Kiss Me, Take My Breath Away (A Superbat AU)

Blood in the water, metal in the mouth

The suit Clark buys is probably the last one he will ever wear. It is expensive and soft, and he only chooses it on the recommendation of the overly perky sales assistant. The girl rings him up, all blonde curls, red lipstick, and skinny jeans with over exaggerated smiles.

He exits the store- almost forgetting the damn suit mind you- and heads to the nearest broker. The man, unfortunately, is a pain in the ass.

"So you want to buy a nautical transport vehicle?" Clark resists the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yes sir, I would."

"Do you have insurance? Licensing? What about priors in sailing? Have you read our guide lines-?"

"I am more than qualified to purchase a ship, sir. I also have all my relevant papers in the folder I just handed you."

The man turns up his nose, straightens his glasses (he probably calls them spectacles for Christ sakes) and thumbs through the file.

"It says here you had an accident. You crashed your last nautical transport vehicle, so you may not be liable to-" Clark pinches the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't crash it. I had to abandon ship because the vessel was sinking. In the middle of a storm, if you would read a little bit further, sir."

"Ah, I see."

It takes another three hours before Clark gets the actual papers for the boat, and of course that's after he gets a lecture about sea insurance, is forced to purchase a policy for the boat, is given a mandatory safety class that he doesn't need, and gets wheedled into donating to their swimmers course for drowning awareness.

Clark is beginning to hate the brokering industry.

-

Bruce turns around to greet his new guest and reigns in his surprise.

Arthur's gotten big.

The so called 'king of the ocean' had been childhood friends with Bruce, but alliances between sirens and merfolk weren't exactly encouraged. Typically sirens outgrew the average merperson, because sirens grew as large as nine feet long, while a merman would grow as large as six and a half to seven feet. Arthur was an exception.

The man was easily nine and a half feet, with an emerald tail, and regal orange armour with ornate detailing. His blonde hair was swept out of his eyes, and the look he was giving Bruce was one of sheer disappointment.

"Oh come on Arthur, don't give me that look."

"You know I don't condone maltreatment of innocent humans." His glare is piercing.

"You know as well as I that your word means naught in these waters." Bruce is unaffected. He is no merman, and the oath of the sea farers does nothing to sway a siren.

Arthur sighs and swims over to Lex. The man doesn't even look at him. His eyes are glazed over, and he is wheezing now. Bruce really needs to hurry up.

"He's too far gone isn't he?"

"He had very little sanity to begin with." Bruce busies himself with preparing a fire. It was beginning to get rather cold and mermen's blood would never run as warm as sirens either ways, all with their protective shield around Atlantis.

"Explain yourself. You must have some reason to torture him so."

"He wanted to capture me."

Arthur's face grows rather grim. The water outside starts to foam and crash violently and Bruce swears he hears thunder.