Tesla's Revenge

by Renee Sebastian

  “Exceptin' it's midday now, ma’am .”

  “Are the facilities outside, Jeremy? These windows are so grimy in here, how could you see anything through them?”

  He shifted his feet and twisted his cap, before he said, “There was a back door 'abeggin' to be opened, ma’am .”

  Just then, the front windows of the bistrotrap imploded, making glass rain down in a sparkling display. Dorian took the brunt of the force, as Jeremy and I went to our knees. I glanced behind me and Dorian was already shaking most of the glass from his coat. Thin ribbons of blood crisscrossed his face that then disappeared before my eyes. Who can heal that fast? Before I knew it, Dorian had swooped behind and yelled over my shoulder to Jeremy, “Lead us out of here boy!”

  Next, small metallic cans were thrown in and I panicked. I recognized the labels on the cans. Inside those cans was particulate-sized mist containing billions of micro-agent droids. They could paralyze on contact, if they didn’t kill us, that is. We needed to be out of here, post haste.

  Jeremy jumped up and we followed him out through the tiny service door in the rear of the building near the restrooms. Just as we made it to the door, we heard a bellowing voice sweep through the front room, “Where are they? Fan out boys!”

  The alley we jumped into was dark and narrow. It was obscured from above by overhanging bay windows and patios from the apartments above.

  Dorian pushed passed us and started turning over discarded boxes and paper, until he found what he was looking for and knelt to the ground. He lifted a manhole cover and beckoned us silently over to it. It wasn't terribly deep, so I grabbed a hold of the rim and lowered myself down. Jeremy was next. I grabbed his knees and helped him in the rest of the way. Dorian jumped down last, and hefted the boy up to pull the cover back into place.

  Dorian then took out a kerchief and took out his small pocketknife. He rolled up a sleeve and with a single slash across his arm, blood welled to the surface. He wiped the blood off the knife and put it back into his pocket. Then he took a kerchief to his wound and allowed it to soak up the blood. In a matter of seconds, he removed the cloth, with the wound already closing, leaving behind a small yellowed and crusty line.

  He quietly instructed Jeremy to wipe the kerchief completely around the manhole's rim. Then Jeremy was lifted up and the deed was done. Dorian took the cloth back and put it in one of his coat’s pockets. Dorian whispered, “That's enough blood to keep our voices from being heard. Plus, the droids are too far away from their dispatch point to make it down here ... I think.”

  ···•Ͽ Ѡ Ͼ•···

  We decided to wait a little bit, to see if they would find our hiding spot. It became apparent that Dorian's simple spell had proven successful. After a few minutes, the shouts and stomping overhead dissipated. Dorian grabbed Jeremy's arm and whispered close to his ear, “What does your bird see?”

  The boy flopped down on the soggy floor and closed his eyes. Muted light trickled down from the opening of the man hole cover, allowing me just enough light to see Jeremy's skin around his eyes turn a bruised blue, followed by his lips. Vapor escaped his mouth and it stank of the grave. Then he opened his eyes and attempted to stand, but lost his balance. I grabbed his arm just before he splashed sidelong into the muck. It's one thing to sit in it, quite another thing entirely to fall into it and accidentally get a mouthful.

  Dorian asked, “What did you see?”

  “I saw men in red coats swarmin' the city like bees in a beehive. They be ever' which way, Sir.”

  Dorian grimaced and said, “Then it is the waterways for us.” He took out the homing beacon’s dowsing stick and started following the blip in the direction that brought us closest to Tesla. “Let's be gone from this spot. Follow me.”

  The way was far too narrow for us to walk side by side, so we followed in a line. Taking into account Bea's warning, Dorian took the lead position with me in the rear, to prevent Jeremy from wandering away from us.

  Spotlights, emanating from the exposed slivers of the ill-fitting manhole covers, lit our way like streetlights at night. The water level grew higher the further we walked, until it was mid shin, at which time it finally stabilized. We came across no transverse corridors, but after walking for thirty minutes in the same direction, we heard splashing up ahead. We slowed our pace until we reached a curve in our path.

  Dorian stopped and peeked around the corner. He held up a hand and told us to wait. He continued around the corner. We waited there for three minutes. Soon, Jeremy just couldn't stay still for a moment longer, so he fidgeted, and leaned heavily on the wall. Suddenly a splash occurred from around the corner and Dorian rounded the corner to face us.

  He whispered, “We have a situation.”

  Then, before he could tell us what the problem was, a tentacled arm slid around his waist and arms. It dragged him down and around the corner out of sight. The only thing I could think was that he couldn't reach his sword, since the appendage was pinning his arms to his waist.

  Chapter 16

  Of Leviathans

  “A great man when faced with peril becomes one with the moment, thinking of what has to be done to survive the present.”

  -Professor Minnowsworth, "Concerning That Which Makes a Great Man," 2196

  From Dorian's Journal of Memorable Quotes to Live By

  After rushing around the corner, a great expanse of space greeted me and I took pause. Two loud gunshots rang out, echoing off the concrete walls. Before I knew it, Dorian was before me and he pushed me back around the corner. He must have used the colts in his pockets near where his hands were bound to shoot off the tentacle. There were large matching bullet holes where the bottoms of his pockets were.

  “Guardian Leviathan?” I asked.

  “Undoubtedly,” he sputtered as he pulled a suction cup off his neck and then threw it to the ground.

  Guardian Leviathans were nearly immortal and crafted from the magical elite of the Republic's Magic Guard. The creatures guarded the waterways to keep thieves and riff raff, like us, from escaping the authorities. Cities paid big money for them. It was bad luck all around to have stumbled across it, since I would have predicted that it should have been closer to the waterfalls themselves. After all, that is what it should have been protecting. Everyone knows that tourists love a good show anyway.

  Essentially, they were fashioned from a basic aquatic animal that was imbued with an immense amount of magic and a little genetic modification to remove the growth inhibitor gene, causing them to mutate and grow into the goliaths that they were today. Only predators were used, customarily squid, octopus, and occasionally the odd shark for sewers. This one was obviously once an octopus, as evidenced by the suckers. What bothered me more than a monstrosity of an octopus with about thirty arms waving about, complete with suction cups at least the size of a hand or greater and the hooks on the arms’ ends which were the size of my palm, were what happened when you cut off one of the limbs.

  “Where's the arm you shot off?” I asked, as I looked him over for wounds.

  “Don't know, don't care. We've got to get to the other side or go back the way we came. There is another tunnel opening directly across from us.” Then in a very irritated manner he asked, “Any ideas?”

  “Let me think a moment, while you keep a lookout for that arm.” Even though you may be far enough away to not be snared by the gargantuan beak mouth and attached tentacles, all bets were off when it came to freed arms. They would continue to live magically and act not unlike a fat snake. One that could still constrict you to death.

  To add icing on the cake he said, “Don't think too long. I had to shoot the arm off at the base.”

  Drats! That meant an enormous snake had been set loose in the dark waters. At least the water was shallow enough where we were, that we should be able to see it if it rounded the corner.

  I peeked around the corner to get a better look at the room. In the middle of the room was a deep pool of water and halfway peeking out
of it was an eye the height of myself, which was set into a bulbous head the size of a mechcarriage. It was too dark to see more than a series of gray spots covering the head, but it wasn't too dark to see the iridescent blue rings around the gray spots.

  I said to Dorian, “That used to be a Blue-Ringed Octopus.”

  He grimaces and said facetiously, “Of course it was.”

  “I don't think even you would survive its venomous bite. It could kill six humans with one nip, and that was before it was turned into a Guardian.”

  “If anything could kill me it would that monstrosity in there, Miss Darling.”

  I turned back around and looked once more about the creature and the room it was nestled within. A small ledge appeared to encircle the room at nearly water level, suitable for walking along. That was a relief. If we had to make a swim for it, then it was back the way we came, red coats or not. I also saw the opening Dorian mentioned.

  I then looked up and saw a manhole cover like no other. It must have been at least fifteen meters across and made that size in order to initially heft the smaller and younger leviathan down into the sewers below. The Guard would have never worked their spells while down in the sewers.

  Four cement tabs jutted out a meter just below the upper rim that held the cover in place. It would take an immense amount of strength to lift it off. I then listened closely. Besides the swishing of the water from the agitated Guardian, I heard the soft thumping of people and machinery crossing the lid above.

  “Jeremy, use the vulture to check who is above the manhole cover.”

  “Yes, ma’am .” He sat in the water again, but this time with his back up against the wall. Unbelievably, his skin bruised even more quickly around his eyes than before. I saw the telltale vapors rising from his small mouth. After about a minute, he jerked awake and said, “All red coats, ma’am . They even made a makeshift tent town surroundin' the hole.”

  “I am most pleased with you and the information you have just given us Jeremy. Rest a moment now.” I patted his head and then looked back at the monster in the water. The Guardian just so happened to be seated in the city center, judging by the size of the pit it sat in, and it just so happened that the Republic's men had set up their command central to logically be in the city center as well. The Guardian was probably drawn here with all the noise coming from up above, and was understandably agitated. I think that I could work this to our advantage.

  The wall of the tunnel where we were standing was narrow enough with protruding, uneven bricks, that one could put one foot on each side and keep oneself suspended above the water for a short time. I said, “Boys get ready to lift yourselves out of the water. I have a craving for some takoyaki.” I gave Jeremy a wink, even though he couldn't probably see me very well. But then again, who knew how well Necromancers could see in the dark?

  “One Westinghouse discharge is not enough to fry that thing,” Dorian criticized.

  “No, it isn't. But I suspect that it is more than a bit disturbed by all the movement up above it. My plan was to shock it and then ricochet a few bullets off the metal roof into it. That should agitate to the point that it may just have some red coats for dinner and allow us some suitable chaos to enable us to get to the other side.

  “Dorian, can you do the shooting with your Colt, after I electrify the water?”

  Jeremy spoke up and said, “Won't we get electrocuted once we come off the walls, ma’am ?”

  “That huge hunk of meat will suck up most of the charge in a matter of seconds. I estimate that we'll be able to jump down into the water safely after about twenty seconds tops.”

  Dorian said, “I'll jump down first. I have some natural protection, being that oil and water don't mix.” I didn't beg to ponder that comment too long while faced with our present task. I knew I would turn that nugget over in my mind in the days to come though.

  I readied my Westinghouse in my left hand and climbed up the wall using my feet and right hand. Dorian and Jeremy followed suit.

  “Three... two... one,” I said once we were all up, and then I let loose the shot, in the direction of the Leviathan. The water lit up with an eerie glow from the electricity. Spidery lines snaked out from the gun and illuminated the creature from below. I took a moment to try to count the arms, but I gave up after the nineteenth. The iridescent rings seemed to glow with a radioactive charge in the artificial sunlight.

  Finally, Dorian's shots rang out. They must be doing target practice up there, to not have heard the shots from his Colt revolvers. From the beast itself, I heard lots of whistling and gurgling noises. And then all hell broke loose.

  The creature reared up, slipped its two fattest arms up to the cover, and then pushed. Up went the lid, but only on one side. The other arm was manipulating it, so the men and equipment that were topside one moment, start to slide downside towards its mighty, gaping beak the next. I heard men screaming and machinery screeching, followed by the kerplunking noises of them falling into the water below.

  Dorian plopped down off the wall and smiled, “Now or never.” Then he took off around the corner. We followed Dorian around the bend and through the looking glass… or at least that is what it felt like.

  The ledge was more substantial than I presumed. It was wide enough to easily walk along, and I noticed that Dorian was nearly to the other side already. Once he was there, he took position and shot someone coming out of the water for us.

  Another soldier had made it to the ledge ahead of us and was hanging on for dear life, but the angle was a wash for Dorian, so that meant he was mine. His back was to us, and his attention was distracted by the many arms waving about. He never even saw me creeping towards him. Really it was a shame that this was turning out to be entirely too easy. I merely kicked out the back of his knees and he toppled over into the water. I saw a thick, tentacled arm snake around him and pull him under before he could even scream. So that was where the arm Dorian severed had went.

  It was slower going with the boy behind me, than if I had been on my own, but we were making good progress amongst all the splashing water, snaking tentacles waving about, and the screaming, terrified men who likely would never reach the ledge that we were precariously perched upon. Bullets were hitting the water left and right from men standing around the manhole, topside.

  We were a few meters away from Dorian who had reached the other side, when Jeremy, grabbed my waist. He had nearly lost his balance, but at the last moment, he found it again and we crossed the last little bit together. As soon as we caught up with Dorian, he shoved me in front of him, into the access tunnel, and then he proceeded to push me into a fast clip.

  We put some real distance between the leviathan and us. Dorian would stop periodically and fall behind us, to check for anyone who might have been trailing us. None appeared to be though, since I guessed that they had their hands full.

  We must have run for a solid ten minutes, before Jeremy complained, “I be 'aneedin' to catch my breath, Sir. Lookin' through me bird twice in one day has tuckered me out.”

  I stopped, forcing everyone behind me to stop. We had been traveling along this straight shot tunnel for long enough. I needed a progress update, not to mention that I was starting to feel claustrophobic down in these cramped tunnels.

  I asked Dorian, “What about the homing device? Are we at least still traveling in the correct direction?” Chances were good that the Republic's militia would still be busily containing the incident with the leviathan and might not even notice us traipsing about street side right now.

  Dorian said, “Yes, the blinking is still coming closer together. Let's continue down this tunnel, until we need to change direction, then we'll go up.”

  We walked on. The water finally started to recede, but we continued through three-finger-high sludge that was beginning to infiltrate my shoes. On we went, for about another fifteen minutes, when Dorian said, “Time to go topside. Let's find another manhole and get out of this hell hole.”

 
The next one came about two minutes later. Dorian went first, using the walls' bricks for hand and foot holds again. He shoved the lid off and peeked up. “Another dark alley.”

  “And so our luck holds,” I said, as I smiled down at Jeremy.

  “Even better, only some stray rats and cats seem to be mucking about in it,” he said.

  After Jeremy and I had made it up, the scene was even bleaker than it had been when we began our subterranean adventure. We were behind some restaurants, so there was quite a bit of food refuse that laid in rotting heaps here and there. To make matters worse, there was a lingering fecal stench from the animals who feasted on the very filth that surrounded us.

  Dorian was walking in different directions to determine our best route. Then he walked to one end of the alley, studied both directions for a minute, and returned to us.

  He looked us over, and said, “We will stick out in this part of town.” Then he highbrowed me. I was only mildly insulted. He meant I needed a dress, not the pants that I was presently wearing. “I highly recommend that we dress ourselves more properly or we will be stopped and apprehended. There is a small bed and breakfast about ten paces away, around the corner. I'd wager that Tesla is holed up there, if this blinking stick is any indication.” I looked at the light on the stick he held out and it was nearly continuous in its luminescence.

  “I won't take that bet. Let's get ourselves a room and a hot bath. It will do me some good. What do you think the odds are that he will still be there when we are ready to approach him?”

  “Fifty, fifty.”

  Dandy.

  “I don't have to take a bath, do I, ma’am ?” Jeremy pleaded with big puppy dog eyes.

  Dorian intercepted, “That and a change of clothes is sound advice for you too.” Jeremy had a small knapsack strapped to his back, so I knew his mother had packed some extra changes for him.