With a light breeze barely creating a sound, the group stood still while watching Alice, who was concentrating on the location of the safe. Despite everyone knowing her insane power, she was using that book of hers, perhaps to sustain her strength for going down below. Regardless, it was going to be their best shot at recovering these vials, which they should have been found all those years ago.
"If it was supposed to barely be offshore, why is this taking over five minutes to search for?" Heskins muttered.
"Keep quiet, let her focus." Hops glanced at him, before continuing to watch Alice, "I know we're getting close."
"Let's hope so." Jamal sighed in agreement.
Only a few moments later, the book began to glow brighter than normal, causing everyone to turn toward the woman in readiness. Was the time now? It seemed as if so, as the light died down as quickly before Alice almost slumped onto the ground. Luckily, Hops was already a bit on edge and managed to grab her in time.
"Sorry about that, got dizzy for a second. Anyway, I found it though." Alice took a deep breath, before getting up rather slowly.
"How far off the coast is it?" Jamal asked, just as she picked up her book.
"Maybe around half a mile off the beach, northwest from here? I think we'll find it with ease, but I'm not too sure about getting it out of the water."
"It should be quite heavy, considering how long it's been there. Probably several more years since even Jamal heard about it. A good challenge nevertheless." Leon walked to the edge of the ocean, as the cold water rushed over his feet. "Someone's got to do it."
"I cannot swim." Hops looked at Alice.
"I'm not really the best swimmer, for quite obvious reasons." Jamal turned to the rest. "How about you, Brat?"
Stepping up, everyone just watched as the boy slowly crept into the water, until he was about waist-deep. Taking a deep breath, he shot a quick thumbs-up before dunking his head underwater. For a brief moment, there was no sight of the man, until a large fin shot out of the water. Smiling at the progress, Jamal watched as it disappeared underneath the waves, with no sight of Brat at all.
"And now for the best part, where we wait and do nothing?" Heskins sarcastically stated.
"Yeah, just about so." Jamal stared off in the distance.
Even after reclaiming the city, several of Youden's ships of the regional navy were still positioned around the bay, preventing any meaningful trade and supplies to make it to them. The only advantage the settlement had was the night sky itself, which several brave sailers evaded their cannons and taboons and gathered limited goods. It wasn't enough to keep the city functioning, but they had to make do with what they had.
"We never really stated what we would do with those vials once we really got them. What do you guys intend to do with them?" Alice broke the silence, looking at Jamal and Leon. "And of course, you too Ryan."
"Uh, kill Youden with it?" Leon just looked at Jamal, who nodded in agreement. "I mean, what else were we going to do with it?"
"I mean, if you are some of the strongest people that can compete against Youden, wouldn't you use it for other means? Like hoping to recreate it?"
"If I'm not mistaken, Boom told me that the original formula was destroyed. And even if it wasn't or could still be made from scratch, I doubt we currently have scientists within the city to be of any value." Jamal shrugged, "We still got time."
Luckily for them, a fin broke through the surface, as the team noticed the commotion in the water. Moving closer, it was with a closer inspection that caused Alice to shriek in surprise. As a very large shark, Brat's mouth was bleeding although a large metal object covered in seaweed and coral was likely the reason.
"You alright?" Fonda patted the man's currently rough skin as he dropped the thing out of his mouth.
"Safe hard and heavy. I do not like that." Brat was speaking in broken English as he was slowly turning back, "Would not rather do that again."
"We appreciate it." Jamal took note as he began to break off the coral and other gunk, "But we finally did it. Now the world just needs to their part and we finna get things moving finally!"