[crow]

It wasn't that Lyra liked sewers, of course. There was plenty not to like about them. The smell came immediately to mind - and then there was the damp, the dark, the knowledge that absolutely nothing here was clean or conducive to her well-being. The one she found herself in now wasn't small enough to be claustrophobic, but the sunless state of being underground always made her feel a little off kilter too, as if to remind her that people weren't supposed to live like this.

But as soon as she stepped foot into the sewer, as soon as she took that first terrible breath, she was struck by a sense of nostalgia.

[crow]

In a corner of her mind, she heard the faintest echo of sad, helpless laughter. She might have laughed with it, except then she would have had to take deeper breaths, and as nostalgic as she felt, it still stank. She settled for a secret little smile - not that anyone would be around to see it.

What a terrible thing to be so familiar with.

Still, it wasn't as if she had come down here to take a trip down memory lane. The memories she associated with places like these weren't even pleasant, for the most part. The pulse of adrenaline, the feel of blood mingling hot and sticky with the rest of the unspeakable dampness, the voices -

[crow]

But no, she was past the point of being overwhelmed by such memories. She was. She closed her eyes and counted, and the gibbering phantoms faded. She was left with the situation exactly as it was: herself, underground, in sewage. She'd had the sense to wear the kind of chest waders that fishermen used, sourced by Hazel from god knows where on the internet, so at least the stuff wasn't seeping through her shoes this time.

She took a step forward, and then another.

It was impossible to move quietly. Everything echoed down here, and there was no convenient ledge to be had, where she might walk above the sewage flowing through.

[crow]

It didn't surprise her, then, that she caught the attention of something down here. The surprising part, if anything, was how quickly it happened.

They weren't human. The things that appeared, muttering and barking out of the gloom, looked as though they had walked off the set of some terrible B-movie from the 90s, but with the world's biggest most state of the art practical effects budget imaginable. For a moment, Lyra couldn't do more than blink, taken aback by the sheer absurdity of what she was looking at. Lizard... men? Fish men? The goldfish that someone had flushed down the toilet, mutated beyond all recognition and apparently now hungry for flesh?

[crow]

Hazel would love this, she thought. But then one lunged for her, and she sidestepped on reflex, swinging the spear that materialized in her hands and ramming the butt of it into her assailant. The lizard... whatever was sent flying, and the rest of the pack let out a screech.

"Run!"

Before she could do anything else, a blur sped past her - no, grabbed her hand and yanked her along with it. Him. She blinked, and the blur resolved into something more familiar as she ran behind him - not that he was giving her a choice.

[

Akira.

"Hazel sent you, didn't she?"

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“No,” said another voice, and Lyra turned, realizing that there was someone else running just a step behind them. This one was wearing a gas mask, his voice muffled through it, but the timbre and the sharp disapproval in his tone marked him out immediately as Bran.

“I caught Bran making preparations to follow you,” Akira said. “I decided to tag along.”

“And I caught you making plans to charge into an underground sewer without informing anyone else,” Bran said - this leveled at Lyra, reproof dripping from every word. “Even supposing you did have a death wish, there are less troublesome ways to go about it.”

[crow]

Lyra laughed. It was so… well, so on brand for both of them that she couldn’t help it. She regretted her decision immediately as her lungs filled with more of the putrid air. Maybe she should have ignored the advice of the woman who had given her the job and gotten a gas mask anyway. She doubted Bran was going to offer to share.

Honestly though, it was a surprise. First that Hazel hadn’t sold her out, because if Hazel squealed, she definitely wouldn’t have picked Bran; and second, that it was the two of them, and not Bastien and Luke. Maybe that last thought was a little unfair, but she couldn’t help but think of when she had met them, the first time. Speaking of sewers and nostalgia.

[crow]

There wasn’t time to feel sentimental over it though. Their pursuers were still hot on their heels, chittering and yelling. “There’s a fork coming up,” Bran said. “Which way?”

“I don’t know,” Lyra replied. Bran turned his head, fixing her with a sharp look. “The woman who sent me didn’t give me a lot of directions.”

“Hazel?” Akira said.

”I-I don’t know! Where are you supposed to be going?” A girl’s voice burst into Lyra’s head with a crackle of psychic static. Hazel sounded flustered. Lyra didn’t blame her; they weren’t tracking a Mal, so it was probably harder for her to get a read on their situation.

[crow]

“We’re looking for some kind of metal door,” Lyra said, forcing herself to sound as calm and offhand as she could, as if they were out on some mundane errand and not in an underground sewer. If the effect was somewhat undercut by her own harsh breathing, well, there was only so much you could do while running from a set of B-movie rejects.

Silence--- that went on for one beat, then two. The fork was coming up. “Hazel?” said Akira, again, while Bran made a low, guttural noise of frustration.

”L-Left! Go left!” Hazel’s exclaimed just as Akira hit the corner. He spun on his heel and darted left.

[crow]

Lyra and Bran followed. The rapid-fire footfalls of the lizard horde were receding, but not fast enough. “Any advice on how to lose these things?” Lyra said.

”... There’s an alcove coming up… A hundred and fifty meters, I think.” Hazel still sounded hesitant, but it was steadier and less panicked than she had been.

“A hundred and fifty meters,” Lyra replied. “Got it.” She scanned the darkness to see if she could spot it, but it was too dark to make out much. She would just have to trust that it was there when they got there. In the meantime, it wasn't as if they had any choice but to keep running.

[crow]

She counted the distance. A hundred meters… Fifty… Thirty. She still couldn’t make out anything. Her legs were burning, and her lungs were burning too; she had long since given up trying not to breathe any of the wretched air. “Where is it?” said Bran, tersely; she hadn’t been the only one scanning for the alcove that Hazel mentioned. Only Akira said nothing, staring straight ahead, still running point.

Ten meters… Five…

”Now!”

Akira skidded to a stop and ducked to his right--- and pulled Bran with him. Bran made a strangled noise as he was yanked to the side by one arm.

[crow]

Lyra was just far enough behind them to see where they had ducked; it was a tiny gap in the wall, though she couldn’t tell how deep. There was no time to think about it. She ducked in after them, concrete scraping against her clothes. She tried not to dwell on the dampness of the walls, or the slippery, slimy texture she felt as she wedged herself in deeper.

She made eye contact in the gloom with Akira just as she heard the telltale slap of feet against stone. The reptilian whatever-they-weres ran past them, then stopped.

“Where tall ones?” hissed one.

“Tall ones her just now…”

[crow]

They muttered amongst themselves while Lyra held her breath again. Her vision was starting to bloom into dark spots, but it was better than being given away by her own ragged panting… probably. It didn’t take long for the creatures to dissolve into petty bickering, though it felt like an eternity before they finally gave up and left. As soon as they were reasonably well out of earshot, Lyra let out her breath with a gasp, then began panting as if she had just run a mile. Or three. Which wasn’t actually too far off from what had happened.

“Whew,” she said. “I thought I was going to pass out before they left.”

[crow]

She sagged against the stone, until the sound of someone clearing their throat brought her attention back to the other two hiding in the gap with her. Bran’s face was turned toward her. She couldn’t see his face behind the mask, but she felt his impatience all the same. “Oh, right,” she said, and wiggled her way back out into the main tunnel of the sewer.

There was some shuffling, then a muffled grunt of pain--- Akira’s voice, Lyra thought, though she couldn’t be sure. “Get off me,” hissed Bran; he emerged from the gap not long after, dusting himself off with unusual forcefulness.

[crow]

She glanced at him sidelong, but the mask hid him from her scrutiny. By the time he turned to look at her, it was with the deliberate calm of someone who had quite recovered himself. “Let’s keep going.”

“Really? I thought for sure you’d demand an explanation first,” Lyra said, though she fell into step beside him as he started walking. Behind them, Akira emerged from the gap, and Lyra could just make out the sound of him speaking softly with Hazel, though he was too far behind for her to make out the words. If Hazel made a reply, it was for his ears only.