"Well what exactly do you intend to do?!"
As the crowds moved further away from the Riverfolk, Vincent could see people pushing their way through, trying to get closer. As they escaped the crowds, he saw the weapons and leather vests. It was the same style Yasi had. They were the warriors of the place, the Shinobi.
The Riverfolk had emerged from the water, and had gathered into a group. The Shinobi were gathering, forming a line, putting themselves between the water's edge, and the retreating crowds.
There was a pause as both sides got ready for the inevitable, and Vincent finally got a look at them. Fifteen Riverfolk, gathering together against seven Shinobi. The Riverfolk were all identical in features, the only notable difference was their height and build.
Vincent looked around for Yasi, and didn't see her. Dorcan stood in the middle of the defensive line, looking in both directions, checking his backup.
The Riverfolk Leader was a foot taller than the rest, and he let out an inhuman roar; though his mouth wasn't visible. It was the signal that the monsters were waiting for, and both sides exploded into action.
The invaders had long range weapons. Crossbows and throwing blades. The Shinobi were close combat warriors, getting inside their attacks, too tight to shoot. The Shinobi were all about speed and agility, glancing off their attackers, swooping around blows that could break stone.
The Riverfolk were all about savagery, sacrificing agility for power, smashing with brute force wherever they could land a blow. Against the Shinobi, they couldn't land many, but the Riverfolk seemed barely aware of any damage they took. Vincent caught a glimpse of one with three arrows in his gut, and he barely seemed to notice.
Connie bit her lip, unwilling to leave him behind, and knowing he was right about taking the fight toward the civilians. Listen to me. She thought blandly. 'Protect the civilians', Like I'm not one of them myself.
Casting about as the combat shifted into a deadlier gear, Connie found a place to hide, in one of the stalls. There were a variety of things in the stall that she didn't have time to study, but a huge pile of clothes were kept in a large crate. There was space enough behind it for two to hide. "Vincent!" She hissed. "Over here!"
Vincent started to follow, picking his moment to run from the staircase to the stall... when he noticed the Invader that Dorcan had dispatched. His eyes focused on the body... and the crossbow slung across his back. Without thinking about it, he inched forward, and pried the weapon loose.
Dorcan slashed at the leader, and missed; getting knocked flat on his back a moment later. He landed less than two feet from Vincent. The nearby impact shook Vincent out of his numb staring contest with the dead, and Dorcan twisted to look up at him. "Run, you idiot! Run!"
Vincent gripped the weapon tightly, as Dorcan twisted his body, jerking himself fluidly off his back and back on his feet. The Shinobi reached out and grabbed the crossbow, pumping the handle once, and shooting the nearest invader. He tossed the crossbow back to Vincent and moved swiftly back to the fight.
One of the Riverfolk looked at the two Upsiders, getting a clear look at their faces. Vincent gripped the crossbow, knowing he was a dead man. The Riverfolk looked straight at him...
And turned off to find something more interesting.
~oo00oo~
"It's an interesting story... When Owen told me the details, I didn't believe a word of it." Grey said carefully. "Some of the other things Niklos was up to? That was a surprise."
"Well, now you know. Everything you just told me? That's a long list of things that nobody knows about; for obvious reasons." Yasi challenged. "So. Will you help us?"
"I'm a cop, Miss Yasi." Grey said plainly. "If there are crimes being committed, people getting killed, then you better believe I'll do my job. This is my city too, and I intend to protect it."
Yasi smiled. "Thank you." She said gratefully.
"Anything else, we can sort out when this is over." Grey nodded, holstering his gun.
Yasi paused. "Anything else? Meaning?"
"I work for The Law." Grey explained. He wasn't being belligerent, he wasn't challenging, he was just stating the facts. "If there are Laws being broken, then I will put a stop to it. If the only way to sort that out is to drag the whole Secret World out into the light of day, then that's what I'll do."
Yasi sighed, regretful. "Damn. I was afraid you'd say that."
"What do you mean?" Grey asked.
Faster than anyone could follow, faster than anyone could react, Yasi snap-drew her sword and brought it around in a neat slash. There was a sudden spray of blood, and Grey's head fell to the ground. The death-blow was so fast it took a few moments for his body to collapse.
"Did you have to do that?" Christen asked from behind her.
"It was bad enough that he knew; but he was planning to expose the Underside to the whole world. That's the end of us; so I had to stop him. I take no pleasure in it Christen; but the First Duty of the Shinobi is to protect the Secret. The First Duty is an Absolute." Yasi cleaned her sword casually and sheathed it. Stepping over the body, she collected the contents of Owen's Locker, and sent Christen a look. "You can clean this up yourself?"
"Yes Captain." Christen said, collected his cleaning supplies. "I'll ditch the body in one of the usual places."
Yasi checked the package in her hand and smiled. "Well. This has been a very good night."
~oo00oo~
"This is bad!" Connie gasped. "This is very very bad!"
"They aren't after us." Vincent hissed at her. "One of them got a good long look at my face, and he didn't recognize me, or he didn't care. They're not after us!"
"Then what the hell do they want?"
"I don't know."
The two of them were crouched in one of the stalls, unwilling to lead the Riverfolk in closer to the terrified Lostkind, but unable to do anything else.
"What the hell do you plan to do with that?" Connie hissed.
"Make a lot of noise and act like Rambo." Vincent scorned sarcastically. He made a quick study of the weapon. It was not like a medieval crossbow. It had a frame in front of the trigger, with six bolts on a spring. The grip had a pump action handle, and Vincent worked it. Pulling the handle back drew back the string and raised a bolt, letting the handle forward again notched it, ready to pull the trigger. A pump action crossbow. Vincent thought. Incredible.
Outside the stall, the sound of combat grew stronger, angrier. They both ducked lower as they heard the sound of someone shouting in pain, and an instant later a body was hurled into the stall.
The Shinobi flew in through the front of the stall, smacked into the stone wall of the ledge, and flopped to the ground, dead already. After a moment, the tent flap was thrown back, and one of the Riverfolk came in with an animalistic growl, ready to push the advantage. It saw its prey was dead... and then saw Vincent aiming the weapon.
Vincent hesitated, gripping the handle so tightly it creaked.
"Do it Vincent." Connie whispered, terror in her voice. "Hurry!"
Vincent was frozen. His finger was on the trigger, the bolt was aimed, and somehow he couldn't make his brain stop screaming at him. Why isn't he attacking? He's not moving, why isn't he killing us both, what the hell am I doing here, I should be at home where things like this don't happen, just pull the damn trigger Vincent, squeeze your finger a little tighter, oh my god, that's why he's not moving, I've got the drop on him and he knows it, just do it Vincent what the hell is wrong with you?
His target had suddenly realized that Vincent wasn't going to do anything and lifted his mace, ready to take Vincent's head clean off.
"VINCENT, COME ON!!" Connie shouted, panic making her scream.
There was the briefest sound of metal on bone, and the tip of a sword emerged from the monster's chest. For a moment, everything froze. Vincent realized before the Riverfolk did, and the monster fell to the ground, slain by Dorcan's sword.
The Shinobi attendant wiped sweat off his brow, a trickle of
blood running from a cut above his eye. He was covered in bruises, and his eyes were wild from adrenaline. "You guys alright?"
Vincent couldn't speak. It had happened again. The moment came, and he froze.
"Fine." Connie said for him. "How's it going out there?"
"We got them routed." Dorcan said shortly, and turned back to the battle without another word to them. They followed and found their way to a scene of total carnage. Riverfolk lay dead on the ground, and more than a few civilians. Two Shinobi had fallen, with arrows in them.
"SHIINOBI!" Dorcan roared. "They're retreating! ADVANCE! Drive them back to the water!"
And the New York Ninja proceeded to do exactly that, as the invaders drew back in full retreat, some of them nursing their wounds. They went backwards to the water and vanished under the surface, barely a ripple following them.
The ninja gave a bloodthirsty roar of victory. The battle for their homes had been fought and won decisively. Dorcan kept his sword drawn and ready, and Vincent couldn't help but stare at the water. He had first entered the Twelfth Level chamber by those waters, the small boat Yasi had punted along sat on this same body of water. It looked so peaceful, so still... To look at it, nobody would have believed that there were monsters so close at hand.
"Come on." Connie tugged at his arm. "Let's get away from the water."
"That's good advice." Dorcan called over to them, and then raised his voice to be heard by all of the people who were still watching in worry from the upper levels. "We're putting the River and all attached waters under surveillance, anyone not Shinobi are to stay well back." He looked at Vincent. "That means you too."
He started to answer, when he noticed one of their attackers was still moving... But from the look of it; he wouldn't be for long.
Dorcan saw his gaze and held out a hand. "No."
"We can't just..."
"Yes we can. Riverfolk are dangerous, Vincent."
Looking at him was a bizarre experience. Just a few minutes ago this man and a dozen like him were attacking from all angles, rising out of the water like something out of a demented horror story. But now, on the ground and being very still, he looked like a man in a Halloween costume.
The gleaming red eyes were goggles. The claws that rasped and gripped the walls and ceiling were gloves, with grapple hooks sewn into them. He looked back at the water's edge and could see the claw marks scratched into the stone.
Emboldened, Vincent pulled off the mask, revealing the Riverfolk attacker underneath. He was ghostly pale, having never seen the sun. He had no hair on his face or head, having lived in his full wetsuit costume, but he was unmistakably human. The man shifted; eyes cracking open blearily. He looked up at Vincent for a few seconds... before letting out a rasp, and going still.
After a long moment; Vincent reached out and closed the Riverfolk's eyes.
"The bogeymen of the Underside..." Vincent whispered. "It's all just... Halloween."
Dorcan glared at him. "What were you expecting? Goblins and trolls? You came to the Underground and acted like you'd found some fantasy world full of magic and fey-folk. Well it ain't. There's no magic. There's just us. Could be we're just different. That's no great crime, y'know?"
"I agree." Connie put in quietly. "Vincent, there's no magic here. This is another neighborhood in New York. It's not even the weirdest one you'll find. Not in Manhattan. Hell, not even in Brooklyn."
"What the hell is happening?" A familiar voice bellowed.
Vincent guiltily tucked the goggles in his hand away, and held the crossbow low. He turned, knowing what he would see. Sure enough, Yasi had returned to the Underside, and she looked madder than all hell. "I was gone less than half an hour." She roared. "Everything was still in one piece when I left!"
"We were hit." Dorcan said simply.
"Riverfolk?"
"Who else?"
"Who else is there?" Asked a perturbed Connie.
"They never come up this far." Yasi raged. "They stay where The River is deep. Seriously, have they ever once come up this far? We laid razor wire nets just for that reason!"
"The nets are gone." Dorcan said thickly. "Someone winched them up out of the water enough to let a team through."
Yasi stopped short. "They had help? From the inside?"
"Sure looks that way, doesn't it?" Dorcan nodded, and Vincent stepped back. This was a discussion between the two Gatekeepers.
"What about our people?" Yasi asked with worry.
"We lost Muskrat and Minix. Pockets took a mace to the neck. Lowen is on his way to the Chapel, but-"
"Lowen?" Yasi reacted. "I… I should go see him."
"Captain… I doubt he'll live long enough to make it that far. Otherwise, it was far worse for them than us."
Yasi shivered. "I convinced Lowen to join the Shinobi. I told him he'd be an asset."
Dorcan raised a hand very slowly, about to rest it on her shoulder, but Yasi gave him a quick shake of her head. Her face was stone, and he broke off awkwardly. Yasi looked around. "Very quietly, get a count of all our people and find out where they all were when it started. At least, the ones not already on assignment."
"Won't take too long, most of them were in combat with me." Dorcan nodded, and headed off.
"Miss Connie!"
Connie turned and found Tecca pushing his way through the crowd, only to be blocked by the Shinobi perimeter. "Are you okay?" He called over to her. Connie sent Vincent and Yasi a quick look, and made her way over to reassure the boy.
For a moment, Vincent and Yasi were left alone. "What are you thinking?" He asked her.
Yasi's posture didn't change, and she looked around. Once she was sure she was out of anyone else's earshot, her expression softened a little. "I wasn't here." She confessed. "I blew it, I wasn't here."
"It's not like you went out and got drunk on duty, Yasi." Vincent said forgivingly. "Your job was to find out what an enemy of this place was doing."
"My job is to protect this place from those who seek to harm it." She looked down, blaming herself. "I love this place Vincent. I wasn't here to save it."
"That's exactly what you were doing. You were going out to seek out dangers so you could destroy them before anyone was hurt." Vincent told her immediately, and then he sighed hard. "Something I can't really say about myself."
Yasi looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"I… I froze." Vincent admitted. "I had the chance…" He lifted the weapon, still in his grip. "I had this crossbow in my hand, a clear shot, and my life was at stake, plus Connie behind me…" He lifted the crossbow in his hand. "I froze. I knew exactly what to do, and…"
Yasi nodded. "Vincent, the movies say that when a regular guy gets his chance… he becomes a warrior. In real life… It's not like that at all. You froze, because you were scared for your life. That does things to a person. You hesitated because you didn't want to be a killer, even if the stakes were that high. That doesn't make you weak." She reached out and pulled his chin to make him look at her. "You really think pulling the trigger would have made you a better person?"
"No." Vincent admitted.
Yasi sighed. "Wish I could give myself a pass as easily. It's my job to be here on the line when danger comes."
"Yasi, you were here. Your training, your team, your lieutenant… You can't be everywhere, that's why you train people to do the job as well as you can. Six Shinobi, plus Dorcan should be about equal to one of you."
Yasi let out a little bark of laughter, despite herself. "Almost. Maybe." She conceded.
She was still holding the side of his face. After a moment, they both broke away, feeling awkward.
"It wasn't your fault." Yasi said kindly.
"It wasn't yours either." He returned simply.
"Captain?" Dorcan called over, and Yasi's shoulders straightened. "We got the final casualty list. Only two losses. Pockets and Lowen were the worst of the wounded."
Yasi wiped her eyes, and hid it under the pretense of adjusting
the collar on her coat. "I don't get it, it's a bad caper. They had to know we'd fight back a dozen Riverfolk. This wasn't a serious attack, it was a probing mission. So what were they after?" She demanded of her lieutenant.
"Well they weren't after Vincent or Connie." Dorcan reported. "They had time, they had opportunity... They didn't take it. So what else is there?"
Yasi's eyes flashed. "Owen."
~oo00oo~
Owen was gone. The chain was left at the floor of the cell, along with the keys used to release him.
Keeper looked to Yasi. "It's not a cell, it's an oubliette. The only way out is for someone to open the hatch for you. There's no way in hell he escaped on his own."
Yasi nodded. "I know. Somebody helped him." She raised a voice. "Tecca?"
"Captain?" The boy was suddenly at her elbow, and Vincent jumped. There was no sign of where he had come from, or that he'd been there at all. The boy had a long rope coiled around his chest like a bandoleer, and a knife at his belt. Everyone was getting edgy after the brief invasion.
Yasi didn't even turn to look at him. "Tell me about Owen."
"He was living in a little old lady's spare room." Tecca reported. "She thought he moved out yesterday, and was putting a message in the paper about renting his room out. His things were collected by a moving company and put into a storage space. There's a letter apologizing for the inconvenience, and another one telling his boss that he got a job somewhere. The stamp on both letters is at least two years away from being new."
"He's been ready to disappear without a trace since he started working at the City Planner's Office." Yasi concluded. "Nothing there that will lead back to us, or to him being here."
"Which means he doesn't care about his day job any more..." Connie bit her lip. "It could be he's done with us. Whatever it was he needed Vincent for, I think we're past that now."
"Agreed." Archivist rumbled.
"In the meantime, we have a mole." Keeper said, calm and deadly. "Who is it?"
Yasi seemed a good deal older. "Try a little common sense. Who has the most to gain from a regime change in the New York Underside?"
Keeper nodded. "Anyone who was in line for a leadership role beforehand."
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