Karen Beecher was a woman of science.
To be an engineer was to respect and utilize the fixed and tangible truths of this world, and much like her father, Karen easily preferred the applied sciences over the impalpable static of magic and metaphysics. That's why when reviewing the footage of the HIVE agent's interrogation, featuring outlandish tales of evil space witches and demon overlords, she found herself fighting off a headache.
Yet, she couldn't be entirely sure it wasn't from being massively hungover after only a few hours of spotty sleep. Even if she had felt sober by the time she hit her bed like a rock in a stream, the sugar-laced liquor in her system still showed up in the morning to remind her why it was she rarely drank like that. Once her eyes caught the slightest sunbeam glaring in through her East-facing window, she knew her chances of falling back asleep were tragic at best. So, gruff with defeat and fully equipped with coffee and Advil, Karen returned to the OPs room to relieve Cyborg of his extended watch.
She knew Vic rarely grew tired like the rest of them did, however, when she found him scrolling some digitally scanned document that detailed the mythological stories of some old creepy crow goddess, she felt it was time to send him downstairs to reboot his system.
"It's just a coincidence, Vic," Karen had told him with a hand rested on his shoulder. Beside him, Gar was asleep with his feet propped up and his arms folded snugly across his chest. "Whoever the girl is talking about isn't some old-world mythical god."
"Translated to 'phantom queen,' the Morrigan is the shapeshifting sorceress that often took the form of a crow or raven before great battles to warn off her enemies…Hell of a coincidence, don't you think?"
"I think you need to take a step back, go rest those wires."
Karen also knew Vic to be a man of science, a literal embodiment of harmonious biomechanical design, but his very human determination to crack the case of Raven's harasser had him spinning crazy hypotheticals to find something resembling a lead.
Yet now that she's taken Vic's place in the command chair, trying to ignore Garfield's broken snores, Karen kept glimpsing over to the side monitor where she had transferred the scanned manuscript. Hell of a coincidence, indeed.
Then again, even if this was the typical brand of nightmare that Raven would be caught up in, there could still be a much more rational explanation than the goddess of war and death taking a sudden and creepy interest in her fertility status. The thought alone had Karen gagging on her own cynicism.
After all, the girl could simply be deflecting the spotlight from her employer, and Blood is the grand puppet-master of this whole mess. Karen knew just as well as any of these brainwashed HIVE lackeys the horrors his power can have on a person's mind and could therefore easily be the architect of Raven's mental disturbances. Though, at least to Karen's current knowledge, he had to be close enough to touch his victims for the power to be this effective.
There was also the factor of this agent being newer to Blood's ranks, and from the way she spoke of him, Karen suspected there was something of a bad taste in her mouth for the self-proclaimed prophet.
He doesn't care about my brother. Just the dagger.
It wouldn't be a stretch to assume the girl blamed Blood for her brother's disappearance, and that alone could be a reason to work with her. Enemy of the enemy and all that.
Nevertheless, at the end of the interrogation, the girl still failed to explain what exactly Blood wanted with Raven, but Karen already doubted it was for the betterment of mankind. He'd need to be stopped, even if only for Raven's peace of mind.
Sipping at her coffee, Karen's shrewd study narrowed in on the girl's body language as she re-watched the interrogation tape. It spoke volumes of her fear; but whether if it was a fear of being caught by the Titans or by Brother Blood, Karen couldn't decide. Regardless, her focus was soon stolen by the faint groaning of Garfield's chair, that seemed to grow weary of his lopsided weight. A smirk brightened her features as the chair slowly rolled off balance, sending the sleeping Titan to floor with a muffled grunt.
Garfield didn't hear his friend's snickering between the frantic whir of spinning casters and the temporary buzzing in ears until he managed to steady his focus on her from the ground.
"Think you dropped something," Karen's grin grew wider at his middle finger.
Recovering to his feet with rusty and sore joints from sleeping so awkwardly, Gar massaged the shoulder that throbbed from taking the brunt of his fall. He offered a lazy "good morning" through a yawn that sounded more like a growl before stealing the mug from Karen's hand.
"Yeah, okay, would you like some of my coffee, Garfield?"
He immediately frowned after taking a large sip and smacked his lips with disgust. "Try some coffee with your creamer."
As Karen clicked her tongue and took her mug back, Gar's eyes fell first on the counterfeit STAR Labs ID badge for one Dr. Edward Meyers, who, according to Dylan, is really a decorated HIVE soldier named Emmett with an unwarranted god complex.
Judging by the few seconds he spent near the guy, Roy had readily confirmed that report.
"He wouldn't stop staring at her," he had said the night before once they were back in the OPs room, "like a stolen prize. Fuckin' creep. I knew something was off beneath that fake, dumb-ass hipster mustache.
To the right of the central monitor where Dylan's interview looped on a low volume, the live feed of the guardroom showed the sleeping HIVE agent. Part of him was a little sorry for her, so obviously without the stomach for this line of work, but still went as far as to let that psychopath brand her in the name of finding her brother; it made him feel bad for detaining her at least until Raven got back. Whenever the hell that would be.
"Did you mean that?" Karen asked, pulling Gar's attention back to the central monitor.
When he realized the recording played at the part where Roy mocked his non-existent sex life, Gar's ears flattened, "I know what to do with it!"
"Huh?" Karen twisted her face comically, "No doofus, about Raven blowing you off. You think really think she's gonna do that?"
Gar's cheeks quickly reddened as he shrugged. "We were just trying to get her to relax so I could pick up on her heart rate if she lied."
Karen's doubt was written plainly in the way she crinkled her forehead. "Come on, I'll brew a fresh pot."
With her relentless and careful remarks on the night's events, it became clear to Garfield just how keen Karen was to find out what had happened between Rae and him. She'd try and bait him with questions that dripped with nonchalance, such as how he managed to coerce Raven into dancing to the likes of Wham! in front of other people. But Gar could only chuckle in response, his bashful eyes fixed on the coffee between his hands, thinking fondly of Raven's awkward but endearing dance moves as she moved in and around his grasp.
Truth was, Gar wasn't really sure how it happened, and a part of him couldn't help but doubt it was real. Even as it was happening. How Raven went from screaming at him in this very kitchen to making out with him under the cover of a dark nightclub was as confusing as it was awesome.
What weighed on him now was this creeping suspicion that Raven will do again what she's done to him the past few weeks. Pulling away when he got too close.
He wasn't sure if he'd be able to let go of it this time…not after pinning her against that wall like that, hearing the noises she tried hard not to make as her mouth moved across him. It was the shit Gar's dreams were made of, for longer than he'd admit to anyone, but between the taste of whiskey on her tongue and not wanting their first time to be in the back of some dingy nightclub where anyone could turn the corner, he had to stop himself.
And even if that was his only chance, biffed for the sake of doing it right, he'd at least have the memory of how badly Raven wanted him in that moment. Can't knowing be enough?
"Get out of your head, Gar," Karen said knowingly while she drenched her cereal with almond milk, and the Changeling just returned the smile and drank his coffee.
"So, how's the hangover?"
"Well-deserved," Karen grimaced down at her cereal, as if her appetite vanished at the reminder. "I vaguely remember taking belly shots."
Gar nearly choked, "I'm sorry...what'd you just say? Off who?!"
"A bachelorette party, maybe? They had these, like, bridal sashes or something."
"Dude, what?!"
"I mean, you can't just say no to a pack of bridesmaids. They can be pretty intimidating."
"Says the girl who I once saw take down Mammoth while 2-inches tall."
"That hairy brute would have nothing on those women."
Their laughter took precedence over the elevator's chiming, so when Koriand'r suddenly emerged into the common room, they were thrown by her strange severity. "Where is Victor?"
"His room, rebooting," Karen glanced at Gar, "What's wrong, Kori?"
"I just spoke with Jason. Neither he nor Alfred have heard from Dick in weeks. Since before he even left. Meanwhile Bruce has been in Eastern Europe and had not said anything about Dick coming to Gotham." The coffee Gar's stomach turned acidic. "He would have checked in with someone by now...his signal is completely lost...something is wrong. We must track Victor's bike to its last known location. I know something is wrong."
"Alright, calm down. Let's go see if we can access Vic's system if he's rebooting," Karen set her mug on the counter and led Kori from the kitchen with a gentle hand.
The elevator pinged again, this time the cab doors opened with the sound of whistling, but Gar did not look up.
"My guy," Roy clapped him once on the shoulder on his way to the kitchen to help himself to what was left in the coffee pot. "You alright? No Raven, I'm guessing."
"Uh, not yet, no," Gar managed, standing from his seat to pace strangely.
"Don't worry, man. She's a tough one, she'll be alright."
"What? Yeah, you're right, it's not that," Gar mumbled between sips of lukewarm coffee, allowing his mouth to catch up with his thoughts. "Kori, she just came in here freaking out about Dick. Guess Bruce's new guy hasn't heard from him."
"What? When?" Roy glanced passed Garfield to the clock above the stove. "Just now?"
"I guess, they just went to track his bike," there was a look of confused guilt on Roy's face that made Gar wonder if he too knew something he wasn't sure he should share, "you hear from him at all?"
"Not since before we came out. Kori called Jason this morning?" Gar shrugged and Roy scoffed spitefully. "So…she thinks that…nevermind he's lowkey on a covert job…he's gotta be in trouble just because he's not calling her back? She forget she broke up with him?"
"Uh...maybe, don't know. You good, man?"
"Me? Yeah, man just over the soap opera. Grayson can handle himself just fine. Maybe doesn't want to be found right now. And so what if the kid hasn't heard from him? Doesn't mean he's dead."
"He might as well be when Kori finds out where he's at," Gar chuckled uncertainly, feeling Roy's gaze fall to him.
"What'd you mean?"
Garfield then cleared his throat awkwardly; almost glad Raven wasn't here to relish in his regret. "He, uh, went to Gotham, but for Batgi-er Oracle. Some sketchy bit about a cyber-terrorist group figuring out who she was, stalking her. With Batman MIA, guess Barbara called Dick for help."
"Barbara?" Gar turned slowly to face Koriand'r, who stood stoically in the threshold of the kitchen. "Did you say he is with Barbara?"