Chapter 3
After hastily finishing her yogurt, Raven returned to her room in search of the only articles of clothing she owned besides her endless supply of uniforms. The first was a pair of dark, indigo denim shorts, the second a black, long-sleeved v-neck top. She pulled them from the recesses of her bottom dresser drawer and slipped them on, finishing the ensemble with a pair of weather-appropriate black sandals. She then moved to a trunk and found the long box that held the final touch: the long black wig that would make her unrecognizable as a member of the Teen Titans.
As a general rule, the Titans didn't have secret identities. There really wasn't any need for them. They lived in a giant tower shaped like a "T" and worked as full-time crime fighters. There wasn't any normal life to go back to at the end of the day. Their identities as heroes weren't disguises—they really were who the Titans are.
Besides that, there was the difficulty of disguising Cyborg, who was half metal, Starfire, whose eyes were entirely green and whose skin was orange, and Beast Boy, whose green skin and fangs made it impossible to appear normal. Raven and Robin were the only two capable of blending in (though Raven still didn't look completely normal), but to Raven's knowledge Robin had never used an alternate identity. Then again, Raven thought, to his knowledge I rarely leave the tower alone, nonetheless disguised as an ordinary civilian.
After removing the wig and running a brush through its long locks, Raven pinned back her own short purple hair and positioned it carefully on her head. It was expensive, but Raven was willing to pay. The hair was soft and smooth and it was fairly comfortable to wear. It had straight-cut bangs that hid the jewel on her forehead and hair that hit halfway down her back. She wasn't thrilled with having to tame all of that hair, but the extra length helped disguise her face. She usually added a pair of black-rimmed glasses that had no prescription but also helped cover her face. They were a little less conspicuous than sunglasses.
In the getup she looked almost normal. Her pale, greyish skin still caught people's attention, but she had managed to keep the cover so far. Finally ready to leave, she took a deep breath, centered her energy, and chanted her mantra.
Instead of flying out of the tower and risk being seen, she exited the hard way. Teleportation wasn't easy on the mind, but it was discreet.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she chanted, visualizing her usual destination. Rather than risk being seen teleporting into the city, she transported herself to the edge of the forest that bordered the city and walked for a ways into the suburbs and towards the nearest bus stop. From there she took the bus to wherever she had set out to go. She knew that she probably went further out of her way than she needed to to keep up the ruse, but in all honesty, she kind of enjoyed the thrill of it.
Besides, acting normal made her feel normal. The ability to stand in a crowd completely unnoticed, free to go about whatever she pleased was novel and liberating. She thoroughly enjoyed the time she spent as "Rachel Roth," the name she had given her adopted persona. Roth had been her mother's last name before she had left for Azarath.
Raven arrived in the clearing she usually did, assuming full corporeal form and pausing a moment to catch her bearings. She surveyed her surroundings, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the clean, woodsy air. She was completely alone in the serene little clearing, save for the assortment of woodland animals that scurried around in the forest. Raven let her mind wander out, sensing the creatures move through the woods. Just behind her there were three small rabbits, just shy of adulthood, snacking on a patch of clover. She could feel the birds—swallows, jays, wrens, and sparrows—all alive in the redwoods above her, singing and swooping and chasing each other through the branches. She felt badgers, deer, squirrels, turtles, foxes, even a stray cat, all dwelling in the living forest.
It was a rejuvenating feeling. There was a peace and a balance in this simple scene, generally untouched by mankind. The more Raven expanded her empathetic mind, the more power and tranquility flowed into it. She pushed it out further; fifty feet, then eighty, then one hundred, 250, 500, 1000—and she reached pavement. The road that separated suburbia from the wilderness.
She sighed, remembering her purpose and feeling a swell of excitement for the trip to come. Opening her eyes, she began to walk towards the road. The cleansing feeling of the woods was always a treat—an added bonus to her anonymous trip into Jump City. As she reached the sidewalk, she looked around at the neighborhood. She was somewhat familiar with the neat, white, siding-covered houses. There was a peacefulness here too, though very different from that of the forest. This corner of suburbia felt safe and secure. People here trusted that they would always have cozy homes and loving families. They're lucky, Raven thought with a twinge of longing. Security like that was foreign to her.
She scanned the road. About fifty feet to her right there were two mothers, each with a stroller in hand, pulled over on the sidewalk to chat. They took no notice of her. Other than those two, no one appeared on the street. Raven turned left and began to walk leisurely towards the bus stop, which was several blocks away. Most people in this part of town had cars, so bus stops were scarce, but Raven had chosen the clearing to teleport to because of its proximity to one.
As she moved, she thought about what she needed at the store. Milk, eggs, waffle mix, bread, peanut butter, jelly, butter, she rattled off in her mind, moving through the staples. I probably need some freezer meals as well; the boys will be too busy to cook this week.
Interestingly enough (according to this society's standards), the male team members were the only ones who cooked. Starfire evidently crafted her Tamaranean dishes to satisfaction, but Earth food was beyond her capabilities. Raven's culinary skills were dismal. That left Beast Boy, whose cooking was passable when it didn't include tofu, Robin, who could handle his own in the kitchen but was often otherwise occupied, and Cyborg, who did the majority of the meal preparation. The Titans shared the chores and responsibilities around the tower, but Cyborg was almost always the one to cook breakfast and dinner when they ate in. They were all on their own when it came to lunch.
This week, however, Raven figured they would need something easy to prepare. Ten minutes after her emergence from the clearing, she was on the fairly clean, odorless bus. Definitely an east-end bus, she thought, recalling the time she accidentally got on the wrong bus route and ended up in the worst neighborhood of Jump City. It wasn't one of her more pleasant experiences.
Her eyes floated around the vehicle's interior, landing on an advertisement that clearly hadn't been changed in a while. It was a picture of none other than Annette Forbes, urging citizens to "Vote Forbes." The poster said the election date had been weeks ago. How did I miss that? Raven wondered. She had chided Beast Boy about his lack of political activism, yet she herself had had no idea who the Mayor was at the moment until they had met yesterday morning. Her brow furrowed as she silently scolded herself for her lack of attention.
Another thought came to her as she watched people pay for their bus fare as they boarded. She had no money on her, save for the scant collection of coins in her pocket she had used to pay her fare.
"Great," she muttered to herself, drawing a quizzical stare from an older woman sitting a few seats away from her. Right, she thought, not normal to talk to yourself. Raven did have her Titan bank card—she kept that and her communicator on her at all times. Hmm, she thought, where would the nearest ATM be? She relaxed as she realized that the Jump City Superstore was only a few blocks down from the Bank. There will be an ATM right outside.
She waited patiently through two more stops before the bus reached the heart of downtown, Raven's destination.
As she stepped down out of the bus, she looked around fondly at the city's main street. She could see the pizza place where they always went to to celebrate their victories, her favorite book store, the small cafe she frequented, and Jump City Bank, up about a block from where she was standing, where they had foiled the plans of so many criminals. She turned and started walking towards it.
As she approached she spotted the lone ATM outside the building and was pleased to see no line in front of it. That feeling ended abruptly when she saw the red sign taped over the front: "OUT OF ORDER—Please use machines inside." Fantastic, she sighed.
Just as she turned towards the entrance, a noise rang out that sent a rush of adrenaline and fear through her from head to toe. Her communicator was ringing.
Her hands fumbled down to her pocket, frantically attempting to silence the device. Her mind ran through a list of obscenities that would make Beast Boy proud as the people around her turned to glance at her.
Surprisingly enough, they all looked away except for one, a tall guy who couldn't have been more than twenty-five.
"You have the Teen Titans ringtone?" He asked playfully. "I wouldn't have thought a girl like you would be a fan."
Raven began to relax, coaching her features into a more stoic expression and trying to calm the jumpiness of her movements. His words sunk fully in. Teen Titans ringtone? she thought critically. They've really turned our communicator's sound into a ringtone? The man was still smiling at her, waiting for a reply. He was obviously flirting with her. Or attempting to, at least.
"Uh, yeah, I love those Titans," she managed unenthusiastically. She turned back towards the bank, but his voice stopped her.
"Raven!" he called, trying to keep the conversation alive. Raven froze again, feeling the heat burn in her face and neck.
"What?" she choked out, desperately trying to appear casual. She wasn't a very good actress.
"I bet your favorite Titan is Raven," he grinned, unfazed by her odd behavior. "You remind me of her, for some reason."
Relieved once more, Raven attempted to keep the flush from her face. She was getting impatient though, eager to get on with her task.
"Uh, look, I've really got to go," she replied, eyes turned towards the pavement as she began to move away from him.
"Oh, uh, sure thing!" he replied weakly. She felt his eyes on her back as she retreated into Jump City Bank.
Once inside, Raven immediately found a quiet corner of the fairly crowded bank. She turned to face a wall so that her back was to the crowd and pulled the communicator from her pocket. She held it close to her chest and hung her head forward so that her long hair fell down and concealed it. She was mentally berating herself for not shutting the volume off back at the tower. The communicator didn't silence itself easily; there was no volume switch on it. Raven had discovered that if she opened the back cover and pulled the cable that connected the speakers to the rest of the system, it would have the same effect. She did this now, too preoccupied to worry about what the rest of the team was paging her for. It was probably just to find out where she was, but even if it was crime-related, they were likely capable of handling it without her.
Slipping the communicator back into her pocket discreetly, she eyed the interior of the bank in search of the ATMs. They were all along the wall on the opposite side of the room. Raven began to cross the expansive marble floor, eager for this side trip to be over. She felt much more at ease in the grocery, which she had visited many times before.
She was about halfway across the bank's lobby when she heard the loud, tell-tale boom of an explosion. She turned, startled, just in time to hear a cackling laughter that was all too familiar. She caught sight of the gaudy blue magician emerging from the smoke at the bank's now destroyed entrance. He stood with arms outspread, a grin across his face.
That was when the screaming began. With Mumbo blocking the exit, there wasn't anywhere for the people to go, but they cried out and shouted and ran around the floor frantically to flee from the notorious villain. Most settled in on the edges of the room, eager to be out of the criminal's way.
Raven was still frozen in the center of the floor, mind reeling as she tried to decide what to do. Her instincts and training told her to fight, but her voice of reason screamed that that would blow her carefully-established cover.
"Someone call the Titans!" a man yelled over the chaos. Of course, Raven thought, mind clearing from its initial panic. The Titans! That must be what they called me about earlier. Mumbo probably escaped from prison, which means they won't be far behind.
It also meant that the situation would be taken care of without Raven (or Rachel's) help. Deciding to lay low and scramble like the rest of the bystanders, Raven turned and darted towards the wall. Before she got there, something slammed into her side, wrapping around her as she gasped and struggled. Looking down, she realized it was one of Mumbo's giant gloves.
"I asked for a volunteer from the audience, but since no one offered, I'll just have to take one!" Mumbo cackled, drawing the glove closer to him. He grinned at her, then his brow furrowed in confusion. "You look familiar," he said in his nasally voice. "Have we met before?"
This just isn't my week, Raven thought.