Chapter 8: Mayor Beast

"Hello Mayor! How are you this fine day?" The Beast, in his lion-like form, bellowed as he walked into town hall as the mayor was leaving.

"Ah. Just fine, Captain. I'm off to run some errands. Take good care of the office for me, eh?" The mayor joked. The Beast laughed heartily before replying.

"Better watch out, I might take your job." He joked, knowingly. The mayor laughed as well before leaving the building. The Beast smiled as he walked towards elevators.

The Beast exited the floor to the mayoral office and walked up to the receptionist. He flashed a smile and held up his ID. The receptionist waved him in. Once in the mayor's office, The Beast got to work. He knew the next step to power was to become the mayor of Jump City. But he also knew outright getting rid of the mayor wouldn't work. He had to work his way up the chain of command semi-traditionally. The first step to doing that was finding some sort of leverage on the mayor that would give him a political advantage.

As he rummaged through the mayors files and papers, he stumbled upon a stack of letters between the district attorney and the mayor. Finding it odd that the two still used letters, The Beast sat down and read them. Very quickly, he realized the letters were of a sensitive nature and described the duo's shared hobby of dogfighting. Angered, The Beast had to calm himself down and forced himself to continue reading. He learned that the district attorney had taken to joining a fight club to scratch the itch after a local dogfighting ring was shut down. The Beast got a brilliant idea. If the district attorney were to have an unfortunate accident, it would be likely that the mayor would retire out of fear of meeting the same fate. The public would see it as nothing more than an accident, but the mayor would almost certainly see it as targeted revenge. After the removal of the district attorney and the mayor, the people of Jump City would turn to The Beast, as police captain, to fill the power vacuum left by the mayor. The Beast smiled widely at this realization. All he needed to do was garner further support in the police force and get a foothold in the mayor's cabinet. He could then displace the district attorney, mayor, and claim the position of mayor in one fell swoop.

The next morning, after working out the details of his plan, The Beast arrived at the precinct early. He intended to crash a certain meeting that he knew would be taking place.

Right on time, five officers walked into an interrogation room and closed the door. The Beast, who was in the observation room, simply smiled at their oversight.

"I'm telling you, the Titans are washed up." One officer said.

"Yea, after they lost the green one, they've been kinda...weak." Another added.

"I agree. They just sit in their tower all day. I wonder if they're even looking after the city anymore." A third chimed in.

"Who needs em, we've become a force to be reckoned with after Captain Beast took the job." A fourth said, dismissively.

"Definitely. They should give up crime fighting and leave the police work to the actual police for a change." The fifth added.

"You know it's not nice to speak about others behind their back, don't you officers?" The Beast said over the interrogation room intercom. The officers froze. The Beast then left the observation room and entered the interrogation room where the five officers were still motionless in fear. He smiled as he walked in.

"Relax. No one's in trouble. Just be sure to be more careful next time you're badmouthing important figures." The Beast waved, dismissively. "In fact, I have a special job for you guys." He went on, "I want you guys to be a part of a task force that deals with the Titans specifically. After the events with their former teammate, whose still out there I might add. I believe it would be best to keep them under observation. For their safety as much as others. They've suffered a great loss and they are only children, after all." The Beast persuaded. A few of the officers nodded in agreement. The Beast continued, knowing he hadn't won over the others.

"Put it this way, this task force is essentially allowing the Titans to focus on their lives instead of worrying about crime-fighting." He said. Slowly, all five officers nodded in agreement after considering The Beast's words. "Great. You guys can start immediately, I want daily updates on the Titans and how they have been faring." He concluded. He then left the interrogation room, smiling from ear to ear.

Next he made his way by the deputy police captain's office.

"Hey! Got a minute?" He jovially asked as he poked his head into the office.

"For you? Of course." The deputy police captain said, looking up from his work.

"I was thinking it might be time to consider that proposal you were talking about." The Beast said, losing his jokey tone.

"The one about not giving Titans access to police resources?" The deputy asked.

"Yes. I've been talking with some officers and they brought it to my attention that the Titans may not be as helpful to the police force as they once were. I still admire and respect what they do, but I believe it's time for our police force to look out for our own." The Beast said.

"Alright. I agree. I'll get a proposal written.

"Sounds great, thanks." The Beast replied before leaving the deputy police captain's office and preparing to carry out the last thing needed to set his plan into motion.

Arriving at the district attorney's office ten minutes later, The Beast handed his driver an envelope to drop off so as to not be recognized by dropping it off himself. When his driver returned moments later, The Beast gave a big toothy grin and made his way to the precinct.

(Three months later...)

"Titans, report to the main room in five minutes. I'm told there's going to be a breaking news story." Robin's voice emanated from the tower's speaker system.

Raven groaned as her meditation was interrupted and begrudgingly got up. Cyborg's system automatically turned on as he had shut down with nothing else to do. Finally, Starfire walked, strange for the usually bouncy and always flying alien, from her room to the common room.

"This better be good." Raven said as she entered the common room and walked toward the tower supercomputer.

"I bet it's more news on The Beast." Cyborg said, yawning.

Moments later, the supercomputer screen lit up and showed the Jump City capitol. Standing in front of it behind a podium was the district attorney. The team looked at each other, confused.

"This better not be a simple political speech." Raven warned, irritated.

"Citizens of Jump City. It was my utmost pleasure to serve you all to the best of my ability. That being said, due to personal matters, I must resign from my position as district attorney of this great city. In my stead I leave a very capable and passionate man as appointed by our governor. That man is deputy police captain, Jason Todd." The district attorney spoke, the Titans once again exchanged puzzled looks. Reporters then started asking questions as Cyborg turned off the report and looked to his fellow titans.

"That's a little random, isn't it? Wasn't the DA just elected a year ago?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes." Robin replied, "Which means the new interim DA will be in office for the next three years until the next election. I'm assuming the governor only chose Jason Todd because of the DA's recommendation. And seeing as Jason Todd is literally The Beast's right-hand man, I have no doubts this was set-up by him." Robin added.

"Isn't that going a bit far? The Beast is smart, but I highly doubt complicated politics is something he's concerned with." Raven replied, skeptical.

"Perhaps." Robin said, thinking. "Either way, it's not a very big deal for us, we don't really have much interaction with the DA." The rest of them nodded and one by one they left to go do whatever it was they were doing before the broadcast.

All of a sudden, Robin's voice rang out through the speakers, more urgently, "Titans, report to the common room immediately!" The team rushed back into the room moments later to see Robin staring at the supercomputer screen a second time that night. Before anyone could ask what happened, Robin spoke.

"The mayor just stepped down as well." He then rewinded the news broadcast.

"I'd like to start off by thanking our district attorney for doing such a wonderful job in office and making us all feel a little bit more secure. I'd also like to congratulate and wish our new district attorney the best of luck in his new position. That being said, however, I too must announce my resignation." The crowd gasped. "I have had the immense honor and pleasure to serve the great people of Jump City for the past five years. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it and I hope I made you all proud by the way I conducted my office. Now, based off of the city charter in our city, I also have the pleasure of appointing the interim mayor who will carry out the rest of my term. I proudly elect Police Captain Beast to run the city in my stead. I trust he will do as good a job in running our city as he has in his time as our police captain. I know that he is an extremely capable individual, having single handedly halved the crime rate in our city during his tenure. He also brought sweeping reforms to our police force turning it from a disorganized mess to a well oiled, cohesive, machine of justice. Finally, I have had many conversations with Captain Beast and my cabinet in which he served as an unofficial advisor to me and my peers. With all that said, I wish you, Jump City, farewell as your mayor and greet you again as a fellow citizen." He finished with a cacophony of applause and not a single objection from the audience.

Robin then muted the broadcast and turned to his team. Every single one of them wore an expression of shock and horror.

"This is bad. Very very bad." Cyborg said as he began pacing.

"Y...yea." Raven said, regaining her voice.

"He has nearly unlimited power now. With the district attorney and the police force under his thumb along with his power as the mayor he can do nearly anything, unopposed." Robin said, still looking at the screen. "I have no doubt that he will shortly pass a law outlawing us our at the very least diminishing our influence. It's only a matter of time after that before he convinces the people of Jump City that they don't need us anymore." He added. The team simply looked at him, hopeless.

"What do we do?" Cyborg asked.

"We need the Justice League. We also need to go to as many public events as possible. The Beast can't be defeated by fighting alone, we have to outsmart him and turn the people against him." Robin said, thinking.

(Meanwhile...)

After all the proceedings related to being appointed as mayor, The Beast had decided he needed to let off some steam. He also wanted to see just how much power he had gained with an entire city now revering him.

He told his driver to stay at the edge of the forest as he walked in and kept walking until he found himself in a clearing, the same one where he first stole control fro. Beast Boy. He walked to the center of the clearing and took a deep breath. He then closed his eyes and took another deep breath. His body started to change, he grew in size, past his already towering 7 feet. He grew in size until he was 15 feet tall and his shoulders were nearly 5 feet wide. His muscular form sprouted more fur than his lion-like form, all of which turned green. He claws the grew to an immense, six-inches each. His snout then elongated to a be more akin to a wolf as his eyes turned a crimson red. Next, large spikes, nearly as large as his claws sprouted from his back and forearms. Finally, his form began to crack with green energy that swirled and radiated from and around him. He felt powerful.

Testing his might, he grabbed a full-grown tree with both hands and tried to lift it. He easily ripped it from the ground, roots and all and threw the nearly 400 pound tree as if it was a stuffed animal. His eyes lit up with menace as he reveled in his newfound strength. Not only could he now defeat the Titans, he reckoned he was strong enough to defeat a few members of the Justice League themselves. He knew he had to get stronger. Still, this was proof that his plan was working, much to his pleasure. Although the diplomatic path to power bored him with its pettiness, he couldn't argue with the results. When he finally bound the world to his will, he would be far to strong to stop, all the while his unwilling subjects wouldn't have any idea of his power or that they were the ones providing it with their reverence and fear. The Beast smiled a devious smile as he returned to his normal form and walked back towards the driver that awaited him.