Curious Coincidences
It’s still following us.
What does it want?
What is it?
We don’t like being followed.
It’s watching us now.
“That’s enough, now.” A deep sigh helps to ease his steadily increasing irritation as the voices snap and grumble at each other, metal claws mirroring it with harsh clanks and hisses. Their constant chattering, he could handle. It normally took place far enough in the back of his mind he could ignore them, anyway.
But after three hours their arguing was getting far too similar to the chaotic, angry manipulation which led him to rob a bank and nearly blow up half of New York.
That, and it wasn’t doing his growing dehydration headache any favors.
They quiet somewhat at the admonishment, shifting around docilely with a couple chirps. The throbbing pressing out on the inside of his skull eases somewhat, to his relief, and they talk much more quietly now in low murmurs and echoing whispers.
He pauses with the prickle of eyes and turns to the ocean, adjusting his grasp on his large coat over his arm to watch. Their aquatic follower dips momentarily below the surface a ways out from the beach for the thousandth time today. A tiny shake meets the reemergence of their head and he smiles, amused and pleasantly reminded of how dogs do the same thing after getting wet.
Maybe it was a dog-like creature? That said… lots of animals shook themselves to dry off – even birds and reptiles – so that wasn’t much of a connection…
But it was a possible one. And at the moment it’s all he had.
Sand shifts and whispers beneath hard soles as they sink with each resumed step, far enough from the tide to avoid any wet grains sticking to his boots and clothes more than there already was. Something that both metal tentacle and human were very relieved about. Each wave came and went in long, deep breaths of salty air.
He couldn’t really enjoy the peaceful nature of his surroundings due to the dryness in his throat, but the thought counted for something.
The sun had come up a little while ago, currently hovering almost directly above his head. From the way he was walking along the bank, in several hours it’d set once more at his back. Why east? Well, going north wasn’t exactly an option considering it was nothing but ocean, and this way he could see any landmasses should they appear off the coast.
Honestly, he still wasn’t sure if he was on an island or not but this seemed like his best bet for finding that out.
His progress was slow, but steady despite the numerous breaks he had to take from exhaustion and fatigue. Every pause was helpful, though. Gave him time to properly look around and see if he could find any sights or sounds of civilization. Minus the odd item washed up in the tide buried in the sand here and there.
Usually, he could see their follower swimming around from the beach… but this time it was missing entirely.
Where had it gone? Had it left or was it just taking a break from tailing him?
An actuator chirped quietly, earning his attention as it tilts back and forth, surveying the water with its peers.
Hunting perhaps?
Maybe foraging; we don’t know if it’s a carnivore or not.
True. If it was a carnivore, wouldn’t it have tried eating us by now?
First off, we’re on a beach. Secondly, why would it do that?
Why not?
Well, some animals are friendly to humans. Even carnivores.
We don’t know if this is one such creature, though.
Does it matter? We’re safe here regardless.
You don’t know that!
“Alright, alright! Enough,” he huffs to stop the growing argument as the voices start raising as they get closer to bickering again. They silence, all four heads lowering slightly from the admonishment.
Having the control to stop them is a new feeling, but most definitely isn’t an unwelcome one. Despite the discomfort and uneasiness weighing in his gut at reigning them back, it was a nice thought to know he could.
Quite reassuring, actually.
Another long pause to watch and he huffs in disappointment, pushing up to his feet to start walking again. Still no sign of the creature. At this point, he was starting to doubt they’d come back.
What reason was there for it to stay? To keep following him around like a curious puppy? Not much beyond just that, surely…
His worries, evidently were unfounded as claws dig deep into the sand to forcibly stop him. Any protest is silenced when one pointedly taps his shoulder, whispering and drawing his attention a good distance up the beach. At first, he can’t tell what it wants him to see beyond some rocks just inside the tide’s reach.
Until the largest gray rock moves, that is.
He freezes, tense as his metal limbs hiss quietly at the large animal in the mud. It jerks its head to stare at him with an odd guttural bellow just barely reaching him from the distance. A snap-like turn and it drags itself back into the water. The moment it’s submerged all awkwardness disappears in favor of a swift wiggle of its tail and dive out of sight.
His mind is alive with hisses like static as he waits a long, long time before welling up the courage to make his way down the bank.
Claws clank together aggressively the closer he gets to the small collection of smooth boulders, shiny at the base with water. He skirts the wet sand and waves nervously, eyes glued to the divots left over from the animal’s departure. The largest sunken area could easily surround him with several feet to spare, deeply unsettling purely on a sense of size. Small gouges mar the sand on either side.
Each wave is rapidly smoothening out the dips with sediment, erasing any trace they’d even existed with ease. But it sloshes harmlessly around a plastic bottle, half-buried and sticking out at an angle, near his feet. Almost hidden among the rocks, but still fairly obvious.
Mud and grains stick to the rippled surface as he plucks it out and wipes it off, studying the intact seal curiously. It’s a new bottle, unopened and cold from ocean waves and the heat-sucking nature of wet sand. His brow furrows, deeply confused, and equally puzzled chirps surround his shoulders.
Why is this here?
Did it leave it?
Are any animals aware of what water bottles are?
Maybe it’s just a curiosity it was looking at.
Should we leave it?
That last question prompts a sigh and he shakes his head, very aware of the pressure pushing out on the inside of his skull from dehydration. “No. It’d be a waste when we need it.”
The easy response barely registers as he cracks open the cap to gulp down the water. It’s cool and soothes the rasp in his throat, but the throbbing surrounding his brain only worsens from lightheadedness.
Feeling somewhat better, he glances back to the water, finding nothing. An odd sense of disappointment weighs on his mood and wars with relief, earning another heavy sigh. Wary, he turns to make his way back up the beach and continue the trek.
It doesn’t take long to spot something new in the seemingly endless stretch of sand, dotted with sparse bits of soaked driftwood half-buried in the sand. A bend in the beach curves out of sight behind a patch of rock poking out of the waves. Foam splashes up and around the lowest stones, occasionally bringing small stray planks with it.
The hope of seeing something past the new landmark helps deliver a surge of new energy into his aching limbs as he hurries over. Each actuator tries to help, hissing and chirping in annoyance as sand gets stuck in the claws. As soon as he gets close enough, they readily take advantage of the growing number of stones and rocks to grasp onto. Effortlessly lifting and moving him around the largest cluster of rock sticking out of the water.
The skyscrapers filling the sky just beyond the new section of beach is enough to prompt a stunned pause to process the wholly unexpected sight before him.
He’s… he’s right here!
Despite the distance and obstruction to much of his view, individual buildings are recognizable just from their tops. Metal clangs against rock as the arms lift him several large boulders up to stand almost at the top. From this new view, even some streets are familiar from the tiny details he can spot.
Hell, the river he’d nearly drowned in, while barely visible, was definitely there if he looked far enough down New York City’s edge.
Almost on cue, a large chunk of old wood washes up with a dull thunk against the rocks half-submerged several feet below his vantage. The drenched piece is almost black from moisture, visibly splintered from recent damage. One tentacle stretches down to pick it up and discomfort curdles his stomach at the thought it’s from the ruins of his old lab-lair-hybrid hideout.
Not a pleasant reminder…
Regardless, he plops down on the rock and drinks down the last of his water, closing and stowing it in his coat to the side. The city’s mere presence, let alone its near proximity, was comforting. Encouraging.
Granted he really had no idea what he was going to do once he got there – especially now with the whole fiasco with Parker, but he could take this one step at a time.
One slow, tiring, unplanned step at a time…
He’s not sitting for long until an actuator hisses quietly, drawing their attention to the water. More importantly, to the large shadow swimming around just outside of identifiable view. It turns back and forth several times, becoming more distinct them blurrier the closer and further it came from the surface.
Over and over, over and over.
The water parts around a black snout, the flat nostrils flaring with a large hissing puff of air. It remains, breathing and sniffing in great drags of air for several seconds. Then it’s dipping below once more.
He doesn’t move closer, caution winning over intrigue to keep him safe up here. Far from the waves’ reach. Metal clinks together with low, suspicious churrs as a little more of the creature’s head pokes out each time, but never for any longer than a few moments.
There’s something familiar about it, but he can’t shake himself free of the cautious stupor he’s in to properly consider it.
The water ripples and a dark head fully emerges from the waves, something made of clear plastic clamped between its jaws. Air puffs forcibly from its nose with each breath as it studies the rocks one step up from the waves.
Black eyes lock with his. Sharp teeth glint with water and his limbs seize up, oxygen stolen from his lungs with just that stare. Even the actuators are only hissing quietly, curling defensively toward him but remaining mostly still around his shoulders.
A low rumble and it slips backward for a moment, disappearing entirely from view straight down into the darkness. Only a blink later and it’s surging out with a splash to propel its large body onto the stone, scaring the life out of him. His heart races with the wave brought with it, running along the water in rivulets off its smooth frame to turn the surface black.
A paradoxically heavy yet somehow terrifyingly agile flow helps it curl a little better with a small glance down to the bank. Muscle flexes with its tail’s assist in each powerful movement, no matter how small. Its snake-like head shakes subtly to flick away stray drops and the plastic object is dropped with a thump and crackle.
What the…? What is this thing?!
Stunned speechless, he can only stare as its head raises to glower at him. Nostrils flare with every large breath, a pair of paw-like flippers shifting up and down where they’re pressed against its sides. Small black spots and speckles cover its back within varying shades of gray, from something akin to a dark storm cloud on the spine to a barely off-white color along the belly.
At this point, his mind is assaulted with angry, threatening, and frankly terrified hissing as metal claws harshly snap together.
Before he can shut them up himself and scramble away the animal’s throat visibly contracts in a long spasm and all of them freeze into silence at the sound that follows. It’s a deep, guttural bellow like a pissed-off bull. Short and harsh and immensely aggressive in its warning snarl. Over and over in powerful bursts.
Combined with its sharp teeth to blatantly exposed with almost every roar, he’s scrambling back both for his own safety and to stop any attempts at attacking. From either metal or terrifying sea creature.
It’s only when it emits a far quieter version of the same snarl that recognition practically slaps him in the face. He’d heard that sound before!
This was the same creature from before, on the beach!
Being so close and the fact it was so damn big only made his panic worse. It looked to be over twice his height from nose to tail, maybe more, and those dark, intimidating markings weren’t helping in the slightest.
Evidently calmed by his fearful rush away, its mouth closes and head lowers to curl away and rest almost sedately on the rock. Despite the more relaxed posture, it’s almost constantly in motion, subtle or otherwise. Sometimes small twitches, others full-body shifts that barely fit on its utterly dwarfed rock perch. Its body sheens with each movement from water, turning its back to oil.
It turns to peer up at him for a long moment, snout stretching up with a soundless tremble in its throat. At least, at first. The sound starts quiet, but swiftly gains just enough volume to be recognizable. Low clunks unlink anything he’d ever heard before emanates from deep down in its chest.
He’s honestly not sure what he’s supposed to make of it. Was it this animal’s version of a growl? Some sort of fear response? Caution or maybe suspicion?
Hell, maybe none of the above?
With so many confused and conflicting emotions going in circles around his already overloaded mind, he doesn’t make a sound or move an inch. Whether that was toward or away from it. That seems to satisfy it, though, if the silence that follows says anything.
A couple actuators start acting up and he tuts them hurriedly, rapidly commanding them back in line before anything… drastic… happened.
Either not having seen or simply ignoring the mini conflict, its head dips as it wriggles over the rock toward the plastic container it’d carried here. An easy lift and it’s deposited onto a rock directly below his perch. The label crinkles as the bottle is nudged with surprising gentleness by its nose, rolling closer until it taps against the far boulder.
The next sound it makes is oddly… soft… strangely harmonic yet hollow high-pitched chirruping like an exotic birdcall. He pauses, stunned by the barely-audible vocalization, then draws closer just slightly in careful fascination.
Despite himself, the curiosity that’d carried him so far as a scientist was winning in the fight against fear and wariness to get a slightly closer look. In fact, the longer he looks the more familiar it seems. He must’ve seen a picture of the same animal or something somewhere, maybe at a zoo?
A small tilt of the head and it remains where it is, dark eyes flicking over him no less curiously. They draw up to the metal limbs no doubt still hovering just behind him and narrow with a small twitch on the lip. More low chunks tremble out from its throat with a shift back toward the edge.
Claws clank together and yet another arm hisses quietly in controlled aggression and fear of the large predator before them. A second joins it very quickly, emboldened.
The animal answers with a sharp bellow and its tail assists in maneuvering it around. With only a few shifts it’s at the edge of the rock that appears very, very tiny by its gigantic muscled form. A tiny glare and low rumble and it’s sliding into the dark ocean with a smooth slosh of water. In only a second a dark shadow is all that reveals its position and even that’s gone in an instant.
A phantom tightness around his ribs finally eases its terrible grip for the first time in a while, letting him take a deep breath to settle his nerves. The moment he’s calm he taps the offending tentacles to get their attention. Both turn, claws closing almost like a serpent with tiny, almost pitiful chirps and he sighs.
“This is not the kind of animal we want to antagonize, especially when it wasn’t attacking. What was that for?”
One hisses quietly, drawing down a little but clinking its metal graspers together. He’s not sure if it’s angry, annoyed, or just being defensive, but the hissed grumbling echoing through his head definitely answers that.
We can’t trust a predator. You were scared so we took care of it.
We will protect you.
Why else would it have followed us if not to try and harm us?
He shakes his head, shoving down the sliver of waver in his resolve at their words. Manipulative as ever; he wasn’t falling victim or that again.
“You can’t assume anything about it, especially not with how it was behaving.”
And how was it behaving?
Definitely not passively. We don’t like its teeth.
A terse frown overtakes his expression, irritation bubbling up more easily from exhaustion. “Predatory animals have teeth, yes, but did it snap at us?”
Silence.
“And that’s precisely my point.” He opens his mouth to continue, only for a different voice to interrupt the coming argument, curiosity and intrigue singing through its mildly lilting tone.
It left us water… For you.
Confused, he looked down only to find that the actuator who’d spoken was carefully picking up the bottle from the base of their rock. The plastic shimmers from being transported underwater, crinkling alongside the muffled sloshing from inside. He takes it, glancing out at the empty waves on almost on reflex at this point.
It was sealed. A fresh bottle just like the one before.
The one he’d found… after seeing this same animal on the beach…
Holy-!
He marveled at the objectively very simple object, cracking it open and sipping at the cold water to help him think. The two voices from before were currently bickering with the third about the existence of its delivers, suspicion and declarations of coincidence on one side, and more open theories by the latter.
Whatever the case, evidently their terrifying follower was intelligent enough to both understand what a water bottle was, and know he needed it…
He deflates and buries a hand in his tangled hair with a deep sigh.
When he got back to safety and had a long nap he was going to have his head examined.