Bluejay: The Protégé of Black Canary

Labcoats and Saltwater

We all huddled around the small graphic image. In the grid was a collection of red dots, indicating some sort of underwater building up ahead. Robin typed away at the holographic screen, his expression focused on his task.

"It doesn't seem very big." Superboy muttered, watching the collection of dots. "Shouldn't be that hard to find him if he's inside."

"I don't know. There's quite a bit of interference." Robin frowned. "Some sort of signal has been trying to throw me off on it's real location, but I'm pretty sure I can hack it."

Robin's nimble fingers flew over the keyboard, numbers and sequences that I didn't understand seeming to create a puzzle in his mind.

"Who is this kid- Penny from Inspector Gadget?" Rocket whispered.

"Psh, Penny wishes she was as good as me." Robin smirked. "Just one minute... and... gotcha!"

Robin hit a button. We all fell silent as the grid lit up like a Christmas tree. The small area of red dots spread like wildfire, indicating at all the edges and walls of the mysterious underwater lair. It was massive. Easily the size of a football field, I could feel my resolve slipping away. How were we supposed to find him? And how many people were inside waiting to defend him? Aqualad's eyes darkened.

"I'm going to go check it out." Aqaulad said. "Turn off the lights and remain in camouflage mode."

"I'll go with you." Miss Martian volunteered.

Our leader gave a nod. Artemis assumed the helm, taking Miss Martian's seat as she stepped down from the controls. I watched with fascination as a pair of gills morphed into the sides of her neck, her body shrinking in size to better withstand the water pressure.

"Be careful." I told them.

After all, it would be hard to get to them if they ran into trouble. I felt the familiar sensation of Miss Martian creating a psychic link between the nine of us.

"We will."

The pair of them exited the cockpit, going to the back of the ship where the cargo hold was. From there, Bioship would create a closed cabin for them to enter the water without allowing the seawater to flood the rest of the ship. I chewed on my lip as the black lights illuminating the murky water vanished. The glass was pitch black, but in my gut I could sense our friends swim their way down to the lair.

"Can sharks go this deep?" Kid Flash wondered aloud.

I nearly smacked him. I didn't need that mental image in my head. Granted, Aqualad and Miss Martian could probably easily deal with a shark, but it still didn't put me at ease. Especially because their costumes's signatures on Robin's screen was the only thing we could see. From the inside of the mind link, we could sense Aqualad's growing distain.

"What's wrong?" Rocket asked.

"The water. It's disgusting." Aqualad scoffed.

Yeah. I wouldn't want that crap in my lungs either.

"Precisely why they picked this location. I wouldn't want some Atlantean snooping around my lair either." I murmured.

I exchanged a wince with Robin as he pulled up the pollution levels on his computer. He mimed throwing up, to which I punched his shoulder in response. The memory of losing my stomach was all too fresh. Robin's eyes widened and he profusely apologized, laughing silently into his fist.

"We're almost there... Whoa." Miss Martian almost seemed to whisper. "It really is massive. There's no way this is just some scientist's little lair."