Stray Cat Strut Chapter Thirty-One - Saying Hello to the Good Doctor

Chapter Thirty-One - Saying Hello to the Good Doctor

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***

We dont have far to go, I said as we walked down yet another maintenance corridor. It was becoming a habit to spend ti in cramped spaces with a bunch of pipes and terrible ventilation. At least it was better than the actual sewers, though not by much.

How do you want to do this? Gomorrah asked. The way I see it, we have a few potential approaches. Doc Hacks... I cant believe thats their na.

Im called Stray Cat and youre nad after a city, I said. Glass stones.

Glass... the expression is casting stones from a glass house. Theres nothing about glass stones, Gomorrah said.

I shrugged. Sure. I just figured stones made of glass would suck to deal with. All that shrapnel, you know?

I suppose, Gomorrah said. Were getting off-topic.

Right, you want to know how to deal with Doc Hack? I asked.

More like I want to know how well reach him. Hes not terribly far from here. A couple of levels down. But the route to get to his... lab, I suppose, isnt exactly straightforward.

She wasnt wrong. The fastest path Myalis had outlined involved going into the sewers again, travelling uphill a ways, cutting into a maintenance elevator, then up to the level where Doc Hack was from below.

Are you thinking what Im thinking? I asked.

Are you imagining unreasonably powerful explosives being used in confined spaces in defiance of all common sense?

I nodded. I wasnt going to say it with such a negative tone, but essentially that, yeah.

Gomorrah nodded, and my map flickered as it updated. Our path now went through two floors as if there werent several feet of concrete in the way. We should be able to bypass any traps if we demolish our way to the heart of the enemys installation. I think its our big advantage in fighting a foe that wants to use the terrain against us.

I like it, I said.

Are you two certain that this Doc Hack is so antagonistic? Franny asked.

I an, hes called Doc Hack.

Yes, she said with the strained patience of soone dealing with a brat, which I found rather insulting. But other than his association with the Sewer Dragons, you dont know that hes really the person who ordered all of the kidnappings. For all we know, he could be at least sowhat innocent in all of this.

That sounds real unlikely, I said. But we're packing non-lethals, and I dont plan on blowing that big a hole in this place. Well try to ensure he stays alive enough to answer so questions.

Arent you afraid youre sounding like exactly the kind of person a saint would despise? Franny asked.

I paused and thought about it. Nah. I was way too cool for any samurai to despise . Besides, sothing in my gut was telling that Doc Hack wasnt all rainbows and sunshine. No one with a na like that living in the sewers was going to be a friendly old man who handed out lollipops to orphans and only wanted good in the world. Best-case scenario, I could imagine him being chased down here for fucking up and sohow acting like the local doctor, but that was a big ask.

Youre very confident in yourself, arent you? Franny asked. I didnt miss the bite in her words.

Franny, for a long-ass ti, all I had going for was a heap of confidence and a lack of shits to give. I dont see why becoming a samurai should change any of that.

You would think those are so traits that might fade when given so much power, she said.

I dont think I was given any power with the expectation itd change that much, I shot back. At least, thats the impression I got.

Gomorrah nodded, though it was reluctant. I think Cat is essentially correct. The people chosen to beco saints arent the ones likely to change too much from the act of becoming a saint.

If the cool aliens wanted people that acted one way, they could just hire people to be samurai, Raccoon said. Sothing about the way she spoke gave the impression she was sitting in a very comfortable, back-breaking posture. Or they could send down, like, robots or sothing. Like those androids that so places have, but more people-like... unless Cat and Gom are androids, which would still be really cool.

Im afraid that Im at least eighty percent human, I said. We reached a passageway that was fairly close to right on top of Doc Hacks place. Gom, should we drop down from here? It looks like theres... so sort of large room over the Docs place, but theres a passage under us now.

You dont want to drop directly on top of him? Gomorrah asked.

I shook my head. What if hes an actual doctor? He might have patients and shit around. Dropping the ceiling on so poor injured guy would suck. It might piss people off too. Theres a reason you only bomb hospitals when you know you can get away with it.

I leaned down and took a mont to survey the spot. This was a corridor that technically connected the basents of two larger skyscrapers. Technically, because the corridor ended at a bricked-up wall. Soone had likely blocked things off to prevent people from passing at so point, though there was still access to the sewers below.

Weird, but alright.

The passage was about large enough that two forklifts could drive past each other if they squeezed in tight. Concrete walls, a floor covered in plasticky shit with so tile pattern printed onto it.

Youll likely want an explosive with a fairly low yield and an easily controlled cone of destruction. Aid downwards, naturally. Alternatively, if you want to create a passage directly, you can use an applied detonation that will burn out the edges of a hole into the floor.

I think that might be best, I agreed. Big explosions were cool, but we did want to limit the property damage sowhat. I didnt know which wall was load-bearing, but I figured it was safest to assu all of them. Give the bomb, Myalis.

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Points Reduced from... 10,870 to... 10,865!

The box that appeared next to had a well-folded cord within it, as well as a small brick that the cord was connected to at both ends.

I pulled it out and stared for a second before catching on. I started to lay the cord down in a circle on the ground.

The detonator goes in the centre.

I nodded and placed the brick in the middle, the black-ropy cord coming out of it and forming a loop on the ground that was about the size of a proper manhole. Should we move over to the next room? I asked.

That is not necessary. This will burn rather than explode, and the amount of light produced, while dangerous to the naked eye, wont harm you as long as you dont remove your helt. Gomorrahs equipnt is likewise sufficient to keep her safe. Though I would strongly advise not standing on the hole youve marked, or touching the wire with any limbs you intend to keep.

I nodded and backed up a good few tres, just in case. Gomorrah, the more cautious one between us, stood even further back. I found the controls for the detonator in my aug nus and tapped the Detonate button with great relish.

The room lit up, the lights hanging from the ceiling entirely eclipsed by the burst of light on the ground. A rough circle of light burned, tracing the path Id laid to cord on. I blinked just as the brick in the centre blew up with a low whump.

The floor caved in, the circle cracking in half and falling down and out of sight even as the cord winked out and left us in the comparative darkness of the corridor.

Well then, I said. Ladies first?

Gomorrah stared at . Youre a woman, last I checked.

I grinned. So youre saying youve been checking out? Besides, youre a lot fleshier than I am, so technically youre a little bit more lady, arent you?

You have a very strange mind. And no, thats not a complint, Gomorrah said as she stepped past. She levelled her flathrower at the hole and peered within, then she tapped the edge with her foot. Cool already.

How can you tell? I asked. There was no way her boots were thin enough to let her feel the ground.

Heat-vision, she muttered before dropping into the hole with a little hop.

I moved over to the edge, then stared down. That was deeper than I was comfortable leaping, so I sat myself on the edge of the hole and scooted forward until I dropped. The servos in my armours knees bent with a hiss I felt rather than heard.

Dark in here, I muttered.

Co on, we need to do the sa trick all over again, Gomorrah said. And then we can say hello to the good doctor.