I Didn't Know I needed a Building Permit to Launch a Rescue Mission! (Clover Sinclair)

King Karth stomped through the hollow coral of his grand ship. From this ship he had hoped to dash the hopes of the land dwellers from finding his ancient kingdom, but it fell to nothing, only allowing the capture of his own people at the hands of those arrogant land dwellers. "Ready the city for war. We cannot hide anymore. And bring me Witch Galina. I have need of her." Two guards with prodded tridents bowed before turning back and walking towards the stairs for one to ascend to the communications room and the other to the chambers of the sea witch.

Karth's grand ship extended one hundred and fifty yards in diameter with a four floors above a bottom engineering deck designed to make use of the bioaquatic technology of the Atlanteans. A woman with three crests of scales spiraling around her forehead intertwining into a blackpool of ink stepped above the stairs. "You called my king." Her voice echoed in gurgling uneasiness. "Without water, this is strange. And unwelcome."

"I cannot allow my guests to drown. They are important. Galina, I need you to assist me with this problem." Karth stepped back from the window looking out into a darkened ocean. "If news of our people get out, we will no longer be protected. We must first get our people back. I will need a prison capable of holding these two in the mean time."

At the back of the room sat Bliss, wrapped up with seaweed binding her arms, ankles, and knees. She stopped squirming her shoulders as attention fell onto her. Clover was wrapped to Bliss' back in the same predicament, and for some reason, the seaweed kept Bliss from using any of her powers. Neither girl could object or coordinate any details through the seaweed wrapped around their mouths several time. Bliss moved her head back to try and give Clover some comfort about their situation the best she could. They only needed bide their time and they could break free, but the time would need to come. Bliss took this guy down once, and she let him off easy- but she would not let up so easy next time. Not after this.

"We have docked, my king." A guard stepped through the membrane door separating the flooded corridors of the ship and the king's entertaining room.

"Good. The prison awaits you two." Karth crossed his arms as his gaze fell upon the duo. "And none of your words will save you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm calling it Operation BC." Ashley pointed to the board behind her. To prepare for the mission briefing Ashley wore a black battle wetsuit with green stripes on the sides. "B for Bliss, and C for Clover."

"Um, I think time is important." Tori sat behind a long table stretching down the briefing room of the Sinclair facility.As the water specialist, Tori had her combat suit outfitted with gloves to cover up any could be problems from coral or jagged rocks. Only one other member of the Bliss Force was summoned for the meeting, but a great deal of Sinclair personal made up the rest of the meeting.

"Ashley, stop being a business major and tell them the plan." Sara sat next to Tori, looking over to Winston as she tried to get Ashley back on track. Sara's combat suit bulged at a few places along her arms. Each compartment held an individual rock for Sara to use her manipulation in a more quickened way.

"Exactly. Time is important." Ashley's hands moved enough to power the entire facility for a year if anyone hooked something up to it. "No more time will be wasted. At all."

Tori coughed.

"Exactly." A slide of the Pacific Ocean appeared behind Ashley. "We are tracking a movement along this route." The map expanded to highlight the route Sara had picked up on earlier. "So, we don't much about what is going on, and the ocean is so big that- I mean, even if we could know the ocean it would be-"

"Okay, I'm doing this now." Sara pushed Ashley aside as she pointed to the map. "I noticed some seismic changes lining up with a similar anomaly that couured the same day as the attack on this facility. In less than one day, they have moved almost seven hundred miles underwater. We do have some logistics problems though."

"We need your help with security and crew." Ashley took a breath as she looked at the map. "I know you care a lot for Clover and want to get her back, and I feel the same for Bliss. So, we need a submarine. A big one."

Sara leaned over to look Winston in the eye. "It will need to be able to take a hit, if you know what I mean. And to be honest, I'm not even sure I know just what I mean."

Clover was about to breathe a sigh of relief at the minor success they had, had that day but of course things would have been far too convenient or easy if that were the case. Just when they thought they had seen the last of their fishy attacker, he miraculously sprung to life and whisked Bliss and Clover away. Clover found herself wiggling around as she struggled to free herself from her aquatic bindings, but she had little to no success. To make matters worse the strange seaweed managed to cut her off from using any of her powers. Her charming and happy-go-lucky demeanor changed to one of sass and outright frustration with their captor.

A loud snort escaped Clover when King Karth said he couldn’t let them down. “That’s really funny coming from the scum that tried to poison me!” she spat in anger, but the king would just ignore her words. Clover’s eyes scanned their surroundings looking for anything they could use to escape but alas she found nothing. The lack of a solution to their current problem on fed the inferno that was her growing frustration. This frustration caused Clover to lash out verbally one more time, seeing as it was the only comfort she had in the moment. “You know for someone who was literally fish sticks moments ago you look miraculously well. Must be the seafood diet am I right?” Again her words fell on deaf ears as the Atlantean chose to ignore his hostages.  Karth felt he held all the cards in his hand this time. In the very brief time between his failed assault on the underwater facility and now, he had devised a much cleaner strategy, at least in his mind any way. He bid the girls farewell with the upmost confidence that his plan would succeed.

---Back at the Sinclair Ocean Plant---

Winston found himself at a loss for words as he was faced with the reality that he had lost sight of Clover twice in one day. If her grandfather had caught wind of this the repercussions would be severe. To make things slightly worse he was now in the large conference room of the underwater facility, surrounded by numerous staff and several of Bliss’ associates. As the woman bickered amongst themselves trying to formulate any sort of strategy, all the butler could think about is what he’d do to the monster that kidnapped Clover. His leg bounced up and down feverishly, his arms sat crossed firmly across his chest, and his head hung low. He was definitely in a slump till he was address by one of the woman asking if he had access to a submarine.

He found the question quite silly considering where they were sitting, and who they were addressing, and if this were any other time he might have even let out a chuckle, but now was not the time. Winston quietly stood and gave a nod to Sara’s request. “I believe we have just the thing.” Winston would lead Sara, Tori, Ashley, and a group of the facility’s staff that comprised of security and engineers to the lower levels of the facility. Many of the hallways remained flooded from the attack, but the halls they took were still relatively intact.

The group was led to an underwater hanger of sorts and before them was a massive state of the art submarine. The massive sub rivaled that of the Atlantean king’s ship, spanning a total length of two hundred yards and housing four total decks. The intimidating sub gave off an almost militaristic vibe, somewhat hinting to perhaps a much darker aspect or truer purpose of the facility itself. “Is this what you had in mind miss?” he asked, as he ushered the group onboard the massive structure.

Once everyone had taken their posts, the hanger went into lockdown mode before a large metal shutter positioned in front of the sub opened up and the chamber began to flood with seawater. When conditions were adequate, the sub departed from the facility and began its pursuit of King Karth’s ship. Operation BC was officially underway.

"Yeah, this is not what I was expecting." Sara looked on the massive submarine. "This is far better than anything I was expecting. Good news Tori! You're not swimming all the way there." Tori pushed by with a smile on her face. The grandeur took away some of the severity of the situation, but they could not bog themselves down with these massive goods while terrible things could befall their comrades.

They moved into the submarine as the engines kicked into gear. The roar of the machines gave Ashley hope in their descent into unfamiliar territory. "Winston." Ashley took her spot in the bridge, over watching the endeavor. "I'll level with you. Our plan is only a break in plan. Sara is a geokinetic and Tori is a hydrokinetic. Two good skill sets to go off of, but we're blind once we get in there. We're really hoping on Bliss and Clover being able to come up with a plan to escape wherever they are being held, which means we can't fail them."

A massive trench in the bottom of the ocean housed the great city of the Atlanteans. Massive heat spikes would shoot out of the fissures lining the trench. In ages past, it gave Karth and his people a hiding place from others, but now it would act as their primary beacon. Seeing the location would only help them so much. Navigating the fissures would be deadly if blasts of heat were to make contact with the submarine.

The Witch Galina stood before Bliss and Clover. Each woman found coral bars holding them to the wall of their cell along with the seaweed bindings still in place. The cells were only two feet deep and three feet wide with eight feet of height in the ceiling. A hose dominated the apex of each cell, occasionally shooting out a burst of cold air. "This will be your cell until the machine is ready to imprison you for good. Your wicked tongue drew the ire of our king young human." Jagged edges began to form out of Galina's fingernail as she pointed it to Bliss. "As did yours."  

"Hey! I'm young too!" Bliss long since tried struggling against the coral restraints. No need to bruise herself up in an attempt to not escape.

"We'll see how young the two of you are when you are released from captivity." The witch stepped back. "Do be quiet girl. Your tongue is not guaranteed."

The submarine was still about an hour away from where they believed king Karth’s ship had been headed. Winston continued to grow more and more anxious with each passing second, the constant bantering and interruptions by the Bliss force were the only things that toke his mind off the current situation. To say that their rescue plan was lacking, was a vast understatement. They had no idea if Bliss and Clover had been moved off of Karth’s ship or if they remained there instead. An outright assault on the Atlantean’s could jeopardize the girls’ safety.

“I believe our first priority should be confirming their location.” Winston didn’t want to give the Atlantean king an opportunity to use Bliss of Clover as leverage against them. Winston knew from the moment the two had been taken, that this would be Karth’s master plan. His original objective failed miserably, but now, with his two hostages, he could negotiate for peace or a means of keeping his people from the prying eyes of the surface world. Winston would give him no such satisfaction and as the sub drew closer to its destination preventative measures were taken, and the sub entered into stealth mode. Its engines ran quieter and the entire submarine became almost invisible to the naked eye, as if it had melded with the sea itself.

---The Atlantean Holding Cells---

Clover shot the sea witch a menacing glare as Galina did as most evil witches and villains do, she attempted to illustrate the gravity of their situation, but the young girl was having none of it today. After having the facility’s unveiling interrupted, being poisoned by a fish king, and now being held prisoner, Clover’s anger levels were at an all-time high. As Karth’s court mage made a comment about possibly removing the girls’ tongues, the raven haired girl spat out another witty remark as she struggled against her restraints. “You wouldn’t be talking so high and mighty if I wasn’t tied up like this. You plan on taking our voices like some Ursula wannabe?”

The witch shot a glance over her shoulder, before turning to leave. She nearly bumped into her beloved king as he stepped into the makeshift jail to address his captives. “That is precisely why your tied up. I will not make the same mistakes twice. The both of you will ensure my peoples survival and safety.” Karth crouched down so that he could look into both of the cells, his beady eyes, creepily scanning over his trophies. “You two should get comfortable, you're going to be here for a very long time.”

Karth rose from his position almost expecting a witty response from the two and turned away from them. As Karth left the jail he instructed his men to prepare his ship for departure. He knew someone would come to rescue Bliss and Clover and planned to meet them head on. Once the rescue team was dealt with Karth would go back to executing his grand plan. In the meantime, the two females were under the watchful eye of Galina, till the king returned.

"We have powers Ashley, and we can use them under stress." Sara looked at a read out of the surrounding area generated by sonar. Most of the information was skewed in someway due to the prevalence of heat coming from the fissures, but they only needed to know in what way to point the sub. "You don't do well under stress, so you need to stay here and keep the sub under control."

"Woah! They captured Bliss. I am going on the away team. I will lead the away team until Bliss is put back in her rightful place." Ashley argued with Sara just outside of the primary hangar bay within the submarine. Tori and Sara planned on infiltrating the city while the battle between subs took place, but Ashley believed herself privy to those invasion plans.

"It's not about you. It's about what makes us most successful, and in this spot, only two of us getting on that mini sub and shooting for the city is the best. I can move rock formations. Can you? Tori can control water. Can you? Just let us ride this thing out and get Bliss back." Sara patted Ashley on the shoulder. "That King has a huge ship. You're going to need to be on your A game, because this fight will be tough."

The air remained fresh between the two as Sara walked towards the tiny sub Tori had already climbed into. "We'll see."

The doors to the bridge opened as Ashley entered the room. "Winston. How close are we? We need to get ready now for when Sara and Tori get past the Atlantean navy. They'll need a distraction to get out." Keeping her composure within the strength of her posture, Ashley sat back and relied on the collective will of the crew to hold this mission together. "If he wants to compare ships, then lets give him the biggest upsale we can manage on this massive tub of missiles."

"My king goes to crush your kingdoms now." Galina walked past the prisoners, secure in their prisons. "Your positions in this endeavor will require cooperation."

"You haven't done a great job of soliciting that so far." Bliss spoke out with her voice in spite of her bodies inability. "This is all going to end very badly."

Two scarves made of black, seaweed silk came out of Galina's bag and into her hands. "Like I said. I will gain your cooperation. It won't be hard. I have a feeling in the waters something is out there. I plan on one single transmission to see if anyone is hiding out there." Galina walked forward in preparation to gag the prisoners. "I'm letting you keep your tongue, Ms. Sinclair."

The colossal war-like sub moved into view of the large underwater fissure. King Karth’s flag ship had seemingly disappeared in this region. Even with all the advanced sensors on the submarine they could no longer check for the Atlantean’s mobile fortress. Their lack of radar could be attributed to the intense heat being let out from deep within the fissure. Winston picked up the comm as Ashley stormed back into the bridge. Taking it as a sign that everyone was where they needed to be, Winston chimed into the small away sub. “Ladies. We’ll do out upmost to provide cover for you while you dive into the fissure. Once you break the crest of the fissure you’ll be on your own, so good luck.”

The small away sub was ejected from one of the hangers that lined the larger subs sides. As soon as the mini sub was launched, the main sub went into battle mode as several ports located around the body of the sub slid open to reveal large cannons that were capable of firing underwater.

The Atlantean battleship rose out of the crevasse to engage the enemy. King Karth looked out at the massive metal warship the mainlanders had constructed. They came prepared to take back their precious Bliss and Clover, but Karth would not allow that to happen. His captives were his only ticket to securing a safe future for his people. As the massive ship rose from the underwater fissure, it began to turn and move out to sea. If a battle broke out between the two ships Karth didn’t want it happening above his grand city.

Winston and the staff of the Sinclair sub watched as their enemy moved away from the fissure. The butler could see the nobility in the Atlantean’s actions, and despite his anxiousness to get Clover back, Winston would respect the safety of the Atlantean people and order the sub to pursue the king’s ship. They would hang back as much as possible in case the away sub required cover fire.  

“Oh how sweet of you.” She said when Galina assured that Clover would keep her tongue. Her emerald eye widened as the king’s court mage approached, her with the sick looking seaweed. “You keep that shi-”.  Clover’s words became muffled as she was gagged with the strange seaweed. Today was definitely not her day, from being poisoned and nearly dying, to being held captive by some delusional fish lord, this was definitely a day she’d soon love to forget. Clover tried thrashing her head about in attempt to make Galina’s job much harder. She could see the frustration in the sea witche’s eyes, and as the gag was finally secured, Clover flashed a fake smile to Galina.

Schools of fish departed as the tiny sub shot through the water. Jets of water shook the sub as Sara and Tori tried their hardest to navigate the black depths without any vision before them other than the thermal tracking of their radar. For every blast of heat showing up on their screens, they knew another five lay dormant for the time being, and the analytic system trying to predict eruption did more re calibrating for anyone whose life depended on it to feel safe. "The heat projections are different in that gorge. More controlled. Gotta be the city." Sara loaded a wooden box into her backpack as Tori kept her hands on the controls. "I'm going to open us up a passage, so get ready."

"Just try not to take us too close to a jet. I kinda like the temperature in my body the way it is." For her first time piloting a submarine, Tori could say her job was not too terribly bad. She determined a scalding death would justify 'terribly' and 'bad', so she set the bar low, but she could raise the bar some other time. "Whenever you're ready."

Any lights would give away their position, as would sonar, so the duo kept to their tools. One being Sara's geokinesis. And, it helped greatly with not running into the sea floor. "Get ready." A rumbling began to kick up a cloud of dirt several hundred meters ahead of the sub. "Go slower. I can only move so much." A hole began widening, but Sara could only reach so far. Once they turned the corner to descend, Tori flipped the lights on, exposing the cavity Sara created in the ocean floor. "Slow down or we'll run into-"

They ran out of room. But, they did not collide with a wall. Instead, they burst into a bustling city filled with lights bursting forth from shell like structures. Surely their presence would not go unnoticed, but the duo hoped the fighting forces would be too preoccupied to descend upon them in time. "Where are we heading?" Tori picked up speed with the sub as they whipped through the canals.

"I'm picking up one pocket of air within the city. It's in that spire." Sara tossed a backpack to Tori as the spire grew closer in proximity. "They must be keeping something from the surface in there."

A membrane opening on the bottom level opened for them as they dove their sub right through its frame. Sure enough, the submarine skidded along a coral floor until it rolled through a completely dry room. Sara kicked the door open, hopping down to the ground and placing the wooden box open on the ground. It held a number of runes, crystals, and powders meant to create a geometric figure. "I hope she's home."

"Can we count on her?" Tori sealed the entrance behind them, shutting off any influx of guards who would try to follow them.

"We'll find out." Sara finished the figure and placed some incenses at different areas of the geometric shape. "I guess demons really like incense, but they must love alcohol." A bottle of whiskey garnished the mid point of the figure, hoping to entice the demon.

"I need to tell you something." Galina tied a second knot in Clover's gag before walking towards Bliss. "Your outfit looks ridiculous." An anger grew in the eyes of Bliss as she found her words muffled by her own gag. "Are you a child or do you just wish to be treated like one. You have no armor on your legs, and your arms are exposed." Bliss cut her lower arm pushing against the coral restraints."Those boots could barely manage a small tear, let alone anything of real substance. Overall, you are a mess."

Galina pulled an orb closer to the middle of the duo. "It appears I have found those who wished to come for you. It is time to send the message." The substance keeping the orb together began to cloud grow more cloudy until images began to show in the orb. Control panels and orders emerged from the orb. Men and women running from consoles to maps scattered across the room, and atop the bridge rested Winston and Ashley. "Surface dwellers!." Galina stood in front of the orb. "Do you wish to see the execution of your princesses? They are both shy right now with being in a new place, but they will get the message across." She stepped back to let Clover take a more prominent portion of the view, before moving to Bliss. "You did not need to travel all this way for such a treat. I could have sent it to you miles away. Take their deaths as a warning to the rest of your people. We are not to be trifled with-"

The orb shattered as a piece of rock shot through it. Two more shards of rock flew towards Galina, breaking against a barrier of electric water. "Fool!" A trident flew across the room to Galina's hand. "You know not who you face." With a sudden push forward, Sara flew back into the wall, slowly sliding to the ground. An orb of water rushed into existence around Galina's palm. "Face your end."

The orb of water blew up in Galina's hand, raining tiny shards of sharp edges into her flesh. "We're facing a fish lady. I'm pretty good at dealing with the sea."

"Let's do it how we planned. We can finish her-" While Sara continued to gain earth around her, seaweed wrapped around her upper body, containing her hands and arms in a cross against her chest- as well as Sara's power over earth.

"Is that how you planned it?" Galina wiped a green and blue blood from her brow. "I think not." Water surged from behind Tori, knocking her towards the business end of Galina's trident.

Pulling the small drops of water from Galina's trident and the shards still dripping from her face, Tori covered the edges of the trident, cushioning her impact. The water surging from behind her continued on, throwing Galina back.

"Stay on her Tori. You can do-" Seaweed wrapped around Sara's mouth, keeping her more or less quiet in the debacle. "Mppph!"

"Stay out of our battle." Rows of blades ascended behind Galina. Tori tried usurping them from under the witches control, but the blades slowly pushed forward, ignoring Tori as she struggled for control. "You believe you can best me! Under the water! Your arrogance will be your undoing." The wall of blades continued their slow progression as Galina grimaced under her own duress. But, for as much effort as Galina exerted into this battle, Tori looked to be running on reserves she never knew she had- and still losing.

As the sub continued on its course in pursuit of the king’s ship the HUD’s all over the bridge lit up. Galina had somehow hacked their feeds and was broadcasting directly to them. Winston’s eyes remained glued to the monitors as did the staffs. When claims of Bliss’ and Clover’s execution were made by the sea witch, Winston lost his cool and ordered the submarine to change course and head for the fissure.

Karth took note of the submarine’s course correction, and ordered everyone to their battle stations, with his enemy’s attention now divided, this was the most opportune time to strike.  Several shot rang out from the Atlantean ships cannons, narrowly missing the metal behemoth of a sub. When the course of the land dwellers contraption did not cease its advance right away, Karth ordered his men to pursue their enemy.

A low rumble could be felt within the makeshift jail as the battle between the Bliss Force and Galina came to a head. As the witch imposed her will on Tori, she was completely oblivious to the violent shaking of the room around her. Clover struggled against her bindings and gag as she took the sign of the rumbling as trouble, and she was beyond right in her assumption. A black fire ball rocketed across the room from where Tori and Sara had come from.

The fireball tagged Galina dead in the chest, launching her into the coral bars of the cells that held Bliss and Clover. A black leather boot landed forcefully on the floor next to Sara’s face. Madeline, the demon queen of Arcadia stood before the Bliss Force, bottle of whisky in her hand. The fiery redhead took a swig from the bottle before spitting it out in disgust. “Ugh! You guys got me the cheap stuff?!” She shot a look of disapproval to Tori and Sara before giving them a wink and taking another swig from the bottle.

It was an odd feeling being summoned like this, as it was the first time she had been called upon in eons. The goddess let her golden eyes scan the room, before they fell on the two hostages. She let out a small snort of laughter and approached the cages, tossing Galina to the side like a used chew toy. Madeline crouched down so that she could see both Bliss and Clover. Madeline peered into Bliss’ cage, she knew better than to laugh, but an opportunity like this didn’t roll around that often. “Awe man you should have told me tonight was cosplay night.” she said before erupting into laughter.

The goddesses gaze shifted to Clover whom she flashed a smirk at. “Let me guess. She roped you into this didn’t she?”

Several groans interrupted Madeline’s fun as Galina had managed to rise back up to her feet. “Oh boy! We’re fighting Atlantean’s today?” she said with a small fragment of excitement.

Galina spat some of her odd colored blood out as she piered at the new arrival. “How do you know of our people?” she spat. The sea witch was still reeling from the blast she had taken from Madeline and hoped to use the land dwellers’ fondness of talking to by her time to recover.

Madeline shot the fish lady a confused look, apparently even the inhabitants of the sea had forgotten who the once prayed to. She let out a loud sigh as she placed her fingers to her head, as if massaging a headache. “I’d love to sit here and give you a history lesson but you aren’t the one that called upon me, and I don’t really feel like conversing with someone who’s entire diet probably consists of kelp.” She gave a snap of her fingers and a dark sigil appeared beneath Bliss, Clover, Sara, and Tori. The Sigils lit up and in an instant all seaweed that had bound everyone disappeared.

Sadly, the sigil did nothing to free Clover’s arms from their coral bindings, but the seaweed inhibiting her powers had gone. It didn’t matter however, having her power back was more than enough. She pointed her index finger downward and fired a small beam of energy that shattered the coral restraint. She freed her other arm in a similar fashion then made her way over to Bliss’ cell and freed her from her bindings as well. “So your friends with her to huh?” she said, pointed over her shoulder with her thumb in Madeline’s direction.

Galina had taken in easy on Tori. Instead of slicing the girl into a million pieces, or turning her into a pin cushion, or pinning her to the wall, she decided to take the route of more resistance for the impending attack from the other land dwellers. "You believed you could battle my powers within the confluence of power, merely because you brought a girl with minor water powers. Insulting." Galina tied a second knot in the seaweed gag around Tori's mouth. Seaweed wraps kept Tori's ankles and knees confined as well as her entire upper body plastered to a pillar. "This was some rescue mission." Galina stepped past Sara, wrapped up on the ground with seaweed.

Bliss tugged again at her the wrappings around her arms to try and free a shoulder, but she grew disheartened as Galina dispatched two of her more competent members. She could see Clover still managing to try to get loose, but the continued exertion only let Bliss know of the young girl's failures in the effort. A rumbling shook under her feet. A battle? A showdown between the forces must have erupted by now.

Galina began to spin a new orb into existence from water. If this battle needed some adjustment, Galina knew just what would break the will of the submarine crew. "I'm sure your friends will want a status report on how the mission has gone. You two can be the first for execution. I might need the important ones for later." Her jagged teeth bore themselves into a crooked smile as her own appearance began to form in the orb. She never saw the fireball coming...

Displaced across the room, Galina would need a moment to pick herself up. Bliss grunted in disapproval at the notion of cosplay. She tried mitigating some defense of style, but Galina's seaweed fashion sense trumped all of Bliss'. Madeline continued to merely mock the prisoners in their time of need with no real intention of a rescue- until a common foe appeared. Madeline and all of her age probably ruled down her at some point, but it looked like the locals no longer cared to worship the horned demon queen. What a shame. Madeline was a great god to worship.

Finally Madeline inscribed her workings to burn away the seaweed wrapping the quartet up. The air breathed much more easily without the smell of seaweed forced against Bliss' nose. Bliss worked her telekinesis to shoot the bar across her chest through the coral bars. "This outfit is stylish, lightweight, and allows ultimate maneuverability! I don't need armor everywhere, because one, I have power armor, so somewhere, I think someone might have stolen it, and two, I make force fields!" The bar across her legs broke in half, allowing Bliss to step out of her cell and into the fray of her most recent battle. "Now let's get this- oh shit."

Galina called for reinforcements. Breaking from the center of the ground, a massive plant monster emerged from the coral floor, waving around razor sharp tendrils from its bulb. Now, she needed this noisy demon stopped. She conjured up seaweed to try and wrap up her legs, arms, and to silence her endless talking, her mouth.

Sara immediately took to manipulating the coral floor into firing spears into the plant monster. A savage roar went out, followed by tendrils lashing out towards Sara. She narrowly dodged the blunt of the attack, but felt lacerations along her side begin to swell with blood. "Careful guys. This thing means business." Two more tendrils rose directly above Sara. A wall of coral emerged in front of Sara. The tendrils shredded it within a matter of seconds, sending Sara running from her place of refuge.

"Put coral inside it's bulb!" Bliss kept a force field around Clover, shielding her from any stray tendrils. The plant may pose a threat, but it did not tie Clover up and keep her gagged, so Bliss knew the impulsive genius would want to take up her grievances with the sea witch.

"On it." A ball of coral began forming from the ground, growing in girth as more coral moved to join its cause. Sara threw the ball towards the bulb as three tendrils shot towards her. Her wetsuit already had holes from the last hit, so it's ability to keep her safe would show up somewhere on the number scale between one and zero on a scale to one hundred. Her arms lifted to protect her head and neck from the incoming assault in hopes it would save her.

It would not. However, Sara did not need to protect herself as a wave crashed against the tendrils, slowing their advance down to the point of falling submissively to the ground before Sara. "I gotcha!" Tori tackled Sara, moving her away from the less offensive second effort of the tendrils.

With the coral inside of the plant, Bliss focused her telekinesis on the massive rock structure. With enough pressure, the ball shattered, flaying the plant monster inside of its own bulb. A tendril would fall on top of Madeline. Bliss opened a smile in retribution. "Hey, you look a little tied up at the moment, but we could use some help here."

Galina had tried to use the hostages once again as a means to crush the land dwellers’ hopes and dreams, but it was her sternum that had been nearly crushed as the loudmouthed demon queen launched her across the room. The demon goddess had turned the tides of battle and now the sea witch found her back to the wall. With the group now free from their bindings, they were free to retaliate. Galina reached into her back of tricks and called up a mutated plant monster to deal with her foes.

Madeline let out a small grunt as the Atlantean decided to be difficult. She poked her head around the plant monster so that she could look at Galina. “You seriously summoned a plant monster to battle a goddess?” She returned to her position and folded her arms across her chest, she’d be damned if she was going to battle something as pathetic as a plant monster. As Madeline eased into her position once more, she caught new seaweed bindings creeping up through the floor. A flash of fire engulfed Madeline’s hand revealing an ornate golden dagger. With the blade in hand, Madeline quickly dispatched the creeping seaweed, and proceeded to fold her arms across her chest once more while Bliss, Clover, Sara, and Tori all dealt with the plant creature.

Clover shot a vengeful gaze at the sea witch, completely ignoring the volatile plant that thrashed about in the center of the room. Thanks to Bliss, a force field kept them safe, however, Sara seemed to be on the wrong end of all the creature’s attacks. Galina attempted to use the commotion to escape, but her route was cut off by a bright green flash of light. An explosion erupted before the sea witch, knocking her to the ground. “Oh no you don’t. You are not going anywhere.” Shouted Clover as her blast knocked Galina to the ground.

Clover had ensured that their ungracious host would not get away so easily. With quick thinking and coordination between Bliss and her companions, the creature was flayed to pieces. It was in mid swing when it died, and one of its giant tendrils came crashing down on top of Madeline. Since she hadn’t exactly been on her guard during the fight, the heavy tendril managed to knock her down expectantly. She let out a loud thud as she hit the ground but immediately propped her head up with one of her hands. It was as if Madeline had been waiting for something like this to happen, as if she knew her friend would take this opportunity to get back at her for the cosplay comment earlier.

Without missing a beat, Madeline retorted at Bliss’ comment. “Oh well, you know. You guys seemed to have everything under control so I thought I’d take a nap. These Tendrils don’t make good blankets though.”

A small groan echoed from the other side of the room as Galina staggered to her feet. Madeline shot a glance to Bliss and Clover. “Don’t look now, but I totally think the walking filet ’O fish is about to make a break for it.”

"No. No. No." Bliss could feel the telekinesis flow through her body. "She doesn't just get to run away. After all the crap I've gone through tonight- and Clover of course. Oh, yeah and Sara and Tori. Madeline you were fine." Bliss pumped her hand against her chest and pointed it towards Madeline. She hoped this would catch on.

"You will get nothing from me-other than a watery grave." Her course voice echoed through the room. "I've kept this room oxygenated and pressurized to keep you alive. I no longer need you. I can merely show your bodies to your friends and let their failure sink in."

"We can't all fit on the sub. It won't be able to move through the tunnel." Sara looked over to the new comer and the hostages Sara and Tori needed help saving. "Then we have to get past the jets too."

"We don't have time for this." Tori hopped into action, beginning to think about her own ways of swimming out of this situation. First, the pressure would do some damage to her bearings. She could resist it to an extent, but this might be pushing it. Second, even though she could swim faster than most humans, out swimming Atlanteans would be a milestone she might not even be able to see. "I can try to make my way to the surface alone. And then you, Bliss, and Clover can go in the sub while-"

A loud thud sounded out on the other side of the room. "Done. Just knocked the witch out." Bliss tossed a trident to the ground after bringing it down hard on the witch's head to knock her out. "Madeline, do magic and make a portal. You guys came in a sub right? Like a big one?"

"Uh-" Tori tried to find words, but they were currently in awe of how gangster Bliss just handled this situation. "Yeah. A big one."

"Well alright." Bliss cracked her knuckles. "Madeline. I'm waiting."

Madeline continued to lounge on the floor as the small group bickered about how they were going to escape the underwater prison. Galina had sprung up to her feet and planed on sapping all the air out of the makeshift room in an effort to suffocate them all. To this, the demon goddess let out a yawn of boredom. The sound of metal clanking against the coral floor of the room caught Madeline’s attention. Her gaze looked upward to see Bliss standing nearby. Galina lay unconscious on the floor behind her.

With a reluctant sigh the demon queen pulled herself up off the floor. “One instant escape route coming right up.” she said. With the snap of her fingers, space time bent to her will and with a fiery flourish, a portal tore open in the middle of the room. She turned around to the group, it was a strangely ominous image as the light from the portal made Madeline look like a silhouette of herself, a fine golden outline formed from the light given off by the portal and her amber colored eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.

“Alright everybody, grab ahold of your travel buddies hand make your way through the portal.” Madeline was ready to lead the way when she felt something all out to her, from deep within the confines of the Atlantean tower. The strange sensation was enough to pull Madeline’s attention away from the matter at hand, even so much as to trail away from the Portal a bit before realizing she was being drawn towards something.

“You guys go on ahead. There….There’s something I need to check out.”

After the last of the group had crossed through the portal, it zipped shut behind them. They were transported to the bridge of the massive submarine that had been engaged in battle with king Karth’s ship. The staff shot a look of confusion to the strange rift that appeared before them. Winston and some of the security staff leapt to their feet, thinking it was some ploy by the Atlantean’s but when the four stepped through the fiery fissure, a sigh of relief was let out by everyone. Winston immediately bum rushed Clover and just like before when he thought he has lost her for good, he wrapped his arms around her. “Thank the heavens you’re alright.” He turned to Sara and Tori. “Thank you both so much.”

Clover let out a small grunt as she tried to push away from Winston. “I missed you to big guy. But can you please ease up a bit? I can’t breathe.” She let out a small chuckle as Winston released her from his python-like hug and apologized. She was truly grateful to have people that care for her to such an extent, though Tori, Sara, and Ashely were only there to rescue Bliss, they did risk their lives to save her as well. She turned to the Bliss Force and gave them a polite bow. “I’m very thankful for all your effort and help.”

A familiar fiery light lit up the bridge as Madeline stepped forth from the hellish portal. Winston looked up to see the demon goddess and let out a sigh. “What is she doing here?” he asked with great distain in his voice. He had always disapproved of Clover’s dealings with the demon queen and had always advised against it, but Clover chose to ignore reason.

The redheaded demon shot Winston a sinister glance before flashing a wide grin and shooting him a wink. “Good to see you to Winsty”

The reunion was interrupted when the sub was rocked by a blast from the Atlantean ship. Everyone rushed back to their posts and prepared for a retaliatory strike, but before they could, Clover issued for everyone to stand down. She turned to Madeline “Think you could give me a lift?” she asked pointing in the direction of the Atlantean battle cruiser.

Madeline let out a sinister chuckle at the young girl’s request. “Oh I like your style kid. Anyone else wanna topple an underwater empire?” she asked before preparing to open up another portal.

The rescue mission needed a rescue mission, but it ultimately succeeded where it should by all accounts should have failed. Miserably. A quick excavation of personnel sent four of the quintet into the bridge of the submarine. Bliss put her hands on her hips just long enough for Ashley to hug her so hard she fell back into a chart.

"We're good too Ashley." With the unpleasantness of the fight behind them, Sara could go get some medical treatment from the crew rushing to the injury scene.

Ashley kissed Bliss square on her lips several times before pulling back and tasty the salt on her lips. "Why do you taste like seaweed?"

"They get creative with seaweed down there. I won't be eating sushi for a while." The bustle of the bridge still went on around the couple, diverting Bliss to know she needed to move to a location less obstructive. "Or getting kidnapped by fish people."

"I'm sure someone else will kidnap in the mean time." Tori unzipped her wetsuit to let her cool down from the excitement of battle.

"Hey." Bliss said as she walked towards Winston and Clover. "Fuck you." A smile and two middle fingers waved towards Tori. "I'm not sure what Madeline is doing, but-" Speak of the devil and she will appear. Just, usually not so literally. "Took you long enough. Now, listen-" Bliss put her hand on Madeline's shoulder as she prepared to do something she never planned on. "Thank you so much." Bliss hugged the demon, grabbing her hands as they rounded out behind her back.

The moment was cut short as an impact shot through the ship. A battle continued to rage through the waters. With armor reinforcing ever angle of the sub, it would make them safe, but only for a while. Winston needed to get this battle into action, and Clover had just the idea. "I'm coming too."

"You'll need me in case the rumors of oceans having water are true." Tori's suit took in enough air. She zipped it up, and began to move towards the demon.

A medic finished bandaging Sara's arm and applying alcohol to subdue any infection. "We need a better way to go out than how our rescue mission acted out, so I'm in."

"I'm not staying back this time." Ashley moved towards Madeline and grabbed her hand. "No way am I letting Bliss go do wild things with a demon without adult supervision. Alright demon, do magic." Ashley shook Madeline's hand mimicing an effort to almost shake magic out of her.

"Ashley, I don't think it works like that, but hand holding is required." Bliss took Clover's hand while Tori and Sara joined the circle as well. "Let's go."

Winston shot a look of disapproval to the group as they gathered around Madeline, his glance fell especially hard on Bliss and Clover as they had been put through so much already. He would have been the first to eagerly rise up in protest to Clover’s plan, but he knew there was no changing her mind. Clover was far to head strong and stubborn to change her mind once she had committed to something. Instead of arguing, Winston only muttered a farewell. “Please all of you, stay safe.” Truly the only thing that put an ease to Winston’s troubled mind was the fact that they were with Madeline, despite how concerning that thought might have been.

As the circle formed and everyone made sure they were all linked together, Madeline chimed in before teleporting the bunch onto the enemy ship. In a hushed tone Madeline spoke. “Ladies, I’d kindly like to take this time to remind you to keep all limbs inside the vehicle at all times and to place any loose belongings in the compartment below your seat. Madeline’s wacky and fun adventures is not responsible for any lost or stolen items. Have a nice day and enjoy the ride.”

Clover flashed the demon queen a look of annoyance. “Really?”

Madeline turned to the headstrong girl with a wide smile. “Really!” and with that the group poofed out of the submarine crews sight. The demon goddess used her impressive ability to get the group inside the Atlantean ship. Problem now was trying to figure out where they were in the ship, in relation to the bridge. The interior of the Atlantean ship was dark, damp and reeked of seaweed and fish. The pungent odor prompted Clover to cup her nose with her hand. Madeline on the other hand salivated at the aroma, the thought of all the possible dishes she could prepare with just one fish person was more than enough to make her stomach growl.

Not wanting to jeopardies the assault, Winston ordered the sub to pull back and await further instructions.

Seeing the land dweller’s submarine peel away instilled a false sense of hope and success in king Karth. They must have gotten Galina’s message and chose to heed her warning. Karth was only satisfied so much however, and ordered the ship to pursue the fleeing sub, all the while opening fire on them.

It wouldn’t be long before the group got spotted and they weren’t getting closer to Karth, while they stood around trying to make sense of their surroundings. To this Clover took the initiative and waved the group to follow her.

"Just think happy thoughts and don't throw up." Bliss closed her eyes as the familiar setting of the besieged submarine faded away. "Don't throw up." Nothing shook up her stomach, so plan A could continue. Bliss opened her eyes to the same room she first traveled the ocean floor in. "So, let's just stay on-"

"Oh my god! My arm!" Tori held up a stump of an arm to the rest of the group, gathering wide eyed looks. A giggle cracked from between her cheeks as she lowered the rest of her arm. "Just kidding." Ashley thought long and hard about hurting Tori, but decided against it while Bliss put herself in between the two. "Just a little joke. No reason to get upset."

"Well there kind of is, because you're words were 'my arm fell off'!" Ashley dropped air quotes with her fingers.

"I actually said-"

"The ship is flooded." A firm hand to the floor gave Sara the information she needed about the layout. "I can give us some holes to move around, but we're going to need to shut off the flow of water. Do you know how they drain the areas to keep prisoners?"

"Nope, but it sounds like we need Tori on this one." Bliss looked over to the weird membranes along the sides of the corridors. "Go through those, beat up fish people. We're going to follow the demon through the part of the the ship that is still good for humans and humanlike entities to get through. Sara, stay above Tori and open up a hole if things get bad for her."

"If they get 'fishy'!" Ashley chimed in, knocking Bliss' eyes down to her cheeks.

"If they get fishy." Bliss echoed, hoping to use the movement in her cheeks to raise her tone to simpler world ten seconds ago.

"Gotcha!" Tori did not waste any time getting to the passageway to the lower decks of the submarine, with Sara keeping proximity of the area above her.

Ashley hopped in the air to loosen up her legs while bobbing her head in excitement. "Let's go give our stick it to this fish king. We can-"

"I'm begging you not to make a fish stick joke. Let's just make sure the seventeen year old doesn't die." Bliss grabbed Ashley's wrist and pulled her through the opening, taking up the trek blazed by Clover and Madeline.