87: Cave Diving

Dirt crunched beneath their shoes as they began their descent into the cave. Titus held balls of fire, Celeste emanated a starry glow, and Electra had arcs of electricity jumping between her hands to light up the cave’s interior. The light revealed rocks, sad patches of plant growth, and critters.

Nyssa swore she saw them appear out of the corners of her eyes, darting around between rocks, but every time she went to take a closer look, they disappeared like wisps of smoke. “Are they shadows?”

“... Probably not?” Celeste crouched down next to her as they tried to find where a centipede-like creature disappeared to. “I mean we both saw it this time after all.”

“But we could also both be blind,” Nyssa countered while flipping a rock, only to see another patch of brown-gray dirt. “Something about this area bugs me.”

“Why don’t you transform into something that... you know, would be able to figure out why?” Conrad asked from the side as he strode forward with his system’s blazing rings rotating around his eyes. “Wouldn’t that be easier? Also, my system tells me there is no organic life in this area, so you two are probably seeing things.”

“Ah. Good to know,” Celeste stood up before helping to pull Nyssa to her feet as well. “You know, Nyssa’s powers don’t really work like that.”

“I mean, kind of. It’s... It’s complicated,” Nyssa followed Celeste deeper into the cave. As the walls closed inward, they began walking closer, in a two-wide line, while fanning themselves as the air felt warmer. “I could technically transform into something that’d ‘know’ but because it’s such a vague goal I’m shooting for, my body will just keep transforming. It would eventually get there I think, but with situations like these, the energy price is so high, I’d probably just go into a coma before I got there.”

“Good to know, wait, have you ever tried?” Conrad asked as he spread his arms, brushing against the rocky walls.

“I once tried to turn into an animal that would know how to be fully asleep while also being fully awake, and that ended up putting me in a coma for a day,” Nyssa scratched the side of her face. Seeing Conrad turn and stare at her with a deadpan expression, she waved her arms. “I didn’t know anything about physiology back then, okay? I was seven years old. It scared my dad, but I learned.”

“Yeah, I’d be scared too,” Conrad pantomimed shooting a bow motion. “That’d be scary. My child, like me, I’d assume, would have their own protagonist journey. I wouldn’t want their journey to be cut short by something stupid.”

“We all discover our powers by being stupid though,” Ryker cupped his hands and called out from the back. “How do you think I learned I could blow up my entire body? By doing exactly that! Scared the hell out of my parents for sure.”

“... Sounds... irresponsible,” Conrad crossed his arms. With Celeste and Nyssa now right behind him, he murmured a small apology and turned back forward before continuing his downward trek.

“Never thought I’d year you say that,” Titus called out from the middle with a laugh while giving Albion a subtle fistbump. “You’re the one who-”

“Yeah, yeah nobody needs to hear that,” Conrad cut Titus off with a sweep of his arm. “We’re here by the way! Metal wall!”

True to his word, they now stood before a metal wall. Though uncolored, and quite boring by all normal metrics, it radiated heat into the cave. Still covered in a thin layer of dirt, it didn’t reflect much light and blended into the cave’s dirty rock walls.

“Not even gonna ask how they found this,” Conrad shook his head before standing to the side, “Celeste, do you want to do the honors? If Ryker does it I think we’ll just die in a cave-in.”

A wave of agreeing murmurs ringed out from everyone in the cave. Ryker, himself, crossed his arms and nodded with an approving smile. “It’d be a great cave-in. One of the best of all time.”

Nobody responded to his comment.

A moment of awkward silence later, Celeste changed the topic, walking up to the metal wall. A laser shot out of her hand and began melting through the wall like an arc furnace, making quick work of the solid wall as she punctured through the tree trunk–thickness wall in seconds. While carving a body-sized hole for everyone to pass through, she turned back to face Conrad. “I think most of us could get through this wall, if not all of us, but I’m honored you thought of me.”

“My system did an analysis and told me you were the best for the job,” Conrad cleared his throat before puffing his chest out. “So. My actions were actually driven by logic. Like a true flawless detective protagonist.”

“I’ve made the hole a little larger in case we need to leave quickly,” Celeste ignored Conrad’s comment and motioned inward. “Head on in though, it’s probably safe. The lasers have definitely sterilized the interior near this wall, that’s for sure.”

Nyssa meandered her way inward, stepping off to the side to let the others through. While waiting with her hands in her pockets, she took a few cautious steps through the rubble of the first room and looked around.

Nothing’s left... yep. That’s my girlfriend for you. Professional destruction-er. She’s so cool.

Monologuing to herself in the most ironic fashion possible, she waded her way back to the entrance once Angelica, the last person in their line, made it through. Together, the eight of them walked into the second room—this one untouched by lasers. Angelica passed out some cameras, some bags, some emergency radios, and gave them a short spiel before sending them off. “Stay safe, that’s what matters most.”

Ryker and Electra went one way, Conrad, Titus, and Albion went off in another, Nyssa and Celeste went off in a third, and Angelica, without anyone wanting her on their team, decided to just take a fourth path.

“I guess that’s just how it is as a teacher...” Angelica strolled off her with her hands in her pockets. “Though it has some advantages, I guess.”

From her pocket, she pulled her phone. On it, she opened a tracking app. It displayed the position of everyone with a small red dot and outlined the path they took with a dotted, half-transparent line in the pseudo–three dimensional map displayed on her phone’s screen.

Finding a dusty, but usable leather chair, she took a seat and relaxed, keeping a strict eye on the screen while letting the students investigate. Memorizing their paths and their relative positions, she created a live map of the complex in her mind while anticipating the potential unforeseen situations other teams had already experienced.