Chapter 30: Remora

Melody dangled her feet off the side of the pavilion, the ocean spray sprinkling onto her soles for the umpteenth time. Beside her sat Ariel and Andrina, both looking out over the ocean like she was doing. Cora lay close by, snoozing contently in the warm afternoon sun while her sister Nora scanned the sea with a spyglass. A light breeze played with the women's hair, the intermittent calls of the seagulls mixing with the waves and murmur of wind through the structure.

A wave slipped by them, the crest dousing the bare calves of the queen and princesses. A shiver swept over Melody at the coolness of the water, skin prickling at the strangely pleasant sensation of wind drying the water off her skin. Normally she would delight in the feeling, perhaps even slip off into the water to enjoy it fully. It may only have been several days since she was last in the ocean, but she relished every moment of contact with the world beneath the waves. To touch the water felt like coming home.

Now, though, that feeling did nothing to assuage the leaden anxiety crawling around the pit of her stomach. The feeling only grew as the town bells sounded out the top of the hour, pealing twice in their rich resonant voices.

"Where is he?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else as she brushed a rogue strand of hair behind her ear.

"I don't know, honey," answered Ariel. "He's usually on time."

"Nora, do you see your grandfather yet?" asked Andrina.

Nora shook her head vigorously, not bothering to lower the telescope. "No grand-daddy. But I did see a dolphin! And a pelican!"

Melody saw her mother's hands wring her skirt despite her smile as she listened to Nora describe everything she glimpsed through the telescope. She was doing the same thing herself, hearing the child talk but not really listening.

She did not like this. Not one bit. At noon her entire family was gathered outside to meet Triton, having said their goodbyes and making promises to visit again. The smaller children and a few of the teens shed their share of tears at having to leave the world above, oblivious to the reason for their sudden departure. A fair share of the young one's tears were shed for Lara, who had been given the day off to go visit the orphanage and help with the repairs and thus was absent. She had not even been informed they would be leaving–not that they could have told her where they were going anyway. As the bells tolled twelve, they made their way to the pavilion in anticipation of Triton's arrival.

That was two hours ago. The others returned to the palace more than half that time ago, leaving Melody with her mother and aunt to wait for the sea king.

Melody knew her grandfather was a lot of things. Strong, compassionate, at times overbearing, stubborn to a fault, devoted to his family, short tempered when provoked, and fair to the people of Atlantica. But tardy he was not. If Triton told her he would be somewhere at such a time, she could be as sure of it as that the sun would rise in the east and set in the west. He was long overdue even for a message to explain his delay.

She gripped the edge of the pavilion tightly, eyes sweeping over the waves as far as the horizon. She had a bad feeling about this.


A/N: "Monster" by Skillet

Hours earlier…

In his villainous days, Manta sometimes pondered on what the Angel of Death looked like. He always imagined her as something from one of the dark texts or ancient legends of the Pit. A skeletal creature clothed in black, carrying a rusted harpoon and old fishing nets laced with hooks for ensnaring the souls of the departed and damned. She would chill the water as she went, leaving any she touched cold and lifeless. Those unfortunate enough to gaze upon her visage would spend their lives mad and babbling until she came for them, none able to escape her.

He was wrong. Death was not some phantasmal creation of his mind, or a creature living only in mythology. She was real. She wore a gold mask over her face, her long blonde hair woven into a braid. Her weapon was as transitory as the wind, ever shifting in form to be as lethal as possible. She was a human, yet she moved within the sea as though it were air. Lightning flowed through her veins. Her strength was greater than any merman's. Madness rang in her laughter as she carried out her grim enterprise with gruesome delight.

What else could the monster before him be but Death itself?

The caldera yard echoed with a melding orchestra of clashing metal, crashing lightning, and agonized cries as Remora continued to wreak devastation upon prisoners and guards alike. Already more than a hundred had fallen to her, and the body count was climbing fast. The dead and dying littered the ground, many of their weapons as broken as their bodies. Those who were not trying to stem her carnage were digging in frenzied haste at any one of the blocked tunnels, driven to magnify their efforts by the incessant laughter and screams. Guards and prisoners fought, dug and died side by side, unified in their desperation to survive. Manta shouted orders left and right, trying to keep some semblance of control amidst the carnage as he worked with his guards to defeat the sorceress. He shot bolt after bolt of lightning at her, hoping that one of those would find some critical spot and end the slaughter.

Remora's scythe cleaved a feral-looking barracuda merman in half as she ducked under the slash of another merman's sword. She turned to face her attacker, her scythe removing his hands then spearing through his chest. Remora laughed as lightning pulsed into her weapon, electrocuting the guard to death. She pointed the butt of her scythe at a pair of charging sharkanian prisoners, striking both with lightning blasts. They spasmed and squirmed as the electricity fried their nervous systems, leaving them clutching their chests as now discordant heartbeats counted down their last moments alive.

"Pin her down!" shouted Manta as she dodged another of his lightning bolts before following it with another.

A pair of swordfish attempted to take Remora in a pincer attack, bills ready to run her through as she ducked under the lightning. She stepped towards one and spun her scythe up, taking the swordfish through its belly. She turned on its incoming partner, swinging the blade overhead and driving it into the fish's back, spearing them on the sickle like a kebab. A merman tried for her neck with his sword from above, thinking he would have the advantage with a laden weapon. He discovered how wrong he was when Remora sidestepped his strike, then grabbed his arm and threw him down face first. No sooner had he kissed the silt than she planted a foot on the back of his head and started pressing. He released his spear, gripping wildly at her ankle as she continued to bear down.

Manta leveled his spear and shouted, "Shoot!"

A bolt of white lightning leapt for Remora, swollen with power by the warden's anger at losing so many lives and the prospect of losing yet another one. Instead of dodging Remora held out a hand and caught the lightning in her palm. The bolt twisted and writhed in her grasp, forced to contort into a brilliant white ball. She clutched it tight and a pulse of red electricity ran down her arm, turning the ball crimson and swelling it to twice its size.

"Not bad, Manta," she said, the lightning pulsating in her hand as the guard squirmed desperately under her foot. Without looking Remora drove her heel down on his skull, stomping the life out of him with a gut-churning bony crunch. "Now catch!"

Another pulse of electricity ran down Remora's arm and the lightning ball shot at Manta. With a flap of his wings he threw himself out of the way as the deadly ball flew by, threads of electricity reaching out to singe his skin before it smashed into the caldera wall. It exploded on contact, disintegrating three unlucky guards and a merman prisoner. Shards of rock peppered those nearby, the larger shrapnel claiming even more lives.

Manta staggered upright, ears ringing from the blast. There was a crater large enough for him to lay in where the spell struck. He had not put anywhere close to that amount of power into his shot, meaning the rest must have come from the witch herself. She had not just countered his attack. She hijacked it for her own. He was no expert in magic, but he knew a prodigious mastery of the art was needed to achieve such a feat. Just how powerful was this woman?

"Eyes up, fish bait!"

A shadow fell over Manta. He twisted back to see Remora midwater, blazing with electricity as she came leaping at him. Her hood fell back, leaving her braid free to trail behind her. There was that crazed laughter again as she raised her scythe and swung it like an axe. Manta blocked with the shaft of his spear, but the tip of the scythe still grazed his chest. The force of her strike caught him flat-finned, forcing him backwards. She was far stronger than she looked. Sparks flew where their weapons met, trident magic fighting for dominance against Remora's dark sorcery with loud spitting snaps and crackles.

He had no time to stagger as Remora's scythe quickly shifted into a spear and thrust for his heart. Manta parried the blade away but took another laceration to his chest. Remora spun, transforming the spear back into her scythe and swinging for Manta's neck. He blocked again, but was unable to keep the blade from slashing across his shoulder. He grunted in pain, shoving her weapon away and raising his spear behind his head to strike down.

Faster than he could see Remora leapt up, hooking her scythe around to trap the spear against his back while planting her feet on his collar. He could feel the curved blade hovering above his skin, waiting for the slightest lax on his part to bite his flesh. She leaned in close, giving him a brief view of pale blue eyes flashing with insanity. His skin prickled from the electricity and bloodlust she gave off.

"Is this all you've got!?" she growled. "Come on! Get angry, Manta! Get savage! Gimme that monster you used to be! Don't you dare disappoint me or I'll rip you up one limb at a time!"

She drew a leg up and stomped into Manta's nose. The warden howled, flinging Remora away with one arm as he clutched his broken nose. Remora twisted around and landed on her feet, using her scythe to stop her slide. A giant of a merman took the chance to swing a war-hammer at Remora. He would have hit her if not for his shadow falling across her. Remora turned and blocked, but she underestimated the raw force he was capable of. His hit sent the scythe flying away and her staggering back.

"You're done!" he shouted as he drew back for another blow.

Remora did not give him the chance. Metal spikes formed on her palm as she darted in an slapped her hand over his heart. Instantly the merman was electrocuted, his skin frying and blackening as the metal conducted her lightning directly into him. He screamed so loud he would have been hoarse for months, but was silenced when Remora grabbed his face and cooked his brain with one lethal blast.

"Done? Did you say done?" Remora dropped him, his body crumbling to silt before he hit the ground. She reached out to her scythe and it shattered into a swarm of metal splinters and fragments, flying into her hand before reconstituting her weapon. "I'm just getting started!"

At one of the blocked tunnels Ebb and Flo, former crocodilian crooks of the king's treasure vault, dug with abandon. The guards paid them no heed, too preoccupied with their own escapes or trying to take down the witch.

But Remora did notice. She grinned and pointed her scythe at them. A bolt of crimson lightning shot forth and branched, striking the two in their backs. They barely screamed before they collapsed onto the caldera floor dead and charred. Remora twirled on her foot, sweeping the lightning bolt around the chamber. Anyone caught in the bolt was instantly fried, and a dozen more lives were lost in her pirouette. Three more times she went around, scarring the caldera walls with jagged tracings and her newest victims.

Crab Louie, once the most criminal crustacean since Scallop Capone, charged at her with his dolphin-sized claws flailing and snapping. Remora skipped out of the way of one claw and blocked the other with her scythe, her feet sliding over the sand and silt. She parried his claw aside and blocked another before shoving it back. Louie swung at her with abandon, trying to crush or grab her. Remora proved too quick and dexterous for him, diverting his claws or evading them completely as she retreated. She switched to the offensive when he threw his weight into a hooking swipe at her head. The witch ducked under it, hooking her scythe into his limb at the softer and more vulnerable carapace of a joint. With a yell she pulled her weapon through.

Louie was left with one claw and rage in his eyes. He whirled and seized Remora in his remaining claw, bearing down with his full strength to crush her. She dropped her scythe, screaming as the weapon shattered on the ground. Those planning to attack her stopped, certain this would be the end. Louie's claws could crush small boulders and pop a shark like a sea squirt. What chance did one witch of flesh and bone stand against that?

To his horror, Louie discovered Remora's chances were excellent. Her screaming gave way to more of that lunatic laughing. He thought it would be like cracking a snail with an anchor. Instead it felt like trying to squeeze seawater from a rock. Whenever he cracked others, he felt their bones creak and bend under his grip, always earning howls of pain. Nothing inside Remora was giving to the force he was putting on her. She was solid throughout. Veins bulged on Louie's face as it reddened, grunting as he tried to squeeze harder. Remora on the other hand showed not even the slightest discomfort, laughing in his face the entire time.

"How do you want your giant crab cooked?" she called out. "Steamed? Grilled?"

Lightning sprang to life on her then jumped to Louie, surging around him in an electrical storm. The crab roared in agony as the lightning scorched him from the inside out, turning his shell black and then gray. He tried to release her but his body would not obey, paralyzed by the electricity. He was forced to hold onto her till he burned and crumbled away, depositing Remora on her feet.

"How about my personal favorite?" she said as she reformed her scythe. "Boiled alive?"

She threw her head back and laughed, causing her lightning to excite as the caldera echoed with her voice.


How long?

How long had it been since she felt this sensation?

Weeks?

Months?

Years?

It could have been centuries for all Remora cared. The only thing that mattered now was the feeling. It coursed through her like the electricity she was generating, making her skin tingle and blood rush. She was almost lightheaded from it. Her heart pounded fast, exhilarated by the sensations her senses created. The smell of blood leaving a faint iron taste in the water. The screams as her scythe ripped, slashed, and hacked through flesh, bone, shell, and scale. The sight of faces the moment before she cut them down, answering their pleas for mercy with a honed metal edge.

She leapt into the water as six mermen armed with swords came at her from all directions, closing in like the walls of a cube. Her scythe broke apart and reformed into a chain and sickle, which she sent whipping about with blinding speed. The blade whistled in the water as it cut through the mermen and their swords, wiping them out in seconds. She twisted over and whipped the sickle down into the ground, piercing through the sand and silt to catch the hard rock below. She jerked hard on it, propelling herself back to the caldera floor.

Her smile grew wider as she saw a sharkanian trying to swim away. She reformed her scythe and buried it in his chest as she landed, ripping it out before sending him flying with a kick. She crouched and launched herself into a group of digging prisoners, landing in the middle of them. They had no time to react before she sliced them to pieces.

She could not help laughing as she swung her scythe through a merman's neck. This was what she lived for. This was her poison of choice, her sickly-sweet addiction. The thrill of killing was a drug beyond compare. Nothing else came close. Fighting gave a rush and danger a jolt. But compared to the surge killing gave her they were trickling streams against a raging river. She never felt as alive as when she was making others dead. The more she killed the better it got. The better it got the more she killed. On the cycle went, propelling her to more bloodshed and mayhem.

"Shoot!"

Another white bolt of lightning issued from Manta's spear. Remora spun her scythe as lightning covered it, deflecting the bolt to the ceiling with one of her own. They struck with a crack of thunder, casting a shower of debris onto those below.

"You expect a shot like that to touch me?" she said, watching Manta and his men shield their heads from the raining stones and crystals. "I told you not to disappoint me, Manta!"

She swung her scythe in an arc, eyes sweeping across her trapped prey. All were huddled up around the edge of the caldera, watching her with shaky weapons or digging furiously for an escape.

"Who's next? Whose head am I gonna split?" She pointed at a random merman. "You?"

The merman shook even more, dropping his sword and swimming frantically to a group of digging prisoners. She swung her hand at him and a needle shot out of her sleeve, impaling the back of his head.

"Guess not." She lowered her scythe as the needle flew back to her, letting the blade tip drag in the sand as she walked a wide circle, surveying for her next victim. The sound of her scythe moving through the sand was like the hiss of a viper, as menacing and deadly as she was. Her eyes scanned over them, flitting from face to terrified face in search of her next target. None of them looked willing to try and take her head on.

A merman with a heavily bleeding arm caught her eye. "Or maybe it'll be–?"

"Remora."

She stopped dead in her tracks, caught off guard by the unmistakable voice inside her head. She could feel the presence within her psyche as a dark powerful pressure, as though something crawled inside her skull and was pushing on it. Mentally debilitating to most, but merely a strange tolerable sensation to herself.

"Master?" she silently replied.

"Have you finished yet?" he asked.

"Getting there. I'd say I've slit a third of their throats, give or take two dozen."

"Then slit faster."

Remora's lip curled in displeasure beneath her mask. Faster meant speed. Speed meant less time. Less time meant less enjoyment of her work. Provided that merboy she spared did not die on the way to Atlantica, at her current pace she would be done and long gone before Triton arrived. If the Master was cutting back on her time it could only mean something changed.

"What's happened?" she asked.

"Riptide. I've altered his role to tie up loose ends. You'll be taking his place."

"What!?" Remora shouted out loud, pulling her scythe from the sand before stabbing it back into the ground. "That's not the plan! My job is turning this place into a body pile on the sea floor! Not babysitting those tentacle-fisted brats! You promised me that!"

"Plans change," said the Master, ignoring her outburst. "Finish them off quickly and return. Assuming Triton acts as Morgana predicted, I want you scarce before he arrives."

"If it's a choice between him and those two then let him come!" she mentally replied. "I'll take on that decrepit old hack myself! Lemme see if he can live up to his reputation! I've been itching for a real fight!"

The presence in her mind went from invading to oppressive. Her body felt heavier, as though the gravity around her was increasing. Her body shook as she struggled to keep control of its functions.

"Do and you'll learn how painful disobeying me can be," said the Master's voice. It was so loud in her head she could not maintain any other thoughts. "You had your fun. Now end it. That's an order."

Remora grit her teeth, grimacing in angry disappointment. "As you wish, sir."

"Shoot!"

Remora saw the white lightning in the corner of her eye as the Master's presence retreated. She clenched her fist, lightning coursing down her arm to her hand.

"Quit screwing with me!" she shouted as she swung her electrified hand, sending a bolt of her own at Manta's. The two spells collided, bursting in a magical explosion that sent rock and debris flying everywhere. The guards and prisoners covered themselves as it stung their skin like needles. Remora did nothing to shield herself, allowing the miniature missiles to strike her or her electricity to disintegrate them. The sound of pebbles bouncing off her mask was like rain on a tin roof, a melody only she could hear.

"I planned on taking my time killing you all!" she declared as she held her scythe in front of her. "But something's come up, so I'm cutting the party short!"

Her scythe shattered, becoming little pieces of shrapnel orbiting around her. She saw Manta tense, tightening his grip on his spear. The guards and prisoners drew back in anticipation of her newest weapon.

But Remora had no intention of resuming her hand-to-hand tactics. Instead she raised her hands and clenched them tight. The metal fragments broke down further and further until they were dusty specks drifting like sand caught in churning surf. Lights flashed and sparkled as the specks swam around her, glinting off the gold of her mask. Then they began to coalesce, gathering to form dozens of small metal balls.

"What's this?" demanded Manta, watching as the balls circled around Remora.

Ribbons of red electricity began to hop across Remora. They reached out to the balls and arced between them, causing the metal to flash red with each jump. The electricity jumped faster and faster, making the balls vibrate. A low growing hum filled the caldera over the buzzing crackle of her lightning, her magic gaining strength.

Remora wrapped her arms around herself, muscles flexed taught as cables. "This, Manta…"

Manta had no idea what she was doing, but the twisting tension in his wings told him it was more dangerous than lightning and blades. "Everyone take cover!"

The guards and prisoners had already figured it out. They swam for anything to hide behind, digging into the tunnels or swimming up in the hopes that one of the cells would provide some shield against whatever was coming.

Remora flung her arms wide. "This is the end!"

The balls became bullets, flying around the caldera as an angry metal swarm. Contrails of bubbles and red electricity followed in their wake as they sought out ever last guard and prisoner. They struck with unmitigated fury, riddling them with holes before shooting off to find the next target. Nowhere was safe. Those digging at the tunnels discovered the error in their exposure when they were riddled with bullets, leaving their bodies bleeding and mangled. Those who swam for the upper levels met similar fates, staining the waters red as they sunk.

In the center of the caldera stood Remora, directing the swarm with her hands as a conductor guides their orchestra. A red aura surrounded her as she took in the concert of pain, confusion, and death her metal wrought on the trapped sea folk. Accompanying her chaotic choir were the sounds of Manta shooting his spear, trying desperately to knock the balls out of the air.

She looked up to see a merman hide himself against the floor of a broken cell, hoping the bullets would have less luck finding him. With a flick of her finger Remora sent a single bullet into the cell, ricocheting between the floor and ceiling until the merman was no more. A swordfish swam in frantic weaves and zig-zags to avoid the swarm, only to be shot down when two of the balls struck his head. One of the mermen swung his sword at a ball. It shattered the sword and then his heart.

The familiar crackle of lightning alerted Remora to Manta turning his spear on her again. She did not even turn to face him, instead waving one of her bullets into the path of the lightning. The blast struck and immediately jumped to another ball and then to a merman, paralyzing him before a third ball shot between his eyes.

The screams quickly diminished as the flying balls made short work of the guards and prisoners. There was nowhere to hide. No crevice was inaccessible enough, no rock was hard enough, and no amount of swimming was fast enough. Their fates were sealed as tightly as the cave-ins that blocked their escape. A minute after the massacre started the last guard fell, cut in half by all the balls striking his middle at once. He sank to the bottom, joining the hundreds of guards and prisoners who shared his fate. Remora lowered her hands, allowing herself a satisfied smirk as she glossed over the bodies. This was not her preferred method of killing, but she had to admit it was effective for taking multiple lives on short notice.

"You…"

She turned around. Manta slowly looked about the caldera, reeling at the sheer abundance of death before his eyes. The guards lay all about him, already turning pale and cold. Prisoners were strewn about with disregard, dismembered, disemboweled, and disintegrated. The silence was terrible, filling the caldera with the presence of Death.

"What have you done?" he said, the disbelief heavy upon his voice and expression.

"What I do best," Remora said as the bullets returned, hovering about her like obedient hornets. "Though I prefer cutting people down one by one. There's more screaming that way. Hopefully I saved the best for last."

Manta's hands wrung the shaft of his spear, eyes glowing in hatred as he pointed the spear at her again. His tail crackled with blue electricity, lips curled in a furious snarl. "You break into my prison!" he bellowed, his voice echoing in the caldera. "You massacre my men! You butcher my prisoners! You slaughter them all! And you enjoy it!? You're no human! You're a monster!"

Remora chuckled wickedly. "You say that like it's a bad thing." The balls broke into shards, swirling around her hands as she walked away from Manta. "Just you and me now, Manta. So let's mix things up! We'll finish this with a shootout! One on one, magic-to-magic, winner's the last one breathing! If you win, I die! End of story!"

The shards coalesced onto her skin, forming a pair of menacing gauntlets. "If I win, you share the same fate as your men! And then I kill your son!"

Manta's eyes flared, veins bulging on his arms as lightning crackled over the spear. "Your fight's with me, witch! You leave my son out of this or I swear by the tides I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

Lightning cracked and spat around Remora's gauntlets, arcing between her hands and up her arms. The red aura surrounding her grew bolder, eyes starting to glow beneath the mask as she turned back. "Then hit me with everything you've got! Cause if you don't, I'll put your son's head on a stick next to yours!"

Manta was all too willing to comply. The spear glowed brighter than ever, emitting a low hum as he willed ever last modicum of power from it. It was vibrating in his hand as though trying to escape. In truth the spear did have the ability to kill. The catch was it was a one-time use. Doing so would drain its magic completely. But this was not the time to worry about such things. Knowing this madwoman killed for amusement, he had no doubt she would keep her word. If it meant protecting his son, he would sacrifice everything and anything.

"This ends now!" Manta bellowed, thrusting the spear at her.

"Bring it, Manta!" shouted Remora, raising her hands overhead and then flinging them forward.

A beam of white lightning shot from the spear at the same time Remora's own red lightning surged forth. The spells smashed into each other with a blinding flash, blowing silt, sand, and bodies to the edge of the caldera. The light dissipated to reveal the bolts fighting for dominance. Red and white lightning pushed against each other, giving and taking ground equally. A sound like overwound metal wires being plucked with a nail filled the caldera as fingers of electricity went flying off in all directions, blasting out deep pockets in the walls and turning sand to glass. Remora's cloak and Manta's wings billowed in the water, each going for the kill.

Remora grit her teeth as she slid back an inch, grunting with effort as she put more and more magic into her lightning. Even with her strength she was struggling to gain the upper hand in this electrical shoving match. That spear might only possessed a fraction of the trident's power, but it was not lacking by any measure. It was putting out power just as fast as she was. If this was the strength of a trident imitation, what sort of might did the genuine article possess?

Manta was having similar thoughts to her as he willed more from the spear. The power it was putting out could slay a full-grown kraken and a pair of seaclops to boot. Yet the witch was actually holding her ground against it. He could feel the weapon working hard to match her magic. This woman was something else, far above whatever class of witch Ursula and Morgana belonged to. If he was going to emerge the victor, it was going to take more than this to do it.

He wrapped his tail around the base of the spear, his tail glowing blue as he added his own electrical powers to the weapon. The beam took on a bluish tinge, swelling in size and force. With a shout he pushed as much strength into it as he dared, causing the lightning to grow even further.

Remora's eyes went wide as she felt her feet sliding over the ground, slowly at first and then in earnest. Manta was pushing her back! A lowly warden was pushing her, the second seat of Maelstrom, back! She put more into her spell, but already it was being overwhelmed. Her lightning was pushed closer and closer to her as she was forced backwards. Her braid whipped and snapped about in the current as she leaned forward, trying to slow her retreat. Something bumped into her heel and she looked back, startled to see volcanic rock. Manta pushed her all the way back to the caldera wall! There was nowhere for her to go! If this kept up, he was going to overwhelm her!

Yet she felt no fear. Nor did she feel anger, or doubt, or confusion, or panic. Instead she felt that unmistakable thrill well up inside her, exhilarated by her predicament. She underestimated Manta. He was making her struggle. The notion filled her with such delight she started laughing again even as the blue lightning crept within feet of her gauntlets.

"Laugh while you can!" called Manta over the din. "It's over for you!"

"Oh it's over all right!" she shouted back. "We'll wrap this up in a moment! But before we do, I'd like to say thank you!"

"For what!?"

"For being this strong!" she yelled, the blue lightning drawing closer to her. "You're winning! You're actually outdoing me! It's fantastic! I'm glad I came here! I haven't been this happy in years!"

"You're insane!" demanded Manta. "You're about to die and you're happy about it!?"

Remora laughed harder. "Wrong, Manta! The only thing you're killing is my boredom! I'm happy because if you're this strong…!"

The red aura surrounding Remora began to change. The golden color drained away from her mask, leaving it porcelain white. Her lightning began to change, brightening from red to orange before settling on pale golden yellow. The aura surrounding her followed suit, swelling as electricity surged into her gauntlets.

"I don't have to hold back!"

Remora screamed as she pushed off the rock and thrust her hands forward, sending new power into her lightning. It blasted out from her gauntlets with such force it drove Manta back with ease. He was barely recovered when her power surged again, driving him further back. The warden now found himself on a desperate defensive, struggling just to slow her down. She advanced on him one step at a time, now the one doing the pushing. Her power kept growing and coming, forcing back Manta's spell.

Manta's eyes widened as he felt his back touch the caldera wall. How could a human have this much power? He was near his limits and she was getting stronger by the second! It was like holding back a tsunami, a flood of wrath and chaos without any chance of temperance or mercy for any it swallowed up. He would not be able to hold her off much longer. He willed the spear to give him more, but the weapon was near its end.

Remora smiled as she saw the fear creep into Manta's face. He was finished and he knew it. With a yell she sent another surge of magic into her spell, shooting it through the center of the lightning bolt. It struck Manta's spell and split it down the middle, driving forward like a harpoon. It kept going till it hit the head of the spear and shattered it in a flash of light. The warden's lightning died instantly, allowing Remora's lightning to burst forth. It pierced through Manta's chest and struck the caldera wall. The rock exploded, throwing up a cloud of silt and rock as the caldera shook, cracks racing throughout as the blast weakened it.

Death claimed Manta instantly. He did not even cry out as he hung in the water, the broken spear slipping from his grasp. An enormous crater was visible in the rock behind him through the smoldering hole where his chest once was. His eyes went dark as he slumped to the ground, never to glow again.

Remora let her spell die, the lightning fading from her hands as her eyes lost their light. Her breath was slightly labored, as though she jogged a short distance. She flipped her braid over her shoulder before pulling her hood back up, rolling her wrists to relieve the stiffness in them.

Suddenly a sharp tingle hit her hand. She raised it to her face as wisps of shadow slithered off the gauntlets to form a sphere in front of her.

"Is it done?" asked the Master.

"Close," she said. "I've killed Manta and most of the guards and prisoners. All that's left now are the stragglers. How long've I got?"

"Three hours. I expect you back before then."

"Then I've got a request."

The orb pulsed. "What is it?"

"I thought I'd use Manta and his lackeys to make a 'gift' for Triton. Something to make our intentions clear to him. Just send my boys over and we'll be done in an hour"

The Master did not reply immediately, but after several seconds said, "Make it fast."

The orb flickered and died out. Remora chuckled, reforming her scythe from the gauntlets as she walked over to Manta. She stuck the butt of her scythe under his head, tilting it so his face was visible.

"I'm actually impressed, Manta," she said. "A bit, at least. I expected a lot less from a sellout like you. But in the end, you had the bite to back up your bark. It's been a long time since I had to go that far to kill someone."

She crouched down beside him, tilting her head as she eyed his dead expression. It was the same expression she saw in her countless other victims–confusion, pain, fear, and shock. Funny how death by electricity caused the face to freeze that way.

"I just had a thought," she continued, leaning in close to the corpse. "A long time ago, you and I weren't so different. We were out on our own and bad as can be, though I'd call your antics paltry nuisances compared to the body count I racked up. We answered to no one and made everyone answer to us. We took what we wanted, went where we wished, and killed whoever got in our way. We thought we were the best. That nothing could take us down. We were invincible."

Remora grasped her mask, pulling it off with a snap of electricity to expose her true visage to Manta's dead eyes. She could barely make out the distorted reflection of her face in his clouding eyes. "Right up to the moment someone got the better of us. One day you're on top. The next you're dead. No more power, no more freedom, no more life. You got done in by that sappy little mermaid and your own son. Me…well, no point telling a corpse. But I survived, and what I got after was more than anything you can imagine."

She fixed the mask back on, the metal clinging to her face with a buzz of electricity. "Do you know why I chose the name Remora? It's not that impressive as far as fish go. It's not large, or fast, or pretty, or remotely dangerous. But they're smart. The golden rule of the world isn't do unto others or some other kid's trash. The real golden rule is there's always a bigger fish. Everyone's food for someone else, and it doesn't matter if you're above the sea or under it. Sardines eat baitfish. Mackerel eat sardines. Tuna eat them. Sharks eat tuna. Humans and merfolk kill the sharks. On it goes all the way to the top, and the chain doesn't stop there. The strongest die, get eaten by the scavengers, and the cycle starts again. Just round and round without stopping with everyone a meal just waiting to happen. But not the remora. It's not dumb enough to get stuck in the chain. From the moment it's born it finds the strongest predator it can and sticks to them, using them as shields and feeding off the scraps they drop. And if the predator gets eaten it just goes with that new predator. That's how they live–moving from one host to the next, always staying at the top of the chain."

Remora stood and stepped onto Manta's back, placing a foot on the back of his head. "That's what we are, Manta. We're remoras. Parasites. Bloodsucking leeches feeding off others. We aimed for the top and almost ended up food for it. But we survived, and we learned something from it. That it's better to serve the bigger fish than be the bigger fish. Doesn't matter who we wind up with as long as we stay fed. And that's where you screwed up, Manta. You joined up with Triton to stay out of prison. I joined up with the Master…"

She slipped the blade of her scythe under his neck. "So I can kill!"

She pushed down with her heel at the same time she jerked the scythe up, freeing Manta's head from his body. She spun her scythe to free the blood and hopped off, taking her grim prize in hand. She pointed her scythe at the nearest collapsed tunnel, sending a bolt of yellow lightning forth. Whereas her former powers caved in the tunnels, now she blasted an opening through the rock wall, annihilating the debris instantly.

"Now for the welcoming committee." She held her scythe out in front of her as the tip bristled with lightning, drawing a circle in the air. The lightning hung in the water as she completed the circle, the inside turning black as night the moment she completed the portal.

"Come on through, boys!" she called out. "We've got work to do!"

The sounds of many voices grew from inside the portal as she turned and walked away. She walked to the remains of Manta's spear and flicked it into the water with her scythe, the weapon breaking and returning to her robes as she caught the spear. With materials in hand she set off towards the tunnel, quietly singing as she went.

"What do we do with a drunken sailor
What do we do with a drunken sailor
What do we do with a drunken sailor
Early in the mornin'?"


A/N: Abyssum has fallen. Manta lays slain amidst the dead, prisoner and prison guard alike. All murdered by one masked witch. What new horror will Triton find upon his arrival? What fate awaits Eel Ectric City? Can Urchin and his men make it in time? Or will they be too late? Find out next chapter!

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own "The Little Mermaid," Disney, or any of its associated characters and intellectual property. I do not own any of the listed song(s). Everything else, however, is mine =)