5th Column Comics: Dark Water #1

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ImpurestCheese

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#1  Edited By ImpurestCheese

5th Column Comics: Dead Water #1

A big thank you to @knightofthechronicle for his assistance and invite

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Indigo City Recreational Canal

It’s raining as I walk along the dockside past the numerous private yachts and the launches owned by the CBTF and ICPD. Heading towards the Indigo Recreation Chanel, I stop and watch some fisherman in waterproof overalls hauling in a five foot long bull shark, its flank punctured by a massive bite wound.

“I have no idea what could have killed this thing.” One of the fisherman states, as he measures the bite wound.” Shaking my head, I continue past the water-taxi rank and up to the restaurant my contact works at. Fortunately I had enough time to book a table, so I won’t look too odd when I have a long conversation to one of the waiters. Walking along the canal I reach my destination, the Mimpi Lautan, which translates from Malay as Ocean Dreams, a restaurant that specialises in Asian seafood.

“I have a table for one booked under the name Williams.” I announce, shucking my coat to reveal the long blue evening dress I picked to wear for my meeting. Nodding the waiter leads me to my table, past a massive fish-tank in the middle of the restaurant, an obese bamboo shark sitting on the bottom, one that eats all the scraps of food that customers leave behind. Soon I’m walking out onto the main dining area that overlooks the water, the bamboo floor held up by a matrix of steel pipes.

“Miss Williams, can I get a drink for you while you decide what you want to eat.” The waiter asks, handing me a menu as I sit down at the table.

“Bottled Spring Water, unopened with no glass. Also my friend Philippe, works here, is it possible for him to bring my food to me?” I ask in the most innocent tone I can muster. The waiter rolls my eyes, before he walks towards the kitchen muttering under his breath. Smiling I look around at the oceanic themed restaurant, before flicking through the menu, whilst covertly making sure that no one is in close proximity to hear my conversation or recognise my voice. I’ll probably go for the swordfish steak, although I’m not here for the food, but rather some information on recent abductions in the slums by one of the local gangs. And while he works primarily as a waiter, I know that Philippe hands money to the Indonesians, and that he hears plenty of things involving their more illicit activities. After five minutes, Philippe walks over and asks to take my order, not to mention bringing my bottle of water.

“Miss Williams, what would you like to order?” Philippe asked, as I flash him a smile before getting to my feet.

“Can you show me another table, maybe one outside on the observation platform?” I ask, as I place my coat on my shoulders.

“But it’s raining outside.” Philippe stammers, as I walk out onto the observation deck before gesturing for him to follow me outside. Once there I watch as Philippe goes from professional indifference to absolute nervousness, he obviously has an inkling that I am not just another regular customer.

“So I heard that you know something about what’s happening in the slums.” I state, as Philippe goes wide eyed, before trying to push past me, only to find his escape blocked. “I don’t like the rain so tell me what I want to know before I get majorly p****d off.” I state in a voice designed to convey both sternness and innocence, or at least enough to get people to talk.

“You’re that Pacemaker chick.” Philippe hisses, as he looks around for anyone to back himself up. “The Indonesians will kill me if they find out I’ve talked to you.”

“Well what do you think I could do to you, what with all the water around us?” I tell him, before I push him forcefully against the railing. “And what your bosses will say when I tell them about your association with known criminals.” I ask, as I run a hand through his hair and shoot him a smile. “So tell me Philippe, what do you know about abductions in the Slums and Kingville?”

“Only what the Komodos tell me, that if you poke your nose into his business, Krokodil will bite it off.” Phillippe states, my eyes narrowing, before I push him harder against the barrier. “I don’t know anything else, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you or anyone, from what I hear the biting thing, he actually…” his words are cut off as the bamboo flooring shatters and a pair of jaws burst through the deck and slam down on his legs, before it slides back, Phillippe’s limbs torn at the hip.

“Krokodil?” I ask, as I back up from the hole the attacker had burst through, as I peer into the water at a dark shape circling around the end of the dock, before diving. Hesitantly I edge towards Phillippe’s body, my bottle of water raised to act as an ad-hoc bludgeon. Hesitantly I touch Philippe on the shoulder, before the interior of Mimpi Lautan erupts in screams, spinning round I see the doors slam open and numerous patrons come rushing out. There slithering back into the hole it smashed through, a screaming well-dressed patron in its jaws is something that looks like it crawled out of my nightmares. The creature looks like a fish, with thick scales running down his body and arms, a thick set of fins supported between his elbow and his body, his legs fused into a long eel like tail. Yes for all the animal in him there is a humanness to what I saw, the eyes were those of a deranged man, even if the face has elongated to resemble that of a pike,

“Lady run!!” One of the patrons yells, as the attacker bursts out from the floor and slides along, before grabbing him by the arm and rolling its body to snap the limb off.

“Are you Krokodil?” I ask, as the creature tosses the arm away, before slithering towards me.

“Dead….Water.” It hisses, as it lunges towards me, only for another figure to burst from the floor and slam into the creature, the pair of them skidding into the bar, the impact causing bottles and glasses to shatter all over the place.

“Dead Water?” The second figure states as he gets to his feet, his black and blue costume gleaming under the light of the restaurant. “I was hoping for something cooler sounding like the Marine Marauder or Sharkopath, but no you went and chose…hey!!” He yells, as Dead Water slithers away from him, back to one of its breaching holes. “Oh no you don’t, you are not the one that got away!!” He states, as he jumps on the back of Dead Water and slams a fist into his back, the inhuman creature hissing in pain, as electricity arcs up and down its body. “Ma’am I need you to kindly get the hell out of here, this guy is stronger than he…umph.” Before he can finish Dead Water’s tail curls round and slaps him off.

“Maybe you should leave and let me handle it.” I state calmly as Dead Water lunges towards the fish tank, the glass smashing, causing water and marine fish to spill out onto the floor. I now recognise the other carrier in the room as Diver, one of the carriers I had endeavoured to capture when I worked for Xiphos.

“No can do lady, this is hero business, and while I like cape chasers as much as the next person, I have to tell you I’m happily married.” Diver states, as he flicks out a nightstick right into Dead Water’s eye, the feral carrier turning away from the bamboo shark it was slithering towards and rounding on him.

Rolling my eyes, I reach for the half a throwing disc strapped to my leg, before recovering the other half wrapped around my neck, the tips sliding together to form a chakram lined with barbed edges, designed specifically to rip tissue for later analysis, and there will be later analysis, no way can the idiot beat this thing alone. Throwing the disc under-arm, I watch as it rips along Dead Water’s left flank before skittering to a stop in the growing puddle of aquarium water. “Whoa, that was kind of cool!” Diver exclaims, dropping his guard for a few seconds, just long enough for Dead Water to clamp his jaws around the excited Carrier’s arm. “Hey no biting that’s not fair.” Diver wines as he sends an electric pulse up his arm, and into Dead Water’s jaws, the feral carrier releasing him and slithering back towards one of his breaching holes.

“Nope.” I state, as I push a table towards Dead Water’s escape route, the ad-hoc ram knocking my target backwards.

“Hey Catch of the Day!” Diver yells, as Dead Water flips round and begins to scratch at the floor with the vestigial hands on his fins. “End of the line.” He jokes as he throws a length of fishing line at the carrier, the tip jabbing in the third gill on the left hand side. Snarling, Dead Water head-butts the area he was digging in and falls through into the river, the line whizzing out to its full length only to come to a halt. “Hey crazy lady, keep an eye on that end, we don’t want the line breaking.” Diver orders, as he gestures to the fishing rod jammed into the bamboo flooring, before jumping into the water and swimming out to where Dead Water is struggling to free himself. Shaking my head I make a note of his arrogance before recovering my chakram, this carrier is arrogant to say the least, I doubt he even knew who I was.

“Stay here and watch the rod.” I hiss in a mocking tone, before something catches my eye. The restaurants bamboo shark appears to be dead, yet there is no marks on it, and it wasn’t dry enough to have asphyxiated. Bending down I notice that the body is convulsing slightly, and that the eyes are rolling in the sockets, before relaxing only to begin again. “Toxic shock? But there’s no poisonous fish in this tank.” I mutter, before the line relaxes, the fighting on the other end obviously ended. Heading out to the observation deck, I see a dark shadow swim away, a trail of blood streaming behind it, as another body floats to the surface.

“Oh no.” I whisper, as I remove my dress and take the plunge into the water. I may not like Diver or any of these Carrier heroes, but that doesn’t mean I want any of them dead.

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TommytheHitman

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Well Dead Water seems like a badass villain, good intro to Diver although I would have liked to have seen a bit more interaction between him and Peacekeeper (we'll almost definitely get it in the next part). Also nice reference to the Indonesian kidnappings :). Also a very good job at showing Peacekeeper logically realizing Dead Water has toxic abilities.

However I think you used the word 'as' way too much throughout the whole thing and I also noticed a few typos. Just nit picks though.

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#4  Edited By ImpurestCheese

@tommythehitman: Hmm typos, must hunt then down and fix them then. And yes there is interaction coming up in the next piece

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#6  Edited By ImpurestCheese

@tommythehitman: Yeah I wanted to go with that but Knight won the rite to name the villain, while I got to design it. Also hopefully that edit should have got all the typos

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batkevin74

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@impurestcheese: Diver and Peacemaker Vs Mini sharknado! Very enjoyable, looking forward to seeing how it ends

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#9  Edited By ImpurestCheese

@cbishop: Cool thanks for that :-)

@batkevin74:Mini Sharknado LOL. Hopefully it's been quite fun discussing plot with Knight at the moment

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RedHood13

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#10  Edited By RedHood13

Great issue, though I'm guessing I should go read Diver, Gaia, and Peacekeeper shouldn't I.

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#11  Edited By ImpurestCheese

@redhood13: Yep all three are great, also make sure you read Wind and Water (the Diver/Winduster team-up)

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