Chapter 550 Secret Path

Lisa led the way as Lee Seng trailed behind her. He left of seismic vibrations, painting a map in his mind of what was around them. The blips kept telling him there were more people above them. They continued to grow in size until he started registering people or things moving in front of them.

"Stop." Lee Seng told Lisa. She stopped in her place and turned to look at him. She saw a puzzled face plastered across Lee Seng. If she could see underneath the mask, she'd see his lips curling in confusion. His head tilt off to the left like he was fighting off a brain freeze. The map grew in his head and that's when he saw it.

"There." Lee Seng's eyes flew opened and he pointed off to their right. "There's an entrance there." Lisa looked and the path continued past the wall.

"The path goes further. It's further in?" Lisa asked. Lee Seng nodded and led the way. They made their way to the right and followed the path for a bit until they hit a dead end.

"It's right here." Lee Seng smacked the wall. "There's a hallway in front of us. I don't feel many people using this area. It goes further down, but I can't tell how far."

"So how do we do this? Bust ourselves in?" Lisa asked. Lee Seng's hand traced the wall for awhile, going from brick to brick until he stopped on at a head-leveled block to his right. He pushed his hand onto the brick and the block moved in. The wall started to shake and slide open. "Woah. I thought these things were only in the movies."

A "newer" looking hallway appeared in front of them. They stared a a darkened hallway that eventually descended from what Lee Seng knew. Lee Seng took the first step, looking both ways as another seismic sense went off.

"Cleared." Lee Seng whispered. The two moved fully into the hallway, the sewer door closing behind them. Lisa took in her surroundings. Three paths leading different directions. The left path seemed to go up while the right path curved off to the left. And from what her Dark vision could tell, the path in front of the wall entrance descended.

"Which way?" Lisa asked. Lee Seng pointed towards the dark stairs and Lisa nodded. Lee Seng took the lead, slowly descending down the stairs. His eyes looked down but they darted side to side like he was filling in information. If anyone was looking at him, they'd think he was mad… Well, that's what Lisa was thinking. They hit the bottom of the stairs and his head naturally drifted to the left.

A large room was that way and there were a couple people there. The sound of a machine was running in it. Both Lee Seng and Lisa could gather that much.

"That way?" Lisa asked, quietly.

"There's four people in there." Lee Seng replied. "We should be careful in case that isn't the room where they're holding the horses."

"Alright." Lisa nodded. She started forward as the shadows seemingly wrapped around her. The two slowly followed the the curvy path, eventually hearing voices talking to each other.

"Have you heard anything else since then?" A gruff voice asked.

"Jones is coming." A quiet female voice answered.

"Hmph." The gruff voice seemed to not like this 'Jones' character. "Why does he need to come? We've got enough manpower in case things go wrong."

"Don't be upset, Connors. Having a muscle head is good. We can boss him around and have him do all the hard work for us." The girl chuckled. Lee Seng and Lisa stopped short of the lit room to their left. A girl in a high school uniform was half-turned towards the gruff man. The gruff man was dark skinned and had a five o'clock shadow. He wore a military-grade uniform, arms crossed. He looked a lot like Carter to Lee Seng.

"Will you two hurry it up? What's the hold up?" The gruff man barked to the two technicians circling a large mechanical object. "This thing hasn't even done anything. It just runs. It won't go out like you all think it will!"

"Don't rush them, Connors. Good work comes to those who are patient." The girl smiled. Connors glared at her, huffing at her.

"You always see the cup half full, Natalie. We've already died and we're working under a Shade that's working for something deeper than this godforsaken place." Connors complained. "I wish I could die."

"You're so negative. You just need to ch-" Natalie turned around as Lee Seng pulled Lisa away.

"What?" Connors grumbled. "Hear something not there, again, school girl?"

"Shush." Natalie raised her finger to her lip. She began to slowly move towards Lee Seng and Lisa. Lisa and Lee Seng kept in the shadows as Natalie poked her head into the hallway. She moved to cup her ear for a moment before turning around. "I guess it was my imagination."

"You're hearing that bad? Maybe you take a bullet through your ears. It'll clean it right up." Connors chuckled.

"Are you almost done, techs? We'll have company soon." Natalie asked.

"Just about, Miss Natalie. The machine seems to be in great health still." Technician 1 answered.

"That's good." Connors chimed in.

"But," Technician 2 spoke up. "It's acting odd. In all our years taking care of this, it hasn't done this before."

"Done what?" Natalie asked. The technician pointed at the top. Black liquid fired around like plasma. "Woah. It does do something. What does that mean?"

"We're not sure, ma'am. Lady Shade told us it would detect potent beings that resemble her and the Master… We don't know what she means by that because it never reacted to her when she was overlooking the construction of it." Technician 1 replied.

"That means…" Natalie tapped her lips, thinking. Lee Seng pressed himself too close to Lisa. She tried her best to hold the position but the rubble seemed to catch underneath her without her noticing. She adjusted herself and the rubble flew forward, drawing attention to the hall.

"What was that?" Technician 2 asked. Natalie and Connors were fully aware that someone or something was here.

"Is it one of our men?" Connors asked Natalie. Natalie looked off for a second and shook her head no. Connors stepped forward as black metal covered his hands. "Come out whoever you are. Make yourself known before I do it for you." Lisa's lips began to open to ask a question when the wall next to them exploded into dust.

Lee Seng pulled and shielded Lisa as Connors laughed.

"There you are!" Natalie pointed. Her finger glowed as she smiled. "I knew my ears wouldn't ever deceive me."

"The intruders!" Connors chuckled. He rushed forward, reaching Lee Seng and Lisa in a matter of seconds. Lee Seng threw up his barrier as Connors carved a large gouge in the barrier before pulling away.

"The Fox and the Vampire comes to us." Natalie commented. "How fortunate for us!"

"I want the Fox." Connors declared. "Call for backup, you two!" Connors turned to look at the scared technicians.

"Y-yes, sir!" Technician 1 nodded. They scrambled away as one of them pulled out a phone. A moment later, Technician 1 was already informing the others for help. "The intruders are here with us! Get down here!" Lee Seng and Lisa fired attacks at the Technician, killing both of them as the phone dropped to the ground.

"Getting straight to the point." Natalie smiled. "I like it!" Natalie's form billowed in bright green energy as she launched a beam straight for Lee Seng and Lisa. The two jumped out of the way, splitting as the wall behind them crumpled into dust.

"You're mine!" Connors was right on Lee Seng as he rolled onto his feet. Lee Seng instinctively put his arms out to block and watched as the metallic claws went through him like nothing. A painful burning sensation flared as Connors went in for another strike. Lee Seng palmed the air in front of him, blocking Connors attack and pushing him away. He watched as his flesh bubbled.

'It's not healing.' Lee Seng noticed. He moved his right hand over it and began to heal it. 'It's too slow. Whatever's in those claws is dangerous. I need to be careful. It can gouge my barrier like butter…'

"Hahah!" Connors chuckled. "Scared already, Fox? We've only begun! I've heard so much about you! Show me what you got!" Connors rushed forward as destructive blasts shook thee room. Lisa ran near the wall with a blood orb near her. Natalie was firing away with the green energy, not letting Lisa get an attack in.

"Can't do anything, can you?" Natalie laughed. "It'll be over soon!" Natalie pulled her right hand in. Green energy began to build. Lisa began to strike when Natalie's speed increased. Her right index and middle finger flew out, blasting Lisa's blood orb and herself straight into a wall.

"Lisa!" Lee Seng screamed, turning to attack Natalie.

"Nu uh!" Connors scratched the air in front of Lee Seng, blocking him. "You're fighting me!"