Amnesty Bay

“I think we should be getting to the school, sailor.”

Rain fell from the sky like daggers but he felt refreshed. Arthur Curry had been watching the stagnant wave just south of Comstock with concern; it wasn’t acting as it should have. Storms blew over the coastal Amnesty Bay frequently but there was something that caught him off guard about this. It was almost too precise. His hands directed the light like his father had before him, ushering the men and women of Amnesty Bay back to the shoreline – it only offered a relative safety. Eva Torres rested her hands on his shoulders; it was both friendly and patronising. Arthur had never been much of a loner in high school but Eva was all that remained of those days. Everyone else had travelled inland but she couldn’t resist the compulsion of the ocean anymore than he could. Arthur was sure they had different reasons. He would trust her with his life but he didn’t feel comforting confiding in her about Aquaman. Only Tom Curry had been privy to that information.

“You think the high school is gonna protect you from that?”

She smirked. “The high school is the highest point of Amnesty Bay, and it’s being transformed into the FEMA resource centre.”

“Nice to know the man is still looking out for us,” Arthur said as he stepped back from the wheels and cogs that made his home. His frown worsened as he looked at his best friend, dripping and frozen. As a diver he had no fear Eva could handle herself but she was still just a human and whatever he was it, it wasn’t human. He reached for a blanket and dropped it over her shoulders.

Eva pushed him. “I don’t need you to baby me. Grab your crap and let’s go.”

Arthur shook his head, allowing a brief smile as she backed away. Her hair fell in wavy ringlets around her shoulders; framing her strong Latina features and making her appear even more sultry than she normally was. Mascara ran around her eyes and struck him as panda-like but he refrained from telling her. She was quick to anger and assume people were making fun of her. Still, Arthur knew he couldn’t follow her to the school – he needed to find out what was behind this sudden tidal wave. Its frozen nature concerned him that there was some source and he needed to get to the bottom of it. It could die off before it reached Amnesty Bay but the island of Comstock would certainly be brought down with it. It was a small island but any loss of human life was unbearable, especially if he could have done something.

He looked over his shoulder to find Eva sitting, cross legged, and waiting impatiently for him to gather his belongings. Her eyes shone violet, and he had memories of a similar glare – only softer and tenderer than the one he was currently receiving. His hand slipped over the wheel he turned to direct the light, he had no way if knowing that all of the sailors had returned from sea but he could only pray they had. Arthur wasn’t exactly a praying man, he preferred to take action. Turning back towards Eva he ran excuses through his head, each seemingly less plausible than the next and all guaranteed to frustrate his highly-strung comrade even further. Saying no to her had never been easy. It was that daunting prospect that often had him working nights in her bar, the Duchess of the Deep.

“I can’t go until I know everyone’s back safe.”

Her brows furrowed. “How could you ever know that? You can’t see from here. There’s no way of knowing everyone is in. You just have to know you did your best. You’ve been up here since it started no doubt. That’s more than enough warning. It’s not like they couldn’t see it in the distance anyway. It’s covering almost the entire horizon.” Arthur was surprised by the lack of fear in her voice, he couldn’t make out a single tremble and then it hit him – Eva wasn’t afraid of what could happen them. Her every word was what she told herself every night when she went to sleep.

“I can’t just leave them here. I might wait on the harbour.”

“And freeze to death, AC? I don’t see how that makes any sense. If anyone should be on the harbour it should be me–”

“No–”

She interjected. “Exactly. You wouldn’t allow it. How can you expect me to allow you to go out there?”

Arthur ducked his head. “I can’t come straight over but I’ll be there.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realise you had somewhere better to be.”

Her sarcasm frustrated him further. He had to investigate what was out there. His speed and the enhanced density of his body would protect him from anything nature could throw at him. Eva would be crushed to death before she could even swim out of the way. She was a part-time diving instructor, not a hero. Arthur leaned into to taunt her more but she slapped him on the shoulder before he could ruffle her hair. Anger seeped into her glares now more than ever but he ignored her for the most part. She would huff as she always did and then she would come running back to him. She was called the Duchess of the Deep because it had been the name of her father’s boat but she had been called the Duchess because she had a holier-than-thou attitude and hated to be proven wrong. Eva removed the blanket she had wrapped around herself.

“Suit yourself.”

“Tell Kako I’ll be right over.”

“Try not to die. There’s a storm out there in case you failed to notice.”

Arthur smiled as she left. It took seconds for him to get back to the matter at hand, in a flurry of green and orange – the mariner was gone.

RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

Part II

By

Paige McMahon

Kako pulled the coat closer around her. Its fur brushed lightly at her high-drawn cheekbones and gave her a much needed sense of comfort. Storms blew outside like she’d never witnessed before and she dreamed of home. Her family would be safe in their Alaskan cabin, worried about her when she had no possible way of contacting them. She was worried about herself. The threat seemed to have stalled slightly but it was still there and that was all that concerned her. Kako turned her attention away from herself, she wasn’t always so selfish, and she looked at the children as they cried. It had been her responsibility as a kindergarten teacher to get the children of her class, and assist in the evacuation of the school, too safety. She had been in Amnesty Bay a year, and every day before now had been a happier one. If it wasn’t for her current job opportunity she would never have met Arthur Curry, the man she hoped to spend the rest of her life with.

She hushed the children. Her hands waved over a young boy of Iranian descent, and she handed him the book she had taken from the classroom. “Navid, why don’t you read your classmates a story? I’m sure we would all enjoy that, but you can’t cry and scream if you want to hear.” Kako’s suggestion was met with silence, and she was successful. Her eyes flickered to the door every few seconds. She was waiting for their parents as the town was on a full-scale evacuation but she was waiting for Arthur. He’d be the last to arrive, she knew that. It was the role of a lighthouse keeper.

Kako marched around the spacious high school gymnasium as she tried to warm herself up. Her eyes drifted towards a pre-recorded news report on an oil rig disaster not too far from Amnesty Bay. It came as no surprise to learn that sea devil Aquaman was involved in the collision that had cost sixty men their lives and the American government even more money in a time of recession. Kako had no love for the men who ruled over them all but she had even less appreciation for that maritime terrorist. She saw nothing but a trail of destruction and death everywhere he went. Brushing her gloved hand through her stocky haircut, she tried to control the mess. It was every bit as inconsiderate as the weather but she would have to survive. Her eyes hardened.

Governor Jim Mason took the screen to make an official statement. She could imagine him sitting in his warm helicopter flying out of the disaster zone whilst the rest of them sat waiting for the collision.

“Aquaman has struck again. He is the wolf in sheep’s clothing that we were warned of as children and the moment we forget that is the moment that we suffer the rapture of our sins,” he said into the live camera. Kako couldn’t help but notice how bad he looked. His light hair was brushed limply across the top of his head, and his beady eyes seemed to cut through her from where she stood. Despite her discomfort, she couldn’t help but agree with what he had said. Heroes seemed to be coming into the daylight from as far as the east coast. It was an epidemic that needed attending too. “Sixty men have lost their lives and this country is left with another debt over their heads all because of the actions of one man – a vigilante with no regards for the law of the land.”

“Can any good come from utilising someone like this? This so-called Superman in Metropolis is revered as a hero,” the reporter called over the sound of the helicopter’s propellers. “Could it be that Aquaman is simply a misunderstood hero?”

Mason’s gaze darkened. “Any loss of human life amounts to the same act of terrorism. I have it on authority that this was not an individual attack. Aquaman is recruiting more against us.”

“Are you actually watching that crap? Mason hasn’t said a single meaningful thing since he took office,” murmured the voice that broke her concentration. “It’s not like he had said much before then, either.”

Kako turned to see Eva, the best friend of her boyfriend, standing dripping in one of the most hideous outfits she had ever seen. Alaska had weather that demanded seasonal dress but the people of Amnesty Bay only seemed to dress with a modicum of dignity on a Sunday for mass services. Eva stood in a pair of shorts and waterproof coat over what was no doubt a tank top. It had been a cold morning and the weather had only steadily gotten worse but most of the people that surrounded her wore similar attire. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the television she was disappointed to realise the news had changed to the weather reporting with Kole Weathers. With nothing else to distract her she gazed at the door again and then returned her attention to the damp Southerner who stood with her arms folded. Neither of the women particularly liked one another, partly because Kako viewed herself as above everyone in the town bar Arthur but they tolerated one another.

She wasn’t feeling very tolerant. “What do you want, Torres? I’m sure you’re not here to swap pleasantries over Mason’s latest controversy.”

“There wouldn’t be a controversy if they weren’t contaminating our oceans.”

“Where would you rather get the oil to warm us up?” snapped the Inuit woman. “Should we invade the Middle East and go for a second time?”

Eva rolled her eyes. “Where do you expect to get your water if it’s contaminated?” She brushed it off. “I’m not here to argue with you. I’ve talked to more intelligent brick walls. I told AC I’d let you know he’d be along soon. That’s all.”

“You went to the lighthouse?” she said but her opponent had already flounced off. “Of course, you did.”

Comstock

Aquaman ducked and bobbed through the waves, they were strong but he was stronger. His golden hair and glistening costume reflected against the rising currents. Comstock’s bustling civilisation moved into the sea and Aquaman finally understood the hesitation of the oncoming tsunami. It was a manmade construct and it was herding them into the firing line, as if they were cattle for the slaughter. No sooner had the last of the boats moved off the shore than the tremendous wave came hurtling down around them. Screams filled the dusky light but even Aquaman was helpless to save all of the people who had become captured in the ocean. Even though it seemed hopeless, the mariner forced himself forward as he reached out towards a flailing child. The perpetrator had other ideas as the water swelled, thrusting them both into the air and crashing them back again – this time a second wave built further ahead, it was reaching out towards Amnesty Bay.

His heart raced and his jaw dropped as he made the decision. Aquaman dived beneath the waves of the storm; hoping help would come swiftly to all who needed it. Swimming against the propulsion upwards he saw what could only have caused the catastrophe they now faced. With superhuman speed Aquaman crashed into the silver crab-like creation only to discover it was robotically engineered. Pausing for a moment to recover, the crab continued to ebb its way through the mounds and crevices of the ocean floor. Aquaman was not so easily deterred. Harnessing the speed he had before, he erupted at the creation a second time and dislodged it from the ground as it flew upwards through the water – crashing in the near distance.

In seconds he was standing on the top, tearing the containment unit from its base but he was surprised at what was unveiled. He had expected a human with a serious distaste for humanity, but what he found was something monstrous that belonged in the depths of the oceans. Its nostrils flared as it snapped its pointed teeth towards the young hero, his hands crunched tighter around its next. People would die because of this thing; it was only just that it paid with its life. His eyes became as harsh as the storm above as Aquaman found himself treading the thin line that separated the two of them again. He had been reckless and impulsive before, and now he had an oil rig full of dead men to his name – whether it was his fault or not. He loosened his grip but held firm.

“You think you know Atlantean!”

Its squeals caused him to pause. “What did you call me?”

“You care for the mortals?” squealed the creature with laughter but something was different. Aquaman stared closely; the creature was wearing a pair of broken glasses. Its movements were strangely human but he didn’t understand any of that. Not to mention that it was speaking perfect English – although it seemed to have a serious lisp. “Mortals deserve all that comes. First I drown the mortals. Then I dry up the Atlanteans.” He gave another excited screech.

“What are you?” yelled the mariner. He had never been faced with something so unusual before. The redhead had been the first underwater creature he’d met like him, and now he stared down at an excitable and genocidal hybrid between the species of land and sea, containing defined attributes from both.

“I am as I was but new!”

“Answer me or you die.”

His laugh continued. “I am. I was…yes. I was a mortal but no more.” He shook his head and began to tut repeatedly until Aquaman tightened his grip. “Answers? Yes. Doctor, I was. Doctor of the land…yes, Doctor Deering.”

Deering squirmed free as he scuttled back towards the machine. Aquaman snapped his hands closed around the creature’s tail. Doctor Deering was a man of legends in Amnesty Bay; he had been a renowned oceanographer until he’d lost his mind. No one knew the true story because the wife was dead, the child was young and Doctor Deering was never seen again. His studies seemed to have paid off. Aquaman dragged the creature back into his line of sight, crushing its tail until blood ran into the misty waters. Deering clawed at his hands but it had little effect. Seemingly about to lose its life, Deering reacted like every other living organism on the planet – it sought to kill anything it took to survive.

Snapping his hand forward, he hit a switch and the silver crab exploded. Deering and Aquaman coursed through the sea floor as the pressures pitched around them until Aquaman couldn’t feel the creature in his grasp. He prepared to move to the surface for the rescue effort when a glint of silver caught his eye – and the rest of it tore through his flesh.

Next on Aquaman: Aquaman vs. Doctor Deering. And just why is Dale Conroy such a threat to the heroic mariner?