Episode 11
Descent
After finally coming to a better understanding of the mystery of the guardians, the group began planning what they wanted to do about it. They were sure they could get a lot of important information out of the compound under Target in Bemidji, but since they weren’t sure if it was still in use they didn’t know how dangerous going into it would be. After a lot of deliberation, they finally decided against bringing too many other hunters into the initial investigation of the compound, since they weren’t sure how other, more militant groups might react to the revelation that they’d been working with supernaturals since day one, but they didn’t rule out the possibility of involving them later on (especially if things got ugly and they needed backup). Then, they were left with the problem of figuring out how to stake out the compound and eventually gain access. Arie came through with an excellent solution to this problem when he suggested getting jobs at the Target to see what things were like up there, then gaining the trust of the overnight crews to cover their backs when they finally went in. The rest of the group agreed to this plan, and within a few days Arie and Marta set out for Bemidji, posing as a young couple looking for work.
After Arie and Marta left, Will immersed himself in the work of finishing Marta’s net launcher and Melba decided that she wanted to start going to college. She found it relatively easy to get accepted at the U of M and went there one day to take a tour and register for her classes. While she was touring the gym, a woman with one arm who’d been practicing fencing approached her and introduced herself as Charlotte Bishop, a psychology professor at the university. She’d noticed Melba’s “defender” necklace and was interested in meeting other hunters (the only two she knew of were herself and her mentor, Jonas Winters, another professor in the philosophy department). But Melba distrusted Charlotte from the start, since when she asked her, “How do you know what that symbol means?” Charlotte replied, “I picked it up here and there,” which initially led Melba to suspect that she might not be a hunter since they were supposed to know the code intuitively. Still, never one to let any opportunity go by, Melba wrote down Charlotte’s phone number and agreed to call her if they needed an extra hunter.
Meanwhile, in Bemidji, Arie and Marta rented an apartment and had no trouble getting jobs in the stockroom at Target (Arie on the night shift). On their introductory tour of the store, they noticed an old, rusty trapdoor in the floor of the stockroom, its placement consistent with the area in which Chet and Saria had suggested it might be. Marta set up one of Will’s cameras in a concealed location to keep an eye on it and determine whether it was still in use, and by whom. Christmas came and went almost unnoticed. Several weeks’ worth of tapes and the hunters’ own surveillance revealed that no one ever seemed to go into or come out of the trapdoor. On New Year’s Eve, Arie invited his supervisor on the night crew (who was barely older than Arie and not much more experienced) to go out and party. Over beers and magic mushrooms, Arie asked his supervisor if he knew anything about the trapdoor in the stockroom. He replied that it apparently led to some old, unused storage tunnels that the city had abandoned, but that no one ever went down there because apparently a few teenagers had been killed there a number of years ago. Arie told the supervisor he wanted to go down and check it out, kind of as a dare, and the supervisor agreed to go in with him and cover his back if anyone asked about it.
A few nights later, Arie and the supervisor opened the trapdoor and descended into the tunnels for the first time, while Marta and the rest of the night crew waited upstairs. They made their way through a few hundred feet of darkened, narrow metal corridors that looked like they hadn’t been used in years. The tunnels also seemed pretty wrecked, and Arie thought he could make out the deep furrows of claw marks scratched into the metal walls. They went around a corner and entered another corridor, at the end of which they saw an elevator shaft. As they approached the shaft, the beam of Arie’s flashlight fell on something in a corner: the bloody, freshly butchered carcass of what looked like a deer. Frightened out of their minds, Arie and his companion ran back to the stockroom. Later that night, discussing the experience in their apartment, Arie and Marta agreed that since their intrusion into the compound seemed to have gone unnoticed, the time had come to alert the others and mount a full-scale excursion into Chet and Saria’s birthplace.
Back in the Twin Cities, Melba had a strange encounter of her own. While researching Hebedite myths in the U of M library, she saw something that normally wouldn’t have given her any pause: an old man, apparently a professor, buying a can of pop from a vending machine. But when she turned around, the same old man had somehow made it into a computer lab at the other end of the hall without Melba ever seeing him pass. Curious, Melba struck up a conversation with the old man (who seemed to have amazing skill with computers but took great pains to hide it) and learned that he was none other than Professor Hakim, the individual who’d sent Marta back in time. A little unnerved by Hakim’s abilities but realizing that he could be a powerful ally, Melba befriended him and got him to say that he’d help the group out if need be.
After receiving Arie and Marta’s message, Chet, Darla (who begged to go along and was allowed to do so only over Paladin’s objections), Melba, Paladin, Saria, and Will packed their bags and set out for Bemidji. After settling in at the apartment and planning their approach (it was supposed to be only a fact-finding mission, though they went prepared to fight if need be), they set out for Target. It was a relatively easy matter for Arie to convince his supervisor to let his friends further investigate the strange tunnels, and in the dead of night the eight of them descended into the abandoned compound.
The first and second subterranean levels were carbon copies of one another and contained primarily offices and workrooms. The only things out of the ordinary about them were the rather large number of burned human corpses scattered throughout them. It seemed that a rather serious battle had taken place in the compound at some time in the past, and that the human workers and scientists had been on the losing end. (Chet said that he remembered making the claw marks in the walls and tearing the elevator shaft apart to get out, but that he was sure that he and Saria hadn’t killed anyone in the process.) Many computers and file cabinets could be found on these floors, but the data they contained had been too severely damaged by fire and water to be of any use.
The third level contained scientific lab facilities and, most intriguingly, one locked room labeled DANGER: BIOHAZARD. The group was intrigued, but decided against venturing into it because they weren’t sure if the contents would be a danger to them or not. The fourth level was the same as the first and second, only less severely damaged. Marta was able to salvage several file folders from this level, though at first inspection their contents appeared to be blank. The fifth level contained more labs and, oddly enough, a library. Marta took several books from here, including a copy of the Dictionary Magica. In the library, Melba heard a strange buzzing noise coming from behind the shelves and noticed a sticky substance like honey seeping out from between some of the books. Arie wanted to check it out, but Will got a bad feeling about the entire situation and convinced him to move on.
The innermost (and largest) lab of the fifth level contained one more strange component. Upon entering, the group immediately noticed ten large glass tubes, running from floor to ceiling and full of gooey orange liquid. The tubes also contained deformed babies (or parts of them, at least). Arie and Marta immediately got sick just looking at it. The others kept enough presence of mind to note that the walls were covered in graphs and printouts of scientific data, charting the growth and development of the “Zodiac Crysalis.” Apparently, this room contained the remnants of failed experiments—guardians like Chet and Saria who hadn’t quite worked out.
Thoroughly disgusted, the group moved down to the next level. Between the fifth and sixth levels, however, was a thin layer of a black, cloudy substance. After investigating carefully, the group determined that while it didn’t seem to pose an immediate health risk, it would cut off all communications with the upper levels. They kept moving but decided to be even more careful in this part of their investigation. The sixth level appeared to contain living quarters and classrooms. Chet and Saria recognized it as the place they’d grown up. However, now it was completely trashed. While Arie investigated the source of some mysterious laughter (he never did find out what it was or where it came from), Marta and Melba read the files that had been strewn around the classrooms. Here, they learned that Cameron had always had a rivalry with Chet, and that Talc had lagged behind both of them in test scores and had been determined to do something to change that fact.
Gathering up the files, the group proceeded downwards to the seventh and lowest level. They were surprised to find themselves in an open, rolling meadow, though they could see the outline of a building on the horizon. Chet and Saria explained that this level had been where the guardians did combat training and ran simulations. Confused, the group made its way toward the distant building, which on closer inspection proved to be a small, squat, grey structure with no distinguishing characteristics other than one metal door. They opened the door and stepped into something very strange indeed: a perfect simulation of Chet and Saria’s apartment. Suddenly, holograms of Chet and Saria burst out of the bedroom and “attacked” the group, as a computerized voice announced, “The subjects have neutralized you. Please try again.” Someone was training for a raid on the apartment—but who?
Suddenly, the group noticed three kittens walking around the inside of the mock apartment—the same cats Melba had been so paranoid about a few weeks earlier. They went out the door, and the group followed. Not far outside, the group saw a familiar face sitting on a rock and smiling deviously. It was Todd—though Chet and Saria identified him as Talc. The cats walked over to Todd, then gradually changed shape to become the three young boys who had helped Arie when he fought the men in black outside Calhoun Square. Talc explained quite calmly that the boys were his sons, who’d been instrumental in helping him spy on the group and plan their demise, along with the deaths of Chet and Saria. They demanded more answers, but he simply got up and walked away, saying “My master will be along shortly.”
As Talc walked away, the meadow scene faded and the room became a vast, expansive white space. In the distance, the group saw Cameron approaching. When he came within shouting distance, they demanded to know what he wanted. He explained that his goal was quite simple: the total annihilation of the human race. At the very least, he wanted to make them subservient to the guardians, who were clearly superior forms of life. He’d already had to kill the scientists who’d created the guardians when they refused to see that simple fact. He said he’d already brought Talc, Wendy, Jana, Sarn, and Blak over to his side; why wouldn’t Chet and Saria come as well? Of course, they refused. Cameron seemed almost glad of it when he assumed his battle for—the long, snakelike thing that Marta had seen in her dream—and attacked the group.
The battle that followed was pitched and bloody. Even Marta willingly fired shots at him—after which Cameron picked her up in his jaws and began to crush her. Shortly thereafter, he grabbed Darla in one claw. Will’s best efforts with his newly created telescoping pole only seemed to make him angry. Arie tried to make him angry enough to ignore the girls and take him instead, but it was no good. With Darla in his claws and Marta in his teeth, he smirked knowingly at the group…and vanished.
The remainder of the group was horrified, but managed to keep their heads long enough to remember that Marta’s backpack had a tracking device in it (as did Arie’s). According to the device, she was somewhere in the Twin Cities, and Darla was probably with her. As quickly as possible, the group (minus teenage girls) ascended the elevator shaft and rushed out of Target and back to their vehicles without so much as an explanation to the rather confused night crew members. They hurtled toward the Cities at top speed, knowing they didn’t have much time if they ever wanted to see Marta or Darla alive again.