Tensions Unleashed

Smoke was filling the air, a stench that was familiar to Green Lantern. Explosives and incendiaries tended to do that, whether it came from detonations or gunfire, this smell would always stink up wherever war took place.

Jet engines didn't help either, but their fumes were emitted higher up in the air. The bullets they fired more than made up for it. There were so many planes, and only so much the Lantern was able to do to try and shield everything below. He could try making one large dome, but the planes weren't the only ones causing havoc.

The ships below, be they American or Atlantean continued to fire at one another. A dome would only keep the smoke in a limited place, and that would make for difficulty with breathing. Any gaps could be taken advantage of by a steady pilot.

The approach he was using was also very limited. Forming small barriers that he kept moving with the trajectory of the F-16s strained him mentally mainly because there were so many flying around and human attention was limited. Imagination could only do so much. It got to the point he was shielding the ships

This couldn't keep going on. He needed to change it up and fast.

Below, Superman steadied a ship that had nearly capsized. The hull of the ship was still being battered by wave after wave due to that cannon blast from the Atlantean sea fortress. The energy from the detonation was ebbing so the Man of Steel was having an easier time propping the warship up until it could settle back.

Wonder Woman redirected the smaller Atlantean ships, the ones that looked like hammerhead sharks. She would ram into their sides, throwing off their aim so that they did not hit any of the American ships. Those beams of energy fired from those small ships would detonate over the water, sending up small plumes of H20 into the air.

Hawkgirl was nowhere in sight. He was sure she was doing something. Typically when she did do something, it was loud and violent.

Green Lantern was tempted to start pulling the planes out of the air, wrestle them down to the ground if need be; this fighting needed to end…but what was that over there?

It was one of the American warships, but it did not look like the rest that were blackened by energy-based attacks, bobbing up and down on the water's surface, or had a Kryptonian propping it up. Oh. Oh, that one was sinking. With everyone busy, the ship was on its own.

Not on his watch. Leaving the F-16s their aerial superiority, Green Lantern flew towards the sinking destroyer. The ship had damaged to it, and the first thing that the dark-skinned man noticed was how little of it resembled the other ships in the air. It stood out to him, but no matter.

He could try to do what Superman did and grab it, but even mind over matter had its limitations. He would need to get creative, and he already an idea on how to do that.

Hovering over the sinking ship, he aimed his arm, ring glowing brightly, at the waters under the ship. A beam of light fired from the ring, blazing a trail through the air and into the water. It continued until it reached a point directly under the ship and began to form the construct that the Lantern had in mind.

One end had a clamp, one that clasped onto the bottom of the sinking ship. Connected to that was a shaft, one that had pattern of teeth jutting out of it. A lever ratcheted up, what was essentially an oversized carjack lowering its bottom end until it met the ocean floor. Gradually, the ship began to rise, its heavy weight lessened by buoyancy and the salty water. Soon, the hole that had been blown into the ship's hull became visible, water now starting to flow out of it.

Narrowing his eyes, Green Lantern again noted how the damage did not resemble that caused by the Atlantean ships. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that hole was the result of a torpedo. Torpedoes were something he hadn't seen the Atlanteans use yet.

That was something to ask later. The detonations and powerful splashes still taking place meant this battle was far from over. From the corner of his eyes, he could see a blue and red blur darting to another part of the battlefield. Below red and yellow kept diverting shots from the smaller Atlantean ships. No sign of Hawkgirl anywhere. J'onn wasn't around either, meaning he was dealing with that Atlantean agent still.

He would need to figure out what to do with this ship. Maybe beach it. That would take it out of play. Then maybe he could figure out something with the F-16s. Who'd have thought that after his time in the Marines, he been having to act as referee between American forces and a foreign army?

There was still so much to do, and there was no sense in bemoaning it. Time to get back to work.

It was a little nerve-wrecking following the Atlantean ships. Batgirl was waiting for the moment they realized they had someone following them, but that moment never came. Of course, that anxiety went to war with the boredom she had been feeling prior to finding the underwater vessels. Now she couldn't relax even if she wanted to.

It was until she noticed the darkness of the ocean beginning to brighten that she realized something was changing. She waited agonizingly until she saw it. The city of Atlantis appeared right before her, lights from the underwater city lighting up the entire area.

Alright, so now what?

She noticed the dome that surrounded the city, which the ships were heading right towards. It probably wouldn't be a good idea if she arrived at the city behind these ships, so she needed to figure out another way in. "Computer: stop following the ships," she commanded.

There was a brief flash from the computer console and her little vessel slowed to a stop, which allowed the larger Atlantean ships to pull away from her. Batgirl watched this for a while before she began trying to figure out what to do.

First off, she was here to find her father. He had found his way to this area, right? She knew he was heading this way at least before the signal to his ship stopped…stopped…

She had her first objective: finding what happened to her father's ship. "Computer: find location of last signal broadcast of Batman's boat," she commanded. Again, she saw the console flash before her ship made a hard right turn. She circled around the city, going lower and lower to the ocean floor. Eventually, her ship slowed to a stop and her heart along with it.

There, on the ground, pieces of black metal. There weren't many of them, and she couldn't be certain if this was indeed what the dark-clad girl thought they were, but coincidence was having a field day right now. She leaned forward in her seat, staring out the windshield as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

The ship, it had been destroyed, which was why the signal had stopped. That…that was the worst possible scenario and she was staring right at it. Desperately, she tried to see if there were any remains, but she didn't see anything that looked like a person. That had to be good, right?

Unless the body was destroyed in the explosion…

Her jaw clenched tightly. There had to be a way to get confirmation; she had to know if her dad was alive or dead. But how? How could she do that? Her father would know already, so why didn't she? She had been doing this long enough to know what to do. So why was she drawing a blank? Damn it, why couldn't they have some tracing device on their person that could be picked up by a satellite or something?!

Oh…wait…

"Computer: search for Batman communication device," she ordered. Her anxiety was through the roof as she waited for the results. Please find something, she silently begged. Please find something, please find something.

Suddenly, a screen on the console turned on. It showed a rough map of her current location, a green dot representing her, she thought. The map then zoomed out until a red dot appeared on screen. It…it was off to her left somewhere…

Slowly, Batgirl turned her head to her left and saw the city of Atlantis.

That dot, that had to be her father. And since it was on, that meant he was alive! And he was in the city somewhere! Relief rushed throughout her body at this realization. Oh, thank God.

That was when the cockpit was suddenly flooded with red light. An alarm rang out, the map on the console screen no longer showing the tracking device signals, but instead displaying something heading in her direction fast.

"Computer: evasive maneuvers!" she roared.

Immediately, the ship lurched forward, picking up speed so quickly that she sank into her seat. The alarm was still going on, and according to the screen, they were still being chased by whatever was after them. That was when the words COUNTERMEASURE 1 ACTIVATED appeared on the screen as well.

Batgirl wasn't certain what that meant, but the red light in the cockpit suddenly turned off. Pinkish red light shined behind her for whatever reason, flashing left to right and up and down. Several seconds passed before a dull boom was heard and she felt her speeding ship shake.

She would find out later that the ship had launched a number of waterproof flares, ones that created a heat source designed to draw heat-seeking torpedoes to them. Considering the torpedo detonated where those flares were, it could be considered a success.

Of course, the threat couldn't end there.

There were brief alarms alerting Batgirl to more threats. Looking around, she then spotted Atlantean ships running through the water, keeping up with her speed. They were parallel with her, but even she could figure out they were trying to turn to face her so that they could launch more torpedoes after her.

So that was when she noticed these smaller vessels with men on each one. They were up ahead, one to her left and right, and facing in her direction. Faint lights were growing brighter as she drew near.

And then light beams were fired. Immediately, her boat went upwards, avoiding the beams as they flew by beneath her. This didn't deter the small guard vessels as they kept firing at her. Her boat responded in kind, zigging upwards, and zagging downwards, avoiding each and every shot.

A sudden burst of speed caused Batgirl to seek even more into her seat. She had no idea what was going on, only that her boat rushed through the water and right between the two firing vessels. As it turned out, the moment she passed between them, the vessels had turned to fire at her as she was right next to them. The speed of her boat, however, made certain she was never hit.

The same couldn't be said for the beams they fired at each other the moment she passed by.

There were a couple more explosions, and the dark-clad girl hoped the men on those ships had gotten clear. She was definitely more concerned with keeping herself in one piece to care, to be honest. And considering that the alarm was going off yet again to inform her of more torpedoes in the water, and she knew she was in for a rough ride.

Maybe she should have followed those ships into Atlantis. She wouldn't be on this crazy roller coaster ride if she had.

The wind battered at Shayera, but she was used to that feeling. From her bird's eye view of the battlefield, she could see ships in various states of damage. Some were listing to one side, others already in some form of sinking, and then there were the life rafts. At least on the American side, she saw rafts with men hunkered down, their life preservers threatening to swallow their heads.

On the Atlantis side, you didn't see nearly as much damage. That being said, there weren't as many of those sea creature shaped ships as had been at the beginning of this little war. Because there were still plenty under water, it was hard to determine their exact number. From up here, she could see the trading of energy beams and torpedoes.

The Thanagarian was starting to get rather bored from behind useless again underwater foes.

However, the winged woman did spot the larger command vessel of the Atlanteans. Thanks to her eyesight, she could see there were people on top of the ship as it had surfaced some time ago. Angling her flight, she headed right for the ship.

As she drew closer, she realized a new front was about to open up from the Atlanteans. There were several artillery batteries that were being prepared, ones that were pointed towards the fighter jets on the American side. It didn't take much thinking to figure out that they were intending on shooting the planes out of the sky.

It seemed Shayera had finally found something for her to do.

Closing in, she counted up to five batteries in various states of preparation. Closing in on one, the Thanagarian held her mace at her hip, electricity beginning to crackle around the head.

"Haaaaaa!" she shouted as she swung her Nth metal weapon, striking the side of the artillery battery. She tore a gash right through the weapon, more bolts of electricity appearing all over the large gun. The Atlantean soldiers realized that this wasn't right and immediately scrambled to get away. A few seconds later and the battery exploded.

Shayera soared away from the explosion, angling herself towards another battery. At this point, the Atlanteans were trying to turn the gun towards her. Heh, as if they could hit her with a stationary weapon.

Rapidly, she closed in on the battery, hitting her mace against it and once again tearing a chunk off of it. The battery spent a few seconds crackling with electricity before blowing up into flames.

The third and fourth batteries meet the same fate. The soldiers weren't able to get a good aim at her, and she flitted from side to side before dealing a death blow to each weapon. As for the fifth and last one, she found herself in its crosshairs. It fired at her, a blue beam of energy racing towards her.

Tucking her wings in, Shayera leaned to one side and flew out of the beam's path, allowing it to fly by her harmlessly. She flared her wings open as she dove towards the weapon, this time her Nth metal mace not lit up with electricity. Reaching the side of the gun's barrel, she swung her mace, striking it against the side of the barrel. Whatever metal the weapon was made of, it didn't withstand Nth metal as the barrel dented inward, causing its opening to turn to one side. Heh, let's see them try to fire it again. The damaged barrel would trap some of the energy within and cause it to explode like the rest of them.

Flapping her wings so that she put some distance between her and the Atlantean soldiers, she eventually landed on the ship, holding her mace up in front of her. "Alright, let's see what you guys can do," she called out, waiting for the first wave of attackers.

Which never came. Though there were soldiers scattered around the top of this command ship, none looked interested in confronting her. That was boring. Shayera held her position, holding her mace low in front of her.

That's when she found out the reason when the soldiers weren't attacking her. Behind the redhead, a second of the ship opened up, a platform rising up to fill in the gap.

"Justice League!" a voice shouted, causing Shayera to whip her head around. There she found that Corum Rath guy, who was standing at attention, a long bronze spear in hand. "Stand down and leave us be!" the Atlantean officer demanded.

"No can do," Shayera responded as she spun around to full face the guy. "There's been enough fighting tonight. Stop what you're doing before more people get hurt."

Corum Rath snorted. "I do not answer to some alien from another world. Only the King of Atlantis can give me orders."

The redhead scowled. "Either you put an end to this, or I'll do it after I shove my mace up your ass so far, you'll be tasting metal for a month!"

The man just moved his spear, crossing it in front of his body so that he held the shaft with both hands. "If you wish to challenge me, then by all means. I will show you what a warrior of Atlantis is capable of."

Well, the challenge was thrown; it was clear words were useless at this point. Flaring her wings open, Shayera launched herself at her foe, swinging her mace as she let out a war cry.

In response, Corum Rath moved his spear, blocking the initial attack. He grunted from the force in which her weapon struck his, but he weathered it well. He then shoved the mace back, causing Shayera to back away. This allowed the man to move his spear to one side, the tip pointed right at her. He then thrust the spear forward, the winged woman throwing herself to one side to avoid it.

In an instant, the spear retreated back before Corum Rath thrusted forward again. Again, Shayera dodged it, darting to her other side. Over and over, her opponent would pull back and thrust his spear at her, the Thanagarian bobbing and weaving back and forth to avoid each thrust.

And then after another missed thrust, the spear suddenly rotated, the edge of the blade pointing right towards Shayera. Corum then performed a sidesweep with the spear, swinging the long weapon from in front of him to out to his side.

Shayera immediately shot up into the air, avoiding the sudden change in tactics. However, she saw an opening as she was above her opponent. Taking advantage, the Thanagrain threw herself forward, roaring as she swung her mace at the man's head.

Eyes wide open, Corom Rath stared at her for a second before he threw himself backwards, just narrowly avoiding the mace strike as it hit the surface of the ship. The metal immediately dented from where the mace hit it.

Shayera wasn't finished however. Instantly, she lunged forward, lending with a shoulder. She rammed it right into Corom Rath's chest, shoving him backwards. The man grunted before as he began stumbling backwards, but not before slashing back and forth with his spear. It was more to keep her at bay rather than a genuine attack. Still, Shayera pulled back, avoiding each spear slash.

"Not bad, alien," Corom Rath said once he got his footing again. "I hope you weren't thinking this was all."

"With those kinds of attacks? Hardly," she snorted back. "Though you're going to have to pick it up if you're going to be any sort of challenge."

"Is that so? Then allow me to show you the quality of an Atlantean officer!"

The sounds of gunshots filled the hallway. To J'onn, they were easily avoided. Becoming translucent allowed the small pieces of lead to pass right through him. There was also his shapeshifting ability that could function as a healing factor should he desire it.

For the man called the Operative, those bullets were much more life-threatening.

Even now, the man was taking cover in an empty room, one devoid of people rather than furnishings. The officers of the GCPD had caught up with them and hadn't hesitated to begin firing.

Considering what these men and women of the law faced, perhaps that should not have been unexpected.

J'onn passed through a wall and into the same room Operative was hiding in. His body filled out as he settled on the floor with his feet. "I believe you have encountered another obstacle," he remarked.

"No thanks to you," the man spat back. He pulled out something that looked like a large, ancient key. He placed it against the door's lock, and the Martian thought he heard a definite clicking sound. Operative then moved away from the door, heading to another one. The man grabbed the knob there and tried to turn it, finding the door locked. Raising up the key, he placed it against the lock and there was that clicking sound again.

When the man turned the knob, this time it actually turned and the door opened. J'onn was actually baffled by this. Without wasting a second, Operative passed through the door and closed it behind him. Walking over to the same door, J'onn tried to open the door, finding it locked.

How strange.

Becoming translucent, the Martian phased through the wall, finding Operative on the other side of the room. Filling in once more, he could not help but ask, "How did you do that?"

Operative actually flinched from his voice before spinning around. "Stop following me," he demanded.

"That I cannot do," J'onn replied calmly. "I will not allow you to reach your destination if I must, but I will also prevent harm to come to you or the police officers. I ask that you stand down at this time."

"I'm not the one that will be getting hurt."

Immediately, J'onn knew what the man was thinking, confirmed by him reaching for a gunholster on his belt. Instantly, the Martian raised an arm and stretched it out. It rushed over to Operative, latching onto the gun the man had pulled out. Pulling his arm back, he ripped the gun out of the disguised man's hand. Once his arm returned to its normal length, J'onn applied pressure to the gun in his hand until it shattered into pieces.

Operative stared at him. He took a step back, trying to put some distance between himself and the Martian. The regard that was directed towards J'onn was akin to that given to a wild animal.

"As I said, I will not let anyone else be harmed here," J'onn spoke evenly. He would have said more, but suddenly he felt loud thoughts assault his mind. While he was used to feeling the intrusive thoughts of the human race constantly, every so often one could actually break through due to its suddenness and strength.

In this case, he felt someone was raging with anger. They were practically shouting their thoughts. It wouldn't be much trouble to shut the thoughts out, except he realized what the subject of the thoughts were.

"That goddamn terrorist! He freaking dug his way out of jail!"

J'onn turned his head in the direction he felt the thoughts were coming from. He reached out with his mind, his orange eyes brightening. He honed in on the source of the thoughts, a rotund man by the name of…Bullock. He was outside of a jail cell, one that had the floor blow up.

More importantly, Black Manta was not present.

Widening out his search, he sought out the mind of Black Manta, finding it no longer in the building.

How had this come to happen?

Gotham was an old city, its sewer not as old but bearing the hallmarks of one. That meant an exit to the sewer city was at the oceanfront. The airboats drove out of the large pipe, shuddering from a two foot dip in trajectory.

Dead ahead was the lightings of explosions and war, but a sharp right turn had the boats heading to the shipyard. Black Manta held on, keeping low while not leaving the sight of their destination. Scavenger could not have picked a better distraction, he mused.

The submarine must have remained where it had been docked. There was no other reason for them to be heading this close to the city and the battle on its shores. He had heard about Aquaman's efforts to obtain him, including the blockade. Government officials were slow, and they would have been slow to move the submersible even without Atlantean intervention.

Still, that blockade had made for a good insurance policy. The risk of moving the submarine out could have been seen of provocation and worsen a tense situation. For this, he had to give thanks to his old foe; it had kept the tool of his annihilation close at hand.

The airboats pulled up to the dock, slowing down next to a ladder. With how close the airboats were to the ocean water, they were always going to need to have to climb. Black Manta did it without complaint.

The shipyard was empty, a curious fact. The submarine was top secret, it should be guarded day and night. Where were the guards? With the way Scavenger's men moved, he could guess where they were. Odds were those guards were dead, hidden away nearby or weighed down into the water. There was an argument that the battle could have had that security running off to join it, but orders from the top were orders to be followed. It didn't matter really.

Once inside the building that held the sub, Scavenger's men finishing up the final preparations, and bodies laying nearby, there was no need to further concern himself with the thought.

Hurriedly, he made his way to the gangplank. In a moment, he was entering the sub itself, climbing down a ladder. He could feel each and every rung that the bottom of his feet touched; the jail-issued cloth shoes were that thin. Off the ladder, another man climbing down above him, Black Manta entered into a hallway and headed for the command center.

There was activity there, and he only took a second to look over it before demanding, "Is the radar installed?"

One of the men looked over at him. "Ready and functional."

Again, he had to give Scavenger credit. The man was efficient. Re-obtaining both the radar, the submarine, and liberating him and doing so in a short window of time, that took skill and ability. He was going to need that and more in the search for Atlantis.

"Finalize preparations and set out immediately. The fighting will only distract for so long and this will be our only chance. Move." Taking command of these men was simple; there had needed to be an agreement between himself and Scavenger about that. It was proving to be yet another sound investment.

"The Scavenger sends his regards," a man spoke from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Black Manta regarded the man who held a tube-shaped carrying case, a strap hanging limply off of it. It was being held out to him like it was an offering.

Taking it, Black Manta opened one of the ends and peered into it. Ah, and again Scavenger was proving that he was worth all the money he had offered. To find that bomb missing for decades in the Atlantic. It was all coming together.

"There's a change of clothes waiting for you in the captain's cabin," the other man added.

Dark eyes peered back up, and a head nodded. "Set out from Gotham immediately," was all he said in return, closing the tube-shaped container and hanging a strap off of his shoulder.

Having learned the submarine's interior beforehand, prior to his capture, he knew where to go. While he would prefer to oversee these men, he would take the chance to burn these rags and prepare himself for the real battle ahead.

There wasn't even a shudder when the submarine began to move, a sign of how good its construction was. You wouldn't feel any movement riding in this vessel; the Pentagon had shelled out a lot of money to build it.

The most advanced submarine in the world, the best state-of-the-art radar system, and the resources of the Scavenger at his beck and call. Atlantis would not stay lost for long.

The boat rushed downwards before leveling off, keeping a short yet safe distance off of the ocean floor. A series of bright beams struck the ground, detonating and sending up a cloud of wet dirt up through the water.

Batgirl was done. She was tired of being shot at and chased. These Atlantis guys had been trying to shoot her down for some time, but they had yet to figure out how to beat the computer system in the boat. The moment it detected the other ships and their weapons firing, it took evasive maneuvers.

But the novelty of it all had worn off a long time ago. She knew they wouldn't give up, but seriously, they either needed to get better at trying to shoot her down, or…or…well, she couldn't think of a second option.

Glancing to her left, she could see the city just sitting there, oblivious to the little skirmish she was in. There were a couple more of those Atlantis ships present, but the others were above her or behind her.

A sharp alert made her focus on the radar. Three bogies to her right. Alright, so there were more of them. The alarm became louder as it detected weapons firing.

In response, the boat rose higher from the sea floor, curving towards the left. The energy beams that were fired hit the sea floor, kicking up more dirt from the explosions. Because of the surrounding water, not to mention the water pressure itself, it kept the actual detonations small. The dirt kicked up, however, provided enough cover that it prevented more shots from being fired on her as the enemy ships lost sight of her.

Alright, if these people weren't going to change tactics, maybe she should. She was tired of being anxious at being shot down, or captured. Again, she looked towards the city. What were the chances these guard ships would fire at her if she were to head towards it?

"Computer: new direction," she commanded. "Make course to city on…uhh…starboard side?"

She wasn't certain if she had used the right terminology, but the computer console lit up like it had every time she had given an order. Suddenly, the boat changed direction, speeding right for Atlantis.

More beams were fired from the surrounding ships, but naturally her little boat took this into account, speeding up so that each blast hit the sea floor. The city grew larger before her as she closed in on it.

Then a new alarm went off. "DANGER: OBSTACLE AHEAD," a computerized voice announced in the cockpit. "CHANGING COURSE TO AVOID COLLISION."

"Computer: maintain speed, change autopilot steering to manual," Batgirl quickly ordered. "Override safeguards."

"ARE YOU CERTAIN OF THESE SETTINGS?" the computer questioned.

"Confirm setting changes."

Batgirl grabbed onto the steering wheel, abruptly feeling tension in the wheel as steering was transferred to her. She held on tightly as she drew closer and closer to the city. There was a distinct lack of weapons being fired at her thankfully.

As if to challenge that thought, more beams were fired, this time from above. Thankfully she was going too fast to be hit and the Atlantis people were firing ahead of her.

Soon, all she saw was the outer wall and it was rapidly closing in on her. Clenching her jaw, Batgirl just powered forward.

A shrill sound echoed throughout the city. A portion of the dome broke, its pieces bursting outward and away. The crushed nose of a black ship forced its way through the door, metal and dome scratching against each other from friction.

Eventually, the ship slowed to a stop, small sprays of water shooting out at random spots between the ship and dome.

Several seconds passed before Batgirl groaned. Okay, that hadn't been her best course of action, but, well, things had finally changed.

Looking around herself, she saw some kind of city in front of her. It was hard to tell as the windshield was cracked into a thousand pieces, but hadn't shattered thankfully. However, her seafaring vessel was now stuck in the wall, which left her stuck. She felt battered and bruised from the impact, which she knew was going to make her feel sore later.

"Computer: open canopy," she commanded. Several seconds passed without any response. Looking to the console, she saw it was dark, most likely because the power was out and couldn't do what she wanted it to. That was unfortunate.

However, she knew her father wouldn't have built this thing without a backup to open it. Looking around, she soon saw a manual lever. There was a label underneath it that warned DO NOT PULL. MANUAL OVERRIDE FOR CANOPY. Grabbing it, she squeezed it tightly and then pulled on it.

The lever moved, which caused a shifting of the canopy above her. Then, painfully so, it slid forward, creating a large enough opening that she could get out. Letting go of the lever, Batgirl quickly undid her safety harness and then reached up to grab onto the edge of the opening between the ship and canopy. She pulled herself up until she poked her head out.

The first thing she looked for was enemies, seeing none close by. That was good. Batgirl climbed out of the boat, and by the time she was out, she noticed several men dressed in armor rushing towards her. These certainly had to be guards, her veritable welcoming committee.

The dark-clad girl tilted her head to one side, leaning it further and further until she felt her vertebra pop. She did the same to the other side, feeling the same popping sensation in her neck. Then she cracked the knuckles of each hand. These people would make for a good warmup, she felt. After all, she had been bored for the last few hours. She needed to stretch her legs out.