The Next Generation

Well, this was just great. What was supposed to have been a nice, relaxing trip to New York City had instead turned into an absolute nightmare. There she sat on the floor of the bank, hands tied behind her back and grouped together with the other hostages in the corner near the back. The men in ski masks robbing the place were currently in the middle of raiding the vaults for the money, leaving one behind to make sure none of the hostages tried anything funny. There were about eight men in total, all heavily armed with automatic weapons. So the hostages didn't really have much of a chance even if they were dumb enough to try something.

On the bright side, the bank was currently surrounded by NYPD. The down side was that negotiations weren't going well. Something about the men wanting a helicopter, but the police being "unable" to get one, which led the robbers to start threatening to kill hostages. As if the situation could get any worse. A quick glance around at the other hostages told her exactly what she expected: everyone was freaked the fuck out. One guy had his knees tucked into his chest and was rocking back and forth crying. Another woman was praying quietly to herself. Nobody probably thought they were getting out of this alive.

Letting out a long sigh, she dropped her head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about her family and friends, and whether or not she'd see them again. "So," she said to the guy sitting next to her, "fine day for a trip to the bank, huh? Name's Sarah, by the way. What about you?"

Ya know, there was such a thing as luck. Many were blessed with good luck, while others got the short end and got all the bad luck. For a large part of his life Neal always felt like he got the bad luck of the world. He wasn't extremely smart, there wasn't any particular subject that interested him, and he pretty much had no idea what direction his life was going to go. Still, he continued to go on and just hope that things worked out. For the most part they ended up just fine, they just started sucky.

Now though, he wasn't quite sure how this one was going to end well. They were on the floor of a bank and being threatened to be shot up should these robbers not get what they wanted. He had seen the movies, once they had outlived their usefulness than all the hostages were probably going to get killed. It wasn't the best situation.........obviously. Still, Neal tried to stay as calm as he could. Panicking wasn't going to help anyone here.

He glanced to his side as someone began to speak, it was the other girl that was next to him in line. He listened to her words and gave a very weak laugh. "Yeah, last time I come here to withdraw some money for dinner. Next time I'll just use a debit card", he said as he looked at her. "I'm Neal, nice to meet ya Sarah. Just wish it wasn't in quite this situation", he admitted as he glanced at one of the nearby criminals.

"You and me both..." she muttered, glancing back up at the man in the ski mask watching them. He was kind of creepy, just sitting there in the chair with his arms folded, not speaking, just staring at them... really, really weird. "I'm just on a trip today, visiting from out of town... now I wish I had taken out my money before arriving." She sighed again and looked around. There was no more word on how negotiations were going, and she was starting to get really nervous about things.

After several minutes, one of the other men came walking out from the back. Well, he didn't really walk so much as shuffle along like he was sick. He held his head and groaned, stumbling, until finally walking against the counter and nearly collapsing on it. The guy in the chair looked over and got up to go check on him.

"Hey, what's going on?" on he asked. "You alright?"

Instead of an answer, the sickly looking man glanced up at his buddy and just stared at him for a second. Then, without warning, he wound up the butt of his rifle and smashed the guy across the head, knocking him out cold. Shortly after, he himself collapsed unconscious.

Sarah blinked at what just happened, thoroughly confused. "What the hell was that all about?"

A second later, a rippling dark mass appeared on the floor in front of them, like a portion of the marble had turned into dark water. A figure started to emerge through the mass... which she guessed was supposed to be a portal. The hooded figure rose higher still, now an entire upper body halfway coming through the floor. The woman, dressed in a dark blue hooded cloak and split dress, looked around carefully and then rose the rest of the way. The portal disappeared behind her.

"Everything's clear," she said, communicating through the headset at her ear. "Hurry, before the others discover what's happened."

Sarah stared, even more dumbstruck than before. "The... fuck?" Was that who she thought it was?

Neal couldn't help but feel bad for Sarah. She was here from out of town, she had probably never even been to this particular bank before. Yet here she was, as much a hostage as Neal himself was. He couldn't help but wish that she wasn't here. Hell, he wished that no one was here! "Well we all make mistakes sometimes", he said with only a slight joke in his voice. After all it was very obvious that she hadn't done anything wrong, it was just bad luck that she was here next to him. "Where are you from?", he asked curiously.

Before she gave his answer though, a whole bunch of strange things began to happen. One of the masked guys smacked one of the others ones before passing out himself! "The hell?", Neal said under his breath as he literally had no idea what just happened. "What do you think that- HOLY!", Neal said as a dark portal suddenly appeared in front of them. It was like Hell itself opened up, but a demon didn't rise out. No, instead it was someone that Neal had seen on the news over a dozen times.

"My God", he said under his breath as he recognized the face easily. He glanced over at Sarah, not knowing if she had any idea who this was. "Looks like you and I will get out of here soon", he said in a whisper. "That's Raven", he said with a grin. "Looks like these guys are in for some serious pain"

"Wha- the Titan?" Sarah asked, looking back at Neal for a second. She'd heard about the Titans before, even seen them on the news a couple times before. But she'd never actually seen any of them up close before, probably because she lived several states over. but she knew enough about them to know that they were superheroes, basically. Real, actual superheroes, not like just in the comics. But she had completely forgotten that the Titans were located in New York.

Sarah glanced back at the one called Raven. There was something mysteriously elegant about the woman, the way she moved, seemingly floating through the air... of course, she then realized that's because Raven was actually floating through the air, making her way towards the hostages to begin untying them.

"Be calm," she said, in an almost soothing voice as she worked at the knot on Sarah's bonds. "You will be safe soon.

A moment later, the front entrance to the bank burst open. The first shape she saw speed in was... a green tiger. A fucking green tiger. Whaaaaat?! The tiger was followed by a dark skinned man that looked like he was part machine.

"Damn it, B, hold up!" the machine-man called after the tiger. "Wait for Raven! You're not immune to bullets!"

The tiger skid to a halt, looked back, and then surpassing explanation, morphed into a green skinned man with green hair, wearing a black and purple uniform. "Come on, Cy, you messed up my groove! I was in the zone!"

"Cyborg's right," another voice stated. A different man entered in again, with black hair, a black eye mask, and a black uniform with a bright blue emblem of a bid on the chest. "We were told the men were armed with automatic weapons, remember? You'll get yourself killed if you go running in back there like that. Raven is the only one of us who can create barriers to protect against that."

"Listen to Nightwing," a playful female voice stated. Another woman, this one also floating, or flying, or whatever, appeared next to him. She wore.. very little, but what was there was purple, and at least covering the important bits. Her eyes were bright green, but not just the irises, the whole freaking eyes. Her skin seemed slightly orange in color, too, and her fiery hair stretched down well past her waist. "We must be smart about this, Beast Boy."

"Fine fine," the green skinned guy said, folding his arms. Two seconds later, he morphed into a hummingbird.

Sarah watched the whole thing with her jaw wide open and eyes unblinking. She didn't even realize that her hands were untied.

Neal gave a nod as Sarah appeared to be in shock. He supposed that he couldn't blame her, Neal was in a bit of shock as well. Unlike Sarah though, he had always lived near where the Titans were to the point where it was only a ten minute walk for the large tower to come into view. They were always around, and that was just a part of life in this part of New York. Still, despite having lived in this area his entire life Neal had never seen them in person. He never even dreamed that he'd be this close! It was amazing, that much was obvious on his face.

His face continued to grow as the rest of them began to show up! This was like a dream! The entire team was here and everything! This was incredible! Still, Neal knew that they were still in danger the longer that they stayed here. As his hands became untied he rubbed at his wrists for a moment to make sure that the cords hadn't caused him to bleed or anything like that. Once everything was fine, he quickly turned to Sarah who was staring at the group.

"Sarah", he said to try to get her attention. "Come on, we're still in danger if we stay in here. We have to leave this to the professionals"

"Huh?" Sarah said, blinking back to her senses. She suddenly realized that she was free, and the rest of the hostages were well on their way out the door to safety. Quickly, she started to get up herself. She couldn't help but look back again at the Titans, still astounded. "Oh, right, yeah... coming!" She finally started hurrying to the entrance along with Neal. However, they wouldn't quite get there.

"Incoming!" Cyborg shouted, ducking out of the way as one of the men in ski masks appeared. He was holding a grenade launcher, and fired three shots at the Titans.

Raven waved her hand and caused an invisible barrier to protect the group. Two of the explosive shells detonated upon hitting it, harmlessly. However, the third shot straight from its path and veered towards the entrance, exploding above the doorway and collapsing a pile of debris in front of it.

Sarah shrieked out and dove backwards, narrowly avoiding the destruction. When she recovered, she looked back up in time to see Starfire, the orange skinned, glowing green eyed woman, fire a solid bolt of green energy at the man with the grenade launcher. It struck him square in the chest and sent him flying back like a rocket, through the wall behind him.

Another man appeared, only to stop in shock, look back at the whole in the wall, throw his gun down, and sprint in the opposite direction. "Screw this!"

"Titans, go!" Nightwing shouted, giving he command.

Beast Boy morphed straight from hummingbird form into a gorilla, leaping at the fleeing man and slamming him straight into the ground, while the other Titans headed further into the bank.

"Yeah they're pretty cool aren't they?", Neal asked with a smile. "They've always watched over the city, like silent guardians. They just do what needs to be done before going back home. I've heard about what they've done ever since I was a kid", Neal admitted to Sarah as they moved towards the door. Once again though, bad luck would rear it's ugly head. Amazing how so much could come at one time wasn't it?

"Oh God!", Neal shouted before diving out of the way along with Sarah and covered his head to avoid any bit of debris. After a few moments he opened his eyes and glanced around to see that they were still alive. He gave a breath of air to calm his heart before looking over at Sarah. Before he could say anything though, more men showed up only to take off and prompt the titans to chase after them.

As the Titans moved further into the bank, Neal turned to look towards Sarah. "You alright?", he asked as he brought himself to his feet and offered her a hand. "None of that blast got you right?"

"I... I think I'm okay," Sarah said, trying to get up. When she did, however, she let out a cry of pain. As it turns out, she sliced open a good portion of her left forearm on a stray shard of glass as she fell. "Shit, shit, shit. I'm bleeding." Holding her hand tightly over the cut, she winced and looked around. They wouldn't be getting out the exit, now that it was buried under tons of rubble.

"Is there another way out of here?" she wondered, trying to ignore the throbbing in her arm. She really needed to get the wound patched up before she lost too much blood... and damn, it hurt like a bitch.

Long before she had to worry about that, however, the Titans returned from the back of the bank, dragging behind the robbers, all tied up and unconscious. Well, that seemed rather easy. Then again, it was a group of superheroes against a bunch of thugs. Sarah watched nervously as the Titans approached the two.

"Are you alright?" Nightwing asked, folding his arms.

Before she could answer, Raven moved forward and took her arm. "You are hurt," she spoke, gazing at the wound intently. "Please, relax."

Sarah didn't even get a chance to respond before something in her head exploded, but not in a painful way. Rather, she felt all feeling suddenly expunge from her mind and body. Everything went blank. When it was finally over, her consciousness came back down to earth and her vision finally returned, though her head felt really fuzzy.

"Your pain... is gone," Raven whispered, moving back again and holding a hand to her head, closing her eyes.

"Woah..." she muttered, shaking her head back to her senses. Glancing down at her arm, she saw no trace of injury. "Wha- uh, holy- th-thanks."

"Alright just try to stand........oh fuckberries", Neal said under his breath as he saw the rather large cut that was in Sarah's arm. He wasn't any sort of doctor or anything, but he definitely knew that wasn't a good thing to have. "Just apply as much pressure as you can, I'm sure the police would've brought some doctors just to check up on us", he said out loud. He had no idea if that was standard procedure or not, but for Sarah's sake he hoped so.

"I don't know, I'll have to go and take a look......but I can't just leave ya here to go look", he said to himself in worry. It didn't seem like a good situation, and for all they knew more robbers could come this way at any second!

Thankfully, the people that showed up next were not the robbers, but the Titans that had caught all of them. Neal let out a soft sign as it seemed like the danger was over for now. At least they didn't have to worry about any more idiots with a grenade launcher. Neal was about to explain about how Sarah needed help, but it seemed like Raven was already going to do something about it.

He watched as she did...........something to Sarah. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, out of all of the stories he had heard, he couldn't recall any that mentioned that Raven could heal wounds like it was nothing. Convenient though, especially given the circumstances.

Once Sarah was okay, Neal turned towards the Titans. "Hey I'm sure you guys get this all the time, but thanks for everything you just did. Without you guys who knows what those guys might've started doing?"

"Don't mention it," Nightwing insisted, holding a hand up. "It's our job, after all. We're just glad that everyone's alright."

Sarah blinked down at her arm again, and then glanced back up at Raven, who looked like she was going to be sick or something. "Um... if you don't mind my asking, how... I mean what did you... what was that?"

Raven didn't say anything. She seemed to be deeply concentrating on something, oblivious to everyone else. Nightwing glanced back, and then at Sarah again. "Raven is an empath," he explained. "She can feel your emotions, see into your soul... that sort of stuff. That also means she can absorb a person's pain into her own body to heal them. Though, that does mean she feels the pain herself for a time."

"I, o-oh," Sarah uttered, looking back at Raven. "I'm sorry, I mean you didn't have to-"

"It is fine," Raven insisted. She then moved next to Nightwing and whispered something to him. He gave her an odd look in return, then back at Sarah, and then to Raven again.

"If you'll excuse us," he explained, walking off to talk with Raven in private.

Sarah blinked. "Was it something I said?"

"Do not mind them," Starfire insisted. "I am sure you said nothing wrong. Now, come with us. We must still get you to safety."

"Fascinating", Neal said as he listened to the explanation of Raven's gift. He had never heard it explained quite that way. He had a feeling that very few people received an explanation on the Titan's powers by the Titans themselves. As far as Neal had heard, Raven was just a witch that could basically do magic. He'd never even heard of an Empath before.

As Nightwing and Raven left, Neal couldn't help but think that something was up. Still, he couldn't imagine what it could be. It wasn't like Sarah had done anything that would draw suspicion. Perhaps Raven just remembered something important. That had to be it. Neal was brought out of his thoughts by Starfire's voice saying that they still needed to get out of here.

"Oh yeah right, guess we were the only two that got left behind", Neal remarked to himself as he scratched the back of his head. "Well thanks again to all of you", he said before getting ready to head whichever direction that they were going to take.

A few minutes later, they were safely back out on the streets. The police were busy taking in the robbers, while the Titans were busy being mobbed by civilians on the street for autographs. Well, at least Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were. Raven and Nightwing still had not returned from whatever it was they were talking about. Beast Boy and Cyborg seemed to really get into the whole fan interaction thing, especially Beast Boy, who was turning into various animals upon request. Starfire, while enjoying the attention, was wearing an outfit not quite, well... normal, and due cause for parents to shoo their children in the other direction. Why exactly was she wearing something like that? It didn't really seem like the most practical thing.

Eventually, after all the excitement seemed to be dying down, Sarah took in a deep breath and stood up from her seat on the bank steps. "Well, I guess I'd better be going," Sarah said to Neal, who she'd been sitting with. "Gotta try to make the best of what's left of my trip, heh. Nice meeting you, though. Take care."

She gave him a smile and shook his hand, then started to walk away. As she did, however, a black portal suddenly opened up in front of her, causing her to yell out and stumble backwards. Raven appeared before her, giving a long gaze.

"Sarah," she stated, in a calm tone. "We must speak."

Neal sat with Sarah and watched as the Titans seemed to be speaking to the media. He was sure that they dealt with stuff like this all the time, they were KINDA a big deal after all. Not every city in the world had a bunch of superheroes running around. Besides, these guys had been a team and protecting the city forever. Anyone seeing them probably only got inspired to make a bit of a difference in the world.

Neal glanced up as Sarah stood up. They had been sitting together outside of the bank, waiting for all the chaos to die down so they wouldn't have reporters jumping down their throats about what happened. Looked like Sarah was heading out. Neal gave a small nod. "Yeah you take care too, New York City isn't all bad I swear", he added with a laugh. He could imagine how her first impression of the place probably wasn't the greatest. "Have a safe trip home", he said as he let go of her hand.

As another portal appeared in front of Sarah, Neal couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. They were only about five feet in front of her, so he heard the words that Raven was saying. He slowly got to his feet. "Is......everything okay?", he asked curiously.

Sarah blinked in surprise. "Wh- huh? Speak with me? Wait, why? What did I do? I swear, I didn't mean to say anything offensive, honest!" She went into panic mode, naturally assuming the worst, that she had somehow said something horrible and made a fool of herself, or something. After all, why else would one of the Titans want to speak with her personally?!

"Nothing is wrong," Raven said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She suddenly felt instantly relaxed. "I merely have something I must talk to you about. Something important."

"Something... important?" Sarah said, staring back dumbly. "But what is it?"

Raven glanced over at Neal, trying to decide whether or not to allow him to hear what she had to say. "This is a private matter," she finally said. Turning back again to her portal, she took Sarah's hand and added, "Now, please come with me."

Sarah's eyes widened. "What? In there? No way! I mean... no, well I mean, I'm sorry, it's just... I've never been through one of... that. I can't!"

"It won't spit you out on the other side missing any limbs, if that's what you're worried about," Raven said blankly, just staring at her.

"I... uh," she started, suddenly glancing back at Neal. She went over to him and grabbed his arm. "Okay, fine, but if I go, he goes too." She then leaned in to him and whispered, "Please don't make me go into that... thing, alone."

Raven just sighed. "Fine. But please, some time today."

Neal listened to the exchange for some time, wondering why on earth Raven would want to speak to Sarah. She could read emotions, but there was no way that Sarah could have negative emotions towards someone who saved her life right? If that was true......then what could Raven possibly want with her? It just didn't make any sense.

As Raven said that it was a private affair, Neal narrowed his eyes for a moment. This was getting stranger by the moment. Raven seemed to be the more secluded of the Titans, so why would she go out of her way to bring someone with her somewhere? More importantly.......what did she want to talk about that couldn't be discussed here?

"Wait what?", Neal asked as Sarah suddenly said that she'd only go if Neal was allowed to come along as well. He listened to her whispered plea and couldn't help but react to it. "Alright I'll come. I'm sure everything is fine though, she's one of the good guys", he said with a somewhat reassuring smile. He was sure there wasn't some evil plot to this, but it wasn't clear what this was about at all.

"Let's go", Neal said as he moved forward towards the portal with Sarah. Passing through it felt very......different. He wasn't sure how to phrase it, only that his entire body felt like it was going through a ruse of new experiences within a matter of seconds. It wasn't painful or bad, but it was definitely strange. Neal kept moving forward until they emerged from the other side.

Sarah couldn't say that she really wanted to go into the portal, but when one of the Titans says that she wants to speak with you, well, you don't say no. At least Neal was coming with her. That made the prospect of going into the rippling black mass a little more bearable. Of course, when she did walk through it, she felt like she'd just been dunked into an ice bath, a shiver running up her spine and all throughout her body.

Upon finally coming out on the other time, she took in a sharp breath and looked around. They were in some sort of large, open living room, with leather couches, an enormous television screen by one wall, a kitchen in the back, and one of the walls was nothing but a huge window, overlooking the city. That's when she realized they were in a building of some kind, a rather nicely outfitted building at that.

"Where are we?" she asked, gazing at everything in wonder.

"This is our home," Raven explained, walking over to the kitchen and pouring three glasses of water, one for each of them. "Titan Tower."

"R-really?" Sarah took her glass of water, but didn't drink from it, instead staring at the woman, who for some reason still had her hood up. "But, why are we here? And what do you need to talk to me about?"

Raven walked back over to her again and placed her hands on either side of her face, against her cheeks. The touch was gentle, soothing almost. "Because it is a safe place to discuss things. When I touched you, when I took in your pain, and your emotions, I sensed something in you, something buried deep down, but very much there."

Sarah blinked. "Uh... what was it?"

"A deep, latent power," the Titan said. "An ability of some kind, though I cannot tell what. All I know is that it is there, waiting to be discovered."

"....huh?" Sarah stared back dumbly. "What are you- a power? Ability? What do you mean? You don't mean like... like the kind of stuff you can do? Or something?"

"Or something," Raven said tersely. "I spoke with Nightwing about it, and he agreed that it would be best to tell you of this, and perhaps to help you awaken your gift, if you so desire."

Neal looked around the room as they arrived. For a minute or so he didn't recognize where they were. Of course, once he saw the outside window he couldn't help but have his eyes widen. He recognized that view! He recognized the shore on the other side! They were in the building that he so often used to gaze at on his way to school! They were in Titan Tower! "Oh this is so cool", he said under his breath. He was excited, but he didn't want to seem like a fan boy in front of Sarah and Raven. Still, he couldn't help but let a little of his happiness show.

He took his own glass of water from Raven, beginning to take a drink from it as Raven and Sarah began to have their conversation. Of course he only was just about to take a swallow when Raven mentioned the word "power". Neal took in a quick breath of air, causing the water to go down the wrong pipe. He choked for a few moments before letting out a cough and eventually clearing his lungs. "I'm sorry.....you're being serious right now?", he asked as he looked towards Raven before looking at Sarah. "Amazing......you have powers?", he asked although he knew that Sarah must be even more stunned than he was.

Neal thought back to the bank when Raven healed Sarah's wounds. When she appeared inside, she must have seen what Sarah was capable of. "Wow, and to think that I thought this was going to be a bad day", Neal said with a laugh. "This is amazing don't ya think?", he asked as he glanced towards Sarah. He had no idea how she was taking in the information, for all he knew she was totally freaking out inside her mind.

Sarah didn't say anything for a solid minute an a half. She just sort of stared at Raven blankly, while going through a thousand thoughts a second in her head. There was no way, no possible way. Was this seriously happening? Was Raven telling the truth? But then, what reason would she have to lie? She seemed like a serious kind of person, after all. So, then that meant she was telling the truth. And Sarah really did have some kind of power inside her that she didn't know of yet.

Seriously?!

"I don't believe this," she uttered, her voice a soft squeak. "I mean, I'm no one important, or, or anything. I'm not... a superhero or anything. I can't... I mean, I couldn't be."

"I imagine it is not the easiest thing to believe, or to accept," Raven said. "But, if you will let me, I can delve into your mind and work to awaken that power inside you. What you choose to do with it is up to you. From what I sensed, you would have no impure intentions."

Sarah swallowed hard. On one hand, she was absolutely terrified of the implications that she could possibly have powers like the Titans. Or like Superman. or any of the other number of superheroes in the world. What would her family say? And then on the other hand, it would be pretty freaking awesome to be a superhero.... or to at least have super powers.

"Um, I, well I guess... I mean it couldn't hurt, right?" Sarah let out a nervous laugh and brushed a strand of hair back over her ear. "When, um, did you want to do that?"

Raven took her hand and began to lead her away. "Right now is good."

And then just like that, they were gone, leaving Neal alone in the kitchen. For several moments, he would remain alone, until seemingly out of nowhere, someone appeared behind him.

"I didn't realize we were expecting more company than just the one," Nightwing said, giving Neal a long look. For a moment, he just stared at him, sizing him up. "You're one of the hostages today, aren't you?"

Neal listened to the entire exchange, giving a small nod as Raven remarked that Sarah wouldn't do anything impure with the power that Raven would awaken. He had only barely known Sarah, but he had seen her act in a dangerous situation in a calm way and with a desire to help. He could easily imagine Sarah stepping up to take on those robbers if she had any sort of superpower. She would be a good candidate for joining the Titans.

Wow, that was a strange thought. Not only had Neal met the Titans today, been saved by them, but now he was there when a new one was being recruited! SO COOL! Neal just watched as Raven continued to eventually lead Sarah away, apparently they needed a bit more privacy if they were going to do this thing. He wasn't sure how the process worked. "I guess I'll just.....stay here", he said out loud even though no one was there.

Of course, only a moment or two later, Nightwing entered the room to see Neal. He asked his questions and Neal gave a quick nod. "Yeah, I was with Sarah and I was the one that thanked you afterwards when you healed Sarah and saved us", he said with a small nod. "Raven asked Sarah here but she was too nervous to go with Raven alone, so she asked me to come along.............I hope I'm not intruding or anything"

"If Raven brought you here, then consider yourself a guest, for now," Nightwing said, moving over to the large television screen. When he turned it on, however, it was revealed to also double as a massive computer screen, as he began going through what looked like some kind of database. In one corner of the screen was a map of the city with a bunch of blinking dots on it, and in another corner was a scrolling list of criminal profiles. "Just as long as you don't do anything suspicious. Or stupid."

A moment of silence passed, as Nightwing typed something on the keyboard. "So, I assume you know why we brought your friend here by now. Raven seems to think she has a gift deep down and wants to awaken it... we'll see if that's really the case. Feel free to stick around until they're done."

---

Meanwhile, Raven had taken Sarah to her room, where they sat together cross legged on the floor across from each other. The lighting was dim, and seemed tinted blue, giving the room a rather eerie feel to it. The mass of old leather books, strange symbols on the walls, and other various weird stuff probably didn't help much.

Raven had taken her hood down now, though, revealing a pretty face with long dark hair that coiled down around her shoulders. Her sin seemed rather pale, though. "Relax," she said, reaching up to place her fingers on either of Sarah's temples. "Take a deep breath, and let your mind slip away."

Sarah did as she was told, closing her eyes and trying to relax. Before she even knew what was happening, everything went dark.

"Wouldn't dream of it", Neal said in response to doing anything suspicious or stupid. He considered it an honor to be here, and he didn't need to go pissing off the people that just saved his life. He doubt that they'd kill him, but they'd probably beat him if they thought that he was some sort of spy. He would try to keep his mind off of that possibility for the time being though. He watched as Nightwing used the giant TV as a computer as well, it was amazing the kind of stuff that they had in here.

"Yeah, she mentioned that she thought she could be a hero like you guys. It's crazy to be honest", Neal said more to himself than to Nightwing. "She'd become like you guys, and New York will get someone else to protect them........that'd be good", he said as he glanced over towards Nightwing. "So.........any idea how long this might take?", he asked curiously. As excited as he was, he didn't really wanna wait ten hours for this process.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Nightwing stated, still going over things on the computer. "Simply having powers doesn't make one a Titan. There is far more to it than that. If she does have an ability, as Raven thinks, we will decide how to approach it then. Of course, that is if she even wants to do anything about it. She's free to go about her life as normal if she wants. We aren't going to force anyone to use their powers for any purpose other than what they want. As for how long it might take, I honestly can't say. It all depends on how easy her mind is for Raven to navigate, and how deep her gift is buried, if it's really there."

---

It felt like an eternity to Sarah, but in reality, it was only about ten minutes. In her head, though, she followed Raven through a long series of understandings and epiphanies, if that made any sense. She couldn't describe it any other way, other than that she knew Raven was in her head, she could see her there, she could follow her, and she gradually began to learn more about herself as things went by. It was beyond a strange experience, to be sure, but by the time it was over, Sarah almost felt like a different person.

"Now, reach deep inside yourself," Raven explained, slowly pulling back out of the girl's mind, "grasp that gift, harness it, and use it."

Sarah wasn't sure she had any idea just how to do that, but after a few moments she suddenly realized she knew exactly how... or at least she thought she did. One second, she was sitting on the floor with her eyes closed, and the next second, she was flying through the air as a result of some kind of small shockwave that expelled between the two of them. Sarah smashed into Raven's bed, fortunately landing on the mattress and pillows, while Raven simply put up a barrier in front of herself to escape any harm.

"What was that?!" Sarah exclaimed, frantically righting herself into another sitting position.

"That... was your power," Raven said, blinking. "Your very unstable, uncontrolled power. I am afraid that you aren't going to be able to use it perfectly right away. Actually, it's best if you don't try anything again until you've had some training with it in a better location than a bedroom."

Sarah took in a few deep breaths and let them out rapidly. "Okay, so you're telling me that I did... that? That was like... I mean, wow. Like... that hurt. But, uh... what was it exactly?"

"It appears to be some sort of particle manipulation," Raven said, thinking on it. "You can control the energy around you and form it into various destructive forces, such as that shockwave. But again, without any practice on control, you'll probably only succeed in throwing yourself into a wall."

"Practice? Right... practice." Sarah scratched her head. "Wait, how am I supposed to practice something like that without freaking people out? I mean, if my parents knew what I was doing, they'd probably have a panic attack or something. Man, what would they even say if they knew I had.. well, super powers. That sounds really weird..."

"I would suggest that you remain here, for a time," Raven said. "Starfire possesses abilities quite similar to yours. Perhaps she would be able to help you better learn to control it."

Sarah felt her jaw open slightly in surprise. "Wait, you want me to... stay here? With you? The Titans? Like, really? But, I mean, for how long? I was only supposed to be in New York for the weekend. I can't really explain to my parents that I'm staying with the local superheroes to practice my own powers. They'd think I'd gone insane!"

"It is merely my suggestion," Raven replied. "You may choose to do whatever you wish. In any case, we should rejoin the others now."

"Right.....sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything", Neal said in a sort of apology. He just assumed that someone as new with their powers as Sarah might be would probably stay with the Titans and eventually become one. After all, if she didn't want her powers why would she agree to go with Raven in order to unlock them? Those were thoughts that he kept to himself though, he couldn't read Sarah's mind and it was her place to decide how she was going to use what was given to her. Neal moved over to the couch and took a seat, looking out of the window towards the city in the distance.

When Raven and Sarah eventually returned, they'd most likely find Nightwing doing his own thing at the computer while Neal was sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed. He wasn't asleep yet but it looked like he was drifting off. With nothing to do apparently he found it hard to stay awake.

"We are done," Raven said, floating over to Nightwing at the computer. "As I sensed, she has a great gift. However, she lacks a very great deal of control over the power. If she attempts to use it without practice, and someone there to help her along, she will most likely end up injuring herself or others."

Nightwing glanced at her. "So, what do you suggest?"

"I suggested that she stay with us for a time, at least until she has a handle on her power and can use it without worry," Raven explained. "It would not need to be permanent, though I do not know how long it would take. I feel it would best for Starfire to teach her; their abilities are similar."

"I see," Nightwing said, narrowing his eyes. He touched the screen of the computer a couple times, manually scrolling through some data. "Well, I suppose we can make room for her, at least for a little while. That is, if she decides to stay."

Sarah meanwhile sat down next to Neal, taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. "So, uh... that was weird," she said, scratching her head. "I don't know what's going on, this is all happening so fast. I mean, I don't know know what to do now.... so how's it been out here?"