Pacific Transit, 19:30 Hours
U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet
Near the Marianas Trench
"It's alright Rodan, we'll be off soon."
All Alex got in response was a snort. They had all been moved on board a U.S Navy carrier battle group led by the USS Nimitz CVN-68. The monsters hated being confined in these vessels, but the pacific was far too large and far too deep for them to cross to the Mariana's and south east Asia. The group was also under strict observation by the soldiers as the warships had sensitive information that was heavily classified by the Navy, and thus was required to have armed escorts at all times.
"Man. Can't these guys just chill out and trust us for a second?" Martin complained ever since they first departed about their accommodations.
"For once Martin, I agree."
Diana had to be held back from lashing out a few times, and so agreed with her step brother wholeheartedly.
"They know what we can do, and that they can trust us with secrets. Why the suspicion?!"
Clover, being the typical valley girl, tried more than once to sweet talk the admiral, and for her trouble received the butt of a rifle in the stomach, from a female soldier no less. She can still feel the sting. Sam was present when the "incident" occurred, and complemented the guard for their swing. "Nice swinging there soldier." She too was aimed at with the barrel, and the soldier chambered a round.
The group heard the door to the makeshift menagerie open, and saw Nick enter.
"It's called confidentiality, Ms. Ewing. Some of this technology would give our enemies the advantage, and would also cause public uproar. I myself am bound to these regulations. You don't have to like it, we just have to live with it."
Before Clover can give Nick a piece of her mind, the group hears a box tumble in a corner, causing the nearby soldiers to draw their rifles. Inching closer to the source of the sound, they turned on their flashlight attachments, and a small head pops out. "Wait! I'm friendly! Don't shoot! No weapons! See?" Inching out of the corner of boxes was a small American girl, no older than 12 with dark hair and a blue denim jacket. Instantly upon seeing the small toddler, the WOOHP agents simultaneously swooned!
"AWWWW! SHE'S ADORABLE!" The boys all had to restrain them from rushing the girl, who was clearly uncomfortable with all the attention she was getting from the three teenagers. The other three: Brittney, Martin, and Diana surprisingly, we're being reasonable, and Martin was one of the three boys, alongside Nick and Java holding the ecstatic spies back. Billy was simply confused as to why the three were all swooning over one girl, and Marvin was facepalming at the scene.
Diana decided to be the first to break the ice, while rubbing her neck in embarrassment.
"I'm sorry about them. They can be a bit.. much sometimes. What's your name kiddo?" The girl first nestled back into the boxes, and answered very softly. "Madison. Madison Russell." One of the soldiers blinked. "Did you just say Russell? As in, Mark and Emma Russell? Are you their daughter?" "Yes?" The soldier then smiled, Angeles his rifle to the floor, and held out his hand. "Welcome back to Monarch, Madison."
Mike then walked in. "What's all this commotion?" She started to ask, then saw the comical scene before her.
Brittney decided to spill the beans, and motioned to the stowaway. "Ask our new member, Ms. Saegusa." At that point, she connected the dots, and walked over to the three love crazy spies, invades their minds forcefully, and shuts them down, causing all three to fall limply to the floor unceremoniously. Nick then looked at Miki. "Thank you for putting them on time out." "It was my pleasure Nick." "Wait.. Your Nick Tatopolous. I saw your broadcast when I was 6 years old. The 1998 New York attack." "Uhhh. Thank you, I guess."
"I am Miki Saegusa, Ms. Russell. And yes, I did that to those spies via telepathy. Speaking of which, time to wake them up." Putting her hands to her head, and looking at the impromptu dog pile, she woke them up.
"Ugh. My head." Sam was the first to wake up, and with a bad headache. Clover was the second to complain. "Ughh. Major headstorm." Alex woke up last. "Ugh. I feel like I have a hangover, and I'm not even 21!" Madison walked over to the group, no longer afraid. "Umm. I didn't catch your names." Rather than answer her question, they slowly got up, and upon seeing her face, paled in recognition. "Uh oh! We messed up!"
Before the three could descend into panic, Madison smiled. "It's okay! It's all water under the bridge now! You're forgiven." Their fears assuaged, they introduced themselves one by one.
Alarms blared throughout the ship, and the executive officer, a captain, ordered all personnel to battle stations, and for the heroes to come to CIC.
2 minutes later
The group made it to CIC. The Combat Information Center was a hive of activity from Monarch and US Navy Personnel. The admiral was there waiting for them. "I don't know what the hell you did in Brazil, but somehow they sent some friends after you. Some band of mercs or pirates on skiffs are tailing us, and they all have AK-47 rifles and some pretty nasty looking knives. Some of them also have grenades. Care to explain who you pissed off?"
"As far as I know Admiral, no one." Nick tried to deescalate the suspense.
"Don't bullshit me Tatopolous! Who did you anger?!" "No one!"
Just then, a voice from a radio sounded, accompanied by static as it was a hacked line. It was distinctly Hispanic sounding, as the speaker spoke in accented English.
"Knock knock, Nicky! Apex says Hola, Perra!"
"This is US Navy Rear Admiral Chris Sweeney! Who am I speaking to, and how did you get this frequency?! Answer now, or we will open fire!"
"Alright, alright, amigo! So much for pleasantries! This is Vega Hernandez speaking, yank, and as of right now, this ship is Apex property! Hand it over, and maybe we won't scalp all you, eh? Oh, and before you think about launching some missiles, you should know that I am already aboard, and we already clapped some of your marines, and we have the girl hostage, so unless you want us to gut out her insides, stand down hike de puta!"
"Shit! They have Madison! Admiral, what do we do?!"
"New radar contact! It's massive, and closing fast! Sir, it's organic!"
From a nearby porthole, Nick looked at where the screen last picked up the signature. He clearly sees a serpentine figure moving in the water, almost the size and length of a submarine. He can see it because of the color of the scales: aquamarine blue, contrasting the darker blue of the pacific salt water. It reminded him of a Chinese dragon. "Manda. Hold on Madison, help is on the way. Admiral, that creature is friendly. I think it's here to help Madison!"
"Men, stand down. Let the beast do the work. I do want a SEAL team moving in as a distraction."
"Sir, DEVGRU is on the way."
"In the meantime, let's see if we can stall for time by finding out why Apex wants this ship. Patch me through to this bastard."
"You're on sir."
"This is Admiral Sweeney. I want to ask for your reasons on why you want this ship."
"Well, since you asked, cabron, we know you have monsters and Monarch associates on this vessel. Apex paid us a lot of pesos in advance to bring everything on this ship, including those monarch goody two shoes and monsters."
"That's the second time you mentioned Apex as your employer. Why do they care so much about cargo we don't have?"
As a response, they hear a shriek. It was distinctly that of a child. "Admiral, help me!"
"Don't you dare bluff me, pendejo yank, I know a liar when I see or hear one. You try it again, this girl will have a slow and painful end before her life even starts. Now - WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!"
Down in the menagerie, where Madison and the monsters are being held hostage, the mercenaries quickly turn to what their boss saw: Manda. The serpent had closed the distance, and jumped out of the water into the hangar where the pens had been built, and jumped back in the other side, devouring some of the pirates on the way. 7.62mm rounds were fired into the water with no effect. Then, bursts of 5.56 NATO rounds ripped through the air: the Navy Seals had arrived, and behind them were the heroes. "Java hates pirates!" "Oh yeah, we don't like you either, gordo!" Manda then jumped again, taking more, including Vega, but not before he fired a burst of lead at Java, grazing his side, causing him to keep over in excruciating pain.
With their head honcho gone, the remaining pirates decided to jump into the water themselves in suicide.
"JAVA!" Martin rushed to Java, followed closely by all his friends. They couldn't believe what had happened. His yellow shirt was stained crimson with blood.
"Clear the way! Medic coming through!" The soldiers quickly moved the heroes out of the way and got to work.
Two very long and grueling hours later, they received word from a doctor. "Your friend is going to be okay. The rounds grazed his side. He's lucky. Just make sure he takes it easy for a few days."
Then, the group saw the head of Manda rise from the water, and his eyes locked onto Brittney.
"Thank you. For saving us."
"Thank you mr dragon! I owe you my life!" Madison added on.
Manda bowed his head in acknowledgement, and followed closely behind the battle group all the way to Shanghai.
