Clearing His Head

[Seth Marx]

Tracking wasn't hard, not when you knew the signs. As far as Seth was concerned, in that way the creepy ass tunnels under Moscow might as well have been tall grasses in New Mexico. It'd taken more than a little effort to shake the damn kids Reggie'd saddled him with. Hell, Seth guessed he should've been impressed with that. The little bastards were learning. Granted, most of that was probably just Fridge doing his computer wizardry. Damn cameras,
Seth thought. The forests and mountain ranges in the US where monsters preferred to hide usually didn't have security.

When Seth found his way into the Undercity, or whatever the hell the locals called it, it was mostly just boredom. He needed to think, and it turned out that when you couldn't take a walk in the woods on account of all the concrete, a tunnel that smelled like piss and poor people worked just fine instead. But then, as he went deeper, he started seeing the signs. Claw marks on the walls, animal bones and carcasses torn apart like a rabid mountain lion went hunting. And that smell... not the piss and poor people; something worse. When Seth realized the last other person he'd seen shuffling around was more than ten minutes ago, he wasn't surprised. He was also damn glad his sunglasses had a land warrior setup; Seth flicked on the night vision.

"Well, I'll be damned,"
Seth muttered to himself, "They've got fuckin' Oni runnin' loose down here."
He considered calling in the boys for a moment, but then he looked around. Flexed a couple muscles because damn if he didn't look good for his age. My age?

He had a few magazines stashed in his jacket, and his daddy's 1911 never left his side. A good .45 could put down a bear if you hit it in the right spot, so he damn well wasn't worried about Bigfoot's actually existing cousin. Even if that all failed, the Bowie knife was in its spot on his belt.

Seth tipped his hat back and took a breath. Fuck it, this was gonna be good for him. The old tunnels were a crisscross of what looked like centuries of Russians wanting to move shit around the city without worrying about sunlight. Explains why they're all so God damn pale.


Seth traced his way along the tunnels, and the Oni weren't exactly hiding. A clawed footprint in decades old dust here, a splatter of blood a week old there, and... Hello.



About thirty feet up, Seth could see a break in the tunnel wall. He hugged the wall and inched forwards slowly, daddy's pistol drawn and pointed straight ahead. As he got closer, the signs that he'd found what he was looking for got clearer. There'd been a lot of false trails Seth'd had to back off from, but judging by the fresh trail of blood coming down the tunnel ahead and turning into the hole, there was a pack of Oni on the other side of the wall.

Now, shit. All I've gotta do is catch me some trophies.



Edited by Seth Marx, Oct 4 2016, 01:28 AM.

[Dorian]

Life was one fucked up mess right now. The Ascendancy turned the world upside down and now Domovoi was on high alert. They had more patrols out than they had men to outfit them. Everyone was working overtime and yet Dorian found a way to shuck of his duties and hit the circuits down in the tunnels. He had a lovely new friend who had a map of the underground city for the first few levels anyway but Nox was busy shadowing Cruz. He probably should have brought someone with him. Nox or Ivan.... But Ivan was incommunicado at the moment. Who knew what he was up to other than that he was on a special assignment from the Ascendancy himself.

Dorian walked the underground with the land warriors, a few fire arms and a shot gun. He was sure to avoid any of the locations Nox and Aria had encountered the mass of beasts he didn't want to get swarmed alone, but there were always creatures to hunt - to clear his head. His badge lay inside his desk. He wasn't here in official capacity - he wasn't here in any capacity other than that he needed to kill something to put something back in order in his life - something he could control.

There was a location on the land warriors that blipped with a potential Oni nest. As Dorian drew near he could see the tell tale signs of the beasts forages into the tunnels. Oni had thick skin. There was only one real way to take down an Oni and that was a steady shot through the eye. It was a far better test than any officer of the law had to take and Dorian had only killed one Oni in his line of work - but he kept up the hunt in his spare time. He wasn't going to let Martin make fun of him.

The thought of his friend made his death come to the forefront, but he had to push it aside as he saw the shadows move down the corridor. Dorian slipped along the wall before an open in the tunnel with a gun drawn. He took a deep breath and flipped his land warriors to heat vision and saw three hulking creatures just the other side of the wall, and something smaller down the hall. Dorian didn't want to give his position away so he stayed against the wall and aimed his gun towards the door. Something would give eventually and the Oni were more dangerous than the lone smaller figure around the corner.

[Dorian]

Movement inside the cavern just beyond Dorian's position pulled his attention. Two of the three creatures moved farther away and their heat signature dimmed as they left the vicinity. A roar echo'd in the cavern and the third Oni soon followed. Whatever the other two had found, they had called for the third. It raced through whatever openings were on the other side in heed of its friends call.

It was a first for Dorian, he moved forward but the wallet in his pocket buzzed silently and Dorian knew his time was up. Dorian flagged the spot as more than a potential nest - it was a sighting. He applied the notes and backed down the hall the way he'd come. Whoever or whatever was around the corner he'd have to ignore. The precinct needed him and it was time to get back to work - his real job - the one that was going to keep them safe - he hoped.

Sending Cruz back to Madrid might not be such a bad idea...But that was a discussion for later. It was time to hit the surface and return to the real world.