Dark Titans – Arc 7 – Atlantis - Act 1 - Descent

Chapter 2

I don't own Ranma or Teen Titans.

Enjoy if you Will, Tolerate if you won't.

Jinx stood on the beach, Terra, Speedy and Aqualad nearby. The morning air was brisk, especially with the ocean mist being kicked up by the choppy waves crashing against the shore. She was constantly flipping her hair out of her face thanks to the blowing winds, as was her blonde companion, and she was sure her lips were going to start chapping if they had to stand out here much longer.

This was not the exciting beach adventure she had been picturing. Aqualad had better pick a nicer time of year the next time he came around begging for people to save Atlantis.

Thankfully, Raven had a nice black jacket that she'd borrowed to help keep the cold out. She would have preferred something from the alien tart's closet, as she was a bit closer to her size - asides from her giraffe-like height - but then Ryouga had explained that Starfire was off getting married. She hadn't been sure what to think of that, until she remembered Ryouga and Starfire's 'wrestling' match.

Good riddance to that red-headed seductress!

"Where are those two?" Terra asked, her voice about two octaves removed from openly whining.

"Ryouga mentioned he wanted to get a change of clothes, and then Kasumi is probably using him as a mule for the supplies she wants to send with us," Speedy replied, looking at his watch every few moments.

Terra began to stamp her feet, trying to keep warm with her windbreaker. Speedy was wearing his usual getup, but she could see his cheeks and nose were red from the cold. Aqualad stood facing the ocean, looking totally unconcerned by the chill in the air, and even in the drab grey morning, he somehow managed to catch the wind just so as to blow his hair back in the most dramatic fashion as the moisture from the sea caused his entire body to glisten.

Jinx caught herself staring at the somber young man for longer than was appropriate, and quickly looked away, hoping that the burning of her cheeks was being camouflaged by burgeoning windburn. She noticed Terra staring as well, until the young heroine noticed her looking down at her, at which point she glanced away sharply.

Grinning, Jinx leaned over, bumping her shoulder into the slight girl. "Almost makes you want to go fishing, amiright?" she whispered teasingly.

Rather than laugh, as she'd hoped, Terra let out an annoyed bark and shuffled a few feet away. Jinx pouted at the odd reaction. As far as adolescent crushes went, Aqualad was totally gossip worthy! If she wasn't already tied down with a living, dorky Adonis…

Speaking of whom. Ryouga's voice rang out, and she turned to see the martial artist and Kasumi approaching them. Kasumi looked adorable in a bright yellow rain jacket and matching, wide brimmed hat. She was also wearing a small backpack and carrying a box, about the size you'd use for packing a suit.

Ryouga, on the other hand, was wearing something she hadn't seen for quite some time. The athletic and well-toned martial artist was wearing a familiar black bodysuit. It was adorned with dull grey armor across the chest and shoulders, as well as some bands around the arms and shins. The metallic gauntlets that covered most of his forearms ended in sharp metal claws. She even saw the black and orange mask sticking out of one of the belt pockets.

It was the Slade Bot uniform he'd worn way back when they'd captured Robin. Wow, that felt like a lifetime ago at this point. She was honestly amazed that he still had it. It made her furiously curious as to what other keepsakes he'd kept from their time back at the Academy.

It seemed that she wasn't the only one that recognized the suit, as she felt a powerful grip on her arm. She looked down to see Terra clutching onto her like a lifeline, her eyes wide and face pale.

Oh, right, the whole Slade thing. She probably shouldn't mention how she had worked for Slade too, years and years ago at this point. Ryouga picked up on his pupil's reaction and held up his hands apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Terra," he called out as they approached, "But this is the only thing I own that's waterproof."

He twisted around, showing off his physique through the tight spandex-like material in a way that Jinx fully appreciated. "Not to mention it's a bit more armored and durable than my normal clothes. I don't want to take any chances getting wet."

A potent frown drew Terra's face down for several moments, until she finally gave a disgruntled huff and looked away. "Whatever. It's just a suit, right? No big deal."

Jinx squeezed Terra's shoulder, even as she offered Ryouga a supportive glance as she watched his face fall at his student's reaction. The geokinetic girl didn't seem to be taking it too badly; she'd get over it quickly enough. Besides, now she had two hunky guys in skintight clothing to ogle on the trip. Aqualad and Ryouga had very different builds, like comparing an Olympic swimmer to a professional bodybuilder, but both had their own advantages.

"Oh, that reminds me," Kasumi cut in, derailing Jinx's decreasingly moral and upright thoughts. The older woman dug into her backpack and pulled out… that dumb belt that Gizmo had given her? She then handed it to Ryouga. "Read the card, Ryouga. It will explain how it works."

The martial artist looked at her oddly as he took the proffered belt, only to fiddle with the small, folded card that was tied to it.

That task complete, Kasumi turned to Speedy. "I believe we're ready to leave." She patted Ryouga's large backpack, drawing attention to the odd shaped bundle strapped to the top of it. "I made sure to pack as many medical supplies as Ryouga could fit in his pack, in case they're needed."

Jinx nodded, if they were going to be sticking their noses into a warzone, a little extra first aid sounded like a smart idea. She turned to regard Speedy, as he nodded in agreement.

"That's great, Kasumi. Alright, thanks for your help, we'll do our best to contact you when we reach Atlantis," explained the archer.

With that, Speedy gestured to Aqualad. "Alright, let's get going. Do whatever water weirdness you're gonna do."

Nodding, Aqualad took a few more steps towards the ocean. He then began to gesture broadly with his arms, only for the water to begin surging about in defiance of the tide. It began as a small circle in the water, before deepening into a small whirlpool, until it widened into a rapidly spinning, foam ringed circle of bare sand that the waves would not touch.

"Enter the circle," Aqualad stated, gesturing to the physics defying depression in the ocean. "As we move forward, I will form this into a sphere around us. And don't worry about air, I can force oxygen out of the water as we travel."

Well, that was kinda cool. Shrugging, Jinx waited for Ryouga to join her before she circled a hand around his arm and made sure he didn't get lost on the ten-foot trip towards the burgeoning water bubble. Normally even he couldn't get lost that easily, but he seemed to be lost already in reading the small card from Gizmo. She was getting a little weirded out by the creepy smile that was starting to spread across his face.

Once they were all situated in the designated area, Speedy turned to Terra.

"Alright, can you make us a solid platform to…" The archer trailed off as he noticed something that Jinx hadn't. As one, the group turned to where Speedy was looking.

Kasumi stood only a few feet behind Jinx, smiling expectantly.

"Um, Kasumi?" Speedy began tentatively. "What are you doing? You're staying here, remember?"

The Japanese brunette tilted her head as she regarded the younger archer. "Oh my, whatever gave you that impression?"

Jinx had to stifle a giggle as she watched what promised to be a horrifically one-sided battle of wills unfold. Immediately, Speedy held out his hands, gesturing frantically.

"You can't come with us! We're going into a war, that's no place for a…"

Speedy trailed off as his gaze drifted first over Terra, whose expression seemed to say, 'I dare you to say it!' and then over Jinx, who was aiming for more of a 'You can't possibly be that stupid!' expression.

"I was going to say, 'non-combatant'," he finally spat out.

Kasumi simply tapped a finger to her chin as she smiled. "I am the only one in our group that has any medical training. I believe that medics are usually in high demand in situations such as this."

"I'm sure they have doctors in Atlantis," Speedy replied, looking to Aqualad for support.

The Atlantean just glanced back over his shoulder, already looking impatient. "I won't turn down any potential allies. Especially not one with such a valuable skill."

Kasumi smiled triumphantly, only for Speedy to turn to his last chance.

"Ryouga! You can't be thinking of letting Kasumi come, can you?"

Said martial artist finally looked up from the card - how much had Gizmo written, anyway? What was it, stereo instructions? - and fired a serious look in the eldest Tendo's direction.

"Kasumi… what does hydrophobic mean, again?"

Speedy, Jinx and Terra nearly face-faulted at the non-sequitur. Kasumi didn't even bat an eye.

"In this case, it means that it repels water. Didn't Gizmo get you such a considerate gift?"

Ryouga nodded furiously, suddenly clutching the belt like it was spun from pure gold.

"This belt makes a forcefield that repels water? This -this is the most beautiful -"

Jinx fired a look his way.

"-the second most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" finished the martial artist, tears already forming in his eyes. A second later, he was frantically swapping out the suit's belt for the new model.

Speedy continued to stare at Ryouga incredulously. "Hibiki! Did you hear what I said?"

Ryouga's head snapped up as he looked at the archer, making it abundantly clear that he had not. "Umm… what?"

Giving a disgusted groan, Speedy gestured to Kasumi. "Are you really okay with her coming with us? Into battle?"

The Lost Boy looked to Kasumi, then back to Speedy before shrugging.

"Of course, she won't come into battle with us. She would stay back to help with the wounded. Kasumi discussed this with me while we were gathering the supplies." He nodded to the medically trained Tendo. "It makes sense to me."

Jinx smiled as she watched the crimson archer try to formulate an argument, but chose to cut in. Holding up her free hand, she sighed theatrically. "Well, if it's okay with Ryouga, then it's okay with me."

Terra nodded eagerly. "Yeah, let's go already!"

Aqualad nodded, showing the first trace of a smile that morning. "Finally, one of you says something I actually agree with. We've wasted enough time already."

Finally, Speedy threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine, whatever. It's not like I'm the leader or anything. No need to listen to me."

Jinx grinned. "Finally, you say something I actually agree with!"

Rolling his eyes, Speedy gestured to Terra. "Alright already, I get it. Can you get us a solid platform, Terra?"

Nodding sharply, the slight Earth Bender held up a hand and gestured upwards with a single finger. A moment later, the earth shook beneath their feet and keeping their footing became difficult, as the sand began to shift and slough away, until finally a solid section of bedrock rose beneath their feet.

Aqualad nodded his approval and gestured for her to begin moving them forward.

As she did, and the stony platform began to bulldoze into the ocean, the Atlantean gestured widely once more, and the waters spiraled up around them.

Within moments, they vanished beneath the waves.

It didn't take much concentration to keep the stone platform surfing along at a decent pace. Which was a good thing, as Terra found herself to be a bit distracted as the scenery blurred past them. On its own it would have been beautiful, the bubble that Aqualad was maintaining around them managed to provide a relatively clear view of the ocean depths which surrounded them, like they were travelling via snow globe.

She tried to focus on Aqualad, gauging how fast she could push their transport and still allow him to maintain the integrity of the air pocket. She had the sneaking suspicion that his reserves of elemental power weren't nearly as boundless as her own, and she didn't want to push him so hard that he gave out before they reached their goal. It was mindless, but important work as they drifted ever deeper into the darkening waters.

And yet, Terra continually felt her gaze sliding over to the duet that were welded together at the hip. Over by the side of the platform, Ryouga and Jinx stood side by side, each wrapping an arm around the other, and pointing excitedly at things out in the ocean. You'd think that they were a pair of newlyweds on a honeymoon cruise.

In particular, she found herself focusing on the crown of pink hair, as Jinx occasionally rested her head on Ryouga's shoulder. They looked so… content, and yet something about it looked a bit off, to Terra.

She had the sneaking suspicion that Jinx was up to something. How else could she explain how odd Jinx and Ryouga had been acting earlier that morning?

Terra laughed with excitement as she dug through the forbidden depths that were Raven's closet. Normally, she would never even think about entering the glum Titan's room, but with her companions at her back, she felt emboldened. That, and she doubted Raven would even notice the ransacking considering the way someone had torn open the door to her room.

There was a surprising array of nice clothing here; she had honestly been expecting a lineup of nothing but leotards and cloaks. She didn't remember seeing Raven wear any of this stuff back when she'd first been on the team. Absently, she opened another drawer, and her eyes widened with amazement.

Grabbing an article of clothing, she held it up and spun around, laughing boisterously.

"Hey, Ryouga! Do you think Raven will mind if I borrow this?"

The inky black brassiere hung before her chest, demonstrating the vast gulf in their development. Terra smiled broadly, waiting for her master's chiding laughter, only to be left wanting.

Standing next to Raven's oversized bed, Ryouga was fawning over Jinx, who was playfully modelling some scarves. Jinx turned first, a wide smile blooming on her face as she noticed what Terra was modelling. Immediately, she burst into laughter.

"That's a great idea, Terra! We could totally wear those to smuggle some melons into Atlantis! You know, for emergency rations?"

Terra felt a smile tug at her lips. It was kind of nice to hang out with another girl that understood her struggles, and Jinx not only laughed at her joke, but included herself into it…

But Ryouga was avidly not looking her way, his cheeks flushed red for some reason.

Huffing in annoyance, she tossed the ridiculous bra back into the closet.

She just wasn't sure how she felt about Jinx, yet. The ex-villainess certainly seemed like she wanted to win her over, but Terra couldn't help but think there was some ulterior motive. After all, Jinx had already admitted she wanted to train her because she beat Raven once. And that she wanted to tag along on her 'redemption arc' or however she'd put it.

Maybe that was it? Did Jinx want to make herself look better by setting herself next to Terra? After all, everyone had known Terra at the party, for better or worse, but not a single person had raised an eyebrow at Jinx. What better way to make yourself look better, then to hang out with someone that was so much worse…

Terra found herself staring at the pair as they leaned together. Yeah, that was a likely theory. Jinx having a sinister ulterior motive made a lot of sense, because Terra certainly wasn't jealousof the older woman.

Grimacing, she turned her attention back to Aqualad, just in time to notice Speedy walking up to the Atlantean.

"Alright, we're well underway, and we've got hours before we get there. You mind filling us in on the rest of the details of this undersea invasion?"

The Atlantean glanced at Speedy, then away quickly, looking suspiciously fidgety all of a sudden. "I'm not sure what you're insinuating."

Strolling around like an old timey detective trying to crack a suspect, Speedy rubbed his chin. "It's just… you seemed really intent on getting the Titans to help. The Justice League seemed more like an afterthought for you."

Ryouga and Jinx both glanced over their shoulders, the former getting a nose full of pink hair for his efforts. The sorceress narrowed her eyes as she studied the sexy submariner. She quickly shifted her gaze to the archer. "Whachya getting at, Speedo?"

Terra snickered, even as Speedy shot a dark look back at the snarky lady. He then gestured to their new companion. "Hard to say, but things don't add up. An entire army of villains all gathering without tripping over anyone's networks? That entire army getting equipped to mount a massive undersea campaign, again without making a blip on anyone's radar?"

Speedy stopped for a moment, leaning in to study Aqualad's face more closely. The Atlantean seemed to be having a hard time maintaining eye contact, his black eyes looking out into the depths.

"And what possible motivation could so many villains have to attack such a hardened target? Sure, Atlantis has great tech, but nothing you can't get better, or easier, by making a shady deal or two with Apokolips." Speedy was leaning back now, stroking his chin like he was actually capable of growing facial hair. "Which again comes back to… why the Titans?"

Ryouga shrugged, finally releasing his grip on Jinx's narrow waist. "Well, our house is on the coast." He gestured to Aqualad. "You mentioned communications were being messed with. The Titans are probably just the closest people to get your call out, right?"

The Atlantean fired a thankful look at Ryouga, only for his face to fall as he looked away.

"That is true… but like everything I have told you, it's only a fragment of the full truth."

Speedy's and Jinx's expressions began to darken, even as Ryouga's grew confused. Terra wasn't sure how she felt herself; it sounded like they were getting jerked around by someone who was supposed to be a friend.

Before anyone could say anything, a gentle hand came to rest on Aqualad's shoulder, drawing everyone's attention to its owner. Even dressed like a rubber banana, Kasumi still somehow radiated an aura of calm and serenity. Not even Jinx could bark out whatever acerbic accusation she had balancing on the tip of her tongue in the face of Kasumi's intrinsic show of support.

"Please, tell us what you mean. Don't worry, no matter what it is, we'll understand," Kasumi promised with grace and poise.

Aqualad stared at the Japanese woman for a long time, countless emotions warring on his face, until at last, he let out a beleaguered sigh.

"I wasn't lying. There is an army of villains attacking Poseidonis… though, it might be more apt to say, 'Army of villain'."

Ryouga and Jinx looked to catch a case of epiphany at the same time. They shared a brief look, before turning back to the group.

"You mean a multiplying guy, like Billy Numerous?" Jinx offered, even as Ryouga nodded his agreement.

"Nothing so mundane, unfortunately," Aqualad replied glumly, "But, to explain that, first I have to tell you of the infamous Atlantean villain… Trident."

Aqualad then turned back to Speedy, the glum look on his face descending into full blown shame; a look that Terra was sadly quite familiar with.

"As for why I went to the Titans for help before anyone else?" The Atlantean paused for an awkward length of time. "It's a long, painful story, but the truth of the matter is, the Titans and I?"

The Atlantean dropped his chin to his chest as he forced the words out.

"We are responsible for the invasion."

Ryouga listened with rapt attention as Aqualad spun the tale of his battle against the nefarious Trident. How he had enlisted the aid of the Titans, and how he had descended into fruitless competition with Beast Boy. Terra giggled in enjoyment at those parts, while Ryouga found himself sympathizing with the young changeling feeling overshadowed by some talented pretty boy that got all the girls-

The martial artist gave his head a good shake. He'd promised to try not to tie every problem in his life back to Ranma after his archrival's uncharacteristic show of generosity and camaraderie during their conversation the last night. Of course, now that he was sober again, he was trying to sort out what possible angle Saotome could have.

The other shoe always dropped when it came to Ranma.

Wait, what had the fish man been saying again? He'd lost the thread of the story…

"And that was when Beast Boy and I stumbled across his secret lair."

"So, was it your classic clone laboratory scenario?" Jinx cut in, grinning in amusement, "Tell me I'm right!"

Ryouga glanced at the girl leaning against him as they sat on the bench Terra had set up for everyone. "What makes you say that? Sounds like they were both just too stubborn to admit they needed help."

Terra nodded, and Speedy chuckled. "Been there, done that."

The sorceress rolled her cat-like eyes. "Come on, you dorks! A bad guy that is totally obsessed with how great he is, and stealing a metric butt-load of toxic sludge? And then Aqualad and Beast Boob-" She ignored Terra's bark of annoyance. "- kept running into him in two different places at the same time?"

Jinx speared the Atlantean with a knowing glance. "I know an unreliable narrator when I hear one. Even the green kid isn't gonna get confused about attacking some seven-foot Black Lagoon reject with a pitchfork."

The amphibious hero met her stare for a moment, before finally shrugging in defeat. "You're not wrong. By the time we got there, there were already hundreds of clones' ready to hatch, maybe thousands. During the initial fight, we accidently activated the cloning machine, and within moments, we were dangerously outnumbered."

"So, what was the catch?" Speedy inquired. "The clones were unstable? Got hatched early without all the right programming? Melted if exposed to soda?"

"What do you mean?" Aqualad replied.

"Well, how did ya beat them?" Speedy shot back. "If there were that many of them, there had to be some fatal flaw that let you beat them all so easy."

Terra jumped up in excitement. "Oh, did you cause a chain reaction in the cloning machine, and the entire place blew up as you guys outran the giant fireball?"

"You really shouldn't stay up watching action movies so often," Kasumi sighed reproachfully, eliciting a shameless grin from Ryouga's prize pupil.

Aqualad snorted loudly at their distractions, before shaking his head. "Don't get ahead of the story, now. No, we only managed to escape by distracting the Tridents. Beast Boy and I got them arguing over who was the best, since they all thought they were so superior."

Jinx groaned loudly. "Oh lord, not that old chestnut."

Ryouga tried to puzzle out what she meant, only for her words to spark a distant memory of his time at the academy. He snapped his fingers as realization kicked in.

"Oh, right! That was why the Headmaster said evil Cloning Plots never work out." He chuckled as he noted Terra's confused expression. Gesturing to his protege, he couldn't help but laugh again. "How did he put it? 'Why did I think cloning myself would help…? I'm a terrible person!'"

His terrible impression managed to garner a few giggles from Kasumi and Jinx, but the rest just looked at him like he was a moron. Luckily, he was used to such looks, so he brushed it off and hoped the conversation would take back off without him.

"What, so they all killed each other?" Speedy asked, looking a little green around the gills at the idea. Come to think of it, Ryouga wasn't too thrilled with the idea either. The guy did bring it on himself, though… kinda literally now that he thought about it.

"No," Aqualad replied, shaking his head grimly, "At best, it bought us just enough time to swim for the exit. We escaped mere seconds before the Titans arrived in their ship and collapsed the tunnel."

A long pause hung in the air as it appeared everyone present was waiting for something more.

"And…?" Speedy asked, voicing Ryouga's own thoughts.

"And what?" the Atlantean replied curiously.

"And then you came back with the cops, or the army, and arrested them or something?" Terra elaborated, once again mirroring Ryouga's thoughts on the situation.

Aqualad shook his head, a haunted expression settling over his sharp features. "There… wasn't any need for that." The young man paused, his gaze dropping to his feet.

"Cyborg's sensors registered… a series of detonations from inside the cavern after the Titan's fired into the tunnel. They had only meant to seal the cave entrance, but… at the time, it looked like we had caused a chain reaction, causing the cloning machine, and then the toxic waste to explode and collapse the entire complex."

Jinx snorted loudly. "So, you just left them for dead?" She elbowed Ryouga in the side. "You Atlanteans are supposed to be super strong, right? I doubt having a mountain collapse on him would even slow Ryouga down."

Ryouga lifted a hand to slow Jinx's building head of steam. "Actually, I have been caught in a few landslides and collapses. Sometimes being strong and tough isn't enough to save you if the material burying you is too unstable to clear away effectively." He shook his head as he reminisced about days long past. "Getting trapped in a cave-in is how I learned the Shi Shi Houkodan in the first place. If that miner hadn't been there to teach me, I might have collapsed the cave on myself completely and suffocated before I could dig my way out."

Even as Speedy and Aqualad graced him with looks of complete confusion, he felt Jinx's arm tighten around her own as she looked up at him, sympathy in her eyes.

"It took us hours to get anyone from Poseidonis to our location. By the time they completed their estimations, it was determined that in the time it would take to set up such a massive excavation project, anyone that survived the initial explosions would already be long dead." Aqualad took a long, shuddering breath. "Cyborg was badly shaken by the news. He hadn't meant to kill anyone, just contain them until they could be dealt with."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Terra muttered, a distant look in her eyes that tugged at Ryouga's heart strings.

"I don't understand," Kasumi chimed in, "If all of these Trident people were… killed… then how are they attacking your city?"

"I'm honestly not sure. We kept tabs on the site for weeks, but nothing ever emerged. I can only assume that some must have escaped at some point to begin their plot anew." Admitted the Atlantean.

Ryouga nodded to himself. It was always a tossup with cave ins. When Mt. Horaizan had collapsed on him during the battle with Herb, he had been able to dig his way out of the rocky rubble within a few minutes, and that had been with a kettle held behind his back. Even if these Trident guys were only half as strong as him, anyone that had managed to survive should have been able to dig themselves free in hours, not weeks. On the other hand, keeping track of an entire mountain range for a single person wriggling out, now that sounded like a daunting task.

"Either way, we failed to capture, or contain the threat that is now on the verge of consuming all of Atlantis." Aqualad shrugged helplessly as his chin fell to rest on his chest. "If only we had done something…"

Kasumi took a step forward and rested a hand on the distraught Atlantean's shoulder. "You can't blame yourself for all of this. After everything that happened, there was no way that you or the Titans could have predicted all of this happening."

At Ryouga's side, Jinx nodded, a touch grudgingly. "The guy was living on a mountain of highly explosive sludge and getting into fist fights with super humans right in front of his cloning machine. Something disastrous was pretty much guaranteed to happen. It was just a really messed up accident."

Her words brought a grin to the Hibiki scion's lips. He knew how hard it was for Jinx to let down her 'tough villain girl' front around anyone else, especially heroes, so even seeing her making the effort to comfort the despondent Atlantean lit a spark of pride in his heart. Wrapping his arm around her narrow waist, he pulled her closer to him. The fact that she didn't resist, and in fact responded positively, was still a bit of an alien feeling for the Lost Boy.

"…Was it an accident, though?"

The sudden question drew everyone's gazes to Speedy, a sharp look on the archer's mask as he stared out into the black abyss surrounding their bubble transport.

"What are you trying to say?" Terra asked, hackles obviously starting to rise as she jumped to Aqualad's defense.

"Well, maybe the Titan's firing into the cave did cause a chain reaction and destroy Trident's entire base…" Speedy was scratching his chin, lost deep in thought as he considered the story. "Or… or, maybe you played right into Trident's hands completely."

Ryouga joined everyone else in firing disapproving looks at the archer, but rather than continue that train of thought, Speedy turned back to Aqualad. "How much of Trident's lair did you guys scope out before the fight started? Were you able to see what kind of facilities he had set up?"

The Atlantean, looking curious at the sudden change in topic, shook his head. "No, the cloning chamber was the first chamber we entered. The fight started almost immediately."

The archer nodded to himself. "So, you don't know what they had set up. Trident and his goons could have had a massive underground base set up, and you wouldn't have even realized. And you guys, being understandably messed up over thinking that you'd killed them all, and even the Army deciding it was a waste of time to exhume a bunch of dead villains, didn't do any real digging to check."

"I dunno, Speedy," Jinx replied, her tone more thoughtful now, "That kinda goes against your typical lair design rules. You don't usually have your critical operation in the foyer and have the rest of the base behind it. You'd generally want to keep that in your most secure area."

The ginger archer replied with a nod and a grin. "Exactly… unless you wanted to throw up a little sacrificial window dressing at the front door. Put up something that looks critical, so that your enemy doesn't think to look past it to see what else you might have up your sleeve." He turned back to Aqualad.

"You said you only saw a few dozen, maybe a few hundred Tridents, right? Does that sound like enough fighters to lay siege to one of the most advanced and fortified cities on the planet? Also, you said that they had multiple copies of those energy trident things. Where were they getting those from?"

Not having any idea how big Atlantis was, Ryouga couldn't say what kind of force would be needed to attack it, but the seasoned hero was making a lot of sense. If you were growing an army, you'd need more than just the cloning setup. You'd need living quarters, manufacturing for weapons, room for training. Especially if you wanted to accomplish all of this without raising any suspicions from your targets.

Monster that Brother Blood was, the education he'd provided had been comprehensive, and the Hive Academy had been a perfect example of the kind of setup one would need to start forming and training a cadre of warriors out of public view.

The Atlantean shook his head, his frustration growing. "No, you're right. The forces arrayed against Poseidonis are in the tens of thousands, if not more, and they are well equipped. They even managed to commandeer a number of our vessels before they began their attack."

Speedy slapped a fist into his palm. "See what I mean? I think this guy is a lot smarter than you guys gave him credit for, especially considering he made his own do-it-yourself cloning machine. It sounds to me like he set you guys up, big time."

"It makes sense. Setting up a base isn't too hard, especially if you can just move into an existing cavern system. Villains set up mammoth underground complexes all the time," Jinx surmised, "But getting all the toxic sludge he needed, that sent up massive red flags right away. Trident knew that if he didn't play his cards right, he'd have a lot of people coming to look for the stuff he stole."

Speedy nodded. "So, what better way to cover up your operation, than to expose it to a bunch of rookies, and let them think they destroyed it. Then let them spread the word that it was destroyed, all while you burrow deeper into your complex and continue with your real plan out of sight."

Aqualad snorted, a sour expression on his face from the revelation. "Somehow, realizing that I've been an unwitting stooge of Trident does not make me feel any better about this. Even worse is knowing that my naivete has let him continue his scheming for literal years, right under my nose."

Ryouga let out a low whistle. "So, this guy has just been laying low for the last couple years doing nothing but cloning, training, and fostering an ugly grudge for Atlantis?"

"Well, this is all just supposition on my part," Speedy replied, "Regardless, I'm still wondering why he waited so long. It sounded like the cloning worked pretty fast, and you don't need that much time for basic training."

This time it was Aqualad that snapped his fingers as something occurred to him. "I think I might know. Though I had to use stealth and subterfuge to slip past the lines of Trident's forces, I noticed that not all the Tridents were perfectly identical. Many on the front lines of the fighting looked… less evolved, more feral. Perhaps the cloning process wasn't as perfected as we thought, and it took longer to create a large enough army of viable subjects."

Jinx grinned, it wasn't a nice one. "Or, Mr. I'm-So-Perfect learned from your little trick and decided to tweak his process to grow himself an underclass of dumber Tridents to boss around. Much easier for all the normal Tridents to feel superior if they got someone else to step on."

"That's terrible," Kasumi muttered.

"It sounds exactly like something he would do, though," Aqualad admitted with a grimace.

"Well, let's just hope that's all he did with his two years of playing Doctor Moreau," Speedy added ominously.

Terra frowned, even as she continued to propel them along on the stone platform.

"This mission is getting worse by the minute."

Kasumi watched patiently as her companions chatted back and forth. Unfortunately, she did not have much to contribute to the conversation; her own education at the Academy was spent mostly in the remedial Evil Theory classes, so a lot of the conversation about advanced plotting and lair design were going a bit over her head. Maybe there was an evil learning Annex that could help her catch up once they returned?

She was surprised at how clever Speedy was proving to be. Her own interactions with him during her night job had mostly been of the Cat and Mouse variety. As such, she had seen more of his combat training than his detective work. Now though, she was seeing a very different side of him. He was deducing things about this Trident person that she would never have even guessed from what they had been told.

It was a good thing that she hadn't tried any schemes more elaborate than 'Draw Speedy here and embarrass him.' during their time together. Now that she saw more of what he was capable of, she felt certain that she wasn't ready to try outwitting him like Nabiki would prefer to do.

For some reason, she had assumed that she would be a bit more balanced between her sisters, Nabiki with her quick wits, and Akane with her great strength. Unfortunately, looking back over her exploits, she seemed to be a bit weak on both of those points, relying more on grace and emotional manipulation.

She allowed herself a tiny smile. That had been one class where she had beat out Nabiki. Men were so easy to tweak, but her younger sister was just so bad at flirting with someone she wasn't interested in. Her avarice always shone through so clearly that even Ryouga could sense her ulterior motives.

The eldest Tendo sister started suddenly, realizing that it had gone quiet around her. She wasn't certain how long she had been musing to herself, but it seemed that the conversation about that Trident fellow had fallen to the wayside and people were just standing around as the tension slowly ratcheted up, minute by minute.

At the front of their small 'craft', Terra and Aqualad sat, side by side, in stoic silence. The young heroine was barely even blushing at the proximity anymore. On the starboard side (as she'd learned from their ill-fated voyage with Tatewaki), Speedy sat, obsessively examining his stock of arrows again and again. On the port side, Ryouga and Jinx were quietly discussing Attack Pattern Gamma, and how they might incorporate Terra.

Kasumi had never learned Attack Pattern Gamma, or any other strategy past Beta, so she could only guess what it entailed. Just another area where she was woefully behind. It was something of a stunning revelation, but she was just now realizing that she had absolutely zero experience with teamwork. All her work as a vil- Ahem, as a not entirely law-abiding citizen... both at the Academy, and recently, had been working by herself. Even back in Nerima, she had looked after the Tendo household essentially by herself. She had always done her own thing, and never really got involved with Ranma's shenanigans, aside from the rare kidnapping, she supposed.

It felt like such wasted opportunity, in hindsight. Even the infamously independent duo of Ranma and Ryouga had teamed up in the past, often to stunning effect… at least until their inevitable infighting led to utter humiliation later. At the very least, she knew that they were having so much fun when they played together like that.

The Tendo sister did feel intensely curious as to how Ryouga and Jinx would think of utilizing her talents, if they knew her secret. Well, providing that the former didn't immediately turn her in for a likely severe punishment from Robin, and just pluck the suit from her arms. She might have gone a bit too far when she used that hydrant on Ryouga, he might still be annoyed with her if he were to find out.

She smiled to herself, hiding it by pulling down the brim of her hat. Sadly, she just wasn't the team type. As such, she settled for losing herself in her own musings as the time ticked by uncomfortably. Gradually, Speedy got bored of his arrows, and the dynamic duo ran out of Patterns to discuss, and things grew tediously silent.

Finally, enough was enough. As patient as she was, this was an unsettling situation, and the silence was getting to her. Clearing her throat, Kasumi called out to the front of the stone disc.

"Excuse me, Mr. Aqualad. Do you know how much longer it will take us to get to Atlantis?"

Immediately, every other human present looked forward curiously; obviously she had spoken the question on all their minds. The lone Atlantean looked back over his shoulder, taking in the disparate group before taking another moment to look out into the ocean around him, as if he could recognize the near featureless landscapes in the darkened depths which surrounded them.

"Actually, we entered Atlantis a little while ago. We've been making good time, too, so hopefully it shouldn't be much longer until we reach Poseidonis."

Terra was the first to react to that, scratching her chin with a gloved finger. "But I thought we were going to Atlantis. How can we already be there? And what's this Poseidonisis place you keep mentioning?"

Grinning, the Atlantean reached out and patted her shoulder, eliciting a fierce blush from the young woman - Kasumi couldn't blame her, he did have an… aesthetically pleasing physique - before he replied.

"That's something of a misconception, and one that we are only too happy to foster on the surface." He looked up, his gaze sweeping across them all. "You see, most surface dwellers believe Atlantis is a city, but it is actually a continent. Roughly the size of your Australia, I believe."

Jinx, Speedy and Terra all looked suitably shocked at the revelation, however Kasumi simply shared a casual shrug with Ryouga. She wasn't very knowledgeable about Atlantis at all, nor was her countryman, so she wasn't sure how she should react. The young Hibiki seemed to share her thoughts as they simply held their tongues.

"Poseidonis," Aqualad enunciated clearly, glancing playfully Terra's way, "Is the capital city of the Atlantean Empire. There are a number of major cities across the sea floor, but King Orin and his family rule from the Capital."

Speedy nodded. "Hence why Trident is attacking there first, right? Cut the head off the sea-snake, as it were, and get yourself a heavily fortified base of operations."

"Then set up an industrial scale cloning operation and use the existing infrastructure to bulk up your army super-fast to launch attacks on the other cities," Jinx added, slapping a tiny fist into her palm.

"There are also many magical relics at the Conservatory of Sorcery," Aqualad admitted, "Though none greater than the Trident of Poseidon, wielded by King Orin. If Trident were to get his hands on that… trident…"

Terra giggled loudly. "It really is a dumb name, isn't it?"

"That's my girl!" Jinx cheered. Leaning forward, she held out her hand for a high five, only for Terra to give a little sniff and look away, leaving the cat-eyed witch hanging. Leaning back, Jinx let out a mewling whine before glancing at Ryouga, who could only give a helpless shrug.

Kasumi glanced at the young blonde; now what was that all about?

"Be that as it may," Aqualad cut back in, "We need to-"

The Atlantean's words cut off abruptly as he dropped to his knees, clutching his skull. Ryouga took a step forward, and Kasumi was about to follow-

Kasumi's entire world shattered as it felt like someone drove an icepick into the back of her skull! She dropped to her knees as a thousand impulses pushed her to do a thousand different things all in the same instant. She barely even registered the feeling of the platform they were riding crashing into the seabed, sending everyone tumbling wildly.

Her head cracked sharply against the stone floor, and the world began to spin again. Through blurring vision, she saw the bubble around them crack like glass. A jet of high-pressure water blasted through one of the larger breaks, slamming into Ryouga's chest, launching him out of her line of sight. She tasted copper in her mouth, a strange, alien taste that was utterly unfamiliar. People were shouting, possibly she was too.

The platform fractured, and the bubble crumpled inwards like a collapsing can. The black sea water inched closer to Kasumi as she watched, her eyes wide in terror.

She - she was going to die! She wasn't ready! Not like this! A spray of freezing water hit her face as another crack splintered the collapsing bubble. The taste of salt was overpowering. She couldn't even control her limbs to try to scrabble uselessly for non-existent safety...

A voice, familiar and not, cut through the panicked shouting.

"Terra!"

Everything went black.

Four figures stood on the bridge of the stolen Atlantean warship. The interior lights had all been destroyed, casting the gathering in near darkness, the same twilight blackness they had spent their entire lives in. They watched the broad view screen, the brightness set as low as possible, as their forces swept around Poseidonis with eerie synchronicity.

Strange voices in the deep.

They have been silenced.

The four nodded in satisfaction, the voice echoing directly within their minds.

"I didn't sense any transmissions, so it was probably nothing," replied one of the four, their slim body vibrating with excess energy and their words nearly blurring together. "Or it might have been something? Maybe we should investigate?"

"You worry too much," stated the second, his words lackadaisical and flowing. "A pebble cannot stop the tsunami."

"Enough distraction. We should get a better vantage of the battle; we must acclimate to the light," added the third of the quartet, standing a head above the rest of them.

As one the four nodded and moved towards the exit. One of them, the one whom had held their silence, stopped at the door, only to look back into the deeper darkness of the bridge, beyond even the meager light of the view screen.

Hidden deep within the black, the only sound was the tearing of meat, and the endless repetition of something, vast and terrible, feeding.

The First smiled.

"Soon."