The underwater cave is quietly filled with the sounds of salt water droplets from the ceiling, along with the soothing waves of the pool to the entrance of the underwater city, Talokan.

"K'uk'ulkan!"

A shrill cry pierces the peaceful tranquil of the cave, distracting Namor from his focused meditation.

"What is wrong my child?" He turns around to the shout.

"An Octo-Squid is rampaging close to the city!"

---

Namor swims to the outskirts of Talokan in a hurry.

"What happened? How did it get here?" He questions.

The Octo-Squid roars as it continuously raises its tentacles and smashes them down, breaking mounds of stone in the process.

"We don't know. An Octo-Squid never gets this close to the city, unless its been tamed by us." A Talokanil soldier replies.

Namor gives out a heavy sigh. "Namora! Attuma! Surround it!"

Three squads of Talokanil soldiers led by Namor, Attuma, and Namora surrounds the Octo-Squid. It continues its rampage, attacking the Talokanils that went its way. Spears are thrown, trapping some of its tentacles to the bedrock slightly restricting its movement.

Namor swims to its flank to finish it off. The Octo-Squid looks his way then twists back and forth, ripping his trapped tentacles in half to free it from its confines. It raises a tentacle to wrap around Namor but he moves out of the way.

Strangely, there are many other Talokanils that is attacking it but its focus is solely on Namor. The Octo-Squid keeps flailing its limbs preventing him from getting close.

"Attuma! Move forward!" Namor orders.

Attuma and his squad of soldiers moves towards the Octo-Squid while avoiding its flailing limbs. This action attracts the creatures attention and hesitantly moves slightly back to a tall, lone sea stack.

Namor observes. The Octo-Squid is clearly prevailing over their soldiers. There is no need for it to move back, especially in an unfavourable spot where it could potentially be trapped - trapped between the Talokanils and the sea stack.

Namor hurriedly swims towards the stack of rocks. The Octo-Squid quickly switches its attention again, striking its tentacle down onto him.
Readying his spear, Namor uses his speed to swim towards the limb coming down his head, cutting it. Clearly, there is something there by the rock stack. The rest of the Talokanils follows his lead and continuously slice the Octo-Squid's tentacles, to no avail.

"We've spent too much time here. We have to finish this." Namor expresses his displeasure. He sinks to the seabed, crouches down, and aims his spear to the Octo-Squid's head. His entire body is in tension as he readies himself like a snake ready to strike.

"Face it my way!" He shouts.

Attuma throws his spear towards the Octo-Squid, piercing a tentacle. That causes it to glare at him as he swim towards the sea stack. The squid follows his movements with its glare, turning as it did so. Immediately, Namor springs up from his stance impaling its head through to the other side, making a hole. It gives one last roar before it falls, sending dust up into the open water.

When the dust settles, a Talokanil approaches Namor.

"Thank you K'uk'ulkan!" He says. "We'll finish up from here."

Namor raises his hand. "Not yet. There's still something over there." As he gestures towards the sea stack with his chin.

He swims towards it and hears whimpers. It is a child crouching on the seabed with her legs to her chest, making herself small as she tries to hide herself into the stack. Her eyes are wide with fear and she is clutching her mouth with both hands keeping her cries quiet.

"Hello little one. Where did you come from?" Namor speaks softly as he reached out his hand. It's unlikely to be one of his people. Most of the time, citizens with missing children immediately comes to him for help, wailing and begging as they did so. He would immediately send out a search to determine whether the child is dead or alive because even if he has built a sanctuary to keep his people safe, the ocean is still a very dangerous place. Even now, he is not able to manage all parts of the ocean and supervise every Talokanil citizen, so venturing out too far from the city is still life-threatening.

His voice frightens the child, causing her to jump. She gives out a loud shriek and frantically thrusts her hands towards Namor, sending out a strong whirlpool of water right into his chest pushing him far away. Namor gives out a painful grunt as he tries to reorient himself.

The Talokanils are alarmed, readying their spears to attack. "Stop!" Namor shouts with authority. "It's a child!"

He swims back to where the child is hiding and crouches down, making himself look as small as possible – as non threatening as possible.

"Come out little one. We won't hurt you." He says gently. He looks over his shoulder to his soldiers and signals his head to retreat. As they did so, he looks back at the child, opens up his palm and raises his hand but did not approach, instead waiting for her to come to him as he stares at her eyes with sincerity. The child stares back at Namor with eyes still filled with tears, more falling down her cheeks. She shakily stands up and warily wobbles to Namor and places her tiny hand in his. Namor pulls her up and scoops her into a hug as she wails loudly into his chest.

She looked up at Namor, tears falling faster than ever before. "I'm sorry!" she sobs as she touches a bruise on his chest, caused by the whirlpool she sent his way.

"No worries little one. You were scared, I understand." Namor coos and swims back to the city, with the child in his arms bawling and coughing along the way.