Fortunately, the machine gun's bullets only did minor damage to the lab-boat's roof. It was easy for Senku to quickly fix it as you all sailed down the river the next day, on your way back to the Perceus.
"There's another science-user just like Senku on the other side of the world?!" Taiju asked as you and him joined Senku on the roof.
"So your theory was correct!" you told him. "The one about another scientist who revived on their own just like you."
"To me it was inevitable." Senku said. "Scientific knowledge is free for everyone around the world. Anyone can learn if they want to."
"So like..." you paused, thinking about that machine gun and still a bit shaken about it. "How did they get to that level of technology?" you pointed at the bullet marks and started to count the possibilities on your fingers. "They could have more people than us. Or they've been here way longer than us."
'But if that was the case, why would they waste their time inventing weapons?' you frowned. 'Killing animals? That'd be a tad much. Well...they are Americans.'
"Either way," Senku smiled. "their science is a teeny bit more advanced than ours. At least in terms of weaponry."
From his driver seat, Ryusui nodded.
"There's one more irrefutable fact:" he said. "this person is all too eager to see us dead."

"Is that the sound of an engine behind us?!" Ukyo suddenly exclaimed.
"Oh boy, they're at it again already?!" you said as you started to look around. "I don't see anything."
"Even with my eyesight I haven't spotted a thing." Kohaku said. "And we've been pulling away from them throughout the night. Nobody could catch up to us this quickly."
"But then..."
"Wait." you heard Ukyo. "That sound, it's..."
You didn't need him to finish his sentence. You noticed Senku looking up, his eyes wide open. You quickly followed his gaze and gasped. High in the sky moving steadily was a dark dot.
It was a plane. And it was coming down fast.

"Senku?" you looked at him, speaking with a little voice, but then you frowned. "Senku!"
He didn't respond. He seemed to be paralyzed, staring at the place with almost unblinking eyes, his mouth slightly open. Some would say it was shock, fear or this crushing feeling that you were fucked. But you knew him. You grabbed his shoulder and shook him a bit.
"You'll get your own toy later! What do we do?!"
"Right." he said before going on 'quick thinking' mode.
He took a flask, filled it with water from the river and mix it with calcium carbide, usually used as fuel for gas welding. Meanwhile, the plane flew right above the river and opened fire, you and your group were safe inside the lab, but the fighting team had to jump ship. Thankfully nothing was destroyed and only minor injuries were given. Finally, with the help of Kirisame's throwing skills, the chemistry formula was thrown into the plane's engine and busted it. Then the plane soon crashed somewhere in the forest.

You guys didn't waste any time and went to where it crashed.
"But what if they decide to come back with friends?!" Ginrou asked. "We'd better skedaddle while we can!"
"Run away?" Ryusui smiled weirdly.
"What are you saying?" Senku smiled in a similar fashion. "We're gonna do the opposite of that!"
"Oh boy." you sighed. "They both want the plane."
You reached it after a while, it was stuck in a big tree and looked only slightly busted. Kohaku climbed up there and did a quick search but found no one.
"Do you think whoever it was ran away?" she asked. "We could've interrogated them for some information."

"Oh well, looks like they left something behind." Senku said like nothing was wrong in the world.
"Indeed, finders keepers." Ryusui of course followed him on that.
You smiled and shook your head.
"You two are such kids."
"Well it's like you said." Senku smiled at you as Taiju started to chop the tree down, both to take the plane down and to then craft a platform to put it on so you could pull it with the boat. "I could get my own plane later."
"And later is now?"
"Kukuku! Exactly!" his cheeks turned a pinker shade, his smile grew larger. "The righteous kingdom of science is all too happy to accept this gift! We'll just have to refurbish it into a plane that fights for good!"
"Hahaha! We nab a bit on the enemy's firepower and make it our own!" Ryusui added. "What a fantastic strategy!"
You sighed again.
"I thought you'd be as excited as them (Y/n)-chan." Gen looked at you.
"I'm not that into it when that thing tried to kill us just a few hours ago."

Looking closer at the plane, you found corn leaves, which made sense because to properly land, it needs a landing strip that is an open, leveled nice and flat. And a corn field is the perfect fit!
Of course you couldn't all go scout out that mystery pilot, so Gen, Chrome and Kohaku went to pursue them and their HQ. A couple of hours later, you received a call from Chrome saying there has been a chance of plan.
"Got it, not another word!" Senku said before he could develop.
"Right, the enemy scientist could intercept our signal." Tsukasa said.
"And if they're as smart as Senku then there's a high probability of them knowing Japanese." you added.
"Respond as briefly as possible: what's the situation? Who is there?"
"Um, it's me, plus Koha-er the woman. Just us two."
Tsukasa stepped away from the mic.
"So either Gen was abducted, or he infiltrated by pretending to betray us."
"I bet it's the second one." you smiled. "He took a page out of my book."

With a smile, Senku hung up on them.
"Leaving it on for too long and they could pinpoint the signal's origin." he explained.
"Right, we don't know how advanced the enemy's techn really is..." Ukyo thought for a moment. "In most battles we've faced so far, science has given us the leg up. But this time, the enemy might have us beat in that department."
"Kukuku~! A science-user throw-down?" Senku smirked mischievously. "Now that's a reason to get excited."
Just as he said that, the phone rang again. Magma picked up.
"What's the big idea Chrome, you idiot?!" he asked. "You ain't supposed to call right ba-"
"Greetings." you felt your heart sink as you heard a stranger's voice. "I take it this is your preferred frequency for communication?"
You glanced at Senku, he had a grave look on his face. Magma laughed.

"Oh so you're the big bad guy?! You got guts you know?!" he was about to provoke him further but Nikki pushed him away.
"I apologize for my poor Japanese-language skills." the man said. "But alas, as this is a conversation unfit for troglodytes, I must ask to speak to your science team leader. But before I do that, there is one thing I must ask: is (Y/n) here?"
Everyone, including Senku, suddenly looked at you with big eyes. But you were as confused as them.

"You know him?" Senku quickly whispered.
You shook your head.
"Come on, you know a few Americans right?"
"A few yeah, but no science geniu-Wait." you grabbed his shoulder with a look of realization before turning towards the mic. "Xeno?!"
"(Y/n), what pleasure to hear your voice."
"Dude!" you quickly walked up to the mic with a large smile. "You're out of the stone! That's awesome! How did you know I was here?"
"While my soldier Stanley followed your group down the river, he heard you lead a little choir session. When he reported they were pirate chants, I had a feeling it was you."
"Holy shit, I still can't believe it's you! It's been so long!"
"Yes, a lot has happen, but we can talk about that late-."
Senku hung up before the two of you could speak more. He glared at you.

"What was that?"
"Right!" you pointed at him. "Long story short: that's the guy from NASA you used to be pen pal with!"
"...Dr X?" he paused. "How the hell does he know you?!"
"Yeah..." you scratched the back of your neck. "That's the long version of the story."
"Okay, time out!" Ryu exclaimed. "What is your and Senku's relationship with this man?"
"Okay so:" you said. "When we were kids, Senku wanted to build a rocket ship and he asked this guy at NASA for help. One thing to another they became pen pals." and you had to explain to some of them what NASA and pen pals were. "And so, when me and Senku became friends, I heard of this guy and I was like 'what do you mean Senku has a cooler friend than me?' So...I contacted him." you blushed. "And one thing to another, we also became pen pals." you wheezed, hiding your face with your hand. "I used to have a crush on him too!"
Ryu laughed.
"You truly are full of surprises!" he smiled.
"Seriously?!" Taiju exclaimed. "You had feelings for Senku's mentor?!"
"Yeah but that was just a middle-school crush. I just liked the idea of this hot American talking to me from overseas." you laughed at those childhood memories. "I got over it by the time I got to high-school."

"What did you even talked about?" Senku asked, a bit baffled.
"Oh you know, stuff. Music, science, life. Sometimes we would get pretty deep but that's about it. He's cool."
"He's the guy who shot us!" Ginrou exclaimed.
"I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding." the phone rang and you looked at Senku. "He still wanna talk to you by the way."
His eyes narrowed.
"We'll talk about this later." he pointed at you before picking up the call.

"I hope you weren't mean to her because we know each-other." Xeno said with the same calm voice. "It wouldn't be very elegant of you."
"I'm good don't worry." you said. "Just caught them off guard that's all."
"That's a relief. Now," he paused. "put on Dr. Taiju for me."
This time Taiju was the center of attention.
"Must be Gen's doing." Senku smiled.
"Ha!" Ryusui folded his arms. "He went and protected our actual science-user by propping our toughest guy as the leader."
"Say what?!" Taiju exclaimed. "Alright then, guess I'm tagging in for Senku!"
After a quick dress up montage, he came back dressed as a doctor, with a cute little fake mustache.
"Is the costume necessary?" Minami asked. "This is a phone call."
"To help him get into character." you said.
'I never revealed his name to Xeno. So it should be fine.'

With decisive steps, Taiju went up to the mic.
"Taiju here! That's DR. Taiju to you! So you're Dr. Xeno huh? Pay attention 'cuz I've got something to say to you!" he paused. "Shooting people with machine guns without warning isn't nice!"
'Well duh...' everybody thought.
"My apologies. Stanley thought the best greeting would be a demonstration of the chasm that lies between our respective levels of science." he paused. "Dr. Taiju, as a fellow science-pro yourself, you must have surely realized: we already possess a haber bosch plant."
Taiju froze.
"A haber thing...? That's awesome Dr. Xeno!"
"What is he talking about?" Nanami leaned towards Senku.
"A factory that makes ammonia." he explained. "In short: with just water and air they can produce unlimited gunpowder and ammunition!"
'But why would Xeno focus all this energy into creating weapons of all things?' you thought, suddenly feeling uneasy and not really wanting to know the answer.

"So that allows you to fire those machine guns all day long!" Taiju exclaimed. "Is that what you're saying?!"
"Then you get the gist Dr. Taiju."
"Who knew Taiju was such a performer?" Ukyo asked.
"We went to the same drama class." you said with a proud smile.

"We are a collective of professional adults." Xeno explained. "It's nothing like your ragtag band of merry youth playing with science. Now, I hope you'll surrender at once and serve me. Nothing more, nothing less."
Your eyes widen. What did he just say? That sounded too villain-like for your comfort. He continued.
"You see, our population is lacking."
You all looked at each-other. If they couldn't just revive some statues lying around, that means they don't know about the revival fluid!
"Only those who maintained consciousness while petrified for thousands of years can be revived with a dash of nitric acid. My people are the selected few who achieved that. But you are several dozens." by the sound of his voice, you could tell he was smirking. "And I scarcely believe all those youths are mental champions of the highest order. Tell me then, how did you revive all those statues?"

"Well-"
Ryusui grabbed Taiju's shoulder before he could say anything.
"The revival fluid is our sole advantage. We can't let them have it." he said with a grave voice. "These people shot first and asked questions later. If they learn the formula they'll create an army just to destroy us."
While they were talking, you were really confused about what Xeno's deal was.
"Yep." Senku nodded. "They'd already be making buckets of it if they knew the right recipe. The factory yields nitric acid, and the corn yields alcohol." he smirked. "But if we had it all to ourselves, we'll have corn city up and running in our hands, with enough revival fluid for millions! Get it?"
Taiju nodded and turned back to the mic.
"You're never getting the revival fluid! Request denied mister!"
"Very well. Negotiations have broken down then. What a shame."

Just then, you all heard the sound of an engine coming from outside. A group led by Tsukasa and Ryu left to check it out.
"By the way, (Y/n)-?"
"Xeno! What is this?! What's that about serving you?!" you exclaimed.
"Oh, sweet naive (Y/n)." you frowned. "I have a surprise for you, one second."
"Don't change the subject dude! You-"
You were cut off by a melody.
"An new instrument?" Magma asked. "Sounds weird."
Senku knew what it was, and by the look on your face, you recognized it too. You had the same expression he had when he saw that airplane. It sounded just as good as one from the modern days.
"A synthesizer..." you said in disbelief. "You made a synthesizer?!"
"A little side project I've been working on." Xeno said. "And I have much more. I hope I'll get to hear you play live for the first time. Now then, goodbye." and with that, he hung up.

You leaned back. Half mesmerized and half horrified.
"(Y/n), your friend here's an asshole." Magma said.
"What...He..." you sighed and ran a hand through your hair. "I figured he was a pretty shady dude. But I never expected him to do something like this."
'It's like he suddenly turned evil!'
"What's wrong (Y/n)?" Yuzuriha asked. "I thought you'd be super excited."
"You realized it too right?" Senku asked.
You exchanged a look. Senku seemed unfazed by this but it was clear you didn't like this situation. He turned towards the others and explained.
"They're a small group, if they get the revival fluid, the more people come, the more difficult it'll be to manage them as a group. We managed by ways of entertainment: mangas, ramen..." he glanced at you. "shows and music."
Yuzuriha gasped.
"So you mean...?"
"Xeno intends to lure (Y/n) in and use her to make his people more docile."
You pursued your lips.
'This is nothing like the Xeno I know.'

Just then, the group came back and explained that Stanley's plane was flying over them.
"This time, it's just scouting." Tsukasa said. "They won't try another risky low-altitude maneuver over the river."
"But now, our spears and arrows won't reach it!" Ginrou shook.
"How can we fight an airplane?!" Taiju asked. "Tell us Senku!"
"It just so happens we got a plane of our own."
"Right!" Kaseki laughed. "I'll fix it up in a jiffy! A machine like this makes me so fired up!"
"But how can our plane take off?" Ukyo asked. "Unlike the enemy, we don't have a airstrip."
"Then we gotta make one." he smiled widely. "It's aircraft carrier time! The Perceus is getting a total makeover!"
Everyone was dumbfounded except Ryusui, Kaseki and Senku who were cheering in excitement. You joined the hype of course, but your heart wasn't really in it this time. Xeno's words were still echoing in your brain.