Chapter 55 : The Ferrywoman (Patreon)

James sat down at the bench opposite the elderly Australian stereotype, curiously examining the old woman. He had already noticed the leather clothes and tooth necklace and bracelets, as well as the scars that seemed to come from a mix of beast claws and fangs and human-made blades, but it wasn't her appearance that intrigued him. She was remarkably calm and didn't seem bothered by his odd body.

She hadn't waited for him to sit down to start rowing once more, standing tall despite the bench right behind. She held the oar that had to be longer than she was tall with a single arm and moved it nonchalantly, uncaring of its weight. Her free arm quickly reached into her vest when her fingers tightly gripped onto a metal flask, she quickly drank a mouthful of the liquid James assumed was some sort of alcohol or water - he had rarely seen anything else being put in this sort of flask - before she put it back in place, her rowing undisturbed through it all. She cleared her throat before addressing James.

"So, kid. What's your name?"

"James, ma'am."

"James, do you know where you are?"

"The sewers? Beneath the slums? Around the Black Block."

"You ain't wrong, but that's not what I meant. This, kid, is what we falk of the beneath call the Sewage Network. It ain't pretty, it smells like hell, but it's efficient and hidden. I'm a ferrywoman, we folks bring people from one place to another. Usually one of them is the Sunken City. Ever heard about it?"

The name did ring a bell, aside from the obvious trope. He had heard someone use the term in Zalcien, once, but who...

Guy. He mentioned it when he talked with Soluble about his network.

"Once, in passing, though I'm not sure what it means."

"Ya see, Zalcien ain't the first city to be built here. It's why the place has this weird foundation thing, it was made to cover everything that's down there."

"You're telling me Zalcien was built on a dome over an abandoned city? Why? Why not just tear down the old one?"

"It ain't a full-dome, only half of it. As for the why? They thought it'd be easier to start over and not bother with the old stuff."

"That sounds stupid."

"Guess the Union didn't want to bother with their big failure or all of the ghosts of the people they failed to save."

"Ghosts? Actual ghosts?"

"Yeah, but there ain't a lot of them left. When people began to settle they got rid of them. Still a few left, those too dangerous to fight but territorial enough they're easy to avoid and those that are completely harmless."

"Why would people settle down in a haunted abandoned city- it's to break the law, isn't it."

"Not to break the law, but avoid it. It's mostly Villains, gangs, and Vigilantes down there, though you ain't gonna find a lot of the latter this side of the city."

James' appreciation of reality and logic had already been stretched thin long ago. Reincarnating as a shadowy blob in the sewers of a medium city in a superhero world? That already hurt, but it was an exception. Zalcien's history and ongoings were weird, but they made sense in a way. This? This gave him a headache.

"How does that even work? Like, what's the point of coming down here if everyone else is also there? How does a city even fit down there? Why was there a giant lake?"

"Calm down kid, you're gonna bust a vein or something. Let's start with the easy one, how does it all fit. The Sunken City isn't on this layer. First, you got the surface, then people's basements, then the regular sewers, then the Sewage Network, and finally the Sunken City. I'm bringing you to a checkpoint where you'll be able to descend even further."

"Why do you even want to drop me off there?"

"Because everyone who makes it to the Sewage Network has to go there once, to get noted down. To keep track of things."

"There's an administration?"

"I'll get to that in a bit. To keep on answering your little rant, that giant lake used to be where the workers who built the foundation had one of their camps. The thing is the size of a city, so they had a lot of those. There wasn't any plan for water to come here, but... Things got messy with the Horror. The rest of the city doesn't have those because they didn't have to deal with it."

"What's the Horror?"

"The reason why a fifth of Zalcien is filled by monster-infested slums."

Oh.

James had always wondered why Zalcien had slums. From what he understood the city was supposed to be a modern one in a developed country, and those usually didn't have slums, at least not to the extent Zalcien had. Even more so since according to this woman they occupied over a fifth of the city, but... The fact something could ruin so much of a city and everyone overlooked it without a care was terrifying.

"Is it..."

"Dead? Officially yes. But it doesn't take a genius to understand why the heart of the slums is a dead place that even major Villains refuse to approach."

Oh god, it's still alive.

"It doesn't move around now, so it's safe. No need to lose your lunch over it."

"Uh... Thanks."

"Anyway, the last part of your rant. Why does everyone want a place down here? Because, as you guessed, there are no cops or Heroes around. They know this place exists, but they also know everyone would work together to kick them out if they tried to come. So, relatively safe."

"Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather deal with the justice system than crazed criminals."

"Sure, fights break out, but it's pretty peaceful all things considered. The Sunken City is divided into areas, some more or less interesting depending on their equivalent on the surface, and people in the same area are pretty equal usually, so duking it out ain't worth it."

"Let me guess, the slums aren't that great?"

"Yup. The slums themselves are already a lawless place, why bother with a putrid home in the sewers? Just look at the big three. Wicked Witchcraft has its main base up there near the heart to study the Horror, though Abrakaboom has his own place somewhere under the main city. The Empress no one is sure, her main outpost is up there too but my personal bet is that her real base is close to the Union's Headquarters, just to spite them. Hivines I've got no clue, they're pretty new and relatively legal, but rumors say they have some sort of worship place not far from the Horror. Of course these nutjobs would have a thing for that abomination..."

"And the Angels?"

"No one's sure either. He had his base in the middle of the city, on the surface, in an old warehouse. Since he disappeared and Marcus took over, however? No idea."

"He?"

"You know, him."

"I don't know who you're talking about."

She squinted her eyes beneath her hat, as though she was trying to stare directly at his soul. Maybe she was actually, James didn't know her powers or even if she had some at all after all.

"You're not from around here, are ya?"

James considered lying, but honestly, why bother? She had already figured it out. Besides, this could be a learning opportunity.

"No. What was it?"

"Everyone in Zalcien, from the slums to the rich villas, knows him. The man who shook Zalcien to its core. The one who disappeared without a trace after turning the entire sky blood-red over twenty years ago."

For the first time since he had gotten on her boat, she stopped rowing. She quickly looked around before bending, approaching her head as much as possible without leaving her spot before she silently whispered a single word. A name James was pretty he wouldn't have heard if it weren't for his improved senses.

"Natrashka."

"Natrashka?"

"Shh, you don't want others to hear you.'

"Sorry."

She sighed before she resumed rowing.

"I don't care about it, really. As far as I'm concerned he's dead, but others? I know people who got killed for saying it out loud somewhere they shouldn't have. Even the Angels don't like talking about him, and he's the one who began the whole thing."

"Was he such a big deal?"

"He never lost to the Heroes."

"I... What?"

"No one actually. He never lost a fight. Never. Either he left before things got too bad or he curb-stomped everyone in his way, there was no in-between. He never went to prison. The Union had an entire squad ready at all times just to fight him off."

"What happened?"

"Told you. One night there was a big storm, the sky turned red and we never saw him again. Personally, I think he got vaporized trying to do something, no idea what."

"Uh."

Both stayed silent after that. James kept looking out for anything of note in this Sewage Network but nothing stood out to him. After a few minutes spent that way, he suddenly realized something.

"Oh, how do I get back where I came from? Is there a code or should I-"

"Don't worry, I'll bring you back."

"Don't you have other people to transport?"

"Nah. It's why I was hanging out where I found you, I like the quiet."

"That doesn't sound like a good business plan."

"What are they going to do, fire me? I stayed on the water looking for clients, just not at a popular spot."

"Oh, I have to pay you don't I? How much will it be?"

"Bah, don't worry about it. I ain't gonna make some kid pay for an accident."

"Oh. Thank you..."

She scoffed and kept rowing.

"By the way, how does the administration work there?"

"Ah, right. Well, the funny thing is that the Sunken City has a mayor."

"Really? Everyone comes together to elect someone?"

"Ah, no. It's a funny story, really. You see, back in the days of you-know-who, the Sunken City was a mystery. At some point some guy trying to set up a mad scientist lab dug a little too far and found a passage, and wouldn't you know it he found the Sunken city. He began to brag about his new base and others tried to follow his example. Everyone was surprised when they found out that not only was his story true, but there was already someone there."

"A bigger villain?"

"Nope. Some archeologist nut or something, they wanted to examine the place. The Villains threatened them away, and a week later they were back with a full team of elite mercenaries. Needless to say, people took what they had to say more seriously. Since then the archeologist and the mercenaries run the place, they enforce the few rules there are and prevent everyone from getting too close to the center of the place so they can keep working."

"Nothing else?"

"Some taxes, but pretty low stuff compared to the average gang's 'protection fee', so no one has a problem with that. You can pick any place you want if there's no sign on it and it isn't occupied, you just have to bring it up so they can put you in their tax plan. After that, you have complete free reign so long as you don't damage the place too much."

"I thought there'd more rules."

"There are, but it wouldn't concern you. Duel rules, holiday truces, freedom of existence..."

"What was the last one?"

"Don't worry about it. Ah, here we are."

Indeed, James had seen they were getting closer to a strange structure in the tunnel's wall for a while now. He could only describe it as a train station for boats. Not a port, not a dock, but a small train station. A relatively open space held up by columns and with a few benches for people to wait on. Maybe ferry station would be a more fitting term?

"So..."

"Get down, go inside, say it's your first visit and they'll handle it. I'll still be here if you come back before the night, I'll pass by tomorrow morning. If you have to don't hesitate to sleep here, the Sunken city is a relatively alright place but you'd be safer with no one around."

"Thanks, miss...?"

"Call me Martha."

"Thanks, Martha."

"Have a good time, kid."

James lept from the boat onto the stony ground of the station. There was no one around. He quickly stepped up to an opening in the wall where he guessed some sort of office would be and went inside.

On her boat, Martha drank another mouthful of her flask's content before sitting down, pulling out a small book from a pocket in her vest. She spared a last glance at the dark figure that she had brought here before beginning to read.

"Good luck, kid."