"Johnny! Where have you been?" came my question.

"Well, I…uhhhh……"

"Tell me you haven't incinerated anything today."

"No! I…kinda bought a jacket." I eyed the shopping bag he held in one hand.

You have to admit, he was a good actor; him with his innocent tone, "I ordered it, actually." Right.

"Oh," I was expecting much worse, "Then why so nervous telling me???"

"I'm not exactly keeping it."

"Why not?"

He fell silent for a while before whispering, "Shhhhhh. I'm buying it for Zed."

"Good for you!" I exclaimed without hesitation, "I suspected one of you would make a first move."

He then sighed. "Really?" he asked.

"It's not a bad thing, Johnny. When are you planning to give it to her?"

"I ain't sure. Sis, you think I can do this without looking like a jerk?"

"Don't you call yourself a ladies' man? Now I'm curious to know how your confidence plunged."

"If I am a jerk, I'll be missing a big chance…to ask her out."

"I think the only way it will go smooth is if you just relax. Wait, come again? You're thinking of going out with her?" I smiled warmly at his decision. His relationship with Frankie Raye in the past had gone awry; he had taken her on a tour of Reed's lab & had opened up the Negative Zone. Inside that place, Reed's 'favourite' monsters almost had them for lunch. & so ended Frankie's trust in Johnny that he was a brave kinda guy. Later I found out she had even believed he held a doctorate! Working on impressing Azula would take his mind off more reckless things that might hurt our team's image.

"You like her, don't you?" I asked.

"Yeah," he grinned in a sheepish style, looking almost dreamy. My brother asked me for the second time, "You sure I can do this?"

I nodded in agreement.

We walked along the boardwalk to get ourselves some lovely snacks – Johnny chose popcorn whereas I went for an ice cream. The queues were a little long but we could take it. As soon as we bought our treats, we headed for the pier & waterfront.

Some weird noise interrupted the low hum of people's voices which would be part of a normal day out. We were still far behind the front row of people looking out at the ocean, though. There wasn't a way to know what exactly was happening unless we pushed our way through the large crowd. Still, we kept our eyes peeled for anything to would demand the help of our powers.

Bursting right out of the ocean was a whale-like monster that would only mean trouble. People quivered upon hearing its deep roars & its massive size that nearly blocked out the sun. All of a sudden, a massive cruiser could be seen hovering in the air. Now that was a sight for sore eyes; the huge chunk of metal seemed to levitate.

A split second later, the cruiser was flying right at us! Luckily it was flung into the woodwork of the jetty without harming the people. Phew! We didn't have to chuck our food into the bins to rescue any victims. My guesses were that someone or something was carrying it, or some force was moving it, much like my abilities could do so.

Guess #1 had been the answer. Someone sounding rather authoritative could be heard issuing some kind of order. It wasn't a distinctive voice we knew from before, calling himself a name sounding like "Namor". Nonetheless, we had to make sure the guy wasn't too much of a troublemaker. As soon as we successfully pushed through the crowd, his apparent conversation with the public had lost much of its animation.

He was incredibly muscle-bound, & towering easily above the average man. Jet-black hair with sharp edges at the sides, sea green irises & sleek pants of the same colour were some of his features. & more peculiar were his pointy ears & a pair of wings he had on each ankle. Without further ado I pressed him on to stay for a bit – I was going to try out my diplomatic style of handling problems.

"Wait! We need to talk," I said firmly.

Unfortunately my brother had to butt in, "Yeah! First off - "

"Shhhhh! I meant ME, not us," I stopped him, my hand over his mouth.

"But I…"

"Shhhh."

"But I was…"

"Shush!"

"No," I stuck my ice cream into his mouth, "talking."

Namor was firm where he felt himself to be right, "There is nothing to discuss. The judgment of Atlantis is FINAL." Immediately he had his back to us & he proceeded to leave.

So I tried again, "Wait! Are you really from Atlantis? As in the underwater mythological city? It's real? Like, really real?" As if by impulse I lay a hand on his shoulder.

"If you do not remove your hand, you'll find out how real it is…," he warned.

"Ho, ho, tough guy…pickin' on a girl…," Johnny retorted. Once again I attempted to keep him mum.

"Right, sorry. Look, erm, prince, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Or fin. Whatever. But my point is, we share this planet. You can't just ban us from the water. It's our water too." I thought I was already being long-winded; still, the message had to get across somehow.

He wasn't going to back down anytime soon, "Humanity defiles the oceans with their filth. So you may no longer have the oceans."

Johnny too wasn't giving me all the space to settle this. "Hey, giant ELF! What's up with your pointy ears, huh? & those itsy-bitsy wings on your ankles? Lame!" he blurted out.

"What did you say to me?" came the prince's warning tone, stern as ever.

"Johnny, don't," I whispered. But of course he went against me.

He blabbered on with a confident streak, "I said, next time if you really wanna impress us, don't wear your sister's pants! &, oh! & grab some deodorant while you're up here! 'Cuz that fish smell…nuh-uh…No good."

We were in for a VERY tough time…

"You missed!" my brother dodged Namor playfully. "Oooo, missed again! I hope you fight better underwater, coz this is embarrassing!"

I reprimanded him, "Johnny, leave him alone!"

"He started it."

"I don't care; just stop it!"

"Fine," he sighed.

I wish I had rebuked Namor too but it happened too fast. "This is what the wings are for, human!" In the next split second he punched Johnny, sending him flying (falling, rather) into the water. He had better had been thankful I could make a platform for him to land on right before he got wet.

"See what happens when you talk?" I barked.

He replied, "That's okay. I'm done talking!"

The two roughians were up in the air tussling again. Ugh. Just when they charged at each other at a very dangerous speed, I created a wall between them. To be on my guard, I hovered nearer to them on a platform.

"Such power…what manner of humans are you?" asked Namor.

I lost a little of my cool, "Oh, what, all Atlanteans can fly & breathe air?"

Namor then stretched out both thick arms, like he was generating or at least doing something to affect his surroundings. Moments later I felt that my power channelling was disrupted, in a weird way. There was this noise of really high frequency interrupting me, & I lost control of the wall I had made. My eyes were partially shut as I was falling. Surprisingly I was a little too weak to feel panicky.

"Sis, you okay?" my brother was asking me seconds later. Phew, he had been a good enough sibling to catch me.

"Yeah, except my pride…," I answered.

Next, we heard roaring that could only belong to Leopard X. Before we knew it, he leapt out from the crowd behind us, an amazing distance of easily thirty feet. It turns out he wanted to pounce on Namor. Both his front claws locked onto Namor's broad shoulders & he focused a laser attack on him. It worked. The Atlantean prince fell back into the water.

"Wow, I gotta say you're REAL good…," said Johnny.

Our friend told us, "Snow leopards hate water, actually."

"Ozai, your suit - ," I said, a little worried.

He smiled at us, "I was testing it, underwater."

"Oh," we two siblings said.

"Heed my warning. Stay out of the sea," Namor emerged from the water in a flash. I noticed Johnny gritting his teeth while I clenched a fist. Namor had iron will power. Ozai crouched like a cat would, eyeing its prey.

He blew into his shell-like instrument – the "Horn of Atlantis" perhaps - & summoned his monster companion to return to their underwater abode. Their last few splashes ended the tension everyone was feeling.

"That, well…well fine! You can have your stupid ocean. Who needs it?" yelled Johnny.

I snapped, "Are you serious? No – don't answer that. Look, Johnny, we have to reason with him & change his mind."

"Right, & how are we supposed to – no, no, no no no no no!!! There is no way I am getting wet!"

I had a full mind to keep myself from the ways of the violent. Whether the boys liked it or not, I'd go diplomatic to resolve the issue at hand.