Parts of the Whole
Garfield Mark Logan
Disclaimer: There is no way I could own this. I'm too broke to have this.
Garfield was up early in the morning to hear the annoying buzz of his alarm clock. Luckily for it, he was too excited to sleep (or care) and smash it to pieces like he normally would. Today was a very special day for him... today he got his very first solo mission. That's right – just a few months after his twenty-first birthday and he has assigned an extremely important, undisclosed (did he forget to mention that it was a solo?) mission. SOLO... as in Alone, by himself, Número uno, a one man act... okay now he's blathering too much.
This is truly a real feat for him—once the youngest member of the Titans (excluding Mas y Mènos). Sure he has shown great leadership abilities and skills (especially during the whole Brotherhood of Evil fiasco), but he has never been on a mission with just himself – according to Victor: delivering communicators to prospective Titans does NOT count.
He got out of bed and moved to the bathroom to prepare for the day. He was suppose to be briefed on what his mission was to be exactly. To say that he was nervous would be the understatement of the century.
~Oo. ~
Inside one of the counsel rooms of The Watch Tower, Garfield stared straight with his mouth slightly agape, in front of him were some big League members and some former Titans. Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Batman, Nightwing, Raven and Cyborg were sitting at a semi-circle table in front of him while he sat uncomfortably in a metal chair in front of them. At this point it felt more like an interrogation and he was sweating bullets.
Standing up, Batman used his most commanding and authoritative voice. "Okay, let's get this meeting started. Lantern, Cyborg, you two will start." He looked at each one as he addressed them before sitting back down.
Once he was seated Cyborg and Green Lantern rose. Cyborg threw a disk in front of Gar, just at his feet. The disk lit up and projected several men standing in front of him. The first man was a tall, old gangster-looking type in a grey pin-striped three piece suit, with a serious pot belly and balding head. The second was an even taller, thin lanky man. He had a slight hunch, long nose and wore a simple black suit. The third man was of medium build with most of his face covered by a surgical mask and wore a lab coat over his blue suit. The rest of the men that showed up looked like a band of rag-tag group of thugs that not even Penguin or Two-Face would bother with.
"Allow me to introduce the famiglia Toraz-D'elio di Versailles," Cyborg started, "a criminal organization whose main operation is located in Italy."
Garfield just had to interrupt after hearing that, "If they're mainly in Italy, what's this got to do with me?" He looked around puzzled.
"We'll get to that soon enough," Cyborg gave him a stern look that immediately read 'shut up before I make you'.
Green Lantern decided to continue is Cyborg's stead. "As previously stated: the Toraz-D'elio mainly reside in Italy, but there have been rumors going around that they have moved some of their operations to the states. There have also been confirmed reports of gang activity in states such as California, Maryland, and Mississippi."
"The apparent boss behind the whole show seems to be Mr. Tony "Big Bang Daddy" Toraz himself." Cyborg came in again, pointing to the man in the pin-striped suit. "A well known crime boss in the underworld, who specializes in TNT and fireworks as his calling card. According to records he started out as a petty thief then worked his way up the criminal ladder.
"The next in command is his oldest son," Green Lantern pointed to the man in the lab coat. "Folks call him Alexx D'elio, aka Dr. Death, aka the 'Sweet Talking Reaper'; it is a well known fact that he uses his medical degree to manufacture and distribute illegal drugs and hoax cures to unsuspecting people with a kind smile on his face."
"Lastly," Cyborg interjected before Garfield could ask another question, "is Johnny 'The Merc' Toraz. Don't let his appearance fool you, he is skilled in many weapons and several forms of martial arts. His weapon of choice would be throwing daggers that are laced with a mild toxin that could tranquilize his victims and amplify their pain for his sadistic torturing pleasure. Of course it was specially made by his older brother."
Hearing that made him want to crawl into the nearest hole and never come out again.
Next Green Lantern used his ring to project several buildings along with their schematics. From what he could tell the buildings looked like a three story industrial warehouse that had seen better days, a four story lavished mansion and a... hospital?
"The mansion that you are looking at is where we believe them to be living. Obviously nobody told them that if you want to well-known criminals, you need to learn to lay low. They like to throw around their money like it's no big deal and no one will notice or question."
"Probably because anyone that has tried to question them was either paid off or are now 'sleepin' wit' da fishes'" Cyborg announced in a fake Italian accent.
"Good point!" At the sound of Batman clearing his throat they promptly snapped back into business mode.
"This warehouse that you see is located somewhere in Detroit," Cyborg continued. "We also believe that this is where they keep most of their merchandise such as: several grades of firearms, drugs, poisons and – as of recently – sex trafficking ring."
If his skin wasn't so green, he might have looked as pale as a ghost right about now.
"As for the hospital," Lantern scratched his head as he spoke, "honestly, we're not completely sure sure how the hospital ties into everything. It might be a front for peddling out those hoax cures we talked about, or it could be used to provide discreet care to their members that get hurt."
"I have read some of the henchmen minds and have heard them speak of a Mr. Tony visiting that particular hospital to 'check up' on his ailing wife." Manhunter spoke up from behind them. Gar was sure to jump out of his seat and skin, because he was listening to Lantern and Cyborg so intensely that he forgot about everyone else in the room.
"That's a possible reason that I could have some of my contacts check out later." Nightwing also spoke up rather tiredly.
"Let's finish this up first before we start talking about our next plan of action." Batman silenced anymore useless and unimportant chatter. "Nightwing and Raven, you now have the floor."
"As J'onn said and Nightwing commented on, we managed to have some spies infiltrate their inner circle. Plus J'onn and I have been skimming the minds of the men to try to gather any information we can without them noticing. As you can imagine, that doesn't get us as many results as we want or need." Raven let out an indignant huff.
"This is most of the information that we could gather, at least at the time." Nightwing passed several manila folders to Raven who used her powers to hand over to Garfield. "We want you to study and observe the four of them to..."
He was cut off when Garfield decided to speak up again. "...Four? But there are only three of them that I can see, unless you are counting the sick wife?"
"This is where you come in." Cyborg said with a slight smirk on his face.
"As I was saying, our Intel reports that there is a fourth member of the family – a daughter."
As he said that Garfield was flipping through the folders trying to find the information on this so-called daughter.
"There's nothing in here about a daughter." He said rather frantically as he looked up from the papers in his lap.
"To reiterate what Cyborg said: 'This is where you come in'." Raven's voice held a slight annoyance. "It seems as though she was the product of Big Bang Daddy and one of his mistresses. Unfortunately for us she doesn't hold the same last name as her father or brothers. Your job is to find this girl, infiltrate her ranks and extract information out of her about her father and his business."
"We have only just learned that she is also in the states and may be operating her own crime ring under the disguise of a circus. We have already created an alias for you to use, all that is left for you to do is meet up with her and convince her to let you join. Meet us at the teleportation deck tomorrow at 1400 sharp for further instructions."
Batman finished the meeting and everyone got up to leave. The only ones that stayed behind long enough were Nightwing and Raven. Catching up with them at the door, he finally took notice of the gravity of Nightwing's fatigue and the irritation practically rolling off of Raven.
"Something wrong with you guys?" He spoke meekly so as not to push any wrong buttons on the two.
Giving out another sigh Raven spoke up for the both of them. "Starfire still hasn't come back from Tamaran..."
"Still!?" Gar was utterly shocked to hear that. "I thought that after that secret rendezvous happened a couple of months back she would have finally come back."
"You'd think that," Nightwing gave another sigh. "... and so did I."
"So what's eating at you Rae...?"
Looking at his friend he could slight nervousness pass over her eyes before she quickly locked it away. Biting her lip slightly before talking she tried to figure out how to put the words together.
"H-how...umm ….. how do you tell someone that you are... several weeks along?" Her voice was barely above a whisper but they could still her clear as day.
This gave the two pause—quite literally in fact – because of their sudden statue-like impression she had to think that she said something wrong.
Nightwing was the first to break the silence, "Forget my problems, Rae, congratulations..." they continued to walk and talk without realizing that Garfield wasn't following behind.
Man, he truly was the youngest of his teammates. First it was Victor, then Dick and now Raven, too? Instead of trying to catch up with them, he decides to go and pack for his mission and, for once in his life, thoroughly read through the files he was given.
~Oo. ~
The next day {Teleportation Deck}
J'onn pressed a small yellow envelope into his chest as he was picking up his duffel bag. "These will be your new identification passes along with some cash for the way."
Sifting through his new driver's license, passport and credit cards he saw his new name: Mark Wolfe. Looking skeptically at them he just had to question things. "You said I would be undercover and there is a pretty big percentage that she doesn't know who I am, so why can't I just use my real name?"
Everyone gave him that look that read: You're joking right?
It was Raven to break the staring contest, "Did you honestly forget that your name—and not your face, thank the Gods," she gave out an audible sigh before continuing, "was published in all the papers nationwide when you inherited your trust fund?"
He remained silent. It was true that during the passing of his eighteenth birthday he had somehow received a letter from his dead parents' attorney. It was a wonder of how the man had managed to get his address, let alone know that he was still alive. The only thing that was enclosed in the letter was the newspaper clipping on the day of their death and their last will and testament stating that he was to inherit all of their worldly assets and financial funds.
All that entailed was his former house that had been kept in pristine condition since he left, his parents' lab with a small animal sanctuary connected, and the millions of dollars – as well as stocks and bonds—they had earned through their research and discoveries.
Surprising to anyone who ever knew him, he actually did use the lab and proved to be smarter than they originally gave him credit for.
He was broken out of his reverie and quietly retrieved his credentials, placed them in his wallet and pocketed them before turning to face to teleportation stand.
"So what's my background story?" He threw over his shoulder.
Cyborg was behind the control pad room, punching in coordinates as he answered. "We've decided that it would be best to see how you can handle yourself alone, so we're giving you free range of your own back story."
He slowly nodded his head as the teleportation stand began to light up. Looking over to Nightwing, he had to ask, "Got any advice for this undercover stuff, maybe an 'Undercover Spies for Dummies' book?"
"Yeah, try to stay as close to the truth as possible without actually saying anything that might give you away. It's also important that you believe your own lies as if they were the God-spoken truth, but know when to differentiate them. And don't forget to stay in character at all times, so you don't mess up"
He handed Beast Boy a cell phone as he was explaining this to him.
"Does it ever get easy, y'know, trying to tell the difference between the real you and the fake you?"
Nightwing stared at him for a while, as if trying to decide whether or not to tell him the truth, himself.
"I honestly don't know." He finally told him as he turned around and walked away.
J'onn walked to him to explain the rest of his mission's details, "The last know place she has been reported to have been seen was in Texas, traveling along route 66. That means that you will have to search around a bit before running into her; try gathering some information and ask around."
"How hard can it be to look for a circus these days?" Garfield joked.
"Because you'll be on this mission for a while, we don't expect you to be in touch on a regular basis, but check in and report on anything you find out at least once every two to three weeks will suffice." Batman spoke over the intercom from the control pad.
"I almost forgot," Green Lantern approached him holding out a silver ring. Gar took it and examined it in the florescent light. "It's to disguise you, to make you appear more... normal. You're not allowed to use your powers because it might give you away."
He gave them a quizzical look. "Thanks a lot, John. If I'm not allowed to use my powers, how am I to convince this supposed daughter to let me join her circus?"
"You could always join as a clown and retell all of those corny jokes of yours." Cyborg announced over the intercom, laughing out loud.
'Ha ha ha' he thought bitterly as he stepped onto the teleportation pad while rolling his eyes.
Just before he was completely gone he heard Raven yell something.
"One more thing, her name is Teresa. Remember that."
By the time she finished he was already gone and they were left looking at each other with different degrees of worry on their faces.
"Let's hope for the best." Nightwing quietly replied to no one in particular.
~Oo.0,oO~
Once he had touched down on Earth, he was thankful that they had transported him into a secluded back street in the nearest town, instead of in the middle of nowhere.
Slipping on the ring he was given, he watched as his visible green skin gave way to slightly tanned skin. He then walked out of the alleyway and looked at the rest of himself in the nearest store window. He looked on in amazement as he eyed the reflection that stared back at him.
His hair was now blond and slightly curly. His eyes were still green, only now with a bit of blue mixed in them. His facial features were also a bit more sturdy than before and his teeth that were slightly pointed, were now somewhat flat.
He had to admit that he looked good.
He continued to admire himself for a few more minutes before closing his eyes and steeling away his resolve. When he opened them again he had a stern look on his face and grabbed his bags.
'Goodbye Garfield, hello Mark Wolfe.' He thought as he started waling down the street.
This is actually a lot more writing than I am normally used to. I will try to do one for each of the Titans. This is sort of meant to be a companion piece to my other story 'Dark Waltz', but I decided to let it stand alone, for now.
Word count: 2799
Updated: Feb. 10 – 2015