Entry One: Aqualad
Hero Name: Aqualad
Real Name: Garth
Origins: Shayeris, Hidden Valley/Poisedonis, Atlantis
Current Base: Titans East Tower, Steel City, New Jersey, United States of America
Age When He Joined the Titans: 15
Titans Status: Second-in-command of Titans East
Hair: Black
Eyes: Purple
Abilities: Telepathic control over marine life, superhuman strength, endurance, durability, agility reflexes and senses, superspeed swimming, hydrokinesis, and underwater breathing.
Aqualad has been called the "peace-keeping older brother" of the dynamic Titans East team. Typically calm, collected, and perhaps a bit too serious for his own good, Aqualad has a deep-set determination to defend his home the sea. He is set against the notion of eating fish, since they could have been his friends, and will do almost anything to protect his home.
A King with No Kingdom
Garth was born the heir and true king of the Idylist Colony, Hidden Valley. His father, King Thar, died shortly before his birth, murdered by traitorous court members who had been working with the king's then-exiled brother, Slizzath. Queen Berra, Garth's mother, was pregnant with Garth at the time and fled to a remote part of the Idylistan's ancestral home, Atlantis, in order to protect herself and her unborn child from her husband's killers. The stress of the entire situation and the grief she felt over her husband's death caused the queen to go into labor early, and Garth was born soon after her arrival in Atlantis.
While the exhausted queen was resting, the Atlantean women helping with the birth saw the child's purple eyes and immediately brought him, royal birth-wrappings and all, to the ironically named Mercy Reef to die, since purple eyes were in Atlantean superstition a bad omen for their people. When Queen Berra awakened, she was told that her son had died while she was asleep. Wrought with grief over the loss of her husband and child, and hearing news that Hidden Valley had been taken over by her husband's brother, Slizzath, Berra felt she had no other choice but to return to the outskirts of Hidden Valley to hide amongst her people and help build a resistance force against the tyrant. The Idylistans suffered in the following years under King Slizzath's control, while their baby king clung to life in the treacherous Mercy Reef, surviving thanks to the help of passing sea creatures.
The Outcast Prince
When Garth was four, he was discovered by the newly-crowned King of Atlantis, Orin, also known as Aquaman. King Orin brought the child back to his palace in Poisedonis, and, recognizing the royal mark of Hidden Valley on the garments, realized Garth's true identity. Having spent some time among the Idylists against Slizzath's reign while on his travels, King Orin contacted the dethroned Queen Berra and informed her that her child lived. While the Queen was overjoyed with the news, she knew that the situation in Hidden Valley was not safe for Garth, who was the true king of Hidden Valley and a tangible threat to Slizzath's tyrannical reign.
Because of this, she told King Orin to reveal nothing to Garth of his past until he was of age. King Orin agreed, and took in Garth to raise as his own while Garth's mother continued to plan her careful subterfuge.
Despite the fact that he was taken in by the King, the young Prince was not entirely accepted by others in the Atlantean Palace due to his strangely colored eyes. Ostracized by both the older members of the court (who still believed in the age-old superstition) and the children in his school (who thought the purple-eyed 'foreigner' strange), Garth was a painfully shy child.
Adventures in Superheroing- and New Friends
To help remedy Garth's shyness, Aquaman began taking Garth along on superhero-related missions. Garth took to it like a fish to water, soon taking on the superhero moniker of Aqualad. His adventures as a superhero, combined with new friendships with other outcasts from his school- a girl a year younger than him named Gill Girl ("Gilly"), and his science class labmate named Tramm- helped Aqualad break out of his shell. He became more outgoing and gradually settled into his roles as a superhero and a prince.
Finding out the Truth
A few years later, on a dare from Gill Girl, the twelve-year-old Aqualad snuck into Aquaman's private quarters. While snooping, he stumbled upon the letters his mother had sent to Aquaman. Realizing his true identity, Aqualad confronted Aquaman, angry that he hadn't been told the truth. The secrecy would drive a wedge between the young hero and his mentor, and the distance between them would only widen within the following year as Aquaman became wrapped up in matters of state and his budding relationship with the redheaded beauty, Mera. Aquaman and Mera were soon married, and Aqualad finally ran away from Poisedonis at age thirteen.
Runaway
As he traveled, Aqualad fell ill. Soon, he was so sick that he had to take shelter in a cave not far off the coast of California. He drifted in and out of consciousness for three days. When he got better, he discovered that he had been taken care of by Gill Girl and Tramm, who had followed him when he left Poisedonis. He practically ordered them to go back to Poisedonis, but they both remained steadfast in their decisions. Eventually, his pleadings and concerns for her family still in Poisedonis convinced Gill Girl to return home. Tramm, who had no family he had left behind, remained with the young hero.
Other Heroes?!
After a year of solo hero work (Tramm had no interest in the business and chose instead to assist Aqualad by making various pieces of technology), Aqualad encountered Trident for the first time. Having read about the villain in his history books, Aqualad knew the danger that the former Atlantean posed and attempted to stop him. His efforts soon led him to cross paths with the Teen Titans, and together they managed to defeat the villain. Despite his joy at finding himself accepted by others his age, Aqualad declined the offer the Titans made for him to join the team. He did, however, accept a communicator to keep in contact with the Titans, and became the first Honorary Titan.
Meeting the Future
For another year, Aqualad continued his work undersea alone. He met up again with Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy during the Tournament of the Heroes, but was glad to return home when it was over. A few months after the Tournament of the Heroes, he met with Gill Girl again while she was trying to rescue her new boyfriend, Nero, a turtle, from one of Jump City's aquariums, drawing attention from Titans West. He began to follow her when she began going to the surface, and helped her out when the Titans attacked her, thinking she had hurt Beast Boy. She explained herself to him and, by proxy, the Titans, and also gave him a sound mental thrashing for leaving Atlantis. They parted ways once more, Aqualad being teased by Beast Boy as they resurfaced. After explaining the situation to the Titans, Aqualad returned to his undersea work, occasionally keeping an eye on Jump City's coasts when the Titans were out of town (and even when they weren't.)
It was on one of these occasions that Aqualad met Bumblebee for the first time. Bumblebee and her other HIVE companions had broken into a warehouse along the docks. The Titans had just left town moments before, asking Aqualad to keep an eye on the city while they were away, so the superhero stepped in to take care of the HIVE members. He managed to take out Bumblebee's compatriots easily, but Bumblebee escaped his wall of water using her flight and shrinking abilities. Aqualad was impressed, and also a bit confused as to why people his age would go on the side of the bad. His attempts to bring Bumblebee over to the side of the good failed, and he was promptly knocked out cold by Bumblebee after her teammates recovered and caught him by surprise.
To Help a Traitor
Aqualad returned to his work below the seas, still taking care of the docks of Jump City and occasionally pulling his own tricks against the HIVE. Not long after his first encounter with Bumblebee, she managed to track him down and told him that she wanted to change sides. He agreed to help her, and for the next few months they did their own work in taking down the HIVE.
After Cyborg went in as a double agent and wrecked HIVE headquarters, Bumblebee and Aqualad lost touch for some time. Using some intel Bumblebee managed to get to him before the HIVE was destroyed, Aqualad finally managed to locate the undersea headquarters that Brother Blood had been purportedly building even before Cyborg's deception. Aqualad rushed to fight the villainous Headmaster, but was defeated due to his telepathy being blocked by Blood's own. However, he managed to establish contact with Bumblebee, who told him that Blood was building a sonic resonator. Aqualad hurried to inform the Titans, and together the six of them went undersea to take down Brother Blood.
Aqualad and Bumblebee
The team managed to shut down the sonic resonator, but Brother Blood got away before they could capture him. They regrouped in Titans Tower, and were about to continue the chase when an alert came up- Dr. Light was attacking the city once more. Aqualad decided to follow the trail of the HIVE headmaster, and Bumblebee went along to help him out. After informing Tramm of his quest, Aqualad and Bumblebee headed East. They eventually settled down in Steel City, New Jersey, where Blood's trail ended.
For a few months, they took care of the villains running rampant in Steel City, Bumblebee handling things from the air, Aqualad from the water. The two began developing an awkward non-relationship relationship, which only became more complicated when Bumblebee accidentally expressed that she was beginning to harbor strong emotions for him after Aqualad was nearly killed after being attacked by Black Manta. After Aqualad healed, they decided that if they wanted to continue protecting Steel City, they were going to need a full team like that of the Titans in the West, and contacted Robin for help recruiting.
Titans East
Robin informed Bumblebee and Aqualad of their various choices, and eventually the two chose Speedy, who had recently broken ties with his mentor Green Arrow, and Más and Menos, twin speedsters who had recently arrived in the States from Guatemala and had gone to Batman of all people for help.
In the years to come Aqualad would wonder if they had made the right choices in team members, but once Speedy arrived on the doorstep of the newly-constructed Titans East Tower, there was no turning back. The next few days, as Bumblebee tried to finish the Tower and Aqualad realized with horror that Speedy actually enjoyed eating fish- were chaos for the new team, and in desperation Bumblebee finally called in Cyborg.
The Return of Brother Blood
Almost immediately after Cyborg arrived, Steamroller came to town. The Titans went to work, defeating Steamroller with some effort. Not long afterwards the Titans were attacked by Brother Blood and Aqualad, Bumblebee, Speedy, Más, and Menos were subjected to his mind control, causing them to turn against Cyborg. By the time Cyborg realized what had happened, it was too late. Brother Blood had been turned into a cyborg not unlike Cyborg himself and Titans East was next if Cyborg didn't comply. The half-robot hero managed to get a message to Titans West and was soon rescued by them. They had to then fight against Titans East, eventually falling. It was only after Cyborg managed to defeat Brother Blood that Titans East was freed once more. Cyborg decided to return back to Jump City, naming Bumblebee the leader of Titans East
Becoming a Family
The next two years were tumultuous ones for Titans East- Bumblebee named Aqualad her second-in-command and put an end to their non-relationship, causing much hidden awkwardness between the two for a time. Speedy was jealous of both Aqualad and Bumblebee, and the twins were just all over the place. However, as blood, sweat, and tears bonded the five of them together, they grew closer and eventually developed a kind of dysfunctional family dynamic.
The Brotherhood of Evil
When the Titans West first left Jump City to fight the Brotherhood of Evil, Aqualad and the rest of Titans East gladly went to help protect it. After an interesting encounter with Control Freak, Titans East had little difficulty caring for Jump City, since most of its criminals were rushing to join the Brotherhood of Evil. However, the breakout of several of their own villains over in Steel City caused them to leave Jump hurriedly, and they were replaced by Kid Flash
Eventually, Titans West asked Titans East to help them fight the Brotherhood, and they agreed. Aqualad returned undersea to keep an eye on things below land and to reunite with Tramm. They were both eventually captured by the Brotherhood, but they were thankfully freed by Beast Boy and a handful of other survivors of the Brotherhood's attack.
Titans East returned back to Steel City after being absent for months and almost had to start all over in ridding the streets of the small-time crooks. However, they were soon returned to prison, and all is well in Steel City.
Aqualad remains with the rest of Titans East in Steel City, still the "peace-making older brother" despite his not-so-brotherly feelings for Bumblebee and his constant irritation at Speedy for being a fish-eater. However, as his 18th birthday approaches, what possibilities await this Atlantean Titan? Only Time will tell.
A/N: Thanks to all of have reviewed thus far. As far as sources go, the information in this story came from either the updated version of The DC Comics Encyclopedia, titans tower . com, Wikipedia, dc. wikia . com, and of course TTG and the Teen Titans TV series itself. All of the elements of Aqualad's history from those sources were then churned through the mill that is my mind and somehow made to work in the TV canon and my Continuity One fanon. So, it's two parts information, one part originality, and infinity parts pure luck. (Thank goodness Jinx's not around!) This'll probably be true for the rest of these entries, so if you want to compare my origin stories with the official ones, you can take a peek at some of those.
Next up... Beast Boy!
Thanks for reading!
~Guardy
