As previously noted, we own nothing in this story beyond the idea for it. Please enjoy and review.
No matter how old he got, how mature he was supposed to be, Gar hated to wake up earlier than 9 in the morning. Something about it just felt wrong to him though some might suggest it was because he never went to bed until after the early hours of the morning, which he doggedly blamed upon nocturnal instincts left over from his shifts. Despite these instincts, he had managed to maintain his schedule of training with the team and had seen significant improvement in their performances. Ravager threw herself into the training with alternatively admirable and unsettling ferocity, clearly determined to prove something to somebody. Blackfire was also improving and she'd seemed to be in a lighter mood since their excursion into the city. And while it had been a decidedly rocky start, Kid Devil was showing significant promise. He reminded Gar of a puppy who was growing too quick for his mind to keep up with his body, tripping over his own paws as he tried to run about. It was both endearing and frustrating to deal with, and Gar found the boy's saving grace in his familiarity with the classics.
Evening was descending and his wards were off doing things he probably didn't want to know as Gar sifted through the numerous boxes and other knickknacks that filled the dark storage room. Most of it was clutter, old files in Steve's all-consuming hunt for the Brain and his Brotherhood of Evil. It was supposed evidence he was unwilling to throw away in the case that it ended up leading back to the Brotherhood. However, beneath the mountains of reports, paper records, and boxes of evidence, there were mementos of victories and other fond memories. A newspaper clipping displayed their first victory against Sven Larsen, only marginally more commonly known as the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. An egg recovered from the apartment of the murderous Porcelain Doll, contained within a glass case and set upon a small wooden pedestal. He marveled at it for a second and put it with the stuff that he was going to salvage when his ears twitched and his nostrils flared. Turning his head towards the doorway, instinctively elongating his fangs and claws, he retracted his natural weaponry when recognized the voices.
"See? Told you. This door was locked earlier."
"And the fact that its open now means it's an invitation to come on in?" Rose snarked back at Eddie and Gar could imagine him shrinking away at the bite in her voice.
"So, you don't wanna take a look around?"
"Never said that. C'mon. Let's see what we can find."
As he heard them begin to shuffle around in the room, he worked his way towards them when Eddie remarked, "Hey, there's something covered up over here. Like a painting or something . . ."
"Don't touch!" Garfield yelled as he leapt to the top of the shelves and scrambled across them to get to the startled teenagers. He dropped in front of them, cutting them off from the hidden object perched upon the easel amongst the other clutter. The pair were attired in their superhero attire and Gar was still a little bit wary about the way Rose's hands automatically flew to her blades before she relaxed. Standing up, Gar assured that the canvas cover over the painting hadn't slipped, checking the knots to ensure they hadn't slipped before nodding and releasing a relieved sigh. Turning to his startled comrades, he clasped his hands together and extended his pointer fingers towards them.
"So, in case you didn't know, this place used to be a Doom Patrol base. This room specifically is where everything that this base collected got stored when the team went defunct. A lot of it's a bunch of clutter that is better used fueling the cooking of delectable s'mores, but some of it has a bit of a kick. This little baby right here is a painting originally done by Giovanni Battista Piranesi before it was wrecked in 1814. Max Bordenghast made a duplicate several years later, and then again by Austin Osman Spare. Eventually, it was stolen by the Brotherhood of Dada who used it to absorb Paris. If you look at it, it will eat you," he explained though they did not look marginally convinced.
"Ate Paris? Really? You know, I'm almost inclined to believe you because that's too crazy to make up," Rose smirked.
"What's the Brotherhood of Dada?" Eddie asked, his brow furrowing.
Gar waved his hand dismissively, "Eh. A team formed by Mr. Nobody to spread chaos and insanity around the world. Speaking of which, the painting is also currently serving as the prison for Mr. Nobody and most of the B of D."
"Okay, but why did they want to spread chaos?" asked the white-haired girl.
"Oh, well, Eric Morden, the real name of Mr. Nobody, tried to join the Brotherhood of Evil for some reason, but he did something to cheese 'em off. Long story short, he went into hiding, ended up being experimented upon by some Nazi sci-guy, who ended up giving him the power to drain sanity. He also went nuts, became a shade, and thought that the universe was, and I quote, 'a drooling idiot with no fashion sense.'"
For a moment, they merely stared at him before glancing at each other and breaking into smiles and laughing. Rose shook her head, "Man, you almost had us going there."
"What?" Gar frowned.
"I mean, I saw some weird stuff working with the Blue Devil, but that's beyond bizarre," Eddie laughed. Gar opened his hands, spreading them as his head flicked from one of the youths to the others.
"No, I'm being completely serious. Probably one of the few times in my rather astounding life that I'm sure will someday be made into a movie, at least a novel," he argued to little avail. Rose rolled her eye and Eddie's arms clutched his sides and before Gar could defend his position any further, a red light colored the building and a klaxon began to ring. Gar was nearly out the door before realizing that the other two hadn't moved and he managed to grab hold of the door frame, pulling himself short and poking his head back in. "Hey, let's go. We've got a mission."
They rushed after him though as he dropped into the form of a cheetah, they soon lost him in the halls as they headed towards the control room. When they arrived in the circular room, Changeling was midway between human and cheetah shape and fiddling with the central computer as Blackfire hovered nearby. Set in an indent on the floor and surrounded by a ring of couches, the main computer was a circular construct that lacked a conventional monitor. It deployed a holographic projection between its flat top and a cybernetic stalactite that hung directly above it. At the moment, it was displaying several live news feeds and other data that flooded the youths. After completing the exchange of information with the authorities who had contacted them, Gar leapt out of the pit and grabbed the still shell-shocked Rose and Eddie. Minutes later, they found themselves upon the back of a Quetzalcoatlus northropi that's steady wing pumps carried them steadily towards the city as Blackfire streaked ahead. The massive pterosaur filled them in along the way.
"About half an hour ago, an unknown man entered downtown's central bank. He used some sort of sonic weaponry to shatter the walls to get at the safe. Fortunately, he had absolutely no interest in the civies and they got out of there safely. Police tried to box him in and he's been blasting at them for a while now. They aren't making any progress against him, so we're being called in."
"Do we have any idea who it is?" Kid Devil asked.
"They didn't match him to any of our databases, and right now, all we know is that he uses sound as a weapon. So, look out for the brown note, cause if he hits you with it, I am not giving you a ride back," he told them sternly.
"The brown note?"
"If you don't already know, you probably don't wanna," Ravager warned. Kid Devil arched his eyebrow but heeded her advice as they came across a cluster upon the streets. Black and white police cars formed a semicircle barricade between a crowd of uniforms and a single figure held at the entrance of the bank. All the windows in the vicinity of the standoff were cracked and debris from the nearby stone buildings had smashed into the pavement. As they drew upon the scene, Blackfire swooped down towards their target, purple orbs encasing her fists. However, her black and scarlet quarry took note of her as she hurtled from the air and he raised a pair of oversized gauntlets, releasing a bellow like a foghorn. There was no obvious blast but she froze before crumpling, falling through the air without any control.
"Hold on tight," Changeling advised before folding in his wings, going into a dive. Kid Devil tucked his head against the broad back of the pterosaur as his claws dug into the leathery hide. As they neared the ground, Ravager readied herself for a jump and tapped her comrade on the shoulder, encouraging him to lift his gaze. Changeling swept under Blackfire, catching her while she was yards from the ground just as a screech tore through the air below him, slamming into a pair of police vehicles and knocking them aside. Lifting back into the air, the sonic blast followed him in his ascent while the younger members of the team leapt to the ground. Blades in hand, Ravager led the charge against the powerfully built figure.
The thick and muscled man wore pieces of an obsidian cybernetic armor with ruby highlights, the heaviest pieces being about his chest, forearms, and lower half of his legs. Oversized gauntlets with only three broad fingers on each bulbous hand reached to his knees and crimson orbs glowed in the palms. Another circle based in the center of his chest pulsed with a faint light and while several of the cops had directed their fire there, the bullets bounced off any part of his armor uselessly. A collar extended from the chest piece that reached to right below the scarlet visor of the dark helmet, which left the lower half of his haggard, mangy face revealed. His thin lips were twisted into a snarl, revealing jagged uneven teeth that had yellowed from the lack of care. Light glowed from other ports upon his armor and Ravager suddenly received a vision of the central light growing brighter before a blast of noise launched from it. Already knowing what was coming, she was already out of the way when he launched the sonic attack, but she remembered too late that Kid Devil had been right on her tail. With a grunt, he was lifted off his feet and knocked back, his ears ringing as he slammed into the ground.
Not slowing down, Ravager raced ahead, her blades singing through the air as she went into a flurry too fast for the large man to defend against. However, her weapons did not even scratch the heavy armor and the man simply snarled as he lashed out at her with a massive fist that crashed into the concrete as she managed to dodge. Slipping behind him, she sliced along his exposed bicep, eliciting a roar. One of the lights along the back of his chest plate glowered and a pulse of sound disoriented, causing her to reel about for a moment. He spun about, swinging his fist into her side and sending her tumbling along the ground, one of her swords being knocked from her grip. Before he could advance upon her, he was consumed by a rolling wave of flames that he quickly extricated himself from, patting at the singed portions of his exposed clothes and flesh. Glaring at Kid Devil, he snarled, "Walk away from this rumble, kids. I ain't gonna go easy on a bunch of punks playing hero."
His response came in the form of a knife thrown into the chink between the greaves and chest armor as Ravager returned evenly, "Tag, you're it."
Raising his hands at them, he prepared to unleash another pulse of sound only to be interrupted by thundering footsteps seconds before a wooly rhinoceros smashed into him and carried him into the outer wall of the bank. As Changeling backed away from the crumpled mess, he noted, "Did you know that the horns of rhinos are made of keratin, the same stuff that makes up your fingernails?"
Slowly rising to his heavy feet, the criminal's progress was halted by a primal scream and a ferocious barrage of purple star bolts. As they rained down upon the villain, Changeling returned to his human shape, setting one hand upon his waist and appraising the rain of attacks with a mildly impressed stare. After several seconds, he cupped his hands about his mouth and shouted up to the frenzied Blackfire.
"Hey, you might wanna cool it, hot stuff. We want enough of him left to put in prison."
Hesitating for a moment, holding a bolt in hand as she floated in the air, she finally huffed and allowed the energy in her hand to dissipate. Descending to her comrades as Kid Devil assisted the reluctant Ravager to her feet, they watched for the haze of dust to settle about the rubble. Everybody was still until the cloud was thin enough to see the unconscious man in his ruined armor, his head lolled back though his chest rising and falling in time with his breath. The dagger had fallen out of his body and lay amongst the stones and rubble. A word went up from one of the officers and a contingent of cops hurried forward to secure the villain and strip away his weaponry. Limping slightly but refusing help from Kid Devil, Ravager collected her sword, slipping the pair back into their sheaths before elbowing her way towards her dagger. With a sigh, she hobbled over to stand with her comrades as civilians began to call out to them.
"Check it! It's the Changeling."
"Yeah, I recognize him, but who are the guys that he's hanging with?"
"That one chick looks like a rule 63 Slade."
"Didn't that one kid work for the Blue Devil dude or something?"
"Who's Blue Devil?"
"Dude, Starfire's gone goth! That's totally hot."
As Blackfire's eyes began to glow with an ominous light, Changeling gave a watery smile, "Leaving suddenly seems like a really good idea."
They soon found themselves in the heavily stocked medical bay of their base where Ravager was cataloguing her bruises and Changeling was scanning Blackfire for any damage invisible to the naked eye. He had already given Kid Devil a clean bill of health but the young man stayed behind, attempting to help Ravager in treating her own injuries. As Blackfire emerged from the scanner, Changeling gave a content nod but called out to her before she could leave, "Hold it, my golden muse. I need to talk to all of you."
"Can't you save the congratulations for later?" Ravager asked as she tested one of her ribs.
"I can," he acknowledged, "But I'd like to talk about this right now. By my evaluation today, all of you failed."
"What?" Her one eye snapped up to focus on the green man who stood stoically.
"Would you care to repeat that, Gar?" Blackfire seethed.
"As a team, you failed. I'll accept that that's my fault with how I keep running one-on-one simulations, so tomorrow we start a Hell of training exercises."
"What did we do wrong?" Kid Devil queried, his tone less defensive than the others and seeking to know how to fix his mistakes.
"Aside from specific moments, we failed to work together as a team. Our resident dark hotness launched herself forward without waiting for us or making any sort of plan. This resulted in her getting blasted and I had to rescue her, taking me out of the game for a moment. Ravager, KD, you guys showed good initiative."
They glowed for a moment until his next comments darkened their outlook. "However, you don't stand in front of a crowd of people when facing a dude who uses area based attacks. And you don't let your teammates get hit if you can prevent it. I'll give that you adapted well to the situation and Blackfire gets the laud for the finishing blow. However, you went overboard with that, hot stuff. Remember, the people we're trying to protect have to pay for repairs. We wanna keep damages to a minimum. Except the ones to, you know, the whackos attacking our fair city."
He studied their faces for a moment, worriedly noting that rage was the most common denominator in their expressions instead of contriteness as he had hoped, and he clasped his hands together, "Right, well. I'll give it a solid D. Get your rest and ready yourselves for the horrors of team training. KD, you make sure that Rose gets scanned. Don't want any surprise injuries. Sleep tight and don't let the Cimex lectularius bite. On that note, did you know that Pliny thought bedbugs could be used to treat snake bites and ear infections?"
Without waiting for an answer, he ducked out of the room and strode down the halls, breathing out a sigh. He massaged the back of his neck as he guided himself towards the control room. Lights flickered on ahead of him and returned to darkness after his passing, conserving the base's energy. As he entered into the control room, the tension in his body relaxed, and he was feeling light-hearted enough to whistle a jaunty tune as he typed the keys upon the console. Lights flickered between the two ends of the constructs and he gnawed on his lower lip before a face appeared and he broke into a smile.
"Heya, Rae."
"Hello, Garfield. It's good to see you again."
"And, as always, its absolute bliss to bask even in your digitized visage."
The sorceress rolled her eyes but gave a soft smile at his jest before she said, "I heard the news of your exploits today."
"Oh, Lord," he buried his face in his hands and mumbled, "Do I even wanna know?"
"Well, Starfire is quite frustrated by the flood of e-mails asking her why she's dyed her hair. The media is already assigning some names to your group."
"I really don't need to hear those."
"Oh, but you really do, Garfield," she smirked.
He blew out a short breath and put his hands on his hips as he stared at her teasing grin. Giving a shake of his head, he mused, "Y'know, it seems like you miss me so much that you're adopting aspects of my persona."
"'Persona?' Who's taking aspects from who, Garfield?"
"Well, since you've turned down all my other flatteries, it seems that I'm only left with imitation," he teased.
"One of the proposed names for your team was Tartarus due to the more sinister appearance of your members than the typical Titans Teams. That was one of the better ones," she redirected.
"Tartarus?" he pushed out the bottom of his lip and mulled on the word. "Isn't that some sort of fish sauce?"
"Tartarus was the Grecian afterlife that encompassed both their Hell and their paradise. It served as a prison for a number of significant figures in myth, including the Titan, Prometheus. Hades ruled the realm," she explained with slight exasperation.
"So, if I'm Hades, Kid Devil would probably be Panic, Ravager would be Pain, and Blackfire would be Meg," he stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Raven blinked. "You've lost me."
He sighed and wagged a finger at her, "Ray of sunshine, have you been deviating from my list of prescribed movies that you must watch?"
"I'm not wasting my time watching cartoons, Garfield."
"They're classics, my amethyst-eyed sorceress. Classics!"
She gave a soft chuckle that caused his heart to soar and she was about to continue the conversation when he heard the klaxon coming from their end. Glancing up from the computer, she turned to him, reaching towards the screen as she gave a quick farewell.
"We will talk again later, Garfield. Stay safe."
"You too, Rae," he smiled after her, hopeful that his intent reached her even if the message had been cut off. Picking at the buttons, he shut off the power to the console and headed towards the storage room, intent on wiling away as many hours he could upon the task before sleep could claim him.
So, yes, the people that Changeling was talking about are real characters from the DC comics and the villain the team faces is a Titans' enemy though with my own twists upon him (FIBRIR!). We hope you all enjoyed this, and if you did or have some criticism to offer, please review.