ic Shark Week: Uncharted Waters

[Brown Dynamite]

Glamazon dove into the water without a shred of grace.   Water shot up as if a cannonball had blasted its way into the water.  No one would ever accuse Thaelia of thinking too hard on things.  But, that didn't mean Thaelia didn't know how to throw her strength around rather than just blindly swinging.  Claremont had assured her of that if nothing else.  The Atlantean Princess slammed her fists together creating a shockwave.  Whilst at the same time making sure to use only as much strength as was necessary to harm her targets encircling the water.

The bumper boats above were all sent careening into one another as a wave pushed them over.  Much to the terror of its many passengers.  Their fear was misplaced as the sharks didn't have the luxury of distance on their side.  Taking the full force the air pressure slamming into their bodies directly.  Not a single shark withstood the assault head on.  Their bodies crashing into the walls of the pool one after the other.

"Worry not civilians, the Glamazon will aid those of you who cannot swim in returning to land."  Of course, not a single one of them was likely to understand what she was saying underwater.  They weren't exactly Temperance or Tsunami.

[Electra]

Singularity watched dispassionately as the sharks attempted to bite her. They couldn't hurt her, very few things could hurt her, which had made the painful attack from the tall Atlantean earlier so disquieting. The monsters could hurt the human people though, bite them so they bled and died. Not acceptable. She dispatched the three attackers very quickly and in a manner some might have described as needlessly gory, but it was undeniably efficient. When the last partially-fileted shark lay on the pavement, Singularity at last turned some fragment of her attention to the old man. "Go away. You're not safe." 

With that, she turned on her heel and ran towards the house of mirrors. Something bad was in there, something laughing and malign. If it was responsible for the monsters, it would have to be stopped. She smashed right through the first mirror she came to, not bothering to stop or slow down as she continued deeper into the fragile maze. 

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

The old man heeded Jessie's warning and stood up to run.  Tripping on his way out, but not looking back as his legs hobbled towards the exit.  Singularity found herself immediately enveloped in darkness once inside the Hall of Mirrors.  The Hall was like a maze, the groans of various injured patrons echoing all around.  Through it all, Singularity could make out a feminine voice pleading with what sounded like the source of the laughter.

"Please, you're not well Connor.  Just take your medicine."

"Silence!  Puny Kirkstrom doesn't rule these waters.  The age of Megalodon is finally on the cusp.  The only reason I haven't snapped your neck i-ohohoho. I smell  Shhhark blood.  Such insults."  The deep voice rasped out.  "Get the prey who dares wander into a shark's den!"

Turning the corner from Singularity were three more Cyber Sharks.  Their eyes glowing red in the darkness.

*        *        *

Nereid watched Aquaria swim across the water with unseen grace.  The sharks on ground level took this opportunity to turn their lasers on her.  But, the Atlantean princess actively rolled out of the way of their red streams of death.  Barely paying them much attention until Aquaria was on the return round of her trip.  Part of her concerned with what actions the Deep One would take on the submerged civilian.

"I do not suppose you two will wish to surrender?"  Nereid asked before her body gradually transformed into water.  To which the sharks responded by snapping their jaws.  The clothing worn above her morphic molecule costume falling to the ground.  The young woman was completely transparent as she slid forward.  "I did not think so."  Nereid's watery arm extended out to grasp the nearest shark.  Hoping to whip it into its ally, but the shark narrowly avoided her reach by stepping back much to her very visible chagrin.

The shark on the left side of the Ferris Wheel made its way on top of a nearby cart.  The mounted lasers on its cybernetic limbs targeted a cart directly above.  A red stream erupting forth, heading straight toward the shark's chosen target  The metal holding the Ferris wheel together metled.  Soon the cart was hanging on by a thread only the left side still attached to the metallic wheel.   The passengers (whoc appeared to be a mother and child) screamed in Unison as the cart tipped.  A loud creaking noise signally their impeding fate as a Shark waited below with its mouth gaping open.  The remaining shark began shooting a series of laser blasts at Aquaria.  Apparently displeased with her course of action.

[Electra]

Now completely focused on her target, Singularity barely paused at the arrival of the new sharks. A large shard of glass from one of the mirrors made a handy weapon, and within seconds, the hallway was choked with dead sharks, one-two-three. It smelled like an aquarium abbatoir, but she ignored the blood coating her arms and continued her headlong rush into the maze. Several seconds and a bunch more broken mirrors later, she was almost startled to reach the end of the maze. Something in her head screamed "trap!" and she instantly dove for cover off to one side. 

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

Singularity had made it through the simple maze that was the hall of mirrors peering around the corner she looked in from behind the cover of a mirror.  The ending corridor was a circular room in which all the walls were mirrors.  One of which was in reality a revolving door that served as a hidden exit on any other day.  On this day someone had seen fit to tear open a hole through from the ground.  It was roughly done, but the whole was a perfect circle.  Almost as if a machine had cut into the floor from below.

There was enough blood on the ground to make Singularity's current blood drenched attire seem like an appropriate fashion choice.  Three bodies on the ground, only one of whom appeared to be an employee none of which showed signs of movement, were coupled with blood trails throughout the floor.  As if they were used to violently paint the floor red.  Above the hole was what appeared to be a giant bird cage.  Held up by what seemed to be a giant hook like a pet on display.  The "pet" in question was Dr. Ashley Ellis, director of Providence Asylum who had yet to see the other woman.  "Oh, please Connor.  I know you're in here.  Just take your medicine and this will all be over.  Please."

Peering from inside the watery hole were two cobalt blue eyes.  Locked on to Jessie.  The owner appeared to be yet another shark, only this one was much larger and with only a clear view of its head, she could not confirm if it also had cybernetic limbs.  Jessie's instincts on a trap were proven correct by the creature's posture.  Apparently hoping to jump out at the first person to actually round the corner.

 *           *           *

The shark on the opposite end of the Ferris Wheel from Aquaria made a hissing laughter like noise.  Firing off another laser at the cart above.  This time it completely detached itself from the wheel.  Plummeting into the water below within seconds.  Mother and son screaming until the moment of impact.  Where they both immediately found themselves losing consciousness.  Up above the cyber shark standing on the same cart as Aquaria attempted to bite her.  Digging its teeth in with the hope of garnering some sort of resolute response.

The sharks at the ground level charged for Nereid who was busy gasping in shock at the falling cart.  Each aiming their wide open maws at her watery arms.  Only to find air when they chomped down as her watery form reshaped itself to perfectly avoide the bite with big gaping holes in her form.  "I cannot risk you assaulting your victims upon my return voyage."   Nereid muttered to herself.  Grapping one Cyber Shark by its head, she slammed the creature into the other.

[Avenger Assembled]

After another hard kick to the ribs didn't faze this cybershark, Aquaria thought fast, scrabbling backwards down the Ferris wheel as she studied the shark like the amphibious top predator she was. With an explosive burst of energy, she raced back upwards and met the thing's charge with her own. Using momentum, she grabbed the shark by the legs and yanked with a muscular strength far greater than her mass should have allowed. She was a child of the sea, after all, with a muscle density greater than any Surfacer's! Her efforts paid off and the shark went flying past her, off-balance and unable to catch itself, and landed on the concrete far below with a sickening splat-thump. Leaping downward herself, her big goggly eyes flicked around the area as she bellowed "JESSIE!? WHERE ARE YOU!?"

[Brown Dynamite]

Glamazon's powerful legs slammed against the pavement as she made her way to the opposite end of the park.  The Ferris Wheel had easily cleared out aside from the people trapped on the rides.  The Deep One that Glamazon argued and attacked earlier was bellowing out to the air.  Perhaps it was some sort of dark Deep One ritual, at the moment Glamazon didn't care.  There were three sharks beaten on the ground, two at Nereid's feet and one near the deep one's, there was one left conscious midway to the top of the Ferris wheel.  And more than a bucket full of people were screaming their heads off on the ride.

"Nereid, I have come to aid you in the conquest of our foes!"  She called out to her cousin whom had taken on her water form.  A declaration that seemed to have less impact when the area was almost entirely clear of sharks.  "However, it seems my aid is not needed.  Is the battle all but won?"

[Electra]

Jessie's terrible shriek of rage at seeing the bodies would probably have been enough to alert Megalodon to the problems with his plan, but she was already in motion anyway, flying across the room in one prodigious leap. She caught the massive hook holding up the birdcage to stop her flight, then locked her legs through the bars of the cage and pushed it loose of the hook, sending it crashing down to the water with another unearthly wail. It wasn't clear whether she'd taken notice of Dr. Ellis at all, or merely seen the large cage as a handy weapon against the monster in the water. Either way, it probably wasn't a great situation for the doctor. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria dropped to all fours and braced herself, Jessie's shrieks of rage and defiance burning in her small, delicate ears. She had heard cries like that before, in nights that had ended with visits from Erin, with medication, and sometimes Jessie going away for a week or two. There was only one thing to do now. With a bellowing croak of defiance, she leaped in the air, the thick, bulging muscles of her legs propelling her forward across rooftops as her leap turned into a hasty, frenetic dash across rooftops, vaulting over alleys, scrabbling up the roof of the house of mirrors and down to the door. Landing on her feet in front of it, she dashed inside, again on all fours, her yellow and black eyes bulging wide as they penetrated the darkness within. This place smelled of blood, and pain, and terror and death. 

"JESSIE!" 

[Brown Dynamite]

"Thal.  Knock out the shark.  People need saving.  Do not worry about her."  Nereid called out to Thaelia.  Her watery legs elongating as she ran off diving into the water.  It was easy enough for Nereid to catch up to the cart.  But,the real test would be whether she could make it out in time.

Glamazon huffed after the Deep One ran off in the direction of a loud scream  Her head snapping up to the last remaining shark, preparing to follow her cousin's request.  Prioritizing it as a bigger problem than an unchecked Deep One.  Woe as she was to admit that.  Closing the distance with ease, Glamazon did not wait until her descent before thrusting her arm out.  Punching the Shark directly in the head and knocking it clear off the cart.  

The dramatic moment didn't even gather the notice of the wheel's passengers.  Everyone was staring at the water with bated breath as the loose cart continued to sink in the water.  The water began to bubble.  Suddenly, the cart was thrust out of the water.   Both mother and son still completely unresponsive.  Nereid, who was concealed from their bird's eye view of the situation, was holding up the cart from below. 

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

Dr. Ellis had opened her mouth to scream when met with a sudden descent into the water.  Which alone was bad enough of a situation to find herself in.  Unfornunate, the Director of Providence Asylum's situation quickly took a downturn for the worse.  Her bird cage entrapment was swung with so much force that the bottom actually broke out and engulfed Megalodon's rather large body.  Providing even less room to breath in once the pair was fully submerged in the hole.  It didn't take long for Dr. Ellis to black out as she exerted too much energy attempting to twist away from Megalodon.

For good reason.  The man turned sharkman savagely and aggressively began thrashing about.  Callously disregarding the fact that his teeth and claws could easily have injured Dr. Ellis.  In fact the creature didn't seem to care for much of anything.  Its mind solely driven to escape.  The metal cold only maintain for so long before bending apart at the force exerted upon it from within.  Its eyes bloodshot with anger.

[Electra]

Jessie didn't seem to notice Aquaria coming in, and she definitely didn't notice the helpless human who had been knocked into the water along with the oversize birdcage. Her predatory attention was entirely fixed on Megalodon, just emerging from the cage. In an instant she was upon him, her movements almost too fast to see, her wordless yell enough to strike fear into the heart of most anybody. Unfortunately, the shark was too brave, or perhaps too stupid, to back down. She took a powerful swipe at him with clawed hands, but missed by the barest margin, to her obvious anger. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria made a standing leap impossible for a human, crashing down into the water with a grace that belied her gawky amphibious body. She'd caught sight of the Surfacer drowning in the water beneath and frankly trusted Jessie to handle herself, at least for a few moments, against the sharkman above. She reached down into the cage and pulled it open from the bottom, dragging Dr. Ellis completely underwater with her for a few moments. Ellis struggled, of course, but she was basically helpless in Aquaria's grasp - as any normal Surfacer would be. Dismissing memories from her childhood with an effort, Aquaria all but threw Ellis up onto the other side of the watery chasm, then leaped up there with her, trying to keep the gap in the floor from the helpless civilian. "RUN!" she bellowed frantically, gesturing towards the open door. 

[Brown Dynamite]

Nereid brought the cart and its passengers to land.  Where they proceeded to sputter water with little prompting.  The mother coughing up a barely audible thank you.  Nereid's expression a mixture of relief and concern as she stared up at the Ferris Wheel.  "We should get these people down.  But, I would like to get to the bottom of that scream."  

"I could perhaps throw the captive civilians to safety or detach the contraption entirely?"  Glamazon offered up as a solution.  To which the people on the cart Glamazon was standing on shook their heads.  Apparently not fans of being hoisted around while trapped inside of their carts..

"We can call that the backup plan.  That wild scream could really pressing.  It was either a wild animal, or the person the Erin look alike.  How about I figure this out, and you can go solve that mystery."  Nonverbally accepting Nereid's offer, Glamazon leapt off the cart and ran off in the direction she heard the scream.  The first sign that she was at the correct destination was the sordid pile of shark bodies.  The trail of bodies inside was just as uncomfortable.  She couldn't even imagine the sort of creature that decided to tear apart these sharks.   Making her way past the last of the bodies, Thaelia couldn't quite make out the scene in front of her.  There was half of a cage (That seemed completely torn apart) above water, a Deep One standing over a civilian in what the Atlantean incorrectly inferred was an aggressive posture, and the wild eyed Erin doppelganger looking down as if she hated the cage.  Then there was the matter of the bodies in the room.  They looked far more in tact than the sharks, but there wasn't a lack of blood from them either.    

"...I what is going on here?!"  Thaelia demanded in confusion.

"No."  Dr. Ellis responded while water shot out of her mouth.  Gasping for air and shaking her head.  "I can't leave him, Connor needs help.  This isn't him, he's sick."

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

The massive man shark emerged from the water slowly.  It's cobalt blue eyes bearing down on Singularity.  The interloper that saw fit to interrupt his plans.  "RAAAAR  I REMEMBER YOU!  STOP INTERLOPING AND DIE!DIEDIE!"  It was at this point that the manbeast started seeing red.  Twice, this woman had dared to interrupt his plans.  Twice she had come from behind and assaulted him.  No more.

Megalodon swiped its powerful claws against Jessie's sides.  Assuming that the human would have her guard distracted.  Before immediately diving in for the kill.  Its jaws snapped loud enough to echo throughout the circular chamber.  Finding nothing but air as Jessie was able to move out of the completely telegraphed chomping with absolute ease.  Megalodon continued biting wildly after her to no avail.  Clearly abandoning anything resembling a plan and charging in pure aggression.

[Electra]

Singularity danced out of the way of the shark's chomping maw, instinctively moving to avoid running into Aquaria or the human she was busy rescuing. The words the shark was saying didn't make any sense, but she could understand his violent rage and met it with her own. There were people dead and this thing ate them, it was gray and dead-eyed and it ate the people while they tried to run away... Grabbing a piece of the cage that had been knocked loose by the impact with Megalodon, Singularity lashed out and opened a long, deep wound along the shark's belly, driving it backwards a few steps. No more unearthly screaming now; Singularity was focused, intent, and deadly. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"His medicine! Where's his medicine!" frantically croaked Aquaria. When Ellis told her, Aquaria made a standing leap into the water and dived down deep, shoving aside the cage and frantically looking around on the bottom for the dropped 'pen' full of medicine. Her three-fingered hands were strong, capable of bending steel just enough to let her slip inside the cage itself when her first search didn't pan out, and her bulging eyes were adapted to let her see in the water as clearly as the daylight - more clearly, even. But there was no sign of the pen! Oh Mother Hydra please don't let that shark man eat Jessie...She thought about that for a minute. Please don't let Jessie disembowel him and bathe in his guts! Oh the Atlanteans are right there and they'll tell _everybody_...

[Brown Dynamite]

Glamazon still wasn't sure what was going on. But, she understood that the Deep One screamed about medicine before jumping into the nearby watery hole.  She also understood that the sharkman was meant to be wearing that exposed flesh on the inside.  Which was problematic for a number of reasons.  Clearing the distance Glamazon held her fist up at a face level.  The creature seemed to be out of sorts, which was to be expected when carved open.  Quickly she fired off a jab with her left hand.  Punching the massive sharkman on the button.  "Listen, I do not speak Japanese, but surrender foul beast lest you become fluent in the language of violence."  Glamazon declared assuming the creature to be one of the Japanese sharkmen she fought with Tsunami and Temperance.  

Hoping the creature was thoroughly distracted Glamazon tilted her head to address the Deep One's friend.  "You have done well to fend this creature.  And loathe I may be to admit this, the Deep One you travel with is not behind these attacks.  However, I cannot allow you to kill this creature.  The surfacers have laws against such measures.  If we fell the beast together no more lives need be taken on this day."   Glamazon braced herself for an attack from either direction.  Admittedly not convinced that the Erin look alike would listen to the plea.

[Electra]

Singularity turned her head to look at Glamazon, and for a moment it seemed that the Atlantean would be the girl's next target. Her face was blank, her eyes empty of everything but faint puzzlement. "It's a monster," she told Glamazon, her monotone voice very matter-of-fact. "It eats people. I have to kill it or it won't stop. If you get in the way, you're going to get hurt," She waited, but her attention was already beginning to slide back towards her dazed quarry. 

[Brown Dynamite]

Glamazon gave Jessie a puzzled look.  Almost turning her body completely away from Megalodon in doing so.  "If this creature is truly a mindless beast beyond reproach, then capture it.  These people hold their heroes to a higher standard.  Taking a life is a simple act that should never be taken simply.  Our purpose is not to execute the fiends.  Merely protect the weak."  Thaelia said in a gross summation of the education she received from a strangely woven bunch of high school ethics courses and living with a level headed roommate for two years.  "Even when the weak are the fiendish."

Thaelia said.  Fully prepared to in fact get hurt she bit her lip.  Unsure if she should express the last bit of information that was sitting on the back of her mind.  But, then staring at the woman in front of her.  The issue of violence hanging in the air for the second time.  "Erin."  Thaelia whispered loud enough to remain heard.  Positive that Jessie would recognize the name.  "Erin once expressed a regret in attacking a zombie who turned out to be a hero.  Embarrassed herself to her compatriots.  It was to be a warning, I did not listen and attacked your fri-err Deep One companion earlier.  I ask the gods, that you do not make the same choice.  At least remain open to gathering more information.  In my experience, simpleminded beasts do not sadistically drown their prey rather than eat them."   

Not that the other woman was there to see how the cyber sharks at the Ferris Wheel were kicking people around.  There seemed to be a whole little focus on eating from what Glamazon had seen though.

T

[Electra]

Singularity stared at Glamazon for a moment longer with those flat, empty brown eyes, till some twitch or motion from the dazed monster caught her attention once again. This time, though, she hesitated, glancing from the creature to its victims, to the enemy who told her that she couldn't kill the monster, that Erin wouldn't want her to. The cognitive dissonance in her head made her want to run away, but Aquaria was here somewhere and might be in danger. She dropped the metal bar she'd been holding and instead lashed out, almost too quick to see, and kicked the shark monster in the pointiest part of its nose. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Aquaria leaped out of the water, clutching the shiny silver shape of the epi-pen in her hand, water cascading from her almost completely bare greenish-white body. "I have his medicine!" she yelled. "It'll stop him from fighting! You guys hold him down!" She turned and gestured frantically to Dr. Ellis. "I don't know how this works!" she called. She tried to remember the times that Surfacer doctors had tried, usually not very well, to treat her. "Where do I put this in him!?"

[Brown Dynamite]

Glamazon quickly spun around.  She wasn't sure if grabbing the creature was a viable option.  Let alone how long the person she was fighting to could fight the instinct to finish the job.  Especially while his limbs where trashing about.  Squaring her body, Glamazon launched a straight kick using her heel into Megalodon's exposed stomach.  She left herself completely open for reprisal so as to put the full weight of her body behind the pankration styled motion.  "I shall bring him down then!"  The Atlantean called out.

What happened afterwards was not nice.  With his abdomen tore open, the kick only had less meat in the way protecting its body.  Megalodon's lapse into unconsciousness was not without the threat of nausea.  The creature lurched forward gasping in pain before finally dropping harmlessly to the ground.

Dr.  Ellis worriedly began to scream out.  "His thigh!  Uncap it and push it against his thigh!"

Edited October 10, 2015 by HG Morrison

[Electra]

Singularity dove forward, but she did not attempt to finish the job she'd started before. Instead, she pinned the unconscious creature to the ground  by the expedient of applying her knees to its shoulders and both hands to the back of its oversized scaly head. The legs were left exposed, but since it wasn't moving or flailing, it left ample opportunity for Aquaria to apply the medication. Or, if the medication didn't work, it was also a position from which the threat could be easily disposed of. Singularity kept her eyes locked on the monster, watching for any hint of renewed struggle. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"In his..." Aquaria hastily turned to her inner dictionary of Surfacer medical terms. "Okay! Got it, number one!" She bounded forward and sat on the monster's legs. "How do these work?" she yelled at Dr. Ellis, securing the direction before jabbing the pen as hard as she could into his muscular thigh. Of course, Aquaria was much stronger than almost any Surfacer, and the pen armored to cut through Megaladon's skin - the pen wound up jabbing deep into the skin, but Aquaria was pretty sure that was normal. "Injecting now!" she yelled, still pinning down the tricky sharkman's legs in case he broke loose and cut up to more trouble.