This chapter is a little bit lengthy compared to some of the other chapters, as I wanted to include some tense moments. This will also be my last chapter for a little bit, as I will be starting a new semester of school tomorrow! I want to try focusing on my assignments, but I'll make time to post chapters.
Enjoy!
The next morning, Bluenose and his superior, Timberwolf, arrived at the quarantine bay. The Navy had received a distress call from a worker about an intruder at the quarantine bay, and the details of the report were alarming. Usually in these types of situations, Bluenose would be sent to investigate it alone. However, because of the severity of the situation at hand, Timberwolf had to be called in from Boston to help investigate. Timberwolf was an older, experienced Navy tug, and hopefully she would help unravel the mystery.
The Navy tugs' first objective was to go and inspect the Geir. When they arrived at the shed where the whaling ship was being kept, they were astonished at what they saw! What was once Geir was now an ordinary whaling vessel. It could still be operated properly by human crews, but its face was gone. Now the crew would have to use a megaphone when communicating with the living ships.
"The grim reaper came in, looking to collect Geir's soul." One of the Coast Guard vessels said, inching up to the Navy tugs. "We sent two vessels to catch him, but one was sunk immediately by the reaper. You won't like what happened to the other vessel. It's… not a pleasant sight to behold."
"Whoever the grim reaper is, he made sure Geir would not die horribly." Bluenose remarked, being as serious as ever. He looked up at the remains of Geir and was impressed by what he had seen. "There was a loud scraping of metal according to the report, but I see no damage whatsoever. That is very suspicious indeed."
"If the grim reaper did this, how was he able to sneak into the quarantine bay while under your watch?" Timberwolf asked, raising an eyebrow. She steamed up to her subordinate, looking for any signs of foul play on the Geir. "The incidents with Johnny Cuba and the pirates should have knocked some sense in that brain of yours and implement new security measures. However, it appears those incidents made you more relaxed."
The verbal abuse by his superior was the least of Bluenose's worries, however. His attention soon turned to a poor Coast Guard vessel that was isolated at one of the repair piers, He paled and could barely restrain himself, not wanting to vomit at the sight. "Good Lord! Coast Guard, what happened to you?" He gasped, hurrying over to the repair pier.
The Coast Guard vessel's eyes had been slashed and damaged to where he was blind. As a result, his eyes had to be removed as it would have been pointless to save them. A strange fluid was now seeping out of where his eyes once were, and men were trying their best to stop the leaking from getting worse. The vessel was still in a state of shock, not moving or even straightening up when his superior spoke to him.
"He can't speak sir!" Another Coast Guard vessel said, tears rolling down his face. "His tongue was slashed out. He also lost his eyes when he went to check on the Geir. All he can do now is mumble and scream."
Bluenose was now furious. "SLASHED OUT? I figure it's some vandal who decided it was acceptable to slice a ship's face for his amusement. The grim reaper is the nickname to a human breaker, that's all. He's a-"
"Enough ranting Bluenose." Timberwolf snapped, glaring at the smaller Navy tug. Bluenose immediately went silent, allowing her to speak. "Now this grim reaper is smart, and it appears that it maimed this vessel as to not get reported and arrested by the Port Authority. I do, however, have a solution to this issue."
"And what's that?" Bluenose asked, shuddering nervously (the larger navy tug sometimes scared him).
"Curfew. All vessels are to remain docked at night time unless they have been authorized to leave their docks." She replied, albeit with overconfidence. "Hopefully this should stop the grim reaper from slipping through and causing more death and destruction to our ships. If it does decide to sneak out here again for example, we can catch it and torpedo it!"
"Curfew? Bigg City is the largest shipping port on this side of the country!" Bluenose said, raising an eyebrow. "Lots of ships still need to do their deliveries at night!" However, his words were in vain.
"Bluenose, I left you in charge of this city, and you turned it into a hellhole. Not only did you let a sadist slip through the quarantine bay, you also destroyed one of our prized trampers and almost took the whole harbor down with her!" Timberwolf shouted, looking right into Bluenose's eyes. "I am in charge now. Until this crisis is resolved, you are suspended from service."
Burke and Blair sailed near the quarantine bay and caught wind of what was happening. They were watching the events unfold with great interest, especially after mentions of a maimed vessel caught their attention. Perhaps, they could break the vessel up for scrap. However, there was one small problem. Hercules had left for a contract down the coast earlier that morning, making it complicated. They soon hurried off, not wanting to get caught by the Coast Guard.
In the harbor, Ten Cents was on his way to do some minor contract work. The encounter with the large tug the night before was still on his mind, and it was troubling him greatly. Somehow, the large tug was similar in size to Hercules himself. However, his train of thought was interrupted when he spotted Zorran talking to Bob. Perhaps they were going to plot something sinister. He slowly sailed up to the pair, hoping to not cause problems.
"Well if it isn't Star Boy! You're just in time." Bob said with a scowl. Things had been tense between the two since the attempted prank, and Bob was in no mood to speak. However, since Zorran was there, he had no choice. "Bluenose got his stern handed to him by his boss, and now she's in charge."
"His boss?" Ten Cents asked, confused by what the buoy had meant. He vaguely remembered seeing a larger Navy tug in Bigg City the day after the munitions accident. Perhaps this was the tug Bob was talking about. "What was she doing out here then?"
"She got called in because Geir and some Coast Guard guy bit the dust last night." The buoy said. "They say the reaper came in, but she thinks it's baloney. Do you want to know what she's gonna do?"
"And what is that?" Ten Cents inquired. He exchanged a quick glare with Zorran, who looked like he was going to taunt him. "She better not do something stupid-"
"Well it is stupid." Bob said. "She placed all of Bigg City's ships under curfew! All buoys got told to straighten up and keep an eye for any suspicious activity."
"Curfew!?" The information was alarming. Ten Cents now wondered if Bob would use this to try to give advantage to the Z Stacks. He hurried off to work, not wanting to be late.
Word of a Navy-issued curfew spread through the city's vessel population like wildfire. At the Star Dock, everyone was in an uproar! Top Hat stated that curfew would not affect him, for he was not made to work at nighttime. However, it took both O.J. and Big Mac to tell him that curfew would be bad for everyone. Meanwhile, Warrior brought up the Z Stacks possibly using the curfew to get more lucrative contracts. This now led to everyone bickering about whether or not someone in the Navy was working with Zero and Marine, or at least had connections with Captain Zero himself.
Meanwhile, Ten Cents had met up with Sunshine and told him about what had happened earlier in the morning with Bob. "So the Navy finally did something right, and it's not good. All of Bigg City is under a curfew!" Ten Cents said, trying to relay the news.
"I heard. Some of the other Stars are saying that it might be abused by the Z Stacks!" Sunshine replied, telling him what had happened at the Star Dock. "I was thinking about the reaper, and-" Ten Cents interrupted and soon added his own thoughts and concerns about the reaper. After all, they were starting to notice a pattern.
Little did the switchers know that a raven had perched on a building nearby, observing their actions. It preened its oily black feathers, not wanting to draw attention from anyone close by. For whatever reason, it was able to understand the words coming out of their mouths (let alone the expressions on their faces). When Sunshine mentioned Hercules, the raven swooped down to a mooring bollard to listen to the conversation. It continued behaving as normal, although it perked up a few times to glare at the switchers.
Ten Cents and Sunshine decided to hurry to their next contract, knowing that there were still lots of work to do. Especially with the curfew in effect. The raven flew off after them, wanting to listen to their conversation some more. Luckily for it, the switchers paid not much attention. After all, it was a bird and not a ghost.
A few days had past since curfew was issued, and Bigg City had been in a state of desperation. Traffic had been delayed, and both Star and Zero had to make up for lost time. As a result, some of the tugs like Zak and O.J. had become overworked, and had to be pulled from service because of the damage they could cause to their engines. To make matters worse, the grim reaper sighting at the quarantine bay made everyone tense up. Especially after hearing what had happened to the Coast Guard vessels sent to stop him.
Ten Cents had just finished a fishing contract and was sailing to the Star Dock for an assignment when he felt something land on his hat. It was common for seagulls to land on him, but this one felt heavier. "Hey little guy, what are you doing up here?" He asked, looking up at a raven perched on his hat. The raven looked down and glared, but Ten Cents gave no notice.
He pressed on, but didn't get far when he spotted Burke and Blair. The two tugs were towing some new equipment back to the breaker's yard. Some of it consisted of new engine parts, while other pieces of equipment included ropes. Something rubbed him the wrong way, and so he steamed up to them. "What are you two doing, might I ask?" Ten Cents asked, looking at the equipment.
"Our owners received money as part of us helping the White Fleet finding the galleon." Burke replied. "They decided to finally give our engines some attention, and we should be getting our new engines installed. Our engines have been struggling, so it should be welcome relief."
"I didn't even know you two were in the whole operation with the White Fleet!" Ten Cents gasped, examining some of the parts. Based on how costly some of the new parts were, the museum must have been really generous in paying the owners of the breaker's yard. "You guys are aware with the risk of your bodies not handling the new parts, right?"
The two breaker tugs nodded, as if they were dismissing what the switcher was saying. However, Blair's attention was soon turned to the raven, who was perched right above Ten Cents' lamp. He went pale at the sight, knowing how ravens were considered a terrible omen. "I believe we should get going." He said, looking nervously at Burke. "We don't want our owners to be cross with us." Burke nodded, and he and Blair took their leave.
Ten Cents watched them hurry off with confusion, but shrugged it off and kept on going. When he arrived at the Star Dock, he spotted O.J. moored at one of the piers. Perhaps he should keep him company for a bit. "Hey there." He said, steaming up to the paddle wheel tug. "I was heading here when I saw Burke and Blair with new equipment. Apparently they're getting their engines replaced."
"Really?" O.J. wasn't sure how to react to the information. "Are they going to Lucky's to have it done? Lucky and his crew have more experience than their owners."
"I wasn't sure myself. However, as we were talking, they got nervous." The switcher added, looking up at the raven. "This raven has been sitting here the whole day, and I'm not even sure what it's doing here."
"That might be why they were so scared." He said, looking at the raven with curious eyes. The raven looked at O.J. for a second, but soon went to sleep. "Ravens were used by Vikings a long time ago as navigation aides! However, ravens were also feared as a sign of death and destruction. Perhaps that might be why Burke and Blair got nervous when they saw you."
"That makes sense. O.J., if ravens really are a sign of death, then why is this one here then?" Ten Cents asked.
"It might be a harbinger of their own deaths. Or one of the other tugs in the harbor." O.J. replied, shrugging. "I suggest not worrying too much about it, ravens are only omens on land. Besides, half of those omens aren't real!"
Ten Cents thanked O.J. and steamed up to the office to receive his next assignment. The raven remained fast asleep, only to stir awake each time Ten Cents mentioned Hercules. The switchers paid little attention to it, but had soon started to wonder if the crow had anything to do with the grim reaper.
That night, Burke and Blair were getting ready to leave the breaker's yard. At this rate, the maimed Coast Guard vessel was probably dead. And besides, they figured, their work would allow the Coast Guard to worry less. They soon set off for the quarantine bay, ready to do their grim task.
Grampus was patrolling the harbor, checking for any suspicious activity. After all, he had gotten permission from Timberwolf herself to continue his patrols, as he assured that he would do his part to keep the harbor safe. As he sailed on, he noticed three shapes out in the distance. Confused, he hurried over.
Burke and Blair were towing the maimed Coast Guard vessel, who kept on mumbling. If breaking into the quarantine bay at the dead of night was challenging enough, then towing someone who was still speaking was going to be a massive undertaking. They travelled at a slow speed, as to not get caught by the other vessels patrolling the area. If they were caught, then their owners' business would fall apart.
Grampus turned on his light and spotted the breaker tugs towing the Coast Guard vessel. In a panic, he sprayed water to stun them. Knowing where the Coast Guard vessel was being kept, the water would be a good way to rinse any bugs off of them. "You two won't be going anywhere!" He said, glaring right into Burke's eyes. "I will report you two to the Coast Guard!"
Burke and Blair spat out the water and hurried away, with Grampus in hot pursuit. The Coast Guard vessel whined in agony, and tried making a noise as if he were calling for help. Finally, Blair had enough, and rammed into the vessel to get him to shut up. At that moment, the vessel went limp and stopped breathing. "Blair you fool, you killed him!" Burke snapped, but now was not the time to panic. Grampus watched and blew his whistle, drawing the attention of a few patrol boats in the area.
The breaker tugs panicked and kept pressing on, but they soon felt a rumbling noise followed by a boom. They had run their engines to the point of breaking them. Grampus and the other patrol boats caught up, throwing their tow lines to keep Burke and Blair in place. In desperation, they blasted their whistles for Hades to save them. But no such help arrived. They sobbed and went silent as a few patrol vessels took them away to Timberwolf.
The next morning, news of Burke and Blair's arrest reached the Star Dock. Grampus had surfaced and explained the events of what had happened to the shocked (and relieved) Star Tugs. He described how they tried to speed ahead, but Grampus and some Coast Guard vessels had cornered them. Meanwhile, the raven perched on the roof of the office, listening to the news. Once it had sufficient information (and was noticed by the switchers again), it flew off.
Hercules was getting refuelled at one of the fuelling docks when he spotted the raven. Something was definitely off with the way the raven was flying, and he felt himself tense up in anger. The switchers were on him after all. The raven landed on one of the ocean tug's massive pipes, wanting to rest its wings after such a flight. In a quiet voice, Hercules asked, "Is something on your mind dear Pluto? Do tell."
Notes:
• Timberwolf is another oc, and will be a big player in some of these later chapters. She is experienced, but overconfident. Appearance wise, think a slightly larger Bluenose with some lip gloss
• The Vikings had used ravens as navigation guides: r/todayilearned/comments/2xi9zd/til_vikings_used_ravens_to_navigate_they_brought/