Our Last Echo

21

The Caribbean, off the coast of Puerto Rico

Wonder Woman was raised on an island. She was a strong swimmer. She could hold her breath for an unnaturally long time and the dark and cold didn't bother her. But she was not a fish and there were limits to her endurance. By the time they reached the coordinates of the Milwaukee Deep, the deepest part of the Puerto Rico trench, she was near her limit.

Kovalan carried the creature through the water, surfacing occasionally to blast it again with his laser fire which seemed to keep it subdued. Sutton flew alongside.

"Here," Wonder Woman said finally, coming to the surface so they could talk.

"You know you'll probably set off an earthquake doing this," Sutton pointed out.

"I can keep it down to a two or three," Kovalan promised. "If this works." He looked at Hanna. "Promise me you won't go too deep. Tap out while you've still got enough to get you to the surface."

"I will."

"Then let's do this." He rose out of the water, lifting the monster with him, flew upward, turned and dived.

Sutton barely had time to get out of the way of the splash. Wonder Woman took a deep breath and dived under the dark water.

Down. Down.

Kovalan struggled with the creature that had suddenly figured out it needed to breathe. Wonder Woman went to his aid. Together, they carried it deeper.

Deeper into the black.

She felt the pressure build in her lungs and released her air in short bursts of bubbles.

They swam deeper.

When she could go no further, she signalled to Kovalan with a touch, and pointed upward. He nodded. Wonder Woman released the creature and turned to swim for the surface.

As she turned, something, some movement, caught her eye. A dark shape. Moving. Closing on their position.

Impossible to cry warning. Impossible to get Kovalan's attention. Already he was far below. She swam upward, abandoning him because there was nothing else she could do, and live.

Hold, intruder!

The words thundered in Kovalan's mind and his body obeyed instinctively before his mind caught up. He had almost stopped his descent, and the creature, sensing weakness, roused again.

Kovalan forced his thoughts back into focus and redoubled his efforts to take the monster down.

Hold!

This time, he didn't slow, but he did turn his head, searching the ocean for something, anything, that might be the source of that strange inner thunder.

The figure that approached appeared human, and yet could not be. Thick dark hair, skin patterned with scales, eyes that seemed to glow in this depth where the sun could not penetrate. The man - if it was a man - held a trident and pointed it at him, matching the speed of his descent into the deep.

Who on Earth...?

I could ask you the same.

You hear my thoughts?

Obviously. By what right do you invade my realm?

Necessity. I need a prison for this...abomination. Kovalan didn't know if this strange man could see his thoughts as well as hear, but what did he have to lose? He focussed on recalling what happened in Metropolis, the creature's unnatural birth, their flight into space, the bomb, Wonder Woman's plan.