It was easy to get both of our captives to talk, almost no violence required.

They spilt everything they knew. The Target had made his way down to the tenth floor on a service elevator, these allow mass supply dumps as well as new construction drones down into the depths. The are huge and you only find one in every few square miles down here.

So the Junker had no clue why his lice went down there. No shock there. They had been separated by a Ghoul raiding party.

The Ghoul, however did have a clue, huh, I wouldn't have figured.

Turns out there were a ton of artifacts being dragged up to their market on UnderTen. People really wanted those things. Corps, Govs, All manner of Towertop folk, looking for pieces of the Old World.

Most of them are like my old armor or Avenger Mk. I things that aren't or can't be made the same way anymore. Rare materials, or designs of the past.

Some though are LostMet. The real treasures. Things designed and crafted by the more competent A.I.s, or things lost during the Consumer Rebellion. Several Corps had been dismantled, their secrets buried. Some of it was more advanced than the Metal put out today. Worth some risk.

Big money. Piles of it. Maybe enough to risk the near certain troubles the Ghouls would've stirred up.

So we had a new heading, and were eager to wash our hands of these rusts.

The Ladies proceeded.

Don't get it twisted, I still ended both slag brains around the corner, out of sight, before catching up with them. You can't let scum like that continue to steal oxygen from everyone else.

Judgemental. Absolutely! You should try it some time. You'll fuck it up, but eventually you'll get it right. If you you don't wuss out.

If you are trapped in these or similar circumstances you should practice strict judgement. You will little room for errors, every decision can lead to death, if not for yourself then for other folks just trying to get by. Maybe you don't care about that, maybe you do. That's up to you.

Me? What's my take?

A lot of things, I'd let slide. If they don't in any way affect me or people I care about, meh, whatever. Live and let live, until...

If it could bite just me in the ass, then sure, I might show some mercy and even compassion.

If something presents even the slightest chance of a threat to those I care about, I'd keep stompin' till it's done.

Now, considering that my list only really includes the Woen and Meowser. It was a conundrum right? I was in a target rich environment, and I had plenty of ammo.

No backup though. I'm not sure about the ladies yet, we seemed to be getting along, but wouldn't be the first time I'd made the wrong call there.

Yeah, the folks from SEPT and maybe the people of Ravell even Saul, Rita, and Joshua might get added with some more time and interaction, but I'm processing, weighing, judging. Because my loyalty is valuable, and fragile. Hard to gain and oh so easily broken by others.

Blind trust I can't do, you shouldn't either.

Meh. Probably tired of this old man preaching. I get it.

Finding the service elevator took another hour. A large flat platform, rolling on three large pillars, and two smaller ones on the same side as the door, the mechanisms totally exposed. A couple of trucks could fit on it if you could get them down here.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Going Down.

The rumble was minimal, a smooth ride overall. And Yet...

The feeling of disorientation had kept growing stronger, the longer we had been down here. Endless tunnels with the same setup on every floor, almost no difference between one area and the next. Even their Metal was starting to lose the way back. Liminal and unreal. Like a technological Fairyland, where you were always a single step from disaster.

Here, it was like we were being lowered into the pits of the Abyss.

As the Elevator reached the fifth level the feeling in the air changed, it was becoming stale and musty.

At the Sixth level I saw that there were places were the lights did dim a little, the occasional odd clicking or grinding noise rang out. Screams far in the distance.

On the eighth floor we saw some of the Ghouls, approaching the elevator.

We gave them a few "Fuck Off" rounds. Unfortunately for them, there was no cover and they didn't wear armor. I don't think many of them survived. Their return fire had been scattered and ineffective.

We topped off ammo again as we passed down to the ninth level. Nothing going on here. That we were be aware of, I'm sure all manner of unspeakable things happened further away.

The Tenth floor was dimmer. It was still bright enough to see even for unaugment eyes. Never mind mine or Yumi and Trish's.

I was starting to see why the Underlords were pale. The light here had a less broad spectrum. Why though?

Somewhere during the decent we had started communicating in whispers. A tension building. By the tenth floor, we were scanning everywhere. Paranoia building.

Ah, the area around the elevator was decorated. In Corpses. Fresh ones given the level of decomp and the smell.

A clear warning, but not the one the Ladies were thinking. The skin was pale, the armor primitive.

Yumi got a lot more tense. I felt her anger. She would be quick to shoot first.

Trish went cold, more thoughtful and further from the moment. Her drones picked up her emotions though, small extra twitches. Even Harvey turned more, trying to scan everything.

I'd seen both ways before, of dealing with the atrocities that people can commit upon each other. At least they weren't like me.

Me, I didn't care. I'd seen worse. Done worse in the name of survival. Old hat as they say.

It wasn't like they felt anything anymore, they were already dead.

Therein was a mystery though, Saul said these two had experience. Shade work always, always end in nulled peopled. Why were they hit by this. Somebody they knew maybe, ended up like this? No, it would have been a stronger reaction. Hmm.

Our increased alertness, served us well. We managed to avoid getting ambushed by two more groups of Ghouls turning it back on them each time. I restrained myself from going ham so I could see what the Ladies could do.

It pays to know your team.

I got to see KL1CK in action, pumping out dozens of little swarmers in seconds. They charged the Underlords and discharged their payload, a rather vicious acid.

Trish said it would react with anything other than glass, or silica based products. However, the concentration left Metal mostly undamaged while eliminating flesh in mere seconds. A good way to quickly Scrap some one.

I was impressed. Vicious cruel and yet practical.

Of course, I preferred to kill quickly. Cruelty often had a way of fucking you over in the end.

Yumi danced about while throwing a variety of things at the ghouls. Knives, small effect grenades, at one point small marbles, that tripped up a couple of rusts.

They flailed about like idiots on ice, slamming into each other. Over and over, till they knocked themselves out. Too fucking silly.

I had to laugh at the Funny Toon level shit. I mean you just don't see that everyday. The tension broke at that point. We all shared a few guffaws over the sheer ridiculousness that had been displayed.

These fights didn't really challenge us. However, I could feel our cohesion getting better. We'd be able to become a team.

Eventually.

We followed crude signs, leading the way to the Market.

When we got near, we received a rather large surprise.

One Way Gates and Walls blocked off these sections, simple in design, effective none the less. A Maze. Leaving us only one way to go.

We met parties of others; Shades, Corps and Underdwellers who weren't Ghouls. While the meetings weren't friendly, they didn't end in violence either.

They were even patrols of armed Bots, tasked with stopping fights.

This Market was an open secret amongst certain groups. We hadn't been in on it. Given all the horror stories of the underneath, this made everything even more surreal.

What other odd mysteries did this place hold?

A gate blocked the way, two underdweller guards flanked it.

[ Enhanced Underdwellers

Tier 0

Stats: Physical: 15 / Mental: 15 / Social: 20

Abilities: ISLC (Low), MetEyes (Med), Zapped Nerves (Low), MetSkin (Med), MetBones (Med), Muscle Replacement (Low), Sentry II

Traits: Underdweller III, Born to Metal I, Unphased IV ]

[ Hippo FR-10

Type: Burst Fire Carbine

Ammo: 10mm

Capacity: 60 round mag

Damage: High to Critical ]

[ UnderCorp Series 5 Medium Combat Armor

Full Protection

Defense: Moderate to High

Effect: Anti-Ballistic I, Anti-Slash I, Anti-Stab I ]

I nodded, good setup of gear.

Wait a second, UnderCorp? What the fuck is that? It isn't in my info, nor do I remember it from the books or games. A new thing, now, couldn't bode well.

They gave us the spiel.

"You look new. Here are the Rules. No Fighting. No Haggling. No Stealing. Do you understand the rules?" The guard sounded bored, like he'd said it a million time before. Probably had.

We acknowledged the rules. They waved us through.