Chapter 6: Shark of Constant Grotto

-Sapphire Bay, Port Clovis-

"The Atlantis Plaza Hotel." Will read on a brochure that was given to him as they checked into a Greek style hotel.

"The first of its kind where it has rooms that are underwater and give you full on ocean floor views." Tripp nodded as they checked in.

"Not bad." The investor of Maneater nodded, his inner marine biologist appreciating the concept.

"One bedroom aquatic suite for one under Turner." Trip told the receptionist. "And a second suite of the same under Westhaven." He added.

"One moment." The receptionist said as he checked the registry. "Ah, yes. Both of you are due today. Let me get your keys." He added before getting their room keys.

"Thanks." Will nodded as he grabbed his key.

"What he said." Tripp checked as he grabbed his as well before they went to the elevator.

"I'm gonna go get Remora ready to go find Sirena again after I get situated, you wanna get a bite to eat later before we start recording?" Will asked, adjusting his duffell slightly.

"Sure. I hear that the Pier One restaurant has some really good popcorn shrimp." The narrator of Maneater nodded as they went downward toward the underwater rooms.

(Later)

Will sighed as he got unpacked and started reconnecting to Remora so he could check on Sirena—and as soon as he got a visual, he saw that she was leaving her Fawtick Bayou grotto.

"Where are you going now?" He wondered.

Remora ended up following her all the way through Dead Horse Lake and Golden Shores and all the way into Sapphire Bay, where she found another grotto.

"Sapphire Bay's Pier One offers their guests great popcorn shrimp, affordable alcohol and "elegantly" airbrushed T-Shirts." A recorded line from Tripp said.

Then Sirena started exploring the bay, finding all sorts of oddities. Such things included a crashed UFO (whether this was a human prop or not is unconfirmed) and a sunken illuminati-related structure.

And as soon as she found those—her tail started materializing a dark form of armor, like her shadow set—before changing back again.

She seemed pleased by this development as she swam around the bay… before she was shot at by yet another moron.

Snarling, she shivered as her bone fins materialized, now looking stronger than last they were seen, before she swam at full speed up towards the boat that shot at her—and breached—slicing the speed boat in half.

The trio of idiots on board lost their guns when they fell in the water and started swimming madly for safety.

Sirena huffed as she swam away, not wanting to waste the energy trying to chase them down for a few measly calories.

A few minutes later, she was shot at again, much to her irritation.

"Woo! We're having shark fin soup tonight, boys!" One of a few men on a yacht laughed as he aimed his auto rifle.

Giving the shark equivalent of an irritated groan, Sirena dived low and out of sight of the gunners. As they looked around for the mutant shark, Sirena came from right under the boat and flipped it over, forcing them into the water as their yacht sank.

"Founder of the largest shark finning enterprise, "Mama" Maybelle Bryant has invested in a great number of recreational boats. Her failsons Randall and Tyson can be seen piloting them around Sapphire Bay." A recording of Tripp said.

Weighing the pros and cons of killing this latest batch of stupidity to spare herself trouble, Sirena ended up letting them live.

Whoever came next wouldn't be so lucky.

(Later)

A few hours later, Sirena chomped on a coral parrot fish she caught, having eaten several in total.

"The high population of parrot fish have helped the local Hammerhead locally known as "MC Hammerhead" be healthy and strange looking." Tripp stated.

After Sirena had her fill of coral parrotfish, she headed for the sunken Ferris Wheel, where she found a larger than normal Hammerhead roaming about.

The hammerhead in question was large—abnormally so, even for a giant hammerhead—a deep trench blue, and its hammer-like cranium was covered in a thick layer of scaly, almost concrete-like skin that flakes off every so often when it shook its head.

"The evolutionary anomaly, the Hammerhead." A recording of Tripp said.

Sirena huffed as she started changing into one of her armor sets, specifically her Shadow set, showing that she had teeth, fins, tail, and body.

The Hammerhead, who hasn't been thrilled at all about Sirena being in its territory, was a bit intimidated before it tried putting on a show of bravery. It quickly rushed at Sirena, but she was faster and nimbly evaded the attack.

This caused a cloud of black toxic fumes to hit the hammerhead, immediately poisoning and blinding it. The bull shark then did a U turn and swatted her tail, sending an orb of poison at the shark, knocking it back several feet and poisoning it again.

Groaning in pain, the abnormally evolved shark tried to power through the pain and fight back. However, the pain made it sluggish and easy for Sirena to avoid and land more hits on.

As the fight dragged out, the Hammerhead lost its fins, leaving it in a state where Sirena could finish it off.

Dashing in for the kill, the mutant Bull Shark bit down on Sapphire Bay's Hammerhead and thrashed it around a bit before dealing the killing bite.

"The Bull Shark has pulled ahead, despite its foe's superior depth perception." Trip noted.

Sirena let out a sigh after this as she spotted another of Maybelle's ships, and—seeing that they were now technically in her territory—she went dark and started circling around under the boat, turning the water into a ring of poison, before swapping to her bone fins, tail, teeth and body—before rushing into a breach, shattering the boat on impact and sending the hunters into the toxic waters.

The hunters were immediately poisoned since some of them had gotten cut by the shrapnel, allowing the poison to enter their bodies. This made them sluggish as their energy drained, making them easy pickings.

"The Shark shows extraordinary levels of intelligence in this deadly show of creative problem solving." Trip noted as her infamy caused Sirena to be hunted again.

-Interview Recording-

"Introducing the Hoosier Hotshot, Ensign Tyler Dixon." A recording of Trip said as the camera shifted focus to an earlier interview with the man in Golden Shores.

"I have to ask, how have you not been court martialed and kicked out of the Coast Guard?" Will questioned, having heard a lot about Dixon's "unlimited laziness."

"Because I do my job, I just don't believe in doing extra work." The man retorted.

"Not even if it gets you a raise?" The author questioned.

"Nope." Dixon confirmed. "That Maneater, on the other hand… I wouldn't say no to putting effort into killing her." He added with a chuckle. "Could get me some extra layabout time." He added.

'This moron…' Will thought as he held back a sigh. Sirena was definitely gonna kill this dumbass.

"Now come on, guys! We need to kill this shark before my afternoon nap or I get really grumpy!" Dixon called as he headed out.

-Interview end-

Back with Sirena, she was currently squaring up against Dixon's boat—and she was swapping between her armors, trying to choose which to use to end the interloper.

Decisions, decisions…

After dodging a few bullets, she decides that the bone armor would work for this.

Swimming at full speed towards the skiff, bullets ricocheting off her armor every few shots, before she slid up over and launched herself off an upturned speed boat—and rammed herself head first into Dixon—shattering ribs and killing him on impact—taking the top of the boat with her as they both hit the water…

Only for her to skip off the water like a skipping stone and land on the beach with a plop, Dixon's corpse lying beside her.

"... I have absolutely no idea how Sirena pulled that off." Tripp commented after a beat passed as Sirena flopped her way back into the ocean, snatching Dixon in her jaws on the way out.

(Elsewhere)

"… That was one of the most insane actions I've ever seen a shark do." The marine biologist blinked.

"Agreed." Tripp nodded with his own blink. "Anyway, do you think we have enough footage for an episode?' He asked.

"Just about… Hold up." Will nodded as he slowly turned towards his head towards his room's ocean view glass… and saw a familiar sea creature looking at them.

It was Sirena, still in her bone armor.

"Sirena…?" Will gasped as the shark nuzzled the glass where he put his hand… before she swam away.

Both men looked at the star of their show as she swam off, Tripp seeming surprised at what she did before leaving.

"She seemed pretty happy to see you." He noted.

"She looked like she was trying to say something like… Goodbye." Will said before his eyes widened. "Tripp. Where are Pete and Kyle right now?" He questioned.

"Out in Sapphire Bay… Oh shit." The show host trailed off before his eyes widened as the dots connected.

"Get the boat ready, now!" The marine biologist barked as he hopped to his feet, dashing out the door.

Dragon Emperor0: Well, now things are getting ready to go nuclear. Sirena's going to attack Pete, and I have no idea what's going to happen after that. My guess is she's going to eliminate the other hunters one by one before going on to take down the other three Apexes—she's escalating.

ThermalsniperN7: No kidding. Before she even went to attack Pete, she stopped by Will's room to say goodbye like it's the last time they'll see each other. She really does care about him.

Dragon Emperor0: Hopefully this won't be the last time… Also, if you guys noticed that the modern day sections are missing from earlier stories, that's because Queen of Pirates is being rewritten and we want this prequel to better fit said rewrite.

ThermalsniperN7: I feel like that's a good move, since most prequels take place AFTER the first thing it's about. It feels like failing that way, in a sense. Having the prequel first feels more sensible.

Dragon Emperor0: Yeah. Anyway, hope you guys are ready. We're probably only a few chapters away from the end. And we all know what that means.

ThermalsniperN7: It'll be time to move on to the main course soon. Anyway, see you guys next time.