CHAPTER 9

Ben awoke the next day once again finding Starfire next to him. Raven was not there at the moment, but she usually meditated at this hour, so he wasn't surprised. As he yawned and finished getting ready for the day, he walked out of his adjacent bathroom to find Starfire pulling on the last of her clothes, her pajamas lying next to the bed.

"What is it friend Ben?" she asked as she saw how red his face was. He thanked the stars she couldn't read minds. "Nothing." he squeaked. She smiled, "Shall we go get the breaking of fast?" she asked oblivious to her speech pattern errors. Ben nodded and they went to eat breakfast.

Midway through their meal, the break-in alarm(which they had installed after the HIVE operatives had broken in) went off. As they went to the Ops room computer to see who it was, they were surprised to see a sailor of some kind at their door. Robin motioned for the team to follow and they let the man in, greeting him with varying degrees of curiosity.

"Some guy calling himself Trident sank an entire ship full of barrels of toxic waste! There were about forty barrels of the stuff, and now it's at the bottom of the ocean doing who knows what!" The sailor explained in a panicking voice.

"Well we have a sub. We can see if we can catch the guy." Cyborg answered thoughtfully. Julie smiled and whistled, whereupon Ship came running and repeating the word "ship" in his metallic voice patterns. "Ship, aquatic mode. And make room for Gwen and Kevin." she commanded, which had the mechamorph transforming into a large submarine.

The sailor gawked. "You lot sure are resourceful. Just find out why that… thing wants all that toxic junk in the ocean!" And with that he left.


"Main power, online!" Robin started the assessment of the T-Sub.

"Oxygen tanks at maximum!" Starfire responded, checking a panel to her left.

"Defensive systems, active!" Raven added, looking down at a panel on the dash in her portion of the T-Sub.

"Twin turbo Hydrojet engine, purrin' like a kitten!" Cyborg affirmed confidently.

"Ship's good to go as well. Aren't you boy?" Julie smiled as the mechamorph gurgled, "Ship!" joyfully under the water.

"And your secret weapon is ready to rock!" Beast boy said with a toothy grin.

Ben pushed his Omnitrix dial and yelled "RIPJAWS!" As he jumped into the water.

Beast boy's smile fell. "Oh come ON! How many aliens do you have!" he shouted.

Kevin smirked and said, "Looks like we have two secret weapons!"

"Alright team, we have to find out what this Trident guy is planning. If it takes 40 barrels of toxic waste I doubt it's environmentally friendly." he said as the group's subs and Ripjaws descended into the launch bay under the tower. "Titans, LAUNCH!" Robin called out. Julie was right behind them and said, "Ship, follow the T-Sub!"

As they got deeper in the ocean, The T-Sub hit a school of fish and Starfire clasped her hands, "Oooooo! Wondrous!" she said, mesmerized by the deep sea life. Beast boy turned to her in his pod, "If you think they're cool, wait til you see me out there kickin' butt. First I'm goin' shark!"

He made a few biting motions before Raven said, "Isn't her boyfriend already the cool one?" stoically as BB frowned.

As he began complaining, Cyborg hit a certain button. "Goodness me, I seem to have accidentally switched off Beast Boy's microphone!" He said with a mock sorry tone in his voice.

Raven looked over at Cy's pod and said, "Could you go ahead and accidentally leave it off?"

"I'm picking up something on Ship's sonar." Gwen alerted the team. BB smirked, "Time to do what I do best! Try not to be jealous!" he said as he unbuckled and turned into a whale outside the sub.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "He just put on three-hundred-thousand pounds. I am so jealous."

Starfire smiled. "At least friend Ben can still talk underwater. Beast Boy's forms will be hard to communicate with!" Kevin smirked, "Isn't that a good thing?" he asked.

As they neared the sunken vessel, BB switched animals to a hammerhead shark, and Ripjaws swam ahead of him, calling "Race ya!" as he did so.

"There's our ship… but where's the cargo?" Robin asked. Julie piloted Ship down to the sunken boat and asked, "You heard the sailor, Trident probably has those barrels wherever he lives by now."

The T-Sub turned on it's search lights and began circling the boat. Suddenly BB and Ripjaws saw movement at the Port of the downed ship, and swam after the figure as it retreated. Robin called out, "Julie, Follow them, looks like they found Trident!"

As they turned to follow the figure, Something that resembled a laser bolt shot the right flank of their ship. "Looks like Trident found us!" Cyborg called out. As they were fired upon again, Robin called out, "Cyborg, bring us about, Raven get ready to fire! Julie, get to Ben and Beast Boy and make sure they are made aware they are chasing a distraction." Julie nodded, "On it!" she said, before something caught her eye and Ship was hit by a similar laser-like projectile. "What the-" she started before both Ship and the T-Sub were out of commission. Robin looked ahead and said, "He can't be in three places at once, head for that-"

Cyborg interrupted, "The engines are fried! We're goin' down!"


Over with Beast Boy and Ripjaws, the figure they were chasing turned and stopped. Using some form of telepathy, He said, "Your friends are in danger!" "My friends are in what? Whoa, how did you say that… Dude! How did I say that?" Beast boy said. Ripjaws spoke, since he could do so unhindered underwater. "Alright! It's hero time! Let's go BB!" as he and beast boy turned and swam after the T-Sub and Ship, both of which were sinking rapidly. As they did so, The unknown figure swam out ahead and punched Trident in the back. Cyborg was starting to panic. "Main powers down, hydrojets are toast and we're leakin' air!" Robin frowned, "Tell me something I don't know!"

Raven made it worse by(with no emotion whatsoever) saying, "Okay, we're all going to drown." Gwen called out, "Ship's not doing too well either. If we go any deeper-"

"We'll be crushed before we run out of air." Kevin finished. Ben was swimming towards the T-Sub, "BB, get Ship, I'll handle the Sub!" he called out as the figure from before fought with Trident. As Trident retreated, BB called out "I got it I got it!" as he swam toward Ship, whom was rescued by two whales. "They got it?" BB wondered. "How come they got it?" They other teen, dressed in a black and blue leotard of some kind, answered, "Because I asked for their help."

"You talk to fish? Yeah right!" Beast Boy asked, sort of weirded out that he could communicate underwater. The figure smiled.

"I'm talking to you aren't I?" then he turned and had a short conversation with a giant squid. "Well I uh… Technically I'm a squid." BB said to the new guy.

"It's called telepathy, follow me!" the teen said… thought? Whatever…

"It's called telepathy." BB mocked. "I heard that!" the guy said. "Who is this guy?" BB asked as he followed, getting frustrated. Ripjaws grabbed the hull of the T-Sub and pulled, slowing it's decent, and he was soon joined by the giant squid. Looking to see BB was following the whales, he looked at the squid and said, "Follow them!" as he helped maneuver the sub.

As they arrived at an underwater cavern Robin whistled at the cave's architecture. "Beautiful!" Starfire said in admiration. Cyborg wasn't so happy. "It's not beautiful, it's totaled! Aww man! I never even got to use the seismic blasters!"

"Where are we?" Raven asked as Ship turned back into his puppy like state to recover for a while. Kevin and Gwen looked around and took in the rock formations that held a certain grace. Julie knelt down to pet ship. "Are you okay ship?" she asked worriedly. He simply said, "ship." albeit a bit tiredly.

"You're at my place. I had the whales and Giant squid bring you here." the blue and black clad figure said emerging from the depths along with Ben. A good thing too, because the watch timed out almost as soon as he got out of the water. "Okay… Uh… thanks?" Raven said. Starfire commented,

"Yes, truly truly thank you so much for saving us!" The way both girls were looking at the new guy was not lost on Ben, but he didn't do much more than frown. It was just because he saved their lives, right?

"He saved you? Helloooo! I was there too you know!" BB said as he emerged from the water. Cyborg raised his human eyebrow, "You stopped Trident from kebabin' us with that souped up shrimp fork?" he asked. Robin smiled, "Wait'a go!"

"Well I was gonna, but..." BB started.

"I'm Aqualad. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. We Atlantians try to keep a low profile." he admitted.

"Good job. don't think anybody even noticed you." BB said begrudgingly.

Ben was miffed a bit when he realized ACTUAL HEARTS were literally flying out of Starfire and Raven's eyes into the air.

Raven realized something, and the hearts stopped as she asked, "You're from Atlantis?" Aqualad nodded, "and so is Trident." he affirmed. Leading them to some sort of hologram device, Aqualad showed them some images of Tridents atrocities.

"He's the worst criminal in all of Atlantis, with an ego to match. Trident claims he's perfect in every way, so he thinks he can do whatever he wants." Kevin rubbed his chin. "Can't be worse than Vilgax." he shrugged. Gwen sighed. "Not now Kev," she said.

Robin asked the question that needed answering. "Any idea what he wants with all that toxic waste?" Aqualad shook his head but answered anyway. "Whatever it is it will be bad for both our worlds. He's already gained some kind of new power. It's like he can be everywhere at once!"

"Noticed that." Julie nodded. Ben saw out of the corner of his eye that even she was… admiring Aqualad's muscles? "I think we're good." Ben said. "I mean I can probably fix the sub with the help of-" before Robin grabbed literally everyone into a circle to debate.

"We're at the bottom of the ocean!" Raven said, looking directly at Ben to shut him up.

Cyborg spoke next, "Our sub's Swiss cheese."

Julie(who was still petting ship in her arms) said, "Ship needs some time to recover too."

Before Ben could counter these statements, Starfire said, "And only friend Ben and Beast Boy can breath under water. The rest of us are trapped."

Kevin sighed, "We are so screwed." which made Gwen raise an eyebrow, "pessimistic much?" she asked.

Robin raised his head and spoke to Aqualad, "We'll take any help you can give us!"

Aqualad smiled, nodded and called out, "Hey Tramm!"

A small fish-like creature with humanoid characteristics emerged from a manhole cover that resembled a seashell asking something in an odd gibberish like language. Aqualad knelt down, "Wanna give these people a hand with their sub?" he asked. Tramm spoke more of the same odd language, and Aqualad explained, "Tramm's good with tools."

Julie sighed. "Normally I'd ask ship to help, but he's out of commission for now." Aqualad looked at the small Galvanic Mechamorph and said. "Sorry… what exactly is that?" Julie smiled. "an alien pet." she answered. "Think of him as a dog."

Aqualad shrugged and as Tramm got to work Cyborg shouted "Yo' careful, that's MY sub your messing with!"

"And while he's helping you, I'll track down Trident." Aqualad said. Now, normally, Ben would have just let him go and let Beast boy have the argument that was about to ensue. Unfortunately, when you have a bunch of voices in your head from a Mirror of Nevermore, that means Jealousy is ten times more of an issue. Especially when his girls were looking at Aqualad's retreating figure. Wait… HIS girls? Since when did he get so possessive? Before he could debate, his Jealousy emoticlone decided he was supposed to be the Alpha male. Walking over, Ben said, "You mean I'll track down Trident. I'm faster than you, AND I don't need to hold my breath."

"That's okay, I can handle i-" Aqualad started.

"Thanks, but I think I can-" Ben said.

"Seriously? If anyone tracks down Trident, it's gonna be me!" Beast Boy said, walking past the two.

"Say what now?" Aqualad said.

Ben smiled, "I'd rather have BB as a partner anyways!"

Beast boy turned and said, "I meant alone."

Robin ran over and said, "Why don't you ALL go track him down, together."

"I usually work alone." Aqualad answered.

Ben suddenly said, "While I would love that, it seems like a better option to do this together."

"180 much?" Beast Boy asked, "You were supposed to be on my side!"

Ben shrugged. "Mirror." he said as if that would explain it. Raven was the only one to realize what he meant.

Robin had had enough at this point. "Hey, arguing isn't going to stop Trident, now get out and search, all three of you!"

As the three of them jumped into the depths of the ocean -after Ben was once again in Ripjaws form- Robin shook his head. He had a feeling those three were not the best team to work together at the moment…


Aqualad pointed to his left as they swam. "I searched that region yesterday, we'll start over-"

He was interrupted by Beast boy, who was currently once again a squid. "Look, I'm sure you are some kind of local hero, but Ben and I are real heroes from the big city, so just let us call the shots, and try and keep up!"

Aqualad smirked, "He can't hear us! How are you two going to call the shots if you can't hear each other?"

Ben looked between the two seeming as they were staring at each other. "Uh guys?" he asked them.

Aqualad turned to him and telepathically said, "Your friend thinks you both should be calling the shots and let me just follow orders, but he can't talk to you. What about you? What do you think?"

Ripjaws frowned, "I think we have a bigger problem." he said out loud as he pointed.

Trident was a few feet away. "So another creature that can speak underwater! How... unamusing." Trident spoke through the water, apparently able to speak freely without telepathy.

"I can do more than talk!" Ben said, rushing after Trident.

As the other two prepared to follow, Trident seemed to grab Aqualad and they also began what equated to an underwater cage match.

Beast boy soon found himself fighting Trident as well. Managing to break Trident's weapon, BB-as a squid- was soon thrown onto Aqualad's face and stuck there, the two of them tangled together for a moment before they heard, "Insolent welp!" from Trident.

"At least I don't need a souped up eating utensil to be considered dangerous!" Ripjaws countered as he literally bit the weapon in half.

"So… which one of those was real, or am I the only one who thinks we all fought the same guy?" Ripjaws asked as the regrouped.

Before he got an answer, Aqualad pointed and said, "There he goes!" and they resumed chasing down the underwater threat. Coming to a three way cavern, the three of them shouted "There he goes!"…

Which of course led to a debate on who was right. In the end they each went in the direction they had seen Trident go, which just so happened to be three different directions. "Prettyboy know-it-all show off! Thinks he so much better than Ben and me!"BB thought as he was the first to encounter Trident again.

"Worthless scum!" Trident mocked, "You cannot defeat perfection!"

BB blinked. "How many of those fork thingies do you have?" he asked before Trident let out a battle cry and tried to shoot him with the energy beams the… trident(A/N: such a horrible name for the villain who wields himself!) could create. BB turned into a turtle to negate it's effects and was pushed into the darkness of the ocean.

Trident wasn't fazed. "I will win! I always win! I am superior!" he gloated.

BB emerged as a crab, and answered, "And I thought Aqualad had a big ego!"

Aqualad was having his own problems, fighting Trident in a place full of hydrothermal vents, as Trident began swinging his weapon more erratically, Aqualad grabbed it and tossed Trident over his head into one of the vents, thus ending the fight and taking care of Trident… or so he thought.

Ripjaws caught up with Trident at the same time the other two found their targets. "So… you think you can defeat perfection!?" Trident mocked, shooting behind him with his oversized pitchfork. Ripjaws just opened his maw and swam around the beam, biting into Trident's arm. "No… but any nearby sharks can." He quipped as the named marine life swam towards the two. Ben tried not to look back as he found the cove where Aqualad and BB were currently regrouping.

A simultaneous, "I just saw Trident!" came as soon as they saw each other.

Another, "No you didn't!" followed.

Yet another, "Yes I did!" by all three parties.

"Cut it out!" BB and Aqualad yelled as Ben's Ultimatrix timed out.

BB frowned and pointed a finger at Aqualad accusingly, "I don't care what you saw, I fought Trident!"

"That's Impossible! I didn't just fight him, I watched sharks finish him off!" Ben said.

Aqualad blinked, "You killed him? I thought I killed him in the hydrothermal vents down there!"

BB was being held back by Ben now as BB exclaimed, "Okay dude, what is your problem?" Aqualad frowned, "What is YOUR problem? We're supposed to be on the same side but you treat me like an enemy!"

"Uh… Guys?" Ben said as he looked up.

"WHAT!?"

"How many Tridents did we kill so far?" Ben asked.

BB raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

Ben pointed to the ceiling where there were pods with thousands of Trident clones in them.

"Uh-oh..." BB muttered.

"One Trident is bad." Aqualad said.

Ben finished, "But this is..."

"An army!" the Tridents surrounding them mocked before charging. Ben tapped the dial on his Ultimatrix, but it flashed red. "Dangit! Can you be any less helpful!" he muttered to himself. BB and Aqualad began knocking out the Tridents as Ben kept fidgeting with his watch.

Cue evil army monologue:

"My brilliant plan is already a success!"

"If one of me was perfect..."

"Why not make more?"

"You can never have too much of a good thing!"

"Once my army conquers Atlantis,"

"I will declare war on the surface world!"

"And everyone on the planet will bow down before me!"

Cue chorus of:

"And PRAISE MY PERFECTION!"

"Any bright ideas?" Aqualad asked the others.

Ben nodded, "I think I know what to do."he said.

speaking loudly, he asked, "So, if you are all perfect, which one of you is the best?"

"I AM! Huh?" was the resounding cry from ALL the Trident clones.

BB smirked, "Come on! You can't all be the best! Then who's the original? Gotta have a leader!"

"I am! I am the original! I am the best?!" the Tridents then turned on each other.

"You are not the original, I AM!" one of them yelled.

"Nonsense you inferior fools! I am perfection, I am Trident!"

As the Tridents beat each other to comatose states, Aqualad smirked, "Great idea!" Ben shrugged, "Got it because of how much we were fighting among each other." he admitted.

BB nodded, "Now we just have to stop the clones from hatching!"

3…

2…

1…

"Too Late!" they realized simultaneously.

As the pods began hatching, Ben's dial turned green again. Running behind BB who had turned into a hippo in order to use the newly hatched Tridents as bowling pins, Aqualad and Ripjaws jumped into the water followed by a green swordfish. "We have to find some way of sealing the exit!" Aqualad transmitted to them as the Trident's followed. "Right now I'm just worried about getting to the exit!" was BB's response.

As the three of them swam out of the cave, the T-Sub came into view, using it's seismic blasters to cover the exit in rocky debris.

"Yes!" Robin shouted from his cockpit.

"Cool!" Raven smiled slightly.

"Victory!" Starfire cheered, holding up a V sign.

"Booyah!" Cyborg shouted enthusiastically, "Seismic blasters worked like a charm! Nice repair job Tramm!"

"Good thing Trident likes himself so much,"BB thought, "Cuz I'm thinking he won't see anybody else for a long time!"


"Consider yourself an honorary Teen Titan!" Robin said, handing Aqualad a communicator once back on land. "We couldn't have done it without you! Thanks!"

Aqualad smiled, "Right back at you. It's good to know there's people up here I can trust."

Starfire and Raven were literally expelling hearts from their eye sockets, which Ben noticed and tapped them on the shoulder clearing his throat. While Beast Boy and Aqualad went on about a race, Ben asked, "Where's Julie, Kevin and Gwen?"

Robin patted his shoulder, "Don't worry about them! They're fine, Ship just needed to recuperate, so Julie's helping him, and you cousin went with her. I'm not sure where Kevin is..."

"Right here!" Kevin said walking outside. "Ship's fine, back to his old self. I got a question though… how much do we get paid doing this job?"

"We're superheroes, not black market salesmen." Ben said firmly. "Anyways, who's up for pizza?"

The Titans all agreed and set out for their favorite pizzeria, glad that the day's events were over.