Guess who's back! Sorry to keep you in the dark for way too long, but things were a little completed. I hope all you had a nice Christmas and New Year's, cause I sure had. Like for Christmas, I got an I-Pod, so that means no more CD's skipping on the CD player anymore. Though the reason why I took so long on this chapter is because I have to move my MP3's into my I-Tunes program, and let just say I got a whole lot of MP3 CD's in my collections. I had to pick out my favorite song, move them to I-Tunes, tag them, organize them, import, then get the album artwork. It's a bit frustrating and it would take some time getting it all together, so that means these updates will be a lot longer then I at least expected. Another thing is that I'm now doing stories for another website to expand my horizon. I hope these temporary set backs wouldn't create this problem, but that's something you have to get use to.
Now in Fan Fiction news, I got two reviews from Rahkshi500 and Bob the Builder Mafia Man. Plus I got 49 hits on the last chapter, which makes it almost fifty. I hope the long wait was worth it for you guys, cause chapter 23 of Doomed Titans is coming at cha! Alex and the Teen Titans must continue out of recycling through the EFI Ward and Shipment. But when they come face to face with a creature hidden from society, will they be able to take it down?
Chapter Notes
The Fool in this chapter is a boss character from House of the Dead 3. I thought about using this boss and the level from the same game to make this story a little heart pounding.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, Doom 3, or House of the Dead 3
Chapter Twenty-Three: The Fool
EFI Ward and Shipment, Maintenance and Storage: November 15, 2145, 8:03 P.M.
Down in the maintenance area of EFI, the elevator doors opened and Alex and the Titans got out of it. While Alex took his PDA out to get some info on those big monsters they saw at the pump station, the team looked around to make sure no more hostiles were present.
Robin: "So… What does this EFI do for a living?"
Beast Boy: "By the way this place looks, doesn't do anything at all."
Alex: "Oh contraire BB. This area of recycling is meant for delivering water to various parts of the installation. This is where the official recycled material ships off. It is also meant for storing reports and updated files in the archives."
Raven: "So why put a ward in this place?"
Alex: "Well being that the Recycling plant is a very dangerous and hazardous place to work in, a medical ward is installed for people who were either sick and injured after an accident."
Cyborg: "And you think putting it in here was a wise idea?"
Alex: "Well since the nearest med bay is miles from here, where else would you take patients for immediate medical assistance?"
Cyborg: "Hmm… Good point."
Alex kept on clicking through the archives to find the huge behemoths of monsters they've encountered and it with one more click of the pen, found it.
Alex: "All right… There we go…"
After reading through the digital file, he put his PDA away and looked at the team.
Alex: "Everyone listen up!"
The team looked at Alex as he started his monster lesson 101.
Alex: "Now, those Sumo wrestling rejects we faced were called a Mancubus. According to my PDA they were-"
Beast Boy: "Let me guess, another failed military experiment."
Alex looked at BB a little surprised.
Alex: "How the hell you know that?"
Beast Boy: "Call it a hunch."
He then looked back at the PDA and continued giving the team the information.
Alex: "Anyways… They were suppose to be used as living tanks for military applications, but they were of course aggressive during their first tryouts and the project was terminated. Their main weapons are the two blaster cannons attached to each arm with enough firepower to knock you off your seat. And their massive size makes them extremely hard to penetrate. If you get close to them, they will completely flatten you down. One advantage is that they're really slow, which makes targeting them pretty easy."
Robin: "So our best option is to avoid them whenever possible."
Beast Boy: "And what happens when we face them again?"
Alex: "We take them out. Though the only weapons useful for this endeavor are a rocket launcher or a BFG, we have to use what we have to slow them down. Let us hope we won't face them in the near future."
Just when they were ready for the new monster, hissing and cackling noise echoed around them. The team looked around to see where the voices came from.
Alex: "Sounds like we're not alone in this place."
Alex then took out his machine gun and check to see if it's full.
Alex: "I'm going to go ahead and start clearing a path. Think you guys can give me a little extra help?"
The Titans looked at each other, then looked at their guardian and nodded.
Robin: "You'll lead, we'll follow."
Alex just smiled at the response.
Alex: "I'm glad to hear that. Now let's go!"
He went ahead while the Titans follow him. Once Alex went down a small set of steps that take him to a half open garage door, he spotted three Cherubs eating a corpse in front of him. One of the baby bugs saw the team and shrieked for the others to look at them. They then charged to them, but Alex was able to clip them off one by one. Once they were dead, he crouches down to enter a hallway where two zombies and a fat zombie were waiting for them. They limped to their position but got all shredded to bits by the machine gun. Alex quickly reloaded it and the team ran to a fork in a road. Alex was about to turn left when he heard Beast Boy's voice.
Beast Boy: "Alex, look out!"
He looked right and up to see two Vulgars clutching on the ceiling. Alex was able to take out one of them but the second one landed on the floor and threw a green fireball at him. Fortunate for Alex, BB took the fireball with his grabber and launched it back at the creature, killing it with one blow. Just when they thought it was over, they all saw another garage door shake and someone or something on the other side was banging it. It was then that the garage door bursted open and a Pinky came out of it roaring. It then made a dash at them, but Cyborg activated two of his sonic cannons and fired them, letting the blue beams go right through the beast and kill it in a second. Once everything was clear, the team proceeded down the left side and approached another splitted path. When they reached it, Alex looked at both hallways to find the right path.
Raven: "So, where are we going?"
Alex kept checking to find their options. The hallway on the right showed dead end with a closed garage door, something they want to avoid. But the hallway to the left showed a service elevator.
Alex: "We're taking the elevator!"
Just when they were about to head there, one of the storage doors opened hard and an Imp came out of it and scratched at Alex's armor plate. He backed away and shot it down with his weapon. Suddenly, another door opened up on his right side and another Imp leaped out of there to kill him. Alex was fortunate enough to jump out of the way as Robin used his birdarang sword to slice the creature in half. Then a fat zombie came out of the open down and got its blubber taken out by Cyborg's cannon while Alex used his machine gun to tear its head off. With the two dead, the team went down another small set of stairs, but just before they can reach the elevator, the third Imp materialized and started the attack. Alex quickly took out his double barrel shotgun and blasted it in half with one shot. But then two more red clouds appeared above them on a catwalk that's loaded with crates and flammable barrels and two Revenants came out of the lightning bolts and launched their mini rockets at the team. Raven formed a shield around them and deflected the rocket's blast. She then let it down as Cyborg aimed the cannon and fired a blue laser at the barrels, causing them to explode and killing off the skeleton soldiers. When the area was clear, they all approached the elevator as Alex pushed the "Call" icon on the monitor and the elevator doors opened. Everyone got inside as the doors closed behind them. Alex approached another monitor and tapped on the "Ward and Archives" icon.
Alex: "Let's go down."
The elevator then descended down to the bottom floor and made a stop. Just when the elevator doors opened, two more zombies were sliding into the shaft, hoping to get a bite to eat. Alex took the opportunity and took out his shotgun that was already reloaded to fired a twin shot at the two, sending them flying out of the doorway. When the doors fully opened, three Imps were waiting for them and threw their fireballs. The team ducked under two fireballs as Beast Boy aimed the Grabber to get a hold of the last fireball and fired it back at one of the creatures. Once the others got up, Alex stormed out of the shaft blaring a machine gun at the second Imp, followed by Cyborg taking care of the third. Once the rest of the team was out, they entered a small junction that splits in three directions. All of them with closed garage doors.
Robin: "Now what?"
Alex looked around and spotted a doorway to the right.
Alex: "This way."
They all followed Alex to the doorway. Raven was just behind the team for the moment until she heard some hissing above her. She looked up at the ventilation duct and saw a Maggot coming out duct and landed on her.
Raven: "Argh!"
The team stopped when they heard Raven's voice and turned around to see her on the ground with a two-headed creature on top of her.
Raven: "Get off of me!"
Alex took immediate action as he aimed his weapon at the creature with precise accuracy and pulled the trigger. Soon enough, bullets were hitting it without harming Raven. Once it was dead, Raven got up and dusted herself up.
Raven: "Well, that was embarrassing."
She looked to see her friends only to see Alex approaching her, while reloading a fresh clip, and stared at her face to face.
Alex: "You hesitate, you die. Remember that?"
Raven just nodded as Alex went past the Titans and headed for the door. The team soon followed when they were about to enter. But they heard scattering sounds coming from the right so they all turned and saw five trites coming out of a slanted open door. Alex took care of them as he shot them down with his weapon. After they were gone a loud roar came from the left. They directed their attention to the left side and saw a Pinky coming out of a hallway after another garage door opened and stomped its way towards the team. Cyborg, giving the opening he needs, opened his shoulder blades and used his mini missiles to blast the bull like creature out of the picture. Once the area was clear, the Titans and Alex pass through the automatic door and entered the security checkpoint, where they met face to face with a chainsaw zombie. Alex made quick of it before it could slice someone in half. They continued to walk a few more feet but when they got there, three Z-Sec zombies came out of their hiding spots, one hiding behind a cubicle wall and two behind a security terminal, and started blasting with their two shotguns and machine gun. Robin stepped forward, took out his retractable bow staff, and spun it around real fast to use it as a shield to deflect the bullets. Once the undead guards commence the reloading, Robin jumped up and threw two exploding disks at the first two behind the terminal, causing them to explode in splattered blood and guts. He then landed next to the last one and used his staff to remove the shotgun away from its hands. The Z-Sec did a few jabs to Robin's head, but the Boy Wonder ducked low under them and gave him a high kick straight to the chin. With the security zombie dazed for the moment, he then put away the staff and took out the R-Sword to slice it up in the middle. The zombie then started to crawl its half severed body directly to Robin to get a bite at a heel or foot, but Robin used his sword to spin it downward and forcefully stabbed it down its head. He then removed the sword out of the Z-Sec's cranium and used his cape to wipe the blood off the blade. The team just stood there and saw Robin's little performance as the Boy Wonder put away his sword and looked back at the team.
Robin: "Well…"
Alex, who was shocked the most shook it off the nervously smiled.
Alex: "Sick… But good…"
But just before they could get all comfortable, three locker doors to the right opened up and a zombie and two Imps came out to attack. Alex killed the zombie with the machine gun while Cyborg and Starfire used their sonic blaster and eyebeams to take out the Imps. When it was taken care of, Alex approached the terminal and moved the mouse pad to click on the "Open Security Door" icon.
Alex: "We have to take a shortcut through the ward and archives. It is the quickest way in getting out of here."
He clicked on the icon and heard the doors unlock, then he took clips, ammo shards, and shells from the metal shelf and the dead Z-Secs. Once he was done with that, he and the Titans pass through the doors and entered the one of the ward sections. The wide room was filled with gurney beds with a few dead bodies on top of it, hopefully not zombies pulling a trick, blood across the walls and floor, and a bunch of life support systems, half of them malfunctioning. But on the other side of the room where the team was facing was a door that would get them out of here.
Alex: "That's our exit, let's hurry!"
The Titans and Alex walked down the straight line through the gurneys when Alex stopped and spotted a few Cherubs hovering a few inches off the ground on the left. He took them out using his weapon before they can attack. Just then, a zombie jumped off the gurney next to him and was about to bite his neck when Robin took out a birdarang and tossed it directly to the undead's forehead with its pale eyes growing paler and it fell to the floor with a loud thump. Alex looked down at the dead carcass and looked up at Robin.
Alex: "Nice shoot."
Robin: "Thanks."
Alex then looked back at the door and headed to it with the team behind him. Just when they were halfway there, there vision begins to feel blurry as the room started to look like some horrible filming for a movie. Suddenly the gurneys and the support system started to shake as they lifted off the ground, hit the ceiling, and crashed to the floor. When that was over, three red clouds appeared and three Wraiths materialized to begin their kill when they disappeared in a flash. But when they reappear, it was time for the team fought back. Alex used his machine gun to kill the first one, Robin threw a disk that exploded when connecting the second one, and Cyborg finished off the last with his cannon. With them dead, another cloud came to the middle and magically brought a Revenant out of the blue. It then lunched missiles out of its mounted shoulder rockets and they flew straight to the team. Raven, thankfully, lifted the gurneys up with her levitating powers and used them as a wall to block off the rockets. Starfire then flew up in the air and charged her star bolts ready to fire back. When the time was right, Raven moved the gurneys aside letting the Tamaranean throw an onslaught of green projectiles at the skeleton soldier, knocking it completely off guard. After a couple of direct hits, the Revenant died and dissolved away. Alex then hurried for the door when everything's taken care of but heard the hum of a chainsaw from the other side. He puts away his weapon and took out his shotgun to get ready for what's behind the door. Without warning, a chainsaw zombie came into the room blaring its chainsaw and headed to the Titan's guardian. But Alex was pointing his weapon to the undead's head and opened fired.
'BANG!!!'
Mars Surface: November 15, 2145, 8:08 P.M.
Outside the UAC, a jeep that the Titans were once in was driving down the sandy red ground. Inside the jeep was Jack Campbell at the wheel and Counselor Swan at the passenger seat. Behind them in the back seat was two bags loaded with detonator charges. After a couple of more miles, Jack pressed the breaks and made an abrupt stop not far from where their destination was.
Jack Campbell: "Well, we're here."
Swan took a look at the place they're at. It was a large cylinder structure in the middle of the UAC with walkways, subway tunnels, and docking zones attached around it. What he knows is that this building they're close to was in fact the main power plant where there's a reactor core that powers up the entire installation. Swan had a sick feeling deep inside his gut as he turned to Campbell to give him some second thoughts.
Counselor Swan: "Listen Campbell. I know that what you're doing is for the safety of mankind and all, but this is way beyond the limit. Perhaps there's another way in making sure the Earth fleet doesn't reach Mars."
Jack Campbell: "There's no other choice. I don't know if you haven't noticed but most of this facility is going straight to Hell and there's no way in stopping it. We have to make sure that these beasts don't get those ships and reach Earth by any means necessary."
Counselor Swan: "Yes but still, this plan of yours is beyond my endeavors. Do you really think that you're pushing yourself over the edge? Do you really think you want to turn this in to an all out war?"
Jack turned his head to see Swan and stared at him with a stern look.
Jack Campbell: "Counselor, I'll have you know that I've seen my share of wars for over thirty years. I was at the front lines at the Fichina in a battle against the Crushgurgs while you were beaten by bullies in your own school. I was in 24 hour reconnaissance missions in Titania while your were getting your PHD in economics and data handling in college. Don't talk to me about war when you know damn well that I lived most of my life in wars. I scrificed everything I had in the past to protect those that matter the most. And even if you say that I've gone too far on this plan of mine, you're damn right! But it's the only thing I can do to save our planet from total extinction. And I'm afraid if we don't to anything to stop this, then Earth is doomed. So let me ask you, are you in or are you out?"
Swan gave all the some thought. One part of him said that this idea Campbell had was insane. But another part said that this is the only way in stoping this invasion. So without giving this a little more time, he came up with an answer that's infact a question.
Counselor Swan: "Where do we begin?"
EFI Ward and Shipment, Archives: November 15, 2145, 8:10 P.M.
Back at EFI the Titans and Alex escaped the ward and managed to get through the corridors and shortcuts through the other rooms. Now they're in the archives section of the area and no monsters were anywhere in sight, for now. The archives were like a library with bookshelves upon shelves loaded with files and reports. They kept walking down one of the isles as the Titans looked on at all the paperwork on the shelves.
Robin: "So, this is the Archives?"
Alex: "Correct."
Robin: "And exactly what do these files hold again?"
Alex: "Reports about shipments of water in and out of the plant and medical diagnosis on people who are sick or injured while working in the recycling plants. The ward you saw back there was meant for keeping heavily contaminated people in so that any diseases or viruses won't spread through out the plant or the entire UAC facility."
Beast Boy, when hearing that, got the willies.
Beast Boy: "Let's hope we didn't get infected back there."
The team continued walking down the isle when Raven spotted a file lying on the floor. She picked it up and opened it to see what's inside. So far it was nothing but a pieces of paper discussing on another pointless statement, but when she skimmed through it her eyes grew wide. What her team doesn't know was that where they're going would be something they will never defeat.
Alex: "Hey Raven!"
Rae looked up and saw the team starring at her.
Alex: "Whenever you're done reading, we have to go."
Raven nodded and put the report into her cape coat, then ran to her friend and followed them. They kept on walking until they heard blood-curdling screams coming from in front of them. Suddenly, ten Lost Souls came out from the right and rocketed to the team with jaws wide open. Alex quickly got his machine gun ready and clipped the first five. Cyborg then joined in and fired his cannon to take care of the rest. With that out of the way, they ran to the end of the isle and noticed a wide room on the right side that showed a few table and turned over chairs.
Alex: "That must be the lounge, we should get out through there."
Just before they were about to head to the lounge, the blade of the chainsaw penetrated one of the shelves on the left side and cut downward between Alex and the Titans. Once the blade was removed, a hard knock by a foot made the bookshelf burst open and caused every file to fall. The team was able to stay clear from the debris but was ready to take out a chainsaw zombie Imp, and a Wraith. The zombie was the first to go when Cyborg fired his cannon and shot it in both the mid section and the head. Beast Boy grabbed a fireball that was hurling towards Alex and shot it back at the Imp. And Alex used his double barrel shotgun to blow the Wraith clean off. They all then turned to the right and noticed a few Vulgars appearing at the entranceway of the lounge and began their attack. The team ducked under the barrage of green fireballs and fought back with Alex's machine gun blazing, Robin's disks exploding, and Cyborg's cannon firing. After all of them were dead, the team entered the lounge that had tables and chairs that were half turned over and vending machines with one of them out of order and torn up revealing the insides. They were all heading down the end when Alex stopped and spotted four Trites on the right and took them out. Just then, they all heard rattling coming from above. When Alex looked up, he saw a ventilation tile fall to the floor and a Maggot came down it and grunted. Alex sidestepped out of the way and aimed his weapon to kill off the creature. They all then turned left and spotted three fat zombies enjoying their meal of a dead scientist on the table. The team was disturbed by it including Beast Boy, who turns his head away from the scene.
Beast Boy: "Aurgh… Disgusting! This is the reason why I don't eat meat."
The fat zombies heard BB's remarks and turned their heads to spot some fresh meat.
Alex: "Way to go Beast Boy. Nice going blowing our cover with your loud mouth."
The fat zombies made a dash at the team, but Alex used his shotgun to take one out by piercing it through the gut, reloaded, and shot the other one that was close to him. He then ducked and rolled away from the last zombie that was making attempted swings at his temples. When he was away from it, Starfire and Cyborg joined forces and combined their powers and abilities to completely disintegrate the fat zombie, leaving it with only a pair of legs and a bloated waist. It stumbled and falls to the floor, leaving Alex quite relieved that it was a little too close for comfort. He got up and approached the table where the fat zombies were eating, to discover a red key card lying next to the corpse. He picked it up and inspected the card, smirking to himself.
Alex: "Well this should come in handy."
He puts the card away in his pocket and looked at the Titans, gesturing them to keep moving. They all then walked to a steel door in front of them that would take them out of the lounge. When they were about to leave, a vent on the left side of the door fell off its hinges and landed on the ground. Alex looked up and saw a Lost Soul coming out of it. He was able to take it down with only a few shots of machine gun bullets, but suddenly, more Lost Souls came out and went for the kill. Al continued his onslaught on the flaming skulls while Beast Boy used his grabber to catched the rest of them and disintegrate them when releasing the trigger. Once they're gone, everyone headed to the door. But when it was open, they've encountered a shrieking Imp. Alex took out his shotgun out again and took it down with only one blow. They all then passed through the door and entered another corridor. High above their heads were two maggots on the ceiling, crawling to get them. Robin looked up and threw a bundle of birdarangs at them. With the two dead, the team turned right and spotted a huge metallic door in front of them with a sign above that said, "Restricted Area."
Robin: "What's that?"
Alex took his PDA out to find out where this door leads to, but all he saw on the map was a circle that said "Unidentified" in the middle.
Alex: "Don't know. Whatever's behind the door seems to be unknown according to the map."
He looked at the right side of the door and saw a monitor that says, "Red Keycard Required" on the screen with the picture of the card itself next to it. Alex observed the screen and took the keycard out of his pocket to see if it matches. Once he put the two together, he looked back at the door.
Alex: "But all I do know is that we're going in."
Suddenly, the team heard shrieks and screams behind them and turned around to see where that came from. But what they saw, were shadows and creatures and zombies all heading to the Titans.
Beast Boy: "Um… You better make it quick, cause we're expecting company very soon!"
Alex quickly headed to the door and inserted the keycard into the slot beneath the screen. Within seconds, the huge garage door opened up and showed them the way in. The team then entered the area as the door closed behind them. When they got out of that mess, they entered what appeared to be a cylinder like cage fence with a circular stairway that goes around inside it.
Alex: "Well now, this looks interesting."
Cyborg walked over to the edge of the stairway rail to look down and sees nothing but darkness at the bottom. He was unaware that he knocked a small pipe off the floor with his tin foot as it fall right into the darkness and there was no sound of it clanking on the lower levels. The only thing he could respond to that was a long whistle.
Cyborg: "Now that's a long way down."
Beast Boy: "So, where are we going to go now?"
Alex, who held on to his PDA check the map again to find a way out of this strange looking silo. Tapping his pen on the top of the screen he discovered a passage.
Alex: "Looks like I found out way out. Turns out there's another passage that can get us out of here. The problem is that we have to go up a couple of flights of stairs."
Robin: "How many?"
Alex: "Well by my calculations, I'm thinking… About eight to ten flights."
Beast Boy: "Great, more walking…"
Starfire: "Not to worry friends, Raven and I can fly up to the exit with ease, Beast Boy could change into a flying creature, and Robin will use one of his gadgets to climb up."
Cyborg turned around and approached the team with a question of his own.
Cyborg: "And what does that leave Alex and I. I hate to tell you but we're the only ones on this team that can't fly."
Alex: "Cy's right. Even if you guys have ways in getting up there the quickest, that only leaves the two of us to play catch up."
Robin: "Sorry Alex, but it looks like there's no other way into solving this. You and Cyborg would be walking the whole way."
Robin had something click in his mind and looked back at the doorway they entered. Alex was curious at what the Boy Wonder was thinking, so he asked a question.
Alex: "What is it?"
Robin looked back at Alex and answered.
Robin: "Nothing. It's just that… Do you find it strange that there were monsters that were following us then the next minute, they seem to leave us alone."
Alex gave that some thought, then found out that the bird boy was right.
Alex: "You know what? Come to think of it, you're right. It looks like they wanted us to enter here in the first place and leave without us knowing what's in here. Did you found that out on instincts or just plain assumption?"
Robin: "No, just call it a hunch."
Cyborg: "Well whatever you call it, I don't care. I just wanna get out of here. This place smells worse then Beast Boy's room."
Cyborg then turned around again and was about to head towards the stairs. But before he ever got the chance into going up, a huge foreign object came down out of nowhere and startled the hybrid. When he looked down, what he saw was a dead body all mangled and mutilated. That made Cyborg completely freak out.
Cyborg: "OH MAN!!!"
Everyone heard Cy's sound of shock and rushed to aid him, only to see the mangled body. That made them all feel quizy.
Starfire: "Now that looks so vial!"
Alex: "You ain't kidding. Cy shine your light above so we can see where that body came from."
Cyborg turned on his shoulder flashlight and pointed it up to sky. It was then that they saw a bunch of bodies hung on hooks on small circle ceilings by the feet. The team was speechless when they saw all the bodies.
Alex: "What is this place? Some sort of feeding ground?"
Raven: "Actually, it's something much worse then that."
Alex turned to see Raven, a little suspicious with the Goth.
Alex: "What do you mean by that?"
Raven: "Back at the archives, I've spotted a file laying on the floor. When I took a peek inside, I've discovered something that's very deadly."
She approached the guardian, took out the file, and handed it Alex.
Raven: "Take a look."
Alex took the file, opened it, and saw a few papers. Nothing out of the ordinary until he spotted one that said "Top Secret" on top in bright red letters. He took it out and skim through the report to find out what it's about. Once he did another read, his eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped.
Alex: "Oh my…"
The team looked at Alex and they were completely unease.
Robin: "Um… Alex is everything all right.
He put down the paper and looked at both Robin and the Titans.
Alex: "I don't think so. You guys do remember the secret lab that held the Vagary back at the passage way right?"
Everyone nodded except Starfire, who was tied up in spider webs in the first place while the team was there.
Alex: "Well turns out there are more secrets then we thought. This huge silo we're in, this is actually a cage built specifically for a dangerous creature scientists call, The Fool. It came out of the main teleporter in Delta while they were doing another test last year. Once it was out, it created such a bloody mess that they had to send a strike team to come in and contain this beast. Once they were done, they hauled the creature into this sealed room at EFI where it can't harm anyone."
Beast Boy: "O.K. I hate to say this but what does this Fool do and how dangerous is it?"
Alex: "It's some sort of a speed and strong type that could climb on anything with its huge claws on its feet and hands. Its fast agility is so sudden that it would take just a second for it to slice you up. And to make matters worse, its body is impenetrable. Meaning that you can take a chain gun at it and it will still keep moving."
Starfire: "Who in one's mind would restrain such a creature like this that is deadly?"
Alex: "Well according to the reports, the person responsible for holding it in here is, get ready for this, Dr. Malcolm Betruger."
Robin: "Dr. Betruger? That same guy that-"
Alex: "The same guy that kept the Vagary in the secret lab, and was responsible for creating the main portal in Delta? Yes that's the guy."
Cyborg: "Why would he do something like that?"
Alex: "I don't know. But we have to get out of here quick before it's too late."
Alex headed back to the where they entered when the sliding cage doors came out of no where and closed in front of them.
Alex: "Damn it! We're trapped!"
After the gates closed on them, there was a loud echoing maniacal laugh in the silo and within seconds, fire quickly came out of the middle of the silo risen high seconds before the calmed and burned beneath them. Beast Boy looked down at the fire and swallowed a hard lump.
Beast Boy: "Okay. Definitely not going down there."
Alex: "Then we have to reach higher ground and make it to the exit. Let's hurry!"
But just before they were about to leave, they all heard a lot of clanking noises coming from above them. They all looked up and spotted a huge sloth with a humanoid face and large claws on its hands and feet, clinging to the fence wall and roaring at them. Everyone kept starring at the creature and were a little stunned.
Raven: "I'm taking a wild guess and say, that's got to be the Fool."
Alex: "You have guessed correctly Raven. And by the looks of it, he seems to be pretty hungry."
The Fool stomped its claw hands on the wall and roared again.
Alex: "Go, go, GO!"
Within an instant, the team quickly headed up the fastest way they can. Starfire and Raven flew in the air, away from the beast. Beast Boy turned into a Pterodactyland followed them. Robin took his grappling hook out and launched it at the highest peak. When the hook was attached, the Boy Wonder pushed the button and he headed up to higher ground. Ask for Alex and Cyborg, they were running as fast as their legs can take them as the creature was racing towards them acting like Spiderman.
Cyborg: "Aw man! It's times like these I wish I had a pair of hover boots installed in my system!"
Alex: "Oh forget about the boots Cy! We need to slow it down! Aim for the creature and fire!"
Cy looked at Alex with a confused expression.
Cyborg: "Say what!?"
Alex: "Aim at that freak that's chasing us and FIRE!!!!!"
Cyborg and Alex pointed their weapons and launched their barrages of bullets and lasers. But all of that didn't slow it down as the Fool kept scurrying towards them. The two then kept on running to get away from it. However, no matter how fast they are, the sloth like creature would go faster. Once it reached to the two, it extended its claws and used one of its huge arms to slice the two of them. Alex looked up behind him to see the claws and had his eyes completely wide.
Alex: "JUMP!!!"
And they did as Cy and Al jumped away from the attack as the claws ripped a small section of the stairway and pieces of metal fell into the fiery pit down below. Alex and Cyborg quickly got up and continued running, leaving the Fool to chuckle to itself and chased them again.
Cyborg: "Man that was too close."
Alex: "Well if we don't do something real soon, we won't be close enough!"
As they kept running, the Fool caught up to them and was about to get another attempted attack on them. But before it would slice them with its claws, it was under attack by a couple of green star bolts and disks. The creature looked up and spotted the rest of the team a few flights up. Starfire tightened her orange hands to make her star bolts powerful while Robin had his hands full of exploding disks.
Starfire: "Get away from our friends!!"
They continued to throw their barrages at the monstrous sloth, but their attacks didn't even phased it one bit. Both Alex and Cyborg stopped running and looked on to see the Fool getting bombarded. One of the star bolts hit the creature's right claw hand and it felt a lot of pain as it let go of the cage wall and hang on to it with its left claw hand. It was roaring in pain and started rattling the cage a little. Alex watched the creature's anguish and found out its weakness.
Alex: "Aim for the claws."
Cyborg looked at Alex and had an odd stare in his face.
Cyborg: "Excuse me?"
Al turned his head to him screamed out the top of his lungs.
Alex: "Aim for the claws, that its weakness. Do it!"
He immediately took his plasma rifle out and fired it at the claw the Fool was hanging onto the cage. But with quick instincts, it limply clanked away from the two targets and the blasts. Cyborg looked at the creature then back at Alex and back at the Fool, shrugging his shoulders.
Cyborg: "Oh what the hell…"
He turned on his sonic cannon and fired at the huge sloth. The creature trying its best avoiding the shots then came up with the idea to get them off its back. It got a hold of the cage and started rattling it a lot. Most of the Titans just watched on to figure out the Fool's strategy.
Cyborg: "What the heck is it doing?"
Alex: "Don't know but as long as it's far away from us it's fine by me."
After he said that, Alex felt a few drops of blood tapping his right shoulder and placed his fingertips on it to for examination.
Alex: "What the…"
He then looked up and saw something coming down at them, something big and dead. Alex was a little hesitant for the moment until he managed to gather up all his strength and shoved Cyborg to the other side while he stepped back. Suddenly, a corpse fell to the steel floor and lay there. Both Cyborg and Alex look at the dead body then looked up. To their surprise, there were many dead people raining down on them.
Alex: "Ah Shit! Watch It!"
The two of them then shot them down with their weapons but more of them kept on coming. But just as they thought there were going to become sandwiched, more star bolts came out of nowhere and the bodies were taken out by the shots. The Titan and Guardian looked up and saw Starfire shooting the corpses down with her projectiles while Raven created an umbrella like roof to cover the three members from the falling carcasses.
Raven: "Go! We got your back. Keep going up!"
The two looked at each other and nodded, then they ran up the stairs to join them while dead bodies kept raining down at them. Fortunately, Star was there shooting down as many corpses as she can. They were just a couple of flights away to join up with the others when they heard more clanking of the cell and the pouring dead stopped. They turned their heads to the left and saw the Fool climbing up the cage like a ladder. It then stopped, turned at its body to look at Cyborg and Alex and snorted. Alex then looked at Cyborg and said…
Alex: "Remember, aim for the claws."
Cyborg: "Got it."
They draw their weapons and waited for the right moment to fire. But they knew it would follow them, the huge sloth like creature then jumped off the cage and flew directly to them with one of its claws extended. The two looked on but fired before it could kill them.
Alex: "Incoming!!!"
Within a second, the stopped firing and ran in different directions, Alex going upstairs and Cyborg heading down. And just like that, the Fool sliced the stairway in half like a knife through butter. Cyborg, who got too close to the crossfire, fell back and through the gap of the metal steps and fall straight to the flaming pit below him. The whole team saw it coming and was shocked to see the hybrid falling to his doom.
Starfire: "Cyborg!"
Beast Boy saw him as well, as he decided to jump off the stairway and went right after his friend. He turned himself into a Pterodactyl again and swooped straight towards him with high descending speed. Within an instant, the changeling grabbed the hybrid with his talons just mere feet to the fire and flew up with him. Cyborg looked up at the green Pterodactyl and smiled.
Cyborg: Thanks for the lift BB.
While the two were flying up for safety, Alex looked on and sighed in relief. But when he looked down at the hole, he saw the Fool staring up at him and roared. Knowing now that it was underneath him, Alex quickly ran up as fast as he could as the creature followed underneath him, using its two claw hands to act like a monkey does to gain some speed. Once it stopped it used one the hands to pierce the bottom of the steps to reach the top. Alex stopped when he saw the huge claw in front of him in just four inches, which was as close as it got for him to get killed. Thinking quickly, he positioned his plasma at the claw and fired it. Once the plasmas hit the fleshy part of the claw, the huge sloth screamed in pain and brought its claw down. With his path clear, Alex jumped over the gap and continued heading up. But while he was running to the team, he heard clanking noises from below and knew the Fool was still following him so he ran faster. Suddenly, the claw hand shot through the steps behind him, again in mere inches. He turned around and fired at the claw again. When it was hit, the Fool removed the claw from the stairs but this time, another claw came up from the other side. Alex spun back and fired at the claw the same time the creature removed it. Alex then continued to run as fast as he could with the huge sloth hot on his trails. Without warning, another claw came out of the steps and this time, it almost got Alex off his balance. He then hit the guardrail of the steps, tripped over it, and falls to the pit. He screamed and thought that this was the end, but he landed hard on a black circular disk. He slowly got up and shook his head a bit, then looked up to see who saved him. Turned out it was Raven hovering above him with glowing white eyes.
Raven: "Need a hand?"
Alex just smiled and nodded. He then looked up and saw the Fool banging the cage in frustration. It twisted its head to see the Goth and guardian then jumped off the cage and had its arm extended to kill them. Raven swiftly avoided the attack by soaring fast with the disk she created following her. The sloth got a hold of the cage on the other side and looked back at the two. Alex pointed the plasma rifle at one of the claw feet and fired at it. Once again the Fool screamed in pain as the blue plasma charges hit its claw feet. Al kept firing until his weapon ran on empty, so he quickly reloaded and inserted a fresh cell. That gave the opening the huge creature needs as it jumped off again and made another attempted strike. But of course, Raven flew away from the attempted swing. When the sloth grabbed the fence cage, Alex continued to fire on the claws, only this time, he was shooting its right hand. Once again, the plasma rifle was empty and he had to make an immediate reload. When the Fool thought that a third times a charm, it jumped off again with claws ready to do a number on them. But just as it was about to kill, a couple of mini rockets came down from above and shot it down with sure force. While Raven and Alex got away from the bombardment, the huge sloth fell but luckily got a hold of the cage as the claws cut through the diamond shape fence a couple of times before it went to a complete stop. Rae and Al looked at the creature that was away from them for the moment then looked up to see Cyborg with his shoulder blades up and rocket holes smokin' with the rest of the team around him.
Cyborg: "Hey! Back off freak show!"
Both Raven and Alex headed up to the team as Al jumped off the black disk and landed on the metal floor. Raven landed too and the black disk disappeared.
Robin: "You're all right Alex?"
Alex: "I'm cool, for now."
He looked down and saw the Fool gathering up its strength and began climbing up to reach the team.
Alex: "That thing will be after us shortly. We have to get up fast if we ever going to make it out of here alive."
Beast Boy: "Um… I hate to be a complete pain but do you see how fast it is?! We're not going to make it out alive let alone leave in one piece."
Raven: "I hate to say this, but Beast Boy's right."
Alex turned to the team and thought this through.
Alex: "Well we can take out its claws before it takes us down. But the way it moves makes it impossible for us to shoot down."
Robin: "Well unless there is a way to make it blind so that it won't move anywhere."
Alex gave that some thought as he looked at Starfire and Beast Boy. Once he saw them, he smirked and came up with an idea.
Alex: "Beast Boy, Starfire, I'm going to need your help."
The two Titans looked at each other then looked back.
Beast Boy: "We're not going to like this are we?"
Meanwhile, the Fool almost made it up to the Titan's position. When it got there, it turned to look at the team and snarled. The Titans were standing there on the platform between the steps and was waiting for Alex to give them the word, something they planned before the creature got up to them.
Alex: "Steady guys… Wait for it…"
The Fool shrieked a little then jumped off the caged wall and sailed down to the team to give them a huge slice down the line.
Alex: "Now!"
Quickly, everyone jumped as Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire went left and Cyborg, Raven, and Alex took the right to avoid the attack while the sloth monster slashed the platform with its claws. Once it was clear, Alex then gave the next order.
Alex: "Beast Boy! Blind it!"
BB jumped off and through the ripped platform and sailed straight to the Fool's face, turning into an octopus. When he went directly to the face, he suction cuffs the head, covering its eyes and blinding it temporary. The creature screamed and roared and tried desperately to get the eight-legged fish off by moving its head a lot. With its vision out of the picture, Alex looked at Starfire and took his shotgun out.
Alex: "All right Star, go for the legs I'll go for the hands."
Star nodded and flew down to get to the beast's feet while Alex aimed his shotgun at the left clawed hands. Once they're in position, they began to fire. Starfire started shooting star bolts at the first foot, then used her eye beams to take care of the second. Alex then took the first shot at the claw hands and reloaded two new shells. With three of the four claws out, the Fool was hanging on to the cage with one hand. It then went to desperation when it used its left arm and hit the steel cage a couple of times with its useless claw hand. The team immediately hanged on to the guardrail of the steps hoping not to fall, but Alex lost his balance again and fell off the broken platform. Luckily, he got a hold of the cage with his left hand while he held on to his double barrel shotgun with his right. The Titans watched on in shock when they saw their guardian hanging on for dear life.
Robin: "Alex!"
Starfire immediately flew away from the creature while Beast Boy got off its head and changed into a hawk to go join the others. With the little green elf off its black oil filled face, the Fool can see and now saw Alex trying his best not to let go. It then raised its loose arm and was going to stab him, but Alex took action and carefully positioned his weapon at the hand the sloth was holding onto.
Alex: "Going down…"
He then pulled the trigger and shoot off the hand. With it gone, the Fool begins falling with the destroyed claw tearing through the cage fence then letting go of it. Upon doing that, it hit the support beam of the stairway breaking its back and spine, then spinning around crashing through a couple of steps, and finally, soaring downward into the fiery pit. Within seconds the flames at the bottom shot right up again, calmed down, and disappeared in a flash. Alex, away from the fire's heat, looked down at the dark hole and smirked.
Alex: "Had enough yet?"
Beast Boy: "Hey Alex!"
He then look up and saw the Titans with all smiles.
Beast Boy: "Nice shot!"
Alex just smiles with a small grin.
Alex: "Thanks BB, appreciate it." … "Um… Do you mind getting me off of here? I can't hold on for much longer."
The team had sweat drops coming down their heads, but instantly got Al off before he could fall. While they were doing it, a security camera hidden behind the cage was watching their every move.
Delta Labs Level 5, Betruger's Office: November 15, 2145, 8:21 P.M.
Back at Delta, Betruger watched the whole battle through the computer monitor and scratched his chin after what he saw.
Dr. Betruger: "Hmm… First they decimated the Vagary, now they took out the Fool. This team is a lot tougher then I thought."
He then clicked the "close up" icon to get a closer look at Raven forming another black disk for Alex to step on.
Dr. Betruger: "All this trouble just because of this girl. I know my master wants her so badly but with the team in the way, this could make things difficult. Well then if that's the case, desperate times call for desperate measures. And I got just the person to do the job."
He snickered to himself and came up with the perfect monster to handle this.
End of chapter twenty-three. Sorry the fight scene was quick. I haven't come up with any good ideas for this chapter. But don't worry; I got plenty of ideas for the next chapter. The team gets into contact with Sergeant Kelly and Swan??? The person responsible for this mess will be revealed (like we all know who it is) and a new monster makes an appearance and does some total damage. Please Review.