Chapter 55: Mechanical Squids and Lying Donovan
Donovan Grand Smith waved a dismissive hand, entirely unconcerned about the incident leaking to the press. Even if the staff member went rogue and blabbed to the tabloids, who would believe the ramblings of a lowly employee over a billionaire?
"Bribing them to keep quiet. The Grand Smith family's ultimate signature move," Edwin chimed in from the side. As always, the young heir didn't give his own grandfather a shred of face, his tone dripping with practiced apathy.
Donovan cleared his throat, a dry, awkward sound masking his irritation. "Ahem. Edwin, why don't you take Ben and the others to look around the facility? I need to catch up with their grandfather."
Turning his attention back to his old friend, Donovan clapped a heavy hand on Max's shoulder, steering him down a separate corridor. "Max, I'm telling you, if you had just taken my advice thirty years ago, you wouldn't be running around doing Plumber repair work while I'm out enjoying my world tours."
Grandpa Max offered a polite but firm smile, his posture relaxed but unyielding. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Being a Plumber has its own unique... charms. It keeps life interesting."
Ben groaned, kicking at the pristine floor tiles as the two older men disappeared around the corner. "Oh, come on! This is so annoying!" He crossed his arms, thoroughly frustrated that the adults had ditched them to go have fun on their own.
Klein merely shrugged, his hands stuffed casually into his pockets. He couldn't care less about touring a billionaire's underwater vanity project.
Gwen remained quiet, offering no complaints. As long as Klein was around, she figured things wouldn't get too boring.
...
Edwin, adjusting the collar of his expensive shirt, gestured for the trio to follow. He led Klein, Ben, and Gwen through a series of sleek, glass-walled corridors until they arrived at a massive, sprawling water park situated right in the heart of the Underwater Resort Center.
Ben's eyes widened, his previous annoyance instantly vanishing. "Whoa... so cool!" he breathed, staring at the towering water slides and wave pools.
Edwin offered a smug, practiced smile. "In the mornings, I use this area to warm up. I have an exclusive swimming coach and a personal fitness trainer flown in."
Gwen raised an eyebrow, looking the scrawny rich kid up and down. "You're very good at swimming?"
"I specialize in long-distance swimming," Edwin replied, lifting his chin. "My grandfather says it serves to train one's mind."
Without waiting for a response, Edwin turned on his heel and strode ahead, acting every bit the arrogant tour guide.
Once the rich kid was a safe distance away, Ben twisted his face into a mocking sneer. "'My grandfather says it serves to train one's mind,'" he mimicked, his voice pitching up into a whiny, sarcastic drawl.
The tour of the sprawling underwater complex continued. Edwin paraded them through a dizzying array of luxury amenities. They passed five-star restaurants, indoor tennis courts, high-end cafes, and dimly lit VIP bars. It was a self-contained city of excess.
Klein's sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, picking up on details the others missed. Tucked away behind unmarked security doors and heavily guarded corridors, he spotted a few things that definitely did not belong in a standard luxury resort. Shady tech, restricted access zones... Donovan was definitely hiding something deep within this facility.
Eventually, Edwin led them into a massive, cavernous indoor docking bay. Resting in the center of the illuminated water pool was a sleek, advanced submarine, its hull gleaming under the overhead spotlights.
"This is the Deep Sea Bomber," Edwin announced, gesturing grandly to the vessel. "It belongs to my grandfather."
Ben practically pressed his face against the safety railing, his eyes shining with pure awe. "Whoa... cool!"
Edwin glanced at Ben's eager expression, a rare smirk breaking through his haughty facade. "Want to go on a deep-sea journey?"
Ben blinked, his jaw dropping slightly. "You're... joking... right?"
...
Meanwhile, in a completely different sector of the facility, Donovan was busy giving Grandpa Max a behind-the-scenes look at the resort's operational hub. Neither of the two older men had any clue that their respective grandchildren were currently plotting to hijack a multi-million-dollar submarine for a joyride.
The engineering bay was a chaotic hive of activity. Massive, humming machines of unknown purpose lined the walls, while dozens of technicians in uniform scurried around with clipboards and diagnostic tools.
"The reverse electromagnetic pulse caused a minor vortex effect in the primary systems," Donovan explained smoothly, gesturing to a team of sweating engineers. "It caused a bit of a stir, but it is almost completely repaired now."
Grandpa Max crossed his arms, his seasoned eyes scanning the massive power conduits running along the ceiling. "A facility this size needs a massive amount of electricity just to keep the lights on. You can't be pulling power from the mainland; the cables would have to stretch too far."
Donovan chuckled, clearly pleased by the question. "Astute as always, Max. The electricity here is generated by tapping into the local underwater volcanoes. They act as our own exclusive, infinite thermal power plants."
Max nodded slowly, but his attention drifted. Through a reinforced glass observation window a few yards away, he spotted a strange, heavily shielded device. Deep within its metallic casing, a sinister, pulsing purple light throbbed rhythmically.
Max narrowed his eyes, stepping closer to the glass. "And what exactly is that?"
Donovan stiffened. A bead of sweat formed at his temple. "Uh... that? It is just a backup generator. Nothing to worry about."
Max didn't buy it for a second. His Plumber instincts flared to life. Donovan was hiding something, and he was lying through his teeth. That pulsing purple core was absolutely not a simple backup generator.
"Let's not dwell on the boring technical details," Donovan said quickly, desperate to change the subject. He turned his back on the purple light and gave a sharp nod to a nearby control room technician. The staff member immediately hit a sequence of buttons on his console.
Instantly, the massive exterior illumination arrays of the Underwater Resort Center flared to life. A blinding, brilliant light pierced through the murky ocean depths, illuminating the surrounding water for miles.
"It is bright enough to be seen from five hundred feet above sea level," Donovan boasted, his chest puffing out with pride. "But that is just the window dressing. Come look at this."
Donovan grabbed Max by the elbow and practically dragged him to the edge of an observation balcony overlooking the indoor docking bay.
"Behold, my proudest work. The Deep Sea Bomber..." Donovan swept his hand out in a grand gesture, only to freeze.
The docking pool was completely empty. The water rippled gently where a multi-million-dollar vessel had been resting just minutes ago.
Donovan's jaw dropped. "Where is my submarine?!"
...
Far below the resort, Edwin sat at the helm of the Deep Sea Bomber, expertly piloting the sleek vessel deeper into the oceanic trench.
In the passenger cabin, Klein, Ben, and Gwen pressed against the thick, reinforced glass viewports. The dark, crushing depths of the ocean were illuminated by the submarine's exterior floodlights, revealing a bizarre and alien world. Schools of strange deep-sea fish darted past, and massive, translucent jellyfish drifted lazily through the water, their bells emitting an eerie, bioluminescent purple glow.
"Hmm... well, that thing is exceptionally ugly," Klein muttered, leaning closer to the glass. An anglerfish with jagged, needle-like teeth and a bulbous, glowing lure was swimming right alongside the viewport. Klein generally despised looking at ugly things, but this creature was so hideously deformed that it actually circled back around to being fascinating. He couldn't look away.
"Ah!"
Edwin let out a sharp yelp from the pilot's seat. Without warning, a massive, metallic shape darted out from the pitch-black water and slammed violently into the front viewport.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The entire submarine shuddered violently as heavy impacts rocked the hull.
A swarm of mechanical squids descended upon the Deep Sea Bomber. Their cold, metallic bodies glinted in the floodlights as they swarmed the vessel like a pack of starving wolves. Thick, segmented metal tentacles whipped out, latching onto the submarine's exterior. The squids dragged themselves flush against the hull, their razor-sharp, spinning mechanical beaks grinding mercilessly against the reinforced glass and metal plating.
Crack.
A terrifying, spiderweb fracture bloomed across the main viewport.
"No way!" Edwin gasped, his face draining of color as he stared at the splintering glass. The structural integrity was failing.
Klein didn't hesitate. He pushed himself off the viewing bench, his lazy demeanor vanishing in an instant. If he didn't act right now, the immense pressure of the deep ocean would crush them all into a bloody, compacted soup can.
Ben immediately jumped up, right on Klein's heels.
"Hey! Where are you two going?!" Edwin shouted over the grinding screech of metal on metal. Panic gripped his voice, but he didn't dare take his eyes off the controls or the cracking glass in front of him. He desperately wrestled with the steering yoke, trying to shake the mechanical parasites off.
"They went to the restroom," Gwen lied smoothly, not missing a beat. She leaned back in her seat, projecting an aura of absolute calm. With Edwin sitting right there, she couldn't exactly start slinging magic spells unless it was a last resort. She had to rely on her cousins to handle the heavy lifting. More specifically, she trusted Klein to handle it. She wasn't worried in the slightest.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could almost hear Ben indignantly shouting, 'What about me?!'
"Oh, I see," Edwin muttered, his brain struggling to process the information while fighting the submarine's controls. A second later, his eyes widened. "Wait a minute... there is no restroom on the Deep Sea Bomber!"
In the rear airlock cabin, away from Edwin's line of sight, a brilliant flash of azure light illuminated the cramped space.
Klein's form shifted and expanded, scales replacing skin, a massive dorsal fin tearing through his shirt. In a heartbeat, he stood tall as Ripjaws, his massive, razor-filled maw snapping shut with a metallic clang. He reached for the heavy wheel of the airlock hatch, preparing to dive out into the crushing depths.
"Oh, man, if I turn into Heatblast right now, we are so dead!" Ben muttered nervously. He slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix dial, praying for an aquatic alien.
A blinding flash of emerald green light engulfed the cabin.
As the light faded, the intense, crackling heat of a living bonfire filled the small room. Heatblast stood there, flames dancing off his rocky, magma-veined body.
"No way!" Heatblast shrieked, staring down at his blazing, fiery hands in absolute disbelief. "You stupid watch! You didn't even fall for the reverse psychology! Normally, you never give me what I actually ask for!"
Ripjaws let out a bubbling, exasperated sigh. He stepped forward, his heavy webbed feet slapping against the metal floor. Reaching out with a clawed hand, Klein simply tapped the glowing Omnitrix dial embedded in the center of Heatblast's chest.
Another flash of green light instantly swallowed the fiery alien. The flames vanished, replaced by the slick, scaly hide and massive jaws of a second Ripjaws.
"Alright, Ben. Let's go," Klein said, his voice a deep, guttural growl through his razor-sharp teeth.
Ben blinked, looking down at his new, perfectly suited aquatic body. He snapped his massive jaws together, testing the weight of his teeth. "Whoa... Cousin, how did you do that?! Can you teach me?" he asked, his glowing eyes wide with excitement as he stared at Klein.
"We will talk about it later. The situation is urgent right now," Klein dismissed smoothly. He grabbed the heavy locking wheel of the airlock and wrenched it open.
Freezing, high-pressure seawater instantly violently poured into the chamber. As the water swallowed him, the two thick legs of Klein's Ripjaws form fused together, smoothly transforming into a powerful, muscular fish tail. With a single, explosive thrust of his tail, he shot out of the hatch and into the dark ocean.
Ben quickly followed suit, his own legs fusing as he darted out into the freezing depths right behind his cousin.
In truth, the 'urgent situation' was just a convenient excuse for Klein to change the subject. He had absolutely no idea how to teach Ben that trick. His ability to force a transformation by simply tapping the Omnitrix dial was purely based on instinct and his unique connection to the watch's energy network. He had felt like it would work, so he tried it, but even he was slightly surprised that it had actually succeeded on the first try.
He could do it, sure. But teach it? Not a chance.
Inside the cockpit, Edwin was hyperventilating. He watched in sheer terror as the spiderweb crack on the main viewport groaned, the glass beginning to bow inward under the immense pressure of the ocean and the relentless grinding of the mechanical squid's beak.
Suddenly, a massive, scaly blur shot past the glass.
Ripjaws—Klein's version—slammed into the mechanical squid with the force of a freight train. His massive jaws unhinged, snapping shut over the machine's metallic body. With a sickening crunch of tearing steel and sparking wires, Klein bit the squid clean in half, crushing its armored shell like a tin can.
Edwin flinched back from the glass, his eyes bugging out of his head. "It is that strange fish monster from before!" he yelled, staring at the terrifying, sharp-toothed creature floating outside his window.
A second later, another blur of motion tore through the water. Ben's Ripjaws joined the fray, his powerful tail propelling him forward as his claws ripped a second mechanical squid off the submarine's hull, tearing its tentacles out by the roots.
Edwin blinked, his brain completely short-circuiting as he stared at the two identical alien monsters tearing the robotic squids to shreds.
"Why are there two of them?" Edwin muttered, utterly bewildered. He watched the two terrifying fish-men coordinate their attacks. "Wait... two strange fish monsters swimming together... could they be a male and a female?"
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