Authors: Matt Stephens
Owen bowed and left the room. Vincent tracked him with his eyes, but couldn't move.
Vandark smiled cruelly. "I have backup plans too Vincent."
Vincent was still shaking from the beating he'd taken, but his voice was clear and strong. "Vandark, you have twenty minutes to surrender. You will turn control of the New York Underside to Yasi and withdraw your forces immediately back to whatever hole you crawled out of."
The audacity of the statement was so outrageous that everyone who heard it laughed. Except for Yasi, who stared at him, openly gaping. He saw her mouth form the words silently.
What are you doing?
"You will do this immediately and without incident." Vincent finished.
Silence.
"Well, I'll certainly think hard about that. Now here's my counter offer. Any friends you have on the surface? Their lives are forfeit the second you try anything... and yours was forfeit the moment you came back." Vandark said casually. "Somebody kill him. Klov, you do it."
One of the Wildmen reached down and grabbed a fistful of Vincent's hair, almost indifferently.
Thwapp!
The room was shattered by the sound of Klov shrieking as an arrow suddenly pierced through his hand. Vandark looked surprised for the first time; shouting for the guards he'd had on the door.
But it wasn't the guards he'd placed that came in, it was Dorcan's Shinobi, led by Dorcan himself, already reloading his bow.
Yasi's face bloomed into an amazing smile at the sight of her friend, but she wasted no time. In an instant she was slamming her palms, knuckles and feet outward in every direction, her guards taken completely by surprise.
Vandark drew Yasi's sword and charged into the fray, locking blades with Dorcan for a moment, before noticing that Vincent had managed to get past their lines, and out of the Throne Room.
Yasi charged Vandark, slamming into him with a full-bodied, feet first, tackle. It knocked him off target for a moment, and three Shinobi jumped him. Vincent was out of sight, but Vandark wasn't interested in pressing a fight he would most likely win; powering through the three of them like a linebacker. The Riverfolk came running into the Throne Room moments later; giving Vandark a chance to chase after Vincent.
Yasi picked the biggest Wildman guard she could find and dove at him, putting her bound arms around his neck; using the chain of her handcuffs to bring him down. A moment later she had taken his weapon. "DORCAN! Over here!"
Dorcan broke from the battle long enough to bring his sword over and down through the chain of her cuffs with a quick shower of sparks. "You got this?" She asked quickly.
"I got this." Dorcan nodded and took up the fight.
Armed, angry, and sporting a shiny new pair of bracelets, The Captain of the New York Ninja went hunting.
~oo00oo~
Vincent was amazed at how little attention he was getting as he ran as fast as he could. His plan had shattered, the only option left was to finish the mission, and see if he could live through it.
The top three levels of the Underside had gone berserk; with the entire resistance launching an attack on the Throne Room, and every guard that could move running to get there.
Absolutely nobody cared about Vincent as he ran in the opposite direction. There was no invisibility, no discretion, no hiding or sneaking. The tunnel had plenty of people in it, and most of them were armed. They weren't packed in, coming along without organization, but any one of them could easily reach out and end his run instantly.
When Vandark entered the Tunnel, all the coming defenders froze, and suddenly Vandark had to push his way through some of his own people.
When they got to the Intersections, the Lostkind were there, Borrowers armed with heavy objects from their carts, Gremlins lurking along the edges with trip-wires. The whole Underside was involved, quietly, or directly in this last ditch effort to free themselves from the velvet grip of an evil man.
It wasn't enough to stop him, barely slowed him down. Vandark was an unstoppable force in combat; but it bought Vincent a scant few seconds; enough time to make it to the elevator.
Vandark muscled the door to the shaft open, and saw the elevator car climbing above him. He gathered himself for a leap to grab on for the ride, when someone landed square on his back, hanging on by the sword handle that was slung between his shoulder-blades.
"That's
my
sword!" Yasi growled in his ear.
Vandark slammed his head back into her face. "Takers Keepers!" He shot back, and shrugged her off, clambering up the inside of the elevator shaft.
~oo00oo~
The doors opened, and Vincent ran for the pipes. They were all where Archivist had set them; probably still open to the entire Underside.
BANG!
A bullet slammed into the trunk of pipes before him. It had passed by his head so close that he felt the shot graze his hair. The omnipresent faint whispers grew slightly different in pitch as steam leaked from the bullet-hole, sighing out a steady whistling note.
Vincent spun around and found Vandark emerging from the elevator, having climbed up the shaft, and into the elevator itself. Vincent had left the doors open.
Vincent didn't try to run. They both knew it was over.
"Vincent, why did you come back here?" Vandark demanded, with no particular anger. "All you had to do was walk away. I didn't care. Why'd you have to start up? You had to know you couldn't win. Why try? Yasi? Pride?"
"I
have
won." Vincent said simply. "Your tactics have never been about controlling the people, but controlling the options. You forced Yasi to choose between saving me and capturing Owen, you made me choose between protecting her and Connie or winning the game... So here's me, returning the favor. I never thought I could beat you; I thought I could get into this room. And I have."
Vandark studied him, the tiniest knife edge of worry starting to creep in. "How?" He said finally. "What? What did I miss?"
"Nothing." Vincent said honestly. "You were extremely thorough. You spent three years testing out the things you had, the things you could find... You spent two years gathering information for your grand power play, and it paid off. For me."
Sudden silence.
"You will leave this place now." Vincent declared, raising his voice so all could hear it. "Because if you do not, I will expose the New York Underside to the world above. At this moment, my associate is waiting to release all the information that me, my friends, and your man Owen have spent the last two years gathering about the Secret City."
There was a sudden shift in the air; like lightning about to strike.
"The information includes all the new entrances, which have been identified by the Lostkind Glyph; as well as your own Glyphs, which you used when you stole all those things from the surface." Vincent almost had the nerve to smile, but not quite. "So here's an interesting moment in the life of Vandark." He said. "If you can't have it, are you willing to destroy it, and take all your men down with you?"
Vandark's face was stone. "The City belongs to me and mine right now. There are other ways."
"I know you're not worried. You probably have a plan." Vincent said honestly. "But right now, we're talking in front of the Steam Pipes. Which means my voice is being carried to every corner of the Underside."
~oo00oo~
Kamy smiled cruelly at the Riverfolk, as they looked at each other awkwardly; not sure what to do. Sure enough, Vincent's voice was reaching every room; some of them loudly enough to be an announcement, some rooms he was soft enough that they had to strain to hear it; but where once there was whispers echoing off the walls like white noise; there was now Vincent McCall.
"Yasi drilled it into me every time we met: Be Invisible." Vincent's voice said. "It's Rule Number One. And you're willing to break it; but you lost more than two thirds of your faithful warriors. I've been making my way through the Underside for hours; the Riverfolk are the ones patrolling Twelfth Level. And they've survived for seven years by being invisible, even to the Lostkind. I didn't think that was possible. How do you think they'll react when presented with the prospect of being under a microscope from all New York City?"
~oo00oo~
"Call your friend off!" Vandark roared.
Vincent waved around the room. "Well I can't do it from here."
"He can't do it from anywhere."
Both men looked, and saw Yasi framed in the elevator door; and she looked wretched; her expression one of utter misery.
"Gill's on a clock. I gave him the deadline because I knew you'd probably kill me on sight." Vincent gestured to the Pipes. "I thought if I could get here in time, Yasi could still get someone to the surface with a cell phone... once you were gone."
Vandark looked to Yasi, and for a moment, Yasi and Vandark were on the same side, two Lostkind trying to keep the same secret. "He won't do it."
"He can't stop it." Yasi shook her head. She actually had tears in her eyes. "We don't have any connection to the Surface. I destroyed the pneumatics before you invaded. There's no signal this deep; just the Round Table Room. And that can't be picked up by anyone without the same equipment. We use it to talk to Undersides across the planet, not across town..."
Vincent piped up. "You were right Vandark; I couldn't stop you, and I can't save the Underside; but I could save New York, even if you killed me. That decision was made before I ever came back here."
Vandark turned back to Vincent. "What have you done?"
Yasi choked out a wretched laugh. "He's alerted your allies. You were down to half a dozen Wildmen; and the Riverfolk were your only reinforcements. He's just told them that we're having company for dinner."
Vandark paled. "No!"
~oo00oo~
Vandark's cry echoed across the Underside as Yasi's words proved prophetic. Vandark's Loyal Soldiers had remained in the Throne Room, at the top of the Underside; but the vast complex had been policed and guarded by the Riverfolk. But theirs was an uneasy alliance, as the Riverfolk had their start among the New York Lostkind. The Rules that governed the place were sacred to the Lostkind, and to the Riverfolk. They tolerated Vandark's defiance... until now.
Without a word being passed between them, they knew what to do. The Shinobi had driven them out, or forced them to defeat before over the years, and every time; they regrouped beneath the River. And so, all across the Underside, across the Seven Steps, in every Tunnel; The Riverfolk broke away from the battles, the patrols... And simply walked into the water.
The Lostkind were being very quiet about it; doing nothing to get in their way, as the Riverfolk vanished into the River, disappearing without a trace. It was what they were best at.
Even the Riverfolk were Lostkind; and they were determined to stay invisible; no matter what.
~oo00oo~
Yasi glanced to Vincent. "Vandark sealed the Labyrinth when he found out you were here. You can still... stop Owen, before he gets to the Surface."
Vincent checked his watch again, and ran for the elevator; catching the crossbow Yasi tossed him on the way out. Vandark let him go; now without reason to stop him.
Neither of them moved, letting Vincent take the elevator and go.
~oo00oo~
Dorcan and his warriors were too busy to hear the conversation; drowned out by the battle; but the Shinobi were the first to discover the gravity of the shift in loyalties. The Throne Room door, which was crowded with the reinforcements of their enemy; was suddenly empty.
The tide of battle turned, as the Wildmen's numbers thinned, and they realized there was no help coming. Dorcan dove for his bow, and came up; a crossbow bolt already notched. "Put up your swords!" He roared.
~oo00oo~
Yasi had tears rolling down her cheeks. Her world had collapsed.
Vandark's face was stone. His plans had all turned to ashes in his hands.
After an endless beat, Vandark turned to the Steam Pipes and started resetting them, closing off their voices to the Underside. Her eyes flicked to the gun in his hand, and he snorted, seeming to find it ridiculous as he tossed it aside. It skittered across the floor, unnoticed.
"So." Vandark said.
"So." Yasi agreed.
"If the Powers That Be come down here... The Secret City is still filled with the damage we've inflicted on each other; including the bodies. They'll lock us both away."
Yasi nodded. "Figure they will. I don't know that there's a prison made that could hold either of us for long."
"Probably right, but can you see either of us living like that, even for a little while?" Vandark said practically. "Prisoners? From being Untouchable to being Convicts?"
Yasi raised her hands, letting the severed handcuffs glimmer. "Must say, I didn't much care for it, myself." She choked out another bitter chuckle. "But where else have either of us got to go?"
"Can't go back to Europe." Vandark nodded. "Neither of us exist according to any record anywhere..." He smirked and drew her sword slowly from its scabbard. "Why don't we do ourselves a favor and just kill each other now?"