Rain exited the situation room with Atom Eve following closely behind, both wearing somber expressions as they navigated the unusually crowded corridors. Agents and technicians moved in hurried clusters, forcing the pair to sidestep knots of activity. The air was filled with a heightened buzz, distant alarms, the clang of tools, and the low hum of engines reverberated through the walls. They emerged at last into the GDA hangar, where the metallic tang of ozone mingled with the scent of machinery.
Eve cast him a sideways glance, arching a brow. "Aren't you going to suit up?"
He flashed a grin. "No need."
SPLASH!
In an instant, Rain's body transformed. His liquid form rippled downward, solidifying into a suit of gleaming, scaled armor that appeared to be crafted from the hide of a mythical sea creature. The iridescent scales refracted light like wet glass, bending it in ways that made his figure seem to undulate like the ocean itself. From his forearms extended translucent, fin-shaped blades, forged from a gemlike substance that appeared simultaneously solid and fluid.
Eve instinctively reached out, halting just before her fingers could graze the surface.
Rain's legs dissolved into a churning column of water, and the surrounding moisture seemed to gravitate toward him as if drawn by an unseen force. He hovered effortlessly, suspended an inch above the ground.
"I may not be as fast as you or Marie," he said, flexing an arm and tilting his head toward her, "but once we hit the ocean, we'll see who's leading the charge."
His words carried a bold confidence, but beneath them was a quiet excitement. Already, with Lake Michigan so near, the water coursed through his veins in a song of anticipation. What would it feel like to embrace the infinite depths of the Atlantic?
Eve's lips twitched into a faint smile before her focus sharpened. A pink glow began to shimmer faintly around her.
WHOOSH!
Rain flinched, shielding his eyes as her aura surged, flooding the hangar with a blinding radiance. Within moments, it condensed into a sleek, elegant glow that enveloped her body like a form-fitting wetsuit. Reinforced pink gauntlets and boots protected her limbs without restricting her agility, while light chest and shoulder armor seamlessly integrated into the suit's design.
A translucent helmet clicked into place over her head, leaving her vision unobstructed. She inhaled deeply, manipulating the air's very particles, oxygen, nitrogen, trace gases, until breathing felt as natural as standing in an open field.
They assessed one another. Eve's cheeks flushed slightly, a shade deeper than her hair. Rain, meanwhile, kept his gaze primarily on her face, though his liquid form rippled faintly, betraying a hint of nervousness.
"OPENING THE HATCH NOW. GOOD LUCK, AGENTS." Cecil's voice thundered through the intercom, breaking the tension.
With a deep mechanical groan, the hangar roof split open. In unison, Rain and Eve launched skyward, streaks of water and light cutting through the crisp morning air.
Across the city, still bearing scars from recent devastation, three figures observed their ascent.
"The time is near. Ready the men and volunteers," commanded the central figure.
The other two dissolved like fading holograms, leaving him alone in a lavish penthouse. His gaze burned toward the distant streaks in the sky.
"Damned blasphemers… your reckoning has come," he muttered, striding toward a desk where a massive sword leaned against polished wood. Its very presence seemed to distort the surrounding air.
He reached out, fingertips brushing the hilt. "Are you ready to taste the blood of the wicked, Claíomh Solais?"
RUMBLE…
WENG!
The blade erupted in radiant, sacred light, ancient Gaelic runes igniting along its length. The air grew warmer, reality itself trembling in its presence.
"Good," he said, gripping it firmly.
The ocean stretched vast and infinite along the shores of the United States, its surface shimmering like liquid gold under the radiant sunlight. Wind roared around Rain and Eve as they soared through the skies, their trails carving intricate vapor patterns into the heavens. Below, the scenery shifted rapidly, transitioning from sprawling urban landscapes to dense, verdant forests, and finally to the unending expanse of deep, sapphire-blue waters.
Rain glanced at Eve mid-flight, his voice cutting through the rushing wind. "Have you ever been to Atlantis?"
"Not officially," she replied, adjusting her course to remain in tandem with him. "I've approached the boundary but never ventured into the heart of the city. This time… it will be different."
Rain's grin widened, his tone light and teasing. "Different in a good way?"
Eve hesitated, her gaze narrowing against the sun's brilliance. "Different in a dangerous way."
Beneath them, the ocean stretched endlessly, resembling an eternal canvas, its waves sparkling with shifting prisms of light. Rain felt its magnetic allure, not a weighty force pulling him down, but an irresistible beckoning that evoked a sense of belonging. The salty breeze sharpened his senses, and every droplet of spray seemed to murmur secrets in a language only he could understand.
Ahead, the horizon began to distort. The sky seemed simultaneously brighter and darker, clouds twisting into eerie, unnatural spirals. The waves below grew denser, rolling with a slow, deliberate weight, as though stirred by something ancient and immense.
Eve's sharp gaze flickered downward. "We're crossing into the perimeter. GDA drones lost contact beyond this point."
Rain's voice dropped, tinged with awe. "They know we're coming."
The Bermuda Triangle unfurled beneath them like a living, breathing entity. A colossal shadow moved deep below, so vast it blurred the distinction between creature and current. The air grew heavier, every gust carrying the electric tang of an impending storm.
The air pressure shifted as Rain and Eve descended, slicing through the clouds before diving toward the Atlantic. The surface rushed to meet them, then engulfed them entirely.
SPLASH!
For Eve, the plunge brought an intense rush of sound and a chill that seemed to suspend her weight. For Rain, it was a return to his element. The moment he pierced the surface, the ocean embraced him like a long-lost kin. Every current, pressure shift, and vibration in the water resonated with him, while the cacophony of the world above softened into a tranquil hum.
Sunlight fractured into shimmering beams that penetrated the sapphire depths. Schools of fish, sparkling like scattered coins, darted among coral towers and kelp gardens that swayed in rhythm with the currents. Tiny bioluminescent creatures glowed faintly in the dimness, resembling drifting stars.
Rain slowed his movements, allowing the ocean to envelop him. "Do you feel that?" he asked over the comms, his voice tinged with awe.
Eve adjusted her buoyancy, descending beside him in a graceful glide. "It's… stunning," she murmured, her words nearly lost in the vast expanse surrounding them.
As they passed an undersea ridge adorned with unusual, anemone-like plants that recoiled at their approach, the seafloor ahead plunged into a massive trench. From its depths emanated a faint green-gold light, Atlantis's heartbeat, calling them closer.
Rain trailed his fingers through the flowing fronds of kelp as they swam. "It's alive in every direction. I can feel—"
A flicker of movement caught his eye, and he stopped dead.
Eve's brow creased. "Rain?"
Out of the dim blue void ahead, they appeared, first in dozens, then swelling to hundreds, sleek, black forms slicing through the water in perfect harmony. At first glance, they resembled ordinary fish, but as they neared, the details sharpened: too many needle-like teeth for their small size, jaws that unhinged grotesquely wide, eyes like milky, sightless orbs. Their scales absorbed the faint light, radiating an unnatural darkness that seeped into the surrounding water.
The school moved with eerie precision, every twist and roll perfectly aligned, as though commanded by a single, unseen will. The temperature of the water plummeted.
Eve's voice sank into a hushed murmur. "Those… aren't normal."
Rain's muscles coiled, his forearm blades extending with a liquid shimmer. "No," he replied, his gaze narrowing. "They're predators."
The nearest fish unhinged its jaw, releasing a silent, gaping scream, bubbles spiraling upward, before the entire swarm surged toward them, a tidal wave of inky black.
They came swiftly, too swiftly. The water twisted into a chaos of snapping jaws and writhing shadows.
Rain launched himself off the seabed, his liquid armor rippling outward as if alive, forming a protective barrier. The first wave struck him head-on, needle-like teeth scraping harmlessly against the dense, water-forged scales before his forearm blade sliced through the current in a fluid arc. Two of the creatures were cleaved apart, releasing a spray of black ichor that dispersed into the water like ink dissolving in glass.
Eve twisted beside him, her movements slicing through the depths in a streak of pink. With a flick of her wrist, she molded the surrounding water into sharp lances, sending them spiraling into the swarm. Each lance found its mark with deadly accuracy, impaling the creatures before dissolving into harmless bubbles.
Still, they kept coming. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, swirling together into a living vortex. The dim green-gold glow of the trench was consumed by the suffocating darkness they carried.
"Rain, they're steering us," Eve said, her teeth clenched as she unleashed a telekinetic burst that tore through a cluster of attackers.
Rain's gaze hardened. "Toward the trench…"
A massive creature lunged forward, its gaping jaws stretching wide enough to engulf half his torso. Acting swiftly, he grabbed the beast by its snout, the sheer force of its momentum spinning him backward before he drove a blade deep into its skull. The creature thrashed violently, releasing a plume of black mist that instantly froze the surrounding water into icy shards.
A deep, resonant vibration reverberated through the depths, emanating not from the swarm but from the dark abyss below. The school of creatures abruptly changed direction, spiraling downward into the yawning trench as if drawn by an unseen force.
Eve steadied herself, her focus locked on their retreating forms. "Whatever's calling them... it's waiting for us."
Rain's eyes shifted to the faint, shimmering glow far below. The rhythmic pulse of Atlantis's heartbeat still resonated, but now it carried an ominous warning rather than a welcoming invitation.
"Then we'd better answer," he said softly, his voice steady, as he angled himself toward the abyss.
Together, they began their descent.
The beacon ahead pulsed again, closer now, perhaps only a mile away. But the tightening swarm surrounded them, forcing every ounce of energy just to keep moving.
"They don't want us getting there," Eve ground out, forming a bubble of hardened light to shove aside a cluster of the creatures. The force of the impact reverberated through her arms.
Rain's jaw tightened. "Then we push through."
She propelled herself forward, channeling the surrounding currents into a sharp spearhead that carved through the water, creating a slender path for Eve to follow closely behind.
The swarm surged in immediately, filling the water with a frenzied storm of snapping jaws and thrashing fins.
One of the creatures lunged at Eve's unprotected side, but before it could land its strike, the water ahead exploded with a vivid orange radiance.
WHOOM!
A shockwave ripped through the depths, scattering the swarm and sending silt and bubbles whirling into an opaque cloud. From within the chaos, silhouettes began to take form, massive, armored figures mounted on sea-beasts the size of buses, brandishing tridents etched with glowing Atlantean runes.
Leading them was William. His eyes blazed with orange fire, and every strand of his hair shimmered with the same fiery light.
The orange glow of the shockwave dimmed, yet the peril lingered.
The massive Atlantean riders advanced steadily, their tridents carving arcs of luminous energy through the water, scattering sea predators like leaves caught in a tempest.
William's blazing eyes fixed on Rain and Eve, a commanding resolve igniting within them.
"Fall in!" William's voice crackled over the comms, firm and resolute. "We move forward. No one gets left behind."
Rain's liquid armor glimmered as he propelled himself ahead, his forearm blades slicing through the writhing swarm of black-scaled creatures.
Each strike unleashed ripples of dark ichor that dissolved into the currents. Eve's pink aura flared brilliantly, her telekinetic spears soaring with deadly accuracy, skewering enemies before they could draw near.
The waters around them churned in chaos, the unrelenting swarm showing no sign of retreat. One beast lunged at Eve's side, its jaws snapping mere inches from her armored ribs.
She twisted swiftly, conjuring a shield of solidified light just in time, the impact resonating through her arms.
Rain felt the powerful surge of water envelop him, the ocean itself infusing him with strength. With a swift and fluid motion, he conjured a vortex of water, shaping it into a spiraling lance that he launched toward a cluster of attackers. The lance exploded on impact, unleashing a shockwave that scattered the predators like shards of glass.
Behind them, the abyss loomed vast and foreboding, a swirling maw exuding an ancient and menacing presence. The faint green-gold glow of Atlantis shimmered in the distance, a fragile beacon of hope amidst the consuming darkness.
Eve's voice came through, crackling with strain yet unwavering. "They're closing in faster. If we don't break through soon, we'll be overwhelmed."
[Sorry for the slow uploads, work has me all kinds of tired!]