Chapter 12: Came to Talk
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Raven hesitated to go into work the next day. But she reasoned with herself that if she stayed home she might cause some suspicion. She desperately needed to keep as low as a profile as possible.

She decided to look a little more friendly today and the first thing she thought of was a dress. She sucked her teeth and threw her head back in frustration.

She wasn't fond of dresses, and she always hated it when she had to put one on for an assignment. But that didn't stop her from doing it if needed.

She found an appropriate dress to wear: a light lavender dress that flared out at the bottom. She wore a black blazer and black flats to make it seem more office appropriate.

As Raven started futzing with her hair, deciding whether to put it in a bun or to just leave it down, Lucy strode in. She purred loudly, begging for attention.

"I can't play with you right now, Lucy. Mommy has to go to work." Somehow Lucy had hopped on the vanity. Probably to get more of Raven's attention. And in the process she knocked over something. "No!" She caught the item before it fell in a black bubble and drew it to her.

It was a small statue, about the height of a pencil, of a woman with a cloak on. She highly resembled Raven. She stared at the statue for a while, then looked at Lucy and sighed.

"I know your lonely, Lucy. I am too... You just want someone to be around and play with when I'm not home don't you?" Lucy jumped into Raven's hands and nestled her head into her chest. She couldn't do anything other than smile.

"Don't worry, Lucy. We'll fix that problem soon." She put Lucy down and she looked up at Raven, then walked away towards her food bowl.

Raven had decided on a bun.

....................

She ran into work just making it on-time. But to her suprise, Caroline wasn't there. There was a note on her desk though.

'All employees to the auditorium ASAP. Emergency meeting.'

Raven would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't worried about this. She knew what the meeting was about. She hesitantly hurried to the second floor where the auditorium was. In her rush down the hall she ended up knocking into Beast Boy.

"Mr. Logan?" She said rebounding back from the sudden stop.

"Rachel! There you are. C'mon, something's happened. Dick wants us all in the auditorium. You come up on stage with us." He dragged her by the hand, her new satchel bouncing against her hip as she ran behind him.

His hand was strong and he had quite a grip. Being the smallest of his friends she didn't think much of him, but just him grabbing her hand told her otherwise.

Granted, he was taller than her though. Almost a good head taller with her flats on. She was about up to his nose.

When they reached the auditorium they slowed down as they walked onto the stage and Beast Boy let go of her hand.

"I found her." He claimed when they got there.

"Good. We're just waiting for a few more people to get here and we'll be ready." Cyborg said. The five if them watched as more employees rushed in though the double doors. The employees who were there were anxiously waiting to see what all the fuss was about.

"What's going on? Why are you gathering everyone in here?" Raven asked nobody in particular.

"Something bad happened last night." Robin said covering the microphone with his hand. "We had a break in." Raven convincingly feigned her suprise.

"A break in? By who?"

"Nightengale." Robin replied. The security guards checked off the last person and slammed the doors shut. Raven scanned for Matt's blonde hair but she couldn't find him in the sea of people before her. "Alright everyone please calm down. This will only take about 10 minutes." Robin said after he uncovered the mic.

"So as you all may know, we have been targeted for elimination by Nightengale. But last night she broke into the building, proving that she isn't just after the four of us, but after the company as well." Gasps followed by whispers started to grow quietly between members of the staff. "So we need everyone on high alert. If you see any suspicious activity, report it to the nearest security guard. All the locks will be changed and another firewall will be added to ensure that we are not brought down by a hacker affiliated with her. We will call each department individually to get their fingerprints into the system again throughout the week. Thank you for your cooperation. Everyone is dismissed." The man sure had a way with words.

Everyone had gone back to their offices and rumors instantly surfaced. Raven had ended up making it more difficult for herself and Matt. He had to re-learn the algorithms again if she wanted to pull another stunt like that. She had to reconfigure her strategy. Everything was spun onto its head and backwards. She was actually worried about not completing the mission fully.

She was worried she'd...fail.

"Rachel!" Beast Boy's voice snapped her out of her thought bubble.

"Sorry, Mr. Logan. I was just thinking." She said from her desk. Beast Boy got up from his chair and went to the printer.

"What about?"

"Nightengale." It wasn't a lie. That's for sure. The printer whirred to life as it began to print his documents.

"Aww. Don't worry, Rach. Remember you're new here. She probably doesn't even know or even care you exist." He chuckled. Raven however, didn't find it very funny.

"Thanks...sir." She said blowing him off and going back to her work. Realizing his humor didn't really land like the thought it would, Beast Boy tried to think of a different approach.

"Heh, sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood a little." He rubbed the back of his neck on impulse.

"It's fine." She brushed a hair behind her ear as she started writing something down. "I understand what you're saying, Sir." After aggressively stamping a few papers she handed them back to him. "I finished these notices of termination."

"Great, thanks, Rachel."

"Just doing my job." She replied flatly. Raven was thinking too hard to do anything productive with this mission. Her body was on autopilot, subsiding into the machine of the workforce. Day in, day out, file papers, type on keyboards. She'd love to say her job is more intresting. And it is! Most of the time...

"Are you ok?" She stopped working. "You seem very empty today. Kinda like someone sucked all the emotion out of ya. Haha!" He was standing a few feet behind her now. Looking down on her while she's sitting at her desk like a statue.

"With all due respect, Mr. Logan, do not ask me if I'm ok. Please never ask me if I'm ok." He was taken aback by her statement. She was a feisty one, that's for sure.

Then the phone on her desk rang.

"Hello?" She put it on speaker. She was expecting a call from Starfire or Cyborg. They had both asked her to do something earlier but she had to help Beast Boy first.

"Hello, Raven." The room seemed to freeze. Beast Boy looked at Raven like she had just called him the most vulgar thing he could think of. "You didn't heed our warming. Now you will pay dearly." She acted as if that name didn't even exist.

"I'm sorry, you have the wrong number. Please do not call again." As calm as she tried to be, her hand was shaking as she ended the call. Matt had to know about this one.

"Umm, Rachel?"

"Yes, sir?"

"What was that?" Beast Boy crossed his arms looking angry for some reason.

"I don't know, Sir. They must've had a wrong number. I don't know anyone named Raven."

"If they call again please tell me. We have enough security problems as it is."

"Of course, Mr. Logan."

They both were thinking now, sitting in silence. Not an awkward silence though. It wasn't peaceful either. The air was tense.

He felt she was hiding something.

She knew he was hiding something at this point.

She was worried that creep on the phone blew her cover.

He was worried that creep on the phone would call again.

Beast Boy looked over to his assistant, who was once again distracted by her own thoughts. He knew that he shouldn't think this—heck, simply 'liking' a co-worker is taboo enough for somebody to gossip about you in the facility—but she looked very pretty when she was distracted. It was mainly her eyes. They seemed to have a bit of sparkle or shine to them when she thought hard. Either that or they were glassy and empty, void of any consciousness or feeling.

Then she noticed him staring and they both blushed so hard they could have brought down a plane with their cheeks.

Why was he looking at me like that? She sure didn't know. All she had was an idea.

And she hoped it was wrong.

"Can all executives please come to Department R-18 please?" Caroline's voice rang out over their heads from the intercom.

"Guess we gotta give our finger prints." Beast Boy stated.

"I guess we do." He left and she followed. That department was on the same floor as his office so they didn't need to go far.

When they got there the other three were already there.

"What took you so long?" Robin asked.

"Relax, Dad it's not like the machine is going anywhere." It's as if Robin had steam flying out from his ears. Luckily all it took was Starfire's gentle hand on his shoulder to calm the raging fire inside of the man.

"How you liking it here, Rachel? I know it's been kind of crazy lately." Cyborg asked as the two stepped into the line.

"Everyone has been very kind to me. It's a bit overwhelming but I'll get used to it."

"Yeah, it tends to be that way at first." Cyborg put his hand on the pad and after a few seconds there was a small beep, indicating the prints had been recorded and overwritten. Raven checked her fingers. They were the same prints as last time. Good. "But overtime you're right, you'll get used to it."

Raven finally went and the five of them stood together. Starfire was talking to Robin and Raven stood with Beast Boy and Cyborg. Cyborg nudged her on the shoulder.

"Hey, you've been spending a lot of time with this one. You tired of him yet?" He jabbed a thumb Beast Boy's way.

"Dude, I'm standing right here." Raven gave a quiet, fake giggle.

"Not yet."

"Yet?!" Another fake giggle.

"Hey, Rachel? Would you like to come with us on our spring trip?" Robin asked her out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"Ha. 'Would you like to '." Cyborg scoffed.

"What?"

"When Dick says, 'would you like to', Rachel, it means he's telling you to do something." Beast Boy explained.

"It would not matter much either way. You are among our ranks, therefore you must come with us! It has become mandatory." Starfire explained further.

"It's a lot of fun. We always go late spring to relax from all the hectic things here in Jump." Robin said.

"Plus we could get away from Nightengale for two weeks." Beast Boy added.

HA! That's funny. You're bringing me with you.

"Yes! We would be much safer!" Starfire stated happily.

"When is it?" Raven asked.

"We usually have it in a week, but with all this Nightengale stuff I was thinking of doing it next month. Just so we can have time to secure everything before we leave." Raven nodded. "So May 31st to June 7th."

"Don't tell me you—"

"It's already been finalized, Garfield." Robin cut him off.

"For godsake, Dick can you at least tell us what you're gonna do once before you do it on your own?!" Beast Boy burst out.

"You don't always need to know what I'm doing, Gar." Robin retorted.

"Yes I do! We all do in order for us to reach the goal!" Beast Boy's hands balled into a fist.

"We've been doing fine so far. There's no need to change anything. Nothing is broken so nothing needs to be fixed."

"Newsflash, Dick, we've been in the same spot financially for the past three goddamn years!" Cyborg and Starfire were hesitant to say something, but...

"He's right, Dick." Cyborg spoke up.

"Gar, don't be so childish." Is all he got in response from Dick. Beast Boy began to go to Robin. But a small hand stopped him. A hand with silvery, soft skin and a weak, nervous grip. Beast Boy looked back at the hand's owner, sending her into an almost nervous panic.

"You shouldn't get too worked up, Sir. Mr. Grayson is doing what he thinks is best. You don't have to agree with him, but you can at least trust that he knows what he's doing." Beast Boy yielded and Raven let him go. He stared at the ground for a bit and walked away.

"Thanks, Rachel. Last time he got that upset he took a swing at me." Robin thanked her.

"He doesn't seem to like you much." She said looking at him get farther away.

"I don't know what got into him. One day he—"

"Gar did some things he shouldn't have done and Dick reacted in a way he didn't like. They've never really been on good terms after that." Cyborg said. "Don't ask me about it though. I wasn't there." Robin crossed his arms.

"Mr. Grayson?" Raven looked at him and he said not a word, avoiding eye contact with her.

"I stand by what I said that day." Is all he said.

"And thats why he's pissed with you all the time. All he wants is an apology. He told me himself. You know how he can hold a grudge."

"Yes, Dick. Why do you not just simply apologize?"

"I am not apologizing for what he did wrong, Kori. If anything he should apologize to all of us."

"He did, Dick." A horrible silence befell the four of them. Nothing but the beeping of the handprint machine and small, quiet conversations coming from employees could be heard.

"I'm going to go talk to him." She spun around and ran down the hall back to his office. When she went in Beast Boy was at his desk staring at his classic Newton balls. His eyes followed each silver ball that went into the air, the constant sound of them timely tick tick ticking filled the room. He didn't seem to notice Raven come in.

"You have quite a way with words, Rach." Was the first thing he said to her. "Nobody's told me anything other than 'Gar, cut it out' or 'Easy, Gar' when I argue with him. Like I'm some sort of kid."

"Really?" She shut the door.

"They treat me like a child, Rachel. I'm only a few years younger than them. Age hardly even matters when you're an adult. What, do they think this is high school?"

"After you left they were defending you."

"Were they?" He looked up and Raven was right in front of his desk, sitting on a leather chair she dragged over. "Heh. Why don't they do it when I'm around then?"

"Maybe they don't want to get involved?"

"I guess. Or maybe they're scared he'd fire them."

"He wouldn't fire them. Especially not his wife."

"He's done it before." Raven's eyes widened. "You heard of Terra Markov?"

"She worked here?"

"Briefly, yes. We kinda kept it on the down-low. She didn't want people know she worked here. She an I were close. She was close to everyone. Dick knew that. But for some reason he felt that she needed to go. So he fired her straight up in front of half the staff."

"..."

"She didn't deserve what Nightengale gave her." Guilt bubbled within her as he said that.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault." Raven felt as if she just got stabbed in the chest just then. Guilty guilty guilty guilty...

"What happened?" She blurted out.

"Huh?"

"What happened that day? What did you do that day that made him say what he said to you?" Beast Boy furrowed his brow at her question.

"They told you huh? Figures. I don't have any secrets when it comes to those three. I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you." He stopped the Newton balls. "It was simple. I was supposed to go out with some friends Sunday, be back by 10, go in Monday. But I took it too far. Way too far.

"I got drunk. Hammered like a nail. Then in my drunken stupor I went to a weed dealer." Raven gasped quietly. Beast Boy sighed. "Then I was hammered and as high as a kite. Hell, I was as high as the sky. Luckily for me I forgot all of it the next morning and I don't have any weird addiction to the stuff."

"If you forgot it then how do you know what happened?"

"One of the guys I was with the whole time told me, and told Robin who told the others."

"Wow. But that wasn't your fault. Once you're drunk anything can happen." Raven defended him.

"Yeah but that didn't stop Robin from becoming my dad and telling me off. I know what I did was bad for me and the company, but what he said in response was really out of line. Even for what I did."

"You don't have to tell me, Sir."

"I'm not going to say what he said. But..."

"Mr. Logan?"

"He said I'm irresponsible, weak, that I have no backbone, things about my parents..."

"Well that doesn't sound too—"

"My parents are dead, Rachel." Raven's eyes widened. How dare Robin go down to that level just for an insult! Raven was appauled. felt sympathy and empathy for him at that point. Along with anger towards Robin.

"He wasn't just out of line, he was 1000 feet over the line. I never tolerate any bad mouthing that has to do with dead friends and family. Especially dead parents. Anyone should know how wrong they are if they said that. I know how it feels to be on the receiving end."

"Rachel," he had no idea. How could he? "His parents are dead too." This got her fuming. But she tried to keep her cool. In order to do so, all she said was,

"He is absolutely insane..."

"At least you agree with me. All I want from him is an apology. An apology for what he said and all the bullshit he's done to me after that. And that's what I told him. But he told me he regrets nothing."

"I understand where you're coming from now."

"At least you came to talk. Everyone just seems to leave me to cool off and then when I come back they act like nothing happened."

"It wasn't a problem, Sir. I don't particularly enjoy seeing people unhappy."

"You know, you're a good person Rachel. You can take your lunch now. Come back up here unless one of the others calls you." He said with a small smile.

"Will do, Sir." Raven grabbed her things and headed for the door with the same smile on her face.

"Oh, and Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have to call me 'Sir'."

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Hey guys. How are ya doin'?

Again sorry about taking forever to update. I've been in kind of a writers block. Trying to come up with ideas for books, scrapping them, family drama. And I've been in Hawai'i for a few days now so I haven't really had a lot of time to do a lot. These chapters also just take a while to write.

I also was thinking of changing the way I update this book. From now on, it'll be two chapters at once. Trust me, it's better for you and for me in the long run.

Thanks for being patient! Bare with me. I have a lot planned for this book!

~Rae