2015-02-24 - Under Da Sea

Cassandra Cain contacted Titans Tower earlier today. Apparently she had some problem under the Pacific Ocean that needed assistance, and Batman was out of town. She was kind of terse, that being the way she talks, but eventually she requested the use of a submarine and a driver. She was less direct about the why.

The Titans Sub has multiple seats, and Kon was not hugely busy. So they find themselves heading down toward the bottom of the sea, with Cassandra not bothering with a mask or anything. Just looking around the cockpit curiously as Kon drives.

Kon... okay, greatest pilot he's not, but... he can cheat a fair bit, and, for the most part, there's not much to run into in the ocean. It's a bit like flying, but with more catastrophic results if you go too far. He looks to Cassandra. "So, what exactly do you need to go to the BOTTOM of the Ocean for?" He pauses. "We're not going after that Namor guy are we? Look, if the New York crowd wants their own Atlantis with a Xenophobic douchebag, they're welcome to it, I'm gonna stay on dry land and let him and Arthur sort it out."

Cassandra Cain headshakes, letting her body do the talking whenever possible. Some things never change. She reaches into her pouch and pulls out a digital pad, tossing it in Kon's direction without really looking, her attention mostly on the sights outside the window. She has a childlike grin on her face, eyes wide as she looks at the fish.

The pad has nothing really surprising, it's a picture of a bit of seaweed, with links that describe it as a bottom-living plant that is used to cure certain rare ailments of the spine. It only lives deep in the ocean.

"You like...this?" she asks out of the blue, glancing at Kon.

Kon watches Cass, glancing between his actual... viewport? Windshield? Transparent material keeping them from a watery death? and the girl. "The seaweed?" he wonders. "The ocean? Used to love the ocean, used to go surfing all the time back when I lived in Hawai'i."

Cassandra Cain grins openly at Kon as he talks, showing some teeth without looking like she's going to rip out his throat. Which is an effort, it's her fallback facial expression. When he mentions surfing her eyebrow shoots up with interest, and she motions with her hands for him to go on. In the background, the sub starts to slow for no discernable reason, though the bottom is beginning to approach.

"Surf," Kon explains, and thinks about how to explain it to Body Language Girl. He eases back on the throttle, slowing their already slowed descent, and turns around. He stays close to the controls, but adopts a surfing posture, miming it a bit, wondering if she's even seen it before.

Cassandra Cain ahs, snapping the fingers on her left hand and then pointing to Kon. She nods, then thinks for a moment and shrugs, adding, "Some...day." Then she thumbs over her shoulder at the windscreen and points out into the darkness just before several red lights start flashing urgenly on the submarine, signalling that the propellers are no longer turning and the engine is overheating.

Cass turns and frowns, looking at the blinky lights. She does not look....enlightened.

Kon kills the engine entirely, throttle adjusting slightly before he gets to it. "Those are bad," Kon explains, and heads for the airlock. He stops, looking to Cass. "I don't suppose those suits work as wetsuits?" he wonders, honestly not sure, and concerned for the squishy human.

Cassandra Cain headshakes, not even wearing the full batgirl suit tonight. She's just got on pants and a shirt and boots, with a pouch for basics. She looks around to see if the sub comes with anything she could put on, not sure if they do and certainly not trained to use it regardless.

After a moment she motions toward the airlock and starts walking toward it, fully confident she can hold her breath. Outside though, Kon's sharp eyes spot movement. There is in fact something moving out there.

Kon stops the girl. "We're really deep, it can be dangerous to be /human/ down here," he says, stressing that it's not some 'you're a girl' but more 'you're not a crazy half-alien demigod.' He considers, and takes her hand in his. "Hold on," he warns, the girl probably able to feel the skin-tight wall of force surrounding her.

Feeling the odd sensation of something skin-tight around her whole body, Cassandra pauses and wiggles her fingers experimentally. She smiles after a few seconds, reaching out and nabbing an O2 tank from the ones that look thicker. She takes a moment to get it ON, but is a quick learner and after fiddling with the dials she gets air going. Then gives a thumbs-up!

Which is a good thing, as the sub rocks suddenly at that moment from some kind of impact.

Superboy nods, holding his breath as the airlock floods, slowly, with water, pressure carefully controlled to avoid them getting the bends, however, with his bubble around them being air tight, he's able to shortcut things bit, flying out to get a good lookout exactly what's going on with the Sub.

Outside, it is actually pretty dark. Cassandra holds onto Kon's hand firmly as she nabs a pack of LED lights from her pouch and uses it to illuminate the area. They're pretty bright, Batman makes good stuff for his crew.

That and the sub's normal lights shows what appears to be a whale swimming away, then turning toward the sub where it looks like it plans to ram the side. It didn't do much damage, but several impacts could easily be more effective than just the one.

There are also signs of what appear to be humanoid forms slightly back toward the propellors, though Superboy could see a bit more. They actually seem to have tails.

Superboy looks a bit surprised at that, and glances to Cass. That's going to restrict things a bit. "Hey!" he calls out, his voice no doubt distorted like mad in the water, but he and Cass actually occupy a sorta shared bubble at the moment. "Get away from the engines. We're just here for some freaking seaweed."

Striking the side of the submarine again, the whale bounces off and swims away. It seems to think it's fighting off some kind of threat, but it hangs back for a moment as if the second impact hurt its nose or something.

Cass turns to look where Kon is shouting, lifting her head to see. She tilts her head, trying to read their body language, and moves to try and pull them closer with a swimming motion.

The merfolk accomodate a bit, actually. They come toward the pair, revealing that they too are just two, though sex may not be an issue. They appear genderless.

Kon glances to the Whale, then to the Merfolk, then to Cass. Okay, so the Merfolk weren't quite what he expected... not after meeting Dolphin. "Is it the sonar?" he asks, and watches the merfolk. "Can you even understand me?"

The merfolk look at each other a moment, only one of them seeming armed with the customary trident. The other carries no weapons, but seems to have a blue glow around its hands. The magic of the Atlanteans often worked with water in this way. They don't appear to speak though, nor do they try to kill the two surface dwellers though. Which is nice.

Cassandra motions toward them with a wave. This makes them turn to each other and stare a moment, then the mage turns toward Kon and he hears a telepathic message. "We can understand enough. Your language is...crude. Why do you trespass?"

Superboy flinches a bit, surprised. "Oh, a telepath, that makes things easier. I'm Superboy, of the Titans. This is Batgirl, of Gotham. We are looking for a specific sort of seaweed. As for exactly why..." he looks to his companion. "She plays her cards close to her chest."

Cassandra Cain thinks with reasonable clarity about a patient at a hospital in Gotham with a rare disease, and about seaweed. Specific seaweed. She doesn't bother with words even in her thoughts, which is leaking over a bit to where Superboy can catch the images she's using. The girl hangs there, adding a thought of her swimming over to the two and banging their aquatic blue heads together and a raised eyebrow. It doesn't FEEL like a threat, thankfully.

The merperson with the trident reacts by immediately throwing his trident though. Apparently he seems a bit excitable, though the mage tries to stop him and fails.

Kon lets the trident impact, and it just... stays there, as if whoever it hit were made of glue. "I mentioned the bit where I'm /Superboy/ right?" he asks. "I've met..." he pauses, unsure of Aquaman's Atlantean name, figuring it's probably not Arthur. "Aquaman, and Dolphin. Let us get the seaweed we came for, and we'll be on our way."

The mage visibly smacks the now disarmed other merperson in the back of the head; apparently some things transcend species barriers, and the whale appears to not be in evidence anymore. It's swum away. Swam? Whatever, it's gone. But with a wave of the hands, the seaweed untangles the propellors and the two turn and swim into the murk, not communicating anymore. Except one thought that drifts back. Avoid the eggs.

Cassandra Cain pokes at the trident, wondering if they can keep it, and eyes Kon a moment. Then she shrugs and thumbs back at the sub questioningly, breathing through her rebreather in slow, easy breaths.

Superboy takes the trident as a souvenier, and swims back into the air lock. Getting back into she ship takes a little bit more time, the young hero actually giving the airlock plenty of time to properly pressurize. "So, you gonna tell me what the seaweed is for, since I did just kinda save you from a trident?"

Giving a shake to get some of the water off of her, which sluices off the tactile field like water off a duck, Cassandra strides into the cockpit and flops into her seat again. She grins, then shrugs and says, "Medicine," as if that's enough for her. Then she stops, mischief in her eyes as she adds, "When you...get hurt...sometimes you need medicine. It is...a new thing. You should...really study."

Ahead, out the porthole, is a field of seaweed in all colours and sizes. It is also the home of a vast variety of fish though, many of which are endangered and protected by the sentient beings of the underdeep. The seaweed is there, in quantity. As is the amusement in Cassandra's voice.

Superboy shakes his head. "Medicine for who?" he asks, and, once they're at the field, he kills the Engine and goes out solo to gather the seaweed, able to all but skip the airlock.

Cassandra Cain is waiting when Kon comes back in, her mood unabated by the interesting views of the underwater kingdom. She does have an answer when he comes back though, and it's a telling one. "Does it matter?"

"If someone close to you is hurt? Yes," Superboy says.

Cassandra Cain shakes her head, helping to protect the valuable seaweed for the trip home. She pats Kon on the shoulder the way he did her earlier, then gives him a smile. "Boy in...hospital," she says, prepping for the trip home. "Did not ask for more. Someone needed help."

Superboy nods, and takes the controls, minding the strange wildlife until they're out of the exotic depths. He takes his time heading back up. He's not sure if Kryptonians get the Bends, but, well, he's half human, and, though it can be hard to believe it, his companion is full human, so best to be careful.