The air here felt heavier. It wasn’t just the dreary atmosphere near the sheer, black wall of the cavern — there was also a deep scent of pollution that seemed to choke the life out of the people living here.

  With my senses, I could even hear some kind of drilling happening nearby, likely making the air quality even worse.

  I sighed and looked up at the equally depressing warehouse in front of me. The only entrance was a set of heavy steel doors with no discernible markings that looked strong enough to withstand a small explosion.

  I glanced down at my shard, verifying the location one last time just to be absolutely sure. Without Myra’s directions I never would have found it, and I was starting to wonder if that was by design.

  Shrugging, I walked up to the door, only to stop in my tracks as it screeched open just before I could reach it.

  “Good evening,” a man wearing black armor stepped out from the opening. His face was completely covered by a helmet with a dimly glowing red visor, but I was more concerned with the dangerous looking rifle he was casually holding in his hands.

  At least it was pointing towards his feet and not at me.

  “What’s the password?”

  “Lutefisk and mayonnaise.” I grimaced as I answered. Even just saying that combination made me feel sick. It sounded absolutely disgusting. Especially now that I knew what rotting fish tasted like.

  “Excellent,” he nodded stiffly and stepped aside to let me enter, “We’ve been expecting you, miss Nyxia.”

  He seemed a little weird, and I didn’t really like the way he addressed me, but I didn’t correct him. I doubted Myra would lead me into an ambush or some other trap. Especially after what we went through in the rift.

  I quickly ducked past him and into the dimly lit interior, pausing briefly to let my eyes adjust.

  I blinked in surprise as everything came into focus.

  An entire half was lined with shelves of various electronic equipment that formed what I could only assume to be a massive homemade server. It was even surrounded by transparent sheets to keep the dust off.

  It was far more high-tech than I expected for a secret hideout.

  A makeshift living space was set up in the center of the warehouse. Two figures I didn’t recognize sat on a couple of the couches, watching some kind of arena combat taking place in a large coliseum of entertainment, projected into the air using that same hologram tech I’d seen around the city.

  Both their species were easily recognizable. But for two different reasons.

  One was a normal, black haired human girl who looked about my age, but the other was a little green goblin.

  When I thought of goblins I’d always pictured ugly, evil critters with sharp teeth, but he looked mostly normal. Apart from the long ears and green skin, anyway.

  The goblin glanced up as I stepped closer, narrowing his eyes as a frown started forming on his scarred lips.

  “Got something against goblins, Cupcake?” he grunted, crossing his arms.

  “Oh, sorry.” I quickly apologized, realizing too late that I was staring. “I’ve just never seen a goblin before.”

  “No worries, I'm just messing with you,” his frown vanishing into a cheeky grin, “Believe me, I haven’t cared what others think of me in a long, long time.”

  “Yeah,” the human girl by his side spoke up, not looking away from the screen. “Now he just makes us suffer through his terrible puns without a care in the world.”

  “Indeed,” the stoic armored man added before moving past me to stand near a wall, silently observing us.

  “Hey! I make good puns!” The goblin complained as he hopped off the couch and approached me with an outstretched hand. “Name’s Gordon. Gordon Frey. Demolitions expert. Used to blow stuff up in the DwarfTech mines before busting myself out.”

  “Nyxia,” I took his hand and gave it a quick shake. I didn’t feel comfortable sharing more just yet. Maybe once I got to know them better.

  “The gal on the couch is Ellen. She’s a shadow mage. The only thing darker than her magic is that void she calls a personality.” He nodded towards the couch.

  Surprisingly, Ellen flicked a thumbs-up our way without correcting him, her eyes never shifting from the coliseum fight. They must go through this type of banter often.

  “And the guy in black who let you in is Cobra.” Gordon continued, pointing at the man who let me in, “He’s our resident smart-ass.”

  “Incorrect,” Cobra stated plainly, “as you currently fill that role, Mr. Frey.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Whatever, dude.” Gordon shrugged and plopped down on the couch again, “Myra’s here somewhere, but you’ve already met her. Last two would be the Rabbit-Folk sisters, they’re in the back, hiding in that maze they call a server.” He gestured to the large electronic area with a dismissive wave.

  I was a bit out of my element. I’d never been too great about meeting new people in my old life, preferring to hide away and bury my nose in books instead. But they seemed nice enough.

  “Is that the new girl?” a slightly artificial voice came from somewhere in the server shelves.

  A pair of bunny ears soon popped out, followed by a face that was a mix of rabbit and human features. Everything from the neck down was completely replaced with cybernetics, but her face was covered in blue fur with white patches around her eyes and chin.

  Another Rabbit-Folk woman soon stepped out after her. It was immediately apparent that she was the more mature of the two.

  She stood with composed assurance as she observed me.

  She was wearing a pure white lab coat that matched her equally white fur.

  For being sisters, the only thing they had in common was a bright pair of blue eyes.

  “Nyxia, right?” The cybernetic girl stepped forward with a stiff, robotic gait that whirred and hissed with every movement and took my hand in her steel fingers. It was almost clumsy, like she was still getting used to her cybernetics. “Nice to meet you! I’m Talo, and this is my sister, Kira.”

  “Nice to meet you both,” I nodded politely, her steel grip not moving an inch when I squeezed back, “and yes, my name’s Nyxia.”

  “Hm.” Kira nodded once, already losing interest as she came to some kind of conclusion about me before turning and walking back into the mess of electronics.

  “Don’t mind her,” Talo tapped my shoulder playfully with a closed fist. “She’s just busy with… stuff.”

  “I see,” I couldn’t help looking over her metal body as I spoke. I’d never seen anyone with so little of themselves left over. It was hard to fathom why someone would ever go so far.

  She noticed my wandering gaze and smiled, tilting her head mechanically.

  “Oh, ho ho! Looks like she’s checking you out, Talo!” Gordon's teasing voice called out from behind me.

  Talo leaned around me to glare at the goblin as he sat there, chuckling from his seat.

  “Looks like Kira’s gonna have some competition!” he added with a cheeky grin.

  “One more joke from you and I’ll forget to do maintenance on your gear, you old wrinkled cabbage!” Talo pouted, her ears red. But I couldn’t tell if that was from anger or embarrassment.

  “Hey now! What’s with all the shouting?” Myra’s voice called out from the entrance as she stepped inside. “I leave for barely an hour and you all decide to start scaring the newbie?”

  “Nah, you got it all wrong, boss!” Gordon leaned back and put his feet up, seemingly enjoying Ellen’s annoyed glare as he did so. “We were just helping Talo find a-”

  “We were not!” Talo quickly interrupted before Gordon could finish. “Right, Nyxia?”

  “Uh, yeah?” I agreed awkwardly, scratching my neck in confusion, “They were just helping with the introductions.”

  “Really,” Myra raised a skeptical eyebrow, “They’re usually not that competent.”

  “What took you so long anyway?” Gordon’s smirk curled into a frown, “You said you’d be here an hour ago.”

  “The Syndicate.” Myra leaned against the wall, letting out a heavy sigh. “Apparently, the bastards that attacked Nyxia and I in the rift were connected to them. They trailed me all the way from the Guild to the edge of Willow Street before I managed to shake them.”

  Everyone’s faces darkened at the mention of the Syndicate.

  “Is that going to be a problem?” I cut in, worried about potentially leading someone home to Valerie. “Are they after me too?”

  “No, you should be fine.” She gave a dismissive wave, “I took credit for killing them. Even if they know you were there, they wouldn’t suspect a newbie to be able to pull that off.”

  “Ah… I see, thanks.” I sighed in relief. I had enough going on right now without having to worry about a criminal enterprise hunting me.

  “Alright, now that everyone is settled, let’s go over the job.” Myra nodded to Ellen.

  Ellen stood and made a gesture at the hologram, causing it to morph into a 3D map of an underground city.

  The Undercity, I realized with wide eyes.

  This was the first time I could truly see the massive scale of this place. I was right in thinking it was larger than the city above, but that was mostly because it didn’t have as much vertical real estate. Instead, the city spread throughout the cavern like moss covering stone, even clinging to the walls in some cases.

  There were also large portions of the walls that looked carved into, likely to create more space. The drilling I’d heard earlier must have been related to that.

  “Two weeks ago,” Ellen started as she directed the map to zoom into the northern district labeled ‘Dead Zone’, “I uncovered an entrance to a secret lab in the overrun district. It was genetically coded to Drakanians, so I couldn’t get in, but the design was unmistakably Ordon.”

  A blinking yellow dot appeared to show the lab’s location. It was practically dead center within the district.

  “So the rumors were true. Ordon was there when it all went down.” Gordon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why can’t the corporations just do something good for once?”

  "The plan is to sneak in past the Agency's checkpoints using the abandoned sewer system." Ellen continued, ignoring Gordon's interruption. "It will take a little over eight full hours to reach the lab, which is located inside a partially destroyed mall. At that point we'll set up camp and get some rest before heading inside."

  She threw a subtle glance in my direction when she paused for a breath, like she was gauging my reaction.

  "We don't know what we'll find in there, but hopefully it will contain some valuable classified intel on what really happened during the Rift Break Incident. Intel, that we can either sell, or use as blackmail material."

  An Ordon lab needing Drakanian DNA to get in? Something about this seemed off.

  They’d found an Ordon lab that needed a specific gene to get in, and somehow found me, a naive young Drakanian who'd just been exiled and had connections to Ordon, less than a week later? From what Valerie had told me, the chances of that happening naturally were slim at best.

  Did they seek me out because I fit into their plans? I was starting to doubt that meeting Myra was just chance. But if that was the case, why not be honest about it?

  Were they just planning on using me to open the door before betraying me?

  It was all starting to make sense. The 'chance' meeting at my first rift, the helpfulness she'd shown toward me but hadn't offered to the others, volunteering to turn in the mana stone and take credit for deaths of those mercs... She’d been buttering me up to join them on this job.

  …But what could I do about it? If I tried to back out now, they could just force me to come along, but what if I played along, pretending I hadn’t noticed?

  There might be something in that lab that could help pay off Valerie’s debt, and I didn't want to pass that up.

  Myra had been generous with me so far, but would she be willing to share in something this big?

  Should I take that chance?