A/N: I changed some of the details in Shirakage Mouse's narration about the source of her powers in the story. I decided to make these changes after finishing "DM's Villains See Potential In His Mate". And I might have to bring out Daniel's emotions out in another deviant chapter project after this one soon. I want him to feel something for her after he lost his father years ago. That Q&A session is driving me to rethink the gaps in my storyline writing. And I haven't thought of doing action sequences for a very long time now.

I wonder if my will to do so is still not strong enough.

A Romantic Little Mermaid Rescue Homage

Not many villains of Danger Mouse managed to keep their balls and deal with me once I get angry and unleash my rage upon their mortal vessels. When they first heard that a female white mouse civilian was dating their most hated do gooder, they thought I'd be an easy target to kidnap and use me as bait to ensure DM would drop his guard and give in to their demands in exchange for my freedom.

That was another villain's big mistake. Hasn't this bastard, who has just sunk DM's Danger Sub to the bottom of the sea under the docks area of Brighton Marina with my boyfriend tied up inside, heard about who had reformed Dr. Loocifer to turn back into a good robot toilet because a cold eyed female mouse with a gun set to kill scared him to death?

So guess which villain was responsible for leaving Danger Mouse to drown as the sunken Danger Sub was now taking on water below the pier where we were located upon. Huh. Would you look at that. Criminal K from the Twistyverse wasn't as dumb as this world's K Taisa as I'd thought he'd be. Still, Sinister Mouse should have come himself and insisted to steal me from DM, instead of letting his evil colleague cross over and do it for him.

Unfortunately, for the cackling moron, my love for my hero's safety was a power flowing throughout my soul's aura. And no amount of strong knotted rope or binds could match the strength of my will. It had been 8 weeks since the Queen of Weevils' magical orb was slipped inside of my body by Sinister Mouse. I had used the orb's power twice so far in secret. And, to my horror, I discovered that if I used its magic beyond my limit, it will destroy the very organ which it had fused itself with...my heart.

I haven't told him, Penfold or anybody else at Danger HQ about my strange new powers since I had gotten them. If they were to find out that every time I'd overextend myself, very thin slivers of my lifespan would erode away from my expected mortality timeline, then Danger Mouse would be frantic and worried.

I know I would have to tell them eventually. However, my wild, immature self was having too much fun holding onto these gifts, using them for the greater good while nostalgically remembering how the imaginary daydreams I've had in my past human life from the real world involved magical powers such as these, as I fantasized myself being a half human, half Pokemon Princess on Master Island.

So, long martial arts battle short, Criminal K was now crawling his bloody self back through the wormhole to the Twistyverse after I just whooped his ass hard. With him gone, I transformed my lower white mouse body into the Pokémon's tail of Vaporeon, which resembled that of a mermaid's. Plus, I got gills now to help me breathe both in the water and air.

I dived into the water as fast as my life depended on it. There wasn't much time before the inside of DM's hull breached Danger Sub ran out of air pockets that my boyfriend desperately needed to stay alive. Despite me thinking about a worse case scenario of Danger Mouse drowning while his tied up posture and head was completely underwater, this was kind of thrilling, exciting, and a total turn on for my tomboyish femininity.

I swam with all of the rush and speed as I could muster. Now that I was half mouse and half mermaid, a special mucus membrane was protecting my sapphire orbs from being blinded by the murky waters. My partial marine transformation helped my vision see clear images of the seabed better than my original form's land dwelling eyes. I descended deeper into the water until I caught sight of the damaged sub several meters below me.

Once I got close enough to it, I peeked through the cockpit windows to see if Nezu-chan was alright. I froze with widening eyes as my worst fears were realized. The rising water had already begun to rise above his head from the pilot's chair that he was tied up to. He had his chin lifted up to deeply inhale any last air pockets he would have left before the submerging waves condemned him to his death. His ears were reared back behind his fearful gaze as the water finally consumed his form.

My instincts were screaming at me to smash the windows with my Aqua Jet powered fists and save him. But if I let Danger Mouse see me like this, he'll want to know how I'd gotten these powers, leaving me no choice but to add that my overextended heroic use of them might eventually kill me. I didn't want him to find out and forbid me to use them ever again out of concern for my life.

Should...Should I...actually consider using one of DM's suspenseful techniques whenever he saves the day? Should I wait for the last possible second...? I looked back through the window and saw my poor Nezu-chan struggling to keep his last held breath from giving out. Tiny air bubbles were escaping his puffed up cheeks and closed mouth. 'Don't be a selfish, magical hero, Shirakage Mouse!' Screamed my inner self. 'Save the mouse you love! MOVE, NOW!'

I couldn't move. I stared back at Nezu-chan helplessly with indecisiveness. Then, I saw him reach his limit as his mouth opened to exhale the last breath he'd held onto in his strained lungs. By witnessing him drowning before my eyes, I regained my determination to save him. Channeling all of my energy into my fists, I smashed the cockpit windows with the force as powerful as a torpedo strike.

I wasted no time to wait for the cloud of bubbles to dissolve. I swam inside the large hole and untied my unconscious boyfriend from his bounded chair and carried him back to the surface. As I swam with all of the speed that my limited aura would give me at my average level of power, I could still feel DM's pulse through his wrist. But I knew I had to get air back in his lungs as soon as I resurface onto the pier.

When we finally broke through the last shallow layer of waves, I heaved Nezu-Chan's body onto the wooden pier. Believing confidently that no witnesses were around to see us, I levitated my body into the air and over the space next to DM. My Vaporeon tail glowed vibrantly as it transformed itself back into my lower white mouse body with my tail and skirt intact.

"Nezu-chan," I hushed softly once my feet landed on the dock. I hovered over his limp form and turned him onto his back. I parted his mouth slightly and proceeded to resuscitate him with mouth to mouth before trying any chest compressions. It only took two of my breaths into his trachea for him to convulse and splutter water from his mouth. As he coughed harder, I turned him over onto his side and belly so that he'd have an easier time hacking the water out of his lungs.

My heart ached every time he'd cough and wheeze back the missing air into his lungs. "Oh, Nezu-chan. Are you alright!? You scared me! Why didn't you use your eye patch laser to get yourself out of that mess!?"

Danger Mouse shivered slightly as a cool breeze blew around his dripping wet jumpsuit and fur. "P-Penfold found a Spamchops video of you...s-s-saving some civilians from falling to their deaths one night. He showed it to me...and I used the computer to analyze the footage just to be sure it was really you, Shirakage.

"I witnessed you suddenly gaining the ability to either fly with those giant blue bird wings that you've kept hidden under your clothes whenever you're around me and the others; or you could levitate like Princess Dawn using some sort of telekinetic powers.

"I chose not to free myself, because I wanted to see more of your abilities...on a gut feeling that you were going to save me anyway."

My jaw dropped as I stared at him in disbelief and shock. He knew. He knew all this time...keeping me in the dark, when I thought I had him fooled. But what was worse...was that he was betting his own life on a typical, guy like hunch that I would rescue him with one of my cool transformation powers.

"You..." I seethed with frustrated tears welling up in my blue eyes. "Danger Mouse, you risky, self confident dumbass! You can't just bet your precious life on the edge of death over whatever awesome thing I can do in front of you like that! Did you even consider the possibility that I might not have been able to save you or resuscitate you back to life, and you would just've been left down there to drown!?"

DM started to shiver more vigorously from another chilly breeze. "D-D-Don't try to play the 'worried girlfriend' card on me, Shi-Shi-Shira-ahh-HrrrKt'SHuuuu!" He sneezed loudly, interrupting the smug comeback banter that he was about to reply to me.

"Oh, Danger Mouse," I said in alarm, my anger quickly subsiding as his health became my new priority. "You're going to catch a cold if we don't get you back into the warmth of HQ and have you change into dry clothes."

He sniffed and swiped a balled fist at his moist nostrils. "A-Alright. But I'm telling Colonel K, which will also lead to Professor Squawkencluck running a few tests on how you obtained those powers, and if they're permanent or not, including any serious side effects that may effect your own health."

Dammit. I was afraid it would lead to this mandatory request of his once he found out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My blue eyes were in the form of irritated slits across my face. I'd rather express a level of displeasure than concerned anxiety as I was being scanned in one of Professor Squawkencluck's devices in her lab. An audience including Colonel K, Penfold and DM just added more annoyance to my mood; I either scowled or sneered to the side while standing still in the machine.

There was only one minor problem that was making my desired attitude falter and soften my heart again: Danger Mouse sat a few feet away from his boss and best friend. He had already changed into another dry pair of his secret agent attire once we returned to HQ. But he'd also wrapped himself in a thick blanket and shivered from time to time, with an occasional swiped fist to his nose and sniffling wetly.

Squawkencluck's scanning process took several minutes before she'd receive an accurate completed report from the computer. Nobody said a word as they waited patiently for the final results. Danger Mouse, however, succumbed to a few shaky breaths and sneezes, disrupting the silence now and then.

"Sniffle...heh! Huh-huh...AAAHH-CHOOOO!"

"I hope you're covering your mouth over there, Mouse," Squawkencluck told him in a bored tone. "We don't want you to spread your freshly caught cold virus to your colleagues here at HQ."

I watched DM remain silent behind the female chicken boffin. Poor Nezu-chan. The expression in his eye and wry frown revealed just how terrible and weak he was beginning to feel. He sniffed again and shut his tired eye.

"Um, Colonel," Penfold said while observing his senpai after some time. "I think the Chief's looking a bit flushed in the face."

"Crikey, DM!" K Taisa added when he took notice of Nezu-Chan's symptoms. "You've developed a fever too, my boy!"

"Ahhh..." Danger Mouse inhaled again, eye squinting slightly as his jaw slacked open. "Hehhhh-!"

"Use a tissue, Mouse," Squawkencluck warned him dangerously.

"Ah-CHOOO!" He sneezed into a spare handkerchief that I'd given him earlier after he changed out of his wet jumpsuit. It was my favorite one and, at first, he refused to accept it. But his sneezing fits were leaving his nostrils and face in a gross, messy way. "Snff...Sorry."

A few seconds later, the monitor beeped and Squawkencluck gasped. "Oh no. This is bad, everyone."

"What is it, Professor?" Penfold asked anxiously. "Is Shirakage alright?"

"The magical powers inside of Shirakage Mouse's body is infused onto her heart. I'm getting readings of both Princess Dawn's and the Queen of Weevil's magical energy sources that can be activated and provide whatever Shirakage's thoughts desire.

"Normally, Shirakage might be more powerful than any super villain the Danger Network has ever dealt with. But, if Shirakage should use her powers beyond her limitations—and more often than necessary—the powers from the orb could drain her lifespan. In other words, she might die trying to save us or the world."

I cringed as the males gasped with shock and worry.

"Oh Eck!" Penfold squeaked. "How could she have obtained those villains' magic in the first place?" Then he started bawling. "Noooo! I don't want Ms. Shirakage to die!"

"I'm still here, Pen-chan," I muttered with an eye roll.

"Shirakage..."

All four of us turned to an icy, low toned voice coming from DM. His right mouse ear folded itself over his right eye as he kept his face hanging downwards. Something told me that the cork was about to pop on an unopened, aggravated bottle.

"Shirakage," Nezu-chan repeated my name again. "How many times have you overused your powers since the time you've obtained them up until today?"

I gulped at the slowly laced venom creeping into his patient tone. "Twice, so far."

Everyone kept very still and quiet as we heard DM's fist tighten at his side. "Did you suffer any physical symptoms when those two events occurred?"

The anger in his aura began to feel stronger in my gut, yet I answered his question anyway. "Nosebleeds...and a fatigue like fever."

Nezu-Chan's teeth clenched as he raised his head at me. But his eye remained hidden behind his mouse ear. "Well, being a boffin like Squawk here...surely, you've been keeping a scientific diagnostic on how much of your lifespan you lose whenever this happens."

That wasn't an assumption in his sentence. He wanted me to answer the truth to him...now. "Yes."

"One final question," DM unfurled his ear and a glistening, angry glare met my timid gaze. "How much of your original lifespan have you lost for each of those two incidents when you overused your double edged powers!?"

Squawkencluck attempted to intervene, but I held up my hand to stop her. "No, Prof. Everyone here needs to hear this from me."

I inhaled a large breath, exhaled it out then looked at him with a solemn gaze.

"Each of those overzealous incidents takes away 4 months of my life. So far, the total is now 8 months of life that I could never regain again."