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About forty years ago there was a canon Supergirl story where she takes a classroom of college students down to Atlantis and has Lori Lemaras (or however you spell it) give them an up close and personal tour/lecture about marine biology so they can ace the class. In this variation, Garth is sucked into it instead—with complications, of course, including Robin (Dick Grayson) who is along for the ride, as well. And apologies to Dr. Robert Ballard. I don't know the man, hold him in tremendous respect and hope—in the unlikely event that he ever sees this or I meet him—that he takes this in the harmless good spirit it's intended.
And I know I'm messing up canon and history here but this is my story, so I figure I'm allowed.
I'm Working…
Part One
"This is going to be totally awesome. I swear to God."
"Studying Marine Biology in friggin Atlantis? Unbelievable. Friggin Wood's Hole spent three years trying to get permission from the State Department or something and even their rep was saying on C-Span that it was all messed up with red tape."
"One call from Supergirl and we're there, I am so totally psyched for this."
"They said we might get an actual Atlantean biologist as a guide."
"Yeah, well, they also said they hardly have anyone who speaks English so don't hold your breath."
The twenty students were in the mobile classroom with large portholes arranged around the round walls, floor and ceiling of the special deep sea submersible they'd been allowed to borrow for a couple of days from the US Navy and specially refitted by Supergirl to allow the students to use it as a combination classroom and dorm for the couple of days the trip was expected to last. Supergirl had specially reinforced it for extreme depths beyond its previous limits and the whole trip was being touted as a diplomatic breakthrough between the surface and notoriously xenophobic Atlantis. It was being compared to Nixon's Ping-Pong diplomacy, which had been the first crack in the wall with China thirty-five years before.
The twenty hand picked students, along with Supergirl, loaded into the sub; seated and seat-belted, they were ready to go. There was food on board and even a small airplane-like bathroom. Blankets and cot mattresses had been stored as well, though everyone expected to be too excited to sleep. The students were mainly undergrads with a few grad students thrown in the mix. The whole thing had been in the planning stages for less than a month but—unknown to the kids on board—Supergirl was a student at Stanhope College just like they were and all it had taken was her direct call to King Orin/Aquaman/Arthur (take your choice) to get his permission and a single conference call from him to the presidents of both the school and the United States to set the wheels in motion. Amazing what contacts can do and the King had one of his rare soft spots for Supergirl, or Kara, as her friends called her. He simply had always liked the girl and was glad to help—fully aware that it wouldn't hurt his own image on the surface as well.
"Okay, we have to make a stop to pick up our guides so everyone just relax for a few minutes until we get there." The machine started moving, the unseen pilot in a closed cockpit in the cramped lower level. The kids talked excitedly among themselves, flirted a little and looked out the portholes to the water passing quickly, the sun glinting off the surface as they moved across the Atlantic at more than jet speed. They'd be wherever they were going soon.
About twenty minutes later they began to slow, evidently headed for a ship fast approaching on the horizon. It looked like a medium sized freighter, though cleaner than those usually are and evidently at anchor somewhere in the middle of the ocean with no land to be seen on any side. "He's doing some research out here for the summer, but when the permission came through for us, he agreed to come along and act as guide." He? The students almost swallowed their collective gum at the nonchalant statement followed by the emergence of Robert Ballard from the ship's pilothouse, but tried for cool. Okay, he wasn't an Atlantean, but he sure wasn't chopped liver. Setting down on the ship's helicopter pad, Kara popped the hatch and stepped out on the deck.
A brief conversation with some curious crewmen from the ship and Kara stuck her head back in. "He'll be a few minutes 'cause they're in the middle of something, so c'mon out and stretch your legs while you can—just don't touch anything or get in the way, okay?" Next she knocked on the door to the cockpit, when it opened and their pilot unfolded himself from the small space the students made another effort at cool. Their pilot was Robin, wearing an old pair of jeans, a tee shirt and his mask. Kara asked him if he was all right, he nodded and got himself a bottled water from a cooler then distanced himself, standing about twenty feet away, casually looking around the ship. The buzz from the kids was excited and a little too loud, both Ballard, who was working and Robin, who was relaxing, ignored them.
The decks of the ship were obviously working areas with various crewmen and researchers going about their business—focused and casting mildly curious looks at the students without stopping whatever they were doing. A very large spool on the stern—at least eight feet in diameter, was rolling in some heavy cable from God knew how deep. The surface, though calm, was that deep green verging on black you only see when the bottom is so far down you couldn't imagine it.
There were a couple of zodiac boats in the water around the ship positioned near where the cable disappeared and a few men in wet suits looked ready to help whatever they were pulling up as soon as it appeared on the surface. Derrick arms were swung out over the stern to lift whatever it was aboard.
The crew seemed tense, as if they were afraid something was wrong or maybe just not completely right. What little talk was terse and to the point.
The students stayed back but watched what was going on, saying little and then only in hushed voices. A few took pictures. The crew paid them no attention, too busy to be bothered with tourists.
Suddenly two divers surfaced next to the stern and, ignoring the small support boats or crewmen, pulled themselves up onto the dive platform at the stern. Moving quickly, they took a second cable reel and hook from a reserve spool that was mounted and ready to go. Manipulating some controls and moving fast, the two men released the lock on the second spool, allowing it to unreel as the men disappeared back over the side and underwater with the end—all in under thirty seconds and without saying a word. The frayed and broken end of the first cable broke the surface less than a minute later, talk from the deckhands let them know the second cable had been secured and whatever the ship had underwater was still in place.
One of the college girls noticed and touched the arm of the girl beside her. "Hey, those guys weren't wearing tanks."
"Sure they were, they must have been—they just left them in the boats or something."
"No they didn't."
Supergirl, standing nearby, cleared it up. "Those two guys are Atlanteans."
A few of the students blinked—Atlanteans and they hadn't even noticed? "But they just looked like normal guys." "The dark haired one was really cute." "They were both seriously cute. I mean, seriously." "They even looked good dripping wet." "I'd take a dip with either one of them any day!" "How can you tell where they're from?"
"From their clothing—only Atlanteans have wetsuits like that—or look that good in them. And they don't need tanks to work underwater." The girls smiled and nodded—the men had looked fine and that was no lie. "And the dark haired one was Aqualad. You know, one of the Teen Titans? And he usually prefers using his real name, Garth." Kara was laughing, yes, Garth had grown up nicely—very nicely. He was a sweetheart, and smart and funny and rich and even royal to make him even more perfect than the kids knew. He was also still nursing a badly broken heart after Tula's death a few months ago. He was only out here helping Wood's Hole because Queen Mera had convinced Arthur that a change of scenery and something to occupy his thoughts would be good for him. "That's one of the reasons this guy", she had linked her arm through Robin's elbow, "agreed to drive for us today. Right, chum?"
'Rob gave a small shrug. "I haven't seen him in a while", then he turned to Kara with a patient look and a quiet, "I'd only do this for you, you know." He meant driving a bunch of swooning students.
"No way." "I thought he was like twelve or something." "Shoulders to die for." "Major hunk." Even the boys in the class seemed impressed to have actually seen two Atlantean divers first hand, even for just a few seconds…and they were within speaking distance of Robin. Awesome.
After the two divers finished whatever the problem was there was a noticeable relaxing of the tension in the surface crew—whatever the problem had been was apparently fixed and maybe fifteen minutes later the ship's crew was back on board from where they'd been tending the cable about twenty yards off the stern. The support craft were secured along the ship's side and the two Atlanteans were stripping the top halves of their wetsuits off in the heat of the midday sun.
Garth saw Robin almost immediately and the two exchanged a brotherly hug, Dick whispering something the kids couldn't hear which caused Garth to nod his head, his smile fading to nothing. Kara had heard them, though; Robbie had asked "You doing all right now? You need anything" to which Garth had said a stilted and not very convincing "No, I'm good. Thanks." They separated, the three men—Dick Grayson, Garth and the other diver leaning nonchalantly against the railing, the Atlanteans dripping on the deck. They ignored the students while they answered questions from the expedition people about whatever they'd just done to save whatever they'd just saved and starting on the cold beers Bob Ballard handed them when he walked back to get his own debriefing. "You earned your paychecks today, gentlemen, and I thank you."
One of the students gathered his nerve. "What did they do?"
The men turned to the, until now, largely ignored students. Ballard calmly answered. "They prevented a prototype million dollar deep sea remote camera from falling four miles to the bottom when the cable unraveled."
"…Oh."
Ballard smiled, "I'd say that gets them a couple of beers."
The Atlantean diver who wasn't Garth muttered, "I hope it gets us more than that."
Garth, with a small laugh and obvious agreement with his companion while he and Robin shook hands—clearly they knew one another from somewhere as well while Garth moved over to Kara. He gave her a friendly but distant hug to avoid getting her wet and, after a moment asked her, with more good manners than real curiosity, "What are you doing here?" The question included the college kids and Rob.
Ballard answered for her. "I'm tour guide. Okay, I'm really just along for the ride—finally got permission to see your hometown for myself, and these young folk are coming along to write it up for—what was it? Marine Biology 101?" He seemed to find that funny.
The two Atlans exchanged surprised glances. "Permission from whom?"
Kara glanced at them, "Arthur. I asked him and he thinks it's a good ice breaker and Dick agreed to be our pilot today." She gave him another grateful smile that he vaguely acknowledged with a small nod.
"Arthur said that?" Looking like he was either about to ask how she'd managed this feat of impossibility or burst out laughing, Garth settled on a private exchange with the other diver, saying something in Atlantean which made them both laugh. "Well, this should be an adventure for you all. I guess."
Robin decided to ignore the sarcasm and let the shoe drop. "Actually, you're supposed to come with us. Arthur said he wanted to talk to you about something."
Garth gave him an indecipherable look. "'First I've heard of it—and is that why you're here? To talk me into it?"
"He asked me to bring you back because there's something you need to deal with—that's what he said. This thing just tied in timing-wise."
"Did he happen to mention what I'm supposed to deal with?" Garth knew, of course, but he was annoyed that one of his best friends had agreed to twist his arm about it.
Rob just shrugged. "You know how he is; he likes to keep secrets."
"That he does." He looked less than impressed but kept his anger under wraps. "He has my number, he can call and explain it to me."
"Garth, c'mon…you know he'll kill me if I don't bring you back. He said it was important and you know the flack I'll get from the Bat if I blow this."
"It's always 'important', chum. I'm working. If he has something to discuss, he knows where I am."
The students followed this, amazed that heroes could have a conversation where one of them basically blew off a supposedly senior hero. How strange—they were almost like real people. And wasn't Aquaman like Aqualad's—Garth's, was that what they called him?—father or something?
Kara chimed in trying to help. "He said it's about you taking on some new responsibilities you've been avoiding, if that means anything."
No kidding—the negotiations with Shayeris were hinging on his returning there to finally accept his throne, something that wouldn't happen as long as he had any say in the matter. Arthur knew this and so did his supposed 'people'. These were the same people who had murdered his father, banished his mother and ordered his own death/murder within half an hour of his birth. Now they were really, really sorry and would like nothing better than for him to come back so they could all be friends.
No. It wasn't that simple and he wasn't interested.
Garth practically snorted and shook his head. "I'm busy here and then I'm expected back in New York at the Tower—right 'Rob? After that I'm booked to help the Australian government eradicate the Crown of Thorns which are eating the Barrier Reef. I'm also supposed to help with setting up the Tsunami warning buoys in the Indian Ocean. Like I said; I'm working. If he wants to talk with me, he has my number."
Kara tried to sweet-talk him, knowing he was digging his heels in and it wouldn't work. "C'mon, Garth—you know how Arthur is when he doesn't get his own way."
He laughed out loud at that attempt. "All the more reason to stay here." It was clear she wasn't making any headway with him.
"But…"
"No."
"Garth, it's not that big a deal…"
Garth turned on him with the closest thing Dick Grayson had ever seen to real anger on his fact. "Robbie—back off." He was done discussing his returning to Atlantis, annoyed with the conversation and turned his head towards Ballard. "Did you want any more pictures of that wreck or are we done?" Dick stayed quiet, knowing Garth well enough to let him blow off steam for a while or there'd be no chance at all.
Ballard decided to take advantage of the situation; he'd thought the two divers were finished with the ship, but if they were willing to make at least one more dive to get away from an argument, hell, no reason to turn it down. "…Yeah. If you could get some stuff inside the hull, that would be great—assuming it's not too dangerous; those main deck plates looked like they were about to collapse any second." This was a bit awkward; everyone wanted to get going to see Atlantis but this was the last day the research ship would be available. It was scheduled to leave for some work on the Outer Banks by six this evening and they had less than an hour before it had to start the engines to make the rendezvous. If they didn't get the pictures now, they would have to either forget about them or wait till next year and hope the ship was still intact enough to photograph, which was unlikely.
"It should be all right if we're careful. If you'll excuse us..."
With that offhand dismissal and happy for the excuse to get away from a discussion he didn't want to have, Garth and the other diver checked what were probably Atlantean cameras for film or batteries or whatever you check such things for. Next they pulled the tops of their wet suits back on and simply dove over the side, disappearing almost immediately. The whole dive prep took maybe forty-five seconds, tops.
Kara turned to the doctor, not quite sure what to do now other than wait. She liked Garth and actually had some sympathy for the position he was in; still mourning Tula, not wanting anything to remind him of her and his loss, expected to take a throne he didn't want plus having to deal with Arthur, who could be…difficult. But they were supposed to bring him back home and they were supposed to have left by now. Robin, Dick, wasn't being any help, either right now—he was just standing there looking like he was enjoying the hot sun and ignoring the students who were trying to sidle up to him for pictures or autographs or something. He seemed fine just sunbathing.
"Will they be long, do you think?" Maybe she could just wait until the two divers finished taking pictures; how long could it be, after all? The students were starting to look uncomfortable with this, they wanted to get going as well and certainly didn't want to be stuck in the middle of a disagreement between superheroes. How odd. Sure, she could have made the dive herself, but that would be a serious breech of super hero etiquette and, besides, the Atlanteans were better at this than she was. She stayed right where she was on the deck.
"It's over two miles just to the bottom, then they'll have to get inside of the ship we're dealing with, carefully so as to not get trapped or anything, then they have to actually take a bunch of pictures, then they have to swim back up to the surface. It will be at least half an hour, anyway." Ballard saw the looks on the kid's faces. "They swim a lot faster than we do." He kind of shrugged. "While we're waiting, I could show you some of the things they've already found for us if you'd like. Besides, maybe he'll be in a better mood when he gets back." Robin smiled at that—he'd known Garth for a decade and knew how long he could hold a grudge when he wanted to.
The students knew they didn't have much choice; they were just along for the ride and everyone they'd seen in the last couple of hours seriously outranked them. Supergirl, Dr. Robert Ballard, Garth/Aqualad or whatever he was called. Damn. Best to just wait and see how it played out. In fact, this might even be worth a mention in the paper they'd be writing.
Kara sort of apologized to the students. "The king will be really angry if he's not with us when we get there." And that was an understatement. "And he's our host. I guess we should maybe wait a little bit." Besides, it wasn't like having the doctor showing them around was a hardship or anything. The ship they were diving was an old Roman galley, full of different kinds of ancient freight and had been carrying everything from wine to gold coins and jewelry when it seemed to have gone down in a storm almost three thousand years ago. The things they'd recovered were museum quality.
Less than thirty-five minutes later the kids saw the two Atlantean divers climbing back on board the dive platform of the ship, looking seriously annoyed and with a second ship—some weird kind of a sub, surfacing about twenty yards away. The hatch popped, a couple of men pulled themselves out, swam over, also climbed onboard and approached Tempest/Garth with what looked like major groveling and bowing.
How odd. Robin didn't look surprised; in fact he seemed sympathetic to his friend. But then, he knew that Garth didn't have a choice in this; he was going back whether he wanted to or not Robin was along to soften the blow, try to convince him and maybe run interference between him and Arthur.
The newcomers spoke in what was probably Atlantean with Garth getting more and more irritated by the second, though he was doing what seemed to be his best to suppress it. The sub crew was obviously trying to talk him into doing something, probably going with them somewhere and he clearly didn't want to.
Finally, shaking his head in irritation, he seemed to give in and reluctantly agree, much to the relief of his dive partner and the new guys…then seemed to add some kind of condition which left them flatfooted. Leaving the rest standing on the deck, Garth disappeared down some stairway leading below decks from the look of it.
The guy, who seemed to have appointed himself spokesman went over to Ballard and Robin beside him, "His Majesty has graciously agreed to return with us. It is our sincere hope this isn't an inconvenience to your or your expedition, sir and we can arrange another diver to complete any work of his which is still to be finished, if you wish."
Ballard looked a little surprised. A little? Okay, he was gobsmacked. "…Thank you." Just then Garth reappeared carrying a duffle, annoyed and seeming to just want to get whatever he had to do over with. "Your Majesty? You're a 'Majesty?'"
"Bob, don't start, okay? Just don't." One look at 'Rob, "Or you, either." One of the other Atlantean guys picked up the bag, bowing slightly as he did so. Garth ignored him. "You've gathered that I've been ordered home, right? I'll make sure that your pictures and my report about them get to you in a couple of days and if you need anything else you can contact me through the embassy in Washington; I'll make sure they know to forward anything you have to say to me." He shook his head in irritation. "I'm sorry about this." He turned to board the sub but stopped in mid stride. "On second thought, maybe I will ride back with you, if that's all right, Kara, Rob?"
"Yes, sure, of course." The kids exchanged looks back and forth—Aqualad was going to ride back to Atlantis with them and he asks if it's okay? Yeah, sure. In fact he could sit anywhere he wanted; several of the girls were making room by their sides already. He was major cute and incredibly exotic/sexy with those purple eyes and that amazing accent. And his bod wasn't half bad, either—shoulders for days. And Robin was their driver? Amazing. Today was getting better and better.
"Thank you." He spoke to the other Atlanteans in a language that sounded like a mix of Greek, Latin and something unknown. They looked increasingly uneasy, which Garth ignored. Then, obviously dismissed, the others bowed unhappily and closed their hatch, the sub disappearing under the surface. "They'll escort us back." He seemed resigned to it, but not pleased. "Let's go." It was less a request than a statement, bordering on a command and the students realized they were dealing with something they hadn't considered. He turned to get into the kid's ship, his dive partner joining them with a word from Aqualad; it looked like he either worked for Aqualad or was a good friend. Well, okay, they didn't know who he was but maybe they were brothers for all they knew. Whatever, he was cute, too. Okay, maybe not as cute as Garth, but still more than acceptable. Robbie? Robin had a nickname? Awesome! Anyway, he folded himself into the cockpit and this time left the door opened so he could still talk to Garth. The girls were becoming an embarrassment, but they were both major gorgeous…
That was it. Everyone piled in, the hatches were dogged, they all found seats and cast off.
The water closed over the top of the ship, the water outside the portholes changed from a pale greenish to grow progressively darker as they descended until, after a couple hundred feet, there was almost no surface light at all and all they could see outside was solid, liquid black. The kids oohed and ahhed, nervously watching as they lost sight of all surface light while Garth and Robin ignored the windows, talking to one another. The Atlanteans had seen this a thousand times and it held little interest for them and 'Rob was more concerned about his friend than the scenery. Garth was clearly angry and the other Titan seemed to be trying to calm him down, with limited success. The Atlantean ship which they were told would be with them couldn't be seen, so was either running without lights or was far enough away to not be noticed with the naked eye through the dark water; whatever. They could have been alone on the planet, for all the company they had. A few of the kids seemed to be a little frightened and a bit claustrophobic, but were keeping a lid on it and managed to contain any concerns they may have had as the automatic sensors turned the cabin lights on low enough to see one another. Ballard started talking about what he knew of their destination, but the simple fact was that almost no one really knew anything and so they and so they may as well have been going to Pluto, for all the actual first hand information which was available.
"Um…Aqualad?" One of the girls gathered the nerve to actually talk to him.
He didn't bother to look up from where he'd found space on the floor, something which could only be an Atlantean laptop computer opened and balanced on his legs as he worked quietly, ignoring everything both inside and out until his friend touched his shoulder and nodded toward the students, causing him to look over at them without interest. "My name is Garth. I believe I already said that."
The young red head blushed. "Is it all right if we call you that or should we use 'your majesty' or something?"
He seemed to take a mental count to ten or so and with a slightly wan smile looked over at her and said, "No one in their right mind would go by 'Aqualad' if they had a choice—that was hung on my by the surface press almost ten years ago and I don't use my title if I don't have to. My name is Garth." He looked at her expectantly but she seemed stalled until he prodded her. "Did you want to ask me something?" His manner was still annoyed and a bit curt.
"Um, it's just that none of us have ever been to Atlantis and I thought, if you don't mind or anything, maybe you could tell us something about it. If you're not too busy or something." She was blushing scarlet by now and thinking he was probably the best looking man she'd ever seen, even if he did live underwater and maybe had an unnatural relationship with seals and porpoises. Or not—that was just a rumor she'd heard once and wasn't sure if she believed, even if it might be true. And if he wasn't available, then maybe Robin or Garth's friend…
"What would you like to know?" He looked like he wished he'd opted to travel in the Atlantean ship after all.
TBC2/4/07