1) It needs to involve Rising Sun (maybe Red Hawk as well, but mainly RS).

2) It has to involve a sort of oceanic/underwater-faring threat/villain, maybe some of the power armors that exist in Superman Unbound.
Think about an attack with those things on Tokyo how would it fare out? Maybe have some Legion-created supermutant or youma).

3) This challenge is still open if you want to expand on the shortfics already posted or add new shortfics.
Send submissions to supermanunbound^ATyahoo.com with the subject line DARK SEAS.
Marco A. Salazar Matamoros set the challenge, above is a modified and shortened version of his suggestions.

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Admiral Nemo watched two screens, one linked to a head sized multispectral camera floating on the surface 100 meters above. The surface camera was linked to the Nautilus by a single reinforced fiber optic cable and looked like a amorphous collection of floating trash and rotting seaweed.

The other screen showed the dim underwater view of a large amphibious reptile slowly settling to the ocean floor nearly 40 meters below. The creature was wrapped in webbing of organicly grown cables that bore a close resemblance to vines the metallic leaves quickly falling away as the creature settled revealing more of the monsters twenty-five meter frame and armoured skin.

When it hit the bottom all the leaves were lost and the creature gave a convulsive jerk that snapped the vines and destroyed the small package of cystaline circuits that had kept it's muscles rigid and mind frozen. The creature stood it's sonar going active as it's eyes searched and it's jaws gaped sucking in large quantities of sea water and expelling it through undersized gills. Casting about both with it's eyesight and sonar, it searched first for any enemies then for food, after nearly five minutes the slowly suffocating creature found neither and leaped instinctively heading for the light and the open air it needed to live.

It's head rising nearly fifteen meters into the air the creature roared sucking in huge quantities of air as it purged the built up carbon dioxide from it's blood. Two minutes later the creature turned in a random direction and started to swim., only to go rigid after eight seconds and start thrashing about it's jaws snapping wildly as if striking at an attacker.

It did this eight more times, it's relatively simple mind unaware it's attacker was buried deep in it's own brain. It was a complex collection of stolen Chinese microchips embedded in a ceramic sphere and linked to it's optic and auditory nerves as well as the modified reptile's pain and pleasure centers. A GPS and inertial position system supplemented the rough data provided by those feeds and gave the League computer an accurate representation of it's position.

The ninth time the creature tried it succeeded in finding the path the League wanted and other than a slight hesitance at eight seconds it's speed quickly increased to nearly fifty knots as it received a tiny trickle from it's internal tormenter that gave a sense peace and pleasure. It was no accident and the creature was unaware but it's coarse was a straight line for Tokyo Tower less than 200 kilometers away.

After a moment the 250 meter manta shaped League ship got under way easily trailing the creature at forty-nine knots. Admiral Nemo watched the creature's deceptively slow and almost hypnotic motions propel it at speeds few ships anywhere in the world could match. The telekinetic drive of the League's latest stealth sub drove the craft forward with no sense of acceleration and in a silence even the Americans would envy. It, like his first command was named the Nautilus, but Admiral Nemo privately called it Nautilus Gamma in deference to his earlier commands and ships. Shaking his head at the almost wistful memories of a simpler time when he only had a single primitive sub, one of less than ten such craft. Now he was Admiral Nemo and this Nautilus wasn't really his it was only his flag ship and it and it's crew were only a small part of his responsibility. It amused him that despite the surge of wistfull thoughts truthfully there was no way he would have give up this modern stealth sub with it's telekinetic drive, the bubble of temperature controlled water and other systems and amenities that now made up the Leagues most powerful ships.

The artificial spherical thermocline was his brain child one that had taken far to long for League techs to field, but now they had it and it made them invisible to both passive and active SONAR. Even the ship's own sounds didn't escape, instead being reflected back into it's own sound absorbent hull, there wasn't a sensor on the planet that could find them they were invisi... The Admiral's fist clenched as another worry entered his mind and he thought "Well we would have been invisible if only Superman and those other damnable Kryptonians hadn't shown". He had seen the reports of American Admirals screaming for the higher level enhancements especially those able to use x-ray vision.

Admiral Nemo watched the creature for several long moments trying to distance himself from the irritation he felt at the aliens by letting the creature's almost hypnotic motions sooth him. Finally he smiled a deadly smile as he thought "At least the Kryptonians had disrupted Avalon's grandiose plans even more"

Turning from his anger at the Kryptonians and sending a sharply focused thought through his artifact Nemo shifted both displays from the creature to a large internal compartment where eight pilots and the maintenance crew were putting the finishing touches on eight mechas.

Admiral Nemo frowned as he watched as the crew crawl over the war machines that bore a strong resemblance to streamlined versions of the Chinese Dragon Mechs. That was no accident the League operatives had managed to steal some of the Chinese Research at least until that cursed AI had become fully operational and made any more attempts risky... At least the last attempt had convinced that idiot savant that it was the kryptonians, it felt good to return some of the trouble they had caused.

Naturally the mecha were purely home grown, but were carefully constructed to match the Chinese designs with any improvements shielded and ready to vaporize or spontaneously rot the moment the pilot commanded or died.

The Admiral watched mentally commanding the camera to focus on each of the men and women as they slowly worked there way into the semi organic cockpit. Nemo had been against this mission from the start and in spite of the Leagues council's optimistic estimate of a 40% chance of success he didn't like it. He hated sending any of his men on suicide missions or any kind of mission that was likely to cost the majority of them their lives.

Admiral Nemo sighed in deep regret as each pilot's face was stored in his memory, despite his misgiving and regret he had to admit it was worth the risk even if ten times as many people had to be sacrificed. If they managed to capture just one Senshi or just a remnant DNA sample and her Henshin rod then the face of the war between Lancelot's League and Avalon would change. Silently Nemo cursed himself as he put into operation the plan his own idea had made possible. The Plan to kidnap a Senshi out of Tokyo had been given less than a 5% chance of success until he had had the idea to add one of Mystery Islands larger organic security measure, they had needed to test it against a kryptonian anyway and this was a good a time as any.

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Kasumi Tendo hummed to herself in the darkness surrounding her as she floated down. Not only was it distracting her from the darkness, but it was filling the void of silence that being almost a thousand feet below the surface of the ocean would entail. Her helmet hissed for a second, releasing precious air so she could take another breath. She would be down here for a while, it looked like.

Up ahead, the submarine *Fire Blossom* was trapped during normal operations. A small outcropping had collapsed on the end of the small submarine, destroying its propeller and trapping it down here. They had sent off a distress signal, hence her being sent down to rescue her countrymen.

A small point of dim light appeared below her. It was a porthole on the sub, with light illuminating the scared and trapped sailors. She reached into a small pouch and pulled out a magnesium flare. It would burn even down here. With it lit, she waved to them.

She smiled to herself when she saw their relief and silent cheering. Sometimes it was very nice to be a hero. She looked over the collapse and quickly determined that with removing just one giant boulder, they would be free. She floated up to it and grabbed a hold. Rising Sun then tensed her shoulders and started to lift.

*Short Range Sensor, 2% power: Gravity pulse at 3000 milns. Contacting Moon Control: Null response. Time-date malfunction: Normal servicing has been far exceeded. Activating systems to War Status.*

* *Deeper in the trench, crystal matrixes flowed with exotic energy and a huge and hulking figure awoke.

*Recall last communication: Priority from Moon Control. Insurrection and possible invasion. Awaiting further commands. Hibernation mode activated to conserve power. Power reserve at 5%.*

* Beta command protocols determination, possible enemy with threat range. War Status, eliminate all enemies.*

* *With a gigantic roar, the cyber-organism screamed out, hypersonic waves illuminating the darkness for it. With a surge it broke free from its concealment.

Rising Sun clapped her hands uselessly to her helmet covered ears until her aural shielding activated. "What was that?" she cried out to herself. X-ray vision scanned the area, seeing a huge creature made of metal and flesh rushing towards her. She zoomed off towards it instantly, interposing herself between it and the vulnerable submarine she had barely freed.

*Status update: Threat verification. Gravity pulses detected in humanoid creature. Designate: Demon One. Physical options validated, musculature at 60%.*

It's a monster! The body was the size and shape of a huge whale, with fins edged in serrated blades. A blunt sharks maw gaped towards Rising Sun while the four tentacles also tipped in blades lunged at her.

Water swirled around her as she evaded, slapping one of the limbs away. Its rubbery flesh flexed away without apparent injury.

Suddenly, two tentacles flattened themselves and lashed out like blades, cutting through the water with incredible speed! The blades whiplashed together like scissors, catching Rising Sun in the middle with stunning force.

Rising Sun clutched her ribs that burned in pain. That thing had *hurt*. True pain was something she'd almost forgotten about. The monstrous thing in front of her seemed taken aback by her survival.

She reacted faster, suddenly taking off at an acute angle to draw the monster away. This deep under water her speed was severely limited, but she was able to easily outpace it. Perhaps if she- *EEEEEEEEEEEEEE* A scream of pure sonic energy slammed into the Tokyo Titan like a freight train, sending her spinning. Wounded again and venting her air out her shattered faceplate, Rising Sun rocketed straight up. This thing was really dangerous, whatever it was.

In seconds, she broke the surface of the Pacific Ocean. "Jade Garden? Can you read me?" She squinted in concentration as she used her x-ray vision to see if the submarine had escaped the area. It appeared it had and would be surfacing at a careful pace. As she realized the high pressure hopelessly damaged her electronics, she frowned in frustration.

That thing was a menace and had to be destroyed. She looked around for the US Navy fleet on training maneuvers, finding them only eight hundred miles away. She zoomed off at high speeds.

The sailors on the deck of the frigate were treated to the frightening sight of a very battered and bleeding Rising Sun appearing on their deck.

Lt. Collier yelled out, "Medic! We need a medic team on the port front deck! Section C-4!"

"No! I'm not that injured! I heal very fast," Rising Sun said very quickly. "I need to talk to your captain right now!"

In just minutes, she had what she needed and was flying back towards the area of her previous fight. She took a huge breath and dove into the water. The monster, for lack of a better term, was back on the bottom.

It became aware of her the moment she touched the water, but by then it was too late. Her titanic muscle propelled the depth charges at the much slower moving monster.

With a mind-boggling explosion the entire area become clouded with silt as even Rising Sun was thrown for a loop. When she recovered just a minute later, all she could find was a short piece of its tentacle.

Maybe Lucille would want to study it, she thought to herself. As soon as she finished her rescue of a very upsetting little submarine.

"General Guant? I'm detecting an old style drone distress signal," a technician at a communications console called out.

"Drone? You mean a Moon Kingdom war drone?" the general demanded. His steel gray hair was cut short in a military style. That could be a very valuable find if that was the case.

"Yes, sir. But it's not one I'm familiar with. It's indicating low power and damage, under enemy fire. It's gone into a 'camouflage' mode, whatever that is. I've got a location on the ether vector. It's only six hundred miles from Nautilus' current location." The technician frowned.

"Ah, I've found some old authorization codes for a Kraken class war drone. I'll transmit it." He continued to read the old data. Suddenly his eyes blinked in astonishment. "General! This thing is the size of a submarine! And probably has more firepower!"

"Get me Nemo. He must recover the target at all costs!" Gaunt said with chilling finality.