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3.
Atlantis
July 9
14:59 UTC
Arriving at the ship yards Queen Mera spoke of, Aqualad and Mrs. Martian were taken back by the amount of nautical vessels salvaged from the ocean floor. Century old wooden ships and modern ships sat side by side with many Atlanteans, both human and animal-like, going through them. Large barges were pulled by small whales for the Atlanteans to load up with what was considered garbage and what was considered reusable. Then there were the ones loaded with nothing but gold and other treasures.
"La'gaan's sure has made a life for himself," Mrs. Martian said as she watched another whale bring an empty barge over to another ship for reload.
"So he has," Aqualad agreed. "Although, I can not help but wonder what he does with all he salvages."
"Kaldur! Kaldur!" Swimming up to the two heroes, a small, purple Atlantean with an octopus-like head greeted Aqualad with a hearty handshake. "How have you been? It's been so long since you've been down in this part of Atlantis."
"Very well. It is nice to see you again, Topo." Looking around, Aqualad saw he was the only one not wearing similar clothing as the others, that being a brown apron with black gloves and shoulder slung bag. "Do you know where we can find La'gaan? We were told he was down here."
"Of course, he's in the main office down the hill. Can't miss it."
"You don't work here?" Mrs. martian asked.
"Oh no, I work with the younger bunch in the sorcery school. I was just picking up the lists of what was found yesterday so our king can put it to good use or have it properly disposed of. Which reminds me, I gotta go. I get to help Prince Arthur with using his constructs for artistic endeavors."
"Sounds like fun. And thank you for your help, Topo," Aquald told him.
"No problem." As the little octopus headed Atlantean swam away, Aqualad and Mrs. Martian made their way down the hill a few yards away.
Passing a long, curving reef, the two came to a large overturned Spanish ship with the cannons removed from the sides to convert the openings into windows. A double door cutout had pillars on the sides with an old, velvet curtain being used as an awning. To the side of the open doorway was a large sign positioned for all to see reading, 'La'gaan's Lagoon Salvage'. Situated on both sides of the pillars were golden statues of exotic animals with prices on them as well as a large table with dozens of weapons on display for collectors.
"Topo was right," Aqualad said as he and Mrs. Martian drew closer. "It is not hard to miss."
Inside the overturned ship, La'gann, formerly Lagoon Boy, was hard at work in cycling through a new shipment of treasure recently pulled form a sunken Puritan ship. Silver antiquities overflowed the small foot long bin he had on the table beside him as he marked down all he came across. Looking around, the two's first impression was how he was not organized or clean at all with how much stuff was lying around the floors or mounted on the walls. There were even more tables loaded with even more findings scattered throughout the vessel with even more in different rooms other than the main office.
"Greetings La'gaan." Settling down on the sandy floor, Aqualad waited for his former protege to turn around and was a little surprised when he held a hand up to get him to wait. "La'gaan?"
"Do you now how much perfectly clean silver goes for down here?" Using a stiff bristle toothbrush, the fish faced Atlantean finished removing the last of the caked on mud from a silver plated mirror. "On the surface, I get around seventeen dollars American per ounce. Here in Atlantis, I can get around thirty because it's so rare."
Holding up the mirror, La'gaan studied his reflection before turning around. "You're late."
"I was not aware we were under a time frame," Aqualad said as he and his former partner shook hands.
"It's something I learned with my business. Time is money and both need to be invested wisely." Tuning to Mrs. Martian, La'gann's demeanor changed subtly. "And how are you doing?"
"Just fine, La'gaan. I see you're dong well."
"More than well actually," La'gaan told her as he crossed his arms. "Salvaging has lead me to not only help clean up the ocean, but has brought me a nice chunk of change."
"Your business is that well?" Aqualad asked.
"Let's just say, if I did not give everything to King Orin, I could buy Atlantis by now." Holding out the mirror to Mrs. Martian, La'gaan flashed her a suave smile. "For you. Free of charge."
"Um, thanks, La'gaan. But I can't accept this."
"And why not?"
"Well, for starters, it's rather expensive."
"So?"
"And also, I'm married." Holding up her hand, M'gann showed him the near invisible ring she wore, which matched Conner's exactly."
"Oh. Still with the clone. And how is he doing?"
"Just fine. He and I lead a new team now and have a son."
Looking at Aqualad, the salvager narrowed his large bulbous red eyes then looked back at his ex. "But, you're a...and he's a..."
"We take him as a miracle."
Clearing his throat, Aqualad stopped the conversation from going any further. "Yes, well, with all pleasantries aside for the moment, I think we should resume our investigation. La'gaan, understand there were some caves with the writing sample Queen Mera gave to you."
Looking away from Mrs. Martian, almost as if he did not want to see her again, La'gaan nodded. "They're about a four hour swim east from here. They were hard to spot at first but we set up some markers to find our way back."
"I'll summon my bioship to get us there. It won't take long." With her eyes glowing a bright green, Mrs. Martian called her ship to meet them at the salvage yard.
"Good. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can solve this mystery and save more lives," Aqualad told her. "La'gaan, are you fine with coming and directing us to the caves?"
Looking at Mrs. Martian from the corner of his eyes, the fish faced Atlantean gave a small nod and spoke partly through his teeth. "Yeah. Just fine."
Titan Tower
July 9
15:04 UTC
"Raven?"
Knocking on the door to the Gothic girl's room, Conner let out a huff when she failed to answer again. Since he saw the look on her face and the way she just up and left, he knew she was hiding something that not only scared her, but may have had her recede back into her proverbial shell she had slowly come out of since the team firs met her.
"Raven." When no answer came after another round of gentle, for him at least, knocking, he grabbed the small device Cyborg had constructed to communicate with Sphere. "Sphere, you there girl?"
Her familiar beep chimed from the small speakers as the screen displayed her response. "Anything you need, Conner?"
"Yeah. Override Titan room zero-two, Raven."
"Override complete," Sphere's display showed. "Anything more I can help assist you with?"
"Not right now. Just keep on standby."
"Understood. Have a nice day." Ending her response was a pixelated smiley face.
Smirking, Conner slipped the device back in his pocket and entered Raven's room. One thing he had to admit, it was much more cleaner than Garfield's room and had more to it than his own back when he lived in the cave. It was also darker than he would have thought, mostly due to the windows being covered by thick, black curtains. Poster boards covered one wall and were covered in what looked to be scribbles and detailed sketches of things from another world. Several old tomes sat on a single shelf of a bookcase with only a small, gray statue of a dragon placed on top.
Moving from the bathroom of her room, Raven stopped once she saw him and locked eyes with the Titan leader. A toothbrush was in her hand as were toothpaste and a can of deodorant.
"Looking to leave?" Conner asked.
"Don't you know how to knock?" Raven snarky responded.
"Did that. No answer."
"Then obviously I didn't want to see you."
Moving from the doorway of the bathroom, Raven grabbed a duffle bag and yanked it across the purple blankets of her full size bed, tossing the toiletries in before zipping it up.
"So you saw something you didn't care for and have decided to leave." Leaning in her doorway, Conner crossed his arms. "Care to tell me what it was?"
"Like you would care. I just now I have to leave. Now." Looping the strap of her bag across her chest, Raven grabbed her cloak and slipped it on, making sure her bag was covered then headed for the door. "Move."
Conner just stood there.
"Move." She flashed her eyes red.
"I've gotten used to the Batglare. Those have nothing on it."
"I said move!" With both hands and her entire bodyweight, Raven shoved the Krypto-human hard and instantly regretted in doing so. "Ow!"
Seeing her rub her wrists, Conner raised an eyebrow. "And what was that supposed to do?"
"I have to go."
"Not before you tell me why." Stepping forward, Conner's massive frame easily dwarfed Raven's. "You saw something on the screen, something in the documents Kaldur gave me to go over. You know something and are not telling us. What is it?"
"I..."
"Raven," Conner said sternly. "What is it?"
Sneering, the Goth girl shook her head and flipped her hood down. "I don't have to tell you anything."
Moving past him, the teen girl stomped her way down the hall to the living area where the Zeta Beams were.
"Just so you know," Conner called after her. "I don't always feel strong. Superman and Supergirl don't always feel strong."
"Good for you three," Raven muttered as she drew near the corner.
"There are times we need help. Times where we depend on our friends to be there for us. Just because we can't handle something by ourselves, doesn't mean we can run away. Weakness is not about if you fail, weakness is giving up. Staying to fight, to face what's scaring you is strength. Running away is weakness. And if that's what you really are, then I guess it's time you leave then."
Stopping just shy of the entrance to the living area, Raven turned back to him and marched right back. "You think I'm running away? You think I'm weak? I'm protecting you."
"No. Protecting someone would be telling them what they're in danger of. Running away is being a coward. All I want to know is what has you so scared."
"I don't do fear," Raven said through gritted teeth.
"Then what are you running away from? This is the second time you threatened us with leaving and it will be the last." Leaning closer to the shorter girl, Conner narrowed his eyes. "You will not leave here until you tell me what you saw. After that, you can go or stay, but these little runaway threats won't be tolerated."
Standing back to full height, Conner left his 'bad parent mode' and switched to his 'good parent mode', something he learned from Ma and Pa Kent for when Carter would, in their words, 'reach that age'.
"Raven," he said in a softer tone, "You can still stay here and are free to go at anytime you want to, but if you know something, anything about what we're potentially facing, we need to know. We already had one friend die. Help us make sure no one else does."
With her scowl still in place, Raven tightened her fists around the strap to her duffel bag. Twisting the nylon material, she could feel her anger at the situation slightly ebb when the computer announced the arrival of Garfield and Terra. The Zeta Beams sounded pretty good right now.