I do not own anything at all. I am naught but a poor student who should really be doing her homework right about now.

Raven Roth

This thing we had going with H.I.V.E was getting a bit ridiculous. We'd been chasing them for years now but jail never was much a factor in any of it. Unless you counted the one time we managed to put them away for about five minutes before they broke out again.

Jinx smiled brightly at me, her lips twitching impishly at the top corners, trying to goad a reaction out of me. She couldn't even see my face thanks to the shadows, but that didn't stop her trying. I was grateful to my hood, as it hid the retaliating snarl on my face that I just knew would be a topic of worried conversation at the dinner table if any of my team had seen it. I bit my lip in shame. This was the undeniable difference between me and the rest of my group- They were part hero, I was part demon. They wanted H.I.V.E five in jail, and sometimes I caught myself thinking life would be so much easier, and the city so much safer, if they were dead. Our aversion to killing (not to mention the legality of such acts) is what made it so easy for them to continue escaping. It was so much harder to incapacitate someone whilst protecting what they were stealing, or saving whatever they were blowing up, than it was to say… shoot them in the face. I bit my lip again, shook my head and forced my mind to the fight at hand.

We were currently facing off against half of H.I.V.E five in the Jump City Museum, both groups poised in fighting stance opposite each other. It was two in the morning, the only light coming from the half moon poised just above the skylight flooding the vast room with it's pale beams. I didn't know why they bothered striking at night. We were just as ready as we were in the sunlight to try and stop them, so I had the feeling they were doing this purely for the enjoyment of making us lose sleep. The room we were in currently was hosting the Indian History exhibit by day, glass cases filled with ancient scrolls, clothing and artwork lined up next to horrific recounts of partition and models of the country's newest architectural achievements. If I had time, I might have found this exhibit interesting (a culture over 5000 years old should peak anyone's interest) but of course, I didn't. The focus of our showdown: the literal jewel of the collection, a pure diamond chakra once owned by some Indian princess or other.

"Why do you even bother? Just put it down." Robin called to them, quieter than usual. His lack of sleep had severely cut down on his usual swagger, and his face was less fierce than it was exhausted. But still, he raised his arms and crouched down, knowing their answer before it left Jinx's lips. I raised my right arm too, feeling energy flow up through my veins and curl around my hand, burning black and cold. Starfire followed suit next to me, vivid green lighting up the room.

"Oh I don't think so." Jinx concluded playfully. She threw the priceless stone up into the air. It flipped over itself a couple of times, not quite sparkling but glinting in the moonlight, and then she caught it with another grin. Beastboy sighed wistfully a fraction of a second before Robins ringing battle cry.

"Titans go!"

Mammoth rushed at Beastboy but he managed to morph into a bull before they connected, snorting and the tips of his horns aimed for Mammoths chest. They locked onto each other, knocking a glass case off its pedestal as they met. I sighed as it smashed loudly onto the floor and sent glass skittering in all directions, thinking of all the money someone was going to lose tonight, and wondering if the Chakra would still be worth saving if we wrecked the building and all it's other contents in the process. Starfire and Cyborg went to corner that irritating child, Gizmo. I noticed Cyborg's hesitation as he glanced ,concerned, at Jinx. My eyes narrowed in barley concealed disgust but I resolved to keep my mouth shut for now. I just wish he could have picked a nice, normal- haired girl to have a crush on. Starfire flung a few bolts at Gizmo followed immediately by Cyborg's cannon blast. But it seemed Gizmo had a new toy. A huge Technicolor shield expanded out in front of him and the blows bounced off.

"Bite me, Snot brains!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I surveyed the room. Someone needed to teach that boy proper swear words. I was searching for an object that could be ripped from its place and hurled at Jinx without costing a few million dollars. While I searched, Robin had already sprinted to her. He was aiming kicks and punches, but his desire to avoid the pink energy from her palms kept him at bay. I levitated over to try and help him and heard him grunt in frustration. He was getting nowhere fast- despite being the most disciplined person I knew, and being extremely strong and skilled, he was still human, and thus no match for magic of any kind. Behind me I heard a crash as Beastboy hit the wall, followed by the sharp shrieks of the alarms resounding all over the museum. The police would be here in a matter of minutes; complicating things further while trying to take glory and trying to blame all the damage on us.

"Move!" I hissed at him. Jinx was starting to throw punches as well as magic. She wasn't very strong but they were enough to wear him down in conjunction with her bad luck. I dodged Robin as he leaped back to avoid her. He didn't show any sign of hearing me so I wrapped him in energy and chucked him gently somewhere near Beastboy. Gizmo seemed to be unconscious, lying against a pillar. His device lay scattered in pieces around him and Starfire was hovering nervously , while Cyborg had gone to help wrestle Mammoth.

"Hello Rae Rae!" Jinx sang and kicked at my shin, commanding my attention once more. I jumped back and gritted my teeth. She still had the Charka clutched in her hand and a crazy, lop-sided grin on her face. My following round house kick, a personal favourite of mine, missed her by inches but managed to wipe the smile from her face.

"What do you want with the stone?" I deadpanned, still searching for expendable objects to throw at her. Pink flashed in front of my face and I heard a crash and smelt something burning.

"That's no fun! You'll have to guess once I've escaped" She called after skipping back a few steps. I realised a light had come loose from the roof and hit the floor, starting a spark and lighting an age old antique wicker basket on fire.

"Shit." I mumbled and attempted to douse it with my cloak before the whole room caught fire. I straightened up and noticed one of the longer sections of my hair had been singed.

"Nice hair" she added as an afterthought through her snickers. I kept calm with the thought that Cyborg would pay for this later and attacked stealthily with my powers, tendrils snaking along the dark marble floor towards her ankles without her noticing.

"At least it isn't Pink" I retorted, and yanked her feet from under her. She fell and I heard a light thud as her head hit the marble. I felt myself about to smile, and wondered if that would be considered immoral. She swore and whispered something else before shooting more pink at me. I tried to twist away but was too slow to stop it and hit the ground with a similar thud after slipping over, landing on my front. I grimaced and tried to push myself up but buckled again as something impossibly heavy and cold landed on the small of my back. I let out a small cry of pain and twisted round to see what it was. A life-sized, white stone bust of a chubby-cheeked man had been half crushed in the Mammoth /Beastboy /Cyborg /Robin struggle. It had flown off a pedestal and was now a heavy weight on my back, crushing my torso to the floor. I grunted and lifted it with my powers, ignoring my protesting bones and the silent scream of pain in my nerves as the pressure was suddenly lifted, and shot it over towards Jinx. I flopped onto my stomach just in time to see her dive out of the way. The Diamond Charka flew spinning from her hand across the floor. My side twitched painfully but I scrambled towards it, freezing at the sound of an unfamiliar snigger.

Both our heads shot up and away from the diamond to see Red-X emerge from the shadows. He looked so pleased with himself that I thought he must have been there the whole time. Watching, laughing and waiting for the stone to fall into his hands. I didn't have enough will power to stop the low hiss that sprung from my lips when he scooped the charka of the floor and weighed it in his hand, though I made no move to stop him and neither did Jinx. He was too close to the exit, and too fast. Both faces stared in my direction, Red-X's from up high and Jinx's from the ground. Hissing was not a usual thing for a human to be doing and for a moment I felt sick with myself. I had let it happen twice tonight. As I got older to eighteen, when I would stop growing, my demonic reactions strengthened. X stared a moment longer than Jinx and then burst out laughing again. The teenage boys fighting a few meters away had not noticed his presence yet, had not yet realised fighting was futile because a mutual enemy had stolen the prize. I gritted my teeth and tried to stand up again, hoping to surprise him. Red-X stopped his laughter when he noticed my movement but continued to shake his head.

"Feisty, Feisty…"he commented. I pushed myself up onto my feet and was disgruntled to discover that even standing up I was only chest level on him. My hood had fallen back and X could clearly see my look of outrage.

"That's my diamond!" Jinx yelled angrily, getting to her feet as well.

"No. It's the museums diamond!" I corrected her before snapping my head back to X. " Give it back" I knew there was no chance he would just hand it to me if I stood there glaring with my hand on my hip but it was the best I could do while trying to surprise him. A wide grin broke out across his masked face.

"Calm down ladies" he said cockily as he took a step back. We mimicked his step with a forward-bound one of our own. "as much as I'd like to hang around here and watch you two pretty things cat-fight, I'll have you know I'm a very busy man."

"Azarath Metrion-" I started raising my arms but he took a backwards jog and leaped out of the window, disappearing into the night. I strongly hoped he'd forgotten we were on the sixth floor, and that the landing would hurt.

Jinx cursed in rage then followed him out. I wanted to chase after her but I knew I would be too late. In no time, Robin appeared behind me with Cyborg in tow. Mammoth had escaped down the hallway and Beastboy was following.

"We just saw him escape!" he exclaimed in a low voice walking toward the window with his hands balling into fists. Cyborg and I exchanged a look. We could both hear the obsession growing in his voice, and knew he was in for a few self-induced sleepless nights trying to stop X.

Jared Wilson

I rolled out of bed and stretched as slowly and thoroughly as I could, basking in the pleasure of it. The sun that filtered through the blinds on my window was shining, throwing strips of light down onto my worn carpet. The sounds of traffic and barking carried up from the street, muted slightly by paper thin walls and chipped brick. I've lived in a lot of different places, sometimes nowhere at all, but this apartment was defiantly home.

I blinked at the brightness, and guessed it was around ten. I saw the rainbow patterns being thrown over my dull gray bedroom walls and traced it back to its source- A brilliantly sparkling diamond, shaped like that thing the half-vampire or whatever girl from the Teen Titans wore on her head. I laughed out loud then; who wouldn't? The look on Pinky's and Sunshine's faces as I took the stone right out from under them. It had almost been too easy. A waste of my talent really, I thought cheerfully. Robin would be obsessing over this one for weeks. I chuckled again and stretched. It was a shame really, that the dark girl was in league with Robin. It seemed to me she would have a talent for stealing things. Or at the very least, a penchant for scaring the police off. I grinned – I'm a cheerfull guy- and walked into the kitchen and started making breakfast. There wasn't much to work with. I hadn't been shopping in a while.

But that hiss. During the few and mildly unpleasant times I'd worked for Slade, he had told me all about Ravens inter-dimetional dad. Sure, I'd believed him,had been a little freaked out you could say. By the fact that whatever they were existed at all. But every time I saw her I had been hoping for some sign that would make me completely doubtless. I wanted a show but she wasn't biting.

Last night had been the first inclination, besides her powers, toward what she was.

I knew I should have been scared. But I found it funny.

She was just so tiny! Always covered up by that weird cloak. And her fighting was terrible. Her punches were way off. She wasn't very fast, wasn't very strong. The only thing she seemed to have put any power into, her round house kick, she missed her target. Without her powers, a kitten would be a bigger threat to me. Those powers were an unfair advantage, in my opinion. Those weird human-hybrids teaming with magic didn't have to work as hard as the rest of us.

I took a bite of my toast. It had mould growing in one of the corners. I cut it off, slightly annoyed. I should be living better than this. Sure, I had to live in a not so grand neighbourhood to confuse the suspicious people. Not that I minded. But I could at least buy some nice bread or something. I walked around the bench and ducked into my room for a second, just to check my little stone was still there. I was going to get paid a lot for this rock. I just had to keep hold of it for a couple more days until the black market offers started appearing, then I could eat all the fancy cheese I wanted.

I checked the time; 11:30. My schedule for today was clear. Besides some baby sitting when Ana went to work at four, I was free. I threw on some clean clothes, which were few and far between, and headed out the door in search of real breakfast, intending to do the washing when I came back. I passed Ana's apartment as I headed for the stairs and I could hear Oliver screaming inside. Renata must be asleep. Ana was a middle-aged woman who seemed to think she was my mother as well as the twins. Even if that meant I had to chase around after my surrogate little brother and sister, I welcomed it. Ana looked after me. It sounded pretty pathetic for a grown twenty-one year old man, but I'd never had a mom before.

Her husband didn't mind because he didn't know. He still had his little job in Russia and hadn't made enough money to join his family with security yet. I'd secretly started a fund for them, not that I would tell Ana that. When I finally gave it to her, it would be because I have to leave, or because she'll need it so bad she won't ask questions about where I got it from. In a way, I was that family's guardian angel. I snorted and pushed open the wire gate that led out to the street.

Ohh la la, the end of the first chappie. What's that button down there? Maybe you should push it and tell me...

:)

*Edited 23/01/12