Johnny and Mavis were only about an hour into their two-hour predicted flight, when the AI suddenly spoke up, "SOS signal detected approximately 58,973 feet below our current position."
Mavis looked at Johnny and shrugged, "Maybe it's something we should take a look at."
Johnny grumbled something and walked over to the display at the control panel. One of the screens showed the camera view below them. Sure enough, there was a ship there...a military ship.
"What the…" murmured Johnny, watching the display. There were small specks moving along the deck of the ship, which must've been people, and bright flashes of lights. There was fighting right below them.
"AI, what's that ship?" asked Johnny, still watching the screen. Next to him, Mavis had walked up and was also watching the display. She had never seen a military ship with her own eyes, and had only heard stories about them from Johnny.
The AI responded swiftly, "USS Zumwalt, guided missile destroyer, US Navy, 193 personnel and crew, due to their current situation and the scans I have made, they appear to be under attack."
Johnny watched the ship. He should leave them alone. It wasn't his fight, after all. But he had to make sure of one thing.
"AI, zoom in on the attackers." said Johnny. The camera turned and zoomed in on the soldiers who were firing on the deck of the ship. Johnny's mouth dropped. Sure enough, the soldiers were undoubtedly sent from Ben. He could recognize the body armor from anywhere.
Mavis also noticed it. She grabbed Johnny's arm, "Maybe we should help…" she murmured, "After all, if they're attacking a US ship, then it is helpful to us if we find out why, right?"
Johnny nodded. He had already decided to bring the plane down lower. "Bring us down, AI," he said, "But keep us cloaked."
"As you wish, master Jonathan." said the AI, and immediately the Death's Bane began to descend slowly. On the display, the battle became less and less blurred. As Johnny watched, he noticed that the attackers had stopped firing. The door at the side of the bridge suddenly burst open, and a group of tattered and beaten-looking crew members came out, being dragged by the soldiers. They were led to the front of the ship, where Johnny noticed a few helicopters that had landed right on the deck. There, someone began to walk down the line of crew members, seemingly asking them questions, before shooting each of them in the head.
The sight sickened Johnny. He had to do something. Beside him, he felt Mavis shift as well. "AI, bring us down until we're right on top of them." said Johnny.
The Death's Bane flew down until they were only hovering a meters away from where the crew was. By now, only about two dozen crew remained, a line of dead sailors in their path. And by then, Johnny and Mavis had both realized who was shooting them. It was none other than General Clecius.
"Yeah, this is something big." said Johnny, "They wouldn't send General Clecius on anything small…"
Bang. General Clecius shot another crew member right in the face, who fell down, blood spewing out of the bullet wound.
"AI, can you enhance the audio?" asked Johnny. "Of course I can." said the AI, and the audio immediately went up.
"...you are lying. Ashar Libney is on this destroyer, and if you don't tell me where he is, I will kill you." General Clecius was saying.
"Who's Ashar Libney?" asked Mavis, "I've never heard of him."
"Neither have I." said Johnny, "Want to open fire? We can't let too many people die."
Mavis growled. She hated making these types of decisions. Decisions that people would probably die over. "Alright...AI, OPEN FIRE!"
Immediately, the four guns on the front of the Death's Bane opened up and began firing. The soldiers on board the ship, caught off guard, were blown to pieces. But General Clecius's doom blade automatically blocked all the bullets sent his way. The entire plane de-cloaked, and two more guns popped out on the bottom and also began firing.
Johnny and Mavis, along with their two automaton guards, jumped out from the back doors. The two automatons went right into actions, firing their guns at the enemy soldiers. Only about six crew members were remaining, and they had scrambled behind one side of the bridge to avoid the crossfire.
"Get to the helicopter dangit!" Johnny heard General Clecius yell, "Get to the-"
BOOM
The four helicopters that were on the deck exploded as the Death's Bane disintegrated them. General Clecius was forced back behind one of the gun installments on the destroyer as a column of bullets narrowly missed him.
Behind the side of the bridge, Mavis rematerialized into vampire form, scaring the crap out of the six crew members hiding there.
"Shhhh," said Mavis, "Don't worry, I'm here to help. Here, take these." Mavis threw them the duffel bag she had taken from the Warren Air Force base. It was filled with guns and grenades. The crew members each quickly grabbed a gun, and began to fire at the enemy soldiers. It was only then when Mavis heard a voice behind her, "Well, well, well…"
She spun around, and saw herself face to face with George. Immediately, she hissed and threw a punch right at him, but George was surprisingly fast, dodging it, and opening fire with his pistol. Mavis turned to mist, telekinetically throwing the crew members behind a crate on that end of the ship.
George growled, taking out his own doom blade and charging Mavis, who had turned back to vampire form due to the lack of concentration. Mavis dodged the first two swipes, but George finally managed to lightly cut her leg, making her stance fall slightly, then grabbed her neck with his other hand, bringing his blade up to Mavis's neck.
Mavis struggled, but it was futile. The arm she was being held with was made of metal, and was far stronger than a human arm. For a full twenty seconds, she struggled, before suddenly-
"Augh!"
George relinquished his grip on Mavis, who turned back to mist and flew back to the group of crew members. One of the crew members had hit George in the back with a bullet. But Mavis was confused. Why didn't George kill her? She was at his mercy for a full half minute. He could've easily chopped off her head right there and then.
The rest of the crew members also opened fire, but George had managed to hurl himself behind a crate again. Mavis turned her attention back to the main battle, which was going on between Johnny and the rest of the soldiers. One of the automatons which had accompanied them to the battle was already a smoking pile of metal on the ground, but the other one was still firing his gun, bullet holes all over his body.
Mavis, using her super speed, ran right into the fray, killing each and every soldier with brutally efficient energy. On the other end of the ship, there was a loud hissing noise, as a submarine suddenly appeared right next to the USS Zumwalt. There, General Clecius's men began jumping overboard, then swimming to the submarine. General Clecius himself also jumped overboard, and got into the submarine. Mavis spotted George as well, clambering into the submarine entrance. With another eerie hiss, the submarine vanished beneath the waves.
There was silence, as Mavis and Johnny watched the waves, then Johnny turned to the crew, "Hurry! Get to the bridge, see if you guys can track that submarine!"
The crew was frozen for a second, before a white-bearded man in a black uniform, who must've been the captain, thundered at them, "Get to it, we have nothing better to do."
The crew scrambled back into the bridge, with Mavis and Johnny following them. There, one of the crew members pressed a few buttons next to a display. A radar image showed up.
"Nothing. Those bastards probably have stealth tech." said the crew member. Johnny growled under his breath. Great. Now he really messed up by blowing his own cover.
The captain walked up from behind them, "Who are you guys anyways? I really owe you for saving our necks out there."
"My name's Mavis, this is Johnny." said Mavis, gesturing to Johnny. There was silence, then Mavis paled. She had forgotten about how they were international terrorists.
The captain stared. The crew stared. Johnny butted in, "Look, I know everyone thinks we're a terrorist, but you guys have to believe this. We aren't the bad guys. Those guys who just attacked you, they're the bad guys. They've been after us as well."
The captain watched him, then said, "I believe you."
Johnny blinked. That was just about the last response he was expecting. The captain extended his hand, "James A. Burgandy, captain of this ship."
Johnny shook his hand hesitantly. A few of the crew members were looking at the captain as if he was going insane. The captain then also shook hands with Mavis.
"So tell me, if you truly aren't international terrorists who want to destroy mankind, then what are you guys doing?" asked the captain, "You might as well tell me."
Johnny looked at Mavis, who shrugged back at him. Johnny sighed, then began to tell his story. About how it all began with their trip to Veld, and how they were attacked by the military for no apparent reason. How they had survived and had fled, going from city to city, looking for answers, and how they had ended up finding the USS Zumwalt. He left out more personal information, such as the relics, or Dracula.
There was silence after the story was told, then the captain said, "You know...most of my colleagues would think that I'm crazy for saying this, but do you guys need a ride right now?"
Johnny immediately replied hastily, "No, that's not necessary, our plane is fine right now."
James chuckled, "That's more than just a plane...It's more technologically advanced than anything I've ever seen."
Johnny smiled, "Thanks, but we've got to get going. Tell the government what happened, but don't say anything about us." he glared at the rest of the crew, "got it?"
The crew all nodded fervently. A few minutes later, Johnny and Mavis were back on board the Death's Bane, and were talking to Captain James.
"So, who's this Ashar Libney who I heard about?" asked Johnny. The captain shrugged, "I honestly have no idea. Whoever they were after, he wasn't on board this ship.". Johnny could tell that James wasn't lying, but he still didn't like it. So many crew members dead, for someone who wasn't even there at all.
Johnny glanced at his watch again, "Listen, we really gotta go now-"
"One last thing," the Captain handed Johnny a scrap of paper, "This is my emergency number. You can reach it at anytime, anywhere, with or without a signal. If you need me, dial this into a phone and I'll be notified."
Johnny nodded, tucking the paper into his pocket, and silently making a mental note to never use it. He knew from people like George that acting friendly didn't necessarily mean that you were friendly.
Back at the cockpit, Mavis was sitting at the co-pilot's seat, thinking. I should be dead right now. Was the only thing crossing her mind. Because she should be dead. George should've killed her. Why didn't he?
A number of possibilities crossed her mind. Perhaps his boss had ordered him not to kill her, or perhaps he was trying to simply capture her. But then, there was the possibility that George's loyalties were changing…
Mavis shook her head. She can't allow thoughts like this to cloud her judgment, especially in times like this. Behind her, the cockpit door opened, and Johnny walked in. He sat down next to her, and punched a few buttons. Soon enough, they were rising from the damaged USS Zumwalt, and ascending high up into the air, until the destroyer went out of view.
Johnny watched Mavis, "You seem...troubled."
Mavis shifted uncomfortably. She didn't want to talk about this right now, but she needed someone to say it to. "When I was helping the crew members fight, I had a little run-in with George."
Johnny nodded. He had also seen George go into the submarine, but he didn't see him anywhere else.
"We fought, and George kind of overpowered me…." said Mavis, "But...he didn't kill me. Why didn't he?"
Johnny looked surprised, "You should be happy you weren't killed! What's the problem?"
"I don't know...I felt...I felt as if George didn't kill me because he didn't want to. I think he's changing." murmured Mavis.
Johnny looked at Mavis, "Come on, Mavey, you know that George can't be trusted, he's the reason all of our supporters are dead!"
Mavis sighed, "I know, but if he truly was against us, he would've killed me. It didn't feel right…"
Johnny kissed Mavis, "Listen, you're alive, and that's the only thing that matters to me right now. Get some rest, we'll fly to a random location to hide, since George and General Clecius both know where we were last."
Mavis nodded. She was already getting sleepy. "Alright, Johnny…" she murmured, falling asleep at the co-pilot's seat.
Johnny sighed, glad they were back in the air. Back in the safety of the Death's Bane. "AI, get us to an uninhabited island. Scan the area and make sure there are no human life forms before landing." he said. He fell asleep a few minutes later, thinking of what they would do once they touched the ground again...
"You WHAT?" growled the man behind the desk angrily, "They fought you off?"
General Clecius nodded, clearly afraid, "The vampire and her pet barged in in the middle of our search for Ashar. They are the reason the remaining crew members were able to rally."
"But then...Ashar is still alive, and he knows that we are searching for him. This complicates our situation tenfold!" yelled the man behind the desk.
"But what of the captain? Couldn't we just kill him-"
"No, fool," said the man behind the desk, "The captain is a military official, we aren't permitted to touch him. No, we must be cautious. Move the weapon from the Aux Isles to Clipperton Island. I don't want that pesky vampire and her human friend to find out about it!"
General Clecius nodded, "Yes sir."
"Good. Bring in George as well, I have an assignment for him..."