A/N: You know, I actually wrote this chapter as a side mini story. When I wrote it, it wasn't specifically for this story. But when I got to this point of the story, I decided to put it in. I was basically inspired to write this section because it was Friday the 13th, and I was in the mood for something that fit the day. So here it is.


The first thing that Julia observed was the quiet stillness to the place, like somebody holding a breath, or the quiet before a lightning storm. It was completely pitch-dark, with no source of light. When the Titans were all inside, the door closed shut ominously behind them.

"Please someone say that they closed the door themselves," Beast Boy said shakily. Nobody replied.

"Let's get some light in here," Robin ordered. "Star, Julia - light up this place."

Julia raised her hand and summoned lightning to it. The area was immediately bathed in a dim, trembling white light, revealing an entrance area and a long hallway ahead. The darkness seemed to be pressing in on all of them from all sides.

Cyborg looked around.

"Wait. Where's Starfire?"

Everyone looked. The pretty alien was nowhere to be seen.

"Star?" Robin asked, his voice edged with fear. "Starfire?"

No answer.

"This can't be happening," the Boy Wonder muttered. "Everyone, stick close."

"Can we hold hands?" Beast Boy whimpered.

Raven elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

"We're not five years old," she reminded him impassively. "As long as we stick close we'll be fine."

"Let's continue forward," Robin said firmly. "Down through the hall. Yell if anything's wrong."

The five of them made their way slowly down the hall, glancing around and keeping their wits about them.

"I'm surprised that Beast Boy hasn't made a funny joke yet," Julia commented, trying to make the situation lighthearted.

There was no reply to this from the changeling, whom she'd expected to give a retort. Raven turned her head to where Beast Boy had been a second ago.

"Beast Boy?"

He was gone.

"Oh, man," Cyborg whispered. "This isn't good at all. First Star, then BB…who's next?"

"Don't think like that," Robin snapped in frustration. "We'll find them. We can get that bad guy, and make him reveal where Starfire and Beast Boy are."

"Maybe we should keep talking," Julia suggested nervously. "Just so we know that we're all still here. Keep us together."

"Good idea," Cyborg said in relief. "Well, I'm here. And right behind Robin and Julia."

"And I'm next to Julia, and in front of Cy," Robin added.

There was a pause.

"Raven? What about you?"

The Boy Wonder's question was left unanswered.

A chill went down Julia's spine, making her shiver.

"I'm starting to think that the holding hands plan was a good idea," she stated anxiously. "Can we at least touch shoulders to make sure we stay together?"

"That's fine with me," Robin replied, his voice unsure. "Cyborg, keep a hand on our shoulders so we know you're there."

There was no reply.

Julia whirled around, coming to a stop. Cyborg was gone, as well as the rest of the team. It was just Robin and her left in the dark hallway.

"Robin, I definitely think we should make contact," she remarked, her voice slightly high-pitched with terror.

"All right," the Boy Wonder responded, and they grasped each other's forearms reassuringly, holding on tightly. Then they continued down the hallway again, Julia still with her glowing hand raised in the air, lighting the way.

All of a sudden, Julia felt something slippery covering around her mouth and nose, catching her unawares and smothering her. Simultaneously, that same material tugged hard at her waist. It would've pulled her away instantly if she hadn't been holding on to Robin.

Feeling Julia's arm yanking away, Robin immediately tightened his grip on her. Julia made a muffled scream, then began shooting lightning bolts from her free hand, into the darkness around her.

The material loosened its grip and disappeared, as quickly as it had come. The Asian girl coughed, gasping in air. She could've been suffocated. Robin moved closer to her, squinting into her face.

"Julia, are you all right? What happened?"

After she'd stopped coughing and gasping, Julia looked at him again. Her eyes were wide with horror, and her face was unusually pale. She could feel her body shaking from her narrow escape.

"There was this slippery thing that covered my mouth and nose, and stopped me from breathing. It went around my waist and tried pulling me away…" She trailed off, shuddering.

"Well, whatever it is, it can't get one of us while we're still holding on to each other," Robin remarked uncertainly. For once, he didn't seem sure of himself at all. "Anyway," he added, "we're at the end of the hallway."

Sure enough, they'd reached the end of the long hallway, which finished in an archway. It was so dark, that they couldn't see what was beyond the doorway. The two teens moved forward, out of the dreaded hallway, walking a little farther out.

"Where do you think we are?" Julia asked, after a moment's silence. She didn't like those moments of quiet - they only seemed to be instants when people could go missing.

As if in answer to this question, the area was unexpectedly illuminated with bright white lights, glaring from the roof, which was a long ways up, probably a few floors high. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all a blinding white, and made of tile. The room was shaped in a cylinder, rounded, with the flat floor and roof. The only exit was the archway, small compared to the overall size of the room.

"What-"

Just as abruptly, the archway was sealed off by another large tile of the same gleaming white color, sliding from the floor. The two teens were standing in the middle of the room, right in the dead center. They were trapped, with no way out that they could see.

Julia, who had automatically shut her eyes when the intense lights had come on, could still see the blazing light through her eyelids. She had still kept her grip on Robin's forearm, although she had drained the lightning from her other hand, and was now using it to cover her dazzled eyes.

"Robin!" she cried, alarmed, her voice echoing in the space. The sudden lighting of the room had caught them both by surprise. Her hand tightened over the youth's forearm.

"Julia. I'm still here."

For the first time, Julia felt reassured by just hearing the team leader's voice.

"Where are we?" She heard the terror and shakiness in her voice. It hardly seemed like her own. She sounded, and felt, like a small child, lost from her parents. It was not a feeling she enjoyed.

"I don't know," Robin replied. Julia could tell that he was trying to sound brave, to assure her that all hope was not lost. "But let's find out. Are your eyes adjusted to the light?"

Removing her hand from her eyes, Julia blinked, squinting in the glare of the lights.

"Yes, a little," she answered, blinking hard. She looked around to see that Robin was looking back at her. She couldn't tell, because of his mask, if he was squinting and blinking like she was, but she was pretty sure that he hadn't adjusted fully to the sudden light, either.

"I wonder where we are," Robin mused, looking around at the room. "Still in the house, probably."

"Yes, but where's the others?" Julia asked, her voice trembling. If they couldn't find the rest of the Teen Titans…

Robin's voice, in contrast, was determinedly strong.

"We'll find them," he replied resolutely. "And when we find them, we'll deal with the guy who did all of this."

"I am no guy."

The disembodied voice that spoke came out of nowhere, loud and echoing in the cylindrical room. It was a girl's voice, young and adolescent.

Robin and Julia whirled around to find the source of the voice. On a large white tile was a screen with a video feed of a teen girl around their age, who was Caucasian, with the stereotypical honey-blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. She wore expensive, designer clothes, and looked well groomed.

"Who are you?" Robin asked. His raised voice, like the girl's, echoed around the room.

The blond girl smiled, and there was something snobby and cruel in it.

"You can call me Aphrodite," the girl replied sweetly. "Because I should so be the Greek Goddess of Beauty."

"Then you'd also have to be the Goddess of Love," Julia pointed out. Seeing the girl had bolstered her confidence somewhat. She loathed stuck-up preppy girls like that blond. "And you don't seem like that kind of person."

The blond, Aphrodite, narrowed her perfectly made-up eyes at Julia.

"You're in no position to be making insults," she said icily, wagging a manicured finger at her from the screen. "You're trapped, and you haven't seen the worst of it. I was hoping for none of you to be left, but…" She sighed. "You can't have everything. But I will soon."

Robin glared at the screen.

"What have you done with the other Titans?" he yelled angrily. "If you've hurt them-"

"Oh, cool your jets, Robbie-poo," Aphrodite interrupted airily. When Robin made a raging sound at the nickname, the blond added, "Oh yes, I got that from one of your admirers. A complete wimp, though, that Kitten."

The Boy Wonder scowled.

"What do you want?" he growled. Julia glanced at him. She'd never seen him so incredibly angry. He hadn't even been this furious when she'd accidentally shorted out the Tower's electricity because one of her power mishaps.

Aphrodite examined her nails casually.

"Nothing too big. Just, you know, the whole city under my command. That includes the designer clothing stores, jewelry stores, and everything else. And endless wealth."

"Is that it?" Julia commented sarcastically. "Do you want the whole world on a plate?"

The blond smirked.

"Oh, that comes after I've taken the city, the state, the country, and then the continent. Then the world's next. And I've got plenty of time."

Furiously, Robin took out three of his exploding discs, which he threw at the projector screen. It flickered, then shorted out. The tile became completely white again.

"That was uncalled for, Robbie-poo," Aphrodite's voice rang through the room. "Now you can't see my beautiful face. But I can still see and hear you."

"Do you think we care about seeing your ugly mug?" Julia shouted back (A/N: Potter Puppet Pals). She was experienced in a annoying preppy girls, having done so during school. Aphrodite seemed no different from them.

There was a sharp gasp from Aphrodite, through the speakers.

"Why, you little…! You will so pay for that!"

In the split second of silence after this declaration, Robin turned to Julia.

"What did you do that for?" he hissed in an undertone. "You just motivated her into killing us! Couldn't you have held that in?"

In response, Julia shook her head.

"She was bound to incense one of us into saying something like that," she replied in a low whisper. "And this way, we won't have to hear more of her stupid babbling. And we'll be more on guard."

A second later, the sliding tile on the archway slid downwards, revealing the black interior of the hallway. There was a low rumbling noise, which was followed by heavy thumps from the hallway. Something was coming out.

Instinctively, Julia and Robin took a few paces backwards from the archway. Robin went into a fighting position as Julia summoned lightning to her hands, which were turned upwards. The two teens waited for the inevitable.

A golden paw, as wide as a trash can lid, stepped from the darkness of the hallway. It made a surprisingly loud thump on the white tile floor. Then it was followed by an identical paw, both with curved claws the size and sharpness of knives.

A fully-grown, giant lion stepped out from the dim interior of the hallway. He was tall, with completely golden fur and mane, which seemed to be glowing a faintly amber color. Robin only came up to his shoulder. The lion's teeth, bared in a menacing snarl, were white and razor-sharp.

Julia moaned softly in dismay, gazing up at the lion. It towered over her and Robin, even when it was crouching low in a position she knew to be one that lions took before pouncing. Robin himself was wordless in shock.

"Meet the Nemean Lion," Aphrodite said smugly, her voice echoing around the room once more. "He's big, isn't he? I made certain of that."