It's time we get to chapter seven. With the monorail destroyed, Alex and the Titans are going to Gamma Labs by foot. But when they walk into the dark abyss of the maintenance tunnels, one of their teammate gets separated from the team and meets with some strange beings. And they don't come in peace.

Chapter Notes

The Cherubs will make their first appearance in this chapter. Even though they made an appearance at the Recycling Sector 2, I have to mix a few things up to make this story off the edge and a whole lot more interesting.

Announcements and Communications: Italics

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or Doom 3.

Chapter 7: Walk into the Darkness

Alex's POV

What in God's name just happened? One minute me and the Titans were on our way to Gamma, the next minute, some crazy shit just happened. All I could remember was that we saw glowing flying skulls phasing up to the ceiling and then some of them were about to attack us. The rest of it was all just a blur. The last image I saw was Raven forming a shield to protect us from those skull things, but my eyesight went black and I couldn't even see. Am I dead? If I am, I hope this isn't purgatory. Wait a second, I'm hearing voices. The Titans voices?

Robin: "Well Cy, how's he feeling?"

Cyborg: "I scanned his body, but his vital signs normal. Thank goodness we got out of the train before it crashed."

I was right, it were the Titans voices. That could only mean one thing, I'm still alive. But why can't I see? Wait, I think my vision's coming It's blurry for the moment, but when I finally got my sight back I saw the Teen Titans, all them smiling knowing that I'm awake.

Normal POV

Monorail Tracks: November 15, 2145, 2:15 P.M.

Starfire: "Alex, you are awake! Are you all right?"

Alex, after waking up after the whole ordeal, sat up and placed his hand on top of his head.

Alex: "Define all right… What just happened?"

Robin: "We were under attack by an unknown force. Raven was able to teleport us out of the train before it crashed."

Alex: "There was a train crash?"

Robin pointed to the direction of the crash behind Alex. Alex turned around and saw the wreckage itself. The monorail was completely destroyed with its cars engulfed in flame, windows shattered, and the metal casing was bent out of shape. But the thing that made him completely bummed was that the main car was smashed the airlock door, leaving a huge dent in the middle. Alex bowed his head down and cursed under his breath.

Alex: "Son of a bitch…"

He then looked at the Titans to see is they're all right.

Alex: "Are you guys O.K.?"

Cyborg: "Well besides some scratches from the debris, we're fine. But I wish I could say the same for the others in the monorail."

Alex slowly got up and stretched his arms and legs.

Starfire: "Are you sure you are feeling better?"

Alex: "Yeah, yeah, I'm cool. I'm just a little dizzy that's all."

Raven: "Oh that, I guess it came from when I teleported you to safety. It kind of has a few side effects for first timers. You'll get use to it for some time, the others have."

Alex: "Thanks, I'll remember that. Well now that our main route's officially been blocked off, we have to take a shortcut."

Beast Boy: "Are you kidding me dude? We're in a base we don't know about and we don't know where we go from here."

Alex: "I know."

Alex quickly took out his PDA and removed the pen from its side. When he select the icon labeled "map", the screen showed a 3D digital map showing the entire UAC facility. It then made a close up in one of the places and had a red dot blinking at a place labeled Monorail Airlock 12. The Titans went behind him and was fascinated by the screen.

Robin: "Whoa… You have a map of the installation?"

Alex: "I'm not the only one with it. All personnel must have a digital map installed in their PDAs. In case someone gets lost or can't find their location, they use this map to get to their proper place. Now let's see, according to the map, we're right there at the monorail airlock."

He then clicked his touch pen to scan for Gamma Labs. When he found it, he didn't like the results at all.

Alex: "And Gamma Labs is at the other side of the facility."

Beast Boy: "Great, that means we have to walk."

Alex: "Do you want to head back home or not?"

Beast Boy: "Yes."

Alex: "Then shut up and let me find an alternative route to Gamma."

Alex kept searching for another way out while at the same time; the Titans grouped together and had a private talk.

Cyborg: "Is it me, or does Alex sound a bit more demanding then last time."

Starfire: "Indeed, this Alex acting like a Yoshfold on a bad day. You think we can trust him the way we trusted Terra?"

Beast Boy turned his head away when he heard the Terra's name.

Robin: "Don't know, but it's best we follow his lead since he knows how to get around the facility. I mean, he's our guardian right."

Raven: "True, but there's something not right."

Robin: "Huh?"

Raven: "Think about it. Alex found a way to get us back to our time. He wouldn't let us stay here for a few more days just to get use to this installation. Not to mention that he using any means necessary to get us back. You think he's trying to hide something from us?"

Robin: "You know what Rae, you're right. It sounds like Alex wants us to leave so badly and he won't tell us why. I'll see if I can talk to him about this but until then, we'll keep it cool so that way he won't notice that we're suspicious."

Unaware to the team, Alex heard every word they said behind his back and was starting to get nervous and worried. He wished he would tell them what the Sarge has in store for them, but that will make them think they'll be treated like animals and they wouldn't like it one bit. So it's best for him to keep it a secret until it's time. With that said, he turned around and look at the Titans.

Alex: "Hey! I found a way out of here, let's get going."

The Titans looked at Alex and agreed with him. They then jumped on the narrow platform and started walking down it in the opposite direction away from the train crash. Unaware to them that when they left there was some movement going on in one of the burning tramcars. A hand was pressed on one of the unbroken windows, all bloody, and one of the employees slowly got up. But the problem is that his entire body was on fire and his eyes were burning blood red.

Back to the Titans, they and Alex continued walking down the narrow platform to the place that Alex is looking for. While they walked, an announcement was heard through the speakers attached to the walls.

Engineering, please report to monorail airlock 12 for emergency repair.

Alex: sigh "Great, now it tells us. Let's hope the engineers can clean up the train wreck back there."

Robin: "So Alex, exactly where are we going?"

Alex: "There's a maintenance passage close by. We'll head into the entryway and walk through the tunnels and support systems. From there we will gain access to the Military Complex and once get there, we'll see what our next move is."

Cyborg: "Don't you think that the maintenance passage is for maintenance personnel only?"

Alex: "I know that, but the nearest station is ten miles away from here. So I guess a short cut would be more appropriate then walking about oh… five hours. You got a problem with that."

Cyborg: "Uh… No."

Alex: "Then start walking and stop talking."

They then continued on walking when they approach a metal shutter door with the UAC logo imprinted on and MAINT 32 below it. Next to the door is an on screen panel labeled, "Service Access".

Alex: "And here we are."

Alex then pressed the button on the screen labeled, "Open Door" and the door slid open upwards. Alex slowly entered the area and noticed that it was a little dark. He looked around and spotted the support lights level attached to the wall. He approached it and pulled the lever but when he pulled it all the way down, nothing happened. When he looked up he saw that wires connected to the lights was cut off and sparks were coming out of it. Alex shook his head the same time the Titans entered the maintenance passage.

Alex: "Damn it… Hey! Can someone give me some light here?"

Cyborg heard Alex's order and turned on his shoulder flashlight.

Alex: "Thanks."

Alex looked around the area and saw it was a hallway filled with pipes, closed wires, and vents.

Alex: "There are many hallways leading to different directions. We stick together until we get to the Complex. I don't want anyone to get lost in here, these maintenance passages are vast. Understand."

All the Titans nodded.

Alex: "Good, now let's keep moving."

Alex then continued walking down the hallway, letting the Titans standing there in a confusing state. Beast Boy then looked at Robin with a questionable look.

Beast Boy: "And I thought you were the demanding person."

Robin: "Just go."

The Titans then went after Alex, following him through the passage. For five minutes, they continue walking down hallway after hallway to room after room, making their way to the Military Complex. Unaware to them that something was coming to get them, something not human. Starfire was walking behind her teammates when she heard a strange noise. At first she thought it was just the pipes, but she heard that sound again, only it was louder. She stopped in her tracks and looked around the area to see if there's someone following them. It was then she spotted a strange figure on the other end of a different hallway enclocked in darkness.

Starfire: "Hello? Are you lost strange person? Do you require assistance?"

The mysterious figure made an awkward noise from its mouth and left in a hurry.

Starfire: "Wait! Where are you going?"

She turned around to ask her friends for help, but when she did that, Alex and the Titans were gone. With her friends leaving the scene, she decided to search for the unknown person by herself. She then light up her star bolt as a torch and went after the person without her teammates.

Pipe Maintenance 5: November 15, 2145, 2:27 P.M.

Alex and the rest of the Titans kept walking down a room section filled with various pipes and coolant tanks. Beast Boy was lumping behind, with his arms swaying back and forth and panting heavily.

Beast Boy: "Dude, I'm tired! Are we there yet?"

Alex: "We're almost there Beast Boy, please be a little patient."

Beast Boy: "You said that like five minutes ago. It feels like we've been walking around in circles. Is that piece of crap you have is working properly?"

Alex: "My PDA is a state of the art handheld device that can update the latest upgrades by the hour. No way this won't fail me, ever. Now why don't you just shut up and keep walking."

Beast Boy: "Fine, but if we don't get there in five more minutes, I'm so going to smash that thing to pieces."

Alex: "I'll remember that."

He then turned his head to Cyborg and changed the conversation.

Alex: "Man is this guy always bitchy in the past?"

Cyborg: "Trust me, BB can be a real pain when it doesn't go his way. Even at breakfast, he prefers his tofu products instead of bacon and eggs."

Alex and Cyborg chuckled over that for a while as they continue walking. Robin then notices a box of tools lay vacant on the floor, which gave him a suspicious feeling.

Robin: "Hey Alex, did you notice that there was no one around the maintenance passage while we were walking?"

Alex: "Yeah, I noticed it. I wonder where is everyone?"

Cyborg: "Maybe they all went on a break or something."

Alex: "And leave their tools behind? Yeah I doubt it. I bet it has something to do with the wave of skulls that tried to attack us at the monorail."

Alex looked behind and saw Beast Boy stopping to catch a breather.

Alex: "Beast Boy, keep up the pace. I don't want you to get lost in this place."

He turned his bead back and continues leading the way. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was getting kind of aggravated as he was in his tiring position.

Beast Boy: "Coming! Man, I should've been better off dead."

Beast Boy started to follow the others when he felt something grabbing his left leg. He tried to pull it off but it was too tight to let go. He then turned to the others for help.

Beast Boy: "Hey! I'm stuck!"

Everyone looked at Beast Boy noticed his ankle was stuck on something but couldn't see it due to the darkened floor. They all approached him and Alex bended down to look at the foot.

Alex: "Cyborg, a little light here please. Please hold still Beast Boy, you just got your foot caught on a loose pipe. If you move your foot around you could-"

But when Cyborg pointed his flashlight at Beast Boy's foot, Alex stopped when he noticed it wasn't a loose pipe, but a bloody hand tightening BB's ankle. He looked further and saw a marine that looks like he went through war in a big way, crawling to them. But when he lifted his head, he had claw marks slashed across his face and both of his eyes were gone. Everyone got freaked out when they saw the wounded marine as Alex quickly remove the tight hand out from Beast Boy's ankle. When he succeeded, he moved the changeling away from the marine trying to get close to him or anyone. But the rest of the team was quite shocked at what they saw.

Robin: "Jesus Christ, what the hell is that!"

Alex: "A marine down and in a bad way. What did you expect? You and Raven, pick him up. We have to take him to the med labs in the complex now!"

Robin and Raven approached the marine and were about to pick him up when he stopped them right there.

Wounded Marine: "No! Don't help me.cough There's nothing you can do to save me. Right now you should worry about saving yourselves."

Alex looked at the marine with questionable eyes and approached him. He bended down to the marine's eye level, except he didn't have any eyes, and started asking questions.

Alex: "What happened? Why are you like this?"

Wounded Marine: "I don't know. Everything was fine when all of a sudden a strange energy swept the entire installation. It was like a shockwave, itpassed throughout the entire base. We didn't even see it coming, it moved so fast. cough Then people started changing, turning into something inhuman. And to make matters worse, we were under attack by some unknown assailants. cough We tried our best to fight back but they were too strong. Even the security force turned against us and attacked everyone in sight."

Raven: "Told you something evil is here."

Alex: "Yeah well evil or not, we have to stop them. Once we get to the Military Complex, we'll have all the firepower we need."

Wounded Marine: "Good luck going there, the complex has already turned into a bloodbath. I should know; I've been there."

Alex looked back at the marine with a look of silent and horror. He then mustered up the courage to speak.

Alex: "Is everyone dead?"

Wounded Marine: "Deadish. cough Look, I know this is bad but there's still hope. There are still a few squads operating, but they're cut off from each other. They can help you out. If you're going to the complex watch you back and whatever you do, trust no one."

The marine gave one final cough then lay on the floor dead. The titans were saddened by the marine's death as Alex bowed his head in despair.

Alex: "Poor guy, didn't stand a chance."

Alex then noticed a loose earpiece next to the dead marine, picked it up, and placed it in his ear. He then found a mini radio attached to the Marine's waist, so he removed it from the belt and started finding a frequency.

Robin: "Uh… What are you doing?"

Alex: "Trying to figure out what we're up against."

When he found the right frequency, he heard gunshots from the background and a distressed marine giving out an order to anyone who was listening.

Marine Soldier 11: "Forget about holding positions! We are cutting our losses and evacuating the entire facility! Anyone who's separate from any unit is on their own! I repeat, anyone separate from any unit is- No! NO! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Alex remained there silent after hearing the soldier's order on the radio before he died. The Titans behind him just stood there puzzled after their horrifying experience.

Robin: "Alex…"

Alex, still in shock, started to say something under his breath.

Alex: "Suddenly, I'm starting to believe what Raven said."

Robin: "What?"

Alex removed the earpiece, stood up, took out his loaded pistol and look at the Titans.

Beast Boy: "Whoa, chill dude. He didn't really mean to get you worked up."

Alex: "It's not that. Right now we have a serious problem here. Someone or something is attacking this installation. I don't know what it is, but in order for us to make it to Gamma in one piece, we have to stick together and be prepared for anything."

But when Alex finished talking to the team, he noticed something not right in the picture.

Alex: "Where's Starfire?"

Lower Storage Room: November 15, 2145, 2:32 P.M.

Starfire entered the Lower Storage room through an automatic door that slides upwards. She's been looking for the strange person she spotted in one of the hallways. She was following its strange sound the person makes for over ten minutes and went form room to passage to hallway, but she couldn't find the person. She looked around the dim litted room that had metal shelves and a delivery cart filled with boxes and metal casings. And at the far right corner was a linked fence that had an additional storage room, but it was too dark to see anything. She slowly walked down the room, seeing if the person was there.

Starfire: "Hello, are you here strange person? If you there, please say something instead of the strange noises you keep using. I know what you're thinking right now; I'm different from you. Now even though I don't look human, I'm here to help you. So if you can just come out, I can take you to my friends and give you medical assistance."

Starfire waited for the answer but didn't hear a response.

Starfire: "Oh well, better continue with my searching."

She then approached the exit door that's in the opposite direction of the fence. But when she was about to reach it, the dim lights went completely bright and it changed to a blood red color. Starfire hesitated for a moment when the room went red until just but just as the changed, it went back to its regular dim color. Starfire waited for something to happen next and the sighed after its over.

Starfire "The UAC certainly has some trouble with their lighting fixtures."

She then heard a clank on the floor and jumped. She looked at the direction where the sound was made and saw metal casings being toppled down and then a stack of boxes next to them. Star slowly walked to the mess and gulped not knowing what's making that racket. She raised her hand a little bit and a star bolt was formed. When she pointed at the direction of the fallen boxes and what she saw was a head of a baby with the body covered in boxes. This made Starfire quite confused as to why a baby was doing here, but was happy to see something cute from all this darkness and weirdness.

Starfire: "Hello little one. What are you doing in a place like this? It's dangerous around here. Please come out so I can see you. Do you have a family? Do you know where they are?"

The baby came out of its hiding place but what happened next turned Starfire expression from happy to completely horrified. What she saw wasn't a baby, but a half baby half bug with pincers instead of hands and arms, a stinger bottom instead of feet, legs, and a waist, and wings attached on its back. The strange baby then used its wings to hover in front of Starfire's face and the looked at her with completely white-eyes. It began to shriek and snapped its pinchers at the Tamaranean. Starfire slowly back away to the link fence aiming the star bolt at the creature.

Starfire: "Please stay away from me. I don't want to hurt you."

Then without warning, two more pairs of pincers popped out behind the link fence between Starfire. She turned around and saw two more of those baby monster trying to cut the fence to get through. Scared, the Tamaranean doesn't know what to do. She then realized that the first baby monster was still hovering behind her. With its pincers ready to slice, the creature charged in to chop off her head. Starfire quickly ducked to the side and fired her star bolt at the creature, making it a direct hit. The baby monster fell to the ground, but instead of dying on its blood, it disintegrated to ash. Starfire was fascinated at how the strange being just died, but she forgot about the other two creatures. She looked at the fence and noticed they got out and was starring to her evilly. She quickly grabbed one of the metal shelves and used her strength to swing it at the creatures. Once successful, she flew straight towards the exit as the two baby monsters got out of the mess with only a few scratches and immediately went after the Tamaranean. Heading back to Starfire, she was flying all over the place, going through access halls and service junctions. She didn't care about searching for the mysterious person; she has to find her friends immediately, if she can find them. She then heard strange noises from behind her.

Mama… Mama…

Star looked behind her and saw the two baby monsters flying behind her with their pincers ready to kill.

Starfire: "Stay away from me! I am not your mother!"

She then charged her star bolts and fired them at the creatures. They simply dodged the shots with their swift flying techniques. Starfire then fired a star bolt at a pipe on the ceiling and steam came out from it and engulfed the entire hallway. The two baby monsters stopped and were quite confused of all the white smoke around them. Suddenly, an arsenal of star bolts rain down on them. One of the creatures was able to dodge them, but the other got hit in many places and disintegrated out of existence. At the end of the hallway, out of the smoke, Starfire was hovering and shooting many star bolts as she could. She then stopped firing took a breather, knowing that she did her job. She looked up and saw a strange figure coming up from the smoke. When the figure got out of the smoke, it was the last baby monster, charging in with one of its pincers to get a clear shot at Star's head. Starfire luckily ducked down, avoiding the attack, while the creature hit its pincer straight to a metal wall. The baby monster pulled its pincer out of the wall, and looked at Starfire with scary white eyes. Starfire quickly fly far away from the creature, but it followed behind her but this time faster then before. It was then close to Starfire and uses its pincers to cut and scratch her, but she ducked and dodged the attacks with the last one snapping lock of her red hair. The two of them then made it to the central pipes junction that had a circular floor, walls filled with pumps, tanks, and pipes, and the ceiling had a window showing the Mars sky. The baby monster continued the assault on the Tamaranean, so Starfire has to think of way getting this creature off her back. She then came up with the idea as she quickly grabbed both its pincers and did a head butt on the baby's head. With it out of her face, she did a spinning kick at the creature, sending it flying straight to the pipes and denting them. The baby monster shook it off and had the eyes of rage straight into Starfire. It positions itself by clutching its pincers on the pipes and then jumped off the wall and charged straight for Star with its pincers ready for the kill. But it got caught off guard when Starfire's eyes glowed green and she fired her eye beams at its head, killing it and disintegrating it to the ground. She thought that it was all over for her, but she was wrong. She heard eerie voices all around her. She was completely horrified when she saw fifteen baby monsters coming out of their hiding places and flying around her. Knowing she was outnumbered, Starfire decided to take one more risk taker. With her eyes and hands glowing green, she put her hands together and charged it up more then ever. Five of the baby monsters and flew straight to her. But they didn't get near her because when she released her hands, the green light grew so huge that it engulfed the entire junction and killing all the creatures around it. She landed on the floor and breathed heavily after she used all her power, but then she heard a different shriek. She put her head up and looked around to see where the noise is coming from. It was then she found the mysterious shadow figure in one of the entryways. But just as it appears, it left in an instant. She then saw the figure again in another passage but it left again. It then appeared in another passage but disappeared, knocking over a cart filled with tools and canisters. One of the canisters rolled straight to Starfire bumped on her foot. She slowly backed away and charged a star bolt just in case. What she didn't know was that someone was right behind her, and was moving closer. When a hand was placed on her shoulder, Starfire turned around and fired the star bolt at it. It jumped away from blast but Starfire was about to hit it with a straight fist. It then grabbed her arm and started to say something.

Robin: "Starfire, what are you doing?"

Starfire noticed that she was attacking Robin. Behind him were the rest of the Titans and Alex.

Robin: "It's me Star. What are you doing here? And why are you attacking me?"

Robin let go of her arm as Star backed away. She was showing tears knowing her friends are here and she rushed in to hug Robin, but didn't give him a death hug.

Starfire: "Oh Robin, it was horrible! There was this strange person in here that lost his way and he left. I followed him but I got lost too. While I was searching for this person, babies ambushed me."

Everyone stood there silent without saying a word until Beast Boy broke it.

Beast Boy: "Uh… Starfire, babies don't attack people."

Starfire: "No! These babies are different. They have pincers for hands and wings on their back. They moved so fast and they tried to kill me. I'm scared!"

She began to cry softly on Robin's shoulder. Robin felt sorry for her and caresses her long red hair.

Robin: "It's O.K. Star, you're with us now. And no matter what, we will never let you go. You're safe."

While Robin tries to comfort Star, Alex walked down and noticed one of the piles of ash on the floor. Kneeling down he took a bit of it and examines it.

Cyborg: "I think Starfire had been in the darkness here for far too long."

Alex: "Actually, I think she's talking sense."

The hybrid turned his head to Alex and had a look of confusion.

Cyborg: "Excuse me?"

Alex stood up and looked at the team for an answer.

Alex: "Think about it, bug like creatures attacked Starfire, Raven sensed a strange evil in this facility, and we saw a bunch of skulls flying. I'm beginning to see a pattern here and I think we need a little more cooperation. Right now, until we get to Gamma, we must stay together and watch each other's backs. Keep you eyes open; you may never know what we're up against. Do I make myself clear?"

The Titans nodded.

Alex: "Good, let's go."

Alex and the Titans left the junction and headed to the Military Complex. Unaware to them, someone, or something, was watching them from a far.

Finally, I'm done with chapter seven. On the next chapter, Alex and the gang made it to the Military Complex, but were ambushed by the living dead. Please Review.