Chapter 8 - Deep Six

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Choppy waves are roiling in a violent thunderstorm at night. Riding the swells, a freighter sails into view with three crewmen struggling to secure a tarp over a group of several dozen fifty-five-gallon drums. The captain steers the steadiest course possible under the circumstances as waves break on the bow and the wind threatens to pull the sheeting out of the men's hands. One of the drums tips over and rolls away across the deck, but a booted foot comes down to stop it.

"Watch it! Any of that toxic junk goes into the bay, we're all in deep trouble!" The captain warned his crew over the loudspeaker.

The men are still struggling to get the waste squared away.

There is an explosion from around the corner of the wheelhouse, followed by the walls and windows blowing out. When the dust clears, the captain is sprawled on his back, at the feet of an intruder.

It is a reptilian figure with glowing yellow eyes, and it lifts a long trident.

"Who... or what are you?"

"I am excellence. I am perfection. I am Trident!" The flash of the weapon's points illuminates him fully.

The captain cries out and shields his eyes from the sudden flare. He pulls back to see Trident gone. Now a few waves spill onto the port side, carrying the creature up with them. He holds a large clamp with a cable attached.

"Hey!" A crewman shouted.

The clamp is attached to the railing, and Trident goes over to the side. From the starboard, he immediately climbs onto the deck with an identical device.

"He's everywhere!"

This one is also hooked on, and Trident jumps ship again. The crew barely has time to look toward the stern before seeing him repeating the performance as well. He glares back at them and leaps back into the water.

Staggering and groaning, the captain crosses the wheelhouse and looks out through the hole in its walls. After Trident submerges, the cables on his clampspull taut and start to drag the ship down, stern first.

The captain yells over the loudspeaker. "Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

The panicked crew makes to follow this order. The freighter's bow rises higher and higher and finally slips beneath the waves as a life raft floats by, carrying the captain and crew. The last they see of their vessel is Trident, perched triumphantly atop the prow.

------

Next Morning

Into the Depths of Titans Tower

"Begin launch sequence." Robin said as he is strapped into a driver's seat with a steering yoke in front of him. He wears a microphone headset and presses several buttons on a panel.

The other Titans are similarly situated in individual cockpits, and through the windows around them, water is flowing by. The Titans are in the T-Sub, their six-man submersible.

"Main power online." You checked.

"Oxygen tanks at maximum." Starfire spoke.

"Defense systems active." Raven said in her usual monotone.

"Twin-turbo hydrojet engine purring like a kitten." Cyborg smiled.

Beast Boy lounges in his chair. "And your secret weapon is ready to rock."

"Only time you qualify as a secret weapon is after eating a tofu bean burrito." The bionic Titan remarked.

"Ha!" You chortled over your headset.

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