I anchored myself to a wall just before the drop into a tunnel, recentering myself and pulling out my SB-17 just in case. Then I slowly lowered myself down. I peeked out of the hole, carefully scanning my surroundings for threats, before dropping into the tunnel properly.

The tunnel seemed to be some kind of sewer or storm drain. There were two passages on either side, moss and some faintly glowing lichen covering the walls and ground. Down the middle of the passage sat a shallow pool of mildewed and stagnant water.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get over onto the sidewalk of the passage since the drop fell right into the shallow water, but I managed. The one that came before me, however, hadn’t managed quite so well.

In the pool of water sat an ancient leather chair. It was beaten and battered, looking as though it had hit every single rock on the way down here. Shattered and rotten wood floated in the water around it.

A skeleton sat on the toppled chair, at least mostly. Time and scavengers hadn’t been kind to the corpse, leaving shattered bones scattered around and dozens outright missing. The maid, at least based on the tattered remains of the uniform, hadn’t died easy. It was a long way down... the mostly submerged bones now acted as a platform for a bed of moss.

Glass shards covered the ground from a dozen broken bottles, and there were other pieces of items take from the speakeasy. What wasn’t carried off by scavengers was broken or too water damaged to be worth anything.

I stared at the skeleton for a few moments, feeling a bit ashamed at the relief I got from seeing the person dead. No, not relief that they were dead. Relief that their knowledge died with them. I was probably the only one who knew about this particular entry and the speakeasy-

Wait, how did the map even know about this place in the first place? For that matter, how did the Circle find all of the stuff on the map? No one had been to the speakeasy in several decades based on the state of the place, so they couldn’t have found it like that. And I highly doubt the Circle just stumbled across every part of the Underground…

Was it some kind of ground-penetrating radar? No, it couldn’t be. Part of the problem with the Underground was its depth, and the materials between the surface and down here made it impossible to scan. Radars wouldn’t work… unless it was some kind of magical one? Was there some kind of spell that let them scan the place?

I shook my head, my hair shaking loosely in my helmet. It didn’t matter. I couldn't find an answer just thinking about it.

I checked myself over, setting several magazines up all over my belt. They slightly ruined the effect of the paint, but it was fine for the most part. Then I was off, prowling the darkness as I mentally recorded my journey. My internal map slowly turned more and more three-dimensional as I walked down the drainage system.

The map of the Underground I snagged from the Circle showed this particular spot had a cave-in on one end. I summoned Crow's Celestial Compass, aligning myself and checking to see if even a small, out-of-the-way spot like this was marked right on the map. And indeed it was. I turned back, heading towards the other side.

I crawled out of the drainage system, the entrance half buried under rubble, and into a subway. It was a rather tight squeeze, but I managed to get out and back into a guarded stance in a few moments.

I looked around the rails, catching sight of several signs people had been moving through here recently. Little scuffs here and there, spots where the debris had been dislodged, and scattered dust that had yet to cover everything again. It looked as though it had only been one group though. Outside of that, this section of the subway hadn’t seen anyone in a while. There weren’t even signs of critters around. Rather, there were signs of them going, but none of them coming back.

I followed the curve of the subway, dropping down into another series of tunnels. The one I followed had collapsed at some point, creating a slope of debris down into the other.

The new tunnels were odd, seemingly closer to ancient military tunnels than anything. They were wide and tall enough to practically be an underground road, and by the husks of vehicles here and there, it had been at one point. I summoned Crow’s Celestial Compass, checking the alignment of the tunnel. It headed north to south.

Good. I mentally retraced the map. I had a couple dozen other passages that cut through ahead of me, but I was looking for a service door of some kind.

I stayed sharp as I edged along the darkness, the bulwarks of stone all around me offering little protection. Occasionally side doors and support brackets offered cover, but for the most part, it was a sheer passageway. Outside of debris, that is.

Occasionally I’d pass by a burned-out car, abandoned truck, or others of the like. Signs of a rather recent battle marked most of them and corpses of ghouls littered the path. The constant sound of scurrying filled the place.

Most of the vermin didn’t notice me. The normal ones, at least. There were tons of mutants down here, several cat-sized rats even freakishly having up to eight eyes all over their skulls. It was a creepy vibe walking amongst the mutant vermin, though only two or three of them looked up to me, baring their teeth at my passing.

The ones that noticed me calmed down and kept eating after I passed though, so I didn’t open fire even as my fingers twitched. Doubt it’d be effective anyway. There were so many vermin around here they could rush and kill me fairly easily if I disturbed the masses… I shifted one hand to my belt, hovering over the flashbang just in case.

The entire path set me on edge. The further I moved south, closer to Downtown, the more corpses of ghouls lay on the ground. More and more skeletons were picked clean, and tracks and shifted debris pointed to a swarm of something far larger than a rat going through the area from several split-off caves and passes. And recently too by the looks of things.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The rat populace thankfully died down as the tracks of the larger entities made themselves known, but their beady eyes, barely lit by some glowing lichen on the roof, seemed to eye me from back behind.

I was all too glad once I found the right side door. I got out of the military tunnels and entered a small repair shop of some kind. Most of the stuff here was ancient, though I did grab a couple unopened bottles of grease and some other dusty stuff to use back up at the speakeasy.

A cave cut through the wall of the repair shop, though it was quite high up. I moved a shelf over to it, the metal screeching far too loudly in my ears as it grated against the concrete floor. Once it was in place, I used it as a makeshift ladder, climbing up and into the cave. The cave went at an upward angle. I followed it for a while, having to squeeze past several spots where it winded around and narrowed. Eventually, it led to a drop in the ground.

I carefully eased up to the hole, ignoring a rather small spider on the back end of the cave. The insect wasn’t the first I’d seen, and definitely wouldn’t be the last. As long as they stayed normal sized though, it wasn’t an issue.

I caught my breath as I eyed the drop. The cave overlooked a small intersection for what looked to be maintenance tunnels of some kind. Rusted pipes and twisted wires covered the walls, the walls cracked harshly even as spots looked worn smooth by ancient water flows.

Three people stood idly chatting around an electric lantern resting on a mound of rubble. One of them pulled a cigarette from his mouth, muttering something to the guy beside him that caused both to laugh. The third was a woman busy spray painting the wall, though she chuckled too.

All three wore fairly decent ballistic vests and had on clothes far too similar to be anything but a uniform. They all wore dark gray t-shirts and pants, even having on matching boots. A blue-gray striped armband sat on each of their arms. The first man and the woman had brand new chrome arms slightly gleaming in the light of their lantern. It looked rather high end too. The third guy had a bunch of wires and circuitry sticking out of the side of his head.

I eyed them for a moment before backing off. The group was right in my way… how close was I anyway? I did some rough calculations, using the landmarks I’d passed to track down my exact location. I wasn’t too far off the first spot. It was supposed to be a massive cellar of some kind.

What to do… hmm… as of right now, they hadn't noticed me. Chances they were friendly? Closer to negative than positive. That, and if this was a guard outpost, then there were probably far more of them. What were the chances they were at my first location?

I pulled Crow’s Celestial Compass from my pocket and, ready to test a feature I hadn’t gotten around to using since I got it. I looked at the black mess of gears and slightly glowing crystals. How did I use it? Do I just think ‘Find a Hostile Harbor’? No way it could be that simp-

A small red button popped out of the side, almost like a pocket watch. I hesitated for a moment, admiring the device's ingenuity. Crow’s stuff really was the best. By far the best-

A chill of Insight shifted my thought process to suddenly press the button. The gears inside of the compass froze for a moment, then the crystals began to glow an ominous deeper red as the gears spun into action. They ticked faster and faster until, after a moment, the entire compass went dark. Even the needles on top for directions turned off entirely.

A faint ethereal burst, caught by Aetherial Perception at just the last moment, shot out of the compass. The red glow expanded like a halo, rapidly covering ground, and disappeared into the walls.

Crow’s Celestial Compass let out a faint chime as the gears kicked back into action and the crystals glowed even brighter than before. The projected lines of the cardinal directions returned, though only for a moment before they twisted, twirling into a thick arrow pointed northwest.

I ran some calculations based on the angle and my knowledge of the place, feeling a sinking feeling as I realized the arrow aligned with the cellar I wanted to head for.

Okay, okay… this is why you picked several locations, Shiro. Maybe the others would be better? Don’t be stupid and get in a pointless fight against an unknown enemy… although…

Who was the enemy here? Sure they were a group of mercs, probably PMCs based on their uniformity, but who were they? I unfortunately wasn’t all that learned on the various PMC groups, or mercs for that matter. What an oversight. I should do some more research when I get back to the surface.

But who were the ones below me? I tried to think back to the times I’d seen PMCs. That, plus new chrome… maybe some corporate safe house was nearby? Or- or a Savant Lab… It was too soon to say for sure, nor did I want to get in there and investigate. Still, I mentally made a note. I could turn over the info to the Jade Fang and they’d check it out. Or at least send a scout to see.

I backtracked entirely, heading back down through the cave and back into the military tunnels. The return journey was even more nerve-wracking than the one down the path had been. The entire time, the scurrying of rats seemed to follow me. I even tested it a couple times, pausing only to hear nothing. It was horribly eerie.

Eventually, I made it back to the subway and the noises halted entirely, though I still got the feeling something was wrong. Insight didn’t warn me of danger though… I still kept up my guard. Insight hadn’t warned me initially back at the Mortas Motel either.

I even paused momentarily to set up a simple tripwire trap just inside the subway using some microwire and a grenade. If nothing tripped it, I’d come and collect the stuff, but if something did… well, if I was being followed as I feared, it was better to solve the issue as quickly as possible.

I checked my mental map a couple more times, lining up with where I needed to go for location two of three. I did stop by my entryway, which was fairly well hidden by the mound of rubble at its connection point to the subway. I dropped off the stuff I snagged from the repair room. No point in carrying it around the whole time.

I also set up two more tripwire traps in quick succession. There was a high chance it was just paranoia, but if it wasn’t… I took a few moments to take some calming breaths, the oxygen tasting refreshingly clean through my helmet.

Then I headed down the opposite direction of the subway from where I first went. For a while the tracks of the other group kept me company, but they cut off not too far down the subway tunnel. They crossed over a platform and disappeared into the darkness as I continued my journey.

I carefully watched my surroundings the entire time, eventually stumbling across a subway train rammed through the wall. It was super sketchy, but after retracing my location, I realized it was supposed to be the access point to the next tunnel that would lead to my second spot.

I didn’t like it. A bad feeling lay deep in my gut. If I was an ambush predator, the train would be the perfect spot to strike. It’d also be a good spot for a den for some other creature, though the lack of tracks suggested it had been abandoned.

I hesitated briefly before the train, using the time to sling my rifle back over my shoulder and pull my Rhymer S-32 shotgun out of my bag. Ole reliable felt comfortable in my grip as I headed towards an ajar door of the train.