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Chapter Text

Somewhere in an undisclosed location…

At first darkness, deep and silent.

Then came blinding light, its source a massive screen taking up the upper back wall of a huge room, towering windows covered by thick curtains at its side, bodyguards against the outside world.

Static dominated the screen for a second before it settled to reveal a bright blue background displaying an insignia: a golden chalice tipped to the side and dripping a liquid of the same color against yet another white background, the insignia’s thick circular border also gold.

No one batted an eye.

Then again, who dare would in the Head Director’s presence?

The screen now revealed the waiting occupants (or at least their silhouettes).

Four individuals sat behind an absurdly high bench, the kind where a courtroom’s judge would sit, their faces and forms hidden in shadow due to the screen’s illumination from behind. Some lounged back in their seats while others leaned forward on the tabletop.

Only the seat in the raised center lacked an occupant, the screen directly above it compensating.

“It’s taken some time, but I believe you’re finally ready,” a deep distorted voice announced from the TV. “My apologies that Dr. Steyn couldn’t join us. I need her expertise for a secret project of ours, one still in the woodworks. However, that project still needs plenty of…resources before it can get off the ground, and while our own troops have been doing an adequate job gathering them, there are certain places that require a more…forceful hand.”

Far below, four figures of varying sizes stood silent and at attention, the TV’s light reflected off the black visors of their helmets.

 The sound of sifting leather emitted from the screen, the indication of someone readjusting themselves in a chair.

“That’s where you come in. We need your strength, your cunning. Only with your help can we help the world achieve its destiny. Only with our help can you achieve the justice you deserve.”

A second symbol flashed into view to the left of the first on the screen: a circular, white-bordered badge depicting a stylized yellow sunrise over a green field and against a red and orange sky.

“DAWN is who denies you of it. Their grip on the world and its creatures is strong and far, but you are the hammers that will help us break down their precious prison. You are the heroes that will herald a new era of peace.”

Once again, sounds of shifting leather followed but this time with the sound of light grunts and bones creaking.

One could practically see the Head Director standing tall.

“You are the flames that will burn this gilded illusion of a world to the ground so that a better one may follow, so that the loss of your kind is not in vain. You are Revenants, and you will...”

The Director purposely let his words linger, expecting a response.

The four helmeted figures below answered in unison and without hesitation, their voices strong and loud.

“Seek, destroy, avenge.”

“Forgive an old man and his hearing,” the Director crooned, “could you repeat that?”

“Seek. Destroy. Avenge,” the Revenants restated, voices louder.

The Director asked again, only now with bite. “Repeat that?”

“Seek. Destroy. Avenge.”

“You will WHAT?!” the Director now thundered.

“SEEK! DESTROY! AVENGE!” the Revenants screamed in kind, their rage palpable.

A faint chuckle followed. “Good. Dr. Kabore, go with them please.”

One of the creatures seated high above, a crocodile judging by the snout, nodded and stood up, proceeding to make her way down the steps hidden behind the bench.

“She and our troops will escort you to your bunker. I think you kids will find it a little more comfortable than that medical bay you’ve been holed up in. Your first mission will be in Thailand. Kabore will brief you on the details along the way. Dismissed.”

The Revenants saluted and about-faced to march in line after the crocodile once she passed by them.

The group’s steps faded into the darkness.

Chapter Text

March 24, 2011

Director Peggy Scratch did not understand the report at first.

She’d sent her CLADE agents on a simple mission: investigate a series of mysterious disappearances involving the endangered dholes in Thailand. Rule out some possible causes.

Yet when the agents came back wide-eyed and rattled, some even hyperventilating when pressed for questions, to say Scratch had been concerned would be an understatement.

Especially when she read the submitted report.

Four figures in red and black, faces hidden by demonic-looking helmets, popping out of nowhere and strongarming away the dholes the agents had been questioning. The agents themselves had tried their best to intervene, only to get either get tranquilized or pressure-pointed for their troubles.

Thankfully, no one sustained any lasting injuries, although that fact still didn’t resolve the issue of the disappearance, let alone the identity of those strange thieves.

However, one of the agents did manage to overhear one of the thieves utter a certain name into their walky-talky.

Ambrosia.

Scratch had gone silent, stone-faced, before nodding and calmly dismissing the agents with advice to see the counselors about scheduling some therapy sessions. Sorely needed therapy sessions.

Only once all the agents left her office did Scratch allow the firm façade to fall.

She massaged her temples with closed eyes and a tired sigh before reaching for her office phone and dialing her assistant, who thankfully did not take long to answer.

“Yes, could you send word to the other Board members please? We may have a situation on our hands.”

XXX

April 5, 2011

Today started off well enough for Agent Snow Sr.

Wake up, shower, drop his son Sam at the babysitter’s place, get some breakfast from the local café (a simple raspberry Danish with a medium mocha latte), report to HQ for today’s mission, and pleasantly chat away the three-hour flight to the scenic Alaskan coastline.

The mission wasn’t anything strenuous either: help out the locals – feral and sapient alike – recover from an especially egregious coastal storm, a task that boiled down to cleanup and patching up any injured. The only grueling part was helping gather the bodies of those not fortunate enough to survive, but thankfully those had been few and handled by the locals and volunteers before forensics could arrive.

Sure, the presence of GAMMA agents – the combat folks from CLADE’s sister division – for bodyguarding the area had him a bit on edge but surely nothing to worry about.

Then the screams started.

At first, the snow leopard hadn’t been sure what was going on.

He only saw people either running away, screaming in fright, or (in the case of agents like him) running towards the commotion in an attempt to get any endangered civilians and wildlife to safety.

All of a sudden, smoke permeated the whole area, and Snow couldn’t see a thing. Just silhouettes of people dashing all over. The feline did his best to help keep things calm while directing folks to shelter.

But then something in the distance caught the corner of his eye.

Two huge hulking figures – a bear and a lion, judging by their body shapes – only their silhouettes visible, the refracted sunlight giving them a wispy effect like ghosts.

And they were trouncing the GAMMA agents like they were nothing!

Whether dodging the agents’ blows and weapons, even – once all the civilians and non-GAMMA agents had cleared out – the bullets and tranquilizer darts or dishing out their own moves, the pair of brutes moved like lightning through the artificial fog, movements near impossible to track.

Be it the bear lashing out with some chained weapon or the lion punching the ground to send agents flying with the resultant tremors!

The cries of pain and sounds of breaking bones haunted the snow leopard to his core.

Yet before Snow Sr. could move to leave, the fog cleared, and the figures had vanished along with most of the GAMMA agents.

Leaving the snow leopard in a stupor as to what the hell just happened.

XXX

June 20, 2011

The North Wind hadn’t been as prepared as they hoped.

The team had been on their way to assist a pod of belugas trapped by icebergs north of Greenland.

“Sir,” a female Russian snow owl spoke up, “I’ve located the belugas. They’re just below us.”

“Very good,” replied the British wolf leader with a satisfied nod, hands on the steering wheel. “Let’s bring her in for a landing then—”

“Wait,” the owl suddenly interrupted in a suspicious tone, holding a wing up. The white bird was narrowing her eyes down at something on the console.

The hulking polar bear behind her cast a concerned gaze at his avian teammate. “Is something wrong, Eva?”

Eva tapped a feather against a new blip on the radar – and it was nearing the North Wind fast. “There’s something coming up on us from behind.”

A tiny harp seal seated behind the wolf cocked his round head in confusion. “Ya sure? Cuz I don’t see anybody on the cameras.”

Not even the rearview ones.

“Maybe they’re approaching from the sea below?” the polar bear suggested.

The wolf cupped his chin with a suspicious hum. His team hadn’t been notified of other agents coming to this location.

Then a bad possibility crossed his mind, and he frowned, eyes darkening.

“We’d best hurry to those belugas first and help them.” The wolf returned his hands to the wheel. “Engaging afterburners.”

Except when he hit the switch to do exactly that, nothing happened. The wolf furrowed his brow in confusion and flipped the switch back off and then on again.

And then again. And again.

“What in the…”

Then out of nowhere, the ship plummeted into a tailspin!

And then a corkscrew and a loop de loop!

“EEE-VA!” shouted the wolf leader in a tone that tried to come off as commanding but kept wavering from the unexplained aerial maneuvers. “STA-TUS RE-PORT!”

“The ship’s engines aren’t responding, sir!” the Russian female owl responded in an urgent tone. “The computers as well!”

“GAH, WE’RE GONNA DIE!” a tiny harp seal on the left screamed. “WE’RE GONNA DIIIIE!”

“Corporal!” the wolf shouted, shooting his icy blue eyes to the polar bear. “Ready the –”

Then suddenly the ship righted itself, much to the North Wind’s confusion.

“Parachutes?” the wolf finished in a baffled tone. For a moment, all the polar creatures gazed about their ship, half-expecting an encore performance.

What in the dickens just happened?

Before anyone could ponder further, a soft gasp drew everyone’s attention to Eva.

“They’re gone.”

Corporal blinked. “Who is gone?”

Eva, her usually stoic face full of shock and dismay, slid herself out of the way so the others could see.

Aside from the North Wind themselves, the radar reported nothing.

“The belugas. They’re just…gone.”

XXX

August 5, 2011

Captain Barnacles already knew.

He already knew the moment he spotted those figures in red and black – just as the reports described – chasing those poor eels through the Atlantic waters in their subs, that he and his crew would be in for a new sort of tussle.

The newly appointed captain also knew that he had no intention of letting these thugs have their way.

“Tweak, ready the lift.”

Chapter Text

8:32 AM

Booting…

Please wait.

Process complete.

Please log in.

Click click-click-click click.

Username: GummiGoob03

Password: ****************

Identity confirmed. Welcome back, Circe.

Click.

Accessing Documents…

File Name: Enemy Logs

Click.

Menu > Open

ENTRY #1: DAWN

Defenders of Animals, Wayfarers of Nature

Environmental worldwide agency established in the early 20^th century in response to rising extinction rates and natural disasters and to provide aid, recovery, and protection to all creatures (allegedly). Also charts out the natural world, perhaps a means of beating its corporate rivals to new potential resources. Sometimes it pokes its nose into political and economic affairs, likely to monopolize power on the global stage.

Led by a Head Executive and comprises of six branches – CLADE, TRAIL, WARN, GAMMA, The Four Winds, and the Octonauts – each governed by a subordinate Director. Together they form a Board that plans out all of DAWN’s schemes.

Definite Final Boss material.

ENTRY #2: CLADE

Covert League of Animal Detective Experts

Where all of DAWN’s newbies go. Sends its agents all over the place to sniff around for stuff in nature to mess with so they can set up issues for DAWN to fix and seem like heroes. Most of them graduate to join the other branches for bigger and better things, but some seem to double back later on.

Rejects maybe?

Not too hard to overpower, although some agents are tougher than others. Better to play by ear.

ENTRY #3: The Four Winds

Does so-called land- and air-based rescues for creatures in need. Further divided into four sub-groups that each focus on a specific category of biomes. North Wind, polar; East, temperate forests; South, deserts and other dry not-cold places; and East, jungles.

Way to be even more complicated.

What to look out for depends on which Wind we’re trying to break (heh, break wind), but usually the North Wind is easiest since they tend to rely on their tech way more than the others. Easy pickings for me.

But the other Winds’ leaders are all a little older and experienced, not to mention more old school. Always best to consult Athena and Boss first before engaging them.

ENTRY #4: WARN

Worldwide Animal Relay Network

DAWN’s intelligence network (i.e. the snitches). Reports everything and anything they can sniff out to the other branches. Also has a bunch of scientists that poke around nature alongside CLADE agents, probably to find stuff to falsify and fearmonger about.

Pretty sure they’d all go down in a heartbeat, but they’re always a good source of info to spy on, so it’s best to lay low and eavesdrop around them.

ENTRY #5: TRAIL

Technological Research, Advancement, and Innovation League

The tech nerds of DAWN. Comes up with all the fancy gadgets everyone else in the organization uses (not that those toys can compare to what I’ve got, of course). Also has a ton of doctors on file (maybe out of blackmail) to keep their little agents patched up.

Can’t be all that good at fighting, which is probably a good reason why most of them are always at either home base or their own bases where security’s super-tight. Always good hacking practice.

ENTRY #6: GAMMA

Guardians Against Mistreatment and Manipulation of Animals

The “black ops” of DAWN (aka the badasses). Handles all the dangerous stuff that the other branches are too wimpy to handle. Even lets in criminals who supposedly want to turn a new leaf. Seems like a serious liability but hey it seems to be working for GAMMA so far.

So yeah, do not take these guys lightly. They’ve got the most combat experience and least reason to hold back. They’re not impossible, though, since Boss is pretty good at cooking up workarounds against these guys.

ENTRY #7: Octonauts

The only branch of DAWN that’s full on about ocean life. It used to be called Oceanic Affairs but didn’t have much going for it besides a few agents taking some boats and small subs out to sea. A while back, though, it got a massive reboot with a new crew. Got a cool-looking sub too.

We haven’t had a chance to get up close and personal yet so no telling how any of them hold up in a fight, but they seem to be more the research and rescue types judging by what my spy-cams captured. Don’t seem too tough for the others to handle.

That’s probably why those guys always challenge us to a race instead, see who can get to the creatures first. Can’t lie, those fancy subs of theirs can really move.

No surprise. According to some DAWN live feeds I snooped on, these guys got some technical whiz on board, one that always finds a way to one-up me and my tech.

One of these days I’ll put that so-called genius in their place.

Beep, beep! Beep, beep!

Chat Notifications (1)

Click-click.

Opening R-Messenger…

One message from King-of-Flame at 8:25 AM.

King-Of-Flame: Hey. You get the brief this morning?

GummiGoob03 is typing…

GummiGoob03: You mean about the new mission, yeah? Yep! Almost done updating the enemy logs like you asked too.

King-Of-Flame is typing…

King-Of-Flame: Good. Get done whatever you need before evening. We’ll be heading off to Okinawa a little before noon tomorrow. We should arrive sometime after nightfall.

GummiGoob03: Aww, with no time to enjoy the beach? Lame.

King-Of-Flame: Revenants have no room for leisure. You know this.

GummiGoob03: I know, I know. XP

King-Of-Flame: It’ll be a long flight so make sure you get to bed early.

GummiGoob03: Got it. BTW, what’s our target this time? Kabore wasn’t exactly specific in the brief.

King-Of-Flame: The Octonauts.

GummiGoob03: Seriamente? Man, been a while, huh?

King-Of-Flame: Yep. Seems those guys are searching for the same specimens Ambrosia currently needs. We’ll be underwater for this one so make sure the R-Venger is prepped for undersea travel.

GummiGoob03: You got it!

King-Of-Flame: Good. And Circe?

GummiGoob03: Yeah?

King-Of-Flame: Make sure that update for your hacking gear is in order too. We’re going the saboteur route on this one.

GummiGoob03: Ah, sabotage. My favorite word <3

King-Of-Flame: Better yet, see if you can’t bust out that new vehicle you’ve been working on while you’re at it. It’s been a while since we’ve seen our little marine friends, so I wanna REALLY surprise them.

GummiGoob03: You had me at “surprise”, jefe. I’m tired of those dinky subs Ambrosia always loans us anyway. Anything else?

King-Of-Flame: No, that’s all. Typhon, signing off.

GummiGoob03: WAIT!

King-Of-Flame: ?

GummiGoob03: There’s something important I forgot to say.

King-Of-Flame: What is it?

GummiGoob03: Morning! :D

King-Of-Flame: …

King-Of-Flame: Morning.

Chapter Text

September 2014, sometime during Season 2 of Octonauts

“Captain?”

A polar bear in a blue Marine-like uniform started at the familiar voice as he tore his navy-blue eyes away from the ocean outside Octopod HQ, shimmering sunlight casting patterns along his white fur and tall stocky (and slightly chubby) figure. He had been leaning against the window next to one of the consoles.

Right away, he found himself under the bright-green eyed scrutiny of his lieutenant, Kwazii, the orange feline’s arms crossed over his sinewy chest. Everyone else was currently preoccupied with other matters elsewhere on the Octopod, even Dashi who would normally have been here working on either her photos or scrapbook.

In other words, Barnacles had no choice but to plaster on a hasty smile as he regarded his second in command more fully – a clear last-ditch effort to divert concern from himself.

“My apologies, Kwazii. I hadn’t even realized you were there.”

The smaller tabby cocked his head in both amusement and wonder.

“Aye, tis a slow day so I thought I’d hunt ya down, see if yer up for a little ping pong,” the cat explained. “Usually, you’d notice me approach from a mile away. That there trinket must be a sight ta behold to get ya this distracted!”

When Kwazii pointed a clawed finger at the bear’s hand, Barnacles registered the tiny red-and-black sphere he’d been rolling in between his own fingers and forced a chuckle.

He’d been caught red-pawed.

The captain held up the marble to his face, the seafaring light gleaming off it in a mesmerizing manner. “Ironic, considering this is just a regular old marble.”

“Then why the fixation on it?”

For a moment, the polar bear seemed as though he would brush off the question…only to finally sigh, letting his forced smile recede.

He regarded his marble with a melancholy expression.

“It’s…a memento of sorts. Something an old friend and I exchanged to remember one another by.” A slight sheen formed in his eyes. “It’s all I have left to remember him by.”

Right away, Kwazii felt his whiskers and ears fall in regret for asking.

“Shiver me whiskers, Cap,” the cat murmured in sympathy as he gingerly joined his captain’s side. “You mean he’s…”

Barnacles nodded, that heavy sadness back. He did not overlook the small, calloused paw on his elbow.

“Me apologies, Captain. I didn’t mean ta dredge up painful memories for ya.”

The white bear shook his head. “It’s alright, Kwazii. This day’s dedicated to exactly that. I’m just sorry you and Dashi have to witness the rest of us being so glum.”

Him and Dashi? Well, at least Kwazii knew he wasn’t alone in his confusion over today.

“That’s anotha’ thing I ain’t quite gettin’,” the cat continued in a semi-exasperated manner as he leaned back against the window next to his leader. “You bein’ down about a lost chum I understand, but not over half our bloomin’ crew bein’ down too! Was this matey of yours just that popular or somethin’?”

Barnacles’ mouth gaped a little in realization, eyes slightly wider for a moment, before he shook his head again.

“Ah…right. Sometimes I forget you’re the only one who joined the crew from outside DAWN. It’s not so much everyone is mourning over the same person, so much that we’re all mourning different people at once.”

Kwazii reared his head back in shock, not sure he heard his captain right.

Barnacles turned to his lieutenant before continuing.

“Today is just a day of mourning for everyone in DAWN in general, not just us Octonauts, in memory of all the GAMMA agents we lost years ago on this very day, among others still.”

Kwazii retracted his hand from his captain’s elbow and crossed his arms in thought, emerald eyes narrowed.

“GAMMA…that’s them folks DAWN’s always sendin’ for black ops, aye?”

Sometimes the cat still had trouble remembering every detail about the organization the Octonauts deferred to, so he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of triumph at the polar bear’s affirming nod.

Still, the pirate shook his head in both wonder and sympathy. “Shiver me whiskers…what sorta travesty took place to claim that many lives?”

He didn’t miss the way Barnacles’ fingers tightened around the marble.

“How familiar are you with the organization called Ambrosia?”

Right way, Kwazii curled his lip in distaste. “More than to me liking. Even we pirates know better than ta cross paths with the likes of those bilge rats. The sorts of lowdown things I’ve heard about ‘em, I tell ya they’d put the monsters from me granddad’s tales ta shame!”

At least you could argue that most of those monsters were simply following their instincts as beasties.

“In fact, if I could, I’d give them Ambrosia scalawags all a proper wallop, I would!” Kwazii even started light fisticuffs with the open air, just to prove a point. “Left, right, uppercut, rrrroundhouse!”

Despite his somber mood, Barnacles smiled a little at his second in command’s spirited display.

Kwazii noticed and settled down, clearing his throat in slight embarrassment. “Course, I’d need time to get through ‘em all, ya know. But DAWN always seemed like they could handle those scoundrels, so how’d Ambrosia deal such a big blow in the first place?”

Barnacles shrugged. “To this day, no one’s completely sure; many suspect treason. A select few still fear there are spies among our organization.”

The polar bear felt a sharp elbow nudge his bicep.

“Well, no such types among us Octonauts! We’re too tight-knit a group for that!” Kwazii suddenly registered that he interrupted his captain and hastily struck a more casual pose. “A-Anyway, as you were sayin’, Cap?”

Once again, Barnacles gave a small brief smile before holding up the red marble again.

“Whatever the cause, Ambrosia had a trap prepared – monsters, according to the few agents that managed to escape, creatures none had ever seen, bombs implanted inside them in kamikaze fashion.”

Kwazii blinked in shock, head reared back. He’d never heard of such a twisted tactic.

“If any silver lining existed,” the polar bear continued, “the survivors managed to get away with most of the imprisoned creatures.”

Barnacles then twisted his face in morbid wonder.

“The odd thing is, once the smoke cleared, we couldn’t find any bodies. Even the so-called monsters hadn’t left a trace. We searched and searched for years, but nothing. Eventually the new Head Director had to call the search off and declare all missing agents dead.”

Including the Captain’s friend, Kwazii noted with a pang of empathy.

The orange feline sidled up closer to his leader until his shoulder and the bear’s elbow touched (the most that their height difference allowed).

Barnacles felt Kwazii lean into him, the cat’s sharp ear pressed against his bicep The ursine let himself lean a little against him too.

“So…what was this matey of yours like, Captain?” Kwazii meekly asked. “Heck, what was his name even? You spent all that time sharin’ how he perished, but nothin’ else.”

Hell of a way to introduce someone to be sure.

Others might have considered the cat’s offhand statement insensitive, but Barnacles merely smiled again, fond.

“His name was North. North Ortega. As for what sort of person he was…well, try to imagine a bear who’s the exact opposite of me, both personality-wise and visually. That was him in a nutshell.”

Kwazii furrowed his brow as he envisioned the sort of person his Captain just implied: a dark-furred hothead with not an ounce of patience or kindness in their body, possibly a very frequent yeller too.

The pirate honestly didn’t know whether to frown or laugh at what his brain cooked up and so shook his head in disbelief.

“Musta took quite a journey for you to become mateys with someone like that,” he murmured.

Barnacles gave him such an amused side-eye.

Kwazii simply pouted back, the irony of his words not lost on him on account of his own hijinks, but hey the cat had his dignity, you know?

“What?”

Barnacles (very) lightly nudged his lieutenant’s shoulder back, chuckling. “Trust me, you have no idea. Between his temper and rough way of handling things, sometimes I wonder myself how we ever managed being roommates, never mind teammates.”

The polar bear flicked the marble into the air and expertly caught it.

“I can’t tell you the amount of times he and I would butt heads over who got to lead a mission. Often took Bianca and Tweak to separate us, although to be frank North always put up far more of a fight. Yet I never stopped trying to befriend him, so insistent that there had to be more to him.”

Kwazii huffed as he draped an arm over the captain’s shoulder, engaged with the story.

“So, what exactly changed things between the two of ya?”

Barnacles took a deep breath and tilted his head back, eyes deep gazing into the outside blue.

“During one of our missions, North and I wound up getting caught in a cave-in that separated us from the others. The section we were in was barely small enough for us both. You can imagine how well I took to that.”

Kwazii winced, well aware of his leader’s claustrophobia.

“I’d been so certain North would notice and berate me for it,” Barnacles went on. “He never hesitated to criticize my approach to things after all. Instead, I heard him hyperventilating, murmuring to himself. For a moment, I thought perhaps he shared the same fear as me.

“But then I felt him grab my hand, asking me…begging me not to let go. At first, I was confused, so much that I forgot my own fear for a moment…until he admitted what was wrong.”

Barnacles stared back down at the marble, voice going soft.

“For him, the problem wasn’t that our prison was small but that it was dark. North had a fear of the dark.”

The polar bear could still remember it clearly: the form of the other bear trembling next to him, the tremor of North’s voice as he murmured feeble half-coherent assurances to himself, the feel of tears in Barnacles’ eyes at seeing someone so strong so lost in terror.

“I held his hand back and confessed my own fear, how it came to be. I assured North that I did not think less of him for this…even told him how proud I was that he opened up to me.”

“What’d he say back?” Kwazii asked, curious.

Barnacles shook his head. “Nothing…although his tremors did lessen afterward. We stayed like that in silence, holding each other’s hand, until the others eventually found us.”

The polar bear rolled the marble amongst his fingers with a half-smile. “After that, things between him and I shifted. Our arguments became less frequent, less heated. He even started spending time with the rest of us between missions, as much as he still tried insisting otherwise.”

Barnacles chuckled at memories of the other bear always stuttering and blushing whenever someone (usually Barnacles himself) caught a crack in his tough guy veneer.

That…was a sneeze, North had insisted back then.

No! I-I only laughed cuz you look ridiculous!

Barnacles present-day hummed. “In fact, I couldn’t seem to shake him off from that point on, not that I tried particularly hard to. Wherever I went, he’d follow. I rolled with it; after all this was what I wanted from the beginning.”

But then Barnacles furrowed his brow, voice rueful.

“Except…I meant for him to be my friend, not my shadow, trailing behind me all silent, so I asked him one day why he started hanging around me so much.”

I can’t figure it out, North had answered back then.

What do you mean?

I can’t figure out how you do it. I’ve tried and tried, but…no matter how nice I act, how nice I talk, no one gives me the time of day…so how? What do you have that makes others wanna be near you?

“So, that’s it?” Kwazii asked in wonder with perked ears. “He envied how kind ya were?”

Barnacles nodded, solemn.

“Skilled agent as he was, he wasn’t as commended compared to me and Bianca. I told North compassion is a choice, not something you’re born with. That is as long as he put the effort into opening his heart, others will see that and come to him.”

Sounds more like this North wanted some attention, Kwazii noted.

Sounded kinda selfish but then again this guy was supposed to have been the Captain’s polar opposite. That said…

“No offense,” the cat remarked, smirking, “but that’s a little schmaltzy, even comin’ from you.”

Barnacles smirked with a chuckle.

“Would you believe me if I said you just repeated his reaction word for word? Still, I meant everything I said. Even offered to teach North how to express his softer side more.” The polar bear huffed out a breath in nostalgic exasperation. “To say it was touch and go would be an understatement.”

Was punting that hare all that necessary?

Hey, he mocked us for walking together! Walking! As if guys aren’t allowed to be close!

Alright, that I understand, but the swirlie afterward? Really?

…Old habits die hard, OK?

Kwazii doubled over in laughter.

Barnacles chuckled as well.

“Honestly, the only person North no longer had a problem opening himself to was me. Even Tweak and Bianca hadn’t gotten so far, though he eventually started letting them in as well.” Barnacles fingered the marble more gently. “It felt nice, earning that level of trust from someone who’d been so closed off before…like I’d been gifted something rare. Fragile.”

The soft shift in his captain’s eyes did not miss Kwazii’s notice. Nor did the slight sheen that returned to them.

The cat leaned forward to catch the larger mammal’s gaze. Something in the pirate’s gut told him there was more to the story.

Barnacles did not disappoint.

“Then one night, I came back to our room after a mission and found North outside next to the door, slumped over,  the smell of alcohol on him. His father had come down with a stroke.”

Kwazii’s jaw dropped instantly, unprepared for such a twist!

The polar bear heaved a deep sigh. “He was the only family left that North cared for. In a way, North had been trying to cope with the threat of being all alone.”

Kwazii cocked his head. “So naturally, ye told him that he’s never alone.”

“Yes…and then he hugged me and confessed his love for me.”

…

Perplexed by the silence, Barnacles turned to his now wide-eyed lieutenant.

“Kwazii?”

Concerned, he waved a hand in front of the pirate’s face.

The cat opened then closed his mouth multiple times before finally finding his voice. Kwazii lightly clapped his hands, something he often did when he needed to regather his thoughts.

“OK…I feel like I probably shoulda’ seen that one coming. Did you” – he cleared his threat – “ahem, reciprocate?”

Barnacles rightfully blushed.

“I’d be lying if I claimed the feeling to not be mutual. For all his flaws, I’d long admired North for his honesty and passion. For all he doubted the good in himself, he never hesitated to help those in need. If he hadn’t accepted the invitation into GAMMA, I might have pushed him to join me on the Octonauts.”

Kwazii arched a brow, briefly pondering how that alternate reality might have looked. He hadn’t overlooked how his captain ignored his original question, however.

“So, did ya? Confess back, I mean.”

The cat got his answer with how quickly his captain winced, the polar bear’s face pinching with blatant regret.

Kwazii’s ears dipped along with his whiskers. “Oh Cap…”

“Y-You have to understand,” the bear pleaded. “He was in a vulnerable position, not to mention inebriated. I’d have been taking advantage of him. Besides, Inkling had already come to me with his offer to join the Octonauts as their leader a few days prior. North had been adamant that I accept it, but…”

Barnacles clenched his hand tight around the marble.

“I feared leaving him behind. We’d both come so far together and learned so much from one another, it felt too soon to part ways. That’s another reason I couldn’t bring myself to confess back: the risk that I might hyperfocus on North. I’d already made that mistake once before and it nearly cost us our friendship…so I simply returned his hug, escorted him back to his bed, and stayed by his side the whole night.”

Kwazii craned his head, tail swishing. “So ye didn’t confess the day after, I take it. Or ever?”

Barnacles grimaced and reopened his hand to peer at the marble.

“Every time I considered doing so, I kept finding excuses why I shouldn’t. Sometimes I wonder if he’d been doing the same, considering neither of us ever brought up that night. Next thing I know, he’s recruited into GAMMA as a squad leader, all while I finally decided to bite the bullet and accept Inkling’s offer. We had one last night before I had to leave to join the crew – and I blew that chance to tell him then too.”

The polar bear lifted his eyes to the shining surface above, sunlight streaming through and casting him in a halo.

“We did our best to keep in touch long distance, but it didn’t take long for our new workloads to catch up. Then” – he sighed – “well, you already know the rest.”

Kwazii, eyes soft, patted his captain’s elbow again. “I’m so sorry, Captain.”

The polar bear shook his head with a bittersweet smile.

“Please don’t be, Kwazii. Even if I had gathered the courage to tell him, there’s no guarantee that we would’ve worked out. We were always opposites, even after we made amends…but I will never forget him, nor the times we’ve shared. Wherever he may be, dead or alive…”

With one final sigh, Barnacles stuffed the marble into his pants pocket.

“I only hope that he’s at peace.”

XXX

Later that night…

Some distance away from the Octopod, on the sandy shore of a tropical island, a stout figure in black and red stepped into the white moonlight.

They regarded the orange cephalopodic ship sticking out of the ocean in the distance, expression unknown behind the visor. Lights illuminated the Octopod from within as the Octonauts could be seen milling about, happy and ignorant.

Then the figure put a hand on the side of their helmet and spoke.

“They’re here alright. Proceed with the preparations.”

Chapter Text

About three years ago…

“So…you’re the one leading these new kids on the block.”

Barnacles stood firm before the screen, Tweak and Inkling by his side and a newly recruited (and rattled) Shellington behind them, as the man with the demon-faced helmet leered down at the group.

The captain just managed to position the Octopod to block off the four subs, impeding them from pursuing the eels any further. With the surrounding cliffs’ walls around them, the subs’ pilots had no easy way of getting past.

“Indeed ,” the polar bear affirmed with a stern gaze, hands behind his back. “Mind sharing why you and your crew were harassing those eels?”

The mystery man put a hand to his black-vested chest, voice dripping with mock offense. “Harassing? We aren’t the ones literally shoving ourselves into other people’s business.”

Tweak scoffed and rolled her eyes. This fellow had a funny-tail concept of ‘business’ “Don’t be trying to sweet talk your way outta this. We know who you varmints work for!”

“The Revenants,” Inkling confirmed with a severe tone and face. “Ambrosia’s newest batch of super soldiers” – he paused to readjust his monocle – “relatively speaking of course. You’ve caused DAWN and others a great deal of trouble in the past months.”

Mystery Man gave a low chuckle as he did a mocking two-fingered salute. “That’s us. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Octonauts. Name’s Typhon, and my crew and I happen to be on business. So, if you wet blankets would kindly move aside—”

“No can do, I’m afraid,” Barnacles interrupted in a calm yet defiant tone. “We happen to be here on business as well, and since neither is willing to back down, we’re at an impasse.”

Typhon huffed, impressed. “So, you do have backbone. A’right, since this is your first time, we’ll throw ya a bone and let you decide how we settle this.”

At first, the four Octonauts gawked at such sportsmanship. Others had warned them how the Revenants preferred to strike first, chat later. Perhaps this group wanted to get a feel for what the crew could do?

Whatever the reason, Barnacles took a moment to avert his eyes as he tapped his chin in thought – and perked when an idea came to him.

“How about a race then? You’re already chasing those eels, after all. Why not make it more of a challenge?”

For a moment, Typhon did not respond, seemingly mulling the offer over. Then he shrugged.

“Fine by me – you’ll lose regardless. Now then, time for you to make some memories with us.”

XXX

Present-day…

Today had been going smoothly at first for the Octonauts.

Save a few creatures here, patch up a few other creatures there. Explore and map out new areas of the ocean.

Business as usual.

That was until Dashi noticed something odd on the radar.

“Captain,” the Australian dachshund announced, “there’s something headed our way.”

Barnacles hummed in wonder as he joined Dashi’s side and eyed the blip. “Is it a creature by any chance?”

Dashi traced her finger across the radar. “Not sure…but whatever it is, it’s coming in fast.”

Barnacles tapped his chin. “Hmm, in that case we’d best move the Octopod before—”

“Wait!” Dashi cried out in surprise, eyes wide.

Kwazii started, getting up from his seat. “What’s wrong, matey?”

The dachshund furrowed her brow in confusion. “It’s…gone. The signal just disappeared.”

The cat gawked. “Wha? What do ye mean it disappeared?”

“I mean it’s vanished. Like it was never there.”

Dr. Inkling narrowed his eyes in wonder, a tentacle to his chin. “Hmph. How odd.”

Barnacles crossed his arms in likewise befuddlement. Something about this did not sit right with him.

In fact, this was starting to strike him as familiar.

“Well, whatever the case, we’d best keep an eye out just to be—"

Only for something to ram into the Octopod from the side!

“YEOW!” Kwazii yelped in shock as everyone struggled to remain upright against the impact. “WHAT WAS THAT?!”

Once she righted herself, Dashi wasted no time checking the cameras…only for her face to fall. “Uh oh.”

“Dashi?” Barnacles quickly rejoined the dog’s side. “What’s wrong?”

The dog turned to her leader with a grim expression. “You’d best see for yourself, Captain.”

After a few button-presses from Dashi, the overhead screen switched to a live video feed of the ocean and reef outside.

Right away, the Octonauts noticed a red and black RV (of all vehicles) rocketing away from the Octopod, startling several fish into either running away or hiding among the reef below.

The vehicle, after some distance, swiftly made a turn and in that moment an emblem on its door became visible: a stylized black scorpion bearing a menacing glare against a blood red background bordered by a thick black fringe.

Barnacles sighed in chagrin. “Oh no…”

“Blow me down,” Kwazii snarled as all the Octonauts gathered in front of the screen, “not those scoundrels!”

Peso eyed the smaller vehicle and symbol in confusion. “I don’t understand. Who is that supposed to be?”

Tweak gave her smaller crewmate a sympathetic wince. “Right, this is yer first time, ain’t it? Welp, short and sweet: those are the Revenants, a band of varmints who collect critters for Ambrosia ta experiment on.”

“Am-Ambrosia?!” Peso gasped in fear, flippers to his face. Now those guys the penguin knew about, having heard horror stories about them from his classmates at medical school.

“Aye, matey!” Kwazii confirmed with a scowl, striking a dramatic pose. “There even be rumors that these Revenants kidnap sapient too. I heard many a tale of pirate crews running afoul of them, never to be heard from again!”

“Flappity flippers!”

Barnacles sighed, shaking his head.

“They’ve given DAWN no shortage of grief as well. That said, no one’s ever gotten a good look at the true faces of these Revenants. Our own encounters always involve racing them to whatever creatures they’re after. Speaking of which” – the polar bear regarded the dachshund still seated beside him – “Dashi, any idea on their destination?”

“Already on it, Captain,” the brown dog swiftly replied, her fingers gliding across the keyboard. She paused soon after, however. “Hang on a sec…according to the radar, the Revenants are going past the reef.”

“Past it?” Shellington asked in confusion. “Whatever for?”

Usually biologically diverse ecosystems like reefs were the group’s favored target of choice.

“I’m not sure,” Dashi murmured, “but it looks like they’re headed straight for us instead.”

Indeed, everyone else gasped once they looked up and realized that the RV was in fact coming right for them!

Kwazii nearly jumped out of his fur. “Blow me down! Are those miscreants plannin’ on rammin’ us again?!”

Dashi held a hand out without looking back at her crewmates. “No, no! Look, they’re slowing down and…stopping. I think” – her face pinched in wary curiosity – “I think they want a word with us.”

The other Octonauts shared baffled gazes. A word with them? What exactly were the Revenants planning this time?

The crew did not have to wait long for the submarine RV to halt a couple feet before the Octopod.

Peso noted that the vehicle had come close enough that he could make out a figure in the driver’s seat. The figure wore a red and black military uniform with matching boots and fingerless gloves, their helmet adorned with a black visor shaped into a sinister face. The same scorpion symbol adorned the left breast of their vest.

The driver, who the penguin assumed to be a bear based on the bulky build, leaned forward to press a button on the console.

“Evening there, Barnacles,” he coolly greeted. His deep American-accented voice sounded distorted, likely due to a filter in his helmet. “Hope we weren’t interrupting anything important.”

“As a matter of fact,” Barnacles returned in a composed tone. “We just happen to be in the middle of treating a few creatures. If you don’t mind, we’d all appreciate if you and your team leave us and all the creatures here to our business.”

A condescending tsk-tsk echoed from the driver, who shook his head. “Oh Barnacles, we’ve done this dance enough times. You should know better by now.”

Barnacles grunted in mild annoyance. True, their respective teams have faced off plenty of times by this point. Though by that same logic…

“I would think you would have tired of this dance by now, Typhon,” the captain countered in a teasing tone. “It’s always the same routine, regardless of who wins. We race, you pull every dirty trick you can on us, and whoever wins gets the creatures. Technically, there’s no point this time since the animals are already on aboard with us.”

Typhon? Was that their name? Peso made a mental note to ask the reason behind why later.

Meanwhile, Inkling noticed something peculiar out of his peripherals: a faint yet large winged shadow above the surface.

What was that? Whatever the cause, the professor did not get a chance to voice his concerns.

“Aye!” Kwazii snapped as he pointed a clawed finger at his crew’s rival. “So, you gits might as well shove off!”

The other bear shrugged his shoulders, unshaken “You right. Which is why we’re switching things up a bit.”

As he spoke, the bear reached out and pressed something offscreen, leaning to the side. “Athena, drop him.”

Without warning, something suddenly slammed through the surface and between the two vehicles, startling the Octonauts, its visage briefly obscured by the rushed water and bubbles before everything cleared and the object settled its feet on the ocean floor.

The newcomer revealed itself to be a huge bluish grey and stoutly built vehicle with thick stubby legs, slanted triangle eyes set in a menacing glare, and a long roundish head. The upper hump of its back housed the cockpit, where another Revenant – a lion judging by the tied-back mane – could be seen piloting the vehicle.

“Jumping Joesphine,” Shellington gasped, “what is that?”

Tweak narrowed her eyes. “And why does it kinda remind me of the GUPs?”

Then to the Octonauts’ alarm, the vehicle lowered its head and began to scrap its front foot – the classic pose of a creature ready to charge.

“Oh dear,” Barnacles muttered with wide eyes, starting to back up. “Dashi, lift. Now.”

Dashi promptly hit the necessary controls just as her captain stepped onto the center podium. The polar bear rose with the podium into the wheelhouse above, the steering wheel emerging.

And just in time too, because Barnacles barely got his grip on the wheel before the Revenant’s vehicle charged!

“Brace yourselves!” he shouted.

The other Octonauts barely managed to find something to hang onto before collision came, the impact almost sending them all to the floor! Barnacles, to his credit, managed to keep the Octopod steady against the onslaught of headbutts but the continued push forced the sub to slide backward.

Barnacles grit his teeth, growling, as he struggled to keep the Octopod upright with each crash, cursing how this confrontation was taking place in relatively shallow water loaded with fragile reefs. Otherwise, he could have easily steered the Octopod out of the way.

Alas, he could only prevent the Octopod from toppling over, especially when the Revenant opened the vehicle’s mouth and clamped it down hard on the sub’s bottom half and hit the afterburners!

None of the Octonauts could prepare for the sudden burst of speed, everyone screaming as they found themselves thrown about!

After what seemed like a hellish eternity, the Octopod had been forced onto land and then unceremoniously dropped on its side upon the sandy beach like a chew toy. The Revenant lion backed up the vehicle in a smug manner, his work here done.

All the Octonauts, battered and dazed, groaned as they struggled to regain their bearings.

Kwazii, face down on the floor, lifted his head with swirling eyes. “Shiver me whiskers…”

“So, how’d you all like the BUG-H?” Typhon’s amused voice crackled through the radio. “Circe modeled it after the hippopotamus. Packs quite a punch. Considering how much of the runaround you often give us with your little GUPs, we decided to fight fire with fire. Now unless you’d like an encore performance, I recommend leaving your little sub so we can collect the creatures you’ve got on board quick and easy.”

Barnacles, back against the glass, lifted his head with a scowl. Seems he and his crew didn’t have much of a choice.

“Dashi,” he managed to grunt. “Lower me back down. Or back sideways, I suppose.”

A few minutes later, half of the crew – Barnacles, Peso, Dashi, Shellington, and Kwazii managed to exit out of the Octopod’s hatch, its entrance currently sticking towards the sunny cloudless sky, and drop down onto the sand where all four of the Revenants awaited them, their RV and BUG-H directly behind the group.

The bright green canopy of the jungle even further behind stood stark against the darker colors of both the Revenants’ red and black uniforms and their vehicles.

The Revenant leader, arms crossed, cocked his head and shoulders. “Hey, Captain Barnacles. Been a while. This is also our first time meeting in the flesh, I believe.”

Not quite what I’d call ‘meeting’, Barnacles commented to himself. Regardless, the polar bear nodded, calm yet wary, as he stepped forward with hands akimbo. “Indeed, Typhon. You’ve always been content with a simple race. Why the change in pace?””

The other bear shrugged with a teasing tone to his voice. “Just wanted to show much we’ve missed you.”

Kwazii scoffed and stepped forward with a raised fist. “Well, we sure as hell didn’t miss you lot!”

Barnacles held the cat back with one hand, while Peso reached up and held fast to the pirate’s arm.

“Cute,” Typhon mocked before he snapped his fingers, all business. “Nemean, restrain the polar bear. Athena, you and I will corral the rest. Circe, go collect our quarry from that funky sub of theirs.”

The pigeon saluted before flying off towards the Octopod. “Aye-aye, jefe!”

Peso gasped in horror and reached out a flipper. “Wait!”

Only to be held at knifepoint by a suddenly up-close Athena, Dashi quick to pull the young penguin behind her, the dachshund shooting a protective glare at the older woman. The poor penguin gulped in sheer terror – then twice once he noticed the other two Revenants circling them as well.

Kwazii braced himself, hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw. “Stand yer ground, mateys!”

Barnacles eyed the surrounding Revenants and held both hands up, doing his best to assuage the situation. “Listen, chums. My crew and I only wish to help the creatures aboard. There’s no need for a fight.”

“You’re right,” Typhon drawled. “There is no need. Not that you throw pillows would last long against us anyway.”

Kwazii bristled instantly, fur standing on end in outrage. “OY, THEM’S FIGHTING WORDS!”

Typhon chuckled, a haunting sound through his helmet’s voice filter, arms out. “Hey, you’re free to try, Kitten. You Octonauts might be used to fending off dangerous animals and outmaneuvering natural disasters, but not full-on combat situations. That’s what you got GAMMA for, after all, and last I checked” – Typhon made a show of looking around – “it’s just you.”

The bear rolled his shoulders. “Now, here’s how it’s gonna go. You Octonauts are gonna be good little captives and hang tight while we raid your base for the creatures you’re harboring. We may or not also abscond with a few of your supplies and tech – Circe’s been meaning to get a good look at your inventor’s stuff.”

Dashi grimaced at that last part. She already knew Tweak would have some words to share about that.

“Captain,” Shellington whispered in Barnacles’ ear, fearful. “Tweak, Inkling, and the Vegimals are still on board, correct? Is there no way for us to radio a warning to them? Maybe they’ve even figured out a plan to get us out of this.”

Before Barnacles could answer, a massive shadow eclipsed the polar bear. He looked up to find Nemean looming over him, no doubt sneering behind his helmet.

“No dice, nerd,” the lion taunted in a deep raspy Brooklyn accent. “Circe’s a whiz at hackin’. Any comms you got were scrambled the moment she got close to your digs. Go on, see for yourselves.”

True enough, when Barnacles pulled off his Octocompass to do just that, only static came out. Same with the radios when the other four Octonauts tried to use those instead.

Not good.

“Now…” – the lion grabbed a fistful of Barnacles’ uniform and got right up in the bear’s face, much to a hissing Kwazii’s displeasure – “how you wanna start this off, Snow White?”

Barnacles merely narrowed his eyes, defiant.

Tense quiet reigned.

Until a scream echoed from the Octopod – and it did not sound like any of the Octonauts.

Right away, a burst of staticky yelling that rapidly alternated between English and Spanish went off in the radio in Typhon’s helmet, making the bear wince with a hiss before he hastily put a gloved hand to his head.

“Circe, report! What the hell is—"

“HELP! ¡VEGETALES ESTÁN ATACÁNDOME! WAAHHHH—”

And then the transmission cut back to static, leaving everyone in baffled silence.

Typhon cussed under his breath. “Nemean, head over to that sub and see what’s going on with Circe! Rip the place apart if you have to! Athena” – he cracked his knuckles – “get out the sleeping darts. We’re doing this the old-fashioned way.”

Nemean rolled his head back with a groan and reluctantly released his grip on Barnacles – only for the polar bear to grab his wrist, sweep kick his legs, and then judo toss him back-first onto the sand! Before the lion could even gasp, the bear delivered a swift jab to a pressure point in the stomach, causing the cat to black out instantly.

The sudden sight of their strongest member’s swift incapacitation shocked Athena, who’d been reaching for her dart gun, long enough for Peso to whip out his bandages and, in a blinding flurry, wrap her up in bandages mummy-style! Before Athena could reach for her daggers to cut herself free, she found herself blinded by the flashes of Dashi’s camera and fell back with a yelp.

Kwazii, with a mighty yell, leapt up and executed a perfect front flip off from his Captain’s broad back, drawing his sword in midair. Typhon had to leap back to avoid getting nicked down the front as the cat landed.

“Consider yerself outmaneuvered, ye scalawag!”

One could practically see the disbelieving eye twitch behind Typhon’s helmet.

Seriously, how the hell was this turning sour so fast?

His mood saw no improvement at the sight of Circe tumbling out of the Octopod’s hatch in a panic, wings flapping in a frenzy. In seconds, the bird reached Typhon and Kwazii where she flopped onto the sand before them, breathing heavily from exhaustion.

“Do not…go…in there,” she heaved.

At this point, Typhon facepalmed. Screw this.

“You know what? Fine!” he shouted, throwing his hands up. “Keep the damn ferals! Have fun fixing your little playpen! Athena, get Circe here while I drag Nemean’s dead weight self! This mission’s a bust.”

As Typhon marched towards them, the Octonauts hesitated at first – that is until Barnacles nodded at them to comply. They’d been roughed up enough. No sense adding to that.

The ocean-farers parted for the Revenant leader who with some effort picked Nemean up in a person-crutch. Meanwhile Athena finally managed to cut herself free with one of her daggers, startling Peso and Dashi for a moment, before standing up with a petulant sigh and trudging forward to collect Circe.

“Did we win?” Nemean asked in a bleary daze as he came to and noticed himself being dragged away by his leader.

“Take a wild guess,” Typhon grumbled.

In a matter of seconds, the Revenants boarded their vehicles and drove off, leaving the Octonauts stunned at what just happened.

That was until Kwazii broke the awkward silence with hands akimbo and a huge toothy grin, regarding his fellow Octonauts.

“Well, I’d say that went rather well, eh mateys?”

XXX

Repairs to the Octopod would need a while, to say nothing of all the equipment that would need repairs, if not outright replacements.

Thankfully nobody was hurt too badly in the attack beyond a couple of bruises (not that this kept Peso from checking everyone over).

At the very least, the crew managed to get their vehicle upright again.

As of now, Tweak and Barnacles had just gotten off a call in HQ.

“Well on the bright side,” the polar bear started as he turned to face the rest of his crew. “DAWN says the supplies we ordered should arrive by tomorrow afternoon assuming no delays happen.”

“I shouldn’t have too much trouble repairing most of the Octopod ‘til then,” Tweak added, only to awkwardly scratch her nape in second thought. “Which is probably a lot more than I can say for the lab equipment. And medical equipment.”

Peso waved off the rabbit’s concern. “It’s alright, Tweak. Those can always be replaced. I’m just relieved the creatures in the medical wing came out unscathed. Well, no more scathed than they already were.”

But now that the crisis had passed and things were starting to settle down, the medic couldn’t help a nugget of curiosity.

“Captain,” the penguin spoke up as he turned to Barnacles, “if I may ask, how long have these Revenants been a problem?”

Barnacles cupped his chin, thinking back. “Hmm…since a little over three years ago. Ambrosia interfering with our efforts is nothing new, but fortunately for us encounters with them are few and far between compared to the rest of DAWN. It pays to have a home base that’s constantly on the move.“

“Not to mention,” Inkling added from his rotary chair. “Ambrosia has no units suited for deep waters or the open ocean, areas we tend to frequent often and for extended periods. Even then, we’ve always been more than capable of outsmarting the agents they send after us, a good thing too since combat is not our crew’s area of expertise.”

Tweak sighed with her ears sagging in annoyance. “But then those darn Revenants showed up and changed the whole game. We still got plenty o’ wins over them, but they’ve managed to snatch up a few critters from us over the last few years.”

Kwazii scowled, bearing his fists in frustration. “Aye, not to mention those scurvy bilge rats never play fair! If it’s not ramming us to send our Octopod off course or drawin’ hungry predators our way to distract us, it’s hacking our systems!”

Peso gasped with a flipper to his beak. “Like that one time the Octopod lost power? That was them?”

Tweak shrugged. “Most likely. I remember doin’ a checkup of the whole Octopod right before that happened, and everything had been workin’ perfectly.”

Thank goodness those electric torpedo rays had been so willing to help.

Speaking of which, the rabbit made a mental note to update the security systems. Again.

“They were also responsible for that ordeal with the Adelie penguins yesterday,” Barnacles added. “According to the penguins, they spotted some – and I quote – ‘odd-looking orcas’ following them. According to some reports I received from WARN this morning, Ambrosia agents had stationed themselves near the penguins’ nesting ground, ready to collect the chicks. Fortunately, the North Wind had been near enough at the time to drive the agents off while I helped the parents escape.”

Peso hummed in thought, worried. Now he had to wonder what other incidents the Revenants had brought upon the Octonauts as part of a scheme.

It left the penguin feeling a bit paranoid, to be honest.

Barnacles noticed and placed a comforting hand on the younger medic’s shoulder, giving his classic smile. “Don’t let what happened intimidate you. We simply have to be more vigilant. That said, Inkling and I are considering adding self-defense to the tutorials, just for safety’s sake. For now, what’s say I help you check up on our guests?”

Peso looked up at his captain and nodded with a thankful smile, grateful to have such a caring leader.

Those Revenants could learn a thing or two.

XXX

Speaking of whom…

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” Typhon roared as he stomped down the grassy hill that led to their bunker. His team followed at an ear-friendly distance, knowing how loud their leader could be when upset.

All the Revenants had removed their helmets upon arrival in one of their aerial vehicles, the risk of exposure nonexistent for them due to the relative isolation of their HQ – an abandoned bunker – out in the middle of scenic nowhere.

Typhon – a chocolate-brown Atlas bear with slicked back hair and thick squarish black eyebrows, and lighter mahogany muzzle and eyes – continued stomping down the path, cussing under his breath.

“Typhon, please calm down,” Athena – a short black and white great auk with green eyes, head feathers in a neat pixie cut, and a long dark grey beak set in a contemplative frown –  gently assuaged, more out of exhaustion rather than intimidation.

“Like”- cue a strategically placed slam as Typhon kicked the front door open and marched inside – “I’ll calm down! We got made into chumps by a bunch of tree-hugging pacifists!”

Behind them, Circe –  a purplish-blue passenger pigeon with a pale reddish underbelly, dark grey beak and wing tips, and white tipped tail feathers, and three larger feathers hanging off the left side of her head like an undercut – and Nemean – a tall, brawny and tawny Barbary lion with orange eyes, sandy muzzle and big messy dark brown mane and thick eyebrows – shared a look.

“I think you mean ocean-hugging,” Circe corrected in a matter-of-fact tone, only to clamp her beak back shut at the sharp glare the bear shot at her.

Fortunately for the bird, her leader had his mental energy preoccupied with puzzling over today’s failure.

Seriously, how was it that they could handle mercenaries, secret agents, and the occasional poacher dumb enough to impede them but got humiliated by the freaking Octonauts the moment everyone’s up close and personal?

This never happened with the races the Revenants had with those waterlogged goodies, so what gives?

Nemean resisted the urge to snap his teeth at the bear and instead settled for a simple scoff. “Hey, it’s not like those Octonerds have a winning streak on us!”

Circe wiggled a feather-finger. “Um, they kinda do have a winning streak on us.”

When Typhon turned to tell the bird and cat off, Athena intercepted, calm as ever.

“They’re not completely wrong. Compared to everyone else we’ve handled, our win to loss ratio against the Octonauts is about 50:50.”

Not the worst, but certainly not the best – and Ambrosia expected better than that.

And after everything the organization had done for them, Ambrosia deserved the best.

To say nothing of the team’s reputation, primarily among the rest of DAWN.

Such a slipshod performance should not have happened for the Revenants, not where those ocean-hugging pacifists were concerned.

There’ll need to be some serious training, for myself included, the auk noted with silent distaste, still smarting from how easily that penguin and dog got the drop on her.

Typhon scoffed as he and his team continued marching down the plain gray hallways. “We lost focus way too easily. From now on, we limit any close-range encounters with those Octonauts and stick to using our vehicles until we’ve got enough research on their weaknesses.”

Circe shrugged. “Well then, it’s a good thing I managed to plant a bug in their sub before the” – she shivered – “vegetable children attacked.”

The other Revenants all paused and eyed the pigeon strangely.

“Vegetable children,” Nemean repeated with an amused chuckle. “That’s definitely a new one.”

Circe pulled an upset face and opened her beak to retort – only to think twice and shake her head. “Ugh, forget I mentioned it.”

“In any event,” Typhon grunted in an effort to change the subject. “we’ll need to double up on the sea creatures Ambrosia needs. The one good thing about these Octonauts is that they’re too small a group to be everywhere at once, so at least we can steer clear of them for the time being. For now…”

By this point, the Revenants had reached a metal door. Typhon tiredly opened it and passed through it into…well, calling it a living room would probably be a stretch.

It had the basic amenities – a modest bathroom, a closet, decently sized kitchen with a stocked fridge in the back right corner, a row of barrack-style bunk beds along the left side, a small desk with a laptop and chair in the front left corner, and even a small television on a stand opposite the beds. A large, barred window in the back opened to a view of the thick green forest outside.

Pretty much a cross between a barrack, a downtown apartment, and a slightly fancier motel room (just without the bed bugs, thank God).

Unimpressive but enough, which suited the Revenants just fine.

Typhon ran both hands down his face with a weary groan as he lumbered his way to the rightmost bed and plopped down back-first on the bottom bunk, sighing. The mattress groaned under his weight, almost as if sharing in its occupant’s mood.

The other Revenants took spots around their leader – Athena seated herself next to him on the bed with legs set in a prim and proper manner, Nemean leaned against the closet door with crossed arms, and Circe took a seat in the desk chair backwards, wings draped atop the headrest – and waited for him to finish speaking.

Typhon sighed, voice full of resignation. “We’ll have to figure out how to explain this to the Council.”

The other Revenants blanched at hearing this. As much as they all owed their lives to Ambrosia, they’d also seen what happened to those who failed the organization one too many times.

Typhon ran a hand through his gelled hair. “The brief said as much. The Director’s been cracking down on everyone lately, even the Council. If we don’t meet our quota soon, it’s back to Steyn for…retraining.”

Athena winced; Circe and Nemean shared a look and shivered.

Their leader was right. They needed to shape up. Fast.

“Hence why there will be a change in the missions,” a woman’s British-accented voice spoke up.

For a hot second, all the Revenants tensed up as their eyes shot to the entrance where the voice had originated – only to relax at the sight of the very tall crocodile walking towards them.

Her body was greyish green with a pale-yellow underbelly. Black stripes adorned her back from the neck all the way down to her tail and hands, an extra dot adorning her lower left face like a beauty mark. Darker green ridges ran down along her back as well. She wore a lavender dress shirt, deep pink tie, long white lab coat, black belt with a silver buckle, dark grey pants, and grey dress shoes with darker grey soles.

Her burnt sienna eyes regarded the Revenants coolly behind her small reading glasses, which she readjusted with one hand.

“Dr. Kabore,” Typhon addressed in a prompt yet respectful tone, shooting up from his bed to stand at attention, serious and a tad nervous. The other Revenants followed suit. “Our apologies, ma’am! We failed to acquire the animals the Director asked for. The Octonauts” – his face pinched in brief shame – “outsmarted us somehow.”

Kabore hummed to herself for a few moments, thoughtful. The other animals waited with bated breath, nervous.

At last, the crocodile cocked her head. “If I may ask you all, how do you normally fare against the rest of DAWN?”

The Revenants shared uncertain looks with one another.

Circe went first, kicking her foot forward absentmindedly as she answered. “Well, the CLADE agents are pretty easy since they don’t have as much training. WARN too since they’re not much of fighters.”

Athena set both wings behind her back. “The Four Winds are a more of a challenge, but proper knowledge of their weaknesses and tactics always ensured us victory so long as no reinforcements blindsided us.”

“Tch, GAMMA’s way tougher,” Nemean scoffed as the lion pounded one fist into his hand. “Which is just how I like it! Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Boss here always knows how to outthink those guys too.”

Outhink, Typhon realized with widened eyes. Of course!

“That’s it,” he spoke up with a raised finger. “We never lose focus against any of them. We always keep our eyes on the mission, never indulging, never showing off.”

The bear started to pace about the room. “Maybe it’s not us. It’s those Octonauts. Cuz it’s not just on today’s mission that this has happened to us. Every time I look at that damn captain of theirs, I wind up with tunnel vision, like I can’t think of anything else!”

Nemean snorted. “Maybe you got a crush or something.”

The lion promptly shut up at his leader’s sharp glare, gulping.

Circe hummed. “Ya know, Jefe might be onto something. I always thought we all got distracted during missions against the Octonauts cuz we’re just competitive – I know I am with that rabbit – but…”

The pigeon averted her eyes for a moment, almost as if out of shame.

Kabore nodded in a coaxing manner. “Go on.”

Circe hesitated and then sighed. “There’s a reason I got jumped so easily earlier in that sub. I ran into the Octonauts’ engineer not long after I got inside and…”

XXX

“Howdy.”

The pigeon yelped at the greeting and swiveled around to discover a green chubby rabbit in a blue and white jumpsuit with a pink headband leaning on a support beam, cool and collected with half-lidded eyes despite her whole sub still being sideways and spilled water from the tilted moonpool sloshing at her blue work boots.

Circe resisted the urge to gulp. She lacked the overwhelming strength and deadly precision of her teammates when it came to direct combat. She always worked best in a support role, which is why the bird always made sure to keep bombs and other toys on her person, just in case.

In fact, she was just about to pull out a smoke bomb—

“Ya know, them vehicles your team uses are pretty darn impressive.”

Only to stop at that calm observation. Did this rabbit just…compliment her?

“Not that I enjoyed getting tussled about, mind you,” the rabbit continued on, an undertone of annoyance touching her words  for a moment. “Or my Octopod gettin’ roughed up. Still, I can imagine plenty o’ ways that BUG-H of yours could do a lotta good for folks.”

Then she shrugged, a flash of pity dancing along her eyes. “Assuming you and yer pals get out from under Ambrosia first. I don’t know what those varmints told you, but I can already tell you Revenants are wasting your time and talent doing their dirty work.”

Circe snapped out of her stupor and almost blew a raspberry at the rabbit, only to remember she still had her helmet on.

Instead, she kept a close eye around herself, trying to spot anything she could hack and use to subdue the rabbit. Unfortunately, all the vehicles the pigeon could run the rabbit over with were all upside down.

Maybe having Nemean attack with the BUG-H hadn’t been the best idea.

“And that’s anotha’ thing I don’t quite get.”

Ay mis Dios, was this rabbit still talking? Circe rolled her eyes, ready to just chuck a smoke bomb already so she could duck out and find those—

“What did me and my crew even do to ya’ll to warrant all this?”

Circe blinked at the question, taken back by the sincerity in it.

The pigeon pointed a wing at the rabbit, the other akimbo. “You guys are part of DAWN, aren’t ya? That’s reason enough.”

The rabbit blinked back in confusion. “Is it? I might not be able to speak for the rest of DAWN, but I know for a fact that we Octonauts have done nuthin’ but help other critters. We’re only doin’ our job, so why come after us?”

The answer should have been obvious.

Circe even opened her mouth to say so…except her brain registered the logic behind the rabbit’s words.

Because come to think of it, this was the first time Circe herself had ever gotten a chance to talk to any of these guys, the pigeon always in the RVenger handling technical work.

And this rabbit didn’t seem to fit the vibes that Ambrosia insisted was DAWN’s whole schtick.

But…

“Well, you Octonauts are still in cahoots with a group that still causes the world trouble!” Circe managed to retort. “As if we’d just let that slide!”

The rabbit shook her head in a sympathetic manner. “You might wanna take a better look at who’s raising trouble, pardner.”

That response struck Circe cold, enough that she didn’t know how to retort.

And then the veggie things dogpiled her from behind.

XXX

“And then I barreled out screaming,” the pigeon drolly finished.

She didn’t even care at this point if the others still thought her crazy for mentioning the veg kids again. The bird knew the truth of what happened, so she only hoped the others would eventually believe her someday.

As opposed to today because right now Typhon had a particularly hard stare cast on her, though not for the reason she assumed.

“So, short and sweet, you let her get in your head.”

Circe jerked her head up in surprise, almost tempted to defend herself but wisely kept that desire to herself, not sure how to properly explain the doubts the rabbit had indeed put inside her head. Mostly because she had a sneaking suspicion the rabbit’s intentions might not be what Typhon assumed them to be.

Meanwhile, the Atlas bear sighed in disappointment. “That settles it. No more close-range encounters with those Octonauts. We stick to our vehicles at all times. Also” – he pointed a finger at Circe – “see about installing some kind of feature to our helmets that filters out certain voices. That way, we can tune those idiots out if they try any more mind games.”

Circe nodded and said nothing more, thoughts still abuzz over that encounter.

Typhon turned to face Kabore next. “Still, it’s best we avoid that group altogether for now.” He shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too hard though. It’s a big ocean…although judging by the smirk on your face, I take it that’s not the kind of change you were talking about.”

Kabore quirked both brows. “To be fair, your own recommendations are just as valid. I simply think it may be high time to consider expanding your team’s parameters.”

Parameters? Typhon narrowed his eyes. “What are you suggesting, Kabore?”

“I’m suggesting it might be conducive to add a new member to your ranks, one suited to more clandestine operations. Fortunately, I just got off the phone with Fosse and discovered the perfect candidate.”

All the Revenants shot each other curious stares.

Typhon arched a brow at Kabore, wary. “I’m almost scared to ask, but…who exactly?”

Chapter Text

October 2014

Somewhere off the east coast of Newfoundland, the shell of a massive green turtle breached the surface.

Well, a massive green turtle-like vehicle.

Speaking of which, a hexagonal hatch at the top of the shell opened up, and Typhon popped his upper body out. After a quick glance at the area to ensure no one had followed, he pulled off his helmet and ran a hand through his hair with a satisfied sigh.

Heck, you could almost see his lips perk into a smile.

“Someone sounds happy.”

Typhon looked down at his helmet where Athena’s voice emitted. The bear huffed as he leaned back and started to casually toss the headwear up and down.

“What, and you’re not?” he chuckled. “We just literally swam circles around the Canadian Coast Guard and made off with those seals in record time.”

Athena’s hum came off with an edge of amusement. “I could tell from the BUG-A’s drones.”

Indeed, Typhon only now noticed beyond his peripherals the tiny red ant-designed robot hovering behind him.

“Circe will be ecstatic to hear the BUG-T has performed as intended,” Athena continued. “We’ve had to step up quite a bit since that disastrous venture with the Octonauts last month. Good to see our efforts have been paying off.”

No fooling. That fiasco had pushed the Revenants to double down on a lot of things: their combat skills, their tech, and more importantly their stealth skills. This way, they could demonstrate initiative and give Ambrosia a reason to forgo sending them back to Steyn for retraining.

And if Kabore’s reports were to be believed, it seemed to be working so far, especially since the Revenants had succeeded on almost every other mission with flying colors.

In short, those Octonauts really had been the ones at fault for things going wrong that day. How, the Revenants still couldn’t quite pinpoint yet – or agree on – but at least they were appeasing the Council again.

Speaking of the Council…

“What about Kabore?” Typhon asked as the ant drone touched down on his shoulder. “Any updates from her on this new supposed teammate of ours?”

“None so far,” Athena answered back. “Based on what she told me, this person is next to impossible to track on account of how often she relocates, hence why Ambrosia hasn’t bothered with hunting her down in years.”

Typhon huffed before stretching his thick arms over his head with a light groan. “She must be pretty damn confident she’ll find this person if she expects to add them to our roster. Do we even know anything about this person other than that they’re supposedly really good at stealth?”

The bear could practically envision Athena tapping a pen against the tip of her beak, a common gesture whenever the auk needed time to think a response out.

“Not really,” the team medic answered at last, the shrug in her voice palpable. “Kabore stayed mum every time I asked. All she’d say is that we should stay busy with missions until she’s located our mystery person.”

While Athena spoke, Typhon pulled himself up a bit more to sit on the edge of the open hatch, crossing one leg over the other.  As he did, the bear unclasped one of his pants’ pockets and pulled out a small blue journal and pencil. He flipped to an open blank page and proceeded to write.

Today had inspired him.

“So, will we be the ones bringing them in, or is Doc handling that on her own too?” a familiar voice asked. Typhon spared a brief glance at Circe who had pulled herself up from the hatch as well, her helmet absent. The pigeon took a seat beside her leader, kicking her legs idly. “Come to think of it, couldn’t she just ask one of the other Council members for help?”

Typhon shook his head, more focused on his writing. “Nope. You forget that competition in Ambrosia is fierce. Even the Elysium Council isn’t exempt. It’s how our organization stays in peak condition.”

Circe furrowed her brow. “Well, we’re not competing against her. She’s our dang sponsor for corn’s sake. We could find and snatch up her mystery person fácilmente!”

“Our team works best when we have the element of surprise,” Athena reminded the younger bird. “We can pull off stealth decently enough given ample preparation, but you might have noticed that we struggle when unexpected factors crop up.”

The pigeon averted her eyes and grumbled to herself, unintentionally reminded of that incident with the veggie babies. Ugh, the bird swore she was gonna make life-sized coleslaw out of them the next time the Revenants crossed paths with the Octonauts.

“Besides,” Typhon idly added, gaze still locked onto his notebook. “Not all of us mesh well with quiet, lest you forget a certain living sledgehammer of ours.”

Despite her mood, Circe managed a lopsided smirk and elbowed her leader. “Like you’re one to talk.”

Typhon let a curt yet amused huff escape. “Nothing wrong with wanting a good brawl. I just prefer to have my work done first. Business before pleasure and all that…unlike our punch-happy kitten. Course, his idea of pleasure would be an afternoon spent punching a mountain into submission.”

Circe snorted and even Athena could be heard emitting a soft hum of amusement through the radio in Typhon’s helmet.

At this point, Typhon noticed yours truly to be the only one of their team who hadn’t yet spoken.

“Speaking of which,” the bear piped up, pausing a stanza mid-write. “How is Nemean? He’s been surprisingly quiet on your end.”

Earlier, Typhon had partnered the auk and lion together to collect the seals – Athena to tranquilize the creatures and Nemean to carry their heavy unconscious selves – while the bear himself and Circe kept the Coast Guard preoccupied.

Athena sounded just fine, so Typhon and Circe doubted the procurement had gone bad…so why the radio silence from Nemean, who usually would have been bragging a mile a minute?

It worried the bear and pigeon (as much as neither would admit that aloud).

The brief silence that followed did not help either, although Athena did her best to sound at ease.

“He’s still with me just so you know. Hasn’t said a word since we took off but other than that he seems to be fine. Just…oddly meditative. Anyway, we have the seals with us and should be coming up on your location in the BUG-A soon.”

Typhon set his jaw but resisted the urge to ask any further questions. He’d simply pry the answer out of Nemean later.

“Alright. We’ll get the BUG-T ready for pickup. Keep us posted.”

“Acknowledged. Athena out.”

The moment the transmission cut out, Typhon felt a feathered finger poke his arm and he turned to see Circe giving him a worried look, much to his surprise.

“Hey, Jefe? Do you think something happened to Nemean after we split up?”

Typhon furrowed his brow, baffled by the question. “If something did, Athena would have told us. Can’t get anything past her and we all know Nemean ain’t Mr. Subtle.”

Circe pressed her beak together with averted eyes, thoughtful. “Yeah. I guess I’m just worried he’s still fixating on what happened last month.”

Ah right, that. Typhon set the notebook down on his lap, face now stern. “That’s why we need to keep up our training. We can’t expect our natural talents alone to carry us through missions.”

Circe shook her head. “I know, I know. It’s just…sometimes I get scared that what we’re doing for Ambrosia might not pan out in the end. Like maybe we’re wasting our time. Maybe Nemean feels the same way. He’s been going off on his own to squeeze more training in, you know.”

Yeah, Typhon was aware. He’d lost count of how many times he caught the lion dozing off against the indoor gym of their bunker. Self-improvement was one thing, but the bear refused to let anyone on this team work themselves to death.

As for Circe’s fear, Typhon couldn’t help but suspect that rabbit’s little chat with her to be a major culprit.

However, before the bear could touch upon that subject, the whirring buzz of engines heralded the arrival of a long red and black ant-shaped jet that soared into view. Typhon and Circe made sure to get back inside the BUG-T just as the BUG-A unfurled its “legs” to grasp its seabound counterpart by the shell.

Aside from Athena’s brief report to Typhon regarding the seals once the bear and pigeon boarded the BUG-A, only small talk (mostly from Circe’s end) filled the silence as the Revenants flew back to the rendezvous point agreed upon with the transport team sent by Ambrosia.

Typhon, seated on the passenger’s side while Athena piloted the jet, stole a glance at Nemean behind him through the rearview mirror. The lion had his arms crossed and was leaning back in his seat, his burnt orange eyes set on the early afternoon horizon.

However, the lion also kept bouncing his left knee up and down, something Nemean only did whenever he tried to keep something to himself.

“You might as well share with the class what’s on your mind,” Typhon ordered in a droll tone.

Nemean jolted in his seat with a startled yelp. For a moment, he seemed as though he might deny anything was wrong, but his leader’s imperious gaze stamped out the temptation.

The lion sighed in defeat and sagged back into his seat. Might as well fess up.

Nemean took a deep breath and spoke.

“I…saved someone.”

Though he averted his eyes the moment he confessed, the lion could feel everyone’s eyes on him – stunned or judging, he wasn’t sure.

Truth was, Circe hadn’t been off the mark about that incident with the Octonauts weighing down on him.

Nemean was supposed to be the muscle of the group, the unshakeable wall. He could send fools flying with just one swing of his fist, bend steel like it was nothing.

OK yeah, that Barnacles guy was a polar bear and not much smaller than Nemean himself, but the lion was supposed to be genetically enhanced with super-swift reflexes. A simple judo toss and jab to the stomach should have done nothing to him!

That’s why Nemean had poured himself into training, taking every critique and bit of advice from the others, even going so far as to train on his own into the dead of night.

Personally, he felt like his efforts had been paying off – physically at least. But now…

“What do you mean ‘saved someone’?” Circe asked in a curious tone, leaning forward on her crossed arms. “Did Athena get in trouble and wanted you to keep quiet about it?”

The auk let out an amused scoff while Typhon merely rolled his eyes.

Even Nemean couldn’t help cracking a smile before he shook his head.

“Nah, nah. It was after I loaded up all the seals. I was making a quick sweep of the area for any we missed when I heard something…”

XXX

It definitely hadn’t sounded like a seal pup.

A little too high-pitched.

Nemean risked a glance back at the way he came. He’d already told Athena he’d be doing a clean sweep of the area and that he’d be back in a few minutes. And the sound wasn’t too far off either.

He could make time, even if only to satiate his curiosity.

At a brisk pace, the Barbary lion jogged through the nearby woods, letting the nearing cries guide him, fallen leaves crunching beneath his boots.

Though as he got closer, older voices started to make themselves known as well, deeper and snide.

And Nemean, for reasons beyond him, felt more compelled to find the source, some inexplicable urgency starting to bubble inside him. Hence why he found himself picking up the pace, leaping forward using his great strength to cover more ground faster.

After a few jumps inward, he emerged into a clearing where found the source: a little beaver in a matching green and yellow beanie and overalls, shivering and whimpering in a fetal position with tears in their eyes as they stood against the rock wall of a cliff, surrounded by tall imposing men who most definitely did not look like park rangers or Coast Guards.

“Aw, what’s wrong little un’,” a rabbit with a gnarly scar across his face asked as he knelt down with a sickly-sweet smile. “You lost?”

The little beaver tried to shake his head no, but his tremors derailed his efforts, making his fear all the more evident, much to the amusement of his unwanted company who all snickered and hollered in response.

The rabbit cocked his head in mock pity as he reached a hand out. “Well don’t worry, little guy. We can help ya find yer way.”

Only to get his hand swat by the little beaver’s tail, the man more startled by the act than the pain. Though Nemean couldn’t see his face, he could hear the sneer in the smaller man’s voice.

“Well, well boys. Seems we’ve got ourselves a fighter here. Boss is just gonna love you.”

And with that, the rabbit stood back up and snapped his fingers. At that signal, his cronies started to converge on the defenseless kit.

From that point, Nemean suddenly found himself on autopilot.

Looking back, he didn’t even remember anything after charging forward, save for a few screams and yells.

Next thing the lion knew, he stood among a circle of beaten comatose bodies (not dead to his own surprise), only the rabbit left and now in the same fetal position as the kit, eyes wide and breath rapid and shallow.

Nemean simply stared back in a semi-daze, finally registering what he’d just done, and rolled his broad shoulders with an unimpressed huff.

“Dat all you got?”

The rabbit screeched and ran away in haste.

Nemean smirked – that is until he remembered something important, eyes going wide.

Crap, did the kid just see all that?

When Nemean looked back, he realized the kid had wisely closed his eyes and covered his ears to block everything as best as he could.

Well at least he didn’t have to worry about the kid being traumatized (or more than he already was at least).

After shifting his eyes between the kid and the bodies, Nemean sighed at last and approached the beaver as gingerly as he could and knelt in front of them, making sure to keep his voice gentle as he spoke (even while part of his brain kept asking why the hell he hadn’t left yet).

"Hey. You know where your family is, right?”

The beaver kit timidly peeked an eye open, silent as they dared a glance at the towering figure in black and red…until they finally shook their head.

Figures, Nemean ruminated. Out of a whim, he raised a large hand to rub his nape – only to regret doing so when that only made the poor kid flinch.

Nemean hastily withdrew his hand and sagged, completely unsure how to proceed now. Damn it, why wasn’t he leaving already?

And yet the more he hesitated, the more he felt this need to…do something for this kid. Anything.

An orange leaf suddenly fell between the two, drawing their attention to it and breaking the tension for a moment.

Nemean tilted his head up and found several leaves in various shades of red, yellow, and orange gently falling down from the trees above.

Right, it was autumn in this part of the world.

A noncommittal huff left the lion before he looked back down at the kit. “You remember seeing anything particular on the way here? Landmarks, weird-looking nature stuff in general?”

For a moment, the little beaver didn’t seem like they’d answer…but then they curled out of their ball and sat straighter up, their tiny voice hoarse.

“I…I don’t know. I remember walking around with my mom and dad, just enjoying the festival,  but then everyone started screaming and running and I couldn’t see them anymore, and then I got scared I was gonna get trampled, so I got out fast as I could.”

The kit bit their bottom lip for a second. “But then I tripped and rolled down a hill. It didn’t hurt too much, but I wound up a really long ways away, s-so I tried to stay calm like my mom taught me to and tried to find a landmark like my dad taught me to, but…I only got even more lost.”

And the kit finished his story, since the older mammal knew everything else from there.

Nemean blinked at the straight up infodump he just received. The little guy was a bit of a chatterbox.

The lion also couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the commotion he and his team caused earlier might have been the trigger to the panic earlier – or at least contributed considering these losers had been hanging around.

Speaking of whom, Nemean regarded the still unconscious thugs. It’d be probably be best to get rid of the bodies ASAP, minimize the amount of witnesses.

After getting the kid back so that he doesn’t have to see it, of course. Except these clowns might come to and sneak away.

Nemean tossed his head back with a groan, eyes meeting the visible patch of sky above.

The sky full of really tall trees…

Nemean suddenly shot his eyes back to the conked-out men – and smiled.

“Hey, kid. You said you were at a festival, right?”

A few minutes later, Nemean’s climbing onehanded to the top of the tallest tree he could find while cradling the kit close in the other. All the while, the thugs trailed behind them in a bundle tied to Nemean’s waist by a makeshift rope consisting of their tied-up pants and shirts and jackets.

Once they reached the top, Nemean craned his eyes all around at the surrounding forest. Right away, he felt the kit pat his chest. When he looked his way, the little beaver pointed in the direction of some buildings in the distance, the sea and beach further beyond.

The same beach where Athena had parked the GUP-A.

Nemean smirked behind his helmet. “Hang on, kid.”

After trailing up the thugs closer to himself to keep them from getting snagged on anything, Nemean pulled down hard on the tree, going as low as he could without making it break…and with a thrilled whoop, let go.

The group soared clean through the autumn sky, the little beaver clutching to the lion’s thick neck with a startled cry!

 They didn’t take long to reach the festival. Nemean released his tiny passenger just as they passed above a huge haybale below, depositing the kid safely below. The young rodent giggled from the landing, unharmed.

As for the thugs, Nemean , with some skill, managed to extricate the “rope” from his waist and pulled them close enough that he pulled out and slapped on a biodegradable sticky-note (Athena made a point to have everyone carry some around for some reason) to one of the men’s faces that said “Arrest us please. We pick on kids.”

Then he lassoed them onto a nearby tree just below.

He lost some momentum with that maneuver, but he managed to grab onto another tree and swing himself off it to launch himself even further, all the way to the beach.

XXX

“Where I fell face-first,” Nemean finished in a crisp tone, one arm hanging over the back of his seat.

Typhon, Athena, and Circe all simply stared, eyes wide and jaws slack. They’d long since landed at the rendezvous spot, the Ambrosia agents yet to arrive – probably a good thing since it meant nobody else could witness the awkward moment.

“Well,” Athena spoke up at last in a stunned tone, “that would explain why you fell out of the sky.”

Typhon slowly raised his hands as if to grasp what he’d just heard, shaking his head in disbelief. “I don’t know what makes me wanna slap you more: you deviating from the mission to play hero or the fact that you let yourself get seen.”

Nemean narrowed his eyes, doing his best to restrain the urge to snap. “C’mon, I didn’t even think there’d be anything weird going on.”

Athena rubbed a wing against her forehead with a sigh. “All the same, we’d appreciate no more gallivanting like that in the near future. As unfortunate as that child was to wind up in such a situation, we can’t afford to be sentimental, not when Ambrosia’s counting on us.”

Despite the calmness in the auk’s tone, Nemean heard and felt the admonishment all the same, feeling his face pinch.

“I mean,” Circe spoke up in a gentler tone, “you beat up the guys that were causing that kid trouble, right? Why not leave after that? It’s not like anyone would have believed him.”

Nemean opened his mouth as if to defend himself…only to keep quiet instead, lips agape as his eyes averted themselves.

Because Circe was right. Hadn’t Nemean done plenty by clocking those creeps? Why had he felt the need to make sure that kid got back safely? Hell, why’d he bother bringing those guys to justice?

In truth, he had no clear answer much to his surprise.

Even looking back, he had no idea what had compelled him back then.

But he remembered the anger, the outrage, the disgust. And how standing there, child safe behind him and threats all around, had felt so natural.

None of which he could verbalize.

So, instead he kept his face to the window, off balance.

XXX

Things got even more off-balance once the Revenants arrived at their destination: Groais Island, a small uninhabited island off the east coast of Newfoundland’s northern peninsula.

Perfect place for bird soirees and clandestine meetings.

And also awkward silence because as they stood there on a hill near the easternmost tip of the island, thick black hooded jackets on, the Revenants all swiveled their eyes along the miles of hills, not seeing a single Ambrosia agent in sight.

“Uh boss?” Nemean piped up as he umbrellaed his eyes with one hand to filter out the evening light. “Are we early? Or are they just late?”

Typhon narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Something about this did not sit right with him.

Pulling back his hoodie, the bear pressed a finger against the device in his ear to materialize his helmet and then spoke into its radio.

“Typhon to Vega 5. My team and I have reached the rendezvous point. We have no visual on you. I repeat, no visual. Please respond. Over.”

Nothing.

Typhon grunted in annoyance before turning to his team.

“Helmets on, everyone,” the bear ordered. “We’re scoping the area out. Circe, see if you can’t pin down where the agents might be.”

Assuming they’re here to begin with, the bear thought as the other Revenants activated their helmets as well. Or alive.

“On it, Jefe,” the pigeon affirmed as she clapped her wings and then spread them apart to reveal a green holographic 3D map of the island. As the rest of her team gathered around, she didn’t take long to notice something odd and cocked her head in wonder. “Hmm…I’m definitely getting a signal from an Ambrosia dropship further west, but no agents for some reason.”

Not a good sign. Typhon narrowed his eyes, humming in thought.

“Want me to scout ahead?” Circe asked as she dispelled the map.

Typhon shook his head. “Nah. For all we know, this could be an ambush. Besides, the winds here can get pretty strong, so you’re best off staying grounded. Everybody, be ready to strike at a moment’s notice.”

“What about the seals?” Nemean asked, looking and thumbing back at the GUP-A. “Shouldn’t someone stay behind to safeguard ‘em in case this is a ruse?”

Circe, without missing a beat, smirked behind her visor as she popped a feathered finger against a button on her belt. On cue, the GUP-A instantly shimmered out of sight with a faint whoosh.

You could practically hear Nemean’s lower jaw thud against the bottom of his helmet. When the hell did Circe have time to install an invisibility feature?

Was I just that out of it on the way here? he wondered to himself.

For added fun, Circe hit another button on her belt to lock the ant-based plane, which even beeped like a car in response.

“Now then,” the pigeon chirped before taking off. “¡Vámonos!”

And so, the Revenants trekked along the hilly terrain in a single file line, frozen grass crunching beneath their feet. They took care to avoid the various ponds pocketing the island’s landscape – and also brace themselves for the frigid winds, which some took to easier than others, even with the jackets on.

Nemean embraced himself instantly with a shiver, teeth rattling. He didn’t miss how Circe stood close by him in her own self-hug, effectively using her much larger teammate as a windbreaker.

Thanks a lot, the lion thought with much bitterness. Seriously, why couldn’t the rendezvous point be someplace warmer? Or less windy at least?

Come ta think of it, he further mused. Athena’s doing the best outta all of us.

Indeed, now that he took a gander, the great auk didn’t so much as flinch at the wind and cold. Neither did Typhon, despite not being built for this kind of climate, but then again their leader brought the word “tough” to a whole other level.

Once again, Nemean found himself feeling inadequate and so did his best to not seem bothered – an attempt that worked about ten seconds before the next wind came blowing in, making the lion shiver even harder this time.

“Just keep moving, you two,” Typhon ordered without looking back. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can warm up back in the BUG-A.”

Nemean rolled his eyes yet resisted the urge to argue, wishing instead that they’d brought thicker jackets. It also sucked this island had all its trees scattered so much and far apart. Otherwise, he could have used them for cover.

Circe, on the other hand, pulled a thinking face and regarded the auk as well, curious.

“Hey Athena? When DAWN’s done for and Ambrosia’s on top, do you think we’ll get to come back to places like this? You know, the places where our species used to hang out?”

Athena did not answer at first, no response beyond a slight lowering of her chin.

Then she lifted her face back up, voice nonchalant as she spoke.

“If we live to see that day? Maybe. It’s best not to project so far into the future. You’ll keep your expectations low that way. Besides, my species couldn’t fly, so chances are the best they could do was hang around in the surrounding waters.”

“Well yeah but still,” Circe countered with a shrug, “How often do you get a chance like this?” The pigeon gestured a wing at the landscape. “Being here, someplace where you’re comfortable for once? Don’t tell me it’s not stirring something in that ice cold heart of yours.”

The pigeon heard Nemean restrain a snort behind her, but kept her attention on the auk, who once again kept silent at first.

At last, Athena sighed in resignation. “It is – and it’s absolutely confounding.”

She could feel the pigeon and lion’s curious stares on her back, and she could tell her response had piqued Typhon as well judging by the way the bear’s ears perked ever so slightly.

The auk spared a glance at the ponds they kept passing, a few flocks of birds further beyond those. “For some reason, the sight of this place reminds me of something – or maybe there’s this feeling that it should remind me of something. It’s…unsettling to say the least.”

A note of sadness leaked into Athena’s voice during that second sentence. Now the auk felt everyone’s attention weigh on her more heavily. She disliked this feeling even more.

Fortunately for her, at that moment Typhon noticed something ahead and extended a hand in front of the others, gesturing them to stop.

Their group had reached a large patch of land not marked by streams or ponds, this bit of expanse marked by bundles of trees closer together. The sun had barely begun to touch the horizon.

“Circe, does this seem like the spot?”

The pigeon pulled her 3D map back out and gave it a glance before nodding. “Yep, their plane should be around here.”

Fortunately, the island sported sparse trees which meant few places to hide, so spotting some wayward agents did not prove difficult.

Sure enough, Athena soon spotted something tucked behind a small patch of trees in the distance, its nose and headlights barely poking out. She tapped a wing against Typhon’s arm to grab his attention and then pointed it at the discrepancy.

Typhon looked and nodded. “Good. C’mon, let’s see if those idiots have a damn good reason for making us come to them in the cold.”

Except when the Revenants arrived at the alcove, they discovered only a white Aero Commander 500 and no one in sight.

And just like that, Typhon switched over from suspicion to alarm. The bear promptly pulled out his Kusari-fundo, the rattle of the chains loud in the near silence.

“Guards up, eyes peeled” he ordered in a grim tone as he took a cautious foot forward. “Be ready for anything.”

With utmost caution, the Revenants moved forward in a tight circle – Typhon at the front, Circe and Athena side by side in the middle, and Nemean bringing up the rear.

Nobody popped out yet the team did not let their guards down, panning their eyes all around.

Suddenly, Nemean noticed something off about one of the trees’ shadows – mainly its bulky shape – and looked up.

“Soooo…does that count as ‘anything’?”

The other Revenants noticed his wayward stare and followed it to one of the nearby conifers. Bound together at the torsos and hanging limp from the tree’s upper branches by rope, partially hidden by the prickly green brush, were a group of sapient animals in black plaited jump suits and goggled masks with gold lining.

In other words, the Ambrosia agents in question.

Circe angled her head in wonder before fluttering up to take a closer look, even going so far as to tap one of the agents on the head with her foot, only to get no response.

“Hello? Anybody home?”

Typhon shook his head, baffled. What happened here?

That’s when Athena’s sharp eyes caught something sticking out of one of the agents’ pants pockets.

“Circe,” she called out while pointing a wing at said detail. “I think someone left a note there. Could you grab it?”

The pigeon craned her head and immediately noticed what her teammate had pointed out and so wasted no time complying and landing back down.

“Welp, those guys are definitely out cold. Whoever did this sure didn’t spare an inch.” She handed the rolled-up piece of paper to Athena, who accepted and then unfurled it to read. The other Revenants gathered around her, Typhon and Nemean kneeling down for a better look.

In sparkly red text, the text read:

Good day, Revenants!

I heard you all happened to be in the area, so I decided to hop a ride onto your friends’ plane and knock them out the moment they landed here.

They went down way too easily just so you know. Ambrosia’s been slacking lately.

Anyway, by the time you read this, I’ll have already lockpicked my way into your ship and set those seals free.

Hope you all don’t mind.

Signed, The Queen of Thieves <3

That was all. Short and to the point.

The Revenants all simply stood there in silence, staring at the letter.

Then Typhon took a deep breath, rubbed his temples, and calmly shared his thoughts.

“How the fuck?”

Chapter Text

Sometimes Kabore wanted to punch the universe in the face.

Or at least her fellow council-members because Oh Lord did the rage burn bright in her right now.

First, she gets called to a meeting in the wee hours of the morning after having to spend an all-nighter sifting through the ridiculous amount of paperwork regarding the property damage the Revenants caused to Ambrosia property on yesterday’s mission (never mind the fact that the agents handling said property had explicitly gotten in the Revenants’ way in the first place).

Second, she has to weather an ungodlily long lecture from the Head Director on how the rest of the Council (mainly Kabore) need to step up their game to surpass recent developments on DAWN’s side, complete with insufferable smirks from that overgrown bastard of a wombat, Martin.

Oh, and she just found out that someone hogged all the lounge room coffee except for the decaf. Again.

So, you might forgive her for having a bit less patience than usual today.

SLURP!

Case in point.

Kabore hid her wince at the obnoxious noise as she shot a half-lidded glare at the “guest” sitting across the table from her, sipping away on a medium order of grape soda, a flat out (and likely deliberate) contrast to the crocodile’s affogato.

When Kabore had agreed this morning to meet at the local café of the small town nearest the Revenant HQ – a modest 20-minute drive by bus (which yes required a 5-minute walk prior) – she’d expected at least a little decorum. After all, both of them were risking quite a bit by meeting in public like this.

At least her guest had the decency to wear a hoodie over their face in a place where people wouldn’t care enough to question the choice in fashion. Better yet, the long-armed black hoodie paired with the blue jeans and plain brown cowboy boots made for an unassuming (albeit sketchy) figure.

 Only the tannish-yellow hands with white undersides were visible, fingers of the free hand tapping a soft steady rhythm against the tabletop. Same with the matching rounded ears sticking out the top of the hoodie. If Kabore tried, though, she could barely make out a black nose on the end of a snout barely poking out from the hoodie’s shadow.

“Ms. Hunter, if you could please,” Kabore insisted in as level a tone as possible, “we need to discuss how to best introduce you to the Revenants.”

Ms. Hunter finally ceased her slurping and pulled away from her drink. She tilted her head in a manner that tried to pass off as innocent, but Kabore knew better.

“Really? I’d thought their discreet humiliation at my hands a few days back on that island woulda sufficed,” the younger woman spoke at last, her Aussie accent accentuating the teasing undertone in her voice.

Kabore resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she dipped a spoon into her affogato. “You demonstrated your skill at stealth and thievery, yes, but you’ll need to prove more than that to prove yourself worthy of a place on the team. More so just to gain their trust – understandable considering the less than amiable terms on which you resigned from…the company.”

Though a subtle shift, Kabore hadn’t missed the way in which Ms. Hunter’s claws scrapped ever so lightly against the tabletop.

“Well,” Ms. Hunter drawled in a casual tone tinged with an edge of venom, “I never was much of the ‘fall in line’ type, which of course begs the question of why I should even bother joining your little team.”

Kabore paused in the middle of a sip and gave a small yet amused smile, even daring to arch a brow. “You already answered your own question, my dear. My team was made to follow orders to the letter, never deviating from the plans panned out for them.”

The crocodile leaned her arms onto the table as she continued. “While commendable, this aspect also leaves them vulnerable to…surprises, for lack of a better term. They’re a formidable unit for certain, but as you’ve seen for yourself, they lack a particular brand of finesse. I believe you could be the key to filling that gap.”

The other woman did not respond at first, instead pinching her drink’s straw between her fingers and idly swirling it.

Kabore, to her credit, kept silent and patient as she awaited an answer.

Eventually, Ms. Hunter stopped the straw-twirling and took a deep long breath.

“Be real. It ain’t just my skills you need. You need me bein’ a manipulative little shit, sewing seeds of doubt in their little heads. You’re basically asking me ta ruin your team.”

“I’m asking you to rub off on them,” Kabore returned. “Nudge them into being chaotic little shits themselves. Do that, and you will bring ruin to the ones who deserve it.”

Silence returned, but this time the air felt different. More settled.

And Kabore knew she’d achieved her goal when Ms. Hunter leaned her own arms on the table.

“Keep talkin’.”

XXX

“She wants us to retrieve someone?” Athena asked two days later in a perplexed tone, unsure she heard that right.

Typhon merely nodded as he packed his bag alongside the others. They would need to go undercover for this mission since it would require them to go out in public, hence also why they forewent their usual uniforms for more casual wear.

The Revenant leader had on a red plaid and fleece-lined flannel shirt with long sleeves, dark grey jeans and jacket, and tan hiking boots; Athena wore a mauve T-shirt, deep purple shell jacket, and mauve cargo pants; Circe went in a pale green Henley Tee with dark-cyan jeans and insulated jacket; and Nemean had chosen a green fleece sweater and dark-green scarf and mittens with khaki hiking pants and black hiking boots, his mane tied into a ponytail.

“That’s what Kabore said to me after breakfast,” Typhon explained. “Didn’t elaborate on who, just that it’s someone important. Apparently, some ‘connections’ of hers tracked this person to somewhere in Telluride.”

Circe hummed in curiosity at the unfamiliar name. “Never heard of that place. What’s it like?”

Nemean paused in the middle of tying his boot laces and pulled a thinking face. “Ain’t it supposed to be some mining town in Colorado?”

“Former mining town,” Athena corrected. She’d already finished packing her things and was reading a light horror novel as she waited on the others. “It actually has quite a few things going for it: music festivals, backcountry camping, even Victorian architecture. I can’t imagine who Kabore expects us to find in such a place, though.”

“Don’t matter,” Typhon huffed once he finished getting all his essentials set away. “If Kabore tells us to find this person there, we do it. No questions asked.”

After all, neither she nor Ambrosia had ever steered them wrong.

Nemean clearly begged to differ judging by the skeptical side-eye he gave the bear. “OK, but do we at least have a clue who our mystery person’s supposed to be? Is it our ‘mysterious new teammate’” – the lion wiggled his fingers in a mocking fashion – “or is it that Queen of Thieves chick so we can finally get some payback?”

Typhon simply glowered at the lion, resisting the urge to snap back. Nemean always had a mouth on him, but ever since the Newfoundland mission, he’d been getting bolder with his words (at least within the team).

“All she said is that this person has a – and I quote – unique-looking tail,” Athena cut in calmly, though not without a worn-out undertone.

She too had noted Nemean’s recent uptake in sass but found it more concerning than aggravating. She hoped it wouldn’t evolve into insubordination on today’s mission.

“Not the clearest hint, I know,” she went on, “but it’s all we have so we’ll just have to make do.”

Nemean did not look appeased at all.

All the while, Circe shifted her eyes from one teammate to another, absolutely not liking the weird energy going on right now.

So, to remedy the situation, the pigeon plastered on a big smile and hopped off the bench. “Well then, what’re we waiting for? I’ve already got the RV’s cloaking device ready for the drive!”

Typhon stood up with a grunt and hoisted his duffel bag over his shoulder, secretly thankful for their youngest member’s impromptu interruption.

“Good. Let’s get this show on the road already.”

XXX

It was almost noon by the time the Revenants arrived on the streets of Telluride, their now blue-and-white and logo-less RV giving the perfect tourist vibe.

Circe marveled at the brick- and wooden-laden buildings with their old-school windows, the neighboring autumn trees with their vibrant colors, the picturesque snowcapped mountains towering around everything.

Times like this make me wish we could take a break, she mused. Qué injusto.

But when the RV stopped at a red light, her peripherals caught Nemean stiffening at something. She followed his line of sight and discovered he’d been looking at a small happy family of mountain lions strolling along the sidewalk, the little cub in the middle babbling away about something as they merrily swung from their parents’ hands.

And then the pigeon herself noticed a group of sapient lark bunting kids in a nearby restaurant munching on some Detroit-style pizza with their parents, some of the smaller chicks roughhousing only for one of the older-looking ones to settle them down.

Why did the sight make her feel…?

“According to Kabore’s connections, our target’s last known location was the Ski and Golf Resort. We need to be discreet for this, so be careful with that bug, alright Circe?”

Circe, snapped back to reality by the rough voice of her leader, nodded in haste and blurted out a ‘yes sir’ before pulling out her laptop to get her stuff ready.

She needed to focus.

Fortunately, the team did not take much longer to reach the nearby Carhenge parking lot.

“Alright, according to the website’s resort, we should be near the base of Lift 7,” Circe explained as everyone boarded off the RV. The vehicle automatically locked the moment Typhon, the last person to dismount, took out his keys to the RV and closed the door. “We just need to take the gondola to reach the resort.”

Typhon nodded with a huff as he readjusted the shoulder strap of his duffel bag. “Good. Let’s get moving. We can discuss the next phase of our stakeout once we’re all settled in. Remember, overnight parking isn’t allowed, so we need to make the most of our time here. No distractions.”

Nemean and Circe shared a chagrined sigh. As if they didn’t already know.

“As for finding our quarry,” Athena added on, “since we don’t know their exact identity yet, Circe will need to sift through the security cameras for any suspicious figures while we keep an eye out among the guests. Thankfully, the resort shouldn’t be too crowded this time of day, so I doubt you’ll need long.”

Circe nodded as fervently as she could to make sure the others could see past her pale greyish-cyan beanie, doing her best not to shiver. Seriously, what was with all the missions to these cold places lately?

The team trekked their way out of the parking lot and along the snowy trail that led to the nearby line for Lift 7, a line that only consisted of one person – someone a head taller than Athena in a faux-furred black hoodie that covered their whole face along with mahogany jeans and black boots and grey gloves, their only visible physical feature a tannish yellow tail with a pale underside and two brown arrow-like markings near the top.

Something about that last detail caught Typhon’s attention, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint why.

Anyway, the Revenants had gotten in line just before the gondola touched the ground, so in no time at all, the whole group boarded the lift alongside the fifth passenger, who took up the plush red seats on the left side with Nemean and Athena while Typhon and Circe sat down in the opposite seats.

Suddenly to everyone else’s puzzlement, the stranger pulled out a stack of playing cards from their pants pocket and proceeded to shuffle them. Circe had half a mind to ask the stranger why, but a quick glance of her leader’s stern gaze nixed that idea.

So, instead the pigeon sat in semi-awkward silent along with the rest of her teammates as the lift gently jolted back into motion, proceeding to go back the way it arrived.

The card shuffling continued regardless, much to Typhon’s annoyance. The bear resisted the urge to growl as he narrowed his eyes at the stranger. Instead, he opened his mouth, intent on telling this person to knock that racket off – only to start when the person casually turned their head his way.

“You lot wanna see a trick?” the person asked in an apparent Aussie accent, a teasing lilt to their voice.

Typhon narrowed his eyes in suspicion before waving off the offer. “We’re good.”

“You sure?” The stranger split the deck between their hands in one fluid motion before flipping over one half and then shuffling both halves back together. Then they fanned the cards out face up to Athena, the one sitting closest to them. Half the cards faced the auk while the rest remained facing the stranger. “How about you, miss? Pick a card.”

The auk furrowed her brow, skeptical. She had half a mind to refuse as well but then reconsidered the situation.

This person’s in no position to take advantage of us, she mused, especially when they’re so clearly outnumbered in such a small space. I suppose humoring them won’t hurt.

On a whim, Athena tapped the tip of her wing against the Queen of Spades.

The stranger swiftly pulled the selected card and flipped it back and forth for all to see. “This one?”

When Athena nodded, they returned the card to its original spot in the fan and pressed the cards back into a stack facedown.

“Don’t blink,” the stranger advised as they waved a hand across the stack and ran the other hand’s thumb down its corner. Then they fanned the cards out again – and they were all now facing up except for one in the middle.

Already, all the Revenants stared at shock, jaws slack. Their reaction only mounted once the stranger flipped the hand holding the cards to reveal the one card facing the other way.

The Queen of Spades.

Athena shifted her widened eyes from the cards to the stranger and back, mind struggling to comprehend what had just happened.

“How did you—?”

“A triumph,” the stranger elaborated. The smug satisfaction in their voice could not be any more apparent. “Pretty simple trick actually. There’s also the Ambitious Card. To demonstrate, I’ll need someone to pick a numbered card and sign their name on the front, preferably in big bold letters.”

All the Revenants shared curious stares, save for Typhon who glared in frustration, feeling like they’d just been fucked with.

Then to everyone but the stranger’s surprise, the bear himself stuck his hand out.

“Ace of Hearts.”

“Oh, interesting choice!” the stranger commented as they picked out the selected card from the deck and handed it to the bear. They started to stuff a hand in her pants pocket to retrieve a marker, but Typhon beat them to the punch by pulling out a pen out of his jacket.

Once he signed his name as directed, he returned the card to the stranger who accepted and slipped it back into the deck, which they then proceeded to shuffle around.

Once they finished, they exposed the bottom card and then briefly showed the top card. “Neither here nor here. Now watch.”

After a crisp snap of their fingers, they reshowed the top card…now the Ace of Hearts, signature included!

Nemean and Circe wowed and awed, not bothering to hide their amazement. Even Athena ogled the cards in wonder.

Typhon meanwhile trembled, face struggling between a temper tantrum and flabbergasted surrender – until he scowled and stuck his hand out again.

“Lemme see those cards.”

The stranger shrugged and complied, not minding when the bear snatched the deck out of their hand. They propped a hand beneath their chin and an elbow against their knee as they watched Typhon skim through the cards, seeking the secret in vain.

“Check the top deck again,” the stranger casually suggested. Typhon stared, incredulous, before doing as told. “Now put it back, snap your fingers, and look again.”

Typhon once again stared before sighing and snapping his fingers. Then he checked again – only for his jaw to drop and eyes to bug out.

Circe leaned in to check and nodded with an affirmative “mm-hmm” as she took the card from her leader’s hand and showed it off to everyone else.

“Yep, Ace of Hearts again.”

The stranger smugly retook their deck and accepted the card back from Circe. Once they’d put the cards back in their pocket, they cocked a smirk at Typhon. “Would you believe me if I said both these tricks are pretty basic? Course, those ain’t all I got up my sleeve. Check for your keys for instance.”

Typhon shook his head with a furrowed brow and checked his jeans’ pocket – only to go into a panic as his hands rushed to the other pockets.

No keys.

Jingle-Clank!

The bear shot his head up at the sound, only to discover his keys dangling from the stranger’s fingers.

“I’m open to encores if you’re interested.”

“Gimme that!” Typhon barked as he snatched his keys back. “First off, who the hell are you? Second, what’s your angle with all this?”

The stranger cocked their head with a huff. They elbow-nudged Athena. “Well, somebody’s not a fan of magic tricks.”

“First off,” Typhon sneered, jabbing a finger at the stranger, “‘magic’ is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Second, that last trick was literally just pickpocketing! Lastly, you’re some rando being chummy with people you just met while hiding your whole ass face.”

The stranger put a hand to their chest in faux offense. “Goodness! Doesn’t a woman have a right to privacy? After all, you’re a bunch of randos I just met too. I just have way more faith in the benevolence of others. You should try it some time.”

Benevolence? Did this lady even realize how she sounded right now?

Typhon rolled his eyes. “Just skip to the part where you reveal your whole game already.”

The stranger uncrossed her legs and periodically fanned and unfanned her cards as she sat forward. “To the point. I respect that in a leader. Not much patience for theatrics, though. Kabore wasn’t kidding when she said I’d have my work cut out.”

By now, all the other Revenants had stiffened, faces going alert.

“How do you know Dr. Kabore?” Athena questioned in a suspicious tone.

Nemean bared his teeth. “And what makes you so sure Boss here is our leader?”

The stranger simply stared back at the large cat as she put away her cards. “Cuz. Kabore told me. Also, you just called him ‘Boss’.”

And like that, the mood went awkward.

Nemean blushed, abashed by his own mistake. “Uh…”

Typhon and Athena could only facepalm while Circe pat his shoulder with a sympathetic smile.

“But yeah,” the stranger carried out, crossing her legs again and draping her elbows over the backrest. “Kabore told me the whole deal with you lot.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “Wasn’t all that on board with joining up at first – not a big fan of the whole kidnapping bit – but then she told me how you’re constantly taking the piss outta DAWN, particularly those Octonauts. That’s when I knew the real reason the old handbag came looking for me.”

As the stranger paused, she took in the various expressions of shock and confusion on the Revenants’ faces.

Typhon in particular seemed ready to throttle the stranger: 1) out of frustration at the continual sensation of being screwed with and 2) for the blatant disrespect at Kabore’s expense.

Because no way in hell was this weirdo supposed to be the new teammate the team’s sponsor had been hyping up this whole time.

Instead, Typhon stayed himself with all available willpower and closed his eyes with a deep sigh, centering himself. When he reopened his eyes, he slipped on a smarmy smile.

“And what would that be?” the bear sneered. “Free entertainment?”

Despite her unviewable face, you could feel the stranger’s unamused stare.

“Ha. My services usually don’t come cheap, but I’m makin’ an exception here since I happen to have a history with the Octonauts’ lieutenant.”

Nemean blinked in confusion, leaning forward a bit. “Hold up. Are you talking about the little pirate dude?”

The stranger snapped her fingers at the lion. “The very same. He and I have had a few run-ins.” Her voice went hard as she continued. “The twerp’s been a proper pain in my neck lotta times. A little more goody-goody than a proper pirate should be too, so I gotta put that loser in his place every now and then.”

Hearing that got Typhon to emit an amused huff and smirk, much to his own surprise. Perhaps this was a kindred spirit after all.

The bear checked himself with a clear of the throat and crossed his arms. “I admit, you talk a good game and considering that stunt you pulled on us last week, you clearly got the skills to back it up. That said, this is a team effort you’re applying for, so you better learn to cooperate if you want into our little club.”

The stranger rolled her head with a groan. “Fine, I guess I can play nice…but only ‘til DAWN gets what they deserve.”

“You’ll also need some training,” Athena added. “You already have skills as a stealth expert, but there’ll be times you’ll need to fight alongside us as well.”

“Won’t be a problem for me,” the stranger drawled. “I’ve been in my fair share of tussles.”

“Real fights,” Typhon emphasized. “The kind where one wrong move can get you dead in seconds.”

“Those too,” the stranger coolly amended with finger-guns. “They’re how I met some of my best mates, after all.”

Once again, Typhon found himself smirking (a bit more openly even) and went so far as to drape an arm along the backrest of his own seat. “Oh, and another thing: we’re not kidnappers. We take those creatures and send them to Ambrosia for study. Maybe it doesn’t seem that way to you yet, but we’re keeping them safe from being used by DAWN.”

For the oddest reason, the stranger’s gaze at him suddenly felt different, although he couldn’t tell how so due to her still wearing that damn hoodie.

The stranger seemed to catch on at that moment, too, because she finally decided to pull back her hoodie, revealing her face.

To be frank, the Revenants all thought at first they were looking at a dog – except the features were a bit off: squarish head, long snout; short roundish ears; tannish-yellow fur and cream underside on the snout, front throat and inner ears; thick cream-colored teardrop-shaped eyebrows; a black vaguely triangular nose; a noticeable and messy mohawk; and violet eyes.

The stranger noticed everyone’s perplexed stares and smirked. “What? Never seen a thylacine before?” She stuck her hand out at Typhon. “Name’s Cassie. Cassie Hunter. The one and only Queen of Thieves.”

Typhon eyed the gesture a moment before warily accepting the handshake. “Bit of a lofty title there. I’d introduce us but I take it Kabore already took care of that part.”

“Smart man,” Cassie quipped with a wink before retracting her hand and leaning back in her seat, crossing her legs. “And since we’re already on the topic of what Kabore mentioned about who, how much’d she share about me?”

Athena folded both wings over her lap in a prim manner. “Only that you’re a stealth expert and master thief who’d once worked under Ambrosia – Fosse in particular – only to one day abandon the organization out of nowhere. Care to explain why?”

Cassie shrugged her shoulders. “Difference of opinion. They wanted a soldier; I wanted a life.”

“A life dedicated to petty thievery and sabotage,” Typhon casually insulted.

“In the name of environmentalism,” Cassie coolly returned. “Mostly to spit in the face of big business and governments.”

“Something you could more easily achieve under Ambrosia, given their reach,” Athena pointed out.

For a moment, Cassie spoke nothing in response, face casual. Her eyes though flashed with something, and now with her face visible Typhon could finally pinpoint it.

Pity.

He couldn’t puzzle out why it unsettled him.

Before Cassie could quip back, Nemean took up the conversation.

“So hey, Doc didn’t say nothing about you being a… thigh-a-sine?”

“Thy-la-cine,” Cassie reiterated at a pace the lion could follow. “Or the Tasmanian tiger. Once native to Australia, New Guinea, and (surprise) Tasmania. Species went extinct in the last century.”

Circe waved a finger in realization. “Ah, I was just about to ask. Given that and how you used to work for Ambrosia, I can assume you’re one of Steyn’s experiments, right?”

This time, Cassie’s tail gave a sharp flick even while her face remained composed, much to Typhon and Athena’s interest. “You assume correctly, Feathers. And I would greatly appreciate all contact between me and her be kept nonexistent.”

“Lemme guess,” Typhon drawled. “Difference of opinion.”

“That and her piss-poor bedside manner.” Cassie clapped and rubbed her hands with a (much too) wide smile. “BUT enough about the past! Let’s talk about the future! Namely what happens after we all get off this gondola!”

“Well for starters,” Athena began, “we’ll need to notify Dr. Kabore. Once we do, we’ll need to discuss living arrangements, not to mention the matter of your uniform. To say nothing of the training schedule or prepping you for your first mission with us.”

Without warning, Circe hopped up and down in her seat in excitement. “Oh wait, wait! We gotta figure out her name first!” She paused at Cassie’s look. “Er, code name in your case.”

Nemean clicked his tongue in a meditative manner as he leaned forward, arms on his knees. “Ain’t that gonna be up to the Head Director? I mean, that’s how it went down for us.”

Cassie shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, it’s fine. Kabore and I already hashed out that little detail. In fact, she notified me this morning that our suggestion got greenlit by the big man himself.”

Typhon arched a brow, no longer surprised by today’s continual string of surprises. “And that would be?”

Cassie crossed her arms and cocked a grin that exposed her sharp teeth.

“Call me…Medea. Now about that ski resort—”