Down in the Underworld

Chapter 33 - Is that a gun in your pocket dear Eliza

Just over an hour later as Lady made her way back to the dock, she noticed she wasn’t the only one headed that way. She also wasn’t the only one weighed down with weapons and other supplies from food, to medical to survival equipment. As she walked these people flocked to her. They knew who she was and what she was about to do. Word had definitely got around. But Lady was in for a bigger surprise when she reached the dock itself. Not only was the Anhinga submerged and ready to board, but there were lines up and down the space. If she wanted it, she had her army.

As she got closer, she slowed down to take it all in. These people were willing to lay it on the line to support her crew, and her cause. It was her time. It also helped that there was no love lost for Demise here, and everybody wanted a chance to take a shot at the Overworlders. The betrayal ran deep.

Getting to the crowd, they parted to let her walk through them, towards her ship. Climbing up on to the upper deck of the Anhinga, Lady turned to face everyone.

‘I’m not sure how much you know of why this fight is so important,’ she spoke to her army, ‘but let me make this clear, your lives depend on it!’ she was yelling now, ‘Demise and those Overworld scumbags are planning to build a machine that could change the face of this planet forever, in a worse way than any Mellion invasion ever could and they don’t really know what they are doing! Now they have two parts of the machine so far, but luckily we have the third,’ Lady paused for a moment to let this sink in, ‘and we could leave it there, but Demise has captured one of our own – one of Fury’s crew – and we need to get her back … and we need to get our own hot little hands on that machine!’

‘But why?’ yelled a voice from the front.  

‘I’ll tell you, that machine, that Mellion tech could be used to transform this planet for the better, it could clean the waterways, make the Barrens fertile again, and bring life to the Dead West – we can use it to make this world a better place for Underworlders and our friends in exile … that’s worth fighting for!’ Lady answered passionately.

‘So, what’s the plan?’ called a different voice.

‘Demise is a few hours ahead of us, heading back to Londinium, so we follow him, if we can catch him and the gang of Overworld Blanks travelling with him before he reaches the city, then that’s our best chance to take them out … plan B we take them all out on land in the Tunnels, but they won’t be alone, there’s a hybrid with them, a holdover from the war, Mellion crossed with Human, she’s on tough mother and we don’t know if there are any more of her kind out there, working with Demise … now you see why we need you, this shit is getting’ real heavy, and we can’t do this alone – are you with me?!’

For a moment there was no sound at all. Silence met with the awkward shuffling of feet. Lady fought back the urge to bite her lip. She needed to keep this façade of control up. Then, a voice from the crowd answered her call.

‘We’re with your grrrl!’ it was Carpathia. Lady smiled. She was standing at the back, but she might as well have been standing beside her.

‘Yeah!’ yelled the crowd in unison.

‘Well alright then! Everyone, get to your subs, if you don’t have a crew report to Fury or myself and we’ll take you. We leave in 20 minutes!’ Lady thundered but she was smiling. She looked to Carpathia in the back, who nodded and returned the smile, but Lady knew there was sadness in her heart because she couldn’t go with them.

Climbing down the ladder from the top hatch into the Anhinga, Lady smiled at the familiar coldness and metallic smell that greeted her. Shrugging her shoulders against the weight of the stuff she’d brought from Cal’s house she grabbed Deadeye as he was rushing past her.

‘Hey, how are we looking?’ she asked shortly, still full of adrenalin from giving her speech to the other crews. 

‘We’ve got 25 new crew, Fury has 30 or more, so we’re getting them settled in, you can take that stuff to galley, that’s where we’re taking stock of everything,’ Deadeye replied breathlessly, clearly running on nerves himself.

‘Excellent, I’ll see you on the bridge in 10 minutes,’ she replied before moving away and letting Deadeye continue on with whatever he was doing.

The first stop Lady made was to the kitchen, to drop off her haul, then she stopped briefly at her quarters in order to change her clothes. She was still in the clothes she’d been wearing when she had found Cal and been shot by the Ghost. She was smeared with dirt and covered in blood. Hers and Cal’s. Not wasting time, she grabbed a fresh pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Roughly getting undressed, she changed her bra and underpants, and sprayed herself with deodorant. Dressing quickly, she stepped into the small ensuite bathroom next to her room and splashed her face with water. Looking at herself in the mirror she almost didn’t know the person staring back at her. She looked tired.

‘Time to put on your game face grrrl,’ she said to her reflection, opening a small drawer and taking out a few items and placing them neatly next to the basin. Red lipstick, black eyeshadow and black mascara. Quickly making-up her face she frowned. She wasn’t sure why she was doing it, but it made her feel better. A bit of war paint never hurt anyone.  

Quickly she glanced at the watch on her wrist, everyone would be waiting for her, so she took off running for the bridge. It would do her crew good to feel the sense of urgency she knew this would cause. Everywhere she looked she saw people working hard and looking determined, but she also sensed their fear of what lay ahead for them. She hadn’t even had time to meet her new crew members, but she trusted her guys to get them ready. Reaching the bridge she threw herself down in her chair and immediately asked how long they were from leaving Royale.

‘Five minutes Commander,’ Strychley replied without turning around.

‘How are we feeling?’ Lady pushed them. Part of her looking for reassurance and part of her wanting to test their resolve. 

‘We are looking good and feeling fine,’ Turing threw back, as the others nodded.

Things were unnaturally quiet, and people were anxious to get moving. Lady could sense the tension in the air, and she was part of it. She wanted to get moving to. If they could catch Demise before he reached the city of Londinium then they would be on their territory, if they made it back to land then her only hope was that the folks from the Barrens and Dead West would make in time to back them up.

‘Commander? Lady, it’s time to go,’ said Strychley finally, ‘shall I signal the other subs?’

‘Yes, send the order to roll out and let’s blow this town,’ Lady replied, sitting up straighter, ‘let’s make the next few hours count … Strychley, you have Command of the bridge, I need to go meet our new crew and check in with Cato on our weapons status.’ 

‘Aye Lady,’ Strychley nodded, but her Commander was already half-way out the door.  

The next few hours were uneventful as the submarines put leagues between them and Royale. Lady knew Demise and the Overworlders were heading for her last known location, and so all they had to do was backtrack, but it was still tricky. Paranoia nipped at her mind, and she couldn’t shake the feeling they were sailing into a trap. Part of her hoped they would catch up with Phoenix and the Ghost before the even reached Demise, but she wasn’t counting on it. As the Anhinga picked up speed and raced through the murky waters, she wandered back down to the galley. There she found Deadeye and Cato waiting for her along with a large group of newcomers, the tables of the dining area piled high with various weapons and other tech. As she walked in the room everyone turned to her expectantly, but she took it in her stride.

‘Welcome to the Anhinga,’ she said nodding to those around her, ‘so what have we got here?’ she added, a grim smile tugging at her lips.