The silhouette of a huge ship emerged from the shadows, its bow slowly treading the shallow waters of the port. The speed at which it was navigating towards the dock slowly decreased until the behemoth ship came to a complete stop. Because of the container vessel’s massive size, it couldn’t dock to the port on its own. The ship’s captain orders one of his crew to call the port.

 

 

“Dementius to port… Dementius to port… requesting assistance for docking procedure… over.” One of the crew on board the ship’s bridge radioed.

 

 

“Copy that… Dementius… stand by and prepare for docking procedure… over.” The port controller responded over his shortwave radio. Quickly adjusting his frequency, he then called on several tugboats to aid the ship for its docking procedure.

 

 

“Port control calling available tugboats… we have an incoming Cargo ship Dementius requesting docking assistance… at point Delta Echo Niner… requesting confirmation from available tugboats. Over.”

 

 

Unknown to those working in the port, one of the tugboats have been overtaken. Two figures boarded the small boat and dispatched the two man crew of the boat with little trouble.

 

 

“That was easy enough…” Jessica lets out a sigh of relief as she wiped the blood off her hunting knife. She had earlier snuck up on one of the unsuspecting crew members and slit his throat.

 

 

“It’s only going to get harder from here.” Yuri responded as she withdrew the blade of her katana from a hapless man’s chest. The crew member was unaware of Yuri’s presence until her blade sank through his chest.

 

 

Just then the radio kept on repeating the earlier call for assistance. The voice over the radio kept repeating the name of the Cargo ship Dementius and its coordinates. Yuri looked over at Jessica, they shared a meaningful look. Without wasting any second, Jessica went down the boat’s deck and plants a block of C4 next to the tugboat’s fuel tank and one more on its engine.

 

 

“Copy that, Port control, Hound dog 37, en route to point Delta Echo Niner over.” Yuri responded over the radio.

 

 

“Acknowledged, Hound dog 37 over.”

 

 

Minutes after the call, Yuri and Jessica left the port and headed to the coordinates of the Dementius. The Tugboat trudged through the waters at full speed and the stirred the murky waters in its wake. There was no moon tonight; neither did the stars come out and lend their light. Dark clouds filled the night sky as flashes of lightning became the prelude of an impending torrential downpour. Not far ahead of them, Jessica spots the ship as a brief flash of lightning illuminated the gigantic Cargo Ship.

 

 

“Yuri! The ship’s up ahead!” Yuri saw it; she briefly looked in awe of the sheer dominating size of the vessel.

 

 

The other tugboats that also responded to the call were already positioning themselves against the ship. Ramming the gigantic vessel and slowly pushing it towards the port, Yuri wasted no time and positioned the tugboat against the Cargo ship’s massive hull. She dragged the lifeless corpse of one of the crew members and placed him against the tugboat’s helm. The lifeless corpse jammed against the wheel held the boat in the same direction as the engine went into full throttle.

 

 

“Sica, are you sure about these grappling hooks?” Yuri asked nervously as she held gas propelled grappling gun that they were going to use to board the ship.

 

 

“Hey, don’t doubt the tech I’m bringing to the table, you know I’m always a hundred percent certain of the equipment we use!” Jessica looked at Yuri incredulously.

 

 

“Hey don’t blame me! This thing seems to be something Batman would use!” Yuri retorted. The device did look like something from the comic books and the thin cable made Yuri skeptical about whether the flimsy cable had enough strength to support her weight.

 

“Damn it! Kwon stop chattering, we got to do!” Jessica hissed as she points the grappling gun upwards, she aimed for the railings.

 

 

The grappling gun made a popping sound as the grappling hook launched out of its barrel. The hook flew threw the air and went over the railing, with hook losing force, one of its tendrils managed to anchor itself on railings. Jessica tugged on the string and made sure that it was safely latched on her waist.

 

 

“Sica? You sure about this right?” Yuri nervously asked again.

 

 

“Ugh! Seriously Yul! Trust me on this!” Jessica hissed and rolls her eyes.

 

 

Jessica then hits on a button on the grappling gun fastened on her waist. Slowly she started to ascend; Yuri watched from below as Jessica slowly but surely reached the railings.

 

 

“Well… here goes nothing…”

 

 

Yuri aimed the grappling gun towards the ship’s railings, with a nervous squeeze on the trigger; the compressed air launched the hook out of the grappling gun’s barrel and over Yuri’s designated target. The hook flew through the air and over the railings and latched itself in the bottom most part of the railings. A firm tug on the cable assured Yuri that her grappling hook is safely latched on the railing, after fastening the grappling gun on her waist she took a deep breath before pressing the button on the grappling gun that would start pulling her up from the tugboat’s deck.

 

 

With both girls successfully sneaking on board the ship, they wasted no time and looked for the ship’s cargo bay. Yuri and Jessica found an entrance leading inside the ship’s hull, their presence still unknown to the ship and its crew.

 

 

 

---

 

 

Yuri took point and was followed closely by Jessica; the two carefully traversed the narrow passageway until they spotted a couple of guards. They were well armed and even wore bulletproof vests. Before they could be spotted, Yuri and Jessica jumped inside one of the boiler rooms.

 

 

“That was freakin close!” Jessica exclaimed as her heart beat heavily underneath her chest.

 

 

“I didn’t think there would be armed guards on the ship!” Yuri muttered.

 

 

Yuri carefully peeked outside the boiler room, she found the guards had just gone round a corner and were a safe distance from them. With the coast completely clear, she signaled Jessica that it was okay for them to step out of the room. Yuri and Jessica can't afford to waste time, the ship was slowly heading towards the port and they only had 30 minutes at best before the ship safely docks at the port.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

An unmarked helicopter slowly descended from the stormy skies and approached the Cargo vessel. Its rotor blades slicing the moist air as the dark stormy sky erupted with a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder.

 

 

"Ghostrider 52 to Dementius... Requesting clearance for landing over." The helicopter pilot radioed the ship as he circled around the vessel.

 

 

"Acknowledged, Ghostrider 52 you're cleared for landing"

 

 

The helipad's lights came on and guided the pilot of the helicopter to the landing zone. The helicopter slowly descended down into the helipad and once it got settled in two figures emerged from its cabin.

 

 

"Is everything going smoothly?" The shorter of the two asked as her blonde locks danced along with the violent gust generated by the helicopter's spinning blades.

 

 

"Y-yes Dr. Kim, everything is going smoothly, we're already commencing docking  procedures." The ship's second in command nervously responded.

 

 

"Good, I'd like to meet the Captain." Hyoyeon stoicly demanded as she started walking away. "Summer, lets go."

 

 

Without breathing a single word, Summer followed Hyoyeon closely. She exuded a very intimidating presence and her fierce appearance made everyone back away from her. Dressed in a black knee length longcoat and a black pinstriped buttoned shirt, a pair of black figure fitting slacks and high heeled ankle high boots, Summer ignored everyone and anything except Hyoyeon. The shorter girl was dressed in black leather dress that was well above the knee, it perfectly hugged her body like a second pair of skin. She wore her white lab coat over it and a pair of 5 inch heels. The duo made their way to the bridge where the Captain was keeping a steady watch as the tugboats continued to guide them to port.

 

 

"How are things?" Hyoyeon asked the minute she entered the bridge, the captain could barely stop himself from trembling at their presence.

 

 

"Everything is fine, Dr. Kim. The security in the ship has been doubled and the port authorities have been  in high alert." Hyoyeon sat down on the captain's chair and crossed her legs. She was icy and everyone had good reason to fear her.

 

 

Things appeared to be fine yet that was only a false pretense as suddenly an explosion rocked the ship.

 

 

"What was that?!" Hyoyeon exclaimed as she held on the Captain chair's arm rest.

 

 

"Captain! What in the world is going on?!" Hyoyeon demanded.

 

 

The crews was in a frenzy as the alarm went off. Sirens blared indicating that something very grave is happening to the enormous ship. The captain frantically radioed the ship's personnel, from the engine room, to the cargo bay, to the mess hall including those watching the ship from the outside. Just then a call came through.

 

 

“Captain! A tugboat that was pushing us to port exploded! The hull’s been breached!”

 

 

"What! A tugboat exploded? We're taking in water?" The captain's surprised statements frightened Hyoyeon.

 

 

"Hyo, let's go the helicopter. The ship is going to sink at this rate." Summer held Hyoyeon’s wrist firmly and led her out of the bridge and towards the helipad.

 

 

But as Summer continued dragging Hyoyeon along with her, the ship starts to list and was now slowly sinking as the lower levels were now slowly flooding. Just then another explosion rocked the ship. The explosion felt like it was close by and right inside the ship.

 

 

“Summer!” Hyoyeon shouted in sheer fright. Seeing her frightened state, Summer carried Hyoyeon in her arms and as they tried to make their way off the sinking ship.

 

 

 

---

 

 

Meanwhile

 

 

Yuri and Jessica were now fighting their way out of the cargo bay; they were engaged in a fierce firefight as the ship’s guards tried to stop them dead in their tracks.

 

 

“Sica, let’s get the hell out of here!” Yuri frantically yelled as she shot the guards left and right.

 

 

“I know! We only got minutes until the entire hull is flooded!” Jessica answered as she picked off a few guards that were blocking the stairwell leading to the upper levels of the ship.

 

 

Yuri and Jessica continued ascending the stairs, occasionally taking out enemies that came their way. Their teamwork was flawless, when Yuri took point, Jessica would follow. When Yuri is engaging an enemy, Jessica made sure to cover her; they bounced off each other and covered each other’s backs. Their coordinated movements easily led them out of the lower levels and out into the open.

 

 

From the ship’s deck Yuri and Jessica could see that the ship was now close to port and the rest of the tugboats have already fled the moment the tugboat she rigged with explosives exploded. With the ship completely adrift and only several hundred meters away from the port, Jessica and Yuri looked for a way off the ship before she would completely sink or worse explode.

 

 

“Yuri look! There’s a helicopter!” Jessica spotted the helicopter sitting on the ship’s helipad.

 

 

“Hey can you fly that? Because I sure as hell can’t!” Yuri exclaimed.

 

 

“Got a better idea then?” Jessica hissed.

 

 

“Not really, but lets pray for our sake that there’s someone piloting the helicopter!”

 

 

Yuri and Jessica ran towards the helicopter but just as they were heading towards the helicopter they were suddenly met by a forearm and a kick that sent both of them flying to the ground.

 

 

“Damn it! What the happened?” Yuri hissed and coughed as she slowly got up.

 

 

She looked towards the direction of the helicopter and there she found a lone figure standing in front of the helicopter. Yuri checked on Jessica and saw that the girl is unconscious.

 

 

“So you two are the cause of all this trouble?” Yuri snapped her attention back at the person standing against their means of escaping the sinking ship.

 

 

“If you hope to escape this ship, then I regret to inform you that you’ll be going down with this ship!” Yuri was looking at that figure standing a few feet from where she stood, but as she was looking at where that lone figure was standing awhile ago, she suddenly saw the figure vanish in a blur and shortly felt a hard punch landing squarely on her front.

 

 

“Ughh… what the happened?” Yuri hissed and coughed as she got down on one knee while clutching her stomach.

 

 

Just as she was down on one knee and still in pain, Yuri saw from the corner of her eye a kick hurdling towards her head. In a split second, Yuri managed to block the kick by putting up her arm to protect the side of her head. Despite her best effort to block the attack, the kick had a great amount of force behind it that Yuri was thrown a few feet away from where she stood.

 

 

“I’m impressed you managed to block my attack. But I guess you’re not tough enough to take a hit.” The unknown attacker then slowly approached Yuri while taunting her.

 

 

Yuri tried to get to her feet but she’s already feeling all banged up by the punishment she endured at the hands of her attacker. She began to hear the footsteps of her attacker drawing near her, each excruciating step ringing in her ear. Desperately mustering what is left of her strength Yuri groggily stood on her two feet and drew out her katana. Seeing the black blade gleaming against a flash of lightning, a deathly smirk appeared on her attacker’s face. Yuri nervously clutched her katana with all her might, in an instant the person vanished before her eyes.

 

 

Baffled by the sudden disappearance Yuri looked in different directions but found nobody there; finally she looked up and found her attacker sweeping down from the air with her iron fist swinging out towards her. Yuri tried to parry but her legs weren’t up to the task, she awkwardly stumbled back narrowly escaping an attack that would have crushed bones or cracked skulls.

 

 

“Aren’t we lucky?” The attacker smirked as a bolt of lightning pierced the stormy skies revealing to Yuri her attacker’s face.

 

 

“You! You’re—”

 

 

Yuri was dumbfounded; she recognizes the person in front of her as this person’s picture was attached on the files Officer Shin gave her. But before she could further utter more words, another explosion rocked the sinking ship. From the looks of things and the magnitude of the explosion, the ship’s engine room caught fire and caused a tremendous explosion.

 

 

“Summer! Get inside the helicopter! We don’t have time for this!” Hyoyeon yelled from inside the helicopter.

 

 

The pilot started up the helicopter, its rotor blades slowly spinning and coming to life. Summer hissed and clutched her fists. Given a few more minutes she would have finished off Yuri.

 

 

“Another time then!” Summer retreated into the waiting helicopter.

 

 

Yuri grumbled and struggles get to her feet as she watched Summer get inside the helicopter which lifted off from the ground the moment she was safely onboard. Yuri suffered a humiliating defeat; barely able to put up a fight and during the course of her encounter with Summer; Yuri was on the defensive with no counterattack what so ever.

 

 

With her strength completely spent and her injuries taking its toll on her body; Yuri’s consciousness flickered and waned at each passing second. Before she could hit the ground Jessica managed to catch her.

 

 

“Jessica?” Yuri blindly asked as her eyesight started to fail as everything else became a blur.

 

 

“Yeah who else is going to save your ?” Jessica sarcastically replied as she tried to carry Yuri.

 

 

Yuri hissed but before she could continue to bicker with Jessica, she eventually lost consciousness.

 

 

“Great! Now she sleeps on me!” Jessica tiredly exclaimed as she tried to look for a way to escape the deathtrap that they were on.

 

 

Time is against them and the stakes were never higher; Jessica looked around on the ship’s deck and found that their only means of escaping the ship is rubber boat with an outboard motor. However it was suspended on a rig and the controls used to lower and deploy the boat are jammed. Without as much as thinking, Jessica hurriedly ran to the boat with Yuri over her shoulder. Jessica carefully placed Yuri inside the boat before stepping inside the rubber boat.

 

 

The controls were jammed and Jessica thought of only one way to deploy the boat, it was a risky yet bold idea. It worked in the movies and so she thought that maybe it would also work for her in this situation. Jessica whips out her gun and shot the pulleys of the rig that was suspending their rubber boat. Jessica’s well aimed shots freed the boat from the pulleys, causing it plummet into the water. Her gamble paid off and gave her and Yuri an opportunity to escape certain doom.

 

---

-AnDroGeNie-