Cruising For A Bruising (Pika)

They felt its approach long before they could see its copper underbelly. Most water-bobbers the landkin used released regular vibrations into the water as they moved. Like several fins flapping back and forth in perfect unison. And these vibrations at current were the strongest yet. They belonged to the largest water-bobber in the bay. The ones humans like to cruise upon.

Cruise ships were all over the propaganda of the Atlantean splinter groups. The Deluge that Zallec was a part of was given to say their massive bulk and slow predictable sweeps suggested sinister intent. It was inconceivable to believe that many humans needed to 'cruise' - a flimsy cover. The humans were scanning for them. Spying on them. Some even said the hulks were aquatic weapons poised to strike should the landkin ever feel threatened by their water brethren. And why wouldn't they feel threatened? They don't even have a shell.

But raids on the flotillas had only unearthed care and pamper facilities. Massive droning machines in their bottoms. And whiny cream-salved landkin above. They were often landkin of some value - however.

Zallec parked his aquatic-scooter by unloading a deployable balloon filled with oil - just balanced so that it held the machine in place underwater. Then he swung his arm over his head and telepathically commanded the murlocs. The slimy, scaly bottom-feeders buoyed out of the water and grasped the vessel as it swept passed. Their mucus gave them grip to climb.

Zallec himself allowed himself to sink, before swimming at full speed to breech the water and soar into the air. He landed on the deck, salt water spray flicking from his hair and running rivets across his face.

"Ah! Bracing." The Atlantean looked passed the dozen or so loungers among the deck chairs and squinted off into the distance as the ship towed further away from Jump Harbour's deep-water dock. It was a Winter's day and the Sun was lying low, blinding him to much on the shore, "Ey! One of you. How about you? Shark pants." Zallec picked out a teenage clubber who could have come from the set of Baywatch, "Who's the captain around here?"

"Wh-Where did you come from?"

"My question first."

He looked back at his friends before answering, "The staff's up there. You're one of them fish fuckers aren't-" Zallec grabbed the lad by his trunks and lifted him clear over his head in one swift move. The guy got about a dozen seconds of hang time before hitting the sea.

"Wrong. I'm captain." He looked around in smug satisfaction, "And that's where I came from!"

From the sides of the craft murlocs arrived, collapsing onto the deck like the primeval spawn of a thalassian sea. This broke the spell on the humans and they darted off in terror, shouting warning to their fellows. Let them, Zallec thought, the sooner their strongest came to him, the sooner he could put them in their place and get what he came for.

A quick glance back over his shoulder, "Bring the weapon." The murlocs, recovering from their fatigue, reached back over the metal railings and pulled at the edges of a net that had been trailing behind them.

Bella's breath fogged with every exhale as she jogged along Jump Harbour. She was out for a morning jog, as she did every morning regardless of the weather. That being said, it was freaking cold out! As her body shivered and her teeth chattered she found herself fantasising about getting back to the gym with its heaters and punching the cold away. As she jogged she saw a panicked looking teen swimming to the shore. Bella was pretty diligent when it came to her workout and even she thought it would be a bit extreme to go swimming in weather like this.

She slowed her jog down as the young man got to the shore and started yelling for help. Apparently he had been on a cruise ship that got taken over by... fish? His cries for help attracted the attention of everyone around him; some of them talked about contacting the police or the Titans, others seemed to not really be too concerned about it and were just attracted to the spectacle. Either way, in that moment no one was focused on Bella "Ugh, guess I've got no choice."

A pink light enveloped the young woman for a moment, then vanished as quickly as it had appeared. When the light faded Bella's short red hair now glowed pink, her eyes were pink with large heart-shaped irises and she was wearing a white and pink outfit reminiscent of what the main character of a magical girl anime would wear. A wave of cold washed over Bella as she was now far more exposed to the elements as before that made her physically flinch "Shit! Those fish are gonna be sorry!"

A pink glowing light appeared and vanished on Bella's back, and in its place a pair of pink wings that appeared to made of glass or crystal were conjured. With a flap of the wings Bella took to the air and flew over to the cruise ship. As she did so the crowd that had been distracted by the boy cried out in astonishment as they finally noticed her, gawking at her unusual outfit.

As Bella approached the ship she waved a hand over her face and suddenly goggles appeared in a flash of pink light, they looked like a toy for little girls. Using the love visor she scanned the ship and confirmed that several life forms were on-board, including several small presences that couldn't be human. She dove down onto the deck, landing in the classic 'superhero landing'. She looked up at Zallec, who was clearly the leader of those fish monster things, and held out her hand at him as a pistol formed in the hand "I'm the captain now! Get off this ship!"

The murlocs were struggling with the last first inches of net, so Zallec reached over one arm and pulled the payload onto the ship. It landed with a wet squelch. The object resembled a green and purple pustule that pulsed faintly with a bioluminescent glow. Atlantean tech built by one of the more anally retentive Deluge members. He didn't understand how it worked - just how to turn it on and what it would do.

"Get it downstairs."

Blarg?

"How should I know? Drag it around until you find some."

The six murlocs turned to each other and formed a small huddle. They each held a hand out and played a game of rock, paper, scissors. Only - none of them formed any shape except paper.

Blarg, blarg, BLARG! Blarg, blarg, BLARG! Blarg, blarg, BLARG!

At length, however, it was apparent who lost as a pair of deep folk cried out in irritation and took to tugging at the net again. They dragged the cargo across the deck and into a door at the bottom of the central cabin structure, disappearing.

Zallec had been picking at his teeth in the meanwhile, "Cmon, let's go see find this crew." Behind him the murlocs hefted blunt instruments. Some were rusted metal, but most were bone and coral. As Zallec looked up he noticed humans were looking down at them from higher decks, phones in their hands. They were filming him. He winked at a pair of girls, and cast out a telepathic thought across the ship that everyone in his radius would get.

Stop what you're doing and listen up landkin. Name's Dangeray. Me and my crew just arrived to kick your crew's sorry butt. Shouldn't take a hot minute. If you're not up to fighting, or you don't want to film my sweet ass, gather in the main dining area. If you're good about it, I won't even sink this ship. You don't wanna piss me off. I've been throwing humans around like your ragdolls since I was six. It's fun as shit. I could lay every one of you. And that makes me Captain around here.

It was at that last sentiment Bella arrived. Zallec was initially shocked his opposition dropped from the skies - only the tougher humans were s'pose to do that. But any gravity this may have lent to his response was obliterated when he drank in her costume.

"Pfft! You? You're gonna make me? Cute dress babe. Can you swim in it? If you come at me it'll get torn and drenched. The grand ball's in the dining room. You can sashay there, or I can put you through the wall. Your choice." He really had no qualms about hitting women. Equality and shit. If a young girl was going to get in his way he'd deck her like anyone else.

The murlocs behind him were making jokes of their own. One mimed hitching up a skirt and tip-toing across the deck, to the throaty warbles of the others.

To be honest, Bella hadn't been sure what kind of reaction to expect when she arrived on the ship. Perhaps fear, if the fish people were cowards who were hoping to only have to deal with unarmed humans. Or perhaps they would be eager to fight. Or, most likely, they were just animals and just did what their instincts told them. She did not expect to get laughed at and most CERTAINLY did not expect to get mocked.

Bella did not take his mockery particularly well. Her teeth were clenched in anger and from the heat she could feel on her face she knew her cheeks were lit up like a Christmas tree. Before she gained these bizarre abilities no one had ever reacted that way upon seeing her, a privilege she owed to her intimidating appearance. But now all anyone ever saw was the dress. The worst part was that with her wide, muscular body frame she looked really bad in the dress, which only made it worse for her. However, right this moment it was working in her favour.

Zallec seemed to be so preoccupied making fun of her dress and threatening her that he didn't seem to be taking any notice of the gun she had pulled on him. Without warning Bella would start blasting, firing three shots at his chest. If they hit they wouldn't actually do any real damage, they wouldn't pierce the skin or break his ribs or anything like that, but it would HURT.

Regardless of the result Bella would run over to Zallec at an inhuman speed, tossing the pistol away as she did so. Guns were cool and all, but Bella preferred to get up close and personal. If she was able to get close enough she would throw a vicious right hook at his face with strength that slightly surpassed his own strength on land "Ora!"

While he always wanted folk to try it on, Zallec hadn't seriously expected his taunts to be answered. Should have, in retrospect. The flight earlier had been indication that she was something more. But he was a poor judge of humans. So the impact of the bullets claiming his breath was the first he knew of her defiance.

They hurt, acutely. Both hands went to his ribcage but found no entry wound. A startling amount of pain for no damage. This distraction was momentary and yet sufficient enough that the human got her free shot in. Once again the brunt of the blow caught the Atlantean by surprise.

He dropped to his left, landing half on one elbow. The gaggle of minions behind him ceased their horseplay and took a collective step backwards, peering behind their weapons at their fallen leader. Zallec swilled his mouth and spat a glob of blood onto the deck.

I wanna kick her butt. I'm gonna kick her butt.

The absurdity of her costume looked somewhat less so now towering over him. His cheek was raw. Rare that Zallec would have an actual fight on his hands. He only hoped she could take a hit as well as she put one out, "Nice. Urg. Turn a little for the cameras." With a stretch, Zallec would reach over and grab one of the deck chairs, swinging it side-on to try and break against her and sweep her aside. He was gonna have to put her through that wall after all.

After how harshly the Atlantean had teased her, Bella gained great satisfaction from punching him right in his smug face. There was a satisfying ache in her fist as she watched Zallec spit blood onto the deck, grinning as she watched. She enjoyed it so much that she didn't notice him reaching for the chair until he was already swinging it. Even with her enhanced reflexes she was only able to partially block it by putting her arms in the way. But with Zallec's strength the impact was enough to make her stumble backwards, giving him some much needed space.

Giving a grunt of irritation, Bella moved her arms above her head and formed a battle axe. As with the rest of her equipment it was pink and had ribbons tied to it, but these decorations did little to make the weapon less frightening, especially in the hands of someone as strong as Bella. With as much effort as one would use to swing a stick she would swing it down, aiming to strike Zallec in his torso. The weapon would not cut Zallec if it hit, instead it would only deal blunt damage and knock him down to the ground.

Zallec put his feet back beneath him and rose quickly, the wooden remnants of the chair in his hands discarded just as swift. The rough soles of his feet helped him grip even on polished deck and he pushed a knuckle against his cheek before taking a step closer. Her actions made him halt his momentum.

"The fuck you pull that outta?" The Atlantean stared wide eyed at the novelty toy in her hands. It seemed as contemptable as the gun she'd shot before. But he remembered the pain from that. He found himself leaping backwards as she cleft the space he'd been. Ridiculous he'd had to dodge the swipe of a human. But she was packing at least a fraction of Atlantean strength here. And she now had the reach on him.

He glanced backwards and saw a small pool he could retreat to. No. That would be admitting weakness. It wasn't like he was outclassed here. Instead Zallec reached over and grabbed a pronged stick from a set of them in a rack. Their purpose was lost on him (shuffleboard being nigh impossible underwater), but they had a metal head, and did something to close his reach disadvantage.

"Weapons are for pussies. Once I'm passed your guard. I'm gonna hit you. Hard. So you know." He would then dart closer, thrusting the cue out to try and catch the axe at its handle and push it aside or deflect its arc. If he succeeded in this, he would release one hand from his own handle and swing a fist at Bella's head.

Meanwhile, in setup, the murlocs would receive a private message in their minds, Quit gawking. Go do the job. She's mine. They collectively moved into the path of each other, bumping heads, before agreeing to head in the direction the youth had indicated before, along the deck.

Bella swung her axe down with the intent to greatly injure the Atlantean and hopefully take him out. But Zallec, to his credit, thought fast on his feet and deflected the axe with a rack. Zallec then abandoned his grip on the weapon with one of his hands to throw a punch at Bella. Turns out that great minds think alike. When Bella's weapon was deflected she opted to abandon it, letting it fly out of her hands, then swung her fist in an arc at the side of Zallec's head.

Zallec had swung first, but Bella was could throw out punches faster. As a result both fighters ended up punching each other at the same time. Bella swayed backwards from the impact of Zallec's punch, but was able to keep steady and halt her retreat at only a single step. As an amateur boxer she quite literally got punched for a living, so she was quite used to it. Powering through the pain, Bella would step forward and throw an uppercut aimed at his chin, letting out a battle cry as she did so.

Again she abandoned her weapon. There was a pattern there. She drew them as easily as they were discarded. But there was no time to dwell on that. The speed of her counter took him off guard. A wrist flicking out her fist where Zallec had more wind-up. Her defences did not let her down either. She took his blow and recovered faster. Stars cleared from his vision in time for him to register her aggressive stance. He moved to grab her arm but was just too slow, the contact rocking him back on his heels until he had to stumble to find his balance.

He didn't mind his foes getting a few hits in. But they were rarely hits that told on his rugged resilience. He felt like he'd lost a second or two back there. He wasn't even in fine enough fettle to bring his telepathy to bare.

And he'd bitten his tongue.

Instead Zallec tried to crowd her. He had size on his side. Nobody said they had to trade punches; bob and weave. He'd just crush her. The Atlantean would close the distance with an attempted bear hug. Low centre of gravity, trying to catch both arms to pin them against her sides, if possible; if not then ramping up the crushing power regardless. He could protect his face by turning it into one of his biceps.

---

The first pair of murlocs continued below decks. They had encountered a group of humans in fancy vests with tailored filigree pushing a white-cloth cart in the opposite direction. The humans soon made themselves scarce, but they left behind their trolley. The murlocs found a selection of nibbles upon it. Sea food - their favourite. They ate their fill, discarded the rest, and hoisted the weapon they were dragging atop the cart. Much easier to push this way.

Or at least it was until they encountered the next set of stairs, and the trolley got away from them.

Zallec's head rocked back as Bella's fist crashed into it in a powerful uppercut, Zallec had tried to block the attack but hadn't quite regained his bearings from the previous punch so he failed. Bella was keen to press the advantage so she reached forward and cocked back her fist for another punch. However, it turned out that Bella had quite literally played into the Atlantean's hands, getting wrapped up in his arms which were squeezing her like a vice.

Bella's face contorted in pain as she was being crushed in Zallec's bearhug. She grit her teeth and squirmed in his grip but gave out no sound louder than a grunt. She refused to give him the satisfaction of making her scream. On the other hand, her efforts to retain her dignity would prove to be rather pointless if she ended up having her back broken while doing so.

Bella formed a machine gun in her hand and turned it so that the nozzle was poking at Zallec's side. At this distance, there was no feasible way for Zallec to avoid getting shot at without letting go of Bella. Regardless of what he did, if he even noticed the gun, Bella would fire into his side. Because the gun was summoned by her powers she didn't have to worry about the gun running out of bullets, so she could keep shooting him for as long as she wanted until he either let go or forced her to stop shooting somehow.

As he had her grappled he raised her an inch or two off the ground, denying her the purchase of a good foothold to try and twist out of it. He was listening for the tell-tale click to let him know his work was done. You could squeeze too hard and get human everywhere - smell like dinner across a hundred nautical miles. Zallec needed to break a bone or two and nothing more.

He smiled full into her face when he realised she couldn't swing to hit him anymore. His were chunky teeth of tough enamel, not likely to get dissolved from living in slightly acidic water. Before he could think of a taunt, his attention was caught by a light at her side. His eyes widened as he noticed yet another weapon pulled from the ether. Prettified as it may be, it looked nastier than the last.

"...don't you-"

His side exploded in pain which saw him immediately let go, thrusting her to her blind side so she'd have to turn to train the weapon back on him. The shots still had no tangible effect, but they hurt like a bitch, and there were many of them. He couldn't hold his ground under such firepower.

Telepathy it was. Zallec reached out to her mind and used his own skill-based knowledge as a template to search her subconscious for the equivalent actions. He then finalised it with a hard blink. Both their arms would drop to their sides, limp and useless. He'd performed amnesia, and wiped both their memory of how arms worked.

He could still make his fingers twitch, if he concentrated. But it was like starting fresh with no concept of the idea. The pain in his left-hand side was bad enough he was cramping up, wincing slightly, and with no hands to hold the area it was an itch he couldn't scratch. But he was back to baring teeth.

"My body isn't the only thing superior. I also have a stronger mind. No more weapons. You're playing by my rules now sea monkey." Then he drove his heel into the deck, splintering panelling just to show off his kicking strength, "Don't lift your leg too high now."

Bella's gambit to get the Atlantean bruiser to release her was successful as the pain of having several rounds of her gun unloaded into his side forced Zallec to relinquish his hold. In doing so he tossed her aside, but Bella was able to recover by rolling and landing in a crouch. She readjusted her aim and pointed her gun at Zallec, aiming to blast him in the torso. She squeezed the trigger with her finger and let loose.

Or at least, that was the plan.

Instead of squeezing the trigger Bella instead just dropped her gun. What? Bella bent down to pick it up but her fingers just lazily grazed it instead of trying to hold it. She couldn't grip the gun at all, whatever the heck gripping is supposed to be, and instead she just abandoned it. Bella had no idea how she had expected to use her arms to get something off the ground, everyone knows that arms are just there for decoration.

Zallec egged Bella on, declaring that there would be no more weapons in this fight "No more weapons? That's fine by me." A bright light shone on Bella's back and formed wings that seemed to be made of crystal. She took to the air and flew directly above Zallec's head, repeatedly trying to stomp on his head from above.