“And, we’re here!” Kate declared, holding her hands out wide.

Her dramatics had caused several workers and crewmembers to glance our way.

These glances lingered first on her backpack, then our backpacks, before finally landing on one of Kate’s swords. That was the point that most of them decided to avert their eyes and to mind their own affairs. Because while Kate took meticulous care in cleaning her blades, she was somewhat blase regarding everything else, including the rag she kept on her belt, the very same rag she had been using to clean her blades.

Considering Kate, the rag was stained and soiled with various degrees of blood and oil.

The crewmembers seemed a bit less ambitious than normal though, as we had not even been accosted once. Either Kate had developed a reputation since the first time I traveled with her, or the demographics had changed. I would have expected at least someone to commit suicide via Kate by this point, especially where we were, in the slums.

And what a surprise it was when we came here, especially to Gregory. I think we all thought we would begin our excursion from somewhere else, perhaps the Mercenary Quarter. But no, at least not according to Kate’s directions.

And it was Kate who was directing us, for we had been following Kate most of the morning. First we met on Blossom Hill, then we traveled through Southbridge, crossed the highway which divided Southbridge in two, entered the slums, and then finally traveled south, towards the Chasm. I had forgotten that this was one of the industrial sectors of the city, where the residents of the slums often worked.

But now that we had reached something of a grungy plaza somewhat filled with acerbic smoke and cart traffic, we had paused.

Kate was standing there, expectantly, which meant all the rest of us were standing there, waiting.

This continued in an awkward fashion until the path we were blocking grew congested with handcarts. Several shouts of irritation and impatience seemed to do the trick, as Kate realized she had created an impediment to people doing their jobs. Knowing Kate, I was somewhat surprised that she cared about the traffic issues at all. However, she seemed somewhat courteous and pulled us off the path, so that we were now hugging a wall.

Kate seemed to be considering her options and I spent my time observing those around us, the carts passing by, the Vigilant watching from a roof, and the off-smelling foodstuffs that were carried further into the town to sell. Actually, the food stank. The noodles and grains and breads stank of mold and something else that might have fooled most people by covering the flavor of the rot but not me.

Thankfully, I was an obligate carnivore and had no need to eat this filth alongside these humans. At least so long as my supplies held. At the thought, I reached around to my own bag and patted where I had stored my jerky to confirm it remained safe after walking through the slums.

We were still getting some pointed glances, and more than one streetrat seemed to be considering us as targets. The longer we remained, the more likely we would be robbed. Not that I worried for our safety, but there were likely some pickpockets out there that could lift our goods.

I decided to hasten Kate along.

“Have we reached our destination; does this mark the end of our excursion?” I asked.

I was hoping to prompt some form of action or action producing dialogue, rather than standing around and waiting for something to go wrong. I felt compelled to be the one to ask as Marianne had been cowed by Gregory and Gregory was enamored enough with Kate to avoid calling Kate on a glaring failing which we were currently encountering.

“What would you know?” Gregory asked. he may have sneered at me in response, quickly stepping up to ‘defend’ his interests.

Marianne looked as though she wanted to speak, but she shied away from actually saying anything. I blamed Gregory for that.

Kate was meanwhile rubbing at her scalp as she looked around, probably for where we were going. Because while she had more or less led directly to the spot where we currently stood, whether or not this was where we had needed to go was debatable.

“Then I suppose you might enlighten us as to our next steps?” I asked Gregory, indifferent to his childish remarks.

“No, not I,” Gregory insisted, before adding, “Leading us would be Kate’s duty.”

From what I could see of Kate, her cheeks were blushing slightly. She might have also been grimacing. It was difficult to determine. I believed that she should simply ask for directions. But if we were to be forced to wait for Kate to make the appropriate decision, at the least I could needle Gregory. Afterall, it had been him harping on us about our far too casual modes of address towards Kate.

“I am surprised by you, Mr. Silverborn,” I said. “You failed to refer to our leader as Sir Guardson, instead using her first name. Were you not impressing upon us the hazards of over familiarity just this morning?”

“Please,” Gregory said. “There is a difference in station between myself and two barmaids.”

It was at that point that Kate finally decided to move and ask for directions. She began walking towards a group of Low Knights in the square; the Knights were in the process of searching through a handcart with a suspiciously potent aroma.

We began to follow Kate, but she decided it would be better if we stayed behind, and she waved at us to stay put. Likely, she was embarrassed at having to ask. To spare her this, we obliged and watched as she approached.

To the surprise of no one, Upon Kate’s return from her brief discussion with the Knights, she suddenly knew where we needed to head next.

She continued to lead us along the Chasm, deeper into the industrial quarter, although she had led us towards the outskirts of it near where the slums met the factories.

We had only traveled a few blocks this way, but in that distance two pickpockets committed suicide by Kate. One of them attempted to steal from Kate’s bag. Kate promptly slit his throat, barely even glancing his way, and even more surprisingly, avoiding so much as a single drop of blood, at least on either herself or her sword.

I wanted to make sure that Marianne was not too scarred by the gruesome sight as we stepped over the soon to be corpse. But when I first glanced her way, she appeared indifferent. It was only when she saw me watching that her face ran a gamut of emotion.

One other thief committed suicide in such a way, although this one I was unsure of their guilt. They appeared similar to the previous pickpocket, the same age, the same level of gauntness to their frame, the same shoddy and threadbare clothing. They had approached from the side, nearest me but still several paces away. As they seemed to consider approaching me, Kate pivoted from where she led at the front, dashed over, drew and sliced, and then darted back to where she had started.

It had happened quickly. She had been a blur. Before I had really understood her capricious actions, the pickpocket, a child, really, was shouting and stumbling away, holding their upper arm where a section had been carved off. There was plenty of blood, and I knew that they would need an amputation with that nature of wound. I was fairly certain I had seen bone.

It had been brutal. I tried keeping myself between their mess and Marianne, but again, she seemed unbothered by the violence until she met my eyes. It was only then that she seemed to be affected.

With that nastiness behind us, soon we strode through the open doors of the warehouse. But unlike normal storage spaces or factorums, this seemed to be a place where wholesalers moved bulk goods. Merchants had set up various booths where they sold by the crate and bushel. It seemed a promising place, at least if these goods were sourced from the Under, which I suspected to be the case for most of the goods consumed within Southbridge.

I would normally have taken some time to see what was being moved, by whom, and for how much, but Kate pushed through the merchant loading bays and led us further back towards the Chasm side of the warehouse.

As we passed several stacks of pallets and crates, we found that the back wall had been left open in an unobstructed view out over the Chasm. Through the haze of atmosphere, we could almost see the suggestion of the far side, where the Kaiva Jungles were, at least, if one traveled far enough South. In reality, the poor air quality and the significant distance from one side of the Chasm to the other meant that we likely were not actually seeing the far-side, but the impression was there.

I would have also enjoyed spending some time with this view, and to perhaps better scope out where I could take advantage of my unique skill set, but Kate seemed to be in something of a rush, likely to make up for earlier time wasted.

She was muttering to herself while glancing about, looking for what I presumed was a way down to where the goods were coming from. It seemed obvious to me, but Kate struggled to see it, so I pointed to where an open elevator seemed to hang out over the Chasm.

When Kate followed my finger, she guffawed and I think made a joke.

“I saw it first,” Kate said, even though it had been I that had pointed it out.

From there, she went towards where several men stood guard and what could only be a machine operator was crouched and working on a set of instruments and tubing, possibly a control station. As Kate had made the joke first, I thought it best to respond in kind so as to prevent appearing a pushover.

“I somehow find myself doubting your observational skills,” I said with a dry wit.

Gregory scowled at my joke and might have been considering snapping a reprimand my way, but Kate beat him to it and made another quip. This time she did surprise me. I had not realized that she had noticed.

“But, no. Next you’ll be saying I didn’t see them first too?” Kate said, pointing casually at someone who had been tailing us since we had departed Blossom Hill.

In truth, I suspected that they, the Vigilant Guesswork, had been following me. She had been doing so for the past several days, although I was unsure as to why. She was currently hanging off of the side of a building, one of the few spots outside the warehouse where we could have still been seen. She was hardly being subtle about her spying.

“Her?” I said, allowing a casual amusement to infiltrate both my body language and tone. “Please tell me that this is not the first time you have noticed her. She has been following us for a while now. I doubt she is attempting to hide, so lacking in subtlety she is.”

“What?” Kate said. “You already knew she was there?”

I nodded, smiling.

“Well, I saw her first. Totally.”

“I am certain you did.”

“I did!” Kate said, laughing. “But just to be sure… when’d you see them?”

“Before you,” I said. I rolled my eyes.

“Now, will you stop making a scene?”

And she was making a scene, or I supposed, she and I both were. But in all fairness, that was not the fault of our actions or dialogue. It was just that we were not the typical sort of person that frequented this area. We were carrying bags, appeared in high quality clothes and gear, and appeared at ease. This was in contrast to every other person in the warehouse. Naturally we stood out.

And of course, there were several street rats who had been watching us, despite the fact that they must have known full well what Kate would do to any that crossed her.

But, I could hardly hold myself accountable for the actions of others, and neither could Kate. We continued on our way towards the elevator. It had just finished unloading, and I thought it was fairly obvious that it was a lift or elevator of some sort.

This fact was perhaps not as obvious as I thought.

“So… how are we planning on getting down to the Under again?” Marianne asked.

Even more surprisingly, Gregory also failed to realize our destination. At least I surmised by his foolish response.

“I had assumed stairs would be involved,” Gregory answered.

Kate scoffed and laughed all at once before answering.

“Yeah, but no, at least not for the first leg down. We’re taking an elevator down most of the way. Just gotta find the thing first…”

It was at this point that I realized I was surrounded by idiots, because Kate was acting as if she was unable to see the elevator which we had been headed towards, and which now remained at nearly twenty feet from where we had paused.

I nudged Kate in the side and gave a subtle nod towards the platform.

“..I know that, Jackie,” Kate said, sounding a mix of exasperated and amused. “I’m trying to figure out who we gotta talk to.”

Oh. I supposed that made sense.

After that, Kate figured out who was in charge and she made her way over to a grease-covered man in overalls and a jacket.

This man wore several tools about his belt and had a somewhat clean cap that might have been tweed. The fact he was standing near the platform along with four guards wearing ruby arm-bands implied more than anything else. As we approached, the Rubies stepped aside but kept their hands on their truncheons as an implied threat, whereas the operator-mechanic frowned and spat a wad of chew to the side.

“Gross,” Gregory said. I found it difficult to disagree with the sentiment.

However, despite the spitting, Kate approached unbothered.

“You run this elevator?” Kate asked him.

The operator frowned and put a hand on a wrench. “Sure kid, could say that. But whaddya want?”

Before Kate could commence any sort of negotiation at all, Gregory dressed the operator down.

“Is that how you address anyone of Title?” Gregory interjected.

The operator gave a confused grunt, while Kate glanced away, seemingly embarrassed.

“That is Sir Gaurdson, fool.” Gregory sneered. “You are unworthy of addressing her as any other.”

“Eh…” the operator shuffled awkwardly and glanced towards one of the bigger Rubies standing guard. The Ruby shrugged, likely unsure of the situation as well.

“No?” Gregory said.

“Gregory!” Kate hissed, blushing. It was surprising that she was feeling anything regarding the attention, considering everything else I had seen from her.

Gregory had built up momentum though and failed to notice the discomfort he was causing Kate.

“Are you so daft to have never heard of the Knights?”

“Yeah?” the operator answered, uncertain. “I mean sure, who hasn’t… don’t see why it matters none.”

“So you are not completely stupid then. What of the High Knights?”

Kate groaned and buried her eyes with her arm. Her antics actually went to defuse the tension some as at least one of the Rubies smirked her way.

“Look kid,” the operator said. “You hear for something, or just ta harass us?”

“Amazing. Absolutely astounding.” Gregory’s tone carried heaps of sarcasm. “Just what–”

Apparently, Kate could tolerate no further, as she elbowed Gregory in the side, hard enough to drive the air from his lungs. She then shoved him behind her so that she was between Gregory and the operator. From there, Kate addressed the operator once more.

“But, yeah... you can take us down?”

“Maybe,” the operator said. “You paying, right?” he then eyed Kate and the rest of us and seemed to weigh his options. “But none o’ you’re exactly the usual, y’know?”

Kate rolled her eyes. “So you’re saying you can’t take us, then?”

“Well, uh…” the operator waffled.

Before Greogry could issue threats or Kate could take some other drastic action which would be non-conducive to business, I weighed in.

“Pardon, Sir Guardson,” I said, sparing the operator a meaningful glance, “But I believe he is merely beginning negotiations.”

“Yeah?” Kate asked.

If the operator felt gratitude, none of it showed. Instead he just shrugged and nodded. “Sure. Yeah, I can take ya to Halftown. Hundred Cee each.”

“For going down?!” Kate said somewhat suspiciously.

“I would imagine that down is the cheaper of the options,” Gregory said.

“Sure, sure. You’re welcome ta find ‘em…”

“And would this Halftown be connected to the Under?” I asked, keeping the conversation focused on what we want, versus making needless enemies as Gregory would have done.

However, at my question, one of the guards chuckled. I narrowed my eyes and wondered if this was how Kate felt, as my false-arm twitched and I had a sudden compulsion to render violence upon the man. I resisted the temptation, but the fact that I felt it at all concerned me.

“Sure, it’s connected,” the operator answered, unknowingly possibly saving his guard’s life. “But ya want lower, might try the Topaz. They get that going yet?” he asked the largest of the Rubies.

The Ruby shook his head.

“Don’t recognize that crew,” Kate said. “Topaz, they new?”

“Sure. They replaced the Garnets after… well…”

“Recognize her now?” Gregory asked smugly.

“Nah… wait…” the operator worked his jaw as his eyes widened in something close to caution. “Well, hm. This line only goes to Halftown, but it’s all connected, like I said. Really, not taking cargo down for passengers means hundred Cee each’s a steal of a deal. Couldn’t go no cheaper than that. Y’know?”

“What, no discount?” Kate asked with something of a smug humor. “You saw what I did to the Garnets, right? Sure you can risk it?”

Sometimes I found it hard to forget that Kate was a child. A blood thirsty, immature, teenager.

“His price should be affordable,” I said, implicitly equating protesting the price and bartering to poverty. “Is that not right, Sir Kate? Bartering seems uncouth at this point.”

“Yeah,” Kate said slowly, before adding a more firm agreement. “Not like it’s more than pocket change. Just wanted to make sure nobody thought we were easy marks.”

“I doubt anyone would ever come to that conclusion,” I said dryly.

Minutes later, and the operator gestured us to follow him onto the rusted platform that overlooked the chasm. Its only point of connection was the tracks running down the side of the cliff, and the lift vibrated with each step that anyone took. Were it not for my Talents, I would have had second thoughts regarding using the lift. It was a small mercy that it had a railing separating us from a plummet.

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The operator stepped on after us and went to a control panel that stood at waist height about halfway in on the platform. The Rubies filed in after him.

“Everyone pissed and emptied?” the operator asked crudely.

“W-what?” Marianne asked, surprised by the blunt question and possibly confused at the context.

“Eh, whatever,” the operator replied with a careless shrug before pulling a lever. The elevator shuddered as large latches along the metal wheels and tracks pulled out. “Just takes a while to get down there’s all.”

The wheels began creaking and clanking as they rolled down the tracks. They never slipped, but the mechanism controlling them seemed far too jury-rigged for my liking. And yet, the rate of descent was controlled, if at a walking pace.

A minute later and we had finally dropped far enough that we were looking up at the platforms jutting out over the Chasm. We could still see the Tower and of course the bridge itself, but it was from the underside which revealed a complexity to the bridge that I had not realized existed. I was unsure what the pipes or cables accomplished, but they must have performed some function.

Another minute passed, and Gregory grew impatient. I think that we all did.

“Can this device not travel any faster?” he complained. “Who fabricated this a shoddy thing?”

The operator shrugged, not stepping away from his controls. He said, “If ya want, could always take the fast way down.” One of the guards laughed, and I saw Kate grinning. It was likely a well used joke.

But Gregory had been correct, the descent was slow. Not that I would admit as such. Gregory was insufferable enough as it was.

A minute later in our descent, we passed through the roof of what was almost a warehouse, one with a hole through both the floor and roof for the elevator to pass through. During the time we spent within, I saw several dusty pallets and several barrels filled with grains. There were several workers rolling in additional barrels.

The smell caused my eyes to water.

“What is this place?” I asked in a strained voice.

“Old mining depot, put to growing food,” a Ruby said.

“Produce?” Marianne asked. “Why down here?” I was glad that she was finally breaking out of her cowed silence.

“Heh, gotta grow it somewhere.”

“But… how?” It seemed a fair question, but it went unanswered.

The stench was growing progressively worse. It stank of the worst sort of sewage. No matter how I covered my nose, I could not escape the wretched aroma. Marianne was holding her nose, and Kate retreated to the Chasm side of the lift and started leaning over the edge as though trying to get some fresh air. Gregory turned green.

Of course, the operator and Rubies were used to this stench, as they started laughing at our reactions. I doubted that any of us were even present enough to take offense at their reactions. No, we were too busy suffering through a physical assault of stench.

“Ugh–what–” Gregory sputtered. “-is this… this… ugh!” he coughed.

“What else ya think they using to grow crops?” the operator said, stifling a laugh without success. “Can’t do much with just stone. Need dirt!”

While they crudely guffawed over their working conditions, I made a tactical retreat to where Kate was, leaning over the far side of the elevator.

It did not seem to help.

The descent continued for another hour.

We passed intermittent platforms, some in use, others not, but each one leading to a recessed staging area in the side of the cliff with multiple branching tunnels. The descent followed a crooked path. Another oddity was that there were hardly any ropes or pulleys. There were a few cables that connected to the tracks above us, or rather a wheeled mechanism that had several attached parts that seemed to be doing something. Another oddity, the lower we went, the slower the descent seemed to be.

We passed another platform with ramshackle buildings and dirty malformed roustabouts. Maybe one of them was doing anything productive, but the majority of them were lounging or playing cards or dice. I was glad when they passed out of sight.

The next platform down, Kate caught sight of something that interested her. There were several climbers departing, following up what could have been a goat trail. Kate seemed particularly focused on their bulging packs.

“Why not take a lift, rather than risk climbing?” I asked.

“Not with a crew,” the operator said. “Plus… well, I shouldn say.”

“Those packs look kinda heavy,” Marianne added. “Seems dangerous?”

“Ugh. Who even cares about them?” Gregory asked. “No point in talking about this.”

“Could be carrying anything,” the operator said, not able to resist the chance to gossip.

It was Kate that put things together first.

“Bet it’s snow,” Kate spat. “Smugglers.”

“How is this the best way into the city?” I asked. I also wondered about where they had received their alleged product. It seemed that their operation was poorly conceived, but then again, there had been plenty of asinine smuggling attempts in general over the years. People often failed to optimize for intelligence.

Kate had a theory though which she shared: “They’ll probably cut back in through the Under once they’re further up.” Kate was growing increasingly irate and I was unsure as to why.

“What profit is there in smuggling?” I asked.

From what I had seen, the government seemed fairly lackadaisical in regards to substance abuse. I had thought that the artificial scarcity drove the price arbitrarily high which in turn drove smuggling, but if there was no artificial scarcity generated by governance, then why would there be smuggling? I found I was lacking too much information regarding the laws and policies of the state. I would need to fix that in the future, especially if I intended to continue breaking them.

“Why else?” Kate scoffed. “It’s addictive and expensive.”

“And it’s too hard to tax, yeah?” the operator said.

Kate furrowed her brows at that. “Still though,” Kate said, fondling the hilt of her short sword while giving the possible-smugglers a disturbing look. “I’m going to stop them.”

We continued descending, albeit slowly. Kate’s frown deepened and her veins bulged slightly. She was not getting what she wanted, although she had hardly made a clear demand in the first place. She quickly rectified that.

“Stop the lift,” she ordered.

The possible-smugglers were still in sight, but barely. And while it was likely that Kate could ascend the tracks by climbing them, at least until reaching the path the smugglers were taking, Kate would likely rather not be forced to climb at all.

But when the operator made no motion to apply the brakes or slow the platform down at all, let alone reverse course, Kate scowled and turned full towards the operator. “Hey! I said–”

“-We ain’t stopping till Halftown,” the operator denied Kate firmly.

Kate growled, and Gregory seized his chance to score points with Kate.

“Fool,” Gregory said. “That was a command, not a request.”

At Gregory’s words, a guard stepped between him and the control box. Kate began fondling her sword hilt and she started to look a bit disturbed.

Fortunately, before anyone could do anything rash, the operator explained. “It’s not that I don’t wanna. It’s the way the gears work though. We’d lose all the head we’ve built if we did…”

Gregory was still glaring at the operator, but it seemed that Kate was hesitant to punish the operator, moreso when the operator had a reason for the denial. Kate did perform several breathing exercises to calm herself. By the time she finished, the smugglers were likely well and truly gone.

“Whatever,” Kate griped. “Didn’t wanna chase ‘em down anyways.”

From there, we continued to descend, although our pace only ever slowed.

At least now I knew why the elevator was slowing. I also guessed as to how the elevators could even be considered affordable in their operation. The descent was somehow generating a charge for when the elevator eventually went back up. Not that the charge could have covered even half of the distance, what with friction. But it likely cut back on expenses quite a bit, and seemed a little too advanced for a mere lift.

As we went down, ever slower and slower, the floors and exhausted mines became somewhat infrequent.

But then, we passed a platform with three figures standing on it, waiting. They were focused upon us as we descended, although we had yet to reach the level of their floor yet. Concerningly, neither the Rubies nor operator seemed to be expecting whoever these figures were.

Of course, Kate’s reaction differed drastically to everyone else’s.

“Finally,” Kate said with an exhale. “Get something to do.” She rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck.

Gregory, having not yet seen the waiting figures, commented, “Kate, why did that sound excited? The only time that you have expressed any interest was when–” Gregory turned around and finally saw what everyone else had already noticed. “-oh. They appear hostile.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Kate said with a laugh.

“You know, I would relax,” Gregory said, beginning to rifle through his bag, looking for something. “But I would rather have these guards defend us than risk any of us, even the barmaids.”

But while the Rubies had truncheons out and ready, they were keeping near the operator’s box, which was far enough from the edge of the lift that they were actually behind Kate and Gregory, at least when compared to where the figures would be coming from.

We finally reached the same height as the figures.

“I’m glad they’re letting me handle it,” Kate said. She unsheathed her short sword and pushed her bag away from her, closer to the operators. “This’ll be fun.”

Guessing how this might resolve itself, I pulled Marianne further away from Kate to give the swordswoman more space. I squeezed past the operator and Rubies as well, until everyone else stood between us and the three figures. While this meant that I might not have had the best view of the upcoming fight, I had never much enjoyed bloodsports anyways, and this was likely the safest place Marianne or I could be.

It was as I was positioning Marianne and myself that the three figures stepped onto the elevator with the rest of us. I thought that they were either confident, foolish, or desperate. There was no way in which they were escaping this with their lives. At least not if they failed to retreat while the floor’s platform was still in range. With the rate of our descent, they likely could still escape for the next thirty seconds. But it would have been increasingly difficult for them to do so, especially if Kate decided to stop them. For some reason though, Kate seemed content to wait and watch.

This delay gave me ample time to get a better read on the combatants.

Their leader was partially covered in scales with one bulging eye and the other seemingly normal except for its yellow sclera. They were armed with a long knife which seemed decent enough for a back-alley brawl but certainly not against a sword. Likely their deviations granted some advantage, but I was unsure of how much.

One of them, possibly male, had uneven shoulders, one drooping heavily as compared to the other. My false arm twitched when I focused on them, and I thought it might have been unrelated, but was unsure of what exactly. This one was armed with a small crossbow, already cranked and ready to fire.

The last one suffered a hunchback and had a disfigured face, with a significant underbite. They were armed with a spiked club, and they were large enough that they likely could be considered a reasonably successful brute.

If these three had accosted any other party, they might have had a reasonable chance at a pyrrhic victory. Their lives must have been considered cheap.

Surprisingly, it was Gregory that broke the silence as he finished priming an arc-bow in his shaky hands.

“Deviant freaks,” he said.

“Shut it, boy.” The lizard person said in a gravelly voice that I belatedly realized was female, making her a lizard woman of some kind. Unfortunate. “Should learn to keep your mouth shut. Up top wants you in particular dead.”

His face paled a bit and he stepped further back, putting Kate between himself and the assailants.

I decided that I should be seen as performing something during this posturing, lest Kate think less of me. So I turned towards the nearest Ruby to where myself and Marianne had retreated to.

“Not that I would presume to spoil Sir Guardson’s fun,” I said, catching the guard’s eye. “But are you truly not tasked with protecting the lift?”

The guard shrugged, but it was the operator that spoke up.

“So long as they don’t steal nothin’ we don’t got a quarrel with them. Bad business to starting feuds an’ all that. Not sure why they came, honest. No cargo this trip to steal.”

“That’s right,” the lizard woman said. “We came for the boy.”

“That’s dumb, you’re dumb.” Kate said. “Shoulda come for me, not him.”

I was unsure as to why Kate was delaying the fight. I wondered if it was because the tunnel was still within reach of the slow moving lift. She could have been worried about reinforcements, but I thought it more likely that she just wanted to keep them from running away after the fight started.

“Second thought, you too,” the lizard said.

The lizard then clicked her tongue and the three of them started to move.

Gregory fired a shot off but his aim missed by a substantial amount, instead blasting a hole in the rock near one of the tracks.

“Watch it!” the operator shouted, showing more emotion than I had seen from him yet.

During the space between Gregory shooting and the operator shouting, Kate moved in a blur, striking first the crossbowman, slicing across his throat and disarming him with her free arm, before she struck the hunchback, bodily sending him over the side of the elevator and plummeting with a long-lasting scream.

Gregory reloaded his arc-bow with a fresh Charger, failing to realize that the fight was already over. His hands were still shaky when he brought his arc-bow back up, aiming towards the lizard that was on the opposite side of Kate. The boy lacked any sort of sense in regards to firearms, or I guess artificed guns, as they seemed to use here.

I could not allow him to risk injuring Kate, or even more importantly, the elevator’s mechanisms or tracks.

“Gregory,” I said quickly to catch his attention.

“Ugh–what?!”

“Do not risk Kate with your aim.”

“What do you know?” he snapped. His finger was still on the trigger even if his ally was down-range from him and even if he had his head turned to reprimand me and to protest.

“She has this handled.”

“But-” Gregory started, but now was cut off by Kate.

“-Yep,” Kate said in a nonchalant tone. “Better not shoot me by mistake, Georgey-boy. I won’t like it, and then you really won’t like it.”

As she finished saying that, she positioned herself back between the lizard girl and the rest of us, sword wet. The lizard girl had a dagger with a keen edge, but she might as well have been unarmed, at least compared to Kate.

“You!” the lizard girl sputtered.

She seemed to have just realized that one of her colleagues was missing and that the other was attempting to hold the flaps of skin together without much success, though notable of their hands looked a bit strange and familiar and I felt a pinch from my false-arm, but I felt uncomfortable watching a person bleed out helplessly, so I was grateful when Kate offered a cheeky distraction.

“Me,” Kate responded. I could hear the smug smile in her voice, even if I could only see her back. But the fact that she sounded so relaxed left me with concerns. The fact that the lizard-girl still stood untouched left me with more concerns. The fact that I knew Kate though, that left me the most concerned.

I glanced towards Marianne who was staring at the ongoing conflict with expressionless eyes. She must have felt my attention on her, as she shook herself out of whatever reverie she had been in and looked my way. When our eyes met, I slowly shook my head.

“Marianne, dear? Avert your eyes, please.”

My voice came bereft of merriment, for while Kate was undoubtedly a poor influence, she had not had such a big influence as to cause me to take this encounter any sort of humor.

Before Marianne had a chance to voice the question written upon her face, Kate guffawed loudly.

I made no attempt to feign a laugh. I had made no joke. As Kate’s back was turned towards me, I doubt she saw my own unamused expression.

Unfortunately, the situation only devolved from there as Kate dragged the encounter out.

I think that the assailant also realized the direness of the situation, for while the lizard was armed with a dagger, she held it without confidence. She then made a mistake by glancing over her shoulder, perhaps to see if there was some recourse of escape.

During this second, Kate flashed forward with her blade and sliced down from eyebrow to cheek, costing the lizard an eye.

The lizard let loose a pained scream.

Kate laughed.

Gregory blanched and he finally let his arc-bow droop until it was facing the ground. He seemed to have realized what was coming, as he made an almost silent, “Oh.”

The lizard had yet to drop her dagger, and while she clutched her face with one hand, she slashed with the other. Her form was almost as poor as her aim. Kate would have been safe from harm even had she remained idle. But of course, Kate did not.

Kate chopped upwards, almost lazily, and struck the lizard’s hand, removing a finger, slicing another knuckle, and causing the lizard to cry out once more as the dagger clattered to the floor.

“M-mercy!” the lizard girl begged.

Kate hummed in thought, before giving a plain, “... no.” The grin made it all the worse.

Before the lizard could further beg, Kate made another skillful pass with her blade, this time striking her other eye and cheek, leaving the poor assailant blind.

The girl stumbled backwards and teetered at the edge of the lift nearest the cliff face of the Chasm. She was clutching her face with both hands and sobbed.

Kate scoffed, sounding more disgusted than anything else, and she made a pass with her blade, this time at the lizard’s midsection. The cut was deep enough to disembowel, but before anything could fall loose, the lizard fell backwards and struck the cliff.

Now, the lift was moving slowly, but it was still moving. There was also a gap between the floor of the lift and the cliff itself.

I doubted very much that Kate had planned for this, at least I hoped not. She darted forward once more, this time severing the lizard girl’s quadriceps, causing her to buckle.

The lizard fell back, lost her balance against the cliff and slipped downwards until her rear end was jammed between the lift and the cliff, with her ankles and shoulders above the gap.

At this point, Kate had been frozen by curiosity, and I think the rest of us were watching on as well. The lizard seemed to be attempting to cry out, but seemed to lack the ability to speak. Despite her silence, her face was able to fully communicate her panic and pain.

As the lift descended slowly, the woman was pushed upwards by the cliff. But at the same time, the irregular gap between the stone and the lift narrowed, further trapping, then squeezing. There was a crunch as some bone broke, but I was unsure as to which.

“What is even happening?” Kate asked with a confused interest. She no longer held her sword at the ready; the tip was facing down and blood was dripping to the elevator floor. “No, you know what, this is awesome!”

The Rubies made no attempt to intervene, though their faces were ashen. The operator was looking away. Marianne seemed far too interested, in a macabre sort of way. I supposed I could not overly blame the younger girl for that, as I was also watching.

Soon, the gap between the lift and the cliff stopped narrowing and began widening. The lizard girl slipped further down, so that now only her head was visible. She was still alive, judging by her thrashing at the lift for purchase to try and free herself while at the same time avoid plummeting to her death. Were I her, I would have preferred the plummet, as ten seconds later the gap between narrowing once more. This time, there were quite a few crunches as the lizard was carried upwards once more, at least relative to the descending lift.

This… this continued for some time. At any point, anyone could have intervened, but no one did. At some point, the lizard died, or at least passed out.

Minutes later, the gap finally widened enough for the lizard to completely slip through and plunge downwards, striking the cliff twice on her way down. She left a notable smear.

Another minute passed in silence, before Kate began chuckling and shaking her head.

“Whelp! That was something,” she said. She looked down at the only assailant remaining on the lift, though they had long since bled out. “Eugh,” she said. “Could have fought longer. Whimp.”

She used the toe of her boot to start nudging the deviant over.

It was during this point that I got a better look at the deviation. They were the assailant that had the uneven shoulders, and their heavier side had a very familiar looking arm, at least from what I could see of the exposed wrist and hand. It was gelatinous and clear, with several tendrils that seemed to writhe, even in death.

Before I could really process this observation, Kate finished nudging them off over the side, letting gravity take care of the rest.

The Chasm continued to darken as we descended, the wheels clacking as they rolled down their tracks. During this, conversation was nonexistent. After what we had all witnessed, I doubted anyone knew exactly what to say, and Kate seemed rather indifferent, at least judging by her self-pleased, satisfied, boyish smirk. And so, we continued descending in silence while I considered what I had seen.

Belobog had informed me of the chance that Junior Alchemist Charson was operating in the Under. I was to be on the lookout for deviations that matched my own. Even though my deviation was less a deviation and more a symbiotic, parasitic, gift from Emboru to replace the left arm which was severed by none-other than Kate herself… It came with a significant amount of baggage that I would rather not consider, but was forced to as the tendrils within my torso and following along my spine tightened and twitched, as though expressing their demands that I pursue this issue.

The issue was that my false-arm seemed to have realized the opportunity to locate Emboru’s sibling. Perhaps by recognizing a chemical trail from the deviation, or perhaps by somehow infesting my very mind, regardless, I would be unable to ignore this opportunity.

But ignore it I thought best, as how could I express interest in Charson without raising suspicions? Afterall, what reason would I have? Already my Guise was breaking down, my identity as a human was growing flimsier, and it would not be long before suspicions arose, especially not if I expressed interest in chasing down a party that had wronged me.

Another spasm from my symbiote forced my issue.

I gasped as its tendrils coiled about my lungs, reminding me that yes, my continued survival depended on appeasing this… thing.

“You alright, Jackie?” Marianne asked in a low voice. She had been doing her best to avoid looking at anyone at all, but my brief and pained exhalation had drawn her from her shell.

“Something wrong?” Kate asked, her boyish smirk disappearing beneath a concerned frown as she started towards me while thinking aloud. “I know they didn’t hurt you… did they have somebody shooting from above? But no, I woulda noticed that. You get some guts splattered your way?”

The Rubies all found the cliff’s irregularities incredibly fascinating as Kate went past them. None of them even dared to look her way. The operator still seemed green about his neck and face, although the grease-stains helped to obscure this. All of this was tangential though, as I needed to both explain myself and appease my false-arm in a manner that avoided raising suspicions.

I may have lacked a clear strategy, but I had to speak now, especially as the tendrils continued tightening about my bones in a most uncomfortable fashion.

“It was… I just…” I tried several times as Kate finally reached me. Her eyes were searching my own, while Marianne was hugging herself and staring down at my feet. Gregory was sneering, but I cared little about him, except for the potential harm he could cause. After some verbal stumbling, I finally figured out what to say. “I am unharmed, of course, Sir Kate. But… I must wonder why they tried attacking us, who sent them, and where they were sent from.”

“That’s… huh.” Kate seemed to be thinking deeply. “But.. why ask? I know you aren’t afraid of them coming after us… or maybe you are? But they did seem to know something about me so it might be worth looking into. Huh. Hey, yeah!” She turned to the operator. “I wanna have some fun on my way back. Where did they come from, you know?”

While Kate likely had not intended any of this as a threat, while she spoke she had been wiping her hands free of her weapon oil with the very same bloodstained rag which hung from her belt.

The operator gulped, and his guards stared even more intently at the cliffside. One of them was even grimacing while slowly shuffling away. Kate noticed that and she scoffed in good humor. Perhaps the scoff is what finally gave the operator the courage to speak.

“Ah–uh… La-lady knight, that w-was, I m-mean, they jumped on a-at level f-fourteen.”

“We should consider a detour there when we are finished with our excursion,” I said.

“As if those freaks would remain,” Gregory scoffed. “It would be a waste of our time.”

“Perhaps,” I said. “Or perhaps we could find a trail, or some other local that recognizes them.”

“Sure sure,” Kate said, and then, to the discomfort of the operator and his guards, Kate added, “worst case we always just start tearing shit up till somebody talks… or I get bored,” she finished with a shrug.

“R-right,” Gregory said, before coughing and glancing away from Kate.

We continued descending. The irregularities of the Chasm wall meant that there were plenty of overhanging rock between us and Southbridge, granting enough shade to cause a noticeable dim and gloomy atmosphere, made only stranger by the way sounds echoed and clicking-clacking of the iron wheels following the track. But soon, the ambient noise changed, starting slowly, and then growing in volume. It was the sound of industry, a susurration of people not dissimilar from Southbridge itself. Along with this, I began to catch the stink of waste, pollutants, and the disgusting curry preferred by the locals.

“And, there she is,” the operator said. “Halftown. The end of the line.”

“Ugh. Finally,” Gregory said.

Likely unnoticed by everyone else, I caught one of the Rubies nodding in agreement. If they were eager to be rid of us. I could hardly blame the sentiment. I would want to be rid of us as well. I wondered if it would affect our ability to use their services again.