Chapter 45 : And let it claim you (Patreon)

The half a dozen thugs that had accompanied Brutus the muscled shark man biker looked all around them as they entered the strange structure. Walls of nothing but perfectly bricks of black marble, a pitch-black ceiling, and black just as perfectly cut tiles on the floor... Not a sound escaped from the confines of the place, and yet there was an eerie echo in the air, an overwhelming silence so strong they could somehow hear it.

Not only that, but all felt like they were being observed.

"So, uh... The door closed behind us, right?"

"Yep. First thing I checked."

"So we're trapped."

"Yep."

"They're going to let us die to test out the defenses and tire out whatever that shadow thing is."

"Oh definitely."

"Don't forget, it also means they won't have to pay us!"

"Ah yes, that too."

"Why did we enter again?"

"Because we wanted to surrender."

"Ah, right."

"And we didn't want to deal with the crazy shark guy currently screaming out there."

They all took a second to listen, already used to the act after the past few minutes.

Except they hear nothing.

"Kinda... Weird, not hearing it."

"I mean, yeah, but that's kinda obvious given the place? I feel like the walls could start moving I wouldn't be surprised."

"Oh, like a rearranging maze?"

"I think he meant like, undulating in waves."

"She, buddy. And what I meant was more stuff like living drawings or runes, but your idea isn't bad too."

"Sorry, ma'am. So... Do we go deeper?"

"I mean, not like we have a ton of other options."

"We could stay here."

"And get blown up when they start using explosives to get in? No way in hell, buddy."

They all looked at each other and shrugged before continuing their march, step after step sending them deeper into the structure as the only source of light in the hallway was the flashlights they had brought, not illuminating much, yet all they could see was always the same. Black marble.

As they finally reached the end of the hallway they saw a change in scenery. They entered a large room, something they all would have assumed to be a hall were it not for the fact that there was no door. Well, except the one they had entered from, of course.

"The door closed behind us again, didn't it."

"Yep."

"Welp. Guess we're gonna die."

A voice echoed in the chamber, pulling them out of their self-loathing. It was a man's voice, smooth yet deep, gentle yet with a faint sharp edge.

"Greetings, dear intruders."

The thugs looked all around the room, searching for the voice's provenance before quickly giving up when they saw nothing outstanding in the hall.

"He's polite. That's nice."

"Polite villains are always the worst, dud- I mean gal."

"As you probably have noticed, I have cut off every way for you to escape. You are stuck in this room until I deem it unnecessary."

"And do what do you plan to do?"

"It all depends on what you wish to do, dear intruders."

"How so?"

"You enter my home bearing arms and ill-intent. You come here in search of violence and riches, uninvited, unwanted. But now that you are here, you have a chance to abandon all that. A chance to be redeemable."

"Aren't you the one who let us in?"

"Yes, because you seem like a reasonable group."

"Uh? Us? Reasonable?"

"Yeah, I'm with her on that one.

"I know everything about your little operation. About Soluble's delusions. And I know all of you wish to surrender because you realize the futility of it all. That you are merely putting yourself in danger for the sake of another who wouldn't reciprocate. So, here is my offer. Very shortly a door will open to your right. Enter the room it leads to while leaving all of your weapons here and I assure you no harm will be done. I might even have another offer for you once this little farce had ended."

"So... No weapons and we're good to go? What about Cored?"

"You cannot alter your body now, can you? I do not have the means to restrain a Cored's abilities, at least not on hand, so I will assume you surrender with goodwill. If you decide to cause a ruckus, I can always take you out myself after all. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Any other questions?"

"Are there snacks?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You have rations if I'm not mistaken. You can eat those."

The voice went silent and the thugs shared another look as, true to the voice's words, another doorway opened before their eyes, leading this time to a very long stairway.

"Seriously dude, snacks?"

"I'm hungry!"

"You're stupid, too."

"So... Who's in?"

"Me. I don't even know how to use a gun."

"Guy. It's the easiest thing in the world, just point and shoot."

"What about recoil? Aiming? Don't disrespect guns like that, dude. I trained hard to use them."

"Sorry, guns just aren't my thing. Or, well, it's more that I can just do literal finger guns."

"Woo, seriously? That's rad."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'm dropping my stuff too for obvious reasons."

"I'm in. I mean, what's the point of weapons if there's nothing to use them on?"

"Very true. I'm following."

"Do you think a knife counts? It was my father's and-"

"Dude, I saw you looting it off of a corpse on the way."

"Yeah, they stole it from my dad."

"Uhu. Sure. Still, drop it. Better not take any risk."

"Am I the only one feeling kind of dirty? Like, I know we weren't paid much, but we still betrayed the rest really fast."

"Hey, better us than them, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"Yup."

"When you put it like that..."

Quickly a little pile of discarded guns, knives, ammo, and even a couple of grenades formed on the floor. Shortly after the group passed the new doorway and began to descend the stairway, not even bothering to check behind them if the door closed once they passed - which it did, as usual, thanks to some little black tentacles, black tentacles which quickly gathered the pile of discarded weapons and brought it to another room, opening and closing another secret door on the way.

_____

Back in the tunnels Brutus finally calmed down, his broken hand still hurting but in a more bearable way. Or maybe he had simply gotten used to the pain, it was hard to know. It had been years since the last time he had been hurt this badly, cuts happened from time to time and were the reason behind the scars covering his hide, creating spots without scales, but those were a sharp pain. A localized thing that hurt when it happened but afterward calmed down. Broken bones? Those hurt like hell.

"Aaah... Ah... Ah... I-I'm fine, guys... I'm good... Guys?"

The shark man took a glance around the tunnel and realized he was all alone. He quickly picked up his walkie-talkie.

"Guys, Brutus here. I have a problem."

"Grover here. what kind of problem? Over."

"I lost my team."

"What? How did you lose a team, you buffoon!"

"Calm down Soluble. Brutus, report everything now. Over."

"My team. One of the guys saw that the wall was hollow at a spot and I tried to punch my way through but... I think I broke my hand..."

"And your team, in all of this? Over."

"They were next to me when I punched, but I just looked around and they aren't here anymore."

"How long has it been? Over."

"I dunno, five minutes? Maybe more? Or less? I can't tell."

"You're an idiot. A useless, incompetent idiot."

"Don't worry Soluble, my boys and I are arriving soon."

"Good work, Skuller. Brutus, stay put and wait for Skuller. For future reference, this will be reflected on your pay."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, don't bother- wait, change of plan."

"What?"

"The wall. There's a door that just opened. It's a tight fit, but if I crawl I can make it."

"Stay where you are, Brutus. This is an order. Over."

"I'm going in."

"Brutus, obey my commands. Over."

"Stay right where you are you overgrown sardine!"

"I"m going and punching the life out of this stupid silhouette thingy, that way you won't have to dock my pay."

"Brutus, you-"

"Wish me good luck!"

Brutus turned off the radio before warming up his shoulder. It would be hard, but he was going in and teaching that thing not to mess with him. No one broke Brutus Sharpteeth's bones and got away with it. Not with all of their limbs.

_____

Somewhere else in the tunnels, Grover sighed as he realized Brutus had already disobeyed him.

"Everyone, assume Brutus and his squad have been wiped out. If you see any of them, shoot them down. We are dealing with some sort of shapeshifter, we can't afford to let it escape. Skuller, Soluble, and I are joining you as soon as they arrive. Over."

"Got it. Don't worry, I ain't gonna be as dumb as shark boy."

"You better not, Skuller. Over."

Grover turned off the radio before addressing his subordinates.

"Remember, if you someone that's not Soluble, their squad, or a part of this team, shoot them down."

"Even Skuller?"

"Yes. Remember, we are not here to make friends, we are here to take down a potential threat. Just look at what happened with Brutus, five minutes is a very short time to make an entire team vanish."

"And if we see it fighting someone?"

"Shoot them both. We don't have the time to bother about decoys or tricks."

"Yes sir."

The tall man covered in a thick layer of clay somewhat shaped like a bronze age armor didn't bother responding. These men would do their jobs, or die trying. Or just die, if any of them had the bright idea of deserting. Unseen to them, the orange clay that covered him hardened, especially in his back. Men who had just been ordered to take down prior allies were always the most agitated bunch.

_____

He just hoped the shark wouldn't be completely useless.

"Hellooo? Anybody home?"

Brutus advanced in the small hallway, having to bend and walk a little sideways to fit his large bulky body in the small cramped space. He hadn't been very impressed by the decor so far, though the fact his shark eyes couldn't discern colors since his birth may have played into it since he couldn't appreciate the eeriness of being surrounded by completely black surfaces on every front. His constant shouting ruining the silent atmosphere didn't help either.

"Shadow thingy? Come here and fight like a man!"

As Brutus almost reached the end of the hallway, a voice interrupted him.

"Cease."

"Who's there?"

"You may call me Silhouette. I-"

"You're the shadow thingy Soluble wants dead?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then come on out, you coward! No one breaks Brutus Sharpteeth's hand!"

"I am trying to converse with you-"

"I ain't here for talking, I'm here for fighting! So, where are ya-"

"SILENCE."

Before Brutus could react thick black tentacles emerged from every surface around him, coming straight out of the bricks as they began to twist around him and constrict his body, blocking his limbs, suspending him into the air, and grasping at his throat.

"I will now talk and you will listen. You are here to hunt me down. You failed. Now, either you surrender and go wait in a corner until the rest of your little exploration has chosen either to submit or flee or you decide to follow the path of violence and try to take me down. You will not succeed. So. Do you surrender, or do I have to break you?"

The muscled shark man biker didn't even take a second to think, as soon as Silhouette was done speaking he lashed out and bit one of the tentacles restraining his arms, ripping it out of the wall and swallowing it as he free his left hand - the unbroken one - and tried to rip the other tentacles off. They didn't let themselves go, instead of strengthening the constriction, tightening their grasp, struggling against Brutus' muscles as the two bodies fought for control and dominance. Shadows and scales slid off each other as Brutus gritted his teeth, his might was slowly starting to fade out and he even felt something coming back up his throat.

Until a shadowy blade pierced his brain, killing him on the spot.

As all of the strength in his body disappeared, nothing was left to counteract the tentacles' constriction, and still carrying their momentum they crushed the shark man's bones, as they all retracted back into the walls they let the broken husk of the mutant thug fall onto the ground, blood slowly flowing from the wound on its head.

A humanoid form slowly emerged from the wall, weakly shaking as it approached the lifeless body and put a tentacle on its chest in the vain hope it would feel something beating.

There was only stillness.

James took in a deep breath before catching himself. For now, he needed to hide the corpse and clean the blood. After that, he would have to deal with the rest of the raid.

He would freak out about the fact he had killed someone later. Right now, he needed to be ready for more.