Daughter of the Deep(85)

Underwater hand-to-hand combat is the worst.

It’s like trying to fight someone to the death while wearing one of those inflatable sumo-wrestler costumes. Your movements are slow, cumbersome and ridiculous. You can’t get any muscle behind your punches and kicks. But, since we can’t zap our enemies point-blank underwater without zapping ourselves, Gem and I don’t have much choice.

The nearest diver jabs me with his knife.

If I were wearing a regular wetsuit, I’d be dead. As it is, my nemonium weave deflects the point, but it doesn’t spare me completely. The razor-sharp edge rips the fabric and grazes my ribs.

Salt water and open wounds are a painful combination. My left side seizes up. White spots swim in my eyes. Nevertheless, I use my boots to wrestle my attacker, pushing him backwards into one of the pier’s pylons. His air tank hits the post with a dull clink. I grab his wrist, stopping his blade an inch from my face.

To my left, the sounds of bubbles and angry grunts tell me Gem is fighting the second diver. I can’t risk a glance to see how he’s doing.

My opponent glares at me through his scuba mask, his eyes full of hate. I imagine he’s heard about the destruction of the Aronnax. He wants revenge.

I’m not going to win a contest of strength against him, especially with my left side in agony. My Leyden gun is useless in close quarters, so, while my enemy is focused on trying to stab me in the face, I grope for my knife instead. Before the diver realizes what’s happening, I unsheathe my blade and stab him in the BC vest.

I don’t have the strength to wound him seriously, but that’s not my goal. With his vest’s air bladder punctured, my opponent is blinded by bubbles. He starts to sink, instinctively releasing my wrist and flailing for balance. On his way down, I kick him in the face for good measure.

I imagine he’ll be back, but in the meantime I turn towards Gem.

Despite all his guns, Mr Twain has got himself into a bit of a jam. The second LI diver apparently landed in the water behind him and has managed to wrap one arm around Gem’s neck. He’s now attempting to pop Gem’s helmet to get at the tasty prizes inside. Gem struggles to free himself, firing one of his SIG Sauers next to his attacker’s ear, but even for Gem it’s not easy to blast someone who’s strangling him from behind.

I squeeze a burst of speed from my boots and zip towards them. Unfortunately, I slam right into the diver’s steel air tank, which hurts me more than it does him.

At least I get his attention. The diver turns to face me.

I have time to register his blue eyes and the dark hair billowing around his face before he disappears as if ripped from the universe. A large silver blur slams into him with such force he seems to teleport sixty feet away in the blink of an eye.

Socrates has entered the chat.

He’s brought friends, too. While he headbutts the blue-eyed diver into submission, three of the local bottlenose dolphins descend on the other guy, who has picked the wrong moment to reappear. It must be terrifying to have three large marine animals jump you all at once. The dolphins welcome him to the neighbourhood with an extreme tail-fin smackdown.

Gem’s voice speaks in my helmet. ‘I really love those dolphins.’

‘Dolphins are the best,’ I agree. ‘Much better than Sharks.’

‘I didn’t say that.’

I laugh, which sends hot needles jabbing into my side.

‘You’re hurt,’ Gem notes.

‘I’m fine.’

‘That cloud of blood pluming from your suit says otherwise.’

‘Don’t worry about it. We need to keep going.’ I give Socrates a quick thank you in sign language. Whether he notices or not, I can’t tell, since he’s still playing with his new diver toy.

Gem and I jet to the back of the dock. We surface cautiously, scanning above us, but as far as we can tell there are no other hostiles waiting. Even the dragonfly drones seem to have abandoned the cavern. I hope they escaped on their own and weren’t captured or destroyed.

Gem draws his Leyden gun. He guards me while I climb the nearest ladder. The effort is excruciating, but I make it to the top without passing out or getting attacked. I gesture for Gem to follow.

Once he’s joined me, we take off our helmets.

‘We really need to bandage that,’ he says, pointing to my ribs.

The bleeding looks a lot worse out of the water. I don’t want to know how bad the wound is. ‘There’s no time –’

‘No time for you to pass out in combat, either.’ Gem peels off the top of his dive suit.

My face starts to burn. ‘Gem, what are you –?’

‘It’ll just take a sec.’ He strips off his T-shirt.

‘But –’

He rips his shirt in half. ‘We can wrap this around –’

‘Gem, not to kill your “gallant knight” vibe or anything, but there’s a first-aid kit in the cabinet right there.’ I point to one of Luca’s many supply lockers.

Gem frowns at his ruined T-shirt. ‘I knew that.’

We take cover as best we can between two of the supply sheds. Gem bandages me up with gauze while I keep watch. I do not at all feel awkward or distracted by the fact that Gem is shirtless while he’s tending my wound. It’s totally fine. Business as usual.