Well it's been a few weeks now and the administration hasn't removed my story yet. I guess the improvements I did got their attention as well as I thought. Let's hope they don't think about deleting it again cause I put a lot of hard work into this and I don't want to stop it when its getting good. Anyways, things have been going so well after the last few weeks. I got two reviews from gaming boy221 and Rahkshi500, who said that my story is great and all, and the hit counter is up to almost or over two hundred hits. But Rahkshi said that if the demon dragon, A.K.A. Dr. Betruger, from Resurrection of Evil is going to be on this story. Well R500, I hate to say that you won't see it on this story. But in the future, you'll get to see the demon dragon in the sequel. Time to go to chapter twelve of Doomed Titans. The team found the secret passage and journey through the darkened corridor, only to be introduced by a bunch of spiders. And it's not the regular kind let me tell you.

Chapter Notes

Ticks and Trites make their appearance on this chapter. The Titans being chased by the spiders is similar to what happened in the Teen Titans episode, "Fear Itself".

Thought and PDA audio log: Italics

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

Chapter Twelve: Ticks and Trites

Marine Dormitories Level 4, Storage Area: November 15, 2145, 4:04 P.M.

Inside the storage area, the place was both dark and quiet at the same time. It was then that the entrance door opened up and two people walked in. One of the people walked to the light switch box and flipped it up. The lights on the ceiling flickered for the moment and fully went on in a brilliant white light. The two people, who are Robin and Alex, looked around and saw the storage room that had selves filled with boxes, med kits, and ammo, a health station, a mop and bucket, and a tool rack on the far end filled with tools for maintenance personnel. Robin spotted a big box at one corner and approached to sit on it. Alex dropped his machine gun he was holding during his search and went to one shelf to grab two cases of shells, a case of grenades, and three sets of clips. As he continued searching the place for additional ammo, Robin ponders about this search.

Robin: "I just don't get it. We searched through every corridor and room on this floor, tried pulling and pushing everything that is noticeable, we fought every monster we came to contact, and still we can't find this secret passage. You're sure it's not on a different floor?"

Alex: "A hundred percent sure Robin. I heard all those rumors loud and clear and I know that it's on this floor."

Robin: "Well we searched the northern end and there was no sign of it. I think we're going on a wild goose chase."

Alex: "Don't even say that. So we failed looking for this passage, big freakin' deal! I'm pretty sure the others are having better luck then us."

Just then the storage door opened up, so Alex took out his pistol and aimed it at whoever entered. But he was relieved that it was Starfire and Beast Boy coming in.

Beast Boy: "Hey chill man it's just us."

Alex put away his pistol and kept looking at the two Titans that were in the storage area as the door closed behind them.

Alex: "Did you find the secret passage?"

Starfire: "Sadly no. Due to the fact that we had run-ins with those hideous abominations, we have not succeeded in looking for this passage you speak of."

Beast Boy: "Tell me about it. I went bloodhound to sniff it out only to get traces of blood and guts. I got to tell ya, those monsters could really make things a lot difficult sometimes."

The door then opened up again and two more shadows entered the room.

Raven: "You think you have problems? You should've seen what lengths we went through."

Everyone turned their heads to the entranceway and saw Raven and Cyborg coming in.

Alex: "Well what about you two? Any luck?"

Raven: "Afraid not. I was phasing through walls to look for this passage but the only thing I saw were pipes and metal."

Cyborg: "And I scanned the west area with X-Ray vision but the only thing I picked up were zombies and Imps. We were able to get out of there alive by the skins of out teeth."

Alex sighed heavily, sat on the floor with his legs folded on his chest and put his head down.

Alex: "Then we can't find the secret passage as of this moment. Terrific…"

Beast Boy: "Maybe we should find another way to get to Communications without wasting each other's time."

Alex gave a stern look at Beast Boy while he walked to the tool rack and leaned his body with his hand placed on a mallet.

Alex: "And where exactly do you think we can go Einstein? Most of the monorail system is offline and most of the doors are blocked. How can we get to Communications from here?"

Beast Boy: "I don't know. But my idea is way more better then looking for this passage. It's not like a hidden door would open right in front of us."

Just when Beast Boy finished talking, his hand that was on the mallet began to push to the right. The changeling started to loose his balance and then fell face first on the floor with stars dancing around his head. He slowly got up and he and the rest of the team watched as the tool rack wall slowly opened backwards like a garage door. When it was fully opened, there was a series of steps going down into a dark place. The team approached the entryway and took one good look at the stairs as Raven look at Beast Boy with a little grin.

Raven: "You were saying?"

Robin kept looking for another few seconds then turned his head to Alex, who was still keeping eye contact at the stairs.

Robin: "Is that what I think it is?"

Alex: "No doubt about it Robin, this is the secret passage."

Cyborg turned on his shoulder light to illuminate the stairway descending downward. Alex was the first to walk down with his machine gun ready and the Titans soon followed suit. After what seem to be forever, they made it to the lower levels of the complex and into an underground area. Cyborg peered his light around the large room and saw metal structures, support beams, and some spider webs. Unfortunately for the team, the lights in the underground area were all off and there were no backup lights anywhere in sight.

Beast Boy: "Why do we always have to go to places that are darker then others? These places are getting creepier and creepier by the minute."

Alex: "Reality check Beast Boy. There could be a major blackout in parts of the facility. What's your problem? I thought you and the others get use to these types of things during your missions."

Beast Boy: "Yeah, but nothing like this. I change into many animals and most of them have great eyesight to see through the dark. But this dark is a lot different and I'm afraid that if I change into one, that last thing I will see is a monster starring straight at me. Oh… The horror…"

Robin gave Beast Boy the glare then looked back at Alex.

Robin: "So where do we go from here now?"

Alex: sigh "Unfortunately, my PDA doesn't have any information on these unidentifiable areas. So the only thing I need to do is to trust on the rumors."

Robin: "O.K… Do you know anything about these rumors the people said?"

Alex: "Well, I heard that within this passage there was a secret laboratory not notified on the UAC map. I don't know what it holds but whatever it is, it's very confidential."

Cyborg: "And how are we going to get to this lab? In case you forgot, this entire area completely dark and I don't think my flashlight can cover the entire room."

Alex: "Just stick with pointing your flashlight in front incase we see a door around here. And don't forget to stick together. I let you guys split up just once to find this passage, I don't want it happened here again. Got it?"

The Titans nodded as Alex smiled back. They started walking when all of a sudden, a faint cry sound was echoed all over which made the team a little jumpy. Starfire, on the other hand, simply shrieked as she slowly backed away and headed to the stairs, babbling her mouth off.

Starfire: "Oh well. I don't think we can journey any further in this darkened place. Let us quickly go back upstairs and see if we can find a-"

Luckily, Cyborg grabbed and scared Tamaranean and placed her around the group.

Cyborg: "Not yet, we have to get to the bottom of this."

Starfire: "This eerie room isn't the bottom?"

Everyone just stared and the naïve girl with confused yet sighful eyes. Alex then looked back at the front and continued walking.

Alex: "Let's go."

The gang continued walking down the dark corridor hoping to find a door around here. I only takes a few minutes for them to realize which way they're going. They didn't know if they're either lost or running around in circles. Either way, they continued their search. Unaware to them that in all the darkened areas was little species scurrying about. It wasn't long before Starfire saw something looking at them on the right dark side. She took action and fired a star bolt at it. It quickly dodged the blast and ran away while the bolt made a loud explosion that made the team's heads turn to her.

Alex: "Are you giving the monsters attention? What's wrong with you?"

Starfire looked at her teammates while pointing at the direction the creature was.

Starfire: "The floor! I saw something move."

Raven: "Strange… I didn't see anything."

Cyborg set his red eye as night vision and scanned the direction Starfire pointed out.

Cyborg: "Night vision shows no sign of any extraterrestrial life present."

Alex: "It's probably just a spider. This place is crawling with them. Hell I can see the spider webs just about everywhere. In fact, they're more of them then normally. Hmmm…"

Robin: "Let's not waste time sight seeing, we should continue the search."

The team continued their journey but Starfire was behind looking for the creature that was looking at them. She walked after her friends so she won't get lost like last time. But just as she took a few steps forward, she heard the scampering of little feet clinging on the metal floor behind her. She immediately turned around and fired another star bolt, only for it to explode and miss the shadowy creature. The team turned to look at Star when they heard the explosion. Alex especially has an anime pulse pumping at the top of his head.

Alex: "Could you please stop doing that? The last thing I want is to have monsters crawling up my ass. Besides, there's nothing to be afraid. It's like I said before, it's just a spider."

Starfire looked at the team then looked up at the scaffolding above their heads. What she saw made her feel completely horrified as she pointed at what's on it.

Starfire: "Those are not spiders!"

Alex and the Titans starred at the Tamaranean for a moment then looked up at the scaffolding she was pointing at. When Cyborg shines his light at it, the team couldn't help but to have fear shown in their eyes. Five spider monsters were on the beam looked straight at their prey and making strange noises. Sure they look like spiders, but they are five times bigger then the usual size. And their faces were completely gruesome from upside down heads, to mutated heads, to a dozen black eyes, to small razor sharp teeth. The team just starred at them, not knowing what to do next. Alex slowly raised his machine gun, not to make any sudden movements. He then whispered to the Titans so that the creatures won't hear it.

Alex: "O.K. Titans, here's the plan. Once I shoot these things down, we'll make a mad dash back to the steps, if we can find it."

Beast Boy turned around to make an impromptu leave when he saw something he wishes he hadn't.

Beast Boy: "Uh… Alex, you should look behind you and rethink your decision."

Alex lowered his machine gun and turned around the same time the rest of the Titans did. From what they saw were thirty more mutant spiders blocking their exit, if there is one. If fact, they took looked around and saw many more spiders surrounding them and the spiders on top of the beam climbed down with a string of web coming out of their butts and joined their kind. Alex groaned at the predicament their in as Robin looked at him feeling a little nervous.

Robin: "Do we have a plan B?"

Alex: "We do now!"

Alex detached a grenade from his belt and turn the knob to arm it. He quickly tossed it into the floor around the mutant spiders and wait for it to ignite. Once it exploded and kills half the spiders, Alex looked at the Titans and says the one word that comes to everybody's mind when things look too grim.

Alex: "RUN!"

Everyone quickly ran together as fast as they could past the mutant spiders while the creatures went after them. Cyborg and Starfire fired their blue lasers and star bolts at them incase they were getting too close. A few more spiders came out of their hiding places in front of the team and waited for them to attack. Alex saw them slowly coming out so he aimed his machine gun at them and immediately fired. Luckily for Al, the spiders were a lot weaker then the other creatures he saw, and they exploded every time the bullets connect to their frail bodies. Just then, more spiders were dangling on the metal support structures waiting for their dinner to come. Raven sensed them coming so she flew up, waved her black glowing hands around, and a couple of loose pipes were cloaked in dark energy. The pipes detached themselves and flew in many directions, hitting any spider that was either crawling on a beam or hanging on the ceiling. One of the mutant spiders saw the team and strangely enough, leapt directly to Robin. The Boy Wonder saw it in the corner of his left eye and took out his Bo staff to whip it right to the face. It flew all the way back, smacked right into the wall, and exploded on impact. The team continued running for their lives as the mutant spiders appeared just about everywhere. Lasers blasting, star bolts flaring, levitated pipes flying, bullets firing, they are using everything they have to take the creeps out. But no matter how hard they try, these things just keep on coming. As Alex and the Titans continued running, Starfire flew slower then usual trying to keep the hoard at bay. What she didn't know was that five more spiders were on a metal gurney above her, waiting for their prey. When the Tamaranean was positioned, the spider all jumped off at the same time making a high pitch roar. Starfire looked up but it was too late. She screamed as three of the spiders landed on top of her and send her falling down to the floor. Unaware on what happened a few seconds ago, the team continued running.

Alex: "Keep fighting, I think they're falling back! If can just take them all out there's a chance we could-"

They suddenly heard a scream from behind so they turned their head to see where the sound came from. What they saw gave them all quite a shock. They saw Starfire being drag on the floor by spiders yanking their web strings tied to her legs. She was using her eye beams to blast them off but can't find the spiders that were using their webs to pull the helpless girl closer to the hoard. The team stood there not knowing what to do, but Robin jumped in and tried to save his friend.

Robin: "STARFIRE!"

Starfire quickly uses her glowing fists as powerful punches to blow them into yesterday. But her body was half swallowed and the rest of her is quickly being engulfed by the mutant insects. With her final ounce of strength she let out a blood-curdling scream as her glowing hand disappeared into the sea of legs. Robin came to the rescue but was too late. He used his staff to whack the spiders left to right like a golf club to a bunch of golf balls. Although he tried to make a path, he couldn't find Starfire anywhere. The spiders began swarming around him and were about to eat him when some strange black magic covered the Boy Wonder drew him back to his teammates. He looked at Raven, who was the one that pulled him back to the Titans and nodded as a thank you. Then he looked at the spider creatures that are surrounding the team and poised his staff ready to battle. Everyone else had their sonic cannon, telekinesis, tiger claws, and machine gun aimed at the spiders as they prepare to face their demise. But just as everything look very grim, a loud shrieking scream echoed all over the darkened corridor. The spiders heard and understood the scream, and strangely enough, they scurried back away from the Titans and exit through the opened vents all around, leaving the entire place completely empty. The Titans and Alex lowered their weapons and powers and didn't have a clue on what transpired a few seconds ago.

Beast Boy: "Uh… What just happened?"

Alex: "Don't know, but it give us an advantage on finding the laboratory before they come back again."

But Robin didn't listen to Alex one bit. Instead, he walked away from the team and headed toward the direction where Starfire was taken. He only walked a few feet when Alex saw him walking away.

Alex: "Robin? Where do you think your going?"

Robin: "I'm going to find Starfire."

Alex: "Whoa… Not so fast there Bird Boy! I don't think that's a good idea. Those things could be waiting for you to come, probably setting up a trap by now."

Cyborg: "Alex has a point there Rob. Even though these creatures might look butt ugly, they could have some intelligence to cook up something that would involve Starfire's kidnapping."

Robin turned his head directly at the team and had an aggressive look on his face.

Robin: "I don't care what they're planning! They took Starfire and who knows what they're going to do to her! We must find her and-"

Raven: "Robin, as much as I agree with you on that, we have to continue on and get to Communications."

Robin: "But…"

Beast Boy: "Dude, you can't just think about her too much. Star's strong, I'm pretty sure she can take care of herself."

Robin gave it a little thought and came up with the decision.

Robin: "All right, we'll continue on with the mission. Star we'll catch up with us soon. But let me tell you on thing Alex. If I see Starfire's dead body lying on the floor, it's all your fault."

Alex just stayed serious the whole time, even after what Robin said to him.

Alex: "I'll remember that. C'mon team; let's hurry before those spiders show up again.

The Titans and Alex continued journeying down the area in search of the secret lab. Robin had his head down and was in deep thought for a moment.

Robin: "Please be safe Starfire…"

For another five minutes, they were still looking for the lab but only find darkness and spider webs, yet no spider monsters present at all. Alex was taking the lead, but was holding his PDA to find out any information about the things that attacked them and took Starfire away.

Cyborg: "Damn! Still no sign of a door. I swear if Alex is sending us on a wild goose chase I'm gonna-"

Raven: "Take it easy there Cyborg, Alex knows what he's doing. It's not like we have anything else to do."

Beast Boy: "Rae's right Cy. Just because Al has no clue where to find this secret lab doesn't mean we have to give up on it. And it looks like we won't have to deal with those six-legged creeps any time soon. Which reminds me. Hey Alex, do you know what those big night crawlers are?"

Alex: "Working on it."

Alex was tapping the screen with his touch pen to find the spider monsters they confronted. Robin, who was walking in the middle, had his head down the whole time after the attack and his eyes were closed behind his mask. Raven looked at the Boy Wonder next to her and knew what was going through his mind. She thought a small talk would cheer him up so she opened her mouth and said the first thing that came to her mind.

Raven: "Still worried about Starfire?

Robin lifted his head and looked at the Goth Titan with stern eyes.

Robin: "I don't want to talk about it."

Raven: "You should."

Robin sighed under his breath and thought it was best to get it off his chest.

Robin: "Sorry Rae, its just that I'm a little worried about what those things might do to Starfire. And I think I'm the one to blame for this. If I haven't been with her instead to leaving her behind, she would've never been kidnapped in the first place. I should've known better. It's all my fault."

Raven felt sorry for the poor boy but she placed her delicate hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

Raven: "Don't blame yourself Robin, you didn't know it was going happen. You should know by now that even super heroes make mistakes. And it's those mistakes that can help us get through this. Don't worry about Starfire, I'm pretty sure she escaped and trying her best to survive past this chaos. Who knows, we'll meet up with her again today, hopefully not dead."

Robin just smiled when he heard Raven's words of wisdom.

Robin: "Thanks."

Raven: "Don't mention it.

Alex: "Ah ha! Found it!"

Everyone stopped and looked at Alex as their guardian found the information about the creature that attacked them.

Alex: "Says here that the ones with the mutated faces are called Ticks and the ones with the upside down faces are called Trites. They seem to be match since they're spiders, their size is the same, and they're really weak. But like the Maggots, their strongest advantage is their leap and they swarm in packs. Ah, and here's a fun fact for you guys. It says here that they explode when they either get killed or get close to you incase they don't make it to their feeding frenzy."

Beast Boy: "Great, just what we need, mutant, man eating spiders that can eat us or blow us to bits."

Beast Boy quickly looked around the place are incase more of those Ticks or Trites come back for seconds. It was then he noticed a blinking dim light at the corner of the right corridor. He slowly approached the light at the end of the hall, without the others knowing it.

Cyborg: "Well whatever they are, they took our friend to who knows where. Maybe we should've listen to Robin and followed where they were going."

Alex: "And get killed in the process? I don't think so. My objective is clear to this point and we can't make any pit stops what so ever. And when we're done protecting Communications, we're heading straight to Gamma, no questions asked. I'm pretty sure she'll regroup with us as soon as she finds us. Ain't that right Robin?"

Alex turned to the direction to where Robin was and waited for the answer. Robin couldn't find a good answer to it so he thought of what Raven said and answered Alex's question.

Robin: "Starfire can take care of herself. We'll meet up with her later. I hope she's not in any trouble."

Alex: "Excellent. Now does anyone else want to search for Starfire? Raven?"

He looked at Raven as she emotionlessly shook her head.

Alex: "Cyborg?"

He then looked at Cyborg when he looked away from Alex and shrugged his shoulders.

Alex: "How about you Beast Boy."

But when Alex turned his head to see the changeling, there was no sign of him anywhere.

Alex: "Beast Boy? Beast Boy! Not again. Has anyone seen the little grass stain wondering about?"

Raven: "We didn't see him leave, we were busy listening to you rambling about those mutant spiders."

All four people looked at each other and then searched the area around them to find their friend. But before they could split up again and search for the little green elf, they all heard a familiar voice.

Beast Boy: "Guys!"

They all turn their heads to where the voice came from and saw Beast Boy poking his head out of the corridor he entered.

Beast Boy: "I found it! I found the door!"

The team quickly followed Beast Boy when they heard the big news. When they were running down the dark hallway that leads up to a flashing light, they all immediately stopped when they saw a set of metal doors with a panel screen next to it and fluorescent blinking light above it. After a few seconds of examining it, they all turned their direction to Beast Boy who was still very pleased at what he found.

Cyborg: "Are you sure that this is the right door BB?"

Beast Boy: "Totally! I bet ten bucks that this door leads us into the laboratory."

Robin: "Only one way to find out."

Robin was the first to approach the door but when he was face to face with it, there was a beeping sound and then nothing. Looking puzzled, he turned his attention to Alex.

Robin: "Uh… Alex, a little help here."

Alex: sigh "That sound means that the door is locked. You will need security clearance or a keycard to gain access."

Robin: "So how are we going to open it?"

Cyborg approached the panel and saw a picture of a blue keycard and had a message on it.

Cyborg: "It says here that it needs a keycard to open."

Alex took a good look at the picture of the keycard then sticks his hand into his pocket and took out the blue keycard he picked up in the rec room at the Military Dormitories. He made a double check at the panel and look back at the card. Raven then looked at him and the card too.

Raven: "You think that card will work?"

Alex: "Only one way to find out."

He approached the panel and then slips the keycard into the slot below the monitor. After a few seconds of waiting the doors made a sound and the red lights above it changed their colors to green.

Alex: "Yes! We got access!"

The doors automatically opened apart as Cyborg activated his sonic cannon and slowly walked in and aiming it incase something comes out and starts attacking. Once the cost is clear, he turned his cannon back to his arm and observes the place. What he saw was truly a shocker.

Cyborg: "Hey guys, you might want to see this."

The rest of the team entered the unknown room and took a look at the area. They too saw what the metallic hybrid saw. The room was filled with control consoles and workstations on both walls, broken tubes on the walls that were suppose to be filled with water and something else, and two storage cabinets and a health station at the west wall. But at the far end of the room is a shatter-viewing window showing what appeared to be a dark cave like habitat littered with spider webs and all around the area were cocoon bodies on the floor. Everyone was silent for the moment until Beast Boy was the first to talk.

Beast Boy: "Is this the secret lab?"

Robin: "A lab? It looks more like an animal exhibit to me. Alex?"

Alex quickly looked at Robin waiting for an answer from their guardian.

Alex: "Hey don't look at me! I heard the rumor about both the secret passage and the lab, but not anything like this!"

Robin: "Well then, let's search the place and see what we can find out. Be careful team, I don't want to loose you too."

The Titans nodded as they start looking for clues about the area they're in. Alex was doing his own investigation when he spotted a PDA resting on top of one of the workstations with a web cocoon resting next to it.

Alex: "Strange…"

With curiosity in his mind he picked it up, found the touch pen in the slot and started clicking on it when he spotted an audio log entry stated, "Aggressive Spiders" and clicked on the play button to listen in.

This is the audio log of Charles Belmont dated October 12, 2145. Things haven't been going so well as we thought it would be. After the past few months the Ticks and Trites have been acting a little aggressive. Not only that but the Vagary is showing signs of rage in her system as she repeated hitting on the glass of the window to get out. Both the science team and I are a little scared about the creatures aggressive behavior and I fear that it has something to do with Dr. Betruger and the accidents that have been happening over at Delta. Which brings to an off note point of view. I begin to realize that this little project that we're doing seems to be going down the drain already. The idea on building a breeding program underneath the facility was the worst mistake we've ever done. All the spiders we collected during the teleportation tests in Delta Level 4 wasn't a great idea at the time. I mean I know Betruger said that he wants to use the spiders as experiments on producing fresh soil when we turn Mars into a safe ecosystem but the way he's doing this, using up all of the UAC funds and constructing this place, is making the Board a little angry. I told Betruger that we have to alert not only the board, but the World about this little science project we're doing, but he insisted to keep it all a secret until it is time the reveal it. I got to tell you, if this secret leaks out to the public, we will be in some deep shit for sure. I was able to set up some storage lockers filled with some heavy weaponry incase these spiders, including the Vagary ever gets out. Security and Military personnel guarding this lab should use code 681 to open them. End of log.

When Alex heard every word the audio log said and found out what this room is, what this secret laboratory is. He turned his head left and right to find the Titans and found them standing together by the broken see-through window. He put the PDA back to where it was and walked down to them as they investigate the opened cavern environment in front of them.

Cyborg: "So, what do you think was in here?"

Beast Boy: "Probably those six legged freaks we fought. Just the looks on their ugly faces gives me the jibes."

Robin: "I don't think the spiders have anything to do with this. Look at the shattered glass. Something big was broke out of there but the question is, what?"

Raven jerked her head to the right and noticed a big boulder on a smashed workstation and a pool of blood where two bodies were.

Raven: "I think I know what."

Raven walked down to the destroyed boulder as the Titans watched him with total curiosity. After examining the rock, the dark Goth looked at her teammates.

Raven: "By the way this rock was thrown, it looks like someone must've used some telekinetic powers to lift this heavy boulder to brake the glass."

Beast Boy: "You mean the same power you used all the time when beating bad guys?"

Raven simply nodded.

Robin: "Then who would use a power this big to escape?"

Alex: "I think it was the Vagary that did this."

The team turned their heads at Alex walking towards them. He joins up with the Titans and explained.

Alex: "At least that's what I think. I found a PDA and it gave me all the information I needed. This secret lab isn't a lab at all; it's a breeding program. It appears that they were using this place to reproduce and study the Ticks and Trites to find out how to create soil. Thinking that it can be useful for creating green fields for Mars. But by the way this place looks, they were in over their heads."

Beast Boy: "Gee, you think?"

Alex: "I also discovered the person that's in charge of this project, Dr. Malcom Betruger."

Cyborg: "Dr. Betruger? Who's he?"

Alex: He's the head scientist of the Union Aerospace Corporation and the only person I despise in this place. He was the top graduate at the UAC Academy with a doctrine in theoretical and quantum physics. Though he's a genius and in charge of the installation, he's a bit of a loon. He always goes over the edge on experiments and keeps on draining most of the UAC's money on all of his projects. Projects not only this breeding program but also the teleporters at Delta."

Robin: "Including the main teleporter."

Alex: "Yeah, including the main teleporter. That portal was the only thing that came into his mind ever since that little accident ten years ago."

Cyborg: "Hold up. What accident?"

Alex: "That's nothing for your concern. What you need to know that when he survived that accident, he hasn't been himself. He keeps on rambling on and on about seeing this other world that will change the future. Some ridiculous bull shit that he always talks about."

Raven was listening in on the whole thing and discovered a connection in this invasion.

Raven: "Alex, do you know where these monsters came from?"

Alex: "Why are you asking me? I have no damn clue where they from."

Raven: "Well I know. You said Betruger saw this different world, right? Well I think that these monsters came from this world."

Alex: "You mean to tell that Betruger had something to do with this invasion?"

Raven nodded.

Alex: "No. No! That can't be true. I know Betruger is a crazy lunatic but he would never bring those creatures to this other world and started this invasion, not to mention that he won't work for these beasts. That doesn't make any sense."

Raven: "Just think about it. This Dr. Betruger dreamed of opening another world, he built the teleporters to make his dream come true, and now these monsters appeared out of nowhere and no one knows where they came from. Coincidence?"

Alex was about to say something but Beast Boy looked directly at Raven and interrupted them.

Beast Boy: "That's enough Rae! You're jumping to conclusions! You're blaming this mess on someone but you don't have the evidence to prove it. This is the same thing you did with Terra."

Raven slowly turned her head and glared at the changeling with ice-cold eyes.

Raven: "Don't you dare say her name in front of me! She had always been a traitor in front of my eyes ever since we made her a member. I never jump to conclusions on her, and I'm not jumping to conclusions on this."

Both Beast Boy and Raven gave each other solid stares like they're ready for a fight to the death. But Robin walked between the two and separates them.

Robin: "Enough you two, I don't want to see my friends and teammates fight each other over something this stupid. But Beast Boy does have a point Raven. We're still new to this place and we don't really know what's causing all of this chaos. We need a wide amount of clues before we get to that conclusion. So I suggest to you to keep your mouth shut until we can figure out what's causing all this."

Raven took a good look at the Boy Wonder then turned her head away from both him and Beast Boy to calm her nerves down. Robin then turned his head to Alex to ask him about something.

Robin: "Now Alex, this Vagary. What is it?"

Alex: "Honestly, I don't know. When I looked through my PDA on all the monsters, I didn't find the name "Vagary" on it, not even a picture. But from what I heard on an audio log of Belmont's, I've come to terms that this Vagary is none other then the mother spider."

Beast Boy: "Terrific… Not only that we have to deal with the Ticks and Trites, but we also have to deal with their mother."

Robin: "Any idea why it's not on the list of creatures?"

Alex: "Well from what I can tell is that the scientists collect and store the beasts in the Stasis Chamber for some analysis, but I guess they never got the chance of grabbing this Vagary. Hell, maybe they did catch it but couldn't store it in because it's too dangerous to be contained. That must be the reason why Betruger placed it into this place and made it a breeding room for her and her kind. Which could explain why they have to keep this a secret and place the room in the middle of the darken passage so people wouldn't find it."

Robin: "Either way, this Vagary could be a threat to us. So if we get the chance to meet it, we'll be ready."

Alex just smiled at the Boy Wonder, but it was a confident smile.

Alex: "You certainly are a brave boy there Rob."

Robin: "Ah well, it's what I do."

Alex chuckled for a sec then got a chance to glance at the two storage lockers attached to the wall. Interested, he walked down to the two lockers while Robin watched him.

Robin: "What are you doing?"

Alex: "Thinking about grabbing a few things. Incase we are going to fight against the Vagary, we're going to need a little extra fire power."

He approached the cabinets and noticed that one of the cabinets was opened and completely empty. So he went to the closed one and inputted the code, "681", on the small screen. Once the garage like door opened up, he observes the contents inside it. There were five clips stacked up on the top, and a rack of armor shards a small med kit at the bottom. He looked at himself and saw a few scratches and dents on his armor, then took out his machine gun and looked at the screen that reads, "60/146". Knowing he needs ammo and armor upgrades, he grabbed the clips and insert the armor shards into the armor slot. He also took the med kit just in case. Once he cleared the locker, he approached the Titans.

Alex: "Now that we got everything we needed, it's time we go."

Robin: "There's one problem. How are we going to get out?"

Alex: "Simple, we get out of this place and look for an exit in the passage."

Robin: "And walk in the dark and possibly get ambushed by those spiders?"

Alex: "Hmm… Good point."

Robin: "Face it Alex. Unless we know a way out of here, we're still in the dark."

Cyborg: "Actually…"

Everyone immediately looked at Cyborg as soon he said his first word.

Robin: "What is it Cyborg."

Cyborg: "Um… Well…"

Robin: "Spit it out already!"

Cyborg: "Alright, Alright! Chill will ya? Anyways, I discovered a faint light somewhere in the passage to where those things attacked us. I didn't have time to find out what it was since we were preoccupied at the moment."

Alex walked over to Cyborg and was close to his face.

Alex: "Where was the last time you saw it?"

Yet another five minutes in getting out of the breeding program and back into the darkened passage, Alex and the Titans were back to the very spot where they were attacked, the very same place where Starfire was captured. Since the area was vast they fan out and searched for the dim light Cyborg spotted. After a minute or two, Raven found the dim light that was a stray monitor attached to a wall with an extended ladder next to it. The team grouped together and stared at the monitor for a few seconds when Beast Boy read what the monitor said.

Beast Boy: "Click to extend ladder? Of all the high tech machinery this place has, you still use ladders?"

Alex: "Don't be so modest BB, people still use ladders for maintenance work and all. You expect us to climb on walls?"

Beast Boy: "No. I thought since this is the future, you guys should using jetpacks or levitated gravity boots or something."

Raven: "You've been watching one to many sci-fi movies."

Beast Boy looked at Raven with a pissed off glare.

Alex: "Well since we found an exit, I think we should get going."

Alex approached the panel and was about to click on the touch screen when-

Robin: "Wait!"

Alex turned his head to an interrupting Robin.

Robin: "We don't know what will happen if you click on that monitor."

Cyborg: "I bet it would get us out of this crazy place."

Raven: "Or lead us right into a trap."

Alex: "Either way, this is a chance we have to risk."

He turned back to the screen and pushed it. Within an instant, the square metal floor underneath the ladder pushed inward and slid down. The ladder was then lowered through the litted hole and stopped when it touched the ground floor. Once the sequence was complete, Alex took a good look at the hole and turned his eye at Raven.

Alex: "Ladies first."

Raven rolled her eyes over and proceeded to the ladder.

Raven: "Boys…"

Raven was the first to come down, then Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin. Alex was the last one to climb down but stopped halfway and jumped off the ladder feet first. He walked past the team with his machinegun in hand and ripped open a few spider webs that were blocking the path. When they exit the thin path and entered what appears to be a huge storage area. They were walking on the catwalk as the lower area was filled with cardboard boxes, metal crates, multi colored barrels, and a few forklifts. The place was of course filled with spider webs, dozens of unfortunate people covered in web like cocoons, and the ceiling was more like the top of a cave.

Beast Boy: "heh… Looks like the spiders are making themselves right at home."

Robin: "By the way this looks, it seems that the Ticks and Trites must be turning this place in to their own environment."

Alex: "Or the Vagary."

Robin: "So what is this place anyways?"

Alex took his PDA out and entered the digital map find out where they're located. What he found made his eyes wide in amazement, making him looked at the Titans.

Alex: "Guess what guys? We have entered the warehouse district of the UAC."

The team looked at each other, and then looked Alex with question marks prancing around their heads.

Robin: "So…"

Alex: "So, what's next to it is Communication Transfer, and next to that is the Communication Facility. We're almost at the halfway point!"

Robin: "Uh… Right… Now which part of Warehouse District we're in?"

Alex looked back to his PDA to find the exact location.

Alex: "It says here that we're at Storage Sector 2. We have to get down there and head to the airlock at the other end. Let's go before we get some of our spidy friends coming over for dinner."

The team continued to walk down the catwalk and was about to approach a lift in front of them. But Cyborg's mini computer on his arms beeped furiously and it got his attention. He stopped and activated his arm to show a screen with a vital sign system that made the hybrid stare in disbelief.

Cyborg: "Guys!"

The rest of the team stopped and turned their heads to Cyborg.

Robin: "What is it Cyborg?"

Cyborg: "I'm detecting a vital sign coming through out the area. It's faint but strong enough for someone to be alive this long."

Robin: "Where is it?"

Cyborg looked down at the ground floor.

Cyborg: "It's somewhere down there."

Alex: "You're sure?"

Cyborg: "Positive."

Robin: "Then let's get down there and get this person out."

Alex: "I don't know about this Robin. Maybe the Ticks and Trites are like the original spiders and must have lay eggs in the person body to regenerate the babies."

Robin: "No matter what, we'll still save him. Let's hurry!"

Soon enough, everyone was at the lift as Alex pushed down on the control panel. It moves half way down but all that web gunk made a loud and annoying noise, stopped, bended a little. The unexpected halt made the team tumble and fall onto each other. Beast Boy, who was on the top, shook off the fall and started speaking.

Beast Boy: "Ah man! Why is it that where ever we go, something bad has to happen?"

Alex: "Just get off of me!"

The Titans and Alex got off of each other and proceeded walking down the web infested ground floor. Cyborg was using his computer arm as a beeper to locate where the vital sign is. He pointed it straight, slow, he pointed to the right, very slow. But when he pointed it to the left, the signal was strong.

Cyborg: "Got a lock on its location. This way."

The team followed Cyborg as he kept on walking to where the signal is. It keeps on beeping faster and faster until it become like a flat line. He looked down and saw a cocoon beside a metal pillar of the catwalk.

Cyborg: "This must be it."

Robin approached the cocoon, kneeled down, and took a birdarang out of his utility belt to carefully cut the cocoon open. Even thought it was a little tough to break, he managed to slice it down the middle without hurting the person.

Robin: "Don't worry pal, we'll get you out of here in a sec."

But when Robin ripped the cocoon open, he and the others were shock to see none other then-

Robin: "Starfire?"

Indeed, it was Starfire. She was sleeping peacefully and her orange skin looks a little pale then usual. Robin quickly removed the rest of the webbing off her and tried to wake her.

Robin: "Starfire! Please wake up Star! It's me."

Starfire slowly open her eyes but not fully, just a little and looked at Robin.

Starfire: "R- Robin…"

Robin smiled knowing that his friend is alive and hugged her as tears came down his eyes.

Robin: "Oh Starfire, I thought I lost you. You had me worried."

Starfire: "Robin… I- I feel a lit- a little w- weak..."

Robin let go of his hug and soothed her.

Robin: "It's O.K. Star, I'm here for you."

Starfire gave out a faint smile but closed her eyes and went back to her slumber. Robin then brought Star down on the floor and looked at Cyborg for an analysis.

Robin: "Cyborg, is she O.K.?"

Cyborg was scanning her body the whole time Robin was talking to her. He then looked at Robin that was waiting for the results.

Cyborg: "She's fine Robin. The girl must've been paralyzed the whole time, making her body impossible to move. I even scanned the inside of her body for any abnormal activity. She's clean from top to bottom."

Robin sighed in relief while Alex approached her. He bends his knees down and took a good look at her right arm that has a spider bite and was still bleeding. He immediately took out a med kit and opened it to reveal the contents. He first took out the iodine and dabbed it on the bite, then he took out the rolled up bandage and wrapped it around the bitten arm. Once he was finished he looked at the team.

Alex: "Well I was able to take care of some of the damage, but who knows how long she has been like this for."

Robin immediately turned his head to Alex with a questioning look.

Robin: "What?"

Alex stood up and stared at Robin.

Alex: "Well for what I know, paralyzing to a human seems normal when you can't move you body for a period of time. But for a Tamaranean, I have no idea on their medical terms."

Robin: "Then we have to get her to a med lab immediately! C'mon team, let's hurry before-"

Just then, a shriek was heard all over the storage sector. The Titans looked around to find out where the shriek was coming from.

Beast Boy: "Uh… What was that?"

Alex: "Don't know, but I got a sick feeling that it must be the mother spider."

The team continued looking around until Cyborg spotted something big moving in one of the garage airlocks.

Cyborg: "Guys, I see something, something not human."

Alex and the Titans looked at the direction of what Cyborg was looking at as the hybrid activated his sonic cannon at the shadow creature. The strange being scurried out of the garage and into the light, making the team shocked in amazement and horror. The creature was a female spider hybrid. It's bottom half was that of the spider's legs and back end and the top was that of a female woman with no hair and six eyes on her face. After close examination, Raven came to the conclusion.

Raven: "I'm going on a wild limb here and say, that must be the Vagary."

Alex: "No, really, you think?"

The Vagary gave out a shriek as it raised its arms up and two exploding barrels and two crates were raised in the air. The Titans and Alex had there exploding disks poised, machine gun armed, sonic cannon charged, hands glowing crimson black, and tiger morph ready. As they know by the way this looks, it's going to be the fight of their lives.

And just as you thought that this was going to get interesting, guess what, I gave you one HELL of a cliffhanger! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Sorry I have to stop this so abrupt, but this chapter is getting to long for me and I can't write too much of it. But don't worry, on the next chapter, you'll get your battle as the Titans take on the Vagary. Survival of the fittest folks. Place your bets! Please Review.