Scratching at his hair, Alex shivered, despite the three layers of clothing he was wearing. Rubbing the base of his thumb into one eye socket, letting loose a long sigh, he shook his head. This sucked. They'd been here two days already. Two days of wandering round in the freezing cold, looking for anything out of the ordinary. For once, he was actually jealous of the field officers. True, they just liased with the local authorities, and going from council office to police station must be boring, but at least they might be able to sit down for ten minutes and drink a damn cup of coffee in the warm.

Pulling the hood on his jumper up over his head, he sighed again, turned back around and heading off towards the port. This was entirely wasted energy. If he ever found out who greenlit this, who thought an anonymous tip off and a footslogging search in a city with a population of 80,000 was a good idea, he'd launch them through the nearest window.

Still, at least the city was nice. La Rochelle, a port city on the west coast of France. In the summer, with the sun in the sky and the city alive, it would be stunning, all beautifully maintained medieval architecture. Stepping through several tables outside a cafe, all empty, and fighting down the urge to go inside and order a plate of pastries, he rounded the next corner, barely glancing at the monolithic towers that sat on both sides of the port entrance, lit up against the darkening sky. The first time he'd seen them they'd stopped him dead, but familiarity had already reduced them to just another building.

The phone in his pocket buzzed, and it took Alex a good thirty seconds to react, finally just pulling it from his pocket with fierce petulance, stabbing the buttons and bringing it up to eye level. "Nothing. Yay. What a worthwhile message." he said, voice filled with tired resignation. The same message, every hour, on the hour. That meant it was seven pm, too. The chance of him finding anyone on the street this time of night was minimal, especially on a freezing one like this. Shaking his head again, Alex sped up, resolved to sweep the docks one last time then head back to the hotel.

It had been several long months since they had last been in port and today Jacqueline was ready for a new adventure. Her father, well, one of her many adoptive parents aboard the “Riggin’ it Right”, Alain had forbid her to venture forth from the bellows of the simple trawler for fear someone may catch a glimpse of the young girl and steal her away. Such fears were not totally unwarranted considering the unique heritage of the sleek adolescent. She would fetch quite the sum should someone stumble upon her secret and choose to exploit it.

Like every youthful spirit, believed herself to be oblivious to the consequences ignoring the counsel of her elders. Despite several cautionary tales the diminutive minnow as they referred to her, still lingered topside infatuated by the two monolithic towers that diminished the fishing vessel as it maneuvered its way through the port entrance. The beauty of city that back dropped the scene far exceeded any verbal depictiction that had been provided by her guardians. Jacqueline had been a deck flower long enough. She had her mind set it was time to stretch her legs and experience this other world for herself.

This was it! She had been planning this impromptu adventure for days upon hearing that they were making their way to La Rochelle. Securing the lengthy coil of rope over her shoulder and snatching a belaying pin in her left hand she made a hurried push launching herself over the ships railing as they neared the docks. The nimble youth cleared the 25’ gap between slow moving sea vessel and the thick wooden platform with relative ease landing in a graceful crouch barely making a sound upon contact. “Land ho” she mused barely having time to savor the moment when an excitable voice rose up from behind.

“Vairon!” the agitated sailor responded leaning over the railing to follow the elusive blue object that had swept past him. “What are you thinking? Alain will blow a gasket when he finds out about this.”

“Keep your voice down Pierre and he won’t even know. Besides, there is nobody around at this hour. Just allow me to tie off and I’ll be back before I was even missed.”
The telepathic statement was issued with a tilt of her head followed by a few well practiced blinks of her large fish-like eyes as she batted her long lashes. What man could refuse such charms?

“Alright” he conceded in a forced whisper unable to enforce his desires given the circumstances. “Just make it quick!”

A huge smile beamed from the young girl's face at the announcement and she hurried to form the Monkey’s knot at the end of the throw line. Clamping the belaying pin in her mouth she extended the long thin fingers of the webbed extremity. Jacqueline quickly wrapped three complete turns of the coarse rope around her fingers before passing the end through the middle. Turning the assembly three complete turns were rapidly made around the first coils before passing the end of the rope through the middle once more. Despite the frigid cold, skillfully she completed the ringed assembly making the final three turns locking the previous turns in place before knotting the end, tucking it in, and tightening the rope until all turns were neat. The soft ball sized knot was complete in little time and soon she was ready to cast the weighted line back to Pierre waiting on deck high above.

Jogging through Rue Verdiere, the only person on the street, Alex turned the last corner onto the docks. A single boat had just come in between the towers, and almost on a whim he decided to lurk under the awning of a nearby pub and watch it dock. Laying his head back against the wood of the windowframe, glancing up at the moon disappearing behind the clouds, his misery of a few moments ago all but forgotten.

A dozy minute later, he glanced back down at the boat, reminding himself that he had a job to finish and a warm bed to get back to. Plus, you know, the bonus of room service on company tab. In the meantime, one hand dug in his pants pocket, unwrapping a stick of gum with practiced ease, idly dropping the foil to the floor. As he popped it in his mouth, a figure appeared on deck, moving across it with an easy stride. He almost felt queasy just watching. He'd never been one for the sea, even the largest ships doing nothing to ease his stomach.

He almost swallowed the gum in shock as the slight figure leapt a clear five meters from the boat to the jetty, the landing so silent he heard nothing, turning to speak to another sailor who'd appeared over the railings, then moving to tie the boat down as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Cold fingers fumbled in his pocket, pulling out the phone, quickdialling his team and bringing it to his ear.

The calm, easy voice of his handler, Burns, answered. "Yeah?"

It was more a statement than a question. Seems even he didnt expect to find anything here, and Alex smirked, despite himself. What the hell were the chances of just stumbling across the mark, five minutes before he meant to turn for home. "Burns, it's Alex. I've found 'em."

"Good." The other mans voice didnt change, not even the barest hint of interest in his tone. "Where are you, Alex?"

Alex shook his head. All business, all the time, though to be honest, he wasnt really surprised. "The docks. Civilian boat's just come in. Too far to see the registration." They'd had a working relationship for six months now, and he'd never even seen the man crack a smile. Honestly, if someone asked him the guys first name, he wouldnt be one hundred percent on the answer. "Send backup, yeah. I'm gonna go investigate."

"Will do. Be careful." Before Alex could reply, the line went dead. Shoving the phone back in his pocket, he slid closer, getting as near to the boat as possible before detaching himself from the shadows. Squinting, eyes straining, he tried to work out just what he was dealing with, here. The call that'd brought them in had been infuriatingly loose on the details, and it was too dark to really make out any detail. Was always best to know, after all. Sometimes the guys he hunted got a little vicious, even though it was in their best interests to be registered. After all, he mused, his own life had improved massively since the Centre had taken him in.

The moon emerged from behind the clouds again, bathing the docks in milky light, throwing the figure on the docks into shapr relief. The sight stopped Alex dead, head tilted at the slender, grey skinned girl busy finishing a complicated knot, the tiniest smile starting at the corner of his lips. She looked like a goddamn mermaid! And she was so tiny!

Smile widening into a grin, he strode forwards, calling out as he went.

"Hey! Hey, girl. Name's Alex. I'm from the Government."

After all, what was the worst that could happen?

“Government?”

She was in the middle of her toss when it all registered in her mind. The young girl’s head swiveled abruptly tracking the sudden unanticipated voice that called toward her. That final word erasing the name he had given just syllables before. Her large black eyes blinked rapidly in surprise fixated upon the figure approaching from among the shadows cast by the rough empty crates stacked haphazardly nearby. The hardwood belaying pin fell haplessly to the deck rolling a few feet away as her jaw dropped at the present circumstances.

Jacqueline’s heart raced, self consciously aware that she may have had made a fatal error in judgment embarking on this little field trip as simple as it had been. She had been spotted and by a government official none the less. It would be one thing to discount the ramblings of a drunken sailor but this certainly made things much more complicated. Alain would be furious.

Adrenaline surged through her body in response to the impromptu encounter kicking her autonomic responses kicked into high gear at the sensation of danger. A colorful array of fiery orange membrane erupted from the blue-grey surface of her skin following a series of sharp boney spines that extended outward along her spine, calves, and forearms. The action was but a warning displayed for her visitor much like that represented by the plumage-like fins of a lion fish as she puffed up on display. Her soft textured skin glistened in the moonlight, an oily –like substance dripping from the ends of the long thin quills.

“Vairon. Just get back to the ship! The Englishman has no jurisdiction here.” Pierre bellowed making his presence known to the other man.

“I’m all right Pierre. Don't be such a worry wart. No loose ends, remember?”


With one fluid motion she pushed from her crouch extending both legs propelling the slight 5’3” frame with a mighty leap. The stationary jump effectively launched Jacqueline 10 feet skyward and back towards the fishing vessel she had departed from. Wedging the long sharp nails of her webbed hands and feet into the tiny cracks and applying a vise-like grip she was able to hold her place upon the vertical wooden surface of the hull as it slowly bobbed up and down on the calmer waters of the bay. The sleek rows of gills along each side of her neck flared as she hissed flashing the many rows of tiny sharp-edged teeth towards her assailant.


“Stay back handsome! I might just bite." She mused playfully pushing the thought telepathically into the young man’s mind.
“Just forget you ever saw me and we will do just fine.”

It was reactionary to take half a step back as the girl's body flared into life, spine and fin erupting along her limbs, colour flooding the deathly pallour of her flesh. Alex had to fight to keep his hands by his sides, keep himself calm and stable in the face of this. A voice rang out from the ship, loud and hard, unexpected enough that he didnt make out half of it, only catching the fact that he had no supposed jurisdiction. Funny he should say that.

Alex was just about to call out an answer when the girl sprung upwards, easily clearing the distance between the pier and the ship, clinging to the side like a spider before turning back to shoot him a vicious smile, her teeth thin and pointed.

"Aw, goddamnit."

Arms spreading ever so slightly, displeasure only muttered, he began to take slow steps backwards as a voice rang in his head, one he could only assume was the girls.

“Stay back handsome! I might just bite. Just forget you ever saw me and we will do just fine.”

Despite her little threat display, she seemed almost cheerful. If it were a different day, he might've done just what she asked. She was obviously looked after, and she'd seemed to be working hard before his little intrusion. Just another citizen, at the end of the day. Still, his team were probably already on their way, and that meant he had a job to do. Taking another step back, he raised his voice, shouting out into the near silence of the night.

"I'm afraid I cant do that, darlin'. Come on down here, I just want a little chat." He spread his legs, weight balanced, ready to move, 'cause there was no way she was going to just come silently. That'd be too easy. "And you can tell your friend that I've got permission to bring you in with force if you resist, yeah." He smiled. That last point wasnt strictly true. Whilst his team were working with the local authorities, they'd only managed to convince the gendarmes to let them operate if they worked in a strict advisory role. Realistically, he should have waited for the locals to turn up before he'd moved in, but they'd have arrived in a storm of sirens, and by that time the girl would've been gone.

Flexing his shoulders, his smirk widened into a grin, and he broke forwards in a dead sprint, covering the twenty feet of the pier in a seconds blur. Kicking off from the end of it, he soared into the air, clear over the side rails of the boat and the head of the girl.

He hit the deck hard, skidding a good five feet, diving into a roll to spread the force of impact. Bouncing back on to his feet, Alex shook his head, glancing to both sides, in case the guy on deck took offense at his sudden intrusion, the enormity of what he'd just done, unthinkingly, sinking in. This was bad. Really really bad. First he compromised their cover and approached when he shouldnt have, now he'd trespassed on a private boat and handed out baseless threats for no real reason. Still, deal with problems as they arrive. First he had to try and convince the girl to turn back, or failing that, restrain her. Might at least try and scrape some good out of this situation. The words sprang unbidden in his mind as he took a sliding step closer to the railed edge, wary and alert.

"Another fine mess you've got yourself in, Alex."

The safety hanging perched upon the vertical surface of the trawler’s hull offered Vairon high ground and a great vantage point. She watched the stubborn interloper spread his legs, balancing his weight as if preparing for conflict. The meddling youth’s actions coupled with his words only confirmed what she had anticipated all along. The government lackey had no intentions to just let her walk away. He had a mandate and that seemed to include bringing her in by force should she resist. Unfortunately for him the sleek mermaid wasn’t about to make this easy.

It took a moment for the actions to register. It was the grin erupting from the self confident smirk that had tipped his hand that something was coming. Alas, a moment’s notice was all she had as the long-legged opposition suddenly broke forward after flexing his shoulders. The speedster managed to cover the twenty feet to the edge of the pier where she had been standing within a heartbeat and launched himself forward.

“Damn he was fast and that could be problematic.”

If it wasn’t for the comfortable cushion of space between them she would never have had time to react. Not properly anyways. It was all she could do to track the fast moving projectile and compensate for her original assumption that she was the destination of the kamikaze attack. In actual fact the man’s momentum had been designed to carry him well past her location and unto the deck of the “Riggin’ it Right”. A leap she had doubts she could have made herself. A situation she couldn’t allow to unfold.

The final destination of the man’s intentions made little difference with him moving right into her proposed attack. Abruptly dropped her lower jaw and flicked out the prehensile weapon which manifested in the form of a sticky elongated tongue. The strong rope-like appendage shot out lightning fast and with uncanny accuracy from hours of hunting with the lower torso was the target of the attack. With momentum carrying the target along a predictable trajectory there would be little that could be done to avoid the incoming attack.

The intent was to lash the fleshy whip around the waist and pluck the delectable treat out of the sky. This was new grounds for Vairon never having intercepted a moving object as significant as this. Confident with the success of connecting the attack launched to cut off the boarding she released her grip and dropped like a stone. Her eyes never strayed from the target guiding the prehensile tongue to its mark. The second portion of the one-two punch would serve as an anchor to counter the effects of weight and momentum that would carry on towards the deck her slender 105 pound frame dragging him down towards the icy cold waters below with her.

Airborn, Alex didnt completely wasnt expecting the lash that whipped out, curling around his stomach just before he cleared the side of the boat. The impact knocked the wind out of him, the lash pulling tight, obviously intending to slow him down, maybe drag him into the water.

It didnt. With the built up momentum of his considerable speed behind him, and the fact that he weighed one and a half times what the girl did, instead of being pulled under like she'd assumed he would be, he jerked in the air, slowing but not stopping, just clearing the rail and hammering into the deck, skidding backwards a few inches as something on the other end of what he'd assumed was a rope pulled him down. Looking down, Alex's eyebrows crinkled at the sticky liquid covering his hoody, and the fleshy pink, what, tongue, wrapped around his waist?

She'd tried to snap him out of the air with her tongue? God, the girl was slight enough as it is. He wasnt a big guy, but with all that speed behind him, not to mention the fact that he was already in motion where she'd dropped from stationary, she'd have to be lucky for the sudden force not to tear her tongue clear out of her mouth. Still, if that was the way she wanted to play it, then he was happy to indulge her.

Rolling onto his back, both hands closed over the length of her tongue, sneakers braced against the thin lip at the edge of the ship. A corny line jumped into his mind, and despite the pain in his chest, Alex laughed.

"Hah, think I've caught me a big one."

Legs straight, back arched, he heaved as hard as he could, trying to flip the girl onto the deck with him, where he could deal with her a little easier.

Aware contact had been initiated Vairon quickly threw her up arms grasping the extended rope-like muscle with both webbed hands expecting consequences to ensnaring the large fast moving object. The action was designed to lessen the effects of the massive jolt that would develop when both parties reached the end of the fleshy cord. New ground was an understatement as the weight and momentum of the target yanked her light weight frame upward as he carried forward. Even with the added support of her arms to absorb some of the impact a sharp painful tug initiated at the base of her tongue where it attached to her jaw. If it wasn’t for the fact she had anticipated and prepared the consequences the appendage might have been ripped right off. As it was she could already taste the blood that began filling her mouth from the tearing of some of the supporting membrane.

“Won’t be trying that again anytime soon.”

Dangling midair she witnessed a gradual drop towards the surface of the water as her meager weight finally began to draw the man back toward her. Only a few feet were offered in her advantage before the tide was turned and she began her assent once more. Vairon held on tightly with her established grip bracing both feet against the hull and leaned back. It seemed the two opponents would engage in an old fashioned tug ‘o’ war. Even with her slight frame the feisty minnow had several things going her way.

The muscular line that stretched between them continued to twist and constrict engulfing her victim further in its manipulative coils. Slowly the tip of the tongue extended and burrowed its way through the layers of clothing in an effort to find flesh. With every breath the man took the helix tightened in an effort to crush the very life from him. Entangled in the sticky snake-like appendage he would soon lose consciousness and give up the struggle unable to expand his lungs and draw breath.

“Why fight it?” She asked, her sweet seductive voice pushing back into his mind. “Come on! Just dive in and join me for a refreshing swim.”

With the object’s momentum gone gravity would assist in her struggle and the girl did possess uncanny strength. Despite her diminutive size Vairon was capable of dead lifting a three hundred and twenty pound tuna displaying her talent when the ship’s crew was showing off one day. Her ace in the hole however was the odorless pheromonous venom that was contained in the thick stick liquid covering her tongue. The contact poison would allow her to control the mind of the unsuspecting victim to a limited extent. He would soon give in to her wiles.

“What are you waiting for handsome?”
“You know you want to join me. ”

For a second the two held firm, both man and mermaid absolutely motionless, before her preternatural strength came out on top. Alex's sneakered feet skidded and inch, legs bowing, back arched, every muscle taut as he struggled to fight back. The rope of flesh under his hands slipped slightly, the viscous liquid covering it giving under the sheer friction of trying to hold on. Problem was, he couldnt stay like this much longer. Every second, the coil around his waist was getting tighter, and an uncomfortable shifting feeling near his stomach told him the end of her tongue was trying to burrow into his clothes.

This was bad. really bad. The girl was far stronger than she looked. Far stronger than she had any goddamn right to be. His only choice was something drastic. Tensing every muscle in his chest, Alex took a deep, gasping breath, lunging forward at the waist, both arms raising above his head, gloves coming away covered in slime. Her voice echoed in his head, something about letting go, not fighting her, but his legs were already pistoning against the rails, sending his body backwards.

His hope was a combination of the force of her grip and his backwards kick, coupled with the fact that he wasnt trying to resist anymore, would send her tongue sliding up his body. The fact his loose hoody was free to slide up over his head would help, plus the gunk that covered it would naturally them together.

Either way, this was really his only choice, apart from stay in that futile tug of war. He blinked, head rushing, suddenly dizzy, the girls voice ringing again in his ears, begging, pleading with him to join her in the water. It took a second for Alex to realise he was reflexively pushing himself up, on his knees before he caught himself. So she was a psychic, too? This was getting worse every second. It was probably only the standard operative psychological conditioning, the same anti torture techniques they put spec ops soldiers through, that had stopped him hurling himself headlong into the water.

Gulping back air, he took a deep breath. "You know this is assault on a Government agent, right?" If he couldnt beat her physically, he'd have to try psychological tactics. Not that he was any good at them. "It'll be easier for the both of us if you just come on up here and hand yourself in, girl."

Progress was eventually witnessed with Vairon rearing back using her legs as leverage to draw her opponent towards her. The slight victory was short lived, stalled into a stalemate once again as her opponent fought back. She could see the toes of her rival’s sneakers peeking over the edge of the ship’s railing under the strain of the tussle. Time was on her side for the most part. He would eventually succumb to the psychotropic venom.

The fish-girl suddenly lurched backward at the sudden lack of resistance on the opposite end of the muscular line.

What she experienced was the product of a series of well conceived actions her ingenious opponent had instituted to ensure his survival. Alex had several factors into his favour, surprise being among the many, to bolster his immediate position. Lunging forward at the waist, both arms thrown straight out above his head, the loose fitting hoody did slide up the fighter’s body as expected. The damage sustained to Vairon’s tongue in catching her prey somewhat slowed the reaction to tighten following the deep intake to draw breath.

Her opponent’s own body type and positioning would however work against his efforts. The free movement of the soft thick sweat top sliding up the increasing taper of his torso bunched at the broad shoulders restrained by the smaller constricted coils as they were forced up his ribcage. Escape artists wishing to free themselves from the similar confines of a straight jacket would dislocate their shoulders to accommodate the passage of the narrowed security belt that formed the waistband in regards to a similar obstacle. Such a miscalculation could prove to be his undoing.

Alex would now find himself between a rock and a hard place folded in half losing any leverage he had earlier with his arms so far forward. It would also be increasingly difficult to draw breath from the forced position. The forward lunge also created a secondary effect that worked in Vairon’s her favour creating a new found momentum as she stumbled backward taking up the slack produced in the line. Her opponent’s body now hung in a compromising position leveraged to be dragged over the railing to plummet to the icy waters below.

The muscular line, now coiled primarily around the chest continued to twist and constrict in response to the miscalculated manoeuvre. Readjusting its death grip and stretching to weave itself around Alex’s throat to prevent any future slippage. Where the head goes the body will follow. Even if the fish-girl’s catch did manage to slip away from the contracting grasp she was likely to rip off the man’s head in the process if she managed to get hold around his throat.

"You know this is assault on a Government agent, right?" inquired the beleaguered voice.
"It'll be easier for the both of us if you just come on up here and hand yourself in, girl."

Vairon couldn’t help but smile as she received the news. She had been minding her own business before he showed up.
“Not going to happen, sweetie. I have you right where I want you at the moment. At a distance!”

Alex almost smirked. Whilst the little mermaid on the other end of the line thought she had him, this was by far a stronger position for him than having her tongue slowly crushing his waist. True, he'd been jerked forward, and yeah, his hoody had bunched up under his arms, with her tongue wrapped around the top of his ribcage, but it'd given him a few advantages. One, she'd fallen a couple of feet lower than before, so reasonably she was hanging further from the hull of the ship, which meant she wouldnt be able to leverage anywhere near as much force against him. That also meant he wasnt fighting her strength anymore, just her weight, and the day he couldnt hold up a waif who weighed barely one hundred pounds was the day he gave up street work.

Two, as he'd thrown himself forward, her tongue had gone slack then snapped out to full extension again. Whilst the sudden tightening around his ribcage had hurt, with the girls weight on the end pulling it back it had also reduced the distance her tongue could reach up towards his neck, not to mention the fact that his chest was broader than his waist. He could feel it poking around amongst the bunched coils of his jumper, but it was unlikely it would have enough length to put his throat under significant threat. Not that it mattered anyway. Wasnt like he could breathe properly with her tongue constricting his chest like a goddamn python. Another minute and he'd probably black out anyway.

He'd had to catch the railing with one hand, true, to stop himself being jerked into the water, but that had also played into his hands. The girls tongue was now stretched tight over the rails, and, unless she really was different to him, her tongue would be packed full of nerves. Incredibly sensitive nerves. He'd already decided this had gone far enough; the girl was actively trying to hurt him, and as much as he'd only been trying to restrain her, it was clear now she wasnt going to come in conscious.

His shoulder shook as he fought his body back, putting as much strain on the fleshy line that connected them, raising his right hand high above his head. It held there for maybe a second, then slammed down, forearm first, clear across the stressed organ. The pain had to be excrutiating. Alex wasnt the strongest, but the amount of speed he could put into a strike, the force he could exert when he had to was massive. His arm was a blur in the darkness as it hammered up and down, over and over again, until either he gave out or she let go.

Unbeknownst to the man, whilst this was going on, the girls venom was still working its way into his system, but if she expected it to be enough to end the fight she'd be mistaken. With the amount of layers he was wearing, not to mention the gloves, the skin contact he'd had with her was negligible, so far.

Breath hissing, he redoubled his efforts, back muscles screaming as he heaved, hand still a blur as he fought to finally get out of her grasp.

The combination of her opponent pushing off the rail lurching forward at the waist and the sudden drop of her own body during the sudden slack in the fleshy line had apparently been enough to jerk Alex to his feet pulling him forward. The fall of the hundred pound waif on the other end of the prehensile extension seemed to be dragging her assailant to his doom. If it had not been for the government agent’s superlative reflexes he may not have been able to save himself from toppling over into the icy waters below. The sticky climbing glove at the end of a hastily extended arm the only thing between the feisty mermaid and a midnight dip in the bay with her sparring partner. She could now see the strained expression furled upon the brow of the interloper as he struggled for survival.

Where once she saw the only the toes of her opponent’s sneakers peeking over the railing of the trawler Vairon now saw distinct progress as she hung suspended in air. The tussle however was not without its consequences, blood continue to trickle from the wound she had sustained earlier from entrapping her victim now making its way in a crimson path down her chin. Her arms began to burn displaying the negative effects from the constant exertion during the back and forth struggle. The muscles strained even further as she struggled to support her body as it dangled in midair. She was so close to finishing this.

The blue skinned fish girl’s first order of business was to get her feet back under herself and use her leg strength and leverage to finish the job she had begun. This act was easily accomplished as she pulled and twisted her limber feather-weight body to orientate her feet back upon the wooden hull. Vairon held on tightly with her arms weakening bracing both feet above her waist against the hull. Above, her rival shook straining as he attempted to counter the deadly drag with a one armed push-up. She witnessed his intention noting the close fist of his right hand being drawn back preparing to strike. Wedging the long sharp nails of her webbed feet into the tiny cracks of the wooden surface for traction she gave a final forceful tug arching her body against the unbalance restraint above and pushing back extending her legs snapping Alex forward as his fist struck down towards the taunt tongue.

Raised to his feet had changed the centre of gravity of the government agent making him top heavy and susceptible to the torque applied. No longer did he have the benefit of his long out stretched legs bracing him against the effects of the minute anchor feet above his waist and ass planted firmly on the decking. It was now down to his dwindling core strength. With his arms leveraged above his head held in place by the bunched sweater and the coiled tongue the effects of his blows she sustained would be lessened allowing her the few needed seconds to complete her assault and finish the struggle. Intent on his attack, coupled by using only one fatigued limb to restrain his plummet it was only a matter of time before he would succumb to her persistent efforts given to her new positioning.


He too had to be weakened, experiencing to cumulative effects of their struggle. Her opponent had taken several blows up to this point in the encounter that would affect his stamina. There was the high likelihood of him being winded from the initial jolt as she snatched him out of the air; hitting the deck; constricted lungs from the coils wrapped around him; fighting the positional tug o' war; another jolt jerked at the shoulders launching him forward jerking the air from his lungs. Alex had suffered numerous body blows reducing his stamina it is just a question of how much fight is in him.

The muscular line remained tightly coiled around the chest continuing to twist and constrict the end of the appendage unable lengthen and find its way through the bunched rolls of the stick jumper to the soft tender flesh of the throat. Even if the agent struck the engorged organ repeatedly she imagined the effects would continue to weaken as his body screamed for oxygen to support his rapid assault. The other explanation to their ineffectiveness was that she had become dulled to the pain with the sensory nerves damaged during the initial tearing. Part of the reason it had taken her this long to secure her victim. By now the constricting muscle would have exerted pressures near one hundred and twenty five pounds per square inch, enough pressure to radically deform a two foot diameter oil drum. The ribs would begin to crack and snap piercing a lung under the immense pressure applied to the collapsing chest in short powerful constricting bursts.