Jaune walked forward staring into a map. "It appears we weren't as close to Haven Academy as we thought." He said in a condescending tone. "That inn was a marker for about a third of the way. We should start seeing more people soon." He finished. The sky was gray that morning, about to rain. Liam felt drops of precipitation on his head as the path they walked on had dark spots emerge as the downpour began. They took shelter in a small cave in a rather large cave mouth.
"I can't see the bottom." Ren said staring into the darkness. Liam walked up behind him. He took a long drag on his cigarette before flicking the still burning tobacco into the darkness, it lit up the cave walls as it fell.
"Looks to be a drop off," Liam started. "If it's any deeper than this I'd wager there's deathstalkers nearby." He finished, looking back at the group. "If there is any grimm nearby we should work on clearing them out." He said again waving his hand in front of him.
"Why not just wait out the rain?" Nora popped up. Liam looked at the downpour outside. Dark clouds were covering the horizon.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, there's a storm on the way." Liam said pointing to the sky. Qrow nodded.
"Looks like we're gonna be here a while." He said trying to make himself comfortable. Liam took off his backpack and dug through it.
"Well it's too dark down there, we don't have any light source." Yang said looking down the cave."
"Actually," Liam said cutting her off. He held two headlamps and a set of flares in his hands. "We have just that. Any two of you all come along, we have work to do." Liam said passing out headlamps. "Hey, Snow, I'm gonna need you up here, no offense to the rest of you, but I trust her the most." She nodded.
"Yes, sir." She said sitting back down with her arms crossed. Ruby took a headlamp and put it over her head.
"You have it on upside down, Ruby." Liam said as he removed it from her and put it on correctly.
"Oh, sorry." She said cheerfully. The last taker was Ren. He put his on with no problem. "Wait, what about you?" Ruby asked pointing at Liam. He smiled.
"Not only do these masks look badass," he bragged as he pushed a button on the side. "Their functional." Red light emitted from the eye slits. "Infrared optic sensors."
The trio walked into the darkness leaving Nora, Yang, Qrow, Jaune, and Winter to guard the entrance. They walked through the passageways dodging stalagmites and slipping through narrow cave walls.
"Hold up." Liam commanded holding his arm out stopping Ruby from falling into a chasm. They heard rocks hit the cave floor below them.
"Thanks." Ruby said with gratitude
"No problem, just be more careful." Liam said. He pulled a flare from his pack and unwrapped the end. "Back up a bit." he told the others as he slid the flare against the wall. Red sparks flew from the end as it roared to life. Liam dropped it down to the ground below. "Looks to be about a fifteen foot drop. I'll go down first and look around." He commanded. "When I give you both the signal, start climbing down, one at a time." Liam said. Ren nodded, as did Ruby. He dropped down to a ledge and felt the rocks with his boots. He found his footing and clambered down slowly. With his infrared mask, he could get a decent layout of what waited below, as well as where to climb. He felt something odd on his way down. Are these..pipes? Liam thought to himself. He felt ground near the flare. He dropped and heard a thud beneath him. Metal? He thought again. He picked up the flare and looked around. He turned off his infrared to examine the object beneath him. But before he continued he flashed Ren and Ruby a thumbs up. They quickly descended and stood next to Liam.
"Is this metal?" Ren asked, tapping his foot.
"That's what I thought." Liam answered. He once again tossed the flare. This time, the ground it hit was further down.
"What down here would be metal?" Ruby asked. "I mean the last time something metal was like this was in Mount Glenn." She didn't notice Liam's jaw drop. Ruby was talking but Liam couldn't hear her. He was transfixed on something he saw through his mask.
"Ruby." He said cutting her off from whatever she was saying.
"Yeah?" She asked. Liam put his hand on her head and guided it to where he was looking. Through her headlamp, they could see part of a blue sign with white writing. They could only make out two words: Geneva Rail. Liam looked down off the side of this metal obelisk. He could make out a staircase around seven feet down.
"Hey Ren." Liam said, getting the dark-haired boy's attention.
" Yeah."
"There's a platform with stairs below us. You think if I lowered you down you could tell us what you see?" Ren nodded. He grabbed one of Liam's arms and one of Ruby's. He let go when his feet hit the platform. He looked around for anything that might be of use.
"There's a door down here." Ren said. "Come on down." After carefully lowering down, Ruby and Liam examined the door. A sign above it spelled out ENGINEERING with the same white lettering and blue background.
"Engineering?" Ruby questioned. "Do you think we could get the power on?" She asked again. Liam nodded.
"Good idea. That would help a lot." Liam said as he grasped the doorknob.
He sighed.
"Locked." He sighed.
"Any ideas on how to-" Liam's boot hit the door, cutting Ruby off. The dented door swung open to reveal cobwebs surrounding a giant breaker box. Several overturned office chairs lined the room near busted monitors and buttons. A skeleton was propped against a wall wearing a mining helmet and a tattered blue button-down shirt. A tag read the name: Jennifer Wallster.
"Nothing we can do for her now." Liam said turning his attention back to the breaker box. He slid his knife into the hatch, prying it open. It popped loudly as the rust-covered door snapped off. One breaker was bigger than the others, Liam assumed this was the main power.
"Wish me luck." He said as he flipped the breaker. Lights from each end of the chasm flickered on, making a popping sound as they did so, illuminating the construction site. Ren and Ruby stood on what they know knew as a balcony, taking in the sights. Buildings of all shapes and sizes dotted the underground wonder.
"Wooooowwwww!" Ruby said putting her arms in the air with stars in her eyes. "This is even bigger than Mount Glenn." She said. "Let's go get the others!" She said turning around. Upon looking behind her, she came face to face with exactly what Liam said would be down here, an adult Deathstalker.
Hey everyone.
Sorry to not post as often, I'm in a bit of a slump. But hey, that's the perk of writing a few chapters ahead.
Enjoy this chapter.