WEE! Well I finally finished the first chapter of my new story I've been working on! I hope you guys will enjoy reading it : P I'd like to see what you guys think of it :D
Thanks!
-TK 
Why me? Why's he go and leave all this to me!? Damali rolled her eyes and swore under her breath as she made her way down the tunnels. Hobbit Hole, as the tunnels had been named by the inhabitants, stretched for several hundred miles under the city above them. Fbhair City far above them was one of the first cities built on terraformed land, it served as the main travel hub for those entering and leaving the Mars Colonies. Oh yes, even though the terraformed landscapes of Mars only became inhabitable forty years beforehand, it's become quite active in that short period of time. As Earth had grown to be quite overpopulated in the late 3200's, scientists and World Leaders had no choice but to send a majority of the population to Mars Colonies.
But even though it was a new city, Fbhair was not the safest place to live. As the groups of people jettisoned to Mars were usually the bottom of the food chain, World Leader's began sending unsavory figures and those deemed to be a 'hassle' to the Earth Government. Criminals of all sorts were sent off to Fbhair and a time came when even orphans and the homeless found themselves on a shuttle to Mars Colonies. Literally flooded with the 'scum of the Earth', the new inhabitants of Fbhair were left to create their own government however they saw fit, if these people could stop killing each other long enough to converse with one another.
Fbhair's government grew in the form of Mercenaries. Quite the unsavory bunch of mercs also. Murderer's, thieves, con artists and even those awaiting their time on death row are pulled into the Government as leaders. This has left Fbhair to be possibly the most dangerous city in the Mars Colonies, cities like this are completely unheard of to the people of Earth.
Aside from the corrupted Government, there were three primary organizations of mercenaries designated to the separate districts of Fbhair. The first and foremost being the group known only as Wrathgate. The members of Wrathgate were few in numbers as only the strongest mercenaries were able to survive the harsh lifestyle they were presented with on a daily basis. If weaker mercs were thrown into the ranks, they would be whittled down to just the backbone of the ranks which in turn became the officials of Wrathgate.
Two officials kept the ranks of Wrathgate in check, these high-ranking mercenaries were granted official titles for their ferocity and viciousness towards their own kind. To the Wrathgate mercs, you only attained the right to be recognized as a high ranking member when he had defended yourself against your bloodthirsty comrades, all while working to ascend in the ranks. You ascended in the ranks by challenging and killing those ranked above you. If a low level recruit challenged The Hands of Wrath and managed to bring them both down, that recruit would be named the highest official. The Hands of Wrath were the highest ranking officials of Wrathgate with Vin Karzen being named the Right Hand of Wrath, while his subordinate Rezzio Galfrin named the Left Hand of Wrath. This was the more commonly known and respected organization in the city.
The second organization in-line was Nazca, which was also based on a dog-eat-dog lifestyle, but was kept in check with their strict law prohibiting the murder of another member of Nazca. Ranks were attained in a similar fashion to Wrathgate, but killing your challenger was punishable by death. While Nazca had a tighter grip on their mercs, their numbers were also very few, ranging from only fifteen to twenty mercs at a time. Five officials ruled over their organization, the Headmaster being the highest and four lower officials named according to their rank, even as officials. Below the Headmaster, the four officials were listed by rank; Giant, Shark, Spider and Lizard. Giant was the highest rank above the other three and directly under the Headmaster in terms of power. Giant was granted unlimited freetime and could leave the Nazca Territory of the City as he or she pleased. The Giant was even granted immunity to the Nazca Law and was allowed to kill members of Nazca at will. Giant specialized as a dispatcher, handing out jobs to the other mercs.
Shark was the second highest rank with authority over Spider and Lizard while being directly under Giant. Shark was granted no free time off duty, but depending on the Shark's performance in the field, the amount of free time that had in the non-Nazca Territories was determined. After a field mission, the Shark had to use immediately use his or her free time right after the mission, if they did not use it, their free time was rendered useless until the next mission. Unlike Giant, Shark was not granted immunity to the Law and could not kill other mercs in Nazca. Shark was a highly sought after title as all the members of Nazca, including Giant, feared and respected the strength and lethality of Shark ranked officials. The Headmaster had power to remove officials from their positions and could choose who received a title even without fighting their way to the top.
Spider and Lizard were the lowest on the chain of officials, but they each held equal power over the lower members of Nazca. They were granted free time off duty, but this was determined also by their performance in the field and unlike the Shark, their time was not wiped if they did not spend it immediately.
The third and lowest organization of mercenaries was Xibalba and had one high ranking official. One Death was the highest official and had control over the entire organization. One Death was free to remove members of Xibalba or recruit as many mercenaries as he or she wished. Because of this, Xibalba was filled with mostly adolescent mercenaries who were low level thieves and gang members, which resulted in Xibalba's low rank on the chain of command. Mercenaries were not labeled by ranks and were not allowed to challenge One Death for his or her position. All the members of Xibalba were granted unlimited free time, which also caused them several problems.
But under the vicious streets of the city, the Hobbit Hole ran all through the city and even out to uninhabited parts of Mars landscape. The Hole was so long and expansive that it was large enough for small towns and villages under the city. While knowledge of Hobbit Hole was known throughout Fbhair, there was absolutely no way to find it. All the manholes and subways the mercenaries were tasked with searching, everything came up empty. For years, the location of Hobbit Hole eluded the Fbhair government that people began to believe Hobbit Hole didn't exist at all, this led most of the government to give up their search for the tunnels as it took up most of their resources and time.
Because of this, Hobbit Hole proved to be the safest place in all the Mars Colonies as it was home to most of the homeless and orphaned children dropped on the cruel streets of Fbhair. There was no government for Hobbit Hole, only a few small towns dotted the expansive space through the tunnels which now served as a safe haven for those working their way out of the city.
Damali was a young girl living on the edge of the Waterworks, a small town settled near a network of water that originated from a spring deep in the Hobbit Hole. The Waterworks was the only spot where the spring was visible before it flowed into the city. The current of the spring flowed so fast and viciously that no one could move about in these fierce waters, which made it the perfect place for Waterworks to be set up. Since Waterworks was so close to the surface, barriers and checkpoints had to be set up and regulated to make sure the location of Hobbit Hole was never discovered. As the seventeen year old daughter of Barrier Man, Walter Levitz, it was Damali's job to regulate the barriers near mouth of the spring-fed river. She used to alternate the job with her brother Lukasz, after their dad died, but ever since Lukasz ran off to join some gang it's been up to Damali to keep up with the barriers.
As she made her way through the tunnels, she passed under gratings and several manholes along the way. These entrances were quite subtle from the surface, appearing only has slabs of concrete or even grassy areas of parks and medians. This simple covering proved to be the best form a camouflage for the manholes. But today was the mandatory check for the Waterworks Barrier. Built mainly from recylced parts of a cloaking device once used for the war shuttles the Earth government had developed for spacial warfare, which was now becoming the common battlefield for wars. The device served as a barrier quite well, though, as it generated a field over the Waterworks side of the river that made it appear as if the river stretches deeper into the tunnels. This did wonders for the protection of Hobbit Hole, as with a few modifications to the device, it would steer would-be intruders away from the Hole when they were met with a never-ending river.
But on some occasions, these recycled parts would malfunction and give a clear view into the Hole. To prevent this, Damali would come down here periodically and repair the barrier. The central computers back in Waterworks had determined that there was a system malfunction on the barrier and wasted no time sending Damali to fix it. She figured it would be nothing more then replacing the power cells as rats and other filthy critters would climb inside and sleep against the warm cells during the cold Mars nights. But when she arrived at the barrier, she was shocked to see what she did.
The tunnels peeled back into an enormous cave with approximately twenty-five feet high ceilings and maybe even thirty to forty feet across each wall. The river spewed from a crevice in the wall at least ten feet off the ground and flowed through the middle of the cave and right into the city through a small hole that seemed a tad bit too small for the massive amounts of water that passed through it every day. The barrier device was situated on the banks of the river where it could easily spread the cloak across the shores, hiding the rest of Hole from unwelcome eyes. A small corner formed between the river banks and the rock walls was just large enough for the barrier and a normal sized human to sit comfortably while he or she worked on the device, all while being concealed from view. But as Damali made her way up to the river bank, her heart skipped a beat as she took in the frightening site.
A boy was bent over the large device, his top half was engulfed by the large opening in the rounded machine. His clothes were soaked and clung to him and the small scratches all over his arms bled fiercely in unison, giving his arm the illusion of deep lacerations. Only when Damali's feet shifted across the floor did the boy stir and pull his head out of the machine.
His platinum hair was a wet and messy mass sprawled over the top of his head that stuck to his face and neck. He wore a white and blue sweater that bore several black scuff marks and fresh blood stains, most likely his own, and his pale grey jeans were ripped at the knees and fresh blood seeped through the fabric. He pulled his metallic blue goggles off his eyes and pulled them up over his pale hair, revealing his deep green orbs that stared back at her with a mix of surprise and relief. On his left cheek right under his eye were two deep gashes that bled furiously, but he paid no mind to the blood and wiped it off onto the back of his hand. The expression he gave Damali was a mix of surprise and relief...or was it..oblivion?
It wasn't until Damali produced a plasma pistol from her belt did the boy's eyes widen with fear. His arms shot into the air and his bottom lip quivered.
"Whoa! Hey, WHOA! Don't shoot me! OH PLEASE don't shoot me!" He cried in a shrill voice.
"How did you get in here?!" Damali kept her arms locked as she steadied her aim on the boy. Only the strange sounds erupting from the far end of the tunnel on the other side of the river managed to pull Damali from her focus. Someone's coming! She reached down and grabbed the hood of the boy's sweater and dragged him back towards Waterworks. Without warning, he wrestled free from her grasp, disarmed her and pinned her against the wall all in one swift movement. Damali gasped as a cold sensation met the back of her neck along with a slight sense of pressure.
"Doh, Sorry!" He apologized in a sympathetic voice as if the whole reaction was a complete accident. "We can't leave yet, it's still broken!!" He let go of Damali and ran back towards the device, only when Damali notice the screwdriver in the boy's hand did she realize he had pressed the screwdriver to the back of her neck. He could've killed me... She was torn from her thoughts as she watched him stuff parts of the device back into the core and bolt them into place. He kept glancing up across the river as he stuffed part after part into the interior of the device, obviously nervous about whatever was coming.
Damali stared in awe as she realized his hurried assembly of the device wasn't random or sporadic, he was placing every object in it's predetermined slot and was perfectly reassembling the cloaking device rather quickly. He's fixing it..?
Only when the exterior plate was placed back over the mouth of the device did the faint whir emanate as the device set it's one-way cloak over the river banks. The boy looked up at Damali and grinned, then grabbed her by the arm and started into the deeper parts of the Hole towards Waterworks. As they turned the corner and were out of site of the river, they could hear the faint shuffling of feet and impatient voices.
When they came around a third corner the boy finally stopped and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Damali kept her distance from the boy, eying him carefully. Who was this guy and how did he get down here? She tucked the pistol back into the holster, but kept her hand over the guard and watched him cautiously. As far as she was concerned, he had already shown that he was capable of killing her.
"This is Hobbit Hole, right?" The boy asked between breaths.
"Don't you know Hobbit Hole doesn't exist?" Damali lied in response, it was mandatory to keep the existence of Hobbit Hole secret as long as she could until she learned who this boy was. "This is an abandoned mine." The boy just chuckled and shook his head.
"Yeah sure, a high security mine that requires a cloaking device to keep it hidden." He sank down against the wall and looked up at Damali, who still had her hand placed protectively over her pistol. She couldn't stop staring at the gashes across his left cheek. This was a special mark given to high ranking officials of the mercenary organizations on the surface. These officials were marked this was for disobeying direct orders, this flagged the official as a Kill On Site Bounty and was free game for anyone who was willing to or was able to take him down. That meant that his guy was recently marked, he could be trouble. As a mercenary official, he had to be a dirty, stinking, rotten, cruel person to have reached that title, and he would most likely use others as expendables to escape, not to mention his hunters would be two steps behind him. That's why he was so nervous back there, those were his hunters.
"I don't mean to be a burden, but perhaps you could point me in the direction of the Train Station?" Damali's eyes widened when he spoke, the Train Station was the code word for those who had been directed here by Hole Informants on the surface. They direct ex-mercenaries and victims of the mercs to the Hole to escape capture. Only someone who had earned the trust of an Informant would know how to get here, let alone the code word. Immediately Damali knew what she had to do.
"You've come to the right place. My name is Damali and I'll be guiding you to the Train Station." She took her hand off her gun and held her hand out to him. Just to be safe.. He smiled and took her hand. "My name is Zethus, thank you Damali." When he withdrew his hand, Damali found a small talisman in the palm of her hand. Phoebe's mark. She held the mark up for her to get a good look at it and nodded. The mark was another way to keep the security between the Informants and the Hole. There were several ways to make sure a meeting from someone claiming to be a runner was legit. First off, they had to request passage to the Train Station, which was the code name for the series of tunnels that lead out of the Hobbit Hole. Second, when the escort reached to shake the runner's hand, the runner slips the talisman of the informant into his or her hand, proving the informant did indeed entrust this person with the location of Hole. And Zethus had done all of these things.
"Well it looks like everything is in order, then!" Damali planted her hands on her hips and offered Zethus a friendly smile, who had this ridiculous cat-like grin across his face. Even though the boy seemed to be friendly and polite, something about him was off, but no matter how hard Damali tried she just could not put her finger on it. But she torn herself from these thoughts and motioned towards the town, but as they started towards the town, she was met by a tall, muscular figure accompanied by an extremely skinny man.
"Ahh, here he is. Didn't take long, eh Vic?" The muscular man said with a devious smile as he shoved Damali out of his way. She immediately realized what was happening, but when she turned to give Zethus a dirty look, he had already vanished.
"Damn, that kid is fast!" The muscular man grunted as he turned towards the other man he referred to as Vic. This man, Vic, was just about the skinniest man Damali had ever seen, it was as if this man had absolutely no fat to his body structure at all. It was a wonder he was still able to function properly with his unhealthy appearance. He had a lazy look to his eyes and very pale skin, but despite this abnormal appearance, Damali knew he had to be a powerful adversary to be hunting someone like Zethus. Before Damali knew it, the muscular man had grabbed a handful of her pink hair and forced her to her feet. "Alright, Bullet-Boy. You have ten seconds to get out here or I'll kill Pinkie here." His words echoed through the empty tunnels as he held Damali's head against the wall. Then suddenly a blur of silver sped up behind the man, which Damali could see the man was visibly shaken by the sudden response.
"You know that's a bad idea.." Zethus stood behind the man, who was a good foot and a half taller then him, with an unusually shaped knife pressed against the side of his neck. His eyes were concealed behind the blue goggles he had pulled over his eyes, the dim lights of the tunnels glared off the metallic surface of the goggles. "Considering I could've killed you long before you ever realized I was here, Wulf.."
But before Wulf could respond, Zethus jammed the knife into the back of Wulf's knee and before Vic knew it, Zethus was in his face. With a quick and accurate jab to his chin, Vic's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body went limp and fell to the cold, stone floor. When she finally registered the split-second attack, Damali rolled out of the way and started towards the deeper parts of the tunnels. Wulf howled in pain as he pulled the knife out of his leg and threw it carelessly onto the floor, just in time to watch Vic go down with a shocked look on his pale face. Ignoring Vic's current condition, Wulf went straight for Zethus who was now unarmed. He swung his weight around behind him and kicked for Zethus' head with his left leg. So much force went into this movement that the tunnels shook when Wulf's feet hit the ground, if this had hit Zethus directly it might've taken his head right off his shoulders. But he ducked just as Wulf's kick whistled over past his head. Though his kick was rather quick and powerful, Wulf had a terrible time recovering, but this was all Zethus needed to take the reins of this fight. As Wulf shifted his weight to maintain his balance, Zethus swung for his stomach with his right foot, but as Wulf threw up his hands to block the oncoming kick, Zethus quickly recoiled and clocked him right under the chin. His eyes rolled back and he slumped against the wall as he fell into unconsciousness. Zethus stood over his former comrades, shaking his hand at the wrist as he recovered from punching Wulf.
"That guy's skull must be made of stone! That crap hurts!" He complained as he looked over at Damali. He gave off a sense of nonchalance as he stepped over the motionless Wulf, it was almost as if this scenario was no different to daily life to him, he had a expression of terrible boredom on his face as he pulled his goggles up over his hair.
But to Damali, this was no normal day for her! Absolutely not! Never in a million years would she ever consider a day with a gigantic man pinning her to a wall and threatening to kill her normal! Perhaps she should just let Zethus deal with his escape route on his own. But then it occurred to her..
These men now knew where Hobbit Hole was. They could lead others here.
"Zethus! We have to do something about them, they know where the Hobbit Hole is now!" But Zethus shook his head and grinned. "No they don't. I didn't turn the device on back there." He smiled big as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, obviously proud of what he did. But Damali was outraged, what was this idiot thinking, anyways? "What..? You didn't turn it on?! No wonder they found us, what in the WORLD are you trying to do here!?!" Zethus kept his cool composure as Damali shouted and screamed at him, to him, he knew exactly what he was doing.
"All we have to do is drop them in the river and turn the device on. When they get back to the city they'll try to come back here, but what's that? The river isn't the way it used to be!" His grin grew more and more devious as he explained his plan. He knew those two like the back of his hand and he knew well enough that they could be easily confused. "They'll be so confused, hah hah! Even with Vic's crazy IQ he'll never figure out what's going on." Damali paused for a moment and thought hard about the situation. How would someone be fooled by that if they had already been here, it just didn't make any sense. But before she could ask, Zethus held out his hand and put on his serious face, which looked quite ridiculous actually.
"Don't. I know what you're going to ask. Even though Vic is extremely book smart, he's not exactly walkin' around smart, y'know? And Wulf there is as smart as a bag of cookies!" Damali tilted her head, puzzled by his words. This guy can't be a mercenary..as dumb as he is... "Um..do you mean..bag of rocks..?" But Zethus only gave her a confused look and shrugged, then half-nodded. "No..I'm sure it was bag of cookies.." He stood there staring at the ceiling in contemplation, he seriously believed that was the phrase.
"ENOUGH! Let's just drop them in the river and turn the device on! It might stall them for a while, that will give you a chance to get the heck out of here!" Damali's patience was wearing thin with this guy, there had to be some kind of mistake, this guy couldn't possibly be a mercenary, not to mention an official. Maybe it's all some kind of joke. But the gashes on his face, they symbolized the bounty on his head, that wasn't a joke. How he took down both Wulf and Vic in such a quick and effortless motion, that wasn't a joke. Zethus must be the real thing if he's down here. A real mercenary official who's now a KOS Bounty. Damali never imagined she'd ever escort a merc official through Waterworks, especially one who's been flagged. But then again, she never imagined an official to be someone quite as dumb as this either. But she didn't have a choice, as a Barrier Man - or Barrier Woman even - it was her responsibility to regulate the barrier and escort runners...even if they are stupid.
After dumping both Vic and Wulf in the river and the device was actually up and running this time, it was time for them to head deeper into the Hole. From here, Damali would take Zethus through Waterworks, past the Plant Pothole and then he'd meet up with another escort from there. It was only a two-day journey, hopefully Damali could put up with this air head for that long. Hopefully. She would have to convince herself to leave her weapons in Waterworks, lest she would end up murdering the poor soul half-way through the trek. How dim-witted people aggravated her so. There were just somethings in life that are too easy to mistake, even for an idiot.
But at first glance, Zethus didn't appear or even talk like he was an idiot, he even had some sense about him as he managed to formulate a plan to delay Wulf and Vic. Maybe he's just slow on some areas, maybe he's not really that stupid. She thought back about how he had protected her, coming out of hiding to confront two hunters to save her. Even though part of his brain seemed to be useless, he had enough sense to step up and do what was right. He at least deserved some respect for that, Damali thought. But still, that didn't change the fact that she might end up strangling him for acting stupid. She knew that somehow, it had to be some kind of act and he really couldn't be that dumb.
Could he?
<3
