Interning on the Aronnax

Plant a Seed

A/N: While editing this chapter, I realized it was the perfect time to delve a bit into the Knight mechanics when it comes to emergencies. It didn't occur to me during the Tunnel rewrites, so I rabbit-trailed here, and expect a follow-up chapter or two. ;)

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Fontaine winced and hoped Pete's question was a coincidence. Surely he hadn't noticed that she was distracted?

Will yanked the harpoon free and threw it away. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Fontaine flinched from a burst of sparks from the right. "But my Knight isn't."

"I'm just here for the treasure," Pete said. "Leave now, and nobody gets hurt."

"You haven't heard too much about us, then," Ant said.

"Ant," Kaiko warned.

Pete chuckled. "Oh, I know all about you." He raised a fist over his head. "Dave, ready the next harpoon."

Fontaine tensed. Looking past Pete, she tried to spot his submarine, but it must have been well hidden in the mountains. She readied herself to move quickly, in case Pete aimed for her again.

For a long minute, nobody moved. Then Pete turned his head to the side. Following his gaze, Fontaine felt her mouth drop open when the Dark Orca appeared.

"The Dark Orca!" Ant said.

"I knew Hammerhead would be here!" Will said. "Pete was a distraction!"

"Really?" Pete said. Fontaine could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "Anyone who isn't the Dark Orca itself is just a distraction?"

Pete turned his body toward the Dark Orca. Kaiko turned briefly back to shrug, then faced forward.

"I thought you'd retired, Hammerhead," Pete called.

"You're not with Hammerhead?" Ant asked.

"Of course he ain't, Nekton!" Hammerhead bellowed over the comms. "Pete's a filthy traitor tryin' to steal me treasure!"

"We were here first," Kaiko said. "We're claiming salvage rights!"

"Aw, isn't that nice?" Hammerhead mocked. "But I don't care!"

"Technically, I was here first," Pete said.

"Shut up!" Hammerhead snapped.

"Say that again, old man," Pete said, a challenging tone in his voice. "Even better, come out and say that to my face."

"I don't have to answer to ya!" Hammerhead yelled.

Fontaine glanced at Will, and was grateful to find he looked as uncomfortable as she felt. They'd never been stuck with two arguing pirates. It was usually Hammerhead and one of her parents.

Ant waving caught Fontaine's attention. He pointed toward Kaiko, who was drifting closer to the urn. While Hammerhead ranted about Pete being places he shouldn't be and interfering where he wasn't supposed to, Kaiko simply grabbed the urn and returned to her family.

Hammerhead's yelling was abruptly silenced as Will disconnected the Nektons from the line.

"Can you make it back to the Aronnax?" Will asked Fontaine.

Fontaine tested her thrusters. The left one worked fine, but the harpoon must have done some serious damage to the Knight's wiring. When she tried to activate the right thruster, there was a pop from somewhere inside the Knight.

Hurriedly stopping the thrusters, Fontaine said, "Probably not."

"I've got you," Will said, moving the White Knight so he could hold it from behind. "Everyone ready?"