Back in his lair in the sewers, James was digging. The plan was to make a tunnel between his future shop and the main base, hidden from both sides via fake walls. Of course, since he didn't actually have a shop yet he couldn't finish the tunnel. The plan for the day was simply to start things up, cover some of the ground between his home and the Black Block, and he'd wait for Maltodextrin to finish things up to continue. He didn't want his people to have to use the sewers to travel either, so he also had to dig down before he could go back up.

The digging itself was surprisingly easy, but he had gotten used to it after his numerous expansions to his little lair. He only had to shape his tentacles into shovels, a couple of drills to weaken areas that were more resistant than the rest, and the greenish-yellow bricks of the sewer walls fell into pieces. Frankly, he thought it was a miracle the entire place hadn't crumbled down.

In his endeavor, he was assisted by his latest group of employees, the Shadow Commando. One of them used a shovel to fill a wheelbarrow with the piles of broken pieces of occasional dirt that were dug to transport them to the storage area while the others enjoyed some donuts, with the sole task of the group being switched around every time a trip was completed.

"Oh, I never thought I'd get a boss who bought me something. I think I'm the luckiest thug in Zalcien."

"I know those are from Pete's, but knowing my employer paid for them for us? God, they're even sweeter."

"You're a monotheist?"

"What, you have a problem?"

"No, no. It's just rare, is all. I just felt like everyone here worships the Nine."

"Not me, losers. I follow the one and only god-"

"Money?"

"You're no fun."

"It's just cliché."

"You know there's a money god among the Nine, right?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, the Patient Rich."

"I'd say we're more of a 'Chaste Thief' bunch."

"Speak for yourself, boyo."

"I'm back guys, who's next?"

"I'd say Steve."

"As amusing as your banter is, I must question why you all need to be present. One of you should be enough for this task, considering we only have one wheelbarrow."

"Ah, but it wouldn't be fair for them. We'd all enjoy donuts while they work hard? No sir! It's all of the Shadow Commando or none of us."

"You still have to go, Steve."

"Yeah yeah. Give me that shovel."

"Atta boy. Anyway boss, I was curious about our long-term goals. Like, I know right now the plan is for a shop to get some money, but after that? What's the main objective?"

"I want to make a safe haven. A place where people won't have to worry about monsters or Villains. A place for those who only seek to live in peace."

"So, we're going down the Vigilante path?"

"In a way, I suppose. Though I have no interest in ridding the world of evil, this task goes to those who deserve it. I only want-"

"To make a safe space. No going out of your way to beat up bad guys, just keeping them out of your place. Makes sense."

"Sounds way less tiring than actual Hero work."

"Guys, maybe avoid cutting off the boss?"

"Oh, sorry sir."

"I do not mind, though pay attention next time."

"Thank you, boss."

"Say boss, why do you do the digging yourself? That's usually more of a minion's work."

"Because I doubt any of you have the ability to tear through materials the way I do. Not without costly tools, at least."

"I know a mole guy if you want."

"Thank you, but I don't plan on hiring any more people for the time being."

As James swung his modified tentacles once more, something odd happened. Instead of only hitting more weak bricks and dirt, he hit the air.

Despite deliberately avoiding the level of the sewer tunnels, he had found an open space. Some sort of hallway, similar to those occasional strange offshoots that he sometimes found in the tunnels, leading away from the canals. Dusty and dry hallways that went nowhere, which didn't make sense in any sort of infrastructure. But why was one of them here? Where did it go? Had James accidentally found some Villain's secret tunnel?

Behind him, up the stairs he had made to go down his new passage, his men sensed the shift in the mood.

"Everyone, forget the wheelbarrow. Be on guard and make sure nothing comes out of this without my say-so."

"How will we know it's you?"

"I will talk about your donuts, but not offer any more of them."

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"That's... A weird choice of secret code."

"Which is why no one would think of it. Love it, boss!"

"Do we shoot first or?"

"Tell them not to move, try to see if they're willing to talk, but make sure no matter what they don't exit the tunnel. And be prepared for them not to negotiate. Not everyone is as merciful as I was."

"We got it, boss."

James entered the hallway, leaving a much more serious and attentive Shadow Commando behind him as he began to listen closely. No steps, no slithering, no driving, no talking, no singing, nothing, it appeared the hallway was empty. Hopefully, that meant no one used it and he wouldn't have to worry about having accidentally opened his lair to a popular road. He quickly turned into his more normal humanoid form, shaping his body so that the clothes inside of himself would be on his body once he was done, a nice little trick he had practiced before going to the Black Block to see Maltodextrin. It wasn't as impressive as the way he could now extend his body much farther than he used to, but it helped him gain a lot of time.

There was something odd about the hallway, though. He could feel a light breeze coming from the right side. He chose to go the opposite way first, wind implied an open space and it would take longer to explore than what he hoped was a dead end.

A few minutes later and he reached his destination and, just as he wished for, this part of the hallway ended in a flat wall. Well, not exactly. There was a ladder carved into the wall, though there was no opening on the ceiling or ground for it to lead anywhere. Just to be sure he stomped with his feet before climbing up, but again, nothing moved or seemed designed to move. Of course, with his personal experience hiding entrances, he knew making fake walls was a possibility so he took the time to knock on every surface and let a tendril run over everything, in case there was some sort of hidden button or lever. Still, everything seemed to confirm this was a dead end. How odd.

He backtracked to go to the other end, passing by his Shadow Commando on the way.

"Stop! Who goes there?"

"Freeze or we'll shoot!"

"It's me, your donut-giving boss. No bonuses in sight though."

"Oh, sorry boss."

"I tasked you with guard duty, if anything I'm relieved to see you are taking this seriously. Nothing on the left, by the way. Just a ladder, no opening."

"Uh, weird."

"Maybe they ran out of time? Or forgot to put the holes?"

"That seems highly unlikely."

"Not impossible, though!"

"An irrefutable argument. I'll be going, then. I think this next area might be bigger, so it could take more time. Tell the ratlings not to worry, and make sure they don't come rushing after me. If this area is dangerous enough to keep me occupied, they have no chance there."

"We got it, boss!"

"Uh, how do we keep the little ones in check? Like, I don't think they'd listen to us."

"Aren't they technically our superior?"

"When did that happen?"

"I thought the hierarchy went Silhouette, ratlings, Polisson, Barry and Larry and Techlord, Mischief, us, and then Mark and Jeffrey?"

"You forgot Solvent!"

"I don't think they fit in. They're more like a drone than a person."

"You sure about your order? Wouldn't the little rats be under Polisson?"

"No, I saw them give him orders."

"Aren't we above the rats?"

"Well, have you given them any orders?"

"Uh."

James sighed as he watched his guards.

"Everyone. Please."

Their banter ended at once as they focused on him.

"For now, ignore the hierarchy."

"But boss, without it everything will be naught but chaos!"

"Fine. Then Polisson is the boss while I'm not around, followed by Techlord. The rest has no reason to be involved in the hierarchy since they're doing their own thing. Is that alright with everybody?"

""Yes sir!""

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to go."

James resumed his march, quickly leaving his men far away behind him.

I get why they want to know who's in charge of who, but can't they see it's not the time? Considering their track record, they probably don't.

His light steps echoed against the stone floor, the sole sound in the ambient silence. He could appreciate the atmosphere it set, he had employed the same method in his raid defense, but his ego told him the black bricks led to a more impressive effect than the sewers' regular ones - though, given the fact this area had been isolated from the main canals, the bricks here weren't a yellowish-green but instead a light grey. It was a nice change of space, a more quaint look, relatively speaking of course.

This trip proved much longer than the first one, even without taking into account the backtracking. The minutes went by and James had to admit he was growing worried about the length of the hallway. Why would it need to cover so much distance, especially since it was a dead-end? Hopefully, there wouldn't be more openings further down the line. Having a road going through your house was already bad news, if there were more attached to it on top of that...

Finally, he saw something in the distance. A single exit, one that apparently led to a canal tunnel somehow. What was even odder was the fact that this tunnel was on the larger side of things, and since he had been going in a straight line with no change of elevation since his initial descent that meant there was an entire canal system right below the first one. James was no expert in sewer systems, so maybe it was normal, but the fact there was another level to the sewer system despite the tunnels always being so big was really odd. He had already gotten over the fact that Zalcien's sewers were monstrosities that would never have been made on Earth, the closest thing he knew of being Paris' ones and they didn't hold a candle to the place he called home, but this went even further.

As he got to approach the tunnel, James was very thankful for his odd way of sensing things, how he perceived everything in a sort of bubble around him, because otherwise his eyes - if he still had them - would have bulged out. This wasn't a mere giant canal tunnel, no. It was way more than that.

Even the term canal wasn't exactly appropriate. The place he entered was large enough to house what could only be described as a sewage lake, or maybe a pond, he wasn't sure of the exact difference between the two. What he knew was that the perfectly circular body of dirty gold water had to be hundreds of meters long, though he couldn't make any accurate measurements from where he was standing. A waterfall of sewage fell from the level above directly into the center of the lake, making him wonder how the tunnels he usually roamed could still have water and how this thing hadn't spilled over. Things swam beneath the surface, ridged back and threatening fins emerging from time to time.

Not to say there was no canal, on the contrary. Dozens of water pathways left the central point and went everywhere, returning to regular tunnels that led away from the lake room.

He could see more openings on some of the walls, though it appeared they were spaced far away from each other. Hopefully, that meant no one would use his.

A bizarre sight approached him as he stood there, observing the lake room. What could only be described as a stereotypical old Australian woman outback hunter like some sort of aged up gender-bent version of Crocodile Dundee, rowing forth a wooden bark lit up by two pairs of lanterns suspended on each end of the embarkation. Now that he thought about it, the boat looked more like the lovechild of a Drakkar and a canoe than a regular rowing boat.

The woman, who had to be in her sixties or seventies, stared uncaringly at him as she rowed with her single long oar, her necklace of monstrous teeth clicking on her leather vest. The light of the lanterns didn't light up her face all that much due to her hat, and James had no idea why she would bother wearing the thing aside from the aesthetic since there was no sun underground. At least as far as he knew.

She stopped her boat right in front of him and kept on staring.

"What are you waitin' for? Get on, I don't have all day."

"Will it be safe for the hallway? I don't want anyone to go in while I'm not here."

"Meh, no one cares about your secret entrance, everyone has their own. Haven't you learned this by now?"

"I actually have no idea of what's happening here, ma'am."

Her eyes widened at that.

"Oh, you're a newbie."

She appeared to think for a few seconds, rubbing her chin with the hand that wasn't holding the oar, letting James see the numerous scars covering her pale skin.

"Climb on. I'll explain on the way."

For some reason, James jumped on her boat.