Alone. For the first time in her life, sat in the empty bowls of a building raised for the worship of her father, Raven learnt what it felt like to be truly alone. She was familiar with the feeling of being different and apart from the rest of Azarath's population, and she had even learnt to enjoy solitude, but she didn't like this. She felt lost, abandoned, damned. It almost made her regret her decision to run from Azarath. Almost.

Raven's plan, something she'd spent months working on after first hearing about Earth's vigilantes, had backfired not even an hour after she'd reached the ruin of the city her Mother had once called home. And it had all started so well.

Like she had predicted, the huge influx of magic that dispersed as the spell temporarily connecting Azarath to this dimension broke down – coupled with her unique psychic signature – quickly grabbed the attention of the so called 'Justice League'. She'd no more than walked two blocks of polluted, trash-lined streets when the first member of the elite team approached her. It wasn't, though, who she'd expected to find her.

In Raven's head, she'd theorised that, if close enough to her site of arrival, the Justice League's sorceress would notice the acute rise in residual magic and that rise would be large enough to warrant her attention. Failing that, there was the team's telepath. According to her limited sources on Azarath Martian Manhunter, a creature from the planet Mars, was one of the strongest telepaths the universe had to offer. Raven had been taught to shield her mind, but she'd let these defences drop in the hopes that this 'Martian' would notice her. The Justice League were supposed to be the protectors of America, and the rest of earth. If a strong demonic presence didn't warrant their attention, what did?

But it wasn't their telepath that stood carefully watching her, or even the sorceress. It was the one member of the team she'd least expected to find her, and the member her sources had known least about. Batman.

Stood in the drizzling rain, the two spent a good few minutes silently regarding each other before the caped crusader spoke.

"I know what you are. You have one chance to return to wherever you just came from."

She had expected to receive such a greeting, and she slowly raised her hands in a way that she'd read was both an act of peace and surrender on Earth. "I'm not here with the conscious intent of causing harm or chaos. I simply wish to talk."

Raven was overwhelmed by his suspicion, the emotion leaving a bitter tang on her tongue. Her eyes dropped to the hand hovering near his utility belt, ready to draw a weapon, before she found his face again in time to watch the man ask, "Talk with who?"

She'd rehearsed her response and took a deep breath, looking the human man directly in the eyes as she answered, "I wish to talk with the Justice League. In three years time, late into the summer, your dimension will become host to an unimaginable evil. I need your help to make sure it does not come to pass."

Batman frowned at her, confusion joining the emotions swirling around her. "Who are you?"

"She is Raven, Daughter of Trigon."

The hero flinched just as hard as the empath jumped, both having been caught out. Raven only just resisted the urge to turn and find the source of the voice behind her. She hadn't felt his approach, and it gave the empath and idea on who it was. She kept her hands in the air and her eyes on the Dark Knight as she asked, "Martian Manhunter by any chance?"

"You can lower your hands, child."

Raven did, though slowly, while Batman protested, "If she's the daughter of Trigon we should be-"

"Peace, friend. She doesn't mean harm. She was telling the truth when she told you she only wants to talk."

The empath finally turned towards the voice, finding a man of imposing height and build, his skin a startling shade of green. Figuring she had opened her mind for long enough she replaced her shields, receiving a small, knowing smile from the alien.

"Come – Zatanna, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Doctor Fate are waiting not far away." He told his fellow superhero before addressing Raven, "You wanted our attention, young demon, and you have it."

"What did you invite Doctor Fate for?" Batman asked, Raven picked up on his feelings of displeasure.

Martian Manhunter motioned for Raven to walk beside him before he said, "What you are looking at Batman is a demon halfling – a natural agent of chaos. You know how Zatanna can get about such things. When she insisted on coming, I decided a mediator might be in order."

"Was there some news letter I missed? A note on a calendar? Why does everyone seem to know who she is?"

"They don't, though Nabu recognised the name, and Raven has kindly allowed me insight. Someone did their research," He said, looking down at the empath.

"Then you know why I'm here? I needed to talk to you – you might be the only ones with the power to help me." Raven replied a little too earnestly.

"This 'evil' you mentioned?" Batman asked, deciding for the moment to trust his friend's judgement.

Raven opened her mouth to explain, but before she could speak, the telepath told them, "Later, when everyone is present. We're not far now."

And they weren't. Raven quickly became aware of four other presences, some stronger than others, giving her reason to feel the first hint of fear that passed through her. She was unused to being near such potential 'powerhouses' and she was finding she didn't like it.

Martian Manhunter led them into a large courtyard between two buildings where the four people he'd mentioned stood quietly talking. The conversation stopped when they caught sight of her, a woman in some representation of a stage magician's outfit gasping loudly before – with incredible speed – pointing at Raven and shouting, "niahC reh!"

As soon as they words had left her lips, from the line of her hand shot a metal chain, flying through the air purposely towards Raven. The empath's eyes widened in shock and slight fear, and the end of the chain was only milliseconds away from reaching her when she disappeared in a swirl of darkness.

Zatanna had quickly received glares from her companions, but before anyone could accuse her of chasing the demon off, Raven re-appeared on the far corner of the courtyard, her eyes wide with shock but away from immediate harm. She suddenly found herself glad it hadn't been the sorceress she'd encountered first.

It had only spiralled downhill from there. After another attempted attack and several insults and accusations, Raven had explained herself, the prophecy and her presence on Earth before pleading for their help. They'd put it to a vote, and only Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman – who'd Raven learnt was herself a halfling daughter of a well known and influential deity – had been ready to trust her plea. When it became evident that there was a tie, Green Lantern having sided with Zatanna while Batman and Doctor Fate remained unaligned, talk had turned to how they would stop such a threat and magical banishment was only one of a few things that had been mentioned. It was not the kind of solution Raven had been looking for. Zatanna had finally told her to leave and take her 'lies' with her, convinced the young halfling had some darker superior motive and Raven hadn't hesitated.

In her desperation to get as far away from the witch and her disappointment as she could, she'd ended up in the State of California. More specifically, Jump City, a currently insignificant place that would one day become the centrepiece in the destruction of the planet.

Hours had passed since her rejection in Gotham City, but Raven's anger was still almost as strong as her feelings of isolation, and the intensity of it scared her slightly. Sat in the cavernous but skilfully carved chamber that was to welcome her father, atop the rising hand that foretold His coming, the empath decided she needed a distraction to take her mind off the thoughts meditation could not.

Jump City was the opposite to Gotham in just about every way possible. Gotham had been wet, dirty and dangerous. Every rain drenched corner had seemed to hold either a gang, prostitute or drug dealer, even in the early hours of the wet morning. The streets of Jump City, however, were as silent as the grave even despite the warm night air. She wandered down the road labelled 'Main Street', sticking close to the front of the building in an attempt to avoid the orange glow of the street lamps. Raven wasn't in any rush as she studied the objects displayed in the windows, some familiar while others so very different and – in her eyes – frivolous. She had heard of Earth's greed and needless extravagance but she had never expected it to encompass so much.

She felt the group before she saw them, a mixture of sweet excitement and tangy anxiety leading her to an alleyway between two buildings. The one on the right seemed to supply a variety of kitchen-wear though Raven couldn't have said what half of it was. The other – the one the group seemed to be trying to gain access to – wasn't displaying anything, a metal blind covering the front wall. It attracted her attention as odd, unable to understand what they could possibly be hiding.

Out of the three teenagers, the girl caught her attention first, her cotton-candy pink hair like a beacon in the dark. She was stood in front of a side door that led into the covered shop, one hand on the door handle. She was flanked by two boys. The calmest of the pair was easily over six feet tall and towered over both his companions and Raven, the broadness of his shoulders and his thick muscles seeming to add to his height. It was in stark contrast to the other male, the source of the feelings of anxiety, who couldn't have even been four feet tall, his head bald while the other supported a mane of auburn hair.

Raven silently made her way down the alleyway towards them, completely concealed by the shadows. The girl was cursing as she fought with the lock on the door. She threw something behind her than landed on the concrete with a metallic ring before she motioned her hand towards the door. Pink waves of energy left her finger tips, lighting up her pale skin the millisecond it took to be absorbed by its target. She tried to open the door again, putting her foot against the wall for leverage when it didn't open, Raven picking up on her mounting frustration.

"This is so stupid," She hissed quietly as she stepped back. "We gotta find another way in."

"What other way?" The smaller boy asked irritably. "Through the metal screen? Do you even know how much noise that would make? Why the hell aren't your hexes working?"

"Because I can't control them like that, dummy. I don't tell them what to do, it's completely down to chance. Like Mario Cart racing. Sometimes you get the invincibility star, and other times you get the stupid banana peel you slip on yourself on the next lap. You know that."

"How 'bout a window?" The larger boy offered. "You two can go in and pass stuff to me."

"Do you even see an uncovered window, clutch head?" The other boy asked harshly.

"Will both of you just shut up? This was meant to be an easy job! If we can't do this, the Headmistress will have our hides!"

Despite growing up on a pacifist community, raised by the very pinnacle of peace, Raven knew a threat when she heard one, and she only hesitated a moment before deciding to help them. They didn't spot the cloaked stranger until she was stood next to the girl with the pink hair. The sudden wave of emotion she felt pour off them matched their noises of alarm, but she ignored them as she studied the lock on the door.

Growing up she'd known very few locked doors. The first one she'd come across had been when she was eight. The leader of Azarath, head of the Temple and her teacher, Azar III, had passed away the week before, and someone had decided to lock her chambers in the Temple until the time of mourning had passed. Staring at the thick, wooden door, a door in her mind that would be forever closed, it'd taken her an hour to realise she could use her soul self to tweak the lock mechanism and open the door – a more preferable option to teleporting or making her body intangible, both she had been yet to master.

Looking at the lock in front of her now, she repeated the technique, touching the tips of her fingers to the keyhole and releasing a small amount of her soul self, feeding it through until she found what she thought to be one of the tiny cogs, turning it and unlatching the lock. She pushed the door open, the feelings of the teenagers behind her going from alarm to shock and suspicion.

Raven stepped back and shyly glanced at them, the girl's bright pink cat eyes instantly grabbing and holding her attention.

"Do we know you?" The girl asked, her lilted voice harsh and accusing.

"You… looked like you needed assistance." Raven replied slowly and quietly.

The girl looked away from the empath and motioned for the two boys to enter the building as she told them "I've got this" before turning her attention back onto Raven. "You're obviously not from around here."

"And here I was thinking I blended in perfectly." She spoke before thinking, but the stranger grinned, the smile reaching those kitty-cat eyes.

"Alright. You got me there." The smile faded as she asked, "What do you want? An audition? In on the profits? What?"

Raven frowned, struggling to keep up with the conversation. "I don't think I understand."

"Why help?" The girl asked slowly. "You gotta be hopin' to get something out of it."

"I…" She paused, not entirely sure why she had herself. They were obviously thieves – a crime that had a serious punishment of Azarath, most thieves offering a hand instead of undergoing the other option, though a few in the past had made it to the Temple and called for refuge where they spent the rest of their lives under the roof of the Temple as Monks, free for the guards as soon as they stepped outside the grounds. She had definitely never been taught to aid such people with their crimes.

She studied the girl from her peculiar hairstyle to her platform boots before offering, "Pink just happens to be my favourite colour."

"I like you." The girl grinned. "You know what you're talking about. I'm Jinx."

"Raven." She replied, offering a small smile.

"Well then Raven, since you oh so kindly helped up break in, we'll split some of the goods your way. If you join the heist."

Raven looked over the thief's shoulder at the building. She could hear the two boys moving around inside despite their attempts at being quiet. She knew she should have said no and walked away – knew she'd already gone too far – but she found she liked Jinx's relaxed manner and the way she was talking to her. It gave her a taste of what it was like to be normal, to be anyone but her, and for the first time since finding Azar's door locked, she gave in to temptation with a small, dark smile.

"How could I say no to that?"

"And you know, you could hang around for a while afterwards if you're not in too much of a rush."

Raven considered that, thinking about the large cavernous rooms that had some point become her shelter. It was the last place she wanted to go, and she made herself a promise to avoid it for as long as she could. "That would be… nice."

The robbery went pretty much as Raven had expected, for all but one detail. The cops never showed up. After entering the building and finding it to be a jewellers, Jinx had been quick to give Raven the lay down in three basic rules.

Rule one; keep quiet. Sure, it was the middle of the night in an un-residential area, but you never knew who was within hearing range.

Rule two; take whatever you could get your hands on. According to the pink-haired thief, they would put their 'loot' together back at the trio's place and from it Raven would be able to pick out her percentage – her payment for helping the group.

Rule three; if something looked like it might be wired up to an alarm, leave it alone. Call either Jinx or Gizmo over to look at it.

Raven quickly learnt that rule three was irrelevant to someone with her talents – any form of alarm or barrier was irrelevant when she could travel through them with the black mass known as her soul self. The ease of her acquisitions didn't go unnoticed, and Jinx wore a large smile the entire time they were in the building. They'd filled two backpacks before the cat-eyed thief decided to call it a job well done.

She walked over to the empath and told her, "Now this is the tricky bit – getting' back to the base without being seen." A bag slung over her shoulder, full of everything from earrings to cut and polished stones Gizmo had found in a safe he'd cracked, she walked towards the door they'd entered through, Raven following her. "We're currently based in the old industrial estate, south-east side of town."

"That means absolutely nothing to me." Raven muttered. "I doubt I've even been in the city six hours."

Jinx paused to look at her in surprise. "You really aren't from around here then?"

"I'm really not." The empath smiled slightly.

"So what brings you to Jump?" Jinx asked, before recalling where they were and saying, "You know what, hold that thought until we're at the base."

"Jinx's got the attention span of a goldfish." The small boy Raven had yet to be introduced to said, appearing next to them. He carefully studied the empath with his light blue eyes. "I'm Gizmo."

"Raven."

"The lumberjack over there goes by Mammoth," He motioned towards the giant of a boy still making his way towards them before looking at Jinx. "We ready to go?"

The girl slowly opened the door leading out of the building and poked her head out, looking down the alleyway towards the street. "Looks clear."

She stepped out and motioned for the others to join her, Mammoth having to duck low to fit through the doorway. Jinx closed the door behind them, frowning when Raven stepped up to it, using her soul self once more to lock it.

Feeling the girl's confusion, she explained, "I'm locking the door. They longer it takes for them to realise something's amiss, the better it is for us."

"I like your thinking." The meta human grinned. "Right, we'll stick to the alleyways as much as we can. The sooner we get some distance between us and the upmarket areas of town, the-"

"What is that?"

Jinx turned to glare at the short boy for interrupting them, but lifted her gaze to the sky when she saw Gizmo trying to point out whatever had gained his attention. Raven's first instinct was to call it a shooting star, though she'd never heard of any bright green stars, stationary or otherwise. She was happy she wasn't the only one at loss, for it was clear both through their emotions and their faces that her new acquaintances had no idea what it was either.

"You don't think it's Green Lantern do you?" Mammoth finally asked, oblivious to Raven's reaction as she paled slightly, her hands clenching into fists.

Jinx shook her head. "Nah, this aint his turf, and even if it was he wouldn't be interested in us. Don't he mostly deal in aliens and stuff?"

The green light continued to fall towards the city at a frightening speed until it was close enough that the four teenagers would hear a hum of energy. Raven tried to pick out the shape of the green vigilante within the glow, while Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo nervously backed up, the small boy declaring, "Whatever it is, it's gonna crash!"

And it did, no more than a few blocks away. The ground vibrated under their feet, and a cloud of dust, illuminated green, was thrown up into the air. There was a moment of silence as everything settled, then the distant sound of a scream, followed by police sirens.

"Think it's time we disappeared." Jinx announced before she started moving at a quick pace.

Raven continued to stare at the dust still in the air for a moment, her natural curiosity all but begging her to check it out, but she didn't, deciding instead to stick with these three strangers as she ran after them as they threatened to disappear from sight.

Their self proclaimed base was the basement level of an abandoned factory, but the three had obviously altered it to their needs. The place had a smell of wet paint and cement, and the pink-eyed thief was quick to explain it.

"We haven't been based here long, but security's everything. Don't think of trying to enter this place on your own. Since Jump will probably be the location of all our assignments for a while, we thought we might as well make a bit of a home out of it. All the walls and appliances are new, though not everything's working yet. The kitchen and the TV are, of course."

Raven wasn't entirely sure what a 'TV' was, but she nodded, before asking, "Assignments? So you don't 'work' for yourselves?"

"Don't you dare." Gizmo spoke up before Jinx could reply. "You know the rules."

"Oh come on – I like her! Besides, you saw the way she worked tonight. Think of the possibilities."

Raven didn't quite like being talked about as though she wasn't there, but she didn't say anything.

"Think of the consequences!" The bald boy retaliated, and Jinx shook her head with an irritated sigh before she smiled at Raven and changed the subject.

"So, back to my earlier question, since now is probably a better time to ask. What brought you to Jump?"

Raven shrugged, not sure how to answer but able to guess from her interaction with the Justice League that the entire truth wasn't perhaps the best idea. "I… needed to get away from stuff. I didn't choose Jump City in particular; it was just where I ended up."

"You're a runaway?" Mammoth's gruff voice asked, and she thought about that before nodding.

She had certainly run from the Justice League with her tail between her legs, even if her departure from Azarath could be looked upon as more of a defiance. After all, she wasn't running from her destiny – she'd come to earth to face it. "Something like that."

"Join the club." Jinx muttered, before asking, "Where you from?"

"I'd rather not tell you, if it's all the same to you. I don't know you well enough for that."

The girl shrugged. The white hallway they'd been travelling down finally ended with a door, and they stepped through into a living room type setting. Like everything else the floor was bare concrete, and the walls the first base coat of white. Two black sofas had been placed in the middle of the room, facing a good sized screen Raven finally clicked on as being a 'TV' – they'd been labelled as such in some of the shops Raven had passed on Main Street before bumping in to these individuals.

Jinx moved into the centre of the room and dumped the bag she'd been carrying onto the floor, Raven following suit with Mammoth and Gizmo before the meta human tipped everything out and tossed the bags aside. She studied their hoard with a cat like grin.

"I bet we've got more than our quota's worth here." She looked up at her two team mates. "Think we should set a bit aside to go towards this place?"

Gizmo frowned slightly. "I dunno, I mean think about the rewards we'd get if we dragged in all this."

After a moment of studying the assortment of jewellery, Jinx motioned at it, watching Raven. "As promised, take several times of your choice."

The empath didn't move, struggling to see what she could possibly do with such trinkets. She eventually shook her head. "You keep them. To go towards this place. I don't need it."

The girl frowned. "You need somethin' to live off."

"She said she didn't want it." Gizmo quickly pointed out, not interested in giving the stranger a second chance as he picked out and carefully studied four rings, a diamond bracelet and a loose deep blue stone before setting them aside. "That should be enough for me to start on a semi-decent computer system."

"Where are you living at the moment?" Jinx asked.

"Some abandoned building. No big deal."

"You mean you're squatting? Girl, you need the money. Seriously, you earned it."

Raven shook her head. "No, thank you. I mean, it was sort of fun and it was nice of you to include me, but if I need something I'm sure I'll find a way of… acquiring it as and when I need it. It's yours."

"You're crazy." Mammoth mumbled, and Jinx found herself agreeing with him.

"At least stay the night here. We have central heating, a spare mattress and plenty of food."

"Say what?" Gizmo snapped. "Yeah, she did a great job and we're all grateful, but stay here?"

"Yeah." Jinx said, before frowning at her team mate. "Come on, it's not like we've got anything set up. The only useful security detail she'll get is where our base is, and you've secured it so…"

The small boy glared at the meta human for a moment before relenting. "Okay." He pointed at Raven, "But don't think that means I like you."

After repacking the bags and moving them aside, the group settled down on the sofas, and once more an argument broke out between Gizmo and Jinx as the conversation went back to who the three worked for.

Jinx won, and she told the empath, "We don't work for them exactly. We're students. The school trains metas – and the odd special kid like Giz – for mercenary-type work. Those who graduate run everything from bounty hunter services to assassinations, to criminal organisations, to black ops, to general thieves for hire. Every now and then we'll be given a field assessment like today to check our progress." Seeing Raven's sceptical face she added, "The school feeds us, gives us somewhere to live. Most of the students there have run from something. It's safer than squatting in dodgy areas and it's kind of fun. You even admitted you enjoyed today."

"That's great," Raven shrugged indifferently. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, you've obviously got skills and… maybe we can talk to the Headmistress for you? Get you a place?"

"You mean maybe you can talk to her." Gizmo muttered, and Jinx glared at him.

"Since you don't want your part of the stash, how about that bein' your payment? I mean, unless you have a few jobs lined up? Good luck though – if you haven't got a top notch resume people around here tend be kinda wary of people with unnatural skin and eye colours."

Raven frowned slightly. The idea of having to get a paying job to survive hadn't occurred to her when she'd left Azarath. She'd never owned a cent in her life, and never needed to. The Temple had provided her with everything. "I don't have a resume – I don't even have a passport." She'd come across the concept of passports in her reading, and Azarath had a similar system for guests.

Going out on a limb, Jinx already sure she knew the answer, she asked, "Exactly what ID do you have?"

"I… don't. I didn't think about that."

The three teenagers stared at the girl, suddenly unsure as to whether she was naive or just stupid. Mammoth was the first one to speak. "H.I.V.E can sort that out for you. They did with Jinx."

"Guys! Seriously! We don't know who the hell she is! Aren't you even slightly worried she's some sort'a spy?" Gizmo asked in disbelief.

"You're just paranoid." Jinx frowned, though her eyes seemed a little harder as she studied Raven again. "So, what do you say?"

"I'll think about it."

"Well, we'll be leaving for the academy tomorrow. You're welcome to stay the night even if you decide against coming with us tomorrow."

Raven nodded, flashing them a small smile. "Thanks."

Raven jerked awake, her panic intensified by the unfamiliar surroundings before she remembered where she was. She sat up, studying the bare walls of the room as she waited for the beating of her heart to slow down. The empath wasn't a stranger to nightmares, and it was a rare night she slept peacefully. She let her head drop onto her raised knees as the last dregs of sleep left her, leaving her very much awake, and very miserable.

The dreams usually followed on theme – the reason she'd left Azarath, the reason she'd approached the Justice League and the reason for why she was suddenly seriously considering taking the three teenagers up on their offer. Sat on her own, with the time to really think about it she realised that it was potentially a gold mine of contacts to aid her, should she need it.

She got out of the 'bed' – a somewhat lumpy and obviously old mattress on the floor – and pulled on her cloak before making her way down the dark corridors, through the living room and into the small kitchen. She continued to silently debate about going, finding a counter argument for every reason she found for it being a good idea, her biggest argument against going being that any place that set assignments to steal stuff wasn't the kind of place she should really be thinking about going. It was the easy way out of something she thought she probably deserved, and she could almost imagine Azar's response to the idea, the disappointment on her face…

Raven switched the kettle on, grabbing a chipped mug from one of the cupboards before she searched for the teabags.

"Try the narrow cupboard next to the fridge. They're probably behind the coffee. I take my tea with milk and two sugars."

Raven jumped at the sound of Jinx's voice, making the girl laugh.

"Relax. I'm not gonna bite."

Raven heard the thief enter the kitchen but didn't turn to look at her until she'd searched the suggested cupboard and found the teabags. "What are you? Psychic?" The empath frowned at her, before finding another mug.

"You just look like a tea drinker. Besides, there's only a few reasons for why someone would want to drink coffee at this ungodly hour." The meta human was leant against the kitchen counters, dressed in nothing but a baggy grey shirt that hit her mid thigh, the collar threatening to slide off her left shoulder.

Jinx looked different with her hair down – softer – and staring at the thick waves that reminded Raven of how her own hair looked if she'd slept with it still damp, she wondered how Jinx could be bothered to spend so much time styling it.

"So, you leavin' already?"

Raven shook her head. "No, I just… couldn't sleep." She turned away from the girl as the kettle announced the water was ready, filling the two mugs before stepping back and trying to decide which drawer looked like it might hold teaspoons. Jinx got there first, shoving Raven aside with a small smile.

"I've got it – couldn't have you thinkin' I'm a bad hostess now. There should be a pot of sugar where you found the teabags. You mind?" Jinx waited until Raven had passed her the pot before asking, "So, having you made your mind up yet?"

"I'm… not exactly sure I have much of a choice, do I?"

Jinx shrugged, looking at the girl. "You could always go home. You have any sugar?"

"No. No milk either."

"Well, I do. I'm sure you can find the milk without my help."

The empath smiled slightly, the idea of staying with the group becoming more appealing as she realised Jinx's off hand manner almost made her feel like she could have been any other teenager. She stepped round Jinx to reach the fridge, grabbing an open carton of milk and putting it on the counter top. The thief was all too aware that the girl hadn't responded to her comment, but she decided to keep quiet as she fished the teabags out of the mugs and stirred in some milk into one.

Staying silent paid off as Raven eventually said, "I'd… like to take you up on your offer, if it's still open."

Jinx grinned as she passed the empath her mug. "Good. It'd be nice to no longer be the minority of the group. Come on – let's sit down and I'll give you the 101 on the academy."

AN: Long time, no post! So I WAS planning to post for "A Stroke Of Bad Luck" next but I'm at my partner's and I forgot my notebook and we're in the middle of a heatwave and this was already finished on my computer (though I had planned on writing at least half of the story before posting it). Ah well. As always, reviews are much appreciated. Again, sorry about my absence but life has been busy busy busy. Thanks for your patience.