Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- Stowaway

Wednesday 1. I have been suffering, the recovery has not been an experience I'd ever want to repeat again in my life. Everything was fuzzy, aching, shivering and feverish, but hey, both of the toxic twins has been dealt with, thanks to my final efforts of the mission. Plus it did get me out of the last of the packing, though I think I did slow down the process somewhat between the four of them making sure I was okay. Still, it was Wednesday morning, we were packed, I was doing mostly better and I was already sick of chicken noodle soup so it was time to go, or almost. There was still, of course, the pressing matter of Selma.

"If you're not feeling up to it, we can wait, you know." Eva softly explained, but I was already in diving gear and I was hoping that if salty sea air could help the ill, the water itself couldn't hurt.
"I'll be fine, don't worry!" I reassured, doing a far better job of sounding chipper than I was. Eva looked at me dubiously, but my winning smile must have been convincing enough, and she gave me the go ahead to dive.

The process was much like last time; though this time we were using chum as a lure instead of my arm. Selma played her part beautifully, going for the food in the harness, and all in all it was a painless process. Back on the boat, back in my normal outfit, everyone was fairly anxious to get going. A fair crowd had gathered to watch us go; just like when we had arrived, really. The ship set off from port as we waved the crowd off. We didn't hear anything from our captain until we were fairly into the sea.
"This is Captain Eva speaking, we are on a direct course home, with one drop-off for Selma along the way. Make sure to do your duties, and I'll see you all again at shore! Oh, and whichever of you picked up a novelty traditional parasol from the shop, and I'm not naming names, could you please pick it up from outside my quarters?"
All heads turned in one team-member's direction; Randy pleaded his innocence.
"I swear I didn't!"
Then, everybody else got back to work, as Lucy practically dragged me back to my quarters to continue resting.

I spent the next couple of hours between Seth in my room and working on the other cryptids. I was just tending to Alexis when the alarm went off. Two actually, within five seconds of each other. The full team of five all met up on deck, and clearly Sid, Lucy and Randy all had something to say.
"Something jimmied the lock on a crate; the Yeti's out on the ship somewhere." Sid began first, lowering my spirits intensely.
"Same here, Deerman's out." Lucy confirmed, nodding.
"Mantis Man's out too." Randy added, a little sheepishly. "But there were already two alarms so I was really hoping you had the situation under control?"
"Great." I sourly responded, masking my nerves with sarcasm. "Throw in Sid and Randy, and we'd have a half decent rugby team."
Eva didn't talk for a few seconds, but we saw the gears turning in her head, before she launched into full-on planning mode.

"Three cryptids are out that we know of; Yeti, Deerman and Mantis. Exo, Lucy, Randy, you make sure all the other cryptids are secure. Take the headsets and check on the Basilisk and Cockatrice; they're fully charged but we don't have enough power to run the full external viewing system here. Then, go to storage and grab the tranquilliser guns and the orange paintball guns; I bought those before we left the city for any future camouflage cryptids. Head to cold storage, see if the Yeti's there. Then, take it room by room for the others. If you feel like you're not alone in a room, spray and pray with the paintballs; I'll worry about the cleanup. While they're doing that, Sid, you set up some Ankle Danglers. Make sure you mark them very carefully, for Exo's sake."
She said 'very carefully' slowly, as if talking to a child; I was too much in mission mode to feel offended. We had cryptids to reclaim, so after a short stop at my room for the team's official mantis tracker, it was time to go.

It was a very tense, and fairly slow going trip even just to get back to the Basilisk and Cockatrice storage again. I wouldn't have been chuffed to come back face to face with the two, especially in this condition, but fortunately Randy volunteered in my place. I awaited for their response with baited breath.
"Both secure, neither are out." Randy responded, with a thumbs up. I sighed deeply enough to feel it in my ribs. The last thing I wanted right now was to deal with those two. Seth was still, so I doubted the Mantis Man was in with us. We were safe, for now. Sadly, it was our job to throw ourselves into danger and dance a little jig, so we moved on quickly in the direction of storage.