Chapter XXX
Undercover
The blue particles led Adria into a tunnel that connected with other underlevels. It took a while, but she reached the twenty- third one, where she exited Negativus across an inverted well. Instead of holding water, it generated ingravitas pulses that threw Dictadurians out like cannonballs back to the surface.
She landed outside on a rock hill, at least a mile away from the nearest line of blocks; Dicterium was a far. Adria did not know where the tracker was taking her.
Standing there, she could feel a tiny tingle of Vis that her body could perceive from Malkuth’s natural satellite. Since her xtracter shot, her body hadn’t been able to sense that energy as it was felt and nurtured throughout the rest of the world.
Adria followed those particles through the edge of the city for half an hour. After a while, at the edge of a plateau, she reached a barrier protecting a guarded section of blocks, a part of Dictaduria she knew little about. It was marked with massive H's.
As a general rule, Dictadurians from H section were not to be trusted. A concrete wall twenty-five feet tall surrounded it, cornering it against a mountain range; she saw a label with orange letters, ‘HA1A1-HZ12Z-124’ painted next to an enormous iron door guarded by sentinels. It was safe to peek from uphill. Adria expected the particles to go around, but they flew downhill towards that part of town.
“Ah, furka!” the Dictadurian was afraid of what followed.
Once close enough to the barrier, she activated her ingraviboots. Why would Corven be there? The H section was only for Evantias and Umbras.
Adria ran, aiming for the top of that structure. She activated the full capacity of her boots as she jumped and levitated her body straight into the metallic wall. The slowdown allowed her to study the surface she was about to land on, a parapet walk, gray and flat. Two sentinels were close by in a battlement; they wore metallic dark red uniforms that reflected the light coming from the torches on those walls. She aimed right before tackling them with her cane; the sentinels turned, taken by surprise. Their bodies landed, heads on the ground, knocking them both out.
That neighborhood was more refined than those she frequented; it was for a higher class than hers. The layout was better. There was greenery, streetlights, and even trashcans and air filters, unlike her street, which lacked any. She had to be careful and use her stealth mastery as shadows became her best ally once more.
Adria did her absolute best; sprinting towards the darkest corners of that section. Avoiding the sentinels patrolling it was challenging. The streets and even alleys were thoroughly illuminated. After a few minutes of slithering through corners, she realized the tracker was taking her closer to the mountain at the edge of the H section. Frustrated, she tapped on her ingraviboots and jumped onto the rooftop of the closest block.
A cloudy moonlight gave her enough visibility as she followed a straight line through rooftops, jumping from one to another like a cat. The path towards Corven was clear; the particles pointed at the end of that gray sea of high class blocks. Adria knew he was alive thanks to the palpitating beat from the stain on her fingers. The dried liquid from the crystaphere emulated his heartbeat while hers raced. It was becoming clear that umbras had captured him.
Her coat waved as she jumped through the roofs, defying the laws of gravity. A few minutes later, modulating her weight, the Dictadurian landed in the closest area to the mountain. She had repeated the action at least fifty times. It wasn’t her first rodeo; she enjoyed the adrenaline high.
The H section’s air quality was cleaner than the majority of Dictaduria, perhaps just as good as A to C sections.
The blue particles guided her up into the rocks and, as Adria suspected, deep onto that mountain. She noticed an entrance a hundred meters higher into the stone wall. It could only be accessed with levitators or particular tech, like the ingraviboots she wore.
The Dictadurian couldn’t get enough of herself for buying that pair, jumping once again, modulating her gravity, and using her boots to their full of it’s capacity felt worthy enough for the price. One jump after another, she got close to the mouth of that cave. Adria approached it in silence, unsure of what to expect. The only light source came from outside, silent and dark.
She extracted a container with eye drops from one of her pockets, opened it, and dropped a couple into each eye. It burned, and she had to keep them open for them to work; five seconds and a few tears later, Adria could see without a problem.
The cave turned bright as if sunlight was outside; she saw the architecture of the Dictadurian-made hideout with great detail, somewhat rustic, built by hand or industrial machines. Adria suspected Corven was being held captive inside, the most reasonable scenario. He couldn’t have gotten there by himself.
She tried to focus on what could be heard, which was not a lot. The cave was mute, except for the echoing of her steps. The glowing particles led her until a person’s voice emerged further into the tunnel. With stealth, she got closer to the noise source, the natural tunnel curved to the left, and Adria peeked around. It was blocked by a thick, metallic door where a tall woman stood guard, an umbra.
The curvature twenty meters away was enough to hide; there, Adria meditated on her next move. Her assortment of tactics and abilities didn’t require direct confrontation; she knew her limitations and had learned to play around them.
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It didn't take long for her to devise a plan; determined to find Corven, she removed the safety strap from the brand-new cane hanging on her back. From another pocket, she brought a dark case and an yellow crystaphere from it, took a couple of deep breaths, and prepared to act.
Adria walked straight to the guard, who looked at her with sinister eyes.
"What are you doing here?" The woman towered over her, clad in brown clothes and a leather jacket.
Adria stepped closer with an air of nonchalance. "I'm Elia; I'm supposed to deliver an order for Meida," she said, feigning curiosity about the shape of the rocks in the tunnel.
"What do you have?" The umbra took the bait.
"Can't say. She's the one who knows. I'm just carrying the package, and it comes from Spheneus. Can you call her?"
"I will take it and give it to Meida; where do I sign?" The guard ignored her question, reaching out a hand.
"Can't do; the recipient has to take the package herself and sign."
"I’ll sign for her, just give it to me!"
"I can't. It has to be Ms. Meida," Adria insisted, unwilling to yield.
"Why can't I take it?" The umbra grew angry.
"It's against our store policies," Adria replied truthfully. She didn't work for Spheneus but knew their procedures well enough. This only irritated the umbra further.
"Look, sister, you can take your policy and shove it up your furkan ass; only umbras and allies can come in," she snapped, advancing towards her.
"Call her, please. Why is this so hard?" Adria could smell the liquor on her breath.
"You don't seem to understand where you are or who you're talking to; leave now, or learn why you shouldn't cross an umbra," the woman said with contempt.
"I have no clue who you are. I'm here to deliver a package for Meida; why are you making this so difficult? I'm just doing my job!" Adria's defiance irritated her further.
"I'm Ghara," she declared, moving closer. "Watch your words, or things could get ugly, ass face."
Adria looked up with defiance. "Well, Ghara, if you don't fetch Meida, she won't receive her package and will surely be upset about it," she said, palpating her bag and staring down the umbra. "I won't fail my boss and get fired because of you! Please be rational. I need to make my delivery."
Ghara closed the distance in one step. "I couldn't care less about your problems; nothing gets delivered here. I could shatter your face into a million pieces; you do realize that, right?" She took a deep breath, clenching her fists. “How did you get here?”
“With my ingraviboots! They’re great for the job, look!”
"Wait," the guard turnd and pulled out a bronze button attached to a black square key from her pocket and pressed it. "Hey, Abrante, is Meida around?"
Adria knew she had made progress when the guard waited for an answer to her question through the device.
"She left earlier and hasn't been back since; why?" A manly voice responded.
"There's a package from Spheneus. It's for her." Ghara stared at Adria with disdain.
After a brief pause, Abrante replied, "Furkana! Meida knows she can't have anything delivered here! Tell the Spheneus representative to go to her block; they will only hand it over to her."
"Did you hear that, Elia?" Ghara looked down at her with a mocking smile.
Adria should have concocted a better lie. Caught between nervousness and anxiety, she made a choice.
With a boost from her ingraviboots, she leaped towards Ghara; her knee collided with the woman's chin, breaking her teeth. As Adria ascended, she threw the yellow crystaphere at her adversaries' feet, flipped around, landed on the rock ceiling, and used it to propel herself back. Her crystaphere exploded beneath the umbra, who was half knocked out by the previous hit. Her entire body was electrified and paralyzed by a discharge from the yellow shards of crystal.
Adria landed next to Ghara; she observed her fierce eyes tracking every move without the ability to react, stuck in the same position she was in when the crystaphere immobilized her. It was an odd pose that stripped the guard of her intimidating presence, rendering her somewhat ridiculous.
"I was hoping you would let me in, that was a good job for Gorbat, that’ll get points for loyalty," Adria said as Ghara looked at her with seething hatred, trapped in an electromagnetic shock. "You won't be able to speak or move for six hours."
She approached the immobilized umbra fearlessly, her right hand searching Ghara's pockets. She retrieved the bronze transponder from the left one. The dark square key, attached by a key chain, was now in her possession. "I'm leaving now; just be aware that one last shock will knock you out if you try to move, and you'll forget all about this."
The bunker door opened when she placed the key against it. She deactivated her boots and stepped inside, following the scattering particles. Five seconds later, the snap of an electric discharge was sent to the umbra, sending shivers down her spine. Ghara had moved, resulting in her body collapsing to the ground, inert.
The inside of the bunker was illuminated by incandescent bulbs. With the eye drops taking effect. She ventured into one on the left. It seemed deserted. The pulsating beat of Corven's heart rate decelerated as the absence of people unsettled Adria. Where was everyone?
After a few minutes walking on a large hallway, she found a spiral staircase and sprinted upstairs. The dictadurian scrutinized the hideout in detail; it featured a series tunnels and bifurcations branching from the spiral staircase connecting the insides of the mountain.
Some floors we're open and empty while others where tight and full of walls. The blue dust kept guiding her upwards, to the seventh floor, where a circular hall with nine arches around it awaited. A trail of blood, marked with leftover slime from the tracker, glimmered at the center, a chain with handcuffs right above it was enough to understand what had happened. Corven had been tortured there.
The particles directed her towards a tunnel on the left; as Adria approached, metal doors slammed shut across all the arches.
****
That's it for Chapter XXX!
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