Garfield

He didn't expect to see StarFire again so soon, but the following Saturday when he arrives at Victor's room to hangout, there she is looking out the hospital window. She turns and gives him a thousand-watt grin. Richard is sitting in the chair next to Victor's bed. He doesn't look up when Garfield comes in, even when he accidentally slams the door behind him.

"Man, be quiet with that. I'm not sure if we're allowed to have this many visitors," Victor says in a quiet voice. He looks at the door anxiously, but no one comes to yell at them.

"Whoa, why didn't you tell me you were here?" Garfield asks. "And we get to keep hanging out with StarFire?" He looks at Richard for answers, but he's typing furiously into his phone and still doesn't look up.

"Hello friend," StarFire says. "I am also excited to do the seeing again and the hanging out." She floats off the floor and it takes Garfield a second to release his mouth is hanging open. Victor gives him a huge smile.

"Cool huh?" he says as if reading Garfield's mind. It is cool. He knows Superman and lots of other superheroes can fly, but he's never seen it up close.

"Let's just say I got some leverage that forced them to let us hangout with StarFire again," Richard says, finally looking up from his phone. Garfield tilts his head and frowns.

"Isn't that called blackmail?" he asks. Victor laughs, but Richard just shrugs.

"It sure is," Victor says. "But he won't tell us what he did. How do you blackmail the Justice League?" Garfield would like to know the answer to that too, but Victor is right. He knows better than to ask what strings Richard pulled to make this happen. When Richard wants to keep a secret, he keeps a secret. There's no point in asking him again.

Since Richard is sitting in the chair he normally occupies, Garfield takes a seat on the floor.

"You told Victor about Raven," Richard says. The blunt accusation without warning throws him off guard.

"Yeah, so?" Garfield looks at Victor, who gives him a sheepish look.

"I have also been informed of your friend's situation," StarFire says. He watches the cheerful look on her face diminish in a fraction of a second.

"Meet the team," Richard says. He gestures to StarFire and Victor with his hand.

"Team?" He's still not sure what exactly is going on.

"We're going to find her," Richard says. "Victor is going to help me figure out who those people were. StarFire is the muscle. Hopefully Victor will be mobile when we find her, and he's agreed to help too." His heart beats rapidly in his chest. Team?... Find her?... He's not sure what to say. It's not like he doesn't want to look, but it's hard to get his hopes up. They're not going to find Raven. They're going to find her body. She's dead. He watched that video. He saw the truck... The blood... There's no way anyone could survive that.

"My parents will freak if they find out about this..." Garfield mumbles.

"Then don't let them," Richard says in a tone that's clearly annoyed.

"Can we talk?" Garfield asks. Richard makes a face to suggest that they are talking. "Alone?" He stands up and heads to the door. Richard stays seated for a second, as if deciding if he'll agree to the request or not, but he does get up.

Richard follows him into the hall. Garfield leads the way and takes him to a small sitting area not far away from Victor's room. It's a waiting area with a couple of couches and chairs. There are a few outlets where people can charge their phones and a TV on the wall that's playing a daytime TV gameshow with the volume turned to zero and subtitles.

They both sit on a couch with a hard cushion. It's a hospital, so it should be designed for comfort, but the seats are more uncomfortable than the ones on the city bus. They smell too. Like cleaning solution and the worst fake flower smell money can buy. He wishes they'd open the windows or something, but most people probably don't smell it as strongly as he does.

"What?" Richard asks in his usual callous and cool tone.

"What do you think we're going to find?" Garfield asks. He can't quite meet Richard's eyes as he says this. He's hoping Richard will understand him.

"...Even if we don't find her alive, we can put her to rest properly." Richard crosses his arms over his chest. "Don't you want to at least say goodbye? Don't you want to know why?" Garfield nods. He would like to have closure. To know who those people were and why they took his friend... Why she jumped in front of a truck. That was never in question. Those missing details and facts had haunted him since he found out about the fire and he knows they'd haunt him for the rest of his life.

"It's dangerous," he says. Richard shrugs.

"Living in Gotham is dangerous, but here we are." Garfield sighs. He knows Richard is stubborn and he's not going to let this go. This is just like how he didn't let the murderer of his parents go. He will hunt those people until he finds them and gets the answers he needs.

"If my parents find out what we're doing," he starts.

"Trust me, I have a secret weapon. They can't get in our way," Richard interrupts. "If they ask what we're doing, we're teaching StarFire about earth and keeping Victory company." Garfield nods. It's a legitimate excuse. He did tell his parents about StarFire and he knows they're good friends with Mr. Wayne. Mr. Wayne would corroborate that they were hanging out with StarFire. He knows better than to ask what the secret weapon is if they do find out. Secret is in the name. Richard's not gonna tell him just yet.

"Why is StarFire helping us?" Garfield asks. Richard pauses for a minute before answering.

"She said she's grateful for my help. The Justice League are going to protect her from those other aliens that were after her and get her settled on earth. She's gonna live with Wonder Woman. She might even go to our school." Garfield's eyes widen. He can't imagine StarFire going to their school. How cool would it be to live with Wonder Woman? He's not gonna lie. He's a little jealous. "Obviously, they're not going to tell everyone she's an alien, so keep that on the DL."

"Whoa, that's so cool." Garfield says.

"You're welcome," Richard stands up. He turns and offers Garfield a hand. He takes the hand up, but once he's up Richard doesn't keep moving. He stands there for a minute.

"Do you remember the promise we made?" Richard asks. Of course, he remembers. He's the one who first said it.

"We'll stay friends forever and together forever," Garfield says. Richard nods.

"I meant it," he says.

"So did I," Garfield says.

"Then let's keep it," He starts walking back to Victor's room. Garfield trails a little behind him. He wants to keep his promise too. Even if they only find her bones, at least they'd know where she was. That was somewhere safe... If they hadn't left, if they hadn't broken their promise, would she still be here?