Tale of Tears

Summary: A new villain has a device with the power to trap its people into another's mind as their memories play out like a movie. He's after Robin's memories, trying to discover his secret identity. But a certain green changeling puts himself in the path of danger to protect his friend, much to the villain's dismay. Beast Boy's untold past is revealed, and his friends gain a very new perspective on the smallest Titan.

Rating: M for rather graphic violence, death, gore, torture, rape, and feels. And maybe a few swears.

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any emotional trauma you may receive during the reading of this fan fiction. For warnings, please see "Rating" above. If you are offended by this story, you shouldn't be on the internet. :)

Chapter 1: A New Villain

"I can't believe you let him get away!" growled Robin furiously. He pointed a finger at Beast Boy, who averted his eyes and clenched his jaw. "How could you be so stupid? The square root of nine! It's almost as easy as two plus two-but you probably don't even know the answer to that, either."

"Robin." Starfire placed a hand on Robin's shoulder, but he shrugged her off.

"Who do you think has to fix this mess now, Beast Boy?" he continued. "I do. I always have to get us out of messes you cause. Mumbo got away with millions of dollars because you couldn't answer a simple question."

"I said I was sorry," Beast Boy mumbled.

"C'mon, Rob," Cyborg butted in. "Yelling at B ain't getting us anywhere. Mumbo will come back. He always does."

"That's not the point," Robin said briskly. "The point is that Beast Boy needs to start pulling his own weight on this team. He's the weakest out of all of us, not to mention the dumbest."

"Robin!" cried Starfire. "That is hurtful and unnecessary!"

Raven stayed silent throughout the argument, her hood pulled up to conceal her face. Beast Boy stood before Robin, an uncharacteristic look of stoicism on his face.

"But it's true," Robin retorted. "And everyone here knows it."

"I think you need to take a breath here, man," Cyborg said coldly. He folded his mechanical arms. "We'll get Mumbo next time. Beast Boy made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. Even you, traffic light."

Robin turned from Beast Boy to yell at Cyborg. In a split second, a green bird darted out the open window of the common room and soared away. The boy wonder gaped for a second, then looked back to where Beast Boy had been standing to make sure he had really gone. Robin's scowl deepened.

"For what it's worth," Raven finally said, "I think you're being too hard on him, boy blunder." Without waiting for his reply, she left the room and headed for her own to meditate.

Cyborg glared at Robin, his human eye menacing. Starfire simply looked disappointed at Robin, and then worriedly glanced out the window. Robin huffed and rubbed his face with a gloved hand, wondering how he would explain this to the mayor. It wasn't that he meant what he said-he knew Beast Boy wasn't stupid. But that was exactly it. It was Beast Boy's attitude that frustrated him to no end. Robin knew he would have to find a way to apologize later.

Suddenly, the danger siren wailed throughout the tower, accompanied by flashing red lights. Raven stopped at the door and turned back into the common room with an annoyed sigh while Robin and Cyborg went to the computer.

"Who is it?" Raven asked.

"Don't know," Robin said curtly. "Titans, go!"

"What about Beast Boy?" reminded Starfire.

"Forget about him right now. We can handle this one ourselves," Robin said. Then he sprinted off to the garage for his R-cycle. Cyborg and Starfire shared a glance, but complied. Raven and Starfire flew out the window as Cyborg made his way after Robin.

In a matter of minutes, the Titans minus Beast Boy arrived at a warehouse on the outskirts of Jump City. The district seemed abandoned despite broad daylight. The air was heavy with silence. Robin whispered for his team to stay on their toes; they didn't know who the villain was or what he could do.

A crashing sound was heard inside the warehouse at the end of the block. The team immediately pursued it. Cyborg kicked the door open and Robin entered, followed by the others.

"Freeze!" he shouted.

Everything was silent. The Titans narrowed their eyes and proceeded inside cautiously. The overhead lights buzzed on, illuminating stacks upon stacks of dusty boxes lining the walls of the huge room. The teens took their fighting stances as they saw a lone figure leaning casually against the far wall.

"Who are you?" demanded Robin.

The figure chuckled. "Ever impatient, teenagers are. They think they're so smart, so invincible. Well, that may be so, to some extent. But usually it's just...cockiness."

The Titans scowled, but didn't reply.

"Call me Mistricker." The man stepped into the light. He was dressed in civilians' clothing: a T-shirt and jeans, with a pair of worn running shoes. In his hand was a device similar to Warp's clock, but rather than a clock face there was a panel of buttons. Mistricker had a smirk on his face, but his sunglasses and plain baseball cap hid his identity.

After a moment of scrutiny, Robin decided that the man wouldn't attack first, so he folded his arms and stood up straight. The others followed suit.

"All right, Mistricker," Cyborg said. "What do you want? Why break into this warehouse?"

"To summon you, of course," he laughed. "But we seem to be missing one? Oh well. I only need one of you, anyway. The rest I need to put out of commission."

Robin frowned as Cyborg laughed.

"You are going the down!" exclaimed Starfire.

Raven interjected, "You don't seem like you have any powers."

"I don't need powers, Rae-Rae." She scowled at the nickname. He continued, "You all have your weaknesses, and I have all my ingenuity. With a little grant from a higher-upper, I got everything I need. And after I get what I want, I'll have an even greater fortune."

"And what are you after?" Robin asked.

Mistricker grinned. "Your memories." He held up his device. "See, Robbie, this wonderful piece of machinery is able to read the electric impulses in your brain. If you program it to read certain neuron clusters, you can unlock long-term memories and play them like a movie. This is what I'm going to use on you. I've already pre-programmed it."

The other three Titans stepped forward to stand by their leader protectively.

"You'll have to go through us first," Cyborg growled menacingly.

"Precisely what I plan to do." Mistricker's smile never faded. He was the epitome of self-confidence.

The teens took their fighting stances once more. Mistricker simply pressed the center button on his device. For a few short seconds, nothing happened. Then Robin yelled and moved forward to attack. Mistricker did not flinch.

The yelps of surprise behind him made him stop short and look over his shoulder. Cyborg, Starfire and Raven were on the floor, all covered in a black tar. They struggled, but could not pull themselves out of their sticky prison. Raven's mouth was sealed shut by a layer of the goo, and Starfire's starbolts did no good. Cyborg was stuck flat on his back, arms and legs held fast.

Robin turned back to Mistricker with bared teeth. He pulled his extendable Bo staff from his utility belt and sprinted at the villain. But before he could take a step, he fell onto his stomach with a grunt. He looked at his feet in shock. He hadn't even noticed the coils of cables winding around his legs. As he struggled, more cables snaked up out of the floor and wrapped around him, completely immobilizing him.

"That wasn't too hard, now was it?" Mistricker taunted as he approached Robin. "Now, this shouldn't hurt a bit."

Mistricker was suddenly blindsided by a green ram, sending him sprawling across the room. The device clattered a few feet away from him, and Beast Boy lunged for it. But the villain reached it first and pressed a button. Beast Boy narrowly avoided being caught in the black goo by morphing into a fly.

"Where have you been hiding, little Beastie?" smirked Mistricker in a tone that suggested he was pleasantly surprised.

Beast Boy appeared next to Robin with a smirk of his own. "I may or may not have been a fly on the wall." He knelt down and tried to pry one of the cables off of his leader. When that didn't work, he turned into a gorilla and snapped it. Then he moved to the next one, freeing one of Robin's arms.

"Yo BB! Look out!" shouted Cyborg from across the room.

Beast Boy raised his head just in time to change back into a human, effectively dodging a flying projectile. Mistricker was on him in an instant, using a powerful kick to knock him back.

"Did you really think you could take me on? I've already taken out all four of your friends, Beastie," Mistricker said harshly. He was no longer smiling. Another button was pushed, and the cables that Beast Boy had broken were replaced. Robin was rendered useless once more.

Beast Boy pushed himself up, still feeling the effects of the kick. He was sure his ribs were bruised. He glared at Mistricker.

"Dude, I can take you on any day." He sounded much more sure than he felt. Beast Boy took a few steps to the side, trying to find an opening or a weakness. Despite the man's relaxed appearance, it was obvious that he was prepared for any attack.

The Titan eyed the device in Mistricker's hand. The villain smirked. "Would you like to see what it can do? We'll try it on Robbie here." Mistricker pointed the device towards Robin and placed his thumb on the upper button. Beast Boy snarled and lunged forward, throwing himself between the boy wonder and danger.

There was a blinding flash of light.

The Titans suddenly found themselves free from their bindings and leapt to their feet. They wheeled on Mistricker, who had a very deep scowl on his face. Robin punched him, but was blocked easily and tossed aside.

Cyborg shot his laser cannon as Starfire aimed starbolts at him, but he cartwheeled out of the way effortlessly. Raven trapped him in a magical binding. He merely looked at her, then at the other three.

"Any of you happen to realize where we are?" he asked pointedly.

The teens hesitated, then looked around. They were shocked to find themselves in a jungle. Animals called and chattered above him, and the bright blue sky was nearly obscured by the thick green canopy of the trees. A strong smell of fertile land and exotic plants hung in the air.

"Any of you happen to realize that one of you is missing?"

Raven frowned. "Beast Boy...These are his memories?"

"Unfortunately," nodded Mistricker. "He got in the way." He turned to Robin. "We should have been in your mind."

Cyborg looked around. "If these are BB's memories, then where is he?"

"You mean the present or past him?" Mistricker asked in a bored tone. "The present Beastie is still in the warehouse, most likely unconscious, as we are. The past him, however, should be around him somewhere. We can't see something he's never seen."

Starfire looked around, hoping to see him.

"My dear Rae-Rae-"

"Don't call me that," she said.

"-you can release me now. We are simply unconscious projections of ourselves, not the real things. You couldn't harm me if you tried. Until we reach the end of Beastie's memories, we will be asleep. So we may as well call a truce and enjoy the show."

Raven looked to Robin, who nodded curtly. She drew back and her arm disappeared into her blue robe. Mistricker smirked.

They all turned toward the sound of rustling leaves. A child entered the clearing, holding a small pair of binoculars.

"Looks like the show's starting."

A/N: This is my first fan fiction, so I don't know a lot about a lot. Like why did you decide to click on this story? The title? Summary? Was the first chapter too short? Too long? Did I make any mistakes (grammar, spelling, character personality)? If so, please tell me so I can fix it. I'm not perfect, and I'll probably miss something.

In case anyone asks: Mistricker is my OC, and the device's appearance is, as I wrote, based off of Warp's clock. The functions of the device are my creation, though.

Please feel free to ask questions, though I won't give any spoilers. Constructive criticism and suggestions accepted, just please don't be too mean to me. I'll try to keep the A/N's to a minimum. Thanks for reading!