Disclaimer: I do not own "Flipper" or "Aquaman." This story is a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made from it.
"ACHOO!" Holly Myers sneezed loudly into her tissue. She put it down, picked up a hand mirror and looked glumly at her reflection, noting her feverish complexion, overly bright eyes, swollen lymph glands and runny nose.
"I look terrible" she muttered, her voice thick and nasally.
There was a knock at her door. Holly hesitated a moment and then went over to her front door and opened it. As she'd expected it was her friends Maya Graham and Dean Gregson.
"Hi Holly."
"Hi guys" she said with a weak smile. "I'd invite you in but I don't want to risk you getting sick too."
"Here, take this" said Maya as she handed over a thermos flask.
Holly carefully accepted it. "What's this?"
"Herbal tea. My grandmother always made it when I got sick and it always made me feel better" she replied with a warm smile.
"Thanks" she said gratefully. "I'll bring it back once I shake this bug. I'll make sure to wash it first."
"Don't worry about it, Holly. Just focus on getting better."
"Are you sure you're all right by yourself?" Dean asked. "I'd be happy to come over and lend a hand."
"Me too" Maya added.
"I appreciate that but like I said, I don't want either of you to get sick too. There is something you can do for me though."
"Sure. You name it."
"After class can you bring me copies of your notes so I don't fall behind?"
"You got it," said Dean. Maya nodded in agreement.
"Thanks guys."
Later that day Dr Jennifer Daulton was teaching a marine biology class at the Bal Harbour Research Institute. Today she was giving a lecture on coral reefs.
"Coral reefs are underwater ecosystems formed out of coral polyp colonies and held together by calcium carbonate" she said while gesturing to a board where pictures of reefs were displayed. "They form some of the most diverse ecosystems on this planet."
Maya and Dean listened intently and jotted down notes. While they had always been good students, this time they were writing down a lot more than normal. Dr Daulton noticed this and smiled.
Holly is lucky to have such good friends she thought.
Finally, she finished her lecture. As everyone was packing up to leave, Dean went over to Maya.
"You think Holly will be satisfied with what we got?" he asked.
"Sure. I took plenty of notes" she replied. "Holly won't miss a thing."
"I wish I could be so sure of that" he said as he looked over what he'd written. "You know what an overachiever she is."
Maya thought for a moment and then smiled as an idea came to her. "I've got it. Let's go to the reef and get some first-hand information for her. Besides, it'll be fun."
"Sounds good to me."
Upon learning that Maya and Dean wanted to head out to the Bal Harbour reef, Dr Daulton allowed them to take the Institute cruiser out to sea. She also let them take an underwater camera although she warned them that they'd be paying for a replacement if it got damaged.
"This is going to be great" said Dean as he held up the camera. "Holly will love this."
"I just hope Flipper shows up," said Maya. "Anyway, let's go."
They put on snorkels and diving masks and went underwater. Maya gazed happily at the multi-coloured corals and the schools of fish swimming by, their scales sparkling in the sunlight. She loved coming here. As interesting as Dr Daulton's classes were, they couldn't fully convey what a magical place this was. That was something you had to be here to understand.
Then she spotted something. A fishing net had gotten itself wrapped around a large coral, its edges flapping in the currents. She tapped Dean on the shoulder and pointed at it. He looked over and nodded. They had to remove it.
But even as they swam over to the netted coral, they saw something even stranger that made them pause and stare in astonishment.
Several yards away was some kind of underwater robot. It was rectangular in shape, and was painted a deep yellow. There were two front-mounted cameras that served as its eyes and a pair of mechanical arms tipped with metal pincers. On its underside was a third arm that was currently folded up. Instead of pincers this one ended in what looked like a speaker driver.
As they watched the robot cruised up to a coral formation and its third arm extended until the driver touched the coral. A second later Maya and Dean felt something slam into them, almost like a strong gust of wind. It surprised but did not harm them.
The coral by contrast, took the full brunt of the focused sonic wave and the effect was devastating. Before their horrified eyes it shattered into pieces, fragments of broken coral sinking to the sea floor. A hatch opened in the robot's 'face' and its other two arms began loading the pieces of coral into it.
Appalled by the sight, both of them swam for the surface and removed their snorkels so they could talk.
"We've got to call Tom and Quinn," said Dean.
"Fast" Maya agreed.
They scrambled aboard the Institute cruiser and Dean ran to the radio. "This is Institute cruiser calling Search and Rescue 1. We have an emergency situation, over!"
His only reply was a crackle of static. He tried again. "This is Institute cruiser calling Search and Rescue 1. We have an emergency situation, over!" Still nothing. "The radio's not working. We'll have to go there and tell them in person."
"There's no time" said Maya urgently. "You saw what that thing's doing to the reef. We have to stop it ourselves."
"But what can we do?"
She thought for a second and then grinned fiercely. "Remember that net?"
Dean also grinned. They hastily put their masks and snorkels back on and dived back underwater. As they swam back to the reef, they noticed numerous fish were floating lifelessly in the water, killed by the same sonic wave that had shattered the coral.
Maya's right. We've got to put the kibosh on this thing right away! Dean thought.
Maya and Dean swam over to the ghost net and quickly untangled it. Holding one end each they hurried over to the robot and cast the net over it while it was scooping up the broken coral pieces. Fortunately, it was big enough to completely cover the machine.
Having gathered up all the broken coral the robot attempted to move on to another formation but found itself caught in the net. Its propellers whirred faster but it was unable to move.
Maya and Dean high-fived.
Up on the surface a ship was anchored not far from the reef. On the bridge a man was watching a monitor screen that showed the robot's POV as it collected the coral.
My Reef Wrecker robot was a stroke of genius he thought. I'll be able to harvest the entire reef before anyone even knows something's up. And as a bonus I can also catch the fish killed by the sonic waves.
Then he spotted something on his console that made him frown. Why has it stopped?
He looked back at the monitor and snarled as he saw the robot's camera eyes had a familiar mesh pattern over them. Someone's thrown a fishing net over my robot. Well, I'll soon see to them. No-one gets between the Fisherman and his catch!