Tale of Lara

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Revolution

"It's time to burn this place to the ground!"

Lara certainly didn't miss the stench of thesewer pipes. The vivid memory of Sarah and her materialising right in themiddle of an automated water-processing network still burned bright within hermind.

Lara was tailing the squad with Virani, while the canine siblings were at the front, acting like an arrowhead of the group while also scouting out the terrain ahead. There was no sign of activity, though. The underground was more or less abandoned, for lack of a better term. The mercenary group had no trouble passing through the checkpoint between the Inner and Outer Ring. The military post set up there, on the border between the two districts, looked like it got hit by a powerful vanishing spell.

The lights were still on in the portable office. The Nakamura brothers couldn't help themselves and peeked inside the human structure, only to find an unfinished coffee cup, a half-eaten sandwich and other various items hinting at the possibility the HGov operatives left in a hurry. At least the human equipment was still salvageable, as it was met with the same fate as the food items mentioned earlier. The reasons for such a rapid retreat remained unknown, though.

Lara didn't like the eeriness of the artificial caverns scattered through the so-called Undercity Ring. The constant dripping of water, wheezing of the old pipes and abandoned equipment, plus the whole haunting awe everyone held for this part of the city. Undercity was vast, going deep into the city's foundation. Miles upon miles of utility tunnels, old habitation blocks once occupied by the construction workers erecting this whole settlement up from nothing.

Lara seemed to have spaced out, wrapped up in her own daydreaming mood. Virani shook with the dragoness gently yet with a clear intent to get Lara's attention. "Blue!" the leopard shouted, her voice bouncing off the walls in an eerie echo.

"Wha-?" Lara blinked rapidly to gain at least some focus. She was still in the dirty wet tunnel. Nakamuras were far ahead of Virani and her, the electric torches mounted on their assault rifles darting from one end of the tunnel to yet another dirty corner.

"I thought I lost you for a sec," Virani shook her head, a playful smile appearing on her lips. Her fangs were slightly visible, even in the dim light of her LED torch built into her shield vest.

"Have you ever been here? In this part of the Undercity, I mean?" the leopard said to ease the built-up tension while also grabbing onto Lara's arm and pulling onto it to make the dragoness move in the direction forward down the tunnel.

Lara complied to being dragged with no resistance. "No... I mean, yes. Sarah brought me here after that rogue TU attacked us. She said it was safe enough for rebels like herself to hide away and plot their next move."

"She is correct about that," Virani agreed. She let go of Lara's arm as the lizard seemed to understand the need for multitasking, also known as 'talk while you walk'. "The rabbit folk used to live here until HGov drove them out. Then the mutants came..."

"We did see those mutants," Lara remembered. "One of them even bit Sarah in the arm. Luckily, draghusians are immune to the toxins their saliva carries."

"Heh, what your kind can't do; that's the question," Virani focused on something far ahead. "Humans were right to call you DEUS, y'know. That word literally means 'godlike being' in their language or something. I don't know the exact nuances of that..."

Virani and Lara caught up to the Nakamuras. The canine mercenaries stopped dead in their tracks, bickering over something. "Vi! Bad news!" Mizu immediately went to report the situation to her superior.