-5-

"All right," said John. "What's our status?"

"South west wing, secure – I guess these would be all the residential quarters, bunkers and recreational activities. No signs of life." Genghis said.

"North wing secure." Bazooka answered.

"Acknowledged. Nothing out west."

"The base looks pretty clean at the moment." Came Gryffin's voice.

"Sandman, you get those shaft cams, online yet?" Genghis said.

"No sir – nothing I'm doing from here seems to work. Hobbit could be right – we may need to try their control boxes."

"Reaper, you think those sewers can wait till tomorrow?"

"If there's any life down there it could resurface."

"Affirmative. Can't risk it. Okay – Gamgee, Dr. Grimm."

"Yes?" "Sarge?" Gamgee and Sam spoke simultaneously.

"Are y'all in Archaeology?"

"Affirmative, sarge." "Yes, sergeant."

"Get started. Gamgee, you keep your eyes and ears open, you hear?"

"Affirmative, sarge."

"Dr. Grimm?"

"Yes, sergeant."

"Anything, out of the ordinary…"

John felt like telling her the same thing. He felt inhibited about leaving her – but Genghis had assured him that he'd be more useful as a marine rather than his sister's bodyguard. Gamgee would take care of her.

"Don't worry, sergeant. We'll be careful."

"Reaper, where do you want to start, sewers, vents or shafts?"

"Sewers." He replied instantly.

"Gryffin, any ideas?"

"Basement of each quarter has a backdoor into the sewers."

"Poet? You wanna stay up there?"

"Primary survey of the Ark shows no suspicious activity, sir. I think it's better if I come with you, before starting analytical."

"Okay, south-west wing, more, the merrier."

"Okay, here's what we do. Hobbit and Bazooka, start from north. Hobbit, look for the damn control boxes. Phoenix, Reaper, still in the west quarter?"

"Headed towards the basement, sergeant." John said.

"Then I guess you take it from the west. Poet and I have got south-west. If this is like any other building, it's bound to have a central connector – that's where we regroup. Understood?"

"Acknowledged."

Phoenix pushed the lever of the door twice. It didn't budge. John tried the command codes – it seemed activated but the door didn't move.

Without any warning she stepped back and swung her leg on the door. It creaked for a second. She did it again. It jerked open with a noisy groan.

John was never much of a conversationalist – but being around Phoenix was like sitting with the TV on mute. They seemed to be on either side of the screen. He didn't feel any curiosity towards her – but he had to admit the silence was driving him crazy. Throughout their scan of the west quarter, the only sign of acknowledgement she had given him was a flat nod indicating that it was clear.

He felt like saying, 'Nice style', when she kicked the door open, but decided against it. She'd probably ignore him, anyway.

Phoenix darted sleekly into the access strip, checking it around. She motioned to him and he followed in, shutting the door, behind him.

"These scanners," He heard Sam say as he watched Phoenix wind the lever of the rusty metallic door. "How effective are they for detecting signatures?"

"98 percent." He heard Poet's voice.

"What about that 2 percent?" He said.

"The problem with organic life forms is that the electromagnetic energy released by the cells is variable. We can't account for that."

John sighed and nodded back at Phoenix when she gestured if she should go in first. Keeping her gun, firmly fixed on her shoulder she crouched into the exit. John followed her.

It was pitch black – and the stench of the sewers hit his nostrils so hard he nearly threw up his lunch. He could barely see Phoenix's form descending down the steps – her boots made a soft noise as she stepped down the rickety stairs. Then, he heard the soft splash of her body entering water. He joined her soon; when he saw that the water was up to his calves and whispered. "The water's been stagnating for longer than a year. Is your suit intact?"

She nodded.

"If you feel even as much as a drop, touching your skin, Phoenix, you get out of here, am I understood."

In the light of his torch, her saw her grey eyes glint when she turned to look at him curiously.

"That's an order." He said, raising his eyebrows.

She neither moved nor showed any expression.

He gave in. "A –" he whispered in explanation. "You don't wanna risk any infection, chemical exposure – this was a research facility. No idea what might be crawling down here."

He paused. She nodded.

"B – If there's a rip somewhere on your clothes – that means you have some wound. Even if it is just the tiniest scratch – and there are things that can smell your body fluids – even if you don't see them oozing out."

She nodded and continued on forward, gun in position.

John shook his head and followed her; he kept one hand ready on the handle of his gun, and held the scanner in the other, scanning the area in coordination with her. He realized as they went forward – that the maximum sound of water was made by him. She moved fluidly through it – making only as much sound as a water current.

She really was good at this. As they came at a two-way, she turned to him again. In the torchlight he saw the question on her face.

He nodded, before answering, "The sewage looks clear. Usual chemicals, no bio-hazardous stuff. I think this water was because of an accumulated leak. Or maybe the outlet is clogged."

She nodded and then pointed to the left way. He agreed with her and they took that line.

Every ten minutes, Genghis would demand a report on the comm, and every time they would hear uneventful reports. John felt an eerie feeling as they proceeded down this path. He wondered if it was just because they were in a closed dark space or was it something else.

After an hour they found themselves on a dry area. John scanned the floor and turned around. The water was draining into a large defect in the wall.

"Where do you think that goes?"

He was startled again. Mentally making a note that she did have a tongue and she would speak – albeit less often, he turned to her and said, "There's an underground stream that leads to the reservoir. It could go there."

She nodded and then nudged her gun in the forward direction.

He nodded and they proceeded.

"I can't find any cams out here." He heard Hobbit said.

"None, I can see here." Came Poet's voice.

John had noticed the same too, but he was still on the look out. It seemed that there was no surveillance in the sewers. It wasn't unusual – UAC began to increase their surveillance range only after Olduvai.

"But why aren't there any schematics?" He heard Phoenix say.

"Hunted the entire database," Gryffin's voice came over the comm. "Not even a deleted filename."

"That's odd." She said, more to herself than anyone else.

John frowned for two seconds. What was it about her accent?

"You're not American, are you?" He said.

She gave him an inexpressive look.

"What are you? Australian?"

She didn't reply, instead moved on. He wondered if he had just imagined that he had asked a question.

"Come on, Phoenix! It's not like a national security threat if you tell me that much."

"She's Irish. At least, she used to be," Gryffin's voice was heard. "And word of advice, when she doesn't reply to you, it mean's she never gonna answer."

"Thanks, Gryffin." John muttered sarcastically. He decided that he was not going to attempt any more small talk.

Phoenix groped along a wall and found something. She pulled it. A small light came on.

John felt something. The hair behind his neck stood up on end. There was something behind them. His instincts were hardly, if ever, wrong - and after Olduvai they were as good as perfect. He extended his hand out to still Phoenix as she fidgeted with the scanner. She understood and became immobile.

There was a sound – something moving in the water.

John looked to his feet – they were still in a dry area. His pulse began to race. Phoenix deftly moved around him, aiming her gun at the direction he was looking at.

Thump!

It was behind them. Swiftly, both guns swung around to the opposite side. John tapped Phoenix on her shoulder. He motioned to her in the forward direction and then gestured that he would take the side behind.

She nodded and went, her body crouching like a cat about to pounce. John turned to the side behind – proceeding towards the drain. The sound of their drenched boots squeaking distracted him. His breathing slowed.

He pirouetted back when a noise which sounded like a squeal was heard in direction in which Phoenix had gone.

"Phoenix!" he whispered urgently into his comm.

"I heard it." Came the reply.

John froze. Something snarled behind him, he flipped back with his gun aimed at whatever it was. He could see nothing. Taking a deep breath he turned off the flashlight.

There was a sound of splashing – like someone taking big steps into the water. He cocked his gun.

"Here kitty, kitty," he whispered.

A bone chilling shrill screech came from behind him. He flattened himself against the concave wall and pulled out his pistol.

"Phoenix!" He whispered.

No response. He didn't dare calling her name again. There was a sweeping sound. He ducked as something dark and wide flew at him from above – without waiting to see what it was he fired one whole round.

"KEEAAAAAAAAAAYYYYAAAAAAHH!" The screech became louder as whatever it was turned around and flew back at him. John fired again. This time he kept the trigger pressed.

Something bigger than the flying thing came splashing out of the water. He backed away and aimed his chain gun at the large thing.

He heard a large roar as it pounced.

Bang! Bang! Bang! He deflected it. It retreated a couple of seconds and rebounded at him.

"Reaper, Goddamn it! What's going on? Phoenix!"

The comms crackled – John didn't bother to reply. The flying thing darted over his head, flapping its wings. The growl suddenly decreased in intensity. John fell back, firing rounds at the bird or whatever it was as it swept on to him. None of the bullets seem to hit it. A sharp pain hit his cheek. Fuck! It had scratched him!

There was a low whistle followed by a loud bang and the bird screeched louder than normal and recoiled from him. He felt some liquid substance dropping on his face as the flapping sound violently pulled away from him. It was shot by a gun that didn't belong to him.

The bird and the beast flew backwards away. He heard running footsteps and scrambled to get up.

Phoenix caught his arm as he steadied himself. She aimed her torch into his face and said, "What the fuck was that?"

"I don't know – but it was no bat!" He wiped the liquid from his eyes. She caught his face and checked his wound.

"You have a scratch," she said, examining his cheek.

"Damn thing nearly gouged my eyes out!"

"Reaper! Phoenix – what the…" Genghis's sound was interrupted by a scream that sounded like Hobbit. There was a crackle that sounded like gun fire. John and Phoenix exchanged one look and then ran towards their location.

"Gryffin, where are they?" John screamed into the comm..

"Turn to your left, you'll reach the pipeline to where they are." Gryffin said.

They ran fluidly through the pipes, guided more by instinct rather than the slim torchlight.

John nearly collided into Phoenix when she skidded to a halt. A blue light illuminated the central connector. John moved to her side and found Genghis standing over a dark lump on the ground. He scanned around with his light and found Hobbit leaning against the wall breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" he said.

Hobbit nodded and wheezed, pointing towards the sergeant.

"Big fucking bird," Genghis muttered when Phoenix touched his arm.

John came forward and shone the light on the creature.

A vulture lay dead on the ground.

----

"That's not a vulture," Samantha said as she grabbed John's face to still it. "It's a condor."

"What the hell is a condor doing in Nevada? I thought they were South American birds!" Gamgee said, as he brought the scalpel to take the bird apart.

John winced as she dotted some antiseptic on the wound. He looked beyond his sister to find Phoenix sitting with her pants pulled up to her knee. She was cleaning a small bruise.

"How'd you get that?" John said, hissing as Sam inserted a needle into his vein.

"That thing caught me off guard." She said in a matter of fact tone.

"Check her." John said, grimacing as Sam pulled the needle out.

"I will –" she said, "in a minute"

"I'm fine." Phoenix said, not looking up.

"You might be infected with something – we don't know why that condor was here." Sam said, as she picked up another needle for Phoenix.

Phoenix twitched her mouth in a way that suggested she wanted to make a face, but she did not protest.

"I'm telling you, there was something else down there." John said, rubbing the exhaustion out of his eyes.

"Oh right! The big bad monster!" Genghis mocked. Then he became serious. "Look, Reaper. The scans showed only one life form and we killed it. Phoenix was right next to you and she didn't see it."

John rolled his eyes.

"She wouldn't be the best judge," He said. "I mean, she herself said, she was taken aback by that thing. And we heard noises in two directions."

He looked at Phoenix who shrugged.

"Okay – so what? We go and find the great sea monster – excuse me – drain monster?"

Phoenix made a face. John completely agreed with her sentiment. Genghis really could be a pain in the ass.

"I'm just saying, keep your eyes and ears open."

"The sewers have been locked out, Reaper. There's no way anything in out there is getting in. Hobbit even set up thermal scans – we'll know if something comes up."

John felt that prickly thing at the back of his neck. He rubbed it and shook his head. "Why the fuck are you being so defensive, anyway Genghis?" John said.

"We've been here twelve hours – the only thing that seems to be going on in this fucked up base is the goddamn air-conditioning!"

John had noticed the increasing stuffiness which according to Gryffin was because the coolants had expired.

"I just think that beacon might have died out."

"What about the satellites?"

"Smith said they can't get through to HQ. Might be some general interference."

"But what?"

"How the fuck should I know? It's known to happen. There's a storm coming up."

John looked at him in annoyance. "What are you saying? Past one month – that interesting shaped satellite picture was because of a goddamn storm that's been brewing that long? Would you just listen to yourself, Genghis?"

"Look, all I know is that I have a mission and frankly – it's not been much of a revealer except for some damned South American hawk."

John was about to say something when Smith's voice was heard over the comm. "Sarge, we have communication with HQ. You better get up here, it doesn't look like its going to last very long."

Genghis didn't bother waiting. He picked up his guns and stalked out. John sighed. He had to admit – if all their sophisticated equipments were to be trusted, this base really had nothing out of the ordinary.

Except maybe a possible demon in the sewers.

-----

A/n:

Enyo: thank you so much. You helped me clear my writers block

Others: please review, I really thrive on them

Also: please forgive me any typing errors, I promise you they were honest mistakes