Teen Titans #24: "Not of this Earth" Pt. 2

The Titans came bursting back into the laboratory where the meteorite was held. Dr. Ferrell was down in the corner, a wreck of damaged equipment around him.

His assistant was nowhere to be seen, and the aquamarine glow around the prodigal probe had....faded somewhat. It was definitely still there, but not nearly so much as it had been before.

Dagon came in last, after the others, having come further. He looked around, wildly, nervous and on edge.

Cyborg stared fixedly at the probe and slowly began to move towards it. Instantly, Dagon was there, holding him back. "No!" he hissed. "It's calling to you, trying to lure you in! Don't you understand? Can't you feel it?!?"

Cyborg blinked...twice....three times. "Yes...thank you. Now, please....no offense, but don't touch me again."

Dagon backed off. "Sorry."

"He's right, though," Cyborg said. "It is trying to lure us in."

"So, where's the other good doctor?" Beast Boy asked.

"Good question. Dagon, Starfire, go search for him," Nightwing said.

"Shouldn't it be me?" Kid Flash said.

Nightwing smiled thinly. "Of course. But you'll only find him if he's not hiding."

"Hiding?" Wonder Girl put in.

"Given the situation," Nightwing gestured to the fallen scientist, "And what has already been pointed out about the probe, it's clear that if the other scientist is still up and about, then all is not well with him."

"You think he did it?" Beast Boy said.

"Not exactly; I think Dagon is right; it lured him in, like it tried to do with Cyborg, and is using him."

Dagon, Starfire, and Kid Flash left the room without further discussion.

Wonder Girl frowned. "Should I go with them?"

"I get the feeling I might need you with me," Nightwing said. "Now, Cyborg, you were going to show me those readings?"

Cyborg shook himself. "How can you remain calm at a time like this?"

"Because I have to."

"Easy there, Batman," Beast Boy said.

Nightwing smiled, but there wasn't much humor in it. "Batman would either be breaking limbs or pulling about a half dozen different forensics tricks by now. Come on, Cyborg."

Cyborg nodded and brought up his wrist. A hologram displayed the readouts. Nightwing studied them, and his eyes narrowed to slits.

Kid Flash had already blurred on ahead. Dagon skittered through the hallways at a speed that, while nowhere near that of Wally, was clearly unnatural. Starfire flew on beside him.

She had never been comfortable around the vampire. She knew he was not evil and would not threaten her, but that did not make her at ease with him. His major reaction was indifference. But for the moment, they were working in close proximity, like it or not.

"It calls to me, trying to lure me in, like it did with Cyborg," he said without preamble. "What about you?"

Starfire shook her head. "I just can't shake the feeling I've seen something like it before. I cannot contact my people; we are on our own with this."

"We're always on our own," Dagon said. "Or at least, I am."

Starfire didn't know how to answer that. She had an uncomfortable feeling she knew exactly what he meant.

And that, she realized abruptly, was what this alien....thing.....was counting on. Their loneliness causing them to let their guard down....

The possessed scientist was not hiding, but he was on the move; he had gone almost all the way to the top floor. Presumably he had used an elevator.

Kid Flash found him with two other scientists, doing something to them. He was spreading the alien infection, or whatever it was. Blue-green arcs of light went from his eyes to a woman's; beside them a man had also already been infected, and was twitching and shuddering as the energy took control.

Wally burned forward at speed and slammed into the original infected scientist, knocking him over. He had to be careful; he didn't know what the capabilities of the possessing entity were, but he didn't want to hurt the host. So he settled for trying to knock them out.

His first strike, by rights, should have knocked the scientist out. He went down, then started to get up slowly. The other man turned and looked at him.

"Do not deny her our gift," he said in an eerie two toned voice.

"Our gift should be available to all," said the other, rising to his feet. "Three of your friends have felt the call more clearly than others, but all are welcome."

"In time you shall all join us," the first man said.

"Oh no," the woman muttered on the floor. "Please no..."

The other man began to speak again, but before he could say more, Kid Flash did what he
did best...he ran.

He dashed between them, picking up the woman scientist as he went. He was cynical enough to consider the possibility that she was already fully infected, and she would try to take him next; but apparently the infection was spread by eye contact, and he was fast enough to avoid the aquamarine glare of it's power.

The woman moaned incoherently over his shoulder as he went in search of Nightwing. The girl might be the key to all this.

Wally raced up to Nightwing, Wonder Girl and Beast Boy with the woman in his arms. "Is she clean?!?" he asked without preamble.

"Take her to Cyborg and have her scanned," Nightwing said.

Kid Flash nodded and was gone.

"So what exact form is your improvisation gonna take?" Beast Boy asked, bouncing along in the form of a Kangaroo.

"We're going to try to get all the STAR personnel together," Nightwing said. "So we'll know who is infected and who isn't."

"Um, they're not exactly known for cooperating with us, are they?" Beast Boy pointed out.

Nightwing smiled. It was not a pleasant smile. "Given what's happened, I rather think they'll have changed their view."

Wonder Girl nodded. "With the quarantine alarms having gone off and the alien contagion having begun it's attack, they'll be much more cooperative. I almost wish Speedy and his Checkmate friends were still here."

"Speedy, maybe," Gar said, "His Checkmate storm troopers, not so much."

Dick and Donna laughed agreement, but the humor was fleeting. The situation was much too serious for that.

They went to gather up the scientists.

The alien intelligence, meanwhile, had been busy. Starfire and Dagon had encountered new alien hosts

"Don't kill them," Starfire warned Dagon.

"I wouldn't anyway," he said, without offense. He knew she wasn't reassured, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

They encountered the same problem that Kid Flash had before; how to defeat the alien presence without hurting the human host. Granted, the power of the alien consciousness seemed less powerful spread amongst many bodies than concentrated in the probe, but even so they had no idea how to separate the energy from the host bodies. Also they had no idea how to protect themselves. Moreover, the alien power seemed especially interested in them, which was not a good sign.

There were four of the infected before them, staring at them with their aquamarine glowing eyes. They were in a small break room with vending machines, another half dozen or so scientists cowering behind them.

"Why do you resist us?" said one.

"You above all should join us," said another.

"Why? Why should we join you?" Dagon pressed.

"Your nature is not unlike our own," one of them said to him. "For you the transition should be less.....difficult."

Dagon shook his head, hissing in irritation. "I don't kill."

The possessed host smiled thinly. "Neither do we."

"And me?" Starfire asked.

"We have met the Tamaraneans before," the last of the four possessed scientists said. "The passion of your race has always provided a useful conduit for our power."

"Not me, I refuse." Starfire clenched a fist and it glowed with power.

"I refuse also," Dagon said, standing firm. "We will not be your pawns."

Now all four hosts smiled grimly. "Your permission is not required," they said in unison.

Dagon and Starfire closed their eyes and looked away, knowing an attempt to take them was coming. The blue green energy danced around them, unable to enter.

Starfire blasted starbolts at them blindly, and two of them went down.

Dagon hissed and went in low, slashing with his claws.

They opened their eyes and saw all four scientists were down....but three of them started to get up.

"We have to knock them out," Starfire said.

"Lovely," Dagon replied. He lifted one and slammed the scientist into a vending machine with a loud and painful crash. The scientist rolled around on the floor and groaned, but began to get up again.

Another tried to possess Starfire, but her own energy blast met the eyebeams and canceled them out. She blasted that one hard in the chest, hoping it wasn't too much for the human host. Restraining herself like this set her teeth on edge.

The battle was on.....

Cyborg and the recovering Doctor Panarese had retreated to an x-ray lab room.

"It's faded from your system," Cyborg said.

"Good....that is a relief," she sighed. 'But I wonder how we can utilize these readings against the alien presence."

"Well, we have the frequency of the alien consciousness," Cyborg mused. "That part's easy enough. But getting it out of the people without harming or crippling them...that's the problem."

"Or killing them," Doctor Panarese muttered. "It's out of me, though..."

"That's because it didn't have a firm grip on you yet," he answered. "Once the essence has settled in and taken hold, however, that's another matter. That's what we've got to figure out...."

He trailed off as he felt the essence calling to him again. It was still in the room where the probe was kept and could not conquer him from that distance, but like Dagon and Starfire, he could hear it wherever he went. He shook it off.

"We have to stop it, once and for all," he said grimly.

Doctor Panarese looked up from the readouts for a moment, eyebrow raised. "What is it?"
"The alien consciousness calls to some more than others," Cyborg said simply. "That's one of the reasons it's so urgent to stop it. Time presses."

They got back to work.