The Atlantic was a cold, indifferent mother, but with the Deep's gift still humming in my marrow, it felt like a heated bath.
I floated on my back, arms spread wide, eyes fixed on a sun that finally looked like it belonged to me. The salt water didn't sting my scarred face anymore; it felt like a lubricant for the gears of my new biology.
Every time a wave rolled over me, I didn't fight it. I let the pressure speak to me, telling me about the currents and the schools of fish darting a hundred feet below.
A few yards away, the "God" bobbed up and down with the waves.
He was a hollowed-out thing now. I had been thorough, the carcass of Great Wide Wonder suit filled with a vacuum where the blood should be.
I had taken the blood. I had taken the marrow as well. I had drained until his DNA was nothing but a blueprint stored in my own cells.
He was lighter now. Buoyant. He floated higher in the water a discarded husk of skin and expensive fabric.
The female was further out, surrendered to a current that would carry her into the deep trenches. I had left her intact. She was cold, silent, and heavy with the potential of a thousand smaller lives.
If you don't feed, and there is no one else to feed, you give it back to nature. There is always someone in need down there.
I felt a sudden, violent twitch in my left leg. My muscle fibers tightened and vibrated, a phantom echo of Mach 1.5 trying to express itself in a body currently drifting. It felt like a seizure, then a burn, and finally a dull ache.
The Wonder's blood was toxic riddled with the chemical stimulants the natives used to ignore their own limitations. My system was currently acting as a refinery, burning off the human filth to get to the DNA sequence underneath. It made me feel nauseous. It made me feel like I wanted to sprint across the surface of the water until my heart exploded.
His disappearance will cause some noise. These 'Super heroes' seem to be the load-bearing pillars of this loud, fragile species. But my hunt was clean.
Soon, he will vanish into the deep trenches where he will be striped away of his costume and his ego, and he will finally, at long last, be of use.
A god in life.
A fertilizer and food in death.
I closed my eyes and listened. Through the water, I heard the rhythmic thrum-thrum of distant, magnificent creatures. But mostly, I heard the silence.
Then a wave rolled over my chest, and I felt the familiar, rhythmic sting. I reached down, my fingers brushing against the four slick slits carved into my ribs. The gills.
I curse the name of the man who gave them to me.
The elevator doors at Vought Tower opened, and I stepped out with a stride that said lord. No, Emperor. Emperor of the Seven Seas.
This was it. This was the moment I finally proved I wasn't just the "fish guy". I had discovered a miracle. A protégé. A literal mini-me who was going to make me look like homelander.
I marched past the assistants, ignored the "Deep, you have a 2:00 PM for the deep-fried calamari campaign" shouts, and burst into Ashley's office.
She was clutching a handful of her own hair in one hand and a phone in the other, her eyes darting across three different monitors like she was trying to defuse a bomb with her mind.
"Ashley," I said, my voice booming with heroic resonance. "I need a moment. A big moment. A Seven-level moment."
"Kevin," she rasped, her voice sounding scary. She finally looked at me, and the sheer amount of contempt in her eyes could have dehydrated the ocean. "Unless a kraken is currently eating the Statue of Liberty, I don't give a flying, sliding, slimy fuck about your moments. We are down four points in the Midwest, Homelander is currently 'meditating', which usually means someone is about to get lasered, and I am one migraine away from a stroke. What?"
"I met a kid," I said, leaning over her desk, grinning. "A Supe. But not just any Supe, Ash. A duplicator. I did a selfless act. I gave him some of my blood and right before my eyes, He became...like me. Well, like, 100% me."
Ashley froze. She let go of her hair. For a second, I thought she was actually impressed.
"You... what?"
"I helped him! He was struggling, his powers were dormant or somthing, and he said blood was the key. He's out there now, probably talking to dolphins, living his best life because of me."
Ashley stood up slowly. She didn't look happy.
"Kevin," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Did you, let me get this straight, did you allow a random, unidentified person on a public beach to extract blood from a member of the Seven? Without a Vought medical team? Without a non-disclosure agreement? Without a goddamn background check?"
"It wasn't a random person, it was a kid! He had... it was tragic, Ashley. He had Parking Cancer. His whole family died in a garage"
"PARKING CANCER?" Ashley screamed. The sound was so loud it made the fish in my suit's pockets twitch. She slammed her hands on the desk. "You absolute, weaponized idiot! There is no such thing as Parking Cancer! You got played by a homeless grifter!"
"No, you don't understand, like"
"I don't care if he turned into a fucking mermaid and sang 'Under the Sea'!" Ashley was now pacing, her face a terrifying shade of magenta. "Do you have any idea what the legal department is going to do to you? If that 'kid' sells your DNA to a Russian lab or a rival pharmaceutical company, I won't just kick you out of the Seven, Kevin. I will personally watch Homelander throw you into the sun!"
"But the miracle"
"GET OUT!" she shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at the door. "Go to the medical bay. Get tested for every disease known to man and several that aren't. And if I hear one more word about 'Parking Cancer' or your 'blood-son,' I will have your gills filled with lava! GET! OUT!"
I backed away, my 'Hero Face' crumbling.
"Fine," I snapped, trying to salvage some dignity as the doors began to close. "But when he shows up to join the Seven and everyone loves him more than you, don't expect me to put in a good word. You're losing out on the next big thing, Ash. Big time."
The doors slammed shut, cutting off the sound of her throwing a stapler at the wall.