(Regarding my own original take on assorted DC characters.)
Context
---
He should probably be scared.
He was usually scared when they faced a villain. The changeling was still new to being an official member of the Doom Patrol, after all. He was young and inexperienced.
But he wasn't scared.
His tail waved slowly behind him as he tilted his head curiously, pointy ears perked to pick up every word of the villain's speech.
Something didn't feel right. Or rather, something didn't feel wrong. As a boy with the entire animal kingdom in his blood, Gar had senses beyond that of a human. His sixth sense, one of them, was to pick up on the general vibe radiating from a person.
His adoptive family, the Doom Patrol, all had a general well meaning sensation about them.
When he first encountered Madame Rouge, however, he picked up on her demented malicious nature.
This new villain barely exuded any sense of ill intent.
He sounded malicious, even with that funny accent of his, but he didn't feel sincere.
"Can you lot, misfits among misfits, defeat an even bigger freak?"
Gar wasn't sure what the man meant by that. Why would he call himself a "bigger freak"?
He seemed normal enough. Sure, he was really tall, but not superhero tall. He had big goofy front teeth, but Gar himself had a tooth that jutted out, even when he was fully human. The same could be said for their freckles, totally normal.
Maybe it was because he had orange hair and dressed funny? But those were easy things to change...
"A living contradiction! Young and old! Famous and unknown! Genius and stupid! Surrounded and alone!"
He supposed that sounded freaky enough...
The rest of his team seemed unconcerned with his strange speech.
He was a villain. He had them abducted and in an unknown location. Now, he was challenging them to some sort of... battle? Maze?
Gar wasn't sure exactly what he wanted, but the villain threatened to detonate the bombs surrounding them if they didn't participate.
Mento had tried to use his helmet-enhanced telekinesis to disarm the bombs, but the bombs somehow bounced his mental powers back into his own head.
They'd been enhanced somehow.
Negative Man's second form was completely deflected upon trying to disarm them from inside.
Elasti-Woman couldn't make her way inside the devices, even at her smallest size.
Robot Man's metal body wouldn't be able to withstand every single blast, should he try to endure the explosions for them.
That's when they tried one last idea.
Beast Boy was instructed to become a naked mole rat and chew open a small entrance for Elasti-Woman.
His attempt merely gave him an electric shock that sent him flying.
All the while, the villain behind the impenetrable glass wall was becoming frustrated with their refusal to listen to him.
But they were listening now.
Gar had tried to say something, but Mento had silenced him. It was best they didn't irritate the villain further when he clearly had the upper hand.
Still, it was weird that his keen nose didn't pick up on any hint of explosives.
Something just wasn't adding up about this Mad Mod guy…