It had been a few years since she had been in this area. That was what she was blaming for her swimming a bit too far. The garbage on the bottom of the bay was lower than she remembered. Looked like the humans started to clean up their trash. That was good. There weren't a whole lot of good fishing spots here. That was usually due to human trash.

But that wasn't her problem right now. Instead of taking a quick look to see what the humans had done, the mermaid had ended up too far in for too long a time. It was low surf now. Most of the boats weren't more than a arm-span from the bottom. Not enough room for her to feel safe trying to get back to open water. So she was swimming around the poles holding up a platform. (dock)

She had eaten before adventuring into the bay so she wasn't worried about hunger. It was really just a feeling of being trapped. If she stayed too long someone might spot her. She wouldn't be welcomed. She wasn't human after all. She was a creature of the sea. A mermaid.

Oh she had seen other non-humans in her travels. Some with wings. Some with tails. Some with scales even. But she hadn't seen any without legs. And that's what she was: a legless not-human. Her scales helped her hide in the dark depths but compared to the most often pale color of humans? (skin, her mind pulled from lessons slowly being forgotten, they call it skin)

She had it too.  The skin.  On her arms and head, mostly.  But she had seen humans be cruel to those not-humans often enough to know that little bit wouldn't matter.  She was different.  And humans feared the different.  She was safe in the water where she could live in peace.  And she knew what to avoid so as not to get caught.  She had seen hunters before.  Been enticed by the easy food they leave.  Seen them lift a fellow sea creature from the waters before putting them back.

Humans wouldn't put her back.  She knew without a doubt they wouldn't put her back.  They would keep her.  Put her in a tank and ask her to do tricks just to eat.  She could recall seeing shows like that Before.  Could remember the food the humans gave as treats for doing their tasks.  She hurt for those stuck with that life.  But she wouldn't risk it for herself.

She stopped her circling and slowly swam to the surface. Maybe just a peek? She was under the platform after all. Humans couldn't see her. Poking her head out, the mermaid watched the boats in the bay. Some went to the islands. Some carried big boxes. She stayed there and watched the boats, feeling less trapped now that could see most of them.

The water was dark and filthy. Her senses weren't as good here.  It got harder to tell where the boats were the further they were.  And they moved far faster than she did. Best to stay put and wait for low surf to end.  It would give her more wiggle room.  Even if this dark, filthy water was hard to breathe in.  All she had to do was wait it out.  Then she would be safe in the deep waters of the ocean.

She kept this thought in mind as she watched the boats.  The sun was at its highest now.  The platform above her had a lot more activity.  The shadows let her know there were plenty of humans up there.  Full grown and children.  Listening to the bits of talking she could hear made her think of half forgotten memories.  From Before.  Closing her eyes, she let the memories wash over her.

"No I'm fine. Really. Thank you for your concern, but I really ought to be going." 

the young man said with an obviously fake smile (it couldn't hide his annoyance at her persistence about this whole matter) and he then walked away without another word. He left a rather irate and grumpy lady behind (he could here her calling him an 'ungrateful young brat who didn't know what respect was if it bit him on the a**), but he really didn't want to get into it right now. Sides he had been called worse and been through worse. Okay sure--he had a black eye and a split lip and a couple of ribs that were bruised--but he would be fine. It was nothing some medicine and a stiff drink couldn't dull.

The woman of course wanted to know what had happened, but Levi was in no way going to tell her what had occurred the night before. There was no way he was going to tell her of her adventures at night when he stopped crimes in its tracks. Or that this time his luck almost ran out. That he had gotten over matched and the brute was aiming to try and kill him no doubt. But Levi prevailed thanks to a little something, something (his powers of course) and he had managed to get away--not unscathed but it was the whole 'got away' part that was more important.

He walked down the dock -- taking in as deep a breath he could and smiling a bit at the salty scent that wafted up from the water. He had an affinity for the water. He had grown up near the beaches and loved to surf (he hadn't done so in a while though) and swim and just forget about things for a while.

If only but for a while.

Things had never been easy for him. A lot had happened...most of it not good, but he had managed to make the best of it. He was still alive at least. And his brother was still out there somewhere alive and kicking (this he was sure of despite what anyone else had told him.). And his mother was alive too...which was important to him despite her obviously hatred towards him. She still meant a lot to him and he kept secret tabs on her regardless. He would do whatever it took to keep her, Jared and other mutants safe. That was his purpose in life right now.

The young man took off his tennis shoes and socks and sat at the dock's edge--feet over the edge and under the water. The cool water felt good on his tired feet (feet that had walked a lot of steps here lately one might say). He had no idea that his feet were awful close to someone else's head down there...but sometimes they said ignorance was bliss.

Maybe that was the case here...

Kendra was asleep. For all intents and purposes she was asleep and dead to the world. Only that didn't matter. Kendra was a dream walker. An astral projector.  When Kendra slept, her body made a copy of itself and her conscious thought was transferred over to that copy. She could move about the world as if she was awake and literally be two places at once. It was her gift, her curse; it was the reason S.U.P.E.R. recruited her.

Kendra could spend her time doing whatever she wished. It didn't matter. No matter what she did she would still wake to find herself feeling restless and tired. So when she joined S.U.P.E.R. she put her abilities to good use. They needed agents in the field who could go out and track mutants. Mutants who not only posed a serious threat, but also the less dangerous ones too. Kendra was on assignment. She had gathered that there was in fact mutants in the area.  It wasn't her job to engage them only to study them and observe their behavior.

Kendra's astral projections abided by all the laws of physics. She could be heard, and touched as if she were really there, only she couldn't be seen by any other way than reflections. She had the element of surprise and stealth in her corner.  She wasn't here to get in the way or even let the subjects know that she was present, she was only here to place a tag on them.

It never occurred to her to be wrong to be spying on her own kind.  She wasn't one of the dangerous ones.  She could be dangerous.  She was a skilled hand to hand combatant with her collapsible police baton, but she didn't engage in fights often.  It didn't serve her purposes to disable the subjects she wished to study.  She didn't know if this mutant she was watching was dangerous or not.  She didn't have a sense of what his power might be yet.  All she knew was that she had found her target and she watched him through the lens of her camera.  Invisible to the whole world, except for herself.

Kendra watched Levi sit down and take his shoes off.  What's he doing?  She wondered.  She hadn't yet noticed the girl in the water, She was looking through a magnified lens trying to access his power from a distance before making her approach to tag him.  No use putting myself in the line of fire.  She may be just a dream, but she could still be hurt here.  Her body was miles away sleeping peacefully in a lab, but her projection was still a physical presence.  It could still very much bleed.

Small noises above her had the mermaid looking around. She jerked back as someone let their feet hand over the dock. Startled, she sunk down into the water.

Humans.

If they knew she was here...

She turned away from the submerged feet to think. What to do? Should she try to get to open water? Or wait? While thinking about her options, she never noticed her long, tangled hair floating ever closer to the person's feet.