Both Schezar and Marianne looked up as the Idiot shouted and leapt into the spillway. Meryl grabbed Milly and yanked her back around the corner and out of sight. She swore through her teeth.
Idiot! Idiot, Idiot, Idiot!
"We need to get down there, now!" Meryl hissed to Milly.
A gunshot echoed through the cavern and both women gasped and flung themselves around the corner again. Everything seemed frozen for a moment and Meryl held her breath, not at all sure what had happened.
A high-pitched scream reached her ears—Marianne? No, the woman was still propped up on one elbow, staring open-mouthed at the Idiot. It was the Idiot, Meryl realized. She felt a sudden stab of fear; was he shot? She couldn't much stand the man, but she didn't want him dead.
No, he seemed fine, but then...
"I don't understand, what happened?" Milly voiced Meryl's thoughts.
"You—you dodged the bullet?" Schezar demanded, sounding shocked.
"He did what?" squeaked Meryl, despite herself.
"Damn you!" Schezar shouted, opening fire again.
"We have to get down there!" Meryl said, turning and desperately searching for some means to do so. Her eyes fell on the gated elevator at the mouth of the tunnel and she ran to it. It was locked out by a wiring box with a code pad on the wall, about her shoulder-height. No time for finesse here... Meryl stepped out of the way and pointed at the box.
"Milly—"
"Way ahead of you, Ma'am," said Milly, already hefting her stun-gun over her head. She brought the heavy weapon down hard to smash into the control box. Meryl shielded her face as sparks burst from the resulting exposed wiring in the wall.
The elevator gates slid open immediately, if somewhat jerkily, and they hurried inside. The cavern seemed to have only two levels and Meryl jabbed at the "GROUND" button. As the doors jerked shut again, Meryl heard shouting and the sudden rapid-fire report of another weapon.
"Shit!" Meryl said, slamming her palm repeatedly on the button. Her stomach leapt unexpectedly into her throat as the floor seemed to disappear beneath her feet, and she wondered if maybe she shouldn't have been so abusive to the button after all. But the elevator car around them slowed from a plummet to a fairly smooth stop at the bottom of the shaft and Meryl and Milly pulled the gates open and ran out to the factory floor.
Meryl's stomach did another quick flop as she inexplicably lost her balance again. Only by Milly's quick reflexes did she not end up on the ground, held up in the younger woman's strong grip.
"What the—"
The floor was covered in ice chips. A flash of red in the corner of her vision and Meryl turned to see the Idiot sprinting and leaping around the factory floor as Schezar fired—something at him, she couldn't tell what, but it was putting out a hell of a lot of bullets. Bricks of ice that had been stacked neatly along the wall were decimated into chunks or chips that spilled out all over the floor as Schezar's bullets tore into them.
Several yarz away, Marianne was still on the ground, now flat on her stomach, covering her head with her arms. Blood was starting to pool around her shoulder. Meryl had started to run toward the injured woman, but the Idiot was suddenly running (jumping, skipping, bouncing) in their direction and Schezar's aim turned to follow him.
"Milly, down!" Meryl shouted, and they both dropped to the floor, just in time. Bullets screamed over their heads and tore into the elevator's controls and open car. The machinery gave a pathetic whine and went dead.
Meryl wriggled across the floor on her stomach, elbows and knees slipping for purchase in the scattered ice, until she reached Marianne's side.
"Are you alright, Miss Marianne?" Milly asked, arriving at Meryl's elbow a moment later.
"It's—ah—" Marianne winced. "Pretty bad."
Meryl watched the woman's lilac eyes follow the Idiot's progress around the cavern, her lips pressed tight together and her expression one of complete incomprehension.
"Who... who the hell is this guy?" she asked Meryl.
"I wish to god I knew," Meryl replied, shaking her head. She helped Marianne sit up, careful not to jar her shoulder. Milly was already forming a makeshift sling from the marshal's jacket, leaving the injured arm in its sleeve and using the other to wrap around and hold it in place.
A series of clicking noises and resounding silence caught Meryl's attention.
"Goddamn you!" Schezar howled, out of ammunition. The Idiot was still in one piece, still standing, now grinning.
"I've protected your guest, as requested," he said, sweeping Schezar a grand bow. He then looked over to where the three women crouched together, giving them all a thumbs up. Milly returned the gesture. Meryl still had it in her to be annoyed at his cheek, but Marianne gasped suddenly and Meryl looked up from tending the woman's wound.
Some of Schezar's stray bullets had strafed one of the larger pieces of machinery during the one-sided gunfight and Meryl could see some of the plating knocked loose, inner workings mangled, wiring sparking as lively as the elevator controls had been on the upper level.
"You have got to be kidding me," breathed Meryl, eyes wide in disbelief.
"That—that's going to explode!" Schezar stammered, suddenly terrified. "That's the generator for the whole plant, if it—"
"Right, got it," Meryl interrupted, flooring the small man with a well-placed kick to the chest. She had heard all she needed at "explode." She looked up at the Idiot, asking, "Would you find something to tie him up with, please?"
The Idiot came to rigid attention and gave Meryl a salute before running off.
"But how do we get out?" Milly asked, worriedly. She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. "The elevator's fried."
"There's a way," Marianne began, panting slightly as Milly helped her carefully to her feet.
The Idiot reappeared with a length of rope and set about hog-tying Schezar, which did more than a little to ingratiate him some to Meryl.
Marianne nodded toward one end of the cavern, saying, "There's a tunnel entrance, a closed tunnel that drops down and levels out, back behind the last freezer."
"That's not a tunnel, that's the lake valve!" Schezar choked out from the ground. "Once the generator blows and takes out the water storage tanks, that'll drown us all! You idiot bitch, you think—"
"Gag him," Meryl growled, pointing furiously at Schezar. The Idiot looked pleased enough to comply and produced a grungy-looking sock from nowhere—what?—rolled it into a ball, and stuffed it into Schezar's mouth. The small man's face was turning about as red as the Idiot's jacket in his fury.
"About two hundred yarz from this entrance there's an access ladder that leads right up to the surface," Marianne continued. "I found it six days ago, it's how I got in here tonight." She let out a sharp cry as she jarred her shoulder. "Hell of a long climb, though," she muttered.
"It's alright, Miss Marianne," Milly assured her. "I can carry you, when we get there."
"I could carry her," the Idiot piped up, hopefully. He quailed under Meryl's scathing gaze. "Err... right. Nevermind. I'll carry him, then, shall I?" He pointed to Schezar.
Meryl nodded and the Idiot sighed resignedly, hefting Schezar over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. There was a particularly loud sizzling noise from the generator, then a pop! before it started smoking. Meryl winced. "Let's get the hell out of here," she said, ushering the whole group in the direction Marianne had pointed.
They made it across the factory floor without too much difficulty, though Meryl did slip on the ice once while trying to help Marianne through a particularly cluttered area. She landed hard on her ass and bit back a string of curses. The Idiot bent to help her to her feet on his way past, which Meryl would have appreciated more if he weren't giggling quite so loudly at her. She scowled. Her forehead ached.
When Marianne had said the tunnel "dropped," she had meant it.
"How did you even get out of there?" Meryl asked, looking down into the opening. It was pitch black, and what little light filtered down from the cavern showed a steep incline down into darkness.
"It's not that bad," Marianne said, gasping. "It's only down about seven or eight feet before it levels off."
"Only," muttered Meryl. Marianne was a foot taller than she was.
"I'll go down first and help you," Milly said. She clambered down and disappeared, out of sight. "Oh, it isn't so bad, I see." Her voice echoed back to them. "Miss Marianne, sit down at the edge and I'll catch you."
Meryl helped the woman to sit, and the Idiot came suddenly forward. He let Schezar fall unceremoniously from his shoulder and the bound and gagged man collapsed to the floor with a grunt and muffled cry of protest.
"Here," said the Idiot, kneeling. Meryl stepped back, surprised at his more level voice and (for once) non-comical expression. He grasped Marianne under the arms and lifted her off the edge, lowering her down until Milly could catch her waist and lower her the rest of the way. Meryl was impressed.
"Gah!" Marianne shouted suddenly. "You—!"
Meryl could see the woman's face turn back up to them for a moment before she disappeared into the dark, and she looked furious.
"Sorry!" called the Idiot, back to his usual idiotic grin. "My hand slipped!"
"Ma'am, you next!" called Milly, apparently oblivious to the exchange.
Meryl's eyes darted sideways to the Idiot.
"Your hands better not wander this time, or you will lose one," Meryl threatened. The Idiot actually laughed, genuinely. It was the first time Meryl had ever heard it, and it surprised her.
He put both hands out palms-up and shrugged. Meryl figured that was the best assurance she was going to get and sat down on the edge. She tensed slightly as his touch, but he lifted her as easily as though she were a kitten and handed her down to Milly without incident.
Glad to find herself with both feet on the ground again, and without being groped on the way down, Meryl turned to call up to the Idiot. He spoke before she could.
"Catch!" he called down, happily. There was a looming shape silhouetted in the light from above and Meryl squinted for a half-second before realizing the Idiot had just pitched Schezar down at her. She jumped out of the way just in time and Milly caught the man before he hit the ground.
"Mr. Vash!" Milly said, reproachfully. As the Idiot jumped down to join the rest of them, the ground shook in a sudden tremor and there was a series of clanking noises and small explosions from above.
"Hurry!" said Marianne, sharply. Meryl started jogging down toward the woman's voice even before her eyes adjusted to the dark. There was absolutely no light to be had, and she could only pray they didn't come up against some obstacle with no warning. Then a light burst to life, bright on her face, and she winced at the glare and shielded her eyes.
"Here, I have a flashlight," said someone, helpfully. Meryl couldn't see, still blinded, but she recognized the Idiot's voice. Meryl snatched the light out of his hands as her vision returned and pointed it toward Marianne. The marshal waved them all forward with her good hand and the Idiot scooped up Schezar again.
Their party moved at a hurried jog, not quite a run, limited to the injured woman's pace. Meryl could see a look of mingled pain and concentration set on Marianne's face, her teeth gritted together as the movement jarred her shoulder. Meryl took a moment to look at their surroundings. The cold, smooth metal walls on either side curved up and over their heads—inside a great iron pipe, she realized, tall enough for the Idiot to stand comfortably with a few iches to spare.
After several minutes Marianne stopped in her tracks and Meryl nearly bumped into her, darting sideways at the last moment, trying desperately not to touch the woman's injury.
"It must be around here," said Marianne, her face upturned. "The shaft leading up, it can't be far from here."
"I found it!" Milly said, excitedly. Meryl turned her flashlight on the younger woman and Milly pointed straight up.
Meryl hurried over. She craned her neck high to look up the service shaft and could see two moons shining nearly full in the sky. They lent some faint glow that lit the sides of the shaft and the iron rungs leading upward and Meryl gulped. She turned the flashlight skyward and the beam of light was swallowed up before it could reach the top.
"That is a hell of a climb," she said, unsure even what her estimate of the height might be. Even the moonslit circle of the mouth of the shaft didn't give her much of an idea.
"Took me almost five—ah!—five minutes coming down," Marianne said, clutching her shoulder. "But now with my shoulder, and him tied up..."
"We can untie him," Meryl said, thinking quickly. "We'll lash you to Milly's back with the rope, and just make Schezar climb up on his own. Between two of us," she added. "So he can't go anywhere."
"Good plan, Ma'am," Milly agreed. "Mr. Vash, will you help us?"
"My pleasure, ladies!" cried the Idiot. He grabbed one end of the rope binding Schezar and yanked upwards. The man unrolled like a yo-yo until he fell heavily on the iron floor of the great pipe, groaning around the sock-gag.
Meryl set the flashlight down to spill light out on their feet, at least, and helped the Idiot tie Marianne to Milly's back, doing her best not to further injure the woman.
"Ow, Vash! Please, be careful," Marianne asked, flinching as the Idiot cinched the rope around her tightly enough to keep her in place. Meryl gaped at her: she called him Vash? Still? Him?
"S-sorry, Miss Marianne!" blubbered the Idiot, suddenly in tears.
"Shut up!" Meryl snapped, picking up the flashlight again and pointing it down the direction they had come. She had heard something... "Just get it done, carefully. And quick."
A few more minutes and Marianne was secure, if not comfortably so. "Ma'am, I think we better go first," Milly said, making sure the other woman was settled across her back.
"Yes, good, then Schezar—" began Meryl
"Then you," said Marianne to Meryl, severely, though she was staring angrily at Schezar.
"Then me," Meryl allowed, nodding.
"Then Vash," finished Marianne.
"Then Va—er, him," Meryl agreed. The Idiot seemed to have caught her near-slip and grinned at her. She glared back. Milly reached up for the bottom rung of the ladder and the Idiot started forward, as though to offer some assistance. Then he stepped back, eyebrows raised and clearly impressed as he watched Milly haul herself (and Marianne) up by only her arms. Reaching high enough to pull up her knees, Milly found her footing on the lowest rung and straightened, looking back down.
"Alright!" she called, smiling and waving down. "We'll see you topside!" Meryl nodded. Then she turned her attention on Schezar.
"You," said Meryl, pointing at the man. "Up."
Schezar was on his feet now, having thrown aside the sock (though by his expression he could clearly still taste it). He looked up to where Milly and Marianne had disappeared. Over his head, the Idiot seemed to be suppressing giggles with some difficulty.
"And how the hell am I supposed to get up there, do you reckon? Fly?" Schezar demanded, sarcasm dripping from each word.
"Here," said the Idiot, having managed to compose himself again, and Schezar turned. He was bent nearly double, offering the smaller man his cupped hands. "Step in, I'll give you a boost." Schezar looked disgusted, but he put a foot in the Idiot's hands, bracing himself on red-clad shoulders before reaching high for the first rung of the ladder. "Ack!" said the Idiot, as Schezar stepped on his face to push himself higher. Meryl turned loud laughter abruptly into a sudden cough.
"Ahem, sorry," she said, beating one hand on her chest. "Inhaled something funny." The Idiot looked at her suspiciously but Meryl was already looking up the shapes of Milly, Marianne, and Schezar ascending the ladder. She turned off the flashlight to hand it to the Idiot again and saw that the three figures above them were blocking out a good chunk of the moonslight. She glanced sideways to the Idiot. His eyes seemed to sparkle back at her.
"Ladies first," he said, sweeping a bow so low his nose almost touched his feet. He straightened, and gave Meryl a wide grin.
The lowest rung was about ten iches out of her reach.
"Well—" Meryl stopped short. She wanted nothing less at this moment than to have to ask the Idiot for a boost. He was watching her, expectantly. Meryl took a deep breath, about to force herself to choke out the request, but there was a sudden flash of light from the end of the pipe, from the direction they had come. By the time the Idiot had turned to face it, everything had gone dark again.
Meryl had time only to register a rushing sound, coming fast, before she felt the Idiot's hands grab her around the waist and throw her five feet in the air. Adrenaline suddenly pumping through her veins, Meryl caught the highest ladder rung she could reach, managing to find purchase with only one hand, her fingers slipping on the rusty iron and wrenching her shoulder painfully as she fell heavily on it. She scrambled to get both hands and feet up on the rungs and stared straight down. Water had filled the pipe in an instant, rushing past below her and barely reflecting broken images of the moons above.
The man in red had leapt up after her but had only reached the third rung, most of his body still stuck in the flow of water coursing through the larger pipe, threatening to pull him under at any moment and wash him away. Meryl stared down in open-mouthed horror. His face turned up to hers and in the dim moonslight Meryl saw his green eyes flash desperately up at her, making her heart practically stop dead in her chest.
No!