The Alpha Dog.
It was a pretty normal day for Jump City. The sun was out; kids were playing in the park, teenage guys trying to impress the ladies at the beach. Pretty standard, and of course, the infamous giant T shaped tower keeping its rightful place in the landscape.
This was noticed by an individual flying above the city on an aeroplane. This all used to be so familiar to them; it was their home after all. Well, 'was' their home. Things can change so differently in life, so quickly, as fast as lightning. None of us prepare for it, for we don't think it ever happens to us. That's not to say that the change would be a bad thing. You get your dream job; find the girl and or guy of your dreams, win the lottery, anything like that would be great! Not for this person though.
The years they put into protecting this city, from the most dangerous psychopath, to a wannabe thug, anything that was a danger to the citizens of Jump City. Fucking, ungrateful maggots! No matter how many times you put your life on the line for these people, you make just one mistake: and they act like you just committed a mass genocide. They're lucky they've never even seen one. If only the same could be said for the individual in question.
This individual used to despise them for it, when they were younger. We all know how idiotic this person was in their teenage years. How they hated their teenage self.
The individual was known as 'Beast Boy' once. But now, he goes by his original name: Garfield Logan; or just Logan now, that's what he's been called for the past 6 years, when he was forced to leave for South Africa.
You see, there have been issues going on in South Africa; pretty much the regular civil war that will happen when things to go right for a nation.
War between the Government and Rebels has caused uproar for the people. The provinces are all fighting each other. No one outside of South Africa ever knew what for, while the civil war was happening. Thank God it's over. You have the Western Cape vs. the Eastern Cape; Limpopo province teaming up with the Kwazulu/Natal province to capture the Free State province. The whole thing was one big, borderline fuck up. And Garfield was right in the centre of it.
From there he saw the main reason for all this pointless, maniacal, genocide. You see, South Africa pretty much have three capitals; Pretoria – the executive capital; Bloemfontein – the judicial capital; and Cape Town – the legislative capital. Apparently that doesn't make much sense anymore and all of them just want one capital. The question was: Who gets to be the capital? And BANG! War. How fucking surprising is that?
This was what finally did it for Garfield. His whole life, ever since he got his powers, and the changing of his person, he never wanted to be labelled as an animal. He never wanted to see him as a monster, or a beast, or especially a pet! He wanted to be seen as a fellow man. Oh, how naive he was. Still, I wouldn't try to push your luck calling or treating him like a pet. That would lead to intensive care and an iron lung. But he didn't want to be labelled as a human anymore. Humans are a greedy, moronic, close minded plague upon this beautiful planet. How they desecrate nature; make animal species extinct, his brethren, destroying habitats just to make a little profit. That's his real home!
And now he's been summoned back, like some childish dog, bringing back a ball for the city to throw and he to fetch. Not this time, he made a deal. A deal to him to never follow anyone again, to never listen to anyone again, to never allow people to underestimate him again. He left jump city a little, childish boy and came back as what he should've always been: The Alpha Dog.
Garfield was then awoken from his daydream by a voice. It was one of the stewardess' bringing him the scotch that he ordered.
"Here you go, sir," She handed him the drink.
"Thank you, miss," Gar's deep voice made the stewardess blush.
The years have been kind to him; he was only seventeen when he left. Some scrawny, little stick figure, green skin and hair, and that annoying voice, but that was not what Garfield hated the most about his past self.
He was weak, weak physically and mentally. He remembered how he was the weakest of The Titans. He remembered how he would feel in every fight, like he was holding the team back.
Mentally; how he fell for Terra, he doesn't even find blondes attractive. How he cried when she joined up with Slade, or when she sacrificed herself to save the city. That, she had his respect, she took responsibility for her serious actions with the biggest price to pay for it: her life. But the whole childish romance that was going on, not his type of thing; being the lone wolf all this time has grown on him, he liked it. It gave him a sense of mystery that strangers would feel when they look at him.
He took a big swig of his drink. He knew the plane would be landing, roughly in about ten minutes. When he was done, he wiped the small amount of whiskey they remained on his moustache. It took a while but puberty finally hit him, like a nuclear bomb.
Garfield was now sporting a think, full, dirty blonde beard; his hair was long and went down to past his shoulders; his skin was no longer green, nor his ears and teeth pointy, he looked...normal. When he was discharged from his services for the US military, he decided to re-model his uniform. His was already different because he was put in a 'special' unit.
He uniform didn't have the generic green camouflage, but was just plain olive green; he cut the sleeves from his jacket and wore it around his civilian clothing. His t-shirt of choice was a black Lynryd Skynyrd shirt; His trousers were his olive green military ones, and he was wearing his black, steel toecap boots. He also wore a black bandana, with his hair folded over it. He looked handsome, but intimidating all at the same time. The ladies seemed to become aroused from sheer confusion.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be landing in approximately five minutes. Please, buckle your seatbelts and turn off electrical devises. Thank you." The air captain said over the sound system.
As told: Gar buckled his seatbelt and continued to stare out the window. You would of thought that after six years, he would be excited, or at least nervous, or both, coming back home. He wasn't though; he was calm, if he had his way, he would still be fighting in the military. He hated the fact the he'd been discharged.
Gar pulled out a notepad from his rucksack and grabbed the pen that was attached to it. He then started to write down a list.
Things to do: Get a job, get a place to live, visit the Mayor, find the nearest bar.
Alright, it was small list but he wasn't the busiest person anymore. All he knew so far was that he was sent back because the Mayor ordered it.
Do they want him to join back up with The Titans? "Fat chance," was Garfield's thought on that. Garfield didn't leave on a happy note.
He was then awoken from his thoughts by the sounds of the wheels touching down on the runway.
"Welcome to Jump City, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for flying with Olympus Air."
"Here we go." Garfield said as he stood up, put his rucksack on one of his shoulders and exited from the plane.
It's been five minutes since Garfield landed in Jump City. He was stood by the luggage conveyer belt, waiting for his bag. Thankfully it arrived, and he picked it up and made his way to the exit of the airport. Hoping there would be a taxi ready to take him to Jump City Hall to meet the Mayor.
As he made it to the taxi area, he noticed a very familiar vehicle parked near the entrance. It was white and blue, looked way more hi-tech than any other vehicle.
"Oh no." Was all Garfield had to say, and then the man of the hour saw his old friend for the first time, leave the vehicle. This was the first time they've seen each other in six years.
"Look whose home!" Cyborg shouted and walked up to his old friend and gave him a hug.
"Hey, Cy." Garfield squeezed out. Cyborg let go, shocked by the new voice.
"Well, look who's all grown up now? New look, new voice. You seem to have really toned out as well. That military training really does do wonders."
Garfield lifted up one of his eyebrows, "Yeah...wonders. What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I'm here to pick you up and take you home."
"Home? What home?"
Cyborg was confused by this, "What do you mean 'what home?' The Tower! Where The Titans live when they're not fighting crime?"
"I'm not a Titan anymore, Cy. I'm now a war veteran, apparently,"
"Not a Titan?! Dude, you must be seriously jet lagged. Come on, we're going back so you can get some rest." Before Garfield could object, he was forced into the car, and his luggage, and was on his way to The Tower.
After a silent ten minutes, Garfield broke the silence, "Who sent you to pick me up?"
"Robin, well Nightwing."
"Nighwing, huh?" Garfield looked out the window, "Fag." He mumbled to himself.
Cyborg looked at him, "Aren't you going to ask how everyone is? It's been six years."
"I wasn't planning on it. You're all still living in The Tower and fighting bad guys. Other then age and appearance, nothing much has changed."
"Well, then. What about you? How have the last six years been to you?"
Garfield looked at him, "Horrible at first, but after a couple of years; the constant fighting and high risk of death warms on you."
Cyborg decided to change the subject. He kept forgetting about how Garfield was pretty much forced to fight in the military, and taken away from his friends.
"Nightwing and Starfire are married."
"Isn't that nice, does Raven have a special someone too?" Gar mocked.
"She does actually. She started dating Aqualad about 4 years ago. He lives at The Tower, now."
"Fucking great, what about you?"
Cyborg smirked, "Yours truly has only managed to get himself a lovely, pink haired darling."
"Jinx? What happened to her and Wally?"
Cyborg sighed, "He has had some issues with Heroin. Nightwing keeps trying to get him into rehab; Wally gone three times but has never completed the program. Every couple of months, one of us would find him, bring his to Nightwing, he's set up the rehab business, and it starts all over again."
Garfield brushed his hair back, "Shit."
"I know you two were close, man. Maybe he might listen to you?"
"Unless he's dead," Garfield remarked, "If I find him, leave it to me."
Cyborg smiled, "Alright, man," he then noticed something, "Hey, look! We're here."
"Fantastic," Garfield mumbled.
When they finally made it to the garage, Garfield was surprised that nothing has changed. No new vehicles; the T-Ship was parked in its usual place, nothing out of the ordinary, other than Nightwing's motorcycle colour being black and blue, not the original black and red.
While Garfield was looking around the garage, he could smell everyone who was in the tower. Sadly, everyone was here, he was hoping it would've just been Cyborg and himself. He could smell Nightwing's hair gel, Star's cooking, Raven's perfume, and of course, salt water coming from Aqualad, "And they're all in the common-room" he said to himself. He heard the boot of the T-Car slam shut, and Cyborg was carrying Garfield's luggage.
"Dude, you don't have to carry that,"
"Nah, it's all good, man. You've had a long flight, you need food and rest." Cyborg got in the elevator and pushed the button to take them to the common-room. "Well? Aren't you coming?" Cyborg asked as he was standing in the open elevator by himself.
Garfield walked in, "I need to borrow the car later."
"Since when can you drive? Why do you need it? And Hell no," Cyborg replied in one breath.
"I learnt when I was away; I need to visit the Mayor, and you haven't got a choice."
"Haven't got a choice? It's my fucking car!" Cyborg yelled.
"Well, I need to visit the Mayor, on his 'orders'" Garfield mocked, "He doesn't know how to give orders."
"Can't you just use your powe-" Cyborg stopped his sentence when he remember what happened, "Sorry, man. I completely forgot about that." Cyborg noticed that Garfield didn't even look upset.
"It's all good," he replied, "I don't really care about it. I'm not green anymore because of it; my ears and teeth are back to normal. How can I complain?" He was only half lying, yes, he'll admit that it's nice to not be completely green now, but he never really cared about how he looked. 'Fuck it', that's the golden motto in life.
The elevator ride passed so much quicker because of the conversation, and now Garfield's dreaded moment arrived. With the sound of swooshing from the elevator doors, the common-room now had two more people walking in.
Like the garage, completely nothing has changed; same old kitchen, sofa, T.V, wall colour, completely the same. The only visible difference was the age and uniforms of Garfield's former comrades.
Nightwing was wearing this black and blue, skin-tight suit, abandoning his traffic light uniform; Starfire's was way more revealing, it looked like a skimpy, purple bikini, but I doubt the guys complain; and Cyborg, Raven and Aqualad seem to of kept their uniforms the same.
None of them were looking in his direction; they must've not heard the doors open because of the sea life program Aqualad was watching.
From Garfield's perspective, he could see Starfire cooking in the kitchen, Raven sitting next the Aqualad reading a book, and Nightwing sat near the dinner table reading a newspaper. None of this was remotely surprising to Garfield. The Titan's aren't really people to ever think about living outside of the box. Garfield thought that he might be able to sneak through the common-room and to his bedroom, so he didn't have to go through all the awkwardness of the whole catch up routine. As soon as he was about to make a move, his plan was destroyed by Cyborg's inability to keep his mouth shut.
"Look whose home!" He sang for all the Titans to hear. Unlucky for Garfield, they all heard it and, strangely, all at the same time they all turned around to face the man himself.
"Oh God," he mumbled silently. He was then greeted by the all familiar bone crushing hug from Starfire.
"Friend, you are home! Oh, how we missed you!" She shouted.
"I'm fucking sure," he thought to himself.
"Please, you must tell us about you travels! Did you do the photographing? I would love to see them!"
"Hard to take photos when you have a tonne of soldiers all shooting at your head."
"Sorry Star, I forgot my camera," he lied; Garfield was too tired to regain the patience it takes to talk to Starfire about human life.
"Starfire, your food is burning," Aqualad mentioned, making Starfire gasp and run straight to the cooker. He then walked over to Garfield with Raven behind him.
"Long time, no see, Beast Boy," he held out his hand for a handshake, Garfield took it.
"It's Garfield, since when do you live here?"
Aqualad smirked, "Well, since Raven and I hooked up three years ago, we thought it was best for me to relocate to here. Isn't that right, baby?" he asked Raven, and lightly patted her on the ass. That motion completely blew Garfield's mind. Last time he was here, if you touched Raven in general, it was a no go zone.
"Yes, three years," She replied, "Welcome back," she said to Garfield in her regular deadpan voice.
"Thanks, well, I think I'll go and get some rest. I need to visit the Mayor later on," Garfield picked up his belongings and was about to make his way to his old bedroom until someone stopped him.
"Why do you have to visit Mayor Matthews?" Nightwing asked as he walked over from the dinner table. He was surprised to see how much Garfield has grown over the last six years. Especially now that they were the same height, Garfield also looked to have a tad more muscle than him.
"That's private business," Garfield briefly answered, "Nice to see you to, by the way. Still chasing the baddies, I see," Garfield gestured towards the newspapers.
"Always got to be ready for a fight," Nightwing didn't like Garfield's tone.
"Well, maybe I should take you to Cape Town; see how you well you fight there."
Nightwing didn't answer back; he knew that Garfield wasn't that happy about the team's actions near the time Garfield was sent to South Africa. That's why he was curious about his visit to the Mayor, Garfield isn't that happy with him either.
Garfield walked towards the door leading towards the living quarters, "Well, as much as it's good to...see you all again, I'm quite tired. If you need me, I'll be sleeping," The door opened and Garfield walked thought it. He yelled something just as the door closed, "Don't need me!" and then the door closed, leaving the silent Titans.
"He seems different," Aqualad said out loud, walking back to watch his program, with Raven still following him.
"Well, he has been gone for six years! It wasn't really his choice to go anyway," Cyborg replied, "The car ride from the airport was so strange."
"He looks different," Starfire said from the kitchen, "Do you think he was that cute before he turned green?" she asked, but then looked away when she saw Nightwing's face.
"I want to know why he's visiting the Mayor," Nightiwng sternly remarked, crossing his arms, "It doesn't make sense."
Cyborg looked at him, "It doesn't make sense? A Titan who just returned from the military after six years of fighting comes back home and you don't think it makes sense that, Our Mayor, Mayor Matthews, wants to see him?"
"Whatever," Nightwing walked back over to his newspapers.
Garfield was standing in the hallway, unknown to the other Titans, he could hear everything they just said, and he smirked. He was hear ten minutes and already has Nightwing obsessing over his meeting with the Mayor. He decided to head over to his old room and get a good couple of hours of sleep before his meeting.
As he was walking down the hallway, loads of different memories were flying all over the place. The time he and Cyborg got sucked into Raven's mirror; when Nightwing went all crazy from that dust from Slade's mask; when he managed to give Cyborg a computer virus, s many different memories. He will admit that he didn't have the generic teen years, which he liked the thought of; Gives you that sense of adventure most people never claim in their lifetime.
He finally made it to his old room, he was not happy with what he saw. The whole room looked just like he left it: Gross and kid like. The bunk bed was still in the corner, pizza boxes and old clothes were still scattered all over the floor, just disgusting. Still, it would do for a day or two, better then sleeping in a hole; which he did have the pleasure of doing many times during his services.
"Fucking hell," he said while making his way to the buck bed. He put his bag on the bottom one and started to un-pack. Nothing out of the ordinary first, just some civilian clothes; then a photo taken of him and some person, who was covered in these markings done by different coloured paint, and then two objects were taken out of the bag.
A beautiful, blue bladed machete; with a dark, wooden handle which has markings all over it; there was these dog tags that was held on by some white rope, which was nailed on at the top of the handle; a feather of a hawk was also attached to the handle by rope. The sheath was made out of leather and was black, but it was the blade that was the remarkable piece. It was ocean blue, and wasn't made out of steel, or any type of metal: but stone, the mala mala stone; extremely strong, extremely shape; when sharpened, and extremely rare, only Garfield knew how and why he has this, and he intends to keep it that way.
The final thing that Garfield took out of his bag was a medal. It was made out of steel, and was shaped like hand; on the hand was a symbol, the infinity symbols. Garfield looked at it for a moment, and then put it in his pocket. He hid the machete under his bed and left everything else on the bottom buck, he decided to sleep on the top buck. After a couple of minutes in complete silence, he finally drifted off to a well earned rest.
When Garfield woke up from his rest, he looked at the clock on his wall. Only three and a half hours have passed and it was four in the afternoon. He decided it was time to pay the Mayor a well needed visit.
He jumped of the top bunk and headed toward the bathroom. The Titans all had their own bathroom; this was very useful if you value privacy.
After splashing some water on his face, he looked at his reflection. He remembered when he used to hate his reflection. It wasn't like that anymore; the only part of him that was green now was his eyes. He would rather been completely rid of anything green but he has more important things to deal with.
He left the bathroom and then left his bedroom. He made his way toward the common-room to grab the car keys for the T-Car. As he entered it was just Cyborg, Raven and Aqualad there, this would save him from anymore questions from his former leader.
"Cyborg, I need the keys for the T-Car."
Cyborg looked at him, "Man, I don't know. I don't like anyone driving my baby."
"Dude, you're either going to give me the keys, or I hotwire your 'baby,' I'm taking her, no matter what," Garfield held out his hand.
Cyborg could tell by Garfield's face that he was serious. With a sigh, he gave him the keys to his baby, "Don't scratch her," he said sternly. Garfield smirked and headed down to the garage.
When he made it to the garage, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, took out a cigarette and lit it. The sweet nicotine going into his system, he knew one day he should stop, but it was not this day.
"So you smoke, now?" Nightwing asked. He was near his motorcycle, cleaning it. He would do this back when he was called Robin, who knew even he would be just like a regular guy and love take care of his baby.
"You don't have time to meditate for de-stressing in a war zone; you need to find something to calm you down. Sucks I wasn't stationed in Morocco, I hear they have some fantastic hash over there."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Nightwing said, with a frown on his face.
"Why bother?" Garfield shot back, "You're not my leader anymore. What I do is none of your business, and it'll be wise for you to stay out of it."
Nightwing walked closer to him, "Is that a threat?" he asked.
Garfield exhaled smoke into Nightwing's face, "If you want it to be, you'll always be put back in your place either way. Now if you don't mind, if have things to do," Garfield walked over and opened the T-Car and drove off, leaving a very frustrated Nightwing to flip over one of Cyborg's work tables.
After driving through Jump City, Garfield finally made it to Jump City Hall, where Mayor Matthews' office was.
He walked up the concrete steps towards the entrance, entered the building and made his way toward the reception desk.
"Can I help you?" The receptionist rudely asked. Garfield noticed this and shook it off.
"I'm here to see the Mayor. I'm Mr Logan."
The receptionist huffed and started typing on the computer. Garfield was getting very agitated by her attitude.
"Yes, it says you were scheduled four hours ago, you'll have to reschedule."
Garfield looked the receptionist, "Is he still in?" he asked.
"Yes, he's in his office."
Garfield smiled, "Great, then I'll speak to him now," before he left, Garfield took the chocolate brownie that was owned by the receptionist and took a big bite, "This is good, you should go get one," he then walked off.
The receptionist glared, "You need to reschedule!" she shouted.
"No I don't!" Garfield yelled back and finished of the brownie.
Garfield already knew where the Mayor's office was from the times he came here when Mayor Matthews wanted to see The Titans. He usually was made to sit outside, because he was 'too young,' the Mayor would say.
He was staring at the door; the name of the Mayor was on it in large black lettering:
'Mayor Walter Matthews.'
Garfield knocked three times and opened the door before he was given an invite into the office. Mayor Matthews was sat at his desk, the second he saw that it was Garfield that walked in, he smirked. Also in the room were three, big, body guards, who were staring at Garfield.
"Mr Logan, you look well. Africa was nice to you."
Garfield laughed lightly, "But it seems that Jump City wasn't as kind to you," Garfield pointed to the Mayor's stomach.
The Mayor ignored the insult and asked Garfield to sit down, which he did.
"Let's just get down to business. Now that you've been discharged from the military, you need to find a job; and a man with talents and a history such as yourself shouldn't just settle down with some office job," Garfield allowed the Mayor to continue, "And since your powers," He smiled at Garfield, "Disappeared, you can no longer be capable to go back to being 'Beast Boy,' again," The Mayor, along with his body guards laughed slightly. Garfield gripped onto the arms of the chair, trying not to let loose."
"But, you received special training, and I think you'd be perfect for a nice government job."
"A government job?" Garfield mocked, "Like being a body guard? That's just a suited up babysitter," Garfield looked at the three body guards, "No offence."
"A body guard? No. A bounty hunter," Mayor Matthews stood up and looked out of the big window that held a view of Jump City, "There aren't just meta-humans in this city, Garfield. They're the Titans responsibility because they have the powers to fight back," he looked at Garfield, "But with us normal people, there are murderers, drug dealers, gangsters, and paedophiles, and much, much more."
"And those are the types of people you want me to bring in?" Garfield knew that was the answer but decided to ask anyway.
Mayor Matthews nodded, "Yes, dead or alive, shall we discuss pay to completely win you over?" he joked, "$1000 alive, $500 dead, and you'd be working for me. And that's something you should never forget." He threatened.
Garfield smirked and put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it and took a drag, "Well, I have some issues," he was cut short by the Mayor.
"Mr Logan, there are no issues," he sat back down, "We wouldn't want these fine gentlemen to tell you, would we?" One of the body guards put his hand on Garfield's shoulder.
Garfield laughed, "Well, you best tell this 'fine gentleman' to remove his hand from my shoulder before I do."
The body guard answered back, "And what are you going to do?" as soon as he asked, before the body guard knew it, he was face first into the Mayor's desk, and the force of the impact broke it in half. Garfield then took no time in 'disposing' the other to guards at inhuman speeds.
As soon as he was finished, he turned to Mayor Matthews who was still sat in his chair, his face full of shock and fear. Garfield could smell it; he then walked over and grabbed the Mayor by his throat and slammed him through the window, hanging him outside of the office, above a very big fall towards the city.
The Mayor screamed, "How are you doing this? We took your powers."
"You took my shape shifting away. Did you really think that was my only power?" Garfield was demonstrating that by holding the Mayor, who was quite chubby, with one arm and not even straining. The way he took out the body guards wouldn't be accomplished by just some normal man.
"Let's discuss business, shall we?"
The mayor remained silent.
"This is how it's going to be: I accept the bounty hunter position, you kindly offered me; the pay will be $300,000 alive, $150,000 dead, and," he threw Mayor Matthews across the room, Garfield then walked over and stepped on his throat, "I don't work for you, you work for me! You will send me the targets, wire the money into my old Titans bank account, and not get in my way," he then removed his foot.
Mayor Matthews then gasped for air, "Ok, deal," he then offered his hand to seal the deal; Garfield accepted and shook the Mayor's hand. Mayor Matthews then stood up and brushed himself off, "I have to ask, how have you kept your powers?"
Garfield looked at him, "You humans always make the same mistake. You always underestimate animals," he then made his way to the door. Garfield then looked at the Mayor one more time, "This will be our only meeting, don't make me come back here, or you won't be so lucky to go back home to your family," Garfield then left, leaving the Mayor with his thoughts, and wet trousers.
A soon as Garfield left the office and closed the door, he balled his right hand into a fist and punched his left hand, which caught it, "Yeeeessss!" he silently growled through his teeth. He was over the moon, he just made Mayor Matthews, the Mayor in Jump City, the official boss of the Titans, and made him his bitch.
Not only that, he's managed to get himself a job, well paying, and exactly right up his street. He fought in a war, went through years of a cluster of different forms of combat training; physical and mental, and get's to do whatever the fuck he wants. No-one can say how to do his job.
After his little celebration, he made his way back to the car, he thought he should go straight back to the tower, no doubt Cyborg is worrying about his car. But this is a good piece of news; surely some form of celebration is in order? And Garfield just knew where to go, anywhere that serves alcohol. He got into the car and drove off.
It's strange, six years ago; he left Jump City a weak kid. Now, he has returned a man, a man who doesn't bow down to anyone anymore.
Beast Boy died in Africa, and was reborn into Garfield Logan; The Alpha Dog, and by God, Jump City is going to know about it.