Team Atlantis and all related characters and concepts are the property of the Walt Disney Company. Everything else in this tale is drawn from history both real and imaginary.
The Hungry Seadog Inn, Banty Bay, Co. Cork, Ireland, 1920 A.D.
Pale grey daylight filtered through the rivulets of rainwater running down the bay window, giving the pub's interior an oddly colder cast then it had the night before.
Two rectangular tables had been shoved together and strewn with maps and charts depicting the village, the bay and the surrounding countryside for miles around. Around them sat Kida, Milo, Audrey, Dr. Sweet, and Vinny.
"There must be something we're missing here," Milo ran his fingers through his stringy chestnut hair. "Okay, what do we know so far?"
"We know the Dhobar-chú hunts along the coastline," spoke Kida.
"And that big lightning-monster's skulking around somewhere in the deep bay," Audrey chipped in.
"Ned said the Dhobar-chú was afraid of deep water…" Milo stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe the lightning monster is some kind of super-predator that's hunted the Dhobar-chú to near extinction?"
"I guess it's true what they say," Vinny drawled. "There's always a bigger fish."
"Grub's up!" Molly the barmaid swooped in, rapidly dispensing five bowls of watery oxtail stew. "Anything else, luvs?"
"No, but thanks again, Molly," Sweet shook his head. "Not unless you know any good monster hang-outs hereabouts?"
"Well…" she paused, a strangely far-away look gleaming in her eye. "If I were a giant unholy man-devouring beastie lookin' to set up shop 'round these parts… I suppose my best bet would probably be Le Vengeur."
Audrey cocked her head. "Le what now?"
"It's an old wreck about five miles up the coast, part of an armada sent by France to aid Wolfe Tone's Rebellion back in 1798," Molly sighed wistfully. "Obviously, it dinnea help much."
The five adventures exchanged a few glances.
Milo shrugged.
"It's as good a place as any to start, I guess."
[-]
Le Vengeur
A high pitched whirring echoed through once silent corridors of the old derelict as a spinning saw-blade sliced a six by six foot square in the hull. Someone grunted as they kicked the wooden panel inwards, allowing clear grey-white daylight to penetrate the ancient wreck for the first time in over a century.
A rope ladder tumbled down from above before Vinny began climbing down.
"You know, I coulda just blown our way in?"
"Yeah..." Audrey clambered after, a portable circular-saw and battery-pack strapped to her back. "We kinda need the boat intact if we wanna search it, Vinny."
They were followed in short order by Kida, Milo and Dr. Sweet, the soft blue glow of their Atlantean crystals lighting the way.
"Maybe we should split up and cover more ground?" Milo suggested.
Kida nodded. "Milo and I will search the fore of the ship, the rest of you take the aft."
"How will we know if the other team finds the monster first?" asked Dr. Sweet.
"Easy," Vinny shrugged. "We just follow the screams."
[-]
Kida and Milo had been wandering the inverted corridors for about a quarter of an hour before they came to their first obstacle. The wooden passage before them sloped downwards, vanishing into the dark waters.
"It seems we are at an impasse," Kida spoke before stripping off her long coat and thick navy blue jumper. She had just kicked off her boots and shimmied out of her trousers when she paused to turn to Milo. "Are you not joining me?"
Milo's jaw hung low, eyes agog. "K-Kida... a-are y-you sure... I mean right now...?"
Kida smirked as she cupped his chin. "For a swim, Milo."
"Oh... Right," Milo grinned sheepishly, stripping down to his vest and boxers.
"That said," Kida purred, now clad only in her pale blue bandeau, bottoms and a sheathed dagger. "If you'd care to join me in our cabin aboard the Atlantean after our mission here is done...?"
She let the thought hang unspoken in the air as she slipped into the water.
Milo watched dumbstruck for a sec before smacking himself across the face. "Okay, Milo. Focus!"
He dived in after, letting the light of Kida's crystal light his way through the sunless waters. After a couple minutes, Milo's chest began to ache. His lungs would soon be screaming for air. If they didn't turn back now...
Kida signaled urgently, he followed her lead as they emerged into a mercifully placed air-pocket. Milo gasped greedily before Kida clamped a hand tightly over his mouth.
In their crystals' light, Milo began making out their surroundings. It was a half-submerged cabin, walls covered with chaotic disjointed scratchings. In one corner slumped the still form of Ned O'Malley, clutching a broken chair leg. Across from him curled the Dhobar-chú, its gulls fluttering rhythmically as it slept.
"Tend to O'Malley," Kida whispered. "I will deal with the Hound."
Milo nodded, slipping out of the water and up to the unconscious harpooner. Thankfully, his pulse and breathing seemed steady enough. "Mr. O'Malley... Ned...?" Milo whispered, trying to shake the man awake as discreetly as possible.
Meanwhile, Kida silently stalked towards the slumbering Dhobar-chú. She slowly drew her dagger from its sheath. With luck, she would end this horror with a single strike.
"W-whaa...?" Ned moaned climbing back to consciousness. His eyes abruptly darted open, catching the glint of Kida's blade as she raised it high.
"NOOOO!" Ned screamed, shoving Milo aside and pouncing on Kida like a man possessed. The two combatants fell to the ground, each frantically struggling to wrest control of the dagger.
"KIDA!" Milo yelled, leaping upon the giant harpooner's back and letting loose with a flurry of balled fists.
Something snarled as gleaming yellow eyes pounced from the dark. Next thing Milo knew, the Dhobar-chú had him pinned to the rotted planks. It's crocodile-like teeth hovered mere inches from his throat, as its rancid breath invaded his nostrils.
"MUIREANN, STOP!" Ned cried out!
The Dhobar-chú instantly released Milo, retreating back into its corner with a whimper.
Ned released a stunned Kida, rushing to throw his arms around the sea-hound. "There, girl..." he murmured softly, stroking the creature's wet mane. "They dinne mean any harm. They just dinne understand."
"Wait!? You?! Her!?" Milo panted. "WHAT!?"
[-]
Le Vengeur
"Hold up!" Dr. Sweet spoke incredulously. "Are you telling me the little girl we all thought got eaten by a monster… is the monster?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, Milo," Vinny drawled. "But that sounds just a lil' bit… What's the word I'm looking for?"
"Loco?" Audrey offered.
"Loco's good," Vinny nodded.
"Yeah… that's what Mr. Harcourt used to say about Atlantis," Milo snorted. "But look here, Muireann's explained everything!"
Milo ran his fingers along a scratch-drawing of a stick-girl horizontal amid swirling spirals, some sort of rectangular construct dead ahead.
"Looks like she was swimming when she found some kinda door or cave… She must have gone in exploring, is that right?"
The Dhobar-chú, or rather Muireann, nodded her hound-like head enthusiastically as her father stroked her soggy mane.
The stick-girl raised her two-dimensional limbs protectively, as jagged shapes rained down on her.
"There was… an accident, an earthquake or cave-in?"
The stick-girl now lay on her back, arms and limbs twisted in painfully unnatural ways. No one needed Milo to interpret that for them.
A new figure loomed over the fallen stick-girl, tall, gaunt and indistinct. Its only distinguishing feature was a crudely carved skull-like visage, crowned with what looked like a saint's halo.
"Who… or what is that?" Kida whispered.
"The Angel of Death, maybe?" Milo suggested. "Poor kid must have been delirious."
The stick-girl found herself surrounded by a bizarre assortment of strangely angled lines that, to Milo's antiquarian eye looked almost, like a sarcophagus or…
"Jiminy Christmas!" Milo exclaimed, as his brain finally caught up. "It's a machine!"
The stick-girl was at last replaced entirely by a four-legged blob-like beast, its mouth a mess of triangular teeth.
"I've done you a great wrong, Muireann, and almost did you an unforgivable one." Kida knelt before the Dhobar-chú, noticing the wound left by her spear on the girl-beast's paw. "May I?"
The Dhobar-chú looked to her father.
"S'alright, girl," Ned cooed. "She won't hurt ye."
The girl-beast offered her paw to Kida, who held her crystal to the oozing wound. Shimmering blue light danced about the injury sealing it shut as though it had never existed.
"Blessed Mother…" Ned whispered. "Please, tell me… is there anything you can do for my Muireann?"
"Perhaps," Kida offered. "If Muireann can show us exactly where this was done?"
The Muireann tilted her head thoughtfully.
[-]
Beneath Bantry Bay
Muireann slid through the waters with a grace that belied her monstrous form, the last rays of the dying sun dancing upon her scales. She paused only to snap up a passing conger eel, wolfing down the squirming fish in a few short gulps.
Two sub-pods followed in her wake, functional but ungainly by comparison.
[-]
"You know, I think I'm gonna cut down on the seafood from now on," Vinny drawled.
He was manning the gunner position on Sub-Pod 3. Audrey sat in the pilot's seat beside him, while Dr. Sweet haunched in the back.
"You sure leaving its-" Audrey caught herself. "I mean, her dad back on the Atlantean was a good idea?"
"Man just spent the night sleeping in a puddle of freezing saltwater!" Sweet protested. "Last thing that poor girl needs is her daddy keeling over from hypothermia."
[-]
Over in Sub-Pod 2, Milo and kida watched as Muireann stopped before a looming stone gateway. Its cyclopean frame was engraved with countless antediluvian glyphs.
Milo squinted. "It certainly looks Atlantean, maybe with some Late Lemurian influences?"
Muireann lingered at the threshold, turning to fix Kida with a pleading gaze through the sub-pod's windows.
"She is afraid."
"Can't say I blame her," said Milo. "Maybe if we go in first?"
Kida nodded her agreement as Milo guided the sub-pod through the narrow corridor.
"You know, I think I'm getting better at steering this-" Milo was cut off by a short sharp high-pitched screech, like iron nails on a granite chalkboard.
"What was that?" Kida asked nonchalantly.
"Nothing!" Milo grinned awkwardly, head sinking into his collar.
[-]
The sub-pods broke the surface in what looked like an immense subterranean grotto. Crumbled stone stubs that might have once been docks abutted the water, almost like a sub pen.
Audrey let out a low whistle, clambering out Sub-Pod 3's hatch. "Mole's gonna be sorry he missed this."
She was followed in short order by Dr. Sweet and Vinny, as well as Kida and Milo in Sub-Pod 2.
Last of all, came Muireann, slithering out of the water. Her hound-like head darted in all directions as though expecting attack from every shadow.
"It is alright, Muireann…" Kida bent low, holding the girl-beast close. "We will not abandon you here."
The girl-beast stalked forward, her thread steady if cautious, down a long shadowed passage.
"Ow!" Audrey cried, stumbling slightly as they followed.
"You okay?" Vinny asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Audrey replied. "Musta tripped on something is all."
"You should be more careful," Vinny drawled. "I had a cousin who tripped on a rock and dislocated his ankle once. It was a nightmare, foot all swinging off the leg like a lantern. Made a lil' squeaking noise."
Milo ran his fingers along the glyphs carved all across the passage walls.
"What you make of it?" Sweet asked.
"I'm not sure, a lot of it looks pretty technical," Milo admitted. "Frankly, Doc, I think this might be more your area of expertise."
Sweet tilted his head, intrigued. "Oh?"
"Well, near as I can tell this was some kind of research lab. Whoever built this place was looking for ways to manipulate something called the 'code of life'." Milo paused before a glyph vaguely resembling two intertwined snakes. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"Maybe," Sweet stroked. "Biologists have always known there must be some kinda medium in living cells that controls what traits get passed to the next generation. You know, eye color, blood type, that sorta thing? Could be a protein or a molecule."
"Could tampering with this 'code of life' have transformed Muireann," Kida asked.
"Why not?" Sweet admitted sombrely. "The Good Lord's been tinkering with His creatures since life began. He just takes His time is all."
"According to Darwin, all life came out of the sea originally. Maybe the ancient Atlanteans wanted to see if they could reverse the process?" Milo mused. "Well, I may be no biologist, but I can still read directions. The machine Muireann drew should be just around this…"
Milo's eyes went wide as they entered the main chamber. It was completely and utterly empty. Even the ancient tiled mosaics that must have once covered the walls had been pried loose, leaving only bare stone.
"No, no, no!" Milo fretted, running back and forth across the room. "This is impossible! It should be here! Who else would even know about this place!?"
Muireann whimpered mournfully, pawing at a large dustless rectangle in the middle of the floor.
Kida kneeled down, taking the beast's hound-like head in her hands as she stared into her yellow eye. "Muireann... I promise you, we will find whoever stole the machine that transformed you, even if I must pry it from their cold still grasp."
They raced back to the grotto, stopping short as the waters churned ominously.
Three new sub-pods rose from the waters, utterly unlike the models used by Whitmore Industries. Their sleek obsidian hulls were spiraled like the shells of giant prehistoric mollusks, portholes glowing a strange greenish-blue.
"Somebody expecting company?" Vinny asked.
The hatches of the strange sub-pods hissed like sea-serpents as they were thrown open, disgorging at least half a dozen masked figures in strange deep-blue uniforms and carrying bizarre weapons that sizzled and crackled with the scent of ozone.
Their leader was a tall, gaunt figure clad in an ebon-blue greatcoat, face obscured by a skull-like mask of pale whitish gold.
"The Angel of Death," Kida whispered as Muireann huddled behind her.
The skull-faced specter gazed down balefully on the assembled adventurers, before speaking in a cold metallic hiss…
"Surrender the child."
"Over my dead body!" Kida snarled, pointing her spear directly at the intruder.
"Whoa…whoa…" Milo's interceded, hands raised in what he hoped was a non-threating manner. "Maybe we can all just put down all our weapons and-"
"The time for negotiations passed the moment you struck us unprovoked," the specter intoned.
Audrey shot Vinny a glare.
"Ooooh, that was you guys?" Vinny drawled. "Sorry 'bout that. Thought you were like… a giant monster swordfish or somethin'. Maybe a big barracuda."
"How did you even find this place?!" Milo blurted "Who are you people!?"
"I am master of all the Deep's secrets, American. I am the sword of the oppressed, the scourge of all empires…" the figure intoned like a judge pronouncing sentence.
"I am Nemo."
Milo's jaw nearly fell off its hinges. "What!? You… You can't! You're not real!"
"Enough," spoke the Captain. "Number One, deal with these pests."
"With pleasure, Captain," the First Mate sneered, drawing two weapons like steel batons hooked up to a battery pack strapped to his back. With a flick of a switch, the batons were wreathed in arcs of crackling electricity.
"MOBILIS IN MOBILI!" the First Mate bellowed, leaping directly at Milo with weapons raised high.
Kida pushed Milo aside as the electro-batons connecting with the ground sending sparks flying. Before the First Mate could strike again, Dr. Sweet leaped from behind, grabbing the assailant in a lock that pinned both arms above the head.
"I got this!" Sweet yelled, his captive trashing wildly in his grip. "You two stop that lunatic!"
"Thanks, Doc!" as he and Kida raced off.
The First Mate hooked a foot around Sweet's ankle, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Sweet grabbed hold of the First Mate's mask as he tumbled, yanking it off to reveal the face of a grey-templed Negro.
"A doctor?" the First Mate sneered, stalking towards Sweet with crackling electro-batons. "Isn't that cute?"
[-]
"Easy girl," one of Nemo's masked crew whispered, stalking towards the cowering Muireann with a raised air-rifle. "We're just gonna take a nice loooong nap."
Before she could pull the trigger, something in a mechanic's overalls barrelled into her with all the force of a freight train. Audrey Ramirez pinned her captive to the ground, ready to unleash a rain of balled fists when…
"Audrey, wait!" the crewman blurted.
Audrey paused, yanking off the blue-black mask to reveal the dirty-blond hair and grimy face beneath. "Axel!?"
Axel's fist connected with Audrey's jaw, sending the mechanic slumping to the ground.
"Sorry, luv, I really did like you." Axel retrieved the air-rifle, taking aim at the fleeing Muireann. A single metal dart pierced the fish-hound scales, causing her to stumbled and collapse into a motionless lump just at the water's edge.
The attackers began securing a still Muireann in a thick net before dragging her towards their main sub-pod, where a grim Nemo watched the battle from on high.
"NOO!" Kida screamed. "Milo, help Muireann!"
"What are you going to be doing!?"
"Stopping this at its source." Kida's eyes narrowed as she took off at running dash. In a blur of motion, she vaulted over the waters with her spear, landed atop the enemy sub-pod, and struck…
The blade of Nemo's curved saber, drawn with enough blinding speed to parry Kida's spear.
"And who might you be?" Asked Nemo, sounding more amused than angered.
"I am Kidagakash Nedakh, Daughter of Kashekim and Queen of Atlantis!"
"Well, 'Your Majesty', queen or no…" The Captain leaned close over locked blades, till Kida could make out her own reflection in the golden skull-mask.
"None strike Nemo twice."
[-]
"You're a joke, you realize that?" The First Mate snarled, swiping again at Sweet with an electro-baton.
"Well, I'm often complimented on my sense of humor." Sweet smiled nervously, narrowly dodging yet another electric.
"I used to be like you, you know? Thought if I got myself an education, a career, proved them wrong, that it would change things!" The First Mate struck again, burning two charred trails in the stone wall. "But nothing was ever good enough!"
Sweet ducked, only to find himself backed up against a solid granite pillar.
"It doesn't matter well we dress and speak, how hard we work, or even how smart we are! They'll just keep inventing new impossible standards without even trying to live up to them themselves," the First Mate snarled, raising his weapons for another strike. "The only way to achieve any real freedom in this world is to TAKE IT!"
Sweet barely grabbed the First Mate's insulated wrists in mid-swing, electro batons hovering mere inches above.
"Now, I don't deny you make some valid points," Sweet groaned through a gritted grin, sweat beading his brow as the electro-batons inched ever closer to his bare face. "But how about you put away those crazy lightning-sticks so we can discuss your political philosophy in a more relaxed, non-lethal context?"
"You smile too much," the First Mate whispered darkly before forcing the tips of his electro-batons down on Sweet's broad shoulders, shocking the doctor into unconsciousness.
[-]
"EEEAAAAYGGH!" Milo screamed, ducking as one of Nemo's crew swung at him with what looked like an electrified gauntlet. Milo couldn't tell whether the hairs standing atop the back of his neck were due to the static or his shrieking terror.
"Hey, buddy. Catch."
The crewman raised his electrified fingers, instinctive catching something that promptly exploded in his grasp. The crewmen wailed as his gauntlet caught fire, waving the weapon frantically in the air before leaping thoughtlessly into the water.
The crewman convulsed for a moment before falling back flat-faced on the shore.
"Hey, buddy," Vinny drawled, stepping into Milo's field of vision. "You never ever grab hold of a lighted fireworks. You could lose like a finger or a hand or something. Maybe an eye even. Oh and don't ever try and put out an electrical fire with water. Eugh… kids these days. They never listen."
"Thanks, Vinny," Milo panted as the demolitionist helped him to his feet. "I owe you want."
"For you, Milo, anything." Vinny pulled a pair of thick rubber gloves from his duster. "Say, could you help me drag my new buddy new back to one of the sub-pods? Seems kinda cruel to just leave the poor guy here when the whole place goes boom."
"Sure thing, Vinny," Milo nodded taking a rubber glove. "Just let meWHOAWAITWHAT!?"
"Oh yeah, while you guys were having your big fight," Vinne drawled. "I may have kinda rigged the whole cave to blow. You know, just in case?"
"B-But… WHY would you even do that?!"
"Eh, Milo… Have you met me?"
[-]
"By what right do you to plunder the relics of my people, pirate!?" Kida demanded, spear thrusting forward.
"Your 'people' plundered half the globe to build their empire," Nemo answered, parrying the thrust. "An empire whose glories were built on the backs of slaves! I reclaim Atlantis' treasures in the name of those who paid for them with their blood; your victims!"
Kida spun on her heels, smashing the blunt end of her spear into Nemo's face. The golden skull-mask cracked under the impact, sending the captain falling upon the hull of the sub-pod.
"You may actually believe that," Kida panted, regaining her balance as the pod lurched beneath them. "But I will allow no man to abuse Atlantean science in yet another mad crusade!"
Nemo's boot lunged with the speed of a cobra, sweeping Kida's feet out from under her. She tumbled backward, barely grasping a handhold as she dangled from the sub-pod's side.
Nemo loomed above her, tearing loose the cracked mask to reveal the face beneath…
It was a woman with the cast of a queen; copper skin, raven hair, with eyes as dark and hard as onyx. Ears and nose pierced by jewelry of the same whitish gold. She glared down at Kida with infinite contempt.
"Nemo is no man."
She brought her boot down hard on the Kida's fingers, sending the Queen of Atlantis plummeting to the waters below.
Nemo raised her curved saber high. "All hands to me!"
"Mobilis in Mobili!" the remaining crew chorused, securing the still unconscious Muireann to one of the enemy sub-pods before boarding.
Kida almost hacked up her lungs as she crawled ashore, Milo dashing to her aid.
"Kida, we gotta get out of here!" Milo sputtered, helping Kida to her feet. "Vinny's rigged the whole place to blow!"
"No hurry, Milo," Vinny drawled, he and Audrey carrying an unconscious Dr. Sweet between them. "I told you it was just a precaution. The bombs shouldn't go off unless-"
One of the enemy sub-pods turned, launching a small fiery missile that landed somewhere in the rear of the grotto. The whole structure began to rumble as the last of the enemy sub-pods dived beneath the waters.
"Okay, now we should hurry."
[-]
Sub-Pod 3
"Uuugh," groaned Dr. Sweet, clutching his skull as he sat in the cramped rear of the sub-pod. "What hit me?"
"Oh, I'd say 'bout five, maybe six thousand volts?" Vinny pointed. "Guy who did it's in onna those."
Though the glass cockpit, Sweet could make out three dark shapes speeding through the water ahead of them.
Audrey hit the accelerator, rapidly narrowing the gap between them and their quarry. "Got you now, you two-faced perra!"
A fourth shape emerged from the darkness ahead, dwarfing the sub-pods with its immense bulk; a long, sleek predatory shape. The overlapping black-iron plates of its hull were like the scales of a prehistoric marine reptile. Its portholes glimmered an eerie greenish-blue, like the eyes of a sea-serpent, and its prow tapered into a vicious lance.
Dr. Sweet's eyes widened. "Lord… Please tell me I'm still sleeping."
[-]
Sub-Pod 2
"I can't believe it! It's just like in the book!" Milo babbled. "Well I mean the one in the book a lot smaller, and waaaay less mean looking but it has to be!?"
"Milo, what is it?!" Kida implored.
"It's…"
[-]
The Nautilus
"Captain on deck!" the First Mate barked.
Nemo strode into the control room, followed by her command crew, taking her seat upon an ornate throne. "Helm set course for the open Atlantic, full speed. This bay has become too… confining for my tastes."
"Aye, Captain," responded the muscular Hawaiian woman standing by the wheel, her hair bushy and uniform disheveled. Her eyes darted about the chamber. "Where's Sha?"
"Sha fell into the enemy's hands," the First Mate answered.
"And we're just going to leave him!?" the Helmswoman snapped back.
"That's enough, Leialoha!" Nemo admonished, before releasing a deep sigh. "Sha survived the Mechiya massacre, he'll survive this. He would expect us to do the same."
"Aye, Captain," the Helmswoman conceded sadly, turning the wheel. "Taking her out."
"Captain? I have something closing on an intercept course," spoke an aged balding Pole bent over the sonar station, his long thin beard training half-way to the ground. "It's the Americans' ship!"
[-]
S.S. Atlantean
Captain Magnus Mantell didn't really consider himself a part of what Mr. Whitmore colorfully called 'Team Atlantis', or as Mantell privately thought of them; 'that roving band of feckless lunatics'.
He preferred to think of himself as a simple ferryman. Take the passengers where they wanted, wait at a safe distance for them to finish stirring up whatever deviltry they happened to stumble on this week, and collect them afterward on the odd chance they happened to survive.
Mantell was no coward, he'd faced death a thousand times during the Great War, but he was of old Orkney Islands stock. His early childhood had been one long dark night filled with his mother's wild tales of the skinless Nuckelavee, rapacious selkies, and other horrors.
He feared no material foe, but any hint of Krakens, sea-devils or the occult struck him with a spiritual dread. So when Thatch had radioed just a few moments ago, he'd almost been relieved.
He hadn't been able to make out all the details from the linguist's babbling, but a heavily armed rogue U-boat manned by pirates and fanatics was a foe Captain Mantell could understand. And any foe that could be understood could be beaten.
[-]
The Nautilus
Nemo flicked a switch along the arm of her throne, opening a com to the engine room. "Axel, how long to charge the Nullifier?"
"Five minutes, maybe four if I cut corners, but there's a risk of permanently burning it out," replied the static tinged voice of the engineer.
"Understood, you have two."
[-]
S.S. Atlantean
"Mrs. Packard, ETA 'til we intercept the enemy sub?" Mantell demanded.
"You're gonna reuse your old wedding dress?" Packard droned. "Margie hunny, that's not a good idea."
"PACKARD!?"
"Gimme a sec, Margie," Packard droned. "ETA One minute, thirty seconds!"
[-]
The Nautilus
"One minute, twenty seconds!" Axel's voice crackled through the com.
[-]
S.S. Atlantean
"Thirty seconds!" Packard rasped.
"Ready depth-charges!" Mantell bellowed.
[-]
The Nautilus
"Nullifier fully charged, Captain!"
The corner of Nemo's lips curled upwards.
"Fire."
[-]
S.S. Atlantean
"On my mark, drop charges… N-" Mantell barked, as every light on the bridge suddenly flickered and died.
"What happened?!" he demanded, scrambling through the darkened bridge.
Packard experimentally smacked the inert block that been a working console just a few seconds ago. "Beats me."
Mantell raced out onto the deck, just in time to watch an eerie green-blue glow pass beneath the hull and out into the open waters of the wide Atlantic.
[-]
Sub-Pod 2
"NO, NO NO!" Kida roared, beating the inert controls. Watching in futile horror as the sub-pod groaned to a halt, the dense water sapping its inertia.
A dark chuckle filtered from the back of the cockpit.
"What the Hell is so funny?" Milo demanded, turning on the Nautilus crewman bound in the rear of the sub-pod.
"You," the crewman sneered. "The Great Powers have hunted the Captain for almost a century, yet you thought to succeed where they failed? With what, a handful of miscreants and two tiny sub-pods?"
"We have not failed yet," Kida swore.
"Oh, don't delude yourself," the crewman snorted. "The Captain has all the waters of the Earth to hide in! What's more; she's smarter than you, smarter than anyone! But go on, trawl the seas 'til the Day of Judgement for all the good it will-"
Kida spun around, grabbing the crewman by the throat as she drew her dagger.
"Kida, STOP!" Milo cried, throwing himself around her arm. "Please… he's not worth it."
Kida glared at her captive for a long silent moment… before tossing him back to the floor and sheathing her blade. She stared out into the cold, empty Deep.
"We… we need to talk to Ned."
[-]
Bantry Bay
The rain pelted mournfully upon the grimy window pane of the old stone cottage as the pale light of dawn filtered through. Ned O'Malley sobbed uncontrollably into the arms of Molly the barmaid, who glared accusingly at what she considered the source of Ned's grief.
Across the room sat at a respectful distance, sat Kida, Milo, Audrey, Vinny and Dr. Sweet. Each was silent.
After what seemed an eternity, Kida stepped forward. "Ned… I…"
Knock knock.
"I'll get that," Milo offered, eager for something, anything, to do. No sooner had he opened the door then a small figure blurred past him, throwing its bony arms about Ned.
"DADDY!" cried a human child with a mop of unruly red hair, no older than twelve and clad in a ridiculously oversized greatcoat of ebon-blue.
"MUIREANN!? OH, THANK GOD, HIS BLESSED MOTHER, AND ALL THE SAINTS ABOVE!" Ned cried, swinging his daughter about his head, laughing and crying. "But… how…?"
"She asked me to give you this," Muireann spoke, drawing a thick envelope from the recesses of the oversized greatcoat.
Ned gingerly tore open the envelope, allowing three large gold coins to clang heavily to the floor.
"Wow," Vinny drawled, bending over. "Those are Spanish doubloons. You could buy like half a whaling boat with those, maybe three quarters, A third at least."
Ned drew a thin page of strangely greenish tinted paper from the envelope, handing it to Milo with some embarrassment. "Could you…? I… can't really…"
"Oh, oh… of course," Milo nodded before he began reading out loud…
My dear Mr. O'Malley,
I owe you and young Muireann the most abject of apologies. It was never my intention that your family become causalities in our struggle against the Great Powers.
When I first happened upon Muireann, her injuries were far too severe for conventional medicine. In haste and desperation, I was forced to rely on science beyond my understanding. In doing so, I saved the child's life almost at the cost of her humanity.
In her uncomprehending terror, Muireann fled before the process could be reversed. Yet I could not return to the open Deep without first setting right what I myself had put wrong.
I pray these few coins will serve as some small recompense for the pain I inadvertently caused you both.
Your friend and ally,
Captain Nemo.
Milo let the letter fall to the floor, catching sight of Kida slipping out the front door as the rest of the team crowded about the happily reunited family.
"Could you give me a sec?"
[-]
Kida stood on the shore with arms crossed, letting the foam lap her boots. "Muireann would never have been in any danger if Nemo had not been looting Atlantean artifacts to begin with."
"Maybe," Milo conceded as he joined her.
"Before, in the grotto. You sounded as though you recognized the name?"
"Sorta," answered Milo. "The original Captain Nemo was a fictional character created by Jules Verne. He was an Indian Prince who invented an advanced submarine to escape the injustices of the surface world and wage war on the empire that invaded his homeland. I guess this Nemo is a fan."
Kida gazed out over the cold grey waves, thinking about her own homeland, lost to her... somewhere in the Deep.
"Of course!" Milo smacked his forehead. "Nemo is a contraction of the Latin 'ne homo' which literally mean 'no man'!"
Kida arched an eyebrow.
"'Cuz she's a woman, you see?" Milo mumbled. "It's kind of a pun or double entendre."
Kida smiled, ruffling his chestnut hair. "Never ever change, Milo."
[-]
The Nautilus, Somewhere beneath the Atlantic Ocean
Nemo sat in the grand salon, clad simply in leather boots, dark blue breeches, and a plain white undershirt. Before her, a vast iris-like window opened to reveal all the glories of the Deep. In one hand, a cigar smoldered. In the other, she held a small leather-bound volume that commanded her complete attention.
Someone coughed softly.
She looked up to meet the gaze of her First Mate, standing attentively by the entrance.
"Yes, Number One?" she spoke.
"Axel and Leialoha are almost finished cataloging the artifacts salvaged in Ireland," said the First Mate. "They should be ready for inspection within the hour."
"Very good," Nemo replied.
The First Mate tilted his head slightly. "The Antediluvian World by Ignatius Donnelly?"
"It owes more to fancy than history," Nemo snorted. "But Donnelly was perhaps more right than he knew."
"This is about that woman back in the grotto, isn't it?"
"Over ten millennia ago, the Atlanteans held half this world under their boot. If that girl really is what she claims, if she truly is the heir to the Lost Empire... then I can think of only one reason why she would seek the relics of Atlantis."
Nemo snapped the tome shut, rising to gaze out the great window. Cyclopean ruins stretched out upon the seabed, bathed in the dull red glow of a submerged volcano. She took a long deep drag on the cigar, wreathing her visage in smoke.
"I have not spent a century loosening the Great Powers' grip upon this world only to hand it off to yet another tyrant," she rasped.
Beneath her white undershirt, something pulsed briefly with a pale blue glow.
"For the future of this world, for the liberty of generations unborn…
Kidagakash Nedakh must die."
Never The End…