Falling 300 ft into the water had not been on Peter’s schedule this morning, and certainly not after having his butt kicked by whatever super-villain he had ended up fighting with that afternoon. Life did not always go the way one wanted, however, and the way the hard surface of the ocean struck the masked hero’s body was a GRIM reminder of just that. The last breath of air in his lungs was knocked out of him as he sank, his aching and bleeding limbs helplessly floating up above him. The pain of the impact had nearly knocked him unconscious, and the slight flailing of his hands and feet were the only indication that he was still alive. SO CLOSE, he was so close to giving up when he felt the water stir around him, forcing his eyes open to see a dark shadow nearing menacingly.
Deciding to embrace his species’ migrational instinct, Bruce had traveled up the eastern coast of the United States, hoping to bump into another great white-mimic Cetus during the process. No luck graced Bruce so far, but he hugged the coast, ever observant for something like him- or even an interesting oddity- to pop up out of the blue.
Of course, Bruce had expected said oddity to appear out of the ocean around him. And not plummeting several hundred feet downwards and smacking the water suddenly beside him.
Save for birds, few things dove into the ocean waters from such a great height to have caused a massive vibration to ripple through the water, picked up by the Cetus’ lateral line. For a brief moment, half of Bruce’s instincts urged him to flee, to retreat from whatever scarlet-and-blue threat had plunged into the water only a few feet from him. And Bruce was almost about to flee before it registered in his mind- and electroreceptors- about the creature’s shape... and lack of movement.
Granted the only movement proved weak, and Bruce could even feel the exhaustion of the creature’s muscles as they struggled futilely. Thin streams of crimson left a trail as the creature sunk, billowing in veiled clouds before dispersing through the water. One good sniff of the blood, and Bruce immediately recognized the scent.
Humans can’t breathe underwater. At least, not without those bulky cylinders they called ‘scuba tanks.’ And this particular individual all but lacked such equipment.
Seeing that the human was only sinking ever quickly by the moment, Bruce launched himself forward. As he entered into the blood’s close proximity, he gave a good three blessings that human blood did not cause his relapse. Seal blood, yes. Fish blood, definitely. But humans were not typical prey of great whites, much less their lesser-known relatives, Cetea.
Taking immense care, Bruce gently prodded the human’s back with his snout before he opened up his enormous jaws-... and snagged the fabric of the stranger’s ‘suit’ on his lower serrated teeth. He took great caution not to lacerate the poor soul’s back with his pearly whites, before Bruce flicked his caudal fin and ascended back up to the surface through which he burst in a flurry of white sea foam.