ic Shark Week: Ghost Sharks! (IC)

[Ari]

In all honesty, EL Heraldo was frozen in terror when he saw the monstrous woman. In the first place, while he knew on an intellectual level what animals looked like on the inside, seeing them torn open was still a shocking sight to his young eyes. Eyes wide, he barely noticed when Glow arrived, still looking in horror at the first of the new enemies. "What...why did you...?" he stammered in horror. In the second place, he was pretty sure she was a Deep One. He had never seen one himself, but he had heard that they were human-like with features common to fish, and he assumed the scale dress was part of her body.

In the third place, she was very likely a vampire. Subito had never gotten even remotely used to the idea of vampires, as the concept of a monster that looked human until it started tearing open your neck with its fangs sparked an irrational terror deep in his heart. As a result, he simply couldn't look away, or say anything else. He wanted to tell Glow something, but his mouth was dry with fear; he would gladly have looked anywhere else but at the prowling corpse, but What if she attacks when I'm not looking?! Subito, you must- Nononono! I won't! If I do I'm dead!

A nauseous feeling of terror spread through him, and he almost thought of fleeing when the scaled man with the head-dress barged in, his loud and hissing voice breaking the spell and reminding El Heraldo of he and Glow's true aim. Gripping the Banner so tightly he would have bent a lesser staff, he said tersely to the vampire woman before turning to the one who called her Tethys "We are not your food, dripping sludge. We have come to stop your plot to manipulate the Deep Ones to your service with their young and punish you for ensnaring a human to your aid, and for risking the lives of our people with your ghost-possessed shark!"

[Raveled]

Tethys didn't seem at all concerned with El Heraldo's powerful declaration against them. "Pretty, tasty little things," she said, swaying back and forth. "Why don't you just lie down and let all your worries bleed away?" She darted in, moving with supernatural speed. Her hands were empty, but they struck like sledgehammers against his ribs. As she danced closer El Heraldo's world seemed filled with those blank, dead eyes, those sharp, white teeth, and those red, red lips.

[Ari]

El Heraldo very nearly lost his head. The horrible visions that swam before his eye as the evil creature slid towards him filled his veins with ice, and he felt himself begin to shiver as the terrible sensation of panic grew at the back of his consciousness. With a tremendous effort of will, he crushed the fear welling up in his heart, focusing himself on the pain of his side, which he realized with a start had been badly bruised and cut by the lashing claws of the vampire. Sending himself forward with a cry of "For la Dama Azul!" he swung the heavy Banner at the legs of his opponent, seeking to send her dead body crashing to the ground. To his tremendous frustration, she managed to move with the attack and keep her footing, sending him a few steps backwards. He crouched, ready to fling himself into the next attack aimed at Glow.

"May your attacks have more bite than mine!" he told her crisply "I am badly outmatched, I think"

[Raveled]

The scaly sorcerer held his ground, keeping the glowing ring between himself and the heroes. "You impudent drythingsss will learn the folly of interfering with Iapetusss!" His free hand sketched arcane designs in the air, and the glow around the ring grew lambent and flickering. Suddenly it leapt up into a fireball and raced towards Glow! At the last moment though, El Heraldo made a heroic leap and took the hit for her, his costume looking decidedly singed around the edges.

[Scuffles]

Glow, slightly distracted by Heraldo's blatant fear, was caught on the hop by the sudden attack, and she yelped as Heraldo leaped in front of a bolt of energy meant for her. To her credit the young heroine recovered quickly and exploded into motion. Ablaze with green light she somersaulted clear over Heraldo's head, rolled and came up in a lunge towards the Serpent sorcerer.

She didn't attack however and cartwheeled aside to face the vampire who had Heraldo so rattled. "You're still hungry? How about you chew on this!" she yelled as she lashed out with a telekinetic punch.

[Raveled]

The scaly sorcerer had no chance against the agile Aussie. He attempted to follow her quick, acrobatic movements, but either the ceremonial dress slowed him down or he simply wasn't used to tracking such a fast moving target, because although he pointed the ring in a lot of places it was never directly at Glow.

Tethys, meanwhile, would not be deterred from El Heraldo. She seemed to scent his fear, her lips pulling back to reveal more and more teeth. "Come here, little boy," she said, moving sinuously around him. "Let me show you the color of your guts!" With that she rushed in, arms swinging wide -- not to strike him, but to grab him in a bear hug and crush him close to her!

[Ari]

El Heraldo de la Dama Azul wasn't fooled for an instant! The second the savage sea-vampire began to try and use his fear of her against him, he was ready. Steeling his nerves and concentrating his very soul, he banished the imagined horrors of slashing teeth and unnaturally-strong hands tearing through him, forcing all his attention towards the battle around him...which included being caught in the arms of the vampire, already struggling before the monster's iron limbs had fully encircled him. Gritting his teeth he spat out "That...is not happening, corpse-woman!" and flung himself backward, assisted by his ability of flight, tearing free of the vampire's grasp and quickly regaining his footing on the floor of the eerily-lit aquarium with a stagger. We can't go on like this! he thought desperately as he surveyed the two scaled monsters, only to see that the more massive and serpentine of the two was briefly off-guard due to Glow's acrobatics The time has come! thundered the Blue Dame's voice in his mind Strike!

Tossing the Banner to his left hand, El Heraldo leaped backwards, pulled back his right arm as it began to glow faintly, and hurled himself forward and upward, bringing the fist crashing into the side of the sorcerer's head with titanic force! The furious punch delivered, he shot back near Glow to prepare for the next assault.

[Scuffles]

"Nice!" Glow exclaimed with a fierce grin as Heraldo landed a solid blow on the magic-wielding Serpent-man. "Keep on him! I'll sort out this thing!"

She advanced on Tethys, balanced to neatly, coiled to burst into motion at any moment. When the attack came however there was no movement associated with it at all. Without so much as a gesture the young heroine lashed out with a solid telekinetic strike, then narrowed her eyes as the vampire woman withstood it.

"You know, it's still not too late to do things the easy way.." she noted. "No? Didn't think so."

[Raveled]

Tethys seemed obsessed with getting a taste of the young paragon's blood. She came in again, fast and low, her limbs moving with a blur of speed. She grabbed his arms and forced them back, stepping forward until their faces were inches apart. "Come swim with me, child," she hissed, "and I will show you why your ancestors fled the seas!" She clamped her arms around El Heraldo and leapt, propelling them up and into the air, curving around and making a splash dive into the shark tank. Shredded bits of fish floated around them as they struggled together under the water.

[Ari]

Struggling ineffectually as he was dragged into the water, a surge of relief came over El Heraldo as he and the walking corpse dove in and he remembered Of course! I can breathe underwater! Time to turn the tables!

With a terrific push of his loci-enhanced muscles, he forced himself out of the vampire's clutching embrace, snapping "Lady, if you keep at this I'll make you pay for what you've already done thatmuch quicker! Get back!" he cried while directing a swift punch at her head, that in the dense water was slowed enough for her to barely evade.

We can't all be winners he thought ruefully, shooting backwards to another end of the shark tank. Eyes locked on his enemy. I hope Glow's okay with that snake guy...wait a sec, of course not! I gotta help! But I need to figure out how to beat her first, and that doesn't look too likely. Why couldn't I be one of those ultra-competent guys, like..like just about everyone else at school? How dare you disparage my gifts so glibly! Have they not served you well, Subito? Or do you think those others gained their power and skills by random chance? her voice grew softer I know you are upset you are not as powerful as you need to be here, but you will not win by being frustrated, try to immobilize her somehow she suggested.

[Raveled]

Tethys swam through the shredded shark skin and offal, snapping her teeth at the superhero. "So you don't drown? A pity. I love to see the terror close in when someone feels their live slipping away. I like to think I'm doing them a favor, when I kill them before they can know what it is to drown."

Outside the water, Iapetus charged in close to the young telekinetic. "You risk the wrath of the serpent, child," he hissed, grabbing her struggling form and opened his mouth to expose two fangs as long as a finger. He ducked his head down and bit into the meat of Glow's shoulder, the fangs puncturing the fabric of her uniform easily. She felt a brief burning sensation, and then a coldness spread out from the wound as venom seeped into her body.

[Scuffles]

Glow cried out in pain as Lapetus punctured through her telekinetic defenses with a vicious bite, a stiff-arm to his chest serving more to create some distance than as an attack as she backpedaled away and clutched at her injured arm. For a moment the cold seeping down her arm seemed serious, and a fog descended slowly over her thoughts..

The young heroine growled defiantly and a blaze of green light surrounded her as she quashed the distraction and lashed out at the Serpent-man, the telekinetic grab narrowly missing him as he stepped aside.

"Heraldo!" she called towards her powerful teammate. "It's still light out, maybe you two should take it outside!?"

[Raveled]

The tank was beginning to grow murky; the continued motion of the dead-yet-moving villainess and the brightly-clothed hero were stirring up the remains of the sharks, and the shredded meat floating in the water seemed to drive Tethys into a greater frenzy. She kicked out and spun closer to El Heraldo, mouth opening in a ghoulish grin. She reached and punched El Heraldo low in his back, driving her hand into a particular nerve cluster. Either she was a lot more skilled than she let on, or she was damn lucky, because the blow made his limbs tingle and twitch in an uncoordinated manner.

[Ari]

The piercing claws stabbed into the young mantle-bearer, easily penetrating past the jacket that barely impeded them, the horrible jerking and numbing sensation spreading through his limbs at a terrible speed when they bit into his flesh. The vampire's claws were stopped dead at the skin of his torso, ringing like they had struck iron. Just when it seemed like he was about to suffer an awful , however, El Heraldo managed to summon the power of La Dama Azul, stifling the muffled scream of pain that nonetheless escaped from his lips as a faint glow burst from him, taking back control of his body from the dreadful attack!

He glared at Glow, the slight irritation he felt at the oblique suggestion magnified by the pain. "Sure! I'll start doing that as soon as I can, Aussie!" he barked angrily, trying to make himself heard through the water and glass "I just need to stop losing horribly for a second!" he punctuated the words with a dash towards Tethys, arms streaming bubbles through the bloody water as he missed the vampire by several feet, the aquatic predator easily avoiding the attack.

[Raveled]

Tethys and Subito rolled around each other in the water, as Iapetus and Glow traded ephemeral blows on the floor. Iapetus hissed at Glow suddenly, showing wickedly curved fangs, before backing away at speed. "This is a distraction," he spat. "Tethys! Deal with these children. I go to get ours!" With that he turned and fled deeper into the complex, presumably making a beeline for the eggs.

[Scuffles]

Hey! Get back here! Glow yelled after the retreating serpent-man, but she knew she couldn't just dash off in pursuit and leave Heraldo in the vicious clutches of the Atlantean vampire. Her fists clenched tight as she watched Lapetus go, then whirled on her heel to regard the thrashing underwater brawl.

Well some of us can't breathe underwater.. she thought as she gathered her powers and prepared to smash the shark tank. Damn it, we don't have time for this!

"Enough!" the Australian heroine shouted as she snapped her gaze towards the ceiling. "Time to shine some light on the situation!"

Fluorescent green blazed off her for a moment, then flashed skywards as she unleashed a solid mental blow at the ceiling, trying to blast a big enough hole to fill the room with sunlight.

[Raveled]

The telekinetic blow opened a hole in the ceiling and pure, bright sunlight poured in. It lanced through the water and the area around Tethys immediately started bubbling and boiling, as the vampire screamed in pain. Her pale skin turned beet red and she propelled herself out of the water quickly, landing on her feet and dashing deeper into the building. It didn't take long to realize that her path was different from Iapetus; the heroes could follow one or the other, but not both...

[Ari]

Subito blinked furiously when his telekinetic schoolmate tore a hole in the roof and unleashing a blazing hammer of sunlight down on their enemy, sizzling the flesh of the vile vampire and sending her shrieking out of the tank and down the dimly-lit hallway. Bursting out of the bloody water Heraldo began to charge after her when he realized: 'The Deep One children...'

Quick as light he turned on his airborne heel, rocketing after the snake-man with in a swirl of golden mist. Catching up to the fleeing man, he landed, took a deep breath, and let out a furious roar that trembled the glass display cases on either side of the two, trying to throw his foeman clean off his feet!

"We won't let you take those children! Let the Deep Ones come and claim them, they'll not be used as your pawns!" he shouted enraged at his enemy, blood still hot from the battle in the shark tank.

[Scuffles]

Glow hesitated just for a moment as Tethys fled, then snarled in frustration as she realized that she had to let the vampiress go. She turned towards the door that Lapetus had used, then wrapped her powers around herself and flung herself in pursuit.

The young telekinetic dropped gracefully back to the ground as she arrived just behind Heraldo. "Hey, you got some shark on you," she noted almost flippantly as she flicked at her comrade's shoulder, then strode forwards, her voice hardening. "Alright, how about you just give it up now?" she asked Lapetus as she landed a solid mental blow on the fallen villain.

[Ari]

"Yeah, I think I got some of my blood on it too" Heraldo acknowledged, flying past Glow in a corkscrew under and around her telekinetic smash to get at the snakeman, balling one of his red-gloved hands into a fist which began to blaze with a golden fire. Hurling himself into the Claremonter's serpentine foe he slammed the glowing fist against his head with an explosion of light and a thudding echo that rang out through the empty hallway, shouting "Don't listen to her, snake-man! Continue to fight, press on for the children that you would steal to get your claws into their parents! By all means, proceed with this infamy!"

'Subito, that is stupid to say YesIknowfightingwehavetostophim!'

[Raveled]

The sorcerer twisted and struggled, fighting against El Heraldo's incredible grip. "Releassse me, ssssurface dwelling ape! Your impudence will be your undoing!" Suddenly he went limp and slipped out of the hero's grasp, leaving his robe behind in the paragon's grip. "Be bound by the mighty coilsss of the Unssspeakable One!" Green fire leapt up from his ring and rose in the air, forming into a green-fire python! It struck El Heraldo with disturbing speed and wrapped around him, attempting to drag the hero down.

[Ari]

A guttural growl left Heraldo's throat as the snake-man sorcerer escaped from his grip, which changed mid-growl into a yelp of surprise as the green mystic snakes were formed and launched themselves at him, winding and coiling about his fabulously costumed body as he struggled like Laocoön the Trojan had before him, wrestling against the magic snakes but hampered by the several emotions swirling in his blood and brain: frustration at his ineffectiveness in the battles before this one along with the fact that the sorcerer had wriggled free, startlement at the abrupt reversal, and simple fear at the fact that snakes were hissing right next to his face, their fangs reminding him horribly of the Tethys vampire and her gleaming jaws.

"Glow!" he shouted as he fell heavily face-first onto the floor in a struggling and writhing mass "I have a plan: just leave me here and go beat him to a pulp!"

[Scuffles]

Glow hesitated as Heraldo went down in the grip of the magical snake, then fixed Lapetus with a glare. "I'm on it!" she called out in response to her friend's 'plan', and rushed forwards. She dived forwards over the serpentine wrestling match and tucked her shoulder as she landed, cartwheeling athletically to her feet, the dazzling display highlighted by the green light streaming off her telekinetic forcefield.

As she came upright the Australian heroine thrust both hands out towards Lapetus and unleashed a powerful mental punch, the physical force of her will smashing solidly into the foul sorcerer's chest!

[Ari]

Hearing the *thud* of Glow's telekinetic attack Heraldo gave a sigh of relief, and focused his patriotically-empowered body into the task of getting free from the snakes formed of magic force, testing the might of the Blue Dame against the coils of the Unspeakable One! Whoever they were.

Stopping his furious writhing for a moment, he focused intently on the power surrounding and permeating him, concentrating on what it was that made him as strong as he was now. he let the brow of his cap crush against the floor as he rested his head on it, counting to ten before with a sudden shout he thrust out with all his limbs at once, a golden glow suffusing his body in a flaring light that lit up the hallway, his legs and arms tearing deeply into the magic that made up the bodies of the hissing snakes that bound him, but it failed to tear him totally free. Their lashings were now much more frantic, something that drew a cheerful laugh from the young paragon "Hahaha! Keep at him, Glow! Soon I'll be free of this, and joining you in battle once more!"

[Scuffles]

Heraldo's laugh buoyed Glow's spirits, but she couldn't afford to glance his way, instead keeping her eyes locked on Iapetus as he tried to shake off the effects of her attacks. Her movement still seemed enough to keep the villain off balance as she lunged forwards, then rolled dramatically to her left, disguising yet another telekinetic attack skillfully.

"Had enough yet?" she asked cheerily as the mental punch thundered into his chest. "You can't beat us both!"