Chương 159: B3. 11.2 - Everyone Got Plans

Myra Fletcher (Merge) Myra Fletcher moved slabs of concrete aside to open up the path while listening to the grating whine of Blubber eating through the tunnel's blockage. It had been several minutes since they had separated from Deen, Erind, and Everett. It was the end of Myra's turn, and Reo volunteered to switch in digging. He complained that he was tired of removing concrete from her back, like peeling giant scabs. It was his time to shine, according to him.

Dario helped Myra clear the way so that Blubber didn't have to eat so much. Earlier, Blubber was a red blur in the flashlight's light, seemingly deleting concrete, rocks, and soil. Now, the ballooning red mass was more prominent the bigger it got, and the more it ate. Is it going to shit out all of that? Myra wondered, curious at Reo's complicated power. She could say that there were a lot of nuances to Reo's personality under the surface. He must be a pretty complex person to have this sort of power manifest.

At some point, Reo would switch out with Myra. In his boosted state, he didn't easily tire when pushing his fairies' powers to their limits. But he'd get tired eventually. She could dig for longer, but Reo could dig much faster. The problem with Blubber chewing through the rubble was the dust flying everywhere. Their masks stopped the dust from going up their noses, but their eyes were left unprotected.

"I can't believe this is what I'm doing on Valentine's Day," Reo complained loudly.

"There still has to be time before it's the next day. Merge, can you hook me up with any of your friends? Some of them are probably still awake."

"Guys or girls?" Myra replied, wiping the tears from her eyes. None of them thought of bringing goggles for this shit.

"Have you tried batting for the other team?"

"Ha and ha. But, no. My bat is exclusively for—""Can you quiet down?" Dario asked.

"We might attract unwanted attention." Dario continued to wear his night vision goggles even if there was a flashlight. Having a light source around messed it up, didn't it? But he prioritized protecting his eyes from the dust. He didn't even ask Myra and Reo about how they were faring in this dusty hellhole. He was such a great leader. Not. Bastard.

"Nah, man," said Reo, feeling rebellious tonight. He must be really pissed about the situation to push back against Dario.

"If there's any dickhead feeling the need to go tunnel diving, they'd have already heard Blubber's drilling. We're not hiding ourselves here. Let's just relax for a moment. We've earned that, especially with everything going to shit. There's even a new Adumbrae in town."

"Multiple new Adumbrae," said Dario. He dropped his secrecy business with a sigh because Reo was right that they were making too much noise.

"We believe that this recent spate of attacks is carried out by an Adumbrae different from the one who attacked the PCM establishments."

'We' believe, huh? Myra smirked under her mask. A bunch of fuckers who fucked up her life. Someday, she'd have her revenge on all of them. But not before milking them of anything that could help Kelsey become human again. She made Kelsey eat a pill from Dario, but it didn't seem to work. They needed an artificial Core. She really wanted to get her hands on one and try what happened to Erind. So far, that was her only hope of saving her sister. And time wasn't on her side.

Who knew when the Adumbrae inside Kelsey would try to take over again?

"Yeah, it was Red Hood's group," said Reo.

"We know that."

"It might not be the case," said Dario.

"Perhaps Red Hood would like us to think that, but it might be a different group altogether." Yeah, it was me, thought Myra. She thought she'd have nightmares or guilt over what she had done, but there was nothing at all. She could sleep peacefully at night. Her only worry was about her sister's seeding. As for the people she had killed, she didn't remember any of their faces at all. She didn't care about them one bit.

"I guess there are just tons of Adumbrae groups in the city," said Reo.

"They're one group to me. I'll even lump in the PCM and the 2Ms with them. All evil guys doing evil things."

"You should care what their plan is," said Dario.

"If it's true that the PCM is making a Purple Bloom—""Then that's not my problem," Reo said.

"Well, it is my problem. But it's not my problem to solve. That's the job of the Corebrings and BID. I'll run away, just like what most people will do. My fairies won't do squat against a Purple Bloom. Blubber would just nibble its city-sized ass."

"We'll be part of the solution once we reach the PCM base." Dario's tone sounded less robotic. Was he trying to empathize with Reo? Make Reo feel better about the situation? It was obvious to Myra and the rest of their group that Reo was one bad day away from calling it quits. The Professor wouldn't let a test subject walk away, right? She hoped that Reo would push through with it so they'd see Dario's reaction. She could prepare how to deal with it. One day, she and her sister would be free of this all.

"We'll alert the city to the PCM threat? Something like that?" Reo turned to them and shook his head.

"The BID is already on the PCM's case. They're done. Personally, it's probably better not to dig this shit out. Let it stay buried, whatever it is inside the PCM's base. But I'm getting threatened by a robot. So, here we are."

"We still don't know why Pino wants us to dig." Myra decided to speak up because it might be suspicious to stay quiet for some time. She also wanted to lure out Dario's thoughts from his bastard brain.

"Red Hood can dig through this. They should have other Adumbrae that can do a much better job than Reo here."

"I doubt that," said Reo.

"Get me any of Red Hood's crew, and we'll have a contest."

"You'll just piss your pants when you meet them," Myra retorted.

"Perhaps Pino is not with Red Hood…" Dario said. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Myra stopped in her tracks while hugging a piece of concrete cladding.

"What?"

"Reo's right. Red Hood's group can do this fairly simple task. I had expected some trouble, but we're making headway quite quickly. Red Hood, in her colossal beast form, could rake this rubble aside. Some inconveniences, like her size, don't necessitate asking for our help. Some other Adumbrae could do it."

"Blackmailing us for our help—let me correct you on that," said Reo.

"My point stands."

"The Adumbrae are afraid of PCM weapons," Myra said, continuing with her work.

"Isn't that the explanation we've agreed on? The PCM has anti-Adumbrae stuff that they used to capture Adumbrae, including my sister." Reo scoffed, "You can't seriously believe Pino's bullshit."

"Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant," Myra replied.

"If I find my sister here, I'll celebrate. If not, I'll look elsewhere. I'm just gonna keep looking for her. Anyway, I was talking about Red Hood—her group is afraid of breaking into the PCM base because of the anti-Adumbrae weapons. I just hope those weapons don't work on us. We're supposed to be the bait, I guess?"

"Yes, that was our initial thought," said Dario.

"But… it doesn't have to be us. Red Hood can use other people to do this. She could even coerce her weaker subordinates to sacrifice themselves. Adumbrae eat other Adumbrae. She wouldn't be particularly concerned with the safety of those that could be her food. She wants the PCM data. Badly. Why connect with us?" The fine grinding noises that Blubber was making stopped. Reo pointed the flashlight at us. Blubber, who had grown to the size of a capybara, floated above him, giving off a slight red glow.

"You're right… Why us? Pino knows who we are… What we are. There's a huge chance we'll betray her. That means…"

"She doesn't care if we betray her," Myra finished Reo's sentence. She watched Blubber fly off on tiny wings into the darkness. Disgusting vomiting sounds reached them. Blubber was ejecting everything that it had eaten. Myra had a hunch Dario suspected her of being a traitor. She'd suspect herself if she were in his shoes. Joining in the discussions wasn't supposed to make him ease up on the suspicion. It was supposed to confuse him. Hide the real goal.

"Correct," said Dario.

"I'm of the mind that Pino doesn't have a large group. A few collaborators—human or Adumbrae, I don't know. Certainly not a large group commanded by a powerful Adumbrae like Red Hood." He's already buying Erind's nonsense, Myra gleefully thought. Red Hood's reputation was becoming fearsome, along with her nonexistent army of Adumbrae. It'll be useful leverage someday. It was scary that Erind came up with all of this. Even scarier was that Erind had killed lots of people. And monsters.

This was an incredible contrast to her usual personality. Shy. Timid. Tiny. This Red Hood persona was far from that, and Myra couldn't easily accept that this was the same person as Erind. Because… it probably wasn't. Deen had mentioned that Erind wasn't acting correctly or something. It was probably the same thing happening with Kelsey—sometimes, their Adumbrae regained control. It'd be lucky if it were only sometimes. Myra was starting to suspect that the Adumbrae was conquering more ground each day.

She was on a timer to find the cure, and the Adumbrae might probably stop her. She and Deen had to work together while keeping Kelsey and Erind in the dark about their alliance.

"Pino needed to reach the PCM base," said Dario.

"She wanted us to dig the way open; she doesn't have the capabilities to do it. It doesn't matter to her if we reach it first because her goal there is different from ours. She'll come after we are gone."

"Know what? You may be on to something," said Reo.

"Pino told me the location and even gave me maps—that's just begging to get betrayed. She should've waited to meet our group first and lead us here. I'd like to think that my charm convinced her to trust us, but I may be high on my own supply. She has something up her sleeve. Ah, well, she doesn't really have any sleeves. She's practically naked."

"That's what I've been thinking as well," Dario said.

"That Pino is technically naked?"

"No," Dario said straight. Obvious from his tone that he didn't understand that Reo was clowning around.

"What I meant is that I agree that Pino isn't upfront with us. As expected from Adumbrae."

"But you have a backup plan, right?" Reo asked.

"You told me." Myra's ear wiggled at that. She didn't show any reaction as she continued to move the blockage on their path. Dario didn't mention anything about a backup plan during their meeting. Was Myra just not paying attention, or did Dario tell Reo something privately?

"I always have a backup plan," Dario nonchalantly said. The docks mission proved that a lie.

"Blank, did the Professor have any intel on Pino?" Myra asked. The 4Bs had expected Dario to expect that something wasn't right. But, again, that just added to the confusion because Dario would never, fucking, ever guess the truth.

"Curiously, no," Dario replied.

"We have information gathered about Red Hood, given that many gangs seem to follow her orders through human intermediaries. There had been sightings of her apart from the fight at the docks. This Pino, however, we don't have anything. Not the name. And no witnesses of a metallic Adumbrae."

"I think we'll get a clue about her once we reach the PCM base," said Myra.

"She really wants to get to it. She should fucking pay us for the excavation services."

"That dang robot will piggyback off my hard work?" Reo clicked his tongue while shaking his head." Our work, I mean. I'm not taking credit for everything. Ah, well… At least I'll feel a bit safer if Pino isn't connected to Red Hood. Anyway, it's your turn, Merge. I'll regen some stamina for summoning Thick Boy later." Thick Boy was Reo's fourth fairy, a piss-colored, muscly, little gremlin covered with a bumpy carapace. It was incredibly durable and could even survive getting roasted by Everett.

After some testing, they came to learn that Thick Boy could regenerate and adapt to whatever was injuring it, so long as Reo's stamina could sustain it. Thick Boy would go inside the base and trigger the PCM traps inside.

"I've been continuously working!" Myra placed her hand on the largest piece of debris in front of her and started to absorb it. She didn't need to go all the way; she'd just shrink it enough to dislodge it, and other pieces behind it. The pieces of concrete and rocks were easiest to move with three superhumans doing the job. The annoying part was the soil. She had to 'vacuum' them, waving her hands around to scoop them up, and compact them into slabs on her back.

"Oh?" Dario dropped the rock he carried. He took out a glowing item from his pocket.

"Emcee. He's telling me that Pino found them."

"Dang. And I was just starting to feel good about this operation," said Reo.

"Is it time for your backup plan?"

"There's no need. Ambriel is with Emcee and Erind. They're safe… to an extent. And I've decided that meeting Pino is the best course of action for this situation. We continue to dig."

"Huh? Shouldn't we be preparing to fight?" Myra asked. That was her. Ms. Action. Always up for a fight.

"No, there won't be a fight," said Dario.

"We'll wait for Pino to come to us. I'll handle it if she makes trouble. But she won't."

"How can you be so sure, man?" Reo gestured at the passageway they had cleared.

"We're fucking betraying her!"

"We can smooth things over with a discussion. Trust me." He's unfazed? Myra was unsettled by Dario's reaction. Shouldn't he be freaking out about where Pino came from? How did she get past the sensors? They should be discussing plans for how to handle Pino. Wasn't the point of their mission to get to the PCM base before the Adumbrae? This didn't feel right. Myra was starting to worry because Kelsey was here too. What the hell was Dario's backup plan?