Multiverse: Deathstroke-Chapter 448: Deeper Waters

"Your plan's gonna work? We can't go underwater either," Enchantress was the least patient. The thing inside her kept tormenting her, leaving her a bit mentally frayed.

"With my method, we won't touch that purple water, and we won't turn into fish."

Su Ming said calmly. Why'd he ask Batman for an eight-seater aircraft? Because he'd planned to recruit Shadowpact from the start, and naturally, he had a way to deal with the floods.

"First, Blue Devil's suit is waterproof. He can go underwater and move freely in the trench—no objections there, right?"

Blue Devil thought it over and nodded. It was just like Deathstroke said—underwater or on land, it made no difference to him. This demon skin cursed him, like he was always living in Hell's flames.

"Second, we've got Lori. She can mimic others' abilities. She can copy Blue Devil and Nightshade at the same time, giving her everything she needs to set up a portal in the deep sea. Me and Daniel will go along as escorts."

Nightshade didn't have any issues with that. Her Shadow Dimension was just a barren black void anyway—not even a blade of grass. If it could now serve as a drainpipe to save the world, she was willing to sacrifice her shadow teleportation ability to buy the world more time.

"The plan's doable. Let's settle on it," she said, letting Black Alice look at her to mimic her powers first.

But Black Alice flagged a problem. Sure, she could mimic two people at once, but she'd never used the Shadow Dimension before. That could go wrong.

"Wait, I... I'm not confident. Like, how do I build a portal, and how do I open it in space? This isn't something I can just pick up by watching."

Su Ming rubbed his chin. Fair enough—no big deal. He had a backup plan.

"Take a look at this. Can you mimic it?"

He pulled the girl into a private booth in the bar.

As he spoke, black sludge poured off him, like shadows that wouldn't fade, standing beside him.

It looked like a pitch-black Deathstroke, except with crescent-moon eyes and a wide mouth full of jagged teeth.

It was Venom.

Su Ming had Lori mimic it. She'd naturally gain immunity to turning into a fish, plus self-healing and parasitic abilities.

If she mimicked it successfully and bonded with Nightshade, Nightshade could head to the seafloor to set things up herself—way more reliable.

"What's this monster?" Lori was just a kid. Her first reaction to seeing the symbiote was to step back.

This pure black thing gave her a bad vibe—like a blob of mud with an endless appetite.

"Uh, it's my pet. It forms a protective film over me so I don't turn into a fish. Just tell me if you can mimic it."

"Let it show off its abilities, and I can mimic it," Black Alice said, pushing down her fear and staring hard at Venom.

Su Ming sent it a mental nudge, and Venom demonstrated its bonding and shapeshifting powers.

Right after, Su Ming saw the T-shirt Black Alice was wearing start to flow, like slime coating her whole body. In an instant, she turned into a symbiote lookalike.

That meant the mimic worked.

Her superpower mimicked whoever she targeted, and her appearance shifted to match.

Like, if she mimicked Superman, her black tee would sprout an "S" on the chest. If she mimicked Shazam, it'd get a big yellow lightning bolt. Mimicking Doctor Fate? She'd sport a golden bell-shaped helmet.

And now, turning into a symbiote, her feature was a full coat of black sludge.

"Not bad. Your ability's real useful. Let's head out now—you bond with Nightshade, and we'll get moving."

Su Ming gave a quick nod of approval, letting Venom slink back onto him, signaling the plan could start.

The bonding process wasn't smooth. Alice's mimicry wasn't spot-on, and the attachment got pretty rough.

Nightshade was just an ordinary magic girl—she didn't have Deathstroke's pain tolerance. When Alice turned into a pile of sludge and enveloped her, Nightshade let out a scream.

Every nerve, every muscle, got forcibly linked to the symbiote tissue.

Her screams were gut-wrenching—enough to shatter eardrums.

And that only caused side effects. Lori started hesitating, which dragged out the bonding process big time.

Lori realized she hated noise. Hearing someone scream made her instinctively uncomfortable, like she wanted to kill something.

She figured that might be this creepy thing's weakness.

A few minutes later, the bonding finally wrapped up.

"It feels weird... Lori's inside my body."

The bonding was done. Nightshade stood there panting, her whole body cloaked in ominous black. She clenched her fist, feeling a surge of power coursing through her.

"That's a weird way to put it. What do you mean 'inside my body'?"

On her face's surface, Lori's face popped up. The girl protested with an awkward grimace—she wouldn't have turned into some squishy critter if it weren't for the world.

"Doesn't matter. As long as the plan works," Su Ming said, ever the pragmatist, not caring about their feelings. "Now, everyone onto the ship."

"No problem. Zatanna stays at the bar to wait for calls and keep cleaning," Bobo went with the flow.

"Uh, I can't come along?" The goth girl's eyes turned into dead-fish stares. She didn't want to clean.

"Nope. Don't get mixed up in this. When I get back, I want the bar ready to reopen."

Bobo shot her down cold. Zatanna was just a kid—she wasn't cut out for the battlefield.

Look at who's in Deathstroke's squad—aside from him and Blue Devil, they're all killers. He wasn't letting Zatanna hang around them too much.

Especially Harley Quinn—way too unhinged.

Plus, if Zatanna didn't go with them, even if Circe popped up at the bar, she wouldn't bother her.

A gorilla's word didn't count for much, and Deathstroke never cared about hostages. The less valuable Zatanna seemed, the safer she'd be.

Bobo knew that well—that's why he made her stay. Telling her to clean was just to keep her from wandering off.

Su Ming agreed. He watched everyone file out the door into the town's streets, hanging back last. He pointed at the black humanoid scorch mark on the floor.

"You could try a steel wool pad. Works great for scraping off burnt corpses stuck to the floor."

With that, he slipped out, leaving a lifeless-looking Zatanna alone in the empty bar.

But when she saw Harley had left her a full set of signed photos, she perked up fast, diving into work with gusto.

Eight seats—perfect fit. Bobo was now in the pilot's chair.

The aircraft zipped over the water at high speed, cloaked, leaving just a faint shadow on the surface.

Bobo felt useful again—at least he could fly the ship. Sure, it was way smaller than the Javelin.

Looked like he'd finally shaken off that secretary fate.

Su Ming watched the gorilla eagerly pilot the craft toward the Mariana Trench, guessing what he was thinking.

Let him enjoy it for a bit. He'd soon realize the secretary gig wasn't going anywhere—just tacking on a driver gig now.

"When we go underwater, Ivy, keep up your seawater research. We've got to reverse this fish-turning thing. Enchantress, you're on security—any aircraft gets close, shoot it down."

"What about me? Me?" Harley poked her head up from the back, itching for a job. It sounded fun.

"Uh, you're in charge of entertainment. Don't you love dancing?"

There really wasn't much for Harley to do—cheerleader duty for now.

"Can I throw a tea party?" Harley asked, eyes sparkling.

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"If you can snag some of Batman's tea, go nuts."

Bobo signaled to Su Ming in the co-pilot seat—they'd reached the destination. Earth was practically a water balloon now, so he could only pinpoint a spot by coordinates.

Su Ming picked the deepest spot on the seafloor to make sure the toxic water drained clean. As long as the general area wasn't too off, he could dive in and find it.

Plans are just plans, after all. If the lowest point was a volcanic vent, they'd need to improvise.

"Daniel, Lori, Eve, we're moving. No talking underwater—don't swallow any."

He headed to the rear hatch, yanked it open, and dove into the water. The others followed suit.

As a mage, Eve had never done anything like diving, but with Lori bonded to her, she felt a power boost.

Not just physical strength—her mind felt sharper too, brimming with confidence now.

"Why do I feel like this? Is this love?"

Eve started wondering if she was falling for Lori. But what about both of them being girls?

Tangled up in doubts, she jumped into the icy water too.

The purple seawater messed with visibility. The only light came from Blue Devil's trident.

Its tip could ignite hellfire, burning eerily underwater to light the way.

Following the glow, Eve started descending with Lori's help.

A totally new experience—their minds linked, able to communicate, inseparable, working as one.

Eve had never been this close to anyone before.

She got a little flustered, and naturally, Lori picked up on it. She started getting distracted too.

That girl-on-girl thing—lacy dreams, sweet scents, moral taboos...

While their minds wandered, a massive monster burst out of the pitch-black water—a mutated shark, looking like a giant sea cucumber covered in coral.

Its gaping maw opened, revealing ring after ring of teeth, over a dozen layers. One gulp and suck, and you'd be a deboned chicken in seconds.

Snapping out of it, the two girls flailed, too slow to react, fumbling like they'd cramped up.

In Evangelion or Pacific Rim terms, this was a sync failure.

At the critical moment, Su Ming's Nightfall sword swooped in, slicing the mutant beast in half.

Black-red blood dissolved into the water, and that'd definitely draw more enemies. The ocean's full of hunters tracking prey by water molecules.

Couldn't stick around here.

He tapped Eve's head lightly, signaling her to follow Blue Devil. They were still far from deep enough—the darker, deeper trench lay further below.