+ 1 Upgrade point awarded.
Aaron blinked as the system notification flashed across his vision. He wasn’t sure how long he had been in this position, but it felt like ages had been piled upon and melted together.
“Would you look at that,” Tommy said with a smile.
With the memories and emotions in a more manageable state, Aaron shoved the emotional baggage to the back of his brain and pushed himself up and away from Tommy. The dwarf attempted to take in a deep breath, but it was acrid, in a stale sort of way, prompting the dwarf to cough through the effort. “Slag system. All that and only one point.”
Tommy shrugged and stood. He looked up at their exit in contemplation. “We shouldn’t spend much more time down here. Got any ideas on how to get me up there?”
Aaron paced in a small circle. He noticed that Tommy’s heroic flames had burned away much of the refuse and that the floor was actually dry. It left a strange, desolate feel to the otherwise claustrophobic conditions. Aaron looked up at their exit and the short ladder hanging from the cover. “I had tried to open that cover up there, but it was stuck.”
“Think we should look for a different exit?”
Aaron checked his Hacklet and shook his head. “This is the best place for us to exit. Besides, I really don’t want to go looking for more sewer snakes.”
Tommy nodded and continued to ponder their predicament. Drops of water echoed somewhere in the distance, and the sewer floor began to recapture the ever-present moisture it once had.
“I got an idea,” Aaron said as he took off his trenchcoat. The dwarf noticed his fedora was missing and cursed at the loss. “Think you can throw me up to the ladder again?”
“Sure thing, buddy. The system didn’t give me any issues with that last time.”
Aaron paused to listen. The drop of water had combined into one steady sound, like static on a comms unit with the volume down low. The sound brought an unease that prompted Aaron to move a little faster. “Go ahead, give me a toss.”
Tommy secured Aaron in the same manner as before and gave the dwarf a good, strong toss up to the ladder. Aaron reflexively hollered as he took flight and once again found himself flailing in an effort to grasp anything more solid than air. Just like before, Aaron managed to grab hold of the ladder. However, this time, the dwarf quickly unraveled the trenchcoat bundled around his arm and flung it over the bottom ladder rung. After wrapping each end of the hanging trench in each hand, the dwarven investigator lowered himself so that he was hanging from the trench draped over the ladder’s bottom rung, with both arms extended overhead and short, stout legs extending below. Aaron cursed as some of the coins he had found on the MIST tech spilled out of his pocket, onto his head, and down to the sewer floor below. “Grab a hold!”
“You really think you’re making that much of a difference?
“Har, Har, look at the dwarf trying to extend his reach; you’re such a funny fracking elf—now jump, you oversized pointy-eared bastard!”
Tommy laughed, but the chuckle was stifled by the increasing volume of watery static. The island elf took a step back, then jumped high, reaching for Aaron’s boots. A system message scrolled failure as the elf’s fingertips brushed against the dwarf’s boots.
“You call that a jump?” Aaron hollered from above. “I’ve seen gnomes jump higher than that! Put your legs into it!”
Tommy shook his head and grinned at his dwarven friend hanging from the ladder above. A small stream of water had begun to flow on the damp sewer floor underfoot. The noise was steadily getting louder. The strong elf reared back and made another great leap. This time, Tommy managed to hit the toe of Aaron’s boot, causing the dwarf to lazily rock from his extended position.
“Great, great.” Aaron’s sarcasm was in full swing now. “Could you give me another push, Daddy? I want to swing higher.”
“Who’s being the bastard now?” Tommy had to yell above the static now.
“You’ll be a dead bastard if you don’t make this jump! There’s water coming, a lot of it. Now hurry up and jump!”
The small stream underfoot had increased and was flowing quickly past Tommy. The elf looked behind to where the water flow was coming from, then back to Aaron.
“Move, you big, bronzed fool!”
Tommy took a few steps back for a running start when water suddenly crashed into the tunnel, chaotically rushing for the elf in its path. With the intensity of his situation aiding his flight, Tommy ran and jumped with all the strength he could muster.
Tommy – Strength (No skill) 6 vs. Difficult DT – SUCCESS
The large elf grasped Aaron by the ankle as the water came rushing below, yanking on Tommy and nearly tearing him away from the dangling dwarf. Aaron yelled back, struggling to keep his grip on the draped trenchcoat as Tommy climbed his way over the dwarf and up the ladder.
“You are one dense elf,” Aaron growled as Tommy moved to the top of the ladder. “Lay off the osmium, will you?”
Tommy pushed hard against the cover, unseating and shoving it to the side. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“It means you’re fracking heavy.” The water caught Aaron by the toes, forcing him to rock and spin. He tried kicking to get a handhold on the ladder, but it didn’t work. “A little help here!”
Tommy reached down to lift Aaron up from the water. As Aaron was lifted up, his grandfather’s revolver slipped from the trenchcoat pocket, causing the dwarf to spastically lash out in an attempt to catch the fallen weapon. He caught it awkwardly between his legs and did his best to curl in a ball to keep it safe. “Grab the gun,” Aaron called out as Tommy brought the dwarf closer to topside.
Tommy reached down, secured the handcannon, and placed it on the road nearby. Then, the elf continued to help Aaron back to the topside, out of the sewers.
Aaron heaved himself out of the manhole and rolled across the asphalt onto his back. After sucking in a few volumes of fresh air, the dwarf sighed and smiled while opening his eyes. He quickly shut his eyes and cursed at the brightness of the sun, then blindly felt around for his trenchcoat.
Tommy was sitting casually next to the manhole, watching the sewer water rush by in the darkness below. “Well, that escalated quickly. I certainly wasn’t expecting this sort of intensity to happen so fast.”
After locating his trenchcoat, Aaron squinted painfully to see how it needed to be unraveled and then began digging in the pockets of his frumpled coat. “That’s sewers for you. They get intense fast and when you least expect it.”
“I’m going to need a change of clothes.” Still seated, the elf was nonchalantly inspecting his pants and jacket, which were both blackened with slime and sewer fluids.
The dwarf found his small, round, shaded spectacles and was happy to see they were not broken; the frames merely needed to be bent back into shape. He got to work fixing the frames. “After that ordeal, you need a change of skin.”
Laughing, the elf stood and tried to ring the excess dampness from his pants. “So, why was this exit so important?”
The dwarf placed the spectacles on his face, looked around for a moment, then took them off to make further adjustments. He nodded in a direction, “That building over there is the reason.”
Buildings are what the city is made of, and Tommy could only laugh at the absurdity of the dwarf’s directions. However, looking about, the elf realized they were in a part of the city he had never been to before. They were behind a peculiar building, shorter than most, which sat isolated in a small sea of green, well-manicured grass. The building had exaggeratedly pointed angles, and the walls between the angles seemed to droop slightly. Small trees covered in pink blossoms surrounded the building, and a small stone pond was carefully made in a distant corner of the grass. The entire setting emanated peace and was quite beautiful to behold.
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“This place is really something, buddy. How’d you find it?”
“The same way I find everything else.” Aaron put the shaded spectacles back on and looked around. Satisfied with what he saw, the dwarf stood up, shook out his trenchcoat, and then secured his grandfather’s revolver back in his coat pocket. “With a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill.”
As Tommy approached the grass bordering the access road they had emerged onto, Aaron checked the Hacklet strapped to his forearm. The dwarf hacker was pretty sure the device had some new scuffs and dents after the sewer excursion, but it all appeared to still be working well enough. The closed screen operated as it should, and all the familiar protocols were still running when he opened the Hacklet. Aaron noted the battery was less than fifty percent and decided this case needed to be wrapped up before the end of the day—finding the charging cord would require a whole new investigative endeavor.
Tommy crouched down and softly brushed his hand against the soft blades of grass. “I haven’t seen grass like this in so long. What is this place?”
“It’s a Yakuza library,” Aaron responded grimly as he continued to plug away on his Hacklet. “This is the location of the server I need to tap into to find our missing gnome.”
Tommy hummed an acknowledgment, then sloshed as he walked along the grass perimeter. “We’re on the backside of the building?”
“Yup. And there are plenty of cameras watching us right now. I’m working on a feedback loop to help us get in undetected—at least for a short while.”
“Okay, cool. Let me just get my ancestral ward ready—”
Before Tommy could begin his dance and call, two guards rounded the corner and immediately started barking orders in a language that Aaron did not know. Both guards wore black suits, white shirts, and no ties. One guard had a hatchet in one hand and was delivering commands by pointing his hatchet in definitive directions. The other held his hatchet at the ready, watching Tommy carefully.
Tommy frowned. “So much for my ward. Is your helpful loop up and ready?”
Aaron made a few more emphatic keystrokes and smiled. “Ready!”
The great bronze elf yelled a single-word challenge in his native tongue to the hatchet-swinging guard. The guard paused in his commands, unsure how to respond. In that pause, Tommy ripped off his sewer-mucked pants, spun them around overhead until they were a tight ball, reared back, and chucked the nasty pants at the guard’s head.
Tommy (Dexterity) vs. Axeman Guard – 4 vs. 3 Tommy succeeds.
The wad of sewage pants splashed and wrapped around the head of the first guard, who had started to issue another command. While the first guard let out a muffled yell, the other guard stared at his friend in shock at the affront. Success scrolled by as Tommy charged and punched the agape guard then spun and backhanded the first guard who had just removed the pants from his face. The first guard tumbled but rolled back to his feet, standing wet-faced and angry. He growled something that was probably offensive, raised his hatchet, and then a hard thump was heard from behind. The guard’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, and then he collapsed to the ground.
Aaron was left standing behind the fallen guard, holding the barrel of his revolver. The dwarf smiled and shrugged at his successful hit with the butt end of his weapon. “Didn’t want to waste a round on the rats.”
Tommy chuckled happily. “That hand cannon is pretty loud, too. Would kinda ruin our attempt at being undetected.”
“True.” Aaron looked at the back side of the building, then looked back to Tommy. “You going to get your pants back?”
The large elf, now sporting a sleeveless, tattered leather jacket and a thong, took a moment to flex and pose for the cameras that were not watching. “Nope, I prefer this sort of freedom. Besides, my legs could use a little more air and sun.”
Aaron shrugged, then motioned for his friend to follow him around the corner of the building from where the guards had come.
Tommy grabbed a hatchet from one of the fallen guards and inspected it as they walked along the side of the building. He whispered, “It’s too bad this does count as a blade. I’d totally use my Blades skill with this if it did.”
“The system is whacked. Half the time, I don’t understand why it counts some things and then completely ignores others.” Aaron motioned for them to stop moving as they approached the corner that would bring them to the front side of the building.
From here, they could see the grass extended further out, stopping at a sidewalk that lined a side street further away. More pink blossom trees were scattered across the green, luscious grass, and patches of beautiful flowers in various bright colors speckled the scene. From here, they could see the lake lined with stone and heard a small artificial waterfall gently babbling from a stack of stones connected to the pond. Aaron rubbed his eyes and fixed the position of his shades, grateful the spectacles were dark enough to mute the colors surrounding this place.
The dwarf motioned for him and his friend to back away from the front corner and spoke after they were halfway down the side wall. “I saw two guards out by the street and two by the front entrance. There’s one side entrance over there, but it looks like a fire door, so a fire alarm will likely go off if we try to enter that one.”
“So, we’re going full frontal.” Tommy stood with hands on hips, looking at the garden scape in the front of the building. “I like it!”
Aaron moved back a couple paces, uncomfortable with his head being so close to Tommy’s thong. “Yeah, I think that might be our best option right now. If we take out the two guys at the door quickly and quietly, we shouldn’t have to worry about the two by the street.”
“What about inside this building?”
Aaron raised his arm so Tommy could see the Hacklet screen. “Looking through the internal cameras, I can identify at least five people in the library. They’re all dressed similarly, so I think they are all Axemen.”
Rubbing his chin, Tommy thought about the odds. “Five is a lot, buddy.”
“Yeah,” Aaron grumbled while scrolling through the internal camera feeds. “What’s worse is that I am sure there’s a sixth person in there, but that person always seems to be just outside the view of every camera inside.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, I don’t like it.” Aaron tapped through a couple more camera angles. “Hello! What’s this?”
“You found a good angle for the sixth person?”
“No, I found a seventh.” Aaron adjusted his position so Tommy could see. “This one is an orc by the looks of it, though this one seems rather small for an orc. They just have a loincloth on, too. You two ought to get along just fine.”
Tommy laughed. “I get along with everyone.”
“There’s a lot of bookshelves, which is expected for a library. We should be able to use those to our advantage in keeping all five (or seven) from attacking at once.”
“Sounds good; let me call on my ancestors.”
“No, wait!” Aaron raised his hand. “We don’t need the guards up front running off in fear. That will cause more attention than we need right now. Let’s take out the two up front, quick and quiet, and then you can pop on your ward before we enter the library. Cool?”
Tommy nodded and readied his hatchet.
Aaron closed his Hacklet and moved toward the front of the building. A small but wide set of stone stairs led up to the library's front entrance. At the top of the stairs lazily stood two Axemen guards. One was leaning against the wall with his head down. He was wearing shades, but the rise and fall of his chest suggested his eyes were closed. The other was looking at the sky, away from Aaron and Tommy. “Now,” the dwarf whispered.
Tommy rushed up to the guard staring at the sky, and knocked him in the head with the blunt side of his hatchet, while Aaron ran and jumped to hit the sleeping guard in the side of the head with the butt end of his revolver. Tommy and Aaron both stared at each other in surprise.
“Wow, that actually worked!” Tommy exclaimed.
Aaron sternly shushed his friend, pointing to the unaware guards by the street, then smiled quietly, “Yeah, I’m rather surprised that worked so well, too. This stuff never works so well.”
They positioned both guards in a sitting position against the wall on either side of the front door, then approached the door.
“Locked?” Tommy said with surprise as he attempted to enter the library. “You never said this place would be closed.”
“I never thought this place would be closed!” Aaron quickly flipped open his Hacklet, scrambling through the codes and feed. “Seriously? This lock isn’t digital? How long has this place been here? Who uses archaic locks and keys these days?”
“I guess the Yakuza still like the old lock and key.”
“Well, this is a real mother of a milkstone.” Aaron closed his Hacklet and stared at the locked door. “What do we do now?”
“How about we knock?”
“Seriously?” Aaron’s tone was incredulous.
Tommy shrugged.
Aaron looked at the lock. “I don’t have any archaic lock-picking tools. I'm not really sure how I could break in. Think you could smash down the door?”
“What happened to being quiet?”
Aaron shrugged.
“How about I knock. Then, when we hear someone unlocking the door, I’ll charge through the door. I should be able to take out the guy unlocking the door, and then we can take cover behind the closest bookshelf. Yeah?”
Aaron rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I guess that could work. I don’t really have any other ideas right now.”
Tommy nodded happily, turned, and pounded hard on the door three times.
Aaron changed his grip so that he was holding his handgun’s handle, but kept his finger off the trigger. With four rounds left, he really didn’t want to fire his weapon unless absolutely necessary. Aaron glanced up and successfully noticed a camera looking directly at them.
The sound of the door unlocking could be heard from inside.
“Get ready, buddy.”
Aaron frowned as he realized a small red dot was flashing under the camera. “They discovered the feedback loop—Tommy, they’re watching us now!”
The door opened, and Tommy charged.
“No, wait!” Aaron cried out, chasing after Tommy.
Tommy trampled over the Axeman who opened the door, then quickly skidded to a halt. He kept his hatchet reared back, ready to strike, and his free arm extended out front as if warning his adversaries not to advance.
Aaron stumbled over the trampled Axeman and clumsily caught up to Tommy. The dwarf had his long-bore revolver drawn and alternated his aim between the three closest adversaries.
Four Axemen stood in a semi-circle with hatchets drawn, ready to attack. Two of the Axemen looked different from the rest—their suits had something extra, and their hatchets seemed to shine with an imbued brightness. One of the Axemen with a shiny hatchet barked out an order.
“Don’t you come any closer!” Aaron barked back, aiming his revolver.
“Really, Investigator Frimslayer,” came an enchanting voice from the back of the room. “There is no need for further dramatics. I brought you here so we could talk.”