Alex rushed towards the shore and grabbed the half-submerged object. It is the vertical stabiliser of his plane...or what is left of it. There is a good chance that the wreckage is somewhere around here. Alex scratched his scalp and breathed deeply. The air feels oddly refreshing after years of being inside various types of G-suits and cockpits.

This was the first quiet moments he had to sit, think –probably relax, take a breath- and remember. First, there was the satisfaction after successful ops to destroy Mother's drone dispenser, which went sour after a barrage of never-been-seen-before-missile and the goddamned Railgun... visions of Bane breaking his cockpit flashed inside his mind. Just one punch. Crack! Saved.  'But how about my friends?' he thought to himself.

He stared out towards the sea and fought down his own revulsion at the memory of his squadron...fleeing away. His team, him, they are the Elites (Air Division) -one of the best commando teams and program on Earth. Cross-trained on multiple types of aircrafts in every possible scenario (even space and orbital combat)...and alas, they have to flee, tactical retreat. Alex's hand curled into a fist, and for a moment he felt the urge to slam it into something. He relaxed, surprised at his frayed temper. He'd been exhausted and shell shocked in the past –and without doubt the fight with Mother had been the most harrowing of his career –but he'd never prone to such outbursts.

The struggle against whatever-is-invading-Earth must have gotten to him, more than he realised.

With effort, he banished the Mother from his mind. Either there'd be time to deal with it later... or there wouldn't.  Worrying about it now served no useful purpose. Honestly, he wanted to forget it all especially the giant damned invisible...thing (?).  Everything inside him ached. He hoped that aircraft carriers and anti ship battery at Pearl Harbour could take care of it. Worrying about it now served no useful purpose.

A flotsam tumbled as it gets washed ashore by the waves. Alex walked towards it, picked it up and examined it. It turned out to be a piece of twisted fibreglass with a few rivets sticking out from its sides with jagged rough ends. Although fibreglass should be shiny, this one looks like it had just hopped out of a furnace. Based on my experience such twisted metals usually occur as results from explosion-a huge one- but fibreglass is used for boats not military aircraft. So in this case, the wreck that at the shore is not a plane but a wrecked boat. Alex made a mental note to ask Bane about that.

Alex donned his helmet, lowered the cracked visor, locked its atmospheric seals and rebooted the system. He still has a few alternatives for finding Cobra One. The visor glowed to life, displayed a flickering USAF logo and quickly shifted into a half distorted HUD lined with cracks and static. Diagnostic ran and confirmed that half of his visor is damaged; but the rest of the helmet is pretty functional at the least. Then, Alex proceeded by powering down unessential systems –noisy air filter- and redlined the power pack output. A warning displayed to make him think twice about his decisions. He ignored the warning and diverted all the power to his sensory and communications system. The reason behind this risky huge energy diverting and over-boost of the telemetry system was all for reaching Cobra 1. He pinged the stealth fighter's telemetry system and received a faint handshake reply. There was no other intelligence onboard so, Alex extended his presence through the empty systems. All other major systems such as the autopilot had flat-lined as a failsafe to prevent further physical damage and to preserve crucial data. Cobra 1 is a wreck; all thrusters offline. It would not be moving on its own power ever again, but its 'heart' still beat. The aircraft reactor still operated at 67% capacity. Amazing, extremely dangerous and explosive.

“So, are you ready to get wet?"  Bane suddenly breaks the com silence.

“No, I don't even know where the plane is and stop piggybacking my frequency!"

“No, I'm not! It's called broadcasting through the entire spectrum."

 Alex transmitted his frequency number to Bane's data pad. “Use that."

Bane adjusted a few analogue knobs on his forearm. “That went well...So now what?"

“I dunno... Try to find any piece of metal that could tell us that the plane is on this side of the Pacific Ocean."

Bane walked for a while until something underwater caught his eye. He grabbed it with his huge hands and pause for a while before prying it from the mud-layered seabed. “Bro, I got good news! I think this is part of your plane. It has a USAF logo on it." Bane yelled as he swims back to the shore.

“USAF? Are you-" Alex froze with a stunned expression when his gaze met Bane. The next 5 seconds is an eternity of silence -save for the crashing waves.

“Err...I got a feeling that I shouldn't lift this in the first place. Fine, I'll put it back."

“No no, wait. Do you know what you just lift?"

“Umm..." Bane peeked through a crack at the side of the cylinder and saw some coils of wires inside it. “It is probably an electromagnet."

“Correct. That's an electromagnetic countermeasure decoy for the 'Mirage' tactical missile -an experimental version of BriteCloud." Alex paused and cleared his throat before continuing, “that should weigh no less than half a TONNE! Do you have any idea? There's no way a normal person could lift it except-"

“Nuff said. I'm not under your definition of normal. C'mon, normal is a relative term. Case closed." Bane happily cuts in as he moved closer.

“Bane, do you have any idea how weird it is seeing...this ability and all?" Alex said as he shook the shark's snout. “Sometime I wonder how you just act so...normal. I bet if I took a photo of you and post it on the net, it might answer the age old question: Are we alone in the universe?" Alex said and gave the fish a friendly poke. 

“Now come on, don't get too happy big guy. That's not a compliment. Now, I need you to carry that for me."

“OK. No problem." Bane's expression changed as a thought appeared in his head. “Yeah but, wait a sec. That missile has electromagnet sensor... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Exactly." Alex chuckled. “So, could I use your yacht?"

"Hehehe...I thought you'd never ask."

“Alex, do you mind if I ask you to give the mission details all over again! I just want to double check." Bane yelled at his bro who is struggling to fix the yacht's radio mast on the tip of the sail.

“My helmet had found a research vessel stuck on a coral reef –its transponder is still active.  If we're lucky, we could 'borrow' one of the R&D underwater drones and use it to triangulate the return signal from my plane. After that-"

“Ok. I get it. The missile achieves a lock and will guide us directly towards Cobra 1."

“Bane, catch!"

Alex jumped from the mast and Bane caught him.

“There's one thing that keep puzzling me?"

“What?"

“Why there are so many crashes? There are boat remains at the shore just now. And now, there's another one?"

“This island is like the Bermuda Triangle. It has this vision limiting mist and ionised atmosphere. I bet it didn't even exist on the map. By the way, I wonder what do need me for. You don't just drag me miles from the coast just to fix systems and break your fall, right?"

“Don't worry egg head, you'll see it soon. It'd be damn great to have an engineer around." Alex complimented as Bane slide down under the controls to reboot the vessel's systems. With a loud click, a circuit board is slotted back into its place and the radar panel hummed to life.

“Well, I'm glad that worked."Bane cleared his throat. “Uhh...now could help me out. I'm stuck."

Alex chuckled and helped him up. “Do you always get stuck on anything?"

“It depends. Having a dorsal fin has its own pros and con. Guess why I didn't sleep on a bed."

Ping......................Ping.............Ping! The radar chimed.

Both of them scrambled towards the radar display and saw a dot getting larger and slowly moving to the centre. Alex instinctively grabbed the radio while Bane slowed down the engine.

“Research Vessel 43-3, anyone onboard, please respond." Alex spoke with clear authoritive tone to the mic. “I repeat R43-3, please respond."

“I-I don't think that there's anyone there. It appears to be...dead." Bane whispered. Even though in broad daylight, the sea have a thick low mist that gave the island a creepy feeling. “I could sense only a single pulse from the engine. Besides that, there's nothing on my electrosensory."

“Aha, electrosensory. That's one of the reasons I bring you here."

Bane grunted. “Just electrosensory? You gotta be kidding."

Alex replied with a toothy smile.

Both of them took a grappling hook each, shoot at the research vessel and climbed aboard. Bane did a quick sniff around and confirmed that there's nothing else onboard.

Three drones still clamped to its recharge station caught Alex's eyes. He let a low whistle, “Look at these," and interfaced with them. “Mr. Shark, are you ready to do some heavy lifting?"

“Ok...I got a feeling that this is going to involve my EXTRA-ordinary fish like abilities."

[P.O.V – Bane]

Guess what. He tells me to bring this electromagnetic thing, guide the research drone and lift the junk (plane) out of the water from...well...down there...underwater.

In addition, if I failed to do that the plane faulty reactor is going to melt and turn this ocean to another Chernobyl. Oh, now you tell me!

To be honest, I already saw it coming. Well, what options do I have anyway? I guess, I'm the one who can actually 'swim'. I left my backpack and my other heavy equipment on the boat, swim near the edge and did a last self-check of my equipment: Datapad, check; EM thing, check; Spears, check; Machete, check; Clothing, still there; Rough waypoint, done...umm...communication, wait!

“Alex, how the hell do we stay in touch?"

“I'll beam it through the drones."

“And vice-versa?"

“Yeah, just don't move too fast to maintain tight-beam connection and stay close to one of the three drones."

“OK, gotcha." I paused to calibrate my Datapad sensors on my wrist. “Anything else?"

Alex leaned towards me and gave me a kiss on my snout which sends...butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I felt my whole body.exe going unresponsive.

“Take care, okay? You're the only one I got." There's a hint of genuine care in his voice as he casually gives me a small Geiger-counter and straps it around my biceps.

“O-okay. I will." I managed despite a lump forming in my throat and my face had started to...burn. I just stay still and let my body sink as I gave Alex a thumb up. That was weird. I never got these feelings before. I wondered if Al really cared about me. I mean, more than just a brother or guy that you're stuck with.

I fully exhale all the bubbles from my lungs and fully open my gill silts to let the seawater flow through as precaution measures against divers' worst nightmare –the Bends. Well, I prefer to call it decompression sickness -didn't sound so bad.

I think Alex's junk bird must have stirred the seabed pretty bad because I can just barely see my feet! I closed my eyes and navigate on my electro sensory. Don't worry, I won't miss the colours.

Hmm 'seeing' the world in electrosensory (or more precisely electroreception) is very weird...and beautiful. It's like seeing electrical impulse but without actual colours. I always love how it pulses. Sometimes it's dim, calm and rhythmical but sometimes it's bright, fast and random. Well, depends on what I'm looking at. On land, my electroreception is limited and largely influenced by the air. But underwater, hehehe nothing can stop me. I think I know why sharks are sometimes called the 'dogs of the ocean'.

{Hey, why do you stopped? Any problems?} A message from Alex clicked through the Datapad.

{Nothing.} I typed a response. {Just trying to see around -zero visibility.}

{Roger. Exercise caution.}

I swim deeper until I touched the floor of the ocean and tighten my grip around my spear. Just in case a fresh meat, err...I mean, a fish is nearby. I feel a buzz in my left lateral lines -A fish stirring the sands.  I turn swiftly to my left, saw a pulse from a stingray and throw my spear. THUCK! The spear impaled the fish on a boulder.

{Wow, that's fast...and accurate. I never knew you could do that.} Another message clicked in. One of the three spherical drone is floating nearby with one of its camera focused on me. I turn towards it and give it a bow before picking up the fish and the spear.

I noticed that the boulder has an odd cylindrical shape. I took a side step and saw a half melted aircraft engine. I give the drone a hand signal to scan it.

{Yup, that's an engine.} A blue triangular NAV marker winked onto existence on my Datapad. {Follow that waypoint. Use your EM missile to guide you. I have activated it.}

Okay... Now I have a LIVE missile on my back. Then what? I could probably fly in this shit! I shook my head and brushed the thought away. Focus man; keep your head in the game!

{Roger that.} I replied and began swimming towards the waypoint. I took the missile off my back and tossed it with my tail. I glided for a while, activated its thrusters and raced towards the murky horizon. A metallic 'CLANG!' marked the end of its 3 seconds flight. That's not so far away.

Suddenly, the Geiger counter started to give a stream of clicks. I bring it close to my face and saw the display. {Alex, got radiation here. 8.50 micro-sieverts per hour.}

{Hurry, I'm afraid that we don't have much time. Just carry the drones. They are too slow.}

I hold all of the three drones in my hands and swim as fast as I could. When we reached there, I took cover behind a rock and released them.

{Quick. You could turn off the reactor right? I'll stay here.  I got reading as high as 800 micro-sieverts per hour even when I'm hiding under the metal wing of your plane and behind this rock.}

{Roger wilco. ASAP.}

The drones rushed towards the hull of the plane, extended its mechanical arms and began fixing the reactor. I watched them working together to connect broken wires, fix intakes and weld shut a few hull breach to repair the cooling system. The plane must have taken a heavy hit right in the reactor before going down.

{How many sieverts of gamma radiation does it take to kill me again?} I dared to ask.

{I think it's around... two whole sieverts.  Don't worry. Micro is a small scale. You're kinda safe...unless you stayed there for an hour. You'll get a year worth of background radiation (~2000 micro sieverts).}

I sighed. Start humming. Then, try to whistle underwater. These drones definitely took a long time.

Suddenly one of the drones jerked and dropped to the sea floor. The electrical pulse inside it flickered and died. {Alert, two of the drones are down!} I messaged Alex as the second drone floats freely away -lifeless.

{My beam signal is getting weaker! You must open the v-} The message was cut off abruptly.

I cursed, grabbed the nearest drone, turned off the annoying Geiger counter and inserted its telescopic hands into hull of the plane to open an emergency cooling valve. Hope that the drones had repaired enough system for this valve to work.

Slowly, I heard a valve creak and open itself when I feel a huge amount of heat coming from inside the plane. I peeked through a hull breach and saw the reactor glowing red-hot –I'm screwed! I am going to be long gone in an explosion before I could open the valve. I wish there's another way to flood the reactor.

YES! That's it. FLOOD THE REACTOR. Flood equals to a huge amount of water. And I'm right inside it! THE SEA!

I took out my machete and chopped open any pipes and valves that lead to the reactor.  Usually I would wince at such destruction of a machine but this time I had no choice. I finally stopped when I accidentally sprayed myself with pressurized fire suppressive foam when I chopped open a pipe filled with it.

I cautiously watch the reactor cool down; its glow fades away and let out a sigh of relief. “I guess this is what I would call, 'escaped with the skin of my teeth'... That is a close one."

With a light tug, I freed the fighter jet from the seabed and lifted it towards the surface. With powerful thrust from my tail, I'm making a steady ascend to the surface. I had no idea what happened to Alex but it didn't sound good.

“Uhh...Bane, you still there?" my Datapad crackled. It sounds like Alex's bad short-range radio. “I know that you can't speak underwater but, give me a clue -A knock, clicks or something."

“Who said I can't speak underwater!" I snapped.

There's a laughter over the COM “Whoa, you're still alive and kicking?... You sounds different underwater. A bit louder, deeper and less...uhh...vibrato in your voice."

“Hey, I'm lifting a plane here -not in a singing competition. Prepare whatever equipment you have to lift it up. I'm coming."

“Y-yeah I'll get the service crane running in a few seconds."

[P.O.V – Alex]

I went to the bridge and fumbled with a pair of control sticks to activate a pair of hydraulic crane. The first thing that I saw is Bane waving at me -along with that shark smile of his- before the aircraft breaks the surface. I carefully adjusted the hydraulic pressure before clamping it up and depositing it on the deck. Pilots usually were attached to their planes, give them names and human personalities...Hell, I even sleep in there sometimes. I just hate to lose a good bird. I feel grateful that Bane managed to carry it here. He's so full of surprises.

When I approached the deck, Bane was lying down and panting on top of the aircraft.

“Rest big guy, you've done more than I hoped for. I guess a shark and a retriever have a lot in common."

He chuckled. “What exactly happened with the drones? You know that I could DIE down there."

“Nah, you won't. Actually, when the drones interacted with the plane, I had managed to activate the reactor's fail-safe systems that would burnout the fuel rod. I was about to tell you that when my COM got cut off."

He showed me his middle finger.

“Hey, at least you saved the reactor and got a few kilowatts for free," I told him as I moved nearer to the shattered remains of cockpit glass and touched a recessed button on the aircraft's hull –a tiny metal plate slid aside revealing an alphanumeric keyboard. I typed in a string of command and pressed ENTER. The assault craft's backup reactor shuddered to life as I entered the mud covered cockpit.

Bane responded with a toothy grin, picked up his wrench and tilted his head towards the engine. I get what he meant.

“Sure, feel free to poke around. I know you loved all this machine stuff."

“Yer going to fly this?" Bane asked as he knelt beside the hole that went clean through the fuselage.

“Oh, I wish I could."

I brushed a layer of mud of the place and tapped the Engineering console. A detailed schematic of the aircraft appeared with a few missing sections coloured black, damaged parts coloured amber and malfunctioned parts flashing red.

Apparently, the Mother's railgun had done a bit less damage than I thought. It is a fact that the projectile had penetrated the hull internal armour, blown away all primary thrusters and crippled the plane's system. However, it had missed the main reactor –only by a hairbreadth- and leave auxiliary thrusters unharmed. If not for massive structural damage, low fuel, burnt out unstable reactor plus a giant gaping hole that tears through half of the plane, I might have christened the plane 'lucky'.

“Can I carry the missiles?" Bane yelled. “They seemed to be in a pretty good condition. I bet you don't want these military grade explosives to fall into the wrong hands."

“Are you sure you have the 'right' hands?" I smirked as I flicked the weapon systems switch. Status lights turned from amber to green. “They're safe now. At least they won't pre-ignite."

I poked my head out of the hole in the cockpit glass and gasped when I saw Bane lifting a Goliath (AMRAAM) missile.  I thought that he's just going to take the explosive warhead. It's quite hypnotising seeing him lifting a 670lbs missile -with all bulky bulges beneath his tight wet clothing. I wonder how he could fit all that pure beefcake into a tank top and a pair of blue jeans. I ogle down, following his glistening sweaty lubricious skin until I reached his crotch. I shook my head and terminated 'that' thought. What's wrong with me?!

Ping....! A sound interrupted my thought. On-screen a familiar radar silhouette appeared: an odd disc shaped symmetry. Thermal images reveals a centre sphere that emits a blackbody radiation of two thousand degrees Kelvin.

I brushed dirt way from the radar panel and saw a total of 20 blips flying in formation. “We've got company!" I radioed Bane.  “Six aircrafts on intercept course- 10 o'clock. Vectors suggest an attack pattern!"