The first sound that we heard was a howl coming from the western tunnel. Wolf-like, but pained. Angry. The extended cry echoed around us as we positioned ourselves to respond to the threat.
“Awful place to fight,” Roxy complained, trying to find better footing on her edge of concrete.
With the paths split by the flowing sewage and moving room hindered by the curvature of the tunnel walls, we didn’t have much freedom to dance about. Blocking the river of sludge would cause problems further down the line, and retreating to the clearer southern path left us off-guard for the imminent attack.
A second howl followed the first, this one higher pitched. Ren had said there was a pack, so whatever creatures had sniffed us out were traveling in their own group. The elf pulled up an arrow at the ready, aiming toward the noise.
Third and then fourth scream called out in quick succession, closer. The chorus of yells echoed around us, blotting out any other sound lower on the register. I couldn’t even hear my chamber clack back and forth as I loaded in a different shell.
But… that was the point.
The elf let off her arrow as the realization hit me, but we were all focused on the magic projectile as it vanished into the darkness. A pained cry joined the multiple howls, but I turned away from the approaching carnage.
[Ambush. Roxy, Ren - west. Belle, Roy - north.]
I turned to the eastern tunnel behind me. Nothing but darkness that my flashlight couldn’t pierce. Overcharge crackled along my shotgun as I lifted it up. With a jolt of energy, I fired an Incendiary shot down the tunnel. It flew down like a firework, illuminating a small patch around itself before finally exploding.
The flames engulfed a large figure, casting bright light around the previously unseen target. Several other nightmare-inducing monsters crawled behind it - one of them spider-like and moving across the upper curve of the walls.
They were using the screaming to deafen and disorientate us so that the others could sneak up and catch us unaware.
I glanced behind me briefly and saw Belle fire off a shard of green energy down the northern tunnel, probably intending to seek out potential ambushers in the same way I had. I couldn’t see that direction to know if she was successful or not, but I had Clara sending information directly through my eyes, like a news feed.
Empty cartridge bounced straight into the flowing sewer water as I loaded in a Tazer shot and fired it at the mutant spider. The arcing electricity stunned it, but it remained in place. I gripped at the wall with my left hand as it felt as if the whole tunnel system was tilting up into the air - but it was just my inner ear playing up.
Ren had killed two, with three known targets moving in close to Roxy. Belle’s attack had struck an enlarged bull, causing it to fall and be a partial blockage for any monsters behind it. I racked the chamber and was thankful for the information. Now that we each had a camera, and Clara also had eyes behind me, I felt more comfortable about focusing on the problem before me.
I ran Reflex through my synapses, causing my heightened senses to burn through my loaded magazine at a faster rate. Six steel balls burst through the gathered mass of mutated animals before cracking against the walls or falling into the muck. I loaded a seventh just as the empowering ability sank away. A wave of exhaustion ran over me. Shotgun fired, bursting the bulbous brain of another creature.
My STAR scanned down the partially lit tunnel, the fur of the burning creature flickering and casting moving shadows along the walls. Several tags saying ‘deceased’ popped up around the mass of broken and bloodied monsters. No current signs of life. I turned back to the rest of the fighting.
Roxy slammed the wolf-like creature into the wall opposite, throwing it like a doll. It died with a heavy crack, its bones obliterated from the impact. Further down was a similar looking monster, hunched over and trying to back away, realizing that their ambush had failed. It was growling and baring long fangs, as well as sporting an arrow in its shoulder. A second arrow zipped down the tunnel and struck it straight between the eyes.
To the north, there was a brief flash of bright alternating blue and white light before Roy slid back into position. His gloves were steaming slightly, and the smell of burned flesh told me he was probably able to get through most of the stuck ambushers with little issue.
//Clara: Targets appear neutralized.
//Clara: Maintain caution.
I nodded and sighed. The problem had been dealt with rather easily, but it would have only taken a simple mistake for it to have gone much worse. Now I was already lagging behind.
“Somebody tell me that was all the pets Hydra had and it’ll be smooth sailing from now on,” Roy said.
Nobody dared. A few reluctant groans were the only response, our attentions turning to the corpses of what we had just destroyed.
“I was expecting… smaller.” Roxy hopped over the river to get a better look at the one she had pulped. “Mutated domestic pets, not… fully fledged monsters.”
Ren kept an eye on the eastern passage as we went to join the super. She was right. This didn’t look like someone’s lost dog whatsoever. Much closer to a werewolf, but wrong in ways. An impressionist version of the fabled creature. Still as violent and well-equipped to tear through the unexpecting, but this was a much bigger threat that the brief had let on.
[My concern is this is just the first wave. The chaff to overwhelm us, or dissuade intruders.]
“My concern is that you looked like you were going to pass out,” Belle interjected. “Do I need to babysit you already?”
I rolled my eyes. Not because she was wrong, but because I wanted to be right. I wanted to be alright. Still, I had nothing to prove to them.
[At this stage, I am fine. Should we find ourselves constantly ambushed or having to fight, then I will hand leadership over to Rockslide and take a back seat.]
//Clara: Parameters are slightly worrying, but workable.
//Clara: I agree with Gunquake’s proposition.
Belle nodded. “Good enough for me. Bonus points for catching the ambush before it happened, though.”
“Trouble with having good hearing is that it is easy to overwhelm.” Ren pulled a face and turned back to the corridor she was watching.
“Yeah, good job, Dubs.” Roxy looked up from the mashed corpse and smiled. “Quick on the organization and splitting powers. Kept your cool.”
[Save the glazing for the post-mission party. There’s a good chance our presence and intentions are known by the villain now. We’re switching to the spearhead formation going forward.]
Roxy looked like she was going to snap back, but bit her tongue. It was easy to slip into the casual familiarity we all had as friends, but I had to focus on business while we were working. She knew well enough that falling in line would keep the rest of the cats sufficiently herded, so did as I asked.
Spearhead was the super and Belle at the front. Her strength combined with the shielding powers made her able to weather any attack. I would be in the middle to offer support to either the front pair, or the back - who were mostly keeping an eye on our six, stopping any issues before they could disrupt Roxy’s warpath.
Of course, I mostly called for this formation because me being in the center was safer for my health. Roy could catch me if I fell, and the super could protect me from anything ahead with Belle’s assistance. Whether they understood that this was my thinking or not, they didn’t say anything. Without question, we arranged ourselves on either side of the sewage.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Roxy, me, and Ren on the left. Belle and Roy on the right. Not ideal, but hopefully temporary. While we walked, I thumbed in some fresh cartridges to my selectloader to keep it topped up.
I had considered running with Nerve shot alone, but had decided it was too risky. The changed animals weren’t sapient, and might be resistant to believing the imagined damaged the shells injected. Killing them outright with the solid steels spheres was a mercy. A thought solidified as we passed the corpses of the wolf pack.
Malformed body proportions. They looked diseased or rabid. Crimes aside, what the villain was doing was morally reprehensible. Repulsive. I wondered how much trouble I would get in for killing the villain outright.
//Dubs: Are you able to read my thoughts?
//Clara: No, Gunquake.
//Clara: To do that requires certain implants and additional cybernetics.
//Clara: I do not recommend that, as it introduces tech weaknesses to a very human part of you.
//Dubs: Okay.
//Dubs: I was thinking about murder.
The camera peeking over my left shoulder twisted, jabbing me in the side of the neck as if the techie was there to prod me in annoyance. I probably should keep things together after being so stoic with the team.
[There’s a service room coming up on the right. We’ll pause there to catch our breath.]
I wasn’t keen on taking a break, but it would help us all shake off any lingering nerves from the ambush. We had gotten through it with ease, but I could feel the tension eroding at the others - paranoia keeping them on edge. Not me, though. I was fine.
Our torches lit up the opening on the right, the wall fading back to reveal a flat platform that led to a closed door. No sign of it being tampered with, or any of that rough digging again.
The three of us on the left side waited on this part of the flowing muck while the other two walked out onto the flat area. It was a good twenty feet long and twelve deep, probably for storage or maintenance workers to fiddle with parts.
“Leaders first,” Roxy said, with only some minor sedition in her tone.
I narrowed my eyes, mentally planning who I was going to chew out for their mistakes once we got to debriefing. There was a sex joke in there that I was too tired to grasp hold of, much like my boot on the opposite side of the wide channel. I slipped slightly after my jump, wavering on the edge before Belle grabbed hold of my sleeve to keep me vertical.
“That counts,” she said. “One bottle, so far.”
[Thank you.]
As much as I had been hoping to win and get her help in training, I was glad to avoid the embarrassment of falling into the slop. Before she had stepped in, I had almost activated my legs. That would have done nothing but blown the boots off of my feet and sprayed everyone else with shitty water. Amusing, but unhelpful.
Roxy glared at me as she hopped across, while the Captain was waiting with his arms crossed.
“Say, Belle… you’d never use your powers to make us look silly, would you?”
She raised an eyebrow as she looked over at him. “Absolutely not. While minor mischief might sound delightful, His powers are… not an exact science. You’ve seen the damage I’ve inadvertently caused to our enemies.”
The accidents that her ‘acts of god’ magic caused ranged from small inconveniences to straight up death. As much as her patron seemed content to weave matters to our benefit, even Belle herself didn’t trust Him to not injure us if it came to it.
“Guess you’re just clumsy then, Dubs,” he replied, giving me a shrug.
[I’m certainly… something.]
I had already moved on from that conversation. Part of me had slid into old habits. Get in, secure the kill, bleed out on the way home. I’d cut that to-do list short - right before the killing part - and let the others ad-lib the rest. Right now, I wanted to see if this room offered anything to assist our mission.
[Door.]
Roxy took a few steps forward and kicked out, blowing the door straight off the hinges and into the room beyond. Through the brief cloud of dust, I fired a Nerve shot. After several seconds of silence, there didn’t appear to be anything untoward waiting for us.
Belle hit the super with a shield, and Roxy stepped into the room.
“Mostly junk and shit,” her voice came from within. “I mean - area secured.”
I wondered if Clara was prompting her to fall in line, or she was just remembering we were on the clock. All things told, I preferred our more casual spates of violence in the wastes. Being the leader was… fine. I was lucky the others respected and trusted me, otherwise this would be miserable.
While the others watching the tunnels, I joined the super in the small room. She hadn’t been sugarcoating her report. A few shelving units full of rusted tools. Chair and desk with a soldering kit covered in dust. On the wall above it was a calendar months out of date, above the grid showing the weeks the picture of a woman working on a car wearing way less safety gear than was optimal was fading away.
I pulled a cord and a lightbulb flickered into reluctant illumination. Beside it, a map of the sewer system. Tilting my head, it looked the same as the one I had in my STAR… aside from two small points. I pointed a finger at a junction that someone had drawn a cross through.
[We are meant to pass through here, but someone has marked it as inaccessible.]
“Huh?” Roxy stepped up beside me after glaring at the dusty items. “That could be over a year old, though. I have no idea when the last maintenance team was down here.”
//Clara: About a month before the first monster sightings.
//Clara: Which was three weeks ago.
This room looked a lot older than two months since its last use.
“If it is blocked, then that means rerouting through this passage.” She ran her finger along the tunnels. “Which is a detour, but better than having to double-back.”
[Do you think it would have been better to enter from the closer route?]
Her eyes lingered on me for a few seconds, before checking nobody was right by the door eavesdropping. “Honestly? No,” she whispered. “Missions are often not always about capturing the villain. You’re doing well.”
I nodded. Of course, everything had to be a trial, or training for something else. The longer route gave the team more time to experience fighting crime alongside each other under my leadership. Limit testing.
[This second point is near where Hydra is supposed to be. ‘Dangerous gases’.]
“In my opinion, that is either a ruse created by the mad doc to keep people away, or related to his experiments or work there.” She tilted her head. “Brief didn’t mention anything of it, so it’s either well contained or the danger has passed.”
It was almost a shame I had taken her position in the team. I enjoyed seeing her in her element, and the times she was actually into the job, she was efficient and savvy. As much as she leaned into the muscle-head trope, her experience couldn’t help but leak out when it was necessary.
[Understood. We’ll head to the detour and be wary of any gas as we approach the lair. Unfortunately, I am the only one well-equipped to deal with that.]
//Clara: Added to the shopping list.
//Roxy: Make sure you read my notes on that…
//Clara: Already taken into account, sister.
I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t seek an answer. The fact that she had said it in the chat of just us three made me think I should be in the loop, but I wasn’t. Minutes were burning away.
[Get everyone ready to move out.]
She gave me a firm nod, biting her tongue once again. As she left, I scooped a few things from the shelves into one of my pouches. Rusty nails. A screwdriver. Some wire bundle that looked as though it had spent too long submerged in water.
Stepping out with my treasures secured, the team was waiting for me to give the word to continue. It itched at old memories, which was probably half the reason I felt stifled down here. A test of my leadership was nothing. Fighting monsters and subduing a villain? Hardly an issue.
But getting over the feeling history was repeating itself, as I led a squad more loyal to me than their superiors… that was the actual test.
Self-imposed, probably. The League were tight-lipped on what they really knew about me, but there was a good reason the Directors were divided in how to handle me. At this stage, I wasn’t sure if it was my supporters or the detractors that would end up with egg on their face in the long run.
Well, probably something a lot more violent than egg.
We resumed our travel down the passages. The short pause had been enough for the group to shake off any lingering nerves over the potential beasts hiding in the shadows. Roy had even had time to try to weasel in on Belle’s wager with me in an attempt to win back the credits he had lost to Roxy.
At the junction, we took the turning rather than going toward the potential blockage. Clara had updated my map with the new route. It was a longer walk, which was… bad. Nobody would disagree that I had done well in even getting this far, but my brain was checking out. A huge leap in improvement over yesterday, but still not really built for running missions.
Or running in general.
“Looks like dry land ahead,” Roxy called from the front.
We each leaned to see, which mostly just resulted in our flashlights illuminating each other and not the way ahead. The super was right, however. The sewer channel ended up with a knee-high wall, a pipe from the surface coming down the left side and filling the foul river. Bubbles popped around the exit where fresh filth started this stream.
[Let’s get over to the right side, one by one.]
I wanted to gather my strength up, so that I didn’t look like an idiot again. A glance toward Ren at the back, and her focus was back down the tunnel.
[Are we being followed?]
She didn’t answer at first, but tilted her head back to look at me. Her blue-lensed goggles shimmered from our flashlights. “I… can’t tell. We should be, but I can’t hear anything.”
I raised my shotgun up and fired a Nerve shot down the tunnel. The fragments peppered the walls, covering most of the area in that direction into the darkness. Other than the sound of the pipe beside us flowing, silence followed.
“Even still… I’ll stay alert.”
I nodded and gestured for her to jump over first. Roxy was already on the higher walkway and lending a hand to Roy. As much as I wasn’t the best person to be last, I wanted them to be safe. Empty cartridge bounced off the wall beside me and landed in the river, as I loaded in a High Explosive shot.
“Are you coming, Dubs?”
Nothing had changed downstream, despite my trigger finger begging for it. I glanced back, and they were all up there now, Belle in the process being pulled up. Fine. I lowered my weapon and backed up against the curved wall to give myself a healthy step before leaping over.
I cooled my mind and readied myself. It was only a few feet - I could make that easily. Under the watchful eyes of my team, I stepped and jumped across. Easily enough power behind the jump, I’d accurately land straight onto the opposite ledge.
Or would have, if a hand didn’t burst up from the sewage stream and catch my leg mid-air.