ic Hydra The Queen (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

"Fool!" bellowed the Harbinger. "It is _I_ you should fear!" He raised his limbs to the air and made an eldritch bellow, one that tore through the water around them like a sonic shriek, the shape of an arcane rune seeming to ripple around him in the water for a moment before it faded. The Atlanteans clapped their hands to their ears and cried out in pain, Theodora suddenly convulsing and falling still beneath her brother's ministrations. "_I_ am Dagon's champion. and with my new bride at my side," Aquaria gave a bellow of outraged fury at this, but seemed to go unheard, "this ocean _will_ be ours!" Dalekos's submarine was wobbling now behind them in the water; it was unclear if the crew had been affected the dark powers of the Far Tide, or if they simply couldn't get a clear shot with their commander and allies in the midst of the scrum. 

 

Dalekos brought up his sword and shouted - "Poseidon, give me strength! Show these beasts the power of a true god!" At his words, blue-white actinide lightning erupted through the water from his blade, the arcane power behind it enough to penetrate even the insulating properties of H20. It crackled over the Deep Ones, sending Sea Devil and the Harbinger staggering, but sending their troops flying as well - now only the leaders were left amid the wild underwater combat on the temple mount. 

[Amelia]

Octoman

 

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Well you could have put it nicer, I like to think of myself more like Willie from V. And I know Davyd, who do you think helped him get better at his shifting abilities. He’s like a nephew of me in some ways.

 

If there was a filter between the betentacled young man's surface thoughts and the spoken words accompanying his frantic gesturing, Miss Grue couldn't sense it. "WAIT wait wait, hold the freakin' PHONE here, all engines FULL reverse. YOU know MY roomie? You're, like, his MENTOR? He never told ME about that! He hasn't mentioned your name ONCE. Man, him and me, I thought we had a BOND. Just 'cause you're a GRUE and he's, like Grue-INFECTED or something, and the whole reason I became a superhero in the first place is 'cause a buncha Grue almost ATE me and my whole family when I was seven and OK yeah I hear it now."

 

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And that there is Wraith, you know the other shapeshifting alien hero. If you want to check them think a message and I’ll pass on the message directly. And be gentle to those poor Deep Ones it looks like they’re being manipulated by some baddie.

 

"Oh YEAH, HEY, speaking of, so, like, I'm not flying solo this time. I came here with another Claremont kid, one who's from AROUND HERE, who's got some serious SKIN in this game, feel me? And we hitched a ride with The Big Kahuna, top brass, MAXIMUS! MAXIMUS! MAXIMUS! but, like, with GILLS, know what I'm sayin'? We're doin' the Kansas City Shuffle, everyone's lookin' right, I went left, and when everyone else is lookin' right, it's Conan The Fishbarian and my squaddy they're lookin' at. The beacons are LIT, Gondor's callin' for aid, let's go outside and get our ROHAN on!"

 

[Dr Archeville]

"<Merciful Poseidon,>" Heroditus whispered, relieved that his treatment had at least partially worked.  "<All shall be well, sister,>" he assured her as he reached for her through the arms of the statue that still held her fast.  "<Your mind is back, your soul.  The body will- !>"

 

And then, the eldritch bellow.  Theodora and the statue around her were knocked back to the floor of the temple, and it was hard to tell if it was the sonic shriek or the sudden contact of head and stone that sent her unconscious.  Heroditus, meanwhile, was largely unaffected -- perhaps his recent encounter with subsonic fear effects had caused him to build up a tolerance, perhaps it was his growing fury at what had happened to his sister and father.  And now he was ready to direct that fury.

 

A quick check told him his sister still breathed.  He drew more components from his pouches -- one set of the metallic hand wraps, as well as an iron ring with a single onyx set into it.  He slid the wraps and ring over his left hand, then began etching runes of dark power upon them.  "<Tisiphone, guide my hand...>"

 

He turned and raised his device-covered hand at Harbinger, and sent a pulse of arcane energy into it.  A dark purple ray lanced out, towards the abomination, and struck the grisly trophy about his neck: the severed hand of Xyles Stylianos.  "<Avenge yourself, father.>"  It twitched as Heroditus' arcane energies, his rage, and need for vengeance filled it, and suddenly it spring up and latched around Harbinger's throat, sinking necromantically-charged talons into his neck as it sought to crush the life from him!

[Avenger Assembled]

The hand scuttled upwards impossibly fast and buried itself in the Harbinger's throat, fingers digging deep into the gill slits. Heroditus could see immediately it wasn't a killing blow but it was a serious one, the Harbinger giving an almost animalistic bellow as he tore it free from his neck, his blood mixing now with Dalekos's in the water in a mix of different, curling shades of red that didn't look or smell so different when it was mixed together in the water. 

 

Sea Devil took a few scuttling leaps from the fight and landed next to the Atlantean boy and his half-changed sister, knowing what she had to do. "Run!" she urged in a bellow in their language, cutting the water with her trident. Just as she'd prayed, the magic of the portal took the gateway where she wanted it to go - through the gateway Heroditus could see the interior of the Atlantean submarine, see Doctor Galena shouting orders to the pilot left inside, her face white-lipped with tension. The gateway beckoned, swirling with arcane power, its edges writhing magic that looked more like the maw of a furious squid than anything else. 

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

"<No!>," he yelled back, already channeling more energy into the device on his left hand.  "<I see the wound on Dalekos, on his back, made by your trident!  How do I know this is not some further trap of yours?  That that is truly the interior of the ship which brought me here?>"

 

Does she know what Doctor Galena looks like?  If not, how could she craft an illusion of her?  Unless she's plumbed the depths of my mind!

 

He looked down to Theodora, then back to Aquaria, "<and even if that was a true escape, I came down here with allies, whom I will not leave behind.>"  Now charged, he triggered his device again, sending out another bolt of crackling violent energy towards Harbinger and his father's severed hand.

[Tiffany Korta]

Miss Grue

I’m truly sorry for whatever harm my people cause to your family, in a small way I try to make up for the evils that they still do. There was a note of genuine sadness in her voice

 

She then spent a few moments trying to parse what Ben was saying it helped that she could peak, just a little, to see what and who he was talking about.

 

Maybe I oughta just video tape this, play it back in slow motion. She finally replied with a note of amusement, making sure everyone here was in the link before adding.

 

Okay we better make sure that the Atlantean are safe and these Deep One can’t warn the others. Can you let your people know we’re on the way out?

[Fox]

Wraith stared at Octoman for a moment, and then her three black eyes slid across her face to look at Miss Grue. "I am almost certain that is English," she said, hesitating. "But if you are here to help and can aid us in getting these people to safety, we would be grateful."

 

Her form flowed and warped, once more becoming larger and more crustacean - thin, spike-footed legs and extra tendrils and all. Drawing in the water to do help offset her mass continued to be uncomfortable, but if it would help her shield their escapees, so be it - she would owe herself a thorough scrubbing once they were home. "Come," she said, gesturing at the Atlanteans with a great clawed hand, then toward the exit. "The longer we wait, the more danger we are in. Let us leave while we still can."

 

---

 

As they left the temple, she took quick stock and immediately put herself between their Atlantean wards and the ongoing chaos. Aquaria had that under control. ....right? "Please move faster," she said, ushering the Atlantean's onward. The longer they were out, the more likely they were to be noticed or hurt.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Stupid Atlantis-child!" Aquaria bellowed! She aimed her trident at Artificer and his sister and called on the magic of Dagon's ocean, as usual ignoring the voice from the trident that tested her faith in herself and her beliefs by telling her to kill the Atlantis-child and drink his blood. The wash of water was almost shockingly warm when it hit Heroditus - wherever it was coming from, this was not the cold waters of the abyssal plain that surrounded them. She was clinging to the top of the temple now, out of reach of Dalekos and the Harbinger as they clashed with each other, and to her growing frustration the two Atlanteans held on, the one clinging to the restraints he'd used to bind his maddened sister. "They want to kill you!" 

 

When she saw her friends leading Atlantean prisoners, Aquaria raised her voice, switching to English to be better understood. What she wanted to do was call down bloody vengeance on her enemy and on the mad Surfacer cultist who had called this down on her people - but she knew that wasn't what a hero would do. What she did say was "They're both crazy!" She pointed at Dalekos and the Harbinger, her voice bellowing over the roaring sound of the submarine's engines as it tried to battle its way through the storm she created, then at Artificer. "Help that boy!"

[Amelia]

Octoman

 

Octoman couldn't hear Sea Devil's words, nor could he have read her face's approximation of "lips", even without her armor in the way. But he could see her blast his classmate in the chest with her trident.

 

"SQUADDY!" he screamed. Then his face contorted into a grimace and his eyes narrowed.

 

This is it. This is why you're here. This is where you prove you're not like THEM.

 

He flexed the bladders inside his body, expelling a rush of air that sent him flying through the water directly at the Deep One hero. "EAT FIST YOU FROG-FACED FREAK!"

 

Giving no thought to self-preservation, he launched himself like a torpedo at her, clenching his fist and swinging it as hard as he could.