Black Victor Cachant - Interesting idea in your PM. Been thinking of something like that but on a more 'Beyond' level actually. And I've never been a fan of La'gaan either but at the same time, I didn't want to take the easy road out by killing him off, (So many companies do that and to me it's just lazy writing or insulting to the fans most of the time), but then again, I hope you like what happens to him at the end of this chapter.
Parrell134 - Yes, Constantine will be popping up later on. I have an idea for his character.
Eric - You hear a femle version of Baymax, I hear Cortana from Halo. But I haven't really given her a voice in the story besides her usual sounds as the words on the display come up. And come on, Raven never does, 'fear'. Lol.
Veritas1995 - He's my favorite too. The moment he came out as an emotional constipated badass, I was rooting for him.
Godhanx - Don't worry, Raven's important for what I have planned.
The Darkman - Funny you should mention Lex and Bee...
4.
Metropolis Airport
July 9
15:19 UTC
With a final turn, a small private plane pulled into an unloading area as a ground crew member directed the pilot to an available space. Among the white exterior with a light blue stream going from nose to tail, the plane had foreign letters spelling out the country it originated from.
It's door opened as a platform lowered to the ground, letting out it's sole passenger. Long, shapely tanned legs descended the steps with such grace, a ballerina would be jealous. Stopping at the bottom of the small set of stairs, the woman with the shapely legs came to a stop, watching as attendants removed her luggage from the cargo area and hurried to load them into a waiting limo where a blonde headed man stood waiting with his hands behind his back.
As the woman came close to the luxurious vehicle, the suit wearing man gave her a slight bow then proceeded to open the door for her. "Miss Bee, Mister Luthor wishes me to welcome you to the United States and hopes you enjoy your stay as his guest."
"Thank you," Queen Bee responded as she entered the vehicle. "You can inform your boss I am looking forward to seeing this presentation of his."
"I will do just that. Please, help yourself to the supplied drinks and h'ordures. It will be around fifteen minutes for us to arrive at Luthor Towers."
Shutting the door, the blond haired man turned to head to the driver's side. As he walked, he reached for his sunglasses and covered his eyes, which flashed green for a moment before being covered.
Atlantis
July 9
15:43 UTC
The trip to the caves was not a long one. The bioship arrived at La'gaan's salvage shop less than five minutes after Mrs. Martian summoned it. In less than thirty minutes, the group arrived at the location of the caves where more of the ancient Atlantean writings were found. Only a few knew how to decipher them and La'gaan's species were some of the last to understand what they meant.
The time the three spent in the Martian ship was spent with talk of the investigation at hand. Mostly on what the situation was on the surface world. After a quick rundown, the former black ops member was caught up and understood what the other two were really after, to have an idea as to what this demon god the Cult of Blood is trying to bring into the world was.
"I still don't believe this cult will do anything more than cause trouble," La'gaan said as the three exited the ship. "Gods, like they exist."
"You don't believe?" Mrs. Martian asked him.
"If there were a god, then why do so many people worship different ones? I read about at least six different gods after visiting the surface and have not seen any signs they exist."
"It's not about having proof one exists, it's about having the faith in a higher power."
"And you believe, right?"
"Of course," Mrs. Martian answered as she and the others swam to the cave entrance. "On Mars, we would go to the temples near our district and do the equivalent of Earth praying. We would ask for The Devine One to keep our people prosperous and ask for guidance.
"And do not forget," Aqualad spoke up. "Here in Atlantis, we pray to Poseidon who rules the seas we call home."
"And the humans worship someone who let them kill his son, or the other one who commands they kill each other, or the one from space that celebrities pay to pray to," La'gaan said. "That's my point, or several really. How can anyone think there is a god when there are so many? It's impossible for something like that to even exist."
"Like I said, it's not about seeing to believe, it's about believing without seeing," Mrs. Martian told him.
"This is also why religion of any sort is a delicate issue," Aqualad said. "We may never know the answers that matter, but one thing stands above all others."
"And that is?" La'gaan asked.
"That a religion which does not teach peace or love for your fellow man is defiantly not a religion. No matter if you believe or not, it is not your right or anyone else's to force views on others and this cult seems to be both, which makes it dangerous."
"He's right," Mrs. Martian agreed. "Maybe if people understood that and let others be in peace, there would not be so much violence. But if it's proof you want of some form of life after death, then maybe you should talk to Doctor Fate, or Artemis and Zatanna."
"For what?" La'gaan asked.
Holding a finger to her lips with a grin, Mrs. Martian responded, "Shh, Secret."
With one of his eyes raised questioningly, the fin headed Atlantean shook his head after a moment. "Phfft, it's still all garbage. Anyway, we're here." Taking the lead, La'gaan directed the two over where a glowing neon blue coral lay. It was the only object to stand out among the rock and small plant life.
"Okay, now down here is a tunnel around fifty to sixty meters long," the fish faced Atlantean described as he and the others stopped at the entrance. "After that, it opens into a large cave around five miles long, then splits into three other tunnels and a sharp drop off. We take the second left one and-"
"La'gaan," Kaldur interrupted, "That leads toward the western reefs our queen cautioned us on."
"Only the outskirts, then it's another sixty or seventy meters downward to the main cave where the glyphs were found. It won't take us too long if we don't stop for anything." He then looked at Mrs. Martian and pulled out a harness from his bag, slipping it in place then switching a small lamp on. "There's no light in the first cave on, so hope you have a light or...glow."
As their guide entered the cave, Aqualad had his tattoos begin to glow brightly as he handed his comrade a large piece of glowing reef.
"Wow, suddenly things feel colder around here," Mrs. Martian commented as she and Aqualad followed.
Titan Tower
July 9
15:44 UTC
"You sure no one else can hear us?"
"Completely. Nothing leaves this room unless you want it to."
Stepping away from the locked door of the conference room, Conner drew up a chair across from Raven who he had finally convinced to talk to him in private. Both Garfield and Terra were told to hit the gym and train for a bit before the others arrived while he meets with the Goth girl. Watching how she sat, he knew she was second guessing herself and looked to be a bit nervous with how she played with her fingers and bit her bottom lip.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Conner leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Part of becoming one of the leaders of the Titans was learning from Black Canary on how to speak with people for therapeutic purposes. His wife was the one for that job as he had no patience for it and always remained blunt in his questions, but with her gone, he just had to make do.
"So what do you know of this cult and whatever they're trying to bring into the world?" he asked as blunt as ever.
Looking up at him from between her lashes, Raven slipped the tip of her tongue across her lips before making full eye contact with him. "I, I've seen that symbol. The symbol on the screen you were looking at. It's the symbol of a, a god. A dark god."
Narrowing his eyes, Conner rose in his seat slightly.
"If it's okay, I would like to not say...everything. I would rather not."
Letting out a breath, her leader nodded slightly. "All I need to know is whatever you know. I need to know what they're up to and what these...riddles are. Aqualad, Nightwing, and Barbara have figured out the role of Lilith. She's the one who sees through touch. Riddler and Kid Devil are yet to be placed but they have some ideas. Can you tell me anything about the rest?"
Raven nodded as Conner pulled up the holoscreen with the list of riddles. "I don't need to see them. I already know."
Looking at her with raised eyebrow, Conner was about to say something when she beat him to it.
"One who sees through touch is someone who receives visions through contact. A palm reader or a tactile psychic like Lilith. Riddler seems to fit the role of the smart fool. They needed someone with a high intellect and just the right amount of...crazy."
"What about Eddie? Kid Devil?" Conner asked.
"Good that hides in evil. Eddie did look like a demon but I think they would have done the same to Blue Devil if they could have."
"That leaves two. Do you have any idea as to who those are?"
"Darkness walks in light, I think that would be associated with someone doing bad to do good. An anti-hero."
"And celebrate life with movement?"
"A dancer," Raven said shaking her head slightly. "That would be a dancer."
Leaning back, Conner grabbed the device used with speaking with Sphere. "Sphere, contact Batman. Tell him to look into any dance tropes around where Riddler was located. They might be the next targets if this cult's still in the same area as the last murder."
"Thats not the only thing." Drawing the Kryptonian's attention, Raven hugged herself tightly. "They don't need but several drops of blood unless their leader takes the body with him. Since Kid Devil and Riddler were left behind, they only took their souls. Four souls to open the gateway, one soul to bring the demon god into the world. Through them, the members of the cult will be able to give their lives so their deity may assume his place in this realm and harvest souls to become everlasting. Those absorbed will be his link with the world and each one will grant him more power."
Crossing his arms, Conner tilted his head to the side. "And who or what is this god? What are they trying to bring here?"
"His name's Trigon. Ruler of various dimensions. And it looks like his followers want him to have this one."
A moment passed as Conner reflected on what she said. He then went with the obvious question but picked out his tone of voice carefully. "Raven," he said as softly as he could, "can you answer me something?"
She nervously nodded.
"How do you know all of this?"
She looked away, not wanting to say any thing more, but at the same time, found herself wanting to trust him.
Outside Atlantis
July 9
16:16 UTC
La'gaan was right, it was dark inside the caves. There was no excuse for going separate ways as the glow of the lights the three had around them was the only area they could see. La'gaan's chest mounted lamp acted like a pointer, leading the group as it sliced through the darkness. Aqualad's tattoos created the largest orb of light for the three, his neon glow forming a twenty foot radius around him. The piece of glowing reef Mrs. Martian had was the dimmest, only lighting up half of her body with it's soft glow.
No matter how bright their lights were though, nothing could completely eradicate the darkness around them. It was like they had all fallen into a black hole with escape impossible. Only the fish faced Atlantean knew where to go and had explained it took him and a team of over twenty Atlanteans over five hours to find their way out the first time. After that, it was only a matter of remembering where certain key points were to find their way around. Case in point were several markers made of the same reef Mrs. Martian held. Their soft glow guided them where they needed to venture but it was still imperative they stay together.
It was a while before the three actually entered the last stretch of caverns and arrived in the final cave housing the inscriptions La'gaan had found. It was here the three had no use for their lights as every line of text, every diagram, was glowing a bright neon purple, filling the immediate area with a strange eerie glow.
"Beautiful," Aqualad stated as he looked around.
"Yeah," Mrs. Martian agreed. "Kinda gives me the shivers though."
Swimming backwards, La'gaan spread his arms wide. "All of this down here is ancient. It was left by the first Atlanteans or a splinter race, no one knows for sure. But it's a little hard to translate. Hard but not impossible."
"You think the cult's beliefs stemmed from here?" Mrs. Martian asked Aqualad.
"If this text in indeed as old as La'gaan and Queen Mera believe, it is a strong possibility. I will take the right side."
"Got it."
As the dark skinned Atlantean and the green skinned Martian mermaid went to opposite sides of the cave, La'gaan waited for either of them to ask for his help, hoping it was his ex who would ask first. In the meantime, he began to explain what was carved into the walls.
"Basically," La'gaan began, "this all comes from the first Atlanteans who worshiped Dagon. Land dwellers have him as a fertility god but theses first Atlanteans seemed to have worshiped him as a harbinger of something."
"It does not say?" Aqualad asked as he studied a carved picture of a half man, half fish creature, knowing it was this Dagon his fellow Atlantean was talking about.
"The closest I can come to is death. Some of the carvings are worn severely, but it comes down to some false god wanting to bring about an apocalypse or something through the use of five sacrifices."
"We have an idea of one, maybe three," Mrs. Martian told him, not noticing he was swimming up next to her. "Nightwing and Barbara, have put a lot of puzzle pieces together and now Conner's looking them over."
"And you and him are...happy?" La'gaan asked quietly.
"What kind of question is that?"
"Just a question. With all this fighting, teams, criminals causing...crimes, it could take a toll on things."
"Yes, La'gaan, we're happy."
"Ever think of what might have happened if you stayed with me? All the treasure you could have if you would have just given us a chance?"
"Not for a moment. Plus, money isn't everything."
"Only the most important thing. Take a Spanish Galleon I came across. It was the first ship loaded with gold I found. I even found a couple of crowns. A man and woman's."
"Could you please move? I'm trying to sort out these images carved in with the text."
Slightly moving away, but not enough to give her any real space, La'gann leaned against the wall and watched Aqualad go over his set carvings. "If only you knew this would happen, I doubt you would have gone crawling back to Conner."
"And I had hoped you two burying the hatchet would put a stop to talking behind the other's back. Seriously, I explained this to you already and did not go crawling back to him. I now what you're trying to do and it won't work. I'm happy where I am in my life."
Nodding and clicking his tongue, La'gaan looked back at her. "Did you mind whammy him into taking you back?"
Pushing him with one hand, Mrs. Martian stuck a finger in his face. "Stop it. I know what I have done and am willing to let that remark slide. I have already explained to you that I only went out with you to not feel so lonely, it was a mistake and we were never going to get any further than dating. Now I have had enough of this. I'm sorry for the way I treated you but it's best if you just let it go. I was hoping you would have done so a while back and have gotten over whatever rivalry you thought was between you two."
"Never been a rivalry between us, only you."
"So the incident on our first mission after we began dating was nothing at all then? Because I think that's when it began."
"What are you talking about?"
"I seem to remember you, Conner, Bart, and Mal excusing yourselves to take care of business while we were deployed with Cassie and Karen in Canada. You four went into the a denser part of the forest when you yelled, 'Come on', before stomping back out and complaining, 'does everything about him have to be super?'.
Seeing her former boyfriend move his hands to his hips and turn his head, the Martian returned to what she was doing. "Now, if you would be so kind, please tell me what this section describes."
Letting out a huff, La'gaan gave the part in front of his ex a quick look over. "This states an offspring will grant him ultimate power but at the same time, they can take it away. This is also the part where Dagon is not mentioned and this god thing begins to go by another name. Trigon. It seemed the first Atlanteans got its name wrong or were worshipping the wrong God."
"Trigon," Mrs. Martian quietly repeated. "Anything else? Like the offspring responsible?"
"No, that's it." Looking over his ex one last time, La'gann rolled his bulbous eyes. "And I apologize. I'm just still sore from how I was treated. It's not easy being seen as second best then tossed aside like garbage when it was convenient."
"That's not what happened. But I accept your apology."
Turning back to the carved writings, Mrs. Martian ran her fingertips over several of the ancient letters then over a carving of a demonic looking individual with a smaller, what looked to be, person in the middle of its forehead.
"La'gaan," Aqualad called from his position. "Has anyone tried to put these carvings in order?" he asked once he was joined by his former protege. "They appear to be randomly placed throughout the wall."
"One of my employees tried to. But only got so far as the fourth or fifth one. In all, the cave's covered with how a demon once known as Dagon and now Trigon, will come into this reality and bring with him nothing but darkness and death. He has to have five sacrifices to allow him free reign and allow him to harvest souls for power. There will be two obstacles that will stand in his way. One was raised and one was born to stand before him. Though the one born might also aide him in coming here. It's a toss up what they'll do."
Running one of his webbed hands over the carvings, Aqualad gave the inscriptions some serious thought. The Light, Reach, Darkseid, even the being responsible for the death of Aquagirl, none seemed to move with this much purpose as this blood cult has been doing. He could not help but think if this being is in fact real, there may not be a way to defeat it, after all, there was no way to defeat a god that he knew of.
Atlantis
July 9
18:26 UTC
With the investigation over, the three returned to the salvage yard and docked the bioship above the main office. Most of the area was empty with the day's main shift over, leaving a few three man groups here and there for cleanup. The whales were long gone, dismissed with the last of the main force and now, only small schools of fish, rays, and eels were left behind.
"...so eventually the entire area will be covered with the reef, which is why Queen Mera wanted us to stay away, which we couldn't because the cave is under it. And it's because of the glowing reefs feeding into the ground that there's light."
With the others behind him, La'gaan finished explaining why the underground cave with the inscriptions may have had light, not caring if his former teammates were board or not. All they could think of was how lucky they were he had finally stopped talking about all the money he has earned from starting his salvage operation.
"Over here, my Queen! I see them!" Swimming over the hill leading to the main office, Topo waived Queen Mera and her son over.
"Greetings my Queen," Aqualad said with a short bow of his head with the other two doing the same.
"Carter wasn't any trouble," Mrs. Martian asked, "was he?"
"No, not at all." Passing the seahorse Carter off to his mother with a smile, Queen Mera had Prince Arthur come over to her as two royal guards took their positions behind her. "He loved the magic the students displayed."
As Carter sent mental pictures of what he saw to his mother, La'gaan looked the child over with a skeptical eye. He was surprised when the young seahorse/Krypto-Martian looked back at him with wide eyes. Flashing him a smile, the Atlantean had his ear fins stick out, making Carter jump slightly before furrowing his brown and giving him a raspberry.
"How I would enjoy staying longer," Aqualad told Queen Mera, "but I am afraid we must be on our way. We have few answers but still many questions we must figure out. Business as usual, I am afraid."
"Quite understandable," Queen Mera told him. "But do attempt to visit when you and Orin both have more downtime. Atlantis misses all of her sons."
"You have my word I will-
"Lipshion!"
Taking the group by surprise, a large black and white skinned female humanoid killer whale swam up to them. None knew what to think as she made a bee line for La'gaan and wrapped her massive arms around him.
"Ack, ack...Or...Orca," La'gaan struggled to say from the near smothering.
"Orca?" Aqualad asked.
"She's your," Mrs. Martian tried to say. "Is, is she your-"
"Girlfriend." Turning her attention to the two teammates, the human-like killer whale known as Orca looked Aqualad over. "How I have heard so much about you. You were the one my La'gaan saved from that league of soldiers in the war over a year ago. I am so proud of my Lipshion having saved the hero Aqualad."
Looking at the large woman, who was a little over six inches taller than him, Aqualad saw La'gann out of the corner of his eye making pleading gestures to not say anything to her. "Oh, um, ye, yes. I was indeed lucky he was...there?"
He then saw La'gaan making 'thank you' gestures.
"And you," Orca said in a harsh tone as she looked at Mrs. Martian. "I've heard of you. You're the one who would chase after my Lipshion relentlessly. Never giving him any time to complete his duties to save the world. You're lucky to have even been on the same team as him. You're not even remotely pretty."
"O...kay?" Mrs. Martian said with a confused look. Carter in turn simply stared wide eyed at the large female killer whale as she dwarfed his mother.
Turning back to the fish faced Atlantean, Orca flashed him a smile. "Now, come on home and I will have your favorite dish ready. Calamari."
With a nervous smile, La'gaan replied, "O...okay...dear."
With one last look of warning aimed at Mrs. Martian, Orca swam off with the others looking at him in stunned silence.
"Um, uh, so she, she may have heard me exaggerate some things when I was telling others of my time on the surface. And, um, she, she may have chased all the other girls away, but, uh, well,"
"You lied and told people how you saved me during the war with Darkseid?" Aqualad asked.
"And made me sound like some love crazed schoolgirl?" Mrs. Martian added.
"Oh, La'gaan," Queen Mera said while shaking her head in disapointment.
"Okay! I, I'm actually more afraid of upsetting her than you finding me out," La'gaan confessed. "She's...very, very scary when she's angry. And strong. I was just trying to impress some girls and she just won't leave me alone. She...she's scary and can crush me. And eat me. Then pick her teeth with my bones."
He then gave them all a pout. "Help me?"
"LA'GAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!" Orca screamed loud enough to shake the tables around them. "COME AND EAT! NOW!"
"Please?"
Shaking her head with a grin, Mrs. Martian shifted Carter and swam towards her ship with the bag floating behind her. "Not after what you said to me in the cave. Carter?"
Sending her son a mental image, the child sent another raspberry at the fin faced Atlantean.
"Good boy."
"You got yourself into this, La'gaan," Aqualad told him. "Have fun."
Watching his former mentor join Mrs. Martian, La'gaan let out a sigh.
"LA'GAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN!" Orca bellowed again.
"Why do I have this life?" La'gaan said with a shake of his head. "I don't know how to get out."
