Chapter 9: Water Logged
"Titans Together!" Beast Boy shouted. He jumped off the small island and into the water. He immediately morphed into a giant whale. A shadow of the T-Sub appeared, at the top of the Tower. It launched up, and came down, revealing it's true colors: blue! Aqualad came running out of Titans East Tower, and jumped into the water, following Beast Boy and the T-E-Sub. Aqualad swam his way into the front, with Beast Boy, guiding the team to their destination: Atlantis.
"So, why are we doing this again," Bumblebee said into her headset speaker. She was in the front of the T-E-Sub, guiding and driving it. Mas Y Menos were in the sides, with Speedy behind them in the back cockpit.
"Because my people are in danger!" Aqualad said defensively, "See, Robin had gotten two distress calls: one from Atlantis and the other from Gotham. The titans went off to Gotham and sent Beast Boy with us to help out with whatever's wrong with Atlantis."
"What is wrong with Atlantis?" Speedy asked, "Oh yeah, it's underwater!" He sounded annoyed by the fact they had to go underwater, where they couldn't breathe, to help a city that never cared about the surface world.
"The titans and I believe some of the Trident clones managed to free themselves, and are wreaking havoc on the city and it's people," Aqualad told him.
They had reached the beautiful city of Atlantis, finally. It seemed to glow with it's own light, from the amazing underwater architecture and the beautiful pearls made to mold the walls of the city. Though the city was underwater, the buildings where evidentially inside, providing enough oxygen for its people to breathe and talk better. However to get from building to building, the underwater civilians have to swim and swim, creating a remarkable way of protection.
"Wow, it's amazing," Bumblebee said.
"It's home," Aqualad said, "At least for now."
"¡Cuán magnífico!" Mas y Menos said in unison.
Speedy shrugged and gave a breath of annoyance.
"Doesn't this city have it's own superhero?" Speedy asked.
"Yeah," Aqualad said, looking upset, "He's missing. That's our real mission."
---
Four shadows walked the streets and alleyways of a desolate, dirty city. They were looking for something. Out of the shadows came Robin, Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire.
"Please, who is it that we are so desperately searching for?" Starfire asked Robin.
"Yeah, we've been here for about two days already, and no show of this guy at all," Cyborg said, "Lucky Raven came just today, and B.B. left. They're not as tired." He gave a yawn, signaling he had not slept the night before.
"He is here," Robin said, "I know he is. He just hasn't shown up yet. The signal came from a week ago, maybe he's moving around the city, working on solving the problem."
"What exactly is this problem, Robin?" Raven asked him.
"Joker, one of my old enemies, has been spreading silly gas around the town," Robin said, looking sternly.
"Yes, but what can this 'silly gas' actually do?" Starfire asked.
"It turns the innocent citizens into mindless clown puppets, leaving the Joker to cause havoc and chaos without worrying about his new mind-controlled police men, firemen, and all the other law enforcers of Gotham," Robin informed them all.
Suddenly, something jumped above the Titans, landing on a different building.
"Titans, Go! Get to the top of that rooftop!" Robin said, and then ricocheted off of the sides of the building, jumping himself to the rooftop. Starfire grabbed Cyborg, flying him up to the roof. Her eyes glowed with emerald intensity while Cyborg readied his sonic cannon. Raven levitated, getting ready to use her telekinetic powers at full extent.
They reached the rooftop, in sight of the shadow as it looked back at them. It turned back around, jumping to the next building.
"Titans! Follow him!" Robin shouted as he and Cyborg jumped from building to building, following the shadow. Starfire and Raven flew behind them, ready in case of an ambush.
They jumped from rooftop to rooftop, until they were extremely close to him. Robin took out his shotgun bird-a-rang. He aimed and shot the weapon at the shadow. The man looked behind and saw the bird-a-rang come at him, wrapping around his legs, crashing him to the ground. The titans came and circled around him. He still looked like a shadow in the dim moonlight.
He finally spoke, his voice was young, but getting a little raspier, "It's been a long time Robin. I can't believe I fell for the trap I had taught you."
The mystery man got up and dusted off his knees. He looked at them, his face being illuminated in the moonlight. He had a mask, a black one, blending in with the shadows. His eyes were covered by a thin white fabric, making visibility clear from out, but not in. At the top of his mask, he had two small horns, like stunts. Only his mouth shown.
"It's been a while, Bruce," Robin said, smirking.
---
Aqualad and Beast Boy, un-morphed, walk into the grand hall of the Imperial Castle. It was vastly large, and located as the center building of Atlantis. Behind them came Bumblebee and Mas y Menos, gawking at the unbelievable sights. Then came Speedy, still sulking and mumbling under his breath.
Aqualad approached the throne at the end of the room. He silently wept over the missing king, the closest thing to family he had.
"Titans, he's definitely not here," Aqualad said.
"What gave you that idea?" Speedy said. They reluctantly followed, going building to building, asking everyone if they had seen the king. No one had seen him for quite some time. Suddenly a thought sprung into Aqualad's head.
"Come on guys, follow me," Aqualad said. They swam and in Titans East's case, drove until Aqualad had found an underwater cave. Beast Boy, now a whale, helped Aqualad remove some of the boulders. They entered the cave.
"Oh, I remember this place," Beast Boy said, "This is where we locked away all the Trident clones."
"Yeah, but where is Mr. Multiply?" Bumblebee asked.
"I don't know," Aqualad said. Suddenly a moan echoed from the cave, signaling the team to continue into the cave.
"¡Yay! ¡Apenas como Indiana Jones!" Mas said.
---
"So, the Joker hasn't been seen in the city for weeks," Robin asked Batman.
"Yes, along with all of his brain-washed puppets," Batman replied.
"So, you need out assistance to help seek out and vanquish this 'Jokester'?" Starfire asked.
"Exactly, I had a lead to his whereabouts. You will have to catch up with me," Batman said with a slight smirk.
"No sweat, I did this all the time in the old days," Robin said, jumping after Batman.
"Easy for him to say," Raven said as the rest of the Titans reluctantly followed. Starfire, Rave, and Cyborg had quite some difficulty following Robin, but they managed to arrive in Gotham Square, out of breath.
"Where is the Joker," Cyborg said, readying his sonic cannon.
"Directly under us," Batman said. Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg looked at each other, wondering how they were to get to him.
Robin finally asked the question, "How are we going to get to him?"
"Simple we drill," Batman said. In moments, a power driller came driving down to Gotham Square. It was driven by none else than Batman's sidekick, Batgirl. She resembled the Batman, but she wore a purple costume, with a more 'hipper' looking way to wear the costume.
"Move outta the way, newcomers," Batgirl said, and the Titans and the Batman moved out of the way. She pulled a lever, and the drill came down, swerving through the cement. Once it was a complete hole, Batgirl brought the drill back up, and jumped out of the vehicle. The group of Bats and Titans looked down the hole, leading to a hallway, partly filled with debris.
Batman looked at the pile of dirt and then at Batgirl, who giggled and said, "Sorry, I haven't drilled anything since I was a kid, drilling moats in my sand castles."
Batman said, "It'll do," and he jumped in, followed by Batgirl, and then Robin. The remaining Titans looked at each other, and shrugged, jumping in after Robin and his Batty old companions.
---
Titans East continued to follow down the dark hallway. Water dripped from the cracks of the ceiling, making splattering noises as the droplets crashed to the ground. Aqualad, was guiding the team in front, shining a flashlight on the ground in front of him. Suddenly, Aqualad stopped walking and gasped.
"What's the matter?" Bumblebee asked after she absentmindedly bumped into Aqualad's back. Speedy, Mas Y Menos, Bumblebee, and Beast Boy peered behind Aqualad to see the detour that had cause their traveling group to stop moving.
There, in the stationed on the ground, under the beam emitted from the flashlight was an adult Atlantis citizen. He had short blonde hair, bushy blonde eyebrows to match, and his blue eyes were completely shut. He wore an orange shirt and green pants and gloves. He wore a shiny golden belt and on the back of his lower legs, there were two sticking-out appendages, resembling fins. He looked beat-up, lying almost lifeless on the cold, hard floor.
"Who is this?" Beast Boy asked. Aqualad didn't respond right away. He set down the flashlight beside him, and kneeled down. He held the back of his head in his forearm.
"Mas y Menos," Aqualad said, not answering Beast Boy's question, "Can you run back to the entrance and get the emergency kit out of the T-Sub?"
"Si," they said as they grabbed hands and ran off. They came back, holding out a white kit with a large red addition symbol on the top cover.
"Aquí usted va, Sr. Chico de Pez," Mas Y Menos said, and Aqualad took the kit out of their hands. He looked so serious and stern, that none of his teammates talked for a while. He laid down the kit, after putting the man down, and opened the small box. Inside he drew out a large tourniquet, which he wrapped around the side of the man's chest. He put some ointments and remedies all over his cut face, and put smaller medical bandages around both his wrist and ankle. After this miniscule surgery, Aqualad shut the kit with a click, and stood up, holding the small box by it's handle in his right arm.
"He should be regaining consciousness any minute now," Aqualad said, breaking the silence, "Mas, Menos, if you would." Aqualad held out the kit, and they grabbed it and ran off, back to the T-Sub, and returning within the minute.
"Who is that anyway?" Beast Boy said. He sounded a little annoyed at Aqualad for not answering the question the first time, but decided to ask again.
"Oh, him. I never told you, that's-" Aqualad said, but was trailed off by the man behind him. He moaned as he awoke, as if from a long, deep sleep. He opened his eyes and rubbed them furiously to get a better focus on the teens who had saved him.
"Aqualad?" he said, and jumped up and ran to him, "I haven't seen you in so long. Are you ok? Have you been eating properly? Are those hooligan teen titans treating you right? What about your sidekick, you know he one that smells like fish? Oh, god it's good to see you." He embraced the teen so hard, it almost chocked him.
"Ok, you can let go now," Aqualad said, barely able to speak with his cheek pressed against his chest.
"Oh, sorry," the man said, letting Aqualad go and turning a little red in the face.
"Titans East and Beast Boy, I would like you to meet my former master, Aquaman," Aqualad said, now facing the titans.
"Oh, so that's where he got his name," Bumblebee said.
"No muy original," Mas said.
"¿Qué espera usted?" Menos told him back.
"We haven't much time, the Tridents are planning to take over Atlantis. We have to move out," Aquaman said.
"Dude, Tridents! How many managed to escape?" Beast Boy said, now with a small hint of fear in his voice.
"Only three. They have control of the Force Staffs, all three of them. They managed to steal all of them. He Staff of Wisdom, Power, and Courage," Aquaman said.
"What can these 'staffs' actually do?" Speedy said.
"The Staffs have been the royal Atlantis family heirlooms for generations, and the last resort defenses of Atlantis. The Staff of Wisdom can harness water around it, and freeze it into diamond-hard ice. The Staff of Courage can harness water around it, and boil and heat it into a water-resistant flame. The Staff of Power can release a blast of devastating force," Aquaman informed them.
The titans looked startled and scared at the upcoming battle, but they knew they had to help out Aqualad's old home.
Suddenly, the wall behind Aquaman crashed and crumbled to the ground. Dust covered the hall, and the titans and Aquaman looked and saw nothing, until three Tridents emerged from the dust. They looked the same, but they wore different colored circular gems on their foreheads. The middle had a green one, the left a blue, and the right had a red one.
"Miss us?" the green gem wielding Trident said in a triumphant voice. The titans and Aquaman fearfully readied themselves for battle.
---
"He's this way," Batman said, leading the titans through the dark, dirt tunnel. Behind him were Batgirl and Robin, who had Cybrog, Starfire, and Raven following farther behind them, having second thoughts on the mission.
They continued down the dirt path until they reached a large dome-shaped underground alcove, with dazed people all over, transferring crates, large vials, and all different things from place to place.
"These are the citizens of Gotham who have been taken under control by the Joker," The Batman told them.
"Looks like they're bringing all of this stuff to that exit," Cyborg said, pointing to a small arched hole in the wall. He was right, all of the citizens were leaving with their crates and other stuff into the small hole in the wall.
They ran to the hole, moving through the crowd of zombies and entered a smaller dome-shaped room. In the middle, a rock formation, similar to a small plateau or pedestal, which held up none other than the Joker! His yellowish teeth grinning behind his ruby red lips. His psychotic red eyes, watching his minions bring in the crates and vials. Behind his pale white face, and long green hair, he didn't see anyone else enter, fortunately for the Titans.
They crept, leaning close to the ground, leading themselves to the Joker. They finally sneaked behind him, and Robin suddenly lunged towards him.
"Robin! No!" the Batman yelled. The Joker turned to a cat-like attack from Robin. Robin curled himself around the Joker, as he moved, running into things and losing balance. The Joker, eventually bit Robin's finger which had been pulling his mouth. Robin let out a yelp and jumped off of him.
"So, haven't seen you in a while, Robby. Isn't this just such a great family reunion," The Joker said in an innocent tone. Now he noticed Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven, "And look, you brought more friends. Well guess what Batty, I have my own," he said, sounding serious, and all the citizens dropped what they were carrying and headed towards the Titans. The Joker gave a howling cackle.
"Titans Go!" Robin shouted and all six of the heros scattered.
---
Bumblebee was shooting her stings at the Wisdom Trident, who was dodging and shooting beams of ice at her. She quickly dodged most of them, by becoming small.
Speedy and Mas Y Menos took on the Courage Trident who was hurling fire blasts, that were quickly stopped by Speedy's arrows.
Aquaman, Aqualad, and Beast Boy attack the Power Trident. Aquaman and Aqualad continued to hurl water balls at him, while Beast Boy turned into a elephant to charge at the enemy. He was thrown into the wall from a force beam.
Turning back into his green self, he said, "Oh, so you wanna play like that, do you?" He turned into a leopard and began to dodge the blasts as he came closer and closer to Trident. He pounced and pinned him onto the ground.
Speedy looked at Mas Y Menos and they both nodded their head. Speedy ran sideways, still throwing arrows to protect Mas Y Menos. The two superspeedsters grabbed hands and ran up to the Trident, they circled around him, and in the confusion, took his Staff of Courage. Mas Y Menos ran back to Speedy's side, who aimed an arrow straight at the Trident's head.
Bumblebee flew as fast as she could, dodging the ice beams. The Trident missed and accidently hit Speedy, who became incased in ice.
"Speedy!" Mas Y Menos said and began to run around and around him. The Trident began to laugh hysterically. Eventually, the friction melted the ice, leaving a shivering and annoyed Speedy to attend to. Meanwhile, Bumblebee snatched the Wisdom Staff from the Trident, who now stopped laughing.
"Piece of cake," she said, "Now it's your turn." She held up the Staff into his face, and froze the Trident. Mas Y Menos clapped in victory.
With the Power Trident pinned against the floor, Aqualad and Aquaman took the water from the small lake where the T-Sub floated, and poured it all over Trident. The shock had knocked him out, and Aquaman grabbed the staff from him.
"Come on, we have to leave," Aquaman said as the ceiling began to crumble, "This place is going to collapse. They left with the staffs in the T-Sub, and went back to Atlantis.
Aquaman, know at his throne, held out a box which included six golden medallions.
"For rescuing myself, and more importantly all of Atlantis, I bear these rewards to the six brave heroes: Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Mas Y Menos, Speedy, and last, but not least, Aqualad," Aquaman said, placing the medallions over their necks. The crowd of Atlantis citizens clapped and cheered, as the team turned around and took a bow.
"Thank you, for coming back to my aid, Aqualad," Aquaman said in a fatherly tone.
Aqualad look back and smiled, "No problem."
---
"Block me as I go and stop the Joker. Remember these are innocent people, so don't hurt them," Batman said. He began to run after the Joker, who was about to escape.
Robin and the rest began to lead the citizens out of the tunnel.
"Come on and get us!" Batgirl said, and began to run with the Titans, being chased by the people. They lead them to the light, which seemed to cure them of their affliction. They were back to normal, with no memory to recall what had just happened.
The Joker began to climb up a sewage ladder, escaping to the outside world. Batman quickly climbed after him and shot his bat-a-rang. The wire wrapped around the Joker, slowing him down. He eventually broke free, but Batman was now close behind him.
He saw the light at the end of the tunnel. He began to climb faster and faster, hoping on his escape. He climbed out of the sewer hole and looked up. There he was, the Batman!
"Too slow, Joker, too slow," he said and punched him out. His vision went blank as he fell to the ground.
---
The T-Ship, the orange one, landed on top of Titans Tower. Out came Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven.
"It is most magnificent to be home at last!" Starfire exclaimed.
"Yeah, back to eating, video games, sleeping, and kickin' some bad-guy butt!" Cyborg said. They all exited the roof, heading to the main floor. There they found Beast Boy, sitting on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table. He stopped flipping through the channels to turn around.
"What took you so long?" Beast Boy asked.
Robin flipped onto the couch, followed by Cyborg. Starfire let out a giddy yelp and flew over to lay on the couch. Raven simply stood behind them, having her hand up against the sofa to keep her balance.
"Just a minor delay," Robin said, "The important thing is we're home now, and together, and that's all that matters." Suddenly the alarm went off, signaling a bank robbery.
Robin smirked and said casually, "Titans, go."