Countdown (15 page)

Who is this ass?
Mary glared murderously at the drunk. Would anyone even miss him if he suddenly disappeared? Everyone would think that he’d just stumbled overboard; it probably happened all the time. She could just fly him up above the clouds, then “accidentally” let him go.... The delicious fantasy played out in her mind, tempting her, but she reluctantly dismissed it as beneath her.
He’s not worth the effort.

Besides, Zatanna dealt with the heckler far more amusingly.
“Emutsoc ekil anaid!”
she commanded, and the drunk’s loud Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts instantly transformed into an ill-fitting knockoff of Wonder Woman’s star-spangled costume, complete with gilded bustier and tiara. The entire audience erupted into laughter. Cheers and applause followed the mortified drank as he retreated clumsily from the theater. Maiy approved wholeheartedly.
That’s showing him, Zee,
she thought gleefully.
I knew you were my kind of magic-user!

Eager to get some serious face time with Zatanna, Mary waited impatiently through several standing ovations before the glamorous magician disappeared in a puff of brightly colored smoke. Mary was just starting to ponder how best to make her way backstage when a hand gently dropped onto her shoulder and a lilting voice whispered in her ear.

“Hello, Mary,” Zatanna said. “What brings you here?” Mary twisted around in her seat to find Zatanna standing right behind her.
Whoa,
she thought. Wisps of polychromatic smoke wafted past Mary’s nose. “You knew I was here?”

Zatanna nodded. “I sensed you from the stage. All that magic—and anger—was hard to miss.” She eyed the younger heroine with concern. “You seem troubled, Mary.”
Is it that obvious?
Mary thought, embarrassed that Zatanna had seen right through her.
Does she know what I considered doing to that heckler?
“Um, to be honest, I was hoping we could talk.”

“All right,” Zatanna agreed readily. She gestured toward the exit. “Let’s get some fresh air”

They strolled out onto the promenade deck outside. A warm tropical breeze rustled Mary’s hair. Moonlight shimmered on the rippling surface of the Caribbean Sea. Gentle waves lapped at the ship’s hull. Guardrails prevented anyone from falling overboard; life preservers waited just in case someone managed to do so anyway. The night air had a salty flavor. The beautiful evening lured dozens of other passengers out onto the deck. They ambled leisurely past Mary and Zatanna, paying little attention to the two women.

“I’m surprised your fans are leaving us alone” Mary commented. Zatanna was still decked out in her tux and tights after all, while Mary’s costume could easily be mistaken for that of a magician’s lovely assistant. “I figured we’d be swamped by ardent admirers and autograph seekers.”

“I cast a low-level cloaking spell over us,” Zatanna explained. “We’re not exactly invisible per se, just flying below the radar.” She leaned back against the guardrail. Constellations glittered in the sky above her. “So how can I help you, Mary?”

Mary didn’t know Zatanna well, but she found herself opening up to the other woman without hesitation. Zee’s friendly, down-to-earth manner made her easier to talk to than, say, Madame Xanadu, or even Billy. Mary filled Zatanna in on everything that had happened to her since waking up from her coma, including the extreme measures she had employed against the likes of Clayface and Pharyngula. Zee listened patiently to the entire story, neither interrupting nor judging her. After what had happened at the Rock of Eternity, Mary appreciated Zatanna taking the time to hear her side of the story.

“I see,” Zatanna said, after Mary wrapped up her narrative. Her gorgeous face held a pensive expression. “What happened to Black Adam?”

“He just... left,” Mary lamented. “So here I am, with all this magic and no instruction manual. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t had power before, but it’s not quite the same. And there’s so much of it....”

“I know,” Zatanna said with a worried tone. “I can feel it surging inside you, almost like—”

iwm
in

A sudden disturbance off the starboard bow interrupted her diagnosis. A muffled boom came from beneath the waves. Blazing yellow bolts of energy shot
upward
into the clear night sky. Only seventy yards away from the ship, the sea churned and foamed violently. Ten-foot waves rocked the
Lemaris,
sending passengers tumbling onto the deck. Frightened men, women, and children yelped in alarm, and grabbed on to the nearest rails or posts. A white-faced mother frantically wrestled her wailing children into life jackets. Other passengers fled the swaying deck for the uncertain safety of the ship’s interior. It was a like a scene out of
Titanic,
but without Celine Dion’s cloying song.

Holy crap!
Mary thought, springing into action. Obviously her chat with Zatanna was going to have to wait. Taking to the air, she flew straight toward the fiery energy beams. “Hang on!” she shouted back at Zatanna, who remained aboard the tempest-tossed cruise ship, clinging to the rail. “I’m going for a closer look!”

“Be careful, Mary!” Zee called out urgently. “We don’t know what forces are at work here!”

“Don’t worry about me!” Mary snapped, experiencing a flash of irritation at Zatanna’s needless coaching. Coruscating rays of light sizzled all around Mary as she zoomed defiantly into the midst of the barrage. Sea spray pelted her face. She tasted brine upon her lips. “I’m not exactly an amateur, you know. I can take care of mys—!”

A tremendous waterspout erupted from the sea below her. The geyser slammed into Mary with titanic force, knocking the wind out of her while simultaneously drenching her from head to toe. Coughing and sputtering, her eyes and nose filled with salt water, she almost didn’t notice that the eruption had hurled a humanoid figure toward the vulnerable ocean liner. “Mary!” Zatanna cried out in warning. “We’ve got company!”

I see him, I see him!
Mary thought impatiently. Wiping a soggy lock of hair away from her eyes, she took a second to catch her breath before flying back toward the
Lemaris.
Meanwhile, the blurry figure was already arcing down toward a deck full of stunned passengers who seemed frozen in place by shock and surprise.
Move, you idiots!
Mary railed silently. Even pouring on the speed, she knew she couldn’t get there in time.
You’re going to get flattened!

Fortunately, Zatanna was also on the scene.
“Enoyreve evom kcab!”
she commanded, and a wave of invisible force gently but firmly cleared the area directly in the path of the falling body.
“Dna yats kcab!”

She got the bystanders out of the way with only seconds to spare. The mysterious figure crashed onto the deck, reducing a discarded deck chair to splinters. “Ohmigod!” a horrified tourist exclaimed. “What the heck is that?”

Not human, that was for sure. Although a tom blue and white wetsuit concealed much of the creature’s burly form, scaly green skin covered his face and hands, while more scales showed through the ragged tears in his garment. Webbed hands and feet disclosed his aquatic nature. A spiked coral helmet, missing its face visor, protected his skull. Purple bile trickled from the comer of his mouth. Sharpened claws extended from his fingertips. Bulging muscles suggested that the formidable merman was no pushover. Still and silent, he sprawled lifelessly upon the soaked deck. Scorch marks blackened portions of his wetsuit.

Wait a second,
Mary thought as she descended toward the supine figure.
I know who that is.
The wisdom of Ze-huti, the ancient Egyptian god of learning, informed her that the collapsed merman was none other than Slig, an evil New God from Apokolips. He was the commander of the Deep Six, a strike force of water-breathing warriors that had invaded Earth’s oceans on more than one occasion. Last she’d heard, they’d given Aquaman a hard time during the Infinite Crisis.
What’s he doing here
...
and where’s the rest of the Six?

“Watch out, Mary,” Zatanna cautioned her. Water dripped from her long black hair; the spray from the geyser had obviously splashed everyone on the deck. “He could be ...”

“Dead?” Mary suggested. She didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved that Slig looked like he was in no shape to put up a fight.
I wonder how my powers stack up against a New God these days?

Zatanna shook her head. “Dangerous.”

“DEATH!” Slig’s eyes snapped open, revealing slitted red orbs. He scrambled to his feet, looking just as panic-stricken as the freaked-out vacationers. “Death comes for me! I must escape his wrath!” His open jaws revealed sharklike pointed teeth. “Gole ... Jaffar ... Kurin ... all my Deep Six brothers, dead by his hand!”

Whose hand?
Mary wondered. Who was scary enough to wipe out an entire pack of New Gods? Hovering above {he deck, she put off tackling Slig in hopes of learning more. “Spill, fish boy! What’re you babbling about?” Ignoring her query, he slid across the wet deck with unexpected speed. Webbed fingers closed around the ankle of an unlucky tourist, who instantly underwent a startling metamorphosis. Gills formed along the poor guy’s throat. Fins sprouted from his arms and legs. Scales spread across his skin. His Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts were tom to shreds by the violent transformation. Within seconds, an ordinary senior citizen had changed into something resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Piscine eyes stared agog at his mutated mitts.

“Worthless dry-skins!” Slig hissed. He charged into a dense clump of passengers, grabbing on to them one after another. Arms and legs turned into tentacles. Bony shells covered flailing bodies. Mortal men and women devolved into hybrid sharks, barracudas, eels, cephalopods, and crustaceans. “You shall be reborn as beasts of the sea, the better to mask my escape!”

Mary kicked herself for not stopping Slig earlier. “You slimy sea monkey!” She dived at the berserk sea-god, seizing his helmet with both hands. Her anger exploded in a flash of eldritch lightning that went off right in his face. “Stop touching people!”

He roared in agony. “Foul creature! What have you done to me!” The glare from the thunderbolt faded away, revealing scarred white eyes surrounded by scalded green flesh. Greasy yellow tears leaked from the smoking sockets. “I’m blinded!”

Serves you right,
Mary thought. She struggled to hold on to her slippery foe, who thrashed wildly within her grasp, desperate to break free. Muscles conditioned to withstand the awesome pressures of the deep managed to hold their own against Mary’s preternatural strength. Slig was at least seven feet tall, but Mary’s ability to defy gravity gave her the height advantage. The spines on his helmet snapped off in her fingers. “Stop being such a crybaby!”

“Mary!” Zatanna shouted. She sounded appalled, but by what Mary wasn’t sure. “Back down a notch until we find out what this is all about!”

He's turning people into sea monsters,
Mary thought, surprised by Zee’s disapproving tone. She got a fresh grip on Slig’s helmet. Her fingers dug into the hardened coral, which cracked beneath the pressure.
Isn't that enough?

She tried to get Slig in a headlock, but he twisted free before she could secure the hold. A taloned hand, questing blindly, grabbed on to the front of her dress and ripped it down the middle, exposing a lot more cleavage than before.
Hey, watch it!
she thought indignantly.
Who does he think I am? Power Girl?
The vicious claws didn’t even scratch her skin, however.

“Foolish human!” His rank breath smelled like spoiled sushi. He raved deliriously. “You don’t understand. The Killer is here!”

“What killer?” Sparks flew from her knuckles as she slammed her fist into his face. Cartilage crumpled loudly. He went flying backward into a steel bulkhead, shattering a solid glass porthole. Cold red blood streamed from his flattened snout. A strip of ragged black fabric still clung

to one talon. Mary followed up with a devastating blow to his gut. “You’re the one causing all the trouble!”

She was about to turn Slig into a fish fillet when Zatanna came running up behind her. “Mary, I said back down! What’s
wrong
with you?”

“Me?”
Mary couldn’t believe that Zee was giving her grief at a time like this. “You saw what he did.” She glanced down at her suddenly low-cut costume. “Look at my dress!” “Forget your wardrobe!” Zatanna scolded. She pointed at the shambolic mass of transformed humans charging toward them. They seemed compelled to defend Slig from any or all attacks. “There are innocent people here. We need to attend to them!”

Mary looked away from her battered opponent. By now, the promenade deck resembled some sort of bizarre aquatic freak show. Almost two dozen mutated monstros-’ ities flopped and slithered toward Zatanna. Rent clothing was strewn about the deck. A limbless gray worm that resembled nothing so much as a gigantic sea cucumber wiggled across the textured metal floor, leaving a trail of mucus behind it. The translucent ichor glistened in the moonlight.

“Okay,” Mary said. “That’s disgusting.”

Zatanna scowled. “No matter what happened to them, they’re still innocent people, Mary! We have to help them without hurting them.”

The monstrous worm rose up in front of Zatanna, seemingly intent on devouring the world-famous celebrity. A voracious maw, lined with hundreds of razor-sharp fangs, opened wide.

“Jeez, Zee, I haven’t gone senile,” Mary replied irritably. She had seen the passengers turn into monsters less than five minutes ago. Despite Zatanna’s admonition to be gentle with the mutant horde, she flew between the giant worm and Zee, then delivered a magically charged right hook to the lunging creature. The blow didn’t kill the beast, but it did stun it long enough to keep Zatanna from

disappearing down its slimy gullet. “Just make with the magic!”

The sorceress didn’t bother thanking Mary for the save. Instead she raised her hands and gestured dramatically at the worm. Her eyes glowed with mystical energy.
“Trever ot namuh mrof! ”