Beast Boy Issue #1: Moving Forward

Former child actor, turned superhero.. That's me! Well it was, at least until the team I was apart of, the Doom Patrol, decided to part ways and disband. The team thought it would be for the best. To be honest, I'm not really sure who Beast Boy is, without the Doom Patrol. I thought that leaving Midway, and going on a world tour might help me figure things out. Or maybe that 's just so I don't constantly relive what happened. Still have missed phone calls and texts from my cousin Matt, along with Larry, and Rita. Me constantly thinking about it doesn't help things either.

 

 

So here I am in Markovia, a small European country, between Switzerland, and Italy. Can't get too much farther away than that. It's a country known mostly for farming and mining, at least, that's what the pamphlet said. What it failed to mention was the metahuman trafficking ring. Seen only as weapons, sold to the highest bidder. While there may not be a Doom Patrol anymore, I as a hero, should put an end to this.

 

 

For the last week or so, I've been trailing some of the local gangs, waiting for the right time to pounce. It's all lead to this. A meeting with a group known as A Murder of Crows. Yeah, a little on the nose for my liking, but bad guys aren't really known for clever names. I notice containment pods being offloaded from various trucks, and into the meeting place. There they are, in stasis, sleeping, most likely due to the green liquid surrounding them. Weird that it isn't killing them though.. Now, how should I go about this? I'm used to having 4 team mates backing me up. Going headlong into the fight will probably end with me becoming street pizza. Thankfully, they won't notice me as a fly.

 

 

"Looks like we can begin." One of the Crows says as he walks in front of the others. He's dressed up, in comparison to the others, so I'm gonna take a wild guess and say he's the leader.

 

 

"We brought them here, as promised. Now for you to keep your end of the bargain." A woman, dressed in a lab-coat replies in a thick Markovian accent, her eyes scanning the room, making sure there's no complications.

 

 

"Ah, yes. Of course. Bring the doctor her money." Crow Leader says as he points to one of his many followers.

 

 

"Yes Master Corvus!" The follower bows, his voice full of fear and obedience, as he runs off for a minute, before returning, out of breath, with a briefcase in hand. The follower hands the case over to the doctor, and she opens the briefcase. Flying around so I can see what's inside, it's just plain old cash. No USB stick, or anything digital. A criminal that isn't doing things digitally?! Well, that's a surprising turn of events. Makes what I'm about to do next quite easy. Changing into a gorilla, I land on one of the Markovian thugs.

 

 

"Really should've picked a better meeting place. I mean, you never know whose watching. I'll be taking this!" I say, as I grab the case from the doctor with ease. I leap away to avoid the gunfire that's sure to come, before crushing the briefcase into a ball.

 

 

"You set us up! You're gonna pay for that!" the doctor yells, and sure enough, a brawl breaks out, with those on the doctor's side shooting at the crows. Most of the crows avoid said gunfire, and vanish from sight, only to appear seconds later, behind the thugs. One of the crows lays a hand upon one of the thugs, and he starts to decay, like the life-force is being drained. Wait, is life-force even a thing?

 

 

"You know, you all could give stormtroopers a run for their money, being the worst shots ever." I say, as I change into a snake to dodge the oncoming bullets, before I change into an octopus, grabbing as many of them as I can, disarming them in the process. I'm being careful in avoiding the metahuman pods, as I don't want them dying on my watch.

 

 

"Waitaminute, that's Tork! From Space Trek: 2022! I'd recognize that green skin anywhere!" One thug yells, as Corvus places his hand on him, his decaying power killing the thug almost instantly.

 

"Always a pleasure meeting my fans! Ah crap, I was too late." I hit Corvus multiple times as a kangaroo, before changing back to a rat, to avoid the remaining bullets coming at me. After they all fly by, I change back into an octopus, wrapping eight more of them up in my tentacles.

 

 

"Protect the pods. We aren't leaving this place empty-handed!!" Corvus caws, and his followers change position, going more on the defensive. At least, those that I'm not holding now. All of the sudden, I feel this coldness, and sure enough, one of crows has their hand on me. It hurts more than it should, thankfully, this won't kill me like it did the others. At least I'm pretty sure it won't. Perks of being able to heal from wounds quicker than most. I change myself into a crow of all things, and fly to a vantage point. It was only a matter of time before I thought of a crow. Anyways, they are whittling each other down by a pretty good amount, but there's still too many of them. The lightbulb goes off, the pods! If I can wake them up, and get them out of the pods, they'll help me out, right? I mean, these people want to buy them, and use them for something. Either that, or they'll just run away. Well, it's the only idea I've got now, so may as well just give it a go. Now to figure out how to open the pods, without harming the people inside.

 

 

Changing into a dragonfly, I fly towards the containment pods, in the loading bay, weaving through the thugs and crows. Upon arrival, I switch back to human form. Looking at these pods, there isn't a keyhole, or really anything to signify how these open up. Only a white circle, near the middle of the pod. Well, here goes nothing. I place my hand on the circle and sure enough, the pod starts to open. The liquid surrounding the person inside starts to filter out, and reveals a girl, not much older than me, with long blonde hair. I never really understood why anyone believed in love at first sight, but now, I think I get it. Agh, snap out of it Gar! Now's not the time... Her eyes open, revealing her baby blue eyes.

 

"What are you gawking at?" She quickly snaps, as she notices me looking at her.

 

"Oh right... Sorry." I say sheepishly, before taking a step back.

 

"Whatever. Who are you, and where am I? Last I remember was getting poked and prodded with needles." She says bluntly, while looking quite confused. Makes sense, all things considered.

 

"I'm uh -- Changeling.. Yeah, that's me. My friends call me Gar. As for where we are, some old mining warehouse, now being occupied by criminals that were trying to sell you as a weapon for A Murder of Crows. Now's not really the time to talk about this though, as they'll notice us at any minute, and once that happens, say bye-bye to any hope of getting out of this alive." I say, with a slight pause before saying my name. My mother used to tell me stories about the Changeling, mostly to get me to eat my vegetables, so that's what I first thought of in the moment. May have to make it a permanent thing, as a way to move past Beast Boy, member of the Doom Patrol.

 

"Not if I have anything to say about it." She emerges from the pod, and onto the ground in front of me. Her hand starts to glow yellow, and rocks start rising from the ground.

 

"Okay, rockhead, so, do you have a name? Cause I don't really want to keep calling you rockhead." I ask, turning around to see the crows walking towards me and the girl.

 

"The names Terra. You should be more worried for them than me though, as they're in for a world of hurt." She smirks, before she hops on a rock, and starts flying towards them. Uh oh, this could get a little rocky. Too soon? Yeah, too soon.

 

 

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So here we are! Issue #1 of Beast Boy. Huge Thanks to Jose for the build, along with the figures. Thanks to everyone else that gave me ideas for the issue as well, couldn't of done it without you.

Done