Here's my second go at it. Wish me luck?
Brood of Felony
Chpter I: réunir
For once the pacific ocean was calm while the Light's newest member tested the surface. While his crew worked in the submerging vessel that held him above the mighty ocean he stood alone admiring the view of Oahu he was currently gifted with. They would be departing soon, he knew, because he trusted his apprentice to get the job done and meet back at the randevou with time to spare. It was a special day, an annual anniversary they shared together. The master-apprentice pair had been visiting the island for years now, long before the Light was on their radar.
The sound of splashing and the light tap of weight hitting metal alerted Black Manta to his right hand jumping aboard. Smiling broadly he removed his helmet and held his arms out for an embrace, something he did with no one else. He patted shoulders and back for any sign of injury in the dark and when satisfied in knowing nothing was wrong he patted the helmet, a smaller version of his own, to signal it should be removed.
Of course the teen villain known as Devil Ray, while with the crew, obeyed her mentor. Devil Ray removed her helmet, auburn hair falling in thick waves to her thighs and shadowing her right eye from view. She breathed in the night and the salt, eyes closed and skin tingling with a sensation she couldn't place. Finally her eyes opened, chestnut irises calm and unfazed, and she scanned the horizon, absorbing every bit of information she could.
Black Manta clapped her back once more, tugging a bit and motioning with his other hand for her to sit with him. They were side by side, so very comfortable with one another's presence. Both humans listened to the ocean as it pushed and pulled at their anchored vessel. Manta hummed a tune, as always, and Ray simply listened. The past eighteen hours had been about relaxing themselves, getting some kind of normalcy they hadn't been allowed for some time, and basically trying to enjoy themselves.
For almost a year Manta and Ray had been separated, allowed to communicate through private lines and holographic messages, but they hadn't been together in a long time. Manta's fingers twitched. He wanted to meet with her so badly in that time, wanted to make sure she was safe for his own reasons. Because despite their work relationship, despite being mentor and apprentice, despite being Devil Ray's superior and trainer, they were first and foremost David Hyde and Temperance Ash; father and daughter.
It was a secret relationship that very few others knew about. Some of the crew, few members of the Light including Klarion(who'd taken the information by force), Savage (whose son had found out almost immediately after first meeting them), and Ra's al Ghul (who somehow knew everything) were privy to such private knowledge.
They weren't blood related, any fool could tell at first glance. Ash had fair skin, long wavy hair the color of a healthy English Oak's tree bark and feeling like silk, and her eyes were the same earthy color. Hyde was dark skinned by heritage, had hair and eyes the color of pure onyx, although age had seeped into his hair with gray, and everything about him from his appearance to his voice was rough from age and experience.
When Manta had stopped his humming both realized his hands had traveled from his knee to the base of Ray's neck where his fingers had, as they always had, found the few strands that stood out from the rest of her hair. The tress was snow white, made even paler from the surrounding hair. The action was intimate. Ray would never let another touch her hair so fondly.
It was then, after the humming and the twirling, that Black Manta knew they should begin a conversation before it was too late.
"Has it truly been a year?" he asked as their precious time together slowly ticked by. "It seems different, doesn't it?"
Ray took the question into consideration for a brief moment before shaking her head no.
"Come now, you must see something differently. The world is constantly changing," Manta hummed, amused.
"The island remains as it was when first we visited. Nothing has changed," she replied with a flat tone in her voice.
Manta clicked his tongue at her, "always so literal, my protege."
"Always so vague, my mentor," Devil Ray shot back immediately.
He chuckled, deep and melodious, eyes closed and head tilted back to watch the dark sky lit only by a perfect, full moon.
For a while they waited for the inevitable to occur, the alert that it was time to go. Every year they had missed the firework show from Schofield barracks because they needed to move out quickly for some reason or another be it a mission or the changing tides. This year was different though. At 11:59 p.m. There was no sirens, no call from the crew, no call from the Light.
This year the darkness was lit up with colors and promises of a new year, a new life. It was beautiful, so beautiful and loud and it left their hearts and skin buzzing with life and uncertainty for what was to come.
This was their first viewing together since their first year together when they paused to watch after Devil Ray's first mission from Ocean Master. It could quite possibly be their last, so for that moment they enjoyed the show. They took in the sights and sounds and enjoyed one another's company. At the end Ash rested her head upon her father's shoulder and breathed in his dark scent, a small smile lighting her features. She hadn't smiled for almost a year.
David Hyde stroked his daughter's spine with a warm hand. He waited a few minutes, until 12:07 a.m. On the dot to kiss the top of her head and whisper the same thing he told her every year at that exact moment.
"Happy birthday, Temperance."
The first few chapters are short and introductory. Reintroducing everyone to the characters. Tell me if you find any typos or the characters are ooc throughout the storyline.