“You sure this is the place?” Asked Xanthion to Shadow-Step,
as the scrappers all stood around an opened manhole on the corner
of 8th avenue and 6th street.
“Well, when I exited the sewers, I was
confronted by acolytes right away” And he pointed to a beheaded acolyte’s
body “and I had to explain to them not to mess with me, not tonight.
And I clearly remember that head over there rolling to a stop right
there, this is the place.” Replied Shadow-Step without a smile. Silver
Girl made a disgusted face at the butchery scene in front of her.
“You took down ten acolytes on your own?” Asked Xanthion while analyzing
quickly the battle scene.
“Didn’t have much choice, they wanted to
make minced meat out of me, and when that happens, I get… Very deadly.”
Replied Shadow as he looked at Silver Girl who was still making the
face.
“If I hadn’t promised you freedom in the morning, I would love
a sparring match with you.” Replied Xanthion as he looked into the
manhole, into the darkness below. Only the night’s gloom reflected
in the dirty waters below. “All right, let’s go in, Shadow you have
lead down there, take us to that base you mentioned.”
Shadow nodded
and jumped down into the sewers system, his thoughts were on O-Lan,
and he knew that as soon as he opened that boiler room door, she would
more than likely use her viper’s tongue to lash at him from the cage
she was in. There was just no walking away from her these days. The
heroes and their unconscious prisoners gathered into the tunnel, and
walked silently in Shadow’s footstep. The flip flop of their footsteps
was all they heard, nothing else to listen to. That, in itself was
very unusual for the sewers of Paragon, who seemed to be always taken
over by one gang or another, if not by a monster from another dimension,
or a lab experiment gone wrong.
The acolyte Xanthion was carrying
on his shoulder started to come about, and was stirring to move. Xanthion
walked towards a metal pipe and banged the acolyte’s head on it, twice
for good measure, and the body went limp. Worried, he looked behind
at Machine who was now carrying the injured Death Mage, making sure
that the powerful foe was still out cold.
Shadow reached the boiler
room door, and leaned on it to listen in on the room. Nothing. Turning
the handle, he slowly opened it, and light started to fill the tunnel
where the scrappers stood, which had them all squinting their eyes
until they adjusted. Looking in at the cage, Shadow-Step suddenly
felt his heart jump, the cage was empty. Right away, he assumed a
fighting position, which sent the other scrappers into the same reaction,
which sent their three prisoners into the sewers water without ceremony,
face first.
“What’s up?” Asked Xanthion as he was looking everywhere
for danger, ready to attack.
“O-Lan, “ Hissed Shadow-Step “she’s free.”
“She’s one of mine Shadow, part of the good guys, remember?” Replied
Xanthion with a smile, as he bent down to lift up the acolyte.
“She
may be good to you, but to me, she’s a valkirye banshee from hell
out to get me, I am not safe while she is free. She… She hates me
with a passion.” Shadow was still searching every corners, every nook
and crannies of his surroundings, while the other scrappers found
amusement in his stress level. So far he had exhibited a cool temper,
and good judgement, but now he looked like cheese surrounded by rats.
“Let’s go in guys, standard search pattern, no attacking without my
say so.” Said Xanthion as he stepped into the boiler room, looking
at the opened cage, he surmised right away that it hadn’t been opened
from the inside, but by the outside, which meant someone else was
here. Using hand signals, he directed them into the main corridor
of the Hunter’s base.
The first thing they heard, when they stopped
moving, was a distant melody coming from the north end of the corridor,
a female voice could be heard singing, and was really not good at
it.
“Presley?” Asked Sun Kil Moon to Xanthion.
“No, Sinatra.” Replied
the ruthless scrapper. “Throw our prisoners in that cage. Shadow,
take the south end and secure the grounds. Comatoast and Secret Skull
with me, Silver and Skye guard the Thorns.”
The scrappers separated
and headed in their assigned directions. The base was quiet, an abandoned
feeling to it. Xanthion, Secret Skull and Comatoast headed north,
towards the singing, checking every door before moving forward, for
signs of life.
“I swear X, it sounds more like a cat being strangled
than singing.” Said Secret Skull as he cringed again at the false
voice trying to hit the note.
“Well, when we get there, I suggest
that we punch her lights out, for art’s sake.” Replied Comatoast who
had started getting shiver from the singing voice, it was awful.
Onward
they crept silently closer to the voice, moving like cats, they found
no other signs of life but that voice trying to hold a melody. When
they finally reached the door from which the sound was coming from,
it had “LADIES” written on it. They all looked at each other, stalled
for a moment by the ethics such a word implied, after all they were
men. Then Xanthion gently pushed the door opened, and the muffled
singing became even more awful. They all cringed as the voice hit
a high pitch, and very false note. The sound of running water was
heard, and the dampness of a humid room that was steamed up by hot
water accompanied the picture. They looked at each other again, then
walked softly inside.
Two rows of lockers were present, most having
padlocks on them, and at the farthest wall, an entrance to the lavatories,
where steam was hugging the ceiling. They crept on, the female voice
raising goose bumps on their body. What a terrible singer she was.
Passing through the archway, a series of bathroom stalls was found,
and at the end of them to the right, another archway from which a
lot of steam came out, indicated the way to the showers. Xanthion
hand signalled his team mates to follow in quietly, upon reaching
the steamy entrance, he leaned around the corner, looking in. A small
corridor that lead to the shower room blocked his view, so he crouched
down and proceeded forward, to reach then end of it. Leaning to the
side he looked:
“Fly-yyy me-eeeee to the MooOOOooooooOoOoon…”
The
woman was dancing under the shower heads, she had eight of them running
along the wall. Her small figure moved like a professional dancer
under each of them, and compared to her singing, her motions were
very provocative. She knew how to use her sensuous curves far better
than she sang. Entranced right away, Xanthion watched on as she danced
to her singing across the shower wall. Water splashing in all directions
as she circled and stretched her body. Soon after, Secret Skull and
Comatoast were also slack jawed next to Xanthion, looking at this
most beautiful woman dancing in such a way.
“Le-et meee siiiiiiiiii-aaainnng
amoong the staaaaaaaaaAAAaArs.”
She was now leaning under the fifth
shower head, water flowing down her soft back, rolling her hips the
way a stripper would, to entice a customer. Xanthion gulped in shock,
suddenly recognizing who she was, Secret Skull had to actually wipe
spit from his lips, and Comatoast’s jaw was still limp and loose from
looking at her. She then grabbed the soap, while her back was to them,
and made it slip between her hands towards the far wall, where it
slid against it. Letting a little yelp out, she ran two steps and
threw herself down on her knees, using the water to slide to wards
the wall, where her hands stop her.
“Let me seeee-eee what spring-ing-ing
is like, On-on JupiteEEEeeeR and Ma-a-a-a-a-rs!”
On her knees, legs
spread and back arched, she used the soap and passed it all over her
body, very sensuously. Secret Skull backed away from the corner, breath
shallow he said :
“I think I’m having an erection guys.”
Xanthion
and Comatoast both looked at him with their heads cocked to the side,
and nodded their agreement. But Xanthion was enthralled by her, and
so was Comatoast. She then threw herself backwards and laid on her
back, and started to push herself with her feet under each of the
shower heads, to wash away the soap that had covered her perfect breast
and thighs.
“In othee-e-e-r wooooOOords, hold my haaaa-i-aands, In
other woOOooOoOOooOOords, baby… KiiiiiiiiiiiiiIiiiiiiissssssss… MeeeeeeeeEeEEEeEEeeeEEeeeeee…”
She
stopped, remained there on the shower floor, letting the water wash
over her perfect figure, chest heaving from all that singing and dancing.
She opened her eyes, looking up at the ceiling lost in her thoughts.
The three scrappers were still motionless and stunned from the spectacle,
and in all honesty, none of them were in any position to stand, spandex
being what it was. They backed away from the vision, Xanthion passing
a hand across his face, to remove the sweat that had somehow broken
up on it. Comatoast was rubbing his eyes and shaking his head, while
Secret Skull was still breathing with his head between his knees,
as if he had hyper ventilated.
When she turned the corner and saw
the three of them kneeling there, she screamed with outrage, and actually
tried to hide her perfect figure with her hands.
“Xanthion, what are
you doing here??!!” She yelled as she ran back around the wall, to
hide herself from their eyes.
“Arummmph… Sorry Sun, didn’t know it
was you.” Replied the ruthless scrapper with a crimson red face.