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Description
It was late at night as the security guard of the Museum of History in Manchester, England patrolled the halls.

The wind was howling hard outside, making the old exhibits he passed seem a bit more eerie than usual. He entered into the hall labeled “Artifacts of Roman England”. He shined his light at each exhibit he passed. Old helmets and pieces of armor kept in glass cases, a replica of an old chariot, tapestries depicting ancient druids being attacked by Roman soldiers, and finally, at the very end in its own display, an odd looking staff.

The object was labeled as “The Staff of Thorns” and looked like it had been made from wood but more grown out of it than carved. A number of odd etchings and symbols were carved from top to bottom on the side that faced the guard, even one point in the middle that twisted and almost looked like a handle for whoever held it. At the very top was a pointed yet hollowed tip that looked like something was to be placed in it.

Seeing at was safe and secure the guard turned and began to walk out of the room, only to hear something not a moment later. He turned and saw there was a man, somehow, standing in front of the staff exhibit. His back was turned and all the guard could make out was that he wore a long white cape and matching top hat.

“Who are you?” the guard demanded. “How did you get in here?”

“Like anyone else would, my good man.” He answered, not turning around. “I simply walked in.”

As the man reached down for the staff the guard yelled “Stop! Don’t touch that. It belongs to the museum!”

“And what good is a museum anyway?” the man asked, holding up the staff. “All it will ever be is a building to hold dead things. But then some things aren’t as dead as others.” He turned and revealed himself to the guard, saying “Wouldn’t you agree?”

The guard looked in shock at what he was seeing, basically a suit with a cape, a top hat, a cane in one hand, gloves and a monocle. What stood out was that there was no one there, as if the suit had a life of its own or possibly was haunted by some spirit.

“I...I don’t know who or what you are...” the guard stammered. “B-but you’re under arrest!”

The ghost simply chuckled before saying “As much as I’d enjoy seeing you try to arrest a ghost, I’m afraid we’re running on a tight schedule.”

“W-we?” the guard asked before something came stomping up behind him.

By the time the guard turned he was met by a gruesome looking figure standing about 7 feet tall. He wore tattered and worn out clothing, a black vest and pants with a rope used for a belt, giving how big and muscular he was. His skin was pale grey and decaying and his face was an ugly reflection of what was once a man.

Before the man could act the brutish zombie punched him hard enough to send him flying back into a display of armor. The man collapsed among with the rest of the armor and groaned in pain.

The ghost shook his head before saying “Honestly, Grundy. Can’t you be the least bit subtle?”

“Grundy not care.” He answered. “Little man try to get in way, so Grundy hurt little man.”

“Yes, yes. Ever the left brain type you are. Those I doubt there much brain left.” He said to himself. “Well come along then. A gentlemen does his best to be on time. And we mustn’t keep our master waiting.”

********************

The following morning a crowd of reporters and citizens were group outside the Museum, hearing about what had been stolen.

Many of the stories were the same, saying how only the staff was stolen but there was no sign of a break-in and that the guard was alive but critically injured. As they spoke about it the guard himself was being wheeled out on a gurney into an ambulance truck. Amid the crowd of people stood one man. After hearing enough about what was stolen and how he began walking away from the crowd, eventually finding a back alley. A moment later an odd flash of light shone from the alleyway, but the man was gone.

A moment later that same man began walking down in the middle of an older looking town, towards a small but eerie looking house.

The door had swung open just as he walked up to it but he acted as though it was nothing and kept walking in. The hallway he walked down was filled with odd looking objects from candle holders, statues of dragons and demons, glass jars with odd looking insects and plants, and even a few magical looking charms. He reached the end of the hall and opened another door that lead into a small room with nothing more than a table, a few bookshelves on the walls, a window looking to the outside, and a woman sitting and shuffling a deck of cards.

The woman had long dark hair that was tied into two braids that hung from each side of her face while the rest of it hung down her back. Around her neck was a necklace with large circular jades decorating it, matching with the wrist bands she wore as well. From her ears hung two golden looped earrings. She wore a long purple dress that exposed the top of her shoulders. Finally the cards she was shuffling turned out to be tarot cards, though not the usual sort giving their make and what was drawn on them.

The man simply sat down across from her before saying “They’ve taken the staff.”

“Just as we feared they would.” She said, not looking up from shuffling the cards.

“Then you’re predictions were true.”

In answer she picked one card out from the deck and placed it in front of him, the card itself depicting a tree with an evil face in it.

“The evil tree.” She said.

“Thorn.” The man said with a grim tone.

“And he is not alone.” The woman said, shuffling more. She put two more cards next to the first saying “He is accompanied by a gentleman and a criminal. Both of whom are dead and yet still walking the earth.”

“Gentleman Ghost and Solomon Grundy.” The man stated, knowing who it was. “So what can I do?”

“I think you mean what can WE do.” She said, holding up a card that had a picture of knights standing around a table. “You know whom to call in this desperate hour.” She finished, putting it down in front of him.

Looking at the card then back to her he said “I will make the preparations then.”

Just as he stood to leave she said “Wait, there is more.” Making him sit down. “This task will be a great one, indeed. But you and your friends must not stand alone. Not only in brotherhood, but as a team. We have a ghost, a devil and an orchid. But there is one more thing we will need.”

“And what would that be?”

Holding up the final card in her hand and showing what it was, she answered “We need....a raven.”

********************

In Titans Tower, Beast Boy snuck through the halls dressed in a vampire costume.

He made his way to Cyborg’s room where he peeked in, seeing Cyborg working on something. The little green boy snickered as he snuck up on Cyborg, giving a horrible hiss and extending the cape of his costume out to try and scare him. He realized Cyborg hadn’t moved and tapped him, only for Cyborg to fall over and break into pieces. Beast Boy screamed when he saw Cyborg’s head rolled over towards his feet and looked more like a robotic skull. When BB fell over, nearly feinting the REAL Cyborg came into the room laughing at him.

“Aw man.” BB said, getting up. “I thought I had you that time.”

“C’mon, Beast Boy.” Cy said. “You should’ve known I saw you coming a mile away with all the security cameras hooked up.”

BB grumbled before saying “Yeah, well I still would’ve had you.” He suddenly perked up with an idea and asked “Hey! Wanna go scare Robin?”

Cyborg nodded eagerly before applying make to his face to look like a one-eyed alien creature. He even applied fake horns and antennae to his head as well. BB gave a thumbs up before both of them crept to Robin’s room, giggling as they did. They reached his door and knocked and waited until it opened, both roaring and making scary sounds when it did. Instead of a frightened Robin they found no one standing there.

As the two looked at each other, confused, something came out from the dark room and roared at them. A demonic looking creature, all purple skinned with yellow eyes, large fangs and horrible claws. Both BB and Cyborg screamed and fell back before the demon laughed, revealing it was actually a costume being worn by Robin.

BB laughed as he and Cyborg got up, saying “Dude! That costume is totally wicked!”

“You wouldn’t believe how much tape and glue went into making it.” Robin chuckled.

“This is going to be one of the best Halloween’s ever!” Cyborg declared. “Just as soon as Star and Rae are ready that is.”

“I am ready, friends!” they heard Starfire say nearby, making them look to see her dressed up.

She had a cardboard box over her body with her arms and legs sticking out, a sieve bowl on her head, a pair of tongs in one hand, cans slipped over her legs, and an eye patch with a bolt glued on it and painted red. Everything made clunking sounds as she walked over to them, BB doing his best not to laugh while Robin and Cy looked oddly at her.

“Is this costume sufficient for the trick-or-treating?” she asked.

“Uh...yeah, Star. It’s great.” Robin said, blushing a bit.

“Yeah.” Cy added. “Let me guess, Star-Borg. Right?”

She giggled before saying “When it was said we needed to dress as anything we are not, the first thing that came to mind was that I was not a thanogarian snare beast from the moon Proto 4, but I did not know how to make my hair into a nest of tentacles. So I thought of being a cyborg, but do not fear. I do not intend to replace you, Cyborg.”

“Don’t worry, Starfire.” He smiled. “It’s all good as long as you’re getting into the spirit.”

As they spoke Silkie had crawled his way over to them, he dressed up in a Frankenstein-like suit and makeup. Starfire giggled as she picked him up and held him under her right arm.

BB whined a little and said “C’mon, guys. It’s starting to get dark. And I want to hit as many houses as earlier as possible.”

“What about Raven?” Cy asked.

“I spoke with her earlier.” Starfire explained. “When I asked her about joining us on searching through the city to receiving candy and dressing up, her words were ‘I would not be caught dead doing that’.”

The others looked at each other curiously before all went to find Raven, eventually tracking her down in the living room. She was sitting on the couch and, as usual, reading one of her books with her hood down and her legs crossed. The other Titans all huddled behind her, expecting her to explain herself.

Looking up Raven sighed and said “I said it once, and I’ll say it again: I’m not going.”

“Aw, c’mon, Raven.” BB almost begged. “It’ll be fun. Going out. Dressing up. Getting candy.”

Raven retorted him with “I prefer to be indoors unless on a mission. Candy is bad for your teeth and gives me nausea. And in case you didn’t realize, we’re in costumes all the time.”

Cyborg shrugged on the last part and whispered to Robin “She does have a point.”

Starfire moved in front of Raven and said “But you must join us, Raven. From what I have learned of your Earthly ways, this is a time honored tradition dating back thousands of years.”

“I’d like to remind you when they did it back then, Star, it tended to involve human sacrifices.” Raven stated bluntly, making Star look surprised and shocked by this before recoiling away. She groaned a little and said to all of them “Look, just because I don’t want to join doesn’t mean I should spoil your fun. Just go on. I’ll be here.”

“Well, if you’re sure.” Robin said.

“Positive.” She said before going back to her book.

With that Robin shrugged and said “Okay, Titans. Let’s get out there and come back with our bags full!”

As they walked out Cy said “Oh you just wait and see how many I can carry back.”

Before he walked out with the others, BB looked back to Raven and said “I’ll, uh, try to bring you something back.”

Raven sighed and said “Thanks, Beast Boy.” before he finally walked out.

********************

An hour went by before the sun finally began to set over Jump City, Raven still alone in the Tower waiting for her friends to return.

She’d finished reading her book and had even made a cup of tea that sat on the table, empty, near where she’d left her book. Now she was in the center of the room meditating, saying her chant over and over as she concentrated.

“Azarath...metrion....zinthos. Azartath...metrion...zinthos. Azarath...”

We need you... a whispered suddenly came.

Raven snapped out of her meditation, her feet coming down to the ground, as she looked about for anyone in the room.

She called out “Hello?” not receiving an answer. “Who’s there?” she asked, walking towards one of the doors but not seeing anyone. “Who needs me?” she called, turning around and look to the other side of the room. Eventually Raven found herself back in the middle of the room, not finding anything. She shook her head for a moment and said “I’m really starting to second guess staying alone.”

Suddenly a wind began to pick up in the room, making Raven look around confused since none of the windows were open. With the wind came a sound, like someone chatting words that seemed to blend in with the sudden uproar. It was both soft and yet loud, making Raven cover one of her ears to try and see where it was coming from. Then a glow began to appear at her feet, making her look down to see a magical circle, symbols glowing outside of it, form beneath her. As it glowed brighter and the wind and voices picked up, Raven shielded herself before a flash of light filled the room.

When everything calmed Raven collapsed on the ground, breathing hard as she recovered. The wind had stopped and the voices and magical circle were gone, but now she found herself somewhere else.

“I am terrible sorry about that.” Someone said, walking over to her. “Transportation spells tend to take the wind out of you when you’re traveling so far between spaces.”

“Could’ve.....just made....a phone call.” Raven said, still catching her breath.

The man chuckled and kneeled down, saying “Yes, but this was more efficient.” He held his hand out to help her saying “Here.”

Raven looked up and the first thing she saw was the man was wearing a golden glove. Looking up from there Raven got a full look at him and gasped a little. His outfit was dark blue with a golden cape, gloves, boots, and an amulet around his neck. He also wore a golden helmet with his eyes beaming blue.

Taking his hand he helped Raven to her feet, she asking “Who....who are you?”

“I am called Doctor Fate.” He said, putting his hand over his chest and bowing. “And this,” he indicated the entire room around her. “is my home.”

Raven took a moment to actually look around where she was, seeing it was an expansive room with a number of large paintings and objects all around against the walls. Some of them Raven knew from reading in her books. She looked back and also saw a couch with a few pillows on it in front of a large bookshelf that went as high as the wall itself. She ran to a nearby window and saw that she was in a large tower that seemed to be floating through some other dimension.

“What is this place?” she asked, backing away from the window.

Fate put his hand on her shoulder to stop and calm her while saying “It has had many names over the years, but many have come to call it the Tower of Fate. And it is housed in the realm of Nabu.”

“Nabu?” Raven said, looking up to him. “The old god of order?”

“One in the same.” Fate nodded.

Giving a confused look Raven asked “Why did you bring me here?”

He put his other hand on her other shoulder and said “Not to fear, Raven. You are among friends. And all will be explained. But first you must come with me.” He escorted her to the door leading out while saying “Time for you to meet the rest of the team?”

“Team?” she asked just as the door opened for them.

For a few minutes Raven was led by Dr. Fate through the Tower of Fate, going down one corridor to a door that lead through some obscured hallway through another dimension, only to come through another door that lead to what almost looked like a room too big to be in the tower itself. Eventually they came to a large door which Fate opened, revealing a room filled with, what Raven could only describe, as the oddest assortment of characters she’d seen so far.

The room everyone was in seemed like a sort of meeting room, a large circular table in the center of what seemed like a collection of old treasures and secret books. All were in glass cases or seemed to have magical barriers over them, showing how important they were. On the table itself was a symbol of large letters which were covered by a blanket that had a crystal ball in the middle, the only letters Raven was able to make out was the first was a J and the last was an A.

“Everyone,” Fate said as he and Raven entered. “I’d like to introduce you to Raven, of the Teen Titans.”

The first one to walk up to them was the same woman who’d predicted Raven’s arrival before, she saying “So this is the famous Raven. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh....likewise.” Raven shyly said, shaking her hand.

Fate gave the introductions saying “Raven, this is Madam Xanadu. Our own personal fortune teller and mistress of the magical arts.”

Xanadu gave a curious hum while shaking her hand as she said “I can feel the magic within you, Raven. It’s strong. Balanced. And still growing.”

As Raven took that into account another person walked over, though this one surprised Raven more. He stood six feet tall, wearing a black and yellow long sleeve shirt and jeans. In one hand he held a long golden trident with two large prongs on the end. What surprised Raven was his look, his skin was blue, his eyes red and he had two horns on his head.

Reaching the others he looked down at Raven, sniffing the air around her, and saying “So this is our so-called backup?” He looked to Xanadu and asked “Sure you didn’t make a mistake this time Xanadu?"

“I don’t make mistakes, Devil.” She said, crossing her arms. “But you shouldn’t make such quick judgments.”

He merely huffed before Fate said “And this, Raven, is Blue Devil. He is skilled in hunting down and banishing demons in this world with the help of his trident.”

“So you’re like a demon hunter?” she asked Blue Devil

“That’s right. I can smell them a mile away.” He leaned down to her and said And don’t think I can’t smell it on you, Trigon’s Daughter.”

Raven looked surprised hearing that before Fate said “Enough, Devil. We will not hold that against her here. None of us can exactly cast the first stone given our own deeds in the past.”

Raven looked back to Dr. Fate and asked “You all know about that?”

“Indeed.” He nodded. “But we are also aware of how you and the other Titans had fought against Trigon and saved the world from falling under his reign.”

“We try to not let the past haunt us here, Raven.” Xanadu said, giving her a reassuring smile. “Only look towards the future.”

While Raven smiled, knowing they didn’t care about her heritage, Blue Devil suddenly said “Yeah, kid. Don’t let big blue get you down. He’s just edgy around demons ‘cause he can’t stand to be one.”

What was really odd about this was that Devil’s voice had changed a little, making him sound like he had a New Yorker accent.

Raven gave a confused sound before Blue Devil snapped back to his normal voice and said “Hey! Ask next time before you borrow my body, DM!”

“Okay...” Raven said, more confused.

“Apologies.” Fate said, gaining her attention. “It is another member of ours. Unfortunately he is only a spirit and-”

“Hang on.” Raven said, holding her hand up to stop him.

Looking away from the others Raven closed her eyes and concentrated on a spell. She whispered a few words before opening her eyes, both glowing white. With this new vision she was able to see the spirit in question. He wore a red acrobatic looking outfit with a large collar and the letter D in the middle of it. His was skinny, almost withered looking, with pale skin and sunken dark eyes.

“There you are.” Raven said.

“Hey, nice magical peepers you got.” The spirit said, floating over to her. “Allow me to introduce myself. They call me the Deadman.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed.” Raven sarcastically said before asking “So what was that whole thing with ‘borrowing’ Blue Devil’s body?”

“That is his way of communicating with the physical world.” Fate explained. “You see, as a spirit, Deadman cannot be seen or heard by normal beings.”

“So every now-and-then I need to rent out someone’s body just to talk to people.” Deadman explained. “And let me tell you, it gets really weird when you go have to share someone’s mind. Tend to learn some pretty weird things from them. Take big blue for instance.”

Deadman whispered something to Raven, which only she heard and giggled at, making Blue Devil ask “What? What did he say?” He groaned before looking around and saying “You’re so lucky you’re already dead or so help me!”

Fate shook his head before leading Raven over to the table where the final member sat and waiting, saying “And this is our final member, the Black Orchid.”

The one called Black Orchid stood up from where she sat and bowed to Raven. Her costume was a dark violet body suit that had an organic plant-like design to it. The only part of her actual body exposed was the lips and chin from the cowl she wore. The suit had a small cape that attached to her wrists, almost looking like wings from a moth or butterfly.

“Nice to meet you.” Raven said after she was bowed to.

The Black Orchid was silent for a moment before Fate said “Excuse her silence. She’s not much or talking.”

“Don’t tell me that’s her superpower, right?” Raven sarcastically asked.

Raven had turned back to Dr. Fate when she asked, not seeing as Black Orchid began to show her real powers; her body starting to morph and change. When Raven looked back she gasped when she found she was looking at an exact duplicate of herself, even speaking in her own voice.

“How’s that for a superpower?” the Raven-Orchid clone asked with a smirk.

“Whoa....” was the only reaction Raven could give.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” The clone said as it slowly morphed back into Black Orchid, she winking and smiling at Raven.

As the Orchid walked over to stand with the others Raven asked “Who are all of you?”

Fate was the one to explain, saying “We are the Sentinels of Magic! A secret group of guardians to this world against any and all supernatural threats that could mean the end for all. While as heroes on our own we our known to the world, officially, this team you see before you does not actually exist.”

“I think I get it.” Raven said. “You’re like a secret society of magical superheroes, right?”

“Exactly.” Xanadu said. “And now, young Raven, we have invited you to join us. We need your help.”

“Help with what?” she asked.

Fate answered with “Why, to save the world from a magical force that threatens to take it over of course.”