"I already hate this." Raven had dragged him into the mall for clothes shopping, and every second of it was practically torture. Thankfully, clothes shopping for men was easy; he got some jeans, a few pairs of business pants, T-shirts and polos, and that was all. It had come time for Raven to shop, and he felt incredibly awkward in the gothically themed store. Almost everybody that came in gave him odd looks, and understandably so; he was dressed different than them and seemingly just hanging out in front of the women's changing rooms. Raven finally emerged with no shirt on, just her bra and a pair of black jeans she had spotted.
"They look fine?" She did a 360 degree turn, but something caught his eye.
"Let me see your back again."
"Huh?" He put a hand on her shoulder and turned her slightly, revealing the tattoo on her back, a large, black raven with four eyes stretched out between her shoulderblades.
"When did you get this done?"
"During that little exile you had when you first got resurrected."
"It looks nice. Find a shirt."
"Getting protective?"
"That douchey-looking cashier is checking you out and I don't like it." She stifled a laugh, then vanished back into the dressing rooms.
Hours later, they finally left the mall; Alfred was there in minutes to pick them up, speeding off towards Wayne Manor.
"Master Wayne is trying to make this as painless as possible. You will have seven classes each day for an hour each; you will have five of these classes together, and two without each other. Do you know your cover identities?"
"Not very well yet."
"You were both orphans stuck in the system. Simon, your story is close to what actually happened in your life; Raven, we had to be a little creative with. Your mother was molested and became pregnant with you, but refused to have an abortion. Just before she was to give birth, your mother was hit by a truck from Ace Chemicals; the chemicals spilled, resulting in slight, benign mutations, such as your skin color. We have also explained the chakra on your forehead. It was given to you by an anger management counselor to help you control yourself. We aren't expecting you to follow a script, just act like believeable teenagers slightly younger than yourselves. We have you both listed as being sixteen and having your original birthdays. Simon, you are going to be Gregory Weaver. Raven, you are Rachel Roth. Can you remember all of this?"
"I think we can," she answered for him. "Right, Greg?" He smirked and wrapped an arm around her waist, missing the old jeweled belt that used to circle around it, now replaced with a thick leather one.
"Bruce Wayne found you both in similar situations and decided to take you in out of pity and in an attempt to give you good lives."
"Sounds good to me. Hey, could you drop us off a few blocks away? I want to have some alone time with Raven." She shot a look at him, trying to figure out what his intentions were, but he waved her off.
"Certainly. I understand this must be a drastic change, and things must be dealt with as they come up." A few minutes later, he rolled to a stop, and they started walking towards the mansion.
"So? What is it?"
"How do we play this? Do we let people know we're together?"
"Of course not. We wait a little bit."
"Why? I was figuring it would be an immediate yes or no."
"Well, there's always going to be somebody trying to screw the new girl."
"And that's a good thing to you?"
"No, you're just funny when you get overprotective."
"I just... I woke up last night and couldn't sleep, and I had a lot of time to think about us... I... This is hard for me to say all of a sudden, and I don't know why..."
"It's because you actually mean it this time."
"I did before too, though. That's the thing."
"You thought you did, but I can feel it, and it feels different."
"I think you may be right. Even if I can't say it now... you understand, right?"
"Of course I do." She kissed him, but kept it brief; they were coming up on Wayne Manor. Alfred was loading the last of the bags into the mansion, and Bruce was waiting for them outside.
"We headed out?" Weaver asked impatiently.
"No. You two aren't going out and fighting for at least a month. You need time to adjust. Then we add in our "unique" night activities." He didn't like it, but Weaver knew it was probably going to be the easiest way to do things.
The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, as did the next. The morning came when they had to wake up early enough to get there on time. Alfred drove them to the school and walked them into the office and got them squared off. One of the principal's assistants walked them to class and pulled the teacher out to speak with them for a moment; she was immediately taken aback by Raven's appearance, but recovered just as quickly.
"Slight mutation that happened when my mom was still pregnant," she explained quickly. The assistant motioned for her to be quiet rudely, then spoke up.
"You'll need to tell the class to leave her alone about it. You know how they can be."
"I'll take care of that," Weaver interrupted. He gave her a look and grabbed her hand, and she nodded in agreement; it would be better for both of them if they came in together and made it clear they weren't going to take anybody's shit. The teacher, a tall, blonde woman with black glasses and green eyes, dismissed the principal's assistant and addressed them directly.
"Alright, sorry about that. People in the principal's office are always wound up tight. I'm Ms. Jennings, your English teacher. Most of the kids in this class aren't that bad, but there are a few of the jocks you'll have to watch out for. Unfortunately, they're all at the back, and the back is where the only seats are. I see you'll want to sit next to each other?"
"Yes," they both said in unison. She smiled at them, then stepped into the room.
"Class, we have two new students with us. I will warn you, one of them is slightly mutated, but please, don't treat her any differently." As if trying to distinguish himself as an ass, one of the aforementioned jocks decided to speak up.
"What kinda mutation? Like, big titties? Cause I'll treat her so differently." Some of them laughed, but most of the kids at the front of the class just stayed respectfully silent.
"Jack, that's incredibly inappropriate, and I'm sure her boyfriend would love to hear you say that again. Come on in, you two." They entered with the expected awkwardness; nobody in class knew what to say to the new kids who just walked in, and they didn't know what to say to the class.
"Please take the two seats in the back right corner. I'm sure you'll have time to socialize with your classmates during lunch or advisory. Now, starting today's lesson..." she said, both of them losing focus on her voice. Weaver looked over to see a group of kids all wearing letterman jackets; one of the larger ones put his hands under his pecs, acting like he was jiggling invisible boobs. The rest of them laugh, but before he could react, Raven pulled him to their seats
"I'm gonna be in detention day one."
"You've got gym with these guys. Feel free to do it then. I'll do something to get it with you if you want."
"Sounds like a plan. Just give me a heads up. We need to make sure we establish that we aren't to be screwed with."
"I'm with you, one hundred percent." The rest of class went by without a hitch, and the bell rang before they knew it.
"What's next?" Weaver asked. He hadn't bothered to look at their schedules.
"Gym. We're going to be in separate locker rooms to change. You want to start something, I'd say you start it then."
"I will. Good luck," he said, kissing her quickly before running off to the locker rooms. He was able to get in before the jocks, and was glad to see his locker was right next to his. Him and his friends entered soon after him, and they grouped up around him quickly.
"Hey, kid, your girl's pretty bangin', for a freak."
"Do yourself a favor, Jack, and step the fuck off. You don't want to get into this."
"Oh, I don't, huh? Jerry? You think I should get into this?" A bald guy behind Weaver nodded.
"Yeah. You should just-" Weaver elbowed him in the throat and grabbed him by the neck, dropped to one knee, and slammed him down on it all in one smooth motion, ending with the satisfying crack of vertebrae popping.
"So, Jack, you still want to fuck with me?"
"Never wanted to fuck with you. Just want to fuck with that fine piece of ass you're hauling around."
"Not gonna happen."
"You act like I've never faced resistance before. She'll be in my lap by the end of the week."
"You so much as look at her and I swear I'll switch around your eyeballs and your nuts. You might want to make sure Jerry can feel his legs." Weaver went to finish changing, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"Look, man, I think we got off on the wrong foot. What's your name?"
"Gregory Weaver."
"Alright. Tommy, write that down so they've got something to put on the medical record." Jack headbutted him, sending him reeling; he tried to tackle him, but Weaver sidestepped, throwing him through the glass window of the football coach's office. He tried to get around the corner but the rest of the jocks were grabbing him, trying to pull him to the ground. He elbowed one and bit another, freeing his legs to get away and deal with them on equal footing. They retreated quickly, and Simon knew immediately somebody important was behind him. He turned to see a tall, chubby black man in a suit; he assumed this was the principal, as he'd been out when they were in the office before.
"What's going on here?" he asked, clearly trying to sound intimidating. Simon almost laughed, but kept his composure.
"The guys you just saw running were trying to jump me. I was defending myself, sir."
"What's your name, son?"
"Gregory Weaver."
"Wayne's kid. I'll let you go for now. I know those kids can be jerks to newcomers."
"Thank you, sir."
"Vogler. Mr. Vogler. They try anything else, you come to me. Got it?"
"Yes sir." He sat down, and Mr. Vogler left without causing any more problems. Simon sat down and got changed; other than some dirty looks from the jocks, there were no more issues. He got out onto the basketball court and laughed at how miserable Raven looked in the gym uniform.
"Shut up."
"Sorry, it's funny!"
"I despise uniforms."
"I know, I know."
"Did they give you a rundown of the rules? We just got yelled at for fighting."
"Did you get detention?"
"Surprisingly, no."
"They told us we were allowed to go anywhere on the school grounds as long as we were doing some kind of exercise."
"Jogging around the school, then?"
"Anything to get away from the drama queens. There doesn't seem to be many people we'll be getting along with."
"Have some hope." They walked off of the court and set off at a brisk jog around the school; it wasn't long before Weaver noticed somebody was following them. Raven grabbed his shoulder and they stopped to look at who it was; a short girl with large glasses was following them, her black hair flowing behind her.
"Rachel! Hey, I wanted to introduce myself before, but you kinda just rushed out here. I'm Isabelle."
"And why would you be introducing yourself?"
"Because unlike the rest of these idiots, I know who you two are. Apparently nobody ever watches the news around here."
"I don't think either of us really care as long as you keep your mouth shut, right, Rae?"
"Agreed."
"As long as you keep me around. I'm not exactly popular around here."
"Then you should get to jogging," Weave said, turning and starting his run again, the two girls following.
"So, what's it like to be in the Titans?"
"It's better than this, that's for sure," Simon replied shortly.
"How's Robin?"
"Taken," they both said at once.
"I'm not that fangirlish. I just happen to admire him."
"What happened to "not that fangirlish"?" Weaver asked. Isabelle paused for a moment, a puzzled look flashing across her face.
"Hard to explain. It's not that bad."
"I believe that. Totally believe that." Raven's words were dripping with sarcasm; she clearly wasn't impressed with the lie.
"Shit," Weaver hissed, looking into the treeline in front of them. Raven saw who it was and prepared for trouble. Red X stalked out of the woods, approaching them subtly to avoid attracting any more attention.
"Berlin."
"Moscow. What's happened with you lately?"
"Killed the Mask. Wayne sent me here to balance my life out."
"I heard you and Catgirl split up again."
"Don't do this to yourself. You're better than her."
"I'm taking that as a yes?"
"You keep chasing her and it never gets you anywhere. Move on, X." He sighed and took his mask off, revealing the heavily scarred face that he hadn't been able to identify.
"I have to. This is bigger than you and me. Just answer the damn question, Weaver."
"What's going on?"
"Just say it!"
"Simon! Get down! He's trying to-"
"Just say yes!"
Weaver tackled Raven and Isabelle to the ground, earning some nasty burns as Red X exploded, his back exploding through his chest and showering them in blood. What remained of his corpse flopped to the ground, his eyes now lifeless. Isabelle was screaming, and Raven clamped a hand over her mouth.
"What the fuck was that?!" Weaver yelled, trying to get off of the girls. He landed on his injured back and immediately recoiled, rolling back over onto his stomach. He saw the football coach charging towards them and he tried to get to his feet, but a look at Berlin's body made him queasy and he decided to stay down for the moment.
"What the hell just happened?" the coach yelled; being the only one currently capable of speaking, Raven answered, trying to keep in character.
"I have no idea! He just walked up and exploded!"
"Go and get the security guard. Son, you alright down there?"
"No. Get help. Bleeding..." Simon's vision started to blur; he could tell when he was about to pass out from blood loss, and this was exactly it.