To answer the most recurrent questions: Rachel does have a past that will come up, so please don't ask me about it any longer. Yes, Garfield does have a secret or six up his sleeve. When and if he will divulge this will come up in a later chapter. Batman trusted Robin because he was his nephew, and Eve vouched for the Titans. Besides, he felt bad that he'd basically ignored the kid for ten years. Yes, dr.evil99 does do something to deserve the habitual plugs- plot consultation is a narrow field. Yes, I will stop rambling and get to the story. No, I haven't talked to a psychiatrist recently.
It was normal for Rachel to not say a word at lunch. The heavy book she carried, with mildew gilding the edges of the pages, was normal, even if it had been absent for a week or two. Sipping tea without regard for a near-scalding temperature was just as normal as breathing, for her. Ignoring Garfield was normal, and standard operating procudure. But- Rachel would listen to Kori and respond to her questions without her usual level of scathing. Normally, at least.
"Will we all accompany Richard this afternoon when he goes to arrange a box at the office of post?" That could only be Kori, even if the others hardly recognized her speech as odd any longer.
"I think he can manage the task himself," Rachel said without looking away from her book, much nastier than absolutely necessary.
"Rachel, are you snapping at Kori for any reason, or are you just being you?" Richard always defended Kori, even if he didn't realize it.
"You being at the table is more than enough of a reason."
"Rachel. You did start this." Victor was reasonable. "Don't take it out on Kori- or Richard," he added as an afterthought.
"I- didn't sleep well." That was an apology, from Rachel.
Kori took it. "There is no offense, friend Rachel. Perhaps you would like to share why you had such a bad night of sleep."
"A nightmare." That was the closest to the truth she could come. And convincing my father that you guys were worthless, but a good way to cull out weak gangs. It was in your best interest. Slade's watching us, and he's bad enough, was the full explanation she couldn't offer.
"Gar- you too? You haven't said four words today." Victor knew he wouldn't get anything further out of Rachel. That little speck of unclear detail was the most she would offer. Maybe when Rachel wasn't at school, where she still felt that she needed to keep her distant reputation- then she might tell him something.
"I'm just thinking. I need to stop at the pharmacy after school. It's a block and a half away from the post office."
"Everyone can wait in the store while I reserve a post office box in costume," Richard suggested.
"Right after school, then? We could meet at Victor's car." Kori hadn't thrown in a single odd turn of phrase, but it was still early. She had plenty of time for her daily collection of odd phrases.
"At my car," Victor said. "Will that work for everyone?" He waited for the consensus. "Good, because Chief wants a box yesterday- we've been getting mail."
.Simple Errand? Never.
"This is the store, Gar?"
"Yeah. This is it." Rachel had seen the store before. Kori was- well, Kori. She wouldn't notice the neighborhood's appearance in the brighter light, and had been to his house. She'd probably seen worse. Victor drove him home, and wouldn't say anything. Richard- well, Richard wasn't the nicest gnome in the garden.
"I need a few things." That simple statement was the only prelude to Rachel disappearing into slightly crooked aisles. She had shopping of her own to do.
Of course. I just come to this store every two weeks. He's a part-time employee. Naturally, he would be working wherever I need to be whenever I come in. Gar wasn't exactly sure why the one worker he always saw hated his guts. His foster mom had pressed criminal charges when the employee had gotten a little too friendly with another foster child, but that had been long before he was near Forston.
"Garfield." The employee currently acting as a (undoubtedly uncertified) pharmacist cut straight to the point- almost. "Your freak girlfriend isn't here to protect you. Don't know why she ended up with you- she's pretty, for a corpse." His voice reached through the store.
Rachel, nearby in the medical supplies aisle, froze. Kori started for the voice, Victor at her side. Someone was picking on their friends, and they did not like that.
"She isn't my girlfriend, Adonis. I don't need my friend to show you that I'm tired of being pushed around. You've been messing with me for three months. That's over today." He had a few new muscle groups, after training, and was ready to use them.
Rachel stopped Kori and Victor. They could step in, but only if he needed the help. She recognized the set of his face, determined and ready to win. He'd either win, or go down after a very good fight. She would place her bet on the latter. Adonis wasn't known for his strength in contact hand-to-hand, but she'd step in if they were too close together.
"You trying to pick a fight, wimp? Just because you have a few friends on the fancy side of Main-" He stepped out from behind the counter, walking through the gap where a hidden door should be. The store had never bothered to replace it. "You want a fight? The manager's sleeping, security cameras are out. There'll be no proof to show the reason we'll need a janitor in aisle five."
"If that's what it'll take. You're done picking on me." Gar felt like he could do this. He hadn't been this confident since- that wasn't important. He couldn't remember, anyway.
"Am I, now?"
"Yes." Garfield's left uppercut, his weakest move, was faster than Adonis could follow. Adonis was a wrestling prodigy. He barely reacted, instead charging forward farther to join the fight. It would take more than a punch to bring him down.
Adonis used every low-down trick he had ever known. Garfield avoided them, keeping a careful distance from the larger opponent. Gar had collected a few bruises, but Adonis was doing much worse.
The fight had to end. Gar took the initiative; Adonis was winding down. Gar delivered a neat round-house rabbit punch to the "sweet" spot on the temple, as Bruce termed it. The big guy was down. Gar took the bag marked with his name the cashier, paid, and walked out. Rachel followed the rest to the car after paying for her purchase, just in time for Victor to regain his voice.
"Garfield Logan," Victor said, once all four were in the car. Gar, hero of the hour, was riding shotgun. "That was the best fighting I've seen from you, man. I wish we did have that on tape. Even Richard wouldn't find a problem in your technique- just aggressive enough, but you didn't go too far."
"You vanquished your enemy," Kori said, reaching over the seat to give a very light spontaneous hug.
"You needed to do that, and a bit of good fighting never hurt. With Kori- Mammoth's going down." Rachel was being oddly nice, but it was his moment.
"It was nothing," Gar said. "Okay so it wasn't," he amended after a dead silence. "But it was something I've wanted to do for a long time, and not just to Adonis. I don't like bullies."
"Robin," Victor said, pulling the car to a stop as he spottedthe costumed friend. Richard took a spot in the back seat, ripping off his mask when the coast was assured clear. "So, we have an address?" Victor asked.
"We have a post office box, and seventeen solicitations for movie, book, television drama, and exclusive interview rights." He held out a heavy sheaf of envelopes, fanning them out to show a few famous trademarks in the addresser's corner.
"I'll write a general reply," Rachel offered. "We reserve all rights, including all media, commercial, costume, trademark, performance, and literature, both domestic and international." She had heard more than enough such transactions to understand such things.
Richard considered. "That would cover everything. I have a few letters the mail carriers could finally deliver. Chief has our address- I left it with her receptionist through a phone call." He still couldn't place the familiar voice of the gun-wielding secretary.
"Garfield won a fight with a guy twice his size." Victor felt that was an important detail.
"The guy deserved it," was Rachel's only comment.
"So, you'll be ready tonight?" Richard asked. "I want to find the three gang members for a rematch. No use waiting. They might have some other message to deliver, and we'll be ready for them."
"I'll be at the basement by seven; I have a few things I need to do at home." Gar was being vague, again. No one brought up his usual evasiveness. He'd earned a respite from the usual prying.
"Seven sounds good- Bruce promised a new warm-up."
"I will not be present for the dinner part celebrating Connie's six-month anniversary with her current beau. I'd rather avoid it." The small act of defiance was a first for Kori.
"We'll do it tonight." Rachel rarely offered anything close to optimism, but she had a little confidence in their fighting. "Everyone knows what to do."
Garfield agreed. "No holds barred- we're going to win."
.Winning a Fight.
Rachel walked through the front door at 6:58, finding the panel to press without looking away from her current book, homework for an English class. Technically, she was past the required reading, but she hadn't wanted to stop. She descended the revealed staircase with nothing more than a cursory glance from her book, walking to the changing room she had chosen. The door was unmistakable, plain wood with RAVEN spelled out in neat block letters. She nearly collided with Gar, noticing only when he knocked the book from her hand- she stepped aside. He didn't move.
"Excuse me," she said, a standard polite reflex, sarcasm at a minimal.
"You better watch it," he said, in a tone very far from his usual good humor.
"I was being polite," she said levelly. "Now, assuming this is not an extremely distasteful joke, I am not at all sorry." She traveled the last few feet to her room, slamming the door for the first time.
"Friend Garfield, you were most rude to Rachel. Perhaps you need to have to be cheered to an elevated position?"
"No, Kori, and the right phrase would be 'cheered up.' You sound like an idiot when you can't speak proper English."
"Gar, you need to stop sniping. Now. Rachel has a thing called tact, and everyone here is used to her walking around with her nose in a book. Kori was, as usual, being nice."
"And you?"
Victor couldn't understand what had happened. Personality transplants were a figure of speech. "I'm trying to figure out where my best friend is."
"He's right here, and not taking any more crap." Gar's voice had an overly-confident edge, one Victor didn't like at all.
"Adonis gave you 'crap,' as you so eloquently put it. We did not, do not, and only will if you keep up the macho-man act."
"Well, I'm tired of you, all of you. You're always bossing me around, Victor. And Kori- learn how to act normal, would you?"
"Garfield-" Victor couldn't stop him.
"And Richard- the guy's the most irritable and antisocial guy I've ever met. Don't even get me started on Rachel."
Victor knew this would be bad. He had to try. "Gar, don't say anything you'll regret. I don't know what's wrong with you, but forget best friend ties- you crossed the line when you wouldn't take Rachel's apology."
"Rachel is a freak. She always needs attention, whether she's not playing her hardest or being little Miss Healer. She never has a nice thing to saw about anyone, but that's all fine and normal. She is not teammate material. She's the morbid witch to watch headquarters, really."
"Garfield." Three Titans in uniform glared at him, Victor's voice taking a rarely-used underlying tone. This was the voice he had used on a basketball player known for hitting his girlfriend. That boy now was very nice to his new girlfriend, who knew of past happenings- the other girlhad broken up with him. "Stop it. You've already maligned everyone on the team. One more slight against a teammate of mine, and this gets to be something more than you screwing up."
"If everyone's going to throw a fit, I'll just keep playing the guy who no one takes seriously."
"You are not taking us seriously," Kori said gently. "We can forgive stress making people say what they do not mean."
"What if I did mean it?"
"Then you need to decide if you want to be have friends or not." Victor didn't understand the change, but it wasn't for the better.
"Look. We're all going out in an hour. Until then, we'll all spend a little alone-time." Richard had avoided the confrontation, but this was something he could do. Maybe this would blow over. Hopefully.
.Round Two.
It didn't. Four minutes before the Titans left for patrol, Rachel left the changing room. She was no nastier than usual, but she did ignore Gar to sit beside Kori. On the way to a location reported by Eve about the gang they were looking for, she began a conversation about a biology assignment with Kori, pointedly ignoring the third biology student in the car. Chief told them the three were known as the HIVE, similar to the bee anatomy quiz they would have the next day.
Robin made the announcement as Cyborg brought the car to a gradual halt. They were close to a fight. It was time for their alter-egos. "Starfire, help Raven with Jinx. I'll back up Cyborg when he takes on Gizmo, but help Beast Boy with Mammoth whenever he needs it." Richard saw aggression as a flaw in character for social dealings, but knew that Beast Boy would be a better fighter. There had to be bad for any good, after all.
They left the car a block away, in a nice little neighborhood with a fresh coat of paint on bedraggled trim rotting below the cheerful linoleum surface of the siding. The place was a haven in the midst of openly ruined areas, streaked with hostility but not yet outright blight. This little area still had hope.
Robin saw them first, beginning to break into an innocuous garage with a fresh coat of bargain-variety whitewash that was already starting to fade. "Titans, go!"
They went. His earlier strategy worked easily. Starfire and Raven worked together from training, and quickly had Jinx hard-pressed to block attacks, let alone make some of her own. Cyborg ran in behind, finishing the hardest part of the fight by studying a backpack with a power cell as he sparred with a much smaller opponent. He pulled the plugs from the (illegal) hydrogen fuel cell, disconnecting equipment from the power source. Without technologically gifted strength, Gizmo was easy to defeat.
Raven and Starfire lost no ground, taking down their villain with ease. Jinx was good, but being faced by two gave a clear advantage to the people working on the legal side of the law. At their thumbs-up, Cyborg patched his communicator to call Chief's secretary.
"Too much aggression, Beast Boy. He's out. You're done." Robin tried his hand at talking his teammate down.
"Friend Beast Boy, please cease the violence."
"Hey! BB, you need to stop. The big guy's down for the count."
Raven had the best solution, and the least social inhibitions. She grabbed a still-flailing Beast Boy by handfuls of costume on his back. He nearly punched her. She didn't bother assuming a defensive stance when he raised a gloved fist, even if she did involuntary tense. "Beast Boy, I really don't think you want to do that." Maybe he'll listen. If not, she'd have a lovely bruise to leave on his left bicep. She wouldn't mess up her stitching. That would mean making him sit still, and she wasn't about to deal with him in his current mood.
He lowered his arm, scowled, and moved back to the car. Raven only had one comment before following, leaving Robin to make sure the police could easily pick up the criminals. "Well, someone's in a worse mood than I am for once."
.Beastly Boy.
Wednesday was awkward. Rachel ignored everyone, Kori couldn't break the unhappy mood, Richard was still trying to understand what Slade could want with his team, Victor was trying to keep damage at a minimum, and Gar-
"You are eating my sandwich," Richard said slowly, annunciating clearly.
"Yes, I am," Gar agreed after swallowing a large bite that made dressing shoot dangerously close to Rachel's book that wasn't at all for school or pleasure.
"That is a salami, roast beef, and turkey sub, with cheese. It has meat, dairy products, and isn't at all related to tofu. It was from a restaurant that sells more meat in a day than the mass of the tofu you've eaten in your life. And it was mine." Richard watched the last of the sandwich disappear.
"Yeah, it was."
"Perhaps after school you would play the four-player game of magic and fungus," Kori suggested, bringing the subject away from meat. A very disgruntled Richard accepted half a sandwich from Victor, who invariably had edible food.
"The adventure mode of Monkeys? Sounds good with me." Victor didn't need an excuse to play video games. "You like the part of the game that needs four people to play- everyone in?"
Kori smiled when Richard agreed. Gar was the unexpected dissenting vote. "Nah, I was going to go to the arcade in town."
"Could you not play with us?" Kori didn't understand.
"Okay, we'll not take up your time." Victor didn't know where the Garfield Logan he had met was, but the new version was far from an improvement. "So, Rachel- we need a fourth player, if we're playing the version Kori's really good at."
Kori granted a special extension of her usual smile to Victor at the compliment. "We are aware that this is not your tea of cup, but perhaps you could join us, Rachel."
"Fine. Just make sure this isn't permanent." Rachel returned to her book after looking up as Kori and Victor were talking to her, a new courtesy.
"After all the times I've asked you and you've put me down?" Gar demanded.
"You need to either straighten out or not come near me. I have enough people in my life with no common decency. I don't need this from you." She left as the bell rang, followed by three Titans. A scowling Gar was left alone.
.Bringing in an Expert.
Richard talked to Bruce after a very tiring night of patrol. The team could barely restrain Gar from causing too much damage, and Rachel's odd trick of talking him out of whatever rage gripped him was losing its potency.
"He's- out of control," Richard finished, winding up a summary of the last two days. He thought the previous day's fight against the HIVE had been excessive. That night had just been farther than he could imagine.
"Are you exaggerating at all? You do tend to see the worst in people, a family trait just about everyone seems to have inherited."
"No. It's like he's a completely different person."
Watching Gar, Bruce had to agree. "Does anyone have any ideas? Any and all personality changes that happen this rapidly have always involved drugs."
"No one has any idea- it was sudden, the day he finally beat Adonis. Yesterday, but it seems like a longer time ago. But that shouldn't have changed him that much." Richard prided himself on his ability to analyze people, but this was not logical.
"I'll bring a friend in to check him out. She works late, she's very discrete and will keep results confidential for us to deal with, and his change just might be medical."
"It can't hurt." Richard needed an answer, closure to the question. He disliked question marks, when period were simple. They meant a sentence was done, a clear statement made. Question marks left too much in the air. Pamela Isley had an interesting side job, in addition to being an expert on chemical alterations on living beings. She specialized in plants, but could cross theories to humans when needed. She was also the strictest teacher, biology or otherwise, Forston High school had ever known. She recognized current and former students briskly, saving for later reasons for why they were in what Bruce's friends termed the Batcave.
"Victor Stone- physics, right? Well, you always were better with electronics than photosynthesis. Richard Grayson- chemistry, and if you're here, you must be past that pyrotechnics display of your sophomore year. Kori Anders, I just read your paper on ecosystems in Africa and why the Masai have a better system than safari tour corporations- very nicely done. Miss Rachel Roth, I take it this explains why you asked for an extension on the photosynthesis essay- there will be no drop in grade." She listed names, running through a quick check. He must be the patient. No one else has changed from smiles to unbecoming glowering. "And, Mister Garfield Logan- please focus better than you did in class today."
"Whatever."
Rachel looked up from a school-accepted book, one without mildew. Instead, there was the usual crude graffiti marking pages about subjects the usual immature high school student would find amusing. "This is too sudden for a behavioral factor. All hypotheses listed point towards a chemical imbalance." She shrugged at an inquisitive look from her biology teacher. "I read ahead, into the Abnormal chapter of the psychology book."
"Good idea- Strauss won't get there, and that's the only interesting section." Isley had a small selection of tests. "If you ever want to learn more, I know a licensed psychiatrist who specials in real abnormalities." Ignoring a rude student, she took culture samples from inside a cheek and a fingernail clipping. She did suspect a chemical issue of some sort, and would find out how long it had been there. The last test would not be popular.
"I need a blood sample. I am not patient with people who squirm, and am not used to working with people. Almost all my experience has been through morgues, testing cadavers." Anyone else would have gotten a laugh at that statement. Pamela Isley was imposing enough that not one student or friend thought of laughing.
"Rachel stitched up my arm. That's her domain- anything with blood." Gar made the helpful suggestion intoan insult Rachel chose to disregard.
"I could do it." She took the skeptically offered syringe, found a vein without more than a glance, disinfected, and drew blood neatly, handing off a full syringe and discarding the hypodermic needle.
"Gross, but Rachel," was Garfield's only comment.
Dr. Isley ignored him. "Thank you. Maybe I should have done it, after all. That would have required me digging around in search of a vein, always a painful experience. But- very nicely done. I'll run tests. We'll have results by Saturday, as I need to let the cultures mature." She shrugged at aghast looks. "Send it to a research lab, you'll wait at least eleven days and will have to explain any results. Saturday, I'll be bringing a psychiatrist with me."
"Thank you, Pamela," Bruce said, accepting a handshake. "I couldn't bring him to a hospital- you're the first person outside the Titans to know."
Pamela pursed her lips in a lemon-sour frown, considering the only possibilities for such a sudden change. She wouldn't have believed it, except Garfield Logan had been a model student, if one with a perpetual sense of humor. "I have an idea. I don't like it. I'll call you- no, I'll stop by. The outside combination's still the same sequence, right?"
"Still the same," he reassured her. "You haven't been away that long. Say hello to your psychiatrist friend, will you? And tell her congratulations- I haven't had the chance."
Pamela nodded, expression a little softer. "I will, don't worry. Tomorrow, I still expect full participation in the class discussion about Darwin's theory and its applications to plants," she told her current students, her infamous cold look in place. They could see behind her mask, just the littlest bit- she was as good of an actress as Rachel, with years of experience. She left, giving a slight nod to current and past students. There would be no preferential treatment, except for perhaps relaxed due dates. She had seen the names on the dressing rooms, and Richard had been fingering his mask, the way someone would run their hands along a fine silk scarf- a material comfort.
Richard had an announcement. "Tomorrow is break day. We all need to sit out- no crime fighting unless it pops in front of you." Bruce had pressured the decision when Richard mentioned it, confirming it was the best idea. "Gar, take care of your personality transplant. It's not an improvement."
"Good idea, on both parts. I'm heading home. Christiana hasn't been having an easy day- morning, afternoon, and evening sickness." Rachel left quickly, knowing there was a base of truth in her words. Her mother hadn't been having an easy day- she never did- but today was especially bad.
"I'm heading home- anyone need a ride?"
"I will accept a ride," Kori said with a yawn.
"Count me out." Gar left, pushing past Rachel in the foyer. Besides staring after him, she gave no acknowledgement that he had done so.
"Something is not right." Kori was sure.
"We'll figure this out." Richard could keep his determination, the single-minded resolve to find the obvious solution to a problem that helped him so many times before.
"But will he let us?" Victor asked. No one answered. No one knew the answer- or maybe they just didn't want to admit it.