There is no excuse for my absence – I am SO, SOOOO sorry! It's been so long that the plot of this story has been blurred and I'm not sure what was supposed to happen next, but I'm going to make it up as I go along and hope I remember, because it's about time I finished this damn story. Enjoy my attempt!
Xxxx
The alien lieutenant spied the intruders on one of his monitors and smiled to himself. The Commander was right again, just as he'd been right about them boarding one of the camp's trains, along with escaping from said camp. These two humans were definitely above par – all the information the Commander had collected on them was true. He motioned for the guards to keep watching the monitors and walked out of the room, thinking back to when he and the Commander had first seen footage of the superhuman team in action. All five had performed amazingly – battling in perfect sync, reading each other's minds with exact precision. They had strength.
Absolutely perfect for the Commander's plan.
The lieutenant continued walking through the bunker-like corridor toward the room he and his men had aptly-named "the Factory." A couple months ago, before the Tellurians had settled into this underground facility, which had been a bunker at the time, and the three military camps many miles south of it, the Commander had informed all of them the purpose of their mission. A specific area of their alien technology was somewhat useless everywhere else in the galaxy, but here on Earth…the lieutenant shook his head and smiled. Humans possessed something that the Tellurians had never come across before, something powerful and unexplainable – something that the weak species of Earth definitely did not deserve.
However, because of the Tellurian Emperor's recent decree of attempted equality on planets that Telluria held no qualms with, the Commander was forbidden to mass collect the power that the humans possessed. Instead, in a stroke of brilliance, the Commander had decided to settle inside what the human's called "the Arctic Circle," a nearly-forgotten wasteland that still seemed to house masses of humans, though for what reason, the Tellurians could not tell. From what they could tell, these humans possessed no specific purpose in relation to the rest of the planet. They lived independently and free. The Commander saw ripe livestock for the taking, and knew that the rest of the world wouldn't notice nor care if these humans disappeared – and better yet, the mission didn't exactly go against the royal decree. The third and probably the best reason for settling in the Arctic Circle was that the humans here possessed the stronger and larger amounts of their strange power.
As he reached the end of the corridor, the lieutenant stopped in his tracks and stood to attention. The pneumatic had door hissed open, and the tall, muscular Commander stood behind it, eyes expectant. "Well?" the larger alien asked in the guttural Tellurian language.
"They're here." The lieutenant replied smugly. "You were right along. The power that drives them here is the same power that will give us the strength to conquer the rest of the galaxy. It's poetic."
"I hate poetry," said the Commander, before turning and walking back into the room, the lieutenant following him.
Xxxx
Robin and Beast Boy looked around at the room they'd just entered. It was lit dimly by fluorescent lighting, and at a closer look, appeared to be a mix of human alien technology – each bulb different from each other. The walls were also a strange mix of cement and metal plating, almost like they'd been patched up. The wide and seemingly empty room was a mish-mash of an old bunker and, apparently, a makeshift alien base.
"So…I guess they aren't staying long? I mean, if they can't build a decent base…" Beast Boy looked questioningly at Robin.
"Yea, you could be right," Robin nodded. "The other base was just an old military camp too. They're just reusing abandoned buildings, so it's more than likely their presence here is temporary."
Isn't that what I just said? And what does he mean, I could be right? Beast Boy grumbled to himself, but fighting now was not an option. The amount of arguments he and Robin had had in the past couple days was substantial, and if they had anymore, it was likely they'd never find the answers they needed.
Still, the changeling couldn't help feeling that the answers he wanted from Robin were far more important than the answers behind the disappearing people and the mysterious aliens. Rationally, protection of the innocent was imperative compared to what could be called a "petty, teenage fight," and yet Beast Boy had to struggle hard to keep the feelings at bay. He steeled himself against his desperation for answers, and told himself that whatever he needed to know, he'd beat out of Robin before the end of the day, after they'd kicked some serious butt.
"What?" Robin looked quizzically at the changeling. "Did you just say 'butt'?"
"W-what? No…I…was just thinking aloud."
Robin sighed in exasperation. "You're thinking about butts? Now?"
"No! Not like that, just…come on!" Beast Boy hurried to the other side of the room. Robin followed, noting that there were no visible video cameras. Up north this far, in a well-hidden underground bunker, CCTV seemed a little redundant, but you could never be too sure with aliens.
"Try this door," Robin opened it, checked, and walked through with Beast Boy close on his heels. "Okay, the plan is to find some sort of general or commander. Now that we're all healed up, we'll have no problem in kicking his ass and making him tell us what the aliens are doing with all these people."
"And the T-Ship!" Beast Boy blurted. "What happened to it and if he knows where Cy, Star and Raven are!"
"Definitely," Robin's expression was hard. A pang of intense anxiety stabbed him in the heart.
"Are you going to be okay to fight a big bunch of these buff aliens without your utility belt?"
Robin faked a smile for the younger boy. "Of course! You know who trained me." The Boy Wonder continued walking fast. "I don't need all that stuff, especially if lives are at stake. Come on, let's try that door now."
Beast Boy followed dutifully, racked with worry and confusion. The sooner we get out of this mess, the better.
xxxx
The lieutenant walked with the Commander to the centre of the massive, luminescent room, discussing with him the direction the two human intruders would take to reach this room. He still marvelled at the plan, which had worked out almost perfectly since the beginning. He had been with the Commander when he had first viewed the footage of "the Teen Titans" on the human news network. Immediately after seeing it, the Commander ordered the lieutenant and his men to retrieve them at once. These five "Titans" showed more power than they'd seen from any human yet. Though one was clearly not human, and another appeared to be fused with human technology, all five had proven their worth. And such worth it was to the Tellurians.
Since their "jurisdiction" was within the Arctic Circle, the Commander ordered one of their ships to attack the place known as Titan Tower to "rattle the hive." Once riled up, the ship took off, leaving the angry teenagers obliged to follow the UFO at any cost, even to the Arctic Circle. The plan had gone well, until the unanticipated disappearance of the green one and the leader. The team's ship had been destroyed piece by piece as the spacecraft had pulled it at a supersonic speed. After losing sight of the two missing members, the Commander made the prediction of them stowing away on one of the trains. All three trains were blasted of their tracks on their journey, but of course only one train contained the two missing Titans members. Once captured, the Commander, on a whim, ordered his general to pit the two against one another in a fight, to see if one or the others strange "power" would grow. According to the general's report, it certainly had.
The pair of aliens stopped in the middle of the room, and the Commander stared at their prized possessions before him. The lieutenant followed his gaze at first, and then swept his eyes across the cavernous room. The circular chamber was filled with glass pods, each containing a human submerged in clear liquid. Every human had two tubes stuck in their temples, connecting them to the back of the pod and draining the humans of their mysterious, exclusive power. The Tellurians were siphoning this power from each human hungrily.
"They will come here, so be sure to catch them before they do any harm," said the Commander harshly, the Tellurian language causing him to spit. "I've no doubt that anyone in their way will be met with the sheer force of their strengthened power."
"I will gather everyone immediately," replied the lieutentant confidently. "Everything will be ready by the time those two humans reach this room."
"Good. This is our greatest chance at finishing our first cell. Don't make any mistakes." The Commander glared at his subordinate for a moment before turning away and walking towards a different door. The lieutenant saluted and pressed the gem on his forehead.
"Everyone to the Factory," he murmured, his voice ringing in his ears. He knew the message would be received. Happy with the progress of events, the lieutenant turned and faced the three pods that the Commander had been staring hungrily at before. He smiled.
Within the pods were a dark-haired girl, another alien and a half-human, half-machine.
Xxxx
Sorry again. Don't forgive me. Ever. Maybe one or two more chapters. Also, no offence if you live in the Arctic Circle, it was just for story purposes.