Acid Burn

Time doesn't always heal wounds.

Author's Note: Set in AU, film-noir like city, maybe character death, multiple POV's, pairings: BBRae, small bit of RobStar. Characters are pretty OOC, but I feel that they would have changed in the world they live in now. Well, this is my first fanfic, though I realeased the first two chapters on the same day as my other fic and I don't really know how to use the program, so please excuse any formatting errors. Rated M for violence, gore, maybe sexual stuff. Flames will be accepted, but only CONSTRUCTIVE flames, GAAH! I would love tips to make my third story better. Oh, and I'm sorry for all the flashbacks... I truly am…

-Iwannabeamongoose out...

(Sergeant Perez)

Sergeant Derek Perez had been serving in the New Jump City Police force for seven years, since Nightwing had seized power, claiming he would make Jump City 100 villain-free. The former Teen Titan had tripled the manpower of the police and had gradually killed, captured or driven off almost all of the "bad guys". The problem was, with all the fire fights going on between the police and the villains, the city had slowly slipped into a state of decay, destroyed cars littering the sidewalks and roads, collapsing buildings left to crumble... their inhabitants left to live on the streets. Even after this, no one dared question the omnipotent Nightwing and his elite group of superheroes; people who openly questioned him had a tendency to disappear...

Perez laughed to himself and blew into his hands to keep them from freezing in the night's cold. He wasn't complaining, He'd gone from a high school dropout to a sergeant, earning triple what he did at his old janitorial job. This job kept his family warm and fed. He stood up and stretched before walking stiffly towards the other side of the truck.

"Hey O'Flanagan, everything all right?"

"Freezin' my ass off over here!" his partner replied, in his gruff, Irish voice.

"Oy, when the hell is the backup coming?" Perez called back, "We can't move this tree without them." He received only a grunt in answer.

They had been on their way to deliver a cache of experimental weapons to the military lab when Perez, who was driving, had barely avoided running into a huge tree that was lying across the one lane road. Since then, after calling in their problem, they had spent an hour standing guard outside the truck, making sure no unwanted visitors were approaching. Perez yawned and scratched the back of his neck. Bored out of his mind, the only thing that kept him from falling asleep was the frigid cold. Shoulda brought my kids' mittens… As his tired eyes surveyed the horizon for the thousandth time, they snapped open as they caught sight of something moving. Something inhuman.

With practiced ease, Perez unslung his SAR-21 and called out a warning to O'Flanagan. As the thing bounded closer, Perez's felt his skin crawl, wishing he didn't notice the dark fur, the powerful muscles, or the moonlit claws and teeth. What in god's name is that thing? His thought was echoed by O'Flanagan as he came up beside Perez.

"Sweet lord baby jesus..."

Perez realized his mouth was hanging open and shut it quickly, switching the gun's safety off. The creature was only fifty yards out and had given up attempting to be stealthy. It sprinted toward them, letting out a snarl unlike any other Perez had heard. Perez shook off the stupor and let loose a burst of razor edged death at it. Just as he fired, it vanished into thin air.

"Shit, where did it go?" Breathed O'Flanagan beside him, swatting away an oddly colored moth that was flying by his ear. Perez felt the back of his neck prickling. Just like a goddamn horror movie…

"I dunno, I'm pretty sure I got it."

"Boo." The soldiers whirled at the sound of a third voice, hinting laughter. A silhouette sat cross-legged on top of the truck, looking down at them with an unmoving, grotesquely smiling face. As he looked closer, Perez saw it was actually a happy face drama mask that covered the man's face but left his mop of forest green hair open to the air. Other than the mask, he wore a black overcoat over a black shirt and black pants, with steel toed boots to complete the package. I guess he's fond of black...

"H-h-how d-did you g-get past us?" gasped Perez, feeling afraid for the first time in as long as he could remember. He recognized the man as someone he did not want to be meeting, least of all alone in the dead of the night. This is Beast, number one on the New Jump City Most Wanted List. Perez closed his eyes trying to remember the report he had been forced to memorize. Oh right, now I remember: "Known for his ferocity and strength, not known for his kindness and mercy, this insane former teammate of our great leader has killed 68 police agents to date and is also wanted for theft of government property and resisting arrest. Be advised: Use extreme caution when fighting him. Threat level: Ultra Maximum." Ahhh, crap...

"Who are you?" O'Flanagan demanded, obviously not remembering the report, and taking courage in the fact that this man hadn't ripped them to shreds as of yet.

"Well, I'd like to say something cliché, like 'I'm your worst nightmare!', but I feel like a change would be nice. How 'bout Xavier or Roscoe or supercoolmanguy? Nah, those don't quite have a ring to them..." That was a lame joke… Perez exchanged glances with O'Flanagan as the guy continued to ramble on, stroking his chin and looking up at the stars as if waiting for inspiration.

"...Anyways, I guess I should hurry up with this. Why don't you guys just give me the I.D. card to the truck, then I'll take what I need and be on my way."

"I don't think so." Perez said, getting back to business. Lightning-quick, he drew his desert eagle and snapped off three shots at the figure squatting less than twenty feet away. Quick as a cat, the man rolled away from the bullets and smiled grimly at the two soldiers.

"Hard way, huh?" He let his head back and howled. To the amazement and sinking hearts of the men below him he gradually transformed, muscles and bones changing, jaw moving forward, teeth growing to nightmarish sizes, and dense green fur sprouting all over his body.

"Holy-" O'Flanagan had time for only one word before the were-beast leapt down on him and delivered a powerful uppercut, knocking him like a doll into a gnarled tree, where he lay unconscious. As the beast whirled towards him, Perez squeezed the trigger of his pistol several times, and watched with a glimmer of hope as a bullet struck the beast in the shoulder. The impact of the high calibur bullet affected the beast about as much as a toddler punching an adult would have. It looked at the blood gushing from the wound for a second, before fixing its cold, merciless gaze back on Perez.

It took several menacing steps towards him as he took several backwards. Soon he had backed into the side of the truck and was looking up at the eight foot monster that was about to tear him limb from limb. Shoot the gun, you moron! Finally, remembering his weapon, he pulled the trigger with both trembling hands. Click. Click. SHIT! Every obscene word known to both the English and Spanish language flowed from his mouth as he gaped in horror at his empty gun.

The beast grinned at him, before grabbing the pistol from his hand and twisting it into something that could be passed off as modern art or perhaps a metal balloon animal. Perez's lips quivered and he felt his bladder loosen as the beast advanced until its hot breath moistened his face. It's face spread into another sick smile, showcasing its teeth again. As if I need a reminder of what a painful death this is going to be... Beast

"Oh, and I almost forgot. Send my regards to Bird Boy." the monster said in a deep, satanic voice, before its right hand came crashing into the side of his face in a bone crunching backhand. Perez saw stars and had time to watch as it ripped the truck door off its hinges before a cascade of darkness swallowed him.

Perez's vision swam as he tried to get back up. Slowly rising to his his feet, he saw O'Flanagan rubbing his head and popping several fingers back into place. He was wondering what had brought him back from unconsciousness when he heard the low growl of a motorcycle approaching. Finally, remembering what happened, Perez patted himself down, making sure he wasn't having some deathly hallucination and that he was still alive. I thought Beast killed all his victims. …That's what all the police reports said. Hmm, I guess I'm lucky. Hey! I shot him too… Maybe I actually hurt him. Maybe I actually hurt the legendary BEAST! His grin of relief and pride slowly faded when he saw what remained of the truck. The doors had all been torn open and the cargo space was completely empty. His companion let loose a stream of colorful vocabulary when he saw what Perez was looking at.

"We. Are. So. Dead."

Before Perez could give an answer, he became aware of the motorcycle coming to a halt several yards away. He was about to angrily ask what took the backup so long, and why only one guy had come, when he noticed who climbed off the bike. He quickly snapped a salute and watched as O'Flanagan clumsily imitated him.

"What happened here?" came the icy voice of Nightwing.

"Beast, sir, he uhh snuck up behind us, sir. Beat the bejeezus out of us too, sir." Perez tried to cram in as many 'sir's as he could, hoping it might lessen the wrath of the ruler of New Jump City. After being walked through what happened and showed the droplets of Beast's blood staining the snow red, Nightwing stopped and faced them again.

"It's such a pity he didn't kill you sad maggots."

"W-w-why is that, sir?" both soldiers stammered in reply.

"Because now I have to get my hands dirty." Before any response could be given, Perez watched in petrified horror as Nightwing stepped forward and broke O'Flanagan's neck with an expert karate chop. Startled back into action by the sickening crack of his friend's spine, Perez made a break for it. Laden down with ammo and body armor, he made it only twenty steps before a black bird-a-rang caught him in the back, sending him sprawling in the snow. Screaming in pain, he pulled it out and rolled onto his back. He could only watch helplessly as Nightwing approached him with an indifferent expression.

"Sorry. Trust me, it's necessary." was all Nightwing said before his boot descended on Perez's face. Perez let out a pinched yell of agony as he felt his nose break from the first blow. The last thing he saw was the boot descending a second time, dripping with blood.

(Vic)

Victor Stone, Chief of the Police, sighed as he sat at his desk, absent-mindedly scanning over various cases. He'd received an order from his old friend, Nightwing, that all non-superhuman cases were to be put on low priority so he had a stack of them piled almost literally to the ceiling. Bored out of his mind, Vic slipped into a daydream.

He missed the good old days, before the revolution. He missed Starfire's childish, joyous laughter. He missed Robin's cheesy battle commands. He missed Raven's dry voice and sarcastic jokes. But most of all he missed his best friend. He missed killing Beast Boy at every video game they played, arguing over meals, telling him not to mess around with the T-Car, and most of all BB's poor attempts at humor. Those days had seemed like they'd last forever. Kicking badguy butt, eating pizza, and hanging out. Then Slade came back.

Flashback

It had been two years after Trigon's death, and four of them – BB, Raven, Robin, and him – had been sitting in the living room doing normal stuff. He was whooping Beast Boy's ass in Mega Monkey Super Duper Evil Zombie Mutant Killer Attack 4, Robin was reading the newspaper, and Rae was reading some Edgar Allen Poe book, while Starfire was off shopping at the mall. He had just stolen a zombie kill from the grass stain when the TV monitor switched to a familiar face, causing everyone, even Raven, to snap their attention to the TV. Beast Boy had started to say something about Cyborg cheating, until the face on the screen registered in his brain and he stopped abruptly. Starfire's bruised, tearstained face filled the screen. The camera then switched to a grinning Slade, who was looking quite pleased with himself.

"Slade." Robin clenched his jaw and spoke in the grim voice he reserved for Slade. (Author's note: Has anyone ever noticed that whenever Robin sees Slade, he says "Slade" in the exact same voice? Simply infuriating to me…)

"Hello, Titans." The villain said in his smooth, malevolent voice.

"Let her go, dude!" cried Beast Boy, his face distorted with rage. But his anger was not even close to that of Robin, who was seething in uncontrollable fury. The boy wonder had turned a shade of deep magenta and arteries could be seen pulsating in his neck. Closing his eyes and shuddering with boiling hatred, Robin addressed Slade.

"What do you want." muttered Robin in a subdued, defeated voice laced with despair.

"Oh , you'll find out soon enough, Robin. Until then, please do try and enjoy your day." After that brief message, the screen blurred and went back to the pause menu of the game. Immediately Robin had rushed to his motorcycle and had searched Jump City for the rest of the day, all to no effect. When he had returned the Titans had told all the other superheroes about the situation and were sending out patrols regularly. Finally, at 3:00 AM, Cyborg's battery had started to run low and he had been forced to recharge.

When he woke up, twelve hours later, he knew something was wrong. As he walked sleepily into the common room, he didn't see Raven preparing herbal tea, or Beast Boy making the disgusting white stuff he called food. He had convinced himself that they were mourning or searching with Robin or sleeping. After all, those were logical explanations. Then the door had been kicked in and Robin had entered, half-sobbing, half-fuming.

"What happened, man?" Cyborg had asked putting his hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Beast Boy and Raven. They took the ransom for Star and ran. They're gone."

"WHA?" Cyborg still couldn't believe they would do something like that. I mean they were good guys. Not to mention they didn't exactly love each other's company. His thoughts were interrupted as the TV screen crackled to life. Slade had called again, asking when the package would be delivered, and only smiled sweetly when he was told it had been stolen.

"I suppose I will have to find another way of getting what I want."

"Now wait a minute, I'm sure we can work something –" Before Robin could finish, Slade ended the transmission. Robin put his head down, and stared at the table, eyes watering.

"BEASTBOY!!!" Robin's sudden outburst of pure hatred had surprised Cyborg that day, but looking back on it, it was quite justified. They had spent the next three days looking everywhere for Star, but had been unable to find her.

Robin had lost his mind on the third day. The two of them had just returned from another fruitless searching expedition when they had found an ominously large package on their front porch... complete with a pink bow.

"Oh no. ohnohnoohnoohno..." Robin had trailed off and sunken to his knees as Cyborg opened the package. Inside lay Starfire. Her wrists had been bound by titanium wire and her throat had been cut open from ear to ear, creating a ghastly smirk as if to contrast the many gleeful smiles she had made during her short life. (Author's note: Don't hate me!!! I do like Starfire. I wish I didn't have to kill her off, but to create the right atmosphere and get the plot moving, she needs to die. SORRY)

End Flashback

Robin had never quite recovered from that day, smiles growing more and more infrequent. At first, Robin, assuming the identity of "Nightwing" as a wistful reminder of Starfire, had contented himself capturing more and more criminals and searching for the two titans who had deserted him. However, he gradually became paranoid about who was a badguy. When at last, five years later, Nightwing had overthrown the government and turned Jump City into a dark city-state teeming with metahumans, the only similarity between the man Vic was police chief for and the teen Cyborg had been friends with was their fighting styles. Even if he had changed, Robin was still Cyborg's and Vic's leader, and he would follow Robin no matter what.

Vic's reminiscing was disturbed when his phone rang. As he picked up the phone and muttered a professional "Stone here" his thoughts drifted back to Beast Boy and Raven. How could they have done what they did? Yet again, his thoughts were disrupted, this time by the familiar voice of his secretary, Sheri. Her New York accent brought a faint smile to his face, as it was so stereotypical of every secretary in every movie.

"Mistah Stone? Lieutenant Cahlton just cahled from a crime scene. Apparently Beast and Raven hit anothah shipment of weapons. Seahgeants Perez and O'Flanagan are both dead."

Vic's smile vanished instantly and was replaced by a dark and serious expression. He was sorry to hear about Perez and O'Flanagan. They had both been fine soldiers... not to mention his drinking buddies. However, it was the mention of his former teammates that really got to him. How could two of the world's finest superheroes go from saving lives to killing cops? Any doubts he had had about their guilt had been dismissed when they had failed to contact him after Starfire's death. In addition, they had escaped all attempts to capture them and had been a constant thorn in the side of Nightwing's reign. This was the third shipment of weapons they had hit in the last month and the 9th and 10th murders in the same amount of time.

"Cahlton has also requested ya presence at the crime scene, Mistah Stone." his secretary continued.

"Ok," he replied, wearily. "Tell him I'm on my way." After grimacing at the time – 2:30 AM – Vic slowly left the nearly deserted station and walked stiffly to his 2015 Mercedes-Benz. His big frame barely fit into the small car and he didn't love it nearly as much as the T-car. His mind set in a black mood, he drove on the icy roads towards the secluded area where the double-homicide had taken place.

As he drove through the streets of the once beautiful city, he tried not to notice the gangs of homeless people in every alley. Scores of men, women, and children could be seen huddling in the shadows around makeshift fires. Several of the men stepped up to throw bricks at him, until they noticed who he was and shrank back into the alleys. Again he was reminded of the good ole days when he drove by the pizza parlor they always used to go to. It had closed six years ago and had been looted of everything except for the barely working neon sign and one of the umbrellas. He let out a sigh of relief as he reached the city limits and drove into the still beautiful countryside. Happy to escape the depressing scenery of the city, Vic traveled on, snow falling in a peaceful manner, as if everything in the world was just peachy. Vic glanced up at a nearby oak tree and did a double take as he thought he saw a lithe form in an overcoat watching him. No one was there when he looked the second time. Looked like BB. That was kind of weird. This thought lasted only a fleeting moment before he shrugged it off and continued to the crime scene.

Author's note: End of Chapter one. OOOOOOO!!!! Things will be confusing for a while. Please don't write this off as bad writing, cuz I am just trying to make things suspensful. And I'm sorry for all the notes too…