She could see the swaths of blackbirds flying above, too high in the sky to indicate that they would be diving.

"So, where are we going?" she asked the one next to her.

"You'll see, just gimme a moment."

He glanced around, almost like he was making sure that there was no one watching.

And with a flick of his hand, the red aura began to stretch out from his body in a sort of long red tendril.

It's smoky form slid down from his clothes, which seemed to look different then when she last saw him.

A very non-descript black shirt and some gray slacks.

Slightly tattered from whatever he had done previously.

His hair was a messy black mop.

His eyes looked tired.

He had very pale skin.

Despite that there was a calmness to him that offset his ragged appearance.

He made another small motion with his hand, as the sound of something metallic being ripped from the concrete could be heard.

The sound itself grated on her ears, she wrenched her eyes shut as she heard it.

Though in opening them again, they shot wide open.

Floating in the air, tethered by that long tendril of Red Aura, was a manhole cover.

Slightly bent from the force of being ripped out of the ground.

"What-"

She was stunned, something like this would be physically impossible yet there it was.

"First of all, how? Secondly, why?"

"This is the quickest path to where we need to go."

"And I assume that if we take our time trying to pry it off with our hands, we'll have an easier chance of getting caught."

She stood there, still dumbfounded at what she was seeing.

"Are you coming or are you just gonna keep staring?"

"Uh... Yeah, sure."

As she came closer, she looked down from where they were to the ground below.

There was a large hole in the asphalt of the alleyway.

Chunks of it riddled the road below.

"So, how do we get down?"

"Just jump." He said as braced himself.

"I'm sorry.... WHAT?"

"Your body will survive the fall, it should be stronger than that of an ordinary person."

She wanted to say something in rebuke, but her mind couldn't quite come up with anything, focused as it was on the height of the fall.

"If you aren't gonna do it then I'll take you with me."

"Hold o-" Before she could finish, he took hold of her arm and dove.

She couldn't even think to scream as the fall did not give her much time to think at all.

Down they went, Alma wrenched her eyes shut once again as they came closer to the ground.

All she could seem to think as they got closer was that they would miss the the opening.

That someone would come down the alleyway and find two people splattered against the pavement.

Yet as she felt herself plummeting down to the ground below, she noticed that she was ok.

The small amount of light passing through her eyelids vanishing leaving her in complete darkness.

She felt the floor under her feet, which was strange as she would have expected to at least land on her ass.

"You good?"

She opened her eyes as he spoke, taking a moment to look around.

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"Uh, yeah?"

"Good, I need you to be alert, keep that knife in your hands."

She gave him a strange look.

"Why?"

"For someone who's lived here for as long as she has, you really don't know the city that well do you?" he said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"The sewers are crawling with mutants, so unless you want to be eaten, I suggest keeping your guard up."

There was a twinge of annoyance that she felt as he spoke, but she couldn't focus on that at this moment.

The darkness that surrounded them intense, if not for the light above, she would have though she had become blind.

It didn't help that the foul sewer stench that permeated the sewer itself clouded her vision like a dense fog.

Various muddy greens, browns and weirder more vibrant colors shifted and twisted around her vision like oil and water on the road after rain.

Though through the blur, a familiar smell penetrates.

A faint red.

Ander moved deeper into the darkness, attached to his hips were two blades, well, more like two revolvers with extremely long barrels.

Their handles attached to the main guns like sword hilts, a full hand guard placed in front to protect the hand, covering what looked to be a trigger that sat closer to the base of the gun.

Attached to the barrels of both were two long blades, solid black and covered in woodgrain.

The blackwood blades shimmered under light above, seemingly polished and possibly coated in lacquer.

One of the guns also seemed to be made entirely of the same material as the blades, while the other was made of traditional iron.

He pulled them from the latches that held them to his waist, twirling them both in each hand.

"Keep your eyes on the red trail, your nose as well but, that's a given."

There was a tenseness to his movements, almost like a sort of constant alertness as he walked.

They traveled the paths, keeping close to each other so as to not get separated in the dark.

While her eyes adjusted, she could see many diverging paths, deep and dark enough to the point that you could not see the end.

Some of the paths followed that same red trail, each with a deeper intensity, this deep, sour, decaying smell.

Like overripe fruit mixed with rotting flesh.

They made sure to stay away from those spots.

Sounds echoed through the waterways, skittering, the pitter patter of bare steps upon concrete.

It all served to send a shiver down her spine.

"How long until we get to... wherever your taking me?"

"Not too long now." he replied.

Suddenly, the red paths began to converge, the smell becoming more and more intense.

"We need to move, now."

A wet sloshing sound like someone wading through the muck.

Getting more intense with each repetition.

She held her knife tightly, only for Ander to pull her to the side.

He looked back at her with a finger pressed hard against his lips, that universal shushing motion.

The smell was becoming broader, more detailed.

Decaying leaves, Rotting fruit and flesh, the ground after fresh rainfall.

All she could see was a vast red.

She leaned forward to take a look at whatever was causing the smell.

It's body was like a massive red tumor, the majority of which encompassed the broadness of its back. So large in fact that it consumed the rest of it's form, leaving only its face, as well as its arms and legs which were of normal size.

Its eyes were milked over, and in its maw were broken warped teeth.

It moaned outwardly in pain as it waded through the sewage.

In its arms was a crude blackwood spear.

"Why are we just sitting here?" she asked.

"Look at it for a moment."

She stared, trying to cut through the red mass enveloping the room.

Mixing with the red smell, were strands of red aura, like a large cloud of smoke.

It was strange, though visually the aura and the smell were pretty much the same color, she could easily tell them apart.

The aura was stronger, more living, if that made sense.

Like it could reach out and touch her.

The aura rose up to the ceiling, branching off and then coating it, trailing down the walls.

"Pay attention to that aura, we all have it, you do too. It coats your weapon and your body, though it's more noticeable on mutants like this one."

"Hell, it's thicker than your own, I could see you from far away. If this one were out in the open, it would be akin to a tower."

In her mind, the image of a massive, writhing pillar of red smoke stood above the horizon.

"It's not the strongest thing here but it's still stronger than either of us." Ander whispered.

He lifted the Blackwood revolver blade, bracing himself against the wall of the tunnel in which they hid.

The Red Aura that surrounded him coated both of his weapons, though it was particularly potent around the blackwood, it traced itself in and around the wood grain.

The cylinder was the most interesting however, the bullets inside seemed to actively consume the aura as it passed over them.

He held the gun in the front of his vision, keeping his aim steady as the mutant passed by the both of them.

The Red mass of flesh waddled off into the distance, allowing to loosen the tensing in his muscles.

He sighed, "Let's keep moving."

Alma's knuckles were white as she held the knife in her hand.

"Why are their mutants in the sewers?" Her voice was hoarse as she whispered in exasperation.

"You know just as well as I, Alpha is a city, whose guardians and government left to the wayside, the Blanks here don't do Fuck all to fix the city's defenses."

Blank. She knew that term well, used in derogatory towards the ASDC, given to them due to the white and gray of their garb.

"As such, no precautions were taken to defend the city's sewer system."

He grimaced as he spat the words out from his mouth.

"We should keep going."

The Red trails were everywhere as they move along, becoming more and more frequent.

She could hear growling and what sounded to be nails on concrete.

Scrape.

Scrape.

Scrape.

Like someone was slowly but consistently trying to dig through the walls of the tunnels.

Though what kept her attention more so was how calm Ander was, it was like he took these paths millions of times.

It was like he moved on instinct.

Turning corners without a second thought, knowing when to stop when mutants were near.

It all left her with a sort of technical curiosity.

What allowed him and by extension she herself to do the things they could do?

It was difficult to wrap her head around.

Suddenly, while lost in thought, she felt a tug on her calf.

The ground was suddenly above her as she looked up.

Or was it down?

Her eyes scrambled to reorient themselves as her body swung to and fro due to the momentum.

Long red vine like tendrils mounted the walls, clinging with a force that caused them to crack.

She tried to scream but the it was caught in her throat, there was a sort of shock and confusion that ran through her as found herself hanged by her ankle.

"Fuck." Ander lifted the blackwood revolver, aiming it in her direction.

BANG!

She wrenched her eyes shut as a flash of red shown past her eyelids.

And suddenly she was falling.