Chapter 6

A security guard stepped out of the chemical plant to patrol the exterior. Being a smoker he first went to a smoking pavilion designated safe to light up. He pulled out a cigarette and a Zippo lighter. He was in the process of lighting his cigarette so his attention was drawn away from his surroundings.

In the time that guard had taken to look away from the grounds, someone… or something landed within the fenced off facility. The creature ensured that even security cameras were turned away so that it would not be spotted. But it still had only an instant to react.

Killer Moth quickly charged up to the pavilion and knocked the security guard into unconsciousness. The cigarette fell from the guard's mouth and both it and the lighter fell to the floor of the pavilion. Killer Moth collected the guard's security badge and keys. He searched the pockets and wallet of the guard, hoping this guy was dumb enough to have his PIN written down and with him. As irony would have it, Killer Moth found the PIN in a flap of the guard's wallet.

The mutant insect took a careful peek outside the pavilion to see if the security cameras had turned away. Seeing that they had, Killer Moth hurried to the door, ran the badge through the reader, entered the PIN, and stepped inside the plant.


Not too far away a raven had long been perched on a telephone pole mounted within the grounds of the plant. It had witnessed the entire event ever since Killer Moth landed.
The hawk that is Beast Boy, who still had a black trench coat locked in his talons, received the raven's "transmission" of Killer Moth's actions. He was nearly half way to the plant as his flight continued.
"There's something about this emergency that has me wondering," Cyborg said, breaking the silence among the team as they proceeded to the scene in the T-car. With him were Omen and Starfire.

Robin was following closely behind on his R-cycle. He rode on this in case he had to use the dual laser cannons installed in it like he did once before. Robin would not have any apprehensions or feel the need to say "Sorry" this time if Adonis was the cause of the trouble. "What's that, Cyborg?" he asked through his helmet communicator.

"The report indicated the rampage as occurring in the ghetto… at the same spot where Raven and Beast Boy were killed last year."

"Let's not be concerned with coincidences, Cyborg," said Robin. "Let's just see if we can find out what, and especially who, it was."

By the time they had arrived the incident had long been over. The beast was gone. Authorities said that neither they nor any passers-by ever saw the creature come out of the alley. When the commotion stopped, the authorities and some passers-by crept over to the alley to see it was and empty save for the mess.

"It may have climbed the walls to make its escape," Robin considered. He turned to the titans. "Starfire, carefully inspect the walls for any claw marks or anything that might have been damaged by this creature's attempt to escape by climbing. The rest of us, let's dig through this mess for any clues."

Starfire levitated and began looking the walls over. There were three for her to look over: two long walls and one narrow wall that seemed to connect the buildings. She found nothing no matter how high she flew. With the exception of the broken windows at the first level, nothing above was broken or mangled.

The titans inspected the lower area. Robin looked at all the slashed brick walls while Omen and Cyborg searched the ground. Robin soon noticed several strands of something stuck to the brick. Omen spotted a rag. Both simultaneously declared, "I found something."

Robin peeled the strands from the brick. Omen picked up the rag, which she realized was drenched in blood. Starfire flew down to see their discoveries as they all huddled together. "I found nothing unusual about the upper levels," Starfire informed them.


The green hawk was now over the chemical plant grounds. Beast Boy spotted the location of the raven. The raven was perched over at the smoking pavilion. After dropping the trench coat Beast Boy landed. He restored himself to human form and walked over to the pavilion. He was not concerned about the security cameras right now. If the guards inside spotted him as an intruder, that would bring someone outside to at least find the unconscious guard. As it turned out the guard was being radioed.

"Answer me, Gus!" was the agitated order from the radio.

Beast Boy decided to answer the call. He picked up the radio to say, "Your guy's unconscious. Get someone out here to help."

"Who is this?" queried the caller. "Where's Gus?"

"Someone you don't need to be concerned about. Gus is outside." With that Beast Boy set down the radio. He saw the lighter laying near Gus.

"Gus can't be outside. He badged in-." The radio quickly cut off, but not before Beast Boy heard a grunt. Beast Boy looked at the radio when he heard it. Then he supposed Killer Moth got to the guy. Whether or not Killer Moth could see into the pavilion from the monitors in the security room, Beast Boy did not care. He was not about to allow that mutant to leave, let alone live beyond tonight.

Beast Boy reached out and picked up the lighter. His sensitive nose detected that it had a good fill of lighter fluid. He clicked the lid of it open and closed four times before standing up. Looking out toward his coat he debated whether he should wear it. "No. There's gonna be some pretty nasty stuff in there and I'm not ready to ruin it." Beast Boy let it be.

Now, security cameras or not Beast Boy decided to step out into the open. It was time to go inside. He scanned the front of the building and spotted an open window on the second level. The multi-paned glass was artificially frosted. Taking with him the lighter, Beast Boy approached the wall. He could scale this as a monkey.

Once he climbed up and was inside, the monkey dropped to the floor. Beast Boy morphed back into human form to inspect his surroundings. The raven had followed him in and was now perched on his left shoulder. This area of the chemical plant was an enormous storage room stacked with boxes and barrels. There was a loading dock in the back. Killer Moth was not here.

"What he's here for must be below the building," Beast Boy said with a brief glance at the raven. He spotted a door and, after pocketing the lighter, walked over to it. On the floor he saw an unconscious guard. He took the guard's badge and keys.


"Cyborg could you give us some extra light?" Robin requested.

Cyborg flipped out a light from his shoulder. Everyone looked between the strands and the rag. Robin studied the stands closely. He furrowed his brow with disbelief. "Is it just me or does anyone else realize this fur is green?"

Cyborg and Starfire seemed to share his expression of disbelief. Omen remained quiet. "It just can't be," stated Cyborg.

"Is there any way we can study this blood?" Omen asked after a brief moment.

"Cyborg can you do it?" added Robin.

"Sure," Cyborg said reaching out to take the rag.

Omen placed it in his left hand. Cyborg opened a panel in his right forearm. He smeared the blood on the smooth glass surface inside and closed the panel. A mild humming sound generated from his arm.

"Data on the blood sample will be transmitted back to the tower," Cyborg began. "After a minute I should receive the results."

Everyone was silent for the duration. After the minute passed a light blip sound was heard. The results were transmitted to Cyborg's mind and his electronic eye read the received data. Not a word was spoken by Cyborg for a moment. There was only a low gasp and an even greater wide eye look of disbelief.

Robin was agitated by the silence. "Well Cyborg?"

"It's… it's… The blood is Beast Boy's," he answered.

Starfire gasped. "That's impossible," stated Robin.

"It's the truth, Robin," Cyborg confirmed as he looked down at his leader.


Killer Moth stood in awe among the immense storage tanks of hazardous materials: liquid toxins, acids, flammable gases, and mutagens. On storage shelves sat hazardous liquid containers of various capacities. He completely disregarded the security cameras there since he disabled them all before coming down here, including the exterior cameras.

"Once I have all I need, I'll be able to improve on my swarm and even create a stronger breed of genetically enhanced moths," he announced to no one. "And then, I won't need to work for anyone, especially Slade."

From the catwalk overhead, a low beep sound came from the door. It slid open. Killer Moth heard the noise and looked up. Clicking sounds and footsteps emitted from the doorway followed by someone entering. The door slid closed. Killer Moth was puzzled by the figure in black and purple, and the bird perched on his shoulder. The raven dislodged itself and flew to the catwalk railing. What's with the face paint? Killer Moth realized this weirdo had a lighter in his right hand that he had been snapping the lid open and closed.

"These chemicals won't be your rise to power," stated the figure. "They will be your death."

"Who are you?"

Beast Boy dropped the lighter to his side. "I know the face is different, but you should recognize the uniform and the hair style."

When the wheels stopped turning in Killer Moth's mind Beast Boy thought he saw Killer Moth's eyes go wide. How can one tell with eyes like that?

"No! It can't be!" he cried in disbelief. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Maybe I should be. I don't know. But until you and the others are dead I'm not going anywhere." Beast Boy dropped the lighter to the catwalk path and leapt over the railing. He landed with cat-like precision without becoming a cat.

A great deal fearful of whom he stood against, Killer Moth backed up. Beast Boy stepped forward. Killer Moth kept stepping back until he was up against one of the shelves. Beast Boy continued to advance. Killer Moth looked to his left and right, seeing the containers. He eyed Beast Boy and quickly grabbed a glass container of acid. Panic was evident in his voice. "I'm warning you not to come closer."

Beast Boy stopped, but not because he feared the container. "What's wrong? Are you scared to take me on with your own two hands? Last time it took six of you to beat down two of us. Now it's just me." Beast Boy recalled last year's night.


Killer Moth flew circles around Beast Boy and Raven striking them with his energy whip, even when they fell to the ground.
"You can take me on alone, can't you?" he added.

"Yeah, but I know what you can do. I know about your animal transformations. If you come any closer, no matter what form you take, you'll be drenched with this stuff."

"I see." Beast Boy then advanced forward, but he did not transform.

"Stay back!" Killer Moth demanded.

"You brought this on yourself."

With as hard a throw as he could muster, Killer Moth hurled the container at Beast Boy. It shattered and acid spilled all over him. He let out a horrible scream that sounded real enough to Killer Moth.

Killer Moth was not about to touch him. He found a long, hollow pipe, two inches wide. Killer Moth took it and stepped up to Beast Boy who was crouching down and covering himself up. The acid had burned through his uniform and did eat the skin. Seizing the chance, Killer Moth proceeded to swing the pipe at Beast Boy with immense ferocity knocking him around in several directions. He even tore chunks of skin from the changeling's severely burned body.

His assault didn't last long as Beast Boy just up and caught the pipe in his left hand and gripped it strong. Killer Moth could not retract it. Beast Boy faced him with a dangerous gaze and gritting teeth. This acid-eaten, broken, beaten… thing stood up, no longer sounding like he was in pain. Was he ever in pain at all?

Killer Moth was stunned… and definitely scared. To his horror he watched as the acid-eaten and torn flesh healed up as did the face paint. Would the uniform do the same? It never did, leaving Beast Boy's healed skin exposed.

Beast Boy stood up and yanked the pipe from Killer Moth's grip and threw it aside. "Your turn," he said calmly, stepping up to Killer Moth.

Beast Boy grabbed Killer Moth and began flaying him, never once morphing into an animal. Following a barrage of punches Beast Boy proceeded to throw Killer Moth everywhere, then picked him up and did it again, even against the tanks. Each time the mutant pleaded for mercy Beast Boy would just ignore him.

Killer Moth no longer put up a resistance. He was so badly beaten he would not be getting up, but he was not dead yet. Beast Boy was not going to finish him like this. Beast Boy looked around at the tanks. He opened up some containers before proceeding to open the tank valves to let out the flammable gases. With the room being a couple hundred feet below ground, and that there were ceiling installed extinguishers and decontaminants, Beast Boy determined it would be safe to finish Killer Moth as he was about to.

To allow time for the gases to fill the room, Beast Boy slowly proceeded up the stairwell to the catwalk. He walked over to the doorway, crouched down to pick up the lighter. He looked down at the severely beaten Killer Moth who weakly looked up at Beast Boy.

Beast Boy opened the door and the raven flew out. Beast Boy looked back down at Killer Moth and flipped the cap of the lighter open with his thumb in place ready to turn the wheel. "Like a moth to the flame." With that he ground the flint and a spark was born.

In an instant the entire space exploded into flames. Beast Boy was violently thrown from the room covered in flames up against a wall. The impact itself would have certainly killed a living person. The alarm sounded and the door quickly slid shut automatically. From inside the room, the decontaminants and extinguishers activated and would soon have the flames out and the room would be partially neutralized. The intensity of the heat inside burned a black image into the door – a raven.

Broken bones in his body snapped themselves back in place. Beast Boy then calmly rolled about just to put out the flames. The severe burns of his virtually charred body that resulted from the chemical fire quickly healed as Beast Boy stood up coughing. When his skin was finally restored and he was done coughing, the changeling stepped over to a wash station and dowsed himself with water. Done with that he decided it was time to leave before anyone, especially the titans, responded to the alarm. His uniform was much worse. Beast Boy decided he would wear the coat to cover the damage. He and the raven hurried to the elevator they were brought down in a short time ago and took the ride up the shaft.

Alarms were going off even up here. Beast Boy dropped the keys and the badge next to the unconscious guard. Beast Boy and the raven left the building through the same open window.


The titans stoodat the same spot in the ghetto. Cyborg's discovery was still sinking in as the team remained silent. But their silence was broken by an alert from their communicators.

"What now?" Robin stated with some irritation. The emergency code displayed on their communicators was deciphered by Robin. "An explosion at the chemical plant! Titan's go!"


Finally outside Beast Boy went over to his coat. He furrowed his brow as he thought back to a bit ago. "'Like a moth to the flame'?" he repeated out loud. "I know that would definitely sound lame to Raven. And suddenly," he realized shaking his head, "saying it just isn't the same without a comeback from her telling me so."

With that he morphed back into a hawk, collected his coat, and he and the raven took off for the sky in search of his next target.


A/N: Hoped you readers liked this chapter. One of my reviewers asked "Is the raven connected to Rae?" I've had something in mind before this question came up and I anticipate having something for Chapter 8 which I hope is the answer sought. Read, Review, and thank you.