The Rebel [KurtH6355]

[Lord Bradorian]

Francis ditches Marley, instead following Travis in sprinting down the right passage, having no intention to let that slime thingie eat him or something. "Go! Go!" He yells, sprinting.

 

[Lorsh]

Marley gets left in the other hallway as the sludge oozes forth, cutting off any remaining access to her. You'll probably never find out what happened to her, but she probably was forced to go back to the swampers, unless the sludge somehow ended up behind her.


You and Travis rush down the new passageway, outrunning the slimy monstrosity, but distancing yourselves from the correct exit. "Oh...fuck," Travis pants. "That was a fuckin' glob...thing... I don't remember what they call it. I didn't fucking know those things were down here," he mutters, looking over his shoulder nervously. You think you remember hearing something in the past about those things, but they seemed to be mostly rumors. Animate Mucilaginous Mass... or something.


At least in this part of the tunnel, there are no more strange creaks or structural groans. "Goddamn it. We left Marley back there..." Travis mutters. "...and she had the map."

 

[Lord Bradorian]

"We'll figure it out. Besides, we got enough food in these things to do so if this takes ridiculous amounts of time." Francis said, slapping his bag. "The general direction of the cavern we came in is...That way...." Francis said, pointing in a direction he believed was correct. "So, let's just start waking?" He asks him.

 

[Lorsh]

"Yeah... I suppose so," Travis says. You both begin to walk down the tunnel for some time, but there doesn't seem to be any turns that go back in the direction you were originally heading. "Shit," mutters Travis. "I think we might have to go up to the surface in a completely different area, and then just walk back to where we're supposed to be," he says.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

"Then let's hope this completely different area isn't TOO shady. Or too controlled, our case." Francis says, continuing to walk toward any exit they found. "I doubt the tunnels lead to anywhere too proper." He continues. "Maybe we can get a taxi, I have a good amount of certs on me. You carrying a medallion? I am, but I can ditch it second authorities try something."

 

[Lorsh]

"Yeah, I guess. Wish I brought a spare map. Dammit."


As you and Travis walk onward, you hear faint commotion coming from the surface, but can't quite make out what is going on. Travis takes out his gun and proceeds with caution. You are nearing another "intersection" when you suddenly see a man rush out from the corner, as if fleeing from something. He quickly disappears down a passageway on the left before you can say anything to him. You hear frantic voices ahead, suggesting that others are in the tunnel as well.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

"Lets rush forward, and keep your gun leveled. It might be that glob again!" Francis says to Travis, and pushed on, keeping his gun waist high, prepared to use it in self-defense. He didn't want to shoot anyone, but absolutely would. His eyes darted around, trying to keep eyes on anything he saw.

 

[Lorsh]

You and Travis continue pressing onward, and soon find yourself looking down at a messy, lit encampment with trash strewn everywhere. Looks like another bum hideout. You can hear shouting, along with gunfire emitting from further down the passageway that's down there.


You're standing up on a ledge that seems difficult to climb up, but you could probably hop down relatively easily.


(This is your POV.)

 

[Lord Bradorian]

"Shit, gunfire...What do you think, keep going, and fuck up whoever we need to, or turn back and try and find another way, risk running into something even worse?" Francis asks Travis, breathing heavily, holding his gun in both hands leveled toward the opening below him.

 

[Lorsh]

"I don't know what's going on down there, but there's no way I'm goin' back in that fuckin' cramped tunnel. Let's hop down," Travis says, keeping his gun at the ready as he looks around below. The shouts and gunfire continue to be heard below.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

"Alright, then. You got the more powerful gun. You go first." Francis prompts, motioning to the ground below.

 

[Lorsh]

Travis nods and cocks his gun as he sits down on the ledge, before allowing himself to drop to the ground. After you presumably follow and drop down behind him, Travis begins to forward a bit. However, two bearded men in dirty trench coats appear from the entryway, toting slum pistols. They take cover behind the wall next to the passageway, mostly ignoring you. A stray bullet from elsewhere causes a beer bottle to explode nearby.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

"Fuck is going on!?" Francis shouts to the two men, sidesteppng to the right a few times so that he is out of the sightline of anyone down the hall. He cocks his revolver, ready to shoot these two punks if they tried anything. "Whose shooting at you!?"

 

[Lorsh]

You another man from the hallway limp into view, but he gets shot in the back just as he is about to reach cover. He falls sideways and sprawls onto the table, knocking a bunch of bottles onto the ground as his blood begins to drip down on the floor.


One of the men looks over at you, and seems as if he's about to open his mouth, but a smoking canister is chucked in front of the four of you. You feel your eyes begin to burn as a sickly yellow haze appears. Everybody begins coughing violently, and Travis stumbles away from the door. One of the men buckles to his knees.


Your question is partially answered. It seems Puke Gas is being lobbed, so it's probably the Watchmen.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

Francis coughs violently, and decides to run over to the two cardboard boxes, and gathers a bunch of garbage into them. He then hauls both boxes over to the corner, and continues to cover and conceal himself completely in the trash, making it look inconspicuous - Just like a pile of garbage. However, there is a small hole in his garbage pile, through which he can see the cavern entryway. Though, the gas comes through said hole. In small amounts, however. He barely breathes, hoping he can keep himself hidden.

 

[Lorsh]

Your continued close proximity to the gas canister causes you to vomit as you're gathering up the trash, and the contents of your supper splash onto the ground. You manage to get the boxes and stumble off the the right, away from the gas radius. You go about burying yourself in a pile of garbage, while Travis simply leaves you behind and runs off with one of the slum dwellers. The other man is still on his knees, coughing. He is shot several times in the chest whilst still suffering from the effects of the gas, putting him down as it finally starts to dissipate.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

Francis groans softly from the earlier regurgitation, but otherwise remains very silent, making himself as small and unseen as he possibly can, his revolver remaining tightly gripped in his hands. He makes a silent prayer.





"Dear God, please allow me to get through this without injury or death, or capture. I wish not to harm those who wish to harm me. Please, savior, save me."

 

[Lorsh]

You hear the footsteps coming down the passageway, along with the muffled voices. Then a uniformed figure appears, wearing a gas mask and peaked cap. He slowly advances, a shotgun readied at his shoulder. Two colleagues appear behind him, submachine guns in their hands as they keep close and glance up at the overhead entrance you and Travis came originally came through. It's too high to access, so they ignore it and continue onward.


Miraculously, they ignore you as well. They move straight by, pursuing Travis and the other slum dwellers. Your trash disguise seems to have worked, or maybe they just weren't paying much attention.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

Francis grins slyly as the Watchmen pass, but does not move an inch, instead, waiting for a few more minutes to see if there's any more activity going on. If he's lucky, it was jut those three Watchmen. If he's unlucky, the entire Tunnel Guard was down here, and they'd come in and set up in here. Or, something in between. He once again silently speaks to God.





"Thank you, heavenly father."

 

[Lorsh]

After waiting a couple moments, a few more policemen run by without even looking in your direction. That seems to be the last of the ones going off to pursue the slum dwellers, at least for the time being. There's no more shouting or gunfire (in this area), but nearby radio chatter suggests there's still at least one cop down that passageway.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

Francis exhales, and unburies himself quietly from the garbage. He then creeps over to the entryway, taking cover behind the wall, revolver in-hand. He looks down at a bloodied slum pistol, which was dropped by the man who was executed on his knees after the gas attack. He leans down, and picks up the pistol, putting it into his waistband as a secondary, also gathering any found magazines. He leans around the corner very, very slightly, just enough to peer into the passageway.

 

[Lorsh]

You retrieve the low-quality handgun from the dead man's body, along with a couple magazines he was keeping in his trench coat pockets. His body hasn't begun decomposing, but it still smells awful.


Peeking out, you can see a police officer with their back towards you, a shotgun in their hands. In front of them, you see another cop zip-tying a few civilians' wrists. The shotgun cop speaks into his radio. "This is Sweeper Team, reporting four detained vagrants." His partner grunts and shoves a homeless man against the wall, roughly tying his wrists.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

Francis cusses softly to himself, before continuing to watch the two officers, gun in his hand. He debates weather he could take them. He could don his eyepiece and land a headshot on the shotgunner - Hopefully. Then he could either lay into the other one, and liberate the civilians, or hold him up and have him tell his cop buddies it was just a misfire. But if the cop got any funny ideas, it'd be more bullets spended and more time taken. He decided in the end to simply observe a little longer.

 

[Lorsh]

The shotgun cop gets a copy on his radio, while his buddy finishes tying up the civilians, who mutter and curse under their breath. "Alright, get them up to the surface," the shotgunner says. The other officer nods and pokes his Orderkeeper into one of the tramp's backs. "Get movin'," he snarls, and they begin to quickly shuffle along, further distancing themselves from you as they move towards a passageway on the left.

 

[Lord Bradorian]

Francis lets loose a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in, and quietly begins walking, tailing the Watchmen toward an exit. He figured he could manage to follow them to the exit undiscovered, then wait an hour or so, and then leave the tunnel. That'd work...Right? Hopefully.