Disclaimer: I wish I owned (screams of SOMEBODY call the police for the love of Pete! Argh, get it off me—) Teen Titans, but I don't. Heh. -

Disclaimer the SECOND (Why the hey do we need to do this?): I don't own the Doom Patrol either…'cause if I did, Mento wouldn't have such a stupid looking hat and Elasti-Girl's skirt would be longer.

A/N: Sorry for the delay….;;

Yes Sir!

After almost three and a half days of bed rest and general recuperation, Gar—to Rita's stunned surprise—had returned to good health. She eventually concluded that maybe quick metabolism came with being able to morph into creatures like ferrets and starfish, animals with quick healing.

Due to the stress the small shapeshifter had been put under, Rita didn't let Gar actually get up and meet the other members until he was ready…and it wasn't just to get over the distress he had been put through—Mento was still very 'iffy' about having actually agreed on letting Gar join up. She wanted to make sure he gave a good, strong impression.

"Rita, Rita!" cried Gar, shifting excitedly from foot to foot. His eyes were bright and sparkling, a real contrast from the bleary things they had been. His skin had a healthy flush to it, so rather than looking like the inside of a cucumber, it actually had some real color. He was still skinny—akin to toothpick, but that wasn't about to change anytime soon. "Am I going to meet them?" he stared up at the woman, grinning from pointy ear to pointy ear, his big, oddly sharp canines not depriving him of what Rita found as a cute smile, even though it would seem alien and disturbing to the others at first.

"We're going right now. Come on," she told him, putting a hand on his shoulders and steering him out of the hospital wing and into the hallway that was uniformly white. It seemed narrow, due to the relatively low ceiling, and the bright lights up above and shining in tiny, star-like spots on the sides of the doors were dimmed by thin gray shades.

She could tell he was tempted to run down the long hallway, but she kept a firm gloved hand on that narrow shoulder, trying to mentally loosen the tight knot in her gut. Her feelings were kept inside, nothing remotely concerning showing through an expert mask. She had been an actress before becoming Elasti-Girl, so it wasn't too difficult. She was worried. Mento would no doubt push Gar to his limits…could the shapeshifter live up to his expectations?

She halted at the edge of the hallway in front of the door. She brought a hand up to put it on the touch-pad, but then stopped, right before she hit the button.

"Remember, Gar, these people are your friends…and we're going to be your family now, I told you yesterday."

The playfulness leaked out of Gar's eyes like water running through loosely cupped hands and took on a solemn sort of gleam. "Yeah…" he said, looking up, a hint of tension in his voice.

I can't prepare him for everything…if he's what I hope he can be, he'll be able to do this.

Rita nodded and then gently pushed him towards the door. "All right then." With a metallic sound of clicking mechanisms and pressured air leaving its vents in light gusts, the door slid open.

……………………………………………………..

Gar stepped through the doorway, his bright eyes wide in his head, taking in the scene before him. His gut was a little tight with apprehension, not fear, and the small boy resisted the temptation to narrow his eyes slightly to get a better look at the phenomena in front of him.

This room had a sort of clean, but oddly metallic smell with the tang of some kind of air freshener. It had a relatively high ceiling in comparison to the rooms and hallways he had seen, maybe sixteen feet or so. Like everything else, it was white with silver shades on the bright lights. This room looked…comfortable, even. There was actually carpet in here—white carpet, but it was carpet. To the right was a kitchen with a built in ceramic workplace and diner-like stools. The place had wide cabinets, but their contents were hid from view. Everything looked very neat and sparkly. A ways off from the kitchen was what looked kind of like a lounge. There were some mismatched, but comfortable looking chairs, a low coffee table that had a blue vase with fake flowers in it—some of the only color in the otherwise boring room. And on the wall above the electric fireplace were nothing other than pictures, happy, fun pictures of the…people…in front of the shapeshifter.

Gar didn't know who to focus his attention on, but the one in the back was about seven or so feet tall and made entirely out of some kind of metal—a copper sort of material that had a slight dull sheen. He was scratched in places, but they were only visible when the light glanced off his huge robotic body. He was built much like a body builder, with a huge torso and bulky, powerful looking arms, despite his slightly blocky appearance and heavy round jaw. The eyes so resembled a humans, the shapeshifter couldn't tell if they were 'real' or not. The robot's arms were folded across his broad chest, looking down on the small boy with thinly veiled interest.

"Huh, shrimpy little thing, isn't he?"

"What were you expecting, Cliff?" droned the man who resembled a mummy. Gar's eyes shifted over to him, only to focus his entire attention on the shorter man. Every visible part of his body that was visible was swathed in what looked like bandages, even his entire head. Two black eyes, reminiscent of hollow eye sockets and a thin line—like a mouth was his only facial features. He was wearing the same skintight black bodysuit with a broad purple-pink stripe down middle and a silver utility belt with matching boots—the same style of the outfit Rita, the robot man and…

"So, you're Garfield." The robot and the man in the bandages turned around to part the way for the final member that had not been scrutinized by the shapeshifter. This man was taller than the one in bandages, but definitely shorter than the robot. He had a weathered, sort of old campaigner look about him and a strong jaw. The man was built solidly with wide shoulders and a generally powerful body, more so than the smaller, bandaged guy, but the helmet he was wearing made it difficult for Gar not to relate him to some kind of giant bug. It was purple, like the stripe on his suit that fell to the bridge of his nose. It had eyeholes, but when the man blinked, there was black, which suggested a black fabric of some sort covered the inside of the thing. The purple mask had a molded band around the circumference and a slight dome on top, but what made it look kind of awkward were the two relatively short, rigid antennae-like projections shooting from above the man's temple. The only thing different about his suit was the jagged yellow lightning bolt that zigzagged across his chest and the elbow length, gray gloves that flared at the eblows—similar to Rita's. But it was the man's piercing, hard blue eyes that really characterized him.

Gar swallowed—his mouth had gone a little dry. "Yeah," he replied, looking up to meet his hard gaze and trying not to blush a little at the sound of his name. He stood rigidly, trying to take a soldier like stance—this man reminded him of an old soldier for some weird reason. "Are you the leader of the Doom Patrol?" he gestured to the people around.

The big man nodded curtly, his face unreadable. Gar wished that he could tell what he was thinking, he felt self-conscious and awkward.

"This is Robotman, Negative Man, and you know Elastigirl." Each member of the Doom Patrol raised a hand as he was addressed and then resumed quiet stances, but Gar barely got that. He was too busy wondering what kind of impression he could make.

"I'm Mento. You'll be addressing me as 'sir'." The mood in the room had changed, and tension was thick in the air. Negative Man shifted slightly, but didn't say anything edgewise.

Gar nodded, wishing that Mento could leave some kind of impression, but he gave away nothing about himself thanks to his demeanor, and it kind of confused him. "Yes, sir." The words felt strange and clumsy on his tongue, but at least it didn't come out funny. But a question kind of tugged impatiently at the back of his mind.

"Um, sir? Don't you have a real name—like Elasti-Girl's name is Rita?" Mento's eyes narrowed a hair, so little that it was almost unnoticeable, causing the shapeshifter's gut to clench as he seemed to shrink away the tiniest bit. Mento's face remained blank.

"Yes. But we won't be telling you those right now."

"Ste—Mento!" Rita's voice came, indignant. Gar turned around to see her with her hands on her hips and a small frown on her face. "If he's going to be a part of the Doom Patrol, at least grant him the courtesy of our real names!"

"My decision stands." Mento replied bluntly, his tone stifling further argument. He turned back to Gar, his eyes calculating and slightly cold. Despite the way that the man presented himself, Gar had a sudden respect, a sort of initiative respect for him. The fact he wouldn't tell him the names of the other members stung a little, but he forced himself to brush that aside. Mento seemed to be curious in how he would take that information anyway.

"Garfield. Can you give me a demonstration of your powers?" Mento asked. It wasn't as much of a question as it sounded like an order.

"Yes sir!" A tingling entered the shapeshifter's body as he thought furiously at what to morph into. What would be best here? His most exotic and rare morph, or his most powerful or useful? It took him almost five seconds to decide until he finally decided on the wolf—his most recent and strongest of his current morphs. He had to focus hard on the image of the wolf and will his body to change into that creature. That part of it took almost two seconds, slow, due to the concentration the morph required. After what felt like an age, Gar opened his wolf eyes and stared at Mento through them, wagging his tail weakly.

Mento hmmmed to himself for a minute before curtly stating, "Interesting choice, but it was too slow. In battle, you need to be much quicker than that. We'll work on that. Is that your best form so far?"

Shifting back to himself, which was much easier than going vice versa, Gar nodded, resisting the temptation to shuffle his feet in embarrassment. Did he hear a note of oblique excitement in the old campaigner's voice? And the thought of himself fighting against some mutated villain was gauche, despite the thrill of the idea. "Yes sir, it is."

Mento pursed his lips and then knelt down in front of the shapeshifter, the aura around him turning deadly serious. "Garfield. If you're going to be one of us, we're going to teach you how to fight, think and work in situations of stress and fear. You're going to be risking your life every time we fight. You know that, right?"

The serious tone that Mento was addressing him in made goosebumps appear on the shapeshifter's neck and arms, the hair on the back of his neck prickling slightly, but he had to shove away unpleasant thoughts and images away. If this guy could do it, so could he, even if it meant…

"Yes sir. I understand."

To his surprise, Mento stood up and put a strong hand on Gar's narrow shoulder before folding his arms.

"Good. Elasti-Girl, we're going to need to get a suit for him. And Gar?" he looked down on the shapeshifter again; who made sure his back was straight as a reed.

"We're going to be calling you Beast Boy."

A/N: I have been the definition of the word butthead for the last couple of weeks. I've been bombarded with the evils of homework and stuff at home…and a horrible, packed schedule. Thanks for the great reviews, guys! There's lots of you to list, and you have my thanks. Your words make my day, really. I come home crabby and get off the comp happy, thanks your feedback. Big time thanks to Allison this time 'round—I honestly did not know all the details about Beast Boy's past, and those nice facts are useful…I'll try and incorporate some of that stuff, but as I wanted to do my own little fan-fabricated past, it won't be entirely the same. I apologize for the sluggish updates and try harder! –huggles- Thanks guys!