Status: Step One: Facts [Beast Boy]

[Brainiac 5]

Perhaps it was because he had grown up without windows, something that no one ever seemed to truly comprehend when he made the statement to them for the first time, but when Brainiac 5 went to think, outside was his second choice. His first choice was his lab, of course, where he could tinker while he was thinking, a factor which his teammates did not seem to understand, as they often called him a ‘workaholic’, but his lab was unreachable, here, so outside would have to do. Surprisingly, despite the fact that he was a green robot clad in dark purple and floating along the grass, he was not attaining any odd looks, aside from the usual glance back.

Perhaps it was because of the superheroes around here, the ‘Teen Titans’. The heroine who had assisted him last night, referred to as ‘Jinx’, certainly was not ordinary looking, so there was a 93.6% chance that was why. Interesting.

Those codings were shelved, however, as that was not what he was running through his programming. Sitting down on an empty bench, ramrod straight with perfect posture, not that it assisted in his lack of height in any way, Brainy ran over his situation, dividing it into several different facts.

Fact One: He had currently been transported to the past. Though he had performed such operations many times (this was his 13th, to be exact), he had always done such an action voluntarily, and so had his Time Bubble with him to transfer back to his own time. As his teammates had interrupted his work, and he had been blasted back here, it was clear that he had no known way back.

Fact Two: He was not in the vicinity of Metropolis. Superman was likely to be his staunchest ally in such a time, but as his hacking of a local satellite had shown him, he was not within close reach. Of course, he could find transportation there, but not without attracting too much attention, and as Brainiac 1.0 was in this time, it was not something that he desired.

Fact Three: He would only have archaic technology to use. Considering that he was now over a thousand years in the past (1000.024), the only technology that he would have access to would be ancient, unless he decided to use some of his own parts, something that would only factor in if there would be no other way to create a working Time Bubble. That also spelled additional trouble for when he needed to back himself up, as he was unaware if their technology would be sufficient. Something to ask Superman when he transported himself back to the future.

As usual, whenever he went into his ‘thinking’ mode, watching the programming and codes scan through his ‘mind’, his attention was 87.63% focused on that, leaving little for the outside world.

[Beast Boy]

Stupid Cyborg, Beast Boy grumbled to himself as he swung through the trees in the park. There was no need to get grouchy just because he wanted to play video games! Sure, Cyborg had been caught up in some programming thing—something about an ‘upgrade’, but BB didn’t pay too much attention—but that was no reason to get snappy, beat Beast Boy at their favorite racing game, and then gloat about it for ten minutes straight! It really didn’t occur to him that Cyborg had gotten exactly what he wanted out of that deal: to be left alone by Beast Boy to do his work.

Still, the park was a nice way to spend an afternoon, anyway. Looping around one particularly thick branch, Beast Boy planted himself next to the trunk, leaning his ape shoulder against the tree, and peering around to see if anything interesting was going on. Not too much, although a part of him did twitch to turn into a dog and go catch that Frisbee before the black Labrador could....

As soon as he spotted green skin, though, he forgot all about interrupting doggy playtime and leaped from his perch, swinging over to the bench and landing in front of it with a thud. So excited by this practically unheard of event, he didn’t even bother turning back into human before he started ranting about how cool it was that there were two people with green skin around here! ...Of course, none of that was intelligible past all the hooting and mild screeching.

Finally hearing himself, Beast Boy shifted back to his human form, jumping up and down and waving his arms just like his ape form had been doing, and burst out with, “You’re green!” through his silly grin.

[Brainiac 5]

Even Brainiac 5, however, when deep in the recesses of his programming, so when a green Hominoidea landed in front of him, making the sort of noises and sounds that indicated it was clearly trying to communicate. He observed it, one eyebrow lifting slightly as he catalogued the event. Naturally, green Hominoidea were not common, unless through genetic experimentation, though they would not be running amok such as they were (though there was a 21.3% chance it had just escaped). But the behavior of such a creature was not normal, and he stood up from his seat on the bench, predicament and ordering of facts shelved as his coding shifted to being intrigued by this phenomenon.

Before he could perform his action of attempting to calm the creature down, it shifted, turning into a green-skinned teenager with the largest smile that Brainy had ever seen on anyone’s face (aside from Phantom Girl, that is). The other’s words caused him to blink up at the taller boy, surprised, and, with a non-plussed look on his face (the fact that he had managed to incite an emotional reaction out of him was carefully noted and filed away in his coding), glance down at his own robotic body. “Yes. All Coluans are.”

Clearly, he had never seen a Coluan before, which was expected. None of them had left their planet before Brainiac 1.0, after his ancestor, it was still an uncommon process. He was one of the few. However, those thoughts were pushed aside as his neck elongated, head coming to a stop in front of the other’s boy’s face, as it was higher off the ground than his normally was (though there was an 87.9% chance that the other had existed for more years, he was still not of average height. He accepted this). “How were you able to transfigure yourself into a Hominoidea?” he questioned in his empty and apathetic voice, though it was not a monotone.

As he questioned his body walked forward, catching up with his head, which retracted back into its normal position of looking upwards at the boy. Interesting…

[Beast Boy]

“Coluan?” Beast Boy repeated. Naturally, with his own body green and the ability to shape shift, not to mention knowing Starfire, hearing a name of some new culture of person was not at all surprising. The name just didn’t mean anything to him other than being ‘new’, that was all.

That was easily forgotten, though, when the boy’s neck lengthened. Grin disappeared in favor of hugely widened eyes, and he contorted himself all manner of ways to get a better look at the lengthened neck. “Cool!” Questions of ‘how’ were irrelevant to Beast Boy much of the time; it was enough that it was awesome.

“Into a what?” he asked absently, more interested in the sight of a body catching up with its head, which was totally hilarious. “I hope you didn’t get ahead of yourself,” he said, cracking up and holding his sides, far too excited for his own good at the moment. It had yet to occur to him that this alien being might not be friendly.

[Brainiac 5]

Yes, it was of no surprise at all to Brainiac 5 that he did not recognize the word. “A race of people from the planet Colu. My own.” Most people did not know of the race, at least in this timeline, considering their tendency to stay within the boundaries of their own planet, with only the psychotic ones straying from home. That was the same pattern of operation as in his own time, though people knew of them, and he had not yet been driven insane, yet left.

A frown touched at his empty expression, however, as the other made an explanation. Cool? Was it somehow cold outside? He checked his temperature readings, but no, it was of a temperate temperature, usual for humans. He could not feel such a thing, but it did not seem as if it would be cold… Superman had also used such odd phrasings, as well, and the robot was about to get it over with and ask what exactly he meant, when the other spoke again.

“Hominoidea,” he answered, without a trace of impatience in his voice. “The creature you just wore the guise of.” His frown returned, however, at the other’s words, confused. Ahead of himself? Had he- Oh… So his comedic efforts tended to run alongside Lightning Lad, rather than Phantom Girl. A pity, she could be rather amusing at times.

“Instinct. Moving my head is faster than operating the rest of my body.” And it was true, even though the other probably wasn’t expecting that sort of response. Ah well, he didn’t need that type of humor invading his day.

[Beast Boy]

“That’s cool,” Beast Boy said sincerely if with little interest. It was a bit far out of his range of experience. “I’ve got a friend who’s Tamaranean.” He didn’t want his new friend to feel like he might be unwelcome or something, what with being alien and all that, so Beast Boy thought it might be a good gesture to let him know that he wasn’t unfamiliar with aliens.

“Oh! The gorilla!” Shifting back into the shape, Beast Boy grinned with his large, fanged mouth, before changing back into his human shape so he could talk again. “Yeah, well, the trees. This is the only place I can change into that form for tree climbing. I usually have to use my monkey one.” Ignoring that he wasn’t at all answering the original question—he’d sort of forgotten it, anyway—Beast Boy demonstrated by turning into a monkey with a long tail and jumping onto the robot’s shoulders, scuttling around to the front, then hopping back down and changing back.

“Oooh....” Despite the sound, Beast Boy’s change of expression immediately communicated that he didn’t really get it. “So ... what are Caluans, then?”


{OOC: Not a typo. He mispronounced it.}

[Brainiac 5]

Brainiac 5 tilted his head to the side at that interesting bit of information. “The fortune of meeting someone from Tamaran has not been bestowed.” Interesting… So there were fellow ‘aliens’, to borrow the Earth word, here? Hm, he should communicate with this ‘friend’ of his and find out the datapoints of earth. In addition, it would be good to practice his Tamaranean. He had not spoken it for quite a few years.

As the other made his exclamation of realization, Brainy quickly flipped his eyes over to a recording device, with no change unless one looked quite closely and spotted the ‘shutters’, and quickly saved the file of the likely Teen Titan transforming himself in his databanks, to study later. It was quite an anomaly, and he wished to further examine it. Perhaps he could reproduce the effect? The other’s explanation made sense, though, if one were the type to wish to climb trees, and Brainy had just opened his mouth to make an agreement, likely to just say the words ‘I see’, when the other, in hominoidea form, jumped on him.

Immediately, the robot tensed up, it taking his entire amount of control to not swat the other away. He was never touched. Not ever. And when he was, it was only by Superman, when he was saving him or the like. Never touched. Had he been a human, he likely would have let out an exhalation of relief as the other leapt off of him, but he was a Coluan, and Brainiac 5 in addition, so his features did not change.

“Coluan,” he corrected the mispronunciation, his empty expression and lack of emotion in voice unchanging, even though it was clear that the other had grasped that just because he appeared human-like, he most certainly wasn’t like it. “The most accurate term in the English language would be ‘robots’.”

[Beast Boy]

“You should meet Starfire, then!” Which would be about when Beast Boy actually realized that not knowing who someone was when they were an alien visiting Earth actually could be really bad, so perhaps taking him straight to the Titan Tower might not be the best idea. Hanging around the other Titans had rubbed off on him a little, even if he was slow sometimes, and he had no idea what kind of abilities or powers this guy might have. Talking about them couldn’t be bad, though, right?

In typical fashion, Beast Boy didn’t notice neither the recording nor the tension from his actions. In his group of friends, they either liked physical contact or dealt with it happening, and he had so much practice ignoring how uncomfortable he was making Raven on occasion that it no longer even registered.

“Right.” He might remember the right pronunciation or he might mispronounce it again. He’d get it eventually, though. His eyes went wide again at the word ‘robot’. In his mind, images of Starfire, Raven (for the attitude), and Cyborg all lined up and then combined into the robot in front of him. That was ... cool and somewhat disturbing. “You’re, like, half my team merged into one person, dude,” popped out of his mouth.

[Brainiac 5]

He inclined his head slightly at the idea. “It would be welcome,” he replied, finding it better that the other had brought it up, rather than himself. It would not do to seem hostile in such a place, even though Jinx could perhaps vouch for him, as she had seen his unintentional arrival, yet he would still prefer to meet another ‘alien’, if possible. Perhaps ‘she’, as this Starfire (a name that inspired déjà vu within his coding, for a reason he would have to search for later) seemed to be, would be able to help him blend in and adjust to the 21st century.

He knew what to do on Earth, but Earth in the 21st century? When all he had done in the past was collect data and retrieve Clark? No, he did not know what to do here, and that lack of sufficient data irked him slightly, in that very slight way that Coluans can be irked.

It seemed as though the other had managed to grasp the pronunciation of his people’s race. It was not as though it bothered Brainiac 5, but it was completely in his programming to correct people when they had incorrect data, a factor which he was certain he could not turn off. However, the other’s eyes growing quite huge in a way that the robot was certain eyes were not supposed to grow was not a factor that had been taken into consideration, but a small, very minute, small found itself onto his face at the statement.

Chameleon Boy, Bouncing Boy, Lightning Lad, even some Triplicate Girl and Phantom Girl… perhaps even an infinitesimal amount of Timber Wolf. “Interesting,” he replied, cataloguing that information to scan at a different time. “You are similar to some of my teammates, as well.” Was that not different? They were both similar to each other’s allies. At the very least, he meant that he would not stand out as much as he had thought he would.

[Beast Boy]

Beast Boy laced his fingers together behind his head and planted one foot on its toe, grinning. “Really? Sweet! Where are you from, anyway?” If he knew that, he could maybe pin down who it was that he was similar to, though he had to admit that Robin paid way more attention to other heroes than he did.

Which brought up another question, turning his smile into a sheepish one as he scuffed the ground. “Uh, I’m Beast Boy, by the way,” he said, pointing to his chest with one thumb and striking a proud pose. “One of the Teen Titans.” Since he wasn’t really sure, as a robot, whether the new guy would really get that he was fishing for a name in return, he added, “What’s your name?”

[Brainiac 5]

Ah, and that question was to be expected at some point in time. In truth, Brainiac 5 was surprised that it had not occurred yet, but there was a 76.4% chance that the other's coding had not been on the correct alignment. And yet... He had said he was from Colu. Did he not take it that he was from there? Interesting... "The 31st century," the robot replied mildly, as if discussing the weather.

As if he were discussing such a trivial subject, that is, for there were no inflections in Brainy's voice. Just as 98.3% of the time, unless Superman was factored into the equation.

Dipping his head slightly, he replied. "Your team has been heard of," he replied in his usual passive voice. And indeed, he was certain that he had read a reference to them in his history books. He would have to look back through his databanks another time. As did the name Beast Boy... Clearly a superhero pseudonym.

"Brainiac 5.0," was his simply reply to the question.

[Note: The way Brainy says his name is "Brainic Five point o", like the letter, so you know. He isn't just saying 5. C:]

[Beast Boy]

Beast Boy hadn’t realized how similar the two questions were, but he didn’t really think them the same thing at all. One was where he was actually from, like where he was born, whereas the other was more connected to where he was fighting crime. Not that his phrasing had actually reflected any of that, but oh well. His head tilted so far to the side it was nearly horizontal. After a moment to process this news, his brain jumped back into gear, he grinned hugely, and asked while bouncing on the balls of his feet, “Do we have flying cars in the 31st century?! Ooh! Or flying mopeds?! I’ve always wanted a moped, but a flying one would be awesome!”

“Well, I hope so!” The pride he took in his team was palpable in his body language and tone as he threw his chest out and put his hands on his hips in a (hopefully) heroic pose. “We’re pretty famous from around these parts.” Then he connected the last couple pieces of information and lit up. “Really? People still remember us? In a thousand years? Cooool...!” Not that he’d been much for books, but the idea of being able to open a history book and see their names still made him quite excited. Unable to help it, he asked, in an attempt at being smooth, “Want my autograph?”

“Well, nice ta meet’cha, Brainy!” he exclaimed, taking Brainiac’s hand and shaking it vigorously. Another question occurred to him which could kill two birds with one stone—figure out for certain that Brainiac was a hero and also satisfy his now burning curiosity about heroes of the 31st century. “So, you already know who’s in my team. What about yours?”

[Brainiac 5]

It was clear the exact moment that his statement had been fully processed. Even though the rapid questions and statements could have been comprehensible to a normal human (73.6%) chance, the robot was able to easily decipher them, and so answered calmly, in his normal tone, to them. “Yes, however most use ships. Yes.” A frown touched at his lips at the final statement, however. “Why do you not obtain a ‘moped’?” It seemed standard to him…

In truth, the Coluan was uncertain what the other was trying to convey with his pose (56.4% chance it was Pride), as he looked… Lightning-Lad-like. That was an accurate description. Ignoring his first statements, as they informed him of no new data and were unnecessary, Brainy nodded. “Reading about past superheroes and their deeds is a hobby. Only those who would do in-depth reading would know, however.” Perhaps they would recognize the title of the team. He was uncertain of how normal education was processed.

A frown touched at his face, however, at the question. “Why would I wish to obtain a copy of your signature?” he asked, genuinely curious and that actually bleeding into his voice, erasing his normal emotionless-ness, as he tipped his head to the side. He did not see a reason for such a thing…

And then he touched him once more. “A pleasure,” he replied, all emotion once more leaving his voice as he extricated his hand from Beast Boy’s manus as soon as he was able. Briefly, he considered the option of informing the other that he could not remember it as well as the other thought, but dismissed the coding. He could search his databanks at a later point.

However, the question made him pause, and he began listing off his closest teammates. “Lightning Lad, Triplicate Girl, Bouncing Boy, Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Timber Wolf, Shrinking Violet, and…” he trailed off for but a moment, and a genuine, clearly visible soft smile appeared on his face. “Superman.” There were others, yes, but those were the ones that he worked the closest with.

If only the latter were here with him, though.

[Beast Boy]

“Flying ships?!” Of course, they had planes and stuff now, but it wasn’t really a question he was looking for an answer to. In fact, he sped on before Brainiac had a chance to answer it, anyway. “Well, I would,” and now he turned sullen, his ears tipping back as he looked off to the side, “but Robin says that since I can already fly whenever I want to that I don’t need one, and it’s an unnecessary cost.” He added in a grumble, “Still cool, though.”

His shoulders slumped. “Not still famous then.” Well, that wasn’t as awesome. They were buried in books that only nerds and robots bothered to read? Lame. He waved a hand absently at Brainiac’s question. “Never mind. It’d take too long to explain.” He really was like Raven. No sense of humor.

As he listened to the list of heroes, Beast Boy ticked them all off in his head as names that he had never heard of, and he realized probably never would have if he hadn’t met Brainiac. Except for that last name. In his excitement, he ended up right in Brainiac’s face, his eyes wide and mouth agape. “Superman?! Really?! The Superman? The same Superman?! In a thousand years?!” Sure, Robin got to work with Batman before the Teen Titans formed, and the Titans had worked with adult heroes before, but ... Superman.

[Brainiac 5]

Had he not just stated that? No, he supposed, he had just stated that they used ships, but as he opened his mouth to respond, Beast Boy plunged onward, and he tipped his head to the side, slightly confused and a frown touching at his expression. “You cannot build one?” he inquired. Yes, not everyone had the data capacity to build objects like he did, but a moped was fairly simplistic…

“You just stated you were famous…” This human confused him. He had just stated that he was famous, yet he was ‘still’ not famous. Deciding not to inquire upon the explanation that would ‘take too long to explain’, although he did file that coding away, for he was curious, Brainiac felt obliged to offer an ‘olive branch’, as Timber Wolf had once put it. “Your team has lasted within the history books for 1000.024 years. That is impressive.” Not as impressive as Superman, of course, but nothing was.

Though the proximity was unwanted, especially as the other had to bend down to get in his face, Brainy’s soft smile stayed in place, his databanks activating images and footage of Superman that had been stored. “Yes,” he replied simply, resisting the urge to float off the ground in the happiness leaking into his emotional components. “We travelled back in time to retrieve him, and are the ones who are training him to be a superhero.” He paused, and amended his word. “Who did already, at this point in the timeline.”

Time travel wreaked having on tenses. Always an interesting challenge.