Data file R-4: Flash-flood Tunnel

  [Aljia has many waterways running underneath its cities to funnel in large amounts of acidic ocean water and filter it in controlled environments. One of these, running underneath Embershard, was closed off by the government after structural problems. Reportedly, its control gates and maintenance walkways failed frequently enough to garner the nickname of “Flash-flood Tunnel.”]

  ***

  The next day flew by faster than a dropship, though not an easy ride. Helios had traced the chimera energy to the tunnels beneath the city, but it would have been foolish to go in unprepared. Flameye revealing that he was not only back but presumably immortal was not to be disregarded. He rarely lied, especially when the truth was threatening. There was no real sign of Flameye, though, except a similar energy signature that dissipated quickly. While Gears planned an attack strategy and built the necessary equipment, Alyssa and Rasil joked that they should hang out sometime.

  That was an excellent idea.

  Unfortunately, she was less than ecstatic about what he really meant.

  “Really?” She asked, unamused. “You want to hire me to help you out?” She currently wore a black jacket over a flight suit and was wearing a visor that masked her face. The shoulder of her jacket had a crescent moon emblem painted on it, and the edges of the jacket concealed her twin combat pistols from view. A turquoise sash adorned her waist to complete the outfit. Knowing Alyssa was behind the mask intimidated Rasil, more so than the other mercenaries in the tavern where they sat, discussing this. Nevertheless, even a brief meeting was enough for him to decide he wanted her around.

  “Yes. I’m not sure I’d trust anyone more," Rasil replied, tugging on his cloak nervously. He hoped desperately that she would agree, hoped in part that he could face Flameye without being alone.

  “I’m a Jones, remember?” Alyssa’s reminder was curt, but had a choke of regret.

  “I may not like Slick, but I do like you," Rasil asserted.

  “Rasil,” she sighed, “I don’t like those tunnels, we’d be walking into a trap and...” She trailed off quietly, clearly hiding something personal. “The water.” She whispered, “I’m afraid of the water.” Now it made sense, Rasil realized. He considered for a moment that he felt the same way about heights, even after his high-flying stunts.

  “I’d have your back," he resolved.

  “Rasil...”

  “Helios is too weak to help me without those old rattler cannons, Gears needs to see his own readouts, and if Flameye has a power boost, I can’t take him alone.”

  “You’re really pushy.”

  “So I've heard. Facing your fears can and WILL be hard, but running from them is harder," Rasil explained, letting some of his father’s lecturing habits shine through. It seemed to work, though he couldn’t see her face or know her real feelings. She sat silently for a moment. They both did.

  “Double my usual fee," she conceded, “and I want a tour of Embershard Keep.”

  “Done.”

  ***

  Gears opened the door to the lab without looking up from his blueprints. He and Rasil exchanged a brief look when Alyssa walked in. He already knew who she was and why she was here. Even if he hadn’t, Rasil recruiting a mercenary wouldn’t have even prompted an eyebrow raise anymore. “I have some additional gear for you both," Gears stated with a prepared flourish. He then showed a set of rebreather masks in the event of flooding. As he elaborated, Rasil noticed Alyssa tremble slightly when these structural integrity issues were brought up. Rasil coughed quickly, though, and Gears picked up on it, moving on to something else. Each of them would be going in with one mask, one spare pistol, and goggles with a connection to Helios’s vision.

  Speaking of him.

  Helios flew toward Alyssa out of nowhere, and Rasil jumped in the way to hold him back, gripping both wings.

  “Who’s this intruder? I’ll bite her in the face!” Helios threatened.

  Although perhaps not angry (his smile still just barely visible in the squint of his mechanical eyes), Helios tried to make good on that threat, snapping his beak repeatedly in Alyssa’s direction. She jumped initially, but then calmed down and focused on standing away from the beak.

  When Helios had cooled off, but still kept asking who Alyssa was, Rasil pulled Gears aside and asked, “Shouldn’t his facial recognition identify her?”

  “Certainly, his mind is thousands of years old; he must have seen her somewhere.”

  “A malfunction?”

  Gears stroked his chin thoughtfully, “Likely so. I would surmise an impact from Flameye dislodged some long-term memory drives.”

  “Can you reactivate them?”

  “With time, completely," he answered. They both turned back to see a comical display of Alyssa trying to introduce herself to Helios. She told him her name, but was met with frantic screaming about the fact that she was in his nest—he actually said that—and how she needed to provide a government license to be allowed in this area. She rolled her eyes and smiled at Rasil with a look that read, ‘So this is your family.’ He nodded back and suppressed an already quiet laugh.

  ***

  The team readied their rebreathers as the Spearhead landed near the aqueduct maintenance entrance. The air was cold, whispering from the tunnel and carrying the echo of the distant water. Alyssa froze up for a second when they reached the door, her hands trembling, and her gaze visibly locked onto the safety warnings posted nearby. At the risk of seeming overly attached, Rasil held her hand. His fingers gently grasped her palm in the manner he would’ve used to calm his own nerves. Fortunately, this comforted her enough to keep going. Helios wouldn’t enter the tunnel with them, as the crashed drives in his mind had included his data on this area. Gears saw no other option than on-site assistance, and joined Rasil and Alyssa while clutching his rifle cautiously.

  Rasil slid the door open and heard clanking metal as the rusted deadbolt hit the ground. Alyssa was not happy, but again, he encouraged her, and the fear subsided. In the small entry room, they found a ladder that had clearly seen racazoid use, as it was covered in claw marks. “This ladder drops to the main operation tunnel," Gears informed as he mounted the ladder, “Once we arrive, I will stand watch while you two continue along the left causeway. You’ll find an engine room that should have signs of what we’re looking for, possibly chimera pumps to control the lasting output from the Shadowbane Amulet.” With that, all three of them made their way down the ladder and into the dark.

  Rasil jumped past the others and hit the floor first, using the antigravity boots to dampen his fall safely. Looking around, he saw the causeway and took off down it. The curved structure of the causeway joined the walls and ceiling in a smooth semicircle. An alternate pressure path for the water loomed beneath a glass slot in the flooring plates.

  Perhaps the causeways could burst to handle an overload...

  Gears stood at the ladder, and Alyssa followed behind Rasil, drawing her two guns.

  “WARNING," the automated duct system sent out, “PRESSURE PURGE IN THIRTY SECONDS.”

  “We’re fine, Alyssa," Rasil reminded.

  “Yeah, I know. I know," she whispered. She suddenly stopped running. Her eyes briefly glowed, not just his imagination—they genuinely flashed turquoise blue light onto the walls of the darkened causeway. A flicker from the overhead lights accompanied this. Rasil turned back toward her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “The engine room is empty, aside from stored explosives.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I used electrosense.”

  “You can do that?” Rasil asked, shocked.

  “My dad insisted on it.” Rasil nodded at her emphatic statement. Electrosense was a high-level technique that allowed someone holding a power core weapon to detect electricity across a large area. With it, mercenaries could avoid traps that none could see and track people that none could hear.

  “My respect for you has grown further," Rasil remarked. He retreaded to where Alyssa was still standing. “Any idea where we should be going?”

  “Yeah, this way," she pointed down a staircase that led into the lower level.

  “Follow me, then," Rasil ordered as he mounted the railing and slid down. Alyssa did the same. Rasil jumped off at the bottom and saw the hint of a purple mist spreading around the intersection of walkways. “Just so you know, I’m only taking point in case Flameye swings for me first.”

  “So I’m the artillery?” Alyssa asked. She touched down beside him with a smooth clink.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Rasil tilted his head, then said, “I love that you put it that way.”

  “PRESSURE PURGE COMPLETE. INITIATING STANDARD FLUCTUATION CIRCUIT," the system announced again. The lights along the ceiling activated, casting away the darkness in their vicinity. Rasil kept moving, following the chimera gas toward the area where it was thicker.

  “You don’t seem to have gotten any smarter, Rasil," Flameye spoke, an ethereal whisper to his voice as if he was right beside them.

  “Move!” Rasil alerted Alyssa as the floor gave out. He jumped and gripped a support near the ceiling, then reached out his hand. Alyssa, sprinting from behind him, took it as she jumped with him. A pitfall beneath them sprang alight with fire. At the same time, chimera gas flooded into the area, and Rasil felt a gnawing tug on his antigravity boots. The foreign energy... was it blocking the antigravity?

  They couldn’t boost away!

  “I can’t hold you for long! Find a ledge!” Rasil warned, his arm straining painfully to grip the metal support.

  “Swing me to your left," Alyssa replied. Rasil did so, and she fell, kicking off a small crate that had fallen into the pit. She gripped the nearest unaffected floor section as her jump peaked and rolled onto safe ground again. Immediately afterward, she spun and drew her guns again. “Let’s cool this thing down.” She fired a burst of piercing bullets that destroyed the flame vents below and stopped the fire. “And as for you...” she whispered, aiming at the surging chimera gas. She swept her guns outward as if drawing knives against one another, and the power crystals inside hummed. Piercing beams of energy followed the movement and burned most of the chimera gas away; the air swirled visibly. Her beams also struck and destroyed two camouflaged emitters on the walls that had been spraying the gas.

  “I’m in love," Rasil whispered to himself as he watched. He let go and dropped to the now-safe pitfall.

  “Here, I’ll help you up," Alyssa said, extending her hand. Rasil boosted a little bit as the antigravity boots recovered, and grabbed her hand to climbup.

  “Sure it’s me who’s not improving, Flameye?” Rasil mocked.

  “Certain," came the reply. Flameye’s claw appeared between Alyssa and Rasil, shoving the two apart. The rest of his body followed.

  “What happened to subtlety?” Rasil asked, crouching into a pouncing stance.

  “I can teleport, Rasil. I don’t need subtlety or dramatic entrances anymore.” As he spoke, a piercing bullet seared into his snout and caused him to flinch sideways. Alyssa had already received from the shove and leapt inward, spinning and firing many piercing shots in a row. Flameye blocked the barrage with one hand. Though he took damage, the metal tore and regenerated in equal measure, steadily increasing the chimera flow and healing faster. By Alyssa’s third volley of shots, they weren’t affecting him enough.

  Flameye said, “Your act of foolishly destroying the Amulet was merely an upgrade to me!” With a roar, he then extended his tattered wings and lunged for Rasil.

  Rasil swung upward and blocked Flameye’s claw before jumping to the side and striking Flameye’s shoulder. His wings flapped, and would have knocked Rasil down, just like old times, if Rasil hadn’t stabbed his knife into the floor with his other hand to brace himself.

  Flameye’s frustration was interrupted by another flurry of shots from Alyssa that pierced his wing joints. He turned on her and roared again, breathing purple fire. She dodged by spinning to the side, sliding away, and releasing another flurry while performing a handstand. She was even more dextrous than Rasil had expected, far more than Flameye could have ever expected, either.

  Rasil leapt at Flameye and blasted the back of his knee with a charged bolt. Flameye kicked, but missed, and started to realize he was outmatched in this case.

  “Enough!” he bellowed. His wings spread wider and glowed with chimera. His core made a churning sound like waves of water, and with a cough, beams of purple energy flew from his wings. There was no way to avoid it! Rasil held his gun forward to deflect the beam, but was pushed to his knees by the force. The gun cracked as the beam surged through it; Rasil ducked downward just in time. Alyssa dodged with little difficulty, but was caught off-guard by his next punch, which struck her leg in a horizontal arc.

  She yelped, more in shock than pain, and fell to the ground. But she was still poised and spun to a kneeling position before firing both guns at Flameye and forcing him away from her. Her bullets had been empowered by her absorbing surrounding energy, and the volleys were shooting through his chest plate and into his shoulders. It seemed his armor was completely unable to stop her blasts like it did Rasil’s. Rasil growled, standing with a cough, and opened fire as well.

  Flameye flew backward and out of range, levitating with the chimera in his wings. “I miscalculated, facing you two alone in such a narrow field. Feel free to follow me and experience my corrected strategy.” He teleported again, disappearing in a cloud of black and purple mist.

  ***

  Rasil continued following Flameye’s trail of chimera and found the central waterway of the tunnel before them.

  “Great, water," Alyssa commented, looking down at the rushing liquid. “Where does the trail lead from here?”

  “Not sure," Rasil replied. “Anything with electrosense?”

  “Not at the moment. Flameye might be masking the signals of any racazoids down—”

  “Get down," Rasil interrupted. Alyssa turned and saw a racazoid walking by, almost close enough to hear them. Rasil pulled her with him behind a safety rail. The racazoid turned, hearing Rasil’s boots, but didn’t catch them in time. After a brief huff, it resumed its patrol.

  Rasil peeked out and observed the edge of the waterway, and spotted racazoids going into and out of the water. They were everywhere! “They might see us. Vent your guns and stay ready," Rasil noted. “Gears, get out of here and send a message. Sophia needs to know that the aqueducts have been taken.”

  Gears answered quickly, “Affirmative,” before going silent. Alyssa climbed atop the railing and leapt for a nearby catwalk. Her hands gripped the edge for only a brief moment before she expertly swung her weight upward and slid onto the platform. The movement was so fast the racazoids hadn’t even noticed.

  Rasil followed with a less-impressive antigravity jump, and kept checking for any sign of Flameye while Alyssa aimed at the nearby racazoids. There were seven total in the immediate area. “Mind if I weaken their ranks?” she asked jokingly.

  Rasil drew his gun and replied, “As long as we stay together. Let’s go.” Alyssa smirked and fired a beam into the knee of the closest trooper. It fell, stunned by the damage. Rasil leapt into a roll and swung at the head before it could recover. Claws rushed to meet his face, but the racazoid missed its counter, and the last thing it saw was Rasil blasting three more times into its face. Rasil jumped back, bringing his gun up instinctively to deflect a firebolt from another trooper.

  “The helmets are tougher, designed for high-pressure water,” Alyssa chimed in, “so you should aim for the ribs.” Rasil nodded and flipped to the side before launching a frenzy of bolts into the rib vents of the next racazoid. It exploded from the overload, the result of a “breaker hit.” Rasil tensed and dodged the next volley of firebolts. The racazoids were improving their aim, and one of them moved behind cover to charge a fireblast cannon.

  It was quickly decapitated by another piercing bullet from Alyssa, who spun into battle, firing in all directions. Her electrosense warned her of the racazoids’ locations, and she swiveled back and forth on the heels of her boots to avoid their shots. “Rasil, line them up and give them one hit each in the vents. If you land a breaker, I can kill them all!” she signaled. Rasil obliged.

  He boosted between the four remaining troopers, firing at the vents and staggering them together, in a conveniently placed line. “Thanks, Rasil. You’re great at this!” Alyssa complimented, charging her guns. She stood straight up and raised her hands to either side, inhaling as the energy ran through her. With a steely turquoise glow in her eyes, she aimed dead ahead and yelled, “Meet my critical strike, [Twin Rail Beam]!”

  A beautiful beam of blue and white emerged from the two guns as she struck them together and fired. The burst of color nearly blinded Rasil’s sensitive eyes, but he forced himself to watch. The beam sliced apart all of the remaining racazoids, scattering their limbs around the area. As the dust settled, Rasil and Alyssa let out the respective breaths they had been holding.

  The fight was over, every racazoid in the vicinity having been eliminated by that last blow. “Wow," Rasil said, holstering his gun.

  “Yes, I have a critical strike. I didn’t mean to upstage you, if you’re worried about that.”

  “I’m not," Rasil chuckled.

  “I appreciate you wasting your best move there," Flameye commented, dropping from the ceiling. Rasil dodged away and blasted at Flameye’s face. Flameye stumbled backward from the successful breaker, but he recovered and flapped his wings behind him, flinging Alyssa off her feet.

  “Whoa!” Alyssa shouted as she landed in the water that was running through the tunnel. Antigravity surged, her boots firing immediately to launch her up, but her technique was imprecise, her fear turning it on her. Without a clear guide for the energy to create propulsion, the antigravity both moved her upward and shifted the water’s gravitational center. The liquid rushed away, then slammed into the displaced gap, creating a current that yanked her down by the legs. As her guns submerged, they were left unusable. In a single moment, she was weighed down by her own boots, unable to shoot, and sucked into the main current in her panic. Her scream before going under could have easily been heard from the surface.

  “Alyssa!” Rasil shouted, chasing her. Flameye didn’t miss a second, and teleported in front of him, swinging a claw forward. “Out of my way!” Rasil rolled under the strike, smashing his gun into Flameye’s ankle and staying on the move. Alyssa was separated from him and fighting against a phobia of drowning. Flameye was suddenly the least important piece of the situation.

  He spotted her several paces down, hanging onto a ledge just above the water line and coughing. Several racazoids were approaching her. New models; they didn’t have guns, only blades mounted to their arms and attachments made for swimming. They must have been the underwater mechanics who built up Flameye’s operation in the tunnel. Alyssa raised her gun just above the water and began shooting wildly into the pack of them.

  “Impressed? I call them racazoid marines," The fiery voice emanated from behind Rasil. Rasil raised his weapon behind his head and performed a block against Flameye’s bite. Spinning around, he swung in a horizontal strike to blast Flameye in the chest, but Flameye was already swinging his claw in the same way.

  Their weapons clashed, claw meeting gun in a violent shower of sparks. Rasil grounded himself, but then realized he wasn’t being pushed back. Instead, he was physically holding Flameye back!

  “I suppose I’m still regenerating," Flameye answered when he saw Rasil’s confusion. “Physical tests aren’t my forte at this time.”

  “Then you’ve made a big mistake," Rasil revealed. He stabbed his dagger blade into Flameye’s forearm and pulled him closer, unleashing a volley of bolts into his exposed core. Flameye roared at the sudden move and tried to teleport. Rasil dropped behind Flameye’s legs and fired up into the back of the head, shutting down the function.

  “I’ve got bigger priorities than a rematch," Rasil muttered. He backflipped with his boots and boosted across to the other side of the water, leaving the stunned Flameye to recover.

  “Rasil!” Alyssa called. She was currently pinned by a racazoid marine, though it looked like she had taken down at least ten already. It almost had her head under the water. Rasil boosted to her side and kicked the racazoid off of her, giving her the opportunity necessary to fire her pistols into its face and kill it. She sat upright and pivoted, piercing three more marines with her shots.

  Rasil followed suit by blasting a bolt into a group of five, stunning them before he leapt in and fired into each of their cores. Their shrieks rang shrilly through the tunnel, echoing against the water between resounding shots from Alyssa. When the dust settled and there were no more marines coming at them, he whispered, “You okay?”

  Alyssa didn’t reply at once. She just sat there, shivering and staring into the water. Rasil sat beside her quietly. His gaze passed to the platform he had come from, and he saw Flameye watching them wordlessly. His parts that had broken off were slowly floating back onto him, guided by the purple glow of chimera. A moment later, he huffed and stalked away. A blink of purple light signalled he’d teleported again.

  Rasil put an arm around Alyssa’s shoulders as her breathing slowed somewhat. “You’re the bravest teammate I’ve ever had," he whispered. She looked over at him, skeptical. “Okay, maybe I haven’t had that many, but still, I don’t know many who could have that happen and stay strong until the fight is won.” He stood up slowly, offering her a hand. “Let’s get out of here.”