Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Into the Dark
Guardian
a Worm/Destiny Crossover
Chapter 28: Into the Dark
The first thing she noticed was the smell. It either was, or at some point intersected with, a sewer, because the sweet-rot-and-faint-chlorine of raw sewage was incredibly strong. Almost overwhelming, and it was the 'almost' that kept Taylor inhaling deeply. Drawing lungful after lungful of rank, disgusting air in an attempt to separate and identify this new scent, this 'almost'. It churned her gut, nausea curling and bubbling and threatening to erupt, yet she kept at it. Because of a smell she'd never encountered before. A smell that horrified that deep, instinctual part of her where the Hunter held sway. She was in the lead, because she could all but see in the dark. Reaper paced behind her, silent save for the swish of his coat and the odd sound of moving from shadow to shadow. Lisa was in her ear, guiding them turn-by-turn as they made their way back to the place where Reaper was first attacked.
Not by coincidence, the 'almost' scent was growing stronger.
In her hands she carried a rifle, a semi-automatic she'd taken with her almost as an afterthought. It was solid, steady like her knife and the pistol. Grounding in a way she'd think about later. For now, though, for now she pre-empted Lisa's direction at the most recent T-section by following her nose.
"I can hear you breathing like that." Lisa's voice was an exhibit of forced calm. "You picked a scent out of all that?"
"Yes." Taylor kept her voice to barest of whispers. Just loud enough for the earpiece to pick up. It still felt too loud, hissing and rebounding off the brick and concrete walls. "Unique. Completely."
"Something completely new? That's...probably bad." A pause. "Next left, then about seventy feet of straight until the next intersection."
Taylor grunted understanding and affirmation. Her nose confirmed the directions she'd just received, and as she went deeper into the tunnels she saw more and more signs of life. Planks of wood wedged into cracks in the wall, bearing signs of bearing weight. Benches, beds, chairs? Ratty, dirty clothes were piled or folded on places that just happened to be dry or were made so by lengths of plastic tarp pinned to leaky ceilings. Discarded wrappers, empty pots, an old camper stove. People had lived here, and now they did not.
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Reaper's voice came to her from shadows, a whisper rasping and bouncing from dark, curving walls. He hadn't fully appeared since they entered the tunnels, preferring to show only an arm to point the way, or the rippling corner of a coat. "This is where it happened. Blood was shed here. My blood."
She didn't need him to say that. She knew. Blood and the smell of monster, and something like the air after a lightning strike but not. Her grip on the rifle tightened, fingers flexing against the reassuring solidity of steel. Each step she took was chosen with care, finding places clean of any debris to step silently. They were in a cistern, a sphere of a room with drains leading into a pit of standing, stagnant water. The walkway, corroded iron railing separating it from the pit, was a circle around the perimeter and broken only by the channels bringing rain and sewer water. The railing was broken, jagged edges stained not quite red but not quite black. A mix, she guessed, of Reaper's blood and that of the monster they pursued.
There was very little light, but for her eyes 'very little' was more than enough. Taylor walked the circle, rifle at the ready, eyes measuring and assessing and started to put together what might have happened.
The monster had been in the pit. Reaper had entered through the tunnel they just had, and surprised it. It attacked, breaking the rail and striking him for the first time. Reaper struck back, then jumped through shadows behind it. The monster had been ready, waiting, turning and hitting him again. This time, it didn't break the railing. An inch wide groove was carved into the brick wall. The fact that the railing was only broken once, and that the groove was clean and straight suggested to her that this thing, whatever it was, had a weapon. What's more, knew how to use it. Intelligent, then. Smart enough to learn, then to anticipate.
That wasn't good.
This second attack had been serious enough to convince Reaper to flee, and he had, staying inside shadow all the to the bank, where he found her.
The rest was history. Taylor relayed what she'd come up with to Lisa, who replied that it was as good a theory as any, and was supported by what they knew. Close enough to work with, basically.
The tunnel they'd come through was one of five, and the scent was strongest in the one to Taylor's right. "Tails. We're on its trail. Tunnel to the southeast of entry point."
A small pause. Then, "Got you. Carry on."
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She heard them first.
Scrape, scrape, scrape .
Something pointed, yet dull, being pitted against cement. It echoed so many times it was impossible to tell the exact number and source. The best she could do was direction. A four way juncture had her pointing to the right, Reaper flowing around her as a amorphous mass of shadow. He solidified in front of her, sword in hand. She pressed the butt of the rifle more firmly into her shoulder. "Reaper." Her words hissed out in a whisper, the need for quiet now more than ever pressing down on her. "Stay left. I don't want to shoot you on accident."
He didn't respond in word, but in action, shifting to turn her field of fire from a sliver of open tunnel to most of it. They continued on.
Scrape, scrape, scrape .
They passed into tunnels not on any schematic with little fanfare. Lisa could hear the scraping, and told Taylor what she could. " They're digging. Expanding. Network? No, something...organic. House? Home? Hive . They're digging a hive. They're digging a fucking hive! "
Scrape, scrape, scr –
Taylor hissed into the microphone, certain that in riding the wave of deductions Lisa had forgotten to stay quiet, but it was too late. A howling came from the black tunnels up ahead, a sound unlike anything she had ever heard. Guttural, deep in tone and gratingly high. A roaring bear and a screeching bat and something straight from hell. The flashlight attached to the rifle, to this point unused, was flicked on. Her heart had jumped a beat, and it raced in her chest. There was a curious lightness in her gut, and her fingers flexed on the rifle.
The scraping was gone, and in its place, silence. She knew something was coming.
It wasn't fear. She wasn't afraid.
No.
She was excited .
The cone of light ended ten feet away, and just beyond it pricks of green light began to appear, four at a time.
Taylor bared her teeth. And the world exploded.
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Taylor fired so fast it sounded like one, continuous shot. Five...things...leaped from the dark. Their skin was pale and gray, like chalky ash, and their limbs were thin and stretched, reaching and slashing with long, tapering fingers. Five of them died, their fanged maws destroyed by her bullets. Their upper bodies were stopped, lower bodies jerking forward as they fell to the ground in a jittering pile that was crushed by the ones that followed. Heedless of the demise of their fellows, they hurled themselves at her and at Reaper. They died, either from her gun or Reaper's sword, they died and more came. More pinpricks of green witchlight. More of the howling. Just...more.
The magazine dropped, clattering to the ground. She loaded a fresh one with the speed and accuracy of a practiced soldier and kept firing. The rifle roared and thundered and she expected to be deaf and blind and found she was neither. A wall was building of the things they'd killed, a wall she was content to build and use as breakwater. Reaper was not. He dropped into shadow on 'their' side, and reappeared beyond it, on the very of the light's range. His sword flashed and flickered, the sodden chop-and-slice of a sharp blade through flesh paired with his sudden, joyous laughter to create a hellish backdrop to her gunfire. He killed, and the air became thick with a sharp version of the monsters' scent as black tar-blood splashed everywhere.
A spray of it slapped across her chest. She felt its heat, saw the steam rise, and snarled in furious revulsion. Reaper spun away into shadow, diving deeper into the throng and further away from the relative safety of their wall. "Reaper! Reaper, get back here!" She was screaming, feeling the scrape of it on her throat. Three monsters vaulted their dead kin, two of them went down to bullets but the third had used their falling bodies to obscure its charge. It leaped for her, arms flailing, and she had to drop the rifle to catch it around the wrists. The gun fell, swinging on its sling wildly at the thing's impact drove her back. She dug her feet in, trying to halt her backwards slide, but the ground was too slick and the push was strong. Those spindly arms held more strength than it seemed.
The cone of light danced wildly as she wrestled to keep her footing. It passed over the ceiling, the walls, the floor, the gaping, grasping teeth of her opponent and the thick saliva that dripped from its too-wide mouth. She screamed back as it howled in her face, and shortly after felt her back slam into the cistern railing. The impact caused the metal to bend, bolts were tearing free of their concrete housing as the creature started to push her backwards over the railing. She had little time, but more importantly, she had leverage. Enough to get this thing out of her face. She planted her feet, tightened her grip, and hip-threw the asshole over the railing and into the water. With luck, it would drown. Without, she could shoot it when it tried to climb back out. Either way, she got the seconds she needed to get the rifle back in her hands. At which point, she turned to see if Reaper was still alive.
By the sound of it, he was, and he was having the time of his lunatic life. Wonderful. She picked off a pair who'd managed to get past him, heard a splash behind her and threw herself forward and around to kill the monster as it poked its head over the railing. She reloaded, and started back to the breakwater.
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She had switched magazines again, loading her last full one, when the pressure began to lessen. The foremost ash-chalk monsters still attacked, and still died, but they were not immediately replaced. There was a gap now, a space of seconds where once before there was none. Reaper had finally listened to her, coming back to the close side of the wall to cover her left, and was dispatching them with quick jab and cuts to the face and neck as they appeared. She just shot them, counting down her remaining bullets as she did. All the while, the gap increased.
Eighteen bullets left. Six second gap.
Reaper got bored, or forgot, or whatever, and disappeared into the melee. She heard the butcher shop sound of him killing and his mad laughter. Going to grind her teeth and finding her jaw to be already clenched tight. They were going to have words when this was done. Strong ones.
Thirteen left. Ten seconds.
A howling echoed up from behind the monsters. Another unique sound, unlike the battle cries of their current foes. To call it a 'howl' was something of a misnomer, in fact. It was more a rumbling, a roaring, a deep horn and massive drum and the falling of a boulder. It was the sort of sound that was felt as well as heard. Feel it she did, right in the hollow of her chest.
Everything stopped. The monsters stopped fighting, stopped howling, they just...went still. Reaper had dropped his sword, his hands were twitching and his fingers flickering. "I know that sound." His voice was ragged, tight. "I know you, beast. I am coming for you!"
"Reaper, wai – stop!"
But it was too late, shadows had gathered around him and his dropped blade, and without another word, he was gone. She stared for a moment before giving herself a mental dope-slap. Now was really not the time, after all. There were still about two dozen of those monsters just standing there. Standing there, and staring. Not necessarily at her, but they weren't really looking at anything else. For a moment, she didn't even breathe. Then the moment was over. She took aim and prepared to fight once more. It wasn't needed. As a group, as a swarm, the monsters turned and ran deeper into the tunnels.
Lisa. She should probably talk to Lisa. "Hey, Tails."
"T – Guardian! What is – are you – is – what just happened?! Also, why are you calling me by name?"
Taylor wasn't short of breath, but each deep inhale sent fresh energy flowing through her. "We just got attacked."
"Well, we heard that. What's happening now, why is it all quiet?"
"They ran. There was this big, like, roaring sound and Reaper lost it. Took off down the tunnel, and they went after him a few seconds ago."
There was muffled cursing in the background. It sounded somewhat like her dad. "They could be chasing him. But no, it's not likely. Take a closer look at one of 'em. The more intact ones. Tell me what you see."
Brows rose up. "Is now really the best time?"
"Well, seeing as I've got the PRT patched in, yes."
Taylor sighed. "Fine." She booted one of Reaper's kills off the pile and flipped it over. She crouched by it and tried not to vomit from the stench of it clogging her nose. Talking through the monster took only a few minutes, thanks to Lisa's near-perfect memory and her own concise language. When she was finished, a moment of silence followed, and then a much older woman's voice took over the channel.
"Guardian, this is Director Piggot. You've already done incredibly well, and this is immensely helpful for the other cities, but there's more that needs to be done here. We need you to – "
"Wait." Taylor just interrupted an incredibly powerful person, but her manners were somewhat lacking right now. "What's this about other cities?"
Lisa came back. "I was going to tell you before you got attacked. As far as we can tell, there's at least six other cities who have disappearances exactly like the ones here. On top of that, tunnel networks are being found that don't correspond to any construction plans or utilities. So whatever's going on, it's not just the Bay. It's..it's everywhere."
There was really only thing to say. "Fuck."
"There's more, I'm afraid." The amount of hate in the Director's voice was chilling, even if Taylor was pretty sure it wasn't directed at her. "The same tunnel systems were found branching out under the containment walls in Ellisburg. We may not know what this is, but we do have its source. As of ten minutes ago the United States government, in conjunction with the Protectorate, have declared war on Jamie Rinke. The parahuman known as Nilbog."
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