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Kamala turned to me, her hair dripping with seawater, her costume clinging tightly to her skin, and her eyes fierce despite the exhaustion. "What now?"
I rolled my shoulders, the tension crackling in the air around us like static before a storm. "Now," I said with a faint smile tugging at my lips, "you guys run and get into the life pod with Zemo… while I fight him off."
Immediately, Kate stepped forward. "Hold on—no way we're leaving you alone with that fish-zombie freak." Yelena crossed her arms beside her, glaring at me as if daring me to insist. "You're not exactly expendable, you know. You could die doing that."
I chuckled softly, brushing off some bits of seawater and debris from my shoulder. "I'm not planning on sacrificing myself," I said calmly. "I just want to see what Namor's capable of. It's been a while since I had a good fight."
Kate frowned. "That's literally the definition of reckless!"
Before I could answer, Shalltear stepped forward, her crimson eyes narrowing in disgust toward Namor's grotesque, zombie-like form thrashing in the flooded corridor. "As if something as filthy and rotten as that could ever harm my Lord," she said, voice dripping with arrogance. "He is beneath you, my Lord. Let me deal with this trash."
I looked at her, amused. "By the way, Shalltear," I said casually, "you're going with them."
Her response was instant—sharp and filled with refusal. "No. Absolutely not. I will not leave your side when there is danger!"
I sighed, a small, knowing smile spreading across my face. "Since I'll be fighting Namor, I need someone powerful to protect them if something unfortunate happens. That's you, Shalltear."
She looked stunned for a moment, caught between obedience and pride. "My Lord…" she whispered, but my tone left no room for argument.
Blade Knight placed a heavy hand on her shoulder, nodding respectfully to me. "We'll keep them safe," he said, his deep voice echoing over the alarms blaring across the Raft.
Kamala hesitated, looking between me and the rapidly flooding hallway. "You're seriously doing this alone?"
"Alone?" I said, glancing at Namor, who was tearing apart bulkheads with monstrous strength. "Not really. I'll have him for company."
Kate groaned under her breath, muttering something about "idiotic hero types" before Yelena pulled her arm. "Come on," Yelena said. "If he's really that strong, he'll be fine. Let's make sure Zemo doesn't abandon us too."
Shang-Chi, who had just broken through his cell with razor-edged rings swirling around him, gave me a quick nod. "We'll hold the corridors and get everyone to the pods. Try not to die."
I grinned at that. "No promises."
As the team began their retreat—Kamala creating glowing Noor barriers to block off pursuing Talokanil zombies, Yelena tossing grenades into flooded vents, and Kate firing trick arrows to collapse hallways—I felt Shalltear's gaze linger on me one last time before she turned away, following the others.
The Raft's lights flickered as I turned back toward Namor. The zombie king of the deep let out a guttural, bubbling roar, eyes glowing with eerie bioluminescence as water surged around him.
I cracked my knuckles, feeling mana pulse through my veins, the pressure of the ocean trembling against my power.
"Alright," I muttered, stepping forward as the floor quaked beneath his movements. "Let's see what you've got… King of the Dead Seas."
Namor lunged, trident raised, and I met him head-on.
•••
Zemo's hands flew over the control panel, sweat beading on his forehead as sparks rained from the failing systems. "Come on, come on!" he hissed. The life pod's activation sequence flickered on the screen, but every time he tried to initiate it, the system spat out the same message: Manual override required.
He slammed his fist on the console. "Damn it! It won't launch without someone opening the lower hatch manually!"
Before he could curse further, the door burst open—Kamala, Yelena, Kate, Blade Knight, Shang-Chi, and his group rushed in, weapons drawn. Behind them, the guttural moans of approaching zombies echoed through the corridor. The survivors fired desperately, trying to hold the line.
While they were fighting zombies, Yelena got close to the system panel and saw that the system spat out the same message: "Manual override required."
"Zemo!" Yelena shouted, grabbing him by the collar. "Where's the override?"
"The… the captain's log!" he stammered, pointing toward a sealed chamber at the far end of the deck. "It's inside the control vault—you'll need to access it manually!"
Yelena didn't hesitate. She sprinted for the door, dodging stray gunfire and crumbling debris, but a firm grip caught her wrist. Shalltear had intercepted her, her expression unreadable.
"I can't let you just break through," Shalltear said, her voice calm but firm.
Yelena glared at her. "Do you even know how to access the manual override?"
"I could use force to destroy the door."
Yelena's jaw tightened. "And that would destroy the life pod. I can't risk it. Let me go—now. Otherwise we'll all be good as dead."
Shalltear studied her for a long moment. She promised her lord to protect them; if she goes with Yelena and something happens to the other, then she would disappoint her lord. If she stays here and something happens to Yelena, that would also disappoint her lord. She was in between a rock and a hard place.
Finally, she released Yelena's hand.
Yelena didn't waste a second. She sprinted down the corridor toward the captain's log.
As her figure disappeared around the corner, Shalltear lifted her hand gracefully and muttered the incantation. A Message spell.
The words traveled unerringly across space to reach who it was intended for.
~~~
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