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

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The Teen Titans

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Issue #24: “Not of This Earth” Pt. 2
Written by: Jay McIntyre
Cover by: Ramon Villalobos
Edited by: Brian Burchette[/center]

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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.

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Raven stirred uneasily in her bed, but did not wake.

Her soul-self was truly her own; the shadow entity had only ever possessed her because she allowed it. With Trigon's defeat, there was no being that could take her against her will. But that, after all, was how this consciousness—this thing—worked. It tempted. It enthralled. It seduced.

Its vicious attack on her had killed any possibility of her being willing to accept it's advances. Even in her unconscious state, there was no way it could take her over.

But as things stood, she was having a great deal of difficulty expelling it from herself. Had she been awake and at full power, it would already be over.

As things were now, though, her subconscious struggled against it. Even in her catatonic state she had power enough to rid herself of this parasite, but not the focus, not the awareness.

And so she tossed and turned, at least temporarily at impasse with the thing inside her.

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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....

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"So what's the frequency, Kenneth?" Beast Boy asked.

Nightwing smirked. "The energy pattern of this thing is beyond strange. Clearly it can interface with our brainwaves, human brainwaves. But that doesn't explain Starfire's attraction, or why it would call to a vampire like Dagon."

"Being undead makes your brain screwy?" Beast Boy wondered, only half-joking.

"You could put it that way, yeah," Nightwing said. "Being undead, Dagon's brainwaves are much lower frequency and have no harmonics at all."

"You're losing me, Mister Spock," Gar protested.

"He means that being a vampire means a much lower rate of brain activity and there's no real rhythm to his thoughts," Cyborg supplied, "which is not to say Dagon doesn't think as much as the rest of us; he just uses less energy to do so, and his thoughts travel in unusual ways."

"But the fact that this thing is still getting to both him and Kory...." said Gar, thinking it through....

"Means that is very adaptable," Nightwing said, "And moreover that it used to dealing with many different kinds of life forms...and unlifeforms."

"Which means it's ready for just about anything we can throw at it," said Beast Boy softly, "which is very bad."

Cyborg continued tapping at the readings. "Very bad, indeed."

"So are we screwed?"

"Of course not," Wonder Girl said.

Nightwing nodded in agreement with Donna, grinning at Gar's question. "Not if I can help it. Cyborg, see if you can't find some piece of STAR lab equipment to patch into, and work with these readings; preferably not in here, though. Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, with me."

"So what are we gonna do, fearless leader?" Gar asked him as they left the lab.

"Improvise."

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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.

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The two possessed scientists shared only a glance; that was all that was needed. The consciousness that controlled them both had no need to speak aloud to communicate between different aspects of itself. The bodies went in different directions, seeking new hosts.

The peoples of this world had grown much wiser since the last time the consciousness was here. Now they had limited space travel. Once it had command here, it would guide them to build craft that could traverse the gulf between stars. It would spread throughout the galaxy and then spread back to the galaxy the humans called Andromeda, from which it had originally been spawned, so long ago....

But first things first. It had not even secured this world, yet.

It wondered why the three hosts most suitable to it were resisting so. The Tamaranean, the cybernetic organism, and the vampire. It had almost had the cybernetic creature, for a moment; then the vampire had stepped in. Why? Why would a vampire of all creatures resist its call?

Then there was the mystic hybrid, who slept uneasily in its embrace. That one too should have succumbed, as it had to other possessing forces before. But her will was strong.
Disturbingly so.

Taking this world would take some doing. It would not underestimate the host beings as it had once before. There was only so much of it's essence to go around; once it was spread thin enough, it would have to secure this building from outside interference until it could spawn more of it's own energies to continue it's spread. That would take time.

The bodies of its hosts frowned thoughtfully as they went about their tasks.

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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.

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Kid Flash had brought the woman scientist to Cyborg.

"She's clean," he said, scanning her. "The takeover attempt was not complete; the energies are fading from her system even now; wouldn't be a good idea to take her back into the probe room, though."

"The...probe?" the woman said uncertainly. "That's what's causing this?"

Cyborg nodded. "We think it picked up something from the Oort cloud. What's your name?"

"Doctor Panarese. So this is, technically… all our fault..."

Cyborg shrugged. "Science always has risks. I should know. Stay here, you can help me..."

Kid Flash had seen enough; he left the room at speed.

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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.....

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As Nightwing had predicted, the STAR labs personnel were much more willing to cooperate now that the reality of the situation had struck home. Already alerts were coming in from other floors, and people were beginning to panic. The thing Nightwing was trying to do was make it an organized panic.

"The alien intelligence will almost certainly attempt to sneak in amongst those we're trying to cordon off," Wonder Girl said.

Nightwing nodded. "That's why I need you and Beast Boy here, to help me in that eventuality."

She nodded and then leaned in. "No disrespect to Gar, but are you sure he can help with this?"

"His unpredictability is one of his assets, you know that better than most."

"I know," she sighed, "But this isn't exactly an enemy we can quip against. It might use the opportunity to try to possess him."

"That is a risk we all face," Nightwing shrugged, "And I trust him to be able and dodge and weave better than most. Besides, look what else he's doing."

She followed his pointing finger and saw Gar going through his usual antics, entertaining the crowd, helping put their fears to rest, making them easier for them to manage and control.

"Any alien hiding amongst the scientists would be hard pressed to react in a normal human manner to his antics," Nightwing said.

They smiled at each other for a moment, then returned to the business of managing the crowd.

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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.

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Kid Flash took several laps through the building, knocking down a few possessed folk as he went; even helping Starfire and Dagon with their fight without them being properly aware of it.
But it was his mind as well as his body that moved at super-speed, and while he wasn't nearly as clever as Nightwing, he could think fast and come up with ideas at an incredible rate.

One such idea led him back to Raven's room.

He looked at her, lying their, breathing deeply in what was neither sleep nor coma.

"I finally understand, Raven," he said aloud.

There was no answer, but yet he somehow felt she was listening.

"It took me a long time to realize it," Kid Flash said. "You told me I was in, that you'd let me in, but I didn't really understand. But now I do. Now I do."

He held Raven's hand.

"I know you can hear me, Raven. Let me in now. Let me help you fight this thing."

Raven made no answer but the atmosphere of the room seemed to...shift, slightly.

Kid Flash thought he understood, or at least he hoped he did. If he was wrong, this would be very painful for both of them.

Vibrating through solid objects was easy; he did that without a second thought. But this was something else entirely.

He let go of her hand and took two steps back. Drew a deep breath. "Here goes nothing...."

He blurred into super speed....right at Raven.

And disappeared.

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To be concluded....