The Outskirts: Thé Crystal Keepers (Jace x OC)

The Crystal Keepers: 18

I raced after Sidekick, who it turned out could extend wheels and zoom along at a rapid pace. It took a moment to leave behind the sharp smell of the drone's scorched metal. I was relieved to find my battle suit still functioned normally. I glanced back at where the drone lay swaddled in freeze-foam.
"What did you do to him?" I asked.
"I converted a lot of energy into something like electricity," Sidekick said. "Too much for a bot like pretty boy to handle. I could have blown him apart, but you were too close. It was safer to disable him and lock him up with the foam."
"Do you know where we're going?" I asked.
"You better hope so," Sidekick said.
I hit the button on my communicator just in case.
"Anybody hear me?" I asked.
"It's dead," Sidekick said. "Don't worry. We'll be okay. Whoever was running that fancy drone wanted you to himself. He diverted the patrolmen and the Enforcers away from here. And we're almost to a tunnel entrance."
"Thanks for saving me," I said.
"Don't thank me yet," Sidekick replied anxiously.
The walkway widened into a little park. Sidekick led the way to a rectangular grate in the ground between a bench and a low rock wall, then reached down and lifted the grate.
"Just drop."
No rungs or steps gave access to the gloomy shaft. I glanced around. There was nobody in view. Not wanting to ruin a clean getaway, I stepped into the shaft and plunged into the darkness, trying to hold my body ready to land. I hit after falling perhaps twenty feet, making a splash in shin deep water. Looking up at the rectangle of daylight, I saw Sidekick enter the shaft, all six legs braced against the sides as he slid the grate back into place. Then the little robot shimmied down to the bottom of the shaft.
"Catch me?" Sidekick asked. "You should be strong enough with the battle suit."
"Sure," I said.
Sidekick dropped. The robot was heavier than I expected, but I held on to him.
"You can set me down," Sidekick said. "I'm waterproof."
I put him down gently, trying not to dip my hands into the chilly water. It reeked like sewage.
"According to my specs, I can survive a thirty-story drop onto bonded crystal, but who wants needless risk? What if I dislocate a processor?"
"I owe you big time," I said.
Switching on a light, Sidekick skittered forward, his legs extended to maximum length. He left a gentle waken the dark water.
"Save the gratitude until you're safely delivered to the Unseen in Old Zero. Think how guilty I'd feel if you thanked me and then we got captured in the tunnels."
"Think they'll catch us?" I asked.
"Probably not. I have more than my fair share of tricks to use down here. Nobody has mapped the Zeropolitan underground like the Unseen, and I have all of their information. In fact, I helped compile a lot of it."
"I didn't know you were with us," I said.
"You weren't supposed to know," Sidekick said. "I work best in the background. I'm not a main attraction like that fancy drone, Mr. Tall and Sleek and Ready to Rumble."
"You were the most important robot for me today," I said. "You saved my life."
"I can be useful," Sidekick admitted. "I'm not the big, cool bot who charges into trouble with trapguns blazing. I'm a wingman. I lay low and pay attention. When an ally like you gets in trouble, I sneak up and zap the troublemaker in the back. Effective, if not heroic."
"It felt heroic to me," I said wholeheartedly. "How'd you have enough energy to fry him?"
"The energy is easy," Sidekick said. "I can tap into some really juiced crystals. The trick is converting the energy into something like electricity without overheating. I'm built to do that. It's my primary way of dealing with other bots."
"It wasn't electricity?" I asked.
"Almost," Sidekick said. "Tinkers here can play with physics. Googol tuned my converter to deliver a jolt that would be extremely harmful to bots, but not horribly destructive to living beings. I deliver it with a wire because that kind of energy can't be linked with harmonic crystals."
"You're amazing," I said.
"Don't embarrass me," Sidekick said. "You're just saying that because I rescued you. But I guess that's an acceptable reason. Say it again."
"I'm the new president of your fan club," I said.
"Don't toy with me," Sidekick replied. "I've always liked the idea of a fan club. Of course, I usually picture myself as a member. I thought about making one for Outlaw."
"He was good today," I said. "But I'm making one for you."
"Let's not get carried away," Sidekick said. "Any clue who was operating the drone? It was high end technology.
"The Hunter," I said.
Sidekick stopped moving forward. "Really? The famous Enforcer? Are you sure?"
"That's what he told me."
"No wonder you were impressed with me," Sidekick said. "I'm more impressed too." The robot started advancing again. "What else did he say?"
"Didn't you catch any of it?" I asked.
"I have good listening devices, but in this case I was coming fast," Sidekick said. "I shot the drone as soon as I was within range."
"The Hunter wanted me to come in quietly," I said. "He told me I was on the wrong side."
"Playing nice to convince you to give up everybody else."
"Seemed that way."
"The Hunter definitely wanted you to himself."Sidekick said. "When they started ordering patrolmen away from the route you were taking, I suspected you were heading into a trap. The High Shaper must have a very serious interest in
Secret."
"Understatement alert," I said. "He'll do anything to get her. And he wouldn't want too many people knowing much about her."
"All the more reason for us to get away from here." Sidekick said.
"Will the whole path smell this bad?" I asked.
"It'll get worse before it gets better," Sidekick said. "But it beats torture!"
"You can smell?" I asked.
"Not like you," Sidekick said. "I have sensors."
"It's pretty close to torture," I said.
Sidekick stopped at an open pipe projecting from the wall. The round mouth looked barely tall enough for the robot to fit inside. "You'll have to crawl, but this will get us onto less obvious pathways."
"Are you joking?" I asked, crouching to study the greasy water draining from the pipe.
Sidekick climbed inside. "I may not be a handsome bot, but I don't love squirming through filth either. Sorry. I'm under orders to protect you. Going this way will do that."
"I wish I knew how to breathe without smelling," I muttered, sliding my head into the pipe and crawling forward on my hands and knees. The air seemed chewy with foulness.
I fought the urge to gag. "It can't get worse than this."
"There are so many different kinds of nasty beneath Zeropolis," Sidekick said sadly. "I'll let you be the judge."
As they progressed through pipes and tunnels, I  lost rack of time. Thankfully my nose became somewhat deadened to the disgusting smells.
Sidekick was right that the underground passage ways held a variety of horrors beyond the sights, smells, and textures of sewage. Oozing slime often covered the walls and floors. On occasion they slogged through sucking goo. Curtains of webs parted reluctantly as Sidekick powered through them, leaving me to dodge through the gaps. I saw spiders, bats, snakes, centipedes, lizards, and at one point, Sidekick's lights illuminated squirming masses of blind, hairless rats. At length they reached the widest, driest tunnel I had seen so far.
"The worst is behind us," Sidekick announced.
"At least we brought a lot of the smells with us," I said.
"Taking off your coveralls might help," Sidekick suggested.
I removed them.
"Close your eyes," Sidekick said.
I did as requested, and Sidekick began to spray me. It smelled minty and vaguely like a hospital.
"Turn around," Sidekick ordered.
I complied and the spraying continued. After some focused showering of my legs and boots, the spraying stopped. I stood dripping.
"I guess I was already pretty wet," I said. "I smell better. A little like toothpaste, but better."
"I masquerade as a cleaning bot," Sidekick reminded me. "I need a few actual cleansing tools. That wash should also kill the germs on you."
"Thanks," I said. "And thanks for leading us out of trouble. It stank, it was gross, but it worked. We never saw a patrolman."
"I could hear some searching for us at first," Sidekick said. "Faint sounds. I didn't want to alarm you. But I haven't heard anybody else in some time." The robot trundled over to a set of rails. "These are tracks from the old subway. We can follow them to Old Zeropolis."
"Will they expect that?" I asked. "What if they head us off?"
"The subway system was needlessly complicated, Sidekick said. "There are many routes we can take, and plenty of service tunnels. Our enemies don't know where we're going. We could be heading anywhere inside or outside of Zeropolis. We could have gone aboveground long ago."
"Old Zeropolis is dangerous too, right?" I asked.
"It's no playground," Sidekick said. "But I'll take you right to oldbase. You'll be safe there. It's our biggest stronghold."
"Are you still in touch with Googol?" I asked.
"I was," Sidekick said. "He asked me to shut off my comms system not long after we went underground. Forge got raided."
"Wait, what?" I exclaimed. "Just now?"
"About the time we came down here," Sidekick said.
"Is Forge okay? What about Dalton? And Mir—um, Secret?"
"I can't be sure," Sidekick said. "It sounded like they were on the run. Forge is slippery. Even if City Patrol found his hideout, chances are good he got away with your friends. But if patrolmen took Forge's lair, most of our communicators will be compromised. We'll have to make new batches."
"Did Jace escape?" I asked.
"He got underground and met up with Roulette," Sidekick said. "It's the last I heard. But it bodes well."
"Forge had such a great hideout," I said.
"They've gotten too good at finding us," Sidekick said. "Forge did a lot of hacking to set up this ambush to free Joe. Somebody must have traced him."
"We won't know more until we reach oldbase?" I asked.
"Looks that way," Sidekick said. "Too bad you lost the warboard. We could have ridden there."
"How far is it?" I asked.
"At this pace, it'll take us into tomorrow," Sidekick said.
"I'm already thirsty," I said.
"I have some provisions," Sidekick said. "You won't die."
"For a little robot, you have a lot of surprises," I said.
"Makes me a good sidekick."

                              ~Timeskip~

That night I slept on a panel of bonded crystal they found beside the tracks. Sidekick lashed me  in place with some cord he produced, and while I slept, the robot dragged me forward.
At first I kept waking with a start, but every time I saw basically the same scene a large, bare tunnel sliding by, illuminated by Sidekick's lights. Each time I woke, I worried about Dalton and Mira. Had they been captured? Most of all, I worried about Jace. He was probably fine. He was smart, and streetwise, and he had Roulette with him, but I was still worried.
Eventually I got used to all the bumps and jerks, and fell into a deep sleep.
I awoke with Sidekick shaking me.
"Time to get up," Sidekick encouraged. "We're nearing Old Zeropolis."
I found I was no longer lashed to the crystal panel.
I rubbed my eyes. "Did I sleep long?"
"Almost ten hours, if you count your fitful dozing at the start," Sidekick said. "You deserve it. Even with the battle suit, we walked a lot yesterday."
"Do you ever sleep?" I asked.
"Sometimes I shut down temporarily," Sidekick said. "Does me some good to rest my systems on occasion. But I don't really sleep. Must be nice."
I stretched. "Feels great sometimes. I guess we don't have any word from the Unseen?"
"I would have wakened you," Sidekick said. "Getting up now is a practical matter. The tunnels under Old Zeropolis are more populated than those under the new city. We'll want to be on the lookout and ready to hide."
"Old Zeropolis has lots of criminals?" I asked.
"Yes," Sidekick agreed. "People who want to get lost. Thieves, smugglers, hackers, mercenaries, hermits, tramps, escaped slaves, rebels—quite a mix."
"Sound great." I muttered. "I guess it's not exactly new though."
We left the crystal panel behind. It felt good walking again. My body was a little stiff but soon loosened up. Indidn't like that he had gone to sleep with a set of problems and had woken up to the same set. It kind of negated the rest.
About fifteen minutes later, I heard angry voices shouting up ahead.
"Trouble?" I asked.
"Let's not find out," Sidekick suggested, diverting them away from the subway track into a smaller, parallel tunnel.
From that point they moved through a series of lesser tunnels and rooms. In some places the ground was damp or muddy, but I was relieved that they encountered no sewers or oozy masses of slime.
When they heard voices talking loudly and laughing in the distance, Sidekick adjusted their route again. Tunnels and rooms came and went.
While moving down a long, straight, dark hall, they came to a stop when a lean, ragged man stepped out of hiding into Sidekick's light. I  reached for my last freeze-foam tube.
"What brings you two wanderers to my hall?" the ragged man asked. "Didn't ask permission or nothing!"
I heard a hiss, and a small dart appeared in the man's neck. He staggered, swayed, and fell.
"Tranquilizer," Sidekick said. "He didn't seem reasonable, and we can't waste time."
"He surprised me," I said. "I almost had a heart attack."
"My fault," Sidekick apologized. "Maybe he was sleeping.  Maybe he was lying in wait. Either way, he stayed low and kept still, and I failed to sense him."
"You were great," I said. "That was an awesome shot."
"The day a single grumpy vagrant can take me is the day I retire," Sidekick said. "I'm a sidekick, not incompetent."
We continued through halls and rooms until Sidekick slowed, came close to me, and whispered, "We're almos to oldbase. There is supposed to be a checkpoint here, but it's unmanned. Kind of strange. Wait here. Let me go check alone, just in case."
"Should I just wait in the open?" I asked.
"Go duck behind those crates," Sidekick said. "I'm sure it's no big deal. This is just a lookout station for an unofficial entrance. The actual entrance is still a ways ahead. With all that's been going on, they're probably just shorthanded. I'll be right back."
The little robot trundled off, taking the light with him. I was surprised how dark the tunnel became once Sidekick moved out of view. The blackness made me feel both very hidden and very alone.
Every minute that passed made me grow antsier. Water dripped somewhere at a slow, random pace. Off in the distance something clanged, the echo repeating softly. From not too far off came the sound of dry leaves rattling faintly.
I knew I had a couple of lights somewhere on my battle suit, but I couldn't remember how to activate them. I also wasn't sure I wanted to make Myself stand out. I reminded myself that with the battle suit, I should be able to outrun and outfight any crazy tramp who came along.
Finally I saw light returning, and Sidekick skittered into view, his six legs hurrying. I came out from behind the crates.
"Anything interesting?" I asked.
"Oldbase is gone," Sidekick said. "Not compromised. Completely destroyed."