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- [April 25, 2168]
- [Sea Floor - Chinese Ocean]
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- At the bottom of the Chinese Ocean, a small G.U.D. submersible glides through the murky depths. The vessel occasionally scans the area every so often as it hovers over the silty sea bottom; it's clearly trying to pick up traces of some unknown quantity for its search. Within the submarine itself, the skeleton crew of the mostly automated vessel is busy maintaining the equipment and interpreting data gleaned from its scans.
- Chief among the crew are Emmy Kano and Nicholas Valentine-87, the two private investigators assigned to the Axis Alliance case.
- (Emmy Kano): What do you think we'll find, Nick?
- (Nicholas Valentine-87): As much as I'd like to believe we'll instantly stumble on the Axis Alliance remnants and engage in an underwater struggle that ultimately ends in us soundly beating them and bringing them to justice, that's highly unlikely to be the reality.
- (Emmy Kano): I can believe that. They're crazy, but not stupid. They'd cover up their trail as best as they could and leave a couple surprises for us on their way out.
- (Nicholas Valentine-87): And what do we do in that case?
- (Emmy Kano): We continue pressing forward and find the evidence from the pieces left behind, obviously.
- (Nicholas Valentine-87): Exactly.
- The submarine makes an abrupt stop, forcing Emmy and Nick to brace themselves by grabbing onto the nearest console. Once the vessel has stopped shaking, everyone relaxes a bit, if only because they're no longer struggling to maintain their balance. The Synthetic captain of the submersible walks up to one of the officers looking over the scan data.
- (Submarine Captain): Did we hit something?
- (Scan Officer): No, ma'am. It looks like we hit a hard-light barrier.
- (Submarine Captain): Pull it up, then.
- A holographic screen forms in the middle of the observation core; the feed from the front cameras of the vessel is relayed to the holo-screen. The feed shows a red-tinted wall of hard-light blocking access to the rest of the trench that the crew have found themselves in; it blocks access not only from the front, but the top as well.
- (Submarine Captain): The red's an obvious giveaway that we're dealing with baddies here. Can we get around it by ascending and going over?
- (Scan Officer): Sorry, ma'am, but the top is enclosed too. There's no way we could get through without heavy artillery or G.S. support.
- (Submarine Captain): Then we'll make do with a strictly visual feed. You two, do your thing.
- The captain returns to her chair that overlooks the observation core. As she does this, Emmy and Nick walk up to the holographic projection and start fiddling with the command functions of the relayed feed.
- (Emmy Kano): Zoom in there.
- (Nicholas Valentine-87): Okay, that works. Try changing the EM spectrum to this wavelength.
- (Emmy Kano): Sure.
- The two continue to rework the visual feed for quite some time, often getting them confused looks from the crew members given how unorthodox their methods seem to be; it's to be expected, though, given their shared experiences. Finally, the two of them seem to settle on a particular setup for the submarine's front cameras' relayed feed. The two investigators then step aside to allow for the captain and the other crew to get a good look.
- (Submarine Captain): Is that--
- (Nicholas Valentine-87): Yep. The outline of an old Warmonger. I've also received reports from my other agents, and this seems to confirm our theory. The Axis Alliance is collecting old Warmongers that were never recovered from the ocean floor and other hard-to-reach places, likely to repurpose them.
- (Emmy Kano): And we can only assume that this purpose is linked to the reemergence of the Destroyer, possibly as a force multiplier for another major incident.
- (Submarine Captain): My god..... our past comes to haunt us. Have you sent this information to the G.U.D.?
- (Emmy Kano): I did. Soon we'll be able to--
- All of a sudden, the observation core's hull is ripped clean open, causing sea water to rush in. Before the camera feed cuts out, a static-filled outline of what appears to be another large submersible can be seen.
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- [Jiran Island - Jiran Island Cluster]
- [Pacific Ocean]
- [Open Territory - G.U.D.]
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- On Jiran Island, the little Mothra larva has mostly cleaned up the island's interior, leaving it a clear and safe environment for the G.U.D. personnel present to work in; the young monster herself is currently sleeping next to one of the cliff walls. Meanwhile, Wei Ho and Anna Maximoff are sitting on top of the giant sleeping grub, seemingly waiting for something. Finally, a ping sounds off from their datapads.
- The two scientists take out their datapads and look through them.
- (Wei Ho): Warmongers?
- (Anna Maximoff): I'm surprised the Axis Alliance would go to such lengths. Wait..... that's odd.....
- (Wei Ho): What is it?
- (Anna Maximoff): Normally, Emmy would be sending some tangent comment about her own personal theories about the data right about now.
- (Wei Ho): Maybe the two of them stumbled onto something else.
- (Anna Maximoff): Maybe.... I think I'll still send a message to Rico, just in case.
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