^^ Ocean Master ^^
— Erin —
The two assassins turned to look at the opening, while Orm seethed silently, and stood up stiffly, glaring at me. "You would dismiss us? You dismiss ME?!? I AM ORM, PRINCE OF-"
"Nowhere? Nothing? The Petulant Child of a Murdered Mother and an Assassinated Father? Waste of Atlantean Meat? The Failed, Weak, Altogether-Lesser Brother?" I raised an eyebrow, taunting him.
He was struck dumb with rage, and Lady Shiva frowned. "You should not provoke him." She admonished me.
"I know he's going to attack me, he's planned to ever since he arrived and was forced to be nice; so I figured I might as well deserve it, when he finally lost what little patience he had, you know?" I grinned.
Slade laughed, clapping his thighs and standing up. "Yes, I understand at least that much... well, you're on your own, if you attack her, Ocean Master. We are taking her proposal back to the Light, and you should be clear that if you lose, even after a peaceful solution was offered, you will be Dead to the Light, even more than ever before; not even a particularly useless Pawn, any longer."
"As if I would Fail!!! We stand upon an Island, surrounded by my Element!!!" He sneered, and pulled on his helmet, glaring down at me.
"Last time I beat you, you were surrounded by a tsunami, and you held the Trident of Neptune, and had a Moray to do your fighting for you. Tell me, where does your confidence stem from?" I smirked. He hissed an insult in Atlantean, and I nodded, standing up slowly. "Alrighty, then! Let's retire to the Thunder Dome? And yes, I have a Thunder Dome. You're welcome to come watch, before you leave." I smiled at Lady Shiva, and walked past the nearly-hyperventilating Atlantean prince.
'Ready yet?' I asked hopefully.
'Almost!!! One more minute!!! Keep him talking!!!' Sofia hissed worriedly.
"Sofia, would you be so kind as to provide seating for our spectators?" I asked aloud, stepping out into the calf-deep water of my lagoon, and pointing off to one side.
"Immédiatement, Doctor." She hummed, and a set of Colosseum-Style seating appeared on both sides of the lagoon, facing the center, where I was soon standing, and then the dome of electricity appeared, surrounding the entire structure.
The Justice League, (who had arrived in full force, as I negotiated,) settled uneasily on one side, while Lady Shiva and Deathstroke sat alone on the other, Deathstroke casually holding a camera beside his leg.
"You can record this openly, Slade Wilson, I don't mind. It's already being recorded, so I may look over any mistakes I made, and learn from my faults." I explained, and looked at Orm, who was striding through the water. "Ah, and the Prince Arrives! Your brother is watching, you know, so you should make a good showing for him, no? Who knows, if you manage to win -by some godforsaken miracle,-you might even be able to go a round with him, and get your ass handed to you, just for old times' sake!" I smirked.
'Laugh.' I projected hard at the Justice League, and Sofia sent it to them, apparently, because they all laughed, if a bit forcefully.
He snarled, baring his teeth, and suddenly his arms glowed, making the water around us froth and boil. "You... will... Die here, Wench!!!" He hissed.
"Ooh, Pretty chompers! I'll be careful not to bust them up too badly, hmm? Your cute face is all you've got going for you, after all, what with your failures in every single area of your life. I mean, come on, let's go through it all, huh? Attempted War with the surface? FAIL. Attempted Coup? FAIL. Attempted Rule of Atlantis? FAIL. Attempted attack on Atlantis? FAIL. Attempt to please a woman... well I can only imagine how you fail there, considering you killed your own mother, the only time you ever managed to properly penetrate a woman..." I sighed sadly, shaking my head at him.
'Done!!! Hands in the water!!!'
'I'll be in the water in a second.' I smirked, and held my breath as the water around me erupted, submerging me and slamming me against the floor of the lagoon repeatedly. My armor took the brunt of the blows, storing the energy, while I held my breath calmly.
Shadows opened with perfect timing, and locked a pair of bracelets around my wrists. I gazed at them, (more interested in them than by Ocean Master's attempts to kill me, sadly enough,) and grimaced when the Nth Metal pierced my skin, sending a piece of itself into my bloodstream. It swiftly traveled up into my brain, and connected to the base of my cerebral column, infiltrating my nervous system over the course of about thirty seconds.
I smiled as I felt the connection finalize, every extreme of my body laced with the metal, and then decided to test out the new powers as they appeared, swinging my fist solidly in a backhanded slap into the hardened water around me.
The water seemed to burst like a water balloon, and I shook my hair, swiping it back away from my face, smirking at the incredulous Ocean Master. "Oh, I'm sorry, was that your attempt to kill me? I thought you were giving me a back rub! Pleasant pressure, really, and good technique, using the floor of the lagoon in place of your pathetic little hands, but you need to put more oomph into it, to really work out my knots, you know?" I smiled wolfishly, and then dug in my feet, leaping forward through the water he raised to defend himself.
It burst as well, with tangible resistance, and I set my feet, gripping the floor with my toes, to prevent him from taking my feet from under me. Then I gripped his collar, raising him out of the water so he lost his connection with it, and his water constructs fell.
"I've seen all I needed to see." Lady Shiva shook her head, standing up, presumably to leave, or maybe to goad him into fighting better, in an attempt to impress her. She knew her effect on him well, it seemed, as he growled in her general direction, and then kicked me in the jaw solidly, forcing me to take a step back and drop him.
"Okay, ow, but honestly... is that all you've got? Aqualad hits harder." I grinned, spitting blood into the water, and ducked under his next punch, laying a solid left hook into his right kidney, following up with a good ol' fashioned uppercut, then a side-kick to the diaphragm when he leaned back to dodge the uppercut.
He skidded back through the water, and then leapt to his feet, water constructs appearing around him. A pair of vortexes whipped towards me swiftly, making me block with my arms, though they managed to nick little cuts in my exposed skin, and scratch at the armor, as well.
Then they crashed into me, attempting to pick me up, but I had a stern grip on the rock floor with my toes, so they just slammed into me, attempting to tear me apart. The little wounds closed as soon as they opened, but I knew I would bleed out eventually, even from just one drop of blood at a time, so I flexed, ripping apart the vortexes, and shattering his concentration, making him stumble backwards as the mental connection to the water gave him loud feedback from their destruction.
Seeing an opportunity, I darted around behind him at full speed, then tapped his shoulder. "Yoo-hoo? Come on, surely I didn't stun you that badly, that you can't even see straight?" I asked.
As he turned, I wound up a savage kick to the skull, and slammed my foot into his jaw so hard it visibly dented. He flew away at an upwards angle, crashing into the thunder dome, and it did what it was designed to do, unloading all of the electricity it had stored to shock him entirely unconscious. Like a bug on a bug-zapper, he stayed still, stuck to the net of lightning until it turned off, sensing his brainwaves sinking into sleep, and he fell back into the water, sinking slowly into the deep end of the lagoon, where the laser-sharks were.
(Yeah, I may have been a little too enthusiastic, making laser-shark drones, but so what?)
I walked over calmly as he floated to the surface, and snagged his helmet, then him. I slapped him awake, and then looked directly at Lady Shiva, and snapped his neck.
Her eyebrow rose slowly, while Slade kept the camera on me, though he'd lowered it a bit in apparent shock. (Hard to tell with the mask.)
Then I turned and walked, dragging the now-paralyzed man by his ankle, over to Aquaman, then dropped him at his brother's feet. "Don't lose him, this time? He's not exactly mobile anymore, is he?" I tossed the helmet in the air casually and caught it again, then looked over to the other bleachers, but Shiva and Slade were gone.
"Well, you're all here, so I suppose we can drink tea and relax, hmm?" I asked, walking back inside as Aquaman checked his brother's pulse, and proclaimed him living, barely.
As I waited for them to catch up, I sat down and brewing a few pots of coffee and tea, hanging the helmet over the bar, like a gruesome trophy.
The League slowly entered the building, finding places to sit or stand as they pleased, (including the porch walkway, because of their numbers,) and I served coffee or tea to whoever wanted it, sitting calmly in my position of Tea-Woman, at the table.
Zatanna sat next to me, after a moment, and hummed. "What happened, while you were underwater? I saw something dark, and then you were suddenly way stronger and faster than you have any right to be, as far as I'm aware."
"Hmm? Ah, I was mostly wasting time, stalling, as these were finished, and delivered to me via portal." I rolled up my sleeves, revealing the black manacles.
Diana sat across from me, grinning widely. "Ahh, the Bracelets of Submission!!! Well, you are not an Amazon, yet, but I would be happy to call you Sister, someday."
I laughed. "No, these weren't made from Athena's Shield, Diana. I made them from an Alloy Sofia and I developed that amplifies my powers specifically, and also a bit of AntiMatter. One blocks my power entirely, and the other enhances it. Using my powers, -augmented or no,- too often would represent a real danger to my health; therefore, if I turn them mostly off, like so-." I pressed the small button inside the wrist, and felt the new strength and speed drain from my body, though the invulnerability and regeneration was left active, just in case. "-Voila, I am capable of living my life normally, without perhaps dying from my heart beating so hard that it breaks my ribs and then halts."
She hummed, and nodded slowly. "I see... that is wise, then; powers often have consequences. Managing yours in this way seems the right path to take, for now; at least to my mind."
"I'm happy you agree. Coffee?" I asked, filling her cup carefully, feeling my hand shake a little, as the transition to human strength had seemingly sapped even some of my natural strength, making my muscles deflate to about two-thirds their normal bulk. (Food for later thought...)
Batman surprised me by kneeling next to me, and taking the Kettle. "You should rest. No matter how effortless you made the victory seem, Adrenaline Crash is a nasty enemy to contend with."
I nodded slowly. "You're right, of course... but I have guests, and I'd like them to have a good impression of me, not the trash-talking false identity I taunt my enemies with to throw them off their games..." I sighed, rubbing my face tiredly. "And now I'm hungry."
'I've fixed the Protein Bars, if you'd like one?'
'Please.' I nodded, and accepted the bar that was dropped into my hand by a small finch-shaped drone. I bit into it, and nodded in appreciation of the hearty beef flavoring, eating the rest swiftly. 'Any averse effects from using the augmented abilities?'
'Your muscles will need time to get used to the strain, but you are not currently harmed, and I guarantee you can handle it. I am working on making the effects permanent, so that even if your Nth Metal is taken away, your powers will not decrease.'
'And the de-swelling of my muscles?'
'All your powers except your invulnerability are locked away... and that includes your natural, genetic ability, from your Amazonian Ancestry. If you'd read the Bloodwork report, you'd have known that a few days ago.' She grumbled softly.
'I am sorry that I do not appreciate you enough. I will try not to take you for granted, mon cher.'
'See that you do.' She huffed, ending the conversation.
"Better?" Batman asked.
"A little. I've been developing my own Energy Bars, for me and the other Speedsters, or anyone with a Super-Appetite. I know most of our money goes to food, after all, and developing something that can feed us all would benefit everyone. I'll send you a Vending Machine, and you can put one on the watchtower and one in Central City, where most of the speedsters live." I hummed, smiling at the idea.
"Ooh, for how much? That smells good." Bart asked, sniffing the wrapper in my hand.
"Meh, it's a full meal for me, so 10 bucks?" I shrugged.
"Crash!!! I usually spend twenty times that!!! Per Meal!!!" He laughed.
"Yeah, well, I make them basically for free, so I can afford to be nice about it. Try that, and tell me what you think. I'll make a breakfast one that tastes like French toast, next." I nodded, and dropped one in his hands.
He had it open and half of it eaten in literally the blink of an eye, making me flinch. "Whoa! That tastes way better than the usual stuff!!!"
"Hey! I do my best, Kid!" Barry Allen, the Flash, frowned at him.
"Sorry, Gramps! You should try this, though!" He tossed him the other half.
"Hmph... don't call me Gramps, Kid Flash, I'm not that old." He muttered, taking a bite of the bar, and then the other half was gone, making me flinch again. "Okay, yeah, that is pretty darned good."
I sighed and stretched my back slowly, nodding to Diana, Bruce, and Zatanna. "Well, if you want to fetch Terran back, and then host the rest of this little party, I'd be very appreciative. I'm going to take a bath, and then sleep. You all can stay as long as you like, and you're welcome back whenever, so long as you provide me some notice, so I can put out the Tea." I stood up and walked up the stairs slowly, and was already in the bathroom before I remembered the USB in my cleavage.
"I already scanned and downloaded the entire drive, careful to check for any malware or spyware... you know, this time. The drive is ruined, however, by the saltwater." Sofia hummed from one of the small speakers in the wall behind the mirror.
I nodded and tossed it onto the counter, stripping and setting everything out to dry. "Alright, thanks... I'll watch the sauciest bits in my bath. Activate the sound dampeners, please, all the way. Superman is in attendance."
"Ooh, Oui, Madame..." she chuckled, and a small screen appeared over the middle of the tub, after I'd slid in, and the water started running. "Would you like to start with one of your Topping Scenes, or hers?" She asked.
"The massage at the end, actually, that first." I smiled, settling deeper into the warm bath.
—
I stepped out into my apartment, a few hours later, humming a happy tune, and then halted, staring at Batman, Superman, Kaldur, Black Canary, Diana, Zatanna, and, oddly enough, Megann, who were all sitting in my living room, apparently playing pinochle.
"I said you could stay as long as you liked, not that you could enter my apartment while I was in the bath!" I frowned at them both thunderously, and wrapped the towel that was in my hands around my body, clutching it to my body protectively.
Bruce hadn't looked up, so he kept his eyes on his cards, and hummed. "You took a while, we got bored, and we need to talk to you."
"GO'N 'N GIT'!!!" I barked harshly, and pointed at the door slowly with the hand that wasn't holding my towel, holding my temper back by a thread.
Superman was instantly out of the door, and sitting downstairs meekly, while Bruce stared at his cards for a moment more, and then placed them on the table, revealing a triple-trick with the Queen of Spades and the Jack of Diamonds, which would've won him the game. He walked downstairs with Kaldur at a slower pace, and the girls were left.
"DID. I. STUTTA'?!?" I snapped again.
Diana blinked, surprised, and then set her cards down, as the others followed suit. "My apologies. We will meet downstairs, when you are dressed." They exited, and I took a deep breath, recovering from the shock of having yet another sanctuary invaded.
I fought down the panic attack that threatened to rip my breath from my lungs and the strength from my knees, and over the course of a few minutes, my heart rate slowed to acceptable speeds, while my breathing calmed.
'Do not ever let anyone into my room without my knowledge, Sofia. It frightens me, and very few things do that.' I informed her gently.
The feeling of a hand sweeping my shoulder comfortingly appeared, and she sighed. 'I am sorry, I did not notice... I was preoccupied. It won't happen again.'
'Mm... and take a roll for the island, to be sure that Slade and Shiva are gone. Search for any external signals, or bugs and such, anything they left behind. Make sure to check Ocean Master's helmet, as well.'
'Oui, Doctor...' she murmured, sounding morose.
I took one last, deep breath, letting the towel fall and walking towards the stairs after the others.