* 1st APPEARANCE "SCAVENGER" (Peter Mortimer)
* 1st Appearance "Scorpion-Ship"

Aquaman and Mera watch as Aqualad, Tusky and Imp play with Aquababy. While Aquababy is atop Imp's back, the giant seahorse playfully bucks, sending the infant hurtling towards a sharpened coral reef. Tusky isn't fast enough to reach him in time, but fortunately for Aquababy, somebody else is -- the Ocean Master. The Ocean Master catches Aquababy, then taunts Aquaman. Aquaman stares the Ocean Master down, but cannot bring himself to strike him. Ocean Master thinks that Aquaman is weak, and antagonizes him further by firing a ray gun at a passing sea turtle. Aquaman cannot restrain himself any longer, and after saving Iron Jaws the turtle, he tackles the Ocean Master.

As the two fight, a bizarre phenomenon occurs. The very sea itself begins to rot and erode away. Large vacuum pockets appear and swallow Mera and Tusky. While Aquaman tries to free them, the architect behind this attack makes his presence known - the Scavenger. The Scavenger attacks the Aqua-Family with his Scorpion-Ship and demands Aquaman to tell him the location of a mysterious alien artifact known as the Time Decelerator. Aquaman has no idea what the Scavenger is talking about, but the villain is undeterred. He captures Mera and Aquababy and holds them prisoner aboard his ship.

The Ocean Master feels that if this Time Decelerator is so valuable, then he should be the one to possess it, not the Scavenger. He gets into his mini-sub and fires a heat-seeking torpedo at the Scavenger's ship, but the Scavenger coats his Scorpion-Ship with a sheet of ice, thus avoiding the torpedo.

Aquaman telepathically summons every sea creature of the deep to stop the Scavenger's vessel, but none of them succeed in rupturing the ship's impenetrable hull.

The Ocean Master tells the Scavenger that he has found the Time Decelerator, and points him in the direction of a nearby cave. The Scavenger takes the bait and the Ocean Master prepares to destroy his ship. Aquaman stops him from doing this, as Mera and Aquababy are still on board. After freeing them, Aquaman finally gets his hands on the Scavenger. As the two grapple, the Scavenger manages to scoop up the Time Decelerator. He activates it, believing that the artifact will grant him immortality. However, the device actually regresses him in age, turning him into a baby, and then into nothingness. Aquaman then blows up the Scorpion-Ship. With the vessel destroyed, the poisoned patches of the sea turn back to normal

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