Summary: WASP tries to contact Gordon over The Hood's earthquake generators.

Notes: This is a TAG to Ring of Fire part 2, and can work in the Odd's and End's timeline if you take Lu out of the equation.

Ring of Fire

2060

Lucinda (Lu) Anderson looked over at her brother and oldest niece as they, with the Commander of WASP, Sam Shore, tried to get ahold of former WASP Lieutenant Gordon Tracy, in regards to the earthquakes that had been occurring around the ring of fire.

Earthquakes that appeared to be made by a man that was gunning for International Rescue, the organisation that Gordon currently worked for.

Gordon was probably the only person in that organisation that realised how serious the situation was, it wasn't just the damage on the surface authorities had to worry about, if these quakes kept happening, this shadowy figure that wanted IR's vehicles, could end up starting a war with the Mer peoples of the deep.

Captain Tempest, along with Lieutenant Sheridan and the Mer Princess, Marina, had taken the WASP vessel Stingray, to talk to Marina's father to hopefully smooth things over with them and assure them that the humans were not out to start a war with them.

Lu turned her attention back to the communications array, Gordon might be hard to get hold of, considering the quakes were causing damage to infrastructure, and people were probably trapped in said infrastructure and needed IR to get them out.

A message from Gordon appeared on the screen:

Can't talk now… Our engineer along with Five and our security are working on finding the source of the quakes, will inform you when things change.

Shore looked at Liam, "At least it looks like International Rescue is doing something to try and rectify the problem," he growled.

"Easy, Sam," Liam replied. "You can't blame International Rescue for this, even we have technology that people would be quite willing to start wars over," he sighed. "This thug probably doesn't even know much about the secrets of the deep."

"I hate to think what this guy could do with International Rescue's technology if he gets ahold of it," Melody muttered. "I mean he's willing to risk a war and do massive destruction with the technology he already has."

Lu frowned, her niece was right, "Do you think the world government would cave to his demands?" She asked.

"It would be a disaster if they did," Liam snarled. "Sell technology like that to people like the Bereznik's and you have got another global crisis on your hands."

"But if they can't stop the earthquakes, there's going to be another war on their hands," Melody pointed out. "The Mer races have put up with a lot of human shenanigans, but we all know that some of them are getting tried of it and are willing to take matters into their own hands…"

Lu put a hand on her niece's shoulder, "Let's hope Marina can keep things calm for the moment, and give International Rescue the time they need to find the source of the quakes and stop it," she tried to reassure. "Hopefully they will able to lead the GDF to this guy, before things get out of control."

Melody sighed and looked back at the data screen, "Easier said than done," she muttered. "Who is this guy anyway?"

Lu frowned again, as she remembered the contents of the ransom demand, while the face of the man, and Lu was pretty sure it was a man, was obscured, she thought she recognised the voice, she knew she had heard it somewhere before and it was maddening, it gave her the impression of a snake finally showing his scales and she didn't like it, "I don't know who that man is," she growled. "But I know that voice from somewhere."

Shore looked at her, "Intel suggests the this guy is a man the goes under the name, The Hood," he explained. "He's a criminal that specialises in corporate espionage, stealing technology and selling it to the highest bidder."

"But hasn't that guy been laying low for a couple years?" Liam asked. "The last time anyone had heard from him was that Zero X fias…" he trailed off, as he remembered something. "Ah, fuck."

"What is it, Liam?" Lu asked.

"Let's hope intel is wrong on this one," Liam replied.

"Why?" Melody asked.

"I'll have Gordon explain it, if he is that guy," Liam answered, not offering a further explanation.

0o0o0

Gordon got in contact, not long after the world council announced the crisis was over.

He explained what had happened and that his people had been able disable the devices at the source of the transmission.

But that left a new problem…

One that had Commander Shore launching all of WASP' submarines and asking Gordon if he could get a list of all the devices and their locations.

Gordon realising the seriousness of the situation, said that he would get that list and gather the devices that were near Tracy Island.

The reason for the urgency was because Shore didn't want the more hostile Mer colonies getting ahold of the earthquake generators and turning them against other colonies or the humans that lived on islands and shorelines.

0o0o0

Lu on the other hand was trying to figure out who this Hood guy actually was and how she knew him.

It was driving her crazy, especially knowing that this man was the reason why Gordon lost his father - just the idea that this man was walking around breathing free air, and threatening people that only wanted to give back to the world…

Well, there were old fisherman tales about why you should always fear the wrath of a Mer for a reason…

And since Liam took Gordon under his wing during his time at WASP, Lu saw him as a honorary nephew…

And as far as Lu was concerned, this Hood guy had better pray she doesn't ever cross paths with him…

Because if he ever did, Lu would turn him into shark bait…

Notes: Mer's have a tendency to be pretty ruthless when they have been wronged, and Lucy, with her latent Mer DNA, has always been a protective Mama (Scott's smother hen tendencies come directly from her, John inherited her ruthlessness) and Aunt.

And if she is willing to stick her neck out that far for someone she regards as a nephew…

The Hood was genuinely fearful of her back in the day, because he saw what she was capable of doing with her dealings with Transom, he was actually relieved when he heard that she died in the avalanche, because she posed more of a threat to his plans than Jeff.