Thousands of miles to the southwest, in Thailand.
SAMUT PRAKAN, THAILAND
In one of it's restaurants by a river. A waitress walks around with a Chang beer bottle. And approaches a man laying back on a chair sleeping, and slips the empty one in his hand and replaces it with the other and leaves.
The man then stirs, and pulled his hat back revealing to be Jonas. And it's likely been a tough 5 years for him.
He soon heads out of the restaurant, and walks onto a pier as a boat nears it.
Your boat, she's killing me." The captain complained. "Number 1 engine slips out of the gear and there's some leak in they hydraulics."
"Hey, I'll take a look at it tonight." Jonas assured.
"That's what you said last night and the night before that and the night before that." The captain complained as Jonas laughed.
"Hey, I'm working up to it." Jonas said.
"You drink too much." The captain pointed out.
"Hey, now you're only saying that because I literally have a beer in my hand." Jonas gestured to the beer in his right hand.
"You always have beer in your hand." The captain remarked. "You know why?"
Jonas thought for a moment. "Because I drink too much?"
Sometime later, Jonas was on his bike heading down a trail in a village to home. And some kids waved hi to him.
And he soon makes a left turn at a street, and then he came to a stop and noticed a helicopter that was seemingly near his place.
He enters inside of his home, and closed the door.
"Now this is shaping up to be an eventful Tuesday evening." Jonas said hanging his hat.
In his living was Mac, Zhang and Martin.
"You know I like to make an entrance." Mac simply said.
"Hell, Mac, after 5 years, just showing up is making an entrance." Jonas said as Mac approached him.
"What? You're living above a bar? Really?" Mac asked.
"Figured it was the only way to get you to come visit." Jonas plainly said.
Mac slightly shook his head, and then they hugged each other.
"Jonas, allow me to introduce..."
"It's an honor to meet you, Dr. Zhang." Jonas said to Zhang and shook his hand. "Always had a tremendous respect for your work."
"You're too kind, Mr. Taylor." Zhang said.
"Yeah, no, I'm not. "Jonas dismissively said. "You're a good man. Hey, can I offer either you 3 a beer? 'Cause I'm gonna have a beer." He then heads to his fridge.
"It's not a social call, Jonas." Mac said.
"You mean you didn't helicopter in just to say "hi"?" Jonas turned to him and opens his fridge and grabs 3 beers. "You wound me, Mac."
Mac turns to Zhang and he made a gesture. "We have a serious..."
"Problem?" Jonas turned to him. "Thought so. Just like you know... I don't dive anymore. Done being responsible for people..."
"Mr. Taylor." Zhang tried to speak.
"Hey, I mean no offense, Dr. Zhang." Jonas turned to Zhang. "I mean if there were 2 people on this planet that could get me back into the water... it's probably you 2." He gestured to Zhang and Mac. "But you can't." And hands Zhang a bottle. "You're gonna tell me a problem, and I'll say no. You're gonna offer me money. I'll still say no. You're gonna appeal to my better nature, and I'm gonna say no. Because I don't have one." And he removes his beer cap. "So I say, why don't we sit down? We'll enjoy a couple of beers, and then we can get you on your way." And he sat down on his couch.
"Jonas. This happened this morning." Mac said bringing his phone out and plays a voice memo recording.
"Let's get out of here. Blow the tanks!"
"I'm trying. It's not working!"
Jonas soon sat up.
"Mac, help! Oh, my God. Oh, my God. DJ, Mac, there's something down here. Jonas was right. Jonas was right! Do you co..."
And the recording stops.
"It's Lori." Zhang said. "Your ex-wife and her crew are trapped below 11,000 meters." And Jonas turns to him. "I fear they may have encountered the same species you did down there."
"Whatever attacked them, might be the same kind of creature you described when the you were escaping the submarine." Martin said.
"I have divers with less experience willing to go." Zhang added. "But I feel I owe it to my crew to give this rescue the best chance of success. Please."
Jonas remained uneasily silent.
Meanwhile, 36,000 feet at the floor of the Mariana Trench.
The Origin sub still lies on the seafloor, and inside Lori, Wall and Toshi are still holding out okay. And trying to see of they can get the sub running again.
"Lori, hand me the hexa key." Wall said working at some wires.
Lori hands him the tool, and he grabs it. "Thanks."
Wall then used to pry a small section loose. And then he drops the tool and warms his hands from the freezing temperatures from outside which is well below freezing.
"Okay." Wall working on the wires. "Okay, if we can short out the firewall... I can... I can probably reboot the computers."
Close by, Toshi was writing a letter.
And Wall placed a wire down as it sparks. "Okay. Try it now."
Lori reaches over, and pushed a button, and then the auxiliary power is back online. And they sighed in relief.
"Auxiliary power's back." Lori announced gratefully.
And then the screens turned back on, and they say they everything was in low power mode.
"Heaters are online." Lori said. "There's no way that we'll get the engine started, but we might be able to get the ballast tanks back."
Then Wall noticed Toshi working on his letter. "What are you doing? Taking notes?" He asked.
"Letter to my wife." Toshi said.
Lori and Wall turn to him.
"Just in case." Toshi turns to them.
Lori nodded.
"Hey. We got this." Wall reassured. "Step by step. Come on give me the fighting Octopus." He brought his fist.
Toshi placed his pencil down, and fist bumps him and Walls snatches it. And then they moved their hands away like an Octopus.
As they finished, Lori clears the mist from a screen. And then pushed a button, and then the lights flicker and then they were fully on.
"See? Works every time." Wall smiled.
Toshi soon sat up, but then it was short lived when Lori looked like she was listening to something.
"No." Lori suddenly said.
Wall turned to her thinking something's wrong. "What?"
"We gotta can the lights." Lori said.
But just before they did anything, the sub was suddenly struck and felt it was hit by a freight train. And then the crew were hitting the walls as the sub was in a barrel roll.
In Mana One, 36,000 feet up, Jimmy and DJ were talking when the screen suddenly showed "IMPACT ALERT".
And they turned to the screen.
Back on the seafloor, the sub sits on the seabed as a cloud of sand was around the sub.
Inside, Lori got up but was strangely in pain. And then it was reveal as she sat up and reveals a screwdriver has pierce her stomach in the collision.
Wall himself now has a cut on his forehead, and saw the wound on Lori.
"Turn out the lights." Lori said.
It was clear that whatever attacked them twice, was still around lurking in the dark. And they found out the hard way that whatever it is, is drawn to anything with light.
And light is a magnet to lots of creatures in the dark depths. Some animals use light to find other members of their kind, while other creatures used light as a defense. And predators use light to lure in prey, or as a magnet as come at them.
Unaware of what happened, Suyin and Heller were in the meeting room. And were watching some footage of Heller questioning Jonas 5 years ago after the sub explosion.
And Chris and Aviva were at the table with a tablet, trying to figure out deep sea creature is the culprit.
"There was something down there with us." Jonas said.
"How can you be sure if there were no observation windows on your craft?" Questioned another man.
"'Cause whatever it was caved in the entire starboard side of a nuclear submarine." Jonas said. "It wasn't my imagination."
"Is that why you blew the hatch mid-rescue?"
"Hey, look, I brought 11 men back safe and sound."
"You left 8 more to die because you panicked."
"If I hadn't blown the hatch, we all would have been killed by that thing."
There was no thing. There was no evidence of anything."
"Because it was destroyed in the explosion, Heller. Look, there was no time left! So I made the call!"
"And you left our friends there to die in an act of cowardice!"
Clearly Jonas was angered by that and reached towards Heller. And the footage was paused.
"You sure really ticked him." Chris said.
"What do you think happened down there?" Suyin asked.
"He lost it." Heller said clearly still going with what he believes. "And now we're about to send him into the exact same situation."
"Okay, let's go over this again." Chris said looking through the tablet. "Whatever attacked the Origin has to be a large creature." And the screen narrows down to several large sea creatures.
"Okay." Aviva said.
"And it's a deep sea dweller." Chris added.
"Hmm-hmm." Aviva nodded.
The tablet narrows down to any kind of large deep sea creature.
"And the creature has to be clearly a predator, and is drawn to light." Chris noted.
"Yeah." Aviva nodded.
And then the tablet sorts the creatures to those with those features. But it brought out both a Giant and Colossal Squid, which are the only large creatures known to lived in the dark depths.
Chris growls in frustration. "Another dead end! Okay, let's go over this again."
"Chris, we've went over this 30 times now." Aviva said a little tired.
"Look, something had to attack them." Chris said. "It's clear it wasn't a landslide. It has to be something."
And then a door was heard opening.
"Excuse me, Suyin." DJ called.
They turned to him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we need to you." DJ said. "It's an emergency."
Heller closed his laptop, and they got up.
DJ soon leads them to the control room.
"What's wrong, Jaxx?" Suyin asked.
"What happened?" Chris asked.
"The creature that attacked has struck again." Koki said.
"Now they're leaking Oxygen." Jaxx added. "They've got a couple of hours. Maybe more."
Suyin looks at the screen as it said "WARNING! LEAK DETECTED".
It was then Suyin had enough of waiting. "I'm going."
"No." Jaxx denied.
"Wait, what?" DJ frowned.
"I'll take one of the gliders... grab the Origin, and tow her up." Suyin said.
"Are you crazy, you can't go down there." Koki said. "You'll get your death warrant signed."
"Wait! If the Origin's ballast tanks blows, you're gonna die, too." Jaxx said.
"We have to try." Suyin said.
Suyin soon leaves the room.
Suyin soon exits the room, and heads to ready and head out.
"Mummy?" Said a voice.
Suyin turns behind her and saw her daughter playing with her toys.
"Meiying." Suyin turns to her. "Here you are." She approached her and kneels down to her. "Um... Some of our friends are stuck... I'm going to save them."
"Is it dangerous? Can I come with you?" Meiying asked in Chinese.
Suyin thinks a little uneasy. "One day you will. You're my very brave girl. Right?" She then pokes Meiying's nose.
And then she hugs her.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
Suyin remains sadly silent in case this might be the last time she sees her daughter.
Shortly later, Suyin was ready and is in the yellow glider.
The 2 gliders they have are in a streamlined design. And both have a single pilot hatch with is a glass-sphere with thick glass. And can be adjust as the glider dives.
And soon the hatch closes.
In a control, room, final checks were made.
"Good to go." Announced a member.
"Suyin, you are go for launch." Another called to her.
And he pressed a launch button on his screen.
In the glider, Suyin readies the glider's engine and the platform tilts 45 degrees downward.
And the launch button was pressed, and counts down.
And soon, the gliders slides down and hits in the water, and the lights were turned on.
And Suyin begins begins the long descend of 36,000 feet. And pushed a button on her screen.
"Auto descend sequence initiated."
In the lower level, Meiying walks across the hall and high fives a member on a cart.
And soon Meiying saw the glider that her mom is in. And passes by Bumper and his mother resting for the night.
And Meiying watches as the gliders begins the long dive down. And she waves goodbye.
And then Meiying saw Bumper's mother stir, and then wakes up. And then she gently turns to the little girl behind the glass. And then she made a series of clicks from her large head. And they were so gentle, take Meiying sort of took it comforting.
Physically, she has little in common with the super giant. Yet she feels closer to it. And they're both similar in different ways.
They're both creatures with close family bonds. A real sense of curiosity. And a way to communicate.
And then she heads up to the surface to breathe.
Above her, the helicopter slowly lowers to the landing pad.
And waiting for them was Morris, Jaxx, Chris, Martin and Aviva.
The helicopter lands, and soon Mac, Jonas and Zhang stepped out of the chopper.
"Sir, we've got a new problem." Jaxx approached Zhang.
"It's your daughter." Morris said.
"She took a glider to try and save them." Jaxx explained.
"Why did you let her go?" Zhang asked in disbelief.
"Trust me, I didn't let her do anything." Jaxx said.
"We'd tried to stop her.' Chris said. "But the sub took another attack, and now leaking Oxygen."
"I was sort of under the impression you're supposed to try to save people who are dying on the bottom of the ocean." Morris said.
"Who's he?" Jonas glanced Morris.
"I'm the guy who paid for all this." Morris answered.
"Uh-huh." Jonas replied.
"You know, he looks heroic and he walks fast, but... he's kind of got a negative attitude." Morris said to Zhang and Jaxx.
Soon, they entered the elevator.
"What's the window?" Jonas asked.
"It'll be close." Jaxx said.
Jonas turned to her. "Who are you?"
"I'm the one that designed all this." Jaxx simply said.
"So my life's in your hands?" Jonas questioned.
"Pretty much." Jaxx raised her eyebrows. "That a problem?"
"Nah. You look like you might actually know what you're doing." Jonas said.
And then, the elevator door opened.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Zhang stops Jonas from leaving. "Mac, have Dr. Heller meet us in the medical bay."
"Heller?" Jonas questioned.
"Did I not mention that?" Mac asked and winced.
"You mother..." Jonas glared.
And the elevator door closed.
"Okay, I'll get the Amphi-Sub ready." Aviva said and walks off.
Author's Note:
Okay, how should I say this?
I've done some thinking, and I've decided that Kubwa and Drago should fix better in a Rampage Alternate.
Is that okay?