A few exhausting hours after the killjoys set off from the hideout towards Battery City, the ATV slowed to a halt, and Shadow jumped off.
“What are you doing?” Luna called as she followed suit and stopped the bike, confused about why he had stopped in the middle of this empty plain, miles from the city walls.
“You’ll see,” he called back over his shoulder as Wolf pulled up behind them all.
Shadow wandered around for a few minutes, appearing to study the ground, until he found a rock that looked just slightly out of place on the bare ground.
“Ah, here we are,” he grinned, and lifted the rock aside, exposing a tiny grille set into the very ground.
As Luna watched, astounded, he knelt on the ground and called into the hole, a password of some kind, by the sound of it.
Then the ground shook briefly, and, surprising even Wolf and Missy, a whole section of the ground lifted and folded back, exposing a downwards-sloping tunnel, covered only by a metal sheet disguised with layers of sand.
Shadow returned to the ATV, a smug grin on his face as he started it again, and drove to the end of the tunnel.
“Come on, then,” he called, as he started down the tunnel, “they won’t keep it open for long, and the others have already been through.”
Wolf and Luna exchanged a look before starting down the tunnel, laughing at the very ingenuity of the thing; and trying to take their minds off the danger that awaited them.
The tunnel was long and smooth, so monotonous that they began to forget how long they had travelled, and Luna especially – not used to living underground – wasn’t sure if they had been in the tunnel for long hours or mere minutes.
Thankfully, the bare darkness of the tunnel eventually faded into a dim light, like an anaemic glow-worm, bobbing like a beacon at the end of the tunnel.
The four companions sped up, glad to be nearing the end of the tunnel, and one step closer to what they had come here to do.
As they drew near, the light solidified into a single lamp, held high by one of three figures huddled near a rusting ladder attached to the tunnel wall.
“You guys get here alright?” Syn asked as the bikes stopped and they dismounted, the weak light reflecting on the vehicles showing Zacky and M. standing gravely beside him.
“We didn’t even see any dracs,” Wolf nodded briefly, then turned to the ladder the group was now clustered around, all business now.
“Shadow, Missy – you climb up first, and take a look around.” He instructed, “Apparently this should come out in a warehouse or something, so there shouldn’t be anyone around. Signal if it’s clear, alright?”
Missy and Shadow nodded silently and scaled the ladder, Missy slightly slowed by her leg.
Luna held her breath as they disappeared out of sight, waiting the few tense seconds until a short, sharp whistle echoed down the tunnel, and Wolf signalled for her and the Deathbats to go up, before following them.
At the top of the ladder, a manhole covered with a heavy steel plate opened into an empty concrete warehouse, the walls painted in sterile BLInd white and the black logo.
Missy was crouched by a door in the far wall, watching for any sign of movement, while Shadow helped them out of the hole and re-covered it with the plate.
“What now?” Luna whispered, waiting for instructions.
“Okay,” Wolf glanced around at the killjoys around him, before he went on, “M., you’ve got a copy of the map, so you know where to go, and what you’re doing.”
M. nodded yes, so Wolf turned to Luna.
“Myst, you just follow me until we get to the lowest floor – unless we meet an agent along the way, we should be clear until we find Johnny.”
He hesitated, glancing over at Shadow, who had just returned from checking the outer passageway was clear.
“You tested the radios, right?” he asked, motioning to the headset he wore, matching the one on Missy’s head.
“It all works right,” Shadow nodded, “as long as it’s not too far down, we’ll be able to alert you if anything changes.”
“Okay,” Wolf stood up, looking around one last time at his friends, some of whom he might never see again, “Don’t use the radio unless you have to, they can track it. We’ll meet back here before dawn.”
With that, he turned and headed for the door, leaving Luna time only to share a last sorrowful glance with Zacky, Shadow and Missy before she hurried out after him.
They hurried along the twisting passageway, ducking into open doors or behind white curtains every time the echoing voice of a BLInd agent came near.
They managed to make it to a steep staircase without being caught; according to the map, the secure unit where Johnny would be was at the bottom of the stairs, so they set off, hurrying in case anyone else started up or down the stairs, as there was nowhere to hide.
Three flights from the bottom, another doorway opened onto the staircase, and, the worst of luck, a drac emerged from the door just as they passed it.
Letting out a cry of surprise, the white-masked drac lunged for his raygun, but fell to the floor before he ever reached it, Wolf’s drawn raygun still smoking gently, like the wound on the dead drac’s chest.
Luna gasped in horror, the enormity of the situation suddenly hitting her full force, and she stepped back against the banister as she felt an urge to run back up the stairs and away from the place.
Wolf was busy rifling through the dead drac’s pockets, searching for the access card that would let them into the prison unnoticed; when he turned, Luna noticed the same horror in his eyes, though he concealed it better outwardly.
“Come on,” he sighed, taking her hand and leading her down the last of the stairs. “We’ve got a job to do.”
