Teen Titans: Dangerous Waters

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.

A/N: Welcome back, everyone. I know it's taken a bit longer to update this time. A lot has gone on in my life over the last three or so months. But I bring something I think you'll enjoy: a two-part special! That's right, two chapters in one update, and the second of these two is the longest chapter yet. The plan of the antagonists has been set into motion, and the young heroes will respond accordingly. I've kept you good folks waiting long enough, so I'll let you dive right in. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: First Strike

The sun was still high in a bright, early afternoon with slightly overcast skies above the Atlantic. The MS Skyward was now in the fourth day of her ongoing transatlantic voyage, and was expected to arrive at Liverpool, England, in about another thirty six hours at her current cruising speeds. As the passengers continued to enjoy the on-board amenities and the crew continued their work, both groups of roughly eight thousand people in total were completely heedless to the danger lurking both below as well as in their midst.

About a couple miles or three kilometers off the ship's starboard stern, a thin periscope suddenly surfaced, and it quickly zeroed in on the luxurious ocean liner. Beneath the roaring waves of the open ocean was a large gunmetal grey submarine shaped similarly to the nuclear submarines of most modern navies, but longer, wider, and taller in overall scale with two sets of stabilizer fins along the hull. Inside the bridge of this submarine, built within its conning tower, were more of the same concealed enforcers present among the stowaways on the Skyward, and they were led by another individual of higher rank. While the troopers were clad in their white combat uniforms with black cutoff body armor and matching helmets that concealed their faces behind full respirator masks with lenses, this man was adorned in a white officer's uniform complete with black boots, belt, gloves, and rim on an otherwise white cap that sported an intricate skull and crossed swords insignia on its front. The lower half of his face was concealed by a black bandana.

The officer spoke into his wrist communicator, addressing his own superior as he did so.

"Premiere Executor Zunzen, we are in position and wait for your signal."

"Ah, sehr gut, commander," the latter replied in his familiarly thick German accent, "Signal incoming in approximately sixty seconds. Relay the go-ahead to the rest of the task force once you have it."

"Very well, sir. And what of the so-called heroes?" the officer inquired.

"They will be dealt with in short order," was all the the crime underboss said in reply.

Back on the ocean liner, it was just moments later when an exterior door to a crew access corridor on the starboard side and forward on Deck 16 was unlatched and kicked open from inside. It was Zunzen who stepped out, and he was followed closely by a company of ten troopers.

"First squad, you're with me. Second squad, secure the perimeter," as he relayed orders, he raised his right hand and pulled the trigger on a flare gun. The projectile was launched high into the air and over the side of the ship, leaving a trail of green smoke behind it.

Simultaneously, down on Deck 2, Grimmourn maneuvered himself very slowly while crouched down, accompanied by another squad of troopers doing the same. The last of the ship's onboard security guards had just entered their surveillance hub up ahead, summoned all in one place by a false alert put out through their own communications system.

"Keep low and stay behind me," the armored soldier-for-hire told the men following him in a hushed tone. He reached into one of the pouches on his utility belt with his left hand, while holding his high-power rifle up in the other. He produced a single, small cylindrical device with a timer on one end, and primed it with his thumb.

Rising to his feet after a couple more steps, He silently gestured to one one of the troopers, and the latter opened the automatic doors for him using a stolen security card. Then, he tossed the device, an EMP detonator, into the room at the last possible second, giving the couple dozen guards and the master-at-arms inside no time to respond. Some reached for their pistols, in vain. The detonator erupted into a blast of electrical energy, shocking the men and women unconscious as they cried out in surprise and pain as well as disabling the monitors and other equipment inside in one fell swoop. Grimmourn turned to the squad on his right when the last of the shocks subsided.

"Take their weapons, then bag them and gag them," he instructed, and they immediately set about doing so as he reached up with his free hand and activated the communicator built into his helmet. "All security personnel neutralized."

"Excellent work, mercenary! The boss will be pleased," Zunzen responded, clearly pleased himself, "Proceed on to the next objective. I will meet you there once my present task is done."

"Orders received, over and out."

Just moments later, on the ship's bridge, a small but potent explosive charge set on the access door's security lock detonated, destroying it. The blast drew the attention of Captain VanRoojen and the others present, the First Officer, Murtaugh, along with several other higher-rank crewmembers stationed at the various control and systems consoles.

Their fears soon turned to horror as Zunzen and the squad he brought with him stormed in with guns drawn, the former holding a scoped revolver in his right hand.

"No need for alarm, ladies and gentlemen," he called out, taking point as the troopers fanned out to encircle their targets, "Don't resist and there will be no need for any bodily harm, or worse. Just raise those hands and keep them where I can see them."

"What's the meaning of this?!" VanRoojen demanded, the gruff, middle-aged captain obviously none-to-pleased with his crew and himself being threatened. However, both himself and almost everyone present with him complied immediately and raised their hands. It was clear their assailants meant business, after all. Murtaugh was hesitant to let go of the wheel, but did so when he felt a rifle pressed into his back.

"Stop the ship, now!" the trooper behind him ordered.

"Do it," the captain told his first officer, and that was what the latter needed to hear to comply. Murtaugh unlatched and pressed the button on the wheel pedestal that activated the emergency shutdown for the engines.

With that resolved, VanRoojen shifted focus to Zunzen, who stepped over towards the former with his gun raised and his free hand on the rim of his fedora.

"Look at me," the well-dressed first lieutenant implored, "Look at me; I'm the captain now," he paused for a moment before bursting out in a loud, deranged cackle, "I've waited years for the right time to say that!"

"Very funny," the senior officer was clearly not amused, "Now, would you mind telling me who the hell you people are and what you want with my ship?!" he narrowed his eyes and raised his voice, nearly snarling. Zunzen answered him while baring a wide, unsettling grin.

It was at that moment when two more of the ship's officers, Second and Fourth, and Fifth Officers Rostron, Henderson, and Smith arrived on the bridge through the access corridor, their hands bound behind their backs and the three of them being marched by a squad of the robots from the cargo hold, their wrist guns aimed squarely at the backs of their captives.

"All but one of the officers is accounted for, sir," one of the mechanized enforcers informed Zunzen, who promptly arched a brow.

"What? Then who is still missing?"

"The third officer has yet to be located, sir."

"Then leave these three here with me and go find this missing officer, now! Alert all of your fellow units!"

"Yes sir!"

"Hey! Answer me, damn it!" VanRoojen growled, frustration clearly setting in. Zunzen then shifted focus back to him, and at last elaborated.

"We are the Libertatia Consortium, and we have come not for your ship, but the trove of wealth in her vault. So, please relinquish the access code for us so we can remove said contents and be on our way."

"So it's greed that motivates you," the captain retorted with a scoff, "That money was raised as part of the charity ball. It's not mine to give away."

"Be that as it may, you're the one with the keys, so to speak, which is why I'm asking you," Zunzen fired back, wagging a finger dismissively as he did so. "Am I to take your hesitation as a refusal?"

The captain chose not to answer that, instead continuing with a forlorn plea, "Do what you want to me, but leave my crew and passengers alone," he requested sincerely, his tone measured yet serious.

The grin on the face of the second-in-command just widened further, disturbingly so. It was almost enough to make VanRoojen flinch, and Murtaugh did reflexively avert his gaze momentarily.

"Sorry, but I'll have to decline that offer, good sir," Zunzen shook his head a couple times while he declined, then he retrieved and activated his communicator before speaking into it, "Gentlemen, phase one of the operation is complete. We proceed to phase two immediately. Those of you in strike groups one through four set about your tasks and then standby for further instructions."

Captain VanRoojen and his officers, now forced on their knees and their hands all bound behind their backs, each held the outward facade of calm, but inside they felt sinking feelings of dread within themselves.

All the while, down on Deck 11, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven arrived outside the ship's art gallery, where Robin had taken Starfire on a surprise date. A new collection of paintings and sculptures themed after space and other worlds, Starfire's birthplace included, had debuted that morning. Needless to say, the alien princess was delighted to see a piece of her homeworld manifested in Earth culture.

The team met up outside the entrance to the gallery, all clad in their normal superhero uniforms. As the second to last day in the voyage, it was laundry day on the ship, so the civilian garb they'd brought with them was currently being washed by the stewards to their suites.

"I take it Robin's little surprise paid off?" Cyborg inquired with a grin. The wide smile on the team's resident Tamaranean was unmistakable.

"Oh yes!" she answered immediately, "Boyfriend Robin showed me the painted artworks inspired by Tamaran. I especially liked the one he said was done in 'water color.' I had no idea more humans were taking the interest in my homeworld!"

Starfire brought her head to rest on Robin's shoulder as she finished, grabbing onto his arm with both her hands and staying mindful not the squeeze too hard. He averted his gaze momentarily as a faint trace of pink appeared on his face below his eyemask. His two male teammates smirked, and Raven allowed a faint, approving smile to manifest as well.

It was just a couple minutes later, when the team was walking down a corridor towards the aft elevator terminus, when the good cheer came to an end.

Suddenly, from where she hovered off the floor, Raven's eyes went wide and she lost her equilibrium. She braced her left hand against the panneling on the wall beside her and touched down with her feet to keep from falling. Garfield was the first to notice.

"Raven? What's wrong?" the green shapeshifter asked her as he went to her side. He moved to touch her other arm, but caught himself and held back. He knew she wasn't one for physical contact. The other Titans all gathered around and watched with visible worry. She took in and let out a deep, shuddering breath, then looked up to her teammates to let them know what had just slammed into her.

"There's anger, and fear, permeating throughout the ship. It feels like a lot of people are suddenly in distress," the empath explained, her deep violet eyes awash in the emotions she was sensing. She met Beast Boy's worried gaze, the concern in his own verdant green orbs clear as day.

"If something went wrong, it's weird the general alarm hasn't sounded," Cyborg noted.

"Perhaps the problem isn't the ship itself," Starfire suggested.

"How many?" Robin asked Raven as he walked up to her.

"Too many," was her immediate reply. She reached up with her free hand to rub at her temples, and then proceeded to whisper her familiar mantra, trying to recollect herself. She almost didn't register Garfield's voice just seconds later.

"Let's give her some space, guys. She needs a moment."

Her eyes were closed, so she missed seeing him usher Robin and the others back, but she had heard his words and was grateful.

It was at that moment when the traveling sounds of muffled voices from around the corner caught the attention of the other four heroes. Beast Boy stayed with Raven as Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire crept over to peer around the corner. A squad of troopers were marching a small group of captured passengers at gunpoint, the latter rendered helpless because their wrists were cuffed behind their backs. It was clear to the Titans that these armed men weren't from the ship's crew, or even security. No, this definitely wasn't legitimate, and didn't sit well with any of them. The shapeshifter and empath had joined the rest of their teammates at their concealed vantage point at this time.

As the Titans looked over in silence to their team leader, the latter decided he'd seen enough. He stepped out from their hiding spot and into view, and then promptly called out to the armed assailants as the other four got behind him, ready to retaliate if need be.

"Hey! What's going on here?! Where are you taking these people?!"

The troopers shifted focus to Robin in an instant, and their squad leader relayed new orders just as quickly.

"It's them, the Titans! Men, shoot to kill!"

The five teenage superheroes barely had enough time for the words to register in their ears before four of the five enforcers in the squad took aim with their automatic rifles and opened fire, unleashing steady streams of bullets. The squad leader, meanwhile, took aim at their obviously frightened prisoners, just in case any of them collected themselves and worked up the courage to try to run.

Years of training and experience had honed the team, however, granting them heightened reflexes that were more than a match for those of their militarized opponents. Their reactions were instantaneous, and they moved in near-perfect sync.

Robin hit the deck on his left side, dodging the bullets coming his way while flinging a bird-a-rang at his attacker. The trooper in question let out a startled yelp when the mechanism forcefully knocked his rifle out of his grip, and he went to draw his sidearm, but it was too late; the former apprentice of the Dark Knight of Gotham brought him to the ground with a swift jumping kick to his chest, knocking the wind out of him in the process. The former retrieved and tossed away the sidearm while he was stunned, and then KO'd him with a well-placed staff maneuver to the side of his helmet.

Cyborg projected a personal rectangular shield out on his left arm and raised it in time to block the incoming rounds of ammunition, then transformed his right arm into a sonic cannon. Utilizing his built-in x-ray vision, he looked through the shield to get a fix on the trooper shooting directly at him, as well as the locations of his teammates in the immediate vicinity. He timed his shot just right and sent the trooper flying into the wall behind the squad and the prisoners, knocking the man out cold.

Starfire was upon her attacker in less than a second thanks to her super speed, startling the trooper. She tore his rifle out of his grip and vaporized it with an energy blast. To his credit, he was able to get off one shot with his sidearm before she disarmed him of that as well, grabbed him by his shoulders, and hurled him through the ceiling in the corridor while utilizing a fraction of her true strength, no doubt breaking a few bones and immobilizing him in the process.

Beast Boy transformed into a leopard and used quick speed and agility to dodge the bullets that were coming his way. The trooper that was firing at him nearly had him deadlocked twice, but then the ammo clip ran out. The green shapeshifter seized that opening to transform into a snake and rapidly coil around the man, squeezing around his neck just until he lost consciousness and not a moment longer.

Once it became clear his squad was going to lose, the leader reached for the trigger on his rifle to begin killing the helpless passengers they'd taken captive, but found the trigger unresponsive. His eyes widened when he saw his weapon was coated in a black aura of glowing dark magic. Raven had telekinetically jammed the rifle, and pulled it from his grasp a second later only to ram the butt of it against his helmet, hard. Now he too was out cold.

As Robin subdued the trooper he disarmed who remained conscious the other Titans moved quickly to free the small group of prisoners. Raven reached out again with her telekinesis as she hovered over, unlatching the cuffs and removing them. Though saved, the four individuals were still mostly in a state of shock, though one of them, an African American man, stepped forward after a moment to offer his thanks.

"Thank you, Titans. I'm glad you ran into us when you did," he was still catching his breath as he spoke, adrenaline having set in during his ordeal.

"No problem, it's what we do," Cyborg reassured him, then looked over to the rest of the group, "Everyone okay?" They each nodded slowly.

Robin let out an angered growl and drew the attention of the others present to himself as he grabbed his own captive by the collar of their uniform, and demanded in a raised voice, "Who are you?! Where is it you were taking these people?! Are there more of you?! Answer me, now!"

"You're wasting your breath, kid, I'll never talk," the masked enforcer retorted, simply and resolute. The leader of the Titans brought his head back down against the floor roughly in response, causing a pained grunt but not enough to knock him out, yet.

"I may have a better solution," Raven interjected as she reached out with her dark magic, causing the captive trooper beneath Robin to still, seemingly in a trance as she peered into his mind. Raven's eyes turned white during the process, and it was only a moment later when she found the information they needed. She spoke up again and relayed what she was learning as it was conveyed to her in her own mind, "These guys are organized criminals, well-armed and trained, and there are a lot of them. Men and machines, robots, and they're taking over the ship. They're capturing passengers to use as hostages, but this guy doesn't know what for exactly. He's just one of the rank-and-file," she explained.

"Where are they taking the passengers?" Robin asked, to which the dark sorceress answered a moment later as she uncovered that bit of knowledge.

"Looks like they were moving this group to the grand atrium," she furrowed her brows as she was getting a mental image of the destination.

"Just what we need; a working vacation," Beast Boy couldn't help but joke aloud sarcastically, earning him a glare from Cyborg. "What?" he squeaked, "If they're still capturing people, we've likely caught onto these guys early, meaning everyone they've taken is probably still fine, right?"

"Likely, yes," Robin agreed, his tone deathly serious as usual when the team was on the job. He then added, "Still, time is of the essence, so we should make our way to the atrium immediately. We'll work out our plan of attack on the way."

"Alright," Cyborg gave a nod in agreement, before turning back to address the passengers they'd just saved, "Please, go and find somewhere to hide, but not your cabins. That's likely the first place these crooks started looking for people."

"Will do, thank you again!" the man from before called out before he and the others turned to hurriedly leave the way they had come.

The air in the corridor suddenly became thick with tension and uncertainty. With a flick of her wrist, Raven proceeded to knock the captive trooper out, and reached out to telekinetically manipulate and place each of the handcuffs the squad had used on the passengers on themselves instead. Her bionic teammate voiced his puzzlement at their situation as she worked.

"Where the hell did these guys even come from? Stowaways? And just who do they work for?" He scanned their unconscious forms with his cybernetic eye as he paused for a moment, and then added, "There's nothing giving them away on their uniforms, that's for sure. They're definitely human, though."

The dark sorceress chimed in as she finished her task, breaking each of the troopers' guns with a burst of her dark magic, "Whoever they are, they were fully prepared to kill their hostages once it was obvious to them we would win. We should be careful as we proceed."

That truth didn't sit well with the rest of the team, unsurprisingly. That said, the green shapeshifter still tried to find one silver lining.

"They didn't alert their buddies that we're here," Beast Boy recalled, "So we should have the element of surprise for the moment."

"True, but that may not last long," Starfire deduced, eyeing the direction the group of passengers had departed in, her thoughts clearly on their safety.

"Let's move; we've wasted enough time here," their team leader cut in, "Titans, go!"

It was eerily quiet as the five heroes arrived on Deck 4, which was the main level for their destination. They arrived via another crew access point, a smaller stairwell hidden behind a locked door adjacent to the much larger and grander aft passenger staircase. The locks to and from the crew area had been easy for the team's resident bionic to bypass, unsurprisingly.

"Good call downloading the blueprints of the ship, Cyborg," Robin commended, eyeing their surroundings carefully. Just ahead of them was the aft elevator terminus, and beyond that the casino. Past that was the lower promenade which ended at their objective point.

"Glad to be of service," was the prompt reply from the cybernetic young man in question, who then added while also looking around, "Technically since we're passengers we just committed trespassing, but I think the crew may be willing to overlook that given the circumstances."

"But where are the crew? This is just getting creepier and creepier," Beast Boy interjected. He took a whiff, but couldn't smell anyone in the immediate vicinity.

"Perhaps they've all been captured as well, and look! The ship has stopped completely!" Starfire pointed to one of the large portholes off a fair distance to the left of the group. The ocean swells were clearly visible along with the slightly overcast skies, but nothing indicating movement. Indeed, the entire vessel was dead in the water.

"That means whoever we're dealing with has taken control of the engine room or the bridge, or both," Cyborg immediately deduced as he and the others resumed moving forward.

Raven kept quiet while she focused intently on what lay up ahead, reaching out with her empathic abilities. She quickly stifled another shudder as she did so, and her shapeshifter teammate took notice.

"Raven?" he asked tepidly, walking alongside her as she floated along.

"The fear is stronger now. I think we're definitely heading in the right direction," she confirmed for the others.

It was clear from the offset for the Titans that these new foes were very well prepared and equipped, and so were likely to have units trained on all access points to the atrium. The plan, thought up on the way by Robin, was to storm in from a single access point, and hopefully catch the enemy by surprise that way. They would use their superior abilities to overwhelm their more numerous opponents, and once the threat was neutralized, free the passengers and then move on from there.

It was a sound and straightforward attack strategy they had utilized more than several times over the last three years.

They moved carefully towards the atrium, watching their surroundings carefully, but encountered no resistance on the way, nor any friendlies or bystanders either. It was like they were on a ghost ship, and it unnerved each of them slightly. The elegant ambient music piped through the announcement speakers in the lower promenade and its deserted shops didn't help in that regard, either. On the other side of the promenade, the doorway to the the grand atrium was blocked by a set of thick double emergency doors, both clearly labelled at such.

"Watertight, fireproofed metal doors, meant to be used when the ship is in danger," Cyborg explained. "Six inches thick, too."

"I'll bet they're not me-proof," Beast Boy stated confidently as he transformed into a rhinoceros, and then backed up slowly.

"Get ready, everyone," Robin instructed and the others nodded, moving off to either side to give the shapeshifter a wide berth.

Beast Boy charged a moment later, and the moment his horn made contact with the center where the two doors met, they buckled and their locking mechanism located in that precise spot shattered. The impact sent both doors flying open inwards, their hinges breaking as they were designed to move sideways instead. They both promptly fell down onto their sides on the floor as the Titans rushed into the atrium beyond, but they quickly came to a stop because something was wrong...

All the lights were off and curtains were covering the large portholes, limiting visibility with the naked eye to next to nothing. Cyborg moved to switch to the night vision setting on his artificial eye, but the effort became moot not a second later.

One by one the lights switched back on as a second set of emergency doors further back near the end of the promenade were closed, automatically.

"We're being boxed in!" Robin exclaimed, drawing his staff just as their opponents came into view.

It was Zunzen himself, flanked by Grimmourn as well as the more advanced robot that stood out from the others, joined by at least four dozen of the lesser robots as well as two full companies of the troopers. In the small lounge and stage area at the center of the atrium, just before the bottom of the gilded staircase, a large group of a couple dozen or so passengers were on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs. All of them were gagged with pieces of cloth over their mouths, almost certainly a means to keep them from calling out to their would-be rescuers. The robots were mostly concentrated on the bottom floor of the atrium, whereas the troopers were spread out in positions along the three levels, giving them elevated vantage points over their targets.

The Titans dropped into fighting stances as the half-crazed man in the white suit took a step forward to address them, one his two scoped revolvers still in his right hand.

"Gutentag, Titans! We've been expecting you!" the well-dressed second-in-command greeted them heartily, but his deep crimson eyes showed nothing but murderous intent, which he confirmed a second later. "Kill them!" he ordered, gesturing to the heroes with his left hand as he did so.

Grimmourn instantly pulled the trigger and, having switched to the secondary setting on his rifle, unleashed a single fifty caliber explosive shell. He didn't aim at any of the teenagers in particular, but at their feet and roughly centered on their grouped position.

The five in question were able to dodge the ensuing blast that blew a hole through the floor where they had been standing, and the immediate vicinity was engulfed in fire and smoke. However, they were now scattered as they moved out of the way in different directions, exactly as their foes intended.

A mass of gunfire erupted as the troopers and robots present opened fire alongside Grimmourn as Zunzen had ordered, that and the blast causing startled and scared cries from many of the huddled passengers.

The battle to save the Skyward and the innocents aboard her had begun.

A/N: Continued immediately in Chapter 8.