The team gathered around the fire pit and began conversing. Jaime and Grant put some wood that had been stored away into the pit and Shae lit the fire with a snap of her fingers. Each member had their own drink, ranging from beer to whiskey. Cass, who was sitting next to Gar, turned to speak to him.

"How do you like team?"

He turned to her and gave her a smile.

"It's great. I know it's still early so things haven't really played out yet, but so far I'm loving it."

She nodded her head and returned the smile.

"I'm happy to hear. When I left Batman, I was worried that I was making mistake. But the longer I was here, the more it felt like family. With Batman it was always train and fight. Never talked about personal things. It's much different here though."

He nodded his head, remembering his time with the Titans.

"At first, the Titans were like a family. We got along well and played jokes on each other. I'd say up until about 9 months ago, life was pretty good. But then they just seemed to turn on me. I don't know if they thought I wasn't meant to be on the team anymore or what, but they would always chastise me."

He took a sip of his drink and looked at the fire. Cass tilted her head and looked at him confused for a second, wondering what he meant by that last statement.

"How so?"

Keeping his eyes on the fire, he took another sip and answered her question.

"They would let me have it if they thought I was slacking off. Robin would berate me in front of everyone. Cyborg would tell me that I need to pick it up or I wouldn't cut it. Starfire would just make an excuse of whatever she could think of to stay away from me. And with Raven, I could've cured cancer and she still would've found something to tear me down with."

His face became hardened, and he gripped his drink a little tighter. Seeing this, Cass wondered if she should change the subject. Before she could though, he spoke again.

"I finally had enough of it and decided to completely change. No more jokes, no more games, and no more being friends. I changed my entire diet, worked out and trained constantly, and stopped hanging around them. When I wasn't training, I decided to get my body tattooed."

She raised her eyebrows at this.

"You have tattoos?"

He turned to her and gave her a playful smirk.

"You didn't see some of them on the roof that night?"

Giving him a shake of the head, he pulled up the sleeves of his shirt to reveal his forearms. She saw the animals first and was very impressed. They were gorgeous and very realistic. She saw his other arm and the Greek symbols and gods of mythology. She ran a finger over them, feeling how the line work was still noticeable on his skin.

"They are very nice. Where else do you have them?"

He chuckled and pulled his sleeves back down.

"All over. I'll show them to you when we're not around everyone. I don't think Rose would like me stripping in front of everyone."

Hearing her name, she turned away from Rachel and Shae to see why her name was brought up.

"What's this about me?"

Giving her a warm smile, he wrapped an arm around her.

"Just showing Cass some of my tattoos. She was curious about where else I had some and I told her I'd show them to her when everyone's not here. I'm sure you wouldn't like me putting on a show for everyone."

She chuckled and leaned up to peck him on the lips.

"The only show you should be putting on is for me."

He smiled and kissed her forehead. She leaned into him as everyone around them continued on with stories of their past. As the night progressed, Muhammad turned his attention to Gar and asked him a question.

"So Gar, how did you get your powers?"

Gar tensed up for a second and Rose felt it. She immediately picked her head up to turn to see his face, but he had already relaxed and put on his mask to conceal any inner turmoil he might be feeling.

"What do you mean?"

Muhammad raised a hand up to his chest and spoke.

"Well, I was born with my powers, as so were Rachel and Shae. Jaime bonded with his scarab and it gives him his powers. Rose, Grant, and Cass were all trained to use weapons and hand to hand combat. So how did you get yours?"

Everyone became quiet and all eyes were on the boy. Even Slade was looking at him curiously. After all the years of going against him, even he didn't know how he had gotten his powers. He had just assumed he was born with them.

Taking in a breath, Gar released it shakily. He took a sip of his drink and spoke to Muhammad.

"I was injected with them."

This confused everyone.

"How so?"

Gar turned to Rachel to give her an answer.

"If I tell you, I'm going to have to tell you all of my past."

Rose immediately leaned up off of him and grabbed his hand.

"Gar, if you're not ready to, you don't have to."

He rubbed her hand gently and shook his head.

"It's okay. I know y'all are curious and have been wondering about it since I got here. I'll tell you guys, since I think I can trust you with it."

She looked him in the eyes, seeing for any signs if he didn't really want to do this. He held her gaze, giving her a small, but comforting smile to let her know that it'll be okay. Seeing that he would be alright with it, she nodded her head and sat up to listen.

"I was born in a small country in Africa called Côte d'Ivoire, also known as the Ivory Coast. My parents were biologists and were studying the animals and doing research on them."

He turned his gaze towards the fire, as if he was remembering a story from long ago. His eyes glazed over and a small smile crept onto his face.

"They were awesome. They'd take me on any of the trips they took out to the jungle or to any other countries to gather their research. We'd travel all over the place. Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, we even went to Egypt so they could study the animals in the desert."

Stirring his glass, he took a sip of it before continuing on. The team all had their eyes on him, listening to every word.

"Eventually I had a little sister named Megan. She was two years younger than I was, but we had always gotten along like best friends."

He smiled at the memory of her. The team noticed it seemed to be a smile that held grief and sadness. Rachel looked to Rose. The two of them had seen how he reacted earlier in the med bay when his parents were brought up. They both had a gut feeling that something horrible had happened to them.

"When I was about 5, we were back at our "home" out in the jungle messing around. As me and Megan were wandering through the bushes and trees, a monkey jumped out and bit me."

At this, his smile began to falter.

"At first, it felt like a normal bite you'd get from a dog or something. Then, it just felt like my whole body was burning. Megan began screaming and yelling and my mom came to find us. I didn't make it a foot before collapsing and my mom had to carry me back."

He paused and seemed to be reliving the whole situation again. The team started to grow concerned and were wondering if they should let him keep going. Grant was growing curious and decided to see if he was going to tell them the rest.

"What happened next?"

Gar swirled his drink around again and continued on.

"She rushed me back to my dad and told him what my sister told her. The monkey that bit me wasn't a typical monkey. It was green, instead of your typical black or dark blue. Dad found that I had been infected with a disease called sakutia."

Slade's eyes widened. He had heard of the disease before and knew it was fatal. Anyone who had been infected with it would die a slow and painful death.

"That's impossible."

Gar turned to look at Slade.

"Anyone who had ever been infected with it never survived. If you were to have been infected, you wouldn't be here."

The team all gasped and turned to look at the green boy. If Slade was correct in what he had said, Gar should be dead.

At this Gar, smiled and gave him an answer on how he was able to live.

"My parents main focus was finding a cure for the disease. They studied animals that had been infected with it and took blood samples from them to get a idea of what it was doing to their DNA and how it affected their blood."

Slade sat there and was putting two and two together in his head. He had heard about a married team of scientists long ago going to Africa to do exactly what Gar had just said. He tried to see if he could remember their names and it clicked. Logan. Gar's last name was Logan meaning...

"Mark and Marie."

Gar raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.

"Your parents were Mark and Marie Logan."

Gar nodded his head.

"You knew of them?"

Slade nodded in return and spoke.

"They were geniuses. Many of their findings have lead to a lot of cures for many diseases around the world. I should've realized that you were their son after finding out your last name."

Gar shrugged his shoulders.

"It happens. I'm sure I'm not the only one with the last name Logan, so I'm sure it wasn't easy to figure out."

Slade nodded and it grew quite again. Gar took another breath and continued on with his story.

"At first, dad was worried about injecting me with the serum they had created. It was a prototype and had never been used. But seeing how close I was to dying, he threw caution to the wind and gave it to me."

He paused to take a drink and continued on.

"I remember feeling like my insides were melting. It had changed the genetic makeup of my DNA. The disease had literally fused itself to my DNA and changed everything from my skin, to my hair, and to my teeth. I grew fangs and my toes and fingers grew claws."

Looking down at his hands, he flexed them and studied them some more.

"I still have to trim these things every two or three days so I don't stab anything."

With a humorless chuckle he continued on.

"At first they were worried how I would react to the change. Even I was worried about how I looked since I was now very different from the rest of the people I would interact with. I hated everything about me up until I found out I had gained powers from it."

Muhammad looked at him curiously.

"How did you find out you had them?"

Gar chuckled at this and gave his answer.

"Me and my sister were swinging around on some branches from the large trees. I lost my grip and fell out of a branch."

He took a sip of his drink and continued.

"The first thought that came to me was how I wish I was a bird. As soon as that happened, I grew wings and was soaring over the ground. When I landed, my sister came barreling down out of the trees and was going on and on about how cool it was and how awesome I am because I could change into animals."

The team chuckled at his comment and listened as he continued on.

"When we got back home, my sister was telling my mom and dad all about it. From then on, she would ask me to change into any animal she could think of to ride around on me."

He chuckled before speaking.

"At first, the villagers were scared and thought I had become possessed by an evil spirit. After my dad talked to them and let them know what had actually happened, you would've thought I had become a god."

A chuckle ran through the group. Gar was reminiscing of times long ago and how life seemed to be much easier back then. After a while of prolonged silence, Slade asked a question that would prove Rachel and Rose right.

"What happened to your family?"

At this, Gar's demeanor changed. He looked between upset and heartbroken. The group noticed and began to get the sinking feeling that the story was taking a dark turn.

"Back then, there were thugs and rebels who were trying to overthrow the government. They'd use guns, explosives, knives, and anything else they could think of to commit terrorism and mass murder to send a message to officials."

He took a moment to steady himself before he continued.

"They came into our village one night and opened fire. They killed anyone and everyone they came across. It didn't matter if they were men, women, or children. In their eyes, if it it breathed they were as good as dead."

The team was stone cold silent. They watched as Gar continued to struggle to get the words out of his mouth. Rose reached over to hold his hand and tried to give him as much comfort as she could. He squeezed her hand and offered her a smile before clearing his throat.

"We ran out of our house and tried to get away from them but they saw us. They ran after us and caught up to us. My mom told me to fly away and not to look back."

He felt his eyes watering up and felt the tears begin to fall. The team watched on silently as Gar quietly stewed in his misery. The girls watched on and wished they could do something. Rachel and Shae had felt tears coming into their eyes and Cass was sitting there unsure what to do. The boys weren't no better either. Jaime was in his own thoughts. How did his friend have to put up with so much trouble early on? He felt sorry for the boy and was wondering how he could easily put a mask on to hide all his trouble. Grant and Muhammad were a lot like Jaime. They couldn't believe that the boy they had met and got to known had this bad of a past so early on.

Rose felt the tears roll down her face just as Gar's were. She caressed his hand and she tried to do her best to help him. He looked over again at her and gave her a watery smile. He took a breath and continued on as the tears rolled down his face.

"I took off as my mom told me to do. I got as far away as I could and turned around to watch what happened."

He swallowed the lump in his throat. His eyes were locked onto the fire and glazed over again. He sat quietly for a second before continuing on quietly.

"I watched as they gunned down my family. My dad, my mom, even my little sister. I heard the screams of my mom and sister before they were filled with bullets."

Rachel and Shae let their tears fall. At this point, almost everyone was in tears. To lose your family so young, and to be on your own; it had to be tough.

"I was 6 years old. I lost everything. I watched as my little 4 year old sister was killed by a bunch of evil men. I was so upset and angry."

He quietly collected himself. Slade saw the boy struggling as did everyone else. He wasn't crying like a baby or sobbing like a little girl who had her heart broken by her crush, but everyone could see the inner turmoil going on. He cleared his throat finished with the story.

"Later that night, I snuck back into the camp. They were still there, robbing the rest of the camp and taking any valuables they could find. I sneaked up and killed them all one by one."

At this his face became hard. His eyes blazed and he clenched his fist.

"I turned into any animal that I could think of that was quiet and could tear through skin like it was paper. Once I was caught, I pulled one of the dead thug's gun away from him and gunned the rest of them down."

That clicked in the girls head. When he had seen the gun range in the training room, it must've brought back memories. After hearing that, they felt a little guilty for showing it to him and they wished they hadn't taken him there.

He cleared his throat and continued on.

"After that I was found by a lady that seemed to be so nice. She treated me so great and I was able to trust her. She was beautiful and had this thick French accent. Even at 6 or 7 I found her intriguing."

He finished off with a chuckle. It was humorless and the team knew that something awful was coming.

"She took me in for a while. Unfortunately, as time went on, I learned the hard way that she was an evil and cruel lady."

He took a shaky breathe and mustered up the courage to speak.

"She used to beat me and mock me and just do these vile things. I found out her true identity, Madam Rouge, and that she was a super villain."

He felt Rose squeeze his hand and looked up to her. She still had tears rolling down her face and looked like she was battling her emotions. He squeezed it back and returned his gaze to the fire.

"As time passed, she put me in a cage. She'd feed me once every couple of days and give me water. She rarely let me bathe and would always beat the hell out of me."

He looked down at the drink in his hand and noticed he had about a swig left. He finished it quickly and looked at Grant and raised his glass, as if asking for another one. Grant nodded and got up to grabbed his glass and go to the bar. It was quiet as they heard Grant in the background filling his glass for him.

Once it was full, he came back over and handed it to him. Gar uttered a quite thanks and took another sip. He swirled it around before looking up and back to the fire.

"At about 9 years old, she came in to the room she held in and told me to take a bath."

He felt another lump in his throat and fought it down so he could speak.

"When I finished, she grabbed me by the hand and lead me to the room she stayed in."

Rose watched as he struggled to talk. She ran her hand over his arm and spoke to him.

"You don't need to finish if you don't want to."

He shook his head and tried to force a smile.

"We got this far, we might as well finish it."

He picked her hand up and gave it a kiss before putting it back down.

"She told me to get on the bed and I did so, afraid if I didn't she was going to hurt me."

He swirled his drink around and took a sip. Glancing back to the fire as the flames continued to dance, he took a shaky breath.

"When I got on the bed, she tore the towel of me and tied me down. She then took her clothes off and got on the bed as well."

Tears began to form in his eyes again and started to fall. The team began to suspect that something dark had happened yet again to this boy. They all hoped it wasn't as bad as they were expecting but at this point, they wouldn't be surprised.

Rachel noticed he was struggling to get his words out. She looked over to Rose and saw that she was in tears at this point as well. She looked over to Cass and saw she wasn't much better either. She was struggling with herself as well, trying not to cry. She looked around and saw Shae, Grant, and the rest of the team struggling as well. Even Slade looked concerned as he too seemed to be grasping the realization of what happened.

Hoping that she was wrong, she asked the question that everyone else was wondering, but didn't want to ask it.

"Did she rape you?"

He looked down and the tears rolled down his face. With a nod of his head, he confirmed what they had been thinking. Rose let out a silent sob. The rest of the girls finally let their tears fall. The guys looked mortified and shocked.

"God damnit."

Grant muttered a curse and rubbed his hand down his face. He couldn't believe that this kid had been through hell. Even all the crap he and his sister and even his little brother Joey had been through, it paled in comparison to what he had suffered.

Gathering himself again and clearing his throat, Gar looked back up.

"She did it a couple more times and eventually, I had gotten used to it. But one day, I finally caught a break."

A smile graced his face as he looked up to the distant sky.

"The Doom Patrol came and got me out of there. She got away but I was finally free from her. I was safe and no longer had to worry about her taking me to her room to do whatever she wanted me to do for her."

It got quite again and everything was sinking in to the team. He lost his family, he was captured by a villainess, was raped, and pretty much put through hell. How he was able to push on, and do it with a smile plastered on his face, it was amazing to them.

"What happened while you were with the Doom Patrol?"

He looked over to Shae and gave her a smile.

"After some time, Rita and Steve, or as they were better known by, Mento and Elastagirl, adopted me and welcomed me into their family. They would help me train and during the down time, Rita and Cliff, also known as Robotman, would teach me and help me learn. I was able to get an education and be loved by a family."

He looked down again with the smile still on his face. It was quiet for a while before he spoke up again.

"I'm sure Jaime or Cass told you the rest of my story."

He received a nod from everyone else. Then Grant remembered something that Jaime had told them about the Doom Patrol.

"And then you lost them too?"

The smile faltered a bit and he looked back down and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, they died about 2 years ago and I kinda wish that we had fixed our relationship sooner. We made amends about 4 months before they died. After we went to the funeral, it seemed like my time with the Titans was starting to go downhill."

He was quiet for a little bit before taking a swig of his drink and continuing.

"As time went by, I started to drift apart from them and eventually, Rose here told me about you guys and here I am now."

He looked over at her and smiled. She returned and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him. He kissed the top of her head and looked back to the fire. The silence wore on for a bit before Shae broke the silence.

"How do you do it?"

He looked over to her and furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

She wiped the rest of her tears away from her eyes and cleared her throat so she could talk.

"You lost your family twice, you were raped repeatedly, you nearly died for Christ's sake, and yet you manage to put a smile on your face and are able to go on like you're perfectly happy. How can you do that after you've been put through hell constantly?"

He looked over to her and gave her a smile.

"Life has its ups and downs. Sure some might be worse than others, but why should you let a couple of bad days affect the rest of your life?"

That really put things into perspective. Any of their troubles were dwarfed by his and he could just move on. It also made them feel a little guilty. Some of their personal issues and burdens could make them upset in their own times of personal solitude and yet, he could push on after so much.

Slade looked on as the boy had that smile plastered on his face. To go through so much and to be happy and satisfied with his life, this kid was really special.

"You're one in a million Gar."

He looked over to Slade and gave him a smirk. He raised his glass as Slade returned it and both took a swig. The rest of the team looked on as he and Rose were cuddled up. They decided right then and there that they were going to make sure he was never put through hell again. If they could help it, they were going to be his third and final family.

Gar finally got up and spoke.

"I'm gonna head for bed. I'm sorry for crying like a baby and ruining the mood."

Rose got up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Don't apologize baby. As much as you been through, you have no reason to apologize to us."

He smiled down to her and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head and rested his head on hers. Rachel got up and walked over to them. Gar pulled away from Rose to give Rachel his attention. She wrapped her arms around him and he reciprocated. After a few seconds, she pulled back to speak to him.

"I'm sorry."

He pulled back a little bit and looked at her in disbelief.

"For what?"

She sniffed and wiped her eyes before answering.

"All you've been through. Being so young, you should never have had to go through that."

He smiled at her and patted her shoulder.

"It's in the past. You had no fault in it and I've been able to get past it."

She shook her head and gave him a smile before giving him another hug. Cass got up and walked over to Gar. She gave him a brief hug and he returned it. She pulled away to speak to him.

"I'm glad you trust us. I wish we could've been able to help you."

He smiled down to her and shrugged his shoulders.

"It happened a long time ago girl. I've moved on from it and I've got a great group here to help me. It's alright."

Shae came over to give him a hug as well. One by one, everyone got up to do the same thing. Slade was more conservative and gave him a pat on the shoulder and a promise.

"Gar, I promise you that we will make sure you never have to go through anything like that again. We'll make sure you're loved here and treated like family."

Gar gave a smile and gave him a handshake. Grant came over and wrapped his arm around his neck.

"Hey bro, I know it's your first night here so you're not sure you know where your room is at. Why don't you follow me and I'll take you to it."

Gar nodded his head and let him lead the way inside towards his room, all the while having an animated conversation. Slade watched on and smiled at how Grant and Gar were becoming great friends. Even for knowing each other so short, it seemed like they just clicked and got along well.

Meanwhile, Rose had a dark look on her face. She seemed to be in her own thoughts and was thinking of something. Slade noticed it and spoke quietly to her.

"What's on your mind Rose?"

She turned to him and spoke in a low and dark tone.

"I want that bitch's head on a stake. And I want to be the one to put it there."

He put his hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down.

"Easy dear. Don't let you emotions cloud your judgement. You have a great man beside you. Focus on being there for him and making sure he's okay."

She took a breath and nodded her head. Seeing that she was calmer, he patted her shoulder and spoke to the rest of the group.

"Why don't we all head inside and get ready for bed ourselves. It's getting late and Gar and I have to be up early for an assignment."

They nodded and walked through the door back inside the tower one by one. As the rest made their way towards their rooms, Rose pulled aside and made her way to Gar's room.

She knocked on the door and waited for it to open up. When it did, it revealed Gar wrapped in a towel fresh out the shower. Seeing it was her, he gave her a bright smile and leaned against the frame.

"Hey mamas, what's up?"

She smiled up to him and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

"Just checking up on you. How are you doing?"

He shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

"Well I was pretty good, now that you're here, I'm perfect."

She smirked at him and leaned in close.

"What do you mean by that?"

He walked closer to her and wrapped his arms around her hips. She leaned up to wrap her arms around his neck and gazed into his eyes.

"I think you have an idea."

She chuckled and gave him a loving and searing kiss. They sat their like that, tongues dancing with each other until their breath ran out. Once they released each other's mouths from the other's, Gar rested his forehead against hers.

"You know, if I didn't have to be up so early, I'd let you in here."

She gave a playful pout and tilted her head.

"Awww, so you won't let me inside to finish what we started?"

He chuckled this time and shook his head.

"You know I can't. If I do, I won't want to get up in the morning."

She laughed before giving him a kiss.

"Okay fine, but I expect something after our date tomorrow."

He gave her a devilish smirk and leaned in close.

"Oh I promise you, there will be a reward for you tomorrow night for letting me take you out."

She smiled and leaned up to give him a kiss. They said their good nights and Gar watched as she walked down to her room. When she finally was out of view, he went back inside to get some rest. He laid down and got comfortable. His mind was drifting between the team and his mission tomorrow. He was excited to see Jericho and his group again. If all went well, they would be coming back with him tomorrow morning.