The Maw

[echidna]

A certain section of the old undercity was off limits.

New York, at least parts of it, was built not so much upon the earth as upon New York. Things happened - fires, infestations not worth clearing out, zombie apocalypses, and the like, they ensured there were dark places that people avoided now, or more probably avoided once, but now had just forgotten about.

One such place was an old train graveyard, underneath the surface of the city and deep within its subway system, abandoned long ago on the outskirts. Marvelous, really - it was quite a find, but for over a year now it had been avoided, not just forgotten. Things lived there now, and they were Things. The Capitol letters slotted into place easily when people spoke about it - the few who knew. Hobos, mostly, but gangbangers, mobsters, and other criminal thuggery knew it by now, as well. It was said to be the domicile of eldritch monsters, horrors from a time when man feared the dark, said some of the more superstitious sorts... but the unsuperstitious had to admit - it was disconcertingly more than urban legend. A few unlucky souls had even seen the eyes in the dark, heard the rattling breaths and saw glints of teeth, claws, mandibles, or chitin as it moved in the dark and lived to tell the tales of it.

This part of the underworld was known as The Maw, where Old Helljaws hunted. To hear them talk, you'd think it was a demon living in that abyss!

Truth is stranger than fiction.

The Maw , a tall, four-track wide tunnel, so named for the jagged tracking that juts now away from the depths, is cold and clammy, and always, always silent, with no lights visible in its depths.

[Terra]

After what happened...she had to redeem herself. There was no way around it...sure she was still sort of running away from her problems like a child but she was determined to do something good this time to make up for the bad. There were rumors about a shady train graveyard beneath the city going around hosting some pretty bad people from what she gathered and squishing these criminals causing who-knows-what kinda trouble was a good chance to make it up to everyone in New York! ....everyone who wasn't a criminal! Cause she was going to catch those criminals and kick them in the slammer. Or at least kick their butts and make them not want to do anything bad again....whichever was actually plausible. This place really gave her the creeps....using her powers down here may not be the best idea but she'd do her very best to be careful.

No more mistakes....or so she hoped. Aiming the flashlight in her gloved hand downward, she was trying to be careful with each and every step. Eyes....it felt like something or someone was watching her and it brought back a fear that usually suppressed itself. Gulping down a bit of air, she shuddered ever so slightly and continued forward then puffed out her chest a bit trying not to look so....intimidated over a stupid little feeling. The chill wasn't normal...this girl had slept in caves and made the Earth her home....and all those cold nights couldn't compare to this brand of chill. It almost felt like it was striking at her soul rather than her bones. Letting out a sneeze, she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth and nose then softly grumbled out a little, "Geeze! Thanks nose, that was stupid timing!"

Was anyone or anything else here? Such a question was hard to give a definite answer since it was so freaking quiet.....kinda like the phrase `calm before the storm`. Of course, it may not have been the best idea to use a flashlight but hey, she didn't have night vision! Even with her eyes adjusting to the dark, she would rather use a flashlight than risk seeing things and making a commotion over a stupid shadow looking like a freaky monster trying to eat her!

(GUH! I hope this is ok, my brain derped a bit)

[hei]

Some things never changed, regardless of which reality you were in. Wars were fought, won and lost, crisis rose and either struck or were averted, and people lived their lives, moving onwards despite it all. Hei had seen it countless times, across continent after continent, country after country, city after city, and New York was no different. While Hei himself had lain low, looking out for himself and trying to understand exactly what had happened to him after his third trip into Hell's Gate in Tokyo, Japan, this world had seen a number of conflicts, both man against man and otherwise, but it wasn't anything Hei hadn't been able to deal with or understand - up until then he'd done nothing but fight, and it didn't look like he was about to stop anytime soon, either.

As far as he'd been able to tell, after his last foray into Hell's Gate things had more or less turned out just as they had after South America - he'd found himself thousands of miles away, this time on the western US seaboard, with no memory beyond his last encounter with whatever Yin had become. The key difference this time, though, was that this was not his world, but given that no one really understood how the Gates worked anyways, Hei hadn't questioned it - they were areas of space that defied logic and the natural laws, and Hei wasn't about to try and understand how they worked when professional scientists, the best in his world, had spent entire lifetimes trying to only to fail. All he knew, all he needed to know, was that there was no Syndicate in this world, no remnants of the organization he had to run from, no one else here who wanted him dead who he had to run from, constantly looking over his shoulder to avoid them. At least not at first - trouble seemed to have a knack for finding him whether he wanted a part of it or not, and without really wanting to or trying Hei had found that the kind of life he had lived wasn't one so easily escaped from, and his reputation had grown just as quickly here as it had in his reality, if not faster. After spending a mere year and a half in this reality he was just as well known as he had been in his own, at least within the right circles. While it meant that he'd made nearly as many enemies as he'd once had before, it also meant that he had plenty of job security, as there always seemed to be a need for his rather unique skill set.

Walking down the empty tunnel, flashlight in hand and clad in his trademark black clothing and white, nearly featureless mask, Hei was glad once again that he still had his, or rather his sister's, Contract, despite the fact that the Gates did not exist in this world, an apparent paradox given what he did know of them. Still, it had allowed him to disable the tracks beneath him, disrupting the power flow that the subways used to operate down underground without drawing unwanted suspicion - while the NSA was perfectly aware that he was down here (despite being unaware of his exact abilities), the usual city officials and beureacrats knew nothing of his involvement, and he planned to keep it that way - thankfully, the NSA had agreed to run interferance behind the scenes to buy him as much time as possible. After the last few crisis they and the US National Guard were stretched incredibly thin, and while they knew something was down here they simply didn't have the manpower to deal with it, which was where Hei had come in - in exchange for a fee and something of a ceasefire agreement, he had agreed to deal with their problem. Exactly what the problem was, though, was anyone's guess - all that was known was that people were still going missing within certain areas, and there were plenty of streetside rumors that said to avoid a particular subway station, so that was where Hei had decided to start. He was nothing if not cautious, though, and given the rather recent changes to the city within the last half year, particularly the odd, cat sized insects now all over the city, Hei wasn't taking any chances. The bugs had appeared around the exact same time that the missing people cases had started rising, and he did not see that as coincidence, and as such had decided to take a route that even those insects wouldn't have covered - given the tightness of the tunnels and the relatively large size of the bugs, infesting the active subway tunnels would've been tantamount to suicide for them, and because of that it was the route Hei had decided to take.

After several more minutes of walking through the darkened tunnel and following its gentle curve, Hei found what he was looking for as the beam of light from the flashlight in his hand played over the wall to his left - a small door in a recessed section of the wall, a long since forgotten service tunnel that led from the operational tunnel system to the abandoned one, much deeper than he could have hoped to have gotten without being otherwise seen. Moving over to it, Hei was not surprised to find the rusted door locked when he attempted to open it. Placing the flashlight on the ground underneath the handle and lock to act as a makeshift torch before reaching into the front of his black longcoat and pulling out a small case, opening it to extract a small set of lockpicking tools - while most things of importance was electronic these days, much to his benefit, it never hurt to pick up other skills for times like these. Inserting the small picks into the lock, Hei fiddled with it for several long seconds before hearing a small click, the lock popping open just as light washed over him from behind as a subway engine approached, far ahead of schedule - clearly the people upstairs hadn't been able to buy as much time as they'd hoped, but no matter. Pressing himself into the depression and blending in with the shadows perfectly, Hei remained completely still as the train passed him by, only moving once it was gone. Opening the rusted door and slipping inside, Hei grabbed the flashlight as he entered and shut it off, leaving it at the small tunnel's midway point as he moved to the far side, pressing his ear to the other door to make sure that there was nothing there - satisfied with the resounding silence on the other side, Hei quickly moved onto picking that lock as well, using the tunnel's dim lighting. Hearing another small click, Hei stowed the instruments back into his coat before slowly and cautiously opening the door inch by inch, ready to quickly shut it should the need arise before slipping out into the tunnel beyond and closing it behind him.

Carefully, observing his surroundings and especially alert for any of the insects he'd seen aboveground should they prove his suspicions correct, Hei nevertheless kept his guard up despite the utter lack of life or movement around him in the darkness of the otherwise empty tunnel. So far so good - if he remembered right he'd emerged somewhere around the midway point between the tunnel's deepest section and the station that led above ground, exactly where he'd hoped. Turning to his left, Hei began moving down the tunnel, still very much cautious but appearing relatively relaxed to the casual observer as he began moving towards the deeper sections of the tunnel system.

[echidna]

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Terra:
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The sneeze and the words echoed into the dark for a long way. Terra was being watched - that much was certain - her feeling was well-grounded. Eliza had made a point to keep track of the golden-haired earthchild - She knew, better than most, the kind of danger the girl posed to not just her children, but to the city of New York. What if her powers went haywire down here? What would happen then? The fact that Eliza wasn't at her best at hte moment made the intrustions perhaps well-timed... but still, there was such a thing as standing directive.

Opal beetles were harmless things - they were all over the city now, common as cats and twice as friendly. In a way, they were quickly becoming something of a casual nuisance - but they didn't bother people, generally speaking, and seemed to avoid homes unless they were brought inside. Just the same, they were common as muck. The abandoned tunnel had more than one or two of them, going about their business, but they seemed to avoid The Maw. Just the same, there was a clicking, wet... snikkasnakka sort of sound in the tunnel, a busy, industrious little noise that pierced the silence neatly.

As Terra waved her light about, it revealed the source - One of the aforementioned Opal Beetles. It appeared to be chewing on some yellowing lettuce, grasping it with its mandibles and feeding it into its maw with all signs of enjoyment, its wings giving a little flutter and a Bzzzz sound, watching Terra carefully. Not... the most intimidating creature to find down here - the beetles were well known as harmless, even friendly, about as terrifying as a cat. It didn't appearantly mind the light though - just kept on munching.

There was a distant noise though from further along in the tunnel - a sort of rusty creeeeeeeeeeeeeeaak sort of noise, and a metallic click as someone, or something, opened a rusty door and shut it. The black was all consuming - the only source of light within range of sight was Terra's Flashlight, and the only sounds for a good moment after that were the sounds of Terra's breathing - the Beetle had stopped munching, and turned around to tilt its head this way and that in the direction of the noise.

Without so much as a backward glance, the beetle began to scurry down the tunnel - it wasn't the quickest little thing, but its legs pumped industriously, and moved just above walking pace for a human.

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Hei:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tunnel Hei came into was black as ink - it was impossible to see his own nose in front of his face, let alone the tracks or the opposite wall... but the coldness of the tunnel was penetrating - more than just... clammy. It wasn't perfectly silent this far in as well. There were noises - clicking noises, the rush of water down pipes in soft sounds, like the whispers of ghosts. The ground was filthy, and the tracks were rusty at this point from disuse.

In the tunnel, after the creaking door and in the blackness that held the eerie noises and subtly moving air currents, there was something further near the entrance of the tunnel, someone, distant, who was waving a flashlight about - but there was something else - something coming from the other direction... not visible, not audible... but much more intense was the feeling. To an experienced killer like Hei, it was like the feeling of somebody about to jump you, or that unpleasant little spike of ice when you saw an unexpected, mangled corpse. If instincts were like jungle drums of dread, this sensation was a soft beat in the distance. Something was there. Something not nice at all.

[Terra]

This place had NOTHING on her! NOPE NOTHING! ....ok well it was kinda sorta giving her the creeps and quite frankly she didn't really like being down here at all. It was just such a hanging bad feeling that not only felt like a looming creeper but also squeezed onto her heart like she should be VERY careful. This place...it actually had something on her or at least that's what it felt like. The blonde with sky blue eyes didn't have a huge bundle of intuition to call her own, to be blunt. Thing was...it wasn't like this everywhere...just...certain places.

Even in some places she went to for the first time, they had an eerie sense of familiarity and it shook her to the core. Glancing around, wishing she felt like it was alright to bring the only one she could really consider calling a friend....but insecurities practically ate her alive and it was just something she had to do alone. With her sneeze being the only echo accompanying her at this time, she panicked a little and swished her head left to right along with the flash light juuuuust to make sure she was as alone as it VISUALLY appeared. OH FUDGE!What in the world was that noise?! SOMETHING WAS HERE SOMETHING WAS DEFINITELY HERE AND SHE WASN'T CRAZY! NOPE! Fumbling with her flashlight for a short moment, she quickly regained her grip upon the battery powered caster of portable light.

Swiftly, twisting her body around to fully turn toward the sound and aiming her flashlight as well as her palm at a....bug....one of those bugs she could have sworn people were walking around on leashes these days....she blinked in a bit of confusion and had a look of puzzlement on her face. Frowning slightly with a wide-eyed stare....a black brow arched up just to add a little flare of `What the...` invading her composure. Slooowly lowering her palm seeing it being harmless considering it was just mutilating some greens. These things were pretty nice....they were sweet little things from what she could remember traveling and napping around. Some even cuddled up to her like a lovable cat as though to offer comfort in the midst of loneliness that came in the package of being a traveler. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, a small smile crept along her lips and she slowly began to approach it. Wouldn't hurt at ALL to have a little animal friend, right?

Erm...even if it was an insect...still being all alone in a place like this was unnerving but she HAD TO try and make it up to not only that girl but also the city for making such a mess....all she did was try to help and that didn't always work out so well much to her dismay. Friends weren't exactly what one would call plentiful in her life, it was more like a bundle of acquaintances and perhaps a rare few that might be friend material. "Come here...hey....wait...!...where are you going, little guy?" Trying to keep up with a friendly composure, she followed after the beetle and occasionally glanced around since it was scuttle bugging itself away at an interestingly fast pace for a bug. So much that she was speed walking but got into a slow jog so she could keep up with it.

Seriously...this felt kind of...sort of...stupid...but from her experience sometimes animals had a way of being guides and maybe this was the case? Dear sweet Terra couldn't be too sure, but it wasn't as though she was some weak little girl and could hold her own if it guided her to a danger in the dark. So curiously with caution in mind, she followed the SCUTTLE BUGGY keeping an ear and eye out for whatever else wanted to ninja out of the shadows casting themselves upon this place.

[hei]

Despite the overwhelming darkness Hei easily found his way, guided less by his eyes, now well adjusted enough to the dark to make out vague shapes and movement, and more through his other senses - hearing, touch, smell, and that ever pervasive sixth sense of his, which was also the one he'd come to rely on the most. No matter how lucky you were, one did not survive what Hei had been through in his teenage years without such a sense, and while it wasn't something that was really quantifiable or observable, it was there nonetheless..... and it was probably what had given him his edge over the Contractors of that day and age, as they only dealt in facts, observation and logic, not letting the very feelings that Hei had come to rely on "cloud" their judgement. As he steadily moved deeper and deeper towards into the tunnel and further away from the surface station, though, he didn't like what he was feeling. There was no real reason to be on edge and it didn't at all show with him, but on edge he was, and he couldn't explain it at all. It wasn't exactly a sense of malice and he couldn't tell exactly where the feeling was coming from, but he knew almost instantly that he'd struck gold, so to speak, on his first attempt to find the source of the disappearances above ground.

Exactly what was down there with him, though, Hei could not yet say, except that it wasn't exactly a single presence - still, as far as he could tell they weren't anywhere near him yet and were still unaware of his presence, something he'd like to keep that way as long as possible, at least until he knew what he was dealing with. That was always the first rule of combat - know your enemy, and that included knowing where and what they were as well as what they were capable of. He already knew they were either strong or fast enough to kill or abduct most humans without any trouble and he knew they were down here in the tunnels, but as of yet he still didn't know what they were, which would be the first thing he'd correct.

After a few more minutes of general silence while moving down the tunnel Hei suddenly stopped as he heard a faint noise echoing down the tunnel behind him, the sound magnified by both the size and shape of the tunnel - a faint clicking sound, followed by what sounded like footsteps of all things. Turning slightly around to look over his shoulder, Hei weighed his choices for all but a fraction of a second before deciding on a course of action. It clearly wasn't the NSA sending back up as they were both stretched too thin and it had been a specific condition of his to work alone on this particular job, but as to who else it might have been Hei had no guess. It was too early in the game to risk taking chances, though, and while the second set of footsteps were human from the sound of it, the first clearly weren't, instead a distinct clicking sound that Hei instantly recognized. Either way, it would be foolish to let himself be seen or otherwise detected this early.

Right hand coming up from his side, he deftly took hold of the snap hook at his belt and snapped his arm up, sending the cable upwards where it anchored itself in the pipes in the ceiling - while he hadn't been able to see them, he could clearly hear the fluids rushing through them, and the sounds of said fluids suggested midsized but sturdy metal piping - exactly what he needed, and an assumption that quickly proved to be correct as he felt the line grow taut. Clicking the button on his miniature winch on his belt with his left hand, Hei quickly rose up from the floor as the cable retracted with a soft whine, bringing the Reaper up to the ceiling where he used his arms and legs to anchor himself into place among the piping where his black clothing allowed him to blend in perfectly with the darkness, careful not to slip from the condensation and freeing the snap hook to return to his belt - from the time he had heard the sounds and made his decision, only a scant four seconds had passed. As Hei waited in place the resisted the urge to shift into a more comfortable position - patience had never been one of his strong points despite all outwards appearances, but moving now could easily get him caught. After roughly another minute of waiting in place he finally saw the source of the sounds - bathed in a circle of light from the flashlight the person following it was holding was one of the large insects he'd seen all over the city, and while it wasn't enough to prove his suspicions right, the bug's presence certainly supported them. It was a good thing that the person behind it was keeping their flashlight on the insect, too - Hei wasn't sure how good their eyesight was, but given the stark contrast between the light around it and the surrounding darkness, he highly doubted it'd be able to see him, regardless of how good the thing's sight was.

While the flashlight's presence was helpful, though, the person holding it could very well prove to be a mixed blessing. Hei had not counted on anyone from the outside getting involved, government or civilian - he had gone there under the assumption that it would just be him and whatever it was he had been sent to clear out of the place, without any outside interferance. It should've been a reasonable assumption given that it'd been word from the streets saying to avoid the place that had brought him here, but evidently this person either hadn't heard or was some adrenaline junky or delinquint looking for a cheap thrill. It didn't particularly matter, though - judging from her clothing she was clearly a civilian, and she complicated things. As he tried to decide whether to leave her be or get her out of the place and return later, Hei decided on the former - it all came back to the fact that he didn't have enough information as of yet, and didn't know what he was dealing with for the most part. If she got into trouble he'd act then, but if anything her presence might even prove to be helpful - while the things he was after down here had their eyes on her, he'd be able to move a bit more freely. As the girl and the bug passed below Hei, still lodged in the piping above them and for all intensive purposes nonexistant, the Reaper silently watched them move past him, waiting for several moments afterwards and dropping down to silently land in a crouch once he was certain there was nothing else behind them. Standing up, Hei moved to follow the girl and insect from a distance, careful not to give away any sign of his presence.

[echidna]

Somewhere, across the link that connected her to her children, Eliza said a bad word.

Terra. It had to be Terra. The Broodmother cursed her stars, and not for the first time ever in her life. Inside the Aranomb, her fists clenched and unclenched as she thought hard... and ordered a hold fast - She knew Terra's powers better than anyone else... except possibly Slade. Hell... she practically knew the girl's life story, such as it was. She was also one of the only people... in the *world* who she was sure her sensei had a soft spot for.

Second thoughts pointed out that her children were the most important thing to her, weren't they? Slade could go and hang if it meant the deaths of hundreds of her children for the life of one person.... but a third train of thought derailed itself, and asked the second if it was mad? The worst thing Terra could do was bring the house down. The worst Slade could do was bring her whole world down.

While second and third thoughts were arguing, Eliza stared at the images of Hei and Terra in her mind, clear as crystal despite the darkness. She reminded herself that patience was a virtue. Besides... She knew so very little about Hei - for now, observation was a fine thing - let her see where this went before coming to conclusions.

Just the same, Hei's prowess worried her. There was a man who was trouble at any price if ever she saw one. He had "Agent" written all over every feature. This man was skilled, but more than that he was a killer - she'd seen his kind before and she still had... memories. Shadowshard was not a walk in the park. She considered his mere presence to be a defcon three - and Terra elevated it. But, she knew the threat was there - even if she didn't yet know much about said threat. She had time to prepare.

The Brood was all too willing to comply.

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The SCUTTLE BUGGY paused beneath where Hei had been, tilting its head. It was getting some strange signals from its mother - it walked over to a small piece of refuse on the ground, and looked almost like a cat for a moment before... POUNCING into the bit of newspaper, and finding an apple core! Oh joyous day, for food was delicious even if it was nearly black!

It inhaled the core, and looked quite contented, snapping its mandibles in a kind of enthusiastic little noise - Snaksnak! It was a naturally curious creature - it wandered over towards Terra - the girl had spoken softly to it, and its simple little mind thought that was a good attribute for a young fleshbeast to have, a soft voice! It looked up at her, and made a soft "Snaksnak!" up at her, and spun a little in place before looking up at her again. "Snaksnak!" They really were friendly things - even when snapping those mandibles, they managed to fail to look frightening.

---------------------------------
Damascus relaxed a little. The moment of attack had suddenly been interrupted by mother's voice in, if not his head, his very soul. Everyone was on high alert after Hazama's intrusion. The thought of his actions still burned like red, searing lines in the Ravener's head - Which was why he'd taken gate duty from Dapper this evening. He wanted blood for what Hazama did - whether it was the snake's blood or not didn't matter. He had prayed for some mobsters or a hobo or something... what he got was a human in a creepy mask.

The problem with human eyes is that their rods and cones don't absorb light like a Ravener's do. Damascus reflected upon this - he was a reflective kind of person. As far as Raveners went, he was very intelligent. He didn't outstrip a couple of his brothers, but he was definitely one of the brightest of his species, and second to none in... certain regards. He was a devious, clever Ravener, and as everyone knows, the last person you want to guard a gateway was an honest, straightforward person who didn't think like a bastard. He'd gotten gate duty, let's say, and nobody had contested it, despite a lot of fellow feeling among the Brood.

Damascus, his short, rough coat dampening the noise of his motions, kept his eyes trained on the human in the white mask - The one with yellow hair had walked past him in pursuit of the Opal beetle, and as his claws gripped old stonework. Lines of stealth crisscrossed in his mind neatly - The Opal beetle had the task of watching Terra... he had the task of being invisible, of observing the human. Devourerkind was well suited to this - stealth was bred into them, a part of their very instincts.

He had fleeting, hot little memories of stealth games with his brothers in New Jersey and in this city - food gethering was important, and he, and the two brothers of his who were in his team, had defined it as a sport amongst themselves! Fastest camera disables, most finesse in the distraction of a guard... that kind of thing had a point value. Since he was no longer allowed to attack the white masked man, why not treat this as a game of Shadow Food?

He no longer gave off a predatory instinct then - he knew that trick. He simply switched off his "I'm going to kill you" flasher, so to speak. Before, when Hei had wandered in and Damascus had had orders, that was one thing... but now he wasn't to engage, so his will to harm Hei had gone - knocked off for a smoke break. He made no noise, and he knew a human eye wouldn't be able to see him. He wasn't looking at the light of Terra's flashlight, so his eyes would cast no reflection.

Damascus, with serpentine patience, waited until his mark, whom he unconsciously marked as "Watchful Cop" (Ten points if he could get by unnoticed, a hundred if he could get his wallet, take his money and put it back without him noticing!), had decided he wasn't there, and followed the follower. His mother had concerns about this one - he was dangerous as hell, she thought, and he took her concerns on board by staying well back - no sense risking. Mother reserved Defcon 2 for serious threats, like Batman for example.

Damascus respected the Bat. Many among the Foodrunners did. They'd seen him in New Jersey, that breathless little place between New York and Gotham, hunting a drug operation while on one of their runs. Eliza had raised a Defcon Three, and a couple of them had gone to see what it was about. The man was. a. god. They had never seen a human with that much skill. *ELIZA* barely knew anything about him at all, and she'd tried - the man covered the covering of his covered tracks, and had earned something of a fanboy following among the Runners who'd seen him that day.

Shadowdancer got one of his shuriken, the lucky devil. Damascus still had plans to steal it.

Perhaps it was because he was distracted, perhaps Hei had loosened one of the pipes. Perhaps Damascus was just unlucky that day. Regardless, one of the pipes he was gripping came loose with a sickening creak, and hot water blasted Damascus full on in the chest. He cried out as fur singed, and almost lost his grip on the ceiling as he moved out of the way. His eyes ran, his breath was hot and rapid for a few shuddering gasps, and pain blurred the Ravener's vision... but he had to move. He HAD TO MOVE. Why wouldn't his body SHUT UP AND LISTEN?!

Holding his breath, fighting not to cry out again, Damascus fell back, fangs gritted tightly as hot water poured from the pipe onto the track below. He could only hope he was fast enough to get away from Hei. The Brood was in an uproar of reactions, but his mind was clouded by agony. He had to get away.. he had to survive! These were his standing orders in such a circumstance anyway! His strength was failing - he was starting to weaken, to lose his grip on the ceiling.

His brothers were already on the way, swift and silent as shadows. Damascus took some comfort in that, and dropped.

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An inhuman cry resounded from behind Hei and Terra, a roar that echoed horribly in the darkness, its tone and timbre suggesting distress and rage, followed swiftly by the sound of running water and the hiss of steam from where they'd came. Distantly, very quietly and a good ten seconds after that... a thud.

[Terra]

How many creeps could this place POSSIBLY give? A lot, that's how much! Keeping her eye on the bug and following it along...during her little adventure she could have sworn she heard something...weird. Rubbing her ears for a moment and glancing around....seeing nothing made her drop that suspicion like a bowling ball and shrugged while continuing to follow the AMAZING SCUTTLE BUGGY! Weren't there supposed to be some scary bad guys she'd have to deal with down here? Almost a let down since she really hoped to make it up to everyone she unintentionally let down. Staying in New York was a hard challenge, she didn't want to stay here....just run away like her instincts generally demanded.

However, she really wanted to try breaking that habit for a change, so this was the best way to go about it! Or....so she hoped. Watching the bug pounce on some newspaper, sift through it and find itself an apple core then began snacking away on it like candy. The tomboyish geomancer couldn't help but slap her gloved hand over her mouth and giggle as though someone just told her a silly joke of some kind. This thing had an odd little charm and it was really cute with its simplistic antics! Kinda had a warm familiarity....like something or someone that made her heart flutter about with bubbly happiness. Nice change of pace....even in a creepy place like this....er...well....ESPECIALLY in a place like this!

Lowering her hand from her mouth while a delighted smile remained across her lips, she noticed it was approaching her and didn't bother freaking out or jumping. In fact, she crouched down on one knee to get a closer look...how cute! Those adorable noises and a little spin! It was a shame she had to keep a grip on the light, otherwise she'd try to carry the little critter around like kitty cat! However, she couldn't resist at least trying to pet it! "Too bad I can't take you home..." softly saying those words in a sweet tone, she slowly brought her hand over its back and muttered "...kinda don't have one aside from the Earth. Makes it hard to keep a pet..."

Halfheartedly, she shrugged after saying those words and almost played it off like a casually spoken joke. Wait a second...there was a loud noise which followed a small series of sounds and it did NOT seem subtle at all! Maybe it dropped too considering the silence cutter of the moment ended in a THUD. All she could do was really guess for now, speculate on what was going on. Without a doubt...in the distance, SOMETHING was out there and she refused to just let it slide under her radar like nothing. An alert version of her concerned nature washed over her looking a little more serious losing that sweet smile. "Wait here, this could be dangerous..."

She...was talking to a bug as if it were a civilian child....oh well...animals had a soft place in her heart. Getting up to her feet...the inhuman scream which made her skin crawl HAD TO be investigated right away! Letting out a heavy sigh, she spun around tightening her grip upon the flashlight's handle to illuminate her path on the verge of bolting off...was anything there or was it just her?

[hei]

It was nice to know that in a way his caution had proved to be worth the effort, but at the same time rather disconcerting - no one had managed to get behind him like that since he was a child, even if they had managed to keep their distance, and the implications that came with it were incredibly unpleasant. Whatever it was clearly wasn't human given how it had been crawling on the ceiling from what sounds Hei could hear, and while that may have been a contributing factor as to why he hadn't been able to pinpoint the thing's location beyond a distinct feeling of unease before it still represented a significant threat, and he would not let it happen again - it would be too dangerous, and there would be no guarantee the next creature would hold back as this one did. The question now was exactly what it had been doing back there, and why it had been there to begin with - obviously the activity had drawn the thing's attention, but whether it had been following the girl up ahead or whether it had known he was there was the issue at this point. If he'd been detected so easily and so early on, there would be little point to staying hidden much longer - if the things wanted to put up any resistance to his passage deeper into the tunnels they would do so, plain and simple, whether it was intended to stop his progress or the girl's didn't matter.

And that brought up another issue - what to do about her. Based on what he'd seen and heard, she clearly wasn't involved with this, not any more than the rest of the city was anyways. As far as he could tell she was just a civilian - either much braver or dumber than most, but not the cause or source of the problem, which left Hei with three options. He could either leave her alone and continue on his way, the most logical course of action as it would mean wasting no time and moving on to his objective before any sizable resistance could be formed assuming there were more of the things down here, or he could remove her, either by telling her to leave or removing her by force. The later option would remove her as an obstacle and guarantee her safety, which in and of itself was more or less part of his mandate (the NSA had been quite clear to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, zero if possible), but would quite possibly waste invaluable time should she refuse to leave and he be forced to immobilize and physically remove her. As Hei was turned part way around, now watching the vague shape in the darkness behind him on the ground and covered in a liquid pouring from a broken pipe in the ceiling, he decided on the middle road - he'd request her to leave for the time being, and deal with her later should she prove to be a risk or otherwise an obstacle.

After a few moments, though, Hei suddenly felt something coming from the other end of the tunnel - no noise or anything else quantifiable, but something was definately there, a feeling identical to the one he'd gotten from the creature behind them and recognizable now that he knew what to look for. Turning back around to face both the girl and the deeper end of the tunnel, Hei mentally cursed the flashlight she was holding - while his vision had long since adjusted to the dark, the contrasting light coming from the flashlight in her hands made it impossible to see past the beetle on the ground in front of her and deeper into the darkness. Apparently moving onwards wasn't exactly an option anymore, not if he wanted to follow his employers' orders - these things had already been responsible for a number of disappearances already, most of them full grown adults, and he doubted a stick of a person like the one in front of him would be able to resist for even a second. No point in hiding from her, either - if there was a fight, she'd see him anyways, and he needed her out of there. Still very much aware of the creature behind him and always keeping a small portion of his attention on it, Hei began silently approaching the girl from behind, stance relaxed as he walked with a calm pace to his steps.

[echidna]

Terra:
-----------------------------------------------------------
The beetle tilted its head at Terra at the mention of taking it home, not quite like it understood, but on the basis that Terra was speaking to it. The thing fidgeted, its legs rising and falling almost like it was eager or anxious, but it seemed to enjoy Terra's voice - its antennae flicked once or twice, and for a moment, shrouded against the black as he was, it looked right past Terra to Hei in the tunnel beyond, then back at her again

"Snak! Snaksnak!" and it moved a bit towards Terra, setting a piece of newspaper down in front of her, almost reverentially, then crawling underneath it, almost as if it was using it as a blanket, but it was a complicated gesture for a bug that seemed to indicate something to the effect of "Home is where the heart is!"

That had been Eliza's doing. She couldn't help but like Terra, and with mother pleased, that put the beetle in a playful mood. Another "Snaksnak!" came, but mother's mood changed quickly after the sound came - it went from anxiously playful to anxiously worried. When Terra began to wander down towards the source of the terrible cry, the beetle made an anxious, keening noise like

"Kyeeehh~!" and trundled after Terra, its wings flitting as it bounded, trying to catch up to her, to climb onto her, to do SOMETHING to distract her! Mother's instructions were clear, but she'd left that detail up to it - but it was NOT TO BITE HER. Not like the beetle wanted to anyhow...

Down the rusted track further, at Terra's feet was steaming water - it wasn't very hot after long in contact with the floor, but the broken pipe was gurgling and rushing water powered out of it along with gouts of steam. It smelled like water, too - good water at that. But what was hot, fresh water doing down here, anyhow? Probably sent along the lines hot, to keep bacteria from getting friendly with it...

A hat was illuminated, floating along in the hot water - it was a fedora, with green and blue swirls, twirling slowly as it was hurried along by spreading currents of hot water, and beyond, in the dark... a shape. It was huge - Nine feet long not counting a tail - it had spikes on, and whatever it was, it was groaning, dragging itself away from the water - that much was clear. Eyes - alltogether too many, watched Terra and reflected the glint of her flashlight...

Damascus was delirious with agony, barely conscious, but he could see the slow coming ofthe hot water - he didn't now why he felt compelled to fear it, to try and escape, but after being hit full on with boiling hot water, one tends to be a bit... nervous of it.

----------------------------------
Hei:
----------------------------------

From where the girl had come, from deeper in the tunnel behind her, a feeling was rising... one of anger tempered with caution. Things were there... Four things. They were trying to be stealthy, one in each wall-facing corner, two on either side of the tunnel wall, rushing down the tunnel at speed. Many eyes flashed, each with at least seven, their profiles... bestial, each wearing scraps of clothing - a full black one with a cowboy hat, a mottled greyish one with scarf and goggles, another midnight black one, but with a silver, almost skullshaped marking on its face and bit of a trenchcoat, and, the last, a pale one that had a bandanna and a bag of some sort slung on its back, tightly strapped. Each had a triangular shape of face, trained fixedly on him and the girl walking towards the broken pipe, and they slowed as they saw Hei.

Fubar (Cowboy hat), Tamale (Scarfy), Shadowdancer (Coats), and Ratatat (Bandanna), watched Hei with terrible caution. They knew his kind. Cautious cop was jumpy cop - Ratatat was something of a medic - he'd not seen the streets like his three other comrades in this... But appearantly, he was the boldest. They weren't to fight these two, right? Not unless they were instructed to do so, right? Hei was a sneaky devil anyhow... deviously clever. They wouldn't be able to sneak past him - All of them knew that much...

So Ratatat didn't try. He dropped down, and simply strode down the middle of the track, making some deliberate noise as he did so - claws clicking across metal, arms at his sides, walking generally upright, his tail squirming and wriggling behind him to keep his balance.

The other three watched him in fascinated horror! What the fuck was this greenhorn DOING?! This was a defcon three situation! The masked man was a serious threat and... and he was just walking up to him?

Ratatat cleared his throat a little at Hei, and paused a good twenty feet away, no fangs bared, no sign of aggression in his stance. His bag was white, with red trimmings, and he kept his hands wrapped up tightly in white bandages, dirtied on his claws by the run up the tunnel. His face was calm, stern with a serious expression, insofar as Hei would be able to tell.

"Parlay." he said, clear and plain as day in the darkness of the tunnel. "I want to speak with you peacefully, Mask. My name is Ratatat - Lives are at stake and this is foolish, come, speak to me please." he said, with barely an accent at all considering the shape of his face and mouth. A long, rubbery black tongue filled the spaces and let him speak without opening his lips much, but teeth still glinted in his maw - a ton of razor sharp teeth - and his words were clear and sharp, with a stern tone his mother often used.

Ratatat. Bugger that greenhorn - who did he think he was? Even Mother was in shocked awe of the boldness of one of her youngest sons. She knew he was amicable - he wasn't on the food patrols because he tended to talk about... talking to humans. Some of the older Raveners, that had seen New Jersey, before this business with Slade... well, they'd seen what humans could do, what they could think of Raveners. What they did to one or two of their brothers, it was... it was horrible. The older ones had shared the memory, but that had just made Ratatat take more of an interest, and strengthened his position.

Ratatat wanted to be friends and he didn't understand why that couldn't happen.

The world held its breath.

[Terra]

It...was sweet...this bug was giving her a heart warming message....she felt like such warmth was a foreign familiarity. Giving it a tender smile, she would have stayed and played with it....but....something had to be investigated and she was back to showing concern and a spark of determination. In fact, when she was about to bolt off, it seemed to make a bit of a fuss. "I gotta go, but don't worry I'll come back and we can play more so just wait for me!" Turning around, she quickly ran as fast as her feet could carry her and bit her lower lip at the pain surging up those slender legs being splashed by hot water. Thankfully, only problem with her feet were they got a little on the warm side. Such a method was far from stealthy, she knew this without a doubt and right now she didn't give a crap because what if it was going to escape or get away anyway?

Walking sure as hell wasn't going to catch a potential criminal! Each rushed step was caused by a splash and the light's ray shook a bit even though she tried to keep it steady. Wasn't easy when sprinting! Good thing she was so damn used to running, it honestly made things MUCH easier since she had a great deal of stamina. Lifting her free hand, she wiped away the sweat trickling down her forehead and shuddered a bit....something about this much heat made her feel nervous. Didn't know why....but it always brought forth that `be careful` intuitive feeling that something may very well get the best of her. Feeling a bit shaken to the core, she noticed a fedora and swept up the drifting hat riddled in green and blue swirls as the scrawny girl bolted by it.

Could be a clue and it was good to keep clues! Of course her splashy run came to a halt when her flashlight illuminated a strange creature. With her knees slightly bent inward and toes pointing forward, her eyes widened and...normally she'd smack it with a rock but...her encounter with that dragoness taught her a very valuable lesson: There's more than meets the eye to what resides beneath the surface. Such a place was rumored to have criminals and creatures....but....what if there was more to it than that? Terra had nothing more to go off of than silly rumors and...well...she didn't want to blindly hurt a good guy even if he didn't look the part....kinda like how she mistook the dragoness for a baddy and found out the hard way she hurt something...no someone good. A feeling she didn't want to go through again...in fact she was going to give this injured creature a chance first and if it got aggressive with her THEN and only THEN would she bust out a metaphorical hammer of JUSTICE! "Hey...uh...whatever you are....you ok?"

Though there was an obvious tinge of nervousness to her tone, she did have genuine concern for whether or not it was alright. "...and...er...is this your hat?" Holding up the hat, she glanced at it for a moment before looking over to the creature...she hadn't a clue what in the bloody hell it was but all she could do is HOPE it wasn't gonna try to freak the hell out at her. However...in the distance...she could hear something....voices softly echoing....not like she could understand a word of it but there was no aggression. In fact...it sounded very casual from the tone so it didn't raise any real sense of alarm. Plus, she had to make sure whatever this was didn't die on her let alone try to harm her and get its hat back. Good guys did good deeds no matter how the afflicted party appeared on the outside!

Even if this thing WAS a bad guy...good guys didn't go around letting criminals die without trying to help them despite their crimes. If she was going to be a hero, she had to start on the right foot somewhere and this was her day of redemption!

[hei]

If he hadn't thought so before, the civilian's next actions cemented the thought in Hei's head - she should not be down there. She was inattentive to the extreme, having literally been unaware of Hei's presence even when he'd made absolutely no attempt to hide himself and having run right past him to see what the cause of the sounds behind them was, never once noticing that he'd been standing less than three feet from her at any one point in time. She was not suited to being down here at all - Hei had no doubt that if the things down here wanted a piece of her, she'd be completely unaware of their presence until the grabbed her and she suffered whatever fate that those who had disappeared on the surface had. As she ran past him he paused, glancing back over his shoulder in her direction before starting to turn around, intending to close the distance between them once again and grip her by the shoulder. As he began to do so, however, Hei stopped halfway through the first action as the presences from further down the tunnel became far more distinct than before. One, two, three....... no, four of them. Whatever they were, the creatures were clearly through playing games.

While Hei was somewhat relieved, he wasn't exactly sure what to make of the fact that the othe creatures weren't making any attempt to hide themselves anymore. They could have been coming to do whatever they did to those on the surface, blindly attracted by the loud noises, rushing to aid another of their kind, or some other abstract objective that Hei had yet to grasp. The NSA simply had not given him enough information to reach concrete conclusions or to confidently act off of, which in and of itself wa unusual - whatever was down here had been there for at least half a year, and the fact that they had no reasonably accurate information to give Hei was somewhat concerning. No matter what manner of job he'd taken in the past, the US government had been rather forthcoming in information relevant to jobs he was doing for them in the past, be it the CIA or some other agency, but the fact that they had next to nothing regarding what they'd sent him downstairs to clear out was unprecendented, at least as far as Hei knew.

As the creatures began closing in, though, Hei knew he'd need to make a choice, soon. Every bit of his considerable experience and instinct told him that staying where he was would be a bad idea, but his orders were quite clear - no civilians were to be put at risk if it was avoidable, which meant ensuring the girl's safety as well. The fact that the creatures clearly knew where they were also somewhat limited his options - hiding was not a viable solution, which meant running. Again, though, Hei had no idea how fast these things were, and he'd be slowed down by at least a little if he were forced to carry the girl - he had no doubt about that much at least, he was faster than her. Not the best of circumstances - he'd been wanting to avoid using his sister's Contract, saving it as an ace in the hole should he need it later, but he didn't see much choice given the odds. The best course of action would be to send out an electric charge along the rails he was standing on, just enough to knock the civilian out and stun any of the creatures who happened to get hit by it - he'd nail at least two of them, the one in the pool of water behind him and the one standing on the tracks further in the darkness, but that would still leave two of them mobile and free to pursue them. He would need to be fast, remarkably fast even by his standards, if he wanted to pull it off. As Hei began to gather the concentration needed to follow through on his chosen course of action, though, he suddenly stopped, the slight rise of his chin being the only clue to his shock and surprise thanks to his expressionless mask as he heard something he had not been expecting.

They, or it, spoke. It wasn't the mimicry that many animals were capable of, either - it was clear English, structured and worded to give the sounds meaning. It wasn't as it had been with Mao, either - there were no Contractors besides himself in this world, which precluded the possibility of it being a human consciousness inhabiting an animal body, and even had that been possible, such abilities were remarkably rare even among Contractors. It was at this point that Hei was convinced that the NSA had no idea what they were dealing with down here - this was something they couldn't have, and clearly hadn't, anticipated. If they'd known this was possible they would have sent one of their own people down here, a negotiator - it would have been much simpler and more controllable than hiring outside muscle to clear out their problem. The problem now was how to deal with it - a job was a job, and simply abandoning it would have been tantamount to making an outright enemy of the US government, he'd be forced to leave the country, to start running all over again. That being said, though, whether or not his standing orders applied anymore was a debatable issue - the situation had clearly developed into something different, something they had not expected, and how could they? They knew as little as he apparently did. It was at times like this that Hei wondered if being a Contractor in the traditional sense would have made decisions like this easier - they saw the world in black and white, choices to be made based on rationale and logic rather than instinct and emotion. As far as Hei saw it there were three options - follow through on his original plan to grab the girl and run with the intent of leaving her somewhere safe before making a beeline to the source of these things, modify his original plan and report the change in situation to his controller and de facto superiors, or play it by ear. Either way the civilian's safety was his top priority at the moment, and logically speaking the second option made the most sense - it had the least amount of risk involved, and it would've been the choice any normal Contractor would have chosen. Hei wasn't a Contractor, though, at least not from what he'd been led to believe, and it was this time that his human sensibilities got involved in the decision making process.

"........... on one condition. The girl's safety, I want it guaranteed before I agree to anything." Hei said, facing the source of the earlier speech and speaking himself after a moment's silence, his voice calm, measured and cold. If there was an alternative to his previous method of dealing with the situation, he would take it. Contrary to his appearance, reputation, outward demeanor and overall popular opinion among those who knew of him, Hei did not enjoy killing - he detested it, in fact, but it had been a necessary action all those years ago, required to accept his sister for who and what she was. At this point that reason no longer remained, though, and instead it had become a neverending cycle, a bottomless pit he'd trapped himself in ever since those early days with the Syndicate - those who knew of him hired him only for his lethal skills, and that in turn simply fed the cycle. If there was a peaceful alternative method to solving this problem without making an enemy of his employers, he would take it, however slim the possibility was.

The only question at this point, though, was how the girl behind him would act. Up to this point she had been completely unaware of his presence, and he wasn't sure how she would react. It would've been best if he could get her to leave the place, to head back up to the surface, but at this point Hei wasn't ready to count on things being as simple as that - so far nothing else had gone according to plan since his entry into this particular tunnel system, and he wasn't holding out hope that she'd be the exception to the rule.

[echidna]

Terra
-------------------------
Damascus had been expecting stone death to come at him upon golden wings of light, with him too weak to do anything about it. His face, one side of it, was swollen and his rough fur was matted there, bits of it falling out, and it was like that on his chest, irritated flesh looking like it would certainly blister in a few hours, blister right up.

He watched her with terrified eyes as she neared him. He'd never been so frightened in his life - he was one of the best sneaks in all the Brood and she was coming up to him - he'd failed utterly!, and with his mind clouded by pain, he couldn't make out the voices of his Mother, his Brothers, any of them - never was all that good at it... how could he be? It'd been something he'd always had. He'd just never gotten hurt this bad before! His heart was racing, and he was bleeding from pressure-broken flesh - that hot water had cut through him like a lance.

But... then Terra asked him something. She didn't attack - she just took his hat, and walked over to him with it... He tried to make sense of her words.

Was he okay? Who was this... "He?" He kicked his brain a bit, and gave a start, blinking at her amid his grimace of pain. Was that his hat? He looked at it critically, and a bit of his brain went fizzly-pop-barble.

"Y-yehs..." he said softly, his voice cracked and painful, hoarse. His mother's insistent voice at last managed to reach him, and he looked down the tunnel. He saw Ratatat clearly. He'd never been all that kind to the little tit - he was fanciful and naive... but here he was, doing this, for him? To save him? He looked again to Terra, and extended his massive hand, visibly shaking, to accept the profferred personal item.


---------------
Hei:
---------------

Ratatat nodded, and said, in a level voice that had edges of controlled urgency "I swear it, Mask - I just want to save my brother's li-" he stopped, and blinked down the tunnel at him, and some of his impatience faded in his stance and expression. He looked surprised, but not displeased - a bit of a smile crossed his lips and his eyes.

"I just want to help my brother" he corrected himself "- I am a medic, Mask. My brothers will stay here... please, Mask, time is of the essence!" he said, and started forward again, at a steady quick pace - not running, not sidling, but a kind of pickup pace that looked urgent without looking aggressive - calculated to be so. It had to be just right. He avoided passing too close to Hei though, just to be clear of his intentions.

Had all that just... worked? The Runners three gawked after the young Ratatat. They wouldn't have been able to do that - there would have been blood, tehy were sure and each Ravener to the man wasn't sure that they would have felt all that terrible afterward, but Ratatat? Doing this?

Shadowdancer produced a brown glass bottle from his beshadowed person, and passed it to Fubar, who, wide eyed and speechless, used a claw to open it, took a swig and passed it along to Fubar, who took a rather larger swig, then passed it to Shadowdancer as Fubar gawked.

Not one Ravener among them could believe this - but they knew a good thing when they saw it. They dropped down together by unspoken agreement, and huddled together - only one had to actively watch Hei after all. A trio like them were tightly woven together within the Brood. These three were more thuggish looking than young Ratatat, that was sure - these ones had seen the street and knew what hunger was. They were children of necessity - their small lives didn't have much space for hopes and dreams.. but they could recognize them in other people.

[Terra]

Being as novice as she was, tunnel vision was inevitable since the traveler wasn't exactly trained properly MORELIKEPROPERLYRETAININGMEMORIESABOUTHERTRAINING in terms of being a bit more aware. That and the bug distracting her earlier didn't quite help her rate of focus. The main track being ridden on this girl's brain train was `SOMEONE OR SOMETHING IS IN DANGER! IIIIIIIIIT'S HERO TIME! WUT GUY IN BLACK AND A MASK?! I'M ON A RESCUE MISSION!` Right now, she was consumed, worried about what happened to this....uh....whatever it was. Not like she had a dictionary on peculiar creatures in the world this day and age. Didn't even look like a werewolf! To her, it was a whatchamacallit! Whatchamacallit seemed to be in a terrible state....hopefully no one dangerous would show up!

....wait....waaaaiiiit...did she pass anyone on the way here? Blah to that thought! Terra had to find a way to help this...huge critter...right away! Wishing she had better first aid knowledge....it dawned on her that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to used medicine on this creature since it could very well make it worse. Not knowing what it was certainly offered some serious issues to finding a sense of resolution! Whatever this was just so happened to have blood seeping through its flesh and riddled with burns...how could she possibly help? Plus the girl with eyes of a sky blue hue didn't know how violent it'd be if its wounds were getting touched.

On top of that dilemma cake, she didn't have much of anything to help with such huge wounds like a large roll of bandaids. As if she was made of supplies and money! All she had was a small first aid kit pouch in the bag slung over her shoulders but it wasn't enough. Frowning with a whole bunch of concern...she wished she were a real hero...all she was is some wannabe trying to be a hero cause she had cool powers. Oh no....plus his response was...just not there....that couldn't be good! About to say something in order to confirm whether or not he heard her or she should start worrying even more, it seemed like he was saying something. Not a straight answer at first....in fact she looked a little puzzled at that single word `He?`then soon followed up by an accent coated yes.

The poor thing was trembling....what could she do...? Carefully, slowly, not making any sudden movements in hoped of not making him feel even worse psychologically, she slowly glanced up toward the broken pipe for a moment then returned her gaze back to the creature. Offering a gentle smile, she still looked worried as could be for his well-being, but tried to keep that she was just a friendly passerby. "Here...it got washed down...try not to lose it this time, okay?" Coating her words in a casual nature, there were also hints of concern lacing her tone as well. Then CLICK! Terra's brain got a brilliant idea and it didn't involve a clever way to get food!

More like some kinda solution for the here and now! "I don't think I have anything to help with your huge injuries in my bag, but I can proooooobably fix that pipe so it won't hurt anyone else....soooo...uhhh...are you able to move? I don't want you to get hurt....well...er...MORE hurt...in case...you know...I really suck at fixing pipes..." OH THAT CASUAL UNCERTAINTY ABOUT HER ABILITIES WITH A TAD OF NERVOUSNESS CERTAINLY WAS ASSURING....in the most sarcastic way even though she was hoping to put this whatchamacallit at ease by treating him like she would just about any other normal civilian. There was no reason what so ever for her to be flippin' the hell out at him since he was pretty much a victim. Those distant voices remained on the casual side...kinda serious in the mix too but nothing that made her URGE TO ACTION at this time. Straightening up her posture a bit, she was going to make sure everything was in order with the injured fellow with matted up fur and HORRIBLE burns before even making an attempt to be an geomancer edition plumber!

[hei]

Silent for several more moments, Hei continued to watch the creature ahead of him in the darkness before sparing a brief glance over his shoulder at the civilain - while it wouldn't be apparent thanks to his mask, though, Hei never took an eye off of his new "friends". It would have to do - while Hei wasn't sure how much their word was worth, they had given it, and he would hold them to it. The girl would hopefully be safe for the meantime, and if she wasn't...... well, it gave him no pleasure, but Hei had gone down into the tunnels fully prepared to cleanse any semblence of life from the place, and if they went back on their word he would simply carry through with his original plan, whether they outnumbered him or not. Hei would've prefered to have escorted her out himself, by force if necessary, but his apparent host seemed to be in a hurry for reasons Hei could only begin to guess at, and he'd take the opportunity presented to him for as long as it would last. Turning his apparent focus of attention back to the tunnel ahead of him, Hei began moving forward after his self proclaimed guide did, following the creature into the shadows but still weary of the other ones that hadn't spoken - it didn't show and it wasn't personal, but it was an occupational hazard that came with living as Hei had for so long.

As he continued to follow his guide, though, a small section of his mind was left free to wander, and wander it did, mostly in regards to the new developments that had presented themselves earlier. The biggest question that had Hei concerned was still what had happened to the people aboveground, albeit now for entirely different reasons. He was fairly certain that these creatures had most likely.... well..... eaten them if nothing else given their size, clearly carnivorous builds and hunting prowess as well as the utter lack of any bodies, hence the NSA's attention, but the question now was why. These things were clearly intelligent, and given that they'd actually taken time to learn the english language well enough to speak it, considered people intelligent as well, but then why would they even risk attacking a human population? Even a hermit knew what happened when you attacked an anthill, and they had to know that there would be a response. For that matter, who had made these things in the first place? They were not natural, that much was clear - even if they were a newly evolved species, hunters like this did not spring up overnight, at least not by mother nature's time table. It would have happened gradually, over the course of several millenia, and scientists would have been tracking their progress and evolution every step of the way, and that led to the third big question in Hei's mind - why had their creator made them in the first place, and what had they stood to gain from it? Certainly not attracting the attention of a world superpower, at least not in this manner - it may have worked in his reality, but this was not a Contractor he was dealing with, but by that very logic some or even all of his questions could very well be answered by "Because they could" or "Because they felt like it".

Internally shaking his head but still impassive and stoic in his outward appearance, Hei forced the questions out of his head. They were just that - questions, and ones he neither had the information to answer nor the time to do so. He'd have all the answers he'd want in a bit anyways.... hopefully, at least, and assuming that whoever he was being brought to was in a talking mood to begin with, or if they had the time to answer said questions, the possibility that they might not coming to Hei's mind as he once again noted the rather quick pace of his guide and remembered the earlier want for haste. Slightly quickening his own walk into something or a short, rapid stride to keep up, Hei continued to follow the thing to wherever it was taking him, attempting to force the earlier questions about the creatures, their creator, the fate of those taken above and the civilian he'd left behind all out of his head, and not being nearly as successful as he would have liked.