Time to go to the final part of the Mars Surface on Doomed Titans. As always, this chapter took a little long but I managed to put it all together to make it more sensible. I hope that it's as good as I written it. First here's the chapter update, I got two reviews from two different authors and 44 hits on the previous chapter. Rahkshi500 states that he likes the chapter and cleared things up at the confusion from it. So I understood what he meant and apologize for my mix up. Another author, LimpBizkit3030 liked how I'm doing this story and couldn't wait until the very last chapter. Well LB, you have to wait a little longer, cause with all the things I'm doing, I won't be able to finish this as soon as I could. So you have to be a little patient. Now let's get this chapter rolling. The Titans have gotten out of the caverns and are almost home free. All they have to do is to venture through the outside of the installation and they'll be in Gamma Labs in no time. But they're a few obstacles in the way. Like a bunch of creatures around every corner and low air in their tanks. Will they be able reach Gamma in time, or die from a lack of air?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or Doom 3
Chapter Twenty-seven: Running on Thin Air
Delta Labs Level 2, Teleporter Control Lab: November 15, 2145, 10:05 P.M.
Somewhere in Delta 2, a scientist was sitting in a control room used for teleportation, gathering information and put together a report about what just occurred. That scientist is in fact Dr. Ian McCormick, the scientist that helped Dr. Betruger create the main portal and started this mess. He already sent the message to the science team in a secured area in Delta 5 and was trying to send the report to the UAC and earth to warn them about the situation they're in. But just when he was sending that message to them, there was an error message saying communication connection is offline. Upon seeing that, he lowered his head and shook it.
Ian McCormick: "Damn it, not again. I got this message ready for the science team on Earth and I still can't send it. It's like the Communications station must've been destroyed already. There's got to be someway to get this message through. But how?"
Suddenly, he heard the glass door from behind him open up and thought it could be another zombie or monster coming in. So he quickly got off his seat, took his pistol off the table, and started turning around to see the intruder.
Ian McCormick: "Who's there?!"
But when he turned around and pointed his pistol at the intruder, it wasn't a monster or a zombie. In fact, it was a Marine with a shotgun in hand, trying to calm Ian down.
Main Marine: "Whoa, easy there bud! I'm not a dead corpse!"
McCormick, after seeing it was a Marine, lowered his pistol and sighed in relief.
Ian McCormick: "Oh thank god. You're not one of them. I thought everyone else was gone."
Main Marine: "Well just be thankful someone's trying to survive out here. Heck, I've seen a few scientists around the base trying to stay alive. What are you doing here?"
McCormick then lowered his head and shook it, remembering what just happened hours ago.
Ian McCormick: "I… I was part this. I helped them. The madness of opening to another dimension… Look I don't… We don't have much time."
The Marine had no idea what he was talking about and tried to slow him down.
Main Marine: "Hey, easy there bud. Slow down. What are you talking about? What were you a part of? Who you helped?"
McCormick calmed down as he took a deep breath and started all over again.
Ian McCormick: "All right, here's what happened."
Mars Surface, Underground Cavern: November 15, 2145, 10:07 P.M.
Back in the caverns, the Titans and Alex were walking through the dark cave, trying to get out of it. After they went up the lift, they kept walking down the cave, hoping not to get attacked by any more creatures. Lucky for them, they haven't shown their faces yet, probably hiding from them after destroying the underground warehouse and killed the Vagary and the spider army. While they were walking, they spotted a light at the end of the tunnel.
Alex: "There it is!"
They all immediately raced to the light as it got closer and closer. Finally, when they reach the end of the tunnel, they were back outside with red sand blowing on their helmets and the warm sun basking on Mars, even if it's nighttime. But standing in front of them were the many structures and buildings of the UAC. When they were out, Beast Boy stepped out of the group and took a deep breath from the air in his tank, even if he thinks he's breathing real air.
Beast Boy: "Ah… Fresh air. Er… Well, it's not actually real air or anything, but you get the idea."
Robin: "We're not out of the woods yet. We still have to reach Gamma Labs if we ever want to get home. Alex, are we close to the place?"
He looked behind to see Alex already checking his PDA to find Gamma Labs. Once he got the location straight he gave the team the details.
Alex: "Depends on how far we are. You see, our original route was a bit farther then this one. But after the incident we've had with them spiders and the Vagary, we might have gone off course. So we have to take other alternative routes to reach the lab in time."
Robin: "What routes are you talking about?"
Alex: "Well for example, the route we should've took would've took us to Gamma in less then half an hour. But now, at the rate we're in, it's going to take us more then an hour to reach our destination."
Cyborg, who was behind the guardian, looked at his tank and could tell that something's wrong.
Cyborg: "Let's hope it doesn't take too long. By the way it looks, your air tank seems a bit low."
And indeed it is. For while they we're all over the Mars surface, their air canisters were down to over a quarter of the way. So it would be a matter of time before they ran out of air.
Alex: "That's enough to reach Gamma. All we have to do is to take a couple of shortcuts and avoid any ambushes and whatnot. We'll be able to reach Gamma before we ran low on oxygen."
Raven: "Yeah… That sounds easy…"
Robin: "Let's not waist time in talking. Let's head to Gamma before our air is gone."
The team then started walking, passing the first building and keeping their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Just as they were ten feet away from the cave, five Cacodemons materialized in the air and headed to the team, spitting out energy blasts. They all looked up as Raven created an umbrella like shield to deflect the blasts. Starfire then lifted up off the ground and started shooting star bolts. While she was doing that, Alex alerted the team keep going.
Alex: "Starfire's giving us an opening. Let's move forward if we're ever going to get out of here."
Immediately, they keep on walking as the Tamaranean was holding the floating heads back. But after a couple of more feet, red clouds appeared in front of them and coming out of the lightning bolts were five Imps. They began throwing fireballs at them as they ducked low to avoid them. Then Cyborg stood up and used his chain gun rip them all in half. After he was done with that, he heard another clanking noise and realized he's out again, so he took another pack out to replenish on ammo. But suddenly, eight green clouds appeared behind the disintegrating Imps and out came a pack of Vulgars ready for action. Alex then took his plasma gun out and started shooting blue projectiles at the first four, but the rest had already charged their green fireballs and began throwing. So Raven came to the front and formed a black wall to deflect the incoming balls of flame. When she let down the wall, Alex immediately went back to work and killed three more. But the last one swifted out of the way and threw another green fireball at them. Luckily, Beast Boy took his Grabber out, target it at the fireball, and got a hold of it. He quickly moved the fireball to the creature and launched it back to the Vagary, killing it after one direct hit. Now that everyone's dead, the team then headed straight to what appeared to be a fork in the road. So Alex quickly took his PDA out and checked to see which way is the closest. He then turned his head to the left and pointed to that direction.
Alex: "This way!"
They all turned left and continued running to their goal, followed by Starfire who took care of the Cacodemons a minute ago. As they were running, they were heading straight towards a catwalk that was above their heads. When they were heading towards it, three Revenants appeared out of thin air and began shooting mini rockets at them. Alex then pointed his plasma gun at the rockets and fired, causing both blue plasma and mini missiles to collide and explode away from the two forces. The skeleton soldiers decided to do another round and were about to fire the rockets again. But suddenly, the first Revenant on the right was shot down by an array of green bolts of energy. The other two looked up at the attacker and saw Starfire with both eyes and hands glowing green with rage.
Starfire: "Kill my friends and you will suffer my wrath!"
The Revenants then opened fire on her as she flew around in all directions with the heat seeking rockets following her. She twist, turned and looped all over with the missiles not far behind until she flew straight to the second skeleton soldier in the middle. When she timed it just right, she lifted up in the air a few inches from it as the rockets blew the skeleton up and killed it. The last Revenant was about to fire on Star again until it got distracted, as plasma projectiles came from the ground and knocked the skeleton soldier off the catwalk and ashes falling to the ground. Starfire looked down and saw Alex with his plasma rifle pointed up in the air. She waved at him and gives him a nice generous smile.
Starfire: "Thank you friend Alex for assisting me."
Alex just smiled underneath his helmet and waved back at her.
Alex: "No prob Star."
They continued their journey, passing the catwalk above them and moving forward. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. But suddenly, ten Cacodemons and ten Lost Souls appeared from the sky and started the attack. The Cacodemons started the attack by spitting energy blasts at the Tamaranean. Starfire flew and avoided the blasts, but there were too many of them. It was then that Raven came up from ground and started a black circle barrier to protect her friend from the assault.
Starfire: "Raven!"
Raven: "Need more help Starfire?"
Star nodded as the two started shooting off Cacodemons with star bolts and aurora blasts. Back on the ground, the Lost Souls flew down and rocketed towards the rest of the team. Alex and Cyborg aimed their weapons at them and started taking down the seven of them. The other three were then picked off by Beast Boy's Grabber. With the Lost Souls killed off, the only thing left now was the Cacodemons in the air. And Starfire and Raven were taking care of that problem really well, as they joined forces and used their combined powers to eliminate all the floating heads around them. With them all dead, the team proceeded forward to their next spot. They then approached a right corner and turned that direction to reach Gamma. But when they did that, they've encounter hoards of Imps, Maggots, Vulgars, Revenants, Wraiths, Lost Souls, and Cacodemons all waiting for them and looking really hungry. The team watched on as they could see them getting ready for the attack.
Cyborg: "You've got to be kidding me!"
Quickly, the Titans from land and air to prepared themselves for another long battle as Alex made a quick reload of his plasma rifle and aimed it at the hostiles.
Alex: "This is going to be a long night."
It was then that the two opposing forces opened fire as fireballs and mini rockets meet star bolts, exploding disks, aurora blasts, and rounds of hallow bullets and plasma projectiles.
UAC Power Plant, Reactor Control Room: November 15, 2145, 10:16 P.M.
Heading back to the power plant, Counselor Swan and Jack Campbell were at the control room putting the finishing touches of Jack's plan. For over an hour, they've place explosive charges on the coolants, and rod casing, and the main core itself, as well as taking out monsters when they appear in the likeliest of places. Now the only thing left to do is to raise the rods out of the casing, so it can create a huge explosion. Campbell is at the console, hacking the code to raise the rods from the inside while Swan was pacing back and forth, waiting for him to finish. He then looked at him and asked him the same question again.
Counselor Swan: "Are you sure we want to go through with this?"
Campbell, without keeping his eyes away from the screen, answered his question.
Jack Campbell: "How many time should we go over this counselor? Yes I'm sure. This is the only shot we have in stopping this invasion from spreading."
Counselor Swan: "So this is it, is it? This is how it will end if all else fails. We die for our planet."
Jack Campbell: "Looks that way sir. Bare in mind, this is a last resort. And if we don't do something to prevent this invasion from spreading, then all life as we know it will cease to exist."
Finally, he was able to gain access to the rod casings and moved the mouse pad to the icon that stated, "Raise Cooling Rods." Once he clicked the icon, an alarm triggered the action and started sounding the entire plant.
Inside the reactor core, the alarm was buzzing all over the place as the rod casings from the ground floor begins to open up and reveal small holes on the top. Suddenly, blue and green rods for cooling the core slowly raised up out of the holes and rode higher. Just then, an announcement came through the speakers and gave whoever was surviving the warning.
"Warning: Cooling rods raising. All HAZMAT crews report to the main core for immediate repair. All personnel must follow evacuation code 625. Seek your supervisor for assistance."
Back in the control room, Campbell was pleased at what he heard and left the terminal to join with Swan.
Jack Campbell: "That's our call. Let's get out of here and head to Delta before we're locked on the inside."
Counselor Swan: "Okay. Uh… You're sure those rods won't explode when they're out, right?"
Jack Campbell: "Don't be so worried counselor. Those rods are harmless when they're out as well as in. Only a small spark can blow the whole thing off its foundation. Let's go."
Campbell then headed for the door the opposite end of the reactor core as Swan was standing where he is and sighed.
Counselor Swan: "I hope you're right."
He then followed Campbell as the two hurried out of the plant and heading to Delta.
Mars Surface: November 15, 2145, 10:22 P.M.
Back outside, the Titans were plowing through the hoard, trying to get through. The boys were on the ground taking out creatures with weapons, disks, and a sword. Star and Rae was in the air firing bolts and blasting at the Cacodemons and Lost Souls that were trying to get them. But after all of what they did, it keeps on getting worse and worse. There were too many creatures to stop and both Alex and Cy don't have enough ammo to stop them all. Robin was swinging his R-Sword around, slicing up creatures from left to right, but it's not enough to stop them all from killing him. Even Beast Boy was having a hard time too, as he caught a few fireballs with his Grabber and fired it back at them, more flames keep on coming and he had no choice but to dodge them all. Plus Starfire and Raven, even if they have unlimited fire power in their energies, they were being overwhelmed by all the floating creatures around them. So to make the long story short, they're all completely fucked.
Cyborg: "Argh… God damn it, they're everywhere! I don't think we're not going to make it!"
Robin: "We will make it! We just need to get out of here and regroup!"
As Alex made a few more attempted shots at two Imps and a Maggot, he spotted a lift not to far from them. Thinking this is the opening they need, he alerted the team to retreat.
Alex: "Everybody fallback to the lift! We have to keep our distances between us and them!"
The boys looked at Alex for just a second and saw the lift behind him. They then went back to work by taking out a few more monsters that were close to them and they all ran straight to the lift. The girls saw them running to the lift with the hoard not far behind and decided to join them as well. They quickly mowed down four Cacodemons and six Lost Souls to clear the way and soared straight towards them. Once they're all there, Alex clicked the "Descend Lift" icon and the lift lowered, seconds before the army of monsters could get them. But while they were halfway down, and gang of Lost Souls came down the shaft and headed down to them. Alex, with his plasma gun low on ammo, took his machine gun out, aimed it up in the air, and opened fire. He clipped every flaming skull off until there was nothing left and puffs of smoke. When it was all over, the lift made a compete stop at the ground floor as the team left the lift and entered what appeared to be some sort of underground area underneath a building. There were steel pillars holding up the structure and a couple of crates that were scattered all across the place. But what really got their attention were the slithering lines of strange growth and spider webs clinging to parts of the area. When Alex looked down, he saw a couple of dead Marine bodies lay swimming in their own blood and cell cartridges, clips, and an ammo belt scattered around them. He approached them, bent down, and picked up the cells and clips he definitely needed. Robin approached Al while looking around the place.
Robin: "Alex, where are we now?"
Alex: "This is an underground area underneath the base. They are used for underground maintenance and storage incase there's not enough room in the complex. There are plenty of them all over and installation."
Cyborg: "And what are we doing here?"
Alex then picked up an ammo belt from the last dead body, stood up, and looked at Cy to answer.
Alex: "My PDA told me that this is the quickest route to Gamma. All we have to do is to find another lift that can get us to the other side of the base. Unless you want to go back up there and take on the hoard by yourself."
The hybrid just swallowed a lump, realizing that all the creatures could be waiting for them to come back up.
Cyborg: "Uh… Good point."
The guardian then tossed the ammo belt case to Cyborg as he grabbed it from the air. When he took a good look at it, Alex interrupted him.
Alex: "Here, you might need this incase you want to reload. After our encounter with the hoard, you may never know if you ran low."
He then turned around and started walking ahead with the Titans following suit. Robin quickly catches up with Al and wondered about something else.
Robin: "So, where is this other lift you said?"
Alex: "For all I know, the lift is at the other end on the right corner about a mile wide. And by the way this place looks, we just need to be extra careful with what we're facing. Just keep your eyes peeled for the lift and we won't get into any danger."
Just as when he said it, a few Ticks came down the ceiling and hissed at the team. Alex then took his machine gun out and aimed them at the spiders while they scampered towards them.
Alex: "Why does this always happening to me?!"
He quickly opened fire to kill them off before they could attack. Suddenly, a gang of Trites came down and headed towards them. Alex continued to fire them as Cyborg joined in and used his chain gun to rip them apart. Once everything was clear, the crew kept on running forward, reaching the lift. They then walked diagonally to the right and get closer to the lift. Upon passing pillar to pillar, they didn't notice more spiders coming around every corner. But when they heard more hissing, they all stopped and saw a hoard of Ticks and Trites behind them.
Beast Boy: "Oh man… Not again!"
Starfire, since she couldn't fly cause of the low ceiling, pointed her fists at them and fired multiple star bolts at them, spinning in a curve and dishing them all out. While she was doing that, more spiders came up front and leapt in for an attack. But Raven created a black wall to block them as they all hit it in one attempt and knocked back to the ground. With them a little dizzy and unaware, Raven let the wall down as Alex clipped them off with a machine gun. Now that every spider is dead, the team kept moving forward until Beast Boy stopped and felt something dripping down his right shoulder. He wiped it away and noticed it was saliva. When he looked up to see what's dripping above him, he saw a Trite ready for a surprise assault on him. Not only that, he saw an army of Ticks and Trites all on the ceiling.
Beast Boy: "Guys…"
The Titans, who were a few feet from the changeling, stopped running and turned to see BB with a look of concern.
Beast Boy: "I think we've got a problem."
He pointed up to the ceiling and they looked up to see what he's talking about. When they saw the spiders, they had their eyes wide and were completely shocked.
Raven: "Just what we need, a spider stronghold."
The spiders then fell upon them when Raven formed a dome that used it as the umbrella to let the spiders rain down on them. But Beast Boy, being away from the team, was the unfortunate one as Ticks and Trites rain down at him. Without changing into any animals, he had to rolled away from the spiders and started picking them off with his Grabber. Another set of spiders came down on him, so he rolled again and killed them off with his weapon. Back with the team, they were taking out the mutated spiders with bullets, star bolts, and a swinging sword. With them all cleared, more of them keep coming and continuing the attack. But they were being overwhelmed by the hoard and didn't know how long they're going to last.
Starfire: "I hate to be judgmental, but I do not think we could take them on for very much long."
Robin: "Starfire's right. We can't take them on at the rate we're in. We've got to get out of here before we become spider chow."
Alex: "Then if that's the case, we have to reach the lift and get out of this mess at once. Starfire, form a path to get us a clear path to the lift."
Star nodded as she looked at the direction where the lift should be, pointed his arms up, and a green beam of energy soared at the spiders to make a direct path. They all immediately ran down that path except Alex and Raven. Al took his plasma rifle out with his other free hand and looked behind him to see the telepath.
Alex: "Raven, I want you to get Beast Boy and meet up with us quick. At the rate he's going, I don't think he would last that long."
He instinctively ran down the path while killing of spiders on both sides. Raven, on the other hand, turned around to see the little green elf trying to fend himself off against the swarm. She then sighed and rolled her eyes around at the changeling's attempt to fight back.
Raven: "Why do I always get to do the tough jobs?"
Back with Beast Boy, he was using all he could use to destroy the spiders. He jumped forward to avoid more of the hoard, turned around, and shoot his Grabber at the group of Trites. He then spotted a couple of Ticks coming down on him. So he pointed his weapon up and the thin green line took them out and let them explode over them once released. After he was done with that, he looked around and saw more spiders surrounding him. So he aimed his Grabber at them and waited for them to make a move.
Beast Boy: "You want a piece of me? Huh? Come and get me!"
As the spiders hear what the changeling was saying, they were about to attack him all at once. But just as he was about to fight back, his entire body was covered by some black magic and was pulled away from the surrounding hoard. What he didn't notice till now was that Raven got him out of the predicament and both she and BB were flying away from them as the mutated spiders scampered after them.
Raven: "That's enough with the heroics Indiana Jones. It's time to go."
The two went in a fast pace as they joined up with the rest of the team. Once they were all together, they continued running to the lift with Starfire creating a path by mowing down the spiders with her green beam and Alex pointing both his machine gun and plasma gun left to right, killing Ticks and Trites from both sides. He looked straight ahead and saw the lift not too far from their position, waiting for them.
Alex: "There it is! Everyone keep running! Don't stop for anything!"
They kept on running and running towards the lift while taking out spiders in every direction. Once the path to the lift was clear, the team made it to the lift and Alex pressed the "Ascend Lift" icon while Cyborg was dishing out mutated spiders with his chain gun. When the lift went up and was away from the spider's view, Raven let go of her magic and dropped Beast Boy on the hard surface. After rubbing his soar rear, he quickly got up and starred directly at Rae with visor helmets touching each other's.
Beast Boy: "Hey, what's the big deal?! I was on a roll."
Raven: "Is there something you're angry about all ready?"
Beast Boy: "What I'm angry about? Oh what I'm angry about is that I was on a roll. But you decided to butt in and pull me away from them freakish spiders without warning me. I had the whole thing under control until you showed up."
Raven: "Just for the record, I was saving your sorry butt and you were surrounded and outnumbered by those spiders. And if it wasn't for me, you would've been an appetizer."
BB remains silent after hearing all that and realized she was right for once. He would've been spider chow if it wasn't for Raven's quick thinking. Cyborg, who was reloading a fresh belt when the other one was emptied, heard that as well and laughed quietly to himself.
Cyborg: "Man BB, you just got burned."
The changeling heard that and was fuming all over his face. While Star came in to calm him down, Robin approached Alex that was still reloading his guns with a fresh cell and clip.
Robin: "Alex?"
Alex: "What?"
Robin: "My team and I would like to thank you for saving the trouble in taking us to Gamma. You sure are pretty determined in getting us there."
Alex: "Ah… Don't thank me. Since all this shit started, this is all the reason why I should take you back home so badly."
Robin: "That maybe true, but I was wondering… Why do you really want us to leave so soon?"
After hearing that question, Alex finished reloading and looked at the Titan leader.
Alex: "Why do you want to know that?"
Robin: "Cause you seem a little serious on taking us back to the past. Ever since you came to pick us up before this invasion started, you seem a little worried about something. And you always take these different routes to get us there. Too cut this short, I do believe that you're trying to keep a secret from us."
Upon hearing that, Alex turned his body fully and tried to understand it.
Alex: "Are you telling me that you think I might be the next Terra?"
Robin found out that he got it all wrong and tries to reason with him.
Robin: "No, no, it's nothing like that. You and Terra are different. You see, Terra was working for Slade the whole time gathering our secrets and weaknesses. Yet somehow she pretended to be our friend and Titan and we didn't know it until it was too late. Kind of like a wolf in sheep's clothing. But you Alex are different. When we first met you , we weren't sure we could trust you since you're too young to become our guardian. But ever since this invasion started, you proved to us that you're worthy for our trust. But there's something you're trying to hide from us. And if you can tell me why you want us to go to Gamma badly, then we can fully trust you."
Alex starred straight at the Boy Wonder with a blank stare on his face, not sure what to say to him. What he knows that the team doesn't know is that his father Kelly, had contracts signed to conduct a couple of experiments on them for military and scientific purposes. If he tells them about that, then they would think he was involved in this and turn their backs to them. He then turned his head to the direction of where the rest of the Titans are. He could see Beast Boy still fuming over Cy's remarks, Cyborg still laughing at the changeling's anger, Starfire trying to calm his friend down, and Raven not getting involved in any of it. He was kind of amazed that even after all the attacks they've faced, they can still be themselves and not worry about a care in the world. He wanted to tell the truth, he does, but he thought of the consequences that will happen after that. So he looked up and saw a square hole coming up to them, then looked at Robin.
Alex: "Let's save that for later. For now, let's get to Gamma and take you guys home."
Robin just nodded, thinking that now isn't the time to talk about it. When the lift reached the top level, it came to a stop and the team got out of it. Once they did that, they've noticed they were on the base of the catwalk. In fact, when they look around, they discovered a long stretch of a catwalk connected between two buildings that are far farther away from each other. Beast Boy then walked down to the end of the catwalk and spotted a steep dark gap resting between two buildings. He slowly gulped as beads of sweat tinkle down inside his helmet.
Beast Boy: "Okay… Definitely don't want to be down there."
Alex took his PDA out and checked the digital map to see where are they going this time.
Alex: "And for good reason too. Fifteen years ago, there was a small earthquake underneath the installation due to quick digging within the caverns. The shockwave was so great that it created a huge crack below us and nearly destroyed these two buildings. So the UAC decided after the quake to install this catwalk from both sides of the base for easier access."
Cyborg: "And where do we go from here?"
Alex: "From what my PDA is telling me, we have Walk down this catwalk to reach the other side. From there, we take a service ladder that will take us down to the surface and on hard ground. Just be careful not to fall over the guardrail. One small trip, and the story's over."
Raven: "Yeah… That's something I should be extra careful of."
Robin: "Let's not think about what would happen. Let's head to Gamma as soon as possible. Lead the way Alex."
The Guardian nodded and proceeded to approach one of the catwalks with the team following him. Once they started walking down the long catwalk that can take them to the other side, they all heard a low evil laughter echoing around them. Suddenly, five Cacodemons appeared between the catwalk and team was on and grunted. They all then spat out energy blasts as they soared straight to them. But as always, Raven came to the rescue and forms a dome shield to protect her friends.
Alex: "They just don't give up do they? Starfire, take care of the group on the left, I'll take the right."
Alex took his plasma rifle out and aimed it at the floating heads to the right as Star flew up and charged her star bolts at the group to the left. The two then fired at the group before the creatures could fight back again. But when they kill the first two, the rest scattered and flew in different directions. The two tried to shoot at them, but they were moving too fast. Finally, they managed to take out another one on each side, but the other two spat another energy blast at them. Starfire was able to duck low from the blast at one side, but Alex didn't have time to avoid the other blast from the other side. Lucky for him, Raven and Beast Boy came in to rescue him. Rae created a circle wall to deflect one blast and BB used his Grabber to get a hold of the second. He then aimed it back at the creature and launched it back, letting it fall into ash after one direct hit. The telepath shut down her magical wall as Alex opened fire on the last floating head, splattering it with multiple blue projectiles. On the other side, Star came back up after the last attack and launched another array of star bolts at the two Cacodemons. The creatures tried to avoid the green energy bolts, but there were too many to dodge. As the sky continued to rain star bolts, the first Cacodemon got killed while the other trying to get away, only to be brutally attacked by the Tamaranean. When it's all clear, Alex looked at the team and urged them to keep going.
Alex: "Go, go, go!"
Everyone quickly ran to the other side of the gap while Starfire flew next to them, reaching the other building. While they continued running, more red clouds appeared behind them and out of the red lightning bolts were a dozen Lost Souls coming directly towards them. Cyborg heard the screams from behind and turned around to see the flaming skulls coming their way. So he readied his chain gun and opened fire at the skulls, clipping them down one by one. After he was done with that, the hybrid turned back and caught up with the group. The kept running, heading to the other building when they saw more clouds in front of them. They immediately stopped when they saw them and waited to see what's coming out of them. After what seemed like hours, another dozen Lost Souls appeared and heading towards them in the front. Alex, who was the first in line of the group, aimed his plasma gun at them and opened fire. The blue projectiles flew directly to the skulls and killed them all in an orderly manner. Now that they were all gone, the team resumed running and was getting close to the other end. But what they didn't know, was that a Revenant appeared on the roof of the building and saw them heading there. It decided to stop them by firing its shoulder-mounted rockets at the other end of the bridge. Everyone stopped when they heard the sound of rockets firing and looked up to see two pairs of mini rockets heading to the end opposite end of the catwalk. When they saw it, Alex's eyes were surprised at this type of action.
Alex: "Shit…"
The rockets then hit the end of the bridge and exploded, causing the metal to get hot and melt. Suddenly, the catwalk started to shake and slowly slanted downward. After a sudden stop, everyone looked at Alex that was more worried then them.
Alex: "Get your asses MOVING!!!"
Quickly, they continued head to the other building before the catwalk starts to fully break. As they were about to make it, more clouds appeared from the sky and twenty Cacodemons and twenty Lost Souls showed up and came down to the Titans without them knowing it. But when Alex was the first to make it to the other end of the gap, he looked up and saw the swarm coming down upon them.
Alex: "This keeps on getting better and better. We got company!"
Everyone looked up at saw the floating heads and flaming skulls heading their way, while at the same time the catwalk started to slant more. They were startled for a moment when that happen, but they continued to run and fly to the other side. But Starfire stopped and looked back, thinking that she's closer to them decided to attack. So she flew up towards them, charged her star bolts, and opened fire. She kept throwing multiple energy bolts at them, killing two Cacodemons and three Lost Souls. The rest just split up and flew past her to reach the others. Seeing that, Star flew back down to prevent them from reaching their goal. But Alex and the others were prepared for the battle they will have. Alex, Robin, and Beast Boy were the only ones in the clear holding their weapons and disks while Cyborg and Raven were on the catwalk on the verge of breaking. The three boys, upon seeing the creatures opened fire with plasma projectiles and exploding disks that killed few of them. One of the Cacodemons spat out an energy blast at them but Beast Boy grabbed the blast with his weapon and fired back. Behind them, a couple of metal crates were covered in black magic and levitated off the ground. Raven, who was levitating the object tossed them up in the air and hit a couple of them but didn't kill them. That was meant for Cyborg as he aimed his chain gun and shot off rounds at the creatures. Soon enough, everyone was using their own methods in destroying their enemies. But just as they were handling the situation, the catwalk finally gave way and started to fall into the gap, with both Raven and Cyborg on it. Rae was lucky enough to fly away from the fallen catwalk, but Cyborg was unfortunate as he fell straight into the gap. He was screaming to his death as Starfire heard it while shooting down a couple of Lost Souls and looked down to see her half metal friend falling to his doom and gasped.
Starfire: "Cyborg!"
She quickly soared down into the gap and flew as fast as she could to reach the hybrid. Finally, she managed to grab Cy's hand and flew him up out of the gap. But what they fail to notice was the Cacodemons waiting for them as they fire them with energy blasts. So Star flew around to avoid the blasts and used her free hand to start firing her star bolts. After shooting down two floating heads and a burning skull, she made it up to where the rest of the team is and tossed Cyborg to safety. Of course, he did fall flat on his back due to they were all in the middle of a tough fight, but he quickly got up and started blasting the creatures with his chain gun. For a minute or two, they've been taking out what's left of the flying creatures. After Alex shot down the last Lost Soul with his plasma rifle, he reloaded a fresh cell and sighed.
Alex: "Well, that's the last of them. But who knows how many more will come."
Robin: "Then we have to get out of here if we're to avoid this situation. Alex, how far is the service ladder?"
Alex: "Not too far. It's got to be around here somewhere."
The guardian looked around the area to see where the service ladder is. He did saw an airlock door that would've taken them inside one of the bases, but the touch screen was static so it was impossible to go in it. But several feet away from the airlock to the right is the service ladder they're looking for.
Alex: "There it is."
He and the rest of the group headed to the ladder as Alex was the first to climb down. It wasn't long before the others climb down the ladder in order to move further to Gamma. Even the girls, though they like to fly, had no choice but to climb down the ladder as well. When they reach to the end of the ladder, they were on another catwalk, only this time, it was lower then the previous one and the Mars surface were below them instead of a steep gap. They continued to walk down the catwalk as the girls went back to flying. As the male Titans continued walking they stopped when they realized that a huge part of the catwalk was torn off it's foundation and was on the surface. They all looked down at the destroyed bridge as Beast Boy shook his head at what he witnessed.
Beast Boy: "Well, so much for heading to Gamma this way."
Alex had his PDA out after coming down the ladder and checked the direction to Gamma from where they are. Upon searching for the direction to the lab he smiled a bit at the results.
Alex: "Not quite BB. My PDA shows that Gamma is on the right through the base, not the left. So we have to find a way to get down there without jumping off."
Robin: "That's pretty much a no brainer. Raven…"
The Titan leader turned his head and saw Raven's eyes already glowing white.
Raven: "On it…"
She lifted her hands up at the edge where the boys are and a black disk appeared and grew big enough to hold all four team members. Once it was ready, the team stepped on the disk as it lowered down to the red sandy ground. When they reached the ground floor, they got off seconds before the disk disappeared and continued walking with the girls floating behind them. As they continue walking, Robin couldn't help but to look at the tall buildings around them. It was almost like a city except they're on Mars and not Earth, plus there were a couple of pipes and catwalks around them, not windows or doors. But he wondered what the names of the buildings are, since most of them were suppose to be labs, factories and Marine bases.
Robin: "Hey Alex, does your PDA have the names of all the buildings in the UAC?"
Alex: "Yeah, you could say that."
Robin: "Then you mind telling us what the name of these buildings are? Since we're going to Gamma Labs, we need to know if we're close."
Alex: "As much as I appreciate it, I don't want to waste my time telling you what the names of the buildings are. But I'll tell ya what, once I see a building marked Gamma Labs on the map then I'll tell you we're close. Got it."
Robin: "Yeah, I guess so."
Alex: "Good. Now let's hurry! I don't want to ran low on oxygen before we reach the labs."
They kept on walking when they made the right corner to the direction of Gamma. But when they did, they were surprised when they saw were four Mancubus's waiting for them with their cannons at the ready. Raven lowered to the boys' position and rolled her eyes around at what she saw.
Raven: "Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, they decided to bring the Calvary. Oh joy…"
The behemoths then charged their cannons and opened fire upon them with big balls of fire.
Delta Labs Level 2, Teleporter Control Lab: November 15, 2145, 10:39 P.M.
Back at Delta, the Marine came back to the Control Lab with a Plasma Inducer Ian needed to reactivate the teleproter on the other side.
Main Marine: "Here it is. Sorry if I took so long but I've been a little busy tying up some loose ends."
McCormick swiveled his chair around and saw the Marine with the inducer in hand, very pleased at the accomplishment.
Ian McCormick: "Excellent, now place the inducer into the right stabilizer. Quickly, we don't have much time."
The marine nodded and headed straight to the teleporter's maintenance area to insert the inducer into the stabilizer. After he was done with that, both inducer's started to glow blue and the engine hummed to life. Ian then looked at the screen and saw that all systems are a go.
"Attention: Testing chamber now ready for teleportation."
Once everything's ready, Ian looked at the marine and gave him more directions.
Ian McCormick: "Now here's what you need to do. You're going to need to teleport across the containment chamber. It's the only through this part of the complex. Head into the chamber, and initiate the sequence on the machine. I'll take care of the rest."
Main Marine: "Okay… You're coming with me? I could use all the help I can get."
Ian McCormick: "I'm sorry but I can't. I have to remain here to keep everything run smoothly. But before you go, I want you to take something. It's a journal I made about the experiments… uh… Those things… It's all there. It'll explain everything. Get it to someone so this will never happen again."
McCormick pushes the ejected button on the console and the videodisk's compartment opened as the disk itself lifted out of the tray. The marine looked at the disk in front of him and decided it would be better to get some more clues to this invasion then shooting senseless. So he removes the disk and inserted it into his PDA. While he was doing that, Ian gave him a bit of a warning.
Ian McCormick: "Remember, once you teleport directly to the other side of the lab, you'll be on your own. But just be careful. That other part of the complex is heavily compromised. I have no idea what's on the other side. So no matter what happens keep your guard up. Good luck."
The marine looked at Ian and sighed, already knowing the danger since day one.
Main Marine: "Thanks for the advice. I'll remember that."
He then left the console and headed straight to the decontamination chamber. Once he entered the chamber, the door behind him closed and an announcement was made.
"Decontamination process started."
Suddenly, the chamber glows red and strange vapors came out of two bars that moved up and down. But just when it started, it stopped and another announcement came out of the speakers.
"Decontamination complete. Have a nice day."
The door in front of the marine blinked green as he approached it and it opened upwards. When he turned to the right, he discovered a huge teleporter in front of him.
Main Marine: "Whoa… Never seen anything like that before in my life. Well, better get going if I'm ever to reach Level 4."
He stepped onto the platform and looked at the screen that says, "Teletporter Station A" at the top and "Control Station Selected Destination: Primary Receiving Pad A" at the bottom. Upon looking at the screen he gave off a long sigh and shook his head.
Main Marine: "Well, here goes nothing…"
He clicked on the icon that says, "Activate Teleporter Sequence" and heard the machine humming to life, as the two disks like structures lowered and some strange energy came out of the disks and in between the marine.
"Systems Activated. Teleportation will commence in T-Minus 3, 2, 1."
As soon as the sequence was initiated, he was sent spiraling into a strange wormhole with a thousands screams echoing all around him. The marine, experiencing all of it, knew that the worse is yet to come.
Mars Surface: November 15, 2145, 10:45 P.M.
Heading back outside, the Titans were running away from the Mancubus's that were firing huge balls of flames at them. Lucky for them that the huge behemoths were extremely slow, but their firepower is incredibly fast. They all made a left at a split second and continued to run while Starfire stopped and started firing star bolts at them. After a couple of shots that didn't faze them, she then flew away and rejoins with the others. While they were running or flying, Beast Boy stopped and spotted a flammable barrel next to him. He then looked to his right side to see the Mancubus's about to make a left turn. So he instinctively pointed his Grabber at the barrel, pulled the trigger, and lifted the barrel off its foundation. The changeling moved it to the direction of where the huge monsters were coming. Once he let go of the trigger, the barrel went soaring into the air and landed right on top one of the Mancubus's heads. The Barrel exploded along with the head, causing it to fall down dead and disintegrate. Seeing that made Beast Boy jump for joy.
Beast Boy: "Yes!!!"
The rest of the behemoths looked at what's left of their fallen comrade and decided to fight fire with fire. So they positioned their cannons and fired on the green elf. BB just stared wide eye on them and gulped.
Beast Boy: "Uh oh…"
Now the changeling's only option when facing three Mancubus's with mounted cannons was to run away. And he did as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He then caught up with the team and approached Alex, still running, a little unsure of this plan he thought up.
Beast Boy: "You know it would've been best if we stayed and fight!"
Alex, who was still huffing and puffing, explained to Beast Boy why they can't fight back.
Alex: "Even if we fight back, all we have in our disposal would be completely useless!"
Beast Boy: "So running is the only thing we have to do?"
Alex: "You got any better ideas then this? Look if you want to face them and die fighting it's all right with me. Sides, they're slow, so they won't catch up to us. All we have to do is to head straight to Gamma by following the paths that will take us there. Make a stiff right!"
The team quickly followed that directions and made a quick right at a large path sitting between two buildings. As they and running down the path, they all immediately stopped and saw part of a building from the left completely toppled down with bent girders, crumbled debris, and twisted metal. Robin stared in shock at the debris that blocks their path and shook his head.
Robin: "Great… Our path is blocked."
Suddenly, they heard a loud groan from behind and they all turned around to see the other side of the path. The team had no choice but to wait for the creature's to come around.
Robin: "Alex, is there any other way to get to Gamma?"
Alex: "Sorry Robin, but this is the only way through Gamma. All the other routes are nothing but dead ends."
Beast Boy swallowed another lump when he heard that.
Beast Boy: "That doesn't sound too good."
Starfire: "Then we must fight until they're all dead."
Cyborg: "Oh yeah… Now you're speaking my language."
Alex: "You guys sure that's a good idea? I mean, we don't have any resources to put them down."
Robin: "Then if that's the case, we fight until our last breaths."
Alex just sighed, as he now knows that there's no other way around it.
Alex: "Oh well… Guess there's no other choice."
They all starred at the other end and waited for the huge creatures to come. What they didn't notice was that something was crawling up the debris and was watching the group hungrily. The team patiently waited until they saw three big shadows on the sandy ground. Alex slowly pointed his plasma gun at the very direction and kept on staring.
Alex: "Here they come… All right once they come in range, we start going balls out on them."
Star looked down at Alex and was a little confused at his words.
Starfire: "Huh???"
Raven looked at her friend and explained in a much clearer way possible.
Raven: "He means we attack."
Star looked at Rae, places her hand on her cheek, and finally knew what "Balls out" means.
Starfire: "Oooohhhh… Now I see."
They could see their bodies coming around the corner and were getting closer.
Alex: "Here they come… Steady… Steady…"
But before they could attack, Al heard a hissing sound from behind him. He slowly turned around to see where the hissing came from. When he looked around at the debris, he saw a Vagary at the top ready to pounce. And it did as it leapt off the pile of concrete and metal and headed directly at Alex. The guardian was about to blast it with his weapon but it was all too late, as it landed on top of him and pinned him to the ground. The Titans saw that coming and were shocked and unprepared for what just occurred. They were about to help him, but Alex ordered them to stay put.
Alex: "No!! Stay where you are! I'll take care of this!"
The team stayed in their positions as Alex tries desperately to get the spider skeleton creature off him. The Vagary, on the other hand, was having the time of its life as it scratches Alex's armor from front to back. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, he managed to kick the creature off of him as it went back to the debris, with it's gut implanted through a twisted metal pole. Alex slowly got up and looked at the Vagary that attacked him struggling to remove itself off the metal pole. He then took his double-barrel shotgun out of his holster behind his back and pointed it at the creature.
Alex: "Serves you right punk."
He pulled the trigger and the shotgun fired a blast that killed the Vagary and watched it dissolves into ash. The rest of the team just sit back and watched him do what he did. They all then heard a loud groan and turned around to see the Mancubus's almost turning to corner to reach them.
Robin: "Uh… Alex, they're almost here."
Alex turned around to see them about ready to attack while reloaded two shells into his shotgun, and placed it back into the holster. What they notice was that their guardian was moving a little sluggish then before.
Alex: "I could see that. Well then, I believe it's now… now time to hit em'… hit them with every…"
Suddenly his voice sounded a little slur and his vision was getting blurry. It was then that Alex's knees started to feel weak and they were about to buckle. After a few seconds keeping himself in balance, he finally collapsed on the sandy ground face first and lied their motionlessly. Everyone looked at Alex, speechless at what just happened as Starfire flew closer to him and tried to wake him up.
Starfire: "Friend Alex, this isn't the time to go into hibernation. We have to-"
All of a sudden, she stopped in mid sentence when she saw something truly horrible. On his back, his air tank was ripped apart by the Vagary that attacked him moments ago as the pointer of the valve was down to zero. She gasped at what she saw and alerted the others.
Starfire: "Friends, Alex is down!"
Robin approached the fallen guardian and saw the ripped air tank and shook his head. While he watched on, the Mancubus's opened fire on the team as Raven quickly formed a wall to deflect the blasts.
Robin: "This is not good. We have to take him someplace safe before we lose him!"
But just before they could do anything, they heard more hissing and snarling behind them. Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy turned around and saw a hoard of Imps and Vagarys up on top of the debris and started firing fireballs at them. Everyone ducked to avoid the balls of flames and fought back with green beams of light, armor piercing hallows, and fire balls being grabbed and launched back at them.
Cyborg: "Well you better do something quick Rob! Cause if you don't, we'll all be dead!!"
Robin searched the place quick to save both Alex and the Titans. It was then that he spotted an airlock door on the left, still in operation and waiting for them. After looking at it, the Boy Wonder knew it's now or never. So he looked at Cyborg and gave the order.
Robin: "Cyborg, get Alex to the airlock and we'll catch up ASAP."
Cy stopped firing and looked at an unconscious Alex, then looked up at the airlock.
Cyborg: "On it!"
He put his chain gun away and bent over to pick Alex up. Once he did that, he ran to the airlock while Robin and the others were busy destroying monsters with what they got. Ask for Raven, she was concentrating hard enough to keep the wall intact from the Mancubus's firepower. As they kept the creatures at bay, Cyborg made it to the airlock with Alex resting on his shoulder. He clicked on the "Cycle Airlock" icon as the airlock starts depressurizing from within. Just as soon as the doors opened, Robin looked at the opened doors that Cyborg came into and looked at the rest of the team.
Robin: "Titans, fallback!"
The team kept running to the airlock until an Imp blocked the way. Robin, with sword in both hands, positioned it and sliced the creature diagonally in the middle. They continued to run and fly until they made it in. Raven, being the last, formed a dome around the airlock as the creatures tried their best shooting the shield down. When everyone's in, Robin looked at Cy and commanded him.
Robin: "Now Cyborg, CLOSE IT!"
Cy immediately pressed the "Cycle Airlock" icon on another screen and the doors leading outside closed and the air started to pressurize the same time Raven removed the shield on the outside. They then heard the sound of explosions coming from outside as the Imps, Vagarys, and Mancubus's try to break it open. Lucky for the Titans, the doors were strong enough to withstand an ultra sonic blast. Unlucky for them, the blasts created a sequence malfunction just as the airlock was about to finish its cycle. The light that was going to shine short circuited and burst off and the door cracked opened just a little bit and stopped. Everyone saw it and was shocked at what occurred.
Beast Boy: "Great… Now we're stuck."
Robin: "Not for long. Starfire…"
Star approached the broken door, placed her hands on both sides of the door, and used her alien strength to push it all the way open. After a few short seconds, she opened it all the way and the team entered a service room that was loaded with tanks and supplies including armor plates and ammo. But it wasn't the time for looking around; they have to quickly aid Alex before it's too late. Robin looked for a perfect spot to place him when he saw a pulley cart in on the far right corner.
Robin: "There. Place him there."
Cyborg headed straight to the cart and laid him gently on the cold surface off it. While he was doing that, the rest of the team removed their helmets to finally get some fresh air going. Cyborg then removed Alex's helmet to get a good look of his face when he noticed the face was pale as a ghost, much paler then Raven's. Promptly, he removed the wristband of his suit to reveal his metallic white and blue arm and pushed and button to open his handheld computer for a quick scan and diagnostic. Robin quickly approached Cyborg and wondered about Al's condition.
Robin: "Well Cy, how is he?"
Cyborg looked at Rob and explained the situation.
Cyborg: "He still has a pulse, but it's faint. And he can't breath since he ran out of air in his tank. Unless we get air back into his system, he won't make it."
Robin looked back at the lifeless Alex and made the drastic decision.
Robin: "Then we have to save him at once!"
That was when Beast Boy joined the two, and gave Robin an emergency air tank with a nose guard attached to the top. He was lucky enough to find one on one of the shelves, or this would've gotten complicated.
Beast Boy: "Here Robin, use this."
Rob looked at the tank and was glad that the changeling managed to get an emergency air tank in their disposal. He took the tank and approached Alex's limp body. He then places the tank's nose guard to his face and to see if he can breath, but he can't. So Rob the CPR position and tried to force some bad air out of his system.
Robin: "1, 2, 3, 4… C'mon Alex, don't leave us."
He placed the emergency air back to Alex's face and did CPR again. He'd been repeating the same process as the rest of the team looked on, hoping and praying that Alex will be all right. After performing CPR for the fifth time, he heard some coughing and sees Alex beginning to stir from his unconsciousness. He slowly got up, took the emergency tank out of Robin's hand, and continued breathing through it. The Titans were now glad that he was alive and well, as Robin sat next to him and see if he is fine.
Robin: "How do you feel?"
Alex looked at him and answered.
Alex: "I feel like a fish out of water. But I'll manage. What just happened?"
Robin: "Well the Vagary that attacked you ripped your air tank. The next minute, you collapsed on the ground and on the verge of dieing. We were lucky to find an airlock door and got out of danger before things could've gotten worse."
Alex lowered his head when hearing that and shook it.
Alex: "You know, you should've left me there when you had the chance. I should've been left there dead."
The Titans then approached the two and explained to him everything.
Starfire: "If we did, then we would've been dead today."
Cyborg: "Yeah… You see, it was you who knows how to get to where we're suppose to be and been protecting us from those things."
Beast Boy: "If it wasn't for you, then we would've been lost from day one."
Raven: "Worse, we could've gotten ourselves killed by them."
Robin: "What we're trying to say Alex is that we couldn't do all this without you. We need your help as you need ours."
Alex looked at each of the Titans upon hearing their words and smiled at them.
Alex: "Thanks guys, I never expect you guys are so worried about me."
Robin: "Well you're our only hope out of this."
Beast Boy: "Either that or we start killing frantically with no direction what so ever."
Everyone laughed a bit at BB's joke, even though it sounded lame. Alex then places the nose guard on his face and continued breathing through it. But while he was doing that, he looked around the service room and wondered where they are. He removed the nose guard off of him and looked at Robin to ask him
Alex: "Um… Do you know where we are?"
Robin shrugged his shoulders and answered.
Robin: "How should I know? I had to find someplace safe while you were out. This was like a life and death situation between us."
Alex: "Did you even check to see where we are or see a sign? Where's my PDA?"
He puts his emergency tank down and searched his pockets to find his PDA. Once he found it, he checked the map to see where they are now. When he checked the name, he did a double take and realized where they are.
Alex: "Oh no…"
Robin: "What is it?"
Alex quickly got up and walks past the group to reach the door. While he was doing that, he checked each of his weapons to see if their full of ammo. The Titans looked at him and was confused at what he's up to. But they know that he discovered where they are and is a little afraid of it.
Robin: "Alex? What's going on here?"
He made a stop and turns his head to see the team with a look of being scared shitless.
Alex: "If I were you, I would stay close each other no matter what.
Cyborg: "Well what does that mean? At least tell us where we are."
He then lowered his head and sighed, knowing they're not prepared for what he would say next. But Alex gathered up the courage to tell them and looked back at them.
Alex: "I hate to say this to you but… We're in Delta Labs."
And that was the final part of Mars Surface. I would like to say I could update another chapter pretty soon, but I can't. You see, I'm heading for a trip to Europe for two weeks on summer vacation. So I may not be able to update it until I come back. So I would ask all of you to be patient at this. On the next chapter, with being in Delta, the Titans must use whatever they have in their arsenal to get out of there in one piece. But what they didn't know was that Alex holds a deep dark secret that would soon be revealed. What will he do? Please Review.