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[INDENT][sub][hr][/sub][COLOR=D25167][indent][sub][B]Location:[/B] [COLOR=#BFD7D7][I]New York City, New York -- Brooklyn Visions Academy[/I][/COLOR][/sub][/indent][/color][sub][hr][/sub]
[i][color=#cfe2f3]Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh[/color][/i]

The over-the-ear headphones hugged the sides of his head.  A messy, mop of dark hair framing the boy’s face.  A few freckles dotted his cheeks, which were starting to take on more adult-like features.  He was clearly starting to grow out of childhood.  A gangly form in a junior high school uniform. The blazer hung open, enveloping his small frame. The collar of the white shirt was loose, the top button undone as the tie dangled loosely around his neck.

[i][color=#cfe2f3](Let’s dance.) Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.[/color][/i]

A pair of Vans schlepped through the hallways. Through the [i]Beats[/i] headphones, the musical stylings of Britain’s David Bowie radiated from inside the boy’s head. 

He should have been an ordinary kid at an ordinary school.

Unfortunately, [i]ordinary[/i] was a word that described what [b]other people[/b] were and Garfield [b]was not[/b].

[i][color=#cfe2f3](Let’s dance.) To the song they’re playing on the radio.[/color][/i]

Eyes tracked him through the halls. People stared. Some openly, others tried to hide behind their text books or side-eye him from whispered conversations that echoed in the halls. 

Lots of super heroes had secret lives. Lots of sidekicks never got the spotlight. And Garfield? Garfield was [b]green[/b]. Literally. And, if that wasn’t enough, his bright yellow eyes and pointed ears added a distinctiveness that ensured no one would ever mistake him for anything else than something out of the ordinary.

[i][color=#cfe2f3](Let’s sway.) While color lights up your face.[/color][/i]

He tried to lean into it. He was [b]@BeastBoy[/b] across social media, so of course people would recognize him in real life. The nonchalant attitude seemed to play it off. Garfield would pretend to be oblivious to the attention, hiding behind a pair of noise cancelling headphones and trying to shut out the look of shock on their faces, the slack-jawed glances and conspiratorial whispers that transformed any sidewalk, hallway, or classroom from an open space to a prison in which he was the center of attention.

[i][color=#cfe2f3](Let’s sway.) Sway through the crowd to an empty space! [/color][/i]

Some wanted him to perform. Some thought he was the proof that demons must exist. Some wanted to fight him and others wanted his autograph.  So it was with a big sigh of relief that Garfield arrived at his desk for the next class.

Dropping his back by the desk, the boy pulled back the chair and prepared to take his seat. As he did, a loud [b]CLAP[/b] rolled like thunder. The windows rattled. Garfield felt something that was like the bass at a rock concert, but only for a moment.

A plethora of panicked squeals and screams sprang forth, as the other students all tried to process what had just happened.

[i][color=#cfe2f3]Oh, if you say run, I’ll run to...[/color][/i] 

Reaching up a hand, the green haired boy pulled the headphones from off his head.  [color=#00ff00]“Uh, Miss Thatcher?”[/color] Garfield uttered, raising his hand as he called to the teacher at the front of the class. Amber eyes darted for the windows. Smoke was rising into view.

That was an explosion.

[color=#00ff00]“Can I , [i]uh[/i], use the bathroom?”[/color]

Okay, so it wasn’t the smoothest of excuses. Feet sliding across the floor, Garfield shot out into the hallway, before sprinting for his locker.  His old Doom Patrol uniform was stuffed into his gym bag just in case he accidentally shapeshifted himself into a [i]clothing malfunction[/i]. 

It was a couple of minutes more before the mop-head hero was bursting from out of the front doors of the private school. Clad in the distinctive red and white uniform, the boy’s form seemed to launch upward as his form blurred. He took one step, humanoid shape imploding as the form of a falcon emerged in its place.

The green raptor spread its wings, beating several times as the falcon rose rapidly up into the air. Planing out, the bird spread its wings as an updraft seemed to take hold. Circling slowly, the school grounds fell away, as the boy was given a bird’s eye view of New York City below.

There were some ugly dudes. A [i]lot[/i] of ugly dudes as a matter of fact. A girl with flaming hair. A Superman fan. And… a black dude?

Hypothesis: Assume the humans are the good guys.

Folding his wings in, the falcon plunged down toward the Earth. Swooping over the street, the bird’s form blurred as its seemed to explode outward -- becoming a rhinoceros that thundered down the street. A pair of brutes were launched into the air, as the rhino came barreling through. 

Several laser-like shots rained his direction. The rhinoceros shrank into a rusty spotted cat, then a kangaroo as he launched himself at one of the assailants. As the brutish figure went flying back through the air, the kangaroo became a mosquito.

Zipping over and around where the black hero was looking like a total [b]bro[/b], the mosquito expanded out into a hybrid simian form. A prehensile tail flicked behind him, as the distinctive [b]monkey boy[/b] form of the Doom Patrol’s Beast Boy appeared. 

[color=#00ff00]“Sup, [i]brah?[/i]”[/color] the kid quipped, tossing a smile over toward Aqualad.[/indent]