Chapter 2

Beast Boy had just finished his soy milk and was on his way to the training room when the alarm went off. He spun around and dashed back to the living room where all the titans were assembling. Robin turned his attention to the team after reading the report.

"There is a bank robbery in progress on Main Street. Titans GO!" The Titans fled the tower, all heading to the bank, but in Beast Boy's head, there was a battle of its own going on. Why did he have to dream about his past? He had done so much to push it from his mind, why was it only resurfacing now? He shook the thoughts out of his mind as they landed in front of the bank, he would have more time to think about it later, right now he had to focus on the fight.

"There are hostages inside, reports show that there are only two armed men, Beast Boy, you sneak in and disarm the robbers, we will get the hostages safe, clear the civilians and support you throughout the battle." Beast Boy nodded curtly at Robin, his instructions clear. He turned into a cat and started to make his way through the air ducts, planning on surprising the assailants. Once he had them in sight underneath him, he turned into a rhino and burst through the ducts and landed in front of the masked men. He spotted the hostages off to the side and planted himself in between them and the robbers. He was about to charge the men when one of them started to laugh.

"Garfield Logan? I would know you anywhere, why, it has been too long." Confused, Beast Boy reverted back to human form.

"Do you know me?" The voice of the man was hauntingly familiar, but his mind just didn't want to place it.

"Never thought you would see me again did you?" He pulled off the mask and revealed his face to Beast Boy.

Beast Boy felt as if the world around him collapsed. He froze in his position, he couldn't move, his old reflexes kicked in and on the inside he cowered before the man old memories of facilities, drug testing and many more horrors filling his brain. "It's been too long." The man came forward and placed his hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and leant down to whisper in his ear causing the changeling to stop breathing all together. "You should have known. You will never be rid of me." At that moment, the wall of the bank burst open and the rest of the titans filed in, attacking the man and his accomplice and rescuing the hostages. Throughout the whole ordeal, Beast Boy stood frozen in the middle of the room, a look of terror on his face. It was only when Cyborg made his way over after the robbers were captured that Beast Boy snapped out of it.

He hastily agreed to meet with the team back at the tower and then took off as a bird flying through the sky before the memories flooded him again. Drug testing, merciless beatings, he wavered in the air. Electric testing, animal mutation tests, he dropped a couple feet. Planned robberies… the collar, with all the memories overflowing his brain, Beast Boy plummeted. He crashed into the woods near the water around titan tower. He lay on the ground panting, his eyes open wide seeing his tortured past through flashes of memory, the pain of his past coursing through his veins causing him to scream in anguish. After what felt like hours of him convulsing on the forest floor, Beast Boy stood up and gripped his head. He needed to get these thoughts out of his mind before he headed back to the tower; he refused to even think about the man from his past. He took to the air once again and flew over the water, to clear his mind he dove down and turned human right before he hit the water, he swam underwater as himself for a while before turning into a fish and made his way to the shore. Turning back into his human form, he dragged himself out of the water and made his way into the tower. Before he walked into the living room, he planted a smile on his face and prepared himself for Robin's questions. As he turned the corner, he sees all the titans gathered at the kitchen table talking amongst themselves.

He made a show of himself and made sure his shoes slapped on the ground to emphasize the fact that he was sopping wet. His team mates' heads' swivelled and took in the soaking wet Beast Boy standing in front of them. Cyborg stood up and walked over to him.

"Yo B, why are you all wet dude?" Beast Boy shrugged.

"I went for a swim; I needed to cool off a bit." All of a sudden Robin walked over.

"What happened back there Beast Boy? It looked like you were paralysed from fear of some sort." Beast Boy inwardly flinched.

"Oh that, I screwed up, no big deal. I need to work on my focus." He rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "But now I'm hungry, we got any tofu around here?" He walked over to the fridge and flung the door open, but not before he caught the look in Robin's eyes: disbelief. Trying to shake it off, he pretended to get mad at Cyborg. "Duuuude! Look at all this meat! This isn't a slaughterhouse; you seriously need to consider changing your diet. TO TOFU!" Robin sighed as the regular Tofu-Meat argument occurred. Beast Boy isn't one to lose sight of what's important, it wasn't like him to freeze like that, something else must have happened back there.

"I'm off to my room, goodnight everyone." Beast Boy watched as Robin walked away, he knew he wasn't convinced, Robin is smarter than that. He pushed his thoughts aside once more as he settled into a night of gaming with Cyborg as one by one the other titans resigned to their rooms, until it was just him and the TV.

Beast Boy threw himself down onto the couch, he needed to take his mind off things, if he put any more thought into the man that had appeared, he would kill himself with fright. He needed to clear his mind, so he turned on the TV. Flipping through channels, he tried to focus on what was playing on the screen, but his mind kept trying to wander to the face of the man he hadn't seen in years, the one whose name brought fear into his heart; Marthox. He shivered; maybe he could sleep it off. He turned off the TV and stood up from the couch, when he turned around he involuntarily stumbled backward, tripping over the coffee table and crashing onto the ground. His body filled with dread. There he was right in front of him, smiling his evil crooked smile and chuckling manically.

"We meet again boy." Beast Boy looked into the eyes of the man, his loathing and fear spreading through him like wildfire. "You never did talk much did you, you just screamed, screamed for mercy." Lies, Beast Boy never made a sound, he was a silent boy, never spoke unless spoken to, and that was his way of life for many years. "You wailed for your mama and papa didn't you, I could hear you in the night, screaming in your sleep, you failed them, and you will soon fail the titans. You will fail them much worse than you did today." Using his incredible strength, Marthox hefted the couch up onto his shoulder and tossed it out the window like it weighed nothing. Beast Boy could feel his resolve breaking. But he refused to let him take over, he kept him at bay for so many years, but going so long without Marthox's taunting had left him vulnerable to his words.

He heard the other titans burst into the room behind Marthox, but he was too wrapped up in his mind to care.

"You think you're too good for me, but the truth is you are worthless scum and you know it, you have been lying to yourself and to your friends about your life, your past and even about your actions! But who am I to say these things, you know them already in your heart because you were too weak to save them, the only ones who could ever care for you." The titans stood puzzled behind the man towering above Beast Boy, it seemed like he knew him, but they didn't want to interfere for fear of injuring Beast Boy. Then suddenly they heard Beast Boy talk.

"I can take you now, I have always been able to, but I had nowhere else to go and you had me on such a tight leash that I was to terrified to do anything to disobey you." Beast Boy had his hands over his eyes and was speaking so low that the titans could barely hear him, but Marthox smirked, he took the changeling by the shoulders and threw him backwards into the TV, the glass shattering and ripping apart his uniform. What the titans saw shocked them, he had scars all over his body, a big M was scarred into his back and he had a huge twisted scar down his left arm, around the few more prominent scars, there were dozens of little ones littered all over his body some of them now oozing with blood after being freshly cut. Mostly noticeable was the scarring of what looked like a collar around his neck with a little circle every couple inches. Beast Boy had his eyes closed, but spoke with a growl to his voice.

"Not anymore, I have had enough with your mind games Marthox, now leave me be." Chuckling darkly, Marthox replied.

"Say hello to your parents for me will you, you'll be joining them real soon."