The beam of light extending from Edmund's flashlight cut through the inky blackness that filled the tunnels. A sluggish wind coming from ventilation ducts hidden in the dark carried particles of dust thrown up by Edmund's movement through the long-unused corridors. The particles flew through the beam of light, briefly appearing as coruscating motes before returning back to the darkness.
Edmund hated being here. He hated the tunnels; passages like these only ever held bad memories for him. He'd spent long years of his youth so many decades ago crawling around and surviving in tunnels like these. They held a faint and disgusting nostalgia for him, and if he could've helped it, he'd choose to be almost anywhere but here. Unfortunately, his current situation permitted no such luxury of choice, and so onward he trekked through the dusty corridors.
Edmund reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his communicator. It had cooled down sufficiently to be stowed away in his apparel, but it was still nonfunctional. A large progress bar, merely a quarter filled, was displayed on the communicator's screen. Edmund guessed that once whatever function was being performed by the communicator's hardware was complete, the bar would be completely filled, and he could use it again. Awaiting that time, he returned the device to its resting place in his coat pocket.
Onward, Edmund trekked through the darkness. Even now he could feel the gentle downwards slope of the passageway.
Edmund (thinking): Was this tunnel headed towards the rim of the vessel?
Edmund couldn't tell, at least not within this corridor. The darkness and lack of any points of reference made it near impossible to accurately judge how deep and far he had travelled. Only by standing still and comparing the apparent direction of gravity to the floor was Edmund's judgement even made possible.
After only a few more minutes of walking which felt much longer in the dark and claustrophobic environment he was currently in, Edmund came to a four-way intersection in the tunnels.
Edmund (thinking): Shit.
Inky blackness extended in all directions and a deep and dark sense of foreboding hung in the air. The low rumble of machinery rung in Edmund's ears, and a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. Edmund swung his flashlight about, inspecting the passages for any other clues he could use. If Merrion came down into this tunnel network, according to Jeyga's map, she must have come down from the path to his left.
Edmund focused his flashlight's beam upon the path, and he heaved a sigh of relief when he spotted the small boot prints. Her magnetic boots! Certainly, they had come from that direction, judging by their orientation. Now it was just a matter of finding a matching trail in either of the two remaining corridors.
A quick inspection of the corridor directly opposite the one Edmund travelled from revealed the answer he was looking for. A series of boot prints facing away from the four-way intersection were clearly visible in the thin layer of dust covering the floor, disappearing into darkness once they left the effective range of Edmund's flashlight.
In his heart, Edmund felt a momentary pang of relief. He knew he shouldn't be celebrating yet. He still had to find Merrion. Yet even this minor clue gave him some renewed hope. With a quickened pace, Edmund followed the boot prints down the corridor, taking great care to move quickly while minimizing any sound generated by his footfalls by disabling his magnetic boots.
The tunnel, still sloping downwards as it did before, started to curve towards the left gently. Following the walls, Edmund came to a closed door. Light pouring out from the gap between the door and the floor provided a secondary source of illumination in the darkened corridor. Edmund crouched down to the floor and wiped down a section of the floor with his sleeve, caking the fabric with dust from ages past. He pressed his face as close to the floor as humanly possible to peek through the gap.
The bright light directly entering his eyes made Edmund squint momentarily before his accommodation reflex kicked in. Through the gap, Edmund could at least tell that there was no one standing directly behind the door, which appeared to open towards the inside. Edmund focused his senses, trying to hear any anomalous sounds, but only the dull hum of machinery could be heard through the metallic flooring. Damn it.
Edmund retrieved his Verdict from its concealed holster in his coat, feeling its internal mechanisms ready as he disabled the safety and muted the audio feedback systems. The augmented display booted up, projecting faint words into his field of vision.
Edmund (thinking): Six shots, check.
Edmund prepared himself mentally, taking in a deep breath to calm his nerves. He carefully pushed the door inwards and was surprised to find that the hinges made no noise. He had expected the hinge to at least creak slightly, as hinges tended to accumulate corrosion over time. The fact that the door opened in complete silence could only mean one thing.
Edmund (thinking): Someone's been maintaining this door. Someone's been here recently.
In a single quick movement, Edmund dove into the room. He swung the Verdict in an arc, looking for any suspicious targets. Nothing caught his eye, and Edmund slowly exhaled, releasing the breath that was caught in his throat.
Edmund's eyes flicked about as he surveyed the room more thoroughly. This was a surprisingly large room within the underbelly of the Tainah, extending for at least a hundred meters in length and half as wide from Edmund's vantage point. Stacked crates, boxes, and cargo frames were present in this room, and there was a slight layer of dust on the floor, though nothing as bad as the dust within the tunnels.
Straight ahead of him, through a wide gap between two large stacks of boxes, Edmund saw a large door embedded in the floor, with the word <
Edmund (thinking): An airlock? Here!?
Edmund panicked slightly. While the hollow-points loaded in the Verdict were deliberately designed to guard against overpenetration of surfaces, the possibility remained that excessive penetration could occur under extraordinary circumstances. Normally, within the inhabited sections of most vessels, there was always enough material in the way to catch a stray round, be it inorganic or organic. In the Mahoney's cargo terminal where Edmund had last fired off a few rounds, the compartment's walls were still sufficiently armored to withstand the impacts of a stray round.
Here in this unknown room, things were different.
Edmund (thinking): How thick is the hull here? Can this airlock door tolerate a stray round?
These questions ran through Edmund's mind. But amongst them, one stood out.
Edmund (thinking): If this room starts depressurizing, is there anyone else in here?
Edmund knew he couldn't answer those questions yet, and simply resolved to limit his field of fire to the horizontal plane and upward angles, until he could be assured.
Edmund quickly surveyed his left and right. The path to the right was far longer than the path to his left, extending into an unlit area. It appeared that the door he had entered from was situated closer to the left of the room. Sitting in the midst of the left path was a box of some kind, its frame warped and dented by an impact of terrifying force sufficient to distort metal.
Edmund (thinking): Did this box fall?
Edmund craned his head to look up towards the top of the stacked boxes, but all the boxes were neatly arranged, and it didn't appear that they were unstable in any way.
Edmund (thinking): An impact? An accident? Or perhaps…deliberately placed?
Edmund crept past the warped box, sticking to the shadows cast by the stacked boxes in an attempt at stealth. Not a sound could be heard in the room aside from the dull thrumming of machinery in the walls, and eventually Edmund made it to the edge of the stack. He crept around and saw –
– two men, both reclined against opposite stacks. Edmund snapped back to attention, returning to the shadows. A sudden rush of adrenaline surged into his veins as Edmund realized that he had seen those two individuals before in different places.
Edmund (thinking): It's him! Anant! And that thug from the Mahoney, the one that got taken away by the construct! They must be working together!
With his back pressed against the stacked boxes, Edmund gripped his Verdict tightly and held it as close to his body as he could manage, taking great care to keep the barrel pointed upwards. Straight ahead of him, Edmund could see a set of doors, similar in dimensions to the concealed ones he had seen via Merrion's eyepiece camera in the Children's storeroom, the very same doors that Anant had been seen exiting from.
More questions ran through Edmund's mind.
Edmund (thinking): Are these doors connected to the Children's building above? Are the Children using this room? What…what are they using such a large space for?
Edmund peeked around the edge of the stack again, trying to scope out the room as much as possible. The thug from the Mahoney appeared to be asleep, his chest gently rising and falling in time with his breathing, and the thin fabric of his singlet distorting with each movement of his chest. In contrast, Anant appeared to be awake, but resting. Although his eyes were mostly closed, every few seconds his eyelids flicked open, and he surveyed the room before closing his eyes again.
Anant was leaning against a cargo frame, a hollow meshwork of metal struts and beams. Numerous boxes and packages of inconsistent size and dimensions rested within the metallic mesh. Amongst them, one particular object caught Edmund's attention, a metal cuboid with a display screen embedded on the short face and large enough to contain a body within. He had seen a similar object back in the morgue aboard the Mahoney a few days ago, although that object had been completely empty when it wasn't supposed to be. That singular box had led them down this trail of investigation, and finally, here it was, a mere few meters away from him.
Edmund (thinking): A cryocasket!
Edmund's heart momentarily soared with elation at this unexpected finding before crashing back to the ground under the relentless pull of reality. How was he going to move it out of here? Yes, he was definitely strong enough, but retrieving this object by himself would not be easy, nor feasible. Regardless, that was not his priority right now.
Then, everything went wrong.
Time slowed to a crawl as Edmund heard his communicator emit a loud beep, the characteristic tone emitted in recognition of a received transmission. His eyes went wide with surprise, followed by a quickening of his heart rate and the raising of all the hairs on his neck. In the expanse of this room's soundscape dominated only by the dull thrumming of machinery, this sudden high-pitched noise fit in as well as a bullet in a human skull. This noise hadn't escaped the notice of Anant and Seung, either. They leapt to their feet, having been rudely awakened from their rest by the unexpected sound, their fields of vision aimed towards its source.
---
Seung: "What was that? Is it them?"
Anant: "Can't be. They aren't supposed to be here so soon. It's the partner."
---
Edmund (thinking): Shit!
Upon hearing their exchange, Edmund decided to discard his stealthy approach and immediately peeked around the corner of the stack. He took aim at their arms, pointing the gun further down than simple intuition would indicate and let loose two rounds. Two deafening thunderclaps echoed throughout the room and instead of two bleeding criminals, Edmund spotted sparks in the distance from where the rounds had impacted. It had happened all too quickly, and even though he had tried to aim, his nerves had gotten the better of him.
The Verdict's aim assist could only provide an indication of where shots were expected to land. It combined together data about local air currents, the direction of aiming relative to the rotation of the vessel, and the type of round loaded to provide its user with a prediction of the round's final destination. Chief amongst its many assumptions was that the wielder had a steady aim.
Edmund: "Damn…missed!"
Edmund whispered under his breath as he dived back into cover behind the stacks of boxes. He breathed heavily as he clutched his Verdict close to his chest, taking care not to exert too much pressure upon the weapon.
Edmund (thinking): Footsteps…they're on the move!
Edmund peeked around the corner of the stack he was using for cover and spotted a single individual.
Edmund (thinking): Shit! Where's the other guy?
Quickly, Edmund took aim and fired off two more shots at where the predictive crosshair recommended. Sparks in the distance higher than he expected served as evidence that something was off with his aim.
Edmund (thinking): Is the Tainah's spin rate slower than expected? Why are the shots curving upwards so much?
If the prediction program was faulty, Edmund would need to manually compensate for the errors, and under such pressure this would be a huge challenge that he could not accomplish.
Suddenly, there was a familiar rattling sound in the air, just like the rattling Edmund had heard back in the Mahoney's cargo terminal. The hairs on Edmund's back pricked up, and out from the corner of his vision Edmund spotted a black line – no, a black dagger headed straight for him! The black dagger, seemingly suspended in the air by an invisible hand, stabbed and sliced at Edmund, but it only cut through empty air. Edmund dodged furiously, parrying strikes whenever possible with either his Verdict or his forearms, causing showers of sparks to issue forth from the clashing metal surfaces, whilst jumping backwards when the weapon came at him from inconvenient angles.
Step by grueling step, Edmund was forced backwards by this relentless assault, with the rattling of chains echoing all the while as the black dagger darted with unreasonable mobility through empty air.
Thump.
Edmund froze as he realized that he had backed up into the wreckage of the box near the entrance, just as he spotted a black flash at the edge of his vision from the black dagger accelerating towards him.
Edmund (thinking): Shit!
Edmund dodged the attack, crouching down out of the dagger's trajectory. There was a loud noise, and Edmund turned around to see the dagger firmly embedded within the metal of the box's frame. A terrible straining and warping sound, presumably from the dagger trying to extricate itself from the metal, emitted forth from the box. Edmund recalled his experience with the unknown chain-user, and immediately grabbed at the dagger with his free hand.
Immediately, links of ebony metal materialized from thin air, extending into the distance, and bending around the corner of the stack. Judging from the direction, it had come from where Edmund had last seen the single individual. Due to the frantic nature of the battle, Edmund hadn't seen if the individual was Anant or the other thug.
Edmund (thinking): The chain-user's here! I've dealt with Anant before, and that other thug didn't look to be the one controlling the chain, so…there's a third hostile in here!? Where!?
Edmund aimed his weapon at the chain in the distance and noticed something strange: the predictive crosshair failed to project upon the chain in his field of vision.
Edmund (thinking): The hell's going on?
Edmund quickly fired off another shot. The round, fired off perpendicular to the Tainah's indicated spinward direction, connected with the chain but failed to break it, indicated by the shower of sparks from the point of impact.
Seung: "Heyyy there!"
A familiar, ophidian voice came from behind the box. Edmund jumped away from the box with his hand sliding along the chain to keep in in view, as a muscular figure clad only in a singlet and a set of coveralls from the waist down came crashing through the metal.
Seung: "Remember meeeEEEEEE????!!!!!!"
Edmund immediately took aim at the thug and fired. A dull click came forth from the weapon, the unexpected and wholly undesirable sign of a jammed round, a rare occurrence for the relatively low-maintenance and highly-reliable Verdict.
Edmund: "Fu –"
Seung: "Here's payback for WHAT YOU DID TO ME!"
The wall of flesh that was the thug hurtled towards Edmund, his arms outstretched as he tried to grapple Edmund. Edmund dodged to the left, barely evading the hostile embrace, but he quickly realized he didn't dodge far enough. His gun had been knocked off his right hand! Edmund had been disarmed by the thug's barrel charge.
Edmund (thinking): Was this his actual goal? Crafty piece of shit!
Edmund's Verdict clattered to the ground noisily as the thug turned around to face him. Eyeing the weapon on the floor, the thug grinned and cracked his knuckles.
Seung: "I'm gonna return what you did to me…TEN FOLD!"
Edmund responded to this blatant admission of hostility with raised fists. With nothing in his hands that he needed to protect, he was free to strike with all his strength. The thug's roars as he charged towards Edmund echoed in his ears, and as Edmund prepared to strike, a thought coalesced in his mind –
Edmund (thinking): Hang on, where did the chain go?
Edmund felt something wrap around both of his legs, pulling them together and throwing him off balance. He collapsed to the floor under this sudden assault on him and looked around for the cause. The familiar rattling noise, which had disappeared suddenly during his brief scuffle with the thug without him even noticing returned just as suddenly. Crawling links of ebony metal wrapped themselves tightly around Edmund's legs, robbing him of his ability to stand. Rendered defenseless by this attack, Edmund could only watch helplessly as the thug surged toward him, stopping right before his face and raising his boot to kick him –
Anant: "Not yet."
A voice, embodying elegance and grace, spoke with a strangely captivating tone that Edmund could not ignore, in spite of his familiarity with it. Edmund had heard this voice over the audio feed before, when Merrion was inside the Children's house of worship, but this was his first time hearing him in person in five long years.
Seung: "What?! He's right here!"
Anant: "I want to ask him some questions first. You can rough him up while I do that."
Seung: "But –"
Anant: "But what?"
Anant's tone had suddenly changed with that last question. His tone earlier, which had been graceful and elegant, had suddenly turned hostile and dark, even though the question had been innocuous at best. Edmund, who was familiar with the variety of ways people spoke, could immediately feel the chill in the air exuding from those two words.
Anant: "Bring him over here."
Standing in the open area before the entrance to the room, Anant gestured over to the right, towards an area obscured behind the mass of boxes stacked to Edmund's right, as he gave the order with a commanding tone.
Seung: "Can't you just lift him over there? With your chains?"
Edmund's eyes lit up upon hearing the thug say that word.
Edmund (thinking): Chains? Anant is the chain user?
Anant: "No. Hurry up. He's an…old acquaintance, you could say."
Edmund heard a sigh come from the thug and felt himself being dragged along the floor past the completely wrecked box, to the center of the room he had seen earlier upon entering the room initially.
Edmund (thinking): Damn it! Should I escape now? Can I punch through the floor to resist?
Edmund let that idea die. A depressurization here would kill both him and the two criminals, and that was unacceptable. His death, at least. Following Anant's orders, the thug dragged Edmund over to a stack of cargo frames and bound his upper body and arms to the frame with a thick coil of rope. Edmund made a good show of it, doing his best to struggle against the bindings and give his captors the impression that he was really helpless and at their disposal. Edmund glared at the two men, who now stood before him. Anant's expression was calm and relaxed, while the thug's eyes were lit by a sadistic excitement that Edmund sensed only held pain in store for him.
Edmund considered the possibility of overwhelming the rope with his strength alone. He could probably do it if he leveraged his arms. But then he'd have to fight a two-pronged battle against both Anant and his hired muscle. With Anant being the chain-user, Edmund would be at a disadvantage merely facing an opponent with unknown capabilities, let alone at a numerical disadvantage. The earlier fight had shown to him that the chain was capable of wielding weapons and moving in unpredictable ways, and the thug was far stronger than he appeared as well.
Anant: "Good day, Mr. Partner. So nice of you to visit us."
Edmund: "Would be better if I wasn't tied up like this."
Anant: "Ah yes, forgive the indiscretion. The bindings are an…insurance policy, to ensure your cooperation. I do believe we've met before…Detective. Your face looks disgustingly familiar."
Anant knelt down before Edmund, just out of the range of his legs. To Edmund's left, barely within his field of vision, stood the thug, who had a massive smirk pasted across his face. Edmund cautiously regarded the two crooks, who seemed to delight in their current and transient state of superiority over him. Edmund moved to ask the obvious question on his mind, but he decided against it at the last moment, figuring that immediately giving away his objective would give these two crooks even more power over him.
Edmund: "What do you want?"
A burst of pain washed over Edmund as the thug, seemingly in response to his question, kicked him across the face. Edmund grimaced at the unprovoked response and spat out a glob of bloody spit. To his surprise, none of his teeth had been knocked out by the impact. Still, it hurt terribly. Waves of pain radiated away from the site of impact, slowly fading back into the baseline.
Anant: "Now now, Mr. Detective. We'll be asking the questions. Also, my dear Seung over here told me that you did something similar to him before. I believe he is wholly within his rights to return you the…hospitality you showed him."
Edmund (thinking): Smug shits.
Edmund hated the smug tone with which Anant had delivered that statement, as if it were self-evident and completely justified. The only thing he hated more was the small smile spread across Anant's face.
Anant: "Now then, let's start with the first question. Who are you?"
Edmund: "I'm None."
Anant: "That's an interesting name – "
Edmund: "Noneofyabusiness – "
Edmund grimaced as his head was slammed backwards into the frame behind him by Seung, who gripped Edmund's face in his vice-like grip.
Seung: "Oh, you think you're funny, don'tcha funny FIDDER?"
Seung howled at Edmund, his face close enough that Edmund could feel the spit flying out from his mouth and his warm, stinking breath on his face.
Seung: "When the BOSS asks you a question, you ANSWER!"
Edmund grimaced in pain. Just then in the distance, amidst all the stacked cargo frames and boxes that Edmund had initially spotted Seung and Anant resting amongst, Edmund saw a familiar silhouette. It was that of a small girl wearing a familiar outfit, crossing from the cargo frame where the cryocasket was resting in over to the stacked boxes where Edmund had initially taken cover at and clashed with Seung. Edmund's eyes flicked away from the silhouette as it disappeared behind the boxes, his gaze shifting over to Anant as he let out a sigh, seemingly out of boredom.
Anant: "Not so nice being on the other end, is it, Detective None? Either way, calm down Seung, don't kill him yet. Let's try another question then, Mr. None."
Edmund watched as Anant spun about on his heels, completing a whole revolution before returning to face him again.
Anant: "Who am I? Let me provide a clue: we've met before. Five years ago, to be precise. You fidders came and took away everything that I had – had worked…worked SO HARD to…to gather and build up. Well, with that in mind, who do you think I – "
Edmund: " – you're Anant. Anant of the Void Mambas. Arrested five years ago on suspicion of organized grand larceny. Released two years ago due to insufficient evidence."
Anant: "Impressive. You do remember. I remember you too, you were present in that sting operation that nabbed me in my hideout –"
Edmund: "You're also suspected in the involvement with the theft of a body."
Anant's eyes lit up the instant Edmund said 'body', which Edmund instantly took notice of.
Edmund (thinking): Ah, a reaction.
Anant: "Excellent, excellent! And is that – "
Anant, with his gaze still firmly locked upon Edmund, pointed behind him towards the cryocasket resting in the cargo frame.
Anant: " – the body in question?"
Edmund: "I don't know."
Anant: "And neither do I, for I cannot open it. But that does not matter."
With an uncanny calm, and with his gaze still firmly fixated upon Edmund, Anant pointed his finger to the ceiling.
Anant: "As for my next question, why are you here?"
Edmund: "You're wanted for theft of – AAARGH!"
Edmund roared in pain as Seung stomped on his chest with his boot. There was a groaning sound and a strong sensation of pain, but nothing had been broken by the impact. It would take a far greater force to cause damage to that part of Edmund's body, but the area was still capable of feeling pain.
Anant: "As you can tell, I know that that's the wrong answer. Let's try again. Why. Are. You. Here?"
Edmund: "Heh. Why don't you just tell me already since you know? Save us both the effort and pain."
Anant: "This is why you Detectives are no fun to talk to. Even the last one, she was interesting. Spunky, even. I tire of this."
Anant stood up from his kneeling position and turned to face Seung.
Anant: "You can have your fun now. Go and get the girl."
Edmund's eyes widened in horror.
Edmund: "Wait! Girl?"
Anant: "Oh! Now, you wish to talk! Perhaps you should have considered being more forthcoming earlier!"
A horrifying expression spread across Anant's face, displacing his placid expression completely as Seung walked over towards a distant stack of crates, breathing heavily.
Edmund: "…Merrion."
Edmund muttered her name under his breath, but Anant, ever observant, caught on instantly.
Anant: "Is that Camelia's actual name? Figures that she was lying to me…that wretch."
Edmund: "…Camelia? What are you saying? Who…."
Anant: "That wretched woman thought she could run back to me, five years after she mysteriously disappeared! I was elated to see her face again, visiting me in my new place of power! Yes, while it was certainly surprising that she didn't remember me, and she looked as young as when I first met her, I suppose I have aged somewhat during these five years…in no small part to the stress inflicted upon me by you FIDDERS!"
Edmund: "But…how can that be?"
Anant: "Yes, Detective None. The instant she snuck into this space and was so gently apprehended by my colleague, who so kindly informed me that she was with you fidders now, I immediately knew…that I HAD BEEN BETRAYED FROM THE START! My colleague may look dull, yes…but he is possessed of a sharp mind! He remembered her green eyes and your amber eyes instantly! An amber-eyed detective is a rare phenotype, indeed. I suspected that it was you who was her partner, one of those dirty fidders who demolished everything that I had built!"
A grin of murderous intent spread across Anant's face.
Anant: "But I am not an ungrateful person, no, definitely not. After all, you sent her here, to me, on a silver platter. It would be dreadfully foolish not to accept such a generous gift; the finest bait to catch such an elusive prey like yourself."
Out from the right corner of his field of vision, Edmund watched as Seung disappeared behind the stacks, laughing maniacally.
Edmund: "YOU BASTARDS!"
Anant: "Please don't call me that, I wanted to kill you at moment the opportunity presented itself. It was my dear colleague who convinced me to let him have a modicum of vengeance upon you for wounding his pride."
Just then, the familiar silhouette appeared again at the entrance, catching Edmund's attention. Simultaneously, Seung appeared from behind the stacks with a frantic expression on his face.
Seung: "BOSS! The girl, she's gone!"
Anant whipped his head around to look at Seung. There was a snapping sound, followed quickly by a shout and the deafening thunderclap of a gunshot in the room.