12-27-2016, 11:46 PM
Zack paused as he contemplated the situation. There was no easy out, or perfect solution to this mess. He still wasn’t exactly a fan of Gary’s, after the man had just about killed him before and openly admitted that he would leave Zack to die with no regrets. It was only fair to treat him the same way. A look into Caira’s eyes was all it took to remind him that he was cursed to have strong morals. He spit a bit of leftover water from his lungs to the side.
“Alright,” Zack relented. “You’re right. We can’t leave Gary. But these papers are the important thing, and even he would agree with a bunch of immortals saying that.”
“So…?” Caira left Zack room to continue, as he’d yet to present a solution.
Zack gave a confident, almost overly heroic nod. It was just a habit. “I’ll go find Gary. You get the papers back to Jad and figure out where to go next. If we don’t make it back, you put the pieces together and keep going.”
“Zack…” Caira slowly began to respond.
The ex-SOLDIER could only give a bold grin. If there was one thing he loved, it was storming into seemingly impossible odds, and all the better if there was a girl to impress while doing so. He gave a dismissive hand wave to downplay his plan.
“It’ll be fine,” Zack reasoned. “They’ll never know what hit them.”
Caira appeared to be unconvinced. “It’s just…”
Zack’s smile remained wide as he basked in the opportunity to play the heroic part up. Caira was making it too enjoyable. After all, it was all about the little things. He gave a wink as he crossed his arms, but Caira’s expression still remained. Finally, she simply pointed over his shoulder.
“They’re behind you,” Caira bluntly stated.
Zack’s grin faded as he turned to see what she was gesturing at. Sure enough, there was an Imperial patrol boat headed their way, filled to the brim with Stormtroopers. Oh.
Instantly, he began to try and figure out a new plan. He was coming up very short, however. There was nowhere to hide the documents. They Imperials had mobility in their motorized vessel, while the primes were stuck on a tiny island with no cover or concealment. There was no way and nowhere to run, not to mention he didn’t have the time to so much as summon a paperclip, much less a vehicle that might give them an edge.
He cursed himself for not considering that the Empire would be patrolling the area, and with plenty of extra vigor after the stunt they’d just pulled within the base. There was no running from this, and though a fight was a possible win, the risk of collateral was too great. Caira appeared to have no way of handling gunfire directly, and the slightest error would destroy these papers. Still, there was a way to approach this, but the risk was great. He couldn’t think of any other solution, however.
“Damn,” Zack remarked, though it didn’t sound like the wind had been totally blown from his sails. He still had that resolve in his voice, even if his words didn’t convey that message. “I guess they got us.”
“Zack, we have to do something!” Caira said as she looked around, but the truth was apparent. They were cornered.
“Don’t worry,” Zack winked as he looked over his shoulder. “We’re not out of this fight yet. Let them get those documents, just for a minute.”
Caira wondered how Zack could possibly spin this one in their favor, but he’d trusted her back in the impound. She supposed it was her turn to follow his lead, as hard as it was to separate herself from the well-earned papers that belonged to Camelot. As the boat continued to approach at a high speed, Zack merely held his hands up in surrender. Cautiously, Caira did the same from behind him. The Stormtroopers found no comfort in this gesture, and beached their craft quite abruptly, before exiting with well-practiced haste.
“Don’t move!” the lead trooper shouted as the squad in white quickly surrounded the duo in black.
“Easy, fellas,” Zack took a soothing voice, despite the gun barrels aimed right at his face. “You got us.”
“Hey, be careful with that!” Caira scolded a Stormtrooper as he snatched the papers from her hands.
The sergeant in charge of this group looked between the two, before resting the cold gaze of his mask on Zack. Caira’s reaction told him all he needed to know. “Are those papers the reason for all this? What are they?”
Zack just shook his head and laughed. “Come on. You know it’s not going to be that easy.”
“You heard him,” the Stormtrooper gestured to his men. “Search them and get them on the boat. We’ll have a specialist conduct the interrogation at the base. And secure those papers.”
Caira saw Zack smile as they stepped on the boat, and watched one of the Stormtroopers place the documents in a dry storage compartment near the front. At the same time, it took two of the armored shock troopers to heft Zack’s Buster Sword from his back and place it aside. The boat lurched backwards as the operator abruptly departed from the island, and they took off into the open sea.
Zack watched carefully as the man manipulated the controls to the vessel. It seemed like a simple boat with all the standard functions, and he saw no ridiculous Imperial designs that would prevent him from taking control of it. Good. Zack looked ahead as the Stormtroopers patted him and Caira down. He’d seen all he needed to see, and the papers were secure. Now all he needed was a good boat wake.
Caira followed Zack’s eyeline, slowly understanding what was happening. It was definitely a bold play, but it took a lot on faith. Once they finished their search of the primes, she saw one of them grab a set of handcuffs. If they let themselves be restrained, everything was going to be that much more difficult.
The boat rocked forward as it settled from a large wave, causing everyone a minute of unsteadiness. It was all Zack needed. He grabbed the Chain Chomp from his belt and threw the creature forward. The being awoke in midair and responded with the only reflex it had, to bite down hard on the lead trooper’s arm. The man screamed in pain and the other troopers reacted quickly, but they were already at a disadvantage.
Zack grabbed the barrels of the two guns nearest to him, pointing them upwards and sending the resulting gunshots into the air. The Stormtroopers struggled and tried fight back, but their training dictated that they maintain control of their firearms at all times. They were already at a loss and completely confused by these circumstances. Zack seized this opportunity to kick each of them in the shin with enough force to send them to their knees, then ripped the blaster from the hands of the trooper to his right. Wasting no time, he bashed the weapon first into the head of the still armed one, then into the disarmed man, and both soldiers collapsed to the deck, unconscious.
With no time wasted, Zack bolted forward and bashed the operator of the boat’s skull into the console, and shoved his limp body aside, as well. He pulled the throttle to a neutral position and allowed the boat to settle in the calm water, then turned to get back to the action.
As it turned out, however, Caira had more than taken care of the remainder of the Stormtroopers, who were sprawled all over the boat in various uncomfortable positions. He opened his mouth to compliment her swift handling of the situation, but she marched to the dry storage and pulled the documents out immediately. Only after confirming that this trip had not been for naught did she appear slightly at ease.
Zack smiled, but then noticed a second patrol boat headed their way. Even more, he noticed some sort of deformed monster, with large wings and a thin tail, flying over the surface of the water in the distance. He’d heard stories of the Empire’s bioweapon program, and something that gruesome had to be a part of it. As honored as he felt to get the attention of one of those creatures, he knew they didn’t have the time to deal with it. Even if they could beat it, a fight with that monstrosity would only allow the Empire’s reinforcements more time to arrive. He gritted his teeth, then looked to Caira. If she was all business, then so was he.
“Can you drive a boat?” Zack quickly asked, at the same time reclaiming the Buster Sword and the Chain Chomp. He returned the beast to his belt, but kept the sword in his hand. He was going to need it.
“…No!” Caira replied, after only a second of hesitation. “I have no idea how!”
Zack pointed to the throttle, a simple lever that moved on a one hundred eighty degree radius. He would have to be quick. “Forward is forward. Backwards is backwards. The middle is stopped!” he quickly barked out, eyeing the approaching vessel. Caira saw it too, but didn’t understand why Zack wasn’t just driving the boat. Zack suddenly continued, however. “Same plan as before. Get those papers out of here!”
Caira went to protest again, but Zack crouched low and gathered all of his strength. Then, with all the force he could muster, he performed a powerful leap high into the air. As he sailed upwards, he was already watching the surface below. He needed precision to end up on the second boat. The fact that they suddenly began shooting up at him didn’t help him concentrate. He held the Buster Sword forward, using the massive blade to deflect the laser blasts that came near him. His descent accelerated as he reached maximum velocity, and braced himself for a hard landing.
Zack impacted the moving craft with incredible force, shaking the entire boat and throwing two Stormtroopers overboard. The resulting soldiers were forced to grab whatever they could to balance themselves, and even Zack struggled to maintain his own composure as the vessel rocked with the combination of the waves and his own inertia.
Unfortunately, one of the Stormtroopers recovered first, and Zack found himself nearly overwhelmed with pain when he was struck on the right shoulder by a stun baton. The white armored trooper held it there, forcing the already kneeling super soldier to nearly collapse to the ground. He knew the others were likely recovered, by now, and the last thing he wanted was to be outnumbered by a group of these guys. Thinking quickly, he allowed himself to go prone, and dropped away from the electrified weapon. The second he hit the ground he rolled to his back and shot both feet back up into the man’s gut, sending him reeling backwards and gasping for air. Wasting no time, Zack pounced to his feet and swung his sword in a full circle. The weapon’s massive size combined with the small proximity of the boat meant that he was able to connect the sharp blade with every occupant that wasn’t himself. He hated to do it, but there were bigger things at stake. His main concern was how he’d manage to get past that bioweapon.
His concerns evaporated in an instant as he watched Gary’s submarine erupt from the water not far from the boat Caira was operating. Zack returned the Buster Sword to its resting place on his back, feeling a bit relieved, but also a bit frustrated. Where the hell had this dude been?
Caira hesitated, but focused on Zack’s brief instructions. She pulled the throttle to the neutral position and allowed the boat to come to a rest. In the time it took her to do so, Gary had thrown the top hatch of the submersible craft open. The man emerged from the hole, looking as angry as expected.
“Get in the sub, lassy!” Gary ordered at the top of his lungs. “Now!”
Caira didn’t hesitate. Questions could come later. She clutched the papers tightly to her chest as she hopped to the steel craft. Gary stepped the rest of the way out, and she dropped into the hatch beside him. The sight of Gary’s familiar sub was welcome, but she recognized that they weren’t out of the woods yet. She found herself surprised when she heard the sound of the hatch sealing shut, and saw Gary descend the ladder beside her.
“What about Zack?!” she asked in a near panic as she looked up at the locked compartment. Super soldier or not, he wasn’t getting into this submarine without being let in.
“He knew the risks!” Gary replied as he marched past her, on the way to the cockpit. “We have no time to waste before the whole Empire is on us.”
Caira gasped in surprise, and quickly ran after Gary. Still, she had enough awareness to set the papers they’d fought so hard for on the table within Gary’s planning room they had to pass through. She wouldn’t let Gary leave Zack behind like this, though. There had to be a way to get him in the sub while still preventing the bioweapon from damaging the inside.
Zack, meanwhile, rolled onto the top of the submarine after a quick exit from his boat. He knew well enough that he wasn’t getting into this submarine without help from its occupants. Still, he barely managed to get to his feet before the monstrosity of a bioweapon approach and swung at him with its deformed claws. Zack rose to a kneel and raised the Buster Sword to block the attack with no time to spare. The bioweapon pushed against his large sword, but Zack devoted a hand to bang on the closed entrance to the submersible’s interior.
“Gary!” Zack bellowed in a near panic. “Open up!!!”
There was no answer and Zack was forced to take both hands on the Buster Sword’s handle, and shove the beast backwards. He then swung again with his sword, and although he didn’t connect with the monster, the gesture was enough to force it to keep its distance.
“Gary! Let me in!” Zack once again loudly yelled. He knew good and well there was no was he’d be able to handle this monster on his own. Just the same, there was no escaping. His only relief would come from getting into the sub and departing beneath the surface of the water.
Zack sensed an incoming attack, and swiftly blocked another strike from the bioweapon’s claws. He stepped back, his concern growing as he had nowhere to go. He realized there was no way to enter the submarine without the bioweapon taking advantage of it and assaulting the interior. He realized what Gary would do.
As soon as he thought about it, he felt the sensation of water rushing into his boots. He glanced down to see that the water level had ascended past it shins, and that his waterproof boots were flooding from above. He swung his sword to fend off the Imperial monster once more, but focused on the real issue. Gary was bringing the vessel beneath the water, and he was doing so with Zack on the outside, instead of safely within.
The water level rose to Zack’s waist, and he set the Buster Sword upon his back as he grabbed a railing on the side of the submarine. It was meant as a safety precaution for when the vessel was surfaced, but he would hold onto this as long as he could. The submersible descended beneath the water, and Zack with it. He took one final breath of air before his head disappeared beneath the water as well.
The submarine lurched forward, and Zack could only hang on as he felt it move with incredible speed. The only thing connecting him was his firm grip on the railing, as his feet were flowing in the water while the vessel traveled. The velocity of the submarine combined with the water pressure from going so deep do fast would have been hell to deal with even if he could breathe underwater. He could feel his lungs screaming for oxygen and his fingers begging for relief against the underwater current. This wasn’t going to work. He’d done his best, but he was going to lose his grip, and probably his consciousness. He hadn’t expected to go out in such a ridiculous way, but the end seemed inevitable at this point. In his final contemplations, he never noticed the slowing of the ship. It wasn’t until it suddenly surfaced that he was aware of his surroundings.
Zack gasped for breath as he let go of the railing, and dropped into and exhausted heap beside the hatch. The sight of the sun above had never been so welcome. Gary had surfaced the craft, and although the bioweapon was in sight and searching, it wasn’t close enough to attack. There was time to get inside. There was no doubt in his mind which occupant of the vessel had argued on his behalf. He struggled to reclaim his breath, and in doing so didn’t even notice Caira throwing the hatch the interior open beside him. All he felt was the sensation of her grabbing him by the shoulders.
He offered no resistance as she dragged him, headfirst, into the submarine. He was a tough guy, and had taken plenty of rough hits in his life, which is why Caira felt no concern with dropping him the rest of the way down the ladder as she closed and sealed it in a hurry. It was mere seconds after they were secured that Gary brought the craft below the surface, this time for good.
To the Empire, these ghostly figures that had emerged from the water to begin with had once more vanished into the vast ocean from which they came.
“Alright,” Zack relented. “You’re right. We can’t leave Gary. But these papers are the important thing, and even he would agree with a bunch of immortals saying that.”
“So…?” Caira left Zack room to continue, as he’d yet to present a solution.
Zack gave a confident, almost overly heroic nod. It was just a habit. “I’ll go find Gary. You get the papers back to Jad and figure out where to go next. If we don’t make it back, you put the pieces together and keep going.”
“Zack…” Caira slowly began to respond.
The ex-SOLDIER could only give a bold grin. If there was one thing he loved, it was storming into seemingly impossible odds, and all the better if there was a girl to impress while doing so. He gave a dismissive hand wave to downplay his plan.
“It’ll be fine,” Zack reasoned. “They’ll never know what hit them.”
Caira appeared to be unconvinced. “It’s just…”
Zack’s smile remained wide as he basked in the opportunity to play the heroic part up. Caira was making it too enjoyable. After all, it was all about the little things. He gave a wink as he crossed his arms, but Caira’s expression still remained. Finally, she simply pointed over his shoulder.
“They’re behind you,” Caira bluntly stated.
Zack’s grin faded as he turned to see what she was gesturing at. Sure enough, there was an Imperial patrol boat headed their way, filled to the brim with Stormtroopers. Oh.
Instantly, he began to try and figure out a new plan. He was coming up very short, however. There was nowhere to hide the documents. They Imperials had mobility in their motorized vessel, while the primes were stuck on a tiny island with no cover or concealment. There was no way and nowhere to run, not to mention he didn’t have the time to so much as summon a paperclip, much less a vehicle that might give them an edge.
He cursed himself for not considering that the Empire would be patrolling the area, and with plenty of extra vigor after the stunt they’d just pulled within the base. There was no running from this, and though a fight was a possible win, the risk of collateral was too great. Caira appeared to have no way of handling gunfire directly, and the slightest error would destroy these papers. Still, there was a way to approach this, but the risk was great. He couldn’t think of any other solution, however.
“Damn,” Zack remarked, though it didn’t sound like the wind had been totally blown from his sails. He still had that resolve in his voice, even if his words didn’t convey that message. “I guess they got us.”
“Zack, we have to do something!” Caira said as she looked around, but the truth was apparent. They were cornered.
“Don’t worry,” Zack winked as he looked over his shoulder. “We’re not out of this fight yet. Let them get those documents, just for a minute.”
Caira wondered how Zack could possibly spin this one in their favor, but he’d trusted her back in the impound. She supposed it was her turn to follow his lead, as hard as it was to separate herself from the well-earned papers that belonged to Camelot. As the boat continued to approach at a high speed, Zack merely held his hands up in surrender. Cautiously, Caira did the same from behind him. The Stormtroopers found no comfort in this gesture, and beached their craft quite abruptly, before exiting with well-practiced haste.
“Don’t move!” the lead trooper shouted as the squad in white quickly surrounded the duo in black.
“Easy, fellas,” Zack took a soothing voice, despite the gun barrels aimed right at his face. “You got us.”
“Hey, be careful with that!” Caira scolded a Stormtrooper as he snatched the papers from her hands.
The sergeant in charge of this group looked between the two, before resting the cold gaze of his mask on Zack. Caira’s reaction told him all he needed to know. “Are those papers the reason for all this? What are they?”
Zack just shook his head and laughed. “Come on. You know it’s not going to be that easy.”
“You heard him,” the Stormtrooper gestured to his men. “Search them and get them on the boat. We’ll have a specialist conduct the interrogation at the base. And secure those papers.”
Caira saw Zack smile as they stepped on the boat, and watched one of the Stormtroopers place the documents in a dry storage compartment near the front. At the same time, it took two of the armored shock troopers to heft Zack’s Buster Sword from his back and place it aside. The boat lurched backwards as the operator abruptly departed from the island, and they took off into the open sea.
Zack watched carefully as the man manipulated the controls to the vessel. It seemed like a simple boat with all the standard functions, and he saw no ridiculous Imperial designs that would prevent him from taking control of it. Good. Zack looked ahead as the Stormtroopers patted him and Caira down. He’d seen all he needed to see, and the papers were secure. Now all he needed was a good boat wake.
Caira followed Zack’s eyeline, slowly understanding what was happening. It was definitely a bold play, but it took a lot on faith. Once they finished their search of the primes, she saw one of them grab a set of handcuffs. If they let themselves be restrained, everything was going to be that much more difficult.
The boat rocked forward as it settled from a large wave, causing everyone a minute of unsteadiness. It was all Zack needed. He grabbed the Chain Chomp from his belt and threw the creature forward. The being awoke in midair and responded with the only reflex it had, to bite down hard on the lead trooper’s arm. The man screamed in pain and the other troopers reacted quickly, but they were already at a disadvantage.
Zack grabbed the barrels of the two guns nearest to him, pointing them upwards and sending the resulting gunshots into the air. The Stormtroopers struggled and tried fight back, but their training dictated that they maintain control of their firearms at all times. They were already at a loss and completely confused by these circumstances. Zack seized this opportunity to kick each of them in the shin with enough force to send them to their knees, then ripped the blaster from the hands of the trooper to his right. Wasting no time, he bashed the weapon first into the head of the still armed one, then into the disarmed man, and both soldiers collapsed to the deck, unconscious.
With no time wasted, Zack bolted forward and bashed the operator of the boat’s skull into the console, and shoved his limp body aside, as well. He pulled the throttle to a neutral position and allowed the boat to settle in the calm water, then turned to get back to the action.
As it turned out, however, Caira had more than taken care of the remainder of the Stormtroopers, who were sprawled all over the boat in various uncomfortable positions. He opened his mouth to compliment her swift handling of the situation, but she marched to the dry storage and pulled the documents out immediately. Only after confirming that this trip had not been for naught did she appear slightly at ease.
Zack smiled, but then noticed a second patrol boat headed their way. Even more, he noticed some sort of deformed monster, with large wings and a thin tail, flying over the surface of the water in the distance. He’d heard stories of the Empire’s bioweapon program, and something that gruesome had to be a part of it. As honored as he felt to get the attention of one of those creatures, he knew they didn’t have the time to deal with it. Even if they could beat it, a fight with that monstrosity would only allow the Empire’s reinforcements more time to arrive. He gritted his teeth, then looked to Caira. If she was all business, then so was he.
“Can you drive a boat?” Zack quickly asked, at the same time reclaiming the Buster Sword and the Chain Chomp. He returned the beast to his belt, but kept the sword in his hand. He was going to need it.
“…No!” Caira replied, after only a second of hesitation. “I have no idea how!”
Zack pointed to the throttle, a simple lever that moved on a one hundred eighty degree radius. He would have to be quick. “Forward is forward. Backwards is backwards. The middle is stopped!” he quickly barked out, eyeing the approaching vessel. Caira saw it too, but didn’t understand why Zack wasn’t just driving the boat. Zack suddenly continued, however. “Same plan as before. Get those papers out of here!”
Caira went to protest again, but Zack crouched low and gathered all of his strength. Then, with all the force he could muster, he performed a powerful leap high into the air. As he sailed upwards, he was already watching the surface below. He needed precision to end up on the second boat. The fact that they suddenly began shooting up at him didn’t help him concentrate. He held the Buster Sword forward, using the massive blade to deflect the laser blasts that came near him. His descent accelerated as he reached maximum velocity, and braced himself for a hard landing.
Zack impacted the moving craft with incredible force, shaking the entire boat and throwing two Stormtroopers overboard. The resulting soldiers were forced to grab whatever they could to balance themselves, and even Zack struggled to maintain his own composure as the vessel rocked with the combination of the waves and his own inertia.
Unfortunately, one of the Stormtroopers recovered first, and Zack found himself nearly overwhelmed with pain when he was struck on the right shoulder by a stun baton. The white armored trooper held it there, forcing the already kneeling super soldier to nearly collapse to the ground. He knew the others were likely recovered, by now, and the last thing he wanted was to be outnumbered by a group of these guys. Thinking quickly, he allowed himself to go prone, and dropped away from the electrified weapon. The second he hit the ground he rolled to his back and shot both feet back up into the man’s gut, sending him reeling backwards and gasping for air. Wasting no time, Zack pounced to his feet and swung his sword in a full circle. The weapon’s massive size combined with the small proximity of the boat meant that he was able to connect the sharp blade with every occupant that wasn’t himself. He hated to do it, but there were bigger things at stake. His main concern was how he’d manage to get past that bioweapon.
His concerns evaporated in an instant as he watched Gary’s submarine erupt from the water not far from the boat Caira was operating. Zack returned the Buster Sword to its resting place on his back, feeling a bit relieved, but also a bit frustrated. Where the hell had this dude been?
Caira hesitated, but focused on Zack’s brief instructions. She pulled the throttle to the neutral position and allowed the boat to come to a rest. In the time it took her to do so, Gary had thrown the top hatch of the submersible craft open. The man emerged from the hole, looking as angry as expected.
“Get in the sub, lassy!” Gary ordered at the top of his lungs. “Now!”
Caira didn’t hesitate. Questions could come later. She clutched the papers tightly to her chest as she hopped to the steel craft. Gary stepped the rest of the way out, and she dropped into the hatch beside him. The sight of Gary’s familiar sub was welcome, but she recognized that they weren’t out of the woods yet. She found herself surprised when she heard the sound of the hatch sealing shut, and saw Gary descend the ladder beside her.
“What about Zack?!” she asked in a near panic as she looked up at the locked compartment. Super soldier or not, he wasn’t getting into this submarine without being let in.
“He knew the risks!” Gary replied as he marched past her, on the way to the cockpit. “We have no time to waste before the whole Empire is on us.”
Caira gasped in surprise, and quickly ran after Gary. Still, she had enough awareness to set the papers they’d fought so hard for on the table within Gary’s planning room they had to pass through. She wouldn’t let Gary leave Zack behind like this, though. There had to be a way to get him in the sub while still preventing the bioweapon from damaging the inside.
Zack, meanwhile, rolled onto the top of the submarine after a quick exit from his boat. He knew well enough that he wasn’t getting into this submarine without help from its occupants. Still, he barely managed to get to his feet before the monstrosity of a bioweapon approach and swung at him with its deformed claws. Zack rose to a kneel and raised the Buster Sword to block the attack with no time to spare. The bioweapon pushed against his large sword, but Zack devoted a hand to bang on the closed entrance to the submersible’s interior.
“Gary!” Zack bellowed in a near panic. “Open up!!!”
There was no answer and Zack was forced to take both hands on the Buster Sword’s handle, and shove the beast backwards. He then swung again with his sword, and although he didn’t connect with the monster, the gesture was enough to force it to keep its distance.
“Gary! Let me in!” Zack once again loudly yelled. He knew good and well there was no was he’d be able to handle this monster on his own. Just the same, there was no escaping. His only relief would come from getting into the sub and departing beneath the surface of the water.
Zack sensed an incoming attack, and swiftly blocked another strike from the bioweapon’s claws. He stepped back, his concern growing as he had nowhere to go. He realized there was no way to enter the submarine without the bioweapon taking advantage of it and assaulting the interior. He realized what Gary would do.
As soon as he thought about it, he felt the sensation of water rushing into his boots. He glanced down to see that the water level had ascended past it shins, and that his waterproof boots were flooding from above. He swung his sword to fend off the Imperial monster once more, but focused on the real issue. Gary was bringing the vessel beneath the water, and he was doing so with Zack on the outside, instead of safely within.
The water level rose to Zack’s waist, and he set the Buster Sword upon his back as he grabbed a railing on the side of the submarine. It was meant as a safety precaution for when the vessel was surfaced, but he would hold onto this as long as he could. The submersible descended beneath the water, and Zack with it. He took one final breath of air before his head disappeared beneath the water as well.
The submarine lurched forward, and Zack could only hang on as he felt it move with incredible speed. The only thing connecting him was his firm grip on the railing, as his feet were flowing in the water while the vessel traveled. The velocity of the submarine combined with the water pressure from going so deep do fast would have been hell to deal with even if he could breathe underwater. He could feel his lungs screaming for oxygen and his fingers begging for relief against the underwater current. This wasn’t going to work. He’d done his best, but he was going to lose his grip, and probably his consciousness. He hadn’t expected to go out in such a ridiculous way, but the end seemed inevitable at this point. In his final contemplations, he never noticed the slowing of the ship. It wasn’t until it suddenly surfaced that he was aware of his surroundings.
Zack gasped for breath as he let go of the railing, and dropped into and exhausted heap beside the hatch. The sight of the sun above had never been so welcome. Gary had surfaced the craft, and although the bioweapon was in sight and searching, it wasn’t close enough to attack. There was time to get inside. There was no doubt in his mind which occupant of the vessel had argued on his behalf. He struggled to reclaim his breath, and in doing so didn’t even notice Caira throwing the hatch the interior open beside him. All he felt was the sensation of her grabbing him by the shoulders.
He offered no resistance as she dragged him, headfirst, into the submarine. He was a tough guy, and had taken plenty of rough hits in his life, which is why Caira felt no concern with dropping him the rest of the way down the ladder as she closed and sealed it in a hurry. It was mere seconds after they were secured that Gary brought the craft below the surface, this time for good.
To the Empire, these ghostly figures that had emerged from the water to begin with had once more vanished into the vast ocean from which they came.