Of a Beast and Men

By: Burning Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own the show. Trust me on that one. I do however own Bounce Back, Siren, and Hydro. Puzzle Master too.

Chapter 10: Nightmare

Robin's head was pounding. He did not feel good. Reaching around he groped for a clock, what time was it? When he couldn't find it (he couldn't find the night stand for that matter either.) he sat up. That confused him more. Why did his bed feel like a couch.

"Sleeping beauty awakens!" An overly cheerful voice sang.

"Bounce Back, shut up." Some one scolded, though he did detect a tone of amusement in the voice. "Hey Robin, how are you feeling?" It was Beast Boy.

"Like some one spiked my drink." Robing growled. He was, as a matter of fact, on the couch.

"Nope, sorry buddy, you did that all by yourself." Bounce back laughed.

"Next time, I highly recommend not drinking anything that doesn't have a label." Beast Boy said rubbing his back.

"What did I drink?"

"Triple shock blast... concentrate." Bounce Back burst into laughter slipping to the floor in guffaws.

"It's a concentrated energy drink." Siren said as she walked over to Robin (stepping on Bounce Back, and ignoring his pained wail.). "You're supposed to mix it with water, but you just drank it straight."

"You were bouncing off the walls till what? Four in the morning?" Hydro mumbled around some sort of food.

"Four in the- where are the Titans?!" He yelled panicked.

"Well they tried to wake you up, but you were out cold, so we told them to go ahead." Beast Boy said.

"Besides, we needed the extra time to finish fixing the R-Cycle." Bounce Back said regaining his composure.

"We?"Siren asked annoyed.

"I know, what a low life! Taking credit after we worked so hard on it!" Hydro added.

Siren cleared her throat.

"Fine, Siren fixed it. Bounce Back and I just... kept her company."

"Kept me company my ass! If it weren't for you two I would have finished the thing ages ago!"

Hydro and Bounce Back glanced at each other and shared an evil laugh.

"So Robbie-poo." Bounce Back's deceptively sweet voice drawled. "Why don't you just shower, change, get ready, do what ever it is that you need to do, and then you can catch up to the Titans." He smiled.

Robin quickly translated it. Get out of here A.S.A.P.

"Yeah, I'll just go shower and then I'll be out of your hair." He said with a soft chuckle. As he walked away he heard the voices of the teens.

"Bounce Back..."

"What?! I was being civil!"

"Thanks guys." Robin said as he grabbed his things.

"What for?" Siren asked from in front of the TV. 500 more points and she'd get the all time high!

""For letting us crash here."

"Yeah, because, you know it's common courtesy to drag someone a quarter day's drive away from their home and then force them to sleep in a tent." Beast Boy joked from the table where he sat playing cards with Hydro.

"Well, either way thanks." Robin said feeling his pockets.

"Dude, wanna play cards before you leave?" Beast Boy offered.

"I'd love to but I cant." He checked his utility belt. "Have you guys seen my communicator?"

No's all around.

"I must have dropped it." He muttered to himself. "Well I'm just going to find it and I'll be out of here." He chuckled.

Deciding he must have dropped it on his way to the bathroom he walked down the hall ways. Keeping an eye to the ground he walked through the tower, when finally a small yellow disk caught his eye. Walking over to it he picked it up.

"Stupid Robin!"

Hearing his name Robin listened closer. He was standing at the door to Bounce Back's room who seemed to be fuming.

" Why is he here!? Not now that everything's going great! Why can't he just take the hint and go to-!" He heard the boy growl. "Ugh! I can't let him take the Boss away! He'll just hurt him again! No, I have to make sure he just stays away, before he ruins everything!"

Robin growled to himself. How dare the little punk talk about him like that. Robin raised his hand to knock on the door.

"What are you doing?" Bounce Back spoke as the door swooshed open, his face somewhere between surprised and annoyed.

Robin was about to open his mouth to say something (none too pleasant either) when the familiar blaring of the alarm came.

"Come on." Bounce Back ordered, his voice none too thrilled.

Together both boys ran to the briefing room. Both were focused on what was going on instead of the insufferably aggravating boy beside them. Reaching the room they walked in finding Siren, Hydro, and Beast Boy there.

"Robin, your still here? Good." Beast Boy said. "It's Puzzle Master. He's in the middle of the plaza."

"What's he up to?"Bounce Back spoke from beside Robin.

"Not entirely sure, he seems to just... be there." Siren muttered clicking some keys under the computer.

"It's Puzzle Master, I'm sure it's nothing good." Beast Boy was annoyed."Let's go, we'll take him down this time."

Beast Boy ran out of the room shifting into a hawk and was followed by his three teammates. Bounce Back stopped at the door and turned around, face (surprise, surprise) aggravated.

"You coming, or you gonna stand there looking ugly?" He turned around and ran out of the room.

Robin vaguely wondered who would win in a fight between the both of them.

"Bounce Back, Hydro, back and forth. Siren you get in position, Robin deflect Siren, I'll take care of the rest." Beast Boy quickly ordered.

"Deflect Siren, what-"

"You'll know what to do. Just lay low until you do it." With that Beast Boy turned into a fly a disappeared in the distance. Robin was sorely confused, but did as he was told.

"Hey jackass!" Bounce Back yelled at the grinning man. "What are you doing?"

"I thought you'd know better than to just ask." Puzzle Master spoke calmly as ever.

"No, I meant I thought you'd have enough sense to wait a while before your next butt thrashing." Bounce Back spoke in his ever so perfected mocking tone.

"I'm crazy remember." Puzzle Master dead panned.

Bounce Back really couldn't think of anything to respond to that.

Then Puzzle Master did something that caught Bounce Back completely off guard. He dodged Hydro's water blast.

"Really, I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid! You're going to have to think of a better plan than just sneaking up on me." He laughed.

"Yeah, well let's see how long you can keep it up." Puzzle Master truly hadn't expected Bounce Back to catch Hydro's water blast. But even in his surprise he still managed to dodge the return blast.

Hydro caught the blast and shot it at Puzzle Master again who dodged it again. This continued for a few moments, Puzzle Master dodging each deflection as if it were nothing.

"Really, you're going to have to try much harder than that if you wanna get me." Yawn.

"Yeah well dodge this!" Bounce Back yelled hurling the water at Puzzle Master who once again dodged it effortlessly.

"Please I can dodge that tired trick as many times as you can do it."

"He meant me." Puzzle Master whipped around to see Siren yell and was caught in her sonic blast.

Robin realized what Beast Boy had meant. Leaping out of the shadows he threw his explosives disks at the man. They exploded on contact diverting the direction of the man. Robin then noticed that the man was flying to an empty spot. No one was there! He would be free to escape if they didn't get to him quickly.

A green yeti caught the man by the nape of his neck. Quickly the teens gathered around the green giant and the deranged villain.

"Huh, I'd thought he'd be harder to take down." Hydro noted amused.

"I am." The startling face with the despicable grin shot up. Suddenly the area was blanketed in smoke.

In the confusion Puzzle Master broke from Beast Boys grasp. Quickly he began to take the teens down, one by one. Blinded and suffocated by the smoke, the teens were defenseless as Puzzle Master forced them into the fresh air with well placed hits.

The cloud of smoke gradually dissipated, leaving a scowling man in it's wake.

Coughing the teens got up.

"Is everyone fine." Siren asked.

"Yeah, but this clown isn't going to be." He unbuckled a cuff, and it clattered harshly against the ground. "I'm done playing nice guy, I took you down once, I'll do it again!" Bounce Back ran to the man.

He threw a punch, Puzzle Master blocked it. He kicked the man dodged it. He threw a hand thrust, Puzzle Master redirected it and struck Bounce Back down. Angry the teen picked himself up, and rushed the man, but the man picked him up and threw him aside.

Standing Bounce Back growled. "What did you do? Why can't I sense you?" Something else was amiss, but he couldn't quite place it. "Your face? What happened to your face?" Bounce Back was scared. For Puzzle Master's face didn't have that psychopathic grin he was accustomed to. He had never seen the man without the grin.

Strangely enough, he found the normal face more unsettling than the grin.

"That wasn't a smoke bomb. It was filled with a chemical agent that attaches itself to your DNA stabilizing it. It turns you into an average human being. No super powers, no nothing."

"Siren?" She shook her head. "Hydro?" He gestured angrily with his hands. Bounce Back stopped for a second.

A second golden cuff clattered unto the ground.

"I don't need my powers to beat you Puzzle Master! I've fought you before, I know your style. I'll take you down again!" He ran at the man.

Soon his face was to the ground.

"Wrong!" He yelled. "I am not Puzzle Master. You haven't fought me." His voice harsh. "I may share the same body, the same mind with that lunatic, but I am not him." He paused his rant. "You of all people should know this Bounce Back."

Bounce Back attacked, but once again ended on the floor.

"Such a pity this is only temporary. Won't be though, I just need a guinea pig or five. Hopefully one of you will survive long enough to see me again. Before I finish you off that is."

Puzzle Master stepped forward. There was a colored blur and he was on the ground.

"You forgot one thing. I don't have any powers." Robin loomed over the man.

"And you forget," He grabbed Robin's leg and threw him across the plaza. "I'm not Puzzle Master." He stood up. "When I'm done with you, you're going to wish I was him."

Bounce Back growled, about to try and attack the man once again. He couldn't stand this man. He was more aggravating than Puzzle Master. Besides, nobody messed with him like that and got away with it. Stepping forward a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Guys, where's Beast Boy?" Siren's voice sounded scared.

As if answering her call, a groan came from a pile of debris a few feet away. All eyes were on the boy as he stood up dazed, a hand on his head.

"Oh, that's gonna leave a mark." He grumbled. "Guys, we have to take him down." He paused noticing the stares.

"Beast Boy?" Robin asked softly. Oddly Beast Boy almost missed it.

Bounce Back slowly walked up to him an indecipherable look in his eyes. Reaching the boy he raised a tentative hand a ran it over the boy's ears. His hand shot back, almost as if scalded.

"Boss." His voice was soft. scared.

Beast Boy's eyes widened. He raised his own and ran it over his ears.

Rounded.

His ears were rounded! He whipped his hands away from his ears. He stared at them. They were white. Not green, white. Normal human colored hands. A strangled whimper escaped his throat and he stumbled backwards.

"Wha... bu... h-h..." Eyes full of tears.

Feeling something stopping his retreat, he turned around.

A young, scared boy looked back up at him. Soft blue eyes peering through messy blonde hair. A strange feeling ran through Beast Boy. He had to leave. Had to get away. Stumbling back once again he tripped. Scrambling from the ground he turned and ran. He wasn't sure where he was going, all he knew was that he had to get away, away from that reflection, and away from all the piercing eyes.

"You..." Robin turned, eyes filled with tears and rage.

"You're not going to get away with this!" Bounce Back yelled as he ran forward, Robin close behind.

A few moments later the man was on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Take care of him. I'm looking for Beast Boy."Bounce Back ordered and disappeared in search of the changeling.

Robin looked after him. He wanted to go look for Beast Boy but he was needed here, not to mention he did not want to bump into the enraged aural mimicker at the moment.

"Go." Siren said walking over to the fallen man. "Hydro and I can take care of him."

Robin nodded and was off, shadowing Bounce Back's steps.

"Urgh..." The man groaned as he tried to get up. He was soon face to the ground again as a metallic foot pushed him down.

"I wouldn't try anything, if I were you."

Panting breath ringing loudly in his ears, Bounce Back stopped for a second to catch his breath. He'd been running around like a lunatic for 15 minutes looking for Beast Boy. There had to be a better way of doing this. He needed to find Beast Boy, he couldn't just leave him by himself like that. Not if the look in his eyes was something to go by. Bounce Back began to walk forward again. Looking down the pathways he started to become more and more worried.

Then finally he found him. There he was, standing in front of a shop window, staring at his reflection. Bounce Back started to run.

"Beast Boy!" Robin called running up to the boy. Bounce Back quickly retreated into the alley. Damn Robin, why'd he have to show up? He thought to himself bristling in the pathway.

"Beast Boy." Robin repeated when he got no reaction from the boy.

"It's not fair." He whispered.

"What?"

"It's not fair!" He yelled. "You know, I was finally starting to think that... that it was ok to be me. That it didn't matter that I was a green freak. I was finally starting to feel..."Beast Boy sniffled. "Normal."

"Beast Boy..." Robin just didn't know what to say. He placed a hand on his shoulder, and was startled when Beast Boy shrugged it off.

"Then, when I finally feel it's ok to be me, that I'm not a freak, an accident, a mistake... this happens. I get thrown into my face that I could have been normal. That I wasn't born like this." Beast Boy turned around. Tears filling his eyes, he pointed into the crowd. "I could've been him, or him, or him, him, him, him, him, him, I could've been any of them!" Hysteria seeping into his voice. "But I can't, because I'm just some green freak." His legs were shaking and threatened to buckle.

"Beast Boy... I- I-"

"No, don't you dare say you know how I feel." Beast Boy roared. "Because you don't. You don't Robin. If you ever got sick of being Robin, you just take off your mask and you go back to being who you were. But I can't do that, I can't just go back to being a normal person. I can't ever go back to being Garfield Logan."

"You... you're right. I don't know how you feel. But I do know how I feel. It's right, you could've been any of them, just another face in the crowd. You could've been any of them, but then you wouldn't be Beast Boy. If you were anyone else, your team would have never met Beast Boy, or Garfield Logan." Robin Paused, and looked to the ground. "I wouldn't have either."

There was a heavy silence in the air. Robin silently prayed for a reaction. His eyes were nearly full of tears. Suddenly Beast Boy leapt at Robin catching him in a hug. Robin felt Beast Boy's heart beat. It was fast, hectic. It was scared. He wrapped his arms around the boy, and he thought he felt moistness on his chest, where Beast Boy's head was buried.

"There you are!" Bounce Back called out. Pretending to have just walked in on the..., he did his best to look awkward.

Beast Boy pulled away from Robin and wiped his eyes. With a slight sniffle he broke into a weak grin. "Sorry 'bout running away Bounce."

"And I'm sorry 'bout trying to kill you all, but really can we help it if we're so drama prone?" He said off handedly. Beast Boy chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"Let's get back, everyone's gotta be worried." The short blonde commented and began retracing his steps.

Bounce Back began to walk, when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Bounce. Thanks." Robin whispered.

"For what?" Bounce Back looked annoyed.

"For letting me talk to Beast Boy. You could've burst in when ever you wanted to, but you didn't. Thanks."

"I did it for Beast Boy, not for you." He rolled his eyes.

"Still, thanks. You're a good person Bounce."

"I know." He said repugnantly. "And it's Bounce Back. We're not friends, remember." With that he went off, trailing after Beast Boy.

Robin smiled. Maybe he was finally breaking through Bounce Back's hostile facade. "Maybe we can be friends one day." He muttered to himself.

"I doubt it. Now hurry up, you're dawdling!" Bounce Back yelled.

Robin merely rolled his eyes.

I like this chapter, over all. Mostly there are parts I hate, and parts I love, so I guess it's an ok chappie. Funnily enough, when I originally came up with the concept for this chapter it was supposed to be the second to last one, and It was supposed to include all the titans. As you can see neither is true. Well, you can't see it's the not the second to last one, you just have to take my word for it.

I really like the Beast Boy/Robin interaction in this one. And the Robin/Bounce Back inter action too. Heh, Bounce can be such an ass.

So It turns out Puzzle Master wasn't born Puzzle Master. I take it what happened is the guy who turned into Puzzle Master (I think his name is Greg. But I'll just Call him Puzzle Man for now) was and evil genius, and a pretty kick-ass fighter too. So he tried to create an experiment to make himself stronger, more powerful, but it just back fired. Well actually it didn't backfire, it just worked too well. Puzzle Master is smart and a great fighter, but not so much as Puzzle Man, what makes him better than Puzzle Man is that he's willing to give up his own well being to win a fight. He's complicated, he's not like Bounce who assumes a personality, but it just changes his own, Puzzle Master and Puzzle Man are two different personalities in the same body. Both are conscious but Puzzle Master is in control.

Next Chapter: Of a Beast Boy, Our three favorite boys gives us their POV on things.