Pamela Isley, aka Poison Ivy
"I have to admit, this is indeed quite nice." Pamela comments with a smile while taking a sip of her drink, waiting for the waiter to bring her food.
She and Harley are sitting on the front of a renowned open restaurant, not one stop to look at them beyond the occasional gawk of some male and the envious gaze of some female.
This she can endure, much better than the screams of terror or any other overexaggeration that would happen anywhere in their former universe. Not that she could blame them.
"It has been some time since I experienced this feeling…" Pamela continues. Thanks to Hector's gift, her earrings, her skin is like it was before the accident that turned her into Poison Ivy.
"I told you… A clean slate, not being tied by the mistakes of our past selves, countless opportunities ahead of us." Harley, who is sitting in front of her, says.
"I think they are pretty limited if we are tied to that guy." Pamela can't help but say
"Don't even start, Pam. He is not imprisoning us, and you have to admit that staying with him opens a lot of doors." Harley defends Hector "We have new identities, our own apartments, filled bank accounts, the papers to start our careers…"
Pamela rolls her eyes but doesn't continue to argue.
Seeing that, Harley continues "Do you still think he is up to something? Some evil scheme? You are already acclimatized enough to this world… You saw Eidolon. Do you really think he needs to go through all this trouble if he wishes us harm?"
"..." Another good argument.
Pamela and Hector's meeting was all over the place, starting with fucking each other silly is not how a first meeting normally goes. She didn't even know his last name, and she was moaning his first name.
After that, with Harley's help, she was able to catch up with the common sense of this world. What is different and what is similar to her previous one… The geography, like the names of cities; history, like the presidents; and other things that she needs to learn.
While doing that, how could she not be aware of Earth's Greatest Hero? The same boy that fucked her brains out is the face of heroism and meta-humans in this world, a revolutionary trying to bridge the gap between the normal people and the ones with powers, who, for some reason, are discriminated against around here.
She also saw clips of his feats… Punches and strikes so strong that they change the weather and disperse a tsunami completely harmlessly, he moves so fast that the camera can't catch him, he trades blows with the God of Thunder, blows that the shockwaves alone cracked buildings.
He is like Superman… But he does more. Pamela saw him exposing rich and powerful people's dirty laundry to the world, she saw him restoring nature and influencing people to take care of it, and she saw him healing kids with cancer…
Harley said that he is like the fusion of Superman with Batman, she can't disagree with that… He embodies the two heroes in their best, the friendly symbol of hope that puts people at ease, and to the criminals, he is the nightmare that she remembers Batman was.
Pamela never liked the heroes; at most, she understood why they were necessary, but she was never gonna square up to fight any alien invasion. She never tried to kill a hero because they protected her planet (albeit not the way she likes) against external threats. There's also the fact that she doesn't want to direct their anger to her, she doesn't buy their saint persona, they are able to snap as much as anyone else… If she kills Batman, maybe she will never notice her death by a heat beam or a Greek sword.
But there's something different in the way he does things… In the past, she would look at Superman's good deeds and scoff. The goody two-shoes was changing nothing, just keeping the status quo, the planet slowly dying still. He was only delaying the inevitable
Such potential… Such waste…
Hector is not wasting his potential… She saw what he was doing and she saw his plans; all his actions would one day culminate in something big. A plan that would label anyone a villain, but the road to get there will be built on heroism and goodwill.
'He is more patient than I…' She will give him that.
Maybe her biggest mistake is how quickly she jumped the gun and tried to… ahem kill everyone and give the world back to the plants and nature.
But it is not her fault; she will never admit it. It was her hormones, the emotions, the circumstances… She was not in the right mind after just becoming a meta-human.
"I guess I can stick around with him to see if he will accomplish anything." She ends up saying, after all this contemplation.
Harley gives her a mysterious smile. "Good, you will end up falling for him then."
"Never. He is a convenient sex toy, but nothing more than that." Pamela denies immediately, too much pride in her bones. "We can use him to spice our sex life sometimes."
"Well, Pam… About that…" Harley shows a strange expression "We, you and I, are kind of not dating again… You are aware of that, right?" She completes with a small wince.
"What?" Pamela turns to her in disbelief "What do you mean? I don't remember we ever breaking up…"
"Pam… I'm dating him…" Harley says slowly "You said yourself that you are not gonna officially become his woman… He is not gonna force that on you either, but… I can't be in a relationship with you this way, at the same time I'm dating him."
"Harley…" Pamela uncrosses her legs, changes her stance to stare at her girlfriend, or not, with incredulous eyes. "Break up with him then."
"I'm sorry, Pam… He kinda comes first because you arrived late… I can't leave him to be with you. I like you two equally!" Harley assures her "But… I can't choose… and… He comes first…"
"And I'm the one getting in the way of your ideal throuple." Pamela says coldly
"..." Harley nods.
"Is this some sort of emotional blackmail?" Pamela's voice is still cold, angry even.
"No! Oh no, no, no… I would never do that to you, and he would hate that too." Harley says quickly, a little panic in her voice "I'm not denying that I want to set you two up, but I would not do something like that… I'm just stating this fact… establishing this boundary, Pam. Please don't hate me. Try to understand, if I get… involved with you in these circumstances, I would hurt him!"
"Hurt him??" Poison Ivy hisses in disbelief "We fucked together for hours! Are you gonna say now that he is gonna get jealous?"
"The keyword here is together…" Harley smiles weakly
"We literally rubbed our pussies together in his dick and now he has a problem if you do anything with me alone?" Pamela is still hissing, but in a lower voice. That is too embarrassing to be heard by anyone; she still can't believe she did that in the heat of the moment. "Aren't you seeing his controlling behaviour?"
"He is not controlling… Not in a toxic way, at least." Harley says slowly "He is a man with a lot of self-respect, Pam. He is not gonna allow himself to be cucked just for the promise of some occasional threesomes without strings attached. He is not like that…"
"He did exactly that."
"I convinced him of that… he was gonna reject you." Harley replies "He likes to have an emotional connection with his lovers… I believe that you two can form this emotional connection, eventually he believed in my belief, but you…" She still looks at Pamela weirdly
"But I'm making things difficult." The redhead huffs "Sorry if I'm not playing on your tune and becoming one of his side chicks at a snap of his fingers." She crosses her arms over her bosom and rolls her eyes
"Pammy, be real… Why all this animosity with him?"
"Don't start with the therapist tone with me, Harley." Poison ivy glares.
"No, I'm serious… You two are looking so good together, the chemistry was there, he was engaging with your interests… your bodies are so compatible…" Harley says the last part with a sly smile, trying to make the conversation lighter.
"..." It seems it works a little, because Pam doesn't look that angry anymore. "I don't know, okay?
"You don't know…" Harley repeats while raising her eyebrow
"Yeah, I don't know!" Pamela confirm "I just think that it shouldn't be this easy. I shouldn't be this easy!"
"...oh. Ooooooohhh~" Harley slowly says, realization appearing on her face as she slowly nods
" 'Ooooooh~', what?" Pamela asks angrily
"You have nothing against him… and that makes you angry… You are angry that you have nothing to get angry about." Harley analyzes
"...shut up. Drop the fucking therapist act." Pamela says in a low voice before gaining some strength in her tone, "What is wrong with putting your guard up in something too good to be true? I arrived here, and you guys are already setting me up in some scheme."
"Hm, understandable…" Harley admits. Any respectable super villain needs to be at least this careful and suspicious of everything.
"THIS…" Pamela tries to gesture to the whole situation "It's unnatural, it's moving too fast, and again… too good to be true."
"Hmm, I have to disagree, Pammy…" Harley tilts her head while pouting her lips slightly. "With my degree in psychology, I have to say that getting attracted to him is very 'natural', I would far as to say that is an inevitable outcome."
"I swear, Harley… If you are about to talk about Freud, I'm gonna crash out."
"Hehe, I don't even need to do that, Darwin is enough." Harley laughs
"..."
"Seriously, he embodies all the traits that women naturally seek-" The blonde was starting
"Don't even start listing it." Pamela interrupts Harley, almost pouting "I know what you are talking about, but simple attraction is not enough."
"It's the start, but you are fighting too hard against it, Pammy." Harley says softly, "Your feelings are going in that direction, so you are trying to go in the opposite direction with your head." She points her index finger right and the other to the left, the two tips touching. "You are conditioning your thoughts and attitude to fight it; that is not healthy."
"I told you this is not a therapy session."
"Just a counsel as your friend…"
"My friend? Not his woman?"
"..." Harley stares at the disgruntled Pamela Isley "Okay, I'm gonna be direct…" She finally adopts a serious posture "No more games, even though I know you liked them…"
"..."
"Become his woman." She says it with the most serious tone and gaze she can muster.
"Are you kidding me?" Poison Ivy gives her a side glance
"No, I'm not." Harley's face is 100% serious, something that even Pamela rarely sees. "It's something I want. Something I really want, and I believe it can work… I tried to make you want it too, and I know it's working."
"..."
"But you are at an impasse now, and I guess it will be for a long… So why don't we skip the trouble and just try it?"
"Try?"
"Yeah, try being his woman. Official. For real."
"..." Pamela makes a face
"What is the problem? We are adults, you can just break up with him if you don't like it…"
"..."
"If you don't want to hurt your ego by asking him, I can talk to him to make the first move." Harley suggests "Just assure me that you are gonna say yes, and I will convince him of going against his modus operandi and actively ask you out. If you say no to him once, he is gonna lose all interest in you forever…"
"..." Now Pamela is at a crossroads.
It makes sense… She really doesn't want to be separated from Harley, and she can admit in her mind that one of the reasons for her resistance is that she doesn't want to look like an easy woman. She has her pride as a femme fatale who uses men, after all.
But again, this makes too much sense, like everything else… And it annoys and scares her…
"No tricks anymore, Pamela." Harley continues seriously "I already accomplished what I wanted, show you how great of a guy he is, you experienced it first hand… I'm sure it's gonna work, but now the ball is in your hands. What is gonna be?" Harley finishes with a resigned expression, like she just washed her hands of this issue.
"..." Now, what is gonna be?
......…
Third Person P.O.V.
The Fantasticar moves silently beneath the ocean.
"But seriously, what is the plan?" Johnny, the Human Torch, asks, "Are we really gonna go to their Top Guy and throw at him this whole evil plot in his face?"
"Truth is on our side." Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman, says
"Your positive attitude is almost contagious, sis." Johnny drawls
"I'm gonna use my invisibility, obviously."
"Ugh, here we go again… But how are we gonna find the guy's place…" Johnny sighs
"Well… He is a king, so…" Ben starts, but is interrupted by Johnny
"Guys, I guess that is the place we are looking for…"
"I just had a déjà vu." Ben comments.
Like before, they found a place that can only be right. They traveled extensively to find another concentration of the Atlantis population, and they discovered one with a very large palace at its center, occupying at least half of the city's space and surpassing any other building in height.
"If that is not where the king lives, and there's a palace bigger than that out there, he is trying to compensate for something." Johnny jokes
"Well, here I go again…" Susan says in the same tone as her brother
"Aren't you glad that you took those swimming lessons when we were kids?" Her brother asks with a smirk
"And now you are the one that doesn't want to get wet… How things have changed." She rolls her eyes
"Hey, I literally have a fire superpower, and in the past, you just didn't want to get your hair wet!"
"It's obvious that my worry is much more valid." Invisible Woman exclaims before going out of the Fantasticar and immediately turning invisible.
Propelling herself forward with her powers, she crosses the distance at a fast, but still safe, pace. The problem is that this city is much bigger than it looks from afar. The building is enormous for some reason.
'Maybe because they don't need streets…' She thinks 'Parks and other similar things must be indoors.'
Despite the important mission, Susan can't help but be amazed once again by this world underwater. It's even more incredible here than before in that facility. If she had to compare, before she was like in a military base of some kind, and now she is in a real city.
She slowed down and avoided the many lights of the city, not to get caught by its many inhabitants. That allows her to take a good look around. She noticed that some of the sea people are a little different, writing a note in her mind that maybe they evolved from different kinds of fish.
She sees the architecture, marveling at the strangeness, the materials. She noticed the strong lights, but now she understands that it is the city itself that is shining… It seems that the rocks used to create the houses and all other structures can shine by themselves, which is why the whole city is so bright despite being deep in the sea. It looks like a jewel.
Eventually, Invisible Woman finally arrives at the outskirts of the palace. It's common sense that normally the most important people stay at the top…
'But we are in the deep sea, anyone can float… Maybe the most important people stay close to the land, opposite to the sky. Buoyancy versus gravity.' Her rationality is good.
Invisible Woman debates with herself where she should go.
The palace is like a beehive, filled with windows and doors that she can use. The inside can be a labyrinth to any invader like her, and if some hallway is too tight, people would notice her too.
She needs to make the right choice.
In the end, what tips the decision is the fact that the building is more like a normal pyramid, the top being thinner than the base… Less space means fewer people, because the number of important people is obviously smaller.
She also saw how fancy the top of the palace is, with some glass that she can't see through.
'Living on the top would also help overlook the whole city.' She guesses, entering a window close to the top, and she starts searching.
Then is when the other problem makes itself known… She has no idea what the king looks like.
"..." While she was thinking that, she found a statue of a semi-naked muscular guy. "... Maybe it's him, or this is an ancestor. Anyway, it's a start… It would be too much to find him sitting on his throne, I bet."
Susan continues to look for the monarch of Atlantis. Inside the palace, there was air that allowed her to remove her helmet. But in the end, she was the one found first.
While she was turning around to enter a big room, suddenly she was attacked from behind, a big hand grabbed her head and forced her face into the wall
Invisible Woman doesn't waste time before releasing a shield blast, pushing her enemy backwards and recovering her posture.
"You are not from here…"
She turns around to see the statue guy staring her up and down as her invisibility is slowly turned off. They still didn't introduce themselves, but this is without a doubt Namor, King of Atlantis
He is still wearing very little, like he is on a beach(but with a open green bathrobe), despite living deep in the ocean, he looks tanned, his age should be in the thirties, with his face clean-shaven (whole body seems shaved) and his hair slicked backward, he has a widow's peak too.
The most distinct feature is the small wings on his feet, like Hermes from Greek Mythology.
"Are you the king from Atlantis?" Susan asks hopefully.
"I am the one asking questions here, intruder." Namor is still giving her an appraising look. "I will provide you with 30 seconds to give me an answer that can satisfy me… State the reason you invaded my palace, surface dweller." He says regally and unfriendly
"Okay, your majesty… Are you aware of what you people are doing?" She asks rhetorically, aware that he doesn't know.
"..." Namor would never deign himself to answer that. He would lose face if he gave the wrong answer.
"Your people are plotting against you and the surface." Susan says calmly, choosing her words carefully to get his attention and talk for more than 30 seconds.
Equally slowly, she pulls a retractable holotablet from her belt and gives it to him. "Check for yourself."
Beyond the information that she got, Reed and the others also took pictures of the Tidal-Expander. They have all the proofs, but nonetheless Invisible Woman is still a little nervous.
She is not naive enough to believe that all monarchs would immediately jump to their feet and solve this situation. So she keeps her guard up against this unknown king, holding her breath while his eyes move around the information on the tablet.
Paying attention to his expressions, she is happy to see frowns and flickers of anger appearing before he controls himself.
"...where is this?" Namor finally asks
"50 miles north of here, hidden under a ravine and some natural camouflage." She answers immediately
"..." Namor stares at her, and Susan wants to believe that he is just searching for any kind of falsehood, maybe wary of some trap to lure him out.
And as must she can't deny that his gaze is half contemplative, his thoughts on that serious issue, she is also not blind to the other half of the reason for his gaze.
As a beautiful woman, she is used to them. Every five seconds or so, Namor gives her a shameless and natural once-over, looking her up and down and going back.
Men would think that they could be discreet, but women always notice… They always notice.
The thing is that Namor's efforts to hide his gaze are close to zero. As a king, he doesn't need to hide his intentions; women line up to him naturally thanks to his status, strength, and charm.
"And you come to me with this information? Smart…" He smiles at Susan.
"It was the logical option." She says evenly "Despite affecting the whole world, it's a problem inside your kingdom. It would be for the best if you could solve this without the need for anyone else to get involved."
"Oh… Did I notice a hint of a threat in your words?" His smile widens, and he approaches her. "Are you gonna do something if I do nothing? I'm curious now."
Invisible Woman steps back as he steps forward. "I prefer to do nothing, but I can't say the same about the rest of the world… Many countries and heroes would not stay quiet knowing what is happening down there. I bet you wouldn't like them intruding on the sovereignty of your nation…"
"Oh… That makes sense, not that Atlantis fears any country on the surface." Namor declares proudly "And I would prefer not to have your Avengers running around him, polluting the water."
"You know about the Avengers?" Susan exclaims in surprise
"Haha! If I know? I'm the one who rescued the very first avenger from the ice! Captain America himself owes his life to me… Not that I will collect this debt, I'm not so petty to charge for a good deed to such a valiant man." Namor laughs while crossing his arms over his chest, his muscles bulging.
"It seems you know more about the surface than I expected…" 'But you are blind to your own people's misdeeds.' She keeps her thoughts to herself.
"I'm half-human myself, the best of both worlds, Namor! My duties keep me down there, but I often travel through the surface to see the good parts." He brags before giving her a smile "But it seems I missed some of the good of the surface…" he looks at her suggestively. "If you want, I can give you a tour so that I can show you the good things down here, too."
"Eh… I think we have more pressing issues…" She says diplomatically.
She would not be against visiting the amazing Atlantis, but it seems it would have strings attached.
"Pressing issues, huh? Maybe… as much of the use of the Tidal-Expander is not a pressing issue, the fact that they are doing things behind my back is."
"..." 'Excuse me, the surface is in danger.'
"Better that I go solve this quickly, it will save time to know you better, fair lady." Namor looks at her "I gave you my name, but you still guard yours."
"...Invisible Woman."
"Your title? Very well, you can give me your real name in a more casual conversation later."
"..."
......…..
Namor didn't waste time acting. He immediately left his palace and started swimming north, to where Susan pointed.
But not before turning to her and saying "Shall we, my lady?" Offering his hand to carry her
"Eh… I'm going with my group…" She avoids him. "While you… call you soldiers or something like that."
Invisible Woman goes back to the Fantasticar, but Namor didn't call for reinforcements. The King of Atlantis simply swam alone.
"..." Susan stares at him while frowning "Eh, follow that guy." She says after going back to the Fantasticar
"Did you find the King?" Reed asks
"That is the King."
"That guy wearing swim trunks?" Johnny raises an eyebrow. "Not very… regal."
"Maybe is a cultural difference…" Susan shrugs, unsure.
"Isn't it like zero degrees down here?"
"They probably adapted." Reed says "And he is fast, he already left the range of our sensors."
"Then let's not waste time and see if he can do this. I want to go back to firm land as quickly as possible." Johnny speeds up to follow Namor.
........
Namor, the Sub-Mariner, speed on the water can't be underestimated.
He moves with minimal movement, barely creating any ripple on the water, even though he is moving at supersonic speeds. Silently and quickly, he arrives at the place that Invisible Woman told him.
He didn't doubt her; he even knew there was some plot brewing in his kingdom, but when there is not one? Reigning is an eternal cycle of peace and war. Peace is only the moment when people prepare for war.
Atlantis is too big and has no external enemies for a long time, obviously it would be infested with internal issues and power struggles. And this without talking about the trouble of his parentage.
Despite being as old as Captain America and having reigned for decades, Namor's heritage was always a topic of discussion among the Atlanteans.
The common populace accepts their king relatively well, but the top brass is a different story. The ones with pedigree, the ones that only have their status to show off, obviously would have issues with the fact that Namor reigns above them without being a pureblood.
Unfortunately for them, Namor is Powerful.
He is not only the son of Princess Fen, an Atlantean with the noblest of the lineages, a magic-user, and stronger than the average sea-dweller; his human side is not his weak point either
Being a hybrid allowed him more than simply breathe both underwater and on the surface. He is both a Homo Mermamus mixed with not a simple Homo Sapiens, but a Homo Superior, or as Eidolon would say, a Meta-Human. One from the Alpha classification, nonetheless, like Cyclops and Professor Xavier.
He literally, and truthfully, has the best of both worlds.
He reigns not only because of his status, but because he is strong.
In no time, Namor is already floating above the Tidal-Expander, looking down at the facility operating beneath him. He can recognize these men, an idea of the real perpetrators already appearing on his mind.
Now to confirm… Swift like a tuna, he dashes to a certain blue-skinned Atlantean. He grabs the man's neck, his armor bending on Namor's grip.
"Hello, Marl. So this is where you come in your free time? It doesn't look like a pleasant vacation spot."
"My… My King…" The Atlantean named Marl says with a lot of effort, his hands holding Namor's muscular arm, but not moving the monarch.
"I already know everything, but I will give you the chance to repent from your mistakes. Tell me what you know. Any lie or omission will be a death sentence to your family and loved ones." Namor orders imperiously
"You… You…" Marl's eyes widen in shock, negative emotions swirling on his face
"Talk!" Namor presses impatiently.
"You… You are not my king…" Beep Instead of talking, Marl pressed something in his hand, and alarms started blasting through the whole facility.
"...fool." Crack After one last disgusted look, Namor breaks the Atlantean's neck and lets it float lifelessly on the water.
The king looks down with an austere expression while the whole place becomes a hive of activity, people leaving the building with weapons in hand, securing the perimeter, stopping their patrol to swim higher.
But despite the seemingly dire situation, Namor remains still, not hiding or acting. He will allow them to notice him and make the next move, and react accordingly. One last chance to surrender.
Namor's actions are born from his absolute confidence and pride in his strength.
Like he predicted, it didn't take long for the Atlanteans working here to spot him, their expression changing to shock and guilt for getting caught.
"Does anyone want to confess their crimes and explain to me what is happening here?" He asks the hundreds of soldiers.
They look at each other, they look around… Finally, someone shouts "Attack!"
"It seems that you guys are pretty deep in this scheme…" Namor prepares himself while his enemies swim around him like a swarm of fish.
Standing on the center of the chaos, Namor attacks and dodges the attacks with his superior speed. Fighting underwater is different from on the surface; the three-dimensional battle is more similar to aerial combat.
The Atlanteans go all out with dashes and charges, and if they miss, they need to make a long curve to go back and try again. keeping their speed and momentum.
Namor is imprisoned in a dome of enemies circling him while trying to attack his blind spot or find an opening after any action he takes.
The King of Atlantis also has another advantage beyond his overwhelming physical prowess. Fighting alone against a group allows one to be pretty reckless with their attack, without fear of friendly fire, they can use some enemies as a meat shield against the rest.
He grabs one Atlantean by the neck and throws him at another that was dashing at him with a spear, after the two crash, he advances and punches the two together. He also grabs another and uses him to defend himself from shots from the Atlantean army's energy guns. The mounts used by his enemies can be made to go rampage with a punch in the eye, too, creating another distraction.
There's an impasse, one side has quantity and the other quality, but it is obvious that unless Namor commits some grave mistake, or gets tired, he will gain in the end. The problem is that it seems his enemies have no end.
More and more arrive from god knows where, seemingly very resolved in killing the King of Atlantis here. Namor is regretting a little not bringing any reinforcements, not even his cousin…
"This will take longer than expected… But it will be good to cull the vermin from my kingdom!" He roars and gets more aggressive, grabbing one of his enemies' spears and throwing it to impale two others.
It's with the hellish sight of the water becoming red that the Fantasticar finally arrives.
"Damn, those political issues can get bloody…" Johnny comments
"Johnny! Don't joke about that!" Susan admonishes her brother "We need to do something…"
"We can't help much from here." Ben says. Their powers are not that good underwater.
"I can." Susan declares as she stands up from her seat, raising her arms in front of her and conjuring a shield to separate Namor from half of his enemies. Even going as far as pushing them away in the hopes of knocking them out.
This can lessen the burden on the king of Atlantis, maybe allowing him to go a little easier on his enemies.
It works well in the beginning, too well, because the Atlanteans turn their attention to the Fantasticar, too. A good number of them start swimming towards them, and Johnny starts making some maneuvers to avoid them.
"Johnny, keep it stable!" Susan shouts, struggling to concentrate with all the shaking.
"You are asking too much, sis!"
"Well, I guess it's time…" Ben says before grabbing something behind his seat. A swimming helmet similar to Susan't, but his comes with a small Jetpack. Small to his big, rocky frame. "Clobberin Time, baby!"
Leaving the same way Susan left earlier, Ben transforms outside the Fantasticar. In his rocky form, he still needs to breath, and his movements will obviously go sluggish underwater, but if he bypass those two weakness he can be a pretty good shield.
The jetpack propels him forward, and he grabs two Atlanteans before knocking the two together and moving to the others, tanking shots to the chest like nothing.
"Now I can counter-attack." Johnny grins before turning the Fantasticar around and bringing the guns and starting blasting like he is in a sci-fi movie.
The guns of the Fantasticar are non-lethal, but Johnny can finally fight back and let off some steam.
The battle continues for some minutes, energy blasts lighting up the battlefield, bodies being knocked away, Susan's shield stopping attacks… It's chaotic, but now the advantage of the group of heroes is even more obvious.
But the situation changes again when another big group of Atlanteans appears. The newcomers are led by someone driving a chariot pulled by two giant sharks of an unknown species.
He has blue skin, a mean face, and is tall and muscular; the important parts of his body are covered by a golden armor, and his helmet also has protective glass in the front.
"Attuma… I knew that it was you." Namor speaks when the battlefield goes still "And you Krang, too cowardly to do something properly against me, so you sold yourself to him."
"I don't care about the means, I only care that you die." Warlord Kran, a bald blue-skinned Atlantean with a goattee, snarls with rage.
"It's because of this attitude of yours that your wife chose to share her bed with me… To feel what a real man is for the first time." Namor trash-talks to anger the opponent.
Before Krang was able to give an answer, Attuma raised his arm to stop him.
"It was not in my plans for you to discover this so soon, half-breed, but it will work out in the end…"
"What are they talking about? Can they talk underwater???" On the side, the Fantastica Four is looking at the situation with wariness and confusion.
"Theoretically sound can travel even better in the water than in the air, but humans don't have the ability to understand them clearly… It's expected that a species that evolved to breathe underwater also has the necessary organs to discern clear words. I want to see their ear structure…" Reed gives his two cents, typing frantically in the panel, "I think I can catch what they are talking... here!"
An antenna appears beneath the Fantasticar, and after a Bzzt, they can hear the talk.
"...too arrogant to come here alone, no one will mourn at your funeral." Attuma continues
"I don't need to use my kingdom to deal with the likes of you." Namor says arrogantly, "You all hide beneath your armies and schemes like boxfishes hiding under rocks. Why don't you spare your men's lives and come at me, Attuma?" Namor opens his arms, "Man vs Man. A duel to end things, one for all!"
The provocation is obvious, and Krang almost fell for it, but Attuma is much calmer
"HAHAHA! Do you want me to throw all that advantage away?"
"I want to spare you the embarrassment of watching me tear through your pathetic shoal before dying."
"Hmpf! As much as I would love to see your face being smashed by my hammer from upon close, I think I would prefer much more to watch you helpless struggles as you are devoured alive." Attuma's pointy-tooth grin is malevolent.
"..." Namor frowns at the mention of "devoured". A thought flickered on his mind.
Attuma sucks a deep breath of water before roaring "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!"
"Damn… he really said the line…" Johnny comments
"Shut up." Susan elbows her brother.
The tension is palpable while a subordinate of Attuma blows a giant seashell.
"..." At first, nothing happens, but then they felt it… The water is moving in great quantities, like it's being pushed by something, something big is coming.
From the dark and deep sea, a shadow moves, the sand rises, and the whole palace trembles slightly. One can make the distinctions of giant tentacles attached to a ginormous body.
"You madman, you can't control that thing." Namor's expression finally changes.
"Maybe you can't!" Attuma shouts "After a lot of trial and error, I was finally able to develop a method of controlling even the worst of the deep-sea monsters! When the Tidal-Expander completes its job, the whole world will be at my mercy. Waves and monsters will attack the surface!" He shouts like a madman while the shadow of the kraken falls over them.
"Wow… That is really a villain speech, and I'm kinda of a specialist on that." A calm and deep voice suddenly echoes through everyone's mind.
The Fantastic Four can recognize this voice, but the situation is a little too weird to immediately put a face on it…
At the same time, the figure of the Kraken is finally close enough to be clear, but… It's not the Kraken. No, it's it… But the Kraken is not creating the huge shadow.
The enormous Kraken is being held by an even bigger creature and being dragged, seemingly unconscious, like a teddy bear in the hand of a kid.
"Gigantomachia…" Susan says, recognizing the giant.
Despite the scary image of a mountain of a man walking on the seabed, it's eyes two red dots glinting eerily, she only feels relief. Now the situation can be solved without an issue. The voice that talked earlier finally has a face.
It's a commonly known fact that Gigantomachia is incredibly loyal to only one man; the giant barely does anything if not commanded by him… There are sightings of Gigantomachia in Indonesia and South Asia, but he never acted to help people or anything like that; he just wandered through the area.
There's a clip of him watching his boss' actions through a TV in a store, blocking the whole sidewalk and not moving till the TV changed. He is unfriendly and scary to everyone, but one…
So if he appeared here, obviously Eidolon came too.
It's finally clear enough to see… Gigantomachia apparently can also breathe underwater because he is wearing nothing but pants, and Eidolon is standing on his shoulder, equally unbothered.
"Machia… I don't like that thing." The black-clad hero points to the Tidal-Expander "Destroy it."
Gignatomachia immediately obeys, with a roar that shakes the place, he makes his big arm grow to even more ridiculous proportions, going above the battlefield, his fingers elongate in giant claws before he slaps and breaks the apocalyptic device like it is made of cardboard.
The Tidal-Expander was at least as big as a mansion, and it was easily destroyed with one palm strike. The water muffled the sound, but the shockwave still pushed everyone backwards a little.
"Now… Can the responsible swim forward a little? I just wanna talk…" Eidolon says, his voice inside everyone's head.
His expression, however, says otherwise. The way his eyes shine and the shadow of the colossus looming over everyone… it all screams promises of pain to the villains.
...
A.N.:Hello there.
If you like this story, consider supporting me in the p.a.t.r.e.o.n... There are chapters ahead there.
Here is the Link: (without spaces)
patreon . com / Evans 269
Hope you all enjoyed it, make a comment because interaction motivates me to keep writing. Thanks for reading.
Till next time and stay good y'all.
Bye Bye~