The weeks passed quickly for Raven who soon settled into the school routine, learning to enjoy the lessions and weekends studying with Mammoth or having Jinx set them through their paces. Her injuries from the fight with the gym teacher had all but healed within the first week and every day she could feel herself growing stronger.

In History, she shattered a pen with a mere distracted clench of her hand. In combat training she broke a boy's leg practicing a counter-attack, destroyed half the electronics on the obstacle course and out ran her entire class on the track. The change should have terrified her and while she was certainly weary of it - she'd allocated another hour onto her meditation time in the morning - she also found herself struggling to care when she broke something or someone. Raven had always been taught to suppress her emotions bit this level of apathy was new even to her.

Instead she focused on the things that did mean something to her. The feeling of pride when Mammoth passed a test she'd helped him study for. The easy acceptance from Jinx. The thrill of the competition for highest score between Gizmo and herself, and she forgot about the broken bones and damaged equipment, the people who avoided her in combat training and the Monks in Azarath.

About five weeks had passed before the academy's Headmistress sought out Raven personally, along with Jinx's little team. After staring silently at the four teenagers she handed Raven an envelope, and another to Jinx.

"I have a contractor for the four of you. His job is simple. Remove the threat known as the Teen Titans from their base in Jump City, California. How you remove them is down to your own discression."

From the emotions coming off her friends, she knew they'd never been asked to do anything like this before.

"That envelope contains details supplied by your contractor. He's paying well, so I expect no mistakes. Is everything understood?"

"yes Ma'am," Jinx nodded quickly for the group.

"Good. Raven, inside the envelope I handed you, you'll find a passport, birth certificate, national insurance number and a few other important documents. Don't lose them. You might want to take the time today to study what you're contactor has given you in that envelope. You'll be starting tomorrow. Dismissed."

They filed out of the room as quietly as they had entered and had made it half way down the corridor before anyone said anything.

"This could be our big break!" Jinx's voice started quiet but confidence leaked into her tone as she continued. "I mean, if we pull this off, people will be asking for us when they want a contact with HIVE academy. We'll have a client base before we even leave the school."

"Who exactly are the Teen Titans?" Raven asked.

"A vigilantly group of nose pickers who set up shop not long after you joined us," Gizmo answered.

"Jump City had been easy pickings. No anymore. Robin leads them. "Mammoth added.

"Who?"

"Batman's brat?" Gizmo said as though she'd asked him how to add two plus two.

Raven paled slightly. "Justice League Batman?"

"Well their aint no other Batman," Jinx told her giving her a queer look. "Come on; the sooner we get back to the common room the sooner we can start looking through the envelope."

"Nothin in there we can't find online I'm sure," Gizmo muttered.

"Does this mean we can miss the last few lessons today?" Mammoth asked.

"She told us to study what was in the folder didn't she? So that's just what I intend on doing."

Raven felt worse and worse with every second about what the prospect of tomorrow would bring. Under the school's guidance (and with some help from Jinx) she was slowly coming to terms with controlling her powers and using them to fight but sparring in the gym was one thing. This would be completely different and with her rapidly growing powers she wasn't sure how well she'd hold up. If she lost control at any point...

Her friends took wild guesses on who had hired them and what flavour of illegal business they were into while Raven stayed silent, remaining a few paces behind them. She had opened up to the Justice League upon arriving on earth for what good it had done her. If Batman had shared the information with this 'Robin'... Raven decided that if they were going to dispose of the team they needed to do it quickly - and she knew who her first target would be - for face having a much bigger problem to face.

"I knew these guys were going to be trouble," Gizmo muttered as he tried to finish setting up their computer.

They had reached the partially completed base in Jump City in the early hours of the morning. The small genius had instantly started on finishing his main computer, arguing that they couldn't do anything until it was up and running.

Jinx had shoved the sofas to one side and was trying to get a less than enthusiastic Raven to spar with her. "Only one of them is a local. This is our city - we got this." Having answered Gizmo, she turned her attention back onto Raven. "Throw the damned box already."

"I can't do this," Raven muttered for the tenth time.

"What? A cardboard box? I've seen you move a lot heavier things with your powers."

"Fight these people. If I lose control again-"

"You punch through a wall, big deal." Trying to gain the attention of the young woman Jinx grabbed the box she'd been trying to get the empath to throw, and threw it at Raven. The black shield construct was automatic and the box deflected to the titan's feet. "See - you got this. Don't think. React. Me and Mammoth are going to do all the heavy hitting anyway."

"You don't understand. Fight - controlled fights - at the HIVE are completely different. I-"

Frustrated, Jinx didn't let the empath finish and without warning released a hex bolt aimed for the empath. Raven panicked and as she constructed another shield, a rogue blast of dark energy knocked Jinx off her feet. Gizmo looked round at the sound of his leader smacking into the floor as Raven rushed forward.

"I'm sorry! I didn't-"

"Don't. I deserved that. But this is what I'm walking about Rae! You can't control your powers completely, we get that, but there was no chance in hell I could have predicted what you just did. We can use that to our advantage. You're unpredictable. That's a good thing." Jinx stuck her hand out. "Now help me up."

"Will you two quit it before you damage something, and be useful? I need this computer running or we won't be able to do anything, so come help will you?"

"Electronics don't like me," the two girls spoke simultaneously before sharing a small smile. Raven grasped Jinx's hand and yanked her to her feet.

"Why not ask Mammoth?" Jinx asked.

"Have you seen the size of his hands? He aint coming anywhere near. You don't build a computer with brute force," Gizmo scowled at her. "Besides, I sent him out to 'acquire' a few things I'm missing."

"Are you stupid?! You sent Mammoth out on his own?!" Jinx's anger was instant. "If he gets caught before we so much as even look at the Titans we're going to be the entire laughing stock of the school! And that's before the Headmistress has our heads!"

"Yeah? Well if you two weren't goofing around maybe you would have heard and gone with him!" As Gizmo yelled his face turned and ugly shade of red.

"Where the hell did you send him?"

"I didn't! So how about I just call him and find out?"

The moment Gizmo unclipped his communicator, Raven took it from his grasp with her dark energy. "No." Her calm voice, in contrast to the shouting, did a better job at gaining their attention than anything else would have. "If he's already broken in somewhere, contacting him will definitely get him caught. I will go find him and bring him back."

Raven didn't wait for an answer as she teleported out of the base, Gizmo uselessly shouting after her, "Make sure he has my stuff!"

Jinx scowled at him. "You're an idiot."

"If I'm an idiot I feel sorry for whatever the hell you are."

The streets were quiet beneath Raven as she flew over, blending into the night sky. She tried to cover the local area first, working systematically as she searched for Mammoth's energy signature. Unable to find it, she searched further out from the base. The empath was scanning the high street when screams made her pause.

Looking for the source of the noise, Raven saw dozens of people flood out of a building onto the darkened street. As she got closer, she saw a large sign labelling the building as "Jump City Theatre." A horrific sound reached her ears, a sound Raven didn't have words or a comparison for. Despite the horrid sound Raven stayed where she was, transfixed by the unexplained spectacle. There were sirens and cop cars pulled up outside the building, guns raised.

One braze citizen stopped them from entering as he adjusted his top hat. "Those Teen Titans are inside!"

Raven wasn't sure whether the message was a warning for the officers, or a sign to say everything was alright, but after a few glances the cops gathered around their cars, seemingly waiting for something. The empath decided to get a closer look.

Flying down, Raven decided to hug one of the walls of the building, searching for a window she could look through. Failing, Raven instead came across a door labelled 'private'. She didn't even bother with the lock, phasing straight through the metal into a room filled with feathers, gems an over the top garments.

She could hear the sounds of a fight and that horrible noise, louder than ever. She approached, against her better judgement, wanting to see these Teen Titans for herself. The empath found herself backstage and through a gap in the curtain could see a scrawny man dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his hair white spiked in multiple directions. The sound was coming from the wooden construct in his hands. Raven slowly moved forward towards the gap. She didn't care about the unknown assailant.

Face almost against the curtains, she managed to get glimpses of the so called heroes. She watched them try and brace against the horrible noise, and fail. The green boy became a triceratops only to still be knocked back, almost talking out his teammates in the process. A girl with orange skin and fire-red hair flew forward and released a torrent of green energy bolts. Some scorched through the curtains close to where Raven stood hidden, all missed the orange wearing teenager and he directed the construct at her, pushing his hand down one side, creating that noise again and sending the girl back through the air towards her team.

"You can't hope to beat the sound of chaos!"

"Yeah, well how about you try this on for size?!" The boy - who looked considerably older than the others - appeared to be made mostly of metal. As he pointed a hand, the metal folded back and transformed into a weapon that quickly released a blue stream of light. Their orange clad opponent dropped to his knees and strummed against the weapon in his hands. The blue beam deflected back towards the young man and he was forced to dodge his own weapon. He couldn't dodge the sound waves though and Raven watched as some of the boy's circuitry failed.

"That looks a bit dodgy now, doesn't it!" the man on stage laughed. "And we haven't event reached the main show!"

Raven watched as he revealed dozens of speakers. Continued to watch as the titans tried to reach him again and again until the green boy, still in human form, faced the guy head on, taunting him. The empath watched in disbelief as the sound increased and the Teen Titan just kept moving forward as though it was nothing. Continued watching as she had to cover her own ears, watched as the speakers broke from the strain of the horrendous noise, Cracking and crashing to the stage. Seeing their chance, the orange haired girl rushed forward to restrain him. The masked member of the team took a different approach and headed towards the curtain Raven was hiding behind.

The empath quickly drew back and hid herself in the shadows as the brightly dressed lad appeared, bo-staff drawn, scanning the room.

The green changeling followed him. "What's wrong?"

"We were being watched."

"You sure Robin? I mean with that noise it was pretty hard to focus on anything."

They boy - Robin - continued to stand on the offensive. "100% sure."

His team mate looked around and shrugged. "They're not here now. Maybe it was backstage staff?"

"...Maybe." He didn't sound convinced.

The green boy walked off, Raven hearing him ask, "You alright Cy?"

Raven continued to stare at Robin from the shadows, waiting to see if he would notice her, but the young man eventually dismissed her. She waiting until he had gone from sight before teleporting to the roof of the building. She sat and watched the Teen Titans drag the man out to the police. It took Raven a moment to realise there were only three heroes when it should have been four, and quickly spun round, finding herself face to face with the masked boy known as Robin. She stared at him, eyes wide with shock. How had she not felt him?

"Why are you watching us?" Robin wore a frown as he studied her. "It was you backstage, wasn't it?"

Raven stayed silent, taking a step back from the hero before she wrapped herself in dark energy and teleported. Robin stared at the spot where she'd been stood in disbelief.

When Raven returned to the HIVE base, Jinx all but jumped on her. "Where the hell have you been? Mammoth is back, by the way. He got back an hour ago. In one piece."

"You'll thank me later," Raven muttered.

"Why? And this better be good."

Mammoth and Gizmo moved closer as Raven spoke. "While I was looking for Mammoth I saw the Teen Titans in a fight. I stopped to observe." Raven decided not to mention the bit where she'd been confronted by their Leader.

Jinx perked up, her anger forgotten. "And?"

"They're not working together as a unit yet. You can tell they're new. The girl-"

"Starfire." Gizmo butted in.

"either doesn't want to directly hit anyone with those green energy bolts, or has terrible aim. I actually recognise her species. She's an alien - a Tameranean - which means she'll be as strong as Mammoth, if not stronger. The green boy doesn't seem to have a limit to the amount of animals he can change into. He changed into several different animals while I was watching. Including a dinosaur. Then there's the cyborg. He has a weapon attached to his arm. It fired energy of some sort, but I'm unsure what He looked strong too, but not as strong as Mammoth. Robin's gadgets seemed easy to displace. If we can keep him pushed back, he should be easy to take out."

"What do you think?" Gizmo asked. "As Dangerous as Batman?"

Raven hesitated. She hadn't seen Batman in action though had heard stories. However the boy she saw had seemed no more dangerous than anyone they sparred with. "No."

"You sure?" He asked. "Final answer."

"Yes I'm sure Gizmo."

"Good. That makes things easier than I thought it would be. Just for your information the snot green guy is Beast Boy, the other guy Cyborg. Real original I know. While you were out stalking, I managed to fix the computer and get a few files up. Got a few new bits that weren't in the envelope. Only two of them have a history of crime fighting. Boy Blunder and Snot Boy. Apparently the latter used to be a member of the Doom Patrol."

"The who?" Raven asked.

"Are you sure you're from this planet?" Jinx asked, before telling her, "They're basically the less photogenic version of the Justice League. They don't draw much media attention and are very quiet about what they're doing. They're actually a pretty formidable group."

"So let me guess, he got himself kicked out?" Mammoth laughed.

"Not sure. Like Jinx said, they keep quiet." Gizmo shrugged.

"So what's the plan?" Raven asked and Jinx frowned at her.

"Where has this sudden confidence come from?"

"I've seen them fight. You were right - they're no more challenging than any of our training. I can do this."

"We need to watch them, figure out their routine and the best place to start a fight with them. Figure out what distracts them. There's no point in rushing into this, not with the risks at stake. Aka our futures." Gizmo told them.

"Can't see us watching them 24/7 so what else we supposed to do," Mammoth asked.

"We can finish putting this place together, duh. A few side robberies - though we still have a bit of money coming in from the last heist - make this place into an actual base for us. One that's usable and comfortable."

"It's not exactly going to look great if we get caught doing a side job," Raven frowned and the short genius grinned at her.

"We won't get caught. That's what you're for. Also, we got a communicator off our contactor. Instructions to contact them whether we fail or succeed." Gizmo held it out to Jinx, but she shook her head.

"You keep it."

Raven headed towards the room she was calling her own, happy they were finished with her.

Jinx called after her. "Rae, you okay?"

"Fine. It is, however, the early hours of the morning. If we're not heading out I'm going to get some sleep."

"Alright, be here by ten tomorrow morning though, yeah?"

The empath chose not to answer as she left the room. Nothing had changed since the first night she'd spent here, other than the smell of fresh paint fading into the must of an unused building. Raven couldn't distract herself from one problem. Robin obviously hadn't recognised her on the rooftop, but how much contact did he have with his former mentor? Was Gizmo right in taking his time, or would the Justice League be in the city by then? Raven didn't want her new friends to stand by her if the Justice League decided to banish her, but then she couldn't afford to be banished either - she'd come to earth to make her final stand after all.

She entered the large barren room she could call her own. The mattress on the floor had definitely seen better days. The room in general looked more like a cell than a place to call home. As she studied the area, she came up with her plan for tomorrow, should Jinx not need her. She had convinced the doctor at the HIVE he'd run a blood test with some 'persuasion'. Could she convince a cashier she'd paid for something? She smiled as she sat down on the mattress, looking forward to stretching her legs away from Jinx and the boys.

AN: Short chapters at the moment. Building myself back into it. I've seen a few old names pop up already in my emails - thanks for not giving up on me and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post anything!