I exhaled as I wiped the blood off of my gun barrel.
“You’re an expert, huh?” Roxy’s chide tone reflected the dull expression she was giving me. Her arms were crossed, and she seemed to actually want a response to that question.
[We spoke and matters were resolved. I consider that a success.]
I looked over at the two moleperson corpses. While the holes I had put through them made having an extended discussion difficult, the fact that there was a language barrier and they chose to see us as a threat put a tight conclusion on my diplomacy attempt.
She shook her head as the others caught us up. “I thought you had a language understanding spell?”
I gave her a shrug.
[I’m not entirely sure how I can cast that one. For written words it comes more innately, but spoken… I just couldn’t find the right connection.]
It made me wonder if the Government was really here or not if the standard language wasn’t easily known. Maybe they had translators, or it was only certain individuals in the underground city that dealt with any officials visiting.
There was no use speculating. As soon as the left side guard had decided to try to claw the words straight from my skull, I made our intentions crystal clear. Self defense; I was willing to believe it.
“Alright, gang.” She turned to face the others. “It’s unlikely we will be welcomed with open arms, but we’re only fighting armed and aggressive occupants. No detours away from finding this artefact. If we get split up, then keep comms active. Stay safe. Understood?”
We did understand. It was enough for us to get started, and after a last-minute gear check, we moved into the darkness of the building’s ground floor.
Crates and stacked construction materials ran around the hole that burrowed down into the ground. It was rather wide—easily twice that of the one at the pyramid. Enough for a vehicle to travel down. I raised an eyebrow as Ren kneeled down and ran a finger across the ground.
“Beasts of burden,” she noted. “The underground must be quite extensive to require a delivery or trade route.”
I had been acting under the impression that it was most likely some kind of city, but I could be wrong. A place holding a powerful artefact must have a certain amount of strength to it, and longevity meant growth over time. We also knew the chance of us getting split up was high. Not only for the pragmatic reason of finding the item we were here for, but it sounded realistic when fighting through unknown tunnels. If it was just tunnels, anyway. It could be a large underground space, like a cavern.
Those thoughts seemed to hit a dead end just as we did. The short slope led down into a brickwork area, close to thirty feet square.
“Odd,” Ren mentioned. “The tracks seem to stop right in the middle of this room here.”
Belle and I looked at each other, a sudden feeling that only we could recognize that didn’t leave us any time to speak. The wide surprise in her eyes told me enough. A sudden flash of magic that I felt through my bones before a light blinded me.
By the time my eyes refocused, I was no longer in the large square room. Instead, I was somewhere alone, in what looked suspiciously like a prison cell. Three walls of thick brickwork around me while the doorway ahead was reinforced metal.
If the magic teleportation had put Roxy in a similar cell, the molepeople were fucked.
//Clara: Team has been scattered.
//Clara: Imprisoned. I am nearest to Wren.
//Rockslide: I’ll try to get to you all.
//Captain Snaps: Not my first jailbreak. Will keep updated.
//Gunquake: Reconvene where possible.
//Little Wren: Understood.
No response from Belle. I ran my hand across the doorway. It wasn’t just decently thick metal—but there was also a magical seal on it. I furrowed my brow and waved my hand, casting Dispel. As a warm feeling rose up my torso, I felt the thread of power cut and the seal was broken. Didn’t really help with the physical side of my containment, but where there was a will, there was a way.
Depending how smart those who constructed the cells were, getting the door popped open might not be too easy. Those who knew what they were doing would have built the brickwork up around a metal frame. Otherwise, the metal door wouldn’t be much of an issue. I just had to blow the wall beside the frame out.
I paused as I thumbed for my plastic explosives. There was a sound outside my cell. Overcharge hummed into life as I raised my gun-arm up, ready. A shake of keys and then the door clunked, the lock disengaged. I held my breath as it opened slowly.
[Belle?]
It was an easy enough guess, even ignoring the recognizable silhouette of her robes, the glowing green eyes made my question more of a formality. The bolt lodged in her shoulder and blood flecked across her grimace wasn’t something I had expected.
“His will requires you to be free, Gunquake,” she said, with a little less fervor than usual.
I nodded and stepped out of the cell. Two dead molepeople lay on the floor. One of which had a bolt through their forehead. Clara also hovered nearby, the impassive drone somehow looking relieved to see me. Maybe I was projecting.
[Impressive. You escaped and killed two of our captors.]
“I think we both know that He does most of the heavy lifting.” She grunted as she pulled the bolt from her shoulder, blood soaking through her uniform before healing sealed up the wound. “He seems to find it amusing when our opponents have little accidents. A luck vacuum that often ends poorly for those I hit with the newly learned spell.”
[Drains more of your power the more you tip the scales, however?]
Belle sighed. “Correct. The second bolt almost struck me in the head, but just missed. Ended up ricocheting between two other cell doors before impaling the one who had shot at me. Exhausting.”
[The others?]
//Clara: There seems to be several holding areas.
//Clara: I have met up with Gunquake and Belle.
//Little Wren: I’m here with Roy, no sign of Roxy.
//Rockslide: bc
‘BC’ meant too busy for comms. No doubt she was tearing the place apart somewhere else.
[We’ll need to reconvene when possible. For now, let’s head out and find this artefact.]
I looked down the corridor. Six doors, all open now. The end opened up to a larger room, which was pulsing with light. An alarm, my brain told me, right before the sound of a siren began.
“The good news is,” Belle said, stepping up beside me, “any non-combatants should stay out of our way now.”
That was possibly true. It looked as though the molepeople were armed with a high-velocity crossbow type weapon. Out of the three groups we had been split into, ours was probably the most vulnerable to that kind of attack - but Belle’s protective shields should alleviate some of the problem.
[That magic, though…]
She nodded. “Not something simple or familiar. One of us should be able to pick up on the thread of it once we get closer.”
It hadn’t been quite the same as the old magic from the pyramid, but it was strange. Perhaps a different manner in which the energy was generated, and although neither of us wanted to say it - that sounded like that could be what we were looking for.
//Clara: Figures on approach. I will stay back.
I held my arm out; the Overcharge running back up to full strength again as Belle put a shield over the both of us. While I’d be content enough to puncture my way through any resistance in search of this artefact, in the back of my mind I still held the message sent from Silhouette.
If the World Government was here, they’d be on alert with the ruckus we were causing. Even though they weren’t likely to have any sort of connection to my past… the potential link itched inside my skull. I needed to root them out.
As soon as a shadow washed across the doorway, I fired.
The metal sphere burst through the neck of the first moleperson, their shot bouncing across the wall and into one of the opened cells. Behind them, a second guard illuminated in green before they caught the falling one I’d shot, both of them collapsing to the ground. While he squirmed beneath the weight of the freshly made corpse, I stepped through and put a steel ball through their head.
We were now in a more open area that had a balcony running across a second floor. More cells. A light on the wall pulsed a deep red hue, fading in and out alongside the harsh wail of the alarm.
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[I hate alarms.]
There was a staircase up to the second floor, over to the left, and the exit was to the right. Rather than funnel more guards in this way, it looked as though they had barricaded the door—something even sturdier looking than my cell door had been. This courtyard-styled area was mostly empty aside from a couple of benches for dining.
//Clara: The others aren’t in this area.
While being able to teleport intruders directly into jail sounded like a useful trick, without disarming or disabling the detainees, they were asking for trouble. That happened to be our name today.
[We need to get out of here.]
Belle nodded. “I need to meet the others to support and heal them.”
Other than evasion, the pairing of Ren and Roy wasn’t that durable. One of these high-powered bolts could do some serious damage to them. Still… they were on a B-Rank team. Natural Disasters needed heroes that could burn through their limits and survive all odds. I wasn’t going to put them in danger on purpose, but I fully trusted them to be self sufficient until we met back up.
I bent down to pick up one of the bolts from the dead moleperson and slipped it into my belt before waving away the spell on the outer door. The warmth radiating through my insides told me that I’d be lucky to get one more painless cast off. I needed to recharge.
Not quite the stealth and ambush type of combat I was used to, but it had streaks of my hitman life to it. A couple of extras behind me to be wary of, but an unknown amount of hostiles ahead eager for me to put a few holes in them. I ejected the metal ball out of the chamber and loaded in a High Explosive cartridge.
“Just one second, Gunquake.”
I turned my head as the shielder stepped up to me. Her hand was glowing green, and she touched the back of my metal elbow. The color drained from her and swirled down my barrel, remaining as a slight sheen down the length of my shotgun.
[Oh? So full of surprises.]
She gave me a strained smile. “I have a lot to discuss with you, but that’s for when we aren’t in deep shit.”
[Understood. I can go with the flow.]
The drone flew up to the second floor to check for danger as I stepped over to the door. It made sense to see if it was already open before I started putting dents in the masonry. Sometimes the simplest options were the correct ones. My left hand grabbed at the handle and I was briefly surprised that it turned.
Then I was further shocked as it flung open toward me, knocking me back as a moleperson charged through. They were taller and wider than all the others I had seen before. Instead of a crossbow, they had a large fist weapon. Like the Captain’s gauntlets, except spiked and pure metal. Belle’s shield flickered and hissed as the large guard carried me across the room with their charge.
I slammed against the wall, some air leaving my lungs as their bladed fist cut into me. Couldn’t bring up my shotgun against the press of their body, so I shot into their foot. The HE Shell completely shredded through their boot, blasting even through into the concrete floor. Rather than back away in pain, he growled and bit into my neck with his fangs. It wasn’t enough to break through the shield and my cybernetics.
Left hand came up to push him away, pressing into his neck.
//Clara: More coming to the door.
There wasn’t time for this. Belle wouldn’t be able to hold off on her own. Even as she dabbled into new powers, she was still support. But I…
I was a killer.
Knife sprung from my gauntlet, and the moleman lurched backward as the blade nicked at his neck. Fist drew out of my side, swinging back so that he could pummel me. The green glow of his shattered foot faded away as he slipped on the pulped limb, struggling to gain his stability instead.
That was enough time for me.
Gun-arm came up, a second HE shot blowing a hole in his chest. Staggered but still not dead thanks to his armor. Rappel shot from my extended arm, landing in the wound I had just caused. As Reflex blew through my synapses, the foam expanded inside their ribcage, crushing their lungs and heart. Chamber clacked back and forth, ejecting the empty shell as it loaded a Smoke in—the shot blooming across the doorway even as the taller guard slumped over.
Metal ball followed in through the gray cloud before my synapses cooled down. I let the grapple sink away from the melting foam to reconnect to my gauntlet and strode forward. Belle hit me with some more healing, and renewed her shield—but I hardly made note of it. It was time for me to be back at peak Gunquake.
Into the smoke and I could see the confused outline of a moleperson, unsure if they should try to push through. Sphere of solid steel gave them an answer. Short and to the point.
I stepped out into a new corridor, into further rooms of the prison. A wider door to the right promised an exit. If they had several different holding pens, the city itself must be pretty large. Belle and Clara came out of the smoke behind me as I stepped over to the wide metal exit.
This one didn’t have a magical seal over it. I could imagine why that would be, so I took a grenade off of my vest as I pushed the door open.
Five mole people crouched behind waist-high cover let loose their bolts. The Flash in my hand went off. My ears buzzed and rang, but I managed to keep my vision mostly functional. Grapple to the face of one as a metal ball burst into the skull of another. I was striding toward them as they tried to shake the blinding light from their eyes.
I hopped over the barricade and lashed out with my barrel, catching one in the neck. Overcharge burned through my V-Force drive and put a ball through the last two in one blast.
After standing back up, I realized I had taken a couple of shots. Three bolts protruded from my chest. Not very deep wounds, so no damage any of my organs, but the time that I got some better armor couldn’t come soon enough. I held my gun-arm out. There was no immediate threat in this chamber, I just…
There was a half-formed thought there. A memory of doing… something. I lowered my arm again, not really sure where I was going with that. Instead, I turned as the other two walked in. Belle placed a hand on my chest as she pulled the bolts out of me with the other, her healing transferring over as my own warmed up.
“You’re acting a little reckless, Dubs. Are you worried?” She raised an eyebrow as she removed her hand, some of the green glow fading from her eyes.
I grunted as I looked around this new room. That wasn’t quite the accurate take on my current feelings. Plus, I was annoyed that all of these spaces looked the same. Not that I expected a map to point us toward the artefact, but the prospect of being lost and stuck underground…
[Previously, I was under the mistaken assumption that I did not deserve friends or love. So I put my life on the line unnecessarily, leaving it to fate to decide what kind of karma I deserved. Although I have realized the error of that line of thinking-]
“Now that we’re all serparated, you feel you need to win us back in the same way.” Belle shook her head. “That’s not something you have to fight for anymore. Come on, the squad needs us.”
I nodded. It wasn’t exactly my ego getting in the way. Dashing myself against the enemy to get back to Roxy was a little short-sighted. Even if she couldn’t be mad at me now as I body-blocked sharp projectiles, turning up to where she was looking like a pincushion wasn’t likely to garner any sympathy.
As we walked across the room, I slid the previously acquired bolt down my barrel, my eyes going up in my lens as messages came through.
//Captain Snaps: They have us pinned down.
//Captain Snaps: We have cover, but there’s too much suppressing fire to move.
//PHG Belle: Ren, try to put as much energy into your bow as possible.
//Little Wren: Understood.
“Here, Dubs, hold my hand.” Belle held hers out, and I did as she asked.
The defensive hero closed her eyes, trying to focus. She was using me as an additional conduit for her Detect Magic, hoping to pick out Ren’s artefact. Given that we were somewhat familiar with it, it helped to recognize the thread of magic amongst everything else going on in this place.
“They aren’t too far,” she said, opening her eyes once more. “I’ll guide you.”
The door flung open and the moleperson taking their chance received the bolt to the face. Beyond them was noise. Shapes and light that hinted something I was hoping for, yet was entirely unprepared to meet.
Stepping into the doorway, I looked out into the city proper. Buildings made of gray brickwork spanned a large distance. All roughly square in shape with sharp edges, but differing in height. For a moment I thought we might be outside again, before a glance up showed an overarching ceiling, illuminated at the apex by a glowing orb of light—a faux sun. There must be miles of this city around us.
“Swing to the right,” Belle instructed me.
Clara went up into the air to survey the area as we slunk into an alleyway across the street.
//Clara: Reinforcements as still gathering a distance away.
//Clara: We should avoid them as we travel to the others.
//Dubs: Go find Ren and Roy. You can guide us more accurately.
//Clara: Confirmed.
I watched as the drone zipped off in the direction Belle had been pointing us. We continued through the passageway, an odd earthy smell filling my re-breather. It looked as though whatever manner of plumbing must link up out through into this alleyway. Grating in the brickwork every so often. Luckily for us, the buildings on either side of us had no windows at this level.
It didn’t make the constantly blaring alarm any less ear-shattering, however. Something that was exhausting my waking mind.
//Clara: Located them.
//Clara: Cross the next street, then head to the rooftops.
//Clara: The enemy has the high ground and heavy weapons.
As we stopped at the mouth of the alleyway, I crouched down and peered up and down the street. Assuming the molepeople had a civilian class, it looked as though the alarm had the benefit of keeping them inside the buildings. This row looked mostly residential, although there were a couple of structures that could be shops. I could see patrols down the far left side that looked as though they were heading toward our prison, which meant they’d probably check this alley once we were found to be missing.
It was clear. We ran across into the opposite alley, and I turned to look up at the tallest building to my right.
“I really need a traversal skill,” Belle murmured as she clung onto me.
Grapple went out and stuck to the roof just over the edge of the building. Wire tightened and then started to pull us up. Walking up the building with no free hands and someone hanging on me wasn’t exactly easy, but a decent workout for my legs and core. After Belle hopped off of me, I rolled onto the roof and retracted the end of the grapple from the melting foam.
//Clara: Head across the rooftops northeast, you’ll see them shortly.
While the hero hadn’t been a fan of having to use me as an elevator, she was even less enthused about having to leap from building to building. She was capable, of course. To say she was the least athletic out of all of us would be a disservice, as she could keep up with those of us with actual super powers with little issue.
Her robes weren’t exactly made for gymnastics, however.
“Redesign can’t come soon enough,” she grumbled, wiping the dust from her knees after our fifth jump.
If anything, I was going to wonder why there weren’t molepeople up on the rooftops. Of course, I could see now that I was only half correct about that—and the courtyard where the others were stuck was quite the chokepoint. We kept low by the edge of our current placement to avoid detection, the focus of our opponents solely on our two squadmates.
A dead end indeed. The wide road ended with a couple of thick stone half-walls that the two heroes were currently pinned behind. Dozens of bolts littered the area, lines in the stonework around the pair scratched as the molepeople tried to keep them in place. Not only was there a handful of guards at the ground level, but a metal bridge ran over between two of the buildings, allowing them to fully block off this area.
On this bridge were a handful of our opponents, and wheeled weapon that looked like a large repeating version of their crossbow. The barrel of it spun patiently, waiting for the superheroes to make a break for it. Perhaps more dangerous than that, was a group of molepeople attempting to flank the pair by hopping over the rooftops opposite to us.
//Dubs: Go find Roxy, we’ll be fine.
//Clara: Understood.
“I can put the dome up over them,” Belle whispered, “but you’ll have to do the rest.” She placed a hand on my gun-arm, giving it that green sheen again.
My eyes went over to the metal bridge.
[Don’t worry. I’m ready to get dug in.]