CLOACAE

AKANE

After the Canian had started screaming, it didn't take them long to realize the problem was simply that he was tied down and freaking out. So they let him go and followed him when he ran. Which was... here.

Shendilavri.

Well, not quite. Shendilavri itself was still a broken place, even five years later. No one wanted to get near anything the Succubus Queen had touched. This was a block over, where a nice big automated factory churning out shoes had been built. Adonides led them underneath, into the sewers.

It was a big sewer, even for Domina, so it was like a green, smelly river with two equally smelly banks on either side. Christmas lights—long since burned out—twined around the bridges like vines, probably meant to light the way in the gaudiest way possible. Hedonistic artwork covered the walls, only barely decayed by half a decade of humidity and filth.

They had left the Canian at the entrance, with the retinue. Other Necessarian forces would be arriving soon, and they'd be able to follow them down, but right now they needed someone watching their backs.

Akane was in front, her sword out, with Adam just a few steps behind her. Laura was in the middle, with Derek and Ling bringing up the rearguard.

She thought it was a little silly bringing Adam and Laura along, but Derek wouldn't budge. Adam's guns would be invaluable in this enclosed space, and he already had his headphones on, just in case. Laura was here both in case Lizzy needed a medic, and because she had a much better sense of direction than the rest of them.

Derek had a point on that last one. He and Akane had gone sewer-diving before, of course, but they got lost a lot. If there was a way to avoid that, she was all for it.

They hadn't seen any enemies yet, which wasn't really that odd—they weren't far from the entrance—but it still had her on edge.

Adam stopped, a confused look on his face.

“Something wrong?” Akane whispered.

He frowned. “I think I heard something... scratching, I think.”

She nodded. Rats would be extremely common down here. It was a good sign, actually. If there were screamers, they would probably have already killed off any competition.

Of course, with those headphones of his, Adam hardly had the best hearing in the group. It could have been just a burst of glitchy static, but it was best to be careful anyway.

He turned out to be correct—she could hear something up ahead, past the bend in the passage. She signaled the others to stop and then sped forward, fast enough that she would be a blur to anyone watching. She peeked around the corner, cursed, and fled back.

“Report,” Laura snapped a little bit harshly. She looked on edge, which was surprising. Was that because she didn't like being on the front lines, or because she was worried about Lizzy?

“Clawed jumper swarm ahead. Big one. And where there are jumpers...”

“There are leapeaters,” Derek finished. He brushed his hair back in frustration. “Wonderful.”

Adam started loading some type of shot into his St. George as the scratching sound grew louder. He was learning. Shot ammo was perfect against swarms. “Anyone going to tell me what clawed jumpers are?”

“Evil frogs,” Ling said, limbering up.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Anyone else?”

Then a swarm of evil frogs rounded the corner.

Each one was pretty big, for a frog, about the size of a fist. Their hind- and fore-legs ended in sharp claws, both for defense and to help them latch onto things. They were all purple with big black eyes, and they advanced forward like a rolling carpet, each individual amphibian jumping a few feet at a time.

The claws, however, were only an annoyance. The real danger was that they were extremely poisonous. They secreted a dangerous toxin through their skin, which was absorbed by touch. While the dose you would get from a single frog was only enough to make you queasy, there were dozens in a swarm, which was enough poison to kill you in minutes.

Well, there were dozens in a normal swarm. This one had a couple hundred.

Akane stepped back, her mouth set in a grim line. Adam took the opening she gave him to fire his St. George. The shotgun roared, echoing around the sewer loud enough to hurt her ears. The belch of flame took out ten or more of the little monsters. The second she heard him eject the spent shell, she activated her speed and rushed forward.

Normally, of course, a sword was all but useless against a swarm. A bunch of tiny foes, all close to the ground and biting at your legs was simply not the type of enemy a blade was designed for. Jumpers were a little bit easier. Since they spent half their time in the air, it gave you a perfect opportunity to slash them. The only problem was that they were probably faster than you were, so you needed superhuman reflexes to be able to consistently fight them.

Luckily, Akane had super speed.

Half a dozen frogs leaped towards her as if in slow motion, almost like they were just waiting for her. She didn't disappoint. She slashed each one in half quickly and efficiently, then fell back. She had enough left in her reservoir to kill dozens more, but she didn't want to take any chances. She had suffered jumper poison once, and it wasn't an experience she intended to repeat.

Derek stepped in front of her as more frogs jumped, catching them on the glowing blue shield he had on his arm. Akane wasn't really quite sure how that worked. It wasn't like he could strap it to his arm or anything. Regardless, he was able to wield it like a normal shield, using it to fend off the jumpers and throw them back in the direction they came.

“Back up,” Adam barked behind them. He raised his shotgun towards the opening they had created and pulled the trigger, sending another echoing burst of flame into the swarm. He cursed as the gun nearly bucked out of his arms.

Over half were gone now, either sliced in half or burned beyond recognition. The rest jumped into the artificial river flowing through the sewer. No one saw any need to stop them.

Akane heard a sound behind her, and turned to see Ling shrugging off Laura's restraining hand angrily. “What the hell? I could have helped.”

“You would have brought the roof down on our heads,” Laura said bluntly. “Or gotten poisoned.”

“You'll have your chance in a minute,” Derek said. “The leapeaters will be here any second.”

Adam sighed as he loaded another shell. “I know I'm going to regret this... but what are leapeaters?”

“Evil birds,” Ling said with an admirably straight face.

Derek coughed in a way that was certainly not covering up a laugh.

Adam glared. “Any useful information?”

Laura smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Lighten up a little.” The smile faded. “Silver and gold, we all need a laugh.”

Everybody sobered up a bit at that. Whether they needed it or not, this wasn't the place to be making jokes. Even if Lizzy hadn't been harmed by the Composer, the monsters roaming around were dangerous enough by themselves. She wouldn't hurt a fly, but unfortunately that wouldn't stop them from hurting her.

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“Leapeaters are featherless ostriches,” Derek said. “Territorial and aggressive. They're immune to jumper poison, and eat them.” He shrugged. “They're the fey's cleanup crew.”

Adam looked around at all our serious faces and raised an eyebrow. “Ostriches? Really?”

“Normal ostriches are dangerous,” Laura said, “though they aren't very aggressive. Leapeaters are buffed, both in strength and aggression. Stay back and let Akane handle them.”

Adam slowly lowered his shotgun, finally realizing we were telling the truth. He shook his head in befuddlement. “Ostriches...”

Derek chuckled. “Hardly the strangest monster. Remind me to tell you about the fire-breathing chickens one day.”

Akane smiled at that as well. Now she was getting hungry for some. If you killed pojoes just right, you didn't even have to cook them first.

Ling frowned, stepping away from the rest of them and cocking her head. “That's weird. I don't hear them.”

She was right. Normally, leapeaters were easy to hear coming. They had this sort of barking squawk when they were hunting. It was very distinctive, and they used it constantly.

“That's a good sign,” Adam said. He was wrong, of course, but he didn't have enough experience fighting monsters. Leapeaters always followed jumpers. “But if there are monsters, does that mean the fey are the ones who took her?”

Derek opened his mouth to retort, then closed it again, looking contemplative. He glanced at Akane.

She knew what he was thinking. Wild monsters were quite common. If a fey lost control of one of her creations, she didn't even try to catch them. And sewers were the natural environment of jumpers. They liked wet places.

But if there weren't any leapeaters chasing them, that could mean they were brand new, released by a fey specifically to guard this passage. Unless the fey set some of the birds after them, they'd be able to survive down here indefinitely. Jumpers bred true, but leapeaters didn't. Without a few minor alterations shortly after birth, they were just featherless ostriches.

“We'll find out soon enough,” Laura said without much emotion. “Let's keep moving.”

As they continued down the passage, Akane kept expecting the leapeaters to attack at any moment. But they didn't. There was only the soft sound of rushing water, as well as distant dripping sounds. The normal sounds of a sewer.

It was unnerving her more than she cared to admit.

“How much farther does this thing go?” Adam said after a couple hours. He had stripped off his sweat-stained shirt, but had wisely kept on the armor he wore underneath. It might be a bit cheap, but it was much better than nothing. He had tried to take his headphones off, but they had all told him that was a bad idea.

“This system goes under the entire district,” Laura said, consulting the map on her pad.

Adam wiped moisture from his forehead. “What are the chances we took a wrong turn somewhere?”

“None,” Derek answered immediately. “Akane and I might not be as good at tracking as Alex, but sewers are easy. There's only one used path, and we're on it.”

Adam stared at them both. “How is a sewer easy?”

Akane snorted. “Moisture on the ground.”

He looked at the wet concrete beneath their feet. “There's moisture everywhere.”

She rolled her eyes. “People have been through here in the past few days. Seen a good amount of traffic. The side passages don't have any of the right signs.” She shrugged and turned her eyes forward again. “Ask Alex to teach you. We don't have time now.”

“Blood,” Derek said, dropping into a crouch.

By Musashi's sword, he was right. Akane was in front, but she had missed it because of Adam's questions. There was indeed a watery runnel of blood flowing under her feet, from the corner in front of them.

She drew her sword. “How fresh?”

“Hard to tell,” he said. “Alex would probably know, but...”

She understood. With the water keeping the blood from clotting, it was impossible for amateurs like them to estimate how fresh it was. Or, indeed, whether the source was human or something else.

Confronting an injured, angry monster was hardly ideal, but Akane's speed was still useful here. She sped forward, around the corner... and immediately stopped. Cursing again, she let her speed go and stepped back into the view of the others. “Dead.”

As they joined her, she shook her head and stared at the corpse. It was sitting on the ground with its back to the wall, a large and bloody wound in its chest. He was a Nosferatu, with thick armor and big claws. Probably one of Halifax's brood. He looked a lot like him.

The vampire was very dead, though Akane wasn't sure for how long. Probably less than a day—it didn't look like anything had started eating him yet.

“What's a ferret doing down here?” Ling asked, poking the body lightly with her boot. He slumped to the side, and she jumped back in fright.

“The Nosferatu were important participants in the Battle of Shendilavri,” Derek said. “They sometimes come down here to pay their respects to the dead, or just see what's left of the battle.” He shrugged. “It's a tourist trap for them, basically.”

“I hear Obox-ob has been making inroads into the region,” Laura said. “Or he was, a couple months ago. No one's really heard much from him since, but maybe he did this.”

“How long?” Akane asked, after Derek finished muttering a quick prayer. She pretended not to hear the exact words. He was always a bit embarrassed by his choice of religion.

Derek blinked, then nodded. “Ah... I'm not sure. Laura? You'd probably know better than me.”

She crouched down next to the corpse and studied it closely. Ling, Akane noticed, had turned away. She had killed dozens of screamers, maybe hundreds. This was grossing her out?

“No less than an hour,” Laura noted, sticking her finger into the large chest wound. She sniffed the blood on her digit and nodded. “An hour minimum.” She stood up, walked over to the sewer, and stuck her hand in briefly. Then she nodded again. “Five hours max. The mudfish haven't smelled him yet.”

Derek nodded, eyes hard. “So... about when Lizzy went missing.”

“Don't jump to conclusions,” she admonished. Then she grimaced. “But, yes. Most likely.”

Adam frowned. “Maybe he followed her kidnapper into the sewer?” He looked at the wound a bit closer. “What killed him, anyway? This doesn't look like a monster's handiwork.”

“A human hand,” Laura said bluntly. “Or at least, something the rough size and shape of a human hand.” She pointed to the wound, where on closer inspection it was clear the ribs had been broken outward or simply pushed aside. “Someone thrust their hand under the ribcage and ripped out the heart.”

Ling stumbled over to the sewer and threw up.

Akane rolled her eyes. Seriously? She had watched her squash a man's skull like a tomato. How was this worse?

Ling wiped her mouth and smiled weakly, still trying to avoid looking at the corpse.

“Sorry,” she said quietly. “First time in a sewer.”

Akane nodded in sudden understanding. It got everyone the first time.

“This is taking too long,” Derek said. “Ling, your stomach settled?” She nodded. “Good, good. I think we're getting close. Be on your guard.”

As it turned out, they weren't close. At all. After two more hours and three more—much smaller—jumper swarms, it seemed as though they had walked under the entire district. Akane had done some long jobs before, but this was getting ridiculous.

Luckily, while mentally they were exhausted, physically we were fine. Enhanced endurance was a pretty standard toy. Even Laura had it.

“I need to stop,” Adam said, sliding to the floor. “Just... give me a minute.”

Ah. Right.

He had it harder than the rest of them, even ignoring the fact that he didn't have any toys to make it easier. He was still wearing all four of his guns, and a few pounds of spare ammo, plus that armor. It was a wonder he hadn't collapsed sooner.

Laura carefully sat next to him and handed him a water bottle, which he drank from greedily. Akane kept an eye on her. She had some toys, sure, but she also wasn't as fit as the rest of them. Still, she seemed fine, or at least she did after she took a few gulps from her own bottle.

After ten minutes or so, they both scrambled back to their feet.

“Good,” Derek said with an encouraging smile. “It's not much farther.”

Adam just glared. “You've been saying that for four hours.”

Derek just shook his head. “This time I'm sure. The path leads off the main sewer now.” He indicated one of the dark side passages that popped up periodically. Akane's trained eyes could indeed see that the trail led that direction. “I think we're getting near the lair.”

Adam grumbled, but nodded, and took out his Caedes just in case. Akane drew her sword, Ling cracked her knuckles, and even Laura pulled out her gun.

Akane wasn't afraid. She was never afraid. Derek was leading them. He wouldn't make any major mistakes. This was going to end with at least a few questions answered.

Derek smiled. “Good. Be ready for anything. A horde of screamers, a fey and her monsters... whatever. We can take it.”

He led the way into the dark tunnel, and whatever lay beyond.