Chapter 139 DEEP BLUE SEA
Its been about a month since the Regime was forced out of the 300 universe due to the combined power of the Legion and Thanos's army plus the Greek army. Since then the Regime has been silent again. Ebony Maw was searching every Universe in the Multiverse to find and locate every universe the Regime had taken over.
Right now however Sean was talking to one of his top scientists known as Susan McAlester before he placed a newspaper in front of her. Test Subject Shark escape. This made her sigh.
"Ok I'll admit we've some problems. But we're very close to accomplishing our task. We're this close to the reactivation of human brain cells." Susan said.
"Susan the only reason I agreed to this project was because of the possibility of ending brain diseases. The only thing I don't approve of this project." Sean said.
"The sharks I know. And considering you've dealt with them more than most problems I can understand." Susan said.
"My concern after seeing this is thinking this project is not worth the benefits if problems like this happen. So I need a good reason to keep this project of yours going." Sean said.
"Have you ever known anyone with Alzheimer's?" Susan asked.
"A few. Why?" Sean asked.
"By the end all my father could ask was why my mother wasn't at home. Each time I said she was dead, I watched him take the loss like a car wreck. Despite all the latest advances in technology there are still genetic problems that need to be fixed. What if you could end all that suffering with a single pill?" Susan asked.
"Hmm." Sean said in thought. "Ok...Here's the deal...I'm going to go with you to this place...And you'll give me the results I need to continue funding your project. I approve of what I see...And you'll get all the funding and equipment you need." Sean said making her nod.
Later
Sean and Susan flew to the facility on a sea plane.
"That was some speech you gave." Sean said making her smile.
"I know you would do the same. I read about the Sharks Tooth island incident. You were studying sharks to find a cure for cancer." Susan said.
"Mmm. When my dad told me my godmother died three days after I was born because of cancer I made it a mission to find a cure. I found a lot of answers from a deceased doctor Bishop. He found the answer but decided to play god. Ending the chapter of his sins." Sean said before they flew to a facility on the water.
"Aquatica. Navy built it for WW2 submarine loading and refueling. After the end of the first war against the Regime we acquired it...Your dime you could say." Susan said making him chuckle.
"Looks like Arkham floats." Sean said before they landed and were greeted by a woman.
"Janice." Susan said.
"Where is everyone going?" Sean asked seeing them getting on a boat.
"Oh we only operate with a skeleton crew during the weekends." Janice said before Sean spotted someone in the water before a tiger shark came after him.
"HEY!" Sean yelled before the Shark came at him but the man quickly grabbed it before ridding it and got a license plate out of his mouth.
Susan walked by before the plate was placed in front of her.
"Louisiana?" Susan asked amused before he came out.
"I'm thinking he's bought in a pet shop in Baton Rogue. Ate everything in his fish tank then ate the guy that bought him. Next day, fills the cab of the guy's truck with water and drives himself down to Baja. Picking bones out of his teeth with the license plate."
"That was impressive...Carter." Sean said making him chuckle before Sean pulled him up.
"Nice to see ya Kruger." Carter said.
"I didn't know you two knew each other." Susan said.
"He would have spent ten years in Black gate but I cut him a deal. He works in places like this and his crimes are pardoned since they were minor." Sean said. "So was that our shark that got out?" Sean asked.
"Hell no. That is." Carter said pointing at the shark swimming by in the other pen.
"The hell?" Sean said.
"Two first generation males and one second generation female Mako sharks." Janice said.
Later
Carter was under water in the cages that were used to swim from parts of the facility to avoid the sharks.
"I'm releasing the Tiger Shark Carter." Scoggs said.
"I Hear ya." Carter said before the Tiger Shark was dropped down. Soon Carter saw the Mako Sharks approaching before the tiger shark was torn to pieces making Carter Narrow his eyes.
Above.
"Dr. McAlester, we have a situation up here. Could you please come to the surface level?" Brenda said.
Soon Susan arrived at the surface level.
"Hello?" Susan said before she walked out to look around.
However suddenly a flare went off followed by another before she turned around and saw the others.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled making her laugh.
"Happy birthday!" Brenda said.
Everyone was on the top deck partying.
"Damn I hate that song." Preach said.
"I hear that." Sean said downing his drink before looking at the sharks and frowned.
"Bad memories?" Susan asked walking to him.
"Ah hell. Amongst everything I've ever faced I've had to deal with sharks more than most. Of course I'm having to deal with the Regime more." Sean said. "Carter, came to me and told me about the sharks are synchronizing." Sean said making her sigh.
"I can explain that." Susan said.
"You mean besides the fact is these sharks aren't normal? I understand the benefits to this project and I'm really hoping everything plays out perfectly fine without incident." Sean said.
"It will. After all science requires sacrifice doesn't it?" Susan asked.
"Hmm." Sean said.
Next day
Scoggs was sealing off the fuel lines as a large hurricane was heading right for them.
Today the crew was going to get the protein inside the female Mako Shark's head.
Susan and the others walked to the lab before they walked in.
"Impressive." Sean said.
"Wet Lab, we're taking a pounding up here. Can't see past my nose. So I suggest you check pen monitors and lagoon monitors." Brenda said.
"Carter, you copy?" Jim asked.
"Okay, I'm approaching the tunnel." Carter said.
"I see him." Scoggs said seeing him on the monitors.
"We picked you up, but visibility's near zero." Jim said.
"Maybe we should hold this off till after the storm." Sean said.
"We've already started so we may as get this done." Susan said.
Carter was swimming along the cages looking for the sharks.
Suddenly the two males rammed into the cages in perfect synch.
"How long have they been synchronizing like this?" Susan asked.
Carter aimed his gun at them and they backed off swimming backwards.
"Tell me I didn't see that?" Sean asked as they swam off. "They recognize that gun." Sean said.
"That's impossible. Shark's can't swim backwards." Janice said.
"Try to stay focused." Jim said before the cameras started going out. Before the last one went off the image of the Female was seen before it went off.
"Carter, do you copy? Carter?" Scoggs asked but got no response.
They waited a minute before the boarding platform started up.
"Someone order the fish?" Scoggs asked as the Mako and Carter appeared.
"Hmm." Sean said inspecting the shark.
Soon enough a device appeared above her scanning the shark.
"Commencing Brain scan." Jim said.
"Gen two is online." Scoggs said.
"Vitals are looking good." Janice said.
"She's sleeping like a baby." Carter said.
Susan moved to place a device on her head when the female shot up before going back to sleep.
"Bad dream?" Carter asked before she resumed her task and placed the device on her head.
"In postion." Susan said.
"Vitals are stable." Janice said.
Susan then slowly and carefully inserted a needle into her head to get to the brain. When that was done she inserted an extractor on top and slowly started to extract a yellow liquid.
"So thats it?" Sean asked looking at this miracle cure.
"Lets see if it works." Susan said taking a few drops away before handing it to him. Susan than walked over to a device.
"Introducing 2 cc's of the protein complex into cultured, inactive brain neurons of an Alzheimer's patient. And what you're looking for here is lightning in a bottle." Susan said before results were beginning to show when the brain cells started firing. "Their firing!" Susan said as this went on for 6.5 seconds before it stopped.
"I'll be damned." Sean said impressed.
"No sir. For 6.5 seconds you saw what it's like not to be damned." Jim said making him laugh.
"Congratulations." Sean said before Susan took him away.
"I suppose this means you keep your word and keep funding this place?" Susan asked making him smirk.
"I'm a man of my word." Sean said before Jim started screaming making them turn and saw he was missing his right arm in the shark's mouth.
"No!" Janice yelled as they rushed to him before Sean pressed a button to send it down.
"What the fuck just happened?" Sean asked before injecting Jim with a healing agent to keep him from bleeding out.
"I don't know. She should have been out for another hour." Susan said before Carter told Brenda to call for help.
Soon they went to the Elevator.
"Wound's closing." Janice said.
"Not for long. He's gotta get back to the mainland." Sean said before they reached the top seeing the storm was worse than expected. "Shit." Sean said before rushing out and saw the Rescue chopper. "GET OVER HERE!" Sean yelled.
"Go." Susan said as they rushed out to where the Chopper was before Sean took a cable and attached it to Jim's gurney.
"He's out." Sean said before a large wave sent them down. "Shit! Everyone inside now!" Sean yelled as they rushed to the elevator.
Heading back into the lab Scoggs tried to access the cameras topside.
"Whats going on?" Sean asked before video of the chopper crashing into the facility was seen before the whole place shook and Janice fell into the water before Sean pulled her out.
"The hell was that!" Sean yelled.
"The whole system is down." Scoggs said trying to fix everything.
While that was going on Sean noticed something outside.
"Somebody please...Tell me what that is?" Sean asked making them look and widened their eyes seeing Jim being carried by the Female at high speed before she let got as he slammed into the glass making it crack and because of the depth and pressure the glass started to give.
"Back away now!" Sean yelled as they ran out before it gave and unleashed a tidal wave of water into the room before they got to the door.
"Open the door!" Carter yelled before they managed to open it just as the water came up and sealed it shut leaving Jim behind.
"No!" Janice yelled.
"Ok...I really hate sharks." Sean said leaning against the wall.
"I don't blame you." Carter said before they went to the stairs.
"We gotta get topside and call for help." Sean said about to open the door but Carter stopped him. "What?" Sean asked.
"Flooded." Carter said seeing water spraying out.
"Fuck." Sean said.
"Theres no other stairwell from this level." Scoggs said.
"What about the Elevator?" Sean asked.
"No it seals to keep the shaft from filling." Scoggs said.
"Isn't there a sub here?" Sean asked
"Yeah. Level three. We're gonna have to climb down." Carter said as they went to the only stairs that led down to the third level.
As they walked they heard banging in the hallway.
"Looks like somebody else made it." Sean said.
"Over here!" Scoggs said before they saw something banging on the door from the other side.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Sean said as the banging increased.
"What the hell is that?" Scoggs asked.
"Lab equipment maybe. Banging against the door." Susan said.
"Think so?" Sean asked.
"Not a chance." Carter said before some of the bolts came off.
"SHIT! Run!" Sean yelled as they rushed through the area to get to the stairs before the room flooded up but thankfully they got inside the door to the downward stairs in time.
"Carter, let me ask you something." Sean said.
"We should keep moving." Susan said.
"In a minute." Sean said making her sigh. "Was that a fucking shark that busted that door down?" Sean asked.
"I expect so." Carter said.
"You expect so? Am I the only one who doesn't work here who thinks thats rather odd?" Sean asked before turning back to him. "IT CAN DO THAT! Bust through a fucking steel door?" Sean asked.
"I ain't the expert. Given Gen two's size and some room to move she could put a couple tons, maybe more, into a hit." Carter said.
"And these sharks they aren't just busting down doors for the sheer fun of it. They're after us." Sean said.
"Maybe. We don't know what they're doing." Carter said making him frown before walking to Susan.
"What the hell did you do to those sharks Susan?" Sean asked making her sigh before looking him in the eye.
"Their brains weren't large enough to harvest sufficient protein...So we violated Legion protocol. Jim and I used gene therapies to increase their brain mass. Larger brain means more protein. As a side effect, the sharks got smarter." Susan said shocking the others.
"You stupid bitch!" Janice said.
"Enough." Sean said stopping them. "After witnessing the results...I would say her actions were right." Sean said surprising her. "Sometimes you have to take risks to get needed results for the good of science both in technology and medicine. While I don't approve of how it was done...I do approve of the results if it can help those who have such a terrible disease." Sean said.
"Fair enough." Carter said.
"Lets just get out of here." Sean said as they walked away. "The fence in the water is made of Titanium right?" Sean asked.
"Yeah. Theres no way they can get past that." Scoggs asked.
"Why can't you just use your powers and get us out of here?" Carter asked.
"I tried. My guess is there are power Dampeners around the facility and when the chopper hit the tower it must have activated them. No matter. I've killed plenty of sharks without my powers before. I can kill them as well." Sean said before kicking the door down to the sub. "Oh come on!" Sean yelled seeing the Sub totaled.
Meanwhile
Preach was in the kitchen with an axe in hand looking for his pet Parrot before he climbed one of the shelves just as a door opened up.
"Eat me asshole."
"Bird?" Preach asked before going up only for his Bird to start squawking making him nearly fall into the water while the Parrot landed on a floating pot.
"Fat butt."
"Man I fucking hate you." Preach said before reaching to him. "Bring your feathery ass here." Preach said annoyed.
Only for one of the male Mako's to jump out making him pull his arm back while his bird got eaten. (This was the funniest scene in the whole movie because the fucking bird just kept saying Eat me asshole. Ask and you shall fucking receive you piece of shit!)
Preach screamed as he fell down before rushing into the oven and the shark followed before he made it in. One problem though the shark accidentally turned the oven's gas on and Preach started to cough.
"This isn't happening." Preach said before looking at his axe and started hitting the top of the oven. The shark continued to hit the oven trying to open it. "I'm not Daniel when he faced the lion! So I appreciate the Irony, Lord! Cook dies in his own oven! BUT I HAVE GOT OTHER PLANS!" Preach said making a hole big enough for him to get out of just as the Shark broke the glass and he jumped away before pulling out a lighter. "You ate my bird!" Preach said throwing it before ducking into the water just as the shark blew up.
The others felt the explosion.
"That from the surface?" Carter asked.
"No way. That was from inside the facility." Scoggs said.
"Preach." Sean said making them look at him. "Theres no other way that explosion happened on its own. My guess is he's still kicking and took one of them out." Sean said.
"YES!" Scoggs cheered.
Sean then noticed some stuff behind a door.
"Hey whats behind that?" Sean asked.
"What?" Scoggs asked before seeing it. "Oh shit!" Scoggs said moving the stuff out of the way showing the door. "This is a maintenance door. We can use this to reach the surface." Scoggs said.
"I feel a But coming up." Carter said.
"But we don't know what shape the surface is in. This shaft is air-locked. But if the explosion has breached the shaft at surface level we won't have enough pressure to stabilize the poll." Scoggs said.
"We don't have a choice. Theres no way in hell we could ever swim to the surface. The average human can hold his breath for a minute. It takes two to get from down here to there. No way we'd make it." Sean said making Sue sigh seeing his point. "If we were on level one however our odds would be different." Sean said.
The group began to open the door and when they did the wet pool exploded upwards flooding the room before they got in the elevator room and sealed the door shut.
"Ah shit!" Scoggs said seeing the elevator on fire.
"We need to get to level one. We can take the stairs from there." Sean said as they climbed the ladder.
"Now I see exactly why you hate sharks." Carter said before they heard something thumping against the bottom door.
"Shit." Sean said before spotting the level two door. "Carter, Level two is only partially flooded. If we open the doors it will buy us some time." Sean said.
"I hear ya." Carter said.
"You three go. We'll handle this." Sean said slidding down to Carter before he tried to reach over but his arm got hit with fire making him pull back before jumping over to the door before Sean followed.
"Door is sealed shut." Carter said before Sean took out a knife and stabbed it in between the door before they started pulling it before they both were thrown back into the water.
"Guys!" Janice yelled before they came up.
"Go!" Sean yelled as Carter went up before the Mako went after Sean but he just punched it in the face forcing it back. "FUCK OFF!" Sean yelled before climbing up. "That should buy us some time." Sean said before the whole place shook as the facility was coming apart. The Ladder started to come off the wall. "HOLD ON!" Sean yelled as the ladder fell backwards before hitting the wall and Janice fell into the water.
"Jan!" Carter yelled before she surfaced.
"Grab her damnit!" Sean yelled as they tried to grab her before she went under.
Suddenly she came up and screamed as she was in the male's mouth while Sean and Carter tried to grab her before she went under.
"FUCK!" Sean yelled before they came up and Sean saw Sue was sobbing before he held her close as she cried on his chest.
"Scoggs? Can you reach the door?" Carter asked.
"No...Too high." Scoggs said before the door opened up making them look and saw Preach.
"The Faithful really are rewarded." Sean said.
"Amen." Preach said before using some rope to pull them up before shutting the door. "Good thing you came to this side. The other side's under water." Preach said.
"We didn't exactly plan it." Susan said.
"Yeah, it wasn't planed." Scoggs said.
"You all that made it?" Preach asked.
"You just missed Janice by a minute man. Nothing we could do. I assume you killed one of them? That explosion didn't happen for no reason." Sean said.
"Hell yeah." Preach said.
"We made it. We're on level one. We can take the stairs to the surface." Scoggs said.
"Stairs are flooded. Trust me, I know." Preach said.
"Are you sure?" Scoggs asked before he pointed to the wound on his head. "GIVE US A GODDAMN BREAK, CAN'T YOU!" Scoggs yelled before the whole place shook violently.
"Easy now." Sean said.
"He always answers. Sometimes, the answer you get isn't the answer you want." Preach said.
"Sean." Carter said getting his attention. "How deep do you think we are right now?" Carter asked.
"60 feet more or less. Why?" Sean asked.
"Theres an emergency hatch on this level. We could use that to swim the rest of the way." Carter said.
"We would need the backup generators to open it." Scoggs said.
"I think I can do that from here. Theres a computer lab on this level. The computer on my wrest can access the generator." Sean said.
Soon they went to Janice's room to stock up on supplies.
"We had poker here tomorrow night." Preach said.
Sean went into the bathroom before leaning over the sink before pulling out a tooth from his left arm that got stuck from the shark when he punched it in the face.
"I fucking hate sharks." Sean said throwing it away.
"I never meant any of this to happen." Susan said.
"I know...Serizawa once told me the arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control and not the other way around. No matter how hard we try...Nature is always in control and for good reason." Sean said.
"Sean. Lets get this done." Carter said.
"Right. We'll be right back." Sean said as the three left.
"I'll be right back. Theres something I need from my quarters." Susan said as she left.
Walking through the halls she found her quarters was completely flooded before she stepped in. Walking to her room she quickly started to look for the data that started this project.
Walking to one of the lockers she pulled a key from around her neck before opening it. Quickly she found the data and turned around before screaming as a shark approached her but turned out to be a test dummy for the procedure making her sigh in relief before pushing it away.
However she noticed a fin coming out of the water and it rushed it at making her quickly rush away before getting on a table but dropped the disk.
She tried to grab it but the Shark got to it and destroyed it. She noticed a power line behind her before grabbing it and pulled it out before taking off her wet suit to stand on it. the Male quickly rushed at her but she threw the cable into its mouth before it fried. Sue then sat down and held her legs to her face seeing everything she worked for was gone.
"Sue!" Sean yelled before he rushed in and found the shark toast before looking at her. "You know under normal circumstances I would find this very attractive...Actually I find it more since you just killed my most hated enemy." Sean said making her smile at his attempt to amuse her. "Come on lets get going." Sean said as she got dressed before she jumped down.
"All of this for nothing." Susan said.
"Lets go." Sean said.
Soon they met up with the others.
"Where'd you two go?" Scoggs asked.
"Killed the last male. That only leaves the female which makes our odds of surviving our trip to the surface even better." Sean said placing some life jackets on fire extinguishers. "Listen I know how sharks think even ones like this. They are attracted to bright colors and bubbles. We use this to fool her ass and get topside." Sean said.
"Ok ready?" Preach said.
"Now." Sean said as the room was filled with water before they swam to the surface and like Sean said the Female took the bait on one of the fire extinguishers.
They all made it to the surface before Preach screamed as he was dragged away by the Female.
"Oh no you don't you bitch!" Sean yelled throwing a knife at her eye making her let go before Sean swam to him and pulled him to the catwalk with the others.
Scoggs was looking after Preach.
"He should be fine if we can get out of here. I still can't use more powers since the dampeners are still active." Sean said while Carter frowned. "What is it?" Sean asked.
"Son of a bitch. Under the water those fences are titanium but above their just plain steel. They've been using us to flood the facility." Carter said.
"Oh my god." Susan said.
"We have to kill her. If she gets out into the deep blue sea...We'll never find her." Sean said.
"With what? We've got nothing left." Susan said before Sean rushed to the supply post before kicking down the door. Coming back out he had a crossbow harpoon gun with some explosives before he started mixing the explosives into the arrow. "Reminds me of the shark I ever killed." Sean said loading up the harpoon. However suddenly the facility shook again making Susan fall into the water and cut her hand. "SUE!" Sean yelled before the Shark smelled her blood.
Sean was about to shoot the Shark but saw being that close would also kill Sue making him growl before seeing the power Generator and quickly shot at it before it exploded killing the power and the Power Dampeners.
Sue widened her eyes seeing her creation about to attack her only for Venom to appear and started beating the living crap out of her.
Venom roared before grabbing the mouth and tore her in half before she drifted to the bottom of the Lagoon. Sean taking over swam over to Susan.
"I was originally going to just blow her ass up but with you so close I made a different call." Sean said making her smile before pulling him into a kiss making him chuckle before she got on his back as he climbed up before Carter pulled them up.
"Nice aiming." Carter said.
"Now what?" Susan asked before they saw a boat out in the distance making Sean look closer before chuckling.
"Now theres a familiar face I'm glad to keep seeing lately." Sean said.
The person driving the boat was Quint who drove to what was left of the facility before stopping right next to them.
"Well, looks like you've had fun son." Quint said making him chuckle.
"That depends...Do you call killing Mako sharks fun?" Sean asked making him laugh.
Soon enough everyone was on the boat heading back to the mainland.
"The hell you even doing here?" Sean asked as Susan treated Preach with the medical supplies Quint had.
"Talbot called me. I was out here fishing when he told me the facility hadn't checked in. So what happened?" Quint asked.
"The usual bullshit when it involves very smart sharks." Sean said making him laugh.
Susan was out back watching the facility disappear before Sean approached her.
"You ok?" Sean asked.
"No...All those deaths and for what?" Susan asked.
"You mean this?" Sean asked holding the protein making her gasp.
"How?" Susan asked.
"Remember when you first extracted it? I kept the rest of it safe. Now we can simply make more without the sharks." Sean said making her laugh before pulling him into a kiss.
"I love you, You know that?" Susan asked making him chuckle.
"Yeah I get that a lot." Sean said placing an arm around her.
Authors Note: Ah finally I got the Deep Blue Sea chapter in. I can't believe I actually almost forgot about this. Now Next Chapter involves both a great movie and amazing Book series we've all known and loved for years before it came to an end as most things do. Also just a heads up I will be doing the Crisis on Earth X arc since I have something amazing planned. Now Read, Review, Fav and Follow. REVIEW MY LOYAL FANS! See ya!