First Day (Titans)

***First Day*** is the first chapter of Titans Academy

## Plot

Two people landed on the roof of a building, making thuds as they landed. They got up and rushed to the ventilation system. The boy raised his hand and lit it with energy as he used his powers to cut the vent off and allow the two to enter the building.

 They crawled through the vents and arrived just above the office of Black Mask, a criminal with a black skull mask burned to his face. They watch him from above his desk.

 “Dad was right. This stakeout is too easy,” the boy said with a smirk.

 The girl blasted off the vent as the two fell and landed on his desk in front of him. Both of them lit up their hands, aiming starbolts at the man.

 “He sent children to take care of a man’s job? Pathetic. I expected more from Red Hood,” Black Mask commented.

 Black Mask calmly pulled out a crowbar from his desk drawer. The boy laughed.

 “Really? A crowbar? You think that’s going to stop us?” he smiled.

 “It’s not just any regular crowbar. You see, I made this crowbar with metallic chromium. I did some research about your kind. Tamaraneans are strong, but boy, do they have such a dumb weakness,” Mask replied, smacking the boy across the face with the crowbar. The attack knocks him to the side. The girl prepares to lunge at Black Mask, but he swats her away with the crowbar beside her brother.

Some of Black Mask’s men barge into the room and drag the two Tamaraneans away.

“Check them for trackers before you place them somewhere. Lord knows Red Hood will be here soon to retrieve them,” Black Mask ordered.

Black Mask’s men took them to a windowless room and trapped them inside a power dampener cell. They slowly woke up, and the boy started to panic.

“Oh man, he’s going to be so pissed we let this happen,” he worried.

“Relax, Jare. None of us could have seen this coming. We got sloppy relying on our powers so much. Gave information away,” his sister assured him.

They heard a door creak open, followed by footsteps. Slowly, Black Mask stood in front of them again. He held the crowbar in his hands as he taunted the two. Jareth mad-dogged him and spit at the cell door to piss off Black Mask. As he did this, he leaned over to whisper to his sister in Tamaranean.

“When he grabs me to beat my ass, run for it or kick his ass. He can’t take both of us,” Jareth instructed.

The door powered down as Black Mask rushed in, grabbing Jareth by his collar. Jomand’r started to run for it, but Black Mask was quick with a counter. He raised his arm to hit her back while still holding Jareth. With both twins still inside the cell, he placed collars from the prison shelves around their necks. With both twins kept still and depowered, Black Mask smiled as he raised his arm.

“I’m going to enjoy this. Payback for all the jobs the three of you fucked up,” Black Mask spat out as he beat Jareth.

Black Mask looked to the top of the stairs, hearing noises from above them. One of his men fell off the side onto the hard concrete floor below. The boot that kicked him returned to the floor, revealing Red Hood had, as predicted, come to save his two sidekicks.

 “I’m going to advise you to stand the fuck down, Mask,” Red Hood threatened with a gun pointed at Mask’s head.

“Yeah? And I advise you to stop getting children involved in our little dispute. How about you and I settle this like real men?” Black Mask offered.

“You are going to regret that offer. You could have a quick death, but now you are just prolonging it,” Red Hood replied as he calmly walked down the stairs, his aim never falling off of Mask.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Black Mask walked away from the twins and over to Red Hood.

“I win. I kill all three of you. You win, you al-,” Mask started before being interrupted by Red Hood shooting him in the head.

“Don’t fuck around with my kids,” Red Hood sneered.

Red Hood retracted his mask as he helped his kids out of the collars. Once they were free, they left and went home. When they returned, Red Hood went to his room to think, leaving Jareth and Jom confused.

“I thought for sure he’d give a mission debrief or something. Him leaving us to sit here like this is weird,” Jom commented.

Red Hood removed his domino mask, revealing a thirty-nine-year-old Jason Todd. He rubbed his head in frustration and took a deep breath, scavenging into his coat pocket and taking out a flask. Jason took a sip, only to find the flash of alcohol was empty. He got up to refill it from his liquor stash but gave up, placing the flask on his dresser.

He fidgeted with his phone case, debating on giving his brother a call. He could help, but that would just be pushing the problem away. Jason swallowed his pride and called his brother. His kids would be better off with him for now.

“Jason? What’s up? I thought you and the kids were on a mission dealing with Black Mask,” Dick greeted.

“We just got back. It didn’t go too well,” Jason replied.

“What do you mean? What happened?” Dick asked.

“I’m not sure how, but they got caught and captured. I had to rescue them and kill Black Mask.” Jason answered.

 “Did you call just to confess to a murder?” Dick asked.

 “No… I…. Listen, Dick, are there open spots at Titans Academy for them? I know it’s a big ask, but I can’t do what you and Bruce did for me. I’m not exactly a hero, and with their powers and my mentorship, it’s on the path to something bad. I can feel it,” Jason voiced his concerns.

“I can see what I can do, but I appreciate you owning up to this, Jason. I know it’s difficult to make hard choices for your kids. I know I will have a similar problem when Kori and I have one,” Dick reassured his brother.

 Jason hung up the phone and relaxed a bit. His eyes grew heavy as he passed out for the night.

 It was almost a month since Jason’s conversation with Dick. Jason loaded his car with Jareth and Jom’s things. Jareth was about to get on the front seat when Jom rushed to it and sat down. Jareth groaned and got in the back.

 “Tell me again why you enrolled us in Dick’s school?” Jareth asked.

 “I can’t be your mentor anymore. I’m not a hero. I don’t have powers. Your only friend is your sister. This training will be good for both of you,” Jason explained.

 “Sounds like a load of bullshit. You just don’t want to deal with us anymore, just like when you left Mom,” Jareth retorted.

 “Listen, just try it… please?” Jason pleaded.

 The rest of the drive was silent until they arrived in Jump City and soon the Titans academy. As the Todd family got out and unloaded their stuff, Dick and his staff came out. The other members of the staff team were Tigress, Miss Martian, Superboy, Cyborg, and Starfire.

 Jareth and Jom ran up to Kori and hugged her as Jason and Dick hugged.

 “Aunt Kori!” the twins smiled as they hugged their aunt.

 “I haven’t seen you two in ages. You two have grown up,” Kori replied with a smile.

 “Vic, good to see you. As for the rest of you, sorry, I don’t recall meeting you before,” Jason said as he shook Victor’s hand.

 “This is Conner Kent, M’gann M’orrz, and Artemis Crock. They were on the Titans with Tim, Wally, and me,” Victor introduced his fellow teammates.

 “Jareth and Jom, I’m sure you aren’t too pleased about being here, but I promise it will be a good experience,” Dick smiled.

 “I can even make our favorite! Glorg!” Kori offered, happy to finally have people who would eat her cooking.

 The Todds said their half-hearted goodbyes to each other as the Titans brought the kids inside the tower. The staff of heroes gave the two newest recruits a tour of the place. Two young heroes had jumped off a diving board into a pool below as the twins watched from a window. They walked past a training room where their Uncle Damian led a session with Batgirl. Their students were an archer in red, a guardian in yellow, a seemingly regular girl, and another Superboy. They walked by a lounge room where a green-skinned boy was relaxing on a sofa. He stretched out his arms, changing into a gibbon and back. Next to him was a cloaked girl meditating in the air. Two lightning streaks ran past the group, creating wind and making their hair flow.

“Great, it’s like on giant slumber party….” Jareth said sarcastically.

“I promise, kid, I was a little annoyed by this whole arrangement at first, too, but you get used to it,” Conner assured him.

Dick, Victor, and Conner took Jareth to his new room while Kori, Artemis, and M’gann took Jomand’r to hers. Jareth opened the door to his room and dropped his bag. He immediately noticed two beds.

“We have to share rooms in this big ass tower?” Jareth complained.

“It helps build character, and living with someone that isn’t family is a good experience,” Dick replied.

“Who am I rooming with then?” Jareth asked.

“Dude! Finally, I get a roommate!” a voice said as they came up behind Jareth and patted his back.

Jareth turned to see it was the green-skinned boy from the couch. Jareth sighed and put on a fake smile.

“Hi, name’s Jareth..” he muttered.

“Gar, this is going to be so awesome! We can stay up playing video games, telling stories, watching movies!” the boy excitedly rattled off.

 “Don’t let Gar give you the wrong idea. It’s not all free time around here. There are classes and training you have to attend. As well as any missions that pop up,” Dick explained as Victor handed Jareth a schedule.

 “Great, so our dad sent us away to boarding school,” Jareth spat as he snatched the paper from Cyborg.

 Jareth put his stuff down and lay in his bed, upset. Gar was about to go over to him, but Cyborg stopped him.

 “Let’s give him some space, Gar,” Victor advised.

 While they left Jareth alone, Jom went into her room and saw a girl asleep in bed, so that she couldn’t talk to her roommate yet. Her Aunt Kori gave her the same rundown Jareth got. Artemis then gave her a schedule.

 Kori, M’gann, and Artemis left Jom to her own devices as she slowly unpacked her stuff and tried to make the room more homely. Her roommate began to shuffle around and slowly woke up. Jom waited a bit longer before introducing herself.

 “Hi, I’m your new roommate,” she smiled.

 Her roommate screamed as a tiny stone hit Jom in her chest. She got up, holding her chest.

 “Was not expecting that. Listen, sorry to scare you like that. The other heroes kind of just threw me in here. I’m Jom,” she tried again.

 “Sorry… I’m not used to being so safe when I sleep. Tara…” she replied, recalling the stone back with her powers.

 The two awkwardly smiled as Tara got up to prepare for the day. Jomand’r left to room to find her brother before classes started. They met back up in the hall and exchanged a look.

 “Not so great first impression with my roommate... You?” Jom asked to which Jareth shook his head no.

 The two stood in silence as the rest of the students started roaming the hall, getting ready for the night. Soon their first day began, and the twins sat in the classroom as Artemis led a training session for everyone.

 “I will pick some non-Alpha Squad members for this trial mission. So let’s go, Jareth, Jomand’r, Mia, Billy, and Tara,” Artemis called on.

 The five selected students approached the front of the class as they prepared for holo-training. As Artemis looked at them, she placed a burning building in the training deck.

 “What are you waiting for? Go save the civilians,” she instructed.

 Tara launched Billy with the ground beneath him as he launched into the holographic wall taking it down. Jareth and Jom blasted their way up to Billy as all three went inside to search for civilians.

 “Split up and grab as many people as possible,” Jareth instructed.

 The other two nodded in agreement as they split up. Jareth searched the floor he was on as he heard whimpers from inside a room. Jareth busted in the door and saw an older man beneath the rubble. Jareth rushed to his side and lifted the wreckage.

 “Are you able to crawl out and walk?” he asked.

 “No…,” the old man replied.

 “Try to crawl out of the rubble so I can grab you. We can head out together,” Jareth ordered.

 The older adult crawled out slowly as Jareth’s grip slipped. Jareth saw the older man had made it and dropped the rubble. He grabbed the man and returned to the entrance Billy and Tara had made.

 Billy and Jomand’r regrouped with him and their rescuers. They returned to the hole and saw Mia shooting extinguisher arrows to contain the fire. Tara lifted a rock to them as a lady with Billy started crying.

 “Madison? Madison! My baby is still in there!” she cried out.

 Without thinking, Jareth rushed back into the building. He made it to the top floor, where Billy searched for people. He blasted doors off to find the missing child.

 He finally found her crying in a corner. Jareth calmly approached her and extended his hand.

 “Hey, kid. Ready to get out of here?” he asked.

 “Mommy? Wh - where’s my mommy?” she asked.

 “One of my teammates got her already. She’s waiting for you with them as well,” he replied.

 “Teammates? Your friends!” she smiled.

 “My sister and some… yeah, friends,” he answered.

 “You get to be a superhero with your sister?! That’s so cool!” she exclaimed and took Jareth’s hand.

 Jareth led her back to the exit and back to the evacuation group. She reunited with her mother as the blue holograms turned green, resulting in a complete mission.

 “Nice work out there, especially from the newbies,” Artemis congratulated them.

 The rest of the class took turns running different types of training missions. Eventually, the senior staff dismissed the course and moved on to a regular high school class of American Literature as Jareth fell asleep from it.

 Jareth continued through the day as it became a slow drag, and when that was all done, he finally returned to his dorm room. As soon as he sat down, Gar came in to get him.

 “Jareth! Dick and the rest of the staff want to see you!” he excitedly told the news.

 Jareth groaned as he put his jacket back on and headed out to Dick’s office, following behind Gar. As he walked into the room, Gar joined him instead of leaving, which confused Jareth.

 “What’s this about? Is it about me throwing a pillow at Gar for his snoring?” Jareth asked.

 “I knew you threw something at me!” Gar responded.

 “No, this is about your ability in hero work like training,” Dick started.

 Victor pulled up the footage of Jareth talking to the little girl in the building. Dick then showed a paper test Jareth and Jom first took when they got there. It was about fieldwork questions like tech fixes, hacking, and combat. The score on the paper read 95%.

 “You have the skills to be a great hero Jareth. I think you have what it takes to excel here,” Dick complimented.

 “What if I don’t want to be a hero? What if I want to be an anti-hero like my dad?” Jareth asked.

 “I don’t think that you do. You only follow in your father’s footsteps because you want him to be happy. I know your mother and father have a rocky relationship that’s affected your upbringing, but you still have a family here,” Dick continued.

 “Which is why I talked with Komand’r before you and your sister had arrived. She wishes both of you well and asks that you make choices for yourselves since you are both seventeen. Not for her, not for Jason, not for anyone else,” Koriand’r mentioned.

 “We want to offer you a spot on the Alpha Squad of Titans. Your teams would be Beast Boy, XS, Robin, and led by Marina,” Dick informed.

 As Dick called their names, they entered the room, minus Gar, who was already there.

 “Damian’s not the leader anymore? Yikes, I feel like you’re going to pressure me to join regardless, so fine, whatever,” Jareth remarks, not too thrilled about the sudden affection for his accomplishments.

 He got up and headed back to his room but spotted his sister eating with Tara, one of the speedsters, and the girl that was meditating by Gar when they first arrived.

 “Oh, hey, Jareth! My new friend here is my roommate Tara aka Terra. The other two are Raven and-” Jom started.

 “Nora, aka XS… just met her when I got placed on Alpha Squad,” Jareth interrupted.

 “You what?” Jom asked, surprised, “They took one of us that soon?”

 “I had the same thought… Feels a little weird still..” Jareth commented.

 “Don’t worry, Jareth. It’s not that bad, I promise,” Nora smiled.

 “Whatever you say…. I’m going to head back to my room. I’m exhausted,” Jareth said.

 He got up from the table and went to his room. He lay in bed and slowly went to sleep. The following week was the same thing: training and classes going by slowly. No missions were given at this time, making it a slow week. The weekend came, and Jareth used it to hang out with Gar, Jom, Tara, Raven, and Nora.

 Eventually, the tower’s alarms flashed red, breaking the cycle. The speaker came on calling for Alpha Squad. Gar got dressed and grabbed Jareth, who groaned.

 The team loaded up into the T-Car as the console’s screen powered on to a video feed of Victor.

 “Listen up. The alerts spotted HIVE 5 creating a traffic jam on the corner of Wyatt and Finger. Take them on and restrain them before they cause major damage,” Victor debriefed.

 The team arrived at the location and hopped out to face off against HIVE 5, whose members included: Ravager, Gizmo, Mammoth, Private HIVE, and See-More.

 “These guys don’t look so tough,” Jareth smirked.

 “Up yours, you crud muncher! HIVE 5, eat’em alive!” Gizmo ordered his team.

 “Titans, Go!” Marina called out.

 XS ran to See-More, Beast Boy charged at Mammoth as a rhino, Robin threw a birdarang at Private HIVE, and Marina formed sabers with her powers and charged at Ravager. This set of battles left Gizmo for Jareth, who was not on the same page as the others, and Gizmo smacked him with a mechanical leg.

 “Are we so easy now, snotbreath!” Gizmo yelled.

 “Dude, I know you are a bad guy, but chill out with the anger,” Jareth replied.

 He fired hellbolts at Gizmo, who retracted his legs in favor of a jetpack. Jareth sighed as he threw more hellbolts.

 Meanwhile, XS quickly punched See-More in the eye, taking him down. Mammoth and Beast Boy were at a standoff as Beast Boy held his own as a gorilla. He quickly shifted forms into a fly, causing Mammoth to fall. Beast Boy flew above him and turned into an elephant, landing on him.

 That left Private HIVE, Ravager, and Gizmo left. Jareth ran towards the other two to get them grouped up. Robin caught on to the idea and threw a smoke bomb to cover the field. In the smoke, Jareth grabbed his teammates.

 “Anyone mind switching dance partners?” Jareth asked.

 “What? Why can’t you handle Gizmo?” Marina asked.

 “I can’t exactly reach him when he’s flying around,” Jareth replied.

 “God damn it, whatever. Take Ravager, then,” Marina said, pushing Jareth towards her.

 Ravager felt the movement and slashed her sword at Jareth in the smoke. Jareth dodged but missed his footing and grabbed onto whatever he could to stop his falling.

 He had held onto Ravager’s mask, taking it off in his fall. The smoke cleared as Marina used limited electrokinesis to shock Gizmo’s systems taking him out. Jareth looked up at Ravager and was in shock.

 “Rose???” Jareth asked, confused.

 “How… how do you know me?” Ravager replied.

 “We uhh… were temporarily in training together with Ra’s… Red Hood has a connection with him still,” Jareth awkwardly answered.

 “Jare…eth….,” Rose responded, a little confused and unsure what to do.

 “Ravager! Stop flirting with the enemy and take down that maggot!” Private HIVE ordered.

 While distracted, Private HIVE was taken out with a birdarang, leaving just Ravager.

 “What are you waiting for, Hellfire? Take down Ravager!” Marina yelled.

 Robin rushed over, striking against Ravager, who defended with her sword. The two clashed, leaving Robin the victor as Ravager’s head wasn’t entirely in the game.

 Before the Titans detained the villains, a ship pulled above them, teleported them into it, and left. The Titans were left to make sure civilians were okay.

 Back at the tower, Dick and Kori sat down with Alpha Squad. Jaclyn was staring daggers at Jareth, which left Dick confused.

 “How did the first mission with Jareth go?” he asked, knowing he might regret asking.

 “Bad. Someone has a conflict of interest with Ravager!” Jaclyn yelled.

 “Jaclyn, take a deep breath. Everything will be fine. I am sure there is an explanation,” Kori assured.

 The room stared at Jareth, awaiting a response. He awkwardly stared at the floor before answering.

 “Red Hood was still close with Talia and Ra’s when we went to live with him, so they also trained us. In that time, Rose Wilson was there, and we sorta got involved, not majorly because it wasn’t allowed during training, but yeah….” Jareth cleared up.

 “Amazing, my teammate is in love with a villain,” Jaclyn sneered.

 “Was… past tense..,” Jareth corrected her.

 “Is this a problem that can arise should the team face the HIVE 5 again?” Dick asked.

 “No, I’ll work on it. Just wasn’t expecting ever to see Rose again,” Jareth answered.

 With that, the team was dismissed, with all but Jaclyn a bit relieved about the situation. Jaclyn watched Jareth walk to his room before she headed to her own. Jareth lay in bed in silence inside his room as Gar tried to talk to him until he eventually zoned out.

## Major Events

* Black Mask dies
* Jareth and Jom enroll in Titans Academy
* Jareth gets placed on the main Titans team
* Everyone in this chapter debuts

## Characters

### Main Characters

* Hellfire
* Jom

### Supporting

* Marina
* Beast Boy
* XS
* Robin
* Red Hood
* Nightwing
* Starfire
* Cyborg

### Minor Characters

* Tigress
* Miss Martian
* Superboy
* Cardinal (mentioned)
* Kid Flash (mentioned)
* Aqualad (cameo)
* Batgirl (cameo)
* Speedy
* Guardian (cameo)
* Traci 13 (cameo)
* Superboy (cameo)
* Raven (cameo)
* Kid Flash (cameo)
* Terra
* Roundhouse
* Blackfire (mentioned)

#### HIVE 5

* Ravager
* See-More
* Gizmo
* Private HIVE
* Mammoth

## Trivia

* Black Mask was chosen as a cold open villain because of the Batman: Under the Red Hood movie.
* The little girl in the simulation is named Madison after a Ben 10: Omniverse civilian