“Water Works”
It hadn’t taken us long to get from the latest scene of Garlak’s mayhem back to the Pet-Retreat to link up with Cockbeater and Lady T. As our Lady T listened in on our conversations through the hologram that floated over the small pedestal in Cockbeaters lab, we paid attention to what he had to say about this new drug we found that Garlak and his brother were making. Only moments before they had disappeared in an impressive display of pyrotechnics through the middle of Mistress Plaza after a chase that had involved half of The City of Dominion’s police force and us in hot pursuit along with their truckload of the S.I.D. as Cockbeater had dubbed it. S.I.D. was the submissive inducing drug we were learning about in the lab hoping that after all the talk about how it was made and its composition we might find out if there was any way to fight it and its effects it had on people.
“So basically it’s like ecstasy and acid rolled into one.” Cockbeater said.
“That doesn’t sound that bad.” I replied.
“If that was all it was Disco you would be right.” Lady T’s musical voice purred from the hologram. “Tell them the rest Cockbeater.”
“Yes Mistress, You see Disco it makes you feel really good and very open to suggestion. I was wondering how Garlak planned to take control without being present when all the women that might be affected by it came under its influence. Then I found the reason.”
“Well what is the reason Cockbeater?” Panzer asked him.
“There is a chemical encoding in the drug… something that’s piggy backing the drug while it gets induced into the victim bloodstream. I’m not sure exactly how they made it up but it seems that whatever it is gives a basic set of orders to the person. Making them either just obey one person or follow a set of directions to get them to the place where this person might be. Either way the long and short of it is anyone under this drug will obey without question the one giving the orders.”
“Great so we have to worry about Lady Evangeline now. Cause from what we heard Garlak has given her some of this drug and she might not be so eager to escape next time we run across her. Is there any way to combat it Cockbeater?”
“The drug itself can’t be fought you will have to let them come down from their feel good trip on their own. But the chemical that’s piggy backing it has to communicate with each other to work right. It has to talk to other components, according to my findings it sticks together but looks non-threatening to the body.”
“Cockbeater lets say I don’t know anything about chemical composition or how the body defends itself. You want to tell me if it can be fought or not”
“You never studied Disco.” Cockbeater replied. “Now don’t laugh but from what I gathered the best way, is to use aspirin.”
“Aspirin?” Lady T repeated from the hologram.
“Yes Mistress, It should thin the blood enough to make the chemical have to over extend to talk to each other. And should trip off the body’s defenses and let the white blood cells attack it and destroy it.”
“Alright and I take it you have something already prepared for my good boys to use Cockbeater?”
God I always loved when she called us her good boys. Sent shivers of pleasure down my spine I’m sure it went down Panzer as well from his grin.
“Yes Mistress, Besides small bottles of regular aspirin I also have some hypo-sprays set up with a few charges in them in case they need to do it on the fly….umm Mistress am I a good boy too?” Cockbeater tentatively asked.
Lady T’s laughter sent thrills down all our spines and you could see her dark shape of that lovely outline in the hologram move with mirth. Her long hair flowed as she shook her head.
“Yes Cockbeater you’re a good boy too.” She purred.
“Thank you Mistress!” Cockbeater skipped about and handed us our new toys.
“Disco and Panzer.” Lady T’s form looked at us.
“Yes Mistress?” We both said in unison.
“You two take your new toys and head back to the Plaza. Follow that tunnel you found and see if you can find out what happened to Garlak and his brother. More importantly if you find that drug destroy it.”
“Yes Mistress”
“Good, I have spoken to Lady Pamela and she has the known exits to the sewers covered with members of her force. She knows you will be going in, but try not to rile anyone up. They are all a little jumpy. Things are getting confusing on the streets in some of the bad areas and we don’t need to be getting mistaken for trouble makers. Alright go boys.”
“Yes Mistress” And both Panzer and I moved to the bay were The Lady was parked to head back to Mistress Plaza and down into the tunnels.
We nodded to Cockbeater who told us good luck as he moved to track and keep an eye on things from his consoles as best as he could while the image of our Lady T wavered a little and then blinked off. We slipped into The Lady and headed to Mistress Plaza. It was a rather uneventful ride besides we heard on the radio that Lady Marla Key had won the election to the City of Dominion senate from the south side. She was a strong Lady and it was good to see the south side finally putting someone in their spot that could handle that tough area. But we didn’t have time to speak about political matters for long as we pulled in next to the crater that Garlak had made with his explosives in the middle of Mistress Plaza.
Hopping out and putting on some protective waders which I must say didn’t match my suit at all we slipped on some headband flashlights and slid down Panzer’s rope into the dark tunnels of the sewers.
Knowing the trail would be cold, we could only hope that we would find where they went or at least if we were lucky, locate where they had taken the drug to store. We moved carefully along with Cockbeater’s directions from the maps he was looking at to finally make our way down the most likely path that Garlak had taken out of the sewers. As we continued we began to notice more and more items that seemed out of place. A track in the middle of the sewer that shouldn’t have been there tipped us off to our first big clue. Following that we found a tunnel that wasn’t on the maps. Branching away from the main tunnel we continued to follow the tracks deeper into the unknown. Always being mindful of ambush or traps for they had to know eventually someone would come looking for them.
Finally we came to a round chamber what had to be hundreds of feet below Dominion. There were several caves and freshly dug tunnels off of this chamber. It was also where the tracks stopped. I don’t know if it was the fact that someone had the time to dig all of this without anyone finding out that surprised us or the fact that it was empty. Completely and absolutely empty not even an attempt at a welcoming party for us.
“Well dang I would have thought that we would have at least got to beat someone’s head in Disco”
“Yea it is defiantly weird Panzer. Go to all this trouble to get away and know you’re going to be followed and then leave nothing to slow anyone down. “
Lifting my communication medallion I spoke to Cockbeater. “Beater can you read me?”
“Yea it’s a little weak Disco but I can pick you up.”
“We are in a large dug chamber with other caves and tunnels off of it what can you tell us?”
“One moment.”
We waited a few moments and scanned the area for clues to the whereabouts of Garlak and the drug. Too bad he didn’t leave a few of his Gorean Guard around to ask.
“Disco, if you can read me, it looks like you’re in part of the glittering caverns. But no one had any idea that the caverns caves and tunnels extended that far under the city. From my scans the tunnel you came down of course returns to the sewers. The tunnel to your left leads to the caverns itself. While the tunnel on your right leads towards the river. If I had to guess it seems likely that Garlak moved the drugs out into the glittering caverns. They could be well outside the City by now with that stuff.”
“That’s wonderful news Cockbeater.” I said adding as much sarcasm as possible.
“Hey, not my job to make the answers happy, just my job to answer them.”
“Right, have some of the Dominion Police check out the caves and the locals if they saw anything. Panzer and I will follow it from here and hopefully get lucky.”
“Okay watch your back. Cockbeater out.”
Nodding to Panzer we began to move towards the left tunnel when the sound of metal on stone caught our attention from the tunnel on the right. We both dropped behind an empty rail cart and peeked into the darkness.
“What do you think Disco?”
“We’ll I hate to chase noises in the dark but we need to make sure nothings down here before we move on.”
Panzer nodding crept forward from spot to spot as I covered him. Reaching the right tunnel he motioned me to him and covered me as I sprinted to him. Slowly we worked down the dark tunnel listening and moving carefully. Switching off our flashlights on our head straps I flicked on my night vision as did Panzer. So far it was eerily quiet and empty as we moved down the tunnel. Even with our night vision on the tunnel only illuminated enough to let us see a few feet further than with our flashlights. The good thing was we didn’t let everyone know we were coming.
After a few minutes of walking we saw that the tunnel was getting narrow and not as tall as it was. We must be coming to the end. That was when Panzer grabbed me and pulled me to the side against the wall. Pointing I edged out slowly and looked. The end was in sight and laying there on the floor were bodies. Counting quickly I could make out at least four and they looked like they were some of the Gorean Guard. We waited for a few moments before slowly and stealthy moving out from cover to cover till we could check them out better. Getting close it was Gorean Guard and there were about eight of them down here. All of them were dead from what looked to knife wounds. This must have been the welcoming party we expected, but who had taken them out and why. Just as I turned to Panzer to get his thoughts, I saw him.
“Panzer look out!”
Panzer turned just as I shouted and brought up his gun. Out of the shadows leapt this man that moved like lighting. From what I could see I thought the carnival has to be in town. He was dressed in a fluffy shirt with form fitting leggings and high leather boots. About him was a tunic with some sort of cross pattern on it and a large floppy hat with a ridiculously large feather stuck in it. Panzer got a shot off but it went wide just as the man… this musketeer… sliced Panzer’s gun in two. I shielded my eyes from the flash but Panzer caught the brunt of it. The night vision goggles making the sputter and short from his gun seem tenfold. He dropped to his knees in pain was he was blinded by it. Then he came after me. I only had time to bring up my cane to block his rapier as he tried to run me through.
“Dastardly blaggards! I’ll teach you!” He yelled at me.
Before I could even get out what the hell he was talking about I was in the fight of my life. His rapier and my cane clanging together in the dark as we fought with thrust and riposte and swings and misses. I did my best to keep him on me and to hold my own against him. Than to let him turn his attention back to Panzer and try to finish him off. It was only after about the third parry of his thrust that I realized this guy didn’t have on any goggles somehow in complete darkness he knew where I was.
“Who the hell are you?” I was finally able to shout out as I swing with my cane and was blocked yet again.
Laughing like an old Errol Flynn movie he locked blades with me then shoved me a few feet back. Staggering I regained my balance and saw him doff his hat with a flourish and salute me with his blade.
“Why I’m the Gentleman Caller. And as much as I would love to stay and chat I’m afraid it’s time to go before more of your fellow ruffians show up. I do thank your leader for leaving the surprise for me but I don’t think he meant for it to be used this way”
He pulled something from his belt and it was then it dawned on me that even though he could tell where we were in the dark. He couldn’t tell who we were. This guy thought we were Gorean Guard.
“Wait we’re not…” I never got to finish the sentence cause at that moment he pushed the button on top of the tube he pulled out and we found out what Garlak really had planned for us.
The Wall behind him erupted in an explosion and water from the river poured into the tunnel sweeping Panzer and me off our feet and rushing down the tunnel like a wild amusement park ride.
“What the hell!” Panzer shouted as we raced back down the tunnel and into the large chamber which began filling up fast with churning water from the river.
“Just hang on Panzer!” Grabbing his hand and gripping the stone wall as best as I could as I finally found a handhold on the wall.
Straining, I got Panzer next to me and holding onto the wall as the water tore at us to drag us into the sucking middle of it as it filled the chamber. I just hoped we both had the strength to hold on till it equalized and we could swim out. That is if it ever would calm down.
“Do I even want to know Disco?”
“No and now is not a good time for explanations!”
Pulling ourselves along we had to dodge chunks of rock shaken loose by the rushing water till we finally managed to pull ourselves up on a small shelf of rock above the water.
“This isn’t going to last long Disco. That water is still rising.”
“I know. There is a tunnel across the chamber but it’s still a good ten feet above the water and without your grapple gun we will just have to chance the swim till it gets close to jump inside. How are your eyes?”
“I’m okay, let’s get ready, the waters almost to us.”
That’s when the most unexpected thing happened. With a crack and thunk an arrow hit the wall next to us with a rope attached. The other end came out of the tunnel we were hoping for. I looked at Panzer a moment then pushed him toward it.
“What if it’s a trap?” Panzer shouted over the roar of water.
“Then we will deal with it if it is. Now get going brother!”
The rope held as we quickly scrambled along it to the tunnel. Panzer just got inside as the water tore loose the arrow and I had to hang on tight as I was slammed against the wall. The air knocked out of me I tried to breathe and got a mouthful of water. I felt my grip slacken and scrambled to get a hold on the rope again before the water torn me away. Then I felt Panzer grab my hand and jerk me into the tunnel.
Coughing and panting I slapped Panzer on the shoulder. “Thanks Panzer.”
From further off to my right I head Panzer say. “Umm Disco….”
Looking up I saw that the person who saved me wasn’t Panzer it was that crazy musketeer.
“Terribly sorry about all that gents I thought you were some of those Gorean boys.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“As I said I’m The Gentleman Caller. No time for small talk now. That water will be up to this tunnel in no time. There is an exit at the far end of it. Hurry along now.”
“What? Where are you going?”
“Up… and I’ll probably see you around soon. After all were both trying to save Lady Evangeline aren’t we?”
With that he grabbed another rope and swung out over the raging water exactly like an old Errol Flynn pirate movie.
“What do you know about Lady Eva?” I shouted as he climbed up the rope swinging his feathered hat with a flourish again before disappearing into a hole at the top.
Panzer grabbed my shoulder. “We can worry about him later, lets go Disco now.”
So we ran and kept running even as we heard the water chase us down the tunnel. But this one went up and this time the water couldn’t catch us. Coming out into the sunlight we stopped and rested by the entrance as we let out clothes dry and caught our breaths.
“Now we got musketeers running around Panzer.”
“Well the more the merrier Disco. What do we do now?”
“We need to get The Lady and link up with Cockbeater. The one good thing is this water will tell us were all the exits are.”
“Where the hell are we Disco?”
“I don’t know… Cockbeater do you read?”
“Loud and clear Disco.” Cockbeater said over the medallion. “Holy Crap!”
“What Cockbeater?” I asked him hurriedly a little shocked at his outburst.
“According to my tracker you guys are about three miles out of town. How did ya’ll get out there?”
“Don’t ask…oh and Cockbeater?”
“Yea Disco?”
“Send a cab.”
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