Prompt: Never let a mermaid out of the sea. The water weakens them.”
Crombel grinned as Mark hoisted the net, using the ship’s pulley system.
He’d done it. He’d finally done it, after years of searching. He’d caught it. He’d caught the master of the seas, the mer whose tail was made of the night sky, with hair as bright as the sun and eyes as blue as the ocean itself. The mer that had been taking the Union’s rejects under its wing, causing the former First Elder grief.
He’d caught the Dark Spear of the Seas.
Tossing his head back, Crombel laughed. His laughter caught the attention of the mer, who, up until then, had only been concerned with stretching its neck as far as it could, so that it could see into the water. It was attempting to soothe its ‘children’ perhaps? Hilarious.
The beast whirled around and curled its claw-tipped fingers into the spaces of the net as it examined them. Then it flared the poisonous barbs along the underside of its arms, growling and hissing at him. The fins on either side of its head opened, fanning out to reveal even more black scales. Its lower jaw unhinged, revealing sharp teeth.
Its show just made Crombel laugh even harder. He turned his back of the beast as he walked away. Yuri fell in line with him, humming as he consulted his notes.
“Sir,” he called, proud smirk present in his voice, “this mer was taken from amongst others. What shall we do with them?”
Crombel grinned. “Is M-21 among the ‘others’?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then bring them aboard as well,” Crombel ordered, climbing up to the helm. “I want to see the looks on their faces when I dissect their precious sire.” Taking hold of the wheel, he examined the rigging before him. Unable to find what he was looking for, he growled. “Aris!”
The red-headed woman came scuttling from somewhere amongst the base of the shrouds, smiling unabashedly. She tucked a lock of her hair under her bandanna and looked up at him. “You called, sir?”
“Where is Calvin?”
Aris pouted. “That rigging rat?” she grumbled, biting on of her manicured nails. “Probably up in the crow’s nest, playing with his poisons again. Why?”
Smiling, Crombel released the wheel and headed back down. He passed Aris, saying, “Tell him that I want one of his finest neurotoxins to be delivered to our guest. Intravenously, of course.”
The girl said something as she dashed off, but he couldn’t be bothered to listen to her. His eyes were focused on the mer in his nets. Since it noticed him, it had been following him with angry eyes. His bones were prickling as a result, and he relished the feel.
It almost tempting enough to make him take another pointless trip, just to savour the feel of that hateful glare following him.
Although, he supposed, he would relish the feel of seeing such a powerful creature cowering before him even more. The thought of it alone made his mouth water.
Unable to wait for Aris to return with Calvin, Crombel strode over to where Mark was still struggling with the ropes. “Drop him.”
Mark complied, and the mer fell to the deck with a wet thud.
Crombel watched with glee as the snarling beast began freeing itself from the tangle of ropes that it had suddenly found itself trapped in. Not once did it cease its posturing, providing him with even more entertainment. Stooping, he smirked at the beast, who’d almost finished untangling itself by then.
“I am going to enjoy taking you apart,” he chuckled.
The mer glared at him.
Suddenly, its tail lashed out, wrapping around Mark’s neck. Then, with surprising speed and strength, it pitched Mark into the main mast. The wood crunched upon impact, and splintered into thousands of pieces as the large man went through it.
Crombel scrambled out of the way of the falling pole, gaping at the mer. Then, his eyes turned to stump of his mast, and to where Aris and Calvin were examining his fallen subordinate. That...that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Merfolk were weak.The height of their strength was luring sailors into the sea, and imitating the attributes of various sea creatures. Nothing more, nothing less. It was why the Union had chosen to turn their backs on the idea of fully imitating mer biology.
So why was-
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
Crombel turned slowly, his bones prickling once more. The mer was sitting up, its black tail curled up around it. The tip of it thumped against the deck agitatedly, flicking back and forth impatiently. Or, he realized with a sinking feeling in his chest, it was flicking back and forth like a lion’s tail.
And if this mer was a lion, then he was its prey.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” the mer said again, dragging itself forward with its hands.
Frankenstein tossed the disgusting hand away from himself as he dove into the water. Blood trailed from his fingertips and barbs as the ocean washed it away, along with the strength that had been unsealed when his scales had dried.
He trilled as he propelled himself downwards, drawing the attention of his children and prompting them from their hiding places. He watched as M-21 unfurled his long, green tail, revealing he and Takeo. They swam towards him, leaving Frankenstein frowning.
“Where is your brother?” he asked, voice distorted by the water. He circled his boys affectionately, wrapping his tail loosely around them both.
M-21 shrugged, his tail hesitantly returning the gesture. Takeo, unable to do the same with his legs, chose to gently run a hand down his scales.
“I think he went over by the ship,” the older boy replied, his blue eyes wandering in said direction. “I tried to stop him, but he got all...”
“Zappy,” M-21 finished, already unwrapping his tail. He transferred the grip to Takeo, wrapping his tail more tightly around his brother’s body.
Frankenstein sighed. “Come on boys,” he said, already herding them with his tail. “Let’s go get your brother, before that ship sinks and crushes him.”
Frankenstein: Tao, we lack ramens. Go get some at the supermarket, please.
Tao: I can not, boss. Kim Jong-Un has decreed that we are not allowed to eat this on Sundays, in honor of his father. He drowned, his head in his bowl of ramen, after having a heart attack. Apparently, it was because he saw a parody on YouTube of a blond man wearing the uniform of his army and dancing the Gagnam Style on a tank shouting: ''I will destroy humanity with my friend Crombel!''
Frankenstein: *Sigh* Ah, I knew that this parody was going to cause me problems someday...
It's been years since I got into noblesse and tbh I'm never gonna be over the fact that nobody in the Union gave a fuck about Crombel having a group of secret assassins. Like they knew he had the Assassination Squad but did not care and just let him put spies everywhere like...
Yeah pretty much all the bigwigs likely had secret assassins but you'd think they'd at least pay attention to each other's assassins and try to prevent them from spying on them or maybe feed false information but nah.
