Chapter 7 — The Undercity
The tunnels changed the deeper they went.
The polished concrete of the old subway gave way to raw stone — carved by hand, widened by scavengers. The air grew warmer, thicker, and filled with the metallic taste of recycled power.
24 walked in silence, one hand resting on his shorter blade. The other hand pressed lightly against his ribs, where the last fight had reopened the wound.
The girl stayed close. The darkness pressed around them, alive with distant echoes — the drip of water, the hum of unseen generators, and once in a while, the faint murmur of voices.
After what felt like hours, light appeared ahead. Not the harsh red of alarms — this light was soft, amber, flickering.
They stepped into a cavern lit by rows of old flood lamps. Makeshift shelters built from scrap and canvas filled the space. Dozens of people moved among them — armed, tired, scarred. Survivors.
At the center stood a tall woman with a shaved head and a mechanical arm. Her eyes, sharp and amber, flicked toward them immediately.
"Hold it there," she said, raising a hand. A dozen weapons trained on 24 at once.
He didn't move. "We're not EGI."
The woman studied him. "No one says they're EGI." Her voice was low, steady. "Who are you?"
24 hesitated. "Just passing through."
One of the men near her stepped closer, his rifle gleaming under the lights. "Passing through with those blades? I don't think so."
The woman's gaze narrowed. "You've got the look," she said. "The stillness. The way you stand. You were trained."
The girl stepped forward, shaking. "He saved me. From them."
The woman's eyes softened — slightly. She lowered her arm. "Name?"
24 paused. "Twenty-four."
The camp fell quiet. The man with the rifle froze.
"…Black Division?" he whispered.
A murmur spread through the crowd. Fear. Curiosity. Reverence.
The woman exhaled slowly. "You shouldn't be alive."
"Neither should any of us," 24 said.
That earned the faintest smile from her. She gestured toward the camp. "Welcome to the Undercity. I'm Mara."
⸻
Later, around a flickering barrel fire, 24 sat with Mara and the girl — who finally introduced herself as Kira.
Mara poured a thin drink from a cracked flask. "We've got eyes up top. EGI's sweeping every district north of the Divide. Whatever you did, you pissed off the wrong gods."
24 looked into the flames. "Destroyed one of their labs."
Mara nodded. "Then you found something worth killing for."
Kira spoke quietly. "We found… someone. In a pod."
Mara's eyes flicked toward her. "Alive?"
"Not for long," Kira said.
Mara sighed, metal fingers drumming against the flask. "The old facilities are waking up again. Been hearing it for months. Doors opening that were sealed for decades."
24 turned toward her. "You've seen it?"
"Not with my own eyes. But the Drifters trade intel. Word is, EGI's reactivating old projects — digging up the Black Division's remains. Maybe looking for something they lost."
24's jaw tightened. "Or someone."
The firelight caught his face — hard features, high cheekbones, the faint blue veins along his neck that pulsed when he breathed too fast. For a moment, Mara studied him like she was seeing a weapon from an old war — dangerous, but necessary.
"You're dying, aren't you?" she said softly.
He didn't answer.
Kira's eyes widened. "He—he uses that teleport thing. And every time he does, it hurts him."
Mara nodded slowly. "Short-range displacement. I read about it once. The void between points burns through neural tissue. They called it 'bleeding through the folds.'"
24 looked up. "Then they knew it would kill us."
"They built you to die," Mara said. "Every weapon breaks eventually."
Silence fell. The hum of the camp filled it — the sound of makeshift generators, quiet voices, the faint echo of a city that had forgotten the surface.
Finally, Mara stood. "Rest here tonight. Tomorrow, I'll take you to someone who can help."
"Help?" Kira asked.
Mara's amber eyes flicked to 24. "There's a man deeper in the Undercity. Calls himself Voss. Used to be an EGI scientist before the fall. If anyone knows what they did to you, it's him."
24's gaze sharpened. "Voss?"
Mara nodded. "Dr. Lyra Voss. She vanished after the Black Division purge. Some say she was the one who tried to shut it all down."
Kira looked at 24, hope flickering in her voice. "Then maybe she can fix you."
24 stared into the fire, the flames reflected in his steel-gray eyes.
"Or remind me what I was meant to destroy."