After a few minutes, something occurred to Raven. "Why didn't you just call Mento?"

"I need a psychic I can trust."

"You don't trust him? I thought he was a father figure or something."

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow. "And? Daddy issues are standard issue in our line of work. Besides," he murmured, "he probably gave this bastard more to work with than anyone else."

Raven couldn't resist; it was rare for Beast Boy to talk so openly about his life before joining the Titans, and even rarer for him to talk about Mento. "Was he really that bad?"

"Worse," Beast Boy replied, "trust me. He pretty much never talked to me except to make me feel like shit. Every day, he'd find some knew way that I'd disappointed him, some new reason why I wasn't good enough, some new lecture about how the whole team was going to die because I wasn't strong enough…" Raven could tell that this conversation was taking Beat Boy somewhere he probably shouldn't be in his current state, and resolved to change the subject.

"You know, you actually remind me of Aziraphale a little."

"Excuse me?"

"Aziraphale," Raven replied simply, "from Good Omens. You remind me of him."

"I remind you of him? Really?"

"You're smarter than people give you credit for, and you're good at being good."

Beast Boy snorted. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"It means you help people. You don't have to think about it, you just help them." Raven felt herself blushing slightly, but pressed on anyway. "You said the Beast is basically just your instincts, right?"

"That's what it told me."

"And everytime it's come out, it's tried to protect me," Raven said with a faint grin, "your deepest instincts are to protect others. Face it Beast Boy; you're a good person."

No you're not; you're just a dog that got a few tricks whipped into it. Raven thinks that you're a good person. She's smarter than you. Ergo, she's right, you're a good person."Thanks Raven, that means a lot to me."

"Any time, Beast Boy."

"I can confirm that you are indeed a good person." An unfamiliar voice sounded from the corner of the room.

"I was wondering when you'd speak up," Beast Boy replied calmly, "I'm guessing you're the psychic that Robin called?"

A figure stepped forward; she had red hair and green skin, darker than Beast Boy's. "How did you know?"

"What, like you made it hard?" Beast Boy scoffed. "I could smell you the instant you came in, through the wall I might add. Combined with your green skin and the fact that you smell like Martian Manhunter, I'm guessing you're Miss Martian."

"And he thinks he's dumb." Raven quipped, rolling her eyes. Because you are; having a good nose doesn't make you smart.

"My name is M'gann M'orzz, but you can just call me Meghan. Now," Meghan's tone shifted from friendly and open to all business, "I'm told that you've got an uninvited guest in your head."

After a quick explanation and a warning about the Beast, Meghan began her work. "I feel I should warn you, this may take a while; pinpointing the exact telepathic signature of the attack could takes hours, even days… No wait, I found it." Her eyes narrowed. "Of course it's him…"

Psimon's plan was progressing nicely; Beast Boy hadn't been seen in two weeks, the other titans were run ragged operating with an incomplete team, and best of all, they had no way to trace it back to him! All in all, he was starting to feel unstoppable. And that's when his wall exploded.

A voice rang out from the smoke. "Hello Psimon." Robin stepped forward.

"Heard you been messing with my little buddy's head." Cyborg growled, emerging from the smoke.

"That was an unwise choice of actions." Starfire opined, the glow of her eyes contrasting with her calm tone.

"Very unwise." Raven's voice emerged from behind him.

"You think you've won?" Psimon sneered.

"Pretty much." Best Boy stepped forward, looking unbearably smug.

"This isn't a victory, this is just the start of negotiations."

Beast Boy looked confused. "Negotiations?"

Psimon smirked. "You need me to get rid of the program I left in your grey matter, so you'll have to give me what I want." He'd hoped he wouldn't need this contingency plan, but he'd settle for it anyway; extort his way to freedom, set the program to its dormant state for a few weeks, go into hiding and reactivate it. His plans would be delayed, but ultimately unchanged.

"No I don't," Beast Boy replied, "she already took care of it."

"Who did?" Psimon demanded, taken aback.

"I did." Miss Martian floated down through the ceiling.

"I surrender." Psimon whimpered.

"I thought so." Miss Martian smirked.

"So," Beast Boy began growled as soon as Psimon had been restrained, "why did you do it?"

"To destroy the Titans, of course."

"And you went after me?" Beast Boy shook his head. "Kind of a weird choice of target." Don't sell yourself short, boy.

"I didn't go after anyone in particular," Psimon responded airily. "The program simply attached itself to the most receptive mind." He leered. "Doing the sad clown bit, are we? A little cliched."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Explain."

"No," Beast Boy sighed "I should explain, not him." Everyone turned to face him. It's time, boy. They need to know. "He didn't put a voice in my head; he just took one that was already there and made it worse." After a moment of hesitation, he continued. "It's called intrusive thoughts. They're a common symptom of depression and PTSD… both of which I have."

"The program was meant to drive you to suicide!" Psimon hissed. "You would have died, and the program would jump ship onto whoever was most affected by your death. The Titans would have fallen like a line of dominoes!"

"Well, I guess I had a little more help than you expected." You can say that again.

"What are you?" Psimon demanded. "What the hell are you?!"

Beast Boy leaned in close, so that only Psimon could hear him, and lowered his defences just enough to let his mind be read. "I'm a boy." And a beast. "And stronger than you."

Psimon was restrained and taken away by the police before long, and Miss Martian left shortly afterwards, pausing only to give everyone a quick psychic scan to make sure Psimon hadn't messed with their heads. Before they could head home, Robin still had one very important job to handle. "Beast Boy, are… are you okay?"

For a second, it looked like Beast Boy was thinking of lying to him, but after a moment his shoulders sagged. "No. I'm not."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Another moment of silence. "Yes."

Robin remembered his training for situations like this. "Would you rather wait until we get home first?" First rule of talking about trauma; make a safe space available. Somewhere private, comfortable and judgement-free.

Beast Boy looked grateful. "Yes."

The atmosphere in the common room was tense; nobody felt comfortable saying anything, so they were all just waiting for Beast Boy to talk. "Okay, I guess I should start at the start; how much do you guys know about my life before the Titans?"

"Not much grass stain," Cyborg replied. "You don't talk about it much."

"Okay," Beast Boy sighed, "let's take it from the top. My parents were biologists; Mark and Mary Logan. We were in Africa when I got my powers; the Upper Labumba region. They were researching a disease called sakutia."

"The virus that turns animals green?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah," Beast Boy grinned ruefully, "and then I went and got bitten by a green monkey."

"How's that work?" Cyborg asked, severely confused. "Sakutia's fatal in humans. One of the few diseases to have a 100% fatality rate. So how come you ain't dead?"

"My parents were working on a cure, and when I got bit, they decided to test it out on me." He chuckled sadly. "It's not like it could have made things any worse. The cure was based on introducing animal DNA, since Sakutia only kills humans. It worked, but…" He gestured to his face. "There were some side effects."

"So your parents saved your life and gave you your powers," Robin muttered. "I always wondered."

Beast Boy sighed. "And then they died. Went off a waterfall in their raft." His eyes began to glisten with tears. "My mother saved my life that day, too. She told me to turn into a bird. If she hadn't, I would have gone over with them."

Cyborg couldn't believe what he was hearing; had his little buddy really been keeping so much pain inside? "And that's when you ended up with the Doom Patrol?"

"No," Beast Boy replied, his expression taking on a haunted cast. "That's when I ended up with Galtry." And so he went on, outlining the abuse he suffered at the hands of Nicholas Galtry, his subsequent sale to Doctor Register, (he refused to say what happened in Register's custody, except that it was 'real bad'), his subsequent escape and homeless stint, followed by his capture by thieves who forced him to use his powers to help them rob houses, and finally, the Doom Patrol. "I basically just broke into their headquarters and refused to leave; after chasing me for six hours they gave up and let me stay."

"Now tell them the rest." Said Raven, her tone firm but not unkind.

Beast Boy looked at her for a moment and continued. "Things weren't great with the Patrol either. Rita was great; she's basically my mom now. Cliff and Larry seemed to like me too, but Mento…" Codename only for Mento; Cyborg could guess what that meant. "I don't think that man ever praised me for anything. No matter what I did, it was never enough for him, and after a while, I just couldn't take it anymore. I snuck out in the middle of the night, made my way to Jump City, met you guys and never looked back."

It took Cyborg a moment to process everything he'd heard; all that misery in one little life. But once it had fully sunk in, he knew exactly what to do. "That's it, I'm calling a group hug. Everybody bring it in, Beast Boy needs it."

"Hey, come on Cy!" Beast Boy mumbled, blushing faintly. "You know Raven doesn't do-" He was cut off when Raven wrapped her arms around him.

"I'll make an exception this time."

Robin stepped forward. "Me too," he said, draping his arms over Beast Boy and Raven's shoulders. "It's an emergency."

"Indeed," Starfire agreed, flying in and hugging the cluster of titans. "You are in need of the group hug, friend Beast Boy."

Cyborg chuckled as he encircled the other titans in a bear hug. "Sorry grass stain; you ain't gettin' out of this one."

"Yeah," Beast boy whispered, his voice hoarse. "Okay."

"You're keeping something from us." The others had gone back to bed, albeit reluctantly, on the grounds that their being sleep deprived wouldn't help anyone. The only ones still awake were Raven and Beast Boy.

"I am." Beast Boy confirmed. "There's a lot in my past, and I'm not ready to tell you everything."

"Is it bad?" Raven demanded. "The thing you're not telling us?"

"Real bad." Beast Boy replied simply. "Maybe even the worst part."

"And the intrusive thoughts?"

He shrugged. "They come and go." Raven felt a flash of sadness in from Beast Boy, tinted with resignation.

"You'd better get some sleep," Raven replied, her mind made up. "Because in the morning, I'm teaching you how to meditate."

"Seriously? You'd do that for me?" This time she felt a burst of gratitude.

"Of course I would," said Raven. "You're my friend and I want to make sure you're okay. Besides;" She smirked. "If I teach you how to meditate, I might even get some peace and quiet every now and then."

You're green. Beast Boy opened his eyes; he hadn't slept that well in weeks. Your ears are weird. It really was refreshing to only have to worry about his usual intrusive thoughts, which were a lot less frequent. And a lot more fucking lame. Apparently the Beast felt like being a little more vocal now, but that was fine. The Beast didn't try to make him kill himself, the Beast was cool. Very cool. The important thing was that his mind was his own, he was back on active duty, and he had friends who cared about him. Your fangs scare people. Is that really the best you can do, little voice? Pathetic. And an incoming call from Jump City medium security prison, apparently.

"This better not be a dick pic." Beast Boy muttered, accepting the call.

As it turned out, it was Control Freak. "Hey, uh… this is gonna sound weird but… are you okay man?"

"What the hell's going on?" Beast Boy demanded.

"I just wanted to check up on you," replied Control Freak. "Word is Psimon was pulling some weird stunt, trying to make you kill yourself." He shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Beast Boy sighed. "Control Freak, you're a villain, in case you forgot. So why are you checking up on me?"

"Because," Said control Freak after a moment. "The Titans wouldn't be much fun without you." He looked away for a second. "And you guys are kind of all I have."

Beast Boy felt a strange sort of dread; the feeling that things were about to get really awkward, and there was nothing he could do about it. Any other day he would have considered ending the call, but he was in a 'pay it forward' kind of mood. "Okay, I'll bite. Why do you feel like we're all you've got?"

"Well, I was never really any good at making friends, and as for my father…" Well, isn't that familiar?

"Dude, say no more," said Beast Boy. "I know all about bad father figures."

"You guys are kinda sorta... the only people I really interact with much."

"Are telling me that all this time, you've been robbing people, wasting incredible technology, and, most recently, nearly killing me… because you were bored and lonely?!"

"I guess it does sound pretty stupid when you say it out loud."

"You know what? I'm not even going to lay into you for that." Beast Boy sighed. "Everyone makes mistakes. My big question is why it never occured to you to be a hero."

"What, like you guys?" Control Freak looked confused. "No way in hell that'd ever work!"

"Why not?" Beast Boy asked. "You've definitely got the tech for it."

"I don't really have what you'd call the superhero body." Control Freak gestured to his considerable paunch.

"That's what training's for."

"I'm a villain!"

"So was Ravager before she joined up with us. And let's be real," Beast Boy smirked. "She was a lot scarier than you."

'What if I'm not good enough?" Well, this is certainly familiar.

"Just try your best," said Beast Boy. "If it's not enough, at least you tried, and you can try again." He grinned. "It's not like you'd be getting your start against Slade!"

Control Freak looked pensive. "I guess it's worth thinking about."

"Look, if you'd like I could have a talk with Robin about it, maybe get things set up for when you get out." He grinned, he hoped reassuringly. "In the meantime, start hitting the exercise yard, and be on your best behaviour. I'll see what I can do for you on my end."

Control Freak sagged with relief. "Thanks man; I owe you one." Robin's gonna flip his shit.

"So let me get this straight," Robin began. "Control Freak's decided to reform? And he wants to be a hero? And you believe him?!" Told you.

"Look dude, he opened up to me." Beast Boy was trying his best to keep a level head, but he really didn't need this. "We're the closest thing he has to friends. Us. The guys who beat him up and hand him over to the police, and we're all he's got. I can't turn my back on that."

Robin sighed. "And if he's lying?"

"THen he's still Control Freak," said Beast Boy. "We can handle him, no problem."

"I'm with Beast Boy." Everyone in the room turned to look at Raven. "If he really wants to redeem himself, I say we give him a chance."

"Are you serious?" Robin demanded. "Am I the only one who remembers that Control Freak nearly killed Beast Boy?"

"And then he had a panic attack and made a medic." Cyborg noted. "Right before he surrendered."

"That's three in favour." Raven muttered.

Robin's shoulders sagged. "Fine, I'll see what I can do about getting him released into our custody. Maybe I can use Taskforce X to make a case. But if we're doing this, we're doing it right. Cyborg, get to work on an emergency shutoff for his remote. And Beast Boy, get to work on a training schedule for him." Robin winced. "Getting him into shape won't be easy."

"I'm afraid Beast Boy won't be able to get started on that jut yet," Raven interjected. "I need to teach him how to meditate." She grinned very slightly. I like her. She would make a fine mate. With a sinking feeling and a faint blush, Beast Boy began to suspect that he might have just traded one dangerous voice in his head for another.

Author's notes: Well, that's it for this one! I've had fun writing it, tell me if you saw Psimon coming, and please, give me feedback! This is the first of a planned series, with the next part concerning Raven getting a boyfriend… who isn't Beast Boy! Shock horror! That said, I'm not getting to work on that one until I get at least one review.