Arc 7: Healthy Green Glow, Chapter 11 Interlude Deep Down
Fire Chief glanced over the gathered men and women, their visors glowed in the darkness a sapphire blue. Everyone held weapons ranging from riot shotguns to fully automatic assault rifles, all of which had inferno rounds. Before them lay the very bowels of the sewers, the entranceway gaped like some great maw of darkness. The last three sectors had been cleared of any and all mutated monstrosities with extreme prejudice, live fire had been used in many instances and was well warranted in the case of the swarms of vermin. He shifted, the metal gauntlets crossed over his thick plated chest.
“Where is group 8?”
“Ran into troubles, giant spiders. Neon Nurse and several of the others are mopping up now,” replied one of the Cyber Swat members.
“Casualties?”
“Unsure, coms are sporadic at best. We will have to wait for them to arrive.”
“So be it. Set up a perimeter and restock on supplies. We will be heading into level two once the rest have rendezvoused. Groups 7 and 6 go to help speed things up,” said Fire Chief.
Twenty members headed down the dark, grimy tunnel that had yet to be cleared. As they went, they sprayed Rad-Gone to eliminate contamination and save time on the return trip. He nodded as they turned the corner. The dripping of water and fuzzing of foam filled the tunnels with a crackling pop sound. Things were going about as planned so far, if anything they had made better time than had been expected. It had only taken twelve hours to scourge the top level, it had been expected to take a minimum of twenty hours.
Resistance had been lighter than estimated. Whether this was a stroke of luck or harbinger of horrors to come was uncertain. What was certain was that someone, or something had already cleared out large sections of the pipelines. It may have been the Atomic Raiders or perhaps the Mad Dogs cleaning their escape and smuggling routes or there could be something very bad down here. It wouldn’t be the first time that some unspeakable abomination had been spawned in the dank pits of radioactive sewage. The only thing that he knew was that things down below would be worse.
Even if group 8 had been wiped out, it would be acceptable losses. Fire Chief felt uneasy at the thought, it felt foreign. Sure, he understood that there will be losses, but that group was rather strong. It had Neon Nurse, Vesper, Gnome, and Sunshine in it. To lose so much manpower would be devastating to not only morale, but it would greatly hamper the coming assault on the Atomic Raider’s base. Just losing Neon Nurse would be crippling to the city-wide Cyborg task forces. Enough so that they would be scrapped once the surplus of cybernetic replacements was gone through.
This wasn’t the only weird thing going on lately either. Blank spots and fuzzy memories plagued him over the last several weeks. Days would vanish and sometimes he would find himself in a place he had no memory of going to. It must be lack of sleep and anxiety. The night terrors were not helping either. The nightmares would appear again and again. Women and children burning and screaming as they were consumed by raging infernos. Tim and Rachel always among them, crying out desperately for help as their faces warped and turned black in the flames. There was no helping them, not when he himself was trapped, pinned below a pillar of fire. Flesh searing and melting off of the bone, nostrils singed with every agonized breath. It felt so real and yet time and again he would awake, screaming and soaked in cold sweat.
Fire Chief cupped his mouth, though the helmet got in the way. He wanted to throw up. Just remembering it made sweat pour down his face and shivers scurry through his spine. His teeth ground together and he clenched his fists, pushing it to the back of his mind. He sighed and breathed deeply, calming his mind. Those were just dreams. Just dreams. He reminded himself.
“Chief? You alright man?” asked Panther, sitting across from him.
Panther wore one of Chief’s suits. Though it restricted his movements a bit, it offered protection and augmented strength so it was a good trade off. Otherwise, Panther wouldn’t even be able to get down here with how irradiated this place was. He could, but it would be a fast way track to get all manner of cancer.
“Fine. Just tired lately.”
“I hear you, man. You have been cranking out those suits like you are possessed or something.”
“Not really, it just finally got to the point it can be automated. The assembly line does most of the work now. I just have to make sure everything is working.”
Captain Metal cut in, “Still, five hundred suits in a week is insane. Why are you making so many?”
“I don’t know. I just felt like it. It is calming to make things.”
Panther seemed concerned, “Maybe you need to take a break? Why don’t you take your wife and kid on a vacation or something for like a week? Go to the beach and get a tan. Hell, take your boy to Nicky Mouse Land. I bet he would love that.”
“I can’t take a vacation. The city needs me.”
“Trust me, we can survive for a week. We got Neon Nurse and Over Seer.”
“But-”
“Chief. We can tell. You are fucking stressed out man.”
Fire Chief sighed heavily, “You are right. When we are done with this I will petition for it.”
“Sounds good, we are worried about you.”
“Thanks, guys.”
The area steadily became fortified with mobile blockades and a perimeter scanner beeping if anything moved in the surrounding tunnels. For now, everything was quiet. This would be the relay station and supply tunnel since directly above was one of the major entrance points, leading up to Brawny Park. The scouting of the second level would begin soon. In total there were twenty teams of ten taking part in this operation. Problem was, that was the bulk of their forces. Especially after that Glitter Kitten fiasco, that had cost them more than twenty members.
Enforcer was on call for anything that disturbed the peace with a paltry number of officers, roughly fifty or so spread out across the city. In short, they were undermanned until this was finished. To a villain, this would be pretty close to a wet dream for their criminal schemes. Fewer officers on call meant less retaliation for their activities, which meant they were more likely to get away with whatever it might be. Assuming, of course it was even discovered.
If they had caught wind of this then tonight would be the night to get away with murder. This was another reason things were hurried. The more time that was spent down here, the more likely the gangs would realize they had a prime opportunity. Assuming they did not know already. If they did know, well then they could get away with even more right from the outset so long as this dragged on. The last thing that Chief wanted was to come out of the sewers to find the city burning down.
It wouldn’t do to fret over it. If things did get out of hand up there, then they would postpone this, deal with whatever shenanigans was afoot and hit the sewers again after a short break. Chief’s head pounded a little, a slight throbbing. He watched as the members assembled, fresh groups would be the spearhead into the new tunnels. His attention came to the slogging of feet and sure enough, the pink glow of Neon Nurse’s fluorescent tubes announced the straggler’s arrival. Something was off, there were too few people. So there had been losses.
“Where is Mecha Fairy and Gnome?” asked Chief standing up.
“Well, Gnome went a little stir crazy so I had to remove her from active duty. As for Mecha Fairy, Sunshine explain it to him,” replied Neon Nurse, looking at the energetic hazmat suit next to her. The glowing bunny ears made I clear who it was.
“Big bad spiders caught the others so Sunshine and Nee-san had to save them! Nee-san was all like swoosh and wham and bam! But then the spiders caught her and bit her.”
“So Spiders got her? Where is she?”
Sunshine continued, “Then a really big and angry thing showed up. It was so scary. Sunshine had to hide. It killed everything that moved and took Nee-san.”
Fire Chief took a deep breath, feeling a vein rising on his temple. “How does she always get into trouble? Seriously, I am getting fucking tired of having to save her ass.”
“Chief?” questioned Neon Nurse, “What has gotten into you?”
“Every damned time something bad happens, she is involved with it somehow. Nothing but trouble since I dragged her in off the street.”
“That is uncalled for,” glared Neon Nurse, “It is not her fault this thing abducted her. Now, are we going to save her before it is too late or not?”
“Do we even know where the hell she is?” replied Fire Chief.
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“I can’t get an exact location, but she is in the Sub Sewers.”
“Is she even still alive? That place is a hell hole.”
“Yes, I am getting good readings, but they are concerning me. Her adrenaline and hormonal fluxes are cause for concern.”
“Meaning?” asked Panther.
“Either she is in estrus or fighting for her life.”
“Fine. Move up schedule. Medavac lead the rescue team. Take teams, eight to twelve with you. The rest of us will proceed as planned. We will branch out cleansing the tunnels and when you return we will assault the Atomic Raider’s hide out once it has been found. Be careful, and don’t take unnecessary risks. If you find the base, relay the location and retreat.”
“You heard the man,” said Medavac, loading his shotgun.
The roughly fifty members of the rescue team gathered up their supplies and prepared to delve into the vary depths of the sewers. What sorts of monsters they would uncover was yet to be discovered. However, the denizens of the deep would most assuredly not take kindly to the intrusion. Medavac led the way, giving a slight wave to Chief and the others.
They walked along the gloomy concrete tunnel, an unhealthy green glow below their every step. Everything in the sewers runs down and that means things got more concentrated the lower they went. More radiation meant more nasty things. The teams could not rush head long, but they couldn’t take it slow and steady either since time was of the essence.
“Oi! Fire Crotch, heard some fuck off spiders gave you some trouble?” grinned Sheila, poking fun at Catherine.
“I told you not to call me that!” she vehemently protested.
“Pipe down you two. Which way?” asked Medavac, turning to Neon Nurse.
Her head tilted from side to side a little, “Hard to say. According to the schematics, we still need to head down here a ways. There should be a bulk head cutting off the lower levels in case of flooding. That will be our easiest access point.”
“See anything Sweeper?”
Crimson Sweeper nodded, “Yeah. To our left rats the size of dogs. To the right, some sort of fungus that is glowing and it appears to be carnivorous due to all the skeletons around it. In front of us… looks like Atomic Raiders, or at the very least a subhuman. I think it is a kid, something ain’t right though. I don’t recognize him from any of the files.”
Sheila looked displeased, “Oh bullocks. Kid, it just had to be a kid. Alright, I will deal with it. I need footage you know.”
“Footage? Are you filming this again?!”
“Of course I am. How in the bloody ell am I supposed to get a show on Animal Planet if I don’t?”
“I don’t think Animal Planet wants what you are peddling.”
She looked away angrily, “I am like the Crocodile Hunter of Subhumans, I is, I will have you know. Besides, goin for the late night slot. I ain’t dealin with no wankers and tossers.”
“You are not even Australian!”
“So? I am still a Brit. You wanna have a go, ye limy git? Deck yeh right on the snoz, swear on me mum.”
“Nobody wants to see this shit, so stop recording it.”
“You act like we are not being watched already. The suits record everything you know.” Replied Neon Nurse, “If she wants to have fun, let her.”
“Fine just keep it in moderation.”
“Don’t worry, yer lil ed, nobody will even know I is here. A fly on the wall I am.”
“So what did you mean deal with it? I thought you hated kids?”
“Well, I certainly do. Grubby little bastards. I will make it painless. He won’t even feel it.”
“Sheila. No. Subhumans are to be caught alive.”
She scowled, “Alright, I get it. Well have fun with the, well whatever the hell that thing is.”
“This is an unregistered subhuman. Proceed with extreme caution. Use cryo rounds, keep your distance until we know what it is capable of,” instructed Medavac.
They rounded the corner to find a teen sitting on the culvert, tossing a ball to a waiting rat that caught it and brought it back. To the sounds of footsteps, the semi normal in appearance boy turned, revealing the upper body of a girl fused to him. The flesh melded at the torso and separating the two was a third leg. Each had two arms and appeared to be conscious, independent of one another. The boy was on the right side and the girl on the left. Their faces were stretched and muscle exposed where the skin had been corroded off. It left a rather disturbing sight, being able to see the teeth where lips should be. The boy was completely bald, while the girl still had some patchy hair on her head. What little clothes they did wear were ripped and falling to pieces.
They retreated almost instantly. Scurrying on seven limbs like some sort of abominable crab, all the while crying and yelling at one another. The rats fled as well. Sheila squealed and started shooting, causing everybody else to open up. The shots echoed out deafeningly. Frost crackled as it spread around the impact points. Many of the shots had missed creating a flash freeze of the surroundings. Rats and varied other creatures had been trapped by the quickly expanding ice.
The girl had been hit, she drooped limply encased in a thin layer of ice while her other half dragged them away. His cries for help were answered. The sounds of feet dashing in their direction filled the corridor. It was multiple people. A man in a tattered red hazmat suit appeared. His putrid flesh looked like a drowned corpse. Tentacles grew where arms should with suckers covering the bottom. They undulated, dripping mucus.
“Meld!” Cried the newcomer, lashing out with the stretchy arms. They coiled around the twins and dragged them to him.
“Sucker!” cried the boy, “They shot us.”
“By the holy light!” Cried out a voice from behind the two.
A green mist shrouded the tunnel and from it emerged a towering suit, it was corroded and falling apart in places. Seals broken and metal dented. Vents fueled the ever advancing fog of death. It kept a strangely organized path as though it were controlled. It avoided Meld and Sucker. The rats and vermin curled screaming as it washed over the surroundings. This man needed no introduction, it was Nuclear Knight and he was trouble.
“Suppressive fire!” yelled Medavac, hurling a grenade.
It bounced twice before being consumed by the wall of fog. The explosion glowed for a moment, muffled by the hissing of things melting. The teams were organized, taking turns firing rounds and reloading. A veritable hail of bullets pelted into the encroaching haze. The thuds resounding out made it evident that they were hitting something.
“And the Lord wept for what he must do. Cull the wolves so that the lambs might live!” roared Nuclear Knight emerging half frozen.
As he shifted the mist followed masking his movements. His huge hand lunged out, grasping one of the cyber swat members, pulling them in. He slammed his fists against the protective plating and washed the screaming man in a more concentrated dose of radiation. It melted through the armor in seconds and silenced his cries of woe as his head shriveled up and exploded.
Numbers were useless here. At best they could get ten people standing shoulder to shoulder across in these tunnels. This one was not the largest either and could only accommodate five at a time. The rest had backed up, it was a steady retreat while firing anything and everything that they could at the walking menace.
He shook off the bullets and increased his pace. The bulky shadow loomed in the shroud, he swung hard into Medavac. He took the blow, almost losing his footing from the sudden attack. He locked hands pushing back and yelled, “Use Rad-gone and Electro rounds! I will hold him. Aim for the joints.”
Neon Nurse’s mechanical arms brandished cattle prod like devices and stabbed at the suit. Her hands held a nozzle and she poured it over them, concentrating most on Nuclear Knight. The rest followed suit, dousing the pair in cleaning chemicals. Electricity shot through the duo. Due to his Endurance, Medavac was immune to the electricity and fairly resistant to the radiation. He wrestled the larger man, keeping him from breaking free. The metal crinkled and seared from the corrosion.
The Rad-gone was working, just not fast enough. It just showed how potent and dangerous this man was. Out of all the Supers in the city, Nuclear Knight was very high up on the list of hard to deal with. For one, in enclosed spaces like this, it was impossible to get away from his power, unless you run back from whence you came. Though Glitter Kitten could probably beat him, if she got the jump on him. If she didn’t, then she would lose due to not being able to get near him without taking severe damage and likely not even hitting him since she would be blinded by all the particles in the air.
Definitely, one of the worst to deal with. Usually, it was just best to avoid the guy. That was not an option here. He was in the way and they would have to deal with him at some point during this expedition. If they didn’t, he would continue converting civis and polluting the sewers. It was like a never ending cycle. Research on him was dismal at best, so an actual counter to him was none existent. He was, however, weak to Rad-gone, but it didn't actually stop him, rather it just slowed him down.
It left Neon Nurse stumped over how to deal with him. The man was basically a nuclear power plant with a near limitless supply of power. If the morals were to be ignored, then if he was caught, he could probably power the whole city if he was locked into some sort of harvesting chamber and his radiation siphoned off. At the very least that was what Dr. Arbor had said a while back. Not that Neon Nurse would ever do that… she had contemplated it as some sort of prison. Really, it wasn’t so bad. Just gotta sweep those pesky things known as human rights under the rug and everything would be gravy.
They concentrated their streams, drowning the man in chemicals and foam. It seemed to work, he was losing strength quickly and Medavac was able to get a good hold on him. However, that was when things went from mildly ok, to horribly awry.
“Lord Pluton give me strength!” he cried out, the vents all over the suit burst open and the surroundings were crushed beneath a tsunami of radiation. He had been holding back, until now.
Medavac sent a right hook into the mask, jarring Nuclear Knight. It was not nearly enough to bring him, though it did stun him for a moment. He shoved and retreated. It would be suicide to stay in this cloud for too long. Especially breathing this crap in. It would burn him from the inside out, it was, unfortunately, one of the weaknesses of Endurance Supers. If you could figure out a way to attack the innards, they couldn’t do much. This being the case, poisons and acids tended to do some serious damage if ingested. Of course, there was always the getting drowned too, one of the worst ways to go.
“Retreat! Get a better position and keep up the pressure.”
Medavac broke free, kicking Nuclear Knight’s leg out from under him. He collapsed over to the side. Neon Nurse took advantage of his weakness, jamming needles into the weak points. Unfortunately, they shattered on impact, weakened from the aura of corruption. It left her infuriated. She kicked him, knocking him over again. Then she proceeded to continue dumping Rad-gone on him and shocking him as he attempted to get back to his feet. Medavac had to drag her away before she overstayed the tolerable limit in the corrosive fog. She had been in there too long already, the metal of her suit had warped and the visor over her face dented in with pockmarks.
They managed to get away, but Nuclear Knight did not follow. Neon Nurse grumpily looked over her trashed equipment and the broken arms on her battle suit. “So, he is stronger than he used to be. Sure wish I had known about that.”
“How strong do you think he is?”
“Not a seven that is for sure, we would all be dead if he was. Likely six point something or other. At any rate, my robos will be useless when he can corrode metal in a matter of a minute or so just from standing there. Definitely a problem. We should find a way around to get to Mecha Fairy.”
“I think we should resupply first. We need new suits for sure.”
“True. He did a number on us. Speaking of which, where did Sheila go?” asked Neon Nurse, looking around.
Crimson Sweeper replied, “Well, it appears that she has gone on safari. I would be angry, but she does this all the time.”
“How the hell did she get passed the mist?”
“Sheila is faster than you might think.”
“I suppose she is on her own for now. I hope they don’t have somebody that can actually notice her.”
“I would be more worried about them. Solo stuff is what she excels at. If something happens, she can always run away, she is good at that,” laughed Crimson Sweeper.
Neon Nurse flatly said, “So, she is just goofing off, isn’t she.”
Sweeper rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, basically.”