Down in the Underworld

Chapter 24 - Will This Damn Thing Ever Die?!

‘This ghost is really starting to piss me off!’ yelled Lady over her shoulder as they raced back through the streets towards Cal’s house.  

‘I though you shot it?’ yelled back Deadeye. 

‘Yeah, but I don’t think I killed it, just wounded it a lot,’ Lady explained, ‘it ran off and I was a bit distracted what with being shot myself, and trying to stop Cal from dying and all, plus I guess I hoped that would be the end of the damn thing.’ 

‘This time, we make sure it’s dead,’ added Fury angrily.

‘Damn right,’ agreed Cato as they ran on.  

Passing through the edge of the Entertainment Trict they made it back to Cal’s house, and rushed inside. As they pelted through the hallways, Lady noticed that the chaos they’d passed earlier seemed to have somehow gotten worse. This wasn’t good.  

‘Bowie in a sidecar, what happened here? We weren’t even gone that long!’ Fizzed called out in alarm as they headed for the room where they’d left Cal, Hera and Phoenix.

‘One guess eh?’ agreed Fury.

‘This is all my fault,’ Lady breathed as she skidded to a stop.

However, for a moment Lady couldn’t seem to move past the door. Looking inside the room, she felt suddenly sick. Medical equipment was smashed, furniture turned over and broken, but that wasn’t the worst of it. There was blood everywhere. It looked like a horror movie.  

‘What the frak happened in there?’ Deadeye demanded of no one in particular.

‘Hera! Phoenix! Cal!’ Lady yelled, ‘where are you … is anyone still … are you in here?’

Not waiting for an answer, Fury pushed his way into the room and started moving furniture out of the way, brushing aside anything that wasn’t smashed, looking for his crew. Silently he cursed himself. Pulling the room apart, Fury couldn’t find anything or anyone. Why had none of them followed the ghost and made sure it was good and dead? But even Fury knew this train of thought was useless. The ghost by its nature was invisible, there was no way they could have found the damn thing even if they’d known which way it had gone. Cal’s house was a maze of corridors, rooms, staircases and libraries. The ghost could be anywhere.

‘Fury, I’m so sorry, I should have gone after that … thing,’ Lady turned to him, her face a mask of pain and guilt.

Fury sighed. ‘You’d been shot yourself Lady, you couldn’t have even if you wanted to, and that thing is transparent, no one can see it unless they’re really looking for it, and then it’s pretty much guesswork.’ 

‘There’s so much blood … do you think they escaped?’ asked Fizz in a whisper. 

‘We can only hope they managed to get away and hide somewhere, but I can’t seem to raise them on the commslink,’ said Fury, throwing a small chair into a wall in frustration.

It was at that moment that Lady’s commslink started ringing like an old time phone, which was weird. It shouldn’t have been able to do that. Pushing back her sleeve, she pressed the call button to answer it. It was Strychley.

‘Commander, are you there?’

‘Yes, yes I’m here,’ Lady answered. She’d quite forgotten about the rest of her crew and the Anhinga in the middle of all this mess and confusion.

‘We’re just wondering what you want us to do, the crew are anxious for news as it’s been a couple of hours.’

‘Right, yes sorry, there’s been some nasty shit going down out here Strych, it looks like it was Demise and the Overworlders, the city is mostly OK but there’s casualties obviously and work to be done to clean this mess up. 

‘OK Commander, what’s the plan?’

‘Give me a second OK?’ Lady replied, and the shut down the line before turning to Fury, ‘so I don’t want to keep the crew cooped up, but I don’t want them in danger either, what do you think?’ 

‘I agree, let’s get them out and keep them busy helping the people of Royale, and let’s see if we can get those repairs done to the Anhinga as well.’

‘And Cal and your crew?’

‘They must be here somewhere, Phoenix is a smart girl, she would figure something out … let’s start looking though the house, and keep trying to get them on the comms, I’m not giving up on them,’ Fury said decisively, ‘they’re not dead until I see the bodies all right.’

‘A bit macabre there, but agreed, OK I’ll get Strychley back,’ Lady replied, ‘Strych, come in girl, over.’

‘Yes Commander.’

‘OK here’s the plan, I don’t have time to explain everything but the short version is we can’t find Cal and 2 of Fury’s crew are gone too, we have to find them so I’ll be offline for a bit, so this is what we do … see if you and a couple of others can’t get the Anhinga repaired at Stumpie’s, and let the rest of the crew out on shore leave to help the people of Royale, everyone takes comms, we’ll call them when they need to come back.’ 

‘Ashes to ashes,’ Strychley breathed out in alarm.

‘I hear ya Strychley, but this is not the time to fall apart, get going,’ Lady ordered.

‘Yes Commander, and good luck,’ Strychley hung up.

Lady looked at Fury and frowned, but before she could say anything Fury’s own commslink crackled into life. It was Hera.

‘Fury,’ she said in a strained whisper.

‘Hera!’ Fury replied excitedly, ‘we’re back at the house, where are you? Are you OK? It’s a bloody mess down here.’

‘Keep it down please Commander, I don’t know if we’re being watched, we were attacked by something, we couldn’t see it, but it wanted Cal …’ Hera trailed off.

‘Where are you now?’ asked Fury in alarm, ‘is Phoenix OK?’

‘Tell Lady we’re down in the vault, Cal said she’ll know where that is, I’ll tell you what I know when I see you, this line is too dangerous.’  

‘But what happened?’ Fury hissed back, but the line had already gone dead. 

‘The vault, shit OK, come on, it’s this way,’ Lady said without waiting for Fury to explain. She’d heard everything.

The vault was located within the foundations of Cal’s home. Buried deep down within the bowels of the ship that formed the main structure, it was further fortified by the supporting structure. Inside it Cal kept anything he considered a treasure, from rare books to artworks, gold and other precious metals, gem stones, valuable Mellion tech, wine and spirits and all sorts of material banned by the Overworlders including vidviewers, discs and science papers. It was a veritable lost and found with no rhyme or reason to it.

Taking off at a run, Lady led the small group back through the labyrinthine hallways of the house until she reached what appeared to be a dead end. On the wall above their heads hung a painting of Cal’s idol, Lando Calrissian. Feeling around the large, heavy frame Lady found what she was looking for. A small lever, neatly hidden within the frame itself. Flipping it out, she pulled it down gently and instantly the wall slid forward to reveal a dark recess behind it. Reaching around the side of the wall panel, Lady pulled the wall towards her, causing it to spin on its axis, creating enough room for them all to get through. Once inside, Lady located the light switch and turning on the lights, they were now all able to see a narrow staircase heading downwards. Without hesitation, she started down the stairs followed by the others. In the gloom they seemed to go on forever, but eventually they reached the bottom and stepped into a jumbled space filled to the roof with Cal’s treasures. The light was much better down here, but for a second Lady wished that they were still stuck in the shadows of the stairwell. Behind them and ahead of them now they could see bloody footsteps and drag marks leading deep into the vault. Drawing in a deep breath, Lady looked over to Fury. His face betrayed his shock and horror at what they had found, and Lady knew it could only get worse. If Hera was still alive, she’d obviously lost a lot of blood and might only last a few more minutes. They had to find her quick.

‘Hera!’ Fury yelled, not caring if anyone or anything else heard them.

‘It’s safe! That thing is long gone!’ Lady added, hoping this might sway her to reveal where she was hiding.

‘Fury? Lady? We’re over here behind the Monet!’ Hera called back, relief in her voice now. 

‘This way,’ said Lady pushing her way past Fury.

Hidden deep within the back of the vault, Cal had stacked a bunch of the invaluable works of art he’d collected over the years. However, Lady didn’t think he’d ever intended anyone to use the larger works as a makeshift bunker. Skidding to a halt at the Monet, Lady looked down in horror. Crumpled behind the large painting were Hera and Cal, covered in blood and in serious trouble.

‘Hera, what happened?’ Lady breathed as the others caught up to her.

‘That invisible thing ambushed us upstairs as we were stitching up Cal, it was looking for something big, some kind of Mellion tech that Cal had apparently picked up a few weeks ago, he didn’t want to give it up though, so he wouldn’t tell them where it was, and then that thing just tore into us without warning, smashing up the room, and Cal jumped on the thing, he was so angry, he just went at it with everything he had but he was no match for it … we tried to help fight it, but this thing was just super human, we didn’t even make a dent in it and we couldn’t get a clean shot,’ Hera looked up at the small group, pain clear in her eyes as she continued, ‘… we knew we couldn’t win, it was killing us, and so Cal agreed to hand over the tech and he led us down here, he showed the thing where he’d stored it … I just got a glimpse, it was a small, chunky matte black box, covered in connectors and buttons … and the thing just grabbed it and took off … it was injured though, I got some of its blood on me, which I want to analyse, I want to know what it was … but that can wait … Cal’s in a bad way Lady, I don’t think he’s going to make it,’ Hera finished, tears rolling down her cheeks as she bowed her head and glanced down at the unconscious wreckage of the human being lying across her lap.

‘Where’s Phoenix, Hera?’ asked Fury quietly, kneeling down and placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

‘That thing took her,’ Hera whispered. 

‘Sorry, what?’ asked Lady as cold dread rushed down her spine.

‘It left this,’ Hera added, holding up a small metal stick about an inch wide and 3 inches long.

‘Where did they go Hera? Cal? Cal? Can you hear me?’ Fury was yelling now, panic in his voice. His crew were his family, he would never let anything happen to them without a fight.

‘He can’t hear you Fury,’ Hera stated. She looked utterly defeated.

‘Tell me what you know Hera,’ Fury menaced. He’d crossed over the rational line.

‘Fury, take it easy,’ Lady warned. This was no time to fall apart.

‘She’s leverage OK,’ Hera cried out finally, ‘Lady has something they want and so that ghost took Phoenix as some kind of insurance so that you’ll hand it over.’

‘What the actual fuck is going on here!’ yelled Fury.

‘And what about Cal?’ asked Lady ignoring Fury for the moment and trying to focus on the situation in front of them.

‘His pulse is weak, breathing shallow, blood wise he’s pretty much bone dry, in short he’s fading fast and there’s nothing I can do!’

‘Easy there, girl,’ said Lady kneeling down beside them and leaning over her old friend, ‘Cal, can you hear me?’ she whispered.

‘Lady, you came back, I’m so sorry, it took the other girl Phoenix, I couldn’t stop them … why is it so damn cold down here? I have central heating,’ Cal tried to smile.

‘I’m afraid you’re dying my love,’ whispered Lady, ‘what did they take Cal?’

‘Oh right, that old chestnut again,’ he tried to laugh but cringed in pain, ‘some old Mellion thing, I didn’t even think it was important, I mean it didn’t work, and we could never get it to do anything,’ Cal murmured.

‘I think I know why they want it, you leave that one with me Cal,’ Lady tried to reassure him.

‘And the girl?’ asked Cal.

‘We’ll get her back … but what about you? What can I do? You’ve run this place for so long, who’ll take it over?’

‘I was hoping you might, I’m giving it to you, I’ve always loved you Lady, I tried you know, to be with someone else, but it was never right, not like us, so I’m giving the whole city to you, it’s yours now, you know her best, I wouldn’t trust her to anyone else … so upstairs in the red-black safe, you know the one I mean, it’s all in there, everything you need … documents, contracts, keys to things, passwords, it’s all there for you.’

‘No Cal, it’s too much, surely there’s someone else who could …’ 

‘It has to be you Lady, I never could trust anyone else,’ Cal smiled, and using the last of his strength pulled himself up to kiss her gently on the lips one last time, ‘good-bye my love,’ he added.

As Cal’s last breath floated out of his body, he slumped gently back down to the ground and with a sigh, Hera ran her hand down his face, closing his eyes. Then the tears rolled down Lady’s cheeks as she accepted her friend was gone. Through all their ups and downs, they’d remained close and now she’d never argue with him again. Never share a drink with him again. Never storm out on him again.   

‘That damn tech, I wish I’d never found it, and I still don’t even know what it is!’ Lady threw her hands up in exasperation and shut her eyes.

Fury took a deep breath and pulled a small flask out of his jacket pocket. Swiftly unscrewing the cap, he took a long swig.

‘Why can’t we just have one good day,’ he hissed under his breath taking another drink, ‘where no one is kidnapped, no one gets beaten up or shot, no one dies…’ he trailed off and looked down at Hera and Cal sadly.