“Are you sure it’s alright to just leave Eimose behind? Aren’t we supposed to turn that Efficiency-slash-Combatant in for the reward? There’s still a reward, right?” Regal asked as he trotted to Brit’s side to keep up.
“We’re going to get our reward, that’s a guarantee,” Brit replied. “Boss will get what he wants even if we’re not the ones to give it to him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s sent out multiple teams to get it. We have the advantage since we know where that robot is.”
“But then why did we leave them behind?” Jeringy piped up.
“We don’t need to be with them to know where they are.”
Brit pulled a small black square out of his pocket and pressed a button on the side and a bright blue screen lit up showing four dots clustered together and two separate from the others.
“Uh, am I the only one that doesn’t know what that is?” Jeringy asked.
“Any dumbass can tell that Brit planted trackers on them when, apparently, no one was looking.” Regal turned away from Jeringy’s red face to Brit. “When did you find time to plant those?”
“When we were carrying that robot into the tunnel. Two on the robot and two on Eimose.”
“What about those two?” Regal asked, pointing at the ones apart from the main group.
“I planted those in the bag they’re hunting. There must be something more important in there that Eimose didn’t tell us about.”
“He told us about those vial things that the old scientist gave him for safe-keeping. Do you think they’re worth something?” Jeringy chimed in.
“‘Eimose’ is still part of GreenHouse, I’m sure of it. You can never trust anyone involved with that company. We need to focus on getting to shore and finding a boat and getting back to the main crew and finally give the Piranhas a taste of their own medicine.”
“Oh, I just remembered I have to tell you something Reg! Hold up for a sec.” Jeringy cried out.
Regal stopped and turned to Jeringy and was immediately sucker-punched in the face, hard.
“What the fuck man!” He yelled at Jeringy while he clutched at his already-bruising face.
“You don’t get to decide when you die, alright! You don’t make that choice! Especially when I’m standing right in front of you! Either we go down fighting together or we don’t go down at all, capiche? No more of this shit with you trying to be noble and giving up your life for mine. It doesn’t suit you and it never will!”
“You dick! I was just trying to be nice to you and this is how you repay me? Fine, wish granted, I won’t be diving in front of any bullets for you. I’ll fucking use you as a human shield next time!” Regal screamed out, a fine purple painting his cheek from behind his respirator.
“I’ll be the best shield ever anyways, way better than you! Speaking of, how many times did you get shot? I bet you a smoked squid I got more than you.”
“You’re on,” Regal smirked, lifting his shirt to reveal a thin chained shirt with small bits of metal lodged between the chains.
They both shook out their chained shirts and got down on the ground to count the bullets that fell, smacking each other’s hands away from stealing from the other.
“Stop acting like children and keep walking!” Brit yelled out behind him when he realized their annoying voices had fallen behind.
“Suck it, I got two more than you plus a graze on the arm!” Regal cried out.
“You stole those from my pile and you know it. I’m keeping my squid.” Before Regal could respond in a flurry of punches, Jeringy aimed his next question to Brit. “So who was that crazy guy who loved you so much?”
A shadow passed over Brit’s face at the mention of him and Jeringy almost regretted asking the question. Almost.
“I’d rather leave that part of my life buried.” Brit finally said, barely above a whisper.
Regal and Jeringy exchanged looks to not further push the topic for the moment, but definitely find out about it later once they’ve put a good amount of alcohol in Brit. It wouldn’t be the first time either and it was one of the rare moments they’d work together. So far, they’d learned that Brit was once married, had thrown up over Captain Lin before, and that he loved the color blue. Those were only the ones they remembered since if Brit was drunk enough to spill life stories, they were most likely drunker.
“There’s the shore. We’ll walk along the edge of the plateau until we spot a boat. If you spot one of those tin cans the Piranhas use underwater we’ll use it too. We have the advantage of surprise on our side so let's be sure to use it, which means both of you need to shut up until we get on the water.”
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The two younger men reluctantly agreed, creeping up to the edge of the ledge to avoid being seen. There were only a handful of people still outside the entrance to the headquarters and they were all focused on the repairing the main door, so it was easy remaining under the radar. Finding a boat was a little more difficult as the subaquas they rode on didn’t submerge near their base, meaning that there was most likely some sort of underwater entrance for those, but after walking along the edge of the plateau for a hundred meters, they found a hidden enclave where the top-water boats were kept and made quick work of the two guards posted at the entrance.
They quickly worked together and pushed the stolen boat onto the water and climbed on, getting as far out into the fog as they could so no Piranhas would spot them and try to blow them up. Once was more than enough.
“How do you turn this thing on?” Regal whispered loudly, smacking Jeringy when he shushed him.
“Check the front and sides. I don’t recognize the tech, or lack of, on this boat,” confessed Brit.
“What are those pedals for?” Jeringy asked as he pushed on one of them, causing the boat to turn sharply to the right, almost flinging Regal off the side.
Brit examined the pedals once everything was situated again, testing the pedals to see what they did. There were only two and they propelled the boat through the water according to which was used, so Brit was a masterfully cutting through the water in no time.
“This thing is so quiet!” Regal exclaimed, and Jeringy and Brit both smacked him into silence.
It was, indeed, silent, which explained how the Piranhas were able to approach their ships without being detected and get away so stealthily. Whatever technology they were using, Brit had it now and he was going to use it. He hoped Lin’s engineer was good at replicating things as this would be a total game-changer in the war against the Piranhas. Plus, it seemed to be traveling twice as fast as their boats, so the trip up the river was cut in half. In the fog up ahead the small crew could make out the ghostly image of a ship, and soon the word Nostalgia could be seen on the hull.
“Friendlies approaching! Don’t shoot us!” Jeringy cried out, waving his arms in the air to grab the attention of anyone on the deck.
All three of them jumped when they heard the pop of a gun and the sound of a harpoon striking the water a foot from them, fearing that maybe their crew had mistaken them for the enemy, but equipment for hooking the boat’s ends was slung down the line of the harpoon for them to connect. After a few minutes, they gave the line a tug and they felt the boat slowly lift from the water. The three jumped off and landed safely on the deck of the boat, glad to be back in their element.
“My friend, I’m glad you’re alive!” Lin gave Brit a huge hug. “I take it from your change of vessel that you encountered the Piranhas. I’m glad you three are alive, and condolences for your loss of that other one.”
“Unfortunately he’s still alive,” Brit admitted. “He stayed behind because he felt his bag was more important than his life. I’ll tell you the tale over dinner, but we have to gather the other ships and tell them we found their headquarters.”
“Are you certain you have found their headquarters and not a simple base? I don’t want to call upon the other ships only to discover we hit the wrong base.”
“We’ve never been able to get the location of a single base before, so even if this isn’t the headquarters it will hit them where it hurts.” Brit quieted his voice and whispered to Lin. “Kijon is their leader.”
Lin’s face paled and he looked at Brit with the whites of his eyes showing, hundreds of questions displayed on his face. Shaking his head he pushed his hair back and addressed the crew standing on the deck.
“Tondo, alert the surrounding ships we have the Piranha location and we strike in an hour. Crew, sharpen your weapons and be ready to spare no one. They have taken the lives of our crew and so we will do the same to them! They will feel our pain!”
A war cry rose from the twenty crew on the deck and they sprinted away to get ready and alert the others working in the engine room about the news. Lin called for his head mechanic to come on deck and figure out as much as he could about the tech behind the silent pedal boat Brit’s crew had stolen.
“How’re Terra and Eimose doing?” Jeringy asked Brit once the deck was clear.
Brit pulled out the black screen and showed him the trackers. All six were clustered together now, although they were unmoving.
“Does that mean they found the bag? Maybe it got stuck or something and they couldn’t move it?” tried Regal, although he sounded unconvinced.
“Either that or they’re all dead. The trackers only have a lifespan of eight hours so we need to find them before they die. The trackers and the robot I mean, I don’t give two shits about Eimose.” Brit stated.
They all jumped back when a figure suddenly landed next to them with a loud thump having jumped from the crow’s nest onto the deck.
“Did you say Terra?”
“Hey Henarie, doing crazy stunts like that again. Weren’t you shot literally a few hours ago?” said Jeringy.
“Old news. Terra. You said Terra. Where is she?” Henarie’s bright brown eyes glowed with hope.
“How do you know about Terra? Maybe you’ve got the wrong Terra because I don’t think anyone would be looking for this Terra considering her...situation. Well, except for us, but we’re an exception because we’re doing it for the money.” Summarized Regal.
“Believe me, I know Terra and she’s close, I just don’t know from what direction. Point.”
The three males exchanged uneasy glances and Henarie knew she wasn’t going to get anything out of them. She lifted her arms and began pointing in all directions, pausing when she noticed Jeringy’s eye shift to the side when she pointed down the river. Before anyone could react, she sprinted to the boat that Brit and his crew had stolen and jumped in it, swinging it over the edge and swiftly slicing the cords that held it up in a single motion.
“I promise I’ll bring it back with interest!” She cried out behind her at the cries of Lin and the others calling her back and cursing her name.
Henarie stared straight forward into the fog, feeling the familiar tug at her chest whenever she was near to Terra. She’d finally found her. She’d found her Terra. This time she wasn’t letting go.