""I mean, just because you're part shark doesn't mean that you have to fight only sea themed villains. White Rabbit was at wits with Atomic Knight, the Silver Sting, Whippoorwill, Horus, even Kix and Knuckles," She name drops some heroes. "Just saying, there's...oh gods can't believe I'm saying this...plenty of fish in the sea."
“That's what I'm doing up here! I was Sea King's sidekick for almost like, six years. And there's only like... five other undersea heroes? One's just a scientist in a modified scuba suit, and two of them are aliens or something too, so they're not always around. So basically every villainous oceanic scheme was down to us two, but I was still just- Hey! Speaking of rematches!”
"Lil Ziss - get the boards back to shore, remember, stay between them and the waves!"
"Man, I liked this suit..."
Megan piled on more and more muscle and mass, her suit barely holding at the limit of its elastic as Crimson Tide smashed through the surf like a torpedo!
"Heya chum! Remember me!"
She dove deep, pushing off the ground with a flex of her legs to shoot back up through the water, twisting through the air as she smashed headlong into its carapace!
"Ha! Now there's a breach!"
"...Well, everyone else seems to have this in hand," Tumbler said as she started to paddle towards the shore with her one good arm. Not that she didn't want to help, but considering she had no materials for using her powers with until she could draw up some iron sand or other bits hidden under the beach, she would be a liability getting involved in this battle.
Hearing Derby’s comments, and not wanting to be the only one NOT looking cool, Dervish says ”Alright, chica, let’s do this!” before teleporting above the monster and manifesting his crimson psychic blade. He readies a swing as he free falls towards the horror from the deep…
Crimson Tide rockets out of the water, headbutting the mummy-lobster hybrid and cracking its shell! She bounces off of the monster and lands on Derby's Surf-and-Turf Board, accidentally fracturing it in two with the force of the impact.
However, a swarm of hundreds of tiny crabs surge forth from the crack in the lobster's shell! They spread out around the monster, snapping their claws at anybody trying to get close to the thing.
Dervish teleports above the mummy-lobster and falls towards it with blade at the ready! But its massive claw reaches up and snaps closed around the teen before he can attack. The claw drags Diego right up in front of the mummy's body, and its burning green eyes seem to stare into his soul!
The lobster claw squeezes Dervish while the other one snaps at those nearby. The crabs continue to swarm around the hulking monster.
Seeing Dervish in dire straits, Arcanum flexes his magical powers by surrounding him in a protective force cocoon.
With Dervish protected from the squeeze, Wesley feels a little better about himself.
As the mummy burns into his soul, Dervish begins to feel like all is lost. He doesn’t even realize that the claw hasn’t hurt him yet. He grits his teeth and seethes ”Yeah? Well f@** you too! You might kill me, but I’m gonna make you replace something else, buddy!” before slicing through the claw at the wrist!
"Oh no!" Ziss exclaims as she sees Dervish pinched by the huge claw and Megan falling on top of Wendy. At first feeling impotent, Ziss realizes how pointy Megan's shortboard is... she doubt it is resistant enough to pierce the monster's shell, but the mummy head shouldn't be that resistant.
"Ok... ok... ok..." She mumbles to reassure herself as she notices a large breaker forming behind her. She paddles to get into position with her longboard, while holding Megan's shortboard like a lance!
As Ziss rides the waves and comes closer to the monster, she raises Megan's board and throws it at the Mummy's head, not even able to see if she hit the thing as the wave carried her away!
The Darling Derby swings from her Hat-Hangar, wincing as her board is smashed in two!
“Aw, bummer!”
She releases her hat, leaving it to float to her Falsie Floatie, while the now-hatless Hatrix flip-dives into the sea—her O2 and Fish-Eye features regulating oxygen and allowing her to see perfectly while submerged.
(The breathing apparatus is hidden in a barrette in her now-exposed dirty blonde frizz.)
She swims not-shark-girl-fast or even aquatic-superhero-fast… but definitely swim-team-finalist-fast! She uses the lobster’s giant body as a means to strike the mummy from behind!
She strikes the mummy, and pulls the bandages over its eyes!
"...Yeah, they have it well in hand," Tumbler says as she watches the scene from the relative safety of the shoreline. "Okay, all beachgoers, please vacate behind the tide barriers until the issue is resolved!" She shouts to any lingering gawkers looking to catch some videos on their phones. "No need to stand and stare, it's just your everyday mummy-lobster hybrid. Please move along," She says as she takes control of some of the metal umbrellas to try and guide people as far back as she could from the action.
"Oops! Sorry Derbs!"
Crimson dove back beneath the waves again, trying to figure out the best way to fight a spreading tide of crabs. What would Sea King do..? Well I don't have his spear, but...
Crimson Tide swam up beneath the lesser crustaceans, swirling around beneath them in increasingly fast cycles, trying to create a whirlpool to suck them down!
Tumbler does her best to herd the onlookers away from danger. Most of them follow her directions, but Ashley Mills remains on the sand, recording the fight on her cell phone. ”Woo! Go, Arcanum! Kick his ass!” she calls excitedly.
Diego slices through the claw that is holding him, cutting it free of the lobstrosity! It releases its grip on him as it splashes into the surf.
Crimson Tide creates a whirlpool to suck down the swarm of crabs. It works, but it won't keep them away for long.
Ziss hurls Megan’s surfboard at the mummy’s head, dazing and disorienting it!
The lobster body thrashes about in the water as Derby swims up to the creature. She runs up along the lobster’s body and pulls its soggy bandages over its eyes, temporarily blinding it! The mummy growls and lashes out instinctively, clobbering Derby with powerful punches!
There’s a ripple in the air nearby as a drone emerges from a stealth field. The drone is shaped vaguely like a flying fish, and a voice crackles out from its speakers. ”Ah, if it isn’t Shark Girl and her new friends! It is I, Doctor Paradigm! Do you like my latest creation? I found this poor mummified fellow adrift at sea. No clue where he came from, but you know what they say—when life give you mummies, make a half-mummy half-lobster monster! And once it’s through with you, then Sea King will be the next to feel its wrath! Ha ha ha ha!”
The mummy opens its mouth wide, and a cloud of buzzing scarab beetles billow forth! Unable to see where its aiming, the beetles fly past those of you battling the creature and buzz towards the beach—right where Tumbler and Ashley are standing!
Blood clouds the water as Darling Derby is pummeled! Her perfect abs are bruised pink, there’s a disturbing crunch, a string of cuss words comes out as bubbles—
—and as much abuse as her body took, her mind is in the fight!
She goes after the mummy itself, kicking and pulling—and setting up a friend to sever the mumstrous connection between mummy and lobster!
"Hey! That means everyone," Tumbler tells Ashley Mills as she steps in front of her. "You can zoom in and keep filming when you're safely..." She trailed off, hearing the buzzing behind her and turning to see the cloud of flying carnivorous insects flying at her and the civilian. "And this is why you vacate when instructed!"
Part of her wants to just let the woman fend for herself - but she was Arcanum's fan and potentially important to him, so she'd better try to at least make a cursory effort of protecting her. "Run!" She tells her as Tumbler brings her controlled umbrellas out to try and be a buffering shield!
Of course, the swarm was far bigger than she could handle with just the material on hand, and far more of the scarabs flew past her than crashed into her makeshift barrier. "Run faster!" She shouts before suddenly being overwhelmed and covered in harsh biting beetles!
Ziss just washes at the beach when the mummy releases her scarabs over Tumbler and another girl. She can't do anything to help, but perhaps someone else could... Looking around, she sees Arcanum flying, even if he seems to be paying attention only on the large monster.
"ARCANUM!" She yells as loudly as she can. "DE BUGS! HELP TUMBLER!"
Seeing Derbyin trouble, Dervish isn’t quite sure how best to help. But, he is known for causing trouble with his mouth…
He teleports over to a large rock in the surf and calls out ”Hey! Big, clawed, and ugly! You want a piece of me? I already got a piece of you!” in hopes of drawing its ire.
"On it!!" Arcanum shouts. He had started to react to the strange drone, but Ziss brought his attention to the swarm encroaching on Tumbler and Ashley.
Oh, man. That's a lot of bugs, he thinks as he brings up a massive sand wall between the swarm and the pair of fleeing girls.
"Tumbler! Get her to safety!" he shouts as he keeps the churning sand wall up.
"It's Crimson Tide now you fiend! Not that I cora-lot about the name change." she shouts back with a slight upturn to her voice that she wished weren't present.
Desperately needing to regain some cool points after her flinch and atrocious pun- not even shark themed, coral's just aquatic -Crimson Tide once more plunges deep beneath the water, only to allow her to come flying back out beneath Dr. Paradigm's drone!
Tumbler's attempt to protect Ashley falters as the scarab beetles swarm around the reformed villain, chewing on her with their serrated mandibles!
Fortunately, with Ziss spurring him on, Arcanum raises a massive swarm of sand to protect his classmate from harm!
Dervish shouts taunts at the mummy to get its attention. It howls and orients itself on the sound of his voice, turning its back on Derby.
Seizing on the opportunity, Derby kicks and tears at the mummy's body. As she strains, the stitches keeping its torso attached to the lobster begin to rip...
Crimson Tide dives down deep, then flies up out of the water, smashing through the flying fish drone! It immediately explodes, and the shark-girl angles her descent so that she comes down hard on the back of the lobstrosity. The force of the impact drives the lobster body down so hard that the mummy finally rips free of it! The mummy groans, tumbling end over end through the air before finally landing face-down in the water. It floats there, unmoving, as the lobster body thrashes around a bit before flopping belly up and sinking beneath the waves. The scarab beetles quickly fly off in all directions, dissolving into sand that blows away in the wind.
"Bah!" comes the voice of Doctor Paradigm as a second flying fish drone decloaks. "This isn't over! You may have defeated my latest creation, Shark Girl, but you haven't heard the last from me!" The drone cloaks once more and buzzes away!
The Darling Derby climbs onto her Falsie Floatie (a circular raft). She casually pulls on a dangling cord, tapping on her Press-On so her hat’s fan blades retract. The derby hatarangs its way onto the darling’s head.
She clutches her bruised rib, ungracefully bends over the side of her floatie, and vomits bloody chunks. She sits on the raft, vermilion streaks under her nostril and lip intermixing with water dripping from her hair, sending fading trails to her bikini top.
The girl looks around for threats, teammates, a kind shark girl to push the raft…?
Over the Ear-Buddies: “Nice work, Bay Watchmen. Selfie on shore… smile for it.” Her phrasing is a command. Her tone is a plea.
Seeing the thing fall, Diego blips over to Derby’s board, sitting in front of and facing her on it. ”You alright, señorita? I tried to draw it off after you took that big hit…”
Arcanum floats down next to Tumbler, helping her up and telekinetically flicking off the last of the scarab beetles off her.
"You okay?" he asks.
Joining the team selfie, he doesn't manage a smile, but he doesn't offer his usual brooding look either.
"I'm fine, thanks to you! Again!" Ashley says as Arcanum floats down beside her and Tumbler. She throws her arms around Wesley, hugging hm tightly. "You're the best!"
The Darling Derby straighten her posture. STOP showing weakness! She smiles—genuinely, the concern and the attention are nice, DD has to admit to herself.
“I think I gotta rinse and spit in the girls’ room, but let’s get the selfie before the blood washes off. It’s good publicity with the added bonus of villains mistaking resilience for weakness.
“I appreciate you trying to draw the bad guy’s fire, though. I actually opened up this raft for you to teleport to, but you didn’t need that either. All good… better we err by being overly helpful than the opposite direction.”
She glances at the no-longer-animated mummy. “Half a mummy just floating around… is it normal to have ancient animated corpses in the water?” She is genuinely perplexed by the creature’s existence.
”I sincerely doubt it,” Diego comments. He looks Derby up and down and asks ”You ever get upset, or are you always sunshine and rainbows?” with a wry smile.
Ziss sits on the sand as Wendy and Megan finish the monster. She sees Wendy coughing blood and Tumbler wounded by the scarabs' bites. Her eyes are wet with tears as she hears Wendy calling for the group photo... she bolts away, feeling unworthy of taking the photo.
Tumbler thrashed under the blanket of scarabs as they burrowed and ate through the wetsuit, angry at her inability to properly deal with this situation - and then she was just suddenly covered in a whole lot of sand as the scarabs disintegrated on top of her.
She sputtered as she was helped up by Arcanum, brushing off the remaining sand now sticking to the exposed skin from her ruined wetsuit. The tiger-print bikini top she wore underneath was exposed along with patches of skin thankfully unmarred by the scarabs. If anything, the wetsuit had prevented her from being bitten properly.
The glare that she leveled at Ashley Mills clinging to Arcanum was hot with anger, the Reformed stalking up to her. "Hey beach bunny," She said venomously, "You realize that you almost had those beetles feasting on your flesh? Maybe next time you're in a dangerous situation, realize it and don't hang around when you're told to evacuate!"
It's only after she's done that she realizes she was trying to point at her face with her right hand. So she had inadvertently waved the scarred stump instead in Ashley's face. Once she realized what she did, she tucked it underneath her other arm, flushed with anger and despair.
"I'm going to check on the others," She says through gritted teeth, walking away towards Derby.
Wesley tries to politely extricate himself from Ashley's hug, but he also feels Tumbler's irritation with her. "She's right. You were fortunate, but these fights can get out of hand quickly. Use more caution in the future. Please."
Ashley blushes and pulls away from Arcanum. "Okay. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful, I promise!" She looks around at the other Bay Watchmen, several of whom are sulking, and realizes that she's out of place among the team. "I'll catch you later, okay?" The girl then quickly makes her exit.
”I sincerely doubt it,” Diego comments. He looks Derby up and down and asks ”You ever get upset, or are you always sunshine and rainbows?” with a wry smile.
”A rainbow is a pretty frown.”
She says this, but so chipper she’s clearly in a good mood. ”Sorry. Can’t resist a corny line. I’m a Hatrix. There are rules—rules which I won’t impose on you, but won’t… ahh, s!~@, now what?”
The Derby dives into the water. As she body surfs to shore she calls to Tumbler, “Heyyyy! How about we sit and watch the waves and the dead bodies?”
She invites Tumbler to hang back in the wet sand by the water’s edge. Where’d Ziss go anyway?
“You did good getting the people to back off. The one who lingered… I guess she’s a fan?
“You saved her.” The Darling’s voice is soothing, calm, reassuring. ”We needed someone to keep the people safe and you stepped up, and lives were saved. Focus on that… on her… or on the crowd that backed immediately so you only had one life to focus on…
“There’s an upside she didn’t listen.” Wendy moves right into Tumbler’s line of vision, crashing waves and upside-down mega-lobster and half-a-mummy in the background… just DD up close. “You could focus on her, just her…
“And because you had to, and yes, because you got hurt… there is no room for doubt.
“You just saved a life. You, Tumbler… that girl is alive because of you.”
A single trickles from the rose tinted glasses. F%%#, made myself cry. F+&#dammit.
Tumbler gives Derby a very intense glare as she gives her spiel to her. It's bubbly, opportunistic drivel that she understands comes from a place of empathy. "Getting the beachgoers to get away from the combat zone was the least I could do, literally," She said. "You're too nice. I bet the 'Crass Crown' must have a more tempered attitude," She says with...well, one hand doing air quotes.
"...Seriously though. What makes you think that everything is going to be all right all the time? I could have very much ended up dying with that girl on the beach and no one could have saved me this time. I didn't save that girl, that was all on the rest of the team able to pull the plug in time to stop me from getting more than my wetsuit eaten." She'd stared death right in her eight-eyed face once before. She wasn't keen on doing it again anytime soon.
Diego walks up alongside Derby. He eyes Tumbler up and down and interjects ”Lookin’ good, chica! Diggin’ those tiger stripes!” with a wink.
The Derby looks at Tumbler, and under her specs, her eyes flicker to Dervish. She addresses both. “Sunshine and rainbows… heh! I actually mistook that for lighthearted sarcasm. Well, let’s run with that premise: I think everything’s gonna be all right all the time.
“What’s the opposite? Everything’s f#%~ed, my team will betray me, I’m too late to save so-and-so, I don’t matter, my contribution isn’t good enough.”
The Darling Derby takes off her hat and holds it in her hands. “Forget about this and reflect back on every win. We’re improving. Last time, I felt you all trusted me. This time, you all supported each other.” With a wide grin she gets to the moral of her story: “Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.”
She puts her hat back on and looks off to the side. “Now where the f@@+ is Ziss. ‘Selfie’ doesn’t mean just m—“
Over the Ear-Buddies, “Ziss? Where’d ya go? We need you for the selfie! Or should I say ‘selfie?’—as in ourselves? Anyone see Ziss?”
Arcanum stays back, letting the energy he'd charged up dissipate, looking like swirling blue smoke and sparks.
When Derby asked about Ziss, he looks around but doesn't see her. He hasn't really had much interactions with the young-looking girl, so even if he knew where she went he wasn't sure if he'd be able to coax her back.
But then... was she in trouble? Maybe this whole attack was a ruse to grab someone on the team. He taps the comm. "Ziss? You okay?" Then an idea strikes him and he says to the group, "We should have some sort of code in case we're in danger and we need to alert everyone that it's not okay without raising suspicion."
Ziss is already crossing the huge New Gate Park when her Ear-Buddies ping with Wendy's and Arcanum's messages. "Oh, and now I've made dem worried about me as well..." She mumbles to a small rodent on a tree.
She sighs. "Sorry for worrying you. I'm going back to Wendy's home. I... do not deserve being in de photo. I was useless and now Wendy and Tumbler are harmed."
“Nobody on my team is useless, Ziss. C’mon back—we’ll wait.”
Despite Wendy's words, Ziss can't stop feeling useless...
... but she turns back, slowly walking at first, but then running back to the beach. The others were waiting for her and she was acting like a little girl. A useless little girl.
---
As Ziss gets back to the beach, the already tiny girl looks even smaller, her face reddened with shame for how she acted. "I'm sorry."
”Your team?” Diego counters teasingly. ”I thought everybody here knew I was captain!”
The Darling Derby is all smiles when she welcomes Ziss back, but she speaks in a very serious tone as she says, “The Bay Watchmen has no weak link. If you don’t believe me, ask Captain Dervish.
“Now, glance at whosever butt or pecs’ll put a smile on you, then look at the camera. And smile.”
DD only looks at the camera. She’s smiling. She will later be disappointed when she sees the blood washed off her face by the time the selfie was taken.
Dervish takes Derby’s advice in the picture, though opinions are mixed on whether he is looking at Derby’s or Tumbler’s “assets” in the image…
Once the selfie is over with, Wesley tries a little sleight of hand with his powers, flying a doppelganger off while he tries to surreptitiously shift back to his civilian disguise. He makes sure the fake Arcanum is particularly glowy to draw eyes while he heads back to his umbrella and beach chair.
He returns to his book, eager to focus on some really dry and boring archaeological facts.
Ziss is put a bit at easy by Wendy's smile when she welcomes her back, but her later selfie encouragement causes her to blush furiously, her hands instinctively move towards her back as she fails to cover her full butt with her small hands. Smaller than everyone else, Ziss's eyes are already at pecs/breasts level, so she looks up!
---
After the photo, Ziss isn't in the mood for more surfing, so she sits close to Wesley. Not wishing to bother him, since he appears to really want to read his book, she alternates between watching the people at the beach and looking at her brand new I-phone (short for Infini-phone).
Tumbler refuses to smile, but at least hides her mouth in the photograph so you can't tell she's not smiling. Once it's done, she looks over to Derby, nudging her with an elbow.
"I think I'm done with surfing today. Maybe you could show us this new lair of yours you were bragging about?" She suggests. "Will any of the other Hatrixes be there?"
The Darling Derby makes an awkward face. “It would be rather crass for one to show unexpectedly, wouldn’t it?”
After the photo, Ziss isn't in the mood for more surfing, so she sits close to Wesley. Not wishing to bother him, since he appears to really want to read his book, she alternates between watching the people at the beach and looking at her brand new I-phone (short for Infini-phone).
Wesley greets Ziss with a smile, and makes sure she has room underneath the umbrella if she wants some shade.
He doesn't mind to make light small talk rather than read if that's what Ziss wants to do, but if she's fine with people-watching or scrolling through her phone, he is too.
The Darling Derby has neither skate nor board… and no shoes either. “Okay… first priority, clean the beach.” DD swims out to get her Falsie Floatie, which gradually dehydrates on the hot sand… but no chance that thing’s going back in her bikini top. Also no chance any of her team is touching dead shellfish or an ancient human corpse. “Hello, Coast Guard…? …yes, I’m serious. You can see them in the background of my latest selfie.” When the dispatcher asks why the Bay Watchmen doesn’t move corpses, she replies, “I’m a minor.”
“Step two: cover up!” She triggers her S/undress. Her sunflower-patterned dress is released from her derby, but it only covers her face. After awkwardly pulling it down over her salty skin, her glasses are crooked. ”F~*+’s sake.”
“Step three: baby needs a new pair of shoes.” She asks Dervish to teleport her outside the front gate of the Hatrix estate. “Never attempt to teleport within the gate. I’m not sure what would go wrong, or if anyone who’s still with us even understands the traps.” Once DD has her skates, she asks to be teleported to the parking lot near Wesley’s car.
“Your power is such a time-saver, Dervish. Great to have you on the team!”
The Derby eventually coordinates a meeting at a boarded up coffee shop. “Infini-bucks. They went bankrupt.” It’s still nice on the inside. No coffee though. There is a secret elevator.
Where it leads is a carpeted hangout space with comfy seats, and a strange object in view of the seats. The Darling Derby takes the least comfortable chair. It has a keyboard on each armrest.
The dome shaped room is large, currently lacks artistic decorations, but it does seem to be a hub consisting of tunnels that are a skater’s wet dream—five tunnels, each a long half-pipe with jumps and rails—indeed, a former underground skate park. “Low-maintenance! Great for my workout! But… for all you non-skaters, you might like what our success at the docks earned us.”
She waits for everyone to claim their seats on the leather sofas. Some are built for one. Some for two or three. They form an arc that faces a device on the floor that is round and reflective.
”Yeah. Dervish the Taxi,” he replies cheekily. ”Well, seems like one of you are glad to have me here. Rest don’t seem thrilled. But it’s whatever. Been getting by on my own all of my life. One gang to the next. Guess this ain’t much different,” he adds somberly.
__________
Dervish strolls around the room casually before taking the seat nearest Derby.
“Anyway, give it time. There was no post-battle in-fighting today, plural smiles in the selfie… baby steps. I hope you see the Bay Watchmen as more than just another gang.”
Tumbler will go and catch a ride with Arcanum in his Audi. A handsome boy and a nice car would do wonders for her mood in her opinion. Plus she might have the additional benefit of annoying Ashley if they drove off past her.
Tumbler is also wriggling out of the remains of her wetsuit, leaving her in just the small tiger striped bikini in his passenger seat. Though she also grabbed her bag and looked like she had brought a spare change of clothing for herself. It looked like...the uniform for St. Trina's?
When Tumbler arrives, it's in a fresh set of clothes that Diego would recognize as the uniform that he'd gotten for her from St. Trina's. She had a sock pulled over her bad arm for the sake of appearances in the short-sleeved outfit, but for all other purposes looked like a student of that private school.
"Okay, while I find the whole 'abandoned business' hideout a bit cliché, I can't help but admire the gall of using Infinicorp properties for this," She comments on the hideout, lounging onto one of the two seaters, leaving just enough space for someone to squeeze in next to her.
“There are plans already in progress,” the Darling Derby replies. She does not seem willing to elaborate.
A few clicks of some keys (DD is typing on both keyboards at once) activates—
She laughs. ”How cliché is that! Probably very.”
From the reflective surface on the floor is a projection of the latest selfie, videos of the Bay Watchmen in action, and security cam footage of the battle and evacuation. When displaying live (current) beach-cam footage, there are grumpy-faced men dealing with the mumster corpses.