Monsters

A flood of memories penetrated his mind like a knife. He remembered the fear, the loneliness, the sadness, and pain… so much pain. He stood frozen to the spot. A tear slowly traced its way down his cheek, to his clenched jaw, and fell to the sidewalk below.

A man in a white lab coat exited the building and walked up to the group of teens. "The Teen Titans. My name is Dr. Rogan. I'm the head of the S.T.A.R. Labs Research facility. I hope that your flight here was a smooth one?" The man was balding, his grey hair combed over to one side. He was of average height, with a little bit of weight on him. His face seemed almost rat-like in appearance.

"It was fine." answered Robin. "The views from our ship were beautiful. The only difficulty seemed to be my lack of sleep. Being a light sleeper makes sleeping in a moving ship difficult. Beast Boy, however, slept practically the entire trip here. Didn't you? ... "Beast Boy?" Finally noticing his absence, Robin turned around and saw him still a ways back, completely stoic, and his hands clenched into fists. He was turned sideways and his head was turned downward. Robin continued forward to try to get a glimpse of his friend's face. "Beast Boy?" The rest of the group turned to look in Robin's line of sight, eyes resting on the green teen. He knew something was definitely wrong with the usually happy green teen and his posture almost frightened him. "Beast Boy, what's wrong?" asked Robin, concern filling his voice.

Beast Boy jerked his head up towards the sound of Robin's voice and took a step back. His face was glistening with salty tears and he looked panicked. Robin took a few more steps towards his fellow teammate. Beast Boy turned and ran. He had no idea where he was running to. He just knew he had to get away. The people of S.T.A.R. Labs were probably still searching for him. He couldn't let them get him. No, not again. Never again!

In his haste to get away he had forgotten he could turn into a much faster animal. Robin, having more training in human form, easily caught up to him and tackled him to the leaf strewn ground below. Not knowing who had captured him, Beast Boy began to panic. He rolled over and punched his assailant, connecting with his jaw. "Ow! Beast Boy! Get a hold of yourself!" Beast Boy stopped his thrashing and opened his eyes. Hovering over him was a red faced Robin. "Beast Boy, what is wrong with you?!" said Robin in an aggravated tone.

During this time, the rest of the team caught up to the pair and stood a few feet back, watching the confrontation in silence. "I cccan't go back! Not there! They'll take me! They'll hhhurt me! They're monsters!"

"Friend Beast Boy, the lab facility of stars will not hurt you." said a worried Starfire.

"She's right." said Raven. "If they were "monsters" we wouldn't have come all the way to Brazil to HELP them."

Robin stood and held out a hand to help Beast Boy up. The green teen sat up on his hands, but didn't take it. Instead he looked at both Starfire and Raven saying, "Not monsters?" He hastily got to his feet and ripped off one of his gloves, extending his arm out, and hand balled into a tight fist. "You call the people who did this to me SAINTS?!" Starfire gasped, lifting her hands to cover her mouth. Cyborg, Robin, and Raven's eyes grew wide. Beast Boy's fist, wrist, and the visible portion of his arm were covered with scars from previous deep gashes and burns.

Cyborg was the first to break the silence. "Beast Boy… Where-"

"Where did I get them?" said Beast Boy in a much darker tone. "More like WHO did I get them from! These are all thanks to those MONSTERS at S.T.A.R. Labs! I was a prisoner there for three years!" Cyborg quickly came over and laid a heavy metal hand on his friends shoulder. Beast Boy paused, his hysterics subsiding into a more somber state. "…Three years…" He said in almost a whisper.

"Is it the same S.T.A.R. Labs facility?" asked Robin.

"No… no I was taken by one in Arizona."

Cyborg lifted his hand off of the green teen and used his arm to do a search of any S.T.A.R. Lab facilities in the state. He quickly got the results he needed and said, "There are no remaining facilities in the state. There was one near Saguaro National Park, but it was closed down four years ago after it was discovered to be doing unethical procedures on its experiments.

"Not all the S.T.A.R. Lab facilities are bad." said Robin. "The one in Arizona had delved off from their ordained rules and regulations to play God. S.T.A.R. Lab facilities in general were created for the greater good of society by curing diseases and creating new technology to keep humanity safe. And like them, we need to do our job to keep humanity safe by capturing that dangerous experiment that is still running loose. So are you still willing to help us complete our mission?"

Beast Boy slowly nodded. Although Robin made a good point, he still felt wary towards S.T.A.R. Labs. It's not odd that he would feel this way of course, but he was also uneasy about the experiment situation. Experimenting on something living and dangerous doesn't sound like something that would be for the greater good of humanity. Add that to the fact that the facility was top secret and hidden from the public made him a little suspicious of them. Questions rolled through his mind. What if the creature was the one in danger? What if it needed protection FROM S.T.A.R. Labs?

Beast Boy looked up towards Robin's face and gave a determined nod. He knew he had to help find the experiment. Not for the Lab's sake, but for the experiment's. He wasn't going to let that creature suffer the same way he did.

P.S. I got the look of Dr. Rogan from my AP English teacher lol.