2012-07-26 To Strike the Blue

The investigation did not glean much, unfortunately. The men were dead by cyanide poisoning, as Superman had inspected. The weapons were homegrown. The men were Caucasian in, mostly, with one Pacific Islander and one African. The boat matched one that was stolen from a Catalina harbor a week ago.
 
 
Superman decided not to go home to Metropolis, staying the evening in one of the bunks. He's up at dawn with the others, sitting in the war room at the Naval Base.
 
 
"Not much to go on," says Finch. "Thoughts?"
 
 
"It seems likely to me they wanted to hit after the Blue arrived. Unless this is a big coincidence." He brings his hand up to his mouth as he thinks. "What do you think Aspen?"
 
 
The Admiral raises his eyebrows as Superman speaks to the Ambassador so informally.
 
 
Aspen is leaning back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other. She's gone back to wearing the rather minimalist Blue-origin attire over any other Surface attire she might have. It helps to remind that she's there on behalf of the Blue and in case anything comes up it's far more suited to sudden dunking. Aspen just looks thoughtful as Superman ask her that. "It would make sense. They were clearly headed for the base and to the best of my knowledge we're the most newsworthy thing here at the moment. We *did* bring most of the Council here for this meeting."
 
 
Superman nods at the woman. "According to this report, Admiral, the ship was nearly out gas by the time it got here. It looked as if it were headed straight in." He pauses, looking around the room. "Now, a small ship like that couldn't have come from too far away. Either it came from shore and made a big U...or there was something out to the west."
 
 
"They had the throttle open wide, too." Aspen notes, leaning forward a bit to steeple her fingers before her, the tips of her forefingers resting against her lips. "That uses a lot of fuel."
 
 
Superman gets a piece of paper and begins scrawling out some math. "If my hypothesis is correct, we can at least do a sweep. Aspen can take the south, I can take the north." He draws a picture which shows a large semi-circle around the base and comes up with roughly 130 miles away in a circular pattern.
 
 
Aspen shifts position so she can lean over to see Superman's map and nods. "It's a fairly large area. It'll take some time." She doesn't move as fast as Superman. If only she could talk to fish, they might have an eye-witness!
 
 
"Well, I'm already late for dinner back home, so I don't think I'll get in any more trouble...."
 
 
And Aspen is right. Within the hour they're out in the water, watching, hoping, searching for anything. The weather is hot today, no clouds in the sky. It's that bright kind of sky that makes everyone wince...even Kryptonians
 
 
Luckily for Aspen, she has the cool caress of the water as she cuts through it like a dolphin, occasionally bursting up from the water to look around and then slipping back down into the cool, blue ocean depths. Speaking of dolphins, a few have decided to join up with Aspen, surfacing and diving in time with her.
 
 
Superman, meanwhile, is miles away as Aspen will notice a small island off in the distance. It appears as if there's some sort of shack constructed. Too small to show up on any of the maps, it is peculiar if nothing else.
 
 
Aspen gives the friendly creatures affectionate rubs to send them on their way before she sets her course towards the island. She slows her speed, only the top of her head to her eyes surfacing as she makes her approach to try to stay unseen by anyone there.
 
 
The joint looks to be deserted. The shack is the side of a large warehouse and has a beachfront entry for aquatic vehicles. From inside, there is a constant whir as if a piece of machinery goes and goes.
 
 
Aspen swims in closer, watching for long minutes to make sure it's deserted. She pulls the communicator they gave her out of one of the pockets on her gauntlets. "This is Fathom." The military loves their codenames. "Hello? Superman?" She frowns and pokes at the thing a few more times but not even the little light looks like it's coming on. She makes a sound of annoyance. "Great." She the busted piece of equipment away and heads for the vehicle entry, slipping back beneath the water.
 
 
She reaches the large door with little effort, and it looks as if it could be open if she should so desire. There's also a door up on a flight of steps carved in stone to her right. The island is still and quiet, except for the continuing light hum.
 
 
Aspen floats there a bit, taking in her options and then heads for the stairs. The door there is likely to be a lot less noticeable than the large one. Even though the place is quiet and seemingly empty, she tries to keep alert.
 
 
The handle is a little rusty but it isn't locked. The door opens with a light creek. When Aspen pokes her eyes past the opening, she finds a small office with paper work shuffled all over the place. Whoever left, seems to have left in a hurry.
 
 
Aspen pauses there, peering around for a bit and then slowly eases inside. Another glance about and then she straightens, relaxing a bit. She heads over towards the desk, trying not to drip on the paperwork and glancing at the scattered documents.
 
 
The documents are a mixture of things. Handwritten notes mostly; they look like a ledger system for supplies. Of what, it's not clear, because the things are written in some form of code.
 
 
Aspen rifles through some of the documents, enough to get some idea of what they are. Which isn't very helpful, that's what. They're obviously going to need to be gone over with a much finer comb than she's got the time to do now. She checks over the rest of the office for anything that seems out of place or that might tell her something before continuing on to try to find the source of the humming.
 
 
The office just seems to be loose notes that don't really make sense. It is likely whoever was here took the good stuff before leaving. The humming radiates louder throughout the complex and gets louder towards the blank, wooden door at the far end of the room.
 
 
Aspen pads softly over to the door, laying a hand on the smooth wooden surface and laying her ear against it for a moment before she reaches down to ease it open.
 
 
It feels, by the way the sound hits her ear, that the room opens up into an expansive space, probably a warehouse. Frustratingly, all that can be heard is the hum, which is quite loud now in here ear.
 
 
The door creaks open and Aspen looks out. In the foreground is a small marina for ships. In the background however are hundreds of tubes all linked together by coils. Perhaps Aspen's an expert, perhaps she isn't, but you only have to watch a few documentaries on the topic to see what's going on here. Uranium Enrichment.
 
 
The sight makes Aspen's blood go cold. After things with Blue Sun, the last thing she wants to see is this kind of weapons potential. She's enough of a scientist to know that she doesn't want to start pushing buttons or smashing tubes. When dealing with something this volatile it's all too easy for something to go very, very wrong. She backs out, easing the door closed behind her as she starts to leave. They need some experts here right away!
 
 
As she pulls the door open, she'll notice too late that there's a piece of the wooden flooring that's been pulled back and the end of a shotgun is pointed just a foot from her face. "Evenin, darlin," says a lean man with longer blondish hair and in need of a shave. "I thought most of the heroes hung out on the east coast." Under normal circumstances, he might even seem charming. These aren't normal circumstances. "Gotta say, darlin, I like the outfit."
 
 
Aspen gives a small jerk back at the gun being so close to her face, and her hands slowly come up in an 'I surrender!' sort of manner. "It gets hot out here." Aspen says, grasping for a response. "Who are you?"
 
 
"What's in a name, darlin?" The man smiles, his perfect white teeth gleam. "I was gonna ask you the same thing."
 
 
"You know, the shotgun takes the friendly right out of this conversation." Aspen says, gesturing with one finger towards the gun but mostly keeping her hands up. It certainly doesn't look like she's got room to hide any weapons in that outfit. "I'm Fathom." Because it would just be her luck if he recognized her name from the Olympics over a decade ago.
 
 
"Fathom,..." The man seems to nod a bit a few times as if bouncing it around in his head. "Haven't heard of you." He motions his head towards the desk. "Open the drawer down on the right. You're going to find some rope. I want you to pull it out."
 
 
Aspen moves slowly, not wanting to set the guy off, and opens the drawer that he indicates and pulling out the rope. She can guess what it's for. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
 
 
"Wouldn’t you like to know?" the man says. But as Aspen turns around to face him once again, she'll notice a much taller, much more muscular person behind her would be attacker.
 
 
Superman taps the man on the shoulder. He turns around, shocked.
 
 
"Pardon me. I don't feel as though you're treating the lady with very much respect." His hand moves with incredible speed, breaking the shotgun in half. He follows with a quick shove that sends the man through the wooden door. He's already out cold by the time he hits the pavement in the next room.
 
 
"You okay?"
 
 
The man isn't the only one who is shocked, but Aspen recovers well, dropping the rope. "The communicator I had is busted. This facility is working on Uranium enrichment. We need someone that can lock this facility down *now*." She's looking to Superman, because he's the one that's faster than a speeding bullet. The question of if she's okay goes unanswered. She's got more important things on her mind. "I'll go see if I can make any sense of the equipment."
 
 
"Right." Superman says with a nod. He speeds out the door, and within a second, Aspen can hear the sonic boom that's caused. He's back at the base within a few seconds.
 
 
With the man still knocked out on the floor, it seems as if Aspen has the place to herself. Even if he wakes, the shotgun is kind of unusable. It's in two pieces.
 
 
The equipment hums along as if nothing is the matter. Aspen is no expert, but it seems as if this facility is at a pretty advanced stage. Why would they send a boat from here? Confusing.
 
 
As Aspen is about to head inside, she'd need to step over the unconscious guy. That makes her pause and she heads over to pick up the rope she dropped to quickly tie the guy up and attach him to anything within easy reach. Then she heads in to look a the equipment and see if she can find any monitors or computer work stations that might give her a bit more of a clue.
 
 
Tying the man up is easy business. Apparently she does him the courtesy of refraining from what he was planning. Or at least that's the assumption. In any event, she eventually finds a computer station which gives some details. Uranium enrichment for this batch is only 23 percent. That's the good news. The bad news is, as far as she can tell, this is the fourth batch.
 
 
"News?" Superman says as he appears almost from nowhere, checking the pulse of the downed man.
 
 
There's the light clacking of keys and while Aspen looks up when Superman re-enters, her attention is mostly on the computer. Then the typing comes to a halt. "Oh no." She says softly. Her head jerks up and she looks about, trying to see if there are any other doors that might lead to a storage area as she heads towards the marina area. "This batch will still be awhile." She looks over towards Superman, her expression grim. "But they've already completed three."
 
 
Superman looks worried and uses his x-ray vision to scan the facility. "Wherever it went, it's not here. They must have taken it with. The military will be here in a few hours with scientists to disarm it. I suppose we'll have to talk to Smiley over there for more information. Hope he isn't carrying any cyanide." Superman tilts his head in the man's direction. "You know, in the movies they use a bucket of water to wake people up. I don't have a bucket." He smiles faintly, "Lil help?"
 
 
"Or they just dunk his whole head in to something." Apsen jokes, though it falls a little flat. Stepping over near the marina area she gestures with one hand and an 'arm' of water rises up, reaching to touch Aspen's open palm and then separates from the main body, forming a wobbly globe about the size of a beach ball. Aspen walks over with it over the man and drops the 'ball' on his head. It loses cohesion and splashes his upper body.
 
 
The man wakes up in a start to see Superman and Fathom looking over him.
 
 
"Hi," Superman says calmly. "Quite the science experiment up here. Now, America has some rules against torture so I'm just going to ask you nicely. I can't really speak for Fathom's nation. You'll have to ask her."
 
 
Aspen crosses her arms as she stands there, looking over at Superman. "We also haven't signed the Geneva convention." She points out oh-so-helpfully. Then she looks down at Smiley. "Now. Where's the rest of it?"
 
 
"I'll talk," the man says. "My name's Riley. I belong to a gang of pirates. Few years back we got taken by the Blue. Our leader, Captain Reynolds, swore revenge. He's about to get it...and how. The goods are already on three subs. They set sail weeks ago, you'll never find them. But eventually they'll hit their mark...And the Blue," his eyes go to Fathom with a smile, "The Blue, lil lady, will be no more."
 
 
Aspen's body literally jerks a bit with shock and she looks back over to Superman, blue eyes wide. "Subs. Where did they get subs!" Her mind is racing. Mark. He said 'mark'. Singular. But the Blue have more than one city. "We need to warn the Council." She's already starting towards the door, still thinking. Eventually. Not a specific time. What could that mean?
 
 
"Soviets, babe. When the soviets fell, they sold everything. How do you think we started this operation?" The man laughs a bit in derision. "You'll be wise to pipe down," Superman says before turning to Fathom. "They'll be here shortly. Obviously your outposts will need to be vigilant. I'm sure that Admiral Finch can send some submarines towards the Blue as well."
 
 
The line of Aspen's shoulders is tight. "When they tested the hydrogen bomb in the Pacific, they killed an entire city Superman. Thousands died. It was an accident but that horror story is what sticks in the minds and hearts of children. That the Surface wiped out one of our cities and didn't even *know* it. If it happens again... If it even comes close..." Her voice goes soft. "I don't know if my people are going to be able to just let it go again."
 
 
"We have to stop them, obviously," Superman approaches her and attempts to rest a hand on her shoulder, "We'll find them. Just stay calm."
 
 
Aspen's hands slowly curl into fists and she takes a long, slow, deep breath as he settles his hand on her shoulder. After a long moment she gives a bob of her head in a nod. "Alright. Once we can alert the cities they can start to patrol..." But even half of the Pacific is a good quarter of the planet. A frown tugs at her lips and she looks up to the Man of Steel. "Something about the way he said it. He said 'when they find their mark'. Not 'marks'. Like they're all going for the same thing. And 'eventually', not 'soon' or 'in three days' or anything like that. It's almost more like they're not going to hit a city at all but try to trigger some kind of catastrophe instead."
 
 
"Come on," Superman says. "The military will be here in a bit. We don't need to give this creep any more satisfaction." Superman takes her hand in his and moves towards the exit. But rather than go out the office, he simply smashes down the large door. Letting her slip down in to the water, he floats above it slightly and gets the heck away from all that uranium.
 
 
The water's embrace calms Aspen as she slips into it, the water moving her out and away from the facility without her really having to swim. She keeps her head and part of her upper body above the water and they're a good distance away before she speaks. "I forgot to say thank you for the save earlier."
 
 
"You also forgot to tell me if you were okay," Superman says as he hovers just above the water. One of them in the sky, one in the ocean, but neither really on the ground. "It's what allies are for," he says trying to reassure her. "We'll find them. I promise."
 
 
There's a flicker of a smile. "I'll be fine once my people are safe." Aspen says, turning so she can lay back in the water's embrace, leaving her looking up at him. "I feel so helpless." She says in a small voice. "Having to just... wait."
 
 
Superman sighs and nods, looking down at her. "I know. The problem is there are thousands of subs in the water at any time, some of which...most of which...have nuclear capabilities. Even if I were to check every single one of them, I'm not sure I'd be able to find them. And that's even if he's telling the truth."
 
 
Aspen nods seriously, hands fanning back and forth in the water as she lies there. Thinking. They left weeks ago. Mark. Eventually. She just feels like she's missing something.
 
 
Superman looks at her forlornly, only being able to imagine what she must feel like. But there, on the horizon, the first ship in the US fleet is making its way. "Come on," Superman says, "You'll feel better after telling the Admiral what we know."
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