DISCLAIMER: Cleopatra and her friends belong to Studios USA/Rennaisance Picture. This story and any original characters which may appear are property of the author. This is done in fun...no profit will be made! Now...if you're from RenPics and you like any of my subtextual scenes/ideas...feel free to use them. *g*

Author's comment: Um, so yes there will be some not so-sub text here. Mostly girls acknowledging each other charms, but nothing more. Yet. You could call it pre-text.  If this offends you, you may want to give this story a miss. But who knows, maybe it won't offend you that much after you read it.    This little thing is my first stab at fanfic, so if it sucks, please don't sue me! However, constructive feedback and comments are most welcome...send to RoseXenite@hotmail.com  Now lay back and enjoy the show.

"Sarge?" The light voice floated through the lab, followed by the sound of rapid footsteps, that stopped as Cleopatra entered one of the backrooms of the complex. "Sarge, you there?" The lithe blonde called again. 'She's got to be here. Those muscles didn't appear overnight,' she thought as she entered the work out area. "Hello...Sarge?"

Cleo looked around and saw nothing, which surprised her, since she'd heard the noises coming from her teammate's drills and exercises.    She walked over to a set of weights and examined one of them. She placed her hand on the ergonomic handle and jumped a little when a disembodied voice sounded. 'Last user: Sarge. Settings: Sarge, average workout. Do you wish to reset the information?' Cleo laughed lightly. "Well, that sure beats my old gym teacher."

'Do you wish to reset the information?' the machine asked again.

"Let's see...average workout...all right Cleo, let's see if those aerobics paid after all. No, I don't wish to reset the information."  The machine beeped once, and the words 'Sarge – Average' appeared on a little screen on the side of the item. The blonde whistled under her breath, mumbled "Very cool," and tried to lift the weight. "Damn! How does she do that?" she breathed through clenched teeth as she barely lifted the item off the table it was resting on. She tried with both hands and got a better result, but not much.    Disgusted, she dropped it and dusted her hands. "Alright Mrs T., where have you gone now?" she wondered aloud turning to leave the room. And she bumped into Sarge, who was standing in the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest.   Cleo let a small cry out and stepped back, surprised. The warrior looked at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Mrs who?"

"Sarge, don't sneak up on me like that!" Cleopatra gasped. Her blonde friend had come out of the blue, 'probably from that washing-cleansing stuff they call a bathroom,' she assumed, considering the long wet hair covering her shoulders and the towel covering her muscular body. 'Good thing towels didn't go out of style,' Cleo suddenly thought, and decided not to stop and wonder why.

"What are you doing here, Cleo ? You want to workout or something?"

Cleopatra glanced at the weight she'd tried to lift, then at her arm, then back and then at Sarge's well shaped biceps. "Hmm, not really, I'll leave that to you. No actually I was looking for you."

"What's going on?" Sarge answered quickly, a look of alertness crossing her deep brown eyes.

"Nothing special...it's just that you and Hel...told me to report to you or Mauser if I left the lab...so here I am. Mauser told me to tell you too, so I'd know if it was ok with you." Cleo smiled encouragingly at her friend, mentally preparing herself for the usual 'You know it's dangerous for you to wander around the Underground alone, Cleo'

"You know it's dangerous for you to wander around the Underground alone Cleo," Sarge said with a quiet voice, shifting to lean against the doorframe.

"Yes I know, but I'm not going far, and Mauser will be able to follow my biosignificance-"

"Biosignature." 

"Whatever. So, can I?" Cleopatra asked softly, looking deeply into Sarge's eyes with her best pleading look. 'Come on, come on....it worked with my mother, it has to work with you'

"What if you meet a Betrayer?" the stocky blonde asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'll run," Cleo answered readily.

"You'll run," Sarge repeated with a slight smirk.

"And I'll scream."

"I'm sure you will," Sarge retorted with a full grin. "Alright Cleo... but you gotta tell Mauser where you're planning on going, and when you'll come back. Deal?"

'Yes! Gotcha.' "Deal... thanks Sarge!"

"But be careful, alright? Hel will kick my butt big time if you're not here to finish that Neo Reeves story you began."

"Keanu Reeves."

"Whatever. Just try to stay out of trouble."

"I promise I will." Cleo beamed and moved to exit the room.  Sarge moved aside to let her pass, and the happy blonde brushed past her, humming in delight.  "See ya." She winked at Sarge and left the room, leaving the warrior slowly shaking her head.  'Doesn't take much to please her sometimes,' she mused as she heard the singing voice of her friend talking to Mauser.  "See you later, Man."

"I'm not a man Cleopatra " the robot answered placidly.

"Uh yeah, anyway....bye. Tell Hel not to worry, Sarge!" she called louder, turning to see her team mate walking through the Lab to her sleeping quarters.   "Humhum...hey Cleo"?

"Yes?" Cleo stopped in front of the plasma portal and put her hands on her hips in a waiting position.

"Who's Mrs. T?" Sarge asked with furrowed brows.

Cleo adjusted her weblauncher to her brand new gauntlet and let out a little giggle. "Well, you know Sarge...if there was one, that would be you." She shot a thread through the portal and looked back.  "I'll explain when I come back."    At that, she swung almost gracefully out of the Laboratory, leaving a bewildered Sarge and a mostly unconcerned Mauser behind.

The servant avoided a drunk half-man, half-cat mutant, and finally made his way to the table he was aiming for. He put the glass down and eyed the dark beauty who'd ordered it.    She lifted her night gaze and met his. He smiled tentatively and only got a neutral expression in return. "Here's your drink " he said as an attempt to start a conversation. 'Boy, she's fine.'

"So I see," Hel answered shortly, not changing her expression.

She didn't tell me off, that's good. "U-Uh.. would you like something else? I mean I could...,"   He stopped short when the woman raised her arms to let her chin rest on her fists, letting the dim light of the bar catch the metal of her gauntlets. He swallowed hard as she stared at him, and quickly got the message.    "...I could go see if I'm needed... elsewhere." he finished weakly, his eyes never leaving the laser on her right arm.

"You do that," the teamleader replied quietly, and watched him tumble on another customer in his haste to put distance between them. She sighed. 'Sorry boy, but I really don't have time right now.' She took a sip of her drink and let her eyes scan the crowded bar, mentally sorting the clients, considering who could represent a threat and wasn't pleased to discover there were a tad too many of them.

"That's him, Hel. The one who just entered." Voice warned her, and her eyes wandered to the entrance portal.   Standing there was a tall man, with relatively short bluish hair, a few bangs falling on his forehead, reaching his eyes. Hel felt a chill cross her when she looked into these eyes: they were a liquid, glistening white. 'Not colorless,' she mused, 'just white. Strange.'   Not that he wasn't strange himself.

He walked further into the room and spotted Hel. He tilted his head in acknowledgment and started towards her.   She took the opportunity to give him  a once-over. He was wearing high brown boots, that reached his knees. Most of his muscular legs were exposed, or so Hel thought, since she couldn't really tell if the almost translucent blue surface was part of his clothing or his very skin. The top of his legs and his waist were covered by a piece of white and brow n cloth, and his chest was also mostly bare. Another piece of that cloth came down over his shoulders and covered half his face, only leaving the upper part of it visible, especially his unique eyes.

As he closed on her table, Hel registered his brown gauntlets and the claw-like shape of his fingers. 'Let's hope this doesn't come down to a fight,' she thought, and looked up into his eyes as he stopped just in front of her.

"Hel, isn't it?" came the rumbling voice, deep from his hidden throat, covering for a moment the incessant chatter and music filling the bar.

"And you must be Kain. Sit down, please," the dark haired woman replied amiably.   "Thanks," he replied as he lowered himself in the seat facing her, and waved away the approaching waiter, who disappeared with a clear look of relief on his face.

"I appreciate the fact that you agreed to meet me so quickly. I know this is not how you usually do things."

"Indeed, it isn't but I do believe what you have to offer deserves quite an exceptional consideration. And if you forgive my boldness, I have to say that you do too."

Hel couldn't help but smile at his charming manners, in spite of his overall weird looks. 'Is this how he manages to always get the best deals out of everyone? No wonder he's one of the wealthiest men of the Underground...,"  "Hel, don't get sidetracked. Ask him about the sensor," Voice intervened.

"I'm flattered, Kain, but we're here for business. So...tell me more about that mysterious weapon," Hel obediently asked.

Kain shifted a little on his seat and let her wait a long moment before answering, his eyes overtly running over her, appraising her, evaluating her. Finally he looked into her eyes again and spoke quietly.  "What do you know about it?"

"Well, I know that it was designed by a scientist who once belonged to the Blackwatch, who died shortly after finishing it, apparently killed by a Betrayer, which seems to prove that the Betrayers somehow fear that weapon. And that so far, you haven't found out what it does exactly, or how to use it," the leader related as quietly.  Only what she was supposed to know, nothing more. Not a word about the fact that she actually knew that this item wasn't really a weapon per say, but a sensor capable of making the difference between Betrayers and humans – or mutants.

So far, the team hadn't been able to recognize the robots until way too late, generally not before the machines were already shooting at them. Even Voice hadn't known of any sure way to identify the lethal Betrayers.    Well, obviously that man had known a way, and he designed this machine and died because of that. Now, if they could get it, surely Mauser would find a way to make it work. This would be a precious ally in their war to regain of the surface.

"Well, that's pretty much all you need to know, Hel. What else could I tell you? Just know that the auction is tomorrow. You do know how to use the solar time system, don't you?" The leader nodded and he continued. "I thought as much. So, it takes place tomorrow, at midday. One hour before, a delegation of my slaves will be waiting at the subtrain central station of level 28; they'll pick you and the other potential bidders up, and lead you to the place where the auction will be hosted."

"You could just tell me now where that is, it would make things simpler," Hel remarked offhandedly.

"And you could just be a Betrayer and show up there with a bunch of your friends, and blast everything," he replied with the same tone.

"You know I'm not a Betrayer...I'd have killed you already if I were," she said with a slight grin.

"I know you aren't... I'd have ripped out your throat already if you were," he grinned back, then went serious again. "This is how it will be done, Hel, and that's all. Now, tell me about what you're willing to offer. From what you said to get this meeting, it sounds very interesting," he inquired, a flash of greed lightning his eyes some more.

She laid back and took another sip of her beverage. "As I told your messenger, it is a piece of fine art I'm offering you. A slave, a woman-warrior. She once was part of the Blackwatch. She's skilled, incredibly beautiful and yet trembles at the feet of her master. You'll get a very g ood price of her on the slave market..., " 'there Sarge...how's that for a good description, huh? Except that you don't tremble, but I have to make you accessible somehow,' the leader thought with a muffled smirk.

"A warrior?...how did you manage to bend her will? Isn't there a risk that she may rebel?" Kain asked, barely disguising his interest.

Hel raised an eyebrow and let her voice drop to its lower register, "I have many skills."

He laughed slightly and stood. "Well, Hel...I admit I'm interested. This sounds much more exciting than what most people usually offer me. There was a man who had something I've wanted for a long time, but he now lives hidden, secluded in the lowest levels. No one really knows where, which is a pity."

"Why does he live that way?" Hel asked, curious.

"He says he wants to stay away from the war, and that he'll leave his retreat only to live on the surface. He's got quite the obsession about that.

"Then he should fight for it. I hear some people are doing that," the leader remarked carefully.

"I guess. Recently, I thought I would have what I wanted. He sent a messenger, telling me he'd give me everything I desired if I could bring him a girl."

"He must be really lonely," Hel deadpanned.

'This sounds conspicuously like Cleo...,'Hel thought and then focused her attention on Kain again.

"Anyway, what he has doesn't seem to compare to that woman of yours." He stood. "I'll see you both tomorrow then?"  Hel nodded, and he bowed a little and moved away.

The dark haired woman let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, and her gaze followed him as he left the bar. She took an healthy gulp of her drink and sighed.  'Another one to worry about...later. I'm just glad Cleopatra is safe at the lab, with Sarge.'

"Hel," Voice interrupted her thoughts, "you must go back to the Laboratory, quickly."

"Why?" the leader asked, worried.

"It's Cleopatra.... hurry!"

Her eyes were closed, but she knew she was comfortable. She was lost in a sea of pillows and soft sheets, and tender lips were kissing her neck. She smiled and ran her hands up and down the strong back beneath her fingertips, snuggling even closer to the warm body brushing hers. The lips moved to her ear, and a voice she knew but couldn't recognize whispered her name. She let her hands trace the shape of her lover's shoulders and arms, loving the feel of the different lines and curves. She curled her fingers around the smooth skin above the elbows, and decided to roll over, to look down in the face of that person holding h er. And she rolled....

"Aaah!!!" Cleopatra yelled as she hit the hard steel ground. "Damn!! What the....?"  she looked up, stunned at the brutal interruption, and saw a tall man staring at her with a bemused expression.

She blinked at him a few times, trying to get her bearings. 'What was that all about?' she mused, and blushed a little as the last reminiscences of her dream made her shiver. 'Sure a nice little dream, but who...?' She glanced up again, and met the questioning eyes still watching her. 'Alright girl, time later for playing 'Who wants to be my Dreamlover'...first things first.'

She carefully stood up, giving the observer a cautious smile. "Hi."

She waited for an answer, and after a few moments, the man tilted his head and spoke slowly.  "Welcome, Cleopatra."

Cleo's eyes widened a little in surprise, and her voice came out a bit weaker than she'd planned. "You know my name?"

"Of course I do, I know a lot about you." His voice dropped to a mere whisper. "But not quite enough."

'Great. I finally get to be famous somewhere, and it's a freak leading the fan club.' The blonde studied her interlocutor as well as the room they were standing in.    It was very dark, the walls simple concrete, the dim light of sparse neon-like tubes barely amplified by the metallic floor.  'Lovely...but it suits him,' she thought as she observed the plain dark clothing of the man:  tight dark gray pants and a matching sleeveless shirt, covered by dull black armor pieces, one over his chest and back, two others protecting his lower legs. He wasn't really muscular, but he might have been once; his body gave an overall impression of weariness, if not of weakness. He wasn't old, though. 'Barely in his forties,' Cleo thought as she noticed the little wrinkles around his ink black eyes.   His face was a little drawn, and his skin pale. 'Not that I ever saw anyone with a great tan down here,' Cleo thought drolly. 'Except maybe Sarge...she's got that kinda golden skin that makes the brown of her eyes more...more...brown. Yeah, more brown.'

"Is there something wrong Cleopatra?"

"Huh? What?"

You were staring at me...maybe you're curious as to who I am?" he asked, his black gaze searching her face.

"U-Uh, sure." Cleo cleared her throat and focused on the somewhat dusty stranger in front of her. 'Ok... Hel said: when confronted to potential enemies, act with prudence, and try to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Sure. Sarge said: let'em know who's the boss, show them you're a force to be reckoned with. Hum.  And I say, do what you can.

The actress took a deep breath and decided to try nonchalance. 'No sense in showing him I'm afraid...alright, here we go... action.'

"Curious? About you?" she asked lightly, leaning against the edge of the bare pallet she'd been sleeping on. "I mean, it's like, you know, I get to see so many people in a day, I'm a busy kinda girl, so... and not your average sort of people, either... special people. Well, ok, I admit special could often stand for psycho, but hey, life's life, right? A girl's gotta do what she's gotta do, I mean, no matter if half the people you meet escaped from the Twilight Zone, you see? So....who are you?" she finally asked, and finally breathed.

The dark stranger stared at her, and she took an even more nonchalant pose, putting a hand on her hip, and absently dusting the pallet with the other.  "My name is Dante, and I'm the one who has you taken here."

"Taken?" Cleopatra repeated sharply, all ideas of excessive coolness forgotten as she suddenly wondered how much of her dream could have been true.

"Yes, taken... brought. I had you being..dropped here by my servants. Are you sure you're alright? First you made strange noise s in your sleep, and now you seem confused." A look of chagrin and almost shame crossed his tired features. "Maybe my men gave you a too important dose of the sleeping drug," he added, as to himself.

Cleo was barely done feeling reassured she had been 'taken' and not 'taken', that she had to flush  at this reminder of her pleasant dream, and then to worry again.  'Drug. Right. Cleo, enough chit-chat, time to get out of here before Hel and Sarge come waltzing in here and toast him. He's just a poor tired guy, he doesn't deserve that.'  "Well Dante, was it?" she said, pointing a finger at him. It was nice meeting you, but now I gotta go."

"Go?" he repeated with a hint of wonder in his low voice.

Cleopatra started towards the only door she could see, and had to brush past him to get there.  "Yeah, go. I told you, I'm a busy girl.. But maybe you can leave my secretary a message and we'll schedule something, a lunch, whatever... " she babbled as she came face to face with him, and tried to move around his dark frame only to crash in a wall. "Ouch !! What is it with me and bumping into rock hard stuff today?" she mumbled as she took a step back. She saw nothing standing between her and the confused looking Dante.

"Why would you want to leave?" he asked, a real question in his tone.

"Why can't I is more the question, don't you think?" she shot back, rubbing the little bump she could feel on her forehead. "How did you do that?"

"What?"

"The wall trick!!" she replied, getting more and more annoyed by the man's short and quite elusive answers.

"There is no trick. It is a simple shield that I created for you. It is designed to let air and light pass, but other than that, it is as solid a wall as you could imagine." he finished proudly.

"Then why can't I see it?" the blonde asked, poking the invisible sheild with her finger.

"You should know that many things exist, that you can't see unless you really are willing to see them."

"Yeah, sure,  I want to believe too, Agent Mulder," she mumbled, as she started pacing in front of her captor. 'My captor. Damn. I've got a real problem here.'

Dante's eye brows rose, but he made no comment about her incoherent rambling. 'Maybe it's the drug after effect,' he mused. "You should rest now, Cleopatra. I'll be back later, and we'll talk."

Cleo stopped pacing and stared at him. "Is that why you kidnapped me? You wanted to talk?" she asked incredulously, her voice rising. "Then why did you take ME? Go abduct yourself a teddy bear if you're that lonely!" she almost shouted, the stress of the situation getting its toll on her nerves.

"I didn't bring you here just to have a talk with you." he replied in a quiet tone.

"No? Then what for?" she snapped, coming eye to eye with him, only the invisible barrier between them.

"To protect you," he said, determination clear in his voice.  Then he turned and left the room by that so inaccessibly near door.

Cleopatra let out a frustrated sigh and walked back to the pallet, pondering his parting words. 'To protect me. Perfect, yet another macho man...' she smiled humorlessly and laid back on the  hard bed, the cold metal warming a little as her skin touched it.  She put her hands under her head and addressed the ceiling softly. "I know what I promised, Sarge, but..." she sighed and closed her eyes, "I'm in big trouble here."

"I'm sure she's in trouble," Sarge said to Mauser for the umpteenth time but ex-betrayer kept his eyes on the holographic map of the shafts and tunnels of the Underground, unaffected by the tense warrior standing at his side, who kept glancing at the intricate display nervously, in search of a luminous signal that just wouldn't appear.  Cleopatra's biosignature.  The little green light that represented the lithe blonde had disappeared of the screen, which meant that it was now impossible for the Team to track the girl. Which meant she could be anywhere.    Anywhere.

"Mauser, where is she?" the muscular blonde asked again, shaking her head. "This doesn't make sense... why would we suddenly lose her signal?"

"I don't understand...maybe the serum wore off."

"Wore off? Mauser, you can make serums to make people implode miles away, but your tracking ones just 'wear off'?"

"I don't know Sarge. I'm trying to understand, " he answered calmly, effectively dampening her anger. "Try to be optimistic. Maybe she's safe... why do you always expect the worse? Why would she be in trouble?"

"Because she's Cleo!!" she snapped back, rubbing her temples. "It's my fault, I shouldn't have let her go alone in the first place,"  she sighed heavily and seated on the edge of the 'what does she call that?  "A catwalk, Sarge, because you have to walk seductively, undulating, in a feline way..." she'd demonstrated, walking towards the warrior slowly, deliberately adding a suggestive swing to the movement of her hips. She'd stopped in front of the attentive Sarge, and concluded. "...just like a cat."  The stocky woman had looked up in these big blue eyes with an unreadable expression, and Cleo finally had to smile. "You have no idea what a cat is, do you?"  Sarge had lifted an eyebrow, and grinned. "No, but if a cats moved that way, then I think I'd have loved cats."

So she sat on the edge of the catwalk and put her head in her hands.  "I just wish Hel were here," she growled.

A whistle of air answered her, and she turned her head to see the dark form of her leader fly through the plasma portal.  "Where's Cleo?" Hel asked hurriedly, a mere second after landing with a dull thud on the metallic ground.

Sarge stared at her with a surprised look on her face. She looked up and spoke in a wondering voice. "I...just wish Cleo were back?"   She waited a couple of seconds and stood, "too good to be true," she murmured, and joined Mauser in front of the holomap, quickly followed by Hel.

"So, where is she?" the dark haired woman asked again.

"We have no idea," Sarge  said. "We lost her signal almost an hour ago. She could be anywhere by now, and there's no way for us to find out."

"Where was she supposed to go?" Hel practically inquired.

"Some bar, three..no four levels down from here. I went there as soon as Mauser told me we'd lost her track, and there was no sign of her. She wasn't on the map, she wasn't in the bar. She'd vanished."

"People don't just vanish Sarge," she told her lieutenant."

"You're right. Somebody took her," the blonde replied tiredly. "So, what does Voice say about that?" She looked up at her leader, saw her eyes go a little unfocused, and her head tilt slightly, and she knew her question was being answered. "She went to that bar; that is where the signal disappeared, and that's where she was taken away."

"But who took her?" Hel asked, voicing everyone's concern.

"They weren't anyone that I know of. Certainly they were hired by someone to kidnap some girl. Probably slave traders looking for easy pickings," said Voice.

"So what does she say?" Sarge asked.

Hel looked in her eyes and saw the worry written there, and a strong dose of guilt as well. She decided to leave out the tactless 'easy pickings' kind of comments so typical from Voice, and to make a somehow gentler report.  "Voice says she wasn't taken by Betrayers, nor by mutants, but by men, some kind of occasional mercenaries, probably paid by slave traders to '...hold on... slave traders... KAIN...he says..."she's the girl from above,"... he's got quite the obsession about that.'

A couple of seconds passed, Sarge and Mauser staring at the silent Hel, conscious of the rapid intelligence at work behind these night eyes.   And it clicked.  Hel's head snapped up. "Alright, listen up. Mauser, do you think her tracking serum could be counteracted she were inoculated with another serum?"

"I think it could be. Only temporarily, though. I designed mine to last effectively for weeks without a booster injection, and Cleopatra had one a couple of days ago."

"It means the biosignature will come back soon. The signal will tell us exactly where she is," Sarge stated, some of her hope restored.

"I think so," the robot confirmed.

"Yes! Hel, what else?"

The leader smiled a little at her friend's perspicacity. "Alright...why drug Cleo instead of just knocking her out? Most slavers don't mind a little bump on their merchandise's head, yet extra care was taken not to hurt her. It means the one who had her kidnapped cared for her well being. I don't think they were aware of the side effect of the drug. They certainly didn't know we were able to track her...after all, we have access to that technology thanks to Mauser, and not everyone has an ex-betrayer as head tech.

"It's good," he intervened, "so they won't inject her more drugs to try to keep her hidden from us."

"Exactly," Hel nodded.

"Alright, but who did it?  Who wants Cleo so badly?" Sarge asked.    Hel looked at her, slightly raising an eyebrow, and answered. " Well, I think I know who wants her that much." She paused and Sarge crossed her arms. "I heard of a man today, who's fascinated by the life on the Surface, and people who lived freely up there. I was told he was searching for a girl. A pre-Bailey girl. That must be him."

"You knew some guy was after Cleo and you didn't warn us sooner? What were you thinking, Hel?" Sarge roared.

"I was thinking she was in here with you, since you were supposed to protect her Sarge, " Hel replied hotly and immediately regretted it, as she saw the wince in her friend's eyes.

"And where's this guy? Or maybe I'm not reliable enough to be told?" the warrior shot back.

"Now listen, Sarge...

No, you listen! I know I was the one who had to protect her, I know I'm the one who let her go alone, I know I'm the one responsible if she's been taken, dammit Hel, I know that! But I also know there was no way I could have guessed what would happen !! We don't all have little voices in our head telling us what to do so we're perfect, you know! I'm only human, Hel!" she glanced at Mauser. "I didn't say that for you, Mauser." she added more quietly.

Hel took a deep breath. "Sarge, I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

Sarge blinked at her, then dropped her eyes, always more comfortable in conflict than in peace offerings. She rubbed her neck and sighed. " Alright...whatever. So, you know where to find him?"

"More or less. I know he lives in one of the lowest levels, but that's all," Hel replied, accepting the truce.

"Mauser, display the lower levels, please," Sarge said, once again turning towards the holographic map.  The light from the visual display bathed her face, the yellow lines representing the tracing of the shafts and tunnels drawn on her cheek and forehead, letting little golden sprinkles in her alert brown eyes as she explored the complex web. "Here, look," she pointed to a long shaft. "This one is the longest one, but if you look closely, it doesn't go all the way down. It stops here, and it looks like, well, that's as far as you go, right? But look... Mauser, could you turn it...thanks," she smiled up at him. "If you go half across the level that way..."

Hel peered closer. "Another shaft." She said.

Sarge wiggled her eyebrows and po inted again. "And it seems to be the last one..in this area, anyway. But since you heard about the guy only a few levels from here, it means he's not that far, right?"

"Right. Voice, do you know what is on that last level?"

"No, Hel, I'm not sure. I think it may be a sort of annex of the level above."

"The one we have to cross? What is there on that level?"  Sarge watched her friend expectantly. She felt a lot better already, knowing approximately where Cleo was, and having found a way to get there. 'Hang in there kid, we're on our way.'  Suddenly, she saw Hel close her eyes and utter a low "shit". She tensed a gain and asked her leader. "What?"

"The last one..the level we have to cross," she sighed heavily. "Sarge, have you ever heard of The Lair?"

The Lair? The Lair...," Sarge mumbled and stopped abruptly, as she actually remembered.  It was one of the stories that used to be told around the village, growing up with her sister. They would all sit in a circle, and the Elder would tell them about the Horrors lurking in the Underground, to convince them their life was much safer on the Surface, no matter how submitted to the Bailies they all were.  "The story of the Lair...'yes, I remember. There is a place, deep in the bowels of the Earth, were all evil lives. It is darker than night itself, and it is said that not even Death dares walking along its path.  It is the Lair of the insane, the killer, the liar and the betrayer, the Lair of those so cruel and wicked, even the soil of the Earth despises.    And at the deepest of this terrible well of pain and sorrow, lives the Lord of the Lair, who rules the corrupted crawling around in the shadows of that sinister realm.  Hear this story, children. Hear how those who hide in the Underground become part of darkness itself. Hear of those doomed souls...and learn that only death will come' ..."from under the Surface of the Globe," Sarge finally remembered out loud, her voice for a moment odd and distant. "Oh, yeah, I remember alright," she whispered and looked up at Hel. "We have to cross the Lair?"

The dark haired woman merely nodded.