The moment Rio and Max disappeared beneath the lake's surface, Gwen clutched the railing, her nausea forgotten as she stared at the spot where they had submerged.
Meanwhile, Ben paced the deck, looking through the cargo on the ship.
"They've been down there too long," Gwen muttered after some time.
Ben scoffed, making a pun about his grandpa. "Relax. Grandpa's a plumber—hahaha—he deals with water all the time."
"You dumb brain, plumbers fix water lines," Gwen snapped, annoyed by the pun.
"Hey, it's still related to water. No?" Ben continued laughing at his own joke, completely unbothered.
Then—in the dead of night—a low hum cut through the silence. At first, Gwen thought it was the boat's engine—until she saw the color drain from Ben's face.
"Uh. Gwen?" Ben called out, tapping Gwen's shoulder.
She turned, only to see a sleek black speedboat slicing through the water toward them, its hull equipped with what looked like harpoon guns.
On its deck stood six figures in dark tactical gear, their faces obscured by visored helmets.
"Oh, crap," Ben breathed.
With a smooth turn, the speedboat pulled alongside Shaw's vessel. Before Gwen could react, two to three grappling hooks clanged onto the railing, and two armored figures vaulted onto the deck.
"Hands where we can see them," one ordered.
"Yeah? Or what, you'll—" Ben asked, as he tried to fight back.
But for an answer, he received the butt of a rifle onto his stomach, instantly making his face contort in agony.
"Ben!" Gwen's protective instinct overrode her caution as she lunged forward, only to have a gloved hand seize her wrist, twisting it behind her back.
Pain lanced up her arm as a kick slammed into her stomach, driving the air from her lungs.
"Search the cabin," the lead soldier ordered. Two shadows detached themselves from the group, their boots thudding against the steps as they vanished inside the cabin.
Gwen gritted her teeth in pain. Rio and Max were still underwater. They had no idea what was happening up here. They were walking into a trap.
Two of the soldiers yanked Ben and Gwen upright, brutally binding them with ropes until it bit into their skin.
"Where's the old man?" the lead man asked, menacingly standing in front of them.
Ben spat at his visor. "Bathing. Wanna join?"
The soldier didn't laugh. Instead, he pressed a small, circular device against Ben's neck that emitted a sharp click. Ben's eyes rolled back instantly, and he slumped forward, unconscious.
"Ben! What did you—?" Gwen's protest died as the same device touched her skin.
Darkness swallowed her.
----
Grandpa Max surfaced with a gasp and stepped onto the ladder—only to be grabbed and thrown violently onto the boat's floor by the group of people in black suits, who then continued to surround him.
Then the leader of the group came out and approached Max, crouching down in front of him, his visor reflecting Max's own face back at him.
"Don't you know night-diving is dangerous, old man?" the leader asked. "Unless, of course, you want something that's down there."
"Just... sightseeing. I just came to see underwater scenery at night, that's all."
"Ah, you have us all wrong. What we want is information—like what you saw down there," the masked man replied.
"Nothing. Same as always—" Max's voice died as his eyes shifted behind the group; there lay two figures bound by tight ropes and unconscious.
"What did you do to my grandchildren?" Max's words tore out of him in anger as he tried to get up and move toward the kids.
But a kick slammed into his gut, knocking him down again.
The leader laughed coldly. "Haha, you wanna know what we did to your kids?"
Then again he proceeded to do what he had done with Ben and Gwen, punching Max square in the face and bringing a small, circular device near his neck. With a click sound, Max too fell unconscious.
"Take him," the leader commanded his assistants. "Find out what he knows back at the cannery. We'll come back here later with a mini-sub for the rest of the eggs." He then tossed a tracking device to the bottom of the lake near the nest.
"Sir, what about these kids?" a soldier hesitantly asked the leader as they moved toward their motorboat.
The leader didn't even glance back. "Leave them. If the Krakken kills someone, the government can't protect it anymore." His voice dropped to a whisper. "After all... it can take even more lives once it's tasted blood."
He then threw a bomb onto the boat, timing it to detonate in two minutes so their boat could go a safe distance. "In the meantime, I think this boat just got lost in the lake."
-------
(currently)
The RV's door bursts open as three drenched figures step inside.
Their clothes drip water as they quickly make their way to the bathroom.
Gwen goes into the bathroom, tossing two towels out before slamming the door. Ben catches them and begins changing outside while Gwen changes her clothes inside.
Rio comes directly to the RV's dashboard, water dripping from his hair onto the controls as he slams buttons and switches.
"Computer—emergency protocol!"
The RV's system display comes to life as it flickers Red in the dim cabin.
"Track Maxwell Tennyson. Now."
A mechanical voice responds:
>Scanning... emergency beacon detected.
>Subject: Maxwell Tennyson.
>Coordinates locking. Please wait.
Rio had installed a GPS in both Max's shirt's collar and his shoes.
"Rio, dry off before you catch a cold," Ben says, handing him a towel.
As Rio catches the towel, a map materializes on the screen, showing a blinking red dot at a corner of the lake.
>Coordinates locked. Current location: an abandoned cannery on the industrial waterfront.
Ben, catching his breath and rubbing at the raw marks on his wrists, asks, "So how are we gonna reach there?"
Rio's jaw tightens as he inputs the coordinates. The RV's engine roars to life in response.
"By this, of course."
—--
The RV stops behind a cluster of trees, From here, The abandoned cannery lies just ahead.
Marked by its rusty walls and rotten fishy smell.
The RV'd headlights cut off as Rio shut the engine down.
"Why are we stopping?" Gwen whispers.
Rio holds up his wrist, the Omnitrix symbol pulsing a dull red. "Waiting for this to recharge," he says, tapping the faceplate.
Ben shifts impatiently in his seat. "How long?"
"Five minutes. Maybe less." Rio's eyes never leave the cannery. "When it's ready, I'll cause a distraction out front. You two slip in through the back. Find Grandpa and get out fast."
Gwen nods.
The minutes crawl by. The only sounds are the ticking of cooling engine metal and the occasional hoot of an owl. Then—with a sharp beep—the Omnitrix glows blue.
"Let's go," Rio mutters.
They move like shadows through the underbrush, circling around to the cannery's rear. Up close, the building looks even more derelict—broken windows, peeling paint, and the faint smell of rotting fish.
Rio crouches behind a stack of rusted barrels. "Remember," he whispers, "I'll draw their attention. You get Grandpa."
Saying so, he goes toward the lake. After a brief flash of blue light, Rio jumps into the water, and the surroundings are once again swallowed by silence.
In the cannery, a crane hooks up to Jonah in an underwater mecha-suit. He holds the same egg that Rio and Max saw at the bottom of the lake some time ago.
The crane lifts Jonah up to the dock as some of his goons transport another egg in a see-through cylindrical container that's the same as what Jonah is holding.
Reaching the goons, Jonah hands the egg to one of them, which the man nearly drops.
"Careful! Or you'll be cleaning the world's most expensive omelet," Jonah says, exiting the mech suit.
The goon, hearing his boss's warning, carefully picks the egg up and places it into the container with the other egg.
"After we sell these babies to the highest bidder, we'll be kicking back on a beach in the Bahamas," Jonah declares, as he almost presses his face against the glass of the container, greedily looking at the eggs in it.
But unbeknownst to the people in the cannery, faint ripples spread across the lake's surface beneath them.
-------
*I am sorry guy I had to go to the hospital again today. As for the specific I will tell ya all soon*
Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is to your liking. Sorry if you expected more details. Also sorry if you felt it was still too much detail.
If these chapters are a mess of grammatical errors, please point it out and I will try to fix it.
I am currently not able to work on the book with the same care as I did before, as currently I am suffering from a medical condition. I would like to ask for your pardon.
Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.