Under the Green Water
I paused suddenly when I heard something that didn't sound right. I couldn't tell if the others had heard it so I grabbed Alec's shirt with one hand and held up the other behind me to halt Kira and Krit. Alec glanced back at me questioningly, but I was busy listening hard to see if I could find that sound that had disturbed me before. There it was again. A kind of shuffle in the water. I gestured quickly to the others the direction I had heard the noise from. Alec quickly gave some orders with hand signals back and I nodded. I moved as silently as possible back against the wall and followed Alec's lead as he inched around the corner.
Suddenly, the dark world in the sewers exploded. I saw a figure spring out of the shadows at Alec, sewer water flying. I forced myself to hold back and not to spring to Alec's aid immediately. I waited, watching as the figure knocked Alec off his feet and onto his back in the tunnel, as his face disappeared under the green water. I couldn't suppress a quick grimace for his sake before my attention was snapped back to the mission by the second and third figures who I'd been waiting for appeared. I leaped out of hiding and for the closest target. Alec's orders had been to take them down as quickly and as quietly as possible, just in case there were more hiding up ahead. We didn't want to tip them off if we could avoid it.
I grabbed what must be a Familiar from behind while I still had the element of surprise. Pain or no pain, a snapped neck will stop an enemy. As the body fell into the sludge, I side-stepped the splash and prepared to take on my next opponent who, by now, was ready and waiting for me. I slowly moved sideways, waiting for him to make a move, wishing that the sewer water wasn't weighing down my legs and slowing me up. Then, suddenly I had an idea. I continued to slowly move back the way I had come, a small grin spreading across my face. I exaggerated how much the water was weighing me down, laying out the bait.
The Familiar bit, quickly moving towards me. I side-stepped his attack at the last second, spinning around to see him run straight into Krit and Kira who were all too happy to dispatch him for me. As soon as I saw that they'd taken care of the situation, I turned back to make sure that Alec was okay. I couldn't help but smirk, barely keeping myself from actually laughing, when I saw him standing there, dripping wet. He glared at me as he tried to keep his soaking hair from dripping into his face. He signed to me to keep my head in the game. I rolled my eyes, knowing that was just a cop out to try and keep me from making fun of him, but I let it go and gestured for him to take up the lead again. He continued to glare before slowly turning around and starting down the tunnel again. I quickly glanced back at Krit and Kira who were both grinning as well. I tried to sign to them to listen to our soggy leader without grinning, but I couldn't pull it off, so I covered my mouth with my hand and simply followed Alec in silence.
We sprang one further trap in the tunnels before we passed into a new sector of sewer system. I wondered briefly how long we would be traveling in the sewers, thinking that the smell might never be purged from my nose. Then, I quickly decided that I didn't want to know, that I should just focus on following Alec and try not to pay attention to my environment. I gave all my attention over to my senses, but nothing struck me as odd until Alec pulled up at a ladder. He signed to me that it was time to climb out. I signed back that I would go first, which he immediately questioned.
"You'll drip on me." I mouthed to him.
He rolled his eyes and started signing back at me, but I ignored him and started climbing. I was sure that I'd hear about this later, but for now Alec couldn't do much except possibly pull me off the ladder by force, which I doubted he'd do.
I slowly and cautiously pushed the manhole cover aside, pausing and waiting for some indication of danger before poking my head out and looking around. I was happy to find that Logan had directed us to come out of the sewer in an alley where we wouldn't be noticed. I quickly climbed out and moved out of the way so that Alec could follow. Soon he, Kira and Krit had joined me in the alley.
I signed, "Do you think it's safe?"
Alec held up a hand for us to wait as he moved towards the street and peered around for any signs of an ambush.
"Looks clear." he said out loud, "And we should probably talk now since the four of us sneaking around, talking in hand signals, is going to look suspicious."
"And a parade of people coming out of this alley is going to seem normal?" Krit asked, but no one bothered to answer him. We all knew the problems we were going to be dealing with.
"Well, shall we?" Kira asked, gesturing out at the street.
"You and Krit take the north side of the street. Jess and I'll keep to this side. Stay in eye contact. Signal if you see anything." Alec instructed as he wrung out his shirt.
"Looks like rain." Kira pointed out, glancing up at the sky.
I looked up, too, noticing the gathering clouds. What was a day in Seattle without rain, after all? Well, at least Alec wouldn't seem so out of place if it rained. And maybe he'd smell better, too.
"It'd better." he grumbled as if his own thoughts were the same as mine.
He stashed his gun in the waistband of his pants against his back, pulling his soggy shirt over it and the rest of us followed suit before we left the alley. I stuck close to Alec, trying to make it seem to any passerby that we were just out for a stroll. Kira and Krit did the same as they parted ways with us and headed across the street. I shot a glance after Kira, silently telling her to be careful. She nodded slightly back at me before turning her attention to Krit. I had a bad feeling about this. It felt too much like I was saying goodbye. Lightning flashed across the sky, drawing my attention upwards again. I counted silently to myself as I waited for the thunder. When the rumble in the sky finally came, it sounded like a growl, a dark warning of something about to snap.
Alec's hand on my arm snapped me out of my ominous predictions. His eyes found mine and I read the silent question in them. I nodded in response, quickly pulling myself together and letting him know that I was okay. Still, he stared at me for another long moment before slowly dropping his hand from my arm and starting to walk down the street. I followed, walking silently by his side.
"So," Alec said suddenly after a few minutes of quiet, almost startling me with his voice, "Kira and Krit, huh?"
I almost laughed out loud at Alec's out-of-the-blue comment. Trust Alec to keep me distracted from getting overly wound up.
"I guess so." I agreed.
Alec leaned in close to my ear without stopping our movement down the street, "We're a way hotter couple."
I rolled my eyes, "Are you even paying attention?"
Alec looked surprised that I'd even ask that question, "Of course. I'm multi-tasking."
"How much farther, you think?"
"Can't be too far. Sewers should have taken us most of the way."
"Think there's more Familiars out here?"
"With our luck, probably." Alec suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes looking somewhere over my head. I stopped, too, turning my head to follow his gaze and spotted a hover drone coming down the street. I turned back to Alec, who quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me over into a nearby phone booth, "Stupid hover drones."
"You think they put heat sensors on them yet?" I asked.
"Hope not." Alec replied, but he didn't seem too optimistic.
As soon as the hover drone had passed, he lead me back to the street. He was moving much quicker than we had been previously. I stepped up my own pace to keep up with him. More thunder erupted overhead. I wondered how much longer before rain started coming down, hoping that the storm would work for us and not against us.
"Hey!"
Alec and I both whipped around at the sound of a voice yelling. I relaxed when I saw Max running toward us. Alec remained tense, probably because of the pissed off look on her face. She quickly reached us and didn't waste any time punching Alec in the stomach.
"You jackass!" she growled.
"Hi, Max." Alec gave her a pained smile.
"Can't you stick to a plan for once in your life?" Max demanded, "I'm in charge of this party, remember?"
"Ah, I thought we were just one big, happy family."
"Guys." I try, feeling antsy to keep this moving.
"Alec, we can't afford any…"
"Any screw-ups? 'Cause that's what I do, right?"
"Guys." I interceded again.
Traffic seemed to be getting heavier as the sky darkened and my instincts were screaming at me to keep moving. With Familiars likely coming the city and a hover drone that may or may not have tipped us off, we couldn't afford to stay in one spot.
"Alec, we don't have time for this!"
"No shit, Max! So lay off and let's do this."
"God, I hate you!"
"Guys!" I yelled, drawing way too much attention. I quickly lowered my voice, glaring at the people staring until they continued about their business, "Not here, not now. Let's go."
Both Alec and Max looked stunned that I'd yelled at them, but it seemed to get through to them because we all continued down the street. I caught Kira looking back at me from further up the road. She gestured a question at me. I shook my head back at her and gestured at Max. She nodded and turned her attention back to her side of the street.
After a few more minutes of awkward silence from my group, the end was in sight.
"You guys set up here and I'll take care of the check point." Max said quickly before taking off.
Alec opened his mouth and raised a hand as if he was going to yell something after her, but just shook his head and let his hand fall back to his side. The first few drops of cold rain struck my skin.
"Alec." I drew his attention to me, "Where do you want to set up camp?"
Alec examined the area before his eyes traveled upwards. I followed his gaze to the top of the building next to us. A fire escape along the side provided quick access to the stop and from there we could keep an eye on the whole street and the alleys leading up to it nearby.
"Care to be my sniper buddy again?" he asked.
"Gee, Alec. Are you asking me out on a date?" I teased, knowing I'd need to keep his mind off of worrying about Max too much, something their argument had not helped with.
"Dating Manticore style." Alec quipped as we headed into the alley to climb the fire escape, "After you."
I headed up the ladder, glancing down at Alec as he followed. The rain was starting to come down harder now, making the rusty bars slick. I decided not to push it by climbing too fast and instead stuck to being careful. A stupid mistake was the last thing we needed tonight.
Once on the roof, I pushed my slick hair out of my face and moved over to the ledge. Alec followed me and we both crouched near the edge and looked over.
"Alec, I've got a feeling…" I started to voice my apprehension.
"Me, too." Alec interrupted. He looked at me and offered me another one of his cocky grins, but for some reason it didn't cheer me up as much as usual. Still, it didn't matter how much I might doubt that this would work. It was my job to help make sure that it happened regardless.
"Hey, there's the first couple of ours." Alec pointed out, nodding towards a couple walking down the street.
I followed his line of sight and noticed two transgenics whom I had handed weapons to earlier. They were moving fast and seemed too openly nervous for my liking, but what could I do about it?
"Hey, is that Logan?" I asked, noticing a dusty blue SUV moving slowly down the street after our people.
Alec glanced at the car, "Sure is. Looks like Logie dropped by after all."
I trailed Logan's car with my eyes, noticing him scanning the streets, probably for Max.
"You see Max?" I asked, squinting down the road at the checkpoint.
"Uh…I think so. Well, either that's Max or a hot sector cop." Alec pointed out, gesturing at the cop waving people through the checkpoint who had a familiar haircut and figure.
A small smile flickered across my face at Max's ingenuity. Disguised as a sector cop, manning the checkpoint, she could not only get our people through with minimal fuss, she could listen in on the police radio at the same time. Nice work on her part.
I turned my attention back to the street. Rain was coming down with increasing steadiness, but it didn't seem to discourage the night crowd on the street. The next few transgenics that I spotted didn't seem to stand out too horribly as the moved quickly past. They mostly looked like people looking to get out of the rain. My eyes followed them closely until they reached Max at the checkpoint.
"Hey, look. Working girls." Alec distracted me, pointing down to the sidewalk below us.
"So?" I asked, curious despite myself why he felt the need to point them out.
"So I can see down their tops from here." Alec grinned, making a point to leer over the edge.
I shook my head at him, "God, Alec, you're so…"
I couldn't finish my thought as a black car caught my attention. It was moving slowly, too slowly down the street towards us. Focusing on the windshield, I caught a glimpse of the driver and, more importantly, the passenger next to him.
"Shit." I breathed.
"What?" Alec demanded, all humor forgotten.
For some reason I couldn't seem to speak, so I merely gestured at the car, feeling sick to my stomach as I realized how sideways this was all about to go. Familiars in the sewers trying to kill us, I could handle. Ames White pulling up on our escape route, I could handle. But Ames White pulling up with my own personal anti-Christ riding shotgun was not something I could stomach at the moment. This could not be happening.