Attack at the Docks

Less than an hour later, Justin's car pulled up to the harbor, close to where Aqua was murdered. Getting out, he made sure his flashlight and his gun, a silver Desert Eagle, were at the ready. No one else was currently there, all the fisherman had most likely left by now.

"Perfect" he said to himself, "No one here, so no one will suspect a thing."

"Suspect what?" asked a voice behind him. Instinctively, Justin whipped out his gun and turned around to see a young woman, about his age, with deep red hair and sea green eyes. She carried a trident in her hand and wore a jumpsuit of green scales under golden armor.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"You first." Justin replied.

"My name is Aqua."

"Impossible. Aqua's dead; I saw the body myself. Plus, she had blonde hair."

The woman chuckled. "That was my sister; the first Aqua. I'm taking her place. Judging from the badge, I'd say you're a cop."

"Police Detective, actually" Justin said, starting to calm down, "I'm working your sister's case. I'm sorry about her, by the way."

Aqua nodded, "Thank you. Well, if you're here to investigate, I might as well help."

Justin nodded, and the two continued making their way down the docks.

"So, have you learned anything so far?" Aqua asked.

"She was burned in multiple places before something broke her back." Justin replied, "I know this might sound crazy, but I think it was a supervillain."

Aqua pursed her lips. "This might also sound crazy, but I believe you."

Justin raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"We may have powers, but we're still human, which means sooner or later someone's gonna fall to temptation."

"Right." The two continued on in brief silence. As Aqua looked over, she could see the Justin kept his attention on the water and his gun was still raised.

"Still a bit on edge?" she asked.

"Let's just say that one of the blood samples I got wasn't exactly human, and if the killer's still nearby…I'm not taking any chances."

Aqua's face turned grim as she deduced what Justin meant.

A Meta-Beast? She thought, Here?

She decided to keep it to herself for the time being and changed the subject. "So, I never got your name."

"Justin. My name's Justin."

"So, Justin, when you find the killer, what do you plan to do?"

"See to it he sees justice. We're probably looking at life in prison."

"Don't you ever think that some individuals are just too evil for that?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if jail's too good for them? What if they're so far gone that they have to die?"

Justin realized he had never thought of that. "I don't know. I'm not sure how to answer that, actually. I don't disagree that there are people like that out there, but I still have to follow the law."

Aqua was silent; she wasn't quite sure what to make of this guy. Suddenly, she heard a faint splash and turned to see something big skim the top of the water.

"Justin, look" she said, gesturing to the spot with her trident. Justin immediately looked down, shining his flashlight int the same direction.

"I see the ripples. Something was definitely there." He said, "But I don't see much else."

Suddenly, the pair was thrown back as a massive figure broke out from underneath them, creating a massive hole in the wooden deck. Justin tumbled across the ground, while Aqua drove her trident into the ground to catch and steady herself. As both recovered, they could see the hulking form of a humanoid shark.

It was at least eight feet tall, with grey skin and a shark's head filled with teeth. It's arms and legs were incredibly muscular, with webbed and clawed hands and toes.

"Meta-Beast!!" Aqua cried as the beast let out an inhuman roar. Justin scrambled to his feet and immediately began firing at the creature's head. He could see the bullets making holes in the skin, but it only seemed to make the thing angrier as it glared at him with beady, black eyes.

Just then, Aqua leapt up, wrapping her arms around its neck and pressing the handle of her trident into its throat, making it lash around in frustration. Justin help his gun up and aimed at the Meta-Beast, though he was struggling to get a clear shot as it flailed

"Hey, Detective!" she shouted as she clung on, "Are you gonna just stand there like a moron or are you gonna shoot this damn thing!?"

"I don't want to hit you!" Justin shot back.

"JUST SHOOT IT!!"

Seeing as he didn't have very many options left, Justin began firing, making sure he was hitting around where the beast was. Suddenly, in a roar of rage, the beast jumped and landed on its back, stunning Aqua and almost crushing her.

"Aqua!!" Justin shouted, putting his only other clip in his gun and continuing to shoot as the shark creature stood back up, eyeing the detective. Then, it slowly approached, growing angrier and angrier with every bullet that hit it.

"Come on, you bastard!" Justin shouted. Suddenly, the beast lashed out with one hand, backhanding Justin and sending him sprawling toward the edge of the dock. Justin groaned in pain; he was pretty sure the hit had broken a rib. Regardless, he managed to stand back up just as the beast approached, picked him up in one hand, and prepared to take a bite.

Justin struggled, but it only made the shark's grip tighter, and Justin could feel his vision blurring as he began to pass out. Just as the shark was about to finish the job, a second figure erupted from the water, surprising the beast and forcing him to drop Justin. All the detective could hear was a large bellowing as the two creatures began trading blows. Was it just him, or was the newcomer look like a giant crocodile?

No, it was a crocodilian. It was only slightly shorter than the shark beast, with a lashing tail and a snout with a lower jaw made entirely of steel. Justin, slowly regaining his senses, could also make out black, ripped shorts on its legs. As of the moment, the two humanoids were in a tense arm lock.

"Come on" the croc growled, "Is that the best you got?"

The shark lunged its head forward in an attempt to bite, but the croc simply leaned to the side, using the shark's momentum against it as he judo threw it into a light pole. The pole resounded with a large clang as the shark's head collided with it. It then stumbled around, dazed, before falling to the ground, unconscious.

The croc laughed in glee. "That makes twenty-five! Who says I can't keep the record?"

After a few more minutes of revelry, he looked over to Aqua and Justin. "Oh, my bad."

Walking over to Aqua, he picked her up and slung her across his shoulder, the walked over to Justin.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

Justin, still dazed, only managed a small groan before passing out again.

The croc grunted. "I'll take that as a no. Welp, hang on then."

Slinging the detective over his shoulder with Aqua, the croc then touched a button on his earpiece. "Steeljaw here. We got us a Meta-Beast, just like you expected. It's ko'ed, but I'm not sure for how long. I'm bringing the new Aqua and that kid you mentioned back to HQ, but we'll need someone else to take care of the beast."

"Don't worry about the beast" said a woman's voice on the other end. "Just get those two here."

"Got it." Steeljaw said. With that, he jumped off the docks, ducking into an open porthole, which immediately slammed shut after he went through.

…

About an hour later, Justin woke to find himself laying on a steel medical table. As he looked around, he could see the room was rather small, but well-lit, showing the white tile on the walls and the steel baseboards. There were only a few other beds. One of them was occupied; Aqua lay, still unconscious, on the bed next to him. He also noticed he was hooked up to an IV and his shirt and jacket had been removed, replaced with bandages that wrapped around his chest.

"Where am I?" he asked himself. Just then the door on the other side of the room opened as a figure that looked like a sort of ninja entered. He looked like a ninja, dressed in the black outfit. However, Justin also noticed steel, spiked arm guards and shoulder pads. His shin guards were silver and his mask was leather with steel framework, giving it a mysterious yet intense design.

"You're awake, I see." The ninja said, "About time. Our leader was beginning to worry."

"Where am I?" Justin asked.

"You are in the medical room of our secret hero hideout underneath Hero Plaza. Unfortunately, we're still trying to figure out a name for it."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Razor. I'm sure you've heard of me, though I've heard some about you. Justin Woods."

Justin narrowed his eyebrows. "How do you know my name?"

"Because I told him." Said a woman's voice. Razor turned around to reveal none other than Angel herself standing in the doorway.

"Angel?" Justin gasped.

Angel smiled. "Bit off a little more than you could chew I see, detective."

"What is this?"

"Relax, you're safe here."

She nodded to Razor, who walked over and removed the IV from Justin's arm, allowing his to get out of the bed.

"Come" Angel said, waving her arm invitingly, "There's a lot I'll need to explain to you."

Seeing an opportunity for answers, Justin then followed her down the hall.

"Justin Woods" Angel began, "Welcome to the Underground."