Fandom Beast Boy and Raven (Closed)

[Beckspace]

Rachel thought about it for a moment before responding. It definitely worried her that a powerful recognizable man like Lex Luthor was a villain, it could make this fight very public and that was the last thing she wanted.

“Luthor did say the only man that can stop him was busy. He must have been talking about Superman,” Rachel said, agreeing with Garfield. “But that also means Superman isn’t available. Don’t suppose you have anyone from the Justice League on speed dial, do you?”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield laughed as if he had been waiting for this exact moment. “Why yes. I. Do.” He stated before pulling out his phone and contacting who he believed was still his best friend. “Sometimes he can’t answer cuz he’s busy but sometimes he even plays some games and stuff with me.” Garfield explained while the phone rang on speaker.

When the line was picked up there was plenty of explosions, screams, and loud thuds in the background. “B-zzhhzhz-. Beastie I ca-zhzhz-. Fighting some alie-zhzhz.” Cyborg’s voice was staticky and Batman’s stern voice could be heard behind him. “Victor I need-zhzhz hack into-zhzhz” The phone returned to the contact list after it appeared the call ended.

Garfield looked a bit worried before picking up his phone and returning it once more to his pocket. “Uhm…Whadda we do now?” He asked trying to get the image of Cyborg in danger out of his mind.

 

[Beckspace]

Cyborg's voice was cut out from static, but Rachel still felt the impact of hearing her friend's voice again after 3 years of radio silence. She was starting to think more and more that cutting herself off from everyone after the incident was not the best plan. With a wealthy genius criminal mastermind on the loose, maybe the Titans shouldn't have disbanded at all, but maybe that's just Rachel's hopeful thinking kicking in.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Rachel said after the long drawn out pause that came with Cyborg’s inability to communicate with them. “We might be on our own with this.”

She took out her notebook again with the serial number written on it. It was the same number she saw on the machine in the old villain headquarters, she was sure of it. There were plenty of things the number could be, a zip code, ID, coordinates. Whatever it was, it was the only lead they had.

“Well, we could go to the library and do some research,” she suggested. “Find out what these numbers mean in correlation to Lex Luthor.”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield didn’t mind it being just the two of them for this mission. At least they weren’t facing Lex Luthor alone, which would probably have been death for the changling by now.

When Rachel brought up the library and research, Garfield groaned before lying his head down on the table. “Why does stuff always gotta be with books? Can’t we just use like, the internet or something?” Garfield didn’t want to use any unnecessary brain power, he might need some of that for fighting against Brain and Lex. It’s not like he had any to spare to be honest.

 

[Beckspace]

Rachel crossed her arms and tapped her toe impatiently. “Libraries have more than just books, you know. They have computers, newspapers, resources we can use to figure out what Luthor is up to.”

She stood up and moved to the sink to clean out her mug, not wanting any more of her tea now that she had some sort of lead. Rachel always liked the library. Sometimes, even more than the bookstore, it felt like home. “When was the last time you visited a library?”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield threw his hands up in defeat. Just the thought of being in a building full of books was his worst nightmare. Especially now that he has to read and research. “That doesn’t mean I wanna go there. You gotta be quiet all the time, people stare at you a bunch, and they always have old ladies that are rude.” He explained.

“Uh I dunno but it was not cool. It was pretty boring y’know.” Garfield was going to stand by his opinion even if they were going to regardless. He blew on his tea and felt it had cooled considerably before downing it and walking over to the sink, putting his mug in. “Fine! We can go but I’m not gonna like it.” He said, pouting like a child.

 

[Beckspace]

“You’re hopeless,” Rachel said, shaking her head, knowing that while he may have had that experience, libraries are not always the stereotype bestowed upon them in film. “Just give it a chance. Who knows? It might surprise you. You may even learn something.”

She grabbed her bag, thought about it and shrugged. “Or don’t. Either way it’s the only idea I’ve got.” She didn’t want to force him to like something just because she liked it. He hadn’t done that to her with the video games, even though he did strongly suggest she try it.

“Come on, ninja turtle. Let’s go.”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield knew he wasn’t able to bring anything he wanted to the library so he simply walked over to Rachel and followed her out the door. He thought about bringing his skateboard but that too wouldn’t be allowed inside. “So what’re you thinking bout looking up when we get there?” He asked pulling his hood around his face a little.

Garfield was typically more relax about his whole identity thing when it was just people finding out who he was. Now that it was villains after him, he grew more skeptical about those around them and if they were normal civilians or Allie’s to the Brotherhood of Evil. “We didn’t even get to chilllll….” Garfield complained as he pushed his shoulder against Rachel’s softly.

 

[Beckspace]

Rachel had taken her wet hair down out of her towel before leaving her apartment, throwing her hood over her head as well. Now more than ever she needed to keep her distance from civilians, for their and her safety.

She had any even realized how quickly she made the decision to get up and move again after agreeing to just chill for a while. It wasn’t nice that she made the decision for him as well. “Sorry, Gar. If you want to go back and chill, you can. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, and it probably won’t take me too long to find what we’re looking for anyway.”

Rachel thought about what the numbers could be. “I’ll just throw the numbers in a couple browsers and see what pops up.”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield bit his lip slightly and frowned, shaking his head. “C’mon Rae you know I wanna chill with you. If that means we gotta do work first then fine, but I wanna do this together.” He said with a determined tone. It may have meant doing something he wasn’t use to but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it. If Garfield wanted a future worth fighting for then he knew he needed to go to library.

He scratched his forehead and looked over at the paper. What even were serial numbers? “The lady on TV said Plex was the boss of Plex corps so maybe that place made those machines?” Garfield was unaware of the mispronunciation of their new enemy’s name but felt the point was well thought out anyways.

 

[Beckspace]

"It's Lex," Rachel corrected, happy that he was deciding to come along to the library too. "Lex Luthor is the owner of Lexcorps. It's a big business with multiple sites all over the US. I'm thinking the numbers might give us the correct building, or at least narrow down our search."

She pulled out her notebook and relayed the numbers. "398683872584." It just looked like a bunch of numbers to her with no rhyme or reason. As they walked, she remembered what else was said on the news. "They also mentioned Luthor now owns that old headquarters building. I wonder what he's planning to do with it now that it's completely demolished."

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield shook his head since it truly didn’t make a difference to him. “Whatever, Lex shmex.” He said with a confident smile. “Doesn’t matter when he gets beat by Beast Boy and Raven!” Garfield realized he was being a little too loud and pulled the strings tight on his hoodie.

“I mean beast boy and raven…“ He whispered, hoping no one who knew them was nearby. “When we find out where this number is from, then what do we do?” Garfield walked looking down at their feet as he subconsciously tried to synchronize their footsteps for fun.

 

[Beckspace]

“Uhm… I don’t know. Head there, sneak in, figure out what they’re up to?” Rachel shrugged. “Make it up as we go, I guess.”

The main branch of the Jump City Public Library was a large building on the corner of two streets. In the front there is a large concrete staircase bordered by pillars, leading up to the main entrance. Some citizens sat reading on the big stairs, others were hanging out with friends, laughing at a joke one of them must have said.

Rachel led the way up the stairs and through the large arching doorway. Inside was a large three-floor room bustling with people. The walls with lined with shelf upon shelf of books, and towards the center of the room, beside the circulation desk, were rows of computers. It was a little to bright and spacious for Rachel to feel at home, but it was the closest she’ll get to feeling 100% comfortable in public.

“Let’s grab some computers,” Rachel said, even though she had the increasing desire to forget it all and just browse the shelves.

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield was worried when even Rachel was unsure of a true plan since he rarely had one. It reminded him of how Robin always came up with a plan for the Titan’s when no one could or when there was just a better option. It would be great to have that right now…

He looked up in awe at the size of the “book building”. He nearly broke a sweat climbing the stairs all the way up to the doors before entering the library. The sight of all the books and high shelves made him dizzy but he followed close behind Rachel.

“Uh you lead the way Rach. I dunno where anything is.” Garfield expressed as he watched the kids from a kindergarten field trip run off towards a scheduled book reading. It was a lot to take in to say the least.

 

[Beckspace]

It was interesting watching Garfield be out of his comfort zone. He always seemed able to fit in anywhere, or at least act like he did anyway.

“Don’t worry, the books don’t bite,” She said with a grin. Rachel reached the computers and sat down at the first one to the left. She grabbed the chair of the computer beside it and pulled it so that there were two chairs in front of the one computer.

To start with, Rachel pulled up a browser and simply typed in the numbers. The screen showed no match. She placed her pointer finger on her chin. “Ok. Would have been suspicious if it was that easy. Maybe it’s a zip code?”

She searched for zip codes starting with 3. Numbers showed up for Georgia. She shook her head, still not liking her results. “This doesn’t look right either. Maybe it’s a UPC number?”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield could see that Rachel was much more comfortable than he was at the library but that didn’t help his feelings. He tried to relax as he sat down next to her, slouching deep into the chair and stretched out. “Wait what’s a UPC number?”

As soon as Rachel began typing in things and speaking to herself, he knew that he wasn’t going to be any help. He figured the best way to help was to try and learn something. After his question left his lips, Garfield scooted his chair up and leaned forward to look at what Rachel was searching up exactly.

 

[Beckspace]

“It’s the number on store items. I think I read somewhere that they actually mean something besides being just numbers,” Rachel explained. She thought about it, then reached for her notebook again and wrote down the numbers differently this time.

“3-98683-87258-4. Well, it’s the correct quantity of numbers,” She said. After typing in the numbers in the new way, the browser simply thought it was a math equation. Rachel wasn’t willing to give up on it yet, though.

“Hey, want to see if you can flag down a librarian? They might know a website we can use to look this up,” Rachel asked as she scrolled through the rest of the results.

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield wasn’t sure why but he found it pretty cool that Rachel knew that for some reason. He would never understand the urge to read something as random as a piece about numbers and codes, but nonetheless the knowledge she had was impressive. He looked over to the screen and tilted his head. “-185942? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Garfield figured it wasn’t why Rachel wanted since she deleted the entire search bar and turned to him. He looked a little anxious but nodded “Easy peasy.” He responded in a tone that definitely meant he felt the opposite.

He stood up and walked over to the big circular desk that they had passed before and there wasn’t anyone working there at the moment then he groaned silently. “C’mon man…” Garfield walked around for a few moments and spotted an elderly woman who was looking at books on a book cart. She had to be a librarian right?

Garfield tapped the woman on the shoulder and she turned, slightly confused. “Uh excuse me library lady, could you come and help me and my friend at the computers?” The woman became a bit frustrated. “I am not the librarian , I’m just a browser. If you wanted a librarian-“ She pointed towards a woman who looked more towards his age and Garfield figured out the rest. “Awesome! Thanks lady.” She promptly shushed him before he headed over to the “actual” librarian.

Garfield waved the worker to look in his direction once he was standing by and explained the situation once more. “Uh I’m just a teacher here with the kindergartners but I believe the librarian is upstairs.” Garfield groaned and made his way back towards the stairs, passing Rachel. “I’m on it Rae!” He relayed before heading up.

 

[Beckspace]

Rachel had an couple reasons for sending Garfield to get a librarian. One, she was telling the truth in that she thinks the librarian might know a way of breaking down a UPC to get a location. Two, it was funny watching Gar trying to navigate the library. Three, she had something else she wanted to search without Garfield knowing.

The truth was, she believed Lex Luthor when he said they couldn’t stop him in that recorded message. Not with just the two of them. Gar was upset when Cyborg couldn’t answer, she didn’t want to raise his hopes up by trying for someone else and then it not working out.

She started with Robin, if anyone could bring a team together, it’d be him. Rachel was confused by the results she was getting, a kid in Robin’s suit. He must have passed the gauntlet. But where is her Robin?

Giving up that search for now, she moved on to Starfire. There wasn’t any kid under the alias of Starfire this time. There was nothing recent at all, just old clippings of the girl who was once her friend. Rachel sighed and sat back in her seat, regretting she didn’t keep her titans communicator. All the heroes who could have be contacted and she had no idea how. Steeling herself, she moved on to searching for Aqualad.

In the meantime, the librarian, a young woman with red hair wrapped up tight in a ponytail, noticed Garfield walking aimlessly the floor above.

“Excuse me. Can I help you find something?” She asked with a welcoming smile.

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield bounded up the stairs only to reach the desired floor and get bombarded by shelves and plenty of people who could or couldn’t be who he was looking for. He walked throughout the area, searching for someone who at least looked smart.

When the lady call out to him he knew that must’ve meant she worked here. Garfield’s eyes lit up and he smiled back. “You must be the library lady! Sweet! Okay so here’s the deal. Me and my friend are looking up stuff on the computer and we need your help. It’s like NPCs or UFCs….” The more Garfield spoke of the subject in mind the less sure he became about it.

After a moment or two he shook his head. “Actually could you uhh follow me? She can tell you wayyyy better than I can.” Garfield admitted before heading back towards Rachel.

 

[Beckspace]

Rachel had just moved on to looking for Speedy when she spotted Gar and the librarian walking her way. She quick exited out of the tab and opened the default browser once more.

“Hello, your friend says your looking for… NPCs?” The librarian asked. Rachel glared at Garfield before responding.

“He meant UPC,” Rachel said. “We have a serial number that I found on an item that I believe is a UPC number. We want to know where the item came from.”

The librarian took a look at the number in Rachel’s notebook. “Hmm, well I believe you’re right. It does look like a UPC. We unfortunately don’t have a specific UPC identifier here at the library, but I do know a website you can try. May I?”

Rachel stepped aside as the librarian took over the computer. She brought the screen to a website with a search bar for “Global Trade Item Number”. The librarian stepped back and gestured to Rachel.

“If it’s a UPC, it’ll show up in this database. Good luck! I’ll be at the desk if you need me.” She said. Before she left, she looked over at Garfield and said as she walked off, “I haven’t seen you around here before. Make sure you sign up for a library card before you leave. It’s free!”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield chuckled nervously and shrugged his shoulders at Rachel. Sometimes his short attention span really got the best of him. He walked over and stood beside Rachel while the librarian began talking about the numbers with them. He figured she knew what she was talking about since Rachel didn’t question anything she said either.

As the woman was leaving she said something to Garfield that he immediately looked confused. “Uhh yeah sure dude…” He replied before turning to Rachel. “You know what we gotta do now?” He asked, pulling the chair back out and sitting down beside her.

 

[Beckspace]

“Just plug in the numbers now and see what pops up,” Rachel said as she did just that. She typed up the miners in the search bar and hit enter.

While the computer calculated the numbers, Rachel looked over at Garfield. “Are you ok? We’re the old ladies rude to you?” She asked teasingly.

The computer made a small ping noise when the results were in. Rachel looked back at the computer and was glad to find that the number was, in fact recognized. The website broke the number down into 3 sections, the company prefix, item reference, and check digit. Rachel didn’t know what all that meant, but luckily the computer did. Below the number was owning company.

“Lexcorp Jump City Branch. He’s already here. And look, the address is 72 Bay Street. That’s right on the water.”

 

[QuickWords]

Garfield should’ve known that since there wasn’t much else you could do with a website. Man, he needed to pay more attention and think about things. When Rachel mentioned old ladies he could see she was messing with him and he furrowed his brow. “Dude those old ladies are no joke, seriously…” He defended himself.

Garfield felt more like a spectator while Rachel put in the numbers, directing the website. Then again he did go and get the librarian so it wasn’t like he felt totally useless. “Wait does that mean we’re going there right now?” He felt a little skeptical about facing up against the “final boss” so soon. “What if he has like 30 bad guys there? I dunno if we can beat that many…”

 

[Beckspace]

Rachel hesitated before responding. “Actually, I think we’ve done enough today.” She shut down the computer and stood up. There was no way they were taking down Luthor today. She wasn’t even sure they could do it period.

“What’s the rush, right? No one’s in danger yet.” She shrugged. “Besides, we did what I wanted to do, now it’s your turn.”