Breaking into an aquarium was easier than he thought.

The building had a loading dock in the back where they off-loaded merchandise, supplies for the animals, and whatever else the aquarium management ordered. Getting in was a simple matter of lifting the metal door; impossible for someone with average strength, but easy for a person with super strength.

Jugo decided to make this quick since he couldn't be sure whether the loading dock had a silent alarm. He wore the Darkwing armor, but he was truly there as Jugo Arlot. He had questions, and the Aquabats were the only ones who could answer them.

The aquarium was creepy at night with all the lights being out. The tanks took on an eerie dark blue, but the fish still swam around in them unbothered. Going through the underwater tunnel felt like being out in the open ocean. At least this time he could breath, and have solid ground to walk on. Jugo had briefly wondered at some point in his life whether scuba diving was as fun as it looked. Maybe it was with proper gear, but he had no desire to find out anytime soon.

It was just a guess, but the Aquabats would likely be rehearsing in the same theater they performed in. As stealthily as possible, Jugo ducked in an employee's only door that led to the catwalk above the water stage. And sure enough, the Aquabats were there. It looked like they were practicing some new trick, creating various shapes from the water.

It was risky to approach them like this. His injuries from the fight at the pier hadn't healed completely. If the Aquabats insisted on fighting him, it would be tough being three on one. The heroines weren't known for their combat skills, but that didn't mean they weren't trained to fight if push comes to shove.

Jugo took a breath before making his presence known.

"Good evening," he said.

The Aquabats jumped. They lost focus on their water constructs, leaving them to splash back into the pool.

"A villain? How did you get in!?" Ariel was the first to speak.

"I'm sneakier than I look." Jugo leaned against the railing as he stared down at them. He wanted to portray himself as relaxed, but confident.

"We know your track record," Echo spoke next. "If you're here for a fight, then you made a big mistake choosing an aquarium of all places."

"For once, that's not what I'm here for. Besides, I'm not interested in fighting a bunch of performers parading around as heroes."

"A villain has no right to judge us!" Ariel snapped.

"Then where were you yesterday when that monster attacked the pier?" Jugo questioned back.

"We were called in by the police chief, but the creature had disappeared by the time we arrived," Echo explained.

"You're welcome for that, by the way. Here, you should probably have a look at this." Jugo tossed them the device that shocked him when he pulled it out of the sea monster's neck.

The trio took a cautious step back when it clambered down in front of them.

"What is that?" Echo questioned.

"That was imbedded in the back of the monster's neck. It shocked me when I pulled it out. I think the monster was being shocked the whole time."

Suijin knelt next to the machine, gingerly picking it up.

"But who would do this to Gary?" she wondered.

"Sui!" Echo and Ariel said simultaneously.

"Oops," Suijin realized her mistake.

Jugo caught her mistake, "Did you just call that thing 'Gary'? Did you all know about it before it attacked the park?"

Depending on how the heroines answered would determine whether he would pound their faces in after all. If they knew about that thing and kept it to themselves, then the people hurt last night - including Elena - would be their fault.

"You remember the event that changed our world forever, don't you?" Echo asked.

She was talking about the event that turned most of humanity into SuperHumans. Jugo was only two years old when it happened so he didn't remember it personally. Sixteen years ago, a meteor passed by the Earth, bathing it in a dazzling light. A few days later, people began developing powers. People around the world took to calling the meteor "God's Stone."

"What does that have to do with now?"

"Humans weren't the only beings affected by the SuperHuman event. Animals began developing powers, too."

Jugo stared at Echo as she said this.

"I've never heard of animals developing powers before," he countered.

"That's because animals developing powers is a much rarer occurrence than it is with humans," Echo explained. "Research suggests that animals are more likely to develop powers the more intelligent they are. When they do, they're transferred to a care facility so they don't inadvertently destroy their environment."

"So, what? That sea monster is just some mega dolphin with a mutation power?"

Suijin shook her head, "No, he was like that before he developed his powers. The squid portion of his body is a by-product of his ability. We ran into him while patrolling for a missing life boat. I was able to establish a dialogue with him, and discovered he was a very docile creature. Gary is a remarkably intelligent creature, easily as smart as a primate."

"Docile?" Jugo snorted. "You know that thing tried to eat me along with two kids, right?" Even as he said this, he couldn't help but think of how he'd been zapped unconscious by the device when he pulled it out. If the kraken didn't lift him out of the water, he would have surely drowned.

"Well, in all fairness, he was probably just trying to eat you," Ariel commented snidely.

Jugo ignored her, "Are you certain its never attacked humans before?" He directed his question towards Suijin since it seemed she had the greatest affinity for the creature.

"Not unprovoked, he told me as such," she replied.

"Right." She's definitely the oddball of the group. "In other words, your pet monster wouldn't attack humans without reason. Which means someone forced it to go on a rampage with controlled shocks."

"That would seem to be the case," Echo confirmed.

A silence of pondering seem to go on between the heroines. Jugo wondered if they could communicate with each other the way they communicated with aquatic animals. It would explain how they manage such good coordination during their shows.

"I've done my part, as of now, I wash my hands of this whole thing. Whoever is behind this is your problem now." Jugo turned to leave.

"Wait, I have a question for you." Echo called up to him, making him pause. "Why did you help those people yesterday? As a villain, you had no obligation to do so."

"I was in the neighborhood, and I felt like it." Truthfully, Jugo wasn't sure why he stepped in either. He turned to leave again only to be stopped by Ariel this time.

"Hold it!" she yelled. "You didn't think we were just going to let you walk away, did you?"

She looked ready to fight, but Echo waved her down.

"Ariel, like it or not, he saved a lot of people on that pier. Not only that, he brought us our first clue to finding out who's behind all of this. Let him go, just this once."

Even under her mask, Ariel looked pissed over the idea of letting Jugo leave, but she didn't argue.

"Please, one more thing," Suijin spoke-up before he could move.

"What?" he groaned out.

Suijin took a deep breath before bowing her head. 

"Thank you for taking care of Gary, Darkwing-sama!"

Jugo turned away from the hero.

"Whatever."

After that, he leaped through the ceiling onto the roof.

"Really!? There was a door less than ten feet from you!" Ariel yelled after him, but he was already disappearing into the night.

***

Jugo settled onto his bed in the clocktower. Echo's question kept coming back in his mind. Why did he jump in? Why fight a literal monster on the behalf of the society that portrayed him as one? And why risk his life to help the monster that attacked the pier? Suijin even thanked him for helping her pet sea monster. First time for everything, I guess.

His thoughts then drifted towards the shock probe buried in the kraken's neck. For the life of him, he couldn't begin to imagine why anybody would want to set a monster like that on their fellow humans.

Ultimately, it didn't matter why he stepped up to fight the monster. And the culprit behind the shock probe would be caught before long. However, there was one burning question that he wasn't sure anyone could answer for him: How did he escape the monster's stomach? Both Darkwing and the twins were definitely eaten by the monster, its beaked mouth swallowed them whole! Jugo's best guess was that one of the twins is an early developer, and so used their powers instinctually.

Shoving those thoughts to the side, Jugo had one more thing to do before calling it a night. Pulling out his phone - still feeling weird for having one - he dialed up Elena's number. He wanted to see how she was doing after resting most of the day.

It rang for a while, but she answered at the last second.

"Hey, Jugo!"

"Hey, sounds like you're feeling better."

"Yep! But on that note, I guess I owe you my life for real now."

"I don't know about that," Jugo said sheepishly.

"Don't be so modest," Elena chastised him. "You stopped that monster from hitting the Ferris wheel then carried me out of the park when I was too weak to walk. You're a hero! You should own it."

A hero? Something about hearing Elena say that made him feel tingly all over.

"With that being said," she continued, "please don't EVER do something crazy like that ever again, okay?"

"Okay." Jugo laughed internally. She wasn't aware he'd ran back in after making sure she was safe and sound.

"By the way, I ended up telling my dad about everything that happened."

"Really? He wasn't upset, was he?"

"No, actually, he was proud of me for helping the people on the Ferris wheel. Dad is also super grateful towards you for helping me when I collapsed from exhaustion."

Jugo released a silent sigh of relief. For a second there, he was afraid her dad wouldn't let her go anywhere anymore. It surprised him to hear that Elena's dad wasn't doubling down on his overprotective policies.

"Also - and before I say this, I just want to stress that you don't have to if you don't want to - I should mention that Dad wants to meet you in person." She added, "To thank you, for getting me out of danger."