The base buzzed with post-mission energy, the metallic air thick with sweat, steam, and low-quality celebration music. Sparks flicked from a nearby repair table where Martinaz, Mandark's resident scientist and unapologetic GEAR-obsessive, reassembled Mechie's ruptured vest with unsettling precision.
"You lost 1.8 liters of blood," she said casually, not looking up. "Sufficient for continued survival but problematic for long-term oxygen retention. You may feel inefficient."
Mechie grunted, woozy but upright. "I feel like roadkill."
"You resemble it, too," she replied helpfully.
Across the space, the crew relaxed in various degrees of denial. Cuh sat stiffly, ribs bandaged, eyes sharp. Wavi and Soule bickered over protein bars, while Tye leaned quietly against a crate, watching his glove cycle through recovery diagnostics.
Mandark burst in with his usual flair, arms wide. "First mission, full payout, no corpses! We are professionals!"
"You're a maniac," Cuh muttered.
"A qualified maniac," Martinaz added, not looking up. "He reverse-engineered neural thread code using open-source anatomy files and illegal lab templates."
Wavi blinked. "Wait. You built all this... off the net?"
Mandark grinned. "They got degrees. I got drive and stolen bandwidth."
Soule launched into a triumphant freestyle:
"Built like a blueprint, broke like a law, Mandark's crew got the world in awe, Martinaz spliced with hands of doom, We hit hard like a sonic boom!"
Cuh groaned. "You rhyme one more time, I'm putting you through the floor."
The laughter faded slowly. Tye's voice cut through the noise.
"Who did we piss off?" he asked. "And how bad is it?"
Silence. Even the glove dimmed.
Salt Choir – The Whale Song
The wounded lay beneath drifting sheets of bioweave, the salt-stained floor pulsing with song. Tadpole Slim moved like prophecy made flesh, her Immortal Jellyfish Top glowing in soft coral-pinks, pulsing with her breath.
She knelt beside Yibby, her fingers tracing the young scout's cheek. No words. Just water-laced grief.
Without warning, Tadpole rose and slammed her palm into a wall. The jellyfish tendrils whipped around her, strobing orange-gold, casting alien shadows.
The crew froze. Even the walls seemed to ripple in fear.
She inhaled. Slow. Deep. The glow calmed.
"I apologize," she said, voice rippling like surf. "The sea within me churns."
The crew nodded, unsure.
"Bring me their names. Their footprints. Their frequencies. I want the tide that dragged them here."
They scrambled to obey.
She turned back to Yibby. Whispered like a prayer:
"They forgot how to float. We'll teach them… with mercy, or with current."
Neo-Pelt & Eclipse Hide – Scene of the Ambush
Kairos moved silently among the wreckage, his Abyssal Angler Cloak casting faint pulses in the mist. Luma crouched atop a flipped crate, tossing a gear shard like a coin.
"You're late," came the dry voice of Dustwalker as he emerged from shadow.
"Fashionably," Luma replied, smirking.
Gilashot landed beside him, her visor scanning red. She crouched, picking up a half-burned child's drawing—a rabbit with stitched whiskers.
"Zugun," she murmured. "His scent's all over this."
"Rome's kid?" Dustwalker asked. "Thought he died in the Bronze crawl."
Kairos spoke for the first time. "The sea doesn't forget its blood."
Gilashot stood. "So… who are we dealing with?"
"Mandark crew," Luma replied. "Stitched-together trash bags with god complexes."
"And the Choir," Kairos added. "They're rippling. Testing routes. Responding in song."
Gilashot's eyes narrowed. "Great. We've got a rogue heir, a junkyard prophet, and sea-cult zealots. This'll be fun."
Dustwalker cracked his knuckles. "Let's see who drowns first."
The Wayfarers
Back aboard the Whale Song, a team of Salt Choir scouts—The Wayfarers—stood in reverent silence.
Barracuda Lancer with a tide-spear that whistled in motionUrchin Core Tank, a brute with spines that rippled like bladesJelly-Twin Daggers, silent and twitchy, always smiling
Tadpole's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Follow the ripples. Sink the chaos. Bring me the storm."
The Wayfarers dove into the depths.
Far below, the ocean began to hum.