Welcome to Anthracite City

Chapter 2: Welcome to the Urban Jungle

By Psion

All Rights Reserved

Continuing immediately after the previous WtAC...

The hidden village of Black Lung was pretty much where the name implied it was, at the bottom of an old coalmine hidden up in the mountains around Anthracite City. Abandoned when the coal ran out long ago, refugees desperate for a place to hide dug out the half-collapsed tunnels and reinforced their new home with fresh supports. Here, at the bottom of the mine, a small community emerged in cramped and dark quarters. Candles and crude electric lights produced flickering pools of illumination that struggled to push back the ever-creeping darkness. Were it not for the tight quarters with over three dozen people crammed like sardines in a space about the size of a large coach bus or a small suburban home, the dimly lit underground village would have been a playground for shadow manipulators.

"The atmosphere of Black Lung really sucks the joy out of you doesn't it?" Elizabeth remarked as the two of them finished collecting their pay and navigated the small "marketplace," a narrow corridor where venders set up stalls and sold everything from guns and ammo to winter clothing and canned food. All of it was disheartening; the weapons were overpriced and generally underpowered for dealing with the caped freaks above, the coats were worn and looked like they had been patched up twice in places, and the canned food were stripped of their labels. Both cape hunters kept their weapons empty and slung over their shoulders, not so much a precaution against accidents as against pickpockets...

"Yeah, only thing missing is some guy in the corner playing a somber piece on an acoustic guitar." Adam replied as they carefully threaded their way to where the Hospitallers set up their field hospital. The clinic was easy enough to pick out, the prefabricated polymer walling and Plexiglas barriers stood out like a sore-thumb amidst the dwellings and fortifications made from metal and wood scraps. In many ways it looked like a Peace Corps outpost Adam saw in pamphlets about their efforts in the third world, another subtle reminder of how badly things had gone in the war with the Rik-Tah. The Hospitallers themselves were a small cluster of doctors from one of the worlds Uncle Rikkie recruited his mercenaries. Armed with a mix of superpowers and bleeding-edge technology and taking their name from an old name for an order of monks schooled in medicine, the Hospitallers were a powerful group of physicians that were as helpful as they were controversial. Controversial in a way that Adam and Elizabeth were just about to walk in on...

The human guard posted outside of the Hospitaller clinic was six shades of mean. A big, brutish man of African descent, he carried himself in a distinctly military manner as he cradled a well-kept pump-action shotgun. For the most part he kept himself away from the line of sick citizens hoping to see Drs. Honeypot or Manx for whatever ailed them, helping maintain the divide between the ill and the people just there for a check-up. And on most days Freddy the ex-Army infantryman had a pretty easy job being the "big black guy who scares everyone into behaving outside of the clinic and beating the crap out of people who try to rob it." Unfortunately for him, today was not going to be one of those days. When Adam and Elizabeth walked up to the field hospital, Freddy was looking down, literally, at Sophie. Sophie was a severe Latino woman firmly entrenched with Black Lung's "all anthros must be evil" faction bent on making sure the Hospitallers left the town; preferably dead.

"How can you just stand there and let those monsters touch our children?" She asked accusingly, planting a single finger on his chest. "How can you protect them after all they've done to us?"

Freddy merely looked down at the digit pressed against his winter coat then back at its owner. "I believe these ones are different." He replied simply.

"Well that is sure reassuring; was being an excellent judge of character something else you learned in the Army?"

"No but they sure did drill a ton more patience into him then I have." Adam interrupted as the two post-apocalyptic mercenaries walked up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder as he flashed a smile that carried a silent threat of violence. "Normally I wouldn't give a shit what you do Sophie but you happen to be in my way." He added, moving her aside so Elizabeth and himself could enter the clinic without having to disturb the line of sick people. Shaking his head and ignoring the looks he was getting from people too nervous to speak up to someone with a shotgun on his back, he walked up to one of the closed exam rooms and knocked on the door while Elizabeth waited in the hall out of instinct. One advances, one lingers...

"Dr. Manx! Dr. Honeypot! It's Adam White; you said you wanted to see us? We're in town and we'll be out in the market getting supplies while you wrap things up here. You know where to find us." He called before returning outside with Elizabeth. Sophie had gone home, not wanting to be around the two cape-slayers. Adam couldn't fault her on that one; anyone who stayed in his particular profession for any length of time was either dead or crazy. Sighing, he shook his head and tried to enjoy what passed for peace in Anthracite City...

The endless winter wind howled as it blew through the concrete jungle of Anthracite City. From the shadowy figure's perch atop one of the old city's many parking garages, the streets below looked peaceful bathed in the artificial glow of hundreds of neon, LED, and holographic signs. The mix of old and new technology reminded her of home in a way, her own city had many similar juxipositions of the old and the new due to a high concentration of high-tech industries. But this was not her home, and she knew well enough that she could not afford to be nostalgic in this city. Soulless, warmongering mercenaries roamed the downtown on leave, tech-savvy mad scientists and warlords converted the industrial parks to the south to the production of weapons, the enormous mega-mall to the west was largely abandoned except for a giant nest of mutants of the face-eating post-apocalyptic variety, and to the east was the Dome, a massive preserve given over for florakinetics and biology-savvy mad scientists to experiment in to their hearts content. No, this was nothing like home. This was a nightmare, one she would have to trend carefully through if she wanted to avoid suffering a fate worse then anything she could imagine. Scanning the streets below again... there, lingering in the dark alley next to the alien vending machine, was the local she was looking for...

Lucas held his breath as he began to hack the bio-rep. Uncle Rikkie always had a big thing for nanotech, the better to suck out every last atom of useable matter out of the earth and mass-produce all sorts of goodies with it, and the biomatter replicator was no exception. A stationary machine about the size of a photocopier, the rugged field unit was capable of producing small quantities of carbon-based items on the spot from a limited selection of recipes. Generally it was a mix of the kind of things he would find in various pre-Invasion vending machines; snack foods, single dosages of over-the-counter meds, stupid little things like that. But it was always the stupid little things that managed to make or break people in times like this. Which is why he was here, trying to splice into the control unit so he could swipe a handful of meds. It wasn't a lot, it never was, but a little bit here and a little bit there and it soon added up to enough to make a shipment out of.

The Hispanic man cautiously looked over his shoulder, free hand hovering above his holstered pistol, as his other hand carefully worked the guts of the machine so it would spit out some free product. If it was any other time he would have asked himself what he thought he was doing but now... the hell with it, it's not like he invaded their planet instead of the other way around. And then he heard the sound of feet hitting asphalt, specifically hitting it like their owner had dropped down from a great height. Lucas didn't need to think twice, drawing his gun and pointing it behind him... at nothing. Nothing was behind him; no assassins, slavers, or psychotic robots lingered behind him to take that fatal first shot. Nothing stopped him from turning back around to resume his work... and noticing the dim figure hovering in the shadows to his left.

Veiled in darkness, the mysterious stranger was barely perceptible except for a feminine shape and her eyes... those eyes were going to haunt his dreams for a while. Adrenaline flowed through his veins as his feet took flight; the hacker was bolting deeper into the alleyway before even a word could be exchanged between the two of them. The shrouded heroine sighed and quickly considered her options. It was imperative that she caught him but at the same time... looking at where the human was working, she studied what he was trying to accomplish. She was not quite tech-savvy enough to understand how these machines worked but Lucas's hack didn't look that complicated. Making a mental note of where the wires were placed before replacing the panel and covering up his attempted tampering, she chased after her mark. Normally she wouldn't have given someone this much of a head start but keeping others from picking up the trail was more important. Besides, no one cleared the snow from this alleyway recently, leaving a fresh pair of footprints for her to follow...

A few hours later...

Adam and Elizabeth settled their business in Black Lung and slowly made their way through the abandoned subway connecting the heart of Anthracite City with the industrial parks on the outskirts, the concrete tunnels completely pitch black except for the battery-powered lantern held in Adam's hand between them. Vaporous breath escaped through their scarves as they made their way through the labyrinth beneath the occupied city above. The enemy occupied much of the tunnel network and locked down most of the stations with their robotic security forces. But there were a few places where people could hide out "Metro-style" or sneak up to the surface. The bolthole where Lucas wanted his two friends to meet him if he was ever forced to go to ground was one of these locations.

Their contact was loading a hand-pumped railcar when they arrived by the partially collapsed station where Lucas had made his home, the Hispanic man moved like his feet were on fire as he carefully secured one cardboard box after another onto the car. Both of them had seen this before, arriving in towns and holdouts hours before Uncle Rikkie and his henchmen came calling. Something was coming or at least their friend thought something was, and if he was right they didn't have much time.

"Hey Lucas, who are they, how many are there, and how long before they get here?" Elizabeth asked as a form of greeting.

The first intruder arrived before Lucas could even open his mouth. A shrouded figure appeared down by the opposite end of the station platform before slipping into the shadows, disappearing in-between the row of support pillars keeping the street above from collapsing on the rest of the station. And at that moment, the lights in Lucas's crude setup began to flicker and grow dim. By the time the short stabilized, the only light left was the pool surrounding the smuggler's escape vehicle and the stairwell leading up to the station proper. Adam and Elizabeth looked at one another as the taller human affixed a flashlight to the mod rail on his shotgun. "Figures..." The lithe male grumbled as he switched the illuminator on and slowly scanned the station from a defensible corner, his partner watching carefully with her custom rifle raised against her shoulder.

"Hey spooky Halloween freak, I know you're in there... Look, I've watched my damn share of superhero cartoons; I know how this works. I walk into the dark, I get hammered by a masked buffoon that somehow manage to have perfect night vision despite it being as black as pitch in here. So instead I'm just going to camp in this little corner over here and you can either identify yourself or wait until we flush you out. Take your time, we can wait."

"No you can't." A familiar raspy voice called out from the shadows. "Because if I was who you think I am, you would be hoping I wouldn't be interested in sharing the bounty on your heads... It's good to see you again Adam." A black rabbit in a gasmask replied as she stepped out into the beam of his flashlight. Wide brimmed fedora, WWII-era gasmask with tinted lenses, a baggy trenchcoat, and a pair of eyes that seemed to shine with a haunting halflight despite the polarized lenses of her mask

Adam visibly relaxed as he recognized the voice's owner. "Hold it, I know this one. Hello Mentalrix, haven't seen you since Sentinel City." He greeted, lowering his shotgun slightly.

"The situation has changed, I'm sure you-" The masked rabbit anthro began cryptically, cut off as something suddenly directed her attention behind her. "Damn it! I could have sworn I kept him off my trail."

"Keeping War Hound away was no great feat, thanks to your friends he still has a horrible headache. But you forgot I have psionic dampeners installed on my armor Mentalrix." A familiar voice called out from the dark tunnel, Adam gritted his teeth. Really? Of all the Halloween freaks to find them, it had to be him?

"What? They sent the incredible Swiss Army Knife? Seriously Venom, what don't you have in that armor? A cappuccino machine?" Elizabeth called out as she rested the butt of her rifle against her shoulder and carefully ducked behind the handcar. One benefit of being fairly short as far as humans went was that the blond riflewoman made for a small target, especially hidden behind a block of machined steel. Working quickly, she braced herself against cover and rose her rifle.

At the opposite end of the tunnel, where Mentalrix had entered just seconds before, a pair of demonic-looking green eyes glowed with an electronic light. Elizabeth wasted little time, sighting her opponent and introducing the armored fruit bat to the rifle she picked up when she and Adam stopped at their bunker before returning to the city. The Big Bitch, as she was prone to calling it, was basically a modern "elephant gun" built to her height. It was an ugly thing, a Frankenstein creation from the bits and pieces she scrounged from an NRA gun show that had miraculously avoided being picked completely clean. It was also complete and utter overkill for anything that didn't wear power armor or had bulletproof skin....

To his credit, Venom was smart enough to try and move out of the way. Unfortunately, augmented reflexes were not one of the things his suit of armor provided him. The bullet that was aimed at his head found purchase in his shoulder, punching through the armor plating and biting into the tender flesh within. Try as they might, the two humans could not help but find his pained screams extremely satisfying...

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM? THAT GOD DAMN HURTS!" Venom shouted with a piercing shriek. Apparently he still wasn't used to dealing with people that could inflict actual pain on him and adapted their tactics to his advance weaponry.

That's kind of the damn point of an armor-piercing gun. And our problem might have something to do with the fact that you're a lunatic anarchist that's spent the last six weeks spewing some sort of anti-superhero drivel and attacking settlements for no real reason other then because you want to watch the world burn. Adam thought to himself as he let his shotgun dangle from the shoulder strap and ducked behind a support pillar. Drawing his revolver and resting his thumb against the weapon, the human held his breath and waited as his opponent stepped out of Elizabeth's line of fire and into the light of the station platform...

Making sure there was a solid concrete pillar between the blond sharpshooter and himself, the battlesuit villain stepped into the light. Venom's armor was definitely befitting of a high-powered techno-lunatic, metal plating painted black with red trim covered his chest, legs, shoulders, and head while a rubbery polymer covered both his arms and the delicate wing membrane between his arms and torso. The helmet and visor were stylized to look like the head of a gargoyle or medieval demon, with large, pointed ears and angular eyes. If it were supposed to be scary... it would have worked except for the battle damage where Elizabeth had shot him in his right shoulder. Dark red blood oozed and blackened, heated by the spark of damaged circuitry. Joe Schmuck one, Zeus zero.

Mentalrix had wisely taken the opportunity to disappear back into the shadows. One moment she was there, the next she was gone. Adam couldn't even spare a second worrying about where she went, instead listening to the sound of Venom's metal greaves hitting the concrete platform. Elizabeth's gun remained silent, apparently she still couldn't get a shot off. Oh well, two more .357 rounds to either of the bat's arms wouldn't hurt either. Just needed the Halloween freak to come a little closer...

"So is that how it's going to be? You take a shot then scamper into the shadows? What is wrong with you? Do you really want a static world where so-called 'superheroes' take care of everything? Can you not see how much better things are for you now? This is a world, the only kind of world, where you are truly free to be whatever you want."

Here we go again, what I wouldn't give for the ability to throw my voice right now. Free, yeah right, free to only be what you want me to be. Do you seriously ever shut the hell up? Adam thought to himself. As much as the human wasn't particularly thrilled of the idea of being beholden to moralistic godlings, he wasn't stupid either. Venom wasn't so much an advocate of a cause as he was a sociopathic fucktard trying to seek justification for his heinous actions. As much as the bat may say otherwise, the two males could not have been any more different.

"I mean look at you, you both took control of your life and made something of it despite the odds. Do you really want a world plagued by such calcifying cancers? Do you really want to have your potential stunted and be branded as 'too dangerous' by a band of nanny-state enforcers who have no right to rule over someone as talented as yourselves." The bat continued on, his armor hissed as a seal was deliberately broken. Adam blinked as he mentally placed the sound to be. No... no, no, this had to be an attempt to fake him out, no way could Venom be this stupid.

"I mean really, you two are both so-" Venom's tirade was cut off by Adam promptly taking his revolver and shoving it in the bat's open maw, the muzzle resting against the roof of his mouth. The human was right; in a moment of idiotic arrogance, his opponent raised the visor on his helmet and left his face exposed. The better to lord over his 'defeated' opponents apparently.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you talk way too much?" Adam asked with a pull of the trigger. The bat's soul crystal, a Rik-Tah data gem that allowed his memories and personality to be transferred to a cloned body, was the only thing that really survived the resulting explosion of bullet and chemical propellant. The rest of the bat's head... Adam was probably never going to get those stains out of his coat.

"Damn it, and I had a Billy Madison reference all set up for that asshole and his Metal Gear Rising gibberish." Elizabeth fumed as she shouldered her rifle.

"Don't worry, the carrion drones are probably on their way to recover his crystal and a DNA sample. You'll get a turn at the latest graduate from the Senator Armstrong School of Long-Winded Objectivist Lunatics sooner or later." Her partner smirked before turning his attention to their friend. "You alright there Lucas?"

The Hispanic man had spent the entire engagement hiding behind the two of them. Armed with only a 9mm pistol, it was probably the only remotely sane thing he could have done. "I'm fine, though what happened to the other one? The rabbit with the gasmask?"

"I am still here... damn it I thought he wasn't on my trail." Mentalrix grumbled as she stepped down the stairs from the station proper. "I would have called for some friends of mine but they would have been an hour away..." she explained, expressing her frustration with a hard kick to Venom's lifeless corpse.

The cape-slaying duo looked at one another as Elizabeth and Lucas climbed back onto the platform. The two mercenaries played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, Elizabeth losing and earning the privilege of continuing Adam's conversation with Mentalrix. The rabbit merely stared at them; the short blond could just picture the raised eyebrow behind her gasmask. Liz merely shrugged as her partner helped their friend finish loading the handcart with supplies. "What? He runs faster when it comes to grabbing stuff. And yeah, we know about your friends. Your message to the Hospitallers got through. We'll meet up with you and help you get out of the city after we make sure Lucas here gets to Liberty Station."

"Good, that was the reason I was chasing after Lucas. If the Hospitallers couldn't get in contact with you, I knew he would. How long till your friend is safe?"

"Barring acts of God, Uncle Rikkie, or Murphy's Law... about two hours. Can you hold out for that long? Or do one of the freak-face gangs have you surrounded?"

The rabbit's gas mask emitted a raspy noise that sounded vaguely like a chuckle. "None of the occupiers know we're in the city yet. They have not been a problem, what have been an issue are the mutants that infest the Northgate Mall." She replied sheepishly, her humbled attitude apparent even though her mask.

"Yeah, the mutant boars can be a problem if you don't know how to handle them. Any of your people get hurt dealing with them?" Elizabeth asked politely, Mentalrix's group was a band of unregistered vigilantes from one of the other worlds. Normally the "superheroes" of other worlds had trouble adapting to hers but this bunch was doing surprisingly well. Still, shit happens as the expression went.

This time Mentalrix merely looked down and found something fascinating about her black leather boots. "Actually... we're having the opposite problem. We're killing quite a few of them and I'm worried that the Rik-Tah and the city's other occupiers will start to notice soon..."

"Yeah, especially if you start leaving corpses everywhere." She replied, cleaning up corpses was one of the first things native survivors learned about staying hidden. Nothing says, "I'm here!" quite like a street full of dead bodies.

"We... haven't been leaving corpses." The rabbit corrected timidly

"Excuse me?" The guide asked with a raised eyebrow. Granted the rabbit's logic made sense, walking through the space of several city blocks in a necropolis without getting accosted by wild animals was suspicious. But still, less human-eating monsters was hardly a bad thing.

"I understand that, in a moment of desperation, some of your people discovered the mutant pigs actually taste pretty good if cooked properly." Mentalrix explained, watching as the petite blond started to mentally connect the dots.

Elizabeth blinked. "Are you telling me... you're eating those things en masse enough that you're worried someone might start to notice? You do know that there is over ten thousand of those damn things in the area, right?" The gunwoman suddenly got the mental image of several immense, waddling furries with bibs and utensils chasing after a herd of mutant boars, a picture of the mind that left her with a strange mix of satisfaction and of an irritation she would later identify as jealousy. The mutant creatures nesting in the old mall were dangerous and starting to grow numerous enough to threaten the outlaying settlements but food was so hard to come by most days; pretty much everyone now had a story about being in or witnessing a knife fight over the last can of soup. So much for any romantic notions of the Fallout video games representing how the apocalypse was supposed to play out.

"So of my friends have... big appetites." The rabbit explained, bringing the human back from dreamland. "And of course one of them knows how to make jerky and smoked meat so we've been stocking up. Add that to the machine another brought with her and suddenly the carnivores are competing with the herbivores to see who can eat more of them." Apparently Mentalrix the telepathic avenger wasn't going to be much help at exorcizing this image.

"That is... that would probably be the most awesome post-Fall success story I or anyone else has ever heard were you not so close to the bad guys." Elizabeth concluded.

"Of course, can you get us somewhere further away from the city?" The masked rabbit asked as the two men finished loading up the handcart. It was almost time to leave.

"Yeah, Adam and I talked about it on the way over. We have a place where you can hide for a little while. Just give us a chance to wrap this up and we'll come and get you." She replied before turning to join her friends on the handcart. "Do you need a ride or are you alright?"

"I should be fine, this tunnel will take me back to the mall correct?" The rabbit asked briskly.

"Yeah just follow behind us for about two or three miles then make a right when we turn left. You'll arrive at the Northgate station about five miles after that. Before you go though, does this mean..."

Mentalrix shook her head. "No, Cornucopia and Freight Train are wrapping up things back home. They will not be back with us yet. And there are... complications working with Crimson Hammer."

Elizabeth sighed. "I understand. It's just that..."

"I know. Things are not easy for any of you." The lapine avenger replied sympathetically before turning to leave.

The three humans took off on the tracks as the rabbit telepath headed back to her camp, peddling their handcart into the eternal night of the Anthracite City Underground. Security forces arrived at the abandoned subway station about an hour later, Rik-Tah combat androids scanning the subterranean dwelling while the carrion drones collected Venom's remains. Elsewhere, Adam and Elizabeth arrived at Freedom Station and bid farewell to their friend Lucas before disappearing into the maze of maintenance corridors and service tunnels that once provided utilities to the city above. One more time into the occupied city, always one goddamn time...