Mutio boarded Blue-6 through one of the gaping holes left by the previous robot attack. Most of the Kumos were in pursuit of Paolo's accomplices, who had disengaged from the battle after Paolo's mech self-destructed. Pete, Alex, and Luke ran up to meet her.
"Hey, Mutio!" said Luke. "Good to see you're...wow, dude. Something the matter?"
Mutio had an eerie expression on her face. It was emotionless as usual, but there was something about her eyes that unsettled her companions. There were hints of a suppressed malice in her body language (she seemed to twitch and fidget a little around the hands and elbows, and her body was shaking), as if she was trying very hard not to lash out and attack anyone. She didn't seem angry at them, but none of them wanted to bother her. Without a word, all three of them stood aside to let her crawl along the corridor.
"What was that all about?" asked Pete, as the three turned to watch her.
Then behind them, a Kumo surfaced. The top hatch opened, and out came Giorgia. Silently, she latched onto Blue-6, and climbed into the hole. The three men were shocked when she rushed past them with the speed of a leopard to catch up to Mutio. Following her sister, Giorgia hissed impatiently, as if demanding that Mutio come back and re-join the battle. But Mutio made no response. Giorgia hissed again, and again she was ignored. Losing her patience, Giorgia grabbed Mutio by the shoulder. Mutio wheeled around, growled furiously, and seized Giorgia by the neck. She had her elder sister in a tight grip, as if she was going to throttle the life out of her. Giorgia was both surprised and angry by this, but only tried to break free of Mutio's grasp instead of lashing out at her. After a brief struggle, she broke free and seated herself on the metal floor. She put her wrist to her mouth and let her jaw hang open in surprise. She had never seen Mutio like this in her entire life.
Mutio hissed menacingly at Giorgia, and gestured for her to leave. But Giorgia wouldn't obey.
"Hey, you might wanna leave her alone." suggested Luke, with Alex nodding in agreement over his shoulder. "I think she's having a bad day."
"Hmph!" snorted Giorgia, ignoring the three humans behind her.
What did they know about her sister? They only met her a few days ago, and Giorgia knew Mutio since the day they came out of the culture tanks. All Mutio needed was a good thrashing to put her back in her place, and she was more than ready to give it to her. She curled up, ready to pounce on her sister. She dove forward, and the two nereids began wrestling each other. But just as the three humans rushed over to stop their fight, Mutio managed to overpower her sister and knock her out cold against the metal wall.
"Hey, what the hell's going on here?" demanded Yuri, who came down running with Katsuma and two security officers behind him. "Who's fighting?!"
"I think Mutio's having an...anger attack." said Pete.
"An anger attack?" asked Yuri.
"Yeah, it's when you suddenly get super pissed off and you feel like you could just beat the crap out of the next person that tries to bother you about something." explained Pete. "I used to have them all the time after my favorite TV show started to suck in the later seasons. I never got over how they..."
"Well, someone needs to get those nereids under control or I'll have to kick them both off the sub."
"We won't need to." said Luke. "Mutio won. I've got a feeling her sis won't be feeling too good when she opens her eyes."
"I'll take her. I think she might need privacy and distance from Mutio when she wakes up." said Katsuma, lumbering over to Giorgia's unconscious body and carried her away in his arms, moving in the opposite direction from Mutio. He didn't seem to be leading her to the sickbay.
"So...who wants to bet that Katsuma's gonna end up with her?" asked Pete, with a very casual tone in his voice.
"Why would you think that, man?" asked Luke.
"Well, they both have scars for one." said Pete. "And they're both fish-people. And I think our big green gill-man could do with a lady in his life. Especially after all the stuff he went through."
"Okay, uh...five dollars that they won't get together." offered Luke.
"Fifteen that they will." countered Alex.
"Yeah, fifteen sounds good." said Pete. "I'll bet the same."
Yuri was definitely unamused.
"Will you three stop clowning around?" asked Yuri. "If you can't behave yourselves aboard a military vessel, I'll have to kick you three off instead. You can find an iceberg to live on for all I care. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see who was in Levina's Kumo. It just came back inside, and I wanna know why it was out in the first place. She was supposed to stay here aboard Blue-6 and guard Amonyushuu! Speaking of which, could one of you check on her? And try not to bother her about anything. Make yourselves useful, for God's sake!"
"Hey, Russian dude! Mind if I come down with you, too." asked Luke. "I heard that music, and whoever was in that Cummo-"
"Kumo." snarled Yuri, who was annoyed by Luke's informal behavior.
"-has some great taste. The Scorpions are a classic!"
Yuri glared angrily at Luke, and seemed to be fighting the urge to just grab him and chuck him out through the hole. But in the end, he beckoned Luke to follow, though with an air of reluctance. But then he stopped and turned to Pete.
"Hey, where's that other guy that was with you?" Yuri asked Pete. "Urr...Rockefeller, or whatever his name was."
"Oh, he went to help repair one of those robot things with those mechanics." said Pete. "We were talking about robot girls, and I guess he thought he'd try doing something with the robots and-"
"Okay, I've heard enough." said Yuri, who was even more annoyed and disgusted with them than before. He left, with Luke and the security officers trailing behind him. "In fact, forget about checking on Amonyushuu. I don't want any of you near her. I'll just have Katsuma check on her when he's done with that nereid."
Then the Seele emerged from the water next to Giorgia's Kumo. Opening the hatch, Hayami called in through the hole. Kino opened her own hatch.
"Hey, have you two seen Mutio?!" Hayami shouted to Alex and Pete.
"Yeah!" said Pete. "She looked very pissed about something! I think you might wanna come aboard to check her out!"
"Got it!" said Kino, closing the hatch.
The Seele went underwater, preparing to dock inside of Blue-6.
The airship was closing in on the helicopter. Campbell, in a panic, took the chopper high up into the air, and landed on top of it. Surprisingly, he landed safely without even denting anything, nor did anything show up to attack them. But since the high altitude was making everyone lightheaded, none of them wanted to waste any time. The Halifax refugees disembarked and proceeded quickly towards a raised part of the airship's top deck in case there was an opening they could retreat into. They found one, and quickly ran into it before the freezing winds could claim any of them. They found themselves in a corridor until they stopped at a door, which was sealed shut and there was no clear way of opening it. A panel in the wall next to the door opened up, and a large tray-like extension slid out of the bottom. As soon as everyone was inside, the door behind them shut itself. Everyone cautiously brandished their weapons. The corridor lit up all around them.
"Welcome aboard the Perun." said a high-pitched female voice. "I will ask you to please place all firearms, ammunition, and other foreign objects inside of the bin."
"What the..." asked Erik. "Who's talking?"
"I am the Perun's onboard artificial intelligence." said the voice. "You may call me Lucya. I'm really excited to meet all of you."
She chuckled a little.
"Believe me, I don't feel the same." Erik snapped at her.
"Very well, but I would appreciate if I wasn't interrupted." Lucya continued. "I was going to warn you that the room you and your group are standing in has surveillance cameras that allow me to track your every movement, there are vents set to release high dosages of nerve gas into the room that is potent enough to incapacitate any land mammal on Earth, and there are security robots in the next room that have enough firepower to eliminate every single one of you. Since I don't want to hurt anyone unless I absolutely have to...or my master gives me orders to do so, I highly recommend that you surrender anything you have that can be used as a weapon, and place them in the designated bin. Canes, walkers, and similar objects can be kept by those that need them to walk."
Campbell turned to Knox and Erik.
"Do you think she might be bluffing?"
"Uh, I don't wanna risk it." said Knox. "Though I'm not going to play nice with whoever's on the other side."
"Me either." said Darren.
"Or me." said Erik.
"Or me." said Patel. "They're going to have a lot to answer for. Men, give up your arms! Let's get this over with."
The entire group placed their weapons, ammunition, and explosives in the bin, which then slid back and the panel closed.
"Thank you for your cooperation." said Lucya, happily. "Oh, and since you've undoubtedly spent quite some time in Halifax, which has been declared a quarantined area by the North American Health Organization, we will have to ask you all to take a medical exam before you meet my master."
"Not again..." grumbled Campbell, before speaking louder: "Hey, we're not going to get hosed with any orange goopy crap, are we?"
"Not to worry." said Lucya. "We will only ask you to take showers and remove your clothing and armor. You will be given new outfits afterwards. If any of you happens to be sick with the plague, it is advised that you make yourselves known. We will try to help you as best as we can."
Everyone looked around at each other, scrutinizing each other for any visible symptoms of infection.
"If anyone is infected, please don't be afraid to identify yourselves. You are risking not only your safety, but everyone else's, if you are aware that you are infected yet don't inform me."
Nobody gave her any response.
"Okay, suit yourself." said Lucya in a cheery voice. "Don't be alarmed though; our airship's medical equipment includes special sensors that can detect any contagion floating through your bloodstream. You won't even have to prick your fingers. Now please follow the spider-drone."
The door opened, and beyond the doorway were several robots of different shapes and sizes. The larger robots briefly aimed their weapons at the humans, before standing down when they saw they were all unarmed. Most of them stood aside, making room for the smaller robots, one of which was football-sized and resembled a spider. The group followed the drone as quickly as they could, with the security robots following them like shepherds to make sure none of them could break free or stray off into the wrong corridor. They were quickly led to a decontamination chamber, where they removed their apparel. The women went in first, then the men. They found fresh, clean clothing in nearby bins.
"I hope you all find your new clothes comfortable." said Lucya. "I'm glad to inform you that none of you are infected with the Arctic Plague, though some of you do have traces of the common cold and other ailments. I recommend looking into that at your earliest convenience. Now once you are all done, you will follow the spider-drone again."
They were led to an elevator, and in three trips, the entire group found themselves in a long dark room was very dark and hard to see. But they could still make out a long table lined with chairs in the middle.
"I'm guessing this is the bad guy's meeting place." said Erik. "Man, why do villains always hang around in poorly-lit evil lairs? Can't they ever be bothered to install a light switch?"
Suddenly, a glowing red light turned on at the far end of the table, and a low voice muttered:
"I apologize for the dim lighting, but I asked Lucya to make it so; my eyes have grown sensitive to bright lights in my advanced age. Lucya, I am ready now. Increase the lighting by 25%, please. And do it slowly."
"Yes, master." said Lucya.
Steadily, the lights turned on and the room illuminated so that they could see multiple trays and dishes of food and drink on the table. Nothing glamorous, just bread, slabs of butter, soup, carrots, celery, assorted fruits, milk, lemonade, and orange juice. At the end of the table, standing perfectly upright so that they could see how unusually tall and thin he was, the master of the airship was facing them, wearing his reinforced black outfit and mask. The red light was coming from the monocle-like apparatus that covered his right eye. He looked down on them from a slightly raised platform like a vigilant overseer.
"Feel free to sit down wherever you prefer." he said calmly. "And I imagine you must be hungry."
"Hey, I know you." said Campbell. "You're Dr. Grigori Tornovich of Eternal Robotics!"
"Yes, that I am." said Tornovich. "I believe you've already met a few of my company's creations."
"Yeah, and we fought some of them too!" said Knox. "Tore my whole damn village to pieces!"
There were some grumbles of agreement from the group.
"Do you have any idea how many men and women your...creations killed back in Canada?" Patel demanded.
"I do." Tornovich nodded slowly. "But confrontation was unavoidable, I'm afraid. I would have tried reasoning with your men and asked you to stand aside and allow me to eliminate the remaining Chimerans from the Musuca. But I know that none of you would have listened, so I didn't bother."
"And what about the civilians you killed?" asked Patel.
"Civilians?" asked Tornovich.
"Yes, doc." said Darren. "Civilians! Non-combatants! One of your damn robots went on a rampage through our settlement and killed or injured many good people."
"Yeah, including my friend Cyrus!" said Campbell. "He could not even move when I last saw him. I hope he's still alive, or I'll-"
"My condolences to you, and everyone else in that village." said Tornovich, with a grim but sincere tone in his voice. "But that too was unavoidable. You see, I served in Afghanistan nearly seventy years ago, during the Soviet invasion. For ten long years, our troops clashed with the locals. But they didn't just face us directly on the frontlines. Many times they would disguise themselves as civilians and strike at us when our guard was down. I was just an auto mechanic at the time, and often I would find myself repairing vehicles that were damaged by saboteurs. One night we found a wounded boy, no older than twelve, on the side of the road. He seemed to be badly injured, so a patrol brought him to an outpost where I was stationed. Two hours later, we found the boy missing, several vehicles badly damaged from the inside, and one motorcycle missing. So the commanding officer sent out two squads and a support chopper to pursue the boy into the mountains. They wasted no time in disposing of him, and the helicopter launched a barrage of missiles into his motorcycle, blowing him and his bike up into thousands of tiny pieces of burning metal. He was just a boy, but he had caused us hundreds of thousands of your dollars worth of damage to our hardware. The Soviet Union would show him no mercy after that."
He sighed, before continuing:
"But as it turned out, the boy's damage was far from over. For he had led the soldiers into an ambush by the rebels that resulted in the helicopter being shot down and all but one of the soldiers killed. The lone survivor lived long enough to report what had happened before succumbing to his wounds. They had no time to save him, because the boy had not only sabotaged the vehicles that were fast enough to get him out of there, but he had also removed all the first aid kits in them and scattered their contents into the sand."
He paused, and tilted his head down.
"I took it very personally since I had put so much heart and soul into my work, and to have it all be destroyed so easily..."
The whole group started muttering to each other, some expressing sympathy and others disgust.
"Look, what's your point?" asked Knox. "What does this have to do with us?"
"Well, I believed that you would have been some kind of militia or mercenary group hired by the military, since all of you were carrying quite a bit of firepower." explained Tornovich. "But even if you were civilians, we are living in apocalyptic times. You were all armed and likely to panic and shoot at anything unusual that came your way."
"It's true." Lucya chimed in. "Everyone on the surface was panicking and brandishing weapons. You gave us no choice but to open fire before you had done the same."
"So either way, a conflict was inevitable." finished Tornovich. "Now listen, I owe you all apologies and explanations for the current situation. I will explain the rest once Dr. Cameron arrives."
"Wait, Dr. Cameron is here?" asked Campbell.
The door behind Tornovich to the left opened, and Cameron was framed in the doorway. Campbell was absolutely puzzled, and so were the rest of his group.
"Hello, everyone." Cameron said to his fellow guests.
A/N: Sorry about the delay, folks! I thought I'd lay low a bit and work on other things while quarantine was in effect. I thought some of the subject matter being discussed in this story would raise some eyebrows, but I can assure everyone that I didn't plan this to happen when I started writing the story. But I thought I'd get this chapter out to prove that the story isn't cancelled and I'm not dead. Stay safe, people!