by Ramy Vance
Abby’s hands returned to normal. “Okay, that was pretty awesome.”
Martin’s voice chimed in again. “We’ll be working to optimize your body and armor for this. Give you a little bit of diversity.”
The small bird was screeching. Abby aimed her cannon at the bird and fired, leaving nothing more than a smoking smear.
“That was excessive,” Martin gasped.
Abby looked at the corpse of the giant bird. “We just wanted to go on a relaxing walk and would prefer no more interruptions. You think it’s edible?”
Abby’s hand grew longer, ending in a sharp edge. “It is a lot of meat to waste.”
Chapter Fifteen
Abby arrived at the camp a little after ten. She found a small gathering of tents and a large pylon built by the scientists near the Gate. Everyone seemed particularly busy with what they were working on, and no one noticed Abby. That was fine with her. She wanted to get a look at what was going on.
Once she was satisfied, she called Persephone. The drow came and met her on the outskirts of the camp. “Why’d you call me all the way out here?”
Abby lightly touched Persephone’s face and kissed her with all the longing she’d been feeling. “Every time we see you, there are a dozen people around. Sometimes, we’d just like to see you.”
Persephone blushed, a confusing sight on a drow. Her cheeks turned dark red for a moment, then the color trickled off until it made her look like she had freckles. “It’s good to see you too.”
“You want to help us sneak this into camp before anyone sees us? We’re not ready to get to work yet.”
Persephone grinned and nodded. Abby shone a light on the butchered bird she’d lugged over her shoulder the whole way to camp. “Figured it might be nice to have a feast or something.”
The two girls managed to get the bird back to Persephone’s tent without anyone noticing, then they sat and talked. Abby had been waiting to do this since Persephone had left. Neither of them had had any time to talk other than a spare moment here, and then it was always business.
Abby had almost forgotten how much she loved lying back and listening to the drow talk. She spoke at length, her tone almost poetry. It was like sitting by a creek and listening to the water speak. Sometimes, it didn’t matter what Persephone spoke about as long as she was speaking.
That wasn’t to say that Abby could remain quiet for long. If Persephone wasn’t talking, she was asking questions, trying to figure out every detail of what Abby had been up to. Despite Abby protesting that the change to her armor was boring, the drow talked her into explaining it. Even if Persephone didn’t understand the technical jargon, which Abby was certain she didn’t, she played along well enough.
As the conversation died down, they lay down next to each other. Abby rested her head on Persephone’s chest, feeling it rise and fall in its slow rhythm as the wind howled around the tent, shaking it as if it were haunted. “How are you getting along with everyone?” Abby asked.
Persephone’s breath quickened. “It’s weird. Still feels like I don’t belong here. I don’t know if it’s because I used to serve the Dark One or if it’s just strange being around so many adults. Cire treats me like an equal, but I don’t know. It still feels weird.”
Abby nodded as she played with Persephone’s hair. “Yeah, it’s odd for a while. Sometimes we’re still, like, shit, we’re a fucking kid, you know? We could be at school right now.”
Persephone laughed. “I’d forgotten humans go to school for nearly their whole life.”
“Not the whole thing. Only a third of it. But we’re glad we’re not doing that. It feels good to be part of something that matters, and we were never any good at school.”
They laid there for a bit longer, the wind still shrieking madly outside the tent. “Are you thinking what we’re thinking?” Abby asked.
“That we should probably get to work?”
Abby sighed as she sat up. “No, that was not what we were thinking, but you are right. We do need to check out that Gate in case it’s something bad. Come on, might as well let Cire know we brought some food as well.”
The two left the tent and walked farther into the camp. There was a fire, where many of the scientists were gathered. Cire and Nib-Nib were there as well. Creon sat across from them, talking quietly with another goblin scientist. They looked up when they saw Persephone and Abby.
Cire rose and extended his hand. “Ah, it is good to see you again, Abby-Lynn. How have you been? Well, I hope.”
Abby shook Cire’s hand and then pressed her hand to her chest. “We have been well. Briefly visited Middang3ard to speak to the Mundanes. Those MERCs are an interesting bunch. A little rough around the edges. We think that you might like them.”
“Terra is probably enjoying herself, then. Be careful, she might end up joining them.”
Abby smiled and waved away Cire’s concern. “Doubtful. She loves the DGA. Now before we get to this Gate, Persy and I have a little surprise for you guys.”
Persephone pulled the butchered bird out from behind her back. “There’s more in my tent if you guys want to get cooking.”
The scientists, mostly goblins and gnomes, were ecstatic. They hoisted Abby and Persephone into the air, while the rest of them went to get the remains of the bird. It was not long until the scientists had thrown together a makeshift BBQ pit and Cire was tending the grill.
That gave Abby time to mingle with the different scientists from HQ. Usually, she only worked with Creon. She’d forgotten there was an entire science department outside of her two-person lab. When she’d first had come to HQ, speaking to any of these scientists would have intimidated her. Now she felt like she was talking to peers.
Persephone wandered over to Cire to help cook, while Abby let herself nerd out with a pair of goblin scientists. The goblins were very interested in the nanotech Abby had improved upon. They both admitted that trying to improve the nanobots through a connection with organic material being led by an integrated AI was a stroke of pure genius. When Abby told them it was honestly just a stroke of luck, they wouldn’t hear it.
Abby spent most of the night trading notes with the scientists. It wasn’t until she looked at Cire and saw Persephone was gone that she started to worry about leaving her friend alone. She wandered the small group of drunk meat scientists until she found the drow sitting next to Nib-Nib. “Hey, how are you doing? We were worried about you.”
Persephone looked up at Abby and smiled. “Why? I was just hanging out with Nibs.”
Nib-Nib chittered and clicked her mandibles. “She’s got some good war stories if you can figure out what she’s saying. I’m still not the best at picking it up, but Cire’s been helping.”
Abby took a seat next to Nib-Nib and listened to the mantiboid chitter, gesturing widely with her claws. It was the most animated Abby had ever seen her. If she thought about it, she’d never taken much notice of Nib-Nib before, probably because she was so alien. The thought made her feel a little guilty.
Finally, Nib-Nib finished her story and leaned back, chittering softly as she rubbed her claws together. Persephone leaned across Nib-Nib and asked, “Did you learn anything useful?”
Abby nodded. “We learned we need to spend more time out of our labs and with the other scientists. A lot of them are working on things I’ve never thought about. The collaboration would be good for us, and that’s going to be starting soon enough. We’re heading to the Gate first thing tomorrow morning.”
The party wrapped up not long after, the scientists drifting away to get some sleep. Persephone fell asleep near where she and Nib-Nib had been talking.
Abby, on the other hand, stayed up all night talking with Cire. The two, much like Nib-Nib, had hardly spoken since they’d met, and it had been mostly circumstantial. They were rarely on the same missions. Abby took the time that night to sit with the orc and listen.
He told her stories, old tales that had been passed down to him from thousands of ye
ars of oral tradition. He fell asleep during the Ballad of First Bloods.
Abby leaned against Cire’s back and watched for the sun. She had Martin reduce most of her bodily functions to a near crawl so she could rest. Her mind went quiet as she went into something like hibernation. She was still able to enjoy the sunrise, though.
Everyone met at the Gate after a quick breakfast.
As the scientists had explained the night before, the Gate had been humming for the last few hours. A few of them had been watching the Gate throughout the night. It had gone dormant. Now, suddenly it was humming again and vibrating lightly.
Abby walked around it, taking readings. The Gate was putting out a frequency similar to the rest of the Dark Gates the DGA had come across so far, but there was something slightly off about it. “Martin, could you run a scan on this and compare it to the readouts we have from prior missions?”
“Yeah, no problem, doll.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’ve been running flirting scenarios for…research. Just wanted to see how that came out. Any feedback?”
Abby looked up from her HUD readings for a second. “Are you kidding? Why would you need to… Wait, are you planning on hitting on our nanobot consciousness?”
“I am not at liberty to talk about that. Also, I’m going to assume it did not go well. Noted. Also, your readings are ready. From what I can see, they’re operating on a similar frequency, but there is some divergence. It looks like the other Gates are geared to travel between three points: the starting point, a checkpoint in the Netherverse, and the final point.”
“And this one?”
“Only two points. This seems like it only goes from point A to point B, point B being in the Netherverse.”
Abby stopped pacing around the Gate as scientists came up to take readings. “Any idea how to open it?”
Martin popped up in the corner of Abby’s vision. “We can try using the frequency we’ve used to activate the past Dark Gates. Let’s give it a shot.”
Abby raised her hand, which converted to a satellite dish, and broadcast the frequency. The Gate did not respond. “Hm, guess it must have a specific frequency to open.” She turned to the scientists around her. “Maybe we can reverse-engineer our own frequency to synchronize with this one.”
Creon, who was among the scientists, offered to get to work on it, pulling up his HUD as he hobbled over to a makeshift work area the gnomes had put together the prior day.
Abby walked over to the work area as well. The other scientists were also in the same area.
Persephone and Cire were speaking over by the Gate. Nib-Nib was nowhere to be seen.
Abby glanced at Persephone, hoping to catch the drow’s eyes. Her HUD was still up, and it pinged.
Martin appeared in front of Abby. “There’s been a change in the frequency. Check it out.”
Abby pulled up the new frequency. It was behaving very differently. “Hm, I wonder what this is all about.”
As Abby absentmindedly watched Persephone walk away from the Gate, she noticed that the frequency changed again. “Hey, wait a minute. We think we have an idea.”
Abby ran over to the Gate, waving for Persephone to come over.
“What’s up?” the drow asked when she reached Abby.
The girl extended her hand. “Can we see your arm? Sorry, your tentacles?”
“Uh, sure.” Persephone’s arm split open, and dozens of small, wriggling black tentacles stretched over to Abby’s hand.
Abby lifted one of them and looked at it closely. “Do you mind if we take a sample?”
“Is it going to hurt?”
“No, just a little scrape.”
Persephone nodded, and Abby’s hand converted to a precision laser. She trimmed a thin layer off the tentacle, then she went over to the Gate. Her nanobots covered the sample, fusing with it.
Abby tossed the nanobot-infused sample at the Gate.
The entry exploded into a dark portal.
Creon and the rest of the scientists came over. “Looks like you pegged this one correctly. Wonder what’s on the other side?”
Abby peered in. “The Netherverse, but who knows where? Has a living person ever gone into the Netherverse?”
“Hypothetically, it’s possible. There are ancient stories about such things. But we’ve never tried.”
Abby folded her arms as she watched the pulsing portal. “Guess we’re going to find out today.”
Persephone looked at her, her face flushed with worry. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Abby. The Netherverse is filled with way too much for anyone to just walk into.”
“What do you mean?”
Persephone’s face darkened. “It is where the elder gods live. Demons. The primordial ooze that came before existence. The Dark Melody was pulled from the Netherverse. There’s no telling what you could come across, or if you’re going to be able to come back.”
Abby understood the drow’s fear. She’d been living with a horror that had come from the Netherverse for years, and Abby had seen that horror with her own eyes. The lich had pulled it out of the Netherverse and nearly destroyed New York.
But that didn’t change what needed to happen. Someone had to find out what was on the other side of this portal and where it led. Abby wasn’t going to ask anyone else to take that risk. If she needed to know, which she did, it was her responsibility.
“No,” Abby said. “We’ll take care of this.”
Abby hugged Persephone tight and whispered in her ear, “We’ll…I’ll be okay. Me, Abby. I’ll come back. You don’t need to worry about it.” She let go of Persephone and turned to the portal, which seemed to stretch out, inviting her into its depths.
Chapter Sixteen
The Mundanes were leading the dungeon crawl. Terra and Anabelle were lagging slightly behind. The elf was increasingly bored. The Mundanes? Well, that was a different story.
Beth would stop the group every couple of minutes to defuse a trap that was built into the walls and floor. It was effective, and there was a part of Anabelle that was greatly impressed with how perceptive Beth was. That being said, the constant halts were a never-ending source of irritation for her.
Suzuki, on the other hand, was obsessed with an old map he’d gotten that showed the dungeon’s layout. The map was filled with notes about different hidden sections. That brought Anabelle to the final thing that was annoying the shit out of them—Stew’s constant complaining about loot.
Already, they’d come across five chests. None of their contents had been enough to impress the barbarian.
Anabelle didn’t understand. Each of the chests had held something magical enough to rouse even her interest, and she was a snob about magical items. Yet Stew would take a look, roll his eyes, and complain about the lack of decent loot in this quest.
If the DGA cared about such trivial matters, there was no way Anabelle would be able to stand them.
Terra didn’t seem to have a problem with Stew, though. Anabelle thought Terra had initially been annoyed by the young barbarian, but over the course of the crawl, she’d looked to be warming up to him. As they journeyed through the cavern, Terra and Stew occasionally chatted quietly until Stew became so excited he raised his voice.
As Anabelle reflected on her growing irritation, she realized that she was bored because everyone had something to do but her. Everyone had their roles to play in the crawl, but not her. She was just along for the ride.
This realization made the elf feel, of all things, petty. She felt stupid about not being able to enjoy what was going on nearly as much as everyone else was. It was all business for Anabelle. But the Mundanes looked like they were having a pretty good time.
Maybe I can loosen up. Try to get in the mood, Anabelle thought.
She walked up to where Sandy was and matched pace with the human, trying to think of something to say to break the ice. “Uh, I noticed your magic skills. They’re very impressive.”
Sandy didn�
�t look at Anabelle. “Uh-huh. Was there something else?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were you going to add ‘for a human?’”
Anabelle choked on her words, flushing bright red. Sandy started laughing. “I’m just fucking with you,” Sandy said. “It’s a joke back at the Lion. Elves are always giving me a hard time because, you know, my magic is upper tier. Everyone’s always kidding about me becoming a lich. A couple of people might be worried, though. You’ve met one, right?”
Anabelle nodded, thinking back to her experiences with Rasputina. “Yeah, fought her a few times. Pretty horrific.”
“Really? How so?”
Anabelle looked at Sandy, whose eyes were bright and interested for the first time since the DGA’s arrival. “Well, for one, she was practically a walking skeleton. Worse than a zombie, and fuck, was she insane! She killed a news anchor on live tv and then ate him while she forced us to participate in a batshit-crazy interview.”
“Ugh. That sounds terrible.”
Anabelle continued to explain the extent of the lich’s madness to Sandy, and Terra and Stew continued to bicker. Beth and Suzuki still led the party, scouting farther ahead to take care of any traps so the rest of the group didn’t have to.
Finally, the rest of the group caught up with Suzuki and Beth. They were standing at the entrance to a sloping tunnel. Suzuki jerked his thumb toward their destination. “Beth went on ahead to check things out. We got a fun one in there. It’s a room full of plants.”
Anabelle shrugged as she tried to get a better look into the dark dungeon. “What’s the big deal with that? Just means someone had the money for an interior decorator.”
Stew laughed until Anabelle glared at him. “Sorry,” he said. “I thought it was a joke.”
Suzuki drew his sword. “Dungeon 101. If you see plants anywhere, they’re probably going to kill you. Unless they have thorns. Then they’re probably going to poison you. You didn’t see any thorns, did you, Beth?”
