121. Fear the Black Tempest part 2
"First of all, Robin, even when we first noticed that the little shrimp wasn't with us anymore...you were already calling us and complaining your butts off! Sorry that he got in the T-Sub when he wasn't supposed to! I was outside on the dock the entire time, and Raven was busy tending to Aqualad. If any of us was in the position to spot Nova'm in time, it was me. I honestly can't figure out how the little bugger did it. But then again......if he has all the powers that Star has, I bet he could have found a way. How much have you been training him, Star?"
"A little too much, I am presently inclined to believe," frowned the Tamaranian girl. She folded her arms and glared across the tiny cockpit at Nova'm...who was sitting on the back of a chair.
He shrugged with a simper. "Wh-What??"
Robin faced the speaker system inside the T-Sub. "My first thought was to turn us three around and return Nova'm. But from the way I judge things, if we interrupt the autopilot system now with Aqualad's pendant...we may not be able to get it right again."
"My thoughts exactly. Raven and I both agree that you should stay on course. I think the little prince is along for the ride."
"And what of Aqualad?"
"Dead as a doornail. He's been out cold since you guys left."
Starfire gasped. "Dead?!?!"
"Figure of speech, Star. He's okay......just unconscious. We'd better let him keep rehydrating."
"Good idea," Robin nodded. "Until then, keep in touch. Robin out."
-click-
He switched the speaker system off, sighed, and looked Nova'm's way.
"So...um....is that R-Raven lady mad??" Nova'm scratched his head, blushing.
"Raven lady?! Raven lady?!?!" Starfire cackled. "Does it not occur to you to suffer the wrath of myself and Robin, and instead you think of Raven lady?!"
Nova'm flinched. "Well...when Miss Raven gets mad...things blow up, right?"
"And when I get mad," Starfire spoke with a melting frown. "I get very sad. And sadness is one of the worst of the Tamaranian emotions. So cold and painful. Was it your desire to make me sad, Nova'm?"
"N-No, Kory!! I....I-I just wanted to help! This mission sounds so important and stuff. I couldn't let you go on it alone! Unprotected!"
"I have my protection," she gestured towards the Boy Wonder.
Nova'm giggled. "What? Him??"
Robin gave the redhead a cold death glare.
"......," Nova'm gulped and scrunched back in his seat. "So....um...wh-where're we going....anyways?"
"The Hidden Valley. The home of Aqualad's people, the Idyllists," Robin exasperatingly explained. "Hopefully when we get there, they'll be willing to help us out for the lost ambassador's sake."
"'H-Hopefully'??" Nova'm muttered.
"Assuming they don't blow us out of the water first," Robin firmly said. "In case you haven't paid attention, continental civilization isn't exactly on good terms with ocean dwellers."
Nova'm gulped again. "I think I picked the w-wrong bus ride...."
"Indeed you have," Starfire huffed. "Did I not tell you that this excursion would be of considerable danger?"
"Huh? Oh...I-I know that....just...fear is a motivation, right?? Ha ha! I laugh at fear!!" Nova'm cackled.
Robin stared him in the face.
Nova'm shut up.
"Let me get this straight....," Robin grumbled fiercely. "Now that you're here for the ride, you will not do anything unless I tell you to...understand? That means no talking...no fighting...no starbolting...and pretty much no breathing. Got it?"
Nova'm nodded. "N-No breathing. Got it."
"For if you so much as do ONE THING to screw up this mission, I swear by all that's holy in Abrahammic, Vedic, and Mail-Order religions that I'll take that once and future crown of yours and make you swallow it!!"
"But....I-I didn't want Kory to be so alone in this dark, watery trip!" Nova'm murmured.
"Awwww," Starfire cooed. She wandered over to hug him. "You poor thing, that is so gloriously sweet—"
"Star!! No!!" Robin cackled. "You're letting him trick you!!"
"Er, I mean---what atrocious wrongdoing!!" Starfire snapped out of it and frowned. She pointed a shameful finger at the preteen. "This shall not be a ride of joy for you!! There will be much toil and hardship in persuading these sea-dwellers to respect us as Aqualad's messengers."
"Okay, Star," Robin nodded.
"---and if necessary, we shall force you to get outside of this craft with a reasonable apparatus for submerged respiration and motivate you into replacing whatever propulsion we may lose—"
"Star, I think he gets the picture—"
"—and I shall also fill your nose with....um...glakaforks of the most corrosive type and force you to sit into the corner and—"
"Starfire!" Robin placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned in and whispered. "Remind me never to have you baby-sit for Beast Boy."
"Erm....," she nodded innocently. "I see. I shall refrain." A beat. She blushed and looked Nova'm's way. 'Too harsh??' she mouthed, face red.
Nova'm trembled and shook her head.
"Nnngh...," Robin sighed. He ran a hand over his eyemask and bent down. "I'm going to the front compartment." He crawled through the tunnel of the humming submersible towards the bow. "If I find a leash or something, Star, we're putting it on him."
"Uhm....okay."
Silence.
Starfire looked Nova'm's way.
"So....when do we start kicking people's butts?" the boy simpered.
Starfire shook her head with a toss of her hair. "I am not speaking to you, Nova'm."
"Awww....Kory, why not?"
"Because.....Because....J-Just because you are not to be spoken too!!" she hrumphed and opened a door to the tunnel leading into the right cockpit.
"F-For how long?"
"For as long as it takes for you to understand the detriments you have caused by your stowing of the away!!" she ducked into the tunnel and was gone. A beat. Her head reappeared and she was biting her lip. "Erm....o-or maybe just half an earth's hour?"
Nova'm simpered and held a thumb's up.
She sighed with relief and ducked away.
Nova'm was alone.
He laid back in the seat, letting out a breath. His green eyes blinked. He ran a hand up and traced the glass bubble gently. He stared at the curved, metal shingles blocking the view from the inside.
"Um......h-h-how long are we gonna stay inside this....c-cramped place anyways?"
There was no response from either Titan in the T-Sub.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Back.
Forth.
Back.
Forth.
Back.
Forth.......
My specked eyes blinked. There was something....hypnotic at staring at the swishing tail of the huge green fish through the portal in front of me. I was lying back inside the small, cramped pod....decked out in Aqualad's gear and made to virtually look like him. My solid black eyes—thanks to contacts—weren't solid black anymore. I had tiny, fake irises in the center to mimic that of the Atlantean's optics. And my hair was now a hundred percent slicker and.....more solid than it had ever been previous in its 'lengthy' life. Beast Boy and I were on a mission to infiltrate Atlantis with help from 'Tram' of the Renzukka people. Once at Atlantis, I'd have to contact Princess Tula so that I could easily represent the political subgroup known as the Idyllists by pretending to be Ambassador Garth on the eve of the underwater culture's biggest political Junction in the history of that millennia.
It didn't help that I was seasick.
I groaned and twitched as my stomach boiled inside of the annoyingly tight bodysuit...or wetsuit....or whateversuit.
I sweatdropped.
I couldn't understand how Beast Boy or Robin could handle tights. Compared to them, even Speedy's outfit looked breathable.
But Aqualad's garb......
I shifted in my seat.
Well, I suppose it's not so bad......for my case......
I bit my lip.
I looked out the front porthole again.
Back.
Forth.
Back.
Forth.
Back.
Forth.
I sighed. It wouldn't do me well to tell everyone that I stared at Beast Boy's transmogrified butt for nearly six hours.
There wasn't much to entertain myself with. And I wasn't about to sleep. Not inside a little tin can hundreds of feet underwater and traversing the North Atlantic.
It was cold. I shivered half the time. At some moments, I assumed it was just my metal arm or something to that extent. But it's hard for the imagination to imitate freezing conditions. Gradually, the portholes on my left and right side started to fog up. I could see my breath in the air, and I hugged myself. I opened the first of the heat packs that Cyborg had supplied me. I wasn't entirely sure how they worked, but breaking a certain spot caused a chemical reaction that made the pack warm to the touch. And it sufficed for the time being.
The long ride's duration was enough to make me start thinking. And when I thought, Aqualad was in my head.
That is to say....'Garth'.
I knew very little about the Atlantean hero. And from what I gathered, my teammates knew very little about him too. That didn't help the mission all too much. But unless Aqualad was a short-sighted individual, I was trusting that his faith in me was sound...and that he informed me of all I needed to know.
Besides...there was a princess to be seen just in case....
My dark eyes narrowed.
When Garth spoke of Tula......he seemed far more passionate before. True, he was quite emphatic in expressing his desperation over Senator Chasma and the Junction and Slizzath......but......when he practically ushered me into the infirmary to 'speak' to him one on one...there was something special about it.
He trusted me. He trusted me...in spite of the fact that I was a perfect stranger to him. I wonder if it's my silence that makes me seem innocent and benevolent. Not that I ever minded giving that impression, but it occurred to me that people's faith in my potential may have been far too headstrong. Yes, I was a hero...but I wasn't perfect. I could only do so much.
And that's another major reason why I hated being the wildcard again. As much as I was flattered by my friends' respect...that wasn't exactly what I needed then and there.
I hugged my knees and breathed out steam.
I just needed my friends......
Thus, it was probably somewhat understandable that I bore a weak smile at so much the slightest sound of Beast Boy's presence.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
A green swordfish tapped on the front porthole. He 'waved' his snout ahead and continued pulling my pod.
"........." I narrowed my specked eyes. I crawled forward and placed my face against the porthole. I watched with interest as a mesh of rusted shadows appeared on the cold floor of the ocean.
A....'tower' of sorts rose beneath us. But it wasn't a solid structure. Rather, it looked like a bunch of hulking pieces of metal pressed together. And the closer Beast Boy dragged us, the more I saw bulkheads and bolts and metal plating and recognizable structures until I realized that the mesh was actually a handful of sunk battleships, cargo craft, and airplanes forming a huge conglomeration of postindustrial, aquatic waste.
And as alien-looking submarines and marine-life drawn 'carriages' swarmed around and to and fro from the huge 'tower', I soon realized....
This is a Renzukka settlement......
I blinked.
Crafty little buggers......
Beast Boy drew us in. Tiny underwater craft streamed past and around us the closer we got to the structure. Some of them were streamlined. Others look like they were built by broken, rusty shingles from a collapsed shed. A few water-breathing pilots glanced at me. And I saw for the first time—though Beast Boy and the other Titans were likely knowledgeable already—what a Renzukkan looked like. Approximately one fourth the height of a human being with crustaceous skin, fish eyes, nimble hands, and haunting grins.
Or perhaps their
jaws were just permanently that way...
I snapped out of
it.
Gotta stop looking confused. I'm Aqualad—er—Garth for crying out loud.
I took a breath, leaned back, and tried meditating. And I again realized how much I missed Myrkblade.
In the meantime, Beast Boy the fish brought us down and under an upside battleship hull jutting out from the main structure. What looked like a pocket of air loomed above us. And like a homing missile, the green changeling aimed for the spot and brought us up...
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
SPLOOSH!!!
Tiny figures—startled—jumped and rushed back from a haphazard pool/entrance in the center of a lanternlit room of rusted steel. Vibrating throats warbled indistinct words back and forth from little person to little person as they all marveled at the small, black pod floating in a bobbing motion in the center of the water.
Just then, a swordfish hopped through the naked air and landed on the steel poolside in the form of a green elf. Beast Boy shook the water off him in a fashion similar to a dog. He took a deep breath of oxygen-air and glanced around.
Nearly two dozen pairs of fish eyes were set on him.
The changeling blushed. "Eheheheh.....knock knock."
"..............." the Renzukka stared.
"Ahem.....one second....," Beast Boy turned and pulled the pod to the metal surface. He pried at the hatch from the outside while the pod's occupant pushed from the inside. And soon---
THWOOOSH!!!
The hatch flew open.
PLOP!!!
I fell out awkwardly on the ground. I gritted my teeth in pain.
"Dude! Get up!!" Beast Boy hissed. He dragged me to my feet.
I stumbled dizzily.
"Play it cool, man!" the elf insisted. "Remember...you're not Noir, the landlubber spaz...you're Aqualad the badass...er....shark-killer or something!"
I shook my head, refocused my eyes, and noticed all the strange humanoids staring up at me as if for the first time.
And maybe it was the first time for me.
But not for
Garth......
I cleared my throat. I stood tall and strong. I stepped forward.
The Renzukka started to mutter and mumble in wondrous commotion at the sight of 'me'. A few walking along the perimeter and adjoining hallways of the room stopped in the middle of carting various sea junk around to pause and look at me.
I stood in front of them, still.
Silence.....
A Renzukkan or two made a sound....probably coughing.
I bit my lip. I raised my left foot and promptly kicked the shin of the green elf besides me.
Whap!
"Owie! Dude, what gives—oh right," he snapped out of it and whipped out his little sheet of scribblings. His jade eyes fluttered down the paper and eyed all of the strange, foreign words and sounds. "Uhm....h-here goes.....ahem.... Rowzzbkkrunzz e-e-eg zinZUKguuuuuuuuuuuuu.............. uuuuuu....... uhm....... uuu."
"..............," the Renzukka stared. Blinking.
I sweatdropped.
"Uhm...lemme try some more....," Beast Boy cleared his throat...flexed his vocal cords...and went it at like a dead cat. "Wurrkorrrazzkenbrukka s-s-szi enzborrakzuuuuuu zato!"
"................." Like the seafood aisle of a grocery store.
I glanced nervously at Beast Boy.
He scratched his head. "Gee...I don't understand. Why aren't they—" He suddenly blushed. "Ah....uhm....I-I was reading it upside down. Eheheheh."
I ran a hand over my face.
He spun the paper around. "Okay....let's try this again—"
I walked past him.
Beast Boy looked up, blinking.
I smiled pleasantly, knelt down less than two feet from the little people, and pointed at my specked eyes. I then pointed at the scar on my neck. I then mouthed 'Tram' and shrugged emphatically.
One of them leaned his head to the side and stepped forward. "Garthzza??"
I smiled and nodded.
Beast Boy sweatdropped.
The Renzukkan jumped up and down emphatically with a few bouts of gibberish coming out of his mouth and soon he was grabbing my left hand and leading me down a rusted, bent hallway with other, energetically curious Renzukka flanking us. I smiled and crouched in my walk to accommodate for the short one's grip.
Beast Boy stared dumbly and numbly at this. He eventually let out a sigh, pocketed the sheet of paper away, and uttered with a slight grin: "Well, that's one less thing for a wise actor like myself to teach him. Pantomime!"
Beast Boy cracked his knuckles and followed from behind.
I was lead by the anxious, odd, and....fairly pleasant creatures through metal walkways, over rusted gantries, and across inside-out hulls of downed wreckage. Throughout the course of the trek, Beast Boy and I glanced around and saw the walls and doors of human industry turning upside down and sideways. I soon came to realize that it didn't matter in what shape or position the ships and sunken vessels were placed together, so much as they created a hollow abode for these Renzukka people to occupy.
And as to its purpose....I deemed it to be something of mercantile nature. Like a trading port of sorts. Kiosks and 'bazaars' comprised of rough metal huts and tattered awnings lined the hallway, where chattering Renzukka negotiated product and barter. In a small enclosed cove of metal, three Renzukka 'smithies' huddled around tiny bulkheads which they were welding together and turning into submersibles. There were even whole families...males and females with children almost too tiny looking to be called 'sentient'; running around and making clicking noises that must have been the Renzukka equivlanet of giggles.
Quite the nifty civilization...
Where in all of this was Tram??
"It begs the question how Aquadude became a friend to all of these critters," Beast Boy mumbled to me. "But, I suppose he is the Dr. Doolittle of the underseas."
I glanced at Beast Boy curiously.
"You do know that he can telepathically communicate with marine life, r-right?" the green elf remarked.
I grimaced....sweatdropping.
"Eheheh....don't sweat it, dude. I'm sure we'll come up with an excuse for you being....um....brain dead. Didn't Robin say we could connect your throat scar to it and all?"
"Shhh!" I hissed.
"What?? Tired of my voice already??"
I nudged him and pointed straight ahead.
We had reached our destination....or so I judged by the Renzukka escort stopping at a tent-flapped metal crevice and pointing emphatically inward....hopping.
I nodded. I ducked under the short entrance, passed through the flap of leather, and stood (crouching) in a small metal room with curved walls. At the far desk sat a well-built Renzukka (still short of course) on a stool. He had on ridiculously bulky goggles and was busily applying sparking tools to a slab of metal that did Lord-knows-what.
I stood there silently for a while until Beast Boy stepped up and cleared his throat. "Ahem.....Mr. Tram??"
The sparking stopped. A humongous pair of fish eyes turned and blinked at us. A beat. Tram lowered his goggles and the fish eyes became smaller. He leaned his crustacean head to the side and droned: "Garthzza-ruzz??"
I simpered.
Silence.
Tram looked Beast Boy's way. "Mooorguuuu zenzezukken thrazzazuck??" He dropped his tools onto the desk and hopped down. He scurried over and looked up at me. Sniffing. Sniffing.
I raised my eyebrows.
Tram's eyes hardened in suspicion. "Venzikzkz?! Z-Z-Zuuuu rorzarorkenzzik vrenzuruuuuken Garthzza zlibenzaarg!"
"Oh!" Beast Boy jumped and scrambled for his sheet of paper. "My bad. I had something prepared for this part....ah, here we go. Ahem. Um.....Zuuuuuuu-click-click-click....uh....vroom vroom zaggle...zig....um......zug zug?"
Tram winced as if someone was drawing fingernails across chalkboard.
I was likewise disturbed.
"Er.....let's try this....zeeble vorgun zlabba...um...zlabba dabba doo??"
"Vrenzykk!!" Tram hissed as he swiped the sheet from Beast Boy's hand. He grumbled before holding the paper in front of his eyes and scanning the page. His crusty lips vibrated as he read the text mentally. A beat. He bent over laughing. "Vrg Vrg Vrg Vrg!!! Garthzza gorgobrazzg zu-u-u kaboom?!?!? Vrg Vrg Vrg!!!"
Beast Boy and I sweatdropped.
Tram crumpled the paper, dropped it, and glanced up at us with a shellfish smile. "Venzlakkak zizkz zu Atlantizzzz??"
Beast Boy brightened. "Um....yeah. Whatever you said, it had 'Atlantis' in it. So...um. Yes. Yes very much, please," the changeling nodded.
Tram cracked his knuckles. "Zenkukk ruzzaraazaa." He turned and signaled to a few other Renzukka. "Zekluck! Zekluck!! Venzurrak kli vazzak u-u-u!!"
"Hazzakli!!" a few responded.
"Zukzuk."
A nod.
Shrill whistles.
Then...
Over a dozen Renzukka rushed in under Tram's command and started gathering supplies.
"So....um....," Beast Boy scratched his head. "Do we follow the yellow-brick-gulf-stream?"
I shrugged.
"Zurrarak e-e-ekza," Tram casually walked to a far wall where a huge curtain of leather hung on the side. He gripped the cloth and held a finger up. "Vrakzaaklin vreezuuk kli!" He yanked at the cloth. The curtain fell free.
My specked eyes bugged.
Beast Boy nearly pratfalled. "You gotta be kidding me..."
Through a sheet of glass, we saw something docked to the side of the structure's conglomerated 'hull'. Something comprised of what looked like forty different pontoon boats tossed together and fitted with propeller blades.
And as we saw the grin of boyish pride on Tram's fishy face, both of us Titans knew....it was our ticket to Atlantis.
"They better have a first class on that thing....," Beast Boy said. A beat. He winced. "That doesn't smell like shrimp!"
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
Meanwhile....
Back at Titans' Tower, Cyborg and Raven sat in the Main Room. The sun was rising and neither of the two Titans had gotten much sleep. Between alternating checkups on Aqualad's health and communicating with team Archimedes and Nautilus, they could only sit for sparse moments of rest and contemplation. After all, being a home-alone Titan during a big mission can be a restless thing.
But Cyborg busied himself with writing on his laptop. And in the meantime, Raven sat cross-legged besides the gradually brightening windows towards the Bay. She had a steaming cup of herbal tea and seemed almost to be.....'half meditating'.
It was a silent peace...save for the intermittent typing of Cyborg's titanium fingers.
And then....
"Who's turn is it next?" Cyborg mumbled.
"Mine...," Raven droned. A beat. She sipped from her tea and looked out gracefully upon the Bay.
Silence.
"I can go next instead if you like," Cyborg said.
"I'm fine, Cyborg. I'm just as concerned over Aqualad as you are."
Typing. Then....Cyborg smirked over at the girl. "Or maybe you can go check up on him from here on out. I bet you'd like that, too."
"..........," Raven glanced back over her shoulder. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, you know. Don't act like you don't."
She shrugged numbly and turned back to the window. "You and I can alternate shifts, Cyborg."
"Boy is that taking a lot of will power!"
"Hardly. I can control my emotions."
"Then how come everytime Aqualad so much as shows his face, you and Starfire start going—"
"Sometimes even my own powers of repression cannot resist the responsiveness to sudden and startling stimuli," Raven textbookly said.
Cyborg's human eye blinked. "You're calling Aqualad a stimulus?"
"Yeah........," Raven said....and it wasn't until five seconds afterwards that she suddenly realized her utterance was coupled with a dreamy sigh. She cleared her throat and drew her hood over her head just in time to hide the red skin of her face from Cyborg's peripheral vision. "Ahem. It serves no purpose to explore this topic."
"Why not, Rae?" Cyborg leaned over his laptop, grinning. "Haven't you heard of teasing?"
"Yes, I have....," she turned and glared daggers at him from under the hood. "You do it all the time!"
"Heh...you got that right."
"Aqualad is a.....very noble hero. He thinks of his people first, and forces himself to live long days and nights alone and without contact from any of his own kind in order to get the task of defending Atlantis or the Hidden Valley done. The fact that he's trusting Robin, Noir, Starfire, and Beast Boy to act in his stead for the sake of this Junction says a lot...especially for an ocean dweller. He's sacrificing his defenses....lowering them so as to afford his own people a chance in as risky an endeavor as possible. For that alone, he is brave beyond words."
"And the point of all that is-----???"
"He's very admirable, I admit that," Raven nodded.
"And is admiration a no-no in the Book of Azar?" Cyborg asked.
"Hardly...."
"But what if it's not so much admiration as it is.....ohhhh....," Cyborg shrugged...then grinned: "A schoolgirl crush??"
"I assure you, Cyborg," Raven stared coldly at him. "There is no such thing as a 'schoolgirl crush' in the Book of Azar. Similarly, the Book of Azar contains little to no commentary on shoving a tea mug down an android African American's throat."
"Sounds a little bit like the definition of 'malice' to me."
"Sounds to me like you should start worrying about your epiglottis," Raven's eyes flamed.
"Sheesh! Fine! Miss Serious-Panties, I swear! Okay then, Raven....let's talk about something serious---though I'm inclined to believe that just about anything can be seriously funny. But anyways...this whole deal with Aqualad....I agree with you when you say it's admirable for him to trust in us so much and stuff, but I wonder exactly why he's so willing to do so? I mean....sure he and the Titans worked together successfully to put an end to Trident's plans way back when, but the fact of the matter is that Aqualad's an OCEANDWELLER....and it's—like—a cardinal sin for oceandwellers to deal with our kind so flippantly. But even if that's excusable, keep in mind that Aqualad's put the bulk of this mission on the shoulders of a perfect stranger amongst us...Noir. He's never met Noir before, and yet he's willing to believe that Noir will faithfully perform the role of mimicking him between now and the time that Robin and Starfire can drag the Idyllists into Atlantis. I mean...there's gotta be some serious desperation in Aqualad's decisions there. Something that he's not telling us, Rae."
"I'm inclined to believe that he's told us everything...," Raven shook her blue hooded head. "Just....he hasn't detailed the full extent of the situation at hand."
"How do you mean?"
Raven hovered and 'swiveled' about to face Cyborg in a lotus position by the window. "I think Aqualad's a lot like me."
"Snkkkt," Cyborg chuckled. "You're kidding, right?"
"I'm serious," she said. "We're similar insomuch as....we have a great weight on our shoulders. Something so heavy that it plays an integral role in everything around us."
Cyborg narrowed his human and red eye. "You think Aqualad.....has to control his emotions like you or something?"
"Not exactly his emotions," Raven said. "But something else. Something else that is in essence a huge piece of 'Aqualad'. It's something he's terrified of. And this situation with the Junction and the Senator Chasma person are only arousing his fear and struggle. I don't believe he's placed Noir and the others in charge because he's been dehydrated by the Expulsor machine...but rather because he doesn't feel he's capable of facing the threat at hand."
"How do you pick this all up??" Cyborg asked. A beat. He shook his head. "Wait...forget I ever asked that. That's practically rhetorical in your presence...."
Raven smirked ever so slightly.
"So...maybe I was wrong??" Cyborg thought aloud. "If what you say is true—and by heck it usually always is—then Aqualad may not be so much 'trusting' us as he is using us?"
"Even if that was the case....," Raven spoke, "...depending on the severity of what he's been up against lately, who would we be to blame him?"
Cyborg scratched the human part of his head. "That's a shot in the dark if I ever heard one, Rae. Whatever Aqualad really wants from us, I can only hope the Titans deliver."
Raven nodded. "And I am faithful that we will. But first....we must extract more information from Aqualad."
"So that we can all be on the same page or whatnot, huh?"
"Yes."
"Something tells me that you'd be better at that than me," Cyborg spoke. "I'm not so tactful when it comes to getting delicate information form people."
"You can say that again," Raven uttered.
Cyborg frowned. "Har har har."
"I was expressing the truth."
"Yeah, I'm sure you were."
Raven floated down to her feet, ruffled her cloak, and headed towards the elevator doors on the far side of the Main Room. "I shall test my hypothesis. Something tells me that—by this point—Aqualad may be relaxed enough to cooperate."
"Gonna take advantage of him?" Cyborg suggested, with a wink to hint a double-entendre.
"I wish you would cut that out....," Raven grumbled. "I'm a Titan. I'm more mature than you give me credit for."
"Heheh. Raven, 'you' and 'mature' are inseparable things in my book. That's why I fear for Aqualad's life—and decency—by letting you go check up on him."
Raven reached the elevator. She turned around and pressed a button. Her violet eyes blinked at Cyborg across the way. "Or could it be that you're jealous?"
Cyborg blinked. "Jealous of what??"
SCHLUMP!!! The elevator doors closed.
Cyborg jumped up, fists clenched. "Jealous of what?!?! Augh!! Dammit, girl!! You're evil, Raven! You hear that?!?! Evil!!"
Silence.
Cyborg slumped back down to his chair and laptop with a sigh.
"I'm not jealous of anything....," he gumbled. He stared at his computer. A beat. "Well....save maybe George Lucas...." And he resumed typing.
-T-T-T-T-T-T-
In the T-Sub...somewhere underwater where the sunlight didn't reach....
It was triply dark inside the vehicle itself. The metal shutters outside of the cockpit 'bubbles' made sure of that. Only the dim, blinking lights of the computer consoles lit the interiors. It was rather haunting....and hypnotizing all the same.
Starfire yawned. She sat limply in the right cockpit. The hum of the remotely moving T-Sub under the many currents was starting to lull her to sleep. She rubbed her green eyes and forced herself off the cockpit chair with a groan. She crawled down on her hands and knees and traversed the tunnel towards the central cockpit.
After twenty seconds, she emerged in the central compartment. She looked up at the seat...blinking.
"......................," Nova'm lay still in the cushions. His mouth hung open. His light green eyes were shut closed and his red hair fluttered from the nearby vent of the sub's air conditioning.
"Hehehe.....," Starfire quietly grinned...looking at the stowaway with helpless admiration. "My ever-vigilant 'protector'," she mused.
A beat.
She opened a nearby compartment, pulled out a brown blanket, and draped it across his frame. He curled up in it and continued slumbering.
Starfire quietly closed the compartment, gazed at him a little more, and glanced down at the tunnel leading towards the front compartment.
A dim red glow came from the space.
".........." Starfire bent down and crawled through the 'tunnel'.
She emerged in the front cockpit.
Robin sat in the seat with his black-haired head facing away from her. His gloved hands ran over knobs and levers and various computer switches. The blinking lights and monitor glare bounced off of the inner curve of the metal shingles through the glass above and reflected off his white skin.
Starfire cupped her hands together and leaned over his shoulder. "What are you doing, Robin?"
"Last minute diagnostics on the T-Sub....," Robin said. He sighed in mixed exhaustion and exasperation. "It's about the only thing I can do on a ride this long." He slumped back in the chair. A beat. He swiveled to face her up close. "How're you doing, Star?"
"I am doing well," she smiled as she gently uttered. "Though....if I may be honest---"
"And you may."
"The triviality of this constant, claustrophobic submersion is rather.......irritating."
"Heh....I'm getting bored myself," Robin swiveled about, smiling. "I almost always get cabin fever."
Starfire gasped. She immediately planted her hand across the Boy Wonder's forehead...and then paused upon doing so. "But Robin...your forehead is nowhere in the least bit scorching!"
Robin chuckled. He gently took her wrist and removed it from his brow. "Just a figure of speech, Starfire. I'm not really sick or anything."
"...........oh. Typical Terran dramatizing?"
"Er....I suppose."
"Quite hard to understand. But nevertheless, I am glad that you are in good health."
"Yeah....uh.....me too....."
Silence.
"Um....did you want to sit down or something?" Robin gestured.
"But Robin, there is only one seat in this cockpit—"
The Boy Wonder graciously stood up and offered the girl the chair.
Starfire swallowed. "A-All right...."
She gently sat in the chair while he leaned back against the dashboard behind him, folding his arms.
She rested her hands in her lap.
He looked off into space.
It was cramped in there, and yet the two were keeping as much distance as possible.
Silence.....
"Robin?"
"Yes, Star?"
"May I ask something? And I do hope you are not prone to find it overbearing of me."
"Shoot."
Starfire charged a starbolt---
"N-No, I mean...go on and ask."
She extinguished it. "Very well," she took a breath. "Why did you choose for me to go along with you on this mission?"
"You mean, you and I as Team Nautilus?"
She nodded.
"Well.....," Robin scratched his chin and thought aloud, "I know that the people we're dealing with—Idyllists or Atlanteans or whatnot—they're gonna be a challenge to convince that we're on Aqualad's side. I'm a surface-dweller....born and raised on Terra Firma...and I just bet they're going to sniff that out immediately and not trust anything I have to say. Even if I have the pendant that Aqualad gave us."
"And that led to your motive for choosing my assistance?" Starfire inquired, leaning her head to the side.
"Sort of. You see, Star.....er.....how can I explain it.....?"
"Shoot," Starfire smiled...then giggled. "Hehehehe."
Robin smiled. A beat. "You're very......"
She stared at him. Her eyes green and glistening. "Yes?"
".........," he blinked beneath his mask. ".....believable."
Starfire raised a Tamaranian eyebrow. "Believable?"
"When you say things....people tend to believe them. You're kind, honest, innocent, dependable, and downright.....well...sweet."
"......," Starfire blushed. She cleared her throat and looked away. "So....for these.....erm....a-amiable qualities alone, you chose for me to come with you...."
"Correct..."
She stole a shy glance at him. "Just so that I could help you persuade the Idyllists in fighting for Aqualad's cause and escorting us from the Hidden Valley to Atlantis?"
"Yeah...um....," Robin scratched the back of his neck. "....I brought you along....for that purpose. That's pretty much it. In a nutshell, Star."
"I see.....then the nutshell dictates that my presence is merely for the best of the mission alone?"
"Oh...well...."
"Well what, Robin?"
"I wouldn't say that."
"Is there another reason why you brought me?"
"Starbolts," he spat.
Starfire went cross-eyed.
"Starbolts would be good against.....huge sea beasts that tried to eat us."
Silence.
Starfire let out a nervous giggle. "Hehehehe!"
Robin bore a wyrd face. "Um...."
"I am most sorry...it is just that....hehehehe....."
"What's so funny, Star?"
Her giggles cut off like a decapitated head and she murmured: "I am uncertain...."
Dead silence.
She glanced up at Robin. "I....would be honored to protect you, Robin."
Robin chuckled. "Star....I didn't ask for you to 'protect' me—"
"Yes you did!" she smirked. "Did you not just state that my ability to provide starbolts upon contact with an animalistic miscreant would be invaluable??"
"Yes, but—"
"But what, Robin?" Starfire remarked.
Robin hesitated.
The Tamaranian girl went out on a limb. "Robin....do not think that my desire to protect you is a sign of your weakness or something to that extent."
"I wasn't going to say—"
"Think of instead as retribution," she said.
Robin's eyemask narrowed. "Retribution?"
"The tit for the tatness," Starfire smirked. "Or as Beast Boy words it."
"More or less."
"You have done quite a lot to protect me in recent history, Robin," she said. "It would only be fitting of me to return the favor."
"Since when?"
"One example that happens upon my mind is my recent plight under the hypnosis of the Puppet King."
"Oh yeah...that....," Robin stammered.
Starfire smiled gently and hugged herself. "You were.....quite brave in seeking my release from his evil clutches."
"Yeah....uh....I s-suppose I was..."
"Even to the point that you deigned to apply your lips to min—"
"All in a day's work, okay Star???" Robin grinned nervously and held a thumb's up. "No problem. I got it done...and you were saved."
"But....surely it was of great worth to you to accomplish??" Starfire remarked. "After all, Terran males seem most....hesitant in such a field."
"Er....what are you talking about?"
"Your kind....you are so.....so paranoid of....of...."
Robin leaned forward. "Of what, Star?"
She bit her lip. "I am afraid to choose the wrong vernacular in attempting to explain it to you," she murmured. "I-I know—hehe—that my constant slipups in Earthling vocabulary is rather humourous....'cute' even...but I do not wish to slip now."
"Why's that?"
"Because....it feels too precious to me...."
Robin gulped. "Precious?"
"Yes....," she breathed. She stared at him. The white of his eyemask seemed greater all of the sudden. Like an ever expansive cloud of oblivion. It drew her in. She leaned forward. "The....subtle eccentricity of Human frailty and Tamaranian fervor....they combine to create quite the remarkable reaction...."
"I...um....h-haven't noticed any 'combining' in my lifetime..."
"Most certainly you have, Robin....," Starfire murmured. "Or else I would not be so bent on retribution..."
Robin was leaning forward. "R-Retribution....yeah....that....."
"Yes....," Starfire leaned forward. "That....."
And for a split second....alone in the dark sub...something silent and numb passed between the two. Like a bolt of lightning that blinded them and all they could sense was approaching....approaching body heat---
"KORY!! ROBIN!!" Nova'm leapt in between them.
"Waaugh!!" Robin fell back and banged his head against a hanging console. CLANG!!!
"EEEK!!" Starfire collapsed in the chair.
Nova'm stood, panting...shivering. "There's something wrong!! Something wrong with the T-Sub!! I can feel it!! Like something banging on the hull!!"
"Nnnghh....Nova'm....," Robin rubbed his disoriented head. "Could you just....ouch...hang on....." He winced as he felt a fresh welt on his cranium.
Nova'm gulped. "Aren't you guys listening?!?!"
"Nova'm!!" Starfire gasped. She leaned forward with a frown. "Would it not have been prudent to travail upon relating this startling revelation of yours.....erm.....two minutes from the present??"
Nova'm's green eyes narrowed in disgust. "What were you two doing anyways?"
"Get to the bottom of it," Robin grunted.
"I heard a noise! From outside!! There's something surrounding the T-Sub!"
"It's called the Ocean," Robin growled. "You should read a book sometime."
"Nuh uh! Something else! I-I'm scared!"
"Nova'm, I am certain that—Ackies!!"
Nova'm pounced on Starfire and clutched to her, shivering in fright.
"Awwww....," Starfire instantly switched her Tamaranian sympathy to him as she stroked his hair lovingly. "Do not be so full of fright. I am certain we are dealing with nothing of dire concern." A beat. She glanced across the cockpit.
Robin had a drooping look on his face.
"What??" the maternal Starfire chirped.
Robin sighed. "Nothing....," he spun about and flipped a switch on the sonar. He raised an eyebrow. "Funny...."
"Wh-Wh-What's funny?" Nova'm trembled.
"Unless the Sonar's messed up....there's something blocking the sound waves."
"Where?"
"Everywhere...."
LURCH!!!!
Starfire and Nova'm gasped as the T-Sub rocked back and forth.
Robin gritted his teeth and braced himself against the consoles.
"There it is!!!" Nova'm shivered. "Y-You guys should have been paying attention! Lucky me, I stowed away on the Love Boat!"
Starfire glanced at him funny. "What is this 'love boat' you speak of?"
"Hang on guys....I'm gonna check something out," Robin reached for the switch to the metal plates surrounding the window-bubbles to the cockpit.
Starfire gasped and grabbed the Boy Wonder's glove. "But Robin!! Aqualad desires us not to see where we are headed—"
"There's something obviously wrong with the T-Sub, Star," Robin said.
LURCH!!!
Everyone shook as the submersible rocked again.
Robin continued with emphasis: "I gotta get a look at what we're up against."
Starfire nodded, gulped, and hugged Nova'm to her chest.
"Okay now....," Robin flipped the switch.
WHUUUUUUUUUUUUR-CHTUNG!!
The metal shingles retracted....
And....
There was nothing but blackness outside.
Nova'm's lips parted. "Um.......did we just land in a closet?"
Starfire hugged him this time. "Ooooh....I d-do not like the dark!!"
Nova'm wheezed for breath. "K-K-Kory...."
"We couldn't possibly be that deep....," Robin remarked, his eyemask narrow. "The T-Sub isn't built for such depths. It could be night on this part of the world still. But I'd better check something."
"Check what??" Nova'm gasped.
Robin flipped a switch. "Floodlights.......on."
With a hum, the front lights of the T-Sub burned brightly. A spongy ground extended beyond the hull. The red, muscular ceiling of a cave stretched overhead. The ground met the top along a curved structure that looked conspicuously like the inside of two rows of huge, razor sharp teeth.
The three divers were silent.
"........."
".........."
".........."
"Wh-Where are we?" Starfire inquired breathily.
"Better to ask...," Robin gritted his teeth. "In whom are we..."
"Daaah!! Please say that's not good!! That's not good!!" Nova'm twitched.
Starfire moaned.
"Shhhhhh!!" Robin hissed, his hands full of two freaked Tamaranians. "Just....calm down. We're safe as long as we don't do anything rash and I can think us up a way out of this....this.....whatever the Hell this is."
"Whale??"
"Sea serpent??"
"Whale shark??"
"Hyblorgranian cliffworm???"
"SHHHHH!!!!" Robin practically drooled. "No sudden moves.......no sudden sounds......"
"...........," Nova'm was silent.
"...........," Robin was silent.
"...........," Starfire sneezed. "AchOOO!!!!"
FLASH!!!!!!
A starbolt spontaneously exploded inside the cockpit.
Nova'm went flying against the inside of the bubble. CLANK!!!
Robin fell against the controls.
THWUMP!!!
The propellers started rotating faster.
GRRRRGGRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
A huge, throaty voice groaned loudly around the submarine. The spongy 'floor' started to twitch and dance up and down. The teeth grinded against each other and the whole 'cave' shook as the humongous, questionable beast attempted to swallow all three heroes whole.
And it would have.....
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"