Authors: Matt Stephens
Dorcan said to protect the package...
A clinical part of her mind thought distantly.
They're protecting me. I'm the package. They're after me? What the hell is happening?
The sounds of war continued behind her, and she grabbed for the hall phone, dialing 911 immediately.
There was no response, and no dial-tone. One side or the other must have cut her phones on the way in...
Connie felt something go over her face, and a foul smell filled her senses...
Darkness closed in instantly.
~oo00oo~
Owen had made it to the downstairs entrance, and ran out of the building as fast as he could. A moment later, something slammed into his body from above. He crumpled under the blow at once, feeling at least one of his legs crack.
Cold steel touched his Adam's Apple a moment later. Dorcan had jumped out of the apartment window and landed on him. "You should have taken my offer."
Owen didn't respond.
~oo00oo~
Vincent came back to himself and looked around the Chapel. Keeper was sitting where Yasi was the last time he was conscious.
"Keeper." He groaned. "Would you believe I missed you?"
"Nope." The old woman said instantly, sharp as a whip-crack. "The things you'll do to see Yasi again."
"Damn, my evil plan is foiled." Vincent groaned sarcastically. He shifted on his cot, trying to get a little more comfortable, and he found himself staring up at the angel again. New York was full of statues, but none that big and elaborate.
"Many years ago, a property developer found an artisan's concept design of The Angel, and the Chapel." Keeper told him, like she was reading him a bedtime story. "They thought to investigate. I think they wanted to make a tourist spot of it. Archivist's father was that man. He was the one that found the way down here, and we showed him this place. He came to understand as we did, and he told his investors that he couldn't find it. We went out, from under their feet and slipped into patent offices, city planners... We tracked down any sign of us, and destroyed it. It was the first time we chose to be non-people."
"And before that?"
"Before that we just... lived down here. That was the day we agreed never to go back. He sent his kids up to the surface, to give them a normal life. Archivist was seven when he found his father's journal, and a full adult when he followed the trail down here." Keeper dropped the 'folk tale' tone and hit him with a sub-zero gaze. "So. What happened?"
"I don't know." Vincent admitted. "I was on my way to..."
"Vincent!"
He almost spun around before the muscles in his neck rebelled, and he cried out in pain. A moment later, he saw Connie weaving toward him on wobbly legs. Her eyes were glassy, but fighting to focus on him. Dorcan was right behind her.
She almost fell against his bed, and he was more than happy to hug her back, even with his weakened limbs. He sniffed. "You smell like chloroform."
Keeper sent a glare at Dorcan, who shrugged. "Yasi said to get her here quickly." He defended.
"Are you okay?" Vincent said into her hair.
"I'm fine, but... We're gonna have trouble explaining to our neighbors what happened to our door."
"Our... door?" Vincent tried to process this.
Connie chuckled, her head still clearing, just glad to see him alive. "Owen!" Connie whispered to her boyfriend. "It was Owen. I don't know how or why, but he's behind this."
Vincent held her tightly, and spoke up, directing his words to Keeper. "Owen knows Connie..."
"And we know Owen now." A familiar voice declared. "Owen is no longer a problem you need to concern yourselves with."
Vincent lifted his face from Connie's hair, and found Yasi striding in to stand with Dorcan. "It was him?" Vincent repeated in shock. "The whole time?"
Yasi nodded. "The whole time."
"Is he alive?" Vincent demanded of the Shinobi Captain.
"He's not comfortable, but he's more or less in one piece." Yasi promised.
"Tell him." Keeper said impatiently to Yasi.
"Tell me what?" Vincent asked Yasi.
Yasi sent Keeper a glare. "I was trying to ease into it."
"Tell me what?" Vincent repeated.
"You've never eased into anything." Keeper retorted.
"Tell me what?!" Vincent shouted.
"About Wotcha." Keeper sighed finally. "They got her, Vincent."
Vincent stared blankly. "What do you mean they 'got' her?"
Yasi sighed hard, and spelled it out for him. "He means, Vincent, that the men who attacked you killed Wotcha."
"Wotcha?" Connie whispered. "From the kitchen? She's involved in this?"
"Not anymore." Keeper said bitterly.
Connie shivered. "Vincent... We have to get back."
"Vincent isn't well enough to move yet." Yasi countered.
"People are going to notice we're gone." Connie protested.
From somewhere in her leather vest, Yasi drew a picture. The photograph of him and his girlfriend, taken off his desk, right out of the frame. "Vincent, when we met, I promised I wouldn't let any harm come to you. I haven't forgotten."
Vincent looked to Connie, feeling open sympathy for her. The poor woman looked overwhelmed. He sent Yasi and Keeper a look. "Can I have a few minutes?" His eyes went to Yasi, seeking understanding. "I never told her about you. Any of you."
Yasi bit her lip, but Keeper nodded slowly. "No, that's fair. Yasi, I know there are questions that need answers, but Vincent was invited. Connie was kidnapped. Give them a moment."
Yasi and Connie were staring at each other openly. Finally, the ninja gave a curt nod, and strode away. "Rest. Both of you. We'll talk soon."
She left them then. Connie looked borderline terrified by her surroundings.
~oo00oo~
The only light that shone underground was what they made for themselves. The Underside was not a dark or dreary place; but every light was there by design. The deepest point of the New York Underside was The River, and if there was anything below that, nobody had ever come back to talk about it. But even there, the lights were always on for those that needed it. The only part of their world kept forever in darkness was the labyrinth; the maze that sat between their world, and the entrance to the world above.
Yasi had told Vincent of the Rhythm of the Underside, the natural flow of movement at any given time of day. There were no cars, but there was constant traffic. Everyone lived somewhere, they worked somewhere else. Hidden from the sky, there was no day/night cycle, so the Underside never slept, never went quiet. The most trafficked places had the most light. Where Lostkind went, there was light; and where there was light, the Lostkind followed.
But there was one corridor, carved in the strongest stone, that had few lights. It was the only place in the Underside that was important, isolated, and kept in the dark.
Archivist made his way to this, the darkest part of The Underside, letting his footsteps, and the tap his cane echo off the smooth walls. The only features in the dark hallway were the hatches in the floor. The heavy oaken circles were seven feet across, on huge brass hinges, with heavy iron rings, like large door handles.
"Has he said anything?" Archivist asked.
"Not a word." Dorcan promised. "We put a splint on his leg, and chained his good one to the floor."
"Where's Yasi?"
"Checking in on her pet."
"You don't like Vincent, do you?"
"It's not that. It's just... he's not Lostkind. He doesn't belong here."
"Not all of us are Natives, Dorcan. You and Yasi were born here, but a lot of us weren't. And this place owes a debt to Vincent. We can afford to give him our protection for a while." Archivist glared. "Especially since at this point, we're protecting ourselves as well."
Dorcan nodded, accepting that. He was still Shinobi, and protecting his secret home was what he did for a living. "Riverfolk in New York. I thought they couldn't go up to the surface."
"They can't." Archivist agreed. "They'd never survive the pressure change. When they were building the Brooklyn Bridge in 1871, the workers who had to go underground to lay the foundation got the bends. We're used to it; and we've rigged the Labyrinth to ease the transfer from here to the surface; but the Riverfolk have been too deep too long."
"Then who the hell killed Wotcha?" Dorcan demanded.
"I don't know; but they were very serious about making sure we didn't recognize them." Archivist declared; clearly bringing the conversation to an end.
"You want to talk to him?" Dorcan jerked a thumb back at the hatch.
Archivist shook his head. "Let him sweat a while. Yasi gets to have first crack at him. Security is her jurisdiction."
Dorcan nodded. "He couldn't have been working alone." He said finally. "Whatever he was after, it was for a reason."
Archivist nodded. "No prizes for guessing that one."
"So this was round one." Dorcan said seriously. "Wherever this goes... They've been planning it for three years at least. The first shot just got fired. That was round one."
"Yes." Archivist agreed darkly. "It was."
EIGHT: The Ultimate Kingmaker
"Tell me about Connie."
"She's nice." Tecca said dutifully. "She works at the Free Clinic, and volunteers with Vincent at the Kitchen. She takes care of kids who don't need people to take care of them."
"The kids?" Archivist asked.
Tecca nodded. "She takes the bookings, and comes out from behind the desk to sit with the kids when their parents meet the doctor. She tells them stories, and gives them cookies."
Archivist rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm."
Tecca looked down, sullen. "Can I go now?"
Archivist gave the boy's shoulder a sympathetic squeeze. "Yeah."
~oo00oo~
Connie never left Vincent's side. For the better part of a day, Vincent lay still, recovering. Yasi came by from time to time, but they had little to talk about.
Connie couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. She kept glancing around, and every time her gaze swept the room, she could catch glimpses of something retreating, vanishing into hiding places she couldn't guess at.
A hand rested gently on her shoulder, not threatening, but unexpected, and with her nerves already frayed, the paranoid Connie jumped violently.
"Excuse me." Archivist said kindly. "Didn't mean to startle."
"I'm getting used to it." She assured him.
He just looked at her. "So you say… But are you really?"
"No." Connie confessed, resting one hand on Vincent's arm. "I don't mean to offend you Archivist, but… this place scares me."
Archivist smiled warmly. "When I was in college, I took a semester abroad. I absolutely fell apart after one week in India. The weather, the crowds… I nearly had a nervous collapse." He took her free hand in his. "I've been to over a dozen different cities in my life. In all of them, there's a different pace. People speak at different volumes, walk at different speeds, drive with different attitudes… The Underside is like any other place. It has its own nature, its own soul. If it doesn't fit with yours… that's nothing against either."
Connie relaxed; his easy tone and honest concern putting her at ease. "Vincent… I love him dearly. You should have seen it when I moved in with him. His bookshelves are full of travel memoirs. Stories of people who travel to faraway lands… He never travels, but his head is always in other places." She waved a hand up at The Angel. "This place… is what he's been waiting for. A mystical, mysterious world…And he doesn't have to go anywhere to find it. This place is everything he wants."
"And you?" Archivist asked kindly.
Connie shivered. "I feel like I'm being watched every second. I don't know if it's paranoia, but-"
"Boo!"
Connie levitated clear out of her seat, and spun around to find Dorcan sitting on the opposite side of Vincent's cot.
"Dorcan." Archivist chastised her. "Be nice; that's the sort of thing Yasi would do."
The Shinobi Lieutenant nodded an apology to Connie.
"And speaking of that…" Archivist suddenly seemed to have a great idea. He rose smoothly to his feet and held out a hand to Connie. "Why not come take a walk?"
Connie send the sleeping Vincent a nervous look, and Dorcan sat down next to him pointedly. "He's in no danger here."
Connie hesitated a moment longer, and went with Archivist.
Dorcan turned to Vincent once she was gone. It was unclear how much of that he had heard; drifting in and out of consciousness. After a while; Vincent half-woke and asked for some water. Dorcan brought him a cup; and spoke while Vincent sipped. "So, things with Connie worked out then?"
Vincent reacted, surprised by that. "You
know
Connie?"