Chapter 1: Lights! Camera! ...Shark Attack?
-Little Cuba, Orlando, Florida-
In an authentic Cuban restaurant in the town of Little Cuba, two men were busy having the restaurant's special Cuban sandwiches and Hemingway daiquiris. The former was busy on a MacBook air and the second was working on a Stylus handheld.
This was Trip Westhaven and his friend and partner William Turner IV, they were busy talking over lunch while the latter was busy working on the draft for his latest book. This one happened to be on marine botany.
"Hm… Yeah, this looks good." The author muttered as he looked over his work so far.
"And I just got a message from the studios, we're good to give the board a show pitch." Trip nodded. "Question is, what should we do?" He questioned.
"I'm not sure." Will replied with a small frown as he turned to the TV of the restaurant… Where they were greeted by an advertisement for Shark Week along with a Jaws marathon.
Seconds later, an advertisement for the section of the Gulf known as Port Clovis.
This particular setup caused the two of them to look at each other. "... Trip?" Will began.
"Yeah, Will?" The man questioned.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" The rich man asked.
"I am. Let's get to work." Trip nodded. After they finished their food, they set off to make their new show.
(A few days later)
"Hey Judy, Cathy! You girls here?" Will called as he and Trip walked into the tank rooms of the Orlando Aquarium, where various rehab animals, sick residents and new arrivals were being taken care of by the two people who were on duty at the time.
Currently, the first of the two, a blonde woman with brown eyes, freckles and a pretty thorough tan was busy handling and feeding a baby beaver. The second was busy doing the same with a baby seal with an injured fin.
This second woman was a Latino woman with a pixie cut which was dyed blue and had brown roots, and had silver eyes.
"Hey, Will, Trip! What's up?" Judy called back as the baby beaver let out happy noises while it ate.
"We need some overview for a show we just came up with, and you two happen to have been to where it'll take place." Trip explained.
"The place in question being…?" Cathy questioned as she tended to the baby seal.
"Port Clovis." Will told them, causing the two women to groan.
"Alright, we'll give you your overview." The blue streaked brunette replied. "But you won't like what we have to tell you." She added as her seal finished feeding.
"That bad, huh?" Will questioned.
"Oh you have no idea." Cathy nodded as she set her beaver down for a quick nap before he was put back in his room.
"What kind of show are you guys going to do?" Arthur Cormac, the Aquarium's mechanic, asked as he walked in–tool box in hand.
He was a Samoan man with long dirty blonde hair, a medium length beard, blue eyes and a body covered in tribal tattoos.
"A nature show that takes place in Port Clovis." Will replied.
"... Yeah, I wish you guys luck." Arthur said flatly before shaking his head. "Anyway, need me to help with anything?" He asked.
"Actually, I could use your help finding and outfitting an underwater camera drone for filming." The marine biologist explained.
"In that case, I think I know just the one for the job. I can also name a few handy upgrades to give it." Arthur nodded as he gestured for Will to follow him while Trip stayed with Judy and Cathy to get the overview from them.
(A few minutes later)
"This'll do." Will nodded as he handled a PowerVision - PowerRay Wizard Underwater ROV drone which was fresh out of the box.
"I recommend getting some speed and power efficiency upgrades for long term recording along with a cloaking device so marine creatures won't try and eat it." Arthur told him.
"Given the fortune I have, I think I can pull that off." The other man nodded. As he said this, Trip came into the room, hanging up his phone.
"I just got our overviews, and the approval of the Port Clovis mayor Wade Hibbard to film there." The man said. "He was even kind enough to steer us in the direction of a local angler to follow during filming." He added.
"Who?" The multi-titled man asked.
"A man by the name of Piere LeBlanc, locally known as Scaly Pete." Trip replied.
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not gonna like this guy…?" Will wondered to himself as he gathered up the new drone.
(A month later)
-Crawfish Bay, Port Clovis-
It's now showtime and the crew for the new Maneater show is at Port Clovis, filming the first episode. Currently, a camera crew was with Will and Scaly Pete aboard the latter's fishing boat, the Cajun Queen.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Maneater, where we'll bring you coverage of what life in the ocean is like for a shark. Our first stop: The Cajun Queen and its owner, Pierre LeBlanc, known by his fellow anglers as Scaly Pete." Trip said as the camera panned to the boat in question.
Pete was a rather large elderly man with a graying red beard who wore a set of fisherman overalls over black pants and a white shirt, with black boots.
His son Kyle was similarly dressed and looked like a shorter, slimmer version of his father. He was around twenty two, presumably in college.
"Mind telling us a bit about yourself, Mr. LeBlanc?" One of the crewmen, Isaac, said, getting the man's attention as he came out of the main motor room.
"My daddy hunted sharks. I hunt sharks. It's in the blood." He commented. "If there was somebody better at this, you'd follown' 'em, yeah?" He added. Off to the side, Will frowned slightly at how he held himself about this profession of his.
He already had a dislike for shark hunting and how people casually made a sport out of it, something that disgusted him. Especially with how it negatively affected the ecosystem.
He felt like Pete would end up taking the cake on that somehow. He kept his thoughts to himself however since this wasn't the time or place to voice them.
"Now people, they got a lot of wrong ideas about sharks. Scientists say we gotta "coexist."" He elaborated. "Now how you gonna coexist with a shark, huh?" He questioned. "A shark, it jus' wanna do one thing. That's kill you, eat you and shit you out." He continued.
"That's three things, but okay." Will muttered to himself. The man could feel his disdain for the hunter start growing as he listened to him talk.
"What I do, I consider a "sacred honor." Kill 'em all if I could. Too bad that ain't but twenty-four hours to a day." He added further. It was then that a transmission came on the radio.
"Shark spotted in Fawtick Bayou. Several deaths reported." The man on the line said, causing Pete to snap his head at it as he held up a hand. "Shark can be identified by rusty harpoon embedded in flank." He added.
"Get the fuck out my way! Got a job to do!" He barked as he went to the wheel and set a course for the area named in the broadcast.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile in another part of Crawfish Bay, an adult female Bull Shark was making her way into what looked to be a sort of underwater tunnel way, where the Maneater Camera drone "Remora" was following close behind.
"This is an adult Bull Shark. Strong, fast, and armed quite literally to the teeth. She has little to fear in the water." Trip said as the drone panned around the majestic animal, zooming in on the rusty harpoon embedded in her flank.
A harpoon that had "Lasselle Bon Ton Roule" engraved on the shaft. There wasn't much room for comments on that however as the shark kept moving through the waterway.
"The muscular marvel moves confidently through her watery world." The man commented as the large shark moved.
As the beast moved forward, she flexed her jaws a few times to show off her mouth full of razor sharp teeth.
Continuing on through the tunnels, she soon came to a room full of green sea turtles, Dolphin fish, Atlantic spades, groupers and parrot fish among others.
"The predator's 350 fearsome teeth are put on full display." Trip noted as the female devoured a turtle in three powerful chomps.
After a bit, she grabbed a grouper in her mouth and smacked it with her tail into a parrot fish. "A Bull Shark's tail is nothing to sneeze at." The man stated.
Moving towards a grate at the end of a tunnel, she then started hitting it with her tail, causing it to break.
"Using a behavior more common to a thresher shark, the bull makes good use of her powerful tail." Trip added.
The female then started swimming towards the surface in the open ocean, coral reefs, rock formations, oil rigs and ships stretched on as far as the eye could see in the crystal clear waters of the bay. Boats and jet skies gave the sea wolf ample beef to move around as she knifed by.
"A shark's fin can be a grim reminder that the ocean is a wild and untamed domain." The narrator said as she blasted by, upturning a jet ski as she did and sending two people flying. Then she jumped out of the water while she was knifing in an acrobatic manner.
"The Bull Shark performs a feat worthy of an Orca, cruelly imprisoned as a part of a theme park stunt show." The man added. "Looking at you, Sea World." He continued, taking a shot at the famous aquarium.
The shark then submerged and vanished from the view of boaters as she swam around the deep. She then started putting more energy into her swim speed, but Remora's upgrades still let it keep up.
"The beast moves elegantly through the water." Trip said as the shark moved forward before she suddenly started swimming towards the surface–before breaching and capsizing a skiff that was in her way!
"The sight of a breaching shark is a calorie intensive spectacle." The man commented. It was at this point that the shark set her sights on some beach goers that were swimming or lounging about.
Swimming towards a sea turtle, she grabbed it in her jaws and then used her tail to launch it at the beach–nailing two of the beach goers in the head.
"Ah crap! Run!" Someone else cried out as everyone started swimming for the safety of the shore. The shark, however, was fast and started eating every human she could get to as fast as she could.
"Shaaaark!" A fat woman yelled as she tried to run away as the shark hopped on the beach and started going after them like a heat seeking missile.
"While it is well known that sharks feed on fish, molluscs, and seals. Lesser known is their propensity to feed on fear." The narrator said ominously. For reasons that will never be explained, Remora was able to follow its target onto the beach… Somehow.
As the beast grabbed an elderly woman from the shore, she dragged her into the water and held her there until she expired, before devouring the woman shortly after.
"It should be noted that shows of targeted violence like this are extremely uncommon for sharks." Trip clarified. "As Great Whites and Tiger sharks will actually befriend humans if treated well, even showing affection years after said act is shown to them." He amended.
After a short while, shark hunters started showing up in their hunter skiffs with Pete commanding them.
"Dat shark needs a good whack on de nose! Go get 'em, Chad." Pete called to one of his angler buddies. "How you doin' there, shark?" He yelled.
The skiff then drove toward him and the hunter on gun duty was quick to fire on the Bull Shark, but she was nimble enough to dodge the bullets thanks to the water slowing them down. She then went on the offensive and leaped out of the water, snatching the gunner off the skiff and ate him.
She then waited for a diver to swim towards her and evaded at the last second–spinning out of the way and grabbing him by the waist before swimming to the surface and aiming for the skiff… and fucking launched the poor sap at the boat, knocking everyone into the water and causing the boat to flip over.
"She got Chad! Kenny, go get 'er, partner!" Pete called as another skiff drove into the fray.
Seeing this, the shark then ate the rest of the hunters and decided to get creative. Swimming under the tipped over skiff, she started pushing it at full speed towards Kenny's boat–and rammed it into the side of the similarly sized skiff. Causing everyone to be sent flying into the water.
"Oh, she's a feisty one. Wade, get in there!" The Cajun man called, prompting a third skiff to appear.
The Bull snarled as she devoured the remaining hunters and then hid under the same two skiffs, waiting for the hunters to start looking for her, and let their guards down.
Breaching and jumping a couple times in random places, she started to confuse them. Making the crews think that more sharks were joining the party.
"She sure is makin' a lot o' splashin'!" Pete yelled, right before the female came out of hiding right as the boat got into position right where she wanted it.
Moving fast, she breached the water and flew through the air before crashing down onto the skiff, capsizing it and forcing the hunters to abandon it to try and save themselves.
"I ain't playin' no more! I'll catch this shark myself." Pete growled as the Cajun Queen came into view. "Oh! Look at them teeth! She's gonna make quite a mantle piece!" He laughed. The shark then started swimming his way as he braced himself.
"Got us some dinner coming, boys!" He exclaimed as the shark breached the water in an attempt to snag Pete, only to be shot out of the air and land back in the water, dazed. "Let's get 'er up on deck, yeah?" He ordered.
Meanwhile, Will was still frowning as he watched the whole thing. His gut told him that something bad was about to happen…
(Later)
-Fawtick Bayou-
"Meanwhile aboard the Cajun Queen, Scaly Pete looks over the catch of the day." Trip narrated as the female Bull Shark was hoisted into the air.
Pete looked the sea wolf over before he set his eyes on the harpoon and removed it from her flank, causing her to yelp slightly as she tried to cling onto her life while her captor looked the tool over.
"Yeah, this is my daddy's iron, alright." The man nodded as he looked it over fondly before setting it aside. "But this ain't the shark. Not the one I be looking for." He noted.
"How do you know?" Kyle questioned, causing Pete to look at him.
"How I know?" The man parroted in annoyance. "Not big enough." He stated. "This look like a Mega to you?" He questioned pointedly, before suddenly stabbing the shark's gut without even looking at it.
"What the hell?!" Will shouted in anger. Pete ignored him before he suddenly heard the cries of a shark pup, causing him to perk up.
"Oh! Well lookie here!" The redhead grinned as he pulled the pup out of the beast's split open uterus. "She's en famie!" He added as the pup squirmed in his hand, panicking. "Hello! How yo mama an' them?" He chuckled before he suddenly took his knife and started cutting the pup's dorsal fin and left side!
"Wh-Why'd you do that?!" Kyle gasped in shock while Will looked dangerously close to killing Pete in a fit of outrage.
"So I can identify her next time I see her. So I can spear her!" He said darkly. Right at that moment, the pup bit onto his hand and ripped it off, the force sending her into the water with the severed limb.
"The baby shark responds with an instinct for survival." Trip narrated as Will looked on with a small amount of satisfaction.
"You maybe wanna turn off that fucking camera?!" Pete snapped as he clutched his bleeding arm. The feed then cut off a second later.
(Later)
The sound of a fist hitting a person's face could be heard as Pete was sent crashing into the railing of the Cajun Queen as soon as the cameras were off–courtesy of a very pissed off William Turner.
"What the actual motherfucking hell, Pete?! What on God's green Earth is the matter with you?!" He yelled as he glared at the fat man.
"Don't you lecture me, ya tree huggin' hippie! You got no right to judge me!" The angler shot back as he got back up.
"Yeah?! Well this 'tree hugging hippie' can still tear you a new asshole for the shit you just pulled!" Will thundered as the camera crew backed away nervously. "In what fucking universe is it okay to scar an innocent newborn animal?!" He continued. Unknown to them all, the baby shark hadn't left yet, being drawn to the loud sounds and was listening curiously.
"Innocent? Innocent?! Let me tell you somethin' you sorry excuse of a Yankee piece o' trash!" Pete yelled, pushing Kyle off him. "I've seen what these sharks do–ain't nothing innocent about them!"
This earned the man another punch to the face, which made him fall to the ground and grab his father's harpoon.
"Sharks are intelligent and sentient animals, capable of love and care. I know because I've spent time with Tiger sharks who would let you pet them for hours on end for removing hooks in their mouths–and still ask for more later." The marine biologist retorted. "Of course there are sharks who're dangerous, they're wild animals–if you don't treat them with respect they'll turn on you. But they are not evil!" He yelled.
"Bullshit! All of 'em are evil from birth!" Pete yelled as he swung the harpoon at Will, only to be blocked by the author and kicked back, forcing him to drop the rusty hunting instrument.
"People said that about wolves, and started killing them. That did unspeakable things to the ecosystem." Will snapped, slammed the butt of the harpoon into the man's gut. "If you think you're doing the world a service, you're not. You're doing the opposite." He snapped as he tossed the weapon aside.
Pete looked at his father's instrument and then back at Will as he pulled out his phone.
"Keep your stupid trinket, I have some phone calls to make." The marine biologist said as he dialed on his phone.
Meanwhile, the baby shark got a good look at Will's face before swimming off, having heard enough of the clash.
(Later)
"Well, now that the boiling tensions have subsided." Trip said awkwardly. "Why don't we go to Flamingo Joe's for a drink to smooth things over?" He offered as the crew idly agreed and Pete nodded, finding it an agreeable proposal.
"You'll have to forgive me for passing on that, Trip. I'm in no mood for a drink right now." Will told his partner stiffly.
"Huh, suit cha self." Pete grunted as the men left, leaving Will with the carcass of the mother Bull Shark. Will looked at the dead sea wolf and sighed sadly.
"I'm so sorry you had to suffer like you did." He whispered remorsefully as he finished texting the marine wildlife authorities. He then heard footsteps and turned to see Kyle walking up to him.
"You know, that wasn't exactly the politest way to get ya point across." The younger man said as he approached him.
"I know, but it's hard to remember when someone violates all of your morals in the span of a few seconds right in front of you." Will told him. "I've been studying sharks for years, and the way your old man talks about them…" He trailed off.
"I get it." Kyle nodded. He didn't need the man to finish. "It's almost impossible to keep a lid on it when stuff like that happens." He added.
"You're definitely far from wrong." Will nodded. "I'm Will Turner, by the way. Marine biology PHD." He added.
"Kyle. I'm studyin' the same subject." The young man nodded, shaking Will's hand. "I read your last book, you really think that there could be actual species that match our descriptions of sea monsters?" He added.
"Yeah I do. Hell, even Nessie could be real, if we get enough evidence." The author nodded.
"... Even my old man's ramblins about a "Mega Shark"?" Kyle asked.
"Honestly, that one seems more dependent on if a shark can actually live long enough to reach that stage." Will shrugged. The redhead mulled it over and realized that there was actually some truth to it.
"Well, that'll be an interesting day if it happens." He mused.
"Indeed." The man nodded as another skiff rolled up to them. "Here they are." He nodded as the marine wildlife authorities docked close to them.
"William Turner?" The leader of the group asked, looking at him.
"Yeah, that's me." The author nodded.
"Just load the poor girl onto the boat, we'll be sure that she's laid to rest peacefully." The man said as Will and Kyle started hoisting the split open carcass as carefully as possible into the boat. Once the dead mother was loaded up, the authorities drove off.
"Poor thing. She didn't deserve what happened to her at all." Kyle sighed. Will wrapped an arm around his shoulder as he nodded in agreement.
"No she didn't, and neither did her pup." The author nodded. "Shame that we couldn't find another pup. Bull Sharks usually have up to two pups at a time." He mused.
"Yeah…" The Cajun nodded as they left to go somewhere else. But as they did, the bull pup popped its head out of the water again and watched them leave. Her big, adorable eyes were fixed on Will the whole time.
She liked him.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, in the waters separating Fawtick Bayou from Dead Horse Lake, the "authorities" from before docked there as a much larger boat came into view.
A boat that had the tell tale H of Horzine Biotech on its bulkhead. As the two boats docked, a group of men in dark body armor and helmets leapt out to meet them, followed by another man.
The man in question had caucasian skin, black hair with a black mustache that was well groomed and a pair of glasses over his brown eyes. He also had a white suit, a brown dress shirt and a black tie.
"We got the body, sir. They didn't suspect a thing." The leader reported, getting a pleased nod in return.
"Very good, now…" The mysterious man nodded before he snapped his fingers, and seconds later–the soldiers beside him started filling the group full of led. "No loose ends." He said darkly. "Secure the shark's body for transport. Dispose of the pawns in the usual manner." He ordered his soldiers.
"Yes, sir!" They chorused as they got to work. As they did, the man then looked at the shark, and then the briefcase that the pawns had on the boat–which was covered in blood.
A crate that had an engraving in bold letters: TCRI.
"Now, let's see what lessons this beast can teach us, shall we?" He nodded as he picked the cache up and walked back to the ship–as the boat was set on fire and sunk to the bottom of the lake.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, we decided a prequel had to be done as a sort of "That's how I met your mother" story for Will and Sirena to tell their kids. We thought it would add some extra spice. As you can see, there's some bad blood between Will and Scaley Pete due to the differences in shark perspectives being as obvious as two opposing polarities.
Dragon Emperor0: And if that wasn't crazy enough, it seems that the clone of Sirena's mother that was alluded to in Queen of Pirates a few chapters ago was engineered by Horzine Biotech. The organization from Killing Floor.
ThermalsniperN7: Given that Killing Floor and Maneater are in the same universe, it's no surprise. Also, it would seem that baby Sirena has taken a strong liking to Will. Before anybody starts about that, the reason she won't remember this is because the Cajun Queen's explosion gave her some amnesia.
Dragon Emperor0: It'll be explained better when the story gets to that particular place in the game. Trust us, It'll all make sense eventually. Also, let us know if you have any ideas for how this story should go outside of the game storyline. We're open for suggestions here.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, like for example: If Sirena liking Will before she becomes an anthro should influence whether or not she targets random humans. Anyway, see you next time!