Chapter 3: Under the Sea

Clover felt strange, while being controlled by the alien creature that it had fused with her, and that she called Blackie. As her body was controlled by the creature, she made her way into the city, leaping from building to building. When she landed on the building roofs, she did not even felt the impact. It seemed to her that Blackie had also amplified her gymnastic skills, as well as her strength, speed and agility.

As she jumped a huge distance, she yelled on top of her lungs. She had never felt so alive, and she knew it. All of a sudden, she saw herself on top of one of the tallest buildings in Beverly Hills. The mask that had been covering her face ever since she left her room, disappeared and she blinked her eyes, looking at the spectacular view in front of her. The countless lights created he illusion that a huge psychedelic mat had been rolled over the city. It still felt like a dream that she had been able to make that huge distance, without breaking a sweat. Taking a deep breath, she felt more alive than ever before in her life. Not even during her wildest assignments for WOOPH had she experienced such a thing.

"This must have been what Spider-Man felt the first time he climbed to the top of the Empire State Building…" –she said, as she gazed into the beautiful nightscape. –"I knew that Beverly Hills was A-class beautiful, but I never thought that it could be triple A-class beautiful at night."

Once again, Blackie took control over Clover's body, making her jump once again to a nearby building. Clover did not know where the black alien was taking her, but the feeling of freedom and being able to do what she was doing was so good, and it felt so right to her, that she did not care about it. When she finally got control over her body once again, she looked around, trying to see where she was. She did not recognize the place, but then she looked at her feet and saw that she was stepping on sand. It looked like she was on a desert; but then she looked behind her and saw the city's buildings. She also heard the ocean, which made her assume that she was on a beach. The moonlight made the sand look like silver in that dark night, and Clover just loved it. It was then, that she started to walk right to the shore, hearing the sound of the waves.

"Whoa… This is really beautiful." –she thought to herself. –"Who would have thought that a beach could be this beautiful at night?"

She kneeled, and as she was about to touch the sand with her fingers, something strange happened. From the blonde's fingers, some kind of spark of energy beam was projected, and as it touched the sand, it crystallized it. Clover became amazed, as she picked up the little piece of crystallized sand. She lifted up and pointed it to the Moon, noticing that it looked like a piece of glass. That same piece was hot, but not blazing hot, just warm, like if you had put it inside a microwave oven for a couple of minutes. She smiled, noticing how beautiful it was. It was then that she had one of the craziest ideas of the History of crazy ideas. She concentrated and with a little effort, she once again managed to crystallize the sand, turning it into pure glass. She repeated the gesture a couple of times until everything in a ten metres radius was turned into glass. Feeling how warm it was, Clover could not resist but to lay on what she had created, trying to absorb every particle of heat that was in it. Blackie also liked it, and had its way to tell Clover that by almost gluing itself to the glassy surface.

"You like warm, don't you?" –Clover asked Blackie. –"No wonder, after you've been adrift in space for God knows how long, where it's cold and there is no air, it's good to feel a little warm."

Clover began to caress herself with her hands, in order to make Blackie feel even warmer. She felt as if she was in Heaven. Feeling the heat over itself, Blackie made that strange noise which resembled a giggle. After a while, Clover eventually got up and walked to the shore, feeling the ocean's water covering her feet. She did not know why, but she felt the urge to go for a swim. When the water line was just a little above her belly button, she dived and began swimming. To her surprise, her feet and legs turned into a fin.

"Whoa! I'm a mermaid! I'm actually a real mermaid!" –she exclaimed out loud, as she looked at her fin and just how beautiful it was. She waved it just above the surface to see just how big it was, still amazed by all that. The blonde was really astounded by what was happening to her. It was as if some of wildest fantasies were coming true, one after another.

Taking it for a test drive per say, Clover began swimming as fast as she could. She swam underwater during long periods of time, only coming back to the surface in order to see just where she was heading. That meant that she was now able to breathe underwater, without the need of carrying an oxygen bottle with her, or diving glasses. When she finally stopped swimming, she looked behind and saw that the city of Los Angeles could barely be seen, except for a pair of small yellow dots.

"My God, this is unbelievable… well, since I'm here, I might as well do a little ocean exploring." –Clover thought to herself, as she dived, this time diving deeper and deeper. Although the visibility inside the dark waters of the ocean was practically null, thanks to Blackie, the blonde could see everything that was in front of her. Swimming around, she ran into a huge Manta Ray. Swimming by her side, she felt the urge to pet her but decided not to do it, for she did not know how the creature would react.

The ocean's floor with its sandy surface was the perfect hideout to every little sea creature, but it also hidden other secrets… secrets like a sunken ship. History had never been Clover's favourite subject, but she was able to recognize the ship from some pictures she had seen on her History books. It was an old Spanish Galleon that had been sunken by another ship, centuries ago. It was no surprise to Clover seeing one there… everyone knew that many Spanish Galleons, carrying precious cargos like spices and jewels, had been sunken by pirates throughout the 17th and 18th century, and many of them, had sunk with their cargo.

"Who knows, maybe this one has something worthy of keeping in it… What do you say, Blackie, shall we go and take a look at it?" –she asked the alien symbiote telepathically, without the need to use words.

Blackie immediately agreed with the idea, by once again taking control of Clover's body, swimming towards the wreck. This one was in very bad shape. It was all covered with all kinds of sea life, from tiny molluscs to seaweeds. Clover felt that there was something really worth of keeping inside the wreck, so she dived in, trying not to touch the debris. She was a little afraid of what might happen if she accidently hit, but decided to keep Blackie in control. A few minutes went by and she still had not found a thing that looked expensive or priceless. Maybe this it was one of those wrecks that had already been explored and everything that worth anything had been taken probably to a museum.

She was about to tell Blackie to turn around, when something caught her eye. It was some kind of trunk. It was covered with seaweed and other stuff. If she had not been looking for some of the kind, Clover would have not even seen it in the first place. Reaching slowly for it, she touched it, looking for a way to open it, when suddenly she felt something behind her.

Looking over her left shoulder, she did not see a thing, and for an instant thought that it might have just been her imagination playing tricks on her. But then, she felt it again, and this time she saw what it was. Moving just a few meters from her was a huge white-shark with a menacing grin looking at Clover, as if she was a tasty dish. The way the shark's eyes glared at her, made the blonde feel afraid of what might happen next. She did not even move, hoping that the shark would just leave her alone.

"What do I do? If that fish decides to attack me, I'll be his midnight snack." –she began to panic, only to be calmed down by Blackie, who made her feel more relaxed.

But, just as she had anticipated, the shark decided to attack her. Aster as speeding bullet, it tried to bite Clover. Still, the blonde was not a match to the shark, easily dodging it. More and more, Clover began to realize that Blackie really came in handy in that kind of situations.

The shark turned around and opening its jaws it tried to but Clover once more, only this time she was prepared; or better, Blackie was prepared. Taking over the control of Clover's body, she became buffed from her waist up, and was now holding the shark's mouth wide open. With a little more strength, she tore the neck's muscles out of the world's deadliest underwater predator, killing it.

"W-What did j-just happen?" –Clover asked, realizing that Blackie had been in full control of her body for at least 5 seconds, and that in those 5 seconds, she had been able to kill a shark with her bare hands. –"Man that was scary…"

Clover trembled just from thinking that she had just done something like that. Her body was still all buffed up, and she could feel just how big her muscles were. Still, whatever the reason was, she had enjoyed it; or better, she had enjoyed the raw power and the feeling of being invincible, even if it had been just a for a few seconds, and that scared her.

"Blackie… I know that you are supposed to be my friend, but please, don't do this again… don't take full control of my body, even if it's an emergency, at least not until we get to know a little better, okay?" –Clover asked the alien, to which he answered by creating a tentacle that signalled the blonde that it had understand what she was telling it. –"Now, can you turn me back to normal, so we can check out that trunk?"

Obeying her orders, Blackie did as it was told. Swimming back to the wreck, it was only then that Clover noticed that the water around her was stained with blood from the white-shark's carcass that was slowly drifting away. Trying to think about other things, she reached for the trunk and once again began to look for a way to open it.

Finally, she felt a lock. Being rusty from all those years on the sea, she managed to break it with fair easiness. Throwing it away, Clover then gently opened it and was marvelled by what was lying in front of her beautiful blue eyes. The trunk was filled with all kinds of wonderful things. Gold, silver, jewels… a king's ransom, and it was all hers. Gently burying her hands into the coins made out of those precious metals, Clover could not help but to wonder what she was going to do now that she had found that enormous treasure. With it she would be able to but everything she had always wanted to, without even having second thought about it, not to mention that she would be able to make Mandy jealous for years to come, by being one of the richest girls in Beverly Hills. But then, it hit her… why would she just keep the treasure to herself, if she could share it with her best friends, Sam and Alex.

"I know, I will share this treasure with them." –she said, picking up a couple of things, as Blackie decided to create some sort of pouch so Clover could put the things she had caught in it. –"Will leave the rest, and come back another day to take it with us. Oh, Sam and Alex are just going flip over when I tell them about all this."

It was then that she felt her body trembling a little. She realized that it had been Blackie who did that, as if it was afraid of something.

"What is it, Blackie? Are you afraid of something?" –Clover asked it, hoping to get a response, when it hit her. Not knowing Sam and Alex, the little alien was probably afraid of them. –"Are you afraid of Sam and Alex? Don't worry, they are my friends, and they won't hurt you, I promise."

Blackie made Clover's body tremble again, but this time it was clear that he was not afraid. Clover's words managed to calm him down. Once they were back at home, the blonde looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:15 am. She had less than three hours of sleep left, before she had to get ready for school. Dropping all the pretty things that she had brought with her from that trunk on the bottom of the sea in her desk, she then cuddled on her bed. She was a little tired but she felt that she still had energy to go on for hours without having the need to sleep a wink.

As she was closing her eyes, Blackie formed a tentacle which stretched and pulled the sheets, covering Clover, after which, it assumed the form of a beautiful yellow and blue pyjamas. It was amazing the amount of things Blackie could do, and Clover was anxious to show them to Sam and Alex, knowing that they would have a lot of fun with it.