Insaneiac: Okay ladies, I hope you are all fully prepared for what will become of our darling lil Green friend. Now then, here's the deal and such. A few have asked me, either by review or some other method, if Beast Boy's past is sincere. The answer is yes. I only changed around very little, specifically the bomb to boat bit. That was a bit of improvisation on my part. Two hunters really did kill his adopted father to sell him, and his parents really did die. Anyways folks, enjoy the chapter, and a little note from here on out. When a thought occurs within a character, it'll be written 'In Italics and have single quotation marks at the beginning and end of it.' Just like that. Well, enough chat from my, enjoy the fun.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, Slade, or anything to do with DC. I only own Winry and the plot.

Chapter 8: Treated as a Beast
There is nothing quite as scary as not knowing where a close friend was. Usually, this fear sets in after a few hours of a lapse in contact. However, for those who know what evils lurk at every corner and alley, this can begin almost instantly. It really didn't take as long as the usual amount for Robin to go on a city wide hunt for Beast Boy. Within seconds, all available members of the Titans were sweeping the city like hawks, hunting down their friend. It honestly was only Raven and Robin who truly knew what to honestly fear, and what could have become of Beast Boy, which made it all the more horrifying for those two in particular.

"Robin, I can't find him anywhere in this part." Raven's voice sounded. Her voice, usually calm and steady, was alert and panicky, dangerously on the brink of emotional.

"Yah man, he's not anywhere near here either!" Cyborg followed, his voice stressed with worry and fear. Robin could clearly tell that out of everyone, Cyborg was handling it the very worse.

"I am sorry to report the same." Starfire added, sombrely. Despite her quaky voice, Starfire was clearly the most stable of the group. Yet considering the matter behind the search, this truly didn't mean much.

"NO EXCUSES! KEEP LOOKING!" Robin yelled angrily, placing the communicator back to his side as he whipped through the streets on his R-Cycle, nearly slicing clean through a car. It was just reaching the pinnacle of midnight, and to say that worry had set in amidst the Titans would have been an understatement. Still gripping his chest tightly, breathing through the unbelievable amounts of pain, Robin refused to give up his search for his comrade. Even if he was just looking to be alone, even if all he wanted was some peace of mind, Robin's gut was telling him, yelling at him. It told him to find Beast Boy, to track him down. His guts and instincts were telling him that Slade was on the prowl.

"I'll try to reach out to his mind. Perhaps I can establish a connection that way."

"I don't care Raven, just do something! Find him!" Robin yelled, well aware of his voice cracking briefly. 'Why am I so worried? It's probably nothing.' Robin whipped dangerously around a corner, scaring the living hell out of a pair of cops. Had it been anyone else, pursuit would be made. However, they both knew that Robin was moving that fast for a very good reason. And not one of them was even going to think about interrupting him. 'Beast Boy…where are you?'

"Robin…I can't get anything. Either he's sleeping or he's…" Raven began, swallowing the last word. Try as she might, she couldn't say it. She couldn't say it because she knew it was the last thing Robin would need to hear. Breathing in deeply, she finished her statement sombrely. "…unconscious."

"That's not good enough. Keep looking." Robin replied, his voice shaky. He could hear the beginnings of a rebuttal coming from Raven, and that was enough for him. "We are NOT going to leave him out here. We'll keep looking all night if we have to. So shut up and look for him! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Robin yelled, panicked, angry, and anxious all at the same time. Robin knew he had to find Beast Boy at any cost whatsoever, and was quite willing to tear the town apart just to accomplish that.

Off the communications, Raven touched down on a building, and sighed. She knew that Robin was beating himself up over this. She knew that Robin suspected Beast Boy was taken away. She knew that Robin would stay out for weeks searching for Beast Boy. 'Robin and guilt never did go well together.' Looking down at the city woefully, she felt herself fight back any tears that might try to sneak by. "Beast Boy…Give me a sign…give me anything please." She spoke to the air as the prayed for the best, but feared for the worse.

"ROBIN!" Cyborg yelled at the top of his lungs into his communicator, with a level of volume that nearly shattered Raven's ears right off her head. Cyborg had either found something really, really good, or really, really bad. "Robin, I found something! I found…" Then a very long, very scary silence. A silence that spoke of nothing short of devastation, of horror, of the very fears and terrors of hell itself. This silence laughed at them, clawed at them, bit into their very souls, and watched as their faces contorted from anxiousness, to fear, to outright depression. Finally, after what seemed an eternity of nothingness, Cyborg's communicator crackled loudly. "Robin…I think it's for you." Cyborg muttered weakly, as he stared into the lifeless face of a Slade-Bot, holding two items, once in each hand. In it's left was a picture, and in it's right was a letter.

The picture was of Beast Boy…collared. The unopened letter had only one symbol on it. A demonic, foreboding, and utterly evil capital 's'. Slowly, Cyborg released his focus from Robin, and stared back at the Slade-Bot. A second later, the Bot's head was blown off, and Cyborg was tearing him apart like an animal tears into it's freshly caught prey, roaring in fierce anger as loud as his lungs could manage. By the time Robin had pulled up, Cyborg was pounding pieces of metal into the ground, his voice no more than enraged sobs. Just as Robin was about to say something, anything, his eyes catch the letter. More than that, his eyes catch the large 'S' on the letter. Reality detaches itself from Robin as the letter burns into his mind. He is gone from Cyborg's sobs of fury, from Starfire's constant pleading for Cyborg to stop, from Raven's silent observation. His hand reached for it, gripping the letter almost methodically. He was sure someone had said something to him, but their voice was lost in the void between reality and Robin.

Opening the letter as slowly as one would open the case to a bomb, Robin removed the sheet of paper. His eyes scanned it briefly, almost as if to find a timer or a bag of dust. Finally assured of its safety, Robin coughed gently, attaching himself to reality once more.

Dear Failure.

As the picture might suggest, Beast Boy is mine as of now. He is no longer a member of your pathetic little group, nor is he ever going to return. Where I may have fallen short with you and that pathetic excuse of life Terra, this time I will not. Try to find him if you want, it is no circumstance to me. Where he is now, his screams won't reach your ears. Oh believe me Robin, I do intend to make sure every waking moment of his life is that of pain, whether he is dealing it unto my victims, or having it dealt unto to him.

Needless to state Robin, your loss is my considerable gain. He is Beast Boy no longer; he is a Teen Titan no longer. He's my property Robin. He my slave, he's my animal, he's my little toy.

To put it very flatly, he is my pet, and he always will be. In earnest, the only thing I could wish for after this is the chance to watch your face as you read this letter. You must be livid with rage. Then again, perhaps you are use to the taste of defeat at my hands. What ever the case might be, it has little weight on my mind. You no longer concern me, or interest me.

Knowing you, even this letter won't detour you from undertaking the task of hunting me down single handily. I await your pathetic attempts, and by the time you find me, so will my pet.

Slade.

By the time he had finished reading it aloud, Robin's hands were trembling. Cyborg had long since stop screaming and attacking, and gone into a state of emotionless rage. Starfire was aghast with the worse kind of horror, and Raven was silent. Silent and sullen. Slowly, Robin collapse to his knees, bending over and slamming his fists as hard as he could into the pavement. He could think of no words to yell, no curses to scream. All he could do was drive his fists repeatedly into the concrete, the slams echoing into the empty, cloudless night like a hammer onto a gong. Raven felt herself fall backwards, slumping against a wall. She slid down it until she was sitting with her back resting on the wall, her eyes completely empty. Cyborg had slowly risen to his feet and simply stood there breathing. His hands tightened in anger, but he could do nothing. He knew he could do nothing. Starfire, for the first time, was not crying. Whilst Raven and Cyborg were lost in a void of no emotions, and Robin was attacking the ground, she was without tears.

"Beast Boy…" She whispered into the air.

------ Slade's Lair ------

Victory.

The very word was sweeter than anything created by man or nature. The meaning it held attached to it was beyond that sweetness by good measure. Even the smallest victory could bring an instant feeling of immortality to the weakest beings upon the planet. Even if it was a false sense of immortality, it was enough to drive the human soul. Even the idea of achieving victory is enough to spur the weakest of men to grip for the highest cliff.

As Slade gazed down at the unconscious Beast Boy, he knew he wasn't gazing at the changeling. He was gazing at what he represented to him. Where as Robin had been a victory, as was the case with Terra, this one was more than that. He was the beginning of many victories, of many large and important victories. While he had Plasmus, Overload and Cinderblock at his disposal, they were as useless to him as Mumbo or Mad Mod would be. But with Beast Boy, with his monster unbound, Slade had something that lived, breathed, and existed only to fulfill his bestial instincts.

There was very little as dangerous as a wild beast. There was nothing more dangerous than a beast that lived to kill. What Slade wanted was not a beast, he wanted a monster. He would take Beast Boy, and systematically crush his spirit, his hopes, his dreams, everything he could use to remain even slightly decent. Once he had taken away the humanity from him, he would force the wild into him. He would take the emotions Beast Boy held onto, and rip them from him. The very thoughts of what he would do to the child almost distracted him from the fact that Beast Boy had just began to stir. He couldn't wait for the former Titan to fully take in the hell he now belonged to.

"Abandon hope, ye who are damned." Slade spoke solemnly, as Beast Boy blinked several times.

"Who's there?" Beast Boy moaned weakly, his vision as blurry as his memories. With great effort, he cleared the dirt away from the memories of the last few hours, and focused onto it. With a final grunt, both his memory and vision became full, and he saw only one thing. One person, wrapped in a cloak of demonic presence, wearing a mask as emotionless as his voice. "SLADE!" Beast Boy screamed, before jumping to his feet. Before he could anything, Slade's foot caught him clean in the side of the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Just as quickly at he hit the ground, he pushed himself up to his feet, and turned to face the man once more. His mask was barely a few inches from his face, and Beast Boy could still see the crack he had caused in his mask. Beast Boy's mouth dropped open to say something, to say anything, but found himself reeling backwards as Slade drove his fist into the boy's face. Beast Boy hit the ground with a sickening thud, followed closely by a heavy foot being pressed onto his chest.

"Tsk tsk. Pets should not speak unless told to speak. That is the first lesson that you will learn."

"Go to hell, Slade." Beast Boy growled, squealing in pain as the pressure increased.

"Haven't you noticed? This is hell." Slade growled, reaching down and grabbing Beast Boy tightly by the throat, hoisting him up into the air. He laughed as the boy tried to kick and claw his way out of the strangle hold, but failing miserably. "And I don't recall giving you the order to speak." He finished, his voice turning sour at the end, and he pulled Beast Boy back, and drove him into the wall, driving the air out of his body. He watched intently as Beast Boy's eyes shot open in mind numbing pain, then seconds later coughed up a good bit of blood. "I don't suppose you're ready to concentrate yet, are you?" He asked rhetorically, knowing full well that Beast Boy would fight.

He wanted him to fight. It was always far more satisfying to break the will of a fighter. "Go…to…hell…SLADE." Beast Boy roared, grabbing Slade's arm as hard as he could, and swinging himself upwards. His feet caught Slade at full force under the chin. Slade had not only been unsuspecting of the coming blow, but completely unaware of just how much strength Beast Boy could readily unleash. Slade found himself landing square on his back with a thud. Despite this, a smile crawled along his face. "What did you do to me? Why can't I change?" Beast Boy yelled frantically, as he pulled viciously at the collar.

'Just like a freshly caged animal, he has no clue where to start, what to think. He fights everywhere at once when he should focus on one thing.' Standing up, Slade charged Beast Boy, catching him completely off guard. Before he could even blink, Slade had slammed the side of the changeling's face into the wall, an echoing crack sounding as the wall around his head splintered. "You can't change because I refuse to allow you to." Slade growled, pulling his hand back from Beast Boy's face, then driving his elbow into his neck. A horrid choke escaped Beast Boy as he crumpled to the ground, begging internally for another bout of unconsciousness. "Unless I decide it is necessary, you will never transform again." Slade continued, before driving his foot into Beast Boy's stomach, and slamming him into the wall like a rag doll.

Beast Boy wailed in pain as he felt something inside him crack. His stomach felt like it was alive with fire, melting away at his body. It was hell, and yet he was still unable to slip into unconsciousness. "I am also capable of forcing you into staying conscious boy. I wouldn't want you to miss out on lessons just because of a bit of pain now, would I?" Slade continued, throwing a big heaping bucket of water onto his hopes. Using whatever energy he might have had left, Beast Boy force himself to his feet. He had found that he had broken one or more of his ribs, but that didn't matter at that point. What mattered was defiance.

"Go…to…hell…Slade." He muttered again, before throwing a punch towards the man. The punch, if it could even be called that, was easily grabbed in mid-flight, much to Beast Boy's chagrin. Seconds later, a hand slammed into his broken ribs, brining another wail of pain out of the boy's lungs, before Slade slammed him into the same wall once more. This time, Beast Boy did not get up. His body hurt too much.

"I'll make an animal out of you yet, you pathetic little boy." Slade growled, his coolness absent from his voice. Slowly, he reached down and wrapped his hand around Beast Boy's throat, lifting him up into the air and bringing him to eye level. "I'll turn you from this weak, insignificant waste of life into a monster. Into my monster." Slade finished, before spinning on his feet, and driving Beast Boy neck first into the floor, achieving one last, beautiful wail of pain. With great length, Slade lifted himself from the ground, staring disdainfully down at the now weeping Beast Boy, his face covered with blood that he had coughed up. Walking away, he pressed a pair of buttons on his wrist. One sent a signal to his nanobots, allowing Beast Boy to slip into unconsciousness, and the other was a communicator.

"Winry, pick my pet up and take him to the infirmary. Have the good doctor patch him up. Make it quick." Not waiting for a reply, Slade released the button and exited into another room, leaving Beast Boy alone in the miserable space, barely breathing as he lay apart from the world in a pool of his own blood. Just as the doors were closing, Slade glanced at his prize one final time, a malicious grin hidden beneath his mask. "I will make you something to be feared, just you wait. Your very name will cause children nightmares of the worse kind. Oh, how I will truly enjoy destroying you, Beast Boy. I will revel in making your life a living misery."

A/N: Yes, this was a smaller chapter, but it was more of an introduction into the situation kind of. But anyways, you now know a few features of Beast Boy's collar, including the ability to prevent Beast Boy from being knocked out, something that I will greatly abuse in my abuse of Beast Boy. I would tell you all more but…heh…I want you to watch in horror as I do this. Peace.