Authors: Matt Stephens
"Wear them well, go in beauty." The stall-keeper bowed slightly to Yasi. "Shinobi, may I ask... is it over?"
Yasi smiled at him. "Coates, the matter is dealt with. We'll have more to tell you soon; but for now, the danger is over." She sent a smile to Vincent.
Connie shook out the bundle Yasi had pushed at her. It was a long leather coat, that went down as far as her knees. It covered up her clothes neatly, and she tied it at the waist. Vincent had something similar. It looked a lot like the one Yasi had worn. "Where'd you boost so many of these from?"
"Borrowed." Yasi corrected pointedly. "And... from a place that won't miss them. Don't ask."
Connie adjusted the coat. It was hardly the strangest thing to adjust to this week.
Yasi glanced around. "I'll be right back."
Vincent turned to ask her why, but she had already vanished. "Where's she going, you think?"
"Probably the Chapel." Connie guessed. "Check on her wounded before she leaves the place."
Vincent nodded. "Like you do; checking on the out-patients before you end your shift at the Clinic. You two actually have a lot in common."
"We do not." Connie retorted.
~oo00oo~
"How's Pockets?" Archivist asked warmly as Yasi stalked out of the Chapel.
Yasi met his eyes with a hollow gaze, and shook her head slowly.
Archivist sighed. "We were preparing a memorial for Wotcha. Did you want to make it a ceremony for all of them, or..."
The Captain shook her head. "The Shinobi will hold our own Memorial for all our guys."
Archivist nodded. "Listen, this may not be the time, but... Don't be too harsh on Connie."
"Why the hell shouldn't I be? She's so selfish." Yasi shot back. "She's looking at us like she's expecting us to kill her and eat her, and never mind that our
whole world
is at stake here."
"She's not selfish, she's scared." Archivist returned. "You know Rule Number One."
"Be Invisible." Yasi recited promptly.
"Why do you think that is?" Archivist asked her, suddenly a teacher with his favorite student. "The Upsiders don't have a clue we're down here. Why do you think we want it to stay that way?"
"Well." Yasi blinked. "I guess because we're scared of them coming down here."
"No sweetie, it's because
they'd
be scared of
us
. The one thing that terrifies all manner of man, is that which they do not understand. So we stay hidden. They don't notice, they don't know, and we don't care. If they suddenly knew we were under their feet, they would act out of fear, and drive us out of the hidden places into the light. The unknown becomes a target. So we stay hidden."
"Vincent never had that problem." Yasi protested.
"Well, let's compare shall we?" Archivist challenged. "Vincent was introduced. A pretty girl invited him in and showed him her world; and then we sat him down, served him tea, and asked him for help. Now Connie. Her boyfriend vanished, she found evidence that he'd been in a violent altercation, then someone she thought was a friend attacked her, and her house was invaded by two small armies that proceeded to go to war in her living room. The good guys chloroformed her and dragged her to a secret underground city, and she wakes up to find she's caught up in a grand conspiracy to-"
"I get the point." Yasi interrupted.
"She's trying desperately to protect the things she loves, from a position of no power or control at all, from things she can't begin to guess at." Archivist finished. "And the one she wants to protect the most, is failing to perceive a problem at all." He pointed a warning finger at her casually. "And by the way, that protective streak extends to the kids at her clinic, the homeless at the Kitchen... That's the whole reason why we thought about recruiting her, and the whole reason Wotcha pointed her in Vincent's direction."
"Wotcha did that after we decided we weren't going to see either of them ever again. The situation has changed."
"Only if they say yes." Archivist told her firmly.
~oo00oo~
Yasi led Vincent and Connie through the Underside. They were content to follow until they reached the boat. The three of them sent a suspicious look to the water, but Yasi assured them that the nets were back in place, dragging The River with razor wire, keeping the monsters at bay.
The boat took them back to the ladders and stairwells. They took them as far as Archivist's Whisper Gallery, and then from there an elevator. Vincent tried to remember if this was the same route they had taken the last time he left the Underside, and decided not. Going up was so much more exertion than going down, but eventually the 'street lamps' that lined every corridor thinned out, before fading to nothing, leaving them in darkness.
"How do you find your way?" Connie asked, being led by the fingertips as Vincent had.
"We don't
find
the way, we
know
the way." Yasi answered. "There's a difference."
Vincent shut his eyes. His vision was useless in the dark, and it made it easier to use his other senses. As he gave up trying to peer into the dark, he became more aware of himself, of the crossbow slung under his arm like a gym bag, the long coat over it... and the goggles he took off the Riverfolk.
Curious, he pulled the goggles out and held them up over his eyes. Somehow, the pitch black opened to him, and he could see. The corridor was visible, if only just, and tinted in a bright ruby sheen, the same color as the red Riverfolk goggles.
Grinning like an idiot, he pulled away from Yasi, and put the goggles on properly. Suddenly able to see, he tried to creep past Yasi, but even if she couldn't see him, his footsteps were easily apparent to her sharp senses. "Vincent?"
"I'm okay." He called to her. "Do I want to take the left path or the right?"
"Okay, now you're just freaking me out." She commented, but he could see the smile on her face. She reached into her coat and pulled out the hand lantern. She and Connie paused a moment while she wound it.
Connie reared back from the sudden glow. Vincent half expected his vision to white out, like they would with night vision lenses, but he seemed to be able to look at the lantern normally.
Yasi's jaw dropped in disbelief when she saw him wearing the goggles. "Where the hell did you get those?"
Vincent shrugged. "Spoils of war."
"If you've got a light, why the hell are we creeping around in the dark?" Connie demanded, shielding her eyes from the light.
"Connie, the Labyrinth is our first line of defense. You find your way in, you try and find your way back. The darkness makes it harder to find your way without a guide." Yasi explained patiently, before sending a cheeky smirk at Vincent. "Well, unless you've stolen some Riverfolk Goggles, that is."
"You want them back?"
"Why? I don't need them." Yasi snorted, and led the way. "We try not to weigh ourselves down with a load of junk we don't need. That's why we decided against offering Connie a job at first."
Connie didn't even blink. "Is that why all
two
of your outfits are at least a century old?"
Vincent responded by being very very quiet.
~oo00oo~
Connie nearly gasped when they came out into the light. It felt like a million years since they had last seen the sky. Vincent came out right behind her, and a moment later the sound of a car filled their ears. It was the first engine either of them had heard in over a day, which was near impossible in New York City.
Then the screech of tyres, and they both spun to find they had climbed out of a manhole in the street. They both jumped at the sudden attack, and the car screeched to a halt at the sight of them.
Even as the driver leaned out his window and screamed a torrent of abuse that neither of them could comprehend. The guy seemed more interested in the fact that they were in his way, than the fact that they'd just risen out of the ground.
Clank.
They both noticed the manhole cover close tightly. Yasi had left them once they reached the surface. Connie put her arm in Vincent's and they both left the street.
The car moved on, the driver flipping them off as he went past.
"It's good to be back in New York." Connie sighed, her equilibrium restored instantly by the experience. "Come on, let's go see if anyone noticed what the hell they did to our apartment."
~oo00oo~
But when they got there, the door was fixed. Their key was under the doormat. When they got inside, the place was tidied up. Several of Connie's knickknacks were missing from their carefully chosen places on the shelves, but there were no shards on the floor.
Vincent looked the question to Connie, who held her hands up defensively. "Vincent, I swear, the place was trashed! A war went on in here."
Vincent looked around, and then bent down to get a closer look at the furniture. "You're right. This has been repaired. You look close, you can see where the wood was splintered... and where it was replaced."
"What'd you expect?"
They both spun and found Yasi sitting on the window sill. The window had opened and neither of them had heard.
She came in properly, and shifted over to stand against the wall, out of sight from the street. "We've been invisible a long time. We know the trick of it. We don't leave fingerprints." She sent a glance at Connie. "Afraid the Fixmen couldn't find replacements for
everything
."
"If I hadn't known what happened here..." Connie nodded. "Owen was right about that much... the things you guys can do..."
"We don't want to rule the world, we just want to make our way and not be seen doing it." Yasi promised her. "And that, in its way, brings us back to you." She nodded respectfully to Connie. "A friend in the Medical Profession, especially in the Free Clinics, would do a lot to help the kids. If they knew you already; that would be an advantage. Our kids don't trust easily, and Tecca thinks highly of you. There's always room for another teacher to tell our kids about the City..." Yasi inclined her head toward Vincent with a smile. "Recent events have shown how fragile our world can be; especially to someone in the City Planner's Office..."
Vincent was smiling. "How would it work?"
"You guys would be part of our world. Not Lostkind, just friends. Very few people come and go like you would. There have been very few people who could walk in both worlds; and for now; you'd be the only ones that do. Even The Watchers walked through your world without actually being part of your society. You keep your day jobs, you keep your apartment, you keep in contact, and every now and then you come down for a day or two. Think of it like taking an extra part time job on the side."
Vincent looked to Connie, who yawned hugely. A moment later he matched it, suddenly aware of how tired he was.
Yasi nodded swiftly. "Sorry. You guys should get some rest." She went to the window. "Think it over; an offer like this doesn't happen often."
~oo00oo~
"I don't think I ever fully appreciated the modern wonder that was a hot shower before this moment." Connie said happily, as she came out of the bathroom an hour later. She looked considerably more relaxed in her terry-cloth robe, and she joined him on the couch, cuddling up under his arm.
Vincent stretched his legs out and as far as they would go and settled with her. "So. We haven't really had a chance to talk about... any of it."
"I keep looking over my shoulder." Connie admitted. "Part of me expects to find the Lostkind kids hiding behind the towel rack."
"I went through the same thing." Vincent admitted with a chuckle. "I honestly thought I'd never go back there..."
"I know." Connie admitted sadly.
Vincent reacted to her tone. "What?"
Connie took his hand in hers, and kissed his fingertips. "If you'd gotten the job offer two years ago... you never would have given me a second look."
Vincent tensed; she could feel his posture changing where she leaned against him. "Connie... I love you."
"And I love you." She returned honestly. "But it's the truth."
Silence.
"This is New York City Vincent." She said quietly after a while. "If
that's
not interesting enough for you, I don't know what you could possibly find a hundred feet below ground level."
"It's not about boredom." Vincent told her. "But... I remember my dad, he told me that where he grew up was entirely different to New York. He said the feel of the place was different. The speed the pedestrians walked at, the way everyone looks at each other or looks away; the energy they put into their jobs, or their recreation... Y-" He corrected himself. "The Lostkind call it the Rhythm. When I got down there... I felt like I was walking at the same speed as everyone else. I felt like the feel of the place was mine."
Silence.
"Vincent, they say it's over now. They got Owen's dropbox, they've declared victory; but you know it's not over. I mean, Yasi and keeper and Archivist were making happy noises; but you
know
there's worse to come. I don't want to be there when it all hits the fan... And there's nothing down there that really interests me anyway."