2440/A Little Surf, A Little Sun, A Little Sub

A Little Surf, A Little Sun, A Little Sub
Date of Scene:	13 July 2020
Location:	Orchid Bay Boardwalk
Synopsis:	Atlanteans being smuggled are rescued from a sinking ship.
Cast of Characters:	Meggan Puceanu, Julie Yan, Ted Kord, Booster Gold, Vic Sage

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Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Summer's in full swing and the Delaware shore bubbles with out-of-towners eager for the sun, the surf, and occasional sketchy tourist activities. Starling City is happy to oblige. Sounds spill out from a hopping, air conditioned arcade for those allergic to the sun, melting into shrill laughter and giggles, the ubiquitous music of ice cream trucks a distant note over the surge on the beach. Golden sand springs up with umbrellas and multicoloured beach blankets. Pool noodles, floaties, and a couple inflatables in shapes like Superman flying or drunken llamas wearing leis feature among the bathers in the waves.

The boardwalk offers a picturesque place to walk or sunbathe, pretending the humidity isn't raised to a broil and rising sea levels won't eat this beach in a few years. It all looks peaceful. It soon won't. On the far horizon where the sea turns a hazy shade of cobalt, evaporation blurs the shapes of freighters and pleasure craft. Fuzzy white triangles take advantage of favourable winds, and the shipping lane carries on, regardless of season. Needless to say, a lot of people are out on little self-propelled craft or great hulking steel container ships.

Meggan has abandoned her sandals and a battered bag to her modest towel, patterned with a great big Australian turtle. Not that she has very much to steal, but she leaves out a dripping bottle of pop filmed in condensation and some sunscreen as a deterrent to would-be pickpockets. The blonde is busy dashing with evident delight for the sea, fair as an English woman can be -- so SPF 100 is involved -- and darting around younger kids or their parents to leap right in. It's a bouncy, blithe affair all around, water cool in a refreshing way, as attested to by all those people out there. Some misbehaving, earning a shout from a lifeguard with binoculars.

"Hey, llama kid! Don't go beyond the buoys marked out there. Lady in the yellow string bikini, no booze on the beach, take that bottle back to shore!"

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie's out being herself today! No mask, no dress, no fighting bad guys. Sporting a swimsuit and a smile, she's currently swimming with grace amid the waves. Her toned, well muscled figure glistens in the sunlight as she ascends from the water before diving back in. She's an eyecatching figure alright, her hair undone as it flows behind her.

    The water might be ice cold, but Julie's still happy to get her feet wet, darting through other beachgoers in the waters. Her tanned skin shines with sunlight and wetness, along every cut of muscle definition on her belly and limbs, her well muscled back tensing as she paddles.

    God, she's missed the beach.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord is sitting in a beach chair, wearing blue trunks and his familiar hood and goggles. He finishes applying sunscreen and starts to go to town on an immense churro. "I love summer at the beach." His eyes lock on Meggan in her bouncy joi de vivre and Ted continues, "What a gorgeous babe eerrrr day." He munches on the churro again. I could get used to this. I'm really sick of villains. The Madmen tried to kill me again when you were out the other night. Starfire saved me. Almost worth being thrown to my death... ahhh heck, worth every second of it. No offense but she's a way better ride than you are, Booster."

Booster Gold has posed:
Booster Gold paces back and forth in a pair of short gold trunks and his own collar, cowl, and visor.

"Whatever, man. Does /she/ have a trusty drone sidekick?" he asks, scoffing, before trying to serve his drone, Skeets, up like a volleyball.

Skeets floats out of the way, and Booster, off-balance, dives face-first into the sand.

He groans, spitting out a cloud of sandy dust, and sighs. "Why couldn't we just use the Bug for waterskiing again? I'm telling you--no matter what that documentary Back to the Future 2 says, hoverboards /can/ work on water."

Vic Sage has posed:
A beach day? Sometimes even 'heroes' take a break. Unlike Ted, Vic isn't wearing anything that resembles anything of his sometimes alter ego, because being on the beach without a face in just a pair of swim trunks might be a little weird. Reclining in his own beach chair, the investigative reporter glances over at Ted with a incredulous look. "Really, Te..Beetle? Nothing is worth almost being thrown to your death, even if it is the only attention you might have gotten from the fairer sex. Maybe don't dress up like a bug if you want to get a date? Most women I know don't really find the entomological sciences to be endearing.

In other words, "EW..Bug! Not all of them, mind you. Back in Hub the cockroaches were the size of large rats. I wouldn't have been surprised if Myra tried to put them to work."

Vic shifts his gaze to Booster just in time to see the faceplant, which elicits a sigh and slight shake of his head.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Golden hair streaming behind her, Meggan springs up once her feet hit the water. A bit of a splash goes with that, but she has enough momentum to keep on traveling past knee-deep until one of those waves full of swimmers, kelp, the odd trash bag and a kid frantically paddling on a huge doughnut rush at her. A gleeful laugh bubbles up as she springs forward to meet it head on. Water crashes into her shoulder and she falls forward, wading far enough until she can disappear beneath the sea for a bit.

Meanwhile, that same set of waves casts up more than a few plastic bottles. A bright orange plastic preserver also comes up, scratched up and spray painted with 'HUM---SO--' in black on the side. It's a drippy, bad attempt at letters. A couple kids kick it around, and it rolls around in the sand with a beacon on the bottom pouring out water.

It definitely doesn't look like a casual piece of sea trash. Where Julie swims further off in the depths, she might notice a slinky bit of rope attached to some kind of plastic, waterlogged object pretending to be a sunfish with how slowly it's moving.

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie takes note of the sea trash. 'That's weird.' She thinks to herself, and begins to swim and stroke her way cloer to it, trying to find the rope as she reaches out to grasp it, and give that rope a firm tug.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord shakes his head, "Last time we tried that, the Bug caught a seagull in the starboard air intake and you were no help getting it cleared at all. though, you did hit the Bug pretty hard when I did an emergency stop. Though... you did hit the Bug pretty hard when I did an emergency stop. At least Skeets didn't get damaged. Oh Vic... I was just glad to not have to either hit a safety net or try for a flagpole. But if you're going to get rescued and you have a choice, Starfire, man. Always Starfire. She's actually the sweetest thing." He keeps his eyes fixed on the blonde. She reminds him of Starfire in fact. She has the same look of being able to enjoy an insurance salesman convention. Hearing Vic's words (faintly) he colors a little. "I am not a Bug, Mr. Sage! I am a man of ACTION and PASSION!" He gives a look at Booster he hopes will stall any snark.

Booster Gold has posed:
Wiping gritty sand off his mouth, Booster grumbles. "It's not my fault that you don't have skiier safety precautions already built in to that thing." He mutters quietly. "I bet Batman has some on his ship."

Skeets chimes in. <<Sir, perhaps next time you should wear a helmet. As a safety precaution.>>

"Skeets," Booster sighs, "you know that goes against the whole brand, man! My face is /everything/. Unlike this guy," he adds, shrugging a thumb toward Vic.

Vic Sage has posed:
Vic Sage says, "What is a beetle if not a bug?" retorts Vic with a smirk. "At least the spider-folk can point out that they are technically arachnids and not a bug in the scientific viewpoint, but you my friend are class insecta. A bug. No question about that."

Vic pulls out a can from the cooler next to him, and pops the top before taking a sip. "A bug of action and passion, but a bug none the less."


Vic is about to say more, but the object in the water catches his eye and he squints his eyes as he shields them from the sun to try and get a better look. "Is that Russian?" he questions as he starts to rise from his seat. "What is that?""

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
"Careful, there's stuff in here," Meggan calls out ahead of her to anyone in sight. She holds up a ragged white object about the size of her torso in both hands. "What is it, anyhow?" The edges are scraped rough and one side looks nearly melted and singed grey. Not willing to toss it back like a fish, she bobs there and turns back. The color matches Julie's board on a rope. Might be from the same thing.

The kids playing with the orange beacon scatter like fish when their parents call them and Vic stands up. It lies there forlorn, and a closer inspect will show small Cyrillic and English instructions under the spray paint. Any internal beacon lacks a light to blink but probably announces itself other ways.

The lifeguard scowls at anyone getting near but doesn't hurry himself from his roost. He lazily surveys the water with his binoculars and scoots back to a greyish smudge on the fuzzy blue waves. Loose curls are starting to billow up just to the point of darkening the air around them.

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie pulls on it, and finds it's attached to a cracked bit of hull, like a piece of a dinghy. "What the hell is this?" She says to herself, before she begins to pull it toward the shore. Her muscles tense as she pulls with considerable might. By the time she reaches the shore, she calls out, "Hey! Anybody know what -this- is?"

Booster Gold has posed:
"No, we have no--" Booster begins to shout in response, but as Ted runs toward Julie, the hero of tomorrow blinks. "Well, never mind. Here I thought the Russian thing was just conspiracy theory talk. No offense," he quickly adds toward Vic. "But, you know."

Skeets scans the shore. <<Perhaps we can assist with any sort of recovery efforts, sir.>>

Rubbing his chin for a moment, Booster nods. "You're probably right. As they say, there's a lot of responsibility in having a lot of power." He soars into the air, hovering over the water. "What do you think it is?" he calls, nodding toward Ted as he gives the answer. "I can look for more clues if we need them."

Vic Sage has posed:
Vic Sage doesn't rush forward as quick as Ted and Booster do, taking the time to actually assess the situation before running headfirst into god knows what. The sometimes faceless vigilante strolls forward as his eyes scan the waterline as he tries to make a somewhat informed decision as to what it is they are actually dealing with. "Be careful," he calls out, "You don't know what this is...why do I even bother."

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Oh, are they flying now? Without so much as a moment's warning, Meg takes her gathered chunk of wreckage and lofts herself up out of the water. Spiralled spray pours down beneath her, and it probably startles people already headed out of the water. "Here, see for yourself." She holds it out to Booster, in case he wants to look over it. "It was just down there." From up above, the shadowy shapes of a few objects in the shallows being nudged along towards the shore is much easier to spot. They are spread out irregularly.

So too it's easier to see the rising column of smoke coming from a waterlogged craft adrift out in the sea a good half mile out. At least the stern is fully under, and it seems the craft lists rather heavily.

Together with the buoy and Julie's wreck, it's easy to put together the look of an emergency kit that made it to shore without any of its constituent sailors. A closer look at the buoy shows an incomplete "S" and the start of an L that probably washed away. S.O.S. Something strong enough to tear through an out-of-date rescue craft made of plastic isn't worth sneezing at.

Booster Gold has posed:
Staring out at the smoke, Booster sighs. "It's times like this that I hate being as responsible as I am."

He looks down to those present, extending his arms as he calls out, "Anyone who wants to help, grab my hand! Come with me if you want to be a hero!"

A moment later, Booster's flying toward the vessel.

"Help's coming, folks! Booster Gold's here to save your day! Anybody?" he shouts as he races through the air.

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie rolls her eyes, but she goes to grab Booster's hand. "Let's go." Yes, she's gonna go save the day in a blue string bikini. Now's not exactly a good time to get dressed! She grabs onto Booster and hopes to God her swimsuit holds, letting go so she lands in the water.

    This is a bad idea. Julie skips across the water like a stone once, twice, thrice, before splashing. Trying to reorient herself, the martial artist then begins to kick and paddle her way towards the ship with the speed of a champion swimmer, climbing her way aboard the ship. "Anyone alive? How can we help?"

Vic Sage has posed:
Vic Sage just sighs, resigned to the fact that he is going to have to rely on Booster of all people to get him out to where the trouble might be. "Alright," he exclaims as he lifts up his hands for the airlift, "Try not to slam me into the side of the boat, please?"

The other martial artist shakes his head and braces for the ride out, trying to let go of Boosters hands at the right time to drop as close to the ship as possible, without the imitation of a rock across a pond that Julie has previously demonstrated.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
The blonde girl looks at the wreckage still in hand and Booster flying off in such a rush. Her eyebrows are raised, expression showing a mix of confusion and bemusement. A swift arc down leaves her hovering just overtop of the waves, where she bends to drop the plastic chunk back into the cradle of the sea. It floats for a bit before sinking. She hovers there a moment or two longer, then zips back to land on shore and speak with the lifeguard, giving a look over her shoulder to the trio headed far out over the sea. By this point, the lifeguard is calling in the problem.

Julie hits the water hard. It hurts a fair bit since flying at even low speeds with altitude, ouch. The winds are free to play over the open water, but as they approach the burning ship it's clear the situation is peculiarly grim. It's upside down, nearly, having totally rolled to its side. Six feet of hull poke out, marking the bow. Paint is blackened and bubbling under the wave-washed sides, The craft isn't huge, but definitely long enough to be transporting goods up and down the Eastern Seaboard. The smoke is emanating from a few crates floating around, the metal ripped open and contents burning. Boxes add an acrid smell to the air.

As to who did it? There's no sign of a lifeboat other than the broken one they found. The answer must be under, risky as that is.

Booster Gold has posed:
Cursing under his breath, Booster looks around. "Where's Skeets? Did he stay--"

He spots the drone, still scanning the shore. "Of all the ..."

With a sigh, Booster clears his throat. "I'm going to see what I can see under the water. Look for whoever or whatever you can!"

Then, he takes a deep breath and dives down below the water's surface, seeking out any signs of life with the aid of his visor's readings.

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie looks through the inside of the ship, wrinkling her nose. "Ugh, smells like smoke. Something maybe blew up that they were transporting." She muses, before going overboard and diving into the water. Despite her earlier blunder, she seems perfectly okay other than some bruises. They'll heal quickly, Julie hopes. Holding her breath, she begins to go underneath the ship, diving deeper and deeper. Who can say what she finds beneath the waves?

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord hears Maggan's report to the guard and says, "Hang on. We need some long range scanners for sure." He demonstrates why he is actually wearing those incongruous blue gloves with a bathing suit. Touching a small control he gives a theatrical whistle for effect. Away from the shore, past the breakers, the water suddenly churns and erupts. A metallic bug, its legs spread wide emerges from the froth and almost soundlessly come to hover over Ted, Meggan, and an increasingly superfluous lifeguard. A hatch opens in the belly and a trapeeze like contraption is lowered. The Blue Beetle jumps onto it and offers a hand to Meggan, "Here, you started this, Miss. Want to see how it'll play out? The Bug is perfectly safe." He gives a smile a little more bashful than you would expect from a man of ACTION. Maybe it's just Action?

Vic Sage has posed:
Vic Sage mutters a profanity as he swims up to the ship and takes in the situation. He gives a glance over towards Julie as she submerges, and after seeing Booster submerge himself Vic decides to deal with the situation topside. There isn't much he can do really, but he tries to scramble onto the ship and see what can be done about the burning crates. He starts to look around for a fire extinguisher or hose, something that might help slow the burning of the ship and its contents if not put out the fire entirely.

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie can't see easily, the oily sheen of fuel makes it difficult for her to make out underneath the ship. That can only mean one thing; This ship was carrying crude oil. It's deep here, about 20m or 60 feet tops. That small boat was carrying a _LOT_ of crude oil, it seems.

    She surfaces, and whistles sharply at the others. "This ship was carrying crude, when something went up and made a hole inside of it." She explains, before climbing aboard the ship once more. "Did we find any sailors still alive?" She asks, shockingly unconcerned with the flames. She's fireproof, or at least fireresistant.

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
$18 an hour, free sunshine, lots of excitement, the job posting said. It did not say 'people who fly' or 'sinking cargo ships,' even very small coastal craft busily shunting goods up and down the Seaboard. The lifeguard stares at the large blue Bug. His mouth hangs open. "I got a degree and everything," he says to Ted, like it justifies his existence. "

Meg, on the other hand, gives a sudden grin. It's a bug! It's blue! "Sure! I thought they left me behind because they ran out of hands." She reaches up to grab the bar, and adds, "I don't think we have met. Meggan." Right; one of the best known environmental activists out there, see also pointy elf ears. "Are you an American too?"

Fire plus crude to run a ship is bad, but those crates have stuff in them, visible where something tore one of the doors open. Vic is going to have to submerge himself and swim over the side to actually get to any kind of fire extinguisher, but having that deductive mind and keen perception helps him find a red floating cannister off the hull. He's going to be going through some murky water to get there, but he can climb up onto another floating container and start extinguishing the blaze with his trusty Seaborne Extinguisher 2000.

No sailors topside, but that's not to say they are missing underneath. But exploring the submerged deck means a lot of swimming under there.

Booster Gold has posed:
Swimming around under the water, Booster tries to scan the area for any drowning individuals. He strains to stay under as long as he can, but resurfaces with a gasp of air.

"Having a hard time finding anything!" he shouts, beginning to swim around the side of the ship. "Anyone need emergency rescue? I can start hauling people to shore if needed."

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie waves a hand at Meggan, once she's close to the pretty English elf. "Julie Yan. Nice to meet you too, circumstances aside." She says, as she emerges from the flaming area. "We should start looking at the deck, I'll check it out." She says, hopping to the deck and beginning to swim, wishing she had another spirit, maybe a shark, to bless her instead of a phoenix. This is seriously not her style...

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord gives Maggan a grin. "I'm the Blue Beetle. I think I donated to some causes you supported on a TV show. I didn't recognize you..." bites his tongue before he says -wearing a bikini- ow. Zing, and they're lifted up to the Bug. Blue Beetle flips off the bar to land in a seat and the Bug heads out over the water. "Let's see, we got radar, lidar, thermographic... and we can also just follow Skeets who is broadcasting a GPS signal. Grab a seat... wait a second... can't you fly?"

The Bug leaves the educated lifeguard behind and is soon flying over the ship. Ted begins scanning for life signs in the area. As he does the Bug settles into the water and a side hatch opens.

Vic Sage has posed:
Putting out the fire, Vic looks into the crate with a look of confusion crossing his face. "What the hell is this?" he questions as he moves in for a closer look. "Was this used for smuggling something?" he asks himself. "Beetle," he calls to the air, assuming that the Bug will be able to pick up his voice, "You might want to see this. I am not sure what I am looking at, but whatever it is doesn't exactly belong here."

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
"I can," Meg admits with a brighter smile. "You're going out to help so why not go with you and be useful, Mr. Blue Beetle?" When they get much nearer to the ship, she dares to wave with one hand at Julie. For just a moment, it's dangerous to be unbalancing or blocking a sensor. So many scientific devices, and best not throw them off. For a splash down, her contribution is making a face at the oil and poking her bare toe in it, which serves to ball up the tarry darkness at the fringes of a semicircle around her. The slowly expanding cleared out space makes it easier to operate in the water by swimming. "This feels absolutely filthy. I'm going to need a four showers."

The smoke makes for an unpleasantly hazy experience higher up but it's not difficult to scan through. Slowly the oily waves slip over the cargo ship, her bow poking out like a turning whale going belly-up and stern down. A wall of ugly, barnacle-strewn metal bounces off some signals but not the thermal array. Three still-warm shapes are squeezed up against a wall underwater. Maybe 15 feet/4-5 meters down, not impossible for a good swimmer to get to.

More sensitive acoustic materials can hear the engines still going, the banging of fists on a wall out of sync. Someone is still down there or raging against fate for cursing them.

The pod that Vic found looks like a pair of fused black, plastic barrels laid on their side. A hatch opens on one end in the floating sea crate full of other upright barrels. Something inside registers as alive, but very, very sluggish. Weirdly, like they are cocooned in an insulating material.

Booster Gold has posed:
Returning below the waves, Booster maneuvers around the boat toward a heat source of some kind. Looking and failing to find some means of entry, he resurfaces until he's several feet above the water.

"There might be someone--maybe multiple people--below deck!" Booster calls, pointing down toward the heat signature. He spies the approaching Bug and waves. "Beetle! I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is no time to water ski. Thank goodness for bringing the Bug to the beach, though."

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie goes deeper inside, and she finds a steel barrier, some wall behind which might be the survivors. She pops her neck, before her hands press against the wall. Focusing, she begins to burn her way through with holy flames, melting the steel barrier. Hopefully nobody is too close to it, because she's about to make a pretty big effing hole real soon, water or no.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord calls over a PA, "I'll take a look in a minute. Let me open a hole for you. the Bug extends its forelegs and tears a mansized hole as far from the waterline as possible. Beetle makes sure the vessel is not going to roll anymore and then drops from the Bug to the deck. With a portable extinguisher in hand he approaches the box, somehow knowing he won't like what he sees. Assuming he does make sense of it. Then again he didn't like that thing on Carnival Row and made no sense of it. He ponders the contents of the crate, careful not to stand directly over it, then he draws the BB gun and turns its light way down, till it is an oversized flashlight which be beams into the barrel's hatch. "I got not idea what we have here, but I think we should call SHIELD. Are these eggs?"

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Inside the floating sea crate, the oblong plastic pod is full of a weird, gooey substance not altogether different from the white or yolk of an egg. It's pink though. There are bubbles in it, and it runs slowly to puddle onto the fire-scorched floor. Inside looks like a human, someone completely unconscious. Stripped down to nothing but a pair of briefs, it's a man. Mostly. Those gills are mighty concerning, though.

Vic Sage has posed:
Vic Sage says, "I have no idea what these are," says Vic as he stares at the pod, not noticing that Julie has already opened one. "Possibly an egg of some sort, possibly just some kind of organic containment system. The only way to know would be to see what is inside."

Vic starts to move towards the pod to get a closer look, "Beetle, can you shine a bright light on this? Maybe with a strong enough beam we can illuminate what is inside? Like holding a egg in front of a candle to see if it holds an embryo.""

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
Ocean water filled by oil is just -gross-. Really gross, which probably explains that Meggan will climb atop of the Bug if need be to keep herself out of it. Otherwise she sidesteps and floats over the waves, making a face at the sticky, tarry substance condensed into a rough fringe around the clearer water. "Don't swallow any of that. I don't know how you would pump the petrol out." She at least has a brighter, cleaner patch of water open between the sinking ship and the floating crates and debris around it.

An engine inside finally sputters out and fails with a groan. The sunken propeller stops turning, another of the great screws churn around and around in a last gasp effort to keep moving. Water seeps in to the hole punched into the side of the ship, the victims inside probably doomed. Maybe not! They cry out and try to hurry to the light, moving slowly like wizened men stumbling from a cave.

The guy spilled out in the goo doesn't move, gills fluttering weakly. But then he flips over to breathing air, thin chest rising and falling. That has to be a good sign. Not waking up, drenched in the sludge, he is clearly close to being human but not quite. One of the sea peoples.

Julie Yan has posed:
    'Holy shit.' Julie thinks to herself, seeing three very tied up guys once she gets inside. She begins to climb over, and tries to rip the zip-ties holding them in place. "Who are you guys? Can you understand me?" She tries saying this in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, even Thai. The guy in the goo is certainly mysterious, must be an Atlantean or something, judging by the gills. The others, Julie's not so sure. Funny, Atlantis used to be a myth told in pulpy movies and books.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord doesn't wait for the Coast Guard or anyone else. When the man's gills begin to flap he slips a hand under the man's head, grabs an arm and helps the man to a relatively clear patch of water. "Easy friend. I think I know what you need. No one is going to hurt you," he hopes the man understands his tone at least. He brings the man's face close to the water and hopes he guessed right. Then he scoops water with one hand splashing it on him and trying to wash away the goo.

Vic Sage has posed:
Vic Sage takes a few steps back as Ted opens the pod and releases the man inside, arching a brow as he mutters, "I'm not sure that was the best of ideas, Beetle. We don't know anything about these folks or why they were in those pods. For all we know you just exposed us or them to pathogens, but I hope for the best. Are they ok?"

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
One of the men hauled up through the hole looks pretty stunned as soon as the water rolls over his body. It's a refreshing wave that stinks of salt and remnants of oil, but he holds out his hands while treading for Julie to break the straps. Soon as that happens, he buries his face in the sea and takes a deep, heaving breath. Several, getting water through his gills. The splashing removes the crustiness around his reddened eyes, scrubbed away as he blinks several times. The other two men are in poorer shape, and need some kind of help. The last, young, though, does speak English.

"Where are they? They are people thieves," he sputters out over broken, bleeding lips and his swollen tongue. Wild-eyed, he looks around to see no one. "The crew beat us-- to sell-- sell /people/? You see?"

He shows his heavily welted arm. His back is even worse.

The other man in Ted's arms needs more effort to get to the sea. He takes longer to come around, pupils dilated, obviously very much out of it. When his eyes do open and conscious thought takes over, he starts coughing up the goo. Eww, it's like vomiting a lychee smoothie. He mumbles in a scratchy voice, probably Atlantean. But bringing water to his lips gets the equivalent of a weak thanks to Vic and Ted.

Meggan flits over towards Julie and holds out her hands to the woman. "The ship is starting to sink faster. It's not safe to be so close." She gives a little tip of her head to Vic's question, frowning. "They are angry and confused."

Julie Yan has posed:
    JUlie's stomach tightens in disgust and rage. She's dealt with human traffickers before, mostly the sex trade and organ harvesting kind, it never gets any easier to tolerate.

    "We should get everyone clear, yeah." She says, taking Meggan's hands. "Who did this?" She says, in a cold, furious voice. At the very least, the ship sank. Hopefully some of the rats didn't make it out before they could drown.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord shakes his head. "I have no idea. The only Atlantean I ever met was Aquaman. He wasn't like these people but... I think they need the water if we let them out of these barrels. If they are Atlanteans, the air will kill them in short order. Better to see how they react to some water splashed in their faces. Stay back. I have a decon shower in the Bug. No need for anyone else to risk exposure. C'mon buddy wake up. We gotta get out of here. Get these people on the Bug we can put them on top and wait for a Coast Guard ship if nothing else. If these Atlanteans were captives... the Feds are going to have strong words for them. As soon as we abandon ship, I'm phoning SHIELD." He continues splashing water on the man, encouraged by his initial response.

Vic Sage has posed:
"Ok, I can admit when I am mistaken." Vic says with a shrug as he moves closer to the pod and its inhabitant. "I believe they can breath both. I am pretty sure I saw one breathing in air without the appearance of asphyxiation." Vic says to Ted even as he starts to help the ocean dweller towards the Bug. "Doesn't Aquaman also breath air? I seem to recall he being on land far longer than one would tend to need to hold their breath, or water as the case may be."

Meggan Puceanu has posed:
"Humans. Black hair, tattoos. Men with hard eyes," says the one Atlantean able to speak English. They converse among themselves, swimming around the ship and unbothered by the pull. They can move back. "One had chains on his forearms. Another with a black and orange animal. Not like we know. It climbed from wrist to shoulder." It is not a perfect description but something to go off of. He describes a dark place notable for being flat, grim, with many a grey boat with a forest of masts. It takes a bit of work to figure out they're talking about what could be Norfolk, Virginia, not that far south. And before that, being dragged up by some fishing boat with stinking nets in huge array going after valuable fish. So a case of human trafficking and worse.

The trio is prepared to take their friend and sink under the waves. Clearly the water does them a great deal better, and one of those shipping containers gets such a hateful look they might be trusted to scratch it up and curse it.

Meggan moves Julie away from the ship and the Coast Guard is going to have a time clearing out the globby oil from the sunken cargo ship. It seems they can both fully operate in air and water, those grumpy Atlanteans, so there's a bit of information to be gleaned by seeing them slowly rehydrating.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord is relieved to see the Atlanteans breathing. He tells the one who speaks English, "We need you to come back to tell your story to our law enforcement, to insure these men are punished. Sorry I can't feed them to the sharks. Lovely thought. Uuuuhm... ladies Meggan, Julie(?) the Bug has a decontamination shower if you want to use it. I can offer you a change of cothes, sweats and some jerseys I keep for my own travels if you want it. I'll be glad to fly you back to the mainland with me and Mr. Sage."

Julie Yan has posed:
    Julie clings to Meggan, and narrows her eyes. She's not entirely geographically aware of things, not with America anyways. She'll take that shower, when Ted offers it. "Thanks, Kord." She nods, shaking her hair out. "Julie, by the way. I guess your friend's Booster Gold. Dunno about the faceless dude, though." She muses, running a hand through oil slicked hair with a frown. That's gonna take a while to wash out.