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Into the Depths: Part 3

Heavy, static-filled breaths permeated the cramped air as Din and the Rebel made their way through the tunnel. It wasn't as wide as the manufactured passegways, and sharp rocks protruded from the walls and ceiling, making the passage that much more harrowing.

The kid was having an easy time weaving in and out of the small outlet, easily avoiding the rocks. It toddled into the occasional puddle, splashing about in the water before hopping out and trundling onwards.

The Rebel's modulator continued reverberating thick, strained breath as they ducked and crawled through the rapidly narrowing tunnel.

"Were you injured?" Din asked.

"I'm fine," the Rebel barked, awkwardly shuffling forward while trying not to put any weight on their slung arm. "Just...not overly thrilled about cramped spaces."

It could be a bluff, Din thought. Why would a merc sent to kill him admit to being further injured after all? This truce only lasted for as long as they both proved useful to one another. Still, as Din watched the Rebel scrabbling through the rocky tunnel their discomfort seemed genuine. They reached a fork in the passage and without missing a beat the Rebel tilted her head to the right. "This way."

"How can you be so sure?" but the kid was already following along after them.

"Just a feeling."

It wasn't like he had a better idea of which way might lead them out, and crawling through this blasted tunnel left him with little energy to argue. Sure enough, after a few minutes of scraping by they emerged from the crevice into a wider cavern. The Rebel stretched out, "That's better."

They were standing by an underground lake. Strange crystalline structures wove up out of the ground connecting to other crystals growing down from the roof of the cave. All around them was the steady drip of water. It was almost peaceful.

"Hey, get out of there!" Din shooed the kid out of one of the bigger puddles. "You don't know what's in there."

"Cute kid," The Rebel remarked. "Worth all the trouble its caused?"

"So far." Din did not like the way the merc was looking at the child. In all the chaos it had been easy to forget they were still only allies of convenience. The minute they set foot above ground he had to be ready to shoot to kill. This one was crafty. They'd have some kind of plan in mind.

"Loyalty." They said the word with extreme derision. The modulator's cheery disposition somehow made the disgust more evident.

"I don't expect a merc to understand that."

"Nah, I don't. Loyalty gets ya killed and I like living, thanks," The Rebel gave a little mock bow, walking backwards while balancing over a natural rock bridge as they made their way across one of the crystal water pools.

Din swallowed his own venom towards the merc. Time enough to settle things, even if he was itching for that fight now. The water rumbled around them, nearly throwing both him and the Rebel off balance into the pool. Din took a step in front of the child as a vicious water serpent emerged, scaled mouth hissing into the darkness, spiked prongs emerging near its throat.

The Rebel whirled about, firing off two blaster shots at the thing in quick succession to little effect. The creature gave a nearly silent, high-pitch screech before opening it's fanged jaws wide and going into a dive directly for them. Din snatched the kid up and bolted to the right while the Rebel went left.

"Hey slimey, down here!" the Rebel made a show of waving their arms about. The creature took the bait instantly and slithered after them. Din fired off his cable, wrapping it around the serpent's neck.

In a contest of pure strength Din was bound to lose. Din pulled with all his might. The serpent flared its gills, wriggled, and opened its mouth in a furious hiss as the air was choked from it. "Gotcha, beasty," The Rebel said, firing another blast down the creatures throat where the shot bypassed the armored scaled entirely.

The serpent let out one long gurgle before going limp. Din released his grip, snapping the cord back into his vambrace. Smoke curled up from the mouth of the beast as it slipped back underwater. "I really hate caves, have I said that yet?" The Rebel shuddered, holstering their blaster.

"Quick thinking," Din pointed out, wiping water from his beskar and setting a struggling kid back down on the crystal bridge path where he ran off after the Rebel.

"You, too."

"Who trained you?"

"Life," The Rebel's modulator gave a static laugh. "Not all of us get to be fancy Mandalorian warriors."

"You fight smart for a merc. I can only say that about a handful I've met. Most are just brute force," Din replied.

"Is that a compliment?" The Rebel turned about on their heel, hand outstretched at their side as if they were holding the train of an invisible dress and curtsying properly. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Mando. I'll still kill you once I see daylight."

"So...if we emerge and it's night?"

"Shut up and walk."

Din was starting to lose track of time. It had to have been at least half a day if not more that they were down here. Exhaustion was going to start creeping in soon. He glanced over at the Rebel, still gamely walking on, climbing over the occasional ledge. They didn't seem to show any sign of fatigue. So neither would he.

At every turn the merc seemed to know their heading.

"How do you do that?" he finally broke down and asked as they pointed down a left facing passage.

"Do what?"

"Decide which tunnel to take? They all look the same to me. And don't say it's 'just a feeling.'"

"Fine. Air smells fresher down this path. Keep walking in the direction you can feel or smell fresh air and before you know it you'll be out of any tunnel."

But the air felt more or less the same to him as they walked into another passage. The crystalline spires had faded away back to granite, and the damp went along with them. Suddenly the Rebel gave a little hop-skip, jumping and pointing with her good hand. "Hah! Do you see that?!"

Din followed her line of sight towards a distant bright point. "Light."

"Too damn right! That's our way out. Charge up your blaster, Mando. I wanna get this over with."

The Rebel couldn't see the wry look that passed over Din's face. They were scraped, bruised, covered in cave-muck, and had one arm in a crude sling, but still they were confident this would be an easy fight. Even after he had beaten them in their last encounter. They took off down the path at double speed.

It was then the ground rolled under the feet, stopping them dead.

"Earthquake?" Din hazarded.

The Rebel shook her head. "Maybe. We caused a lot of damage in that factory, some of it was built into the walls of these caves."

Another roll, this one nearly knocking Din right into the Rebel. "Let's just get out of here."

Not needing to be told twice, Din matched the Rebel's pace. The kid wouldn't be able to keep up with them at this rate and he looked down to scoop the child up. Only it wasn't there. Din whirled about, swiveling his headlight to find where it could be. The light fell on the kid as it was trundling over to a small pocket of multi-colored crystals etched into a rockwall. The colors must have caught its attention.

The cave rumbled and shook, a couple of rocks rolled down from the walls. The shaking grew more violent, throwing Din's balance off. He saw one of the columns crumbling near the kid even as he ran towards him, arms outstretched.

"Hey kid, look out!"

The Rebel had been further ahead of him and went tearing straight into the child, skidding to the side and forcibly pushing it out of harm's way as the column collapsed in a shower of rubble. It gave Din enough time to snatch the startled child up in his arms. He pressed himself into a mostly solid wall, throwing his arms up over both himself and the child as the cavern continued to roar and shake, jarring more rocks and boulders loose.

After a few moments the shaking ceased and Din was able to uncurl himself, brushing off bits of gravel. "That was close," he said, checking the child over for any injuries. "Don't wander off like that, ok womp rat?" The kid gave a small babble of understanding, its ears were pointed down in chastisement.

"I think I owe you some thanks," Din straightened and turned about, "if you hadn't been—"

But the Rebel wasn't standing behind him. There only a pile of rocks and stone, and where his light fell he could see one gloved arm, halfway out of the ruin. Instinct made him dash forward to help, but he slowed as he approached.

This was a lucky break! If the Rebel was pinned under the rocks they weren't going to prove a problem anymore. The gloved hand twitched and flexed under the rubble, a barely audible moan coming from underneath.

He hesitated, reaching out to shift some of the rocks only to pull back. His Creed did not say anything about aiding a known enemy. He already had enough trouble. And this was no helpless babe in a crib. "Let's go," he said to the kid.

The child gave a loud, affronted cry and slapped his tiny claws on one of the rocks. "C'mon," he urged again.

The child hit the rocks giving another indignant cry. "Look, I know this is hard to understand, but it's better this way. Let's go," be bent down to take the kid's hand.

It wrenched himself out of his grip and slapped the rock again with a little 'bap' of insistence. Its eyes scrunched up, insistently, ears wiggling. Din sighed heavily. "Guess you do technically owe them a life-debt." Was he imagining things or did the kid actually give a nod at that?

He had to stop making choices that would get him killed. With a groan of annoyance he grabbed one of the rocks, throwing it off the pile of rubble. The kid's ears perked up at the action. He did not need the validation of a child! But he kept shifting the rubble until the merc was unburied.

The Rebel gave a gurgling cough. Their helmet was smashed, the respirator broken and leaking air. He reached down to pull it off when he found himself with a blaster aimed at his head. "Don't...try...it…"

"That thing is going to suffocate you, idiot. You're not a Mandalorian, take it off."

It was hard for the Rebel to get words out around the broken respirator. The modulator was busted as well, it gave them a distorted, multi-toned sound. "Why...help?"

"Don't ask," Din grunted, hauling the Rebel up over one shoulder and hoisting them out of the rocks. They were surprisingly light. Din carried them into the wider part of the cavern, away from the walls. He couldn't be sure there wouldn't be another tremor, but the point of light was so far distant there was no way he could carry them all the way there. He dumped them onto the ground where they gave an audible grunt of pain.

The wheezing from the respirator was intolerable. "Stay here, I'm going to find something to get a camp built." Not that there was anywhere the Rebel could go. Din watched in surprise as the kid voluntarily sat next to the merc. They looked over at it through the cracked lens of their pilot's helmet, but kept their blaster trained on him.

It didn't take him long to pull over a few rocks suitable for benches. He made a ring of gravel and stones before setting down a firerod he had in his pack. It wasn't much and they had no food or blankets to speak of, but at least they could have a little warmth and light while he figured out their next steps.

The Rebel was in the same position he had left them. As the fire grew a little more substantial they painfully inched their way closer. "Still think you can take me in a fight?" Din couldn't help but taunt. The Rebel said nothing.

"Look, you're gonna need a medic when we get out of here and I...owe you for saving the kid's life."

At the mention of the child it put it's claws around the merc's arm, blinking serenely up at them. "What's...it...doing?"

Oh, he should have known. The Rebel tried to pull back, but was too weak to move. The wheezing in their respirator picked up on their panic. With no more modulator to hide their emotions there wasn't any static to drown out their small grunts of panic and distress. That kid had too good of heart. The little one's eyes closed, forehead crinkling up as it concentrated on whatever magic it possessed before it fell backwards with a thump, completely passed out. As usual. Sighing, Din went over to collect the kid, wrapping him in his cloak and tucking him against his arms. He'd sleep for at least a couple of hours now.

"What?" The Rebel repeated, sitting up, a hand over their chest, feeling down what Din could only imagine had been a broken rib cage a moment ago. "What the—" their broken arm was moving again too and they threw the sling away from them as if it was on fire. They continued to check over their other limbs as if they had all been replaced with prosthetics. Din was almost amused by their shocked antics before remembering the kid had just leveled the playing field for their inevitable fight.

"What the…" with a low snarl the Rebel tore the broken helmet and respirator off their face. "What the hell did that thing do to me?!"

He had been expecting a number of things, but not the face that greeted him once that helmet had been removed. The Rebel's skin was albino, completely devoid of all color, almost translucently moonbeam white against the fire. Her eyes were equally light, nearly the same pale white as her skin save for a few flecks of metallic gray. Short, mussed silver hair fell in front of her face, stopping just under her eyes. Her mouth was curled in an accusatory rage revealing sharp rows of teeth. And without the modulator Din could hear the husky, emotive edge to her voice.

"It does that," Din looked down at his charge, bouncing it a little as it slept. "I couldn't explain how even if I wanted to. But I think it was trying to repay you for saving its life."

She was breathing hard, fury burning in her unnaturally colorless eyes. She tried to stand but slipped backed down on shaking legs. "Yeah, it can heal, but it can't restore all your strength. Rest up. Our truce still holds until we reach the surface." He didn't need to tell her he almost left her buried under the cave.

She sat back, propping herself up on one of the rocks, blaster still in hand. "Guess I really have to kill you now," she said, still breathing hard. "Can't have you going around telling people what I look like...bad for business." When she smiled her teeth bared themselves. She must have filed a few of them down to points. He had likened her to a vornksr before, he just hadn't realized how right he had been.

"You're Arkaninan." He hadn't encountered many of the elusive people. Most of them weren't in the guild or in the merc business. Scientists. Usually holed up in labs.

"No," the answer was torn from her throat with horrid derision. "I am not."

"Oh," Din shifted uncomfortably. He could have sworn— "My mistake."

The merc blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, arms folding over her knees. She kicked out at the busted pilot's helmet. "Took me months to find that. Now what am I gonna use?"

"You weren't a soldier for the Rebellion?" Alright, he was officially confused.

The Rebel turned those colorless eyes on him. "You think I look like the 'sacrifice your life for the Cause' type? Pff."

Not Arkanian, not a rebel after all. The woman was as much of a ghost as her appearance. "Then who are you?"

"Is this an interrogation?" The merc raised a silver eyebrow. "Should have left me injured if you wanted some leverage, Mando."

"It's a conversation," Din specified. "Not much else to do while this guy sleeps and you can't walk."

"Well stop."

No wonder she used a vocal modulator. Her voice gave away absolutely everything. Volatile, brusque, and full of quick emotion. The helmet, too. She radiated disquiet and anxiety from her huddled posture, to her fast flickering eyes and the snapping growl buried low in her voice. Din shrugged. He didn't need to talk if she wasn't game.

The silence was only occasionally interrupted by the tremors in the caverns. Each time one rolled in the merc braced to run, only to uncoil when the tremor rolled past. Din had set up camp in the most central space in the wide tunnel he could think of. Wouldn't do much good if the entire cave itself collapse, however. He looked down at the sleeping kid. If it didn't wake up in the next hour he'd have no choice but to take his chances.

In that hour he watched as the Rebel made a concentrated effort to get herself back on her feet. She rose on shaking legs, holding herself against one of the larger rocks. Her knees knocked together at one point and she almost toppled. With a curse she righted herself again and began to hobble around the small camp, stretching her formerly broken arm at the same time. Din had never seen the kid heal more than a few bad gashes and cuts. Judging from how the Rebel was moving, he wondered if she still had a sprain or broken bone or two in one of her legs she was determined to trick him into thinking was also healed.

"How long have you been a merc?" he decided to try for questions again, his curiosity getting the better of him. She looked young. Not so young as to hint at inexperience—her skills certainly put that debate to rest—but she only had a few faint scars to suggest a full vet in the business. At least what he could see.

"Still trying?" she scoffed, bringing her left arm around her chest, swinging it out and trying a few experimental draws of her blaster. That was good. Now Din knew she was ambidextrous. Maybe that's where some of the bravado about their fight had come from. One arm down wouldn't have necessarily stopped her at all. She exhaled sharply as she came down from the stretch.

"Fifteen," she finally said. "Assisted with a crew then, went my own way around twenty."

"So, how old—"

"Rude."

He laughed, but fifteen was young for the trade. He'd seen a few younger hunters and merc in his time...most didn't make it. The kid stirred in his arms and he looked down to see it blink up at him briefly, before rolling over and fitting itself near the crook of his arm and settling down again, fingers curled around the bit of shirt it could find between the plates of his beskar.

"Time to go, Mando," the Rebel said, standing over him.

They had stalled long enough. Din rose to his feet, kicking gravel and dust over the fire to douse it. Shifting the kid in his arms and slinging his amban rifle over one shoulder he fell into step alongside the merc. She was still limping as they walked, and with no helmet on he could see her trying to hide a grimace.

She wasn't going to give him much choice, but Din had to admit...he wasn't going to enjoy what was about to come next. It would have been easier leaving her behind in the rubble.

"Hey," his voice was soft through his own modulator. "What's your name?"

"You gonna tell me yours?" In the silence that followed she smirked, "Didn't think so."

The light had been further away than either of them thought. By the time they approached a small opening in the cave the merc was covered in sweat and her limp had gotten worse. Her eyes never lost that determined, focused glare, however. And whatever pain she was in didn't stop her from slamming her body full force into the rock-covered opening to widen the exit.

Rubble shifted and spilled outward as they crawled through the opening. Din blinked fast against the light of day. They were on the other side of the canyon now, and the sun was in much the same position it had been when he had been first sucked down through the underground. A day must have passed.

He pulled out his blaster, leveling it at the woman who was holding her own out at him. With his other hand he held the kid as far back against his armor as he could. The merc curled her fingers around the blaster, her triggerfinger wrapping and unwrapping. Those colorless eyes flashed with merciless certainty.

He had her. She could fire first if she wanted, it wouldn't matter. That blaster she was carrying wasn't strong enough to tear through his beskar. But he'd cut her down in a second.

Maybe she had noticed the unfavorable odds as well, because to Din's immense surprise she lowered her blaster. "Get going, Mando," she said. "Consider this your headstart before I change my mind."

There was more honor to this merc than met the eye. Din slowly lowered his blaster until he was certain this wasn't a trap. "This isn't a mercy," she was very clear to say. "But I owe that kid a debt for what it did. I pay upfront. Next time, no such luck."

"Noted," Din holstered the blaster. "Enjoy your deathwish."

She fired so fast Din had no time to react. The first shot spun off to his left, just singing the very edge of his cape, the second landed right at the tip of his boots, and the last edged so close to the side of his helmet he could almost feel the flash-fire of the shot. His blaster was back out in seconds while she laughed, twirling her weapon and re-holstering it. "Zethu Desh," she said, turning her back on him and walking away.

"What?" Din's voice had a hard bite of steel to it as he absorbed the outrage of the merc's sudden fire. Was this her idea of a joke?

"My name," She raised a hand behind her, giving him a mock salute high in the air. "It's Zethu Desh. See ya around, Mando. Next time I won't miss."

A/N: So we've finally learned a bit more about our mysterious OC! You'll learn her story in bits and pieces over the course of this fic, but if your curious as to why Din thought she was Arkanian and feeling impatient, you an always check out the wiki entry for the species to take a guess as to why. ;) Could be a few days before I get a chance to write the next piece so please consider leaving a review in the meanwhile. You are all fantastic readers!