Creature from the deep (Open)

[Deleted]

He knew this was a bad idea, that the Titans especially Robin would tell him that going outside of the underbelly of the tower was a bad idea. Not only because well, because he was a giant snake like monster that looked like a spawn of Nessie and Cthulhu. But also because of the recent debacle where someone, or something tried to make it look like he had been on a killing spree. And although it really hadn't been him, public tensions were high on the whole monster thing. And if he were spotted;

This time they might bomb him instead of using anti-air cannons.

So, in both a fit of poor judgement and animal instinct he ignored his higher brain functions and slithered out in the dead of night after having heating himself properly. Then again it wasn't hard. The cornucopia of tunnels that lay under the Tower's island was like a bee hive. And the teams technological adepts had yet to install any sensors below it was a cinch to simply leave under water. And immediately as the cool ocean water met his heated and cramped body he felt alive again. The sea's currents crashing against him as his sharp body cut through the water better then a torpedo. His body working over time as he now no longer felt like a caged dog, but a free being. In a fit of primal need he broke the waters surface, flying high enough for his whole body to be in the air. Then spinning around in an act of near-impossible muscle control he u-turned in mid air so that his face met the water first. Going back to the underwater ballet that was what his body was made for, staying near the surface so that the feeling of rushing air against his back would be like a massage to others.

It was many minutes before he surfaced again, slithering onto what he thought was the abandoned beach. He had really needed that, the act of exercise washing away the stress of being cooped up under the tower. He wanted to enjoy the moonlight in the sky for a bit, before returning to his place under the tower.

Not knowing that the whole time he had been swimming, he had been observed.

[Gaunt]

Nighttime swims were something Kaie had come to enjoy about Jump City. Sure, it was kind of chilly, but the California weather was warmer than her homeland, and she was tough enough to take it anyway. There were advantages to being incredibly dense. This way, she could enjoy the sand and the surf without having to worry about squishing anyone while goofing around in the water.

Kaie found a nice spot not too far above the waterline, laying out her giant towel. It was a bit windy, but the towel was heavy enough to hold itself down. She stretched out, about to get down to her swimwear when she saw movement out at sea. Kaie squinted over the water, not sure what she was looking at at first. Something big, swimming right towards shore.

The creature rose up out of the water, and Kaie froze in shock. She'd seen this thing on the news. It was Naga, a monster that had caused a rumpus not long before she came to town. She didn't know how or why he was here, but she was going to defend her new home. Kaie didn't have her super suit with her, but then again she hadn't even owned one for her first fight. She could make do with shorts and a Hawaiian shirt (thank you Beast Boy for the excellent fashion tips) for now. Letting out a wordless battle cry, Kaie charged with her arm extended. Clotheslines worked great on Smackdown, they should be fine here too!

[Deleted]

The moonlight was a blessing to his yellow eyes, and his nerves. Naga had really needed this, the smell of the ocean breeze, the soothing crash of the waves against the beach, the loud pafts of footfall meeting sand closing on him rapidly....

Wait.

The serpent turned his head, just in time to see the largest woman he had ever seen approaching with either the intent of the worlds most violent hug, or attempting to take his head off his shoulders with a clothesline body tackle.

Assumption of the latter was of course quickly taken.

He wasn't supposed to be outside, so a prolonged fight was not in his interest. Nor was harming her, the gods only knew he had enough on his plate as it was. His choice was to fight non-violently. But no one said anything about having to fight fair. Taking advantage of his physique, the serpent man lowered his torso and leaned back hard. Looking much like a limbo contestant but with a good seventy feet of body behind him to keep him from falling over. Once the giant females arm had passed over both him, and his razor fins he darted forwards slightly and around Kaie. Positioning his torso right behind her as his tail end lashed out at her feet, hopefully tripping her into the shallow beach.

".... What was that, and why are you attempting violent actions against my person?" He questioned, a lone scaled eyebrow raised slightly.

[Gaunt]

Maybe shouting out a battle cry was a bad idea. It always worked on TV, but apparently in the real world people could hear you. Naga had all the time in the world to just duck out of the way, letting Kaie's arm whiff harmlessly over him.

Bad idea number two was charging at all. Kaie was massive in both senses of the word, and it was pretty hard to stop once she got going. The giant tried to turn and dig her feet in, but there was a long tail waiting to tangle around her legs. She went down hard, making a small crater and sending up a cloud of sand.

Kaie clapped to clear the sand away, coughing as she tried to regain her footing. Naga talked all fancy, but she was pretty sure he was asking why she had attacked. "Well yer a villain, right?" It was clear from her tone she thought this was obvious. Rumble was a hero, and heroes fought villains. It was just how things were.

[Deleted]

So the girl was, or was playing, Hero.

Great, just great. Next thing you know some Titans would show up, or worse. The girl in front of him was a Titan.

A slightly annoyed sigh escaped the monstrous looking snake man, reptile eyes glaring slightly at her. "If I was a villain, why would I have attempted a non-harmful means of stopping you when I could have simply used these?" He said, showing Kaie the massive hands he had that also ended in wicked claws. "Although I will give you that the media has.... Painted me rather well as the beast that I look to be. However I can assure you I have no villainous intents whatsoever."

And it was true, he didn't have any evil intents. However wishing bodily harm on Gordon may count, but that media badger was trying to slander the Titans as much as he had made him out to be a mindless beast.

"Although I must say, your choice of combat against me was rather.... Odd..." He stated, referring to the attempted smack-down that Kaie had wanted to bring on his head.

[Gaunt]

Kaie managed to get back to her feet, dusting herself off. She grumbled a bit at what Naga said. As much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. She didn't know why she'd trusted the news after all the horrible things they'd said about the Titans. "Fine, sorry." she said reluctantly.

Naga held up his claws, and Kaie gulped nervously. Those things were pretty nasty. If he had been fighting for real, she probably would have needed a hospital. Kaie was used to relying on her sheer size and strength to win, but this guy was even bigger, with the added benefit of tough scales and wicked claws. She would have been seriously outmatched if he'd actually been here for villainy. Speaking of which, "Why are ye out here anyway?" She still didn't quite trust him. There was something about his fancy talk that didn't sit right with her.

Kaie grumbled again, looking at the ground. He seemed to have noticed her complete lack of skill or training in combat. It was kind of embarrassing, especially after nobody had paid any mind to her WWE moves in her first fight. Maybe they'd just went along with it because it worked. "Well, I canna train much to fight when I'm so much bigger 'n everyone. I just kinda improvise." She didn't want to share her inspirations.

[Deleted]

An apology, although small it was nice to hear. The serpent gave the large woman a small nod in acknowledgement of her words. Although seeing her demeanor change once she realized how deadly he could have been, it gave him a small amount of hope. 'Good, she's paying attention....'

Although with her question of why he was out here, he still had yet to find out if the woman was simply a vigilante or actually with the Titans. Best to play it safe for now, and not tell the whole truth. "With the media slander aimed at me, as well as the oh so warm greeting I received from the cities police force. I have been in hiding, in the tunnels that network the entire city. But, I have recently been in need of stretching my legs.... Poor choice of metaphor." He paused, making a small joke at his own expense. "I guess that you may understand, living in a world that can barely hold you gets quite cramped. And simply getting out to exercise was well needed."

Ah, so that's why she had been so brash on the attack. No training at all, and throw in improvisation with no ground to work from. It was like as if she had been trying to copy the acts of those wrestlers on television. "You are in need of someone to teach you.... And a sparring partner...." The serpent scratched at his protruding chin with a claw. "Although I am larger then you, I am quite close..... I could perhaps help you train, if you like?"

[Gaunt]

Kaie started to relax a bit as the conversation went on. This Naga was actually pretty dapper in person. She had trouble keeping up with the big words every now and then, but he seemed really smart and downright friendly. He could even crack a decent joke, Kaie had to laugh a little at his crack about legs.

"Yeah, that could be trouble. Guess I'm lucky I look this human, nobody thought I was Godzilla rolling into town. I mean people get scared but they don' call out the national guard." Even a few minutes ago, she wouldn't have believed she would be sympathizing with the infamous Naga. But he was nice, not at all deserving of the horrible reputation the news had saddled him with. Maybe someday he could even be a hero, if they could get good enough PR for him. That would be one hell of a trick.

"Really?" Kaie hadn't expected to get a sensei when she came to the beach that night. She took a (pretty amateurish) fighting stance, squaring off against Naga. "All right, let's give it a shot. Just don' tear the clothes, okay? I like these things."

[Deleted]

Ink was thinking on the roof of the tower. Taking a solitary moment away from the busy mini-city it held inside to just think and let her mind wander. It really was a lovely view, the city was lit bright gold by the street lights, and it made a different kind of music at night. Something a tad slower but still clearly a vibrant hum of life. On the other side of the tower the ocean spread out, a dark and murky bit of ink spilled out to reflect the moon and other celestial bodies. It was a great place to sit and meditate with your legs dangling off the side of the tower.

The little artist was contemplating what swam under those dark waves when a large serpentine form broke through the surface. Many times larger, but just as graceful as any dolphin. To bad Naga couldn't be out there having a swim. From what she knew he loved swimming. Maybe once Gordon had backed off Naga for a bit they could go to the beach together, him, rose and...... 'Hold the phone'.

That was Naga!

Out there! Swimming in the open! She was going to kill him for putting himself out there in the open like that. What if Gordon saw him... or worse, someone who could do physical damage!! As the snake man slithered up onto the beach the little lass pulled out her book and summoned Charmer. 'He is so dead!' she thought to herself as she hopped onto the hybrid's back. Then her eyes caught another source of trouble. A human shaped speck that even from this distance didn't look small. "Oh shite Naga, look what you attracted yea bumrag" she muttered as she watched the conflict unfold below her, taking to the sky as soon as it was clear the speck was out for trouble. No one but her got to kill Naga, and even then she was only going to kill him a little."This es why ah told yea tae stay enside yea over grown bampot." she growled as charmers wings took them into the middle of the conflict.

Charmer was not as fast as Annet though, the trade off was that she had more limbs for the striking and teeth for the biting. But by the time she had arrived the tension had clearly cooled. Though that didn't mean the little Scott was going to let all that worked up vigor go to waste. "And just what en the high holy hell dae yea think yea were doin!? She yelled as soon as Charmer's paws hit the ground, she dismounted and rounded on the giant girl like a ticked off terrier... Hadn't she seen her stomping around the tower before? All the more reason to rip her a new one before chastising Naga himself.

[Deleted]

When the larger elf-like woman made a Godzilla comment, the larger serpent let out a snicker. "You have no idea how many time's I've been called a spawn of Cthulhu because of these..." He said, causing the tendril like hair to move a bit.

He looked at the girls poor (although eager) stance, before raising his arms in his own non-clawed stance. "I will do my best to not harm your clothes...." And he had been ready to face the large woman in a friendly match of somewhat titanic proportions.

That was until Ink arrived.

When the small pale Scott shouted out, the serpents eyes locked on the small girl in shock and fear. A clear look of 'Oh SHIT' was on the serpentine mans maw.

Although he found it odd that he rounded on Kaie first, he knew that Ink was one of equal wrath and that he was next on her scolding list. The least he could do was take the heat off of the larger girl since she had actually done nothing wrong.

"Miss Kaitlyn, you do not have to be harsh on her. I am at fault here....." He said with a sigh.

[Gaunt]

Just like that, their perfectly civil spar was interrupted by an angry Scotswoman. Kaie froze, looking to Naga. He didn't seem to know what to do either. This tiny Titan was biting their heads off and neither of them knew how to deal with her. Kaie put up her hands, trying to calm the raging hero down. "We were just gonna spar a bit, he were gonna teach me ta fight!"

Kaie stepped back from the two of them, letting them sort this out. They seemed to know each other pretty well. Was she the one who had defused the Naga situation when he first appeared? Kaie could see how, she seemed to have the snake man thoroughly cowed. An attitude like hers could reign in even a giant like Naga.

When Naga took the blame, Kaie had to step in. She wasn't going to let the gentleman take all of the heat for this. "Now, is not all his fault. I saw him out here and afirst I thought he was a baddie, so I attacked. But now we got it all sorted out and he's gonna teach me some things."

[Deleted]

Ink didn't hear much past "And I attacked". Clearly she was dealing with set of complete knobs. "Wait yer turn! ah haven't even started on yea yet." She growled at Naga, ignoring how he was trying to get this girl out of the fire. "and dant yea worry yer head none, ah know yea are tae blame." she added, turning back to the giantess and crossing her arms over her chest, the picture of a ticked off matron.

"Now yea Miss," she started "WHAT EN YER RIGHT MIND TOLD YEA TAE CHARGE OFF LIKE A BAMPOT AND ATTACK MAE FATHER!? HAVE YEA LOST ALL SENSE EN YER GIANT HEAD LASS!! YEA COULD HAVE DRAWN ATTENTION TAE YERSELVES!!" She lectured. If it had been a scene in a cartoon the tiny girl would have grown till she towered over the giants, with flames raging in the background and gnashing sharks teeth as she ranted.

"Yea could have been seen! or worse, killed!" she continued leaving off her filleting of the giantess to lecture Naga himself. "Dae yea know what that would have done?! They could have sent the army after yea! With guns! Bigger guns then last time! And then Gordon would have gotten a hold o yea! What would Rose think ef some slime ball was bad mouthin her father?!" she ranted before going after them together.

"And just what was yer brilliant plan tae explain a Titan attacking what the public perceives as wan o the largest threats tae the city, only tae find oot yea were just playin aroond!?"she finished with a angry huff. Deflating as she waited for them to defend themselves.

[Deleted]

The serpent let out another sigh, while honorable Kaie's words would not help at all with Inks wrath "Miss Kaitlin, she does not know of where you and the others have me. She made an honest mistake, in fact one...." But before he was able to finish, the small terrier like Scott rounded upon him next.

When the pale small woman opened up on him, it woke up something in him that he hadn't used in a while. The ire of a parent. "KAITLIN MCDOVAN!" The serpents voice not too loud, but boomed with the authority of an aged and experienced parent. "You do not need to lecture me on risks that I live with and must accept daily." He started off, his voice firm as his sharp serpent eyes locked onto the wee Scott. "I knew the risks, how dangerous they were, and how stupid it was to take them. However for more then a month I have been within the dark confines of the tunnels that you and your friends have graciously given me. I have been in need of exercise for some time now, and while the tunnels are capable of holding me they are still quite cramped. Need I remind you of some of the stunts you have pulled young miss!" For a moment the snake was silent, letting his words stew within Ink. Those angry eyes of his looking at Ink as if she were his own daughter for a moment. Then his stance and stare softened as he let out a sigh, his eyes closing as he spoke. "If I had been seen by anyone, at all. My original plan had been to simply break off, swim deep into the ocean, and wait for an hour before returning to the cavern. However upon meeting this young woman here..." He said, opening his eyes and looking at her. "I saw in her conviction, bravery, and purpose. and although brash and unrefined She will make for a great hero for the city one day if someone gives her the lessons she needs. And I have seen fit to be one of few people in this city can actually offer one of those lessons. Training with someone of near equal size."

[Gaunt]

"Father?" Kaie glanced back and forth between them, a look of confusion on her face. She didn't see the family resemblance. She would have asked for clarification, but the little Scot was already steamrolling her. The giantess couldn't get a word in edgewise. She had some good points, too. Kaie had no idea what would have happened if she was seen having a friendly spar with a notorious monster.

She was about to speak up in her defense when Naga came booming into the argument. He was scolding the smaller Kaie pretty severely. Kaie shrank back, reminded of Ma when she gets on one of her rants. The snake man had been so genial this whole time, it was a shock to hear him shout like this. She didn't know he could do that sort of anger.

"I'll just let ye sort this out." she said sheepishly, retreating to her towel. Kaie sat down, arms around her knees, and waited for the storm to pass. These two clearly had some things to work out.

[Deleted]

Ink crossed her arms and scowled up at Naga as he spoke. At least he admitted he was stupid about the whole thing. And while she wouldnt show it since she was still rather angry but she did feel bad for keeping him caged like they had, she wouldn't do that to a pet let alone another person. She blushed bright red when he mentioned her own dangerous and stupid stunts lately. She opened her mouth to reply before snapping it shut again. What ever reasons she had had for her behavior they were no more right then his. She had no real leg to stand on though so she bit her tongue and let Naga continue to speak. She huffed again when he was done and looked from him to the Giantess.

"Braw... but if ye ur gonnae gie oot lessons at leest teel me first sae Ah can keep fowk awa' frae ye." she said, her anger fading quickly. "An' ye tois better keep it quiet. Ah cannae dae anythin' abit noise... Ah weel jist teel onie wanderers 'at thaur was a wee spill ay some kin' oan th' beach an' th' titans ur workin' ower nicht tae clean it up fur tha' moorn." she schemed with a mischievous grin at the pair. How could she deny either of them something they both needed so much.

ooc: Scottish translator trial... let me know if its to confusing