Chương 156: B3. 10.1 - A Valentine's Day Excavation

"Is that it?" I asked, pointing at the house with no lights at the end of the street. Even the streetlight outside it wasn't working; the PCM supposedly disabled it to keep their privacy. This should be the place, if I understood Auron's instructions correctly. I gave copies of the stuff from Auron to Reo yesterday—technically, that was already today, super early in the morning. I hoped that the hero wannabes were better at deciphering maps than me.

"It is," Dario said.

"Ride, park the van on the other side of that house. Everyone, start using our codenames. Check your masks. No noise, okay? No talking and no lights until we enter the house. Move quickly." We piled out of the van and savored the cold wind. The nearest house to this one was two lots away. It had lights on its porch, but its windows were all dark. The people inside weren't aware that a bunch of crazy people were about to start their crazy mission the next house over.

Myra absorbed part of the doorknob to noiselessly open the door. Dario and Everett lugged duffel bags full of goodies from the Professor. We turned on a couple of flashlights, making sure to point them down, and quickly rushed to the basement of the house.

"These are one-time use," Dario explained, looking at me as he handed out small canisters.

"Press this button, and it'll start beeping red. You have five seconds. Throw them at an Adumbrae. It'll generate a ten-foot diameter electroshock field. Do mind the distance because the shock is quite powerful. It can knock out all of us here."

"Makes me want to try activating one," mumbled Reo. Myra juggled a canister.

"I'm going to knock out my sister with this and drag her back up."

"There'll be other Adumbrae held by the PCM," said Dario.

"Use this on them and run. We'll avoid fighting as much as possible." Of course, there really weren't any imprisoned Adumbrae where we were going—Auron assured me of that. I didn't think he'd lie because he should want us to succeed plugging in this USB thing into their computer system.

"And what'll happen once the shock wears off?" Deen asked.

"Those Adumbrae will wander the tunnels and probably reach the surface. They're going to kill people!" Her character was always consistent, and a consistent annoyance. I heard Myra audibly sigh, even though she knew that Deen was just playing her role. Reo made a face as he turned away.

"You make a good point," said Dario, rummaging in his bag.

"Your Guardian Angel will alert us if the stunned Adumbrae won't stay down for long. If these electroshock grenades incapacitate Adumbrae for a substantial duration, would you do the honors and finish them off?" His steely tone and gaze showed that Deen broke his usual coolness. Good retort, I thought, bowing to hide my smirk. Dario got Deen there, even if she was just pretending. One point to him. Deen was certainly thinking about the morality of killing a downed Adumbrae.

It should be a no-brainer answer, but being imprisoned by the PCM and juxtaposing it with Kelsey's situation would cause a dilemma for Deen. I wouldn't be surprised if Deen becomes an Adumbrae rights activist someday due to some insane mental gymnastics.

"I-I… I don't think…" Deen stammered. Was she really agonizing over this, or was she that good of an actress?

"I'll kill the Adumbrae for you," said Everett.

"Oh, a knight in shining armor to do the dirty deed," said Reo.

"You can always trust him to—""We can also use the electroshock grenades against BID agents," Dario cut in before Reo could start a banter session, "It will affect their augments and, of course, their brains."

"Can it kill them?" Deen asked.

"They still have mostly human bodies."

"Possible. Use this only in the direst of situations because a dead BID agent will bring in more. The agency would also wonder how Adumbrae have these items. Perhaps Adumbrae weren't the culprits? We don't want that, do we?"

"I don't want to kill innocent people," said Deen.

"Especially BID agents. They're just doing their job."

"I'm with Deen on this one," said Everett.

"And don't say anything, Reo—Oberon. You know what I mean. Good guys killing good guys is dumb."

"Such an eloquent line," Reo said.

"You could give Shakespeare a run for his money."

"The canister's material will be melted by the electrical discharge," Dario went on, "leaving it mostly untraceable. The same goes for other items here." He continued by quickly explaining the other stuff he had and handing them out to us.

"Thanks for this, Blank," Myra said, examining a white ball that would supposedly explode into a gooey mess to bind Kelsey. The web would then harden into a cocoon, and Myra could easily carry her sister.

"Really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it," said Dario, attempting to give a comforting smile. It just made him look like an alien, especially in the dim light.

"If Kelsey's down there, then we should save her no matter what. But we do need to get down there first. Merge, kindly begin." Myra threw a booster pill into the air and caught it with her mouth. She then removed her shirt and pants and gave them to Johann, remaining in her sports bra and cycling shorts. Her power would ruin her clothes.

"Our literal ground-breaking ceremony," Myra said with a laugh that echoed in the dusty basement. She cracked her knuckles—something disallowed by my Rule #6—and knelt on the floor. Concrete turned into liquid underneath her, rolling up her arms and legs in thick waves. The concrete reformed into slabs on her back, which Dario and Everett promptly cracked off of her. They threw away the chunks to the side. Myra sank lower and lower into the ground as the crater around her widened. This house was owned by the PCM.

One of the decades-old tunnels that the government had built during times of Adumbrae panic ran through here, probably forgotten or willfully ignored by city planners. The city didn't really care about maintaining the tunnels—a huge budget issue for every administration. The company that built this house probably knew the tunnel was here, but didn't also care about it since it ran beneath the foundations anyway. A whole bunch of paperwork if they reported it to City Hall.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. This was going to be our entrance to the network of tunnels because most bunkers were watched by the BID or police. We were also near the caved-in tunnel leading to the PCM central base. The PCM had bought this house for such a situation, but it'd be us doing the digging instead of them. And Myra was doing a pretty good job of digging.

Later, a boosted Reo would also help her by using Blubber, the fat, red fairy that could chew through anything. My giant werewolf form would probably be a good digger, though I imagined that'd be quite a cramped prospect inside the tunnels. I'd rather have the side characters do the menial work. It didn't take long for Myra to reach dirt and rocks, then get through that to reach the roof of the tunnel. Everett jumped into the hole and threw up the hunks of compacted soil that Myra formed on her body.

Dario caught the stuff that Everett threw up, tossing it along with the concrete slabs. If I had to ascribe a sinister meaning to Dario's every action, which I wanted to do, I'd say that he was working to show that he was a responsible leader instead of telling Reo to do this.

"Did you take your pills?" Dario nodded at me as he dusted his hands. Kind of weird to do that since he had to catch more dirt balls from Everett. Trying too hard to look casual.

"I did," I truthfully answered. But only one pill to preemptively reduce the side effects of transforming into Pino later, instead of multiple pills as he had suggested to hasten manifesting my Core power. I really, really didn't want Glowy Erind to grow strong enough to contact Corebrings. Dario wasn't aware of how dangerous our situation was. Dangerous and exciting—those two always came hand in hand. Could I win against a Corebring? Maybe the weaker ones, and if I could surprise them first.

What about my giant werewolf form? That was pretty difficult to bring down. Would I get stronger if I ate a Corebring? Part of me wanted to become famous for killing a Corebring. I'd have my own page on the internet detailing how fearsome I was. Then there'd be a list of my kill count. But notoriety would come at a price. I'd be hunted down by the Hive for killing one of theirs.

"It's still not manifesting," I added.

"But I can… feel it… or something. Fuzzy. Can't really describe it. I'm sure I'll get it soon." That last bit was to keep Dario interested in my powers.

"It's unfortunate that your power didn't manifest in time for this mission," Dario said.

"Do keep ingesting pills nonetheless. We can think of your codename once we know your power." I internally recoiled. Sounded weird to use the word 'ingest' in a conversation. It should be on medical papers and stuff. Just say 'take the pill', and be a normal person. This proved that Dario needed to die. Eventually.

"It's for your own safety to have your Core ability manifest soon," continued Dario.

"The list of threats continues to grow longer. We'll add Red Hood and Pino to that enumeration."

"They wouldn't be a threat if we weren't going to double-cross them," Reo grumbled.

"Do inform me if your powers manifest," said Dario, ignoring Reo.

"Or if there are any changes whatsoever to your body, especially your hand." I meekly nodded while wearing a worried face that was pretending to be strong. Did Dario not really have a plan for Red Hood's wrathful revenge? Myra said that Dario kept dodging the question during their lunch meeting. Not even that. Red Hood and Pino might be expecting some betrayal right now—something like what we were doing—and would have countermeasures for it.

If not Dario, others of his secret organization should have realized that Pino could show up early or catch up to us. And he should already be suspicious that at least one of us was a traitor. He was bound to have something up his sleeve other than his sliminess. Whatever Dario's contingency plan was, he would never have expected that half of the team wasn't on his side. He was also counting on Deen's overpowered future sight, but instead, the Guardian Angel would warn us of his actions.

Still, I couldn't help but wonder what Dario was going to do. I flicked my eyes to Deen. Eye contact. I massaged the palm of my right hand. Initializing best friend telepathic communication.

"Blank, did the Professor say anything about the crystal on, Eri—um, on her palm?" Deen asked, showing that she cared about me. We were making it clear to Dario that Deen would be very angry if the Professor nabbed me and brought me to their lab for experiments. Deen had a precious power compared to everyone else's, so Dario wouldn't want to offend her.

"It's a side effect of the artificial Core," Dario replied as he caught another rock from Everett.

"We already know that, of course. However, the Professor can't give an assessment without personally examining it. This… growth… has never happened before." Never happened before… As in, only within our group? Or did Dario mean that it had never happened in all of their experiments? We couldn't be the only test subjects.

"I-I have to meet the Professor?" I took a step back.

"N-no… I don't want to get experimented on."

"No, no. The Professor values safety above all. Yours and his. You two won't meet. And there will be no experimentation. What I meant to say is that the Professor would like a sample of the crystals in your hand." I hugged my right hand.

"Like, you're going to dig it out? No way!" Expectedly, the Professor couldn't do anything with the picture of my hand that Dario took. He'd want the real thing, and I was ready to refuse. We'd see how Dario would force me to comply. I might even get some concessions from him, like more details about the organization and stuff like that. But the most important thing was the drama. Always. I was preparing the emotional beats in the script and my accompanying lines.

"Your hand will regenerate," said Dario.

"Even a small piece will—""I won't allow that!" Deen exclaimed.

"Don't you dare treat Erind like a test subject!"

"We're all test subjects here," Reo said.

"Did you forget about that part? It's not going to hurt that much." Deen drew her full height. Her eyes radiated fury, even if the rest of her face was hidden by a mask. I couldn't tell if she was just pretending or not.

"The answer is 'no'. That's final."

"Calm down, Ambriel," Everett called out from inside the hole.

"How will we know what those crystals are if the Professor doesn't get to examine them?"

"Yeah, it's for her own good," added Myra. Deen placed her hands on her hips and sassily swayed them right.

"Then the Professor should come and check them himself." You're pushing too much! Deen might be making it too obvious that we wanted the Professor out in the open. More likely, she was just pissed at Dario.

"I… We can talk about this after the mission," I said.

"You're right." Dario peeked over the hole.

"It appears that Merge has reached the roof of the tunnel."

"Look out above!" Everett tossed up a boulder-sized hunk of cement with patches of steel. Myra was absorbing the rebar reinforcing the concrete.

"Making good progress there, Merge!" Reo said.

"Just in time. It's getting cramped in here." Myra stopped absorbing the tunnel's roof.

"And here we…" She pulled back her arm.

"Go!" She punched downward, breaking the last bit of concrete floor or roof, depending on one's perspective. She fell down into the darkness below.

"Okay, that's cool and all," said Reo.

"But it would've been embarrassing if she hadn't broken through."

"Are you okay down there?" Everett shone the flashlight into the hole.

"You should've told me you were gonna do that."

"Everything's fine!" Myra shouted.

"Let's get going," Dario said.

"Into the hole."