Summary: Jump City had been peaceful for the past two years. Slade was out of commission after a grueling fight, super-villains were far and few, and the crime rate was low. So the Titans had pursed their hobbies. Beast Boy volunteered at a wildlife museum for children and enjoyed the work. The 19-year-old had nothing to fear…until Slade reappeared. (One-sided Slade x Beast Boy)

Trapped Chapter 12

Running from Grant wasn't easy. The first thing he had done after morphing back to human and slinging the guitar back onto his back was to find the familiar jewelry store that had often been robbed during his hero days. Stars, did that hurt to think about. The girls buzzed with questions, but he had to pull his most devastating card against them.

"Do not tell people I can shapeshift or Papa will find us."

That shut them up so fast it hurt to watch. But he couldn't risk the someone overhearing the girls ask why he had never transformed before. Though he had once explained it to them, they didn't really understand and now that they had seen him shapeshift, they wanted to see him do it again.

But he couldn't do that. They had to keep a low profile for their own safety because when he transformed, he was always green. No amount of makeup could hide that fact. So he'd stay in human form, caked in white to match the girls fair skin, and hope Grant would never know he was still in Jump City and about to sell his marriage ring.

He strode inside, ring in his gloved hand and girls behind him, and soon spoke with the cashier. The only way to sell something was to pose under guise of Garfield Wilson for now. Hopefully word wouldn't get back to Grant just yet.

The young woman appraised the ring before nodding and leaving to speak with her manager. A middle-aged woman emerged and examined the ring as well before offering a sum of money. But when Beast Boy asked for cash instead of a check, the woman shrugged and said she had to lower the offering price.

He accepted the deal and walked out with a solid amount of cash stuffed into his pockets, shoes, and gloves. He then led his daughters through alley after alley, dodging thugs and drug addicts. Though he hated the fact that they had to see the rougher side of the neighborhood, it was the most secretive way of travel. The chances of him being recognized by a drunkard or a stray gang member was lower than in a crowd of people on the bustling streets. Any stranger he met could be a sladebot or Grant's employee in disguise.

And so that's how they travelled. They walked until their feet ached and stomachs groaned. But still he walked, lifting the girls into his arms and continuing until he was out of Jump City and several streets lost in a different town. Naturally, he wandered into the shadiest parts possible.

Prostitution, drug deals, muggings, it wasn't pretty. Had to be the worst birthday ever too. Poor girls. The only thing that seemed to cheer them up was whenever he found a nicer street to play guitar and sing, earning some extra cash. They had money for food and a few weeks at a hotel that was the cheapest he could find. But that money would go fast. Makeup, meals, clothes…

He needed to find a job.

But how could he get one that didn't require a resume or at the very least a background check? Ugh, running from the Titans was the dumbest idea he ever had…

…but if he hadn't then Grant would find them even sooner. He exhaled. They'd find a way to survive. They had to.

So for several days he had left the girls with the guitar in the hotel and wandered the streets in search of job offerings presented in windows. He walked and walked but the farther he went with no luck, the more he was inclined to give up. But giving up wasn't an option. Not when his children needed him.

Their life went on, steadily running out of money and running from place to place. He sold the guitar too but it was only a matter of time before their luck ran out. They ran out of money to afford a roof over their heads and were forced to tough it out on the streets. He'd try to find parks and grass to lay on, but usually his back was on pavement with the girls using his stomach as a pillow.

It was uncomfortable and exhausting and they had to bathe at night in any and all lakes they found. Whenever he ran out of makeup or food, he was forced to morph and steal some from low-end shops and pray he was never caught on camera.

So far he hadn't been but it still hurt to know that he was now a former hero that stole from the kind of people he used to protect from thieves. But he had to steal. He had to. For the girls and for their survival.

He was thankful it was summertime so the nights were cool but not cold. But what would he do when fall came? Would he finally cave and call the Titans? But then he'd have to face them with an explanation as to why he ran and he couldn't bear to do that. To tell them how weak he'd become. How scared and hurt. They'd never respect him again! Jericho might even lose respect for him.

It almost seemed easier to just crawl back to the man who made them run in the first place. Beg for forgiveness and spread his legs as a peace offering.

But he couldn't do that. He'd be stupid to do that. To think Grant would take him back. To think Grant would let the girls live. To think…to think he ever had a chance supporting the girls on his own.

He sighed. That was it. He couldn't take care of them but he wouldn't let them go either. Not after the hell they had all gone through.

He'd call the Titans tomorrow.

~oOo~

"Fowler, they're over here!"

His ears twitched. Fast footsteps yanked him out of his light doze and he rolled the girls to the pavement and behind the dumpster. Sleepily, they tried to protest until he shushed them and faced the potential threat.

Two strangers towered over his crouching form. A woman with blue hair pinned into a high ponytail cocked a brow at him. The man standing beside her brushed waves of curly black hair out of his face.

"Garfield Wilson," the man offered a pitying smile. "We're here to bring you home."

Beast Boy bared his fangs, gaze darting to the wide-eyed children wedged behind the dumpster. "I'm home right here, thanks."

The woman sneered. "Boss didn't say he was a brat."

"Relax, Moss." The man patted her shoulder. "I'm sure Garfield here is just scared. Aren't you, Garfield?"

"Go to hell." He spat.

It'd been days since he'd probably eaten. How long could he hold them off if he morphed? They looked like normal humans but they could've been robots or one of muscled Grant's bodyguards. What animal should he morph into? One that wouldn't take much energy. But which one? He was running on nothing but adrenaline. He had lost a significant amount of muscle mass and without eating in so long...

"Easy now," the man kneeled to the ground. "My name is Zachary Fowler, but you can call me Zach." The stranger winked. "Boss has been worried about you. So much in fact that he sent his elite team to find you and bring you home! Why, there's more of us just around the corner to make sure you return safe and sound!"

Beast Boy swallowed. More of them? There were more of them? How many did he have to fight? Should he just flee? If he morphed into a pteranodon he might be able to make it to the rooftops with the girls.

"Enough." The woman flicked a wrist and a stream of water flowed out of her palm. "Let's hurry this along."

Supers. They were freakin' supers.

She whipped the stream forwards and he threw himself out of the way. The water slapped against the brick wall behind him. Blood roared in his ears as his heart raced. Running it was, then.

"Girls." He outstretched an arm. "Grab my–agh!"

"Daddy!" His girls screamed and wriggled out from behind the dumpster.

He kicked at the water wrapped around his ankle and cursed when his other foot only sank into the liquid and the water hardened around both his ankles. The woman hauled him backwards and his snarl blended into the guttural roar of a lion.

Muscles burned as they tore apart and reconnected as he blurred into the feline. The speed of the transformation snapped him free of the water's grip and he lunged in front of his children. Adrenaline rang in his ears as he forced his body to shift. Wings sprouted from his shoulder blades and his forelimbs merged with his torso. His hind paws morphed into large talons and he flapped his wings.

Water cracked towards him but he snapped his beak atop the hardened stream and jerked his neck to toss the stream and the super with it to the ground. He grasped the shoulders of his children and his lungs flared with agony as he forced his muscles to move faster than they could.

His poor girls screamed as they were lifted off the ground and he struggled to fly them high to the roofs. Curses followed them but he made it to the top and dropped his children as gently as he could before collapsing to the roof in human form.

Angie and Becca swarmed him, all worry and gentle touches. If it weren't for the fact they were still in danger, he would've found the light presses to his neck to be both hilarious and deeply upsetting. They were checking his pulse. To see if he had spontaneously died between the ground and the roof. Ha…

Wind blew against his face and he cracked open his eyes. Only to snap them wide open when he realized the man from before, Zachary, hovered in the sky with a miniature tornado twirling around him and keeping him afloat.

"Girls," he scrabbled to upright himself. "Girls, get behind–"

"Daddy!" A small, high pitched voice called. "Daddy, help me!"

Becca.

Stars, she sounded terrified.

He whirled around and bloodlust clouded his vision. A stranger held his baby girl in vine-covered arms. The woman held a squirming Becca in the hold as his baby tried desperately not to cry.

Not my baby Becca.

Fangs sharpened into deadly points as he felt ugly rage give him the strength to change into a creature of his own making. Feathered wings erupted from his back, hands curved into talons, and his legs reshaped into the hind legs of a lion.

His fanged beak opened and he released a furious shriek as he dived into the air. He tackled the woman, vines and all, and clawed the supers face. She barely dodged the blow and dropped his child as she too fell.

Wings batted the air as he dove for his terrified baby. His talons snagged her shoulders and hauled her back to the roof. Where his older child should have been.

Where was Angie?

Snarling, he brought his shaking child close to his feathered and furry chest. Across from him and standing on the roof, the wind powered supervillain held his eldest with a knife to her neck.

"Now, now, Garfield." Zachary chided and his rage nearly made him vault off the roof. "You wouldn't want little Angelina to be hurt would you?"

The fury cooled like iced water dumping onto his head. Adrenaline faded fast as fear took its place and he resumed human form.

"Don't…" he held his baby girl tighter as he croaked. "Don't you dare…"

"Daddy…?" Becca whimpered into his chest. "Daddy, I'm scared."

"Shh," his hold must've been unbearably tight now but she didn't complain. Only burrowed closer.

Zachary offered a slimy smile. "I'm surprised you can morph into a gryphon of all things. That's one for the history pages! But enough about that," the fake friendliness darkened into a sneer. "Boss doesn't like to wait and neither do I. Back down and we can bring you all home. Safe. And. Sound."

His ears pinned back against his skull as he glared at the ground. "…why are you doing this?"

"Isn't it obvious? I work for him."

"But why? Don't you know how horrible he is?"

Zachary snorted. "Uh, yeah? He pays me to do his dirty work. Whether it's robbing a bank or beating the Titans, I get the job done."

Beast Boy swallowed as pieces slowly clicked into place. "…you're one of his supers in his superpowered army, aren't you?"

"Give the man a medal." Zachary laughed, sharp and mocking. "Now come over here and make my job easy."

"He's just gonna kill us, you know." He forced himself to move despite the burn in his muscles and the burns in his lungs. "Are you a monster like him?"

The man rolled his eyes and freed a hand to tap his ear. "Moss, where's the 'copter?"

Just then, a helicopter descended from the clouds. A rope ladder rolled out of the passenger's side and Zachary grasped the bottom ring.

"Hurry up!" The horrible man called. "Your master's waiting."

~oOo~

Notes: Alright, so I haven't updated since January. Mostly 'cause I've been jumping between Undertale and this TT'03 Fandom. That and between classwork and my own arts 'n' crafts, I haven't been satisfied with how I wrote this chapter. Originally there was gonna be police brutality with a woman officer being a dick and arresting BB unfairly cause he's a 'green freak'

Then I remembered that Grant's supposed to have a superpowered army and welp, here are some of the supers in his army, ta daaa!

Still not satisfied with this chapter but urgh, whatever. I tried. Hopefully someone's bound to like it.

Thanks for reading!