“A princess?” Nakoda exclaimed, eyes wide.
“I could be assuming,” Salim conceded. “But there is a woman in a pod being guarded by two mutants. Real behemoths, these two. But they seem to be asleep.” His black eyes went upwards, as if he were glancing up at his surroundings. “There are three levels, with the mutants on the first. I see two closed doorways on either side of all three levels. So there must be a way to access them from both of these hallways.” His shade returned, settling by his shoulder. His eyes remained black a moment longer before returning to normal. “Any suggestions from anyone-”
“We go right,” Nakoda declared at once.
“We all stick together,” Lilian added hurriedly before Salim could retort. “If we don’t like what we see down one way, we go the other.”
No one argued. I think the group was distracted by trying to figure out the logistics of fitting all of us down one corridor. It was illuminated with spheres of blue light attached to the ceiling and extended at a curve. Up until the walls and ceiling were abruptly replaced by glass. This gave us a view into the neighboring “room”. It was more like another section of the forge. This one was populated by mutants. Several dozen. Some of them were fighting amongst each other, with the rest lazing about. By this point they seemed to have given in completely to their new mutant instincts. As our group walked a bit further, some of the mutants closer to the glass perked up.
Seeing this, Lilian swallowed hard and said very quietly, “I vote we head back. Go the other way. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” said everyone else, though they probably didn’t understand me or Turtle. As quietly as we could, we all backtracked the way we’d come. It was then with much more trepidation that our group went down the left route. Mercifully, this one wasn’t eventually overtaken by glass. The walls remained forged of that same strange blue steel. After a few minutes of walking, we reached the end of the corridor. Alton, who’d taken the lead, stepped a little too close and the wall split apart, granting access to the room beyond.
“Oh, neat,” Paco said. “A torture chamber.”
I wasn’t sure if he was correct, but there was an arrangement of odd metal instruments everywhere. Some were hanging on the walls, others were on odd oval tables. It was a tight fit, so Nakoda hopped off of me and ventured in to look around. He stepped into the center of the room. “Wow,” he said. “Do you think that princess came up will of this-? Whoa!”
On the word “up” a circle of blue light lit up around him and the floor within began to rise up towards the ceiling. Simultaneously, that section of the ceiling parted, creating a hole the exact same size as the rising platform.
“Uh, uh, uh, down!” Nakoda yelped. “Please!”
The platform stopped momentarily before going back down and settling back into the floor. The hole in the ceiling slipped shut as well.
“Looks like we found our entrance,” Lilian said. She turned to Salim. “Probably be smart to check and see what’s directly above us.”
He nodded and sent out his shade again. It disappeared through the ceiling. Salim frowned. “This seems to be a vertical tunnel. If we so choose we can access the doorways leading onto the second or third levels, directly above the two sleeping mutants. But that could be the least of our worries.” He hesitated before saying, “Alton, we’ve found the rest of your crew. Some of them look farther along in their transmutation than others, though all are currently slumbering like the princess. A few lucky ones seemed to have perished, though. All of the pods containing your crew are attached to the walls encircling both the second and third floor.”
He touched his chin thoughtfully. “This is likely some sort of prison, with the pods taking place of cells. Once the transformation is complete, the prisoners are let loose in one of the larger, neighboring chambers. After that…survival of the fittest?”
“But why not just experiment on the Tribe?” Lilian asked.
“They may be too degenerative by this point to be viable test subjects,” Salim guessed. “The mastermind likely used the witch as an emissary, and they both used the ‘kings’ as figureheads. Together they convert the others enough to keep them from succumbing to the degeneration of constant inbreeding, but not enough to trigger a full transformation or rid them of their mental faculties. I wouldn’t be surprised if whatever captives are taken by the Tribe are split into three groups: those the Tribe eats, those used to breed, and those taken down here by the witch to be experimented on. Though I’d assume that once the captured women can no longer have offspring that they either become food or mutants themselves.”
A shiver of disgust ran up my spine as I listened to the strange man hypothesize aloud. He sounded…impressed by all of this. But, by this point, why was I even surprised?
Salim murmured to himself a moment longer before finally shrugging and showing his hands. “But I could be wrong.”
“Easiest way to find out is to ask the bastard who did this to my mates,” Alton snarled.
“Let’s not jump into anything too hastily,” Lilian scolded him. “If we’re stupid we could end up surrounded by enemies on all sides, plus the two below.” She joined Nakoda over onto the platform. He quickly scooted to the side so that she could stand at its very center. “This contraption seems to understand our basic language at least. Okay…How about we…?”
#
Lilian’s part of the plan unfolded as follows (as she described it to us later because Nakoda, Paco, Turtle, and I were stuck waiting outside the gate directly outside the level containing the princess while all of this occurred): They used the platform to get up onto the second floor. Both of the platforms for the second and third floor were shaped like Xs, allowing gaps for one to see down into the first floor, where the two mutants remained asleep. Lilian, Salim, and Alton remained just outside the main room as she summoned a red and black centipede the size of a large dog. The centipede crawled across the platform, specifically ordered to be as noisy as possible as it did so.
One of the mutants jerked awake and looked up. “…Heh, stupid,” he laughed oafishly with a jarringly high-pitched voice. He nudged the other awake and then, like a great ape, jumped, grabbed the side of platform with long fingers, and swung himself through one of the gaps. The platform shuddered as his feet slammed onto it. The centipede immediately crawled over to attack him, keeping him from noticing the other three intruders.
“Heh-Ow!”
The mutant grabbed the centipede with both hands.
“Bad!”
And yanked, easily tearing the creature in two.
Pop!
The dead centipede disappeared into thin air.
The other mutant immediately swung up to join him. “Stupid, Jerry!” he growled, slapping him. “You broke it. Lizard lady’s gonna get mad at us now-Huh?!”
A demon dog appeared behind them both. Before they could react, it opened its fanged maw and howled, blasting them with a cone of black fire. Jerry recovered just in time to shove his mutated brother out of the way, taking the brunt of the blast. Their screams of either pain or shock allowed Alton to dart in and take them by surprise. He jumped and slashed Not-Jerry across the side of the neck. Unfortunately, the mutant’s muscles were just thick enough to obstruct the sword, keeping his head from being chopped off. As Alton landed back onto the platform, Salim stepped up and unleashed a missile of concentrated magic at the mutants. Despite the slashed neck, Not-Jerry managed to jump out of the way. Jerry not so much. The missile caught him between the shoulder blades, nearly knocking him off of the second floor and back down to the first.
“JERRY!” screamed Not-Jerry, pale blood spurting from his exposed trap muscles.
“YEAH, REGGIE?!” Jerry bellowed back breathlessly, half of his face black and charred.
“LET’S EAT ‘EM!”
“YEAH!”
Both mutants charged in. Reggie swung twice with his claws. Alton managed to parry one attack, slicing off two of the fingers of his right hand. Yet the other hand raked across his right ribcage, slicing open his chest and sending him rolling across the platform. Lilian’s dog somehow managed to evade Jerry’s attack, making the mutant chase after it while shrieking, “Get back here! Stupid! Dog!”
Lilian shouted out a command to the dog. The dog ducked in between Jerry’s outstretched hands and leapt onto the mutant’s chest, digging its teeth into his throat. Like with Alton’s sword, Jerry’s overdeveloped muscles kept the hellhound from taking out too deep of a chunk. Yet, before Jerry could retaliate, the dog disappeared with a flash of light. “Gah!” He covered his eyes with his hands. “Too bright!”
Because of that, he didn’t notice when three bloody skeletons appeared. They rushed him, two of them grabbed his arms, yanking them back. Jerry released a horrified scream that was immediately cut off by a third skeleton driving its boney fingers into the gash in his throat that the hellhound had made. The mutant tried to knock them out, but by then his lungs were filling with his own blood, making him sway back and forth almost drunkenly before finally collapsing onto his side.
“Jerry!” Reggie blubbered. Enraged, the mutant moved to attack. Alton jumped in the way and raised his blade to attack. Reggie did so, but he aimed low. He swung his right hand and wrapped it around Alton’s ankle, easily yanking him up off the floor. Alton screamed as he was then slammed like ragdoll into the platform, making him cough up bile and blood.
Lilian ordered the skeletons to come to his rescue. They abandoned Jerry’s corpse and rushed Reggie. Using the only weapon he had on hand, Alton, Reggie swung at them. The skeletons managed to duck and dive beneath the screaming human, and then leapt onto the mutant. Reggie howled as they yanked him down to his knees, holding him in place. Lilian let loose an arrow. It struck the mutant in the eye, its arrowhead erupting out of the back of his skull. Yet the rage kept him going, kept him alive.
Up until an explosion rocked the platform, sending everyone freefalling.
#
A few minutes before that, as the sounds of battle thundered from inside the room, Nakoda was huffing and puffing, struggling with all his might to get the door to the first floor open. In contrast, Paco was lying on his stomach, rifle at the waiting, his finger on the trigger, waiting. “Almost…Almost!” Nakoda declared for the hundredth time. “Got…it!”
Seeing as neither Turtle nor I had hands, we could only cheer him on.
“Yeah!” I heehawed. “Go, brother!”
“You’ve definitely almost got it this time!” Turtle supplied.
To both our shocks, that’s when Nakoda actually managed to get it open just a crack. That was all Paco needed. The bullet whizzed past Nakoda’s temple and struck the panel of runes next to the princess’s pod. Like ice, the pod immediately melted, sending the princess to the floor in a puddle of white slime. Her eyes immediately snapped open. She gasped violently for air, looking back and forth wildly.
“Hey!” Nakoda screamed. Now that he’d gotten the entrance open, Turtle and I rushed in to help, forcing our bodies against either door and holding them apart. Even with all of us working together, we only managed to earn maybe a foot of space. Face red and drenched with sweat, my brother screamed desperately at the princess, “We’re here to save you!”
To try and get the princess’s attention, I illuminated my horn. It did the trick, making her look our way. “Ma’am!” Nakoda gasped. “We’re trying to help you! Please, let us in!”
A thundering impact from up above (Alton being used as a makeshift hammer) made her flinch and hurry to her feet. The slime coating her body slipped off, giving me my first good look at her. She was beautiful enough to be a princess, but she definitely wasn’t dressed like one. Everything bellow the neck was housed inside sleek black and dark grey armor. Lines of blue energy flowed through the crevices. That same energy pulsed through the diamond sigil imprinted upon her chest plate.
She reached into a belt attached to her waist, producing a white-blue sphere. She pressed a thumb to the top, making it blink repeatedly. She then tossed it upwards, through the gap leading from first to the second story. The sphere landed and bounced once across the second story platform before BOOM!
The explosion tore the platform from the wall, making it slide downward, filling the air with smoke and the sound of screeching metal. The princess ducked and rolled so that she landed within the space of one of the gaps. The damage to the room also caused the mechanisms in the doorway to malfunction, making them stop applying pressure. Once the dust settled, this allowed Nakoda, Turtle and I to brute force the entrance the rest of the way open. We, along with Paco, hurried into the room. We were met with the sight of two mutant corpses, one surviving skeleton, a battered and wheezy Alton still lying on his back, and Lilian and Salim, who, in contrast, looked no worse for wear. Meanwhile, the princess remained standing in the corner, a second bomb in one hand and a silver gun in the other.
She currently had it aimed at Paco. The gunslinger, likewise, had his pistol out and trained on her, leaving them at a standstill. “Some people nowadays,” he murmured dryly, “just don’t know how to be grateful.”