Chapter Two - Fight! Fight! Fight!

"Babe?" Orm said.

"Hmm?"

"Go ahead, flex your muscles."

Now she flashed a wicked grin. "Ha! Way ahead of you!"

And - ACTION!

The first guard who approached them got hit with a signature Aurelia Curry Aquawoman punch - right in the face! This knocked him back into the guard commanding their hover-vessel, which made the controls go, well, out of control, sending them shooting back. Her ankle chain snapped from the force.

"FREEDOM!" she cheered, and continued throwing punches.

Orm's shackle did not detach and the vessel took him with it. He went flying back, smashing into the bar. "AURELIA!"

"SORRY!"

Were the cool fish lady and her band picking up the pace of their music to match the now hectic scene? Awesome!

"Smash her stupid head in!" Kingfish was yelling to his guards, who were trying to do exactly that. One of them roared right in her face - she roared back, and then laughed.

But then her laughter was abruptly cut off as she was grabbed from behind, hoisted up by a firm grip around her neck. A quick glance showed Orm being hoisted to his feet by two other guards.

"Well now," purred the fish as she struggled against her captor's hold. "It seems you like a little excitement, Queen of Atlantis. Let me show you what passes for excitement here in the Sunken Citadel..."

Well, shit. That hadn't exactly gone to plan, not that she really had a solid 'plan' per-say (but she wasn't telling anyone that. At least not Orm). Hey, he was the planner, not her.

Okay fine, so maybe her jumping in all guns a-blazing and muscles a-flexing wasn't always the solution, or the best one at that, but Orm's talking it out hadn't worked either in this case so ha!

And that was how she found herself at one end of the massive cage in the centre of the city, surrounded by spectators, a large, pre-historic sea monster-looking creature facing her down on the other side of the cage.

Excitement indeed.

Kingfish sat up front with the best view of the cage, and the fight that would soon take place within it, surrounded by his guards and women. A group of guards held back other chained and thrashing creatures, clearly other fighters. Several other guards surrounded Orm, now shackled up once again, holding him at gunpoint.

Yeah, this was definitely not how this was meant to go. But stopping illegal cage fights? Now that she could do. Yeah, this was definitely her thing. She could totally do this.

"Now, who's up for a little fun?" called Kingfish, a certain wildness blazing in his eyes. The entire crowd of spectators cheered and roared in response.

Across the cage, her opponent seemed to be pretty content smashing around. But she had an advantage.

"Well then, let the fun begin!" The fish cried.

A shot was fired, and she took that as the signal for the fight to start. Her opponent certainly wasted no time, giving a great roar, sending a spray of large bubbles her way, and charged right towards her.

She met him with equal force, charging forward as well, and meeting him in the middle, arm outstretched,

STOP!

The creature stopped immediately, right before pummeling her. He appeared confused, blinking down at her with his large eyes. What is this?

My gift.

You can converse with me?

Yeah, I can talk to fish. Always been able to.

How?

Honestly, I'm not sure. But can I please have your word that you won't crush me like a bug? You wanna get out of this dump, cause I can get you anywhere but here!

But we have to fight, otherwise they will get rid of us.

Not unless we get rid of them.

You think we can do that?

Hey, I may be Queen of Atlantis, but I'm better known as 'Aquawoman.'

He chuckled a little at this.

I know, I know, laugh all you want, but it's true. I'm the protector of the land and the sea, and I can get us out of here. Your friends too. She nodded to the other chained creatures, waiting for their turn in the cage.

Mumbling carried out amongst the now confused spectators. For a cage fight, there sure wasn't much fighting going on.

"Get on with it!" yelled Kingfish. "Fight each other already!" There were cheers of agreement at this.

The creature turned back to her. We will help you end this and escape. If we succeed, we gain our freedom. Those are my terms.

Deal - now let's blow this popsicle stand!

I beg your pardon?

Let's finish this.

This he understood better, and instantly set to work - with a great swipe of his paw, he struck her, sending her flying back into the side of the cage.

"AURELIA!" she heard Orm scream.

Hey! she told the creature as she recovered. I thought we had a deal! That's no way to treat someone who's trying to help you!

The creature chuckled again. Just keeping up playing our roles.

Fair enough.

More chuckling. I like you, but I'm not calling you 'Your Majesty'.

Please don't.

One last chuckle turned into a great roar as he now resumed his crashing and thrashing about. The entire cage shook, and soon a hole was split in the side, allowing her and the creature to escape.

He set to work freeing the other creatures, who quickly joined the cause - Aurelia could just make out their hurried conversation. As for her, she went charging straight for the guards who were holding her husband prisoner. "Don't touch my man!"

Let's just say the guards were no match for an enraged Aquawoman defending her husband. Kingfish was shouting out orders, but everything was so chaotic it was difficult to understand anything.

One creature was wearing what looked like a very human-made diving suit, but no time for pondering that. She ripped off the glass, dome-like helmet, careful not to break it though, and grabbed it along with the oxygen mask it was attached to. Then, she shot forward full speed ahead, right towards Kingfish himself.

With all of his guards busy fighting the released cage fighters, he was unguarded, and so she swam right up to him, slamming the helmet onto his head and twisting the dial on the tank so that slowly but surely, his water supply would run out. "Gotcha fatback."

"Okay okay, we can work this out! We can!" Suddenly he was feeling helpful.

"Start talking, or I'll gladly smash your stupid head in."

"I-I don't know where he is, but there have been rumours: a dormant volcano in the South Pacific called Devil's Deep."

She kept twisting the dial. "Talk faster."

"It's been barren for years, but travelers say there's a jungle there now. Navigation gets scrambled as soon as you get close, and if you get too close, you don't come back! If I was a betting man - and believe me, I am - I'd say that's where Kane is hiding out."

"Aurelia, we have what we need, let's go!" Orm called, blaster in hand.

And so with that, she delivered a punch to the helmet, finally allowing the fish to breathe and swam over to join Orm. "Once we're done with David Kane I'm coming right back here and shutting you down." She turned to the singer and her band. "Except for you - you have an amazing voice and I love it!"

Happy 2025 everyone! With the holiday season passing by it got me back in that Aquaman mood, as both movies came out right before Christmas! So glad to be back - I will never be ready to abandon these characters and this world!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)