Sacrifice

Chapter Five

"Doesn't look like anything to me," I say.

"Overwatch is good at this kind of stuff," Sombra says. "Most of the complex is underground. I've already collected a little intel on it. It should be fairly easy to crack. Give me a second."

She steps up to the manhole in the middle of the empty street and crouches down, running her nimble fingers round the edge of the cover. I can hear her nails grating along the metal. I walk up beside her and watch, arms folded.

"I can get it off if y'need help, mate," I say.

"Don't be stupid," she says, sounding amused. "There's some kind of alarm that triggers when it's opened. Got to disable that first."

"Won't they notice when it's disabled?"

"Aha!" Triumph spreading across her face, she fiddles with something on the edge of the cover. Then she flops down on her belly and begins typing in the air just above the center of the circle. Something shimmers in the air and I goggle, watching thin purple strands of something flick from her fingertips and twist around an invisible object attatched to the cover. But before I can ask what's happening, Sombra pulls her hand back and hops to her feet. The purple strands continue to twist and flicker as she grabs the cover and heaves it onto the street.

I stare dumbly into the blackness beyond. "What did you do?"

"Hacked it," she says. "But it'll only take them a little while to figure out their security's down. Hurry up." She lowers herself into the manhole and climbs down until the darkness swallows her.

I follow after her, though it's a little difficult to navigate the rungs with a peg. A couple times I slip with a metallic clang that echoes wetly around me.

The stink quickly becomes overpowering. I've been so spoiled by clean cities, I almost gag in disgust at the foul taste that seeps into my mouth. The rungs under my fingers get slimier as I go down, making it harder to hold on. Everything around me is pitch black now, and I'm only a few feet down.

Soon I hear a thud and a splash, and moments later my foot is probing thin air for another step.

"Jump down," Sombra says, even her whisper echoing eerily for what seems like miles.

"Ever tried to jump with a peg?" But I hop down anyway. The moment my wooden leg hits the stone it slips on the slime and I stumble backward with a yelp. Sombra catches me around the waist and heaves me back to my feet with a grunt.

"Clumsy thing, aren't you?" she says with a smile in her voice.

Mentally, I dust myself off. "Sure, mock the cripple," I say. "Bet that makes you feel just peachy."

"How did you know?" I hear rustling beside me and it takes me a terrified moment to realize it's just Sombra. Then a scraping, and a little sphere of yellow light puffs up around us as she strikes a match.

As the stench hinted, we're smack in the middle of the biggest sewer I've ever laid eyes on. We're standing on a narrow, oily stone path that borders a steaming river of waste. I can't tell how deep it is - all I can see is the swirling rainbows of color rippling on the surface.

"Move quickly," Sombra says, heading off toward the flow of the river. "The patrol is probably heading our way." As we walk, she types in the air again and a map appears in front of her, keeping pace with us. Two red dots glide along one of the narrrow corridors. "Yup. Looks like they'll catch up with us in about... five minutes." She closes the map with a snap of her fingers, and looks at me, match still held in her right hand. "Leave these ones to me. I need it quiet for just a little longer."