#dr. danan

[septnautical]

I’ve always wondered what the humans like danan and Zara would look like as hybrids. I hope it’s not too much trouble

IM NOT LATE you’re LATE- okay yeah I got distracted ;;; but yeah sorry it’s just sketches but it was a weird day for art

[septnautical]

Zarkie Part 2

((Recommended you read this while listening to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvVQE1tfYk ))

Danan led Zara to a room that didn’t show the ocean outside and that the water tunnels weren’t connect to.

“You can rest here for a bit,” Danan told her gently. Zara sat on the bed towards the middle and put her face in her hands.

Danan put a hand on her shoulder for comfort, “If it helps then you should know Bunny is recovering well and can be let go in the next day.”

Zara lifts her head to give a tiny smile, “That does make me feel better.”

“I will leave you to yourself unless you wish to have someone to speak to about what happened,” Danan inquired.

Zara shook her head, “I’d rather be alone right now. Maybe...maybe later?”

Danan gave her a gentle smile, “I will be here if you ever need to talk Zara.” Danan gave her a nod and then left the room.

Immediately tears welled up in Zara’s eyes and she couldn’t hold down the sob anymore. It was painful to be attacked by someone you loved and trusted. She had loved Jackie, trusted him, had hoped he would understand where she was coming from. Turns out love wasn’t so great either.

More sobs worked their way out of Zara and she let her grief pour out. Eventually the tears stopped and Zara dug the palm of her hands into her eyes until she saw stars. She felt drained both physically and emotionally.

“A shower,” Zara decided, “a shower and then a nap.”

The shower helped loosen Zara’s muscles and she left it feeling slightly more refreshed. It was the promise of a nap that was calling Zara now and she slumped into the bed. Through the walls she began hearing singing and Zara smiled as she drifted off to Greyson’s lullaby.

Schneep was doing rounds around the base when he caught sight of Danan approaching the underwater sections used to treat creatures. “Danan!” He called out and she paused.

“Henrik,” Danan says with a slight smile. Schneep feels a giddy rush in him before Danan motions for him to come around into the flooded room she was about to enter. He rushed over only to pause when entering the room. There was Rabbit Ray, not yet fully grown, drifting through the room with burn marks down it’s side and a familiar little hop to its swimming pattern.

“Bunny?”

“Anti got her while she and her brother were protecting Zara,” Danan said from next to him, “she will live but the burns may have made her swimming more difficult.”

It did look like she was struggling to swim as easily as she did before. It was still to early to tell if it was from the burns and it would get better once they healed or not.

“Chase!” Schneep blurted out, “I must tell him!”

Danan nodded, “I know. You should go. Chase would want to be here with his daughter.”

Schneep stayed long enough to say a heartfelt thank you to Danan and he was rushing out the hatch. He knew all the fastest ways to the safe shallows with how much he did this trip. He heard the familiar roars of his kind as he passed the creepvines before he entered the safe shallows.

“Chase!” Schneep yelled, “Chase come here.” He was approaching their cave quickly when Chase’s head popped out.

“Schneep? Schneep what’s the matter?”

Schneep felt his gills working overtime to take in oxygen from the water, “It’s Bunny Chase. She got hurt by Anti and had to be taken to the base to be healed. She’s fine now but I had to tell you.”

Chase had gone paler the longer Schneep had spoken until the end where he stayed silent and pale. Schneep backed off right in time as Chase exploded in anger, “He did WHAT!?”

Schneep wasn’t given time to answer before Chase was swimming past him swiftly in the direction of the base. He would continue after Chase once he could breathe properly.

Jackie roared as drifted along the edge of the safe shallows. He was itching for a fight but there was nothing around him that wasn’t afraid of dying.

There was a blur in the distance of something approaching Jackie fast and he puffed in preparation until he made out Chase.

“Chase! Where are you going?” Jackie called out.

Chase actually bared his teeth at Jackie and for a brief second Jackie recoiled as his brother had never done that before. “Anti attacked Bunny and now she’s being looked after by white suits at the base. I’m going to be with her,” Chase growled.

“You can’t go back there,” Jackie commanded, “the white suits will just end up locking Anti up! They’re as bad as the ones down in the lava zone!”

“Maybe Anti should be locked up!” Chase shouted back.

Jackie froze.

Chase continued, “He hurt Bunny. Bunny who is basically my child. What does he care about us us at this point. That-that thing is not our brother. If things continue like this someone will get hurt worse and...and he either needs to get locked up then or put down.”

Chase had barely finished his rant before he was taking off towards the base and leaving Jackie in horrified silence.

“You do not appear to be having a good day,” Danan said from behind Jackie. He yelped and whipped around to find her sitting on the seafloor on a rock bed. She patted the ground next to her, “But then Zara also appears to be having a bad day to.”

Jackie winced and looked away but went down to lay next to Danan. They both sat in silence before Jackie hesitantly spoke up, “I did something I shouldn’t have. Something I regret. I was angry and afterwords I was angry that I got angry at her and hurt her.”

Danan stayed silent and this prompted Jackie to continue, “I-I might have taken her words wrong. I don’t know. I didn’t give her a chance to explain. I just….I just get so angry!”

Jackie wipes at his eyes as they burn, “Now I just feel guilty. I hate this.”

“How are you going to fix this,” Danan asked.

Jackie looked at her and looked away quickly, “I don’t know..she probably hates me.”

“Or she could be feeling hurt, and lonely, and worthless. Left all alone and wondering if she still has a relationship with you,” Danan replied.

“She does!” Jackie burst out, “I-I-I mean if she still wants one after what I did.”

“Why don’t you go ask her,” Danan said.

Jackie shook his head, “She won’t want to see me after what I-.”

“Go see her Jackie.”

There was something steely in Danan’s voice that had Jackie straightening out of fear. Danan made waving motions at him and hesitantly he swam towards the base. He looked back once to see Danan gone.

The entire way to the base Jackie practiced his apology in his head. He entered the hatch carefully but no one stopped him so Jackie swam through the tunnels looking for Zara. Her room was empty and she wasn’t in any of her usual spots.

“Zara?” Jackie called. He swam through a few more tunnels before an aggressive musical tone came from below him and a body knocked into his.

Greyson sang at him angrily while flaring himself up.

“Greyson I’m sorry,” Jackie started and yelped as Greyson dived at him. He couldn’t hurt Chase’s kid, this was practically his nephew.

“Greyson I’m not here to hurt Zara!” Jackie cried as Greyson went after him again. Jackie zoomed off with Greyson chased him.

Zara wasn’t in any of the rooms but he knew she was here somewhere. There was only one place she could be and that was in the rooms not connected to the tubes. Jackie shot toward a hatch and crawled out it right as Greyson came around a corner. The air hit him all at once before gravity did and dragged him down to the floor.

Laying on the ground Jackie took deep gulps of air and tried to ignore how uncomfortable it felt being out of water. Dragging himself up onto his elbows Jackie looked down the hallway where he knew there were rooms not connected to the tunnel. His tailed flopped uselessly behind him and Jackie sighed.

Using his arms he began to crawl forward down the hallway until he reached the first doorway. He peeked in but saw nothing. Jackie kept crawling until he reached the second doorway where he then heard something.

“-nd I should be finished with this beauty. It’ll be perfect for the boys in case of emergencies.”

It was Zara and Jackie happily perked up.

“Zara!” Jackie cried as he hauled himself in through the doorway.

Zara looked up in surprise, “Jackie?” Then horror overcame her features and Jackie felt his heart drop until, “Jackie what are you doing out of the water!?”

“It’s ok Zar-,” Jackie started before Zara started screaming.

“YOU ARE A FISH YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT OF WATER NO MATTER HOW FUNNY THAT STATEMENT IS!” Zara grabbed a device that she had been holding and began running over.

“Zara wha-”

“DON’T MOVE I’M SAVING YOUR ASS!” Zara shrieked as she skidded onto her knees next to Jackie.

“Zara I’m fin-,” Jackie tried explaining but Zara clamped the device on either side of Jackie’s neck and the next instant he was breathing better than before as water filter into his gills, “Zara?”

“It’s a aqua breather. It pumps oxygen into the water that cycles through your gills and cleans it to,” Zara happily said as she pulled up the blueprints on her PDA eager to show Jackie until she froze.

Jackie’s voice quivered as he spoke,” Zara I-”

With a huge sigh Zara put her PDA down, “I know Jackie, you get angry easy it’s ok.”

“But it’s not!” Jackie yells then flinches as he realizes he got angry again, “it’s really not Zara. I-I shouldn’t get angry at loved ones. That’s not who I want to be. So I’m going to get better.”

There’s a long silence from Zara that has Jackie slowly wilting until Zara speaks up, “So you’re going to get better.”

“I am. I’m going to get better,” Jackie declares.

Zara grins at Jackie, “You better.”

“Zara…”

Zara leans over to grab Jackie into her arms and Jackie wishes he had the ability to curl around her like he can in water but he settles for burying his face into her shoulder. They stay like that for a while until Zara mumbles and Jackie blinks the drowsiness from his eyes.

“What was that,” Jackie asks.

Zara pulls her face out of Jackie’s hair and says, “I forgive you Jackie.”

This time Jackie uses his weight to perform a somewhat tackle onto Zara who collapses onto the ground laughing. Jackie laughs to as he places his hands on her face to bring her forehead to his.

“Together,” Jackie asks.

Zara grins back at him, “For as long as we can be.”

[septnautical]

After a couple more minutes, the white suit had finished wrapping up Jackie completely and she nodded, satisfied with her work. She swam to the back and brought back a machine that held a strange bag and a plastic tube. She reached under the table again and pulled out a bag that seemed to be labeled ‘Reaper’ and hooked it up to the machine before hooking the tube up to Jackie. The yellow liquid flowed from the bag into Jackie’s arm.

“There, that should do it. It looks like he’ll be alright but since he’s sedated and needs to get some blood back I’d recommend staying here for the night,” she turned to look at Henrik, “is that alright with you? Or do you need to get back to your brothers?”

Henrik looked away almost guilty, “No it is fine… my brothers… we all split up a while ago…”

The white suit looked sad for a second, “I see…” She swam over to shut down the lights and put the equipment away. “Well i know it’s not comfortable, but i don't think you boys would like being moved to the aquarium. So you’re welcome to rest here.” She swam over to a door that looked like it connected to the rest of the base and punched in a code to the wall.

She looked over to Henrik, “You can push this button here if you need anything at all. Just call for Dr. Danan. That’s me.” She smiled, “I’ll be around in a little while to get you something to eat.”

Henrik nodded his head, “Thank you Dr. Danan… for everything.”

Dr. Danan grinned, “I’m so glad i could help.” The door beeped and flashed green and Danan swam through, leaving the door shut with a heavy metal clang.

Schneep rubbed his arm awkwardly and looked around the dim dark room. He was really glad he could see in the dark. But, he felt very conflicted right now. He thought for so long that all white suits were evil evil people out to hurt him and his brothers. Ones that would destroy anything and anyone in their path. People that used others as playthings.

But they were good white suits. Henrik still couldn’t believe it. All these years he felt like he was betraying his brothers by trying to learn from the bases here. But, maybe now… he could learn. HIs heart seemed to soar at the thought but quickly it came crashing down to earth.

His brothers… They wouldn’t understand. They would see the Ocean’s Arms the same as any other white suit. And clearly the Ocean’s arms were a target from the others of their kind. If Schneep came here… he could accidently lead his brothers to being captured too.

And what if learning more stuff changed his attitude? What if he started to be cruel and ruthless because of experiments? Is that what a thirst for knowledge does to you? Henrik shuddered at the thought. Maybe it was time he left all his pretending behind… he would never want to become like a white suit.

But then who would heal his brothers?

Henrik scoffed and laughed bitterly. It’s not like he was taking care of them anymore anyways… Not since the split. He couldn’t even do anything to help Jackie today.

With a heavy sigh, Schneep swims over and moves to sit against the legs of the table holding Jackie. Hearing his younger brother’s now even breathing seemed to calm Henrik down and he closes his eyes, letting their breathing fall in sync.

When he next opens his eyes he can see the room is filled with dim blue light. He looks out the window and sees the ocean has lit up from the morning sun. He stretches and winces slightly, his back tense from sleeping upright all night. He blinks as his tail bumps something to his right and he looks to see a plate of brain coral and a oculus, Schneep’s favorite. His stomach growls and he licks his lips, just now realizing he slept through dinner without meaning to. He quickly digs in, savoring the flavor. He hadn’t had a good meal like this in a while.

Just as he about to finish, Schneep is startled and nearly chokes as he hears Jackie shift behind him. He swims upwards and positions himself so he’s right above Jackie just as Jackie slowly blinks open his eyes.

He blinks several times before he seems to focus. Then he reaches up and rubs an eye like he’s not quite believing what he’s seeing.

“H...Henrik…?” He croaks and Schneep laughs, wiping away tears of joy.

“Oh Jackie… thank the stars you are alright!”

Jackie stiffly pushes himself up and accidentally yanks on the tube in his arm, causing him to yelp in shock. He snaps his head down to stare at the new contraption.

“What… what is this?” He wonders before he finally takes in his surroundings, his eyes wide. Schneep quickly swims back in front of him and holds up his hands to try to calm him.

“Now Jackie I know this looks bad but-!”

“YOU TOOK ME TO THE WHITE SUITS?!” Jackie screams at Henrik. Schneep winces back and tries to speak.

“Jackie please just listen to me!”

“No I’m not listening to anything you have to say, TRAITOR!” Jackie growls as he yank the iv from his arm then yelps at the pain. He snarls and spurs away from the table, now staring at his bandaged tail and looking angrier.

“How could you even THINK to ask the white suits for help? Have you forgotten everything they’ve done to us?!”

“YOU WERE GONNA DIE!” Henrik finally shouts, giving Jackie pause. Henrik held back tears and shakily exhaled, “You… you were dying Jackie… i did not know what else to do…”

The boys stood there in silence for a second, neither able to look at each other.

“Besides…” Henrik finally spoke, “they… these guys are not white suits…” Jackie scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Oh they’re not white suits? Then who’s that?” Jackie points at the window that leads back to the base and Henrik can see Dr. Danan staring back.

“Jackie no! She is not- Dana-!”

“Oh! So it has a name now?! You TALKED to her?!” Jackie screams again, balling his hands into fists. “How the hell is that not a white suit?! Why are you continuing to LIE TO ME?” Jackie roars and knocks over the table he was on with a strong swing of his tail. Equipment goes flying everywhere and Henrik holds up his arms to keep from being hit.

“Jackie just calm down and let me explain!” Schneep begs but Jackie quickly turns and growls in his face.

“I’m not listening to you. Not ever again!” Jackie’s eyes bore into Henrik’s and Henrik can feel the betrayal in his little brother’s eyes.

“I would have rather died than be saved by a white suit.”

Jackie spurs past Schneep and uses his mandibles to break through the glass of the base. Jackie gives one more lingering look of hatred at Schneep before he disappears off into the blue.

Henrik watches him go, heart heavier than ever.

[septnautical]

Ever since he was a kid first living in the shallows, Henrik would visit this white suit base. It was way smaller than the one they were made in. Simple, not too flashy. There weren’t big machines humming with electricity or huge blinking monitors. The white suits here always seemed to be studying something in their aquarium or fixing some fish up. Henrik was always fascinated with watching them, even if it meant danger for his brothers. He just wanted to learn.

The brothers had lost all hope in the white suits after everything that had happened. But the logical part of Henrik figured since they made all of them, they wouldn’t let them… they wouldn’t sit around if one of them was hurt, right?

This was the only place Schneep knew could help Jackie. He hadn’t been there in so long and he prayed that they hadn’t abandoned their base for some other location.

As he neared the base his heart caught in his throat. The lights in the base were dark.

“No...No.. NO!” Henrik breathed. He swam as fast as he could to one of the windows and peered inside. Someone had to be there, please!

A face suddenly appeared behind the glass from where Schneep’s reflection was. Henrik screamed and scrambled back before the face cleaned the dust away from the window. Henrik could see a woman now, with dark curly black hair and dark skin. He blinked at her. She tapped her fingers against the glass, her head contained in a typical white suit helmet.

She mouthed what looked like ‘follow me’ before pointing to a large hatch on the side of the base. Henrik hesitated, but a groan and pained whimper from Jackie shook his doubt and he swam for it.

The hull door opened with a shrill squeak into what looked like an air lock. But it was filled with water. Henrik sighed slightly in relief. Once he and Jackie were inside a red light blinked on above and a tinny robotic voice reverberated throughout the water.

Decontamination commencing... Please stand by.

Henrik held onto Jackie tighter, his eyes wide with fear. A couple small jets popped out of the wall and sprayed a foul looking blue white liquid into the water. Henrik coughed, the solution irritating his throat and eyes. It didn’t last long though and the murky semi-red water they brought in settled and seemed to clear. Another beep followed by a now green light, signaled the door to the base opening. Henrik quickly swam through and nearly barrelled into the white suit.

“Woah, woah! Slow down!” She piped through the speaker on her suit, “What’s going on-” She cut herself off once she saw the steady flow of blood coming from Jackie and covered her mouth.

“Oh my!” She quickly stomped to what looked like an operating table through the water, “Quickly come settle him here!”

Henrik quietly compiled and helped the white suit lay Jackie on the table. His face was way too pale, the bags under his eyes looked almost purple in the dim blue light of the base. HIs breaths come out in ragged shaky bursts. Henrik blinked to keep himself from crying.

The white suit quickly swam to one side of the room and grabbed what looked like a large light. She set it behind the table and switched it on and it took a few seconds before it flickered weakly.

“I apologize,” She mumbled, swimming back so she could look at the wound, “We’ve been out of power for sometime….” Henrik looked around now that he could see better. He saw what looked like lab equipment: beakers, waterproof charts and monitors, pictures of bones and muscles of the fish surrounding the area. Henrik recognized a couple from his own mini experiments. His throat closed slightly and he swallowed. Was he becoming like a white suit?

He looked around to see a few large cages in the corner, containing some larger fish. A tiny boneshark, a few peepers, a crashfish, a jellyray. But they all looked like they had been healed in some way. Some wore clean white bandages, others seemed to have fins splinted to keep them from moving. All of them were chomping on what looked like fresh meals. Henrik was perplexed. He had never seen a white suit being kind to another fish before…. Well, not since they took Jack.

A rustling behind him caused Henrik to look around to see the white suit grabbing a couple tools: what looked like string, needles, a syringe filled with clear liquid and a wicked looking scalpel.

“You’re very fortunate i was here, i can certainly fix your br-!” a small squeak escaped her lips as Schneep grabbed her wrist and snarled in her face, but he looked more scared than angry.

“Don’t-!... Do not hurt him.” He breathed, “please…”

The white suits paused before giving him a small smile.

“I’m not going to hurt him, Henrik.” Henrik was caught off guard by the use of his name and the white suit pulled her hand from his grasp gently before turning to work on Jackie. She carefully inserted the syringe into his upper arm and slowly Jackie began to relax, his head falling lightly to the table. She looped the thick looking string to a needle and started to press into the skin, looking like she was trying to pull the sides of his cut together. Henrik watched above her, fascinated.

‘“How.. How do you know mein name?” Schnnep asked quietly. The white suit chuckled softly.

“I was there when you were created. Though there, we used to call you SH-003.” She concentrated a second on a particularly tough spot and winced slightly as a soft whimper left Jackie’s mouth.

“And we called Jackie RL-006… I much prefer your chosen names though,” She said with a smile. Henrik swam to the other side of the table to watch her work better as well as talk to her face to face.

“How were you there when we were created? This base.. We were not made here,” Henrik questioned.

“No you’re right. This base wasn’t made for heavy experimenting. We use this for observation and research.” She reached under the table and pulled out a jar of some sort. She opened it and put a generous amount on the still bleeding parts of the wound. Jackie seemed to sigh slightly, his face softening and the bleeding died down. “We haven’t been to the main branch in quite some time…” she commented, continuing her work.

“The main branch? Are all the white suits from there?”

The white suit chuckled again. “Is that what you boys call us?” Henrik flushed red slightly and coughed, “Well.. you do all wear white….”

She laughed again, “Well i suppose so. Alterra is very white themed… But yes, we all came from the main branch. That main base was our headquarters for the all the researchers from Alterra,” Henrik looked confused, so she expanded, “Our home planet.. Well company more like it. Not every, how you call them ‘white suit’ is part of them now though.”

Her face seemed to darken some.

“We all came here to research and see what we could do with the planet’s resources. But some of our group instead chose to use our limited supervision here to run cruel experiments on the wildlife.” She met Henrik’s eyes for a second, “I’m sure you’re familiar?”

Henrik was suddenly reminded of a memory he had long since repressed. The sounds of screaming and tearing, water tanks filling with bolts of lightning. He shuddered but nodded, holding his arms.

“A lot of us didn’t come here to harm others. We came here to help people. Seeing such experiments broke our hearts….” She paused to use the scalpel to the cut the string she had finished tying. She grabbed what looked like a roll of seaweed bandages and began to wrap Jackie’s tail.

“They wanted to begin tougher experiments on you boys…” She said grimly, “But I wouldn’t stand for it. My team and I threatened to report the entire twisted thing to the whole of the company to try to stop them. But they wouldn't. They believed down here... They could do anything. And Alterra might actually let them continue…”

“We all hatched a plan to steal you boys away, so you could grow up in the ocean… The ones on our side were a bigger group than theirs. We created a hatch for you to escape from and stole all the sea moths and equipment we could to set up bases around here so we could observe you. But not interfere, so you could grow up on your own….” She looked up at Henrik and smiled, “You were always the most curious of the bunch, Henrik. Don’t think we didn’t see you sneaking around.” She chuckled as Schneep turned redder and looked away.

She continued, “The others weren’t happy with us… they wanted you all back. But we threatened to fight tooth and nail to keep you all safe. The company here split into two factions. the white suits i guess as you know them… They’re the Alterra arms. We like to call ourselves the Ocean’s arms. Since we want to help the life here in whatever way we can.” After wrapping Jackie up in the seaweed she pulled out clean white bandages.

Henrik was mulling this all over in his head. “If you were watching us… why did you let them take Jack?!” He suddenly yelled slamming his hands on the table. The white suits fumbled with the bandages for a second before looking up at Schneep surprised.

“They… they took Jack?”

“Yeah… when we were still very small… it has been so long now,” Schneep said, sinking slightly. “They have Anti too… and they have… changed him somehow.”

The white suit set down the bandages and held her head slightly, “I… We had no idea! Most of our bases have had severe power outages and damages over the past years or so because we’re running on fumes from the split…”

Suddenly her head snapped up and she gritted her teeth looking outraged.

“Of course…” She yelled and kicked at a nearby piece of equipment, “Those bastards! They caused all this! They destroyed our supplies and cut off our connection to Alterra so they could get away with their sick plans!” She rested on a nearby counter and held her face in her hands.

Schneep slowly swam over.

“I’m so sorry Henrik… we tried to protect you and your brothers.. And we failed…”

Henrik hesitated before placing a hand on her shoulder, “Hey it is okay... Well it is not, really. But you all did all you could…” He tried encouraging. “And well… you saved Jackie… that is worth something.”

The white suit smiled at him.

“We’re gonna do everything we can to get your brothers back to you Henrik... I promise.”

[septnautical]

Here’s a picture of the white suit from the last story! Her name is Dr. Danan :) I love her

[septnautical]

"I can't decide if I want to punch you or kiss you" with Zarkie ;3c

Zara and Jackie were both hanging out in a flooded room poking at PDA’s and enjoying each other’s company when Danan floated in.

“Danan,” Zara greeted as Jackie raised a hand in acknowledgement from where he was sprawled upside down on the floor reading a PDA.

Danan smiled warmly at them and teased, “Young love. Soon you’ll both be married.”

“Danan!” Zara squeaked as she blushed.

Jackie perked up from where he was to look over and ask, “Marriage?”

Both Zara and Danan were silent before Danan turned to Zara, “I’ll leave you to explain this.”

Zara shot up from where she was on the floor but Danan had already slipped out, “Danan no!”

Jackie picked himself off the floor and swam over to Zara curiously and bumped his shoulder into Zara’s, “Explain what?”

“Well,” Zara started and she began making hand motions, “When two people love each other very much they marry-.”Jackie beamed, “Like I love my brothers? Is it a ceremony to show how much you love someone? I can marry my brothers and show them how much I love them!”

“NO!” Zara screeched and waved her hands, “NO! Bad idea!”

Jackie’s face fell and he whispered in broken tone, “I-I can’t show my brothers how much I love them?”

Zara began waving her hands more rapidly as she tried to gain control of the situation, “I mean it’s mostly done between people you really love!”“I don’t really love my brothers?” Jackie asked and he looked hurt.Zara cursed, “Shit no-! Jackie I mean-! Couples!”

Jackie tilted his head in confusion, “Couples? Zara is this because I want to marry my brothers you can marry them with me.”

Zara squeaked as her face heated up, “Jackie you don’t understand!”

“I don’t understand what?” Jackie asked, “That marriage is between two adults who have romantic feelings for each other?”

There was a moment of silence before Jackie kissed the mask of Zara’s cheek and darted out of the flooded room. Zara came tearing out of the flooded room with rage in her eyes, “I can't decide if I want to punch you or kiss you right now Jackie!”

From nearby Jackie laughed, “How about kissing my brothers?”

“JACKIE GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! YOU ARE A DEAD LEVIATHAN!”

[septnautical]

“Boys, I need you to trust me,” Dr. Danan addresses them seriously as she holds Marvin close to her chest, the merman’s head twitching ever so slightly. The boys all blink and stare at her.

“In order to figure out what’s wrong I need to take Marvin out of the tank and put him inside a machine…. but I promise it will not harm him. It’s just gonna take some pictures,” Danan pauses then points upwards, “we managed to find enough glass to make some tunnels around here so you all can follow us…”

Schneep gives a wary look to Chase, but blinks to see he has passed out on the table, but some machine is working on his wound. It seems to be repairing the wound with a strange blue light. He then glances to Jackie and the reaper sighs through gritted teeth before he mutters, “if this is the only way to fix Marvin then you can do whatever.”

Dr. Danan beams at Jackie, “Thank you for trusting me, Jackie.” The reaper blushes and looks away mumbling, “well I dunno about that just yet…”

Dr. Danan swims over to the door and punches in a code, waiting for the door to unlock. “If you boys want to follow just go straight through the tubes then turn left.” The door beeps and the doctor gathers Marvin and heads out through the door.

Henrik quickly swims up to follow but looks back at his brothers to see if it’s okay. Jamie gives him a weak smile and a thumbs up and Jackie waves his hand dismissively. Henrik smiles slightly back before heading through the tube to see the procedure.

About an hour passes when Henrik comes back through the tube. He finds Jackie and Jamie sleeping sounding in a small pile near Chase’s table. Chase is looking better, his arm where the blaster hit is a slight patchy red but it looks completely healed. Schneep comes over and stares at the wound in amazement. He pokes it gently and startled backwards with a yelp as Chase jerks his arm away. Chase’s eyes spring open and he scurried into a sitting position, breathing fast and eyes unfocused for a second.

“H-Henrik?” He breathes, rubbing his head slightly. “Where are… where’s Jack?” He looks around to see where their other brother could be and Henrik’s face falls.

“Ah- Chase….” Henrik starts but Chase can read his face in an instant.

“Oh…” Is simply all he can say as he stares down at his lap, looking broken hearted. Schneep swallows a sudden lump in his throat and feels his eyes tickle with unshed tears. Chase sighs and reaches up to scratch at his newly healed shoulder just as the door leading into the base beeps and swings open.

“Please don’t scratch at that Chase,” Dr. Danan gently scolds as she swims herself in, carrying Marvin in her arms. She sets him down on another table that shifts up from the ground when she pushes her foot on it. Marvin’s head softly lulls to the side as he’s laid down but he looks peacefully asleep now rather than on the verge of having another attack.

Jamie and Jackie swim over having been awoken by Danan’s arrival and Chase and Henrik follow close behind. They gather around to watch Marvin and all bite back the burning feeling of anger in their gut at seeing that terrible mask still on his face.

“Did you figure out what is wrong with him?” Schneep asks quietly, brushing back his younger brother’s hair. He looked so tired and pale.

Danan nods as she heads over to one of the weirder monitors on the wall and she quietly slips in a sheet before she flicks something and a light shines through. The picture is black and white, with a picture of a skull.

Danan studies the picture before she motions the boys over. She points to one part of the picture, where a dark object that’s mostly square in nature rests.

“This is Marvin’s chip that gives him access to his warper abilities. In it is a program designed to trigger a protective mode should the kharaa be detected.” She pauses before she points to a very obvious crack. “But it was damaged somehow and it’s causing Marvin to switch into that protective mode even when there’s no threats.”

“So.. how do we fix it?” Chase asks timidly. Dr. Danan sighs, “I don’t know. The problem is I cant remove the chip without damaging Marvin’s brain. The chip was inserted when he was born, so his brain has grown around it so to speak.” She turns to glance at Marvin, “The Alterans made that mask with a certain frequency that would keep Marvin switched on in protective mode… so he could be a weapon for them.” Her shoulders seize up and she lets out an angry breath, “I understand the concept but… I don’t know how to make something that will do the opposite for him.”

“Well what’ll happen if we just take off his mask?” Jackie pipes in. Dr. Danan shakes her head, “He’ll still be caught in that broken loop of going on and off. Switching between being himself and being in that predator mode. And he’ll be in pain….To be honest, I’m surprised he lasted so long with his chip malfunctioning like this. The stress it must put on his psyche….”

“Well what can we do the-?” Henrik tries to ask but is cut off by a strange sound that has all heads turning towards the window. A smoking hulk of seamoth goes rushing past before it plunges into the seabed with a loud crash. The boys all power to the window to get a better look.

A girl struggles her way through the broken windshield and flops into the sand. She pushes herself up and looks towards the building.

“Zara!” Jamie exclaims quietly, a huge smile breaking out on his face. Zara seemed to notice them through the window and her face lights up. She waves out towards them before something behind her makes her turn around. A light on the seamoth is blinking rapidly for a second and Zara dives away before the vessel explodes into a million pieces.

The boys all spring away from the window in surprise at the blast. “Woahhhh!” Jackie grins, watching the wreckage float through the water.

Henrik and Jamie go over to the door and sped outside to find Zara, they bring her in safely though her dive suit looks worse for wear.

“Who is this?” Dr. Danan says after a few moments, giving the girl time to adjust. Zara blinks and swims over and straightens herself up to seem polite and official. She offers her hand to Dr. Danan hesitantly, “Um, I’m Zara. Formerly of the Altera Arms. I uh, I helped these guys with their rescue mission.” She jerks her head towards the boys and gives Danan a nervous smile. There’s a few tense moments of silence before the doctor smiled kindly down at the girl and shakes her hand, “Well then it's an honor to meet you Zara.”

Zara beams, “The pleasure is all mine Dr. Danan. I heard so much about you!”

Danan laughs, “But only bad things i assume?”

Zara snickers, “Well yeah, but that just made me like ya more!” Dr. Danan gives her a big grin. Jackie quickly swims up in her face, his own face alight with curiosity, “What made your ship blow up?!

Zara blinks then pushes him away slightly with a laugh, “Uh, just some complications man.”

“How did you find us?! Marvin warped us out of there!” Jackie asks again, cocking his head.

Zara looks a bit embarrassed, “uh… Marvin’s mask has a… a tracker in it. So, I followed it. But, now that I’m here I can make sure that is turned off-!”

Chase approaches next, but slowly. “Were you… did you get Jack out?”

Zara’s shoulders slump and she sighs, “No… there wasn’t any time.” Her stomach drops as she sees the faces of the other boys fall, “But! I did destroy a bunch of their research and left them a little surprise. Trust me when i say, that place will fall to ruins by the time we get another ship ready to save your brother.” She grins mischievously at them and the brothers give her weak yet hopeful smiles in return.

“You guys were able to get Marvin though, right?” Zara asks to change the subject and Jamie nods before taking her hand and leading her over to where the warper lay sleeping. Her face scrunches up in anger as he brushes her hand over the mask, “That horrid thing is still on him huh…” She quickly reaches in the bag she has around her waist and pulls out her PDA where she pulls up Zeke’s notes.

“Hold on,” Dr. Danan calls as she swims over and lightly palms the back of Zara’s PDA. “Are these the blueprints for that mask?”

Zara nods, “Yeah, uh… My brother’s the one who made it.”

Danan gently takes the PDA from Zara’s grasp and scrolls through, quietly mumbling to herself. After a couple minutes, she turns to Zara, “Do you know how this technology works?”

Zara nods, “Yeah it was what me and my brother specialized in.”

“Could you reverse the signal? So it would repress what the mask is doing now?”

Zara blinks then grins, “If i had the materials, it should only take a few hours.”

Danan grins back, “We haven't had such need for these kind of materials in years, so they’re all yours.”

Henrik swims up to them looking hopeful, “Are you gonna be able to fix him?”

Zara smiles and wraps an arm around the startled merman’s shoulder, “Don’t worry Hen, I’ll have Marvin better than ever!”

Danan shows Zara to the lab where she can work before she comes back to the tank to start working on taking that mask off Marvin’s face. Henrik hovers around nervously, wanting to help but not knowing how.

Danan easily slices around the mask and gently removes it from Marvin’s skin with hardly a reaction thanks to the sedative she gave him. She then works fast to cover the tiny wounds and sets that machine she used on Chase to rebuild the skin and possible bones that may have gotten disturbed through the whole ordeal.

It does only take a couple hours before Zara is done. She pops back into the room to find Danan resting in a chair, reading a PDA and the boys lazily lying down in a pile near Marvin’s bed.

“Oh guys~!” Zara sings as she enters the room, holding her new invention behind her back. The boys as spring up and she laughs, “I think I have something you may like!”

She holds out the new mask she made. It’s much different than the other. This one is white too but seems to have pointed ears and openings for Marvin’s eyes. A red symbol seems to glow in the center and a triangle like nose rests on the end. The boys all cock their heads in confusion as Dana stifles a laugh.

“Zara, really?”

Zara grins more, “What? If he has to wear it for a while, i thought it should look cute! I think it suits him.”

“But they don't even know what a cat is!” Danan laughs.

Chase blinks, “What’s a cat?” Danan pushes over and scrolls through her PDA and shows the boys a picture of some four legged creature covered in hair whose face looks the same as the mask.

“It’s a creature humans keep as pets,” Danan explains and Zara nods, “They’re really cute!” The boys all blink more. Zara chuckles and shrugs.

“Well Zeke’s design reminded me of a cat when you like squinted at it, so…” She swims over to Marvin’s side and motions everyone over, “You guys wanna see if it works?”

Everyone gathers around and Zara slowly moves to place the mask. But she’s stopped in her motion by Jackie catching her arm, glaring at her warily.

He glances at the mask, then to the slight marks still left on Marvin’s face, “It’s not going to… you know…?”

Zara smiles gently, “No Jackie, it has a band to wrap around his head. Like Henrik’s goggles. And he’ll be able to take it off whenever he wants.” Jackie relaxes at this and let’s Zara go, giving her space to work. The girl leans down and gently moves the band over Marvin’s head and moves the mask in place.

There’s a long silence as they all stare at Marvin’s sleeping face, willing the mask to work. But eventually, Marvin’s eyes blearily open, revealing clear blue eyes. He takes a second to wake up but once he does, he stares out like it’s the first time he’s seeing clearly.

“G-guys?” He croaks as he blinks the sleep from his eyes then jolts up, gripping at his face with a panicked look. Zara tries to reach out to stop him but he stills and breathes as he touches near his mouth.

“I-i… I can talk…” He breathes, touching his lips in disbelief. He feels around his cheeks and winces at the cuts then he feels up towards the side of his head. “The ringing… I can’t hear the ringing anymore!” An unstable but relieved laugh bursts from his lips as he grips his hands to his chest. “It’s gone…” HIs laughs turn wet as tears fall down his cheeks. Finally he turns and addresses his brothers, smiling widely through the tears, “H-hi guys!”

“Marvin!” Jackie screams in joy as he tackles his brother off the table. Danan shouts in warning but the boys all pile and hug onto Marvin as the warper cries and laughs. There’s not one dry eye among the mermen as they hold onto each other and smother Marvin.

Marvin cries and mumbles under his breath as if trying to convince himself it's true, “I’m here.. I’m here.. I’m here!”

Jamie hugs him around his neck and Chase brushes back his hair with a wet smile and wipes away some of his tears, “You’re here Marv…” He assures. Marvin hiccups and laughs as he returns Chase’s hug and grabs as many of the others as he can in his arms.

“I’m home….”