8 months earlier
Outskirts of Gotham City
King Shark swam for fear of being caught through the sludge of the cities sewers, searching for a place to hide. Gotham had an immense under-ground system, and likely, if he laid low, he wouldn't get found. That's how Killer Croc did it until he surfaced and Batman arrested him. He just wouldn't be stupid. He could find a place near a butcher's or a morgue and wait until the heat on him died down then he could try leaving the country.
He knew that was a useless plan, but there was no other option but Bellreive.
After swimming for a few hours he picked a grate at random and forced it out of place with some difficulty. He found himself in some strange underground building. There were no windows and he knew he'd gone deep, but he didn't expect this. The place was sparsely lit by electric flood lights. Someone was here. He could even smell them. He took a step and was instantly attacked by bright light and loud sirens. He protected his head as he felt something big grab him and restrain him.
"Intruder secured, mother." A hollow, mechanical voice came from his restrainer.
The lights dimmed and the sirens stopped. "Oh shit." A woman's voice.
"It's King Shark!"
His eyes finally adjusted to the rapid changes in light and there, in front of him, was a young woman surrounded by mechanisms, some seemingly finished others works in progress. She held a power tool in her grimy hands and dropped it on the shoddy worktable near her.
"You're King Shark, right?"
Shark growled, "Who are you?"
She laughed loudly, making him uncomfy, "Well I'm no one... for now."
She wiped her hands on her jeans and looked around for something. After digging through the mess on several different desks she pulled out a paper and a sharpie, "Uh... autograph? Please?"
Shark stared in utter disbelief. "I...what? You-" He strained against his captors strong grip. He assumed it wasn't human. She must have made it. "Aren't you scared? I eat people!"
She hesitated, her hands sinking, "Well, yea..."
Whatever thought was worrying her passed, "But I find you genetically fascinating." Good enough reason for her.
King was already sure she was crazy. He sighed and reached limply with his wrists for the paper and sharpie, unable to even touch the tip to the newspaper clipping.
"Corvo, release. Caution mode." She ordered and Shark was free, but he could still feel a looming presence behind him.
He signed the paper and handed it back to her. Their fingers touched.
"You're not going to turn me in. If you try I'll eat you. I don't care if you're my entire fanclub." He finally took a look at what had been holding him so tightly. It looked like something straight out of a modern scifi movie. At least a foot taller than him and covered in black polished steel armor was a humanoid shaped robot known as Corvo.
"Don't call him robot. It means slave. He doesn't appreciate it and neither do I." The strange woman said and made Shark question if she could read minds.
"You were thinking it." She smiled devilishly, "And don't worry, if I turned you in I'd get caught too."
"Caught?" Shark smirked, "Are you doing something you shouldn't be doing?"
The woman had this eager, childish glee when he asked her that. "Let me show you."
Without hesitation she ran behind him and pushed him forward. Shark was reluctant to let someone touch him, but it did feel nice...
"Corvo is my most advanced mechanism yet. His brothers and sisters are just as impressive, but they all have different talents." She took him a floor lower, and there, hanging on racks, were at least a hundred different robots. They all chirped and hummed as she passed. "My babies. They're singing." Shark couldn't hear a tune. It just sounded like banging and whirring.
She pulled out a small card-shaped, see-through object and reacted to her touch. It seemed to be a phone or a computer, as she swiped through things, but then a fully formed hologram of Corvo appeared. Shark was very impressed. "If Batman or the world knew I've surpassed modern technology by light years they'd get greedy."
Shark looked at Corvo. "So... why did you make them? World domination?"
The woman looked perplexed by the question. "No. I uh... no I was lonely. I just started making them."
Lonely. With a face like that? Shark wanted to laugh, but he saw a familiar look of pain in her eyes. He felt the same way. "You... don't have friends? A family?"
"I'm... I don't get along with people." She put the card in her pocket, "But my family is right here." Corvo, without an order, lumbered to her side and put his hand on her back. The other machines seemed to coo to her.
It was awkwardly quiet for a moment, then Shark's stomach roared.
As if by instinct, Corvo snapped upright and his forearm turned into an intimidating looking futuristic gun. He aimed defensively at Shark.
"WOAH! HOLD YOUR BISCUITS!" The woman looked as small as a toddler as she lept up and grabbed Corvo's arm, dangling from it. "You're hungry? I want to keep my life, how's about we cut a deal? You won't tell people where I am, I won't tell people where you are, you don't eat me, I feed you, DEAL?!" She finally managed to pull her creations arm down, but it was of his own volition it seemed.
Shark nodded.
The woman grabbed the card from her pocket, one hand still on Corvo's arm. She seemed to search for something for a moment before dialing a number. Shark, paranoid that she was calling the cops, stepped forward. Corvo's arm shot up again, pulling her up with is. She yelled again and put the call on speaker.
"Butch's Butchery, how may I help you?" A gravely voice echoed from the tiny device.
Shark relaxed, but Corvo didn't relieve his position.
"Yes, can I place a very large order for delivery?"
"How large?"
"I need, like, five whole cows."
Silence for a moment.
"I have A LOT of money."
"Well, we only have parts."
The woman sighed and her face pinched in frustration, "Like big rib racks?"
"Yes. We also have select cuts-"
"I just need a lot of meat."
Long pause.
"Is this some sort of prank?"
"NO! Listen do you want eight thousand in cash for as much meat and slops and leftovers you can load into a truck or not?"
"...Ten."
The woman's face filled with rage.
"FINE! TEN! Please this is kind of important."
The butcher on the other end laughed a little, "What, you got sharks or somethin?"
She looked at Shark with her eyebrows raised, "No. I have turtles."
There was another drawn out silence, "Are you doing this or not?"
"Sure, what's your address?"
Shark sat on the cold concrete floor and twiddled his thumbs while they waited. The woman was leaned against a desk, obviously eager to get back to work as she kept staring at the papers and parts. Shark could almost hear the gears working in her head. He felt some sort of attraction to her, maybe it was simply because she wasn't scared of him.
"What's your name?" He asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"What? Oh," She shifted from one foot to another nervously, "Tanya."
"Tanya," Shark rolled her name off his tongue and smiled. "I'm Nanaue. That's my real name."
"Nanue?" Shark liked the way she said his name, "Nice to meet you Nanaue."
They talked some more, opening up little by little. Nanaue told her about his home in Hawaii, she told him how she'd never had a home. The conversation took a positive turn when they began to joke about how pointless Captain Boomerang was. They had things in common, oddly.
Then something buzzed loudly.
"That's the pizza man," She said and without another word hopped into an elevator. She was gone for fifteen minutes before returning with an epic amount of cold meats.
"You didn't direct someone to your base did you?" Shark wished he had the fortitude to be more polite, but he couldn't resist the urge to dig in immediately after asking her a question.
"I didn't. I have a 'safehouse' not too far from here and a sensor that tells me when people are there." She didn't seem to mind his poor table manners at all.
"Did you actually pay the guy 10 thousand?" Shark's words were muffled by mouthfuls of flesh.
"Yup." Tanya's lips disappeared for a moment.
"Where'd you even get that money?" Nanaue turned to her and saw an unsure look on her face. "Thankyou... I mean."
Tanya shrugged and smiled, "I'll make that much again by the time you finish eating. It's no prob. I don't want to get eaten."
"I couldn't eat someone who's so kind." Nanaue heard how strange that sounded the moment he said it and scratched his head nervously, "I mean. You didn't scream in fear when you saw me... you didn't turn me in. It's hard to trust anyone." He slapped his face, "I'm talking too much."
Out of the blue, he felt her small, warm hands on his shoulder, and then her soft lips planted a burning kiss on his cheek. His face got hot.
"Shut up and eat then." Tanya smiled and sauntered away.
