He could barely contain himself.
Opperculus's Atlantean instincts were going into overdrive as he watched his boss discuss battle plans with his new ally, Dao D, leader of the Dragon Clan.
He was an extremely short man, only four feet in height, and gave the impression of a kind and gentle grandfather. However, the unseen aura he projected was anything but.
Opperculus sensed a power behind him. He couldn't see, hear, or even explain it, but he sensed that power, and his Atlantean bloodlust wanted to see it laid bare.
Mamba nudged his shoulder just before he lost himself in his own bloodlusted thoughts.
He smiled at her, but she returned it with a scoff and focused on the meeting. He decided to do the same.
Kobra and Dao were still talking, and it seemed Opperculus didn't miss much of their conversation.
"So you want an alliance with the Dragon Clan? Just after you declared war on us? Do you take us for fools?"
"No, I take you for intelligent criminals willing to do anything to survive."
Dao snickered at the response. The man behind him, a slender man with a purple jumpsuit and a large infinity symbol on his chest, walked forward and spoke up.
"I told you this man wasn't to be trusted, grandpa! Look at how he insults us!"
"Since when was being called intelligent an insult? Step back, kid. Uncountable was it? Whatever. Let the adults talk."
"You dare..."
Dao cut Uncountable off right at that moment with a fierce glare, his face contorting to intimidate the man in a way it wasn't supposed to.
Dao then turned his attention to Kobra.
"The Red Shadow is a threat we both recognize. He took down one of my children, for crying out loud! I know my old age wouldn't allow me to take him down, which is bad as I'm the strongest member of my Clan."
"But grandpa..." Uncountable interrupted, only to stop after another look from the old man.
"Your alliance may be our best bet of getting rid of that threat. That I understand."
"I'm glad you're seeing reason," Kobra continued.
"Yes. But that doesn't mean I'll blindly start trusting you. I know you want nothing more than to take us out. Watch yourself, Kobra. We may be allies now, but we are not friends. If you plan on betraying us, know that the Dragon Clan exists beyond the confines of the Commonwealth."
"Noted. We aren't friends, and I never wanted us to be."
"So when do we go after this Red Shadow guy? What's the game plan?"
"Today." Kobra answered blankly.
Everyone in the room jumped in shock at how casually he answered the question. It shocked them just as much as the nature of his response.
"This early?!" Uncountable shouted, stepping forward again.
"What's the plan? Do you even have reinforcements? See, grandpa?! This man is leading us to a trap!" He continued.
The old man smiled.
"What is the meaning of this, Kobra?"
Kobra stared at the old man for a few seconds and then turned his attention to the skylight of the abandoned warehouse he intentionally picked to meet.
Then, in just a few seconds, the skylight broke into a million pieces, and seven supers landed in the middle of the meeting, silencing everyone.
Blue Shadow.
Green Guardian.
Obsidian.
Sharkwoman.
Viper.
Warzone.
Red Shadow.
"Ah yes, the gang's all here! Right on time! I was beginning to think you'd flake on me. And who are you?" Kobra shouted in pure joy and pointed to Warzone.
"Name's Warzone. I'm the leader of this little squad and y'all are under arrest." Luthor said with his armor augmenting his voice to sound more frightening. The moment he said it, everyone assumed a battle stance.
Well, everyone except Max, the Red Shadow, who was standing so nonchalantly you'd think he was waiting in line for something.
"You knew they were coming, weren't you?" Dao said to Kobra with a smile.
Kobra smiled too, under his snake-like mask, of course.
"I have my methods." Kobra chuckled and pulled a small piece of red flesh from one of the joints in his armor. This got Max to focus on him but not assume any proper fighting stance.
Kobra was fuming.
Opperculus could finally let loose and by Poseidon no one was going to stop him. Just as he took a step forward, though, Kobra was long gone.
"Red Sha..." Luthor tried to say, being the only one to notice Kobra grab an unsuspecting Max by the mouth and send him flying outside the warehouse.
"Shit! He's moving too fast! Blue! Go and get Red! Faster!" Luthor shouted to Jake as soon as Max disappeared with Kobra.
"On it, Lu... I mean, Warzone." Jake responded and turned his blue energy to his speed, using it to run across the warehouse to the nearest exit.
Suddenly he stopped, as he felt a hand grab him by the neck and launch him to the left corner of the building. Just as that happened, the true battle began as the Danger Squad and the two gangs began to go head to head.
It was Opperculus who threw him, and it was Opperculus who was on top of him at that very moment.
"You think you're just gonna ignore me and get away with it, Blue? Please! You owe me big time for this!" Opperculus shouted in his face.
"The only thing I owe you is a proper beating!" Jake came back.
"Good luck with that, human scum! Hell, you're not even human anymore!" He responded with a heavy cackle, his gills adding an extra wet feeling to them.
The Atlantean then started raining blows on him as quickly as he threw him to the corner. Luckily, Jake set his energy to his arms to block the blows. Opperculus reached to his back to grab his trident but was then pounded on the gut with a powerful blow, sending him flying to the nearest window.
"Who dares?"
Opperculus got up to see the hand he used to grab the trident turn to stone. He looked forward to see Blue Shadow's partner, Viper, had come to his aid.
He used his other arm to grab the trident and surged his body with electricity. In seconds, the stony features he started developing disintegrated into nothingness.
Enraged, he gave off a beast-like scream and lunged forward. Viper didn't fire her red beams at him but rather jumped backwards, away from her partner and out of the way of his attack.
"Oh! Fleeing out of fear, I see? How pathetic, but pretty standard for your kind!" Opperculus shouted at her with that same laugh and got his trident ready to hit Jake.
However, just as the trident hit the floor, Jake's body disappeared.
"What the hell?!" Opperculus shouted and slammed the floor with his trident again, making a small hole. "It looked as though Blue had sunk into the ground like quicksand. How did he do that?"
"That would be me."
Opperculus turned around to see the other Atlantean, the girl, whatever her name was, holding Blue Shadow in her arms.
"OK, thanks Stacy... I mean Sharkwoman. Now come on. Let's take this bozo down like we were supposed to."
"Not so fast, Jake." Stacy said abruptly.
"What's wrong?" Jake asked.
She then pointed towards something. Jake saw Green Guardian in a gigantic form five times his usual size going toe to toe with an enormous beast of a man he could only assume was Anaconda.
Then Obsidian having what seemed to be a gun-fight against Mamba. One using acidic poison and the other using blasts of raw plasma. Each firing and dodging each other's deadly attacks.
Then he saw Warzone battling the Uncountable. That's when he realized why he went by that name. The man was multiplying himself into multiple copies and Warzone was exhausting his weapons dealing with them.
Some tried to leave and attack the rest of the group but Warzone did his best to keep them contained within an electromagnetic force field he created on the spot.
Looking past them, that's when he realized what Stacy was pointing at. The old man, Dao D, was walking calmly towards the exit.
"Remember what Luthor showed us before the mission? That's the head of the Dragon Clan. He's gonna try to join up with Kobra and take Max down! We can't let that happen. You have to take him down."
"But what about Opperculus?" Jake asked, concerned for his friend.
"Viper and I will take care of him. Just go."
Viper then turned to the mention of her name. "Us? Are you sure about that? We could barely damage him with that godforsaken trident of his. And you're sending Jake to fight some old man we have no way of knowing how strong he is! This is just..."
Suddenly, Jake placed his hand on her lip.
"Relax, Ivy. I got this. This is the big leagues now. If we want to cut it as supers, this is what we'll be doing now. Have faith in me. I got this." He said with a smile, exposing his bright, glowing blue teeth.
Ivy kissed him on the cheek and smiled at him.
"Oh well. I tried. Go get him. We'll hold down the fort here."
Jake nodded twice and gave Stacy a pat on the forehead. Then, transferring his energy to his speed, zipped past the two, Zack, Paulina and Luthor, and headed right for the old man in just a few seconds.
"Sorry, old timer. It's time for your evening nap." He said, charging some of his energy into his fist for a powerful blow.
"Really? It's only seven forty-five?" Dao responded, shocking Jake as he raised his fist as well.
The last thing Jake saw then was the fist enlarging to four times its size and turning green with spiky scales.
Then the fist hitting him square across the jaw...
knocking him out.
To be continued...