Chapter 74 – Distraction Pt. 4

August 27, 2010 - Gotham City, NJ

Gotham Sewers

5:10:29

“HURGH!”

Superboy coughed and threw up sewer water as he inhaled a great lungful of air, eyes snapping open to see a dark, damp ceiling above him, right before he rolled over and finished heaving his guts out. Most of what he coughed up was water, if the vile stuff down in the sewers could really be called that, and he was assisted in his coughing fits by a strong hand beating against his back. His vision swam as he breathed, and retroactively realized he had just been drowning, which filled his stomach with a cold dread, even as he emptied it.

As he caught his breath, his vision cleared and he realized someone was holding him up. Looking up, he saw Aqualass’ concerned face gazing at him.

“My…” he began, before leaning over to cough up another lungful of water onto the ground before finishing, miserably “...hero.”

A flash of what looked like guilt went across her face and she looked away. When he started climbing to his feet, she helped him up.

“What… the fuck… happened?” He asked, still trying to fill his lung with air instead of sewer water.

If I was human, I’d probably be dead by now. Or dead later from whatever horrific diseases are in this muck.

“We were swept away in a torrent into one of the chamber’s outflow pipes. I am not sure where we are, or where the others are. My communicator isn’t penetrating this stonework, and the mindlink is down.” Aqualass reported, downcast.

As he absently tapped his own communicator earbud, trying to get it to connect to anyone else, he realized his was gone. Likely swept away in the flood.

“Great, mine’s gone. I gotta get something more rugged, like a wristwatch. Maybe Robin can hook me up with one of her holo gauntlet things.” He replied, even as his mind reached for the telepathic tether of the mindlink. But there was nothing, that bridge was severed. The dread in his belly grew colder as he worried what that meant for Ms. Martian. But he shook the gloom away to focus on Aqualass, who looked even more bereft than he felt.

“Oh god…” he said, spitting to vainly try to clear the taste of Gotham Water & Power’s finest brew out of his mouth. “Are you okay? You took a bad hit before.” He asked, evaluating her health now. She had looked glassy eyed before everything went dark, and he worried she had a concussion.

“I am fine.” She assured him, but he still doubted her. Not wanting to push her, he relented.

“Now what?” He asked, and she looked startled at the question, then embarrassed.

“We must find the others. Clayface is a more dangerous foe than even your warnings predicted. Our mission was to track him, not engage. And we could not even succeed at that.” Aqualass answered and he could feel her despondency, with an icy core of determination. 

She’s not giving up, but she’s pretty down. We’ve taken licks before, but Kaldura is really taking this personally.

He thought back to their interrupted conversation, and that he still hadn’t gotten an answer to. Just as he opened his mouth to follow up, she turned and started heading down the tunnel.

“We should get moving.” She instructed, and with a sigh he followed.

For once, I’m not mad I didn’t bring Gizmo. I don’t know if he would have made it through that little dunk. How long were we under water? Guess I can’t hold my breath as long as I thought. Though, Giz would be pretty useful right now. More telepathy is more better. He’s been taking lessons with Ms. Martian, though I’m not really sure how that’s going, since I’m not a psychic.

The tunnel they were in was much like the ones they had explored earlier before finding the series of cistern chambers. Damp, crumbling brickwork lined tunnels with a channel of water in the middle and nowhere else to step. Now that he was entirely soaked, and he resolved to burn everything he was wearing when they got out of here. If it would even burn, since it was so thoroughly ‘waterlogged.’ The tunnel was dark, with none of the embedded lights there had been in the previous tunnels, so Aqualass created a bulb of glowing water from her water bearer, and it lit up the tunnel like an angler fishes lure.

Trudging forward was more an exercise in frustration than exhaustion. Neither of them could be tired out from their exertions, but they were wandering blind now, without Robin’s tech, map and experience to guide them. Tunnel after tunnel turned into dead ends too small to continue through, that doubled back on themselves, or just didn’t lead to anything familiar or useful. Eventually, Superboy broke down and asked the question that had been racing through his mind for the past hour while staring at Aqualass’ back.

“So what IS going on with you?” He finally asked and her shoulders stiffened, but she didn’t otherwise react. There was a long silence that he let hang, waiting her out.

“I have been… distracted.” She finally answered after an undeterminable quiet in the damp sewer tunnel. 

No kidding, he thought uncharitably, but shook it away.

“I noticed. What’s got you so distracted?” He asked, worried now that he was on shaky ground. Aqualass was the epitome of reliability, and he had never seen her so rattled in the past two months. She reminded him of the highly accomplished kids who were all in competition to become valedictorian in high school; studied, trained, sober, and responsible. Suddenly she seemed out of her depth, and it worried him.

The fact that we just walked into an ambush by Clayface and got separated is not reassuring me. The team can absolutely take Clayface if we work together, whatever Batwoman said. But not split up…

“Thoughts of home.” Aqualass said, heaving an uncharacteristic sigh. 

Superboy’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Atlantis? You haven’t talked about it much, except for the night we camped out.”

“Yes. I forget how little time I have spent with you, Ms. Martian and Apollo. Robin and Kid Quick know my life there much better.” She answered, and Superboy frowned.

I don’t really know her that well, personally or as a reader. Sometimes I’m not sure we’re really friends, just acquaintances who work together. She’s different from the Aqualad I know, but still has those echoes. We haven’t spent much time together one on one since I got here. I should try to change that.

“Well, we have time to get to know each other better.” He replied, trying to lighten her gloomy mood. “However long it takes us to find the others, so if you want to share...”

“I… do not know if that is a good idea.” She answered hesitantly. “We are on mission, and we need to find the others-”

“Ugh, we are back where we were before we took a break, man! We’re wandering around blind and hoping we run into Clayface. Except now we’re lost, we don’t have the map, or the others. But effectively, right back where we started.” He spat, frustration boiling over, but he wasn’t sure if it was with her reticence or the situation. Superboy lapsed into silence, and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. “Sorry, that wasn’t helpful. I’m frustrated. But we’re doing the thing; we’re looking for the others. Maybe they can follow the sounds of our voices as we discuss why your head is a thousand miles away in Atlantis.”

He winced as he said it, feeling it came out more cutting than he had meant it, but Aqualass straightened ahead of him and took a deep breath of her own. She was quiet for a few minutes as they walked the tunnels, but nothing appeared that was more interesting than a few rats of the usual size.

“You are right. My thoughts are elsewhere, and my inattention has cost us.” Aqualass admitted, and Superboy immediately felt bad for putting the blame on her. 

“Its not-”

“It is.” She said, cutting him off. “I am team leader, and while I ceded it to Robin for this mission, I am still responsible. This is not a new issue.”

Superboy thought about their last few outings as a team, seizing on a few things.

“You were fine in the Tower of Fate.” He offered.

“But I was not essential there. I could have done more. I am the only sorcerer on the team and it fell to you to take on the mantle of Dr. Fate. It should have been me.” She stated cuttingly, but all the edge was for herself. Remembering his time in the Helmet and the near miss that would have relegated him to a passive observer in his own body, Superboy shuddered.

“No, no it shouldn’t have been. Nabu wouldn’t have let you go. You would have been a… good candidate.” He said, deadly serious. Aqualass stiffened, but nodded.

“You would know best.” She admitted.

His thoughts drifted back over the past few weeks, and he stumbled on the memory that had seemed so out of character for her at the time.

“In Hawaii, talking to Adam’s children, you were distracted then. You were looking at your phone a lot. You never do that.” He recalled, realizing the reason that stuck out was that he had never seen Aqualass touch her phone around the team. She took calls and read messages and immediately stashed it; unlike with every teenager on the surface, Atlantis apparently kept the scourge of addiction to screen time at bay somehow.

“Atlantis is not what is on my mind, but who I left behind.” She said with such aching longing Superboy’s heart leapt for her.

I know what it feels like to leave the people you love behind, he mused.

“Who?” He asked, voice quiet amongst the dripping of the tunnels. For a long while, she didn’t answer, and he worried he had overstepped.

“Garth.” Came her terse reply, slightly choked.

Ah. He thought, surmising the issue.

“Your friend from the Conservatory.” He stated, connecting the dots. 

“We saved Queen Orina together. He could have come to the surface to her majesty's apprentice, but he chose to stay in Poseidonis and continue his studies.” Aqualass said, her shoulders sagging as he watched her back. “I had thought that my becoming her apprentice was a boon, and he had rejected it. That nothing need change between us. Garth, Tula and I… we were as one school. Whatever direction the current flowed, we always swam as one. But being Aqualass…” 

“It did change things.” He said, finishing her thought.

“Yes.” She hissed, bitterness creeping into her voice. “It was the most amazing opportunity of my life. And it has been! Meeting Robin and Kid, then you, Ms. Martian and Apollo. Fighting alongside my queen and the Guild. Forming the team!” Her voice rose with a passion that rarely came out of her, and he could feel the fire there, the dedication.

She’s like me, he realized. Being a superhero is the best thing in the world to her. But it cost her, too…

“But it changed things? Between you and Garth.” He prompted as she lapsed into silent rumination.

“Yes. We were always together in Poseidonis, the three of us. We roomed together, ate together, attended lessons together, studied together…” The thought trailed off as she grew more wistful. “We only had a few weeks together after Ocean Master’s attack before I took up the queen’s offer. Garth and I grew even closer, and it seemed like everything was going to continue as it was. But since then, it feels as if things have only grown more distant. Even when I am back in Atlantis, it feels like fishing in the depths trying to find time to be with him.”

Ah, again. Double ah. I may not be the best source of advice here.

He had no special insights from the comics or much experience in relationships, his present paramour excluded. Somehow he didn’t think the details of his and Diana’s relationship were helpful in this instance. Aqualass still hadn’t said outright what the real issue was, and he worried she hadn’t realized it herself. Considering that the best way to describe his Atlantean friend was ‘straightforward’, he elected to take that approach.

“So, Garth. You like him?” He asked, bluntly.

“Of course I like him. He has been my closest friend for many years. We saved the queen’s life together. He is an eminently likeable person, skilled and studious. Anyone would like him.” Aqualass answered, completely unaware of her own gushing as he rolled his eyes.

Do I sound like that when I talk about Diana? I probably do. Who am I kidding, of course I do. She’s wonderful! Good thing I’ve only told Gizmo so far. Shit, I gotta tell Walli and Rikki. Ugh…

It was, he realized, far easier to talk to someone else about their relationship problems that confront your own. Though it was still a secret thrill to have a relationship at all, even if there were problems. Still, he elected to help his friend find her own resolution, even if he had to lead her to it.

“I mean, do you like him?” He asked, feeling ridiculous as he once more found himself in the role of ‘the girl’, and his eyebrow twitching again. He rubbed it absently, intent on her answer.

“Do you mean romantically? Or sexually?” She asked, and he sputtered laughing at her bluntness. His chortles echoed off the tunnels until he brought it back under control.

“Yes. To the first. And the second, I guess? Are you in to him?” He clarified and he could see the wheels turning in her mind.

“I… do not know.” She admitted. “I have never thought about Garth like that. He is my best friend, along with Tula. I would not want to presume on our friendship-”

“I didn’t ask if Garth likes you. I asked if you like him. Do you? You think very highly of him, you worry that you’re growing apart because you moved away. You’re so worried about growing apart that its distracting you enough that you’re about to walk into that pipe.”

“What-” was all she got out before a clang echoed through the tunnel, and she ducked far too late and grabbed at her head, cursing to herself.

Superboy had the good graces to hold his chuckle in. The pipe had been easy to spot with his infrared vision, it being colder than the surrounding tunnel. Aqualass rubbed at her head but he knew from combat practice the only thing wounded was her pride. She was quiet as she rubbed her head thoughtfully now, rather than performatively.

“I do like Garth. I never asked myself that question before now.” Aqualass said in a revelatory tone. “But now we’ve grown apart. He couldn’t even make time to see me when I was last in Shayeris. He had a training expedition with Tula.” She continued, her shoulders slumping, and she stopped ahead of him. 

“Garth doesn’t know that you like him. Heck, you didn’t know you liked him, not consciously. Just… tell him.”

Aqualass turned to face him fully, the glowing angler globe on her water bearer casting her in a bright white light that threw shadows behind her on the tunnel wall. She looked very lost in the dark, treading water in a tiny pool of light. He had never seen her so unsure.

“Is it that easy?” She asked with a naked look of vulnerability.

“Totally.” He lied through his teeth, smiling reassuringly.

“But what if he doesn’t like me back?” She asked with such an innocent look he cringed internally but kept a stolid face on, not wanting to make this more awkward for her.

“Then you figure it out from there. You’re already friends. That doesn’t have to change.” He said earnestly and hoped it was true. 

I don’t know Garth but if he’s friends with Kaldura, he’ll appreciate the directness. Lord knows, I do.

She took a minute to mull it over before nodding with determination.

“Yes, you are right. I will tell him, and ask him if he feels the same way.” She said resolutely, before darkening and looking away. “But what if he has met someone else already?”

“That would suck. But its better that he knows and you ask the question than you winding yourself up in knots wondering about what might be.” He stated, cutting to the heart of the matter with fraudulent self assurance.

The sun would have gone out before I would have had the balls to confess to Diana, he thought ashamedly. But in this, at least, I can give good advice.

“You gotta go for it, put yourself out there. Maybe he doesn’t like you, maybe things are different now, maybe he met someone else. But if you don’t ask, nothing will ever come of it.” He stated with more confidence.

“But my duties are here on the surface world now-” She objected but he waved her off.

“You don’t have to worry about the logistics now. The team will back you regardless of what you do. We literally have teleporters, dude. If you have to commute home to see your boyfriend every weekend, we’ll understand. You can make it work, if you both want to.” He assured her, and he truly was confident in this. 

Part of the whole team charter thing was so we don’t have to answer to the Guild mentors anymore. Except me, I guess. I definitely answer to Diana…

He dismissed that thought as it brought a flush to his cheeks.

“I have a duty to the queen and the team, though. This is a poor time to choose to return home.” 

“First, find out if there’s anything there. None of the rest matters if he doesn’t like you back.” He advised, counting off his points on each finger. “Second, Aquawoman will understand. Third, if she doesn’t understand,  you’re still our team leader so you’re still on the team. Fourth; again, we have Zeta-tubes. With teleporters, commuting is literally a breeze! Fifth… I don’t actually have a fifth thing.” He said, slowly lowering his hand with his pinky still clasped tight.

Aqualass’ brow furrowed as she considered his points, until he snapped his fingers and got her attention.

“Ah! I remembered the fifth thing! You gotta deal with this, man.” He added in a more somber tone. “You have been distracted. Its better for you overall to go deal with it, but your head isn’t in the game. As tonight, or this morning, has proven we have to be all in on the job.”

He flashed a grin, trying to encourage her.

Aqualass straightened up, coming to her full height and the slump and tension left her shoulders.

“You are right. I cannot dedicate myself to the team if my heart and my head are not in the same place. Once we are done here, I will inform Batwoman that I must step away from the team for a time to settle… personal matters.” She finished, and ended with a small grin.

“Thank you, my friend. You have set me on the proper course.” Aqualass warmly.

“You’re… welcome.” He replied awkwardly, face warming a little. “So, is the crisis averted? Can we get back to it?”

“Yes, with all of me dedicated to the task now.” She answered, turning and waving him forward as they continued down the tunnel. His brows rose thoughtfully as he considered her words.

I guess we are friends…

********

“What do you hear?” Aqualass hissed into Superboy’s ear as they crouched low and peaked around the bend of a tunnel. Ahead of them, the tunnel split into two and diverged, but they could both hear running water in the chamber beyond.

“Movement. Something is in there. Bigger than a rat.” He answered, the sound of heavy splashes breaking the regular cadence of the echoes of rushing water. “Maybe more than one thing. Its hard to tell with all the echoes.”

Superboy frowned, frustrated by his inability to interpret all the sensory data his powers could provide him. He could hear Aqualass’ heartbeat next to him, slightly elevated at the chance for an encounter with their prey. But the splashing in the water from the unseen chamber didn’t tell him what it was or even precisely where it was. 

Superwoman doesn’t have this problem, but she also has a lifetime of learning to use her powers. I haven’t even been using them for two months, yet. I just gotta do what Wonder Woman says, and practice, practice, practice.

His mentor and newly minted romantic partner had a truly inspiring and frightening appetite for training. If he didn’t have superhuman stamina and toughness, he would never have been able to keep up with her relentless pace. In any context, in fact.

“The tunnel diverges. Our goal remains tracking the creature, not engaging him, especially without the rest of the team. We should each take a tunnel, and maintain stealth. Even if one of us is spotted, the other may remain hidden and can follow.” She whispered back, softly so as not to carry the sound.

Superboy looked at her flatly.

“‘If one of us is spotted?’” He deadpanned. “You mean me. You think I’m going to be spotted.”

The Atlantean girl met his gaze uncompromisingly.

“You have consistently failed stealth training challenges. Over the past month’s training modules, you were spotted 79% of the time.”

He arched one eyebrow at the specificity of her number.

“I keep a spreadsheet. I will show you later.” She ordered, waving him towards the right hand tunnel. His mouth drew into a thin line but he nodded and broke off towards his tunnel, even more aware of the echoing sound of his boots splashing in the watery muck. 

Of course she has a spreadsheet. I know I’m the least stealthy but I didn’t think I was that bad…

Superboy took some pride that the only ones who could get past him in the same modules were Robin and Ms. Martian, and the Martian girl cheated by being invisible and intangible most of the time. Robin was just that good, a source of frustration for him and wry amusement for her.

He padded down the tunnel, keeping low and trying to minimize the noise he made. Once more he cursed the damn communicator bead for falling out, again. Resolving to carry a back up next time, he reached the tunnel mouth and crouched down to slowly peer around the lip.

The chamber beyond was smaller than the whirlpool chamber had been, but was still tall and highly vertical, with criss crossing pipework overhead and an open channel of water flowing downhill from one open sluice, under a rusted pedestrian bridge, before exiting out another tunnel on the other end of the chamber. More tunnels like the one he was in opened into the chamber, dumping their contents in thin streams towards the major channel. The sound of running water filled the chamber, but he closed his eyes and focused listening for the telltale splashes of footsteps.

But there was nothing, and he furrowed his brow as he listened more intently. He waited several moments, and didn’t even hear the splashing of Aqualass’ footsteps. He looked around the chamber, poking his head fully out and letting his infrared vision take it all in. Most of the room was cold, blues on blacks as water flowed everywhere and the earth sapped the heat from the bricks. A few steam pipes were orange in his vision, but nothing living showed up in his vision besides a few rats. 

Where did he go? He’s not the rats, they’re warm. Clayface should be cold, maybe not as cold as the room but clay is cooler than a warm body. And where the hell is Aqualass?

Once more he cursed the comm bead and the lost mindlink. Having no way to communicate with his teammate while splitting up seemed a terrible idea, now. Looking out into the chamber, he heard and saw nothing that looked like it could be Clayface in disguise. Finally, he heard splashing again, and he ducked back down. He peered just around the corner to see the tunnel mouth, and heaved a sigh of relief when Aqualass strode into the chamber. She was a warm orange blob in his infrared, and he blinked it away. 

He stood up from his cover and walked into the chamber, and called out.

“What happened to stealth?” He shouted over the sound of rushing water.

Her head snapped to look at him, and she broke into a grin and jogged over to him. 

“There is nothing here, I am afraid. Are you sure you heard the creature?” She asked, suddenly in good spirits despite the failure.

Superboy heaved a sigh. 

“I heard something splashing around out here. But I didn’t hear anything once I got in here. Nothing showed up in the infrared, either.” He said, shrugging. “Maybe it was one of the others?”

“I don’t think so.” Aqualass said confidently. “Whatever it was, it has moved on. The two of us are the only ones here. We should pick a new tunnel and search there.”

He frowned, unsure of the logic there, but decided not to argue. The chamber was indeed empty except for the two of them. He nodded, and picked a tunnel at random. It seemed as likely as any other. The pair headed toward the tunnel mouth on the opposite side of the room, but Superboy lingered as they reached it, closing his eyes and letting his super hearing envelope him in the soundscape of the tunnels.

No more splashes came to him, and he frowned. Not even echoes down another tunnel, that might suggest Clayface had slipped by them. There was an absence of sounds he expected, but he struggled to place what it was. 

Is he laying low? Turned into something I overlooked? Maybe he’s hoping we just pass him by.

“Are you coming?” Aqualass asked and he opened his eyes to look at her grinning face, and his mouth suddenly dried up as he realized what he didn’t hear. Staring at her, he engaged his infrared vision on and off, and she was the same orange blob there as he expected. But the missing sound didn’t suddenly appear again.

Aqualass had no heartbeat.