Chapter Text
Chief Brody sat staring out at the dark, restless waves. The rhythmic crashing concealing the truth of the monster that swum beneath them. He could hear the faint voices of his wife and children within the house laughing as they went about going to bed, and he rubbed his face listening to them. He didn’t have to look up to know the person who sat silently down beside him. The presence was once as familiar as his own shadow.
“Mr Hooper.”
“Chief Brody.”
Gone was the tense air between them, now replaced with a mutual respect for each other.
“It’s been a while...”
Hooper smiled softly, “Yeah, once everything settled down you had your family, and I had my delayed Australian trip.” He shrugged, “I wanted to stay, but...”
Martin just stared out over the water, “I know...” He swallowed thickly leaving words unsaid then shook himself and steeled his shoulders, “It’s back...”
Matt froze, his blood running icy cold before fear reheated him, “How? We killed it! We made sushi out of it! You were THERE!”
The Chief rubbed his thighs staying calm, “I thought so too, but it seems we breed them big and mean around these parts.”
Hooper didn’t move again. He just let his eyes follow Brody’s out across the calm, dark water, “Quint doesn’t have a secret twin out there as crazy as he was, does he?”
Brody laughed half-heartedly, “No, but he does have a brother that’s crazier... If that’s even possible?”
Laughter crept out of both men, and soon the mood lifted, “C’mon, let’s get those bags inside and you settled. You’ll need your rest.”
Chief Brody stood and let his hand linger for a second or two longer than he should have on Hooper’s shoulder, but when it wasn’t shrugged off or mentioned he just smiled. It seemed the younger man had toned up in the months they’d been apart.
“Martin...?”
Ellen’s voice broke him out of his revelry, and he forced the thoughts away, “Sorry... I...” He looked at her apologetically, and she just smiled.
“It’s ok, Dear.” She slipped her body beside her husband’s and smiled slightly as his arm comfortably rested around her waist, “It’s good to see you, Matt. We had hoped for a better reason!”
“Me too, Ellen, me too...”
Matt liked Ellen. Unlike other people, she had understood about her husband and himself. Something more than friendship had happened on the now sunk Orca, something neither of them had expected. He knew Martin loved his wife and would never leave her, and he was ok with that. He could share, if she could.
....
The sun had barely risen when Martin knocked on his door, “Hey... Matt, it’s almost time to go...”
He groaned and pulled the soft pillow over his face. He just wasn’t a morning person. A few long minutes later Matt was up, fed and watered, and waiting by the beat-up old sheriffs’ truck. The Chief said nothing but grinned as he silently handed Hooper another strong coffee and they piled in with Ellen at the wheel. It was a quiet drive down to the dock with just the hum of the engine and the early morning birds singing into the wind. Soon the masts of the ships were in sight and they were there. The double height of the ‘Orca II’ dwarfing the smaller casual pleasure crafts that swayed gently beside her.
“Ahoy there!” Rang out loud and clear from the deck and an almost splitting image of Quint stood on deck save for jet black hair and a deep scar that ran down his cheek and neck and disappeared into the collar of his button-up fleece.
Ellen turned against her husband and pressed her face into his neck, “Be careful, Martin, please...”
He stroked her back gently, “Of course, Ellen...”
Matt swallowed and then forced a smile onto his face doing his best to hide his growing nerves, “I’ll bring him back to you safe and sound, don’t worry...”
Like the first time, she didn’t wait around but rushed back to the car and drove away before the tears could begin to fall.
...
They had been on the ocean for hours just bobbing along. It was almost perfect, save for Owen’s awful taste in music and the ever-present stench of day-old chump. Martin and Matt sat together on the back deck in silence enjoying the relative peace before what they knew could be their eventual demise. The oxygen tanks clanked occasionally beside the improved shark cage and Martin finally spoke, “You still want to get back in the water even with what’s out there?”
“Well Martin, we can live life in fear, or look the shark in the beady, black eyes, and I know which I’m doing...” Matt shrugged and was about to continue when the boat suddenly lurched violently to the side.
Owen let out a loud roar as his head hit the wheel and he was flung backwards towards the other men. He stumbled, then found his footing just as the boat lurched again. Moments later smoke and water was pouring from the engine cavity and the boat itself shuddered to a full stop. Hooper pulled Chief Brody up by his lapels but didn’t immediately let him go, “Be careful...”
There was another bone jarring slam into the base of the boat, and Owen was hurled overboard. Brody and Hooper leant deeply over the shallow sides desperately trying to reach the panicking fisherman. Their fingers grazed painfully close to each other, but they were unable to fully get the grip that they needed to hoist him back onto the deck. Their cries hung in the wind and it seemed fortune had smiled on them, but no. Owen’s body propelled itself from the ocean with a blood curling scream. It took just a split second for the two remaining men to see the rows of gleaming white teeth sinking into the soft flesh of his torso. They renewed their efforts, but Owen slipped from their fingers and was pulled down into the deep blue sea in a brief cloud of crimson.
Hooper took a step back gripping the Chief’s arm till his knuckles were white and he’d almost lost feeling in that hand, “Martin, I can’t do this again! I thought I could, but I can’t!” He could feel the panic rising within him, “Those teeth! Those soulless, dead eyes!” He let out an involuntary shudder and dared to press himself against Martin burying his face in the man’s neck beginning to shake, “The ocean is its home, can’t we just leave it be?”
Martin wrapped his arms around the smaller man feeling the shock begin to set in through the sweatiness and clamminess of the man’s flesh. This was bad. They’d been okay the first time as pure adrenaline had got them through, but this time...
They knew...
They knew what was coming and nothing would be able to prepare them again for this. The horrors and nightmares of last time still rocked both of them. The constant reminder of their trauma renewed every time they looked out at the ocean.
His arms tightened around Matt and he let himself relish in the soft, intimate touch he’d been craving since the younger man had arrived, “Knowing man and its desire to kill or cage what it fears, I doubt it... But let’s just call the Coast Guard anyway... I want to go home...”
Matt nodded, finally relaxing, “Sounds like a-“
SMACK! The boat lurched again ripping the men from each other’s arms and sending splinters and wood into the air.
“WHAT THE!?”
The words were almost in unison as the giant grey body of the beast threw itself at them. They scrambled madly, just barely escaping the raging animal and its razor-sharp teeth! It thrashed violently destroying more and more of the wooden deck with each twist of its powerful body forcing the two men closer to the cabin.
SNAP...
SNAP...
SNAP...
The teeth flashed too close for comfort and then as quickly as it had appeared the beast disappeared underneath the waves again.
Without a word, Martin rushed to the sputtering engine just in time to hear its final broken clunks. He gave it a swift kick and screamed into the doorway in frustration, “No power! No DAMN power! No radio, no coast guard!”
His shoulders slumped, the weight of his choice to try catching the new shark, the decision to involve and put in danger Matt suddenly all too much for him to bare, “I’m so sorry, Matt...”
Matt slipped past him giving Martin just the lightest of reassuring touches. He lifted the handset and pressed the transmit button on the VHF radio. For a moment nothing, then it crackled into life and he grinned relief flooding his every cell, “Looks like we’re going to be okay!”