Chapter 2: Mistrusted
Beast Boy was lucky that none of his friends noticed the tear that managed to escape his eye and they reluctantly left him alone, apparently buying his answer.
He let out a sigh.
On one hand, he was relieved that they stopped getting on his case but on the other hand, he felt…abandoned once again.
Like when Terra had betrayed them, when he had transformed into the Beast after his argument with Raven, when he had to defeat the Brotherhood of Evil on his own (except for his little team).
And now…Terra was one of them as well.
He squeezed his eyes shut; trying to avoid risking any more tears when suddenly his room was drowned in red, flashing lights as the crime alert blared.
And for a moment, he felt relief flooding through him. He would have never thought a day would come when he would be happy that villains even existed.
The changeling snatched the communicator from his bed and rushed to the common room and saw his team already rushing outside.
"Which villain is it this time?" he asked and Robin was the first one to turn back at him, slight surprise crossing his face.
Was it that surprising that he could talk?
"I've got a location – it's the Jump City sewage system."
"Please don't tell me we go down that dump," Beast Boy groaned, obviously not standing the intense stink with his sensitive nose.
"Too bad we have to," Robin replied, before opening a manhole and dropping down, followed by the others.
"Goodbye, sense of smell," Beast Boy muttered before dropping inside as well and landing with a splash on his feet.
"Do you know which villain we might have to encounter, Robin?" Starfire asked.
"We have to keep going! I got a signal a few 100 meters from here," he replied, his boots making splashing noises as he kept walking.
The changeling took the lead pretty soon as he morphed into a German Sheppard and he regretted his decision of morphing into something that had a more sensitive nose than himself and switched to a crow, relieved that he could avoid the stinky, contaminated water the others were still walking in.
After a few meters, the road forked into two and the changeling morphed back to himself.
"Now where?" he asked, finding himself impatiently waiting for his team to catch up to him.
"Take the left path. It's not far anymore," he heard Robin say as he morphed into a cheetah.
He felt his patience running thin and bolted ahead, his speed quickly increasing as he dashed through polluted water.
"Remind me to have a talk with him when we get back to the tower," Robin growled under his breath before breaking out in a run.
The green cheetah reached the next fork in another minute – this time having a choice of 3 paths.
The green cheetah morphed into a bloodhound, lifting its head and sniffing the air for a possible scent of the villain but the stink was too strong for his dog nose.
He was about to rely on pure luck before his eyes caught sight of a shadow at the far end of the tunnel on the very right.
Whatever it was…the villain must be big as the shadow indicated and Beast Boy wasted no time and hunted the villain in hound form.
Who was it?
Mammoth? Atlas?
Even in hound form, he managed to gulp, wondering if maybe even Mallah could be one of the candidates…but he would rather not think about the possibility of the Brotherhood of Evil somehow having escaped.
Emitting vicious barking sounds, the hound turned the corner, taking a large leap to bring down the villain who had been lurking just around the corner.
But his bark turned to a whimper as something big and hard hit him right into his snout, sending him flying back into the contaminated water.
The dog morphed back to human and Beast Boy slowly tried to recover from the sudden and painful shock.
"Still all bark and no bite I see."
Beast Boy's eyes snapped open, hearing that familiar and arrogant voice and Beast Boy wished he could return the hit he received tenfold.
He came face to face with Adonis who suddenly charged with another punch and Beast Boy guessed he changed his armor once again, seeing that his armor was now gold colored.
"Still thinking that your trashcans can save your butt I see," the changeling retorted before jumping back to avoid Adonis' punch but was taken by surprise as his leg suddenly caught him in the abdomen, causing him to fall backwards. "And you still fight dirty," the shape-shifter groaned, getting back up to see the armored teen upon him again. Only this time, Beast Boy morphed into a bull, deciding to charge head-on.
Adonis blocked the attack, grabbing onto his horns and swinging him against the wall. The bull vanished to be replaced by a gorilla and let his fists swing against Adonis' face before the armored villain blocked the second attack.
The teen sneered, leaning closer to him. "Where's the rest of your lousy band? I was looking forward to seeing them again," he taunted but Beast Boy wouldn't wait until they came.
He could take on Adonis himself!
Managing a surprise attack, the green gorilla managed to slam his weight against the villain's armor, causing him to topple over but Adonis turned the tables by using the momentum to throw the gorilla over his head.
Adonis approached the fallen hero as he morphed back from the hit. "And I thought you had improved since last time. Which brings me to my next point: How's your little friend holding up? Have you fed him properly?" Adonis sneered down at him and the changeling felt raging heat surge through him.
He was talking about the Beast.
"How did you escape?" Beast Boy growled, managing to get on his feet, remembering that Adonis was supposed to be still flash frozen.
"How many times have you attacked your friends until now? Please give me all the details," Adonis continued, completely ignoring the shape-shifter.
The green teen clenched his fists angrily, wishing he could smash his sneer from his face. "Answer my question, you excuse of a villain!" Beast Boy spat, his anger slowly getting the better of him.
"I see you take good care of him. I was worried for a second. Too bad you seem to ignore your friends…like Raven," he kept taunting.
"Shut up!" the changeling screamed, turning into a T-Rex and charging with a mighty roar.
Adonis managed to side-step the attack and took hold of the dinosaur's tail before swinging it away, causing it to slam against the wall, cracks forming on the impact.
The dinosaur retreated, leaving only the changeling lying in the dirty water.
"How about you give up superhero business, loser? Having that thing inside of you…only keeps you restrained. And I don't think the rest of your friends like your little pet," Adonis said with a smug expression and hovered above the changeling. "What's the use for power if you can't even control it?"
And once again the image of Terra spun in his mind…accompanied with Raven's words.
"It's not the thing inside you that makes you a monster but knowing when to let it out that makes you a man."
Beast Boy barely registered a hand grabbing his ankle and he let out an angered cry, before his foot was the first thing that tore through his suit, the rest of his body following quickly after.
In the blink of an eye, the Beast lashed out at Adonis, slashing through the suit and sending the villain flying backwards.
The green monster leaped to its feet and before Adonis had the chance to dodge, the furry giant slammed his large hands once again at the villain, lifting him from his lying position in the sewer, causing him to crash into the wall.
Adonis scrambled to his feet, aiming a punch at the ferocious beast but it merely took hold of the incoming arm and swung him towards the opposite wall.
Adonis voiced his pain before he tried to crawl away.
But a shadow loomed over him – the shadow of a monster.
"Beast Boy!"
The voice of his leader did nothing to stop the monster from approaching and in the next moment, black magic tried to tie him into place but the monster tried to move relentlessly.
Suddenly hands landed on his back before wrapping gently around him – Starfire's hands.
The Beast growled and broke through Raven's magic and with a powerful swing, managed to hit Starfire off him, causing her to collide with Raven.
"Stop it, Beast Boy! You don't want to hurt us," Robin called to the large animal, slowly pulling out explosive disks.
The eyes of the green monster went from one titan to the next and they all had the same expression – worry mixed with fear.
And he hated the fact…that part of him enjoyed seeing their reactions.
Another growl escaped him before Beast Boy managed to force the monster back in his cage somewhere deep within him and he took several deep breaths.
"T-thanks guys. I wouldn't know what I would-"
He saw that their expressions didn't change and he didn't manage to finish his apology.
He realized that they feared him.
"Where's our bad guy?" Cyborg asked after a moment of silence and Beast Boy realized that Adonis was not where he had seen him just moments ago.
He turned back to tell them of Adonis but again, his voice failed him.
They looked in silent confusion but the expression that caused his heart to drop was Robin's look…of mistrust.