Growing up, I read somewhere that "hell is other people". I also read elsewhere that people are social animals. That is true, to a point… that is… if you look and think like them.

To give you some backstory, my name is Nina Mazursky and I am the proud daughter of geneticist Edward Mazursky. When I was born, I had several issues and even though daddy never said it, I knew those issues were why mom left us before I was old enough to care.

Because of those issues, my brilliant daddy did his thing to try and figure out a way to make life easier for me. One thing led to another and lo and behold, I ended up developing wet, scaly skin, gills, and fins. So, yes, I no longer had to use machines to breathe for me, but I also couldn't breathe air, I needed water. So, daddy developed a lightweight aquatic helmet for me, allowing me to breathe like normal… well, about as normal as it was to be a fish girl, and not a cute one like Ariel, more like a girly creature from the Black Lagoon.

Daddy raised me by himself, homeschooling me and loving me in the way that he could. I was grateful to him, for sure. Not all parents were willing to step up in the ways that he did. However, the time came where he took me, the summer before I turned 15, to Emberton Preparatory Academy.

I remember that morning like it was just yesterday. It was hot and humid, which I found perfectly fine for my very specific biology.

"You need to wear something nice to make a good first impression!" Daddy said, as we finished up breakfast. Fried tilapia was always a good idea.

"I know how important this is." I replied, smiling just a little.

"I know you do. You're a smart and sensitive girl, Nina."

"Thanks daddy." I couldn't help but blush.

Yeah, I may look like a fish thing, but I could still blush, thank you very much.

I got to my room not long after that and pulled out one of my favorite dresses. It was pink and frilly. I liked to dress cute, even though I wasn't particularly cute myself. Quickly, I took a bath, replaced my helmet, and then slipped into the dress.

The ride to the school was quiet. Daddy was nervous. So was I. I didn't really see much of the outside world. I only really saw our house, daddy's lab, and the market nearby our house. I had never been around other kids, so… I was pretty nervous about it too.

Honestly, I had watched a variety of movies that were based in a high school. Emberton was exactly what I expected it to be. It was large, with some Roman architectural concepts and red brick on the outside. Daddy pulled into a parking spot labeled Visitors Only and then we disembarked together, starting towards the school's front doors.

I took a deep breath as daddy grabbed the door handle and a series of bubbles swirled around the inside of my helmet.

That was when everything changed.

The fall came sooner than expected and it meant going to school. Let me tell you, that first day was one of the scariest days of my life. You'd think that living in a world that had aliens flying around with red capes and boys in tights running so fast, they break the sound barrier would mean that someone who looked like me would be considered commonplace and not freakish. You'd think so, wouldn't you? Perhaps in a place like Gotham City or Metropolis. But here in the suburbs of Star City…

When I got to my locker, I put in my combination and I heard voices around me. Literally every other student there was human. One hundred percent human. I was the odd one out, the fish out of water, if you will.

"Fish Freak…"

"Froggy…"

"Guppy…"

"Slimy…"

"Sushi girl…"

It seemed like everyone immediately had some sort of nickname for me. I didn't mind Sushi girl, because I enjoyed sushi, but the other ones were pretty hurtful, even after the twentieth time I heard them.

I tried to tune them out and to do my best to fade into the background. All of the things kids my age were studying were second nature as I acquired my daddy's ability to learn quickly and practically apply the things I learned, so at least my studies weren't affected by the name calling.

Lacrosse was a sport that the school offered. I wanted to see if maybe I could make a friend through it. Physically speaking, I was pretty strong and fast. I figured it could be okay to try out.

So, I did.

It did not go well.

After being smacked by the stick of everyone else on and trying out for the team and the ball being bounced against my helmet no less than a dozen times, I just had the sneaking suspicion that I didn't make the team.

To add insult to injury, the next day, two older boys pinned me up against my locker and forced me to say "Ribbit". I was mortified, especially at the small crowd they had gathered to witness it. When I opened the locker, somehow someone had managed to stick a frog inside of it. When I saw it, it took everything I had to not break down right then and there.

I found myself in my room at the end of that first week in tears. I was in my bathtub, gradually making the tap water in there turn saltier with my tears. No one wanted me there at that school. No one wanted to include me, to look at me like a person. I was a freak-show, an animal. Nothing more. That's why mom left. I was sure of it. For daddy's sake, I'll try going back next week and hope it goes better.

That night, I didn't know what made me do it, as I had never done anything like it before, but I just needed to go for a walk. Daddy wasn't home yet from work, so I just slipped out of the front door and made my way down the street. I needed to be near a large body of water. It was calming, for some reason.

I got to the end of the sidewalk that led to the bank of the Santa Clara Channel that separated Midtown and Northport (where we lived) from Westport and Chinatown. I stood beneath one of the bridges that connected both land masses and began to strip down to my underthings, removing my helmet in the process.

My plan was to float. Spend a few minutes, or even several hours just floating on the channel. This always grounds me whenever I do it in the bathtub or at daddy's lab. So, that is precisely what I did.

I stayed like that for what felt like hours, floating just underneath the surface of the water, allowing myself to be pushed and pulled just slightly by the current. I took a big, lungful of air as I breathed through the water. Honestly, even though the helmet I wear isn't too heavy, spending most of my day with that weight on my neck and shoulders can get tiring. I relished the feeling of freedom when I went back into the water.

Suddenly, however, my reverie was interrupted by a loud, crashing sound. I looked towards the bridge and saw as an expensive town car flew off of the bridge landing inside of the water. As it began to sink, I was faced with a sudden crossroads. I could either let the car sink and accept the fate of the humans inside. I mean, besides daddy, what have humans ever done for me? Or I could try and help.

My conscience must have been working overtime that day, because I dove beneath the water and in minutes, I was there, outside of the sinking car. I saw there were two individuals inside of it, a man and a girl, but I couldn't make out any other details.

I broke open the window by applying my knowledge of physics and surface pressure and pulled the girl free first, then the man. Neither of them appeared to be conscious, either due to water inhalation or head trauma, I couldn't be sure, but while I was perfectly fine under the surface, they most certainly were not.

Quickly, I pulled them to the surface. As I did so, I noticed that the man was breathing, but the girl was not. It then occurred to me that I had seen this girl before at school. Her name was Chloe Sinclair, and she was untouchable. She was never mean to me per se, but she never looked my way at all. Her lips looked slightly blue, and I knew that it was mere minutes until the brain damage began.

I put my lips to hers and applied suction, our lips together and started to coax the water out of her lungs. I was beginning to panic as we were on the banks of the water and it was almost like it was going to be either her or me who died of suffocation that day, but suddenly, she spat up the water directly into my mouth and I breathed it in, pushing out carbon dioxide through the gills on my neck.

"What the hell? What's going on?" Chloe cried, her eyes flying open with fear. I leapt into the water and started heading away when Chloe called me back.

"Hey. Come back here!"

Turning back, I merely floated near the surface, still a few yards out. If she had something to say, I figured I could stop to hear it.

"What is it, Chloe?" I asked.

"You know me?"

"Yeah. We go to school together."

She considered this as she sat up and looked my way. I could see the rosiness returning to her cheeks even at the distance I was at.

"Could you come closer?" she asked.

At her request, against my better judgment, I went closer to the bank, bobbing in and out of the water to help myself breathe. Our eyes locked and I saw her eyes light up with recognition. She didn't know me, but of course she heard of me. The Fish Freak. I waited for the insult, for her to tear apart my self-esteem. Part of me felt like I deserved it.

"Wait a sec. You're Sushi Girl, aren't you?"

At least she used my favorite epithet.

"I'm actually named Nina." I replied quietly.

"Nina? I like that. It's very cute."

I blushed at this. Me? Cute? I wasn't cute. My name wasn't cute. She was making fun of me. I just knew she was. Why was I letting her? Why didn't I just leave?

"Could you come out of the water?"

"No. I need the water to breathe."

"That's why you wear the helmet? Well, get it, then."

Just like that, I went off and grabbed my helmet and my clothing. By the time I got back to Chloe though, a small crowd of people had assembled. There was a woman who looked like an older version of Chloe and there was a man with a camera and a woman with a microphone. What was this? I had a sinking feeling. I had put my helmet back on, as I came over, but I hadn't yet started on my clothes and there I was in a black sports bra and black spandex shorts and nothing else when the camera had pointed my way.

It was petrifying. I had never been in front of a camera before and there I was, the fins on my arms and legs and my scaly belly exposed for all the world to see. At some point, Chloe was at my side. She hesitantly touched the skin of my arm and shortly after gripped it in her strong hand. It was steadying, anchoring.

"We are here on the shores of the Santa Clara channel where a nearly devastating event has occurred." The pretty newscaster began, speaking into her microphone. "We are here with Chloe Sinclair and the… uh… individual who saved her. Chloe, tell us, in your own words what happened."

It wasn't lost on me, the reporter's difficulty with classifying me as a person. It was to be expected, but my cheeks still blushed in traitorous rebellion.

"Thank you, Kristie." Chloe replied, as the camera panned over to where we were standing. "My driver was taking me to dinner when he must have lost control of the car, sending us straight over the bridge. Next thing I know, Nina, my girl here was giving me mouth to mouth, after pulling us from the car."

"Nina? Do you have a last name or anything to add?" Kristie asked, pointing the microphone at me.

"No… um… Nina Mazursky… I.. uh… Chloe was in trouble and I was… uh… I was here." I was in shock, I was sure of it. I was on television, being interviewed for saving a girl's life and said girl was pretty and popular and she was touching me, gently, yet firmly and calling me "my girl". I didn't know what she meant exactly, but I liked the sound of it.

"And I owe my life to Nina." Chloe pronounced. "I will pay her back in any way she wants."

My head started swimming, if you pardon the pun. Chloe was treating me like a person, with respect, with affection. Tears started bubbling out of my eyes slightly obscuring my blushing face beneath the helmet, this time, with happiness instead of total humiliation and despair.

"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen." Kristie replied, the camera panning back to her alone, "It looks like Aquaman has some competition in the water hero game."

The reporters all walked off while the woman who looked kind of like Chloe walked towards us. She looked right into my eyes and smiled.

"Barbara Sinclair." She said, extending her hand, "Nina. Thank you so much for saving my daughter. Whatever you want is yours. We are in your debt."

Anything I wanted? I thought of riches and fame. But I was smart enough to get all that myself if I wanted. I then thought of college letters or recommendation. Yeah. It was still several years out, but it was on my mind. But while I was considering all that, my mind stopped on one thing alone.

"I just want a friend…" I whispered.

"Beg your pardon?" Barbara asked, but next to me, Chloe responded.

"A friend? Don't you have any?"

"No. No one likes me because of how I look and because of my… disability."

Chloe looked me in the eye, her breath was slightly fogging up the tempered, shock-proof glass of my helmet. I noticed that her eyes were misty.

"No one?"

"Just daddy."

"Well…" Chloe continued, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, "you have me now and I'm not going anywhere. Mom, can Nina come to dinner with us?"

"Of course, but we should get you all a change of clothes before you catch a cold."

And so it was. Barbara took us to a nearby boutique where we got changes of dresses. Chloe's olive complexion looked wonderful beneath a royal blue and she insisted I wear a baby pink dress. For the first time, I felt like a princess. Barbara called me cute and it made me cry.

At school, things also started to turn around. Chloe was a true friend and pretty soon, the only nickname that stayed around was Sushi Girl, but that changed to Sushi, which was shortened to Sush. I kinda liked Sush, it was cute and endearing.

Even daddy noticed that something was different. I was excited to go to school, I joined band and theater, and Chloe became my best friend. I even had a date to homecoming, if you could believe it with this perfectly sweet boy named Jake.

Sure, I wasn't exactly human, but over time, the humans accepted me as one of their own. I was still kind of a fish out of water, but it was wonderful. I even started taking a swim up and down the channel every other night, saving people and small animals from the heavy currents.

I thought life was perfect and despite my extraordinary origin story, I thought it was going to be perfectly boing and domestic, like any other suburban kid. All of that changed, however, when I received a summons to Principal Gale's office.

I didn't do anything wrong, so I was just confused. What was the meaning of this? I felt super anxious, my anxiety growing as I got closer and closer to the office. I knocked on the door and it swung open.

Principal Gale had opened the door of course and she smiled gently at me, with a brightness behind her eyes.

"You called for me?" I asked.

"I did, Nina. We have a very special guest here for you."

"Who…"

I looked towards the window and saw a massive silhouette illuminated there. He had long hair, a beard, some tattoos on his arms and eyes that were the bluest I'd ever seen on a person. He was wearing jeans, flannel, and a curious necklace. He was familiar, I just didn't know where from.

"Nina Mazursky?" he asked, his voice gruff and raspy.

"Yes?" I stammered; eyes wide at his hulking figure.

"My name is Arthur Curry, and I have been looking for you."

A/N After watching Creature Commandos, I figured that Nina deserved better. She's a precious marshmallow and deserves to be treated as such. In this AU, she doesn't run away, her dad does not get killed, and she never gets roped into an assassination scheme that ends with her death. She gets the break and recognition she deserves. This is meant as a one-shot.

-EQ