Chapter 7: Pound of Flesh

Will and Tripp immediately ran out of their boat and got in, before they started speeding towards Sapphire Bay after Sirena.

"Shit, I hope we're not too late…" Will gulped as they sped out to the bay.

"Same here." Will nodded.

Arriving at the bay, they spotted the Cajun Queen but didn't see Sirena anywhere. This made them tense since Sirena could very well be underwater where she couldn't be seen.

That was when a very familiar notched dorsal fin covered in bone armor rose from the deep.

"That's the one what took my hand, alright." Pete nodded. "You get yourself ready, boy." He told Kyle.

"R-Right." Kyle nodded.

Growling, Sirena immediately charged the fishing boat while Will and Trip watched on.

She bashed it once, denting the hull, before diving under, slashing it with her dorsal fin, before swimming towards one of the other Hunter boats that arrived, banking right, carving a large gash into it with her right fin, and causing it to sink—before barreling towards Pete again after making a successful attack U-Turn.

Scrambling in panic, Kyle primed a charge and threw it into the water. Glancing at the explosive, Sirena grabbed it and leaped out of the water before she whipshot the explosive at the boat, damaging it further.

More reinforcements soon came by and so did more charges, which Sirena took and launched at her attackers, blowing them up in a few short moves. Taking them out just as quickly.

"She's tearing them apart…" Trip whispered, unable to look away.

"I know… And I feel like this never would've happened if Pete didn't do what he did." Will sighed, feeling dismayed.

Sirena, once she destroyed the other boats, she focused solely on the Cajun Queen, and started tearing it apart—before she launched herself over the boat, changing into her Bioelectric armor—and landing behind it. She then started shaking and tensing—before she released, causing a massive Electromagnetic Pulse that knocked out Pete's anti shark cage—allowing her to get away, shifting into her Shadow armor and using it to disappear from sight.

"Where'd she go?!" Pete shouted as he looked around frantically.

"Aa-Ah don't know!" Kyle exclaimed in reply, also looking around frantically.

Sirena then launched herself out of the water at the speed of a race car, destroying the cage and covering the two men in her natural Neurotoxin mist before disappearing under the water again.

"Gack!" The two men coughed, feeling slightly ill from the toxin.

Back with Will and Trip…

"Crap, what do we do?! What can we do?!" Trip muttered frantically.

"We gotta get them off the Cajun Queen! Come on, let's go!" Will said as they went up to the boat and launched themselves onto it, trying to get the two away from the boat, only for the toxin to cause their hands to break out in rashes. "Gah! Shit!" The author cursed, trying to fight the urge to scratch.

It was at that point that Sirena jumped out of the water and onto the Cajun Queen. She was focused heavily on Pete, but this had a consequence. While she was focused on her target, she accidentally smacked Will off his boat with her tail.

Trip immediately made a break for it, while Sirena bit down on Pete's right leg, before she bit it clean off while Kyle got a can of gasoline, dousing her.

"GAH!" Pete yelled as he held his leg, and threw a match at the gasoline, which caused Sirena to whip around and smack Kyle clear through the boat and towards the bow—right as the fire reached the fuel tank.

KABOOM!

The whole boat exploded, sending Pete flying before he landed in the water. He quickly got to the surface before latching onto a piece of wood. He lost the sides of his beard and was now sporting some nasty burns. He also noticed that he was alone.

"Kyle?! KYLE?!" He called desperately, hoping his son was close by.

The only thing he saw was Sirena's fin briefly before she dove down and away. The man teared up and smacked the driftwood he was holding angrily.

Unknown to everyone, Sirena quickly found Kyle's form before she grabbed him gently by his arm and brought him to shore, startling some people who were watching the fight. Then she dropped Kyle off with them and left.

The group of people immediately scrambled to get Kyle treated since while he was alive, he was unconscious from the blast and was burned by it.

And unfortunately for Pete, he would never find out.

Will coughed as he came onto shore seconds later, the same people helping him and Tripp up and to an ambulance as they came on the scene.

(Timeskip)

A couple of days later, Will and Tripp were discharged from Port Clovis Hospital. Kyle was also admitted there, but the blast had knocked him into a coma. There was no telling when he was gonna wake up.

"Agh… Fuck…" Will groaned, holding his ribs. Sirena's unintentional blow to him had actually broken a couple of his ribs, which hurt a lot.

"Remora is still following Sirena as we speak. She's gone to a grotto in Prosperity Sands." Trip told him. "Do we want to go back to the hotel and start getting ready to keep the episodes up?" He asked.

"Yeah…" Will nodded with a groan. "But one thing's for sure: I won't be going diving anytime soon." He added as they got in the car.

(Elsewhere)

Meanwhile, back with Sirena, she was swimming through her grotto before she left, and immediately started heading to Prosperity Sands' main waterways to get the lay of the land.

Then she came across a small cluster of sea mines.

Feeling her instincts tell her to avoid these things no matter what, she immediately swam away to a different part of the area.

Her body started sprouting a Shadow armor head piece, which she kept growling until she couldn't anymore—before getting out of said armor and started scoping out the place—where she was seen by the next bounty hunter on the list.

"The cornfed colossus, Butcherboy Brady!" A soundbite of Tripp said.

"Did we ever interview Brady?" Will questioned.

"No. We missed our chance when Sirena accidentally put you in the hospital." Tripp told him in reply.

"Oh well." The man shrugged as they watched the attack.

(Elsewhere)

Back with Brady and Sirena, the shark was looking at Pete's rival, and the water was vibrating as she floated just below the surface… almost like she was laughing at the man.

This guy was supposed to be the rival of the asshole that scarred her? What a joke! He didn't look anywhere near as competent as Pete! … And that was the only compliment Sirena would give the guy.

Deciding that she didn't even need her armors for this guy, she waited for him to attack first.

Brady, seeing this, immediately took aim at the shark—and fired with his Harpoon gun… and he missed.

Sirena then swam over to the harpoon, took it into her mouth… and then launched it at Brady with her tail.

The end result: Boom. Headshot.

Jumping onto the boat, she grabbed Brady's body and dragged it into the water with her, opting to head into a man-made underwater tunnel so she could eat without being shot at.

(Elsewhere)

"… Sirena just disrespected Brady." Will stated with wide eyes.

"Yes she did." Tripp nodded, his own eyes wide.

"... I feel like I should be proud of her." The author commented after a beat passed.

"Let's worry about that after we interview our next bounty Hunter." Tripp said.

"Who's that?" Will asked.

"Shannon Sims." The man replied.

"Another Coast Guard Lieutenant?" The Englishman sighed.

"Yep. Thankfully, this one is actually competent." Tripp assured.

(Later)

"So Shannon, what can you tell us about yourself?" Tripp asked.

"I joined the coast guard since an actual navy career didn't suit me." The blonde shrugged. "I stop the occasional smuggler and shark attack, but that Maneater out there?" She continued, looking at the ocean before scoffing. "No way am I letting some normal civvy take this shark out!" She declared.

"So you're doing this to set up your career." Will stated. "That's pretty greedy." The author added.

"Call it whatever you want. I just want something to tell people about." The woman shrugged.

(Later)

It was around 8pm, and Sirena saw Shannon scanning the area where she dealt with Brady—and while changing into her Bone Armor—went full speed ahead towards the woman's boat—and collided with it, sending her flying and destroying it—while Shannon crashed directly into the Anti Shark Barrier.

After landing in the water, Shannon tried to swim for the shore and get to safety. It was futile, however. Sirena was already on her, and dragged her under the water, where she was devoured.

And with her death, Sirena's infamy grew.

(Elsewhere)

"We appreciate you agreeing to meet with us, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant." Tripp said as he and Will sat with a couple in an Italian styled villa in Prosperity Sands, a group of guards surrounding them, all carrying guns.

The four were all sitting at the dinner table with Maybelle Bryant and her husband Bartolomeo Bryant, of the Antolini Crime family, and they were being served Italian food.

"It was no trouble." Maybelle told them, adjusting her wide brim hat.

"You sure about that?" Will questioned. "A few of your 'boys' tried to kill me a few weeks ago." He stated.

"I told our boys to leave you alone, but apparently some of them didn't listen." Bartolomeo sighed in reply.

"Probably on the orders of Randal or Tyson." Maybelle nodded. "Those two are always so pigheaded." She added.

"Okay, so that attempt on my life wasn't because of you. Thank you for clearing that up." Will nodded, though he didn't really sound like he was happy about it.

"Now tell us, what reason, exactly, do you have to go after the Maneater? She isn't exactly attacking you." Tripp questioned.

"Oh, that." Maybelle chuckled. "I feel like her jaw would make a fine trophy." She grinned.

"Sweetheart, I'm telling you, it's not worth endangering yourself. Several other bounty hunters have already been killed by the beast, and I don't want you to be among them." Bartolomeo told his wife with a concerned tone.

"That is true. Among those was Butcher Boy Brady, who was killed by her sending back his own harpoon." Will nodded. "Sirena, she's… Smarter than the average shark." He added. "Even Pete acknowledged that." He stated.

"Then I'll just have to outsmart her." Maybelle declared, confident she could do so.

"That's not all, she also has those armors." Trip stated.

"Right. How would you get around that?" Will nodded.

"I'll figure something out." The mafia woman shrugged.

(Later)

Maybelle cocked an AK-47 as her personal boat, the Fins of Royalty, scanned the waters of Prosperity Sands, searching for the Maneater.

"Come out, come out wherever you are…" She muttered, keeping her eyes on the water.

Unknown to her, Sirena was already under her boat in her shadow armor, which only made her that much harder to spot. She noticed Mayebelle a short while ago, and decided to toy with her target this time around.

She felt really devious.

Surfacing for a moment, she swam up alongside the boat, and waited for Maybelle to let her guard down… before she nudged the boat, causing it to rock and causing her to drop her gun over the railing.

"What the–?!" She gasped, heading to the other side and just missed Sirena quickly diving.

Several minutes passed before the other side of the boat was nudged, causing the woman to be rocked almost over the railing, before it stopped.

"Where are you?!" Maybelle yelled, stumbling around.

If Sirena was capable of speech, she'd whisper "right here" just to scare her. Instead, she rocked the boat hard enough for the mafia woman to fall overboard, giving herself an opening.

Maybelle looked around frantically—until she soon came face to face with none other than the Maneater.

"... I should've listened to my husband." She groaned before Sirena tore her apart and ate her.

(Timeskip)

Will sighed as he sat at the docks after the carnage that occurred several days, and had his gun with him, in case the Antolini family came after him. He knew that Maybelle's death was going to piss off a lot of Antolini members, so he wanted to be ready.

As he waited though, he soon took notice of the fact that a familiar looking fin was knifing through the water—heading right towards him.

"Oh boy…" He gulped right as Sirena leaped out of the water and landed on him, causing him to grunt as he was pinned to the ground under the female Bull Shark… Who also started to purr happily just from being near him. "Heh… Glad you're still around too, girl." He got out with a chuckle, rubbing her snout.

Sirena hummed, enjoying his touch before she felt the need to return to the water for oxygen. Reluctantly flopping off of her human, she returned to the water while Will watched her swim around for a moment before she poked her head out of the water to look at him.

She made sure she committed his appearance, his voice and his smell to memory, before she swam away again.

She'd want to be close to him after this was over.

Dragon Emperor0: Hey guys. Surprised to get a chapter so soon? Well, this is the kind of thing you can expect when you have two guys who get bored easily on weekends. Even when we try to take the day off, we end up getting work done when we have literally nothing else to do.

ThermalsniperN7: Exactly. When you have bored writers and unwritten chapters, things happen. Can you really blame us if this is the outcome?

Dragon Emperor0: Other than that, we have officially entered the second act of the story: the tying of loose ends. Apexes left undealt with, Bounty Hunters who haven't gotten the memo yet. These are the things we'll see next chapter, as well as Pete's slow descent into madness following Kyle's supposed death.

ThermalsniperN7: Yep. There are a lot of things to do, and so much fun to be had writing them out. Anyway, see you guys next time.