.
Beast Boy rested his head on the table and zoned out as Robin started talking about how they could choose whatever subjects they want to do tomorrow and being careful and not drawing too much attention, particularly you Beast Boy and are you even listening, Beast Boy? Beast Boy nodded and continued to listen absently.
His ears twitched when he heard something about Batman.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You know Batman? Like, the Caped Crusader? The Dark Knight? As in Gotham City's Batman? And you didn't tell us? Why didn't you tell us?" Beast Boy started shaking Robin, "I have 52 Batman collector cards, 3 of which are rare. Why didn't you tell meeee?"
Robin took a hold of his hands and shoved him away, "Well, no one asked. Besides, don't you know about Batman's sidekick?"
"He has a sidekick?"
Robin huffed disbelievingly.
Cyborg coughed to catch their attention. "You were saying, Robin?"
Robin sighed, "As I was saying, Batman told me that we should just go along with Helsom."
"Wait, Helsom knows Batman?" Beast Boy couldn't believe it, "So we can trust him, right?"
Robin shared a look with Raven.
"In case you weren't listening very well, Beast Boy, the facts are: Mr. Helsom knows Robin's real identity, he knows Robin is connected to Batman, he can contact the Dark Knight himself and he was able to ask for permission from Batman to make us go to his school," Raven kneaded her temples, "I'd say he's a pretty suspicious character and that we should exercise extreme caution."
"We should investigate him then," Starfire said, frowning, "Research his background and learn what we can about him when in school."
"Yeah, I was planning to do some background check after this meeting," Robin said.
"I'll help ya, man," Cyborg volunteered.
Robin nodded and grinned, "Now that that's all said, I hereby end this meeting with the grand unmasking."
And for the first time, they all saw the calm sea-blue eyes that at any moment could turn as dark and unpredictable as a raging ocean.
"Graduated from the prestigious Gotham University."
"Plays tennis and soccer."
"In charge of the Jump City High School Choir."
"Plays the cello for local orchestra groups during his spare time."
"Coaches the JCHS Chess club."
Cyborg sniggered. "2nd Most Dashing Bachelor of Jump City. Did he look dashing to you when he came in last Friday? He looked like a high school punk to me."
"Local principal keeps bonds with Gotham City strong: facilitates exchange program," Robin mumbled curiously.
"Oh, apparently next week, Helsom's giving a speech warning students about joining groups and hazing and all that jazz."
"Link me to that article, will you, Cy?"
Cyborg sent the info over to Robin's computer. "Man," Cyborg said, reading a news article that advertised a charity group Mr. Helsom led, "This guy's all over the place."
"And I thought Bruce was bad," Robin smiled dryly, "You should see the things he stirs up over in Gotham."
"I thought it'd be hard to look up info on the man but he even has a fan site," Cyborg sighed, slumped down his office chair and circled around, "How in the world are we going to go through all of this?"
"Did you check his records?"
Cyborg nodded, "This man's pretty clean."
Robin looked unconvinced. "Maybe too clean," he stared at Helsom's smiling picture on the screen, "There must be something that could give us a clue."
"You really think so?"
"Bruce is a shining example of elite, CEO, philanthropist extraordinaire at day turned solo vigilante at night. And all the nice guy reports the media is feeding us about Helsom just makes me suspect him more."
"Relax, leader boy. Remember, innocent before proven guilty."
Robin sighed and leaned back on his chair. "I know," he rubbed his eyes, "I think it's just frustrating that this man I just knew about two days ago knows so much about me. I want to even out the playing field."
Cyborg frowned as he remembered the times when Robin got too caught up with crime fighting. It usually didn't end well when Robin got too obsessed. "Well, we're not getting anywhere right now and we have a big day tomorrow. We should call it a day, Robin."
"You can go ahead if you want."
"Robin, it's two in the morning and we're supposed to be in school by eight. You also had your late night talk with your friend yesterday."
"We've done worse, Cy."
"Come on, Robin, don't be so bull-headed. I'm helping you research so we should be able to get some to conclusion any time this week. You don't need to do any overtime work. Being fixated won't do you no good, man."
Robin stared at him and Cyborg stared back.
After a few seconds, Robin held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, you win." He shut down the computers.
"Atta boy," Cyborg smiled and waited for Robin to come out of the computer room before turning off the lights.
Wow, I feel guilty for not updating in a year :( But I really can't write unless I feel like it. And it doesn't really help when I keep trying to make things better every time I go through what I've written. This huge, old thing is the result of a year's worth of writing in snippets and constant editing.
Anyway, thanks to those who reviewed and will review :) I haven't replied yet to the people who reviewed for the first chapter (thank you again!) but I'll get to you as soon as I can. I'll just post this for now.
Do you guys think this is going too slow or does the pace feel alright? Is a 16-page chapter too much? Are the characters in-character? Am I making sense? Haha. I appreciate comments, suggestions, questions and constructive criticism. Please share your thoughts :)