Chapter 44 : Step into the Darkness (Patreon)

Soluble, the humanoid mutant made of acidic grey slime within whom floated black bones, looked left and right as they descended the manhole's shaft, releasing their grip on the old rusty ladder as their leather boot-covered feet hit the ground.

"Anything down there?"

They took a few steps forward, carefully listening and watching out for any potential threats. Even without taking into account the thing they had come to kill, the sewers were a dangerous place. This area of the slums may have been far away from its legendary heart, but monsters still found their way here. Rumors said the Marked herself sometimes roamed these tunnels.

"Nothing. You all can come down."

It had taken some time to find enough people to make a realistic raiding party, but their acquaintance Guy had succeeded. The old man was friendly enough, but his true strength was his bargaining. He knew when not to push too far, as well as when he could get more. He was weak enough not to be seen as a threat but resourceful enough that even some of the big guys occasionally relied on him - and he had used these skills for them. So that they could track down the silhouette.

The others didn't understand, at first, and the few who did wanted nothing to do with it. Soluble may not have been famous but everyone knew how hard slimes were to deal with, so something that could take them down in a single hit? Coreless didn't even want to interact with slimes, let alone a slime-killer. Thankfully after some passionate retellings of their encounter and some promises from Guy, a dozen of thugs, at least half of which were Cored, agreed to join them in this hunt. It had stayed down there so far, but how long would it last? A stealthy shapeshifter was too much of a threat to ignore.

Jeffrey and Mark quickly joined them in the tunnel, the small ratkin and the large lizardman every loyal, ever obedient. There was nothing they could do without Soluble, and they all knew it.

"Ssstill sure about thisss, Sssoluble?"

"More than ever. Look around you. This place would make for a great contraband trade route, and instead, it's left to rot. If that thing's dead, we could be the first to use the place."

"Sssoluble, even before that thing appeared no one wanted anything to do with the sssewers. The only use thisss place has is..."

"The Sunken City!"

"Shut up Jeffrey. And you too Mark. You will do as I say and nothing more. We're going to kill that thing and then take over this place, are we clear?"

The two animalistic mutants shared a look, a pained and worried expression on their bestial faces.

"I said, ARE WE CLEAR?"

"Yesss, Sssoluble."

"Yes, Soluble."

"Good."

"Everything alright, Soluble?"

"Yes, Grover."

The tall man covered in orange crackling clay armor was a strange sight in these parts, but apparently, his employer had taken Guy's advice and sent one of their best elements. If they had to be honest with themselves, Soluble had to admit Grover was more of an expedition leader than they were, but the man still had respected their authority, probably because Guy had always talked about them as the one who had begun the whole raid thing.

"Where to, now?"

"This way. We followed two guys who work for it and it attacked us around there."

"I see. We'll need to spread out then."

"Yeah, but stay on guard. It's tricky and stealthy."

"Yes. No one on their own, only groups."

As the last few men finished going down the ladder, they all checked their equipment one last time. Everyone's flashlights, whether they held them in their hands, stuck them to their chest or had attached them to some sort of helmet, were in perfect condition, every weapon was properly loaded, everyone carried a small pack with a first aid kit, a small ration, and a weak cure-all antidote, in case anything happened, and the few walkie-talkies they had managed to bring with them still worked, though with some difficulties.

"Soluble, here's a radio. I'll be taking one. I gave the other two to some of the Cored guys. That's fine with you?"

"Yeah, thank you, Grover."

"No problem. We should already make the teams. I propose you and your guys, me and half the Coreless, and the Cored and the rest of the Coreless spread between the two radio guys. Do you approve?"

"Yeah, sounds good. But do you mind if I take a couple of Coreless? Some extra pairs of eyes will be helpful."

"Of course. You are the one in charge here."

"Yeah. I'm the one in charge."

Mark and Jeffrey shared another look but Soluble paid them no mind. They approached the Coreless group, studied them for some time, and picked the two that had brought rifles and bulletproof vests. Coreless might be weak but might as well pick the best of the flock.

"You two, you're with me."

"Roger that."

Grover raised their hand, catching everyone's attention with their large frame and bright orange equipment.

"Everyone ready?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. We're looking for some kind of humanoid shadow, capable of at least some light shapeshifting and intelligent enough to use weapons. There are two Coreless that work for it, so it must have a base of some sort. We'll be looking for it and, once it's located, we'll all converge to wipe it out. Do not engage alone. If you see it, report it to your team's radio bearer. If they can't use the radio, do it yourself. If you can't find them, converge with the rest of your available team and come back here. Soluble will be our leader during this operation. Soluble, do you have any more instructions or recommendations?"

Soluble took a second to think of what to say.

"That thing is dangerous but from our experience with it, it prefers a non-lethal approach. Make use of it. Fake unconsciousness. Don't hesitate if it threatens another one of you. If it had the guts to kill, my guys and I wouldn't be here. But don't underestimate it. It has a weird weapon that can knock down a Cored with no problem, so don't let it catch you off-guard."

"Thank you, Soluble. You lot, you are teamed with this shark guy. And you, you go with with the orc. The rest of you, if Soluble hasn't asked you to accompany them, you're with me. Let's go."

They all marched on, stepping into the darkness.

After a while the group arrived in yet another tunnel, but this one was slightly different from all of the others they had been in thus far. An outsider wouldn't know of course, but...

"This is it. This is the tunnel where we found it."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Very well. We're splitting into four guys, remember your teams. Where do you wish to go Soluble?"

"I'm going straight."

"Very well. Soluble will go North, the orc West, the shark East, and I'll stay here and perform some perimeters check with my guys. Any objections?"

"Aren't I the boss here, Grover?"

"Of course you are, Soluble. Do you want to reassign the explorations?"

"Yeah, yeah that's what I want."

"You heard them. Orc team, North, Shark team, East, and you West. Are you fine with that?"

"Yes. That's better."

The group split in four just as announced and each team went their way, their eyes filled with determination. Aside, perhaps, from a ratkin and a lizardman, both nervous and uneased.

_____

"Grover here. Orc team, status report. Over."

"Nothing located here. Over."

"Soluble here. I haven't found anything yet. Over."

"Shark team here, nothing either. Ove- wait, scratch that. I think we found something."

"What did you find, Shark? Over."

"Name's Brutus, by the way. But yeah, one of the guys just found a weird tunnel."

"Elaborate. Over."

"There's this big section of the wall that's just... Black."

"Can you be any more specific? Over."

"Like, every brick is pure black instead of that weird greenish-grey. They even look in better shape than the rest, somehow."

"Very well, Brutus. Try to investigate it, but stay cautious. Orc, Soluble, how far are you? Over."

"Orc here - Skuller, just in case. Not far, we tried to take it slow."

"Soluble? Over."

"We're already on our way back."

"Very well. Brutus, you and your team try to investigate that wall, but if something happens move back. Skuller, join them as soon as you can. Soluble and I will join you as soon as they arrive. Over."

"Roger that."

"We're on our way."

Brutus looked at his men as they examined the black wall. He may have a brute, but he knew better than to go anywhere near a suspicious thing. That's how traps got you.

The muscled shark man scratched his chin as he watched over the regular humans that were trying to find something on the wall. He knew there were a couple Cored among them but those were subtle ones. Regeneration, increased strength, better reflexes... Not that any of them could do a thing against him, at least not without a weapon, but it was nice to have around. A single grasshopper might be nothing, but a locust swarm was a plague after all.

"Brutus! I think I found something!"

The biker shark man approached the thug that had called out to him. He stood near the center of the black wall, his hand on the bricks.

"See this spot? I hit it a bit and it sounded hollow. So, I hit a whole lot more."

"And?"

"Stil sounds hollow."

"Awesome."

Brutus knocked on the wall, just to be sure the other guy was right and wasn't messing with him. He wasn't, thankfully for him. Shark bites are hard to heal.

"Okay. Guys, step back. I'm going to try something."

"What?"

"I'm going to punch a hole into the wall."

"You can do that?"

"I can punch through a guy and a door at the same time, some bricks should be fine."

Brutus took a step back and warmed up his shoulder before leaping onto the wall and launching his fist into it, strengthened by the momentum.

Something broke, but it wasn't the wall.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"That's a very deep voice."

"Think he's gonna be fine?"

"Meh, he's mutant, he'll manage."

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Still going, eh?"

"I mean, it's a brick wall."

"Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen this kind of stone. Except maybe the Black Bank."

"Wait, you think..."

"I'm just saying, I only see second-rate guys here - no offense, everyone."

"None taken."

"Yeah, we're the losers."

"So yeah, team B, no big player aside from maybe Grover? Dunno who he works for but the guy has some training. Wouldn't be surprised if this was some shmuck attempt at robbing a Black property that isn't supposed to exist."

"So, uh, should we run?"

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"I mean, at this point, orc guy and the others are coming. If we try to run away it'll look weird."

"So, what?"

"I'd suggest we stick to the plan for now, but if things go south and they ask us to surrender, we do."

"Uh, it might work."

"Nah, it's Black we're talking about. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't even let our souls leave."

"So, ditch now, ditch later?"

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Man does he have big lungs."

"Shouldn't he have gills instead?"

"Maybe he's more of a fanged newt with a shark look than an actual shark?"

"Meh, who knows."

"You think we should bring out the medkit?"

"I don't think a couple of bandages and a little medical alcool will help with a broken hand. Fingers? Arm? Could someone go check?"

"And go anywhere near that mouth? Nah dude, not before he calms down.

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Uh, guys, is it just me, or did the wall open?"

They all looked at the spot where their glorious leader had punched the wall. There had been nothing there a few seconds ago, and yet now they were facing an open doorway, large enough for a regular human. Brutus probably wouldn't fit inside.

"So, do we go in?"

"Dude, horror flicks. You don't go in the creepy passage that opened by itself."

"Well sorry not everyone here was born in the main city, buddy."

"Me neither, we just had an old tv and a couple of tapes."

"Oh, sorry."

"But, we kinda are getting paid to go in, aren't we?"

"I hate that you're right."

"So, we all go in, weapons ready, if they want to talk we listen?"

"I'm up for that."

"Yeah, never was one of those 'shoot everything in sight' guys. Guess it's why no one wanted to take me in."

"It's okay buddy, we're all failures here."

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"See?"

"Yeah, thanks, guys."

"Oh well, here we go."

"And the radio?"

"Wanna go near the crazy shark?"

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Yeah, no. Too bad."

"Oh, should we give ourselves a cool team name before we go in?"

"Sure. Any ideas?"

"Silhouette Busters."

"Hate it."

"Monster trackers?"

"No."

"The Brotherhood of Losers?"

"Dude, not cool."

"And I'm a gal, boyo."

"Yeah, that too."

"What about... Shadow Commando?"

"It's the least horrible of the bunch yet."

"We probably won't find anything better or even use it, so better go in before the orc catches up."

"And what about him?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"Meh, he can handle himself. He's a big boy. Shark. Sharkboy."

"Never utter those words again."

"Alright team, in we go. Shadow Commando, step into the darkness."

All as one, they went in.

Or at least they tried to before they realized only one of them could fit the width of the hallway behind the doorframe, maybe two if they were thin. Realizing their mistake, they assigned a random order for them to go in, in line.

And they stepped into the darkness.

Behind them, as Brutus was still screaming without interruption, the wall closed back.