Second chapter of Silverbullet :'3
Enjoy!
They walked for hours through the tunnels of Hobbit Hole, they seemed to stretch on into forever and every turn went off into another direction of forever. Damali had traveled through these tunnels many times in her life and was quite familiar and comfortable with them. She enjoyed the endless tunnels and always looked forward to the sections of the tunnels that opening up into a massive cave, leaving only the narrow pathway through the middle of the caves. There were various types of strange creatures living in the caves, enormous lizard-type monsters that crawled up to the ceilings where they sat a majority of their life waiting for some unfortunate insect to pass by them, completely oblivious to the gigantic lizard that would be their undoing. But it usually ended with the insects escaping the lizard's maw almost too easily, so much so that the insects appeared to turn the hunting lizards efforts into a game, quickly darting out of it's reach when the lizard struck. As a young girl, Damali would come down to the caves on her own and watch the bugs mock the lizards for hours.
But today she didn't have time to watch the lizards, nor did she care to stop. Her patience was wearing thin as she escorted this buffoon of a mercenary through the tunnels. All Zethus did was whine and complain, or bombard her with his never-ending barrage of questions. This guy just didn't stop, did he? And he was extremely clumsy, tripping over just about every crack in the floor and falling flat on his face every single time. He had fallen so many times on the way, he had come to the point where he no longer tried to catch his fall, which nearly cost him dearly as he came dangerously close to falling off the paths and down into the seemingly bottomless caves below. All Damali could think about was getting to the next town and leaving Zethus with some other poor sap, who would in turn be stuck with him for another two to three days. But hey, that wasn't Damali's problem!
"So, who is my next escort?" Zethus asked her for hundredth time. Damali shot him a death glare and grunted, but he only offered her a friendly smile. Oh how she wished she could just punch him right in the face right about now, but as an escort, physically assaulting runner's was prohibited. Even if they might've deserved it.
"I'm taking you to Apollo, he'll be guiding you through the rest of the tunnels to a small refuge town called Mithra." She finally pulled her attention away from her aggression and answered him.
"Oo..Sounds like a mine! Hee Hee!" Zethus said with his ridiculous laugh. Damali's eye twitched as she suppressed her annoyance, of all the annoying quirks this guy had, his laugh was by far the most annoying.
"It was built near an old mine shaft," She said, calming herself. "It's where we send runners like you to be....evaluated." Zethus held out his hands and tilted his head, a puzzled expression spread across his face.
"But..I'm not sick, am I?"
"They watch to see if you're someone we can trust," She ignored his question but shot him a glare that would've shattered a grown man's sanity. "It's safer to leave you in Mithra, because what if we had lead a mindless killer into Waterworks and he goes berserk on everyone?"
"Haa ha, yeah that would be a problem wouldn't it?" Zethus gave her a cat-like grin, which he seemed to use quite often.
Damali shook her head, she couldn't believe how dimwitted this boy was. Even when he smiled or showed emotions other then pure ignorance, there was still an unmistakable sense of oblivion around him. She just couldn't understand how someone could be so stupid, especially in a place like Vaire. The unfortunate souls cursed with stupidity were either culled or used as messengers, but never had Damali ever heard of Mercenary Official's with virtually no walking-around smarts. But then that was probably just it, maybe he wasn't too smart when it came to normal life, perhaps working as a mercenary official was him in his element. Maybe that's were his smarts kicked in. But then Damali thought back on the cloaking device near Waterworks. She remembered the first time she saw him, Zethus was waist-deep in the machine, fixing it! Rather quickly and accurately actually. Maybe he's just some mechanical genius with very little common sense.
"Hey, how did you end up fixing the cloaking device, anyway?" Damali asked out of curiosity, maybe if she could drag him into a conversation about mechanics he would show his smarts. But he scratched his head and looked around nervously as if he were looking for a way out or at least a hiding place.
"Umm...I..uh.." He offered her his ridiculous grin, it seemed as if he were trying to give off a sense of innocence. But Damali stopped and turned to face him, giving him a piercing stare.
"What did you do?!"
"It was an accident, I swear!"
"What was!?"
"I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS THERE!" His voice became shrill as he covered his face and ducked against the wall protectively.
"I was in a hurry running from Rocky and Bullwinkle back there and came across the river." He made childish running imitations with his fingers as he explained, still covering half of his face with his hand.
"I tried to swim across, or maybe deeper into the river.."
"That current is too strong for anyone to swim, what were you thinking?" Damali rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips as she listened to his story.
"Yeah, I know that..Well at least now I do. The current pushed me towards the wall, but it's like this big rock came out of nowhere and stopped me."
Damali's eyes grew wide as she registered his words. The sensors monitoring the issues with the machine indicated the source of the damage originated from a sudden collision, and now that Damali thought back on it, Zethus was soaked from head to toe.
"YOU broke the machine?!" Damali's voice roared through the tunnels as she jabbed an accusing finger in Zethus' chest. He shrieked and crumpled onto the floor as she stood over him, swearing and cursing him for his stupidity.
"That's a rare and valuable piece of equipment!"
"Well, I fixed it, didn't I??" Zethus peeked out from under his hands briefly to bark his response, then quickly shielded his face again. Damali swung her foot towards his stomach, then stopped suddenly in mid-swing. He had indeed fixed it. Instead of just leaving it to ruin, he stopped to fix it even with those goons after him. And even in a hurry, he managed to restore it to it's former glory.
Zethus slowly opened his eyes to see Damali's hand reaching for him, she had an aggravated expression on her face, as if she was obligated to do something or suppress rage towards something she didn't fully agree with.
"Come on, get up!" He quickly took her hand as she barked the order at him. Finally back on his feet, Zethus turned to her and grinned his annoying grin. Damali sighed and started down the tunnels, at least he wasn't laughing.
"Come on, we better get going." She called over her shoulder to him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed behind her, apparently the near-death encounter at the hands of an enraged Damali didn't seem to phase him for very long as he quickly discarded any visible signs of fear.
Zethus was quite happy with his current situation actually. Sure, he was wandering a seemingly endless series of tunnels and caves, not to mention with a guide that seemed none-to-pleased with her job as an escort. He got the slight feeling that the girl didn't like him very much, as Zethus was usually subject to her violent rage, seeing as he was the only person with her in these tunnels. But then again, it might've been Zethus himself who set her off. He shrugged and smiled, he couldn't think of a single reason for her to target him. Maybe she was just moody. He grinned and looked up at the ceiling, admiring the natural designs that curled intricately across the ceiling and all around the stalactites. He glanced down at the ground and noticed the designs were absent from the gravel floors, but then he noted they had probably been kicked out from under the feet of the refuges living down here. He looked back up at the ceiling and followed the designs with his eyes as he followed behind Damali. But with his eyes skyward, he didn't notice Damali had stopped in front of him until he bumped into her back. He quickly jumped back and shielded his face, almost sure that she would turn around and attack him like a vicious tiger that was rudely interrupted during it's meal. But she didn't flinch, she just stood there. Only when Zethus looked past her did he realized why.
A ruined billboard hung from the ceiling by a rusted chain, the words 'Turel Reach' were painted sideways across the dangling billboard. To Zethus, this looked perfectly fine to him, until Damali sprinted off in the direction of the town. He glanced up at the billboard once more then started after Damali.
The town was in worse shape then the billboard. Buildings had been completely destroyed, as a majority of the town lay in rubble. It looked as if someone had released a raging elephant in the town that had promptly began destroying everything that it came across. Only a few buildings stood among the rubble, but abnormally large puddles of scarlet blood stained the tan gravel outside of these surviving buildings. Immediately upon noticing this, Damali started towards the buildings, but was met by a surprisingly strong arm that pulled her backwards, nearly knocking her onto her back. She was surprised when she realized it was Zethus who had pulled her back and before she could express her contest, she noted his expression, which was extremely different from his typical appearance of oblivion. His eyes were narrowed and his brow furrowed as he surveyed the area cautiously. He put a finger to his lips and produced his knife from a sheath hidden somewhere on his person, and slowly started towards the center of the town.
The smell of death was stifling as he approached what appeared to be a small tavern and the gravel street was soak with blood that Zethus had to steady himself to keep from slipping on the slick ground. He pushed open the swinging doors of the tavern cautiously, but was only met with a horrific sight. Countless bodies littered the floor of the tavern, it looked as if someone had piled every inhabitant of Turel Reach into this one building. They weren't settled in any significant pattern, they were just piled one on top of the other as if they were garbage. Zethus stepped back from the doors, which swung back into place as he let go. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, why did something like this happen here, in Hobbit Hole, of all the places on Mars. Why here? This was a safe haven..wasn't it?
But when he turned towards Damali, his suspicions were confirmed. A shrouded figure held an oddly surved knife to Damali's neck, only the figures murderous grin could be seen under his hood. Black, skin-tight clothes clung to the figure's skin but it made no noise when he moved, it was a perfect outfit for sneaking around these barren tunnels, which were notorious for relaying echoes all through the tunnels. Without a word, the figure suddenly shoved Damali towards Zethus and stuffed a suspicious object into his belt pack. Immediately Zethus stepped in front of Damali protectively, his hand grasped tightly around his knife. For the first time, Damali managed to get a close look at the knife, it was shaped rather oddly, the blade itself was simple and looked to be well made, but subtle features of the blade gave it a shark-like appearance. The jagged edge resembling the shark teeth had been stained with the unmistakable appearance of blood oxidation in the small crevices of the teeth.
"Well, well..I thought we were having fun...but you always have to pull your pitiful little friends into our game, don't you, Shark?" The figure spoke, his voice was heavy with malice and bloodlust. But as the man spoke, Zethus' posture stiffened and Damali could tell that he was clearly disturbed by this man's words.
"But since you brought the girl into the game.." The man tapped his own neck and motioned to Damali. "She will die." And with that, the man turned and started towards the tunnels. "Hey!" Zethus sprinted off towards him, knife in hand, and when it seemed he would overcome the shrouded man, he turned and grinned at Zethus and briefly his bright green eyes glinted in the darkness of his hood before he took off down the tunnels. To Damali's surprise, Zethus did not pursue the chase any farther, but instead he stood there staring down the tunnels in disbelief.
"Zethus..W-What's going on?" Damali found it hard to keep her footing as she started towards him, her ears rang and her head felt as if someone were inside her skull, beating the inside of her head with a stone hammer. Her head swam and she stumbled from the pain, so much she reached out and grabbed handfuls of Zethus' sweater to steady herself. When he looked down at her, his eyes widened as he noticed the sick purple coloration on her neck. The fear in his eyes frightened Damali, but for the first time since she had met him, all sense of oblivion around him was gone. But before he could react, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her whole body went limp in his arms. His hands shook so much he was barely able to keep a good grip on her, he was deathly afraid of what was happening and he knew that if he did not act fast, Damali would die.
After wrestling with Damali's dead weight, he finally managed to get her onto his back. He glanced back at the tunnels behind him, recounting the events. That figure knew exactly who he was, but how? He didn't recognize the man's voice, and of all things, Zethus was quite proficient at identifying people by their voices, but he had absolutely no idea who this could've been. But he didn't have time to think about that, the coloration on Damali's neck was growing and moving in all directions across her neck. He knew exactly what this was, and he was afraid of what it could do to her. This was a specialize chemical weapon the Right Hand of Wrath developed to keep the other Organizations in check. Members or Officials rebelled against Wrathgate for power, the Right Hand would promptly release this sickness in the ranks of those rebelling, and only Wrathgate had the antidote for this. They had come to name the terrible disease Digitarox as it was created mainly from digitalis. The first symptoms of Digitarox were a severe headache, delirium and later effected one's pulse and cerebral disturbances, this finally ended in heart failure. But it only took thirty-six to fifty-two hours for this disease to kill, which meant Zethus now had that much time to retrieve an antidote.
But first, they had to reach the next town and get her somewhere safe, then he could go from there. He could feel the hot skin of Damali's face against his bare neck, he immediately noted the different symptoms effecting her. While those few symptoms were the most common, it wasn't uncommon for it to afflict people with other symptoms, and Damali's high fever appeared to be one of them. Satisfied with the grip he had on her legs and the grip she had around his neck even in her fevered unconsciousness, Zethus started off towards the northern end of the tunnels, heading deeper into Hobbit Hole.
He ran as fast as he possibly could, with Damali's loose grip, it was all Zethus could do to keep from dropping her. He passed maybe seven different cave systems that broke off from the main tunnel's pathway which he used as markers. He remembered hearing from his childhood friend on the surface that miles were marked in Hobbit Hole by how many cave systems you passed, or at least it wasn't an approximate measurement of a mile, but it seemed to work for those down here. The makeshift street signs he passed were all marked in a similar fashion, the last one he passed was labeled 'Mithra - 10 CM' which he assumed meant 'cave miles'. This gave him hope as he now had only three CM's left til he reached Mithra. But then he thought back on what Damali had told him. It was a town for runners like himself, apparently inhabited by former mercenaries who were monitored periodically to assure that they were not mindless killers. This made his heart sank, what if there were people like that there? They wouldn't be too keen on helping him then, would they? He tore his mind from these thoughts as the town lights came into view around a corner up ahead.
Finally in the town streets, he couldn't help but notice how empty the town was. Barely any people walked the streets and there were only a few buildings set up here. But he stayed hopeful, at least there were some people here, maybe someone would help him.
On the other side of the town, near the northern exit that lead to the mine shafts, a young teenage boy sat on top of the rather large inn on the edge of town. While the inn was abnormally large compared to the rest of the town, it was home to the seven townsfolk that lived here in Mithra. It was a quiet place actually, even if it was home to former mercenaries who once lived their lives in bloodlust. But to Apollo, this was a very peaceful town indeed. The mercenaries that did live here were very polite and actually quite friendly, it was almost as if they were ashamed of their previous lifestyle that they believed the best way to redeem themselves was to treat others with respect and kindness. And to Apollo, this was exactly the type of people he liked to be around. He had recently received word from Waterworks that an escort would be bringing a runner here to Mithra, where he would stay until deemed acceptable to live in other towns of the Hole. And so Apollo had spent most of his days sitting on the edges of the town, waiting for the runner to arrive.
Apollo was a young boy, about sixteen years of age and full of spunk. He always seemed to have a 'glass-is-half-full' outlook on everything in life, regardless of the situations. This made him quite the optimist and the perfect selection for the Overseer of Mithra. He had alot of faith in the runners that came here and always strived to help them become the best person they could, despite their terrible background. On the surface, Apollo and his twin brother, Achilles, lived in a surprisingly happy part of Vaire, where he had become very accustomed to his daily lifestyle. He enjoyed the daily grind of waking up in the morning, going to school, coming home, going to bed all to start over the next day. In fact, he assumed he was the only person in that district of Vaire that enjoyed that type of life, but he didn't care. But ever since his brother disappeared, Apollo was unexpectedly torn from that life and thrown into this world under Vaire. Hobbit Hole. Never in a million years would Apollo have ever considered the existence of this place wasn't a myth at all, he was overjoyed to see it was real indeed. And even more so when he was asked to oversee Mithra.
He stared off into the distance of the northern tunnels, they stretched so far off into the darkness that Apollo always wondered if suddenly some large Mars-creature would appear from the darkness. Of course, he knew that all the larger creatures that lived in the Mars terrain lived deep under the planet's crust and never came to Hobbit Hole or the surface. Only walizards and giant bugs lived down here, and neither caused any problems for the inhabitants of Hobbit Hole. But something caught his attention as he glanced back towards the rest of the town. A tall guy wearing silver and teal clothing was running through the semi-empty streets of Mithra, his platinum hair stuck out among the rest of the townsfolk. Apollo had never seen this guy before, maybe he was a runner? But then he noticed the girl on the white haired guy's back, the frantic expression on the guy's face sent up a white flag that Apollo immediately recognized.
He jumped off the inn and ran towards the guy, but when he turned to the side did Apollo get a clear view of the abnormal and sickening coloration on the girl's neck. Only then did he realize what had happened.
"Hey! Bring her in here!" Apollo cried out to him, his voice was quite deep for a teenager of his age, but it suited his strong face. He motioned towards the inn as the guy looked his way and immediately started towards it.
Inside, they had brought the girl to an empty room in the inn where she could rest. Now that the guy was closer, Apollo could get a better look at him. His face was scuffed with dirt and soaked with sweat, as was his platinum hair that clung to his face and the blue lenses of the metallic blue goggles on his head. His bright green eyes were narrowed and focused on the coloration on the girl's neck, it was apparent to Apollo that he knew exactly what was happening to her. What struck Apollo as odd were the deep gashes on his face. Dried blood mixed with sweat and dirt encrusted the exterior and interior of the gashes, which hung open in what Apollo assumed was a painful manner. He immediately realized this man was a KOS Bounty, something he found troubling. He glanced out the window towards the southern tunnels and went over the facts carefully. If this guy was a Bounty and this girl now had Digitarox, that meant that hunter's were close behind this guy. Which also meant they would reach Mithra soon. Very soon.
"Hey, you can't stay here." Apollo turned to the guy, who nodded in agreement.
"I know, but I can't leave her here like this." He took a wet cloth and placed it over her forehead in hopes of bringing down her fever.
"Why are they after you?" Apollo asked him bluntly, seeing no reason to beat around the bush.
"Because, when Shark defects, people see this as the perfect time to bring him down." With the man's answer, Apollo's eyes grew wide with disbelief.
"You're....Y-You're Shark?! Zethus 'Silverbullet', Shark of Nazca?!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing, this guy couldn't possibly be Shark, he would never defect from Nazca!
"How do I get to the surface from here?" Zethus asked, ignoring Apollo's question.
"The surface? Going to the surface would be the worst thing for you to do right now, Shark." But Zethus stood up and started towards the door without a word to Apollo, if he wouldn't help, Zethus would find it on his own. But Apollo stepped in front of him and held out a keyring.
"These are the keys for the West Grate, it's the only way to the surface from here." Zethus nodded and took the keyring from him, then looked back at the girl. "Her name is Damali, if she wakes up while I'm gone, tell her I've gone to get the antidote." Apollo nodded then registered what he had said. He's going to the surface to get the antidote...He's going to Wrathgate.
"I don't think that's a good idea. It was most likely a merc from Wrathgate that did this. They won't help you." But Zethus smiled and shook his head.
"The Hands won't, but I don't need help from them. Just take care of her while I'm gone."
"How do you know I'm not going to just kill her when you leave?" Apollo's words stopped Zethus in the doorway, but he turned and gave Apollo a friendly grin.
"Because Achilles said you don't have what it takes to take a human life."
Apollo's eyes widened at the sound of his brother's name. Why does Shark know his brother? This must be some kind of sick joke! But before Apollo could say anything else, Shark was gone and he was alone with Damali. He looked down at her and sighed, he realized then that this was the escort he had been waiting for. He'd been waiting all day for her, excited to see the runner.
But he had absolutely no idea that his runner was the legendary Shark of Nazca. Did Damali know? Did she know she was escorting perhaps the strongest mercenary of all of Vaire? But then he thought back to his brother, Achilles. How did Shark know him?
Maybe those lies his cousin told him weren't lies at all.
