The wind hit the Neptune suddenly and viciously, and the vessel bucked uncharacteristically in the water.
Hammer sent his second, Jennings, to the wheel to try and steer. Drake had neared the surface but had not emerged. The giant waterspout beneath the clouds approached the ship. The eyes of each crew member bulged as two glaring yellow eyes lit within the spout near the top.
“Mine,” the whirlwind shouted, “MINE!”
“Dear God,” Martin Stein muttered from the doorway to the control room.
“Whatever it is, it ain’t from God,” Hammer replied, “Bernard, get the rifles.”
Stepping back into the room, Stein quickly sent a message to Ron. His mobile phone wouldn’t work out here, but he knew his emotional state sometimes registered in Ronnie’s mind. Stein started the transformation then backed off, hoping Ron would get the signal.
A crewman handed out several rifles, one of them to Hammer. The men began to fire, and the whirlwind suddenly grew two smaller twisters where arms would be. One ‘arm’ pointed at the deck of the Explorer and blew two crewmen off the boat. Stein surged forward and started the transformation, but stopped it again as a flying, costumed individual shot by. Moments later, the newcomer placed the two men back on the deck.
He was fit and well-muscled, wearing a body-suit of two-toned light and dark grey with black highlights. Strangely, part of the costume looked like a boxing or wrestling championship belt, and a whirlwind emblem rose from the man’s chest. A full grey face-masked hid his features, and he flew by a localized whirlwind from his legs.
“Superman,” a crewman said in awe.
“I’m afraid not,” the hero replied, “Call me The Tornado Champion.”
“And what about that monster,” Captain Hammer asked.
“It calls itself Tornado Tyrant. It's not from Earth, but it is here now and very territorial about its perceived domain.”
“Perceived,” the Tyrant bellowed, “This sea is mine by right of power, Champion. These humans will leave or perish.”
“You chased them down,” Champion remanded, “You give them no options!”
The Tyrant seemed to roar with thunder and aimed another whirlwind attack at the deck, but Tornado Champion created a counter cyclone from his arms and softened the assault.
“We’re nearly equals,” Champion explained, “I just don’t have the power to defeat it completely. I have stopped its attack on several targets, though.”
From behind him in Control, Stein heard a crackle of white noise.
Drake, he thought, running back to the radio and cursing himself silently.
“David, are you there,” he called.
“Martin, what in bloody blue blazes is going on up there? I’m near the surface, but the sea is rolling. I can hardly control The Manta,” Drake yelled through the fuzz.
“We’re under attack by some giant creature,” Stein said, not realizing he was yelling, too. He wondered if ‘creature’ was a fitting description.
“I’ve sprung a leak. Tell Hammer to get ready and pull me aboard,” Drake finished.
Stein ran back out into the now driving rain. The Tyrant loomed over the ship, but Tornado Champion seemed to be driving it back.
“Hammer,” Stein shouted into the wind, “We have to bring The Manta aboard.”
“The Manta,” Hammer bellowed, “That’s the least of my concerns. My ship is in danger!”
Stein stumbled over to the rail opposite from where Tornado Champion pushed Tornado Tyrant backward and looked toward the spot where Drake’s umbilical disappeared into the water. The submarine bobbed to the surface, and Martin started the winch that would lift The Manta out of the water.
“Why do you always impede me, brother,” The Tyrant boomed, “Why do you protect the like of these?”
“I care about life and the living,” The Champion responded from the deck of the Explorer, “We have no right to take away their lives.”
“If they cannot defend their own lives then I reserve the right to extinguish them!”
Tornado Tyrant increased the wind, slamming the gale against the side of the ship. On the opposite side of the vessel, the now airborne Manta swung like a pendulum on its cables as the crane lifted it. A little farther, and they could move the sub toward the deck. With the extra weight of the crane and Manta on one side and the winds blowing against the other side, the ship began to tip.
“Stein, what are you doing,” Hammer yelled into the Professor’s ear, having strode to him unnoticed.
“I’m trying to bring the Manta in,” Stein shouted equally into Hammer’s face.
“Stupid fool,” Hammer bellowed down at the smaller man, “The weight of the rig unbalances us. We might capsize!”
With a kick to the winch release, the cables gave way, and The Manta and David Drake plummeted 30 ft back into the ocean.
“Hammer, no,” Stein shrieked, his stomach seeming to plummet with the submersible, “Drake told me The Manta is leaking. After a drop like that...”
“Drake is one man who knew the risk,” Hammer replied coldly, “If this ship capsizes, there will be a lot more dead men. If we lose Drake but save everyone else, it will be less of a tragedy.”
Tornado Champion flew near the two men and watched as the submersible sank.
“You have to save him,” Stein shouted.
The anguished expression that broke out on the hero’s face told the entire story.
“I’m not that strong, and my whirlwinds won’t work under water.”
Hammer had moved away to watch the Tyrant, and Stein shot Tornado Champion a stern look.
“Can you keep a secret,” Martin asked as he stepped behind the corner of the control room, out of sight of the others. Stein transformed.
The merging actually took almost 30 seconds and hurt as it occurred. Tornado Champion flew to him.
“Are you unwell,” he asked.
“I’m fine,” Firestorm answered.
<<No time>>, Stein barked silently to his partner,
<<A colleague of mine is trapped in a leaking submersible. The man in grey seems to be a hero named Tornado Champion, but he can’t use his powers under water>>“Hi,” Firestorm said to Champion with an amiable grin before propelling himself over the rail and into the Atlantic.
“That was truly unique,” Tornado Champion said to himself before shooting himself into the air toward The Tyrant.
Below the surface, Firestorm quickly located The Manta. The sub had not lost much buoyancy yet and sank very slowly. Firestorm transformed the requisite amount of water into plastic air-filled floats. The Mantis rose again to the surface again as Professor Stein explained the situation to Ron.
“Professor, would you please let me call on you next time,” Firestorm said as he burst from the sea into the air.
<<
Ronald, look out,>> Stein shouted. Firestorm turned to look only to be hit with localized, gale-force winds from Tornado Tyrant, who had circled the ship to see what his nemesis had been so interested in. The wind blew so hard that the droplets of water felt like bees stinging Firestorm’s face. He phased himself and rocketed through the bulkhead of the Neptune Explorer as opposed to a more severe, messier kind of contact with the ship.
“Ok, Professor, how do we fight a sixty-foot funnel cloud?”
<<I don’t know, Ronald.>>“You called me, remember,” Firestorm griped, “Least you could do is have an idea or two when I get here!”
He flew upward and out of the ship. Once back in the air, Firestorm’s mouth popped open at what he saw. David Drake had opened the hatch of The Manta to escape, but The Tornado Tyrant loomed over the sub.
“What kind of toy is this,” The Tyrant said as it engulfed the sub.
“No,” Firestorm shouted, zooming forward.
<<The Manta is not made to take this kind of punishment>>, Stein explained.
“I don’t know how to fight this thing, but I’ll try to save your friend,” Firestorm responded, flying directly into The Tornado Tyrant.
“What are you doing,” Tyrant roared, “You cannot survived inside my vortex.”
Tornado Champion flew down to just above the water and turned his whirlwind upward and in the opposite direction, hoping to reduce the force of the Tyrant’s cyclone.
Inside the funnel, even at low density, Firestorm moved slowly to control his direction and fought for every inch he traveled. The water within obstructed his vision, but within a minute, he found the craft. It spun, hatch still open, salt water from the funnel falling into the opening.
“I see a lot of radiation coming from that,” Firestorm noticed.
<<The reactor must be compromised>>, Stein surmised.
And just then, the craft exploded. The funnel weakened suddenly, and the sky resonated with the sound of Tornado Tyrant’s pain. With less force against him, Firestorm absorbed all of the ambient radiation he could feel. Unable to see David Drake at all, he exited the Tyrant.
“What have you done, man-ling,” Tyrant said, his voice weakened and less confident.
“I didn’t,” Firestorm answered, “You did.”
“What happened,” Tornado Champion asked, approaching Firestorm.
He told Champion about the submarine.
“I’m sorry about your friend. I think the blast really hurt the Tyrant.”
“Did I hear that monster call you ‘Brother’ earlier,” Firestorm asked at Stein’s suggestion.
“You did,” Champion answered, “We are not brothers as born from the same parent, but we are similar in being.”
“You’ll have to explain it to me later. I’m Firestorm. Do you know what’s going on?”
“No. I feel that Tornado Tyrant has lost power, yet the storm increases.”
“What is this,” The Tyrant bellowed, the heroes turning toward it, “Who challenges my power?”
Slowly, a man rose from the waves. His clothes were gone, his skinned had turned a sapphire blue, his brown, now shoulder-length hair blew in the wind, and his lower half was concealed in a funnel of his own making.
<<Drake>>, Martin thought.
“You’ve stolen my power,” Tyrant raged, “I’ll kill you!”
David Drake wordlessly stretched out his hands and looked to the sky. The clouds darkened even further, and eardrum shattering thunder rumbled across the ocean.
“How do we stop them,” Tornado Champion asked.
“I don’t think we need to,” Firestorm replied, “The ship is moving out of danger. If they want to fight, let them. I can come out and look for the sub-pilot later.”
****
