a creative moment

(Section 1 – The story so far)

The ‘official’ story given to the general public was fairly routine. Some terrorists had broken into the slums and kidnapped a few people with the intent of selling them back to their families, or government, for a hefty ransom. In fact, some fairly graphic video tapes had been distributed to the local news. They depicted several masked men making various demands while threatening a nearby hostage. One of them even had the men execute the hostage right in front of the camera. The government had assured the populace that the situation was under control, and they were doing all they could to bring the hostages back unharmed. The truth was that the disappearances were much more serious than the government was letting on.

At least fifteen people had gone missing, with five more turning up dead all throughout the slums. It wasn’t until the body of a senators daughter was recovered that the company got involved. The government tasked several members of Biotech with gathering forensic evidence from several crime scenes while the military police rounded up witnesses and suspects. Unfortunately, the police came up completely empty handed. Every single witness that had been identified was either brutally murdered in their own homes before the investigation team arrived, or they simply disappeared.

Biotech fared only slightly better with the forensic evidence that had been gathered, mostly due to civilians contaminating the evidence and the government letting the crime scene sit there unattended for a full two weeks before sending them in. Biotech did manage to uncover one clue, however. A thick creamy paste had been smeared all over the crime scene. The forensics lab determined that it was a mixture of chemicals often found in raw sewage. With nothing else to go on, the government began calling for volunteers from the various divisions of the military police.

The mission was fairly simple. Go into the sewers beneath the Sector Three slums, locate the threat to the stability of Midgar and it’s citizens and destroy that threat. The government had made it very clear that their primary concern was the destruction of the threat below the city, not the retrieval of any survivors that they might find. Once that had been established, the military police team would be loaded onto a secure train car and shipped to the sector three slums.

(Section 2 – Arrival)

The wheels of the train screeched relentlessly, it’s lumbering form eventually skidding to a complete stop in front of the station. It’s doors slid open immediately, though the left half of the back door squealed in protest, getting stuck on a piece of rusted metal mid-slide.

The station itself was a wreck; Large chunks of concrete rubble littered the platform, with most of them being far too heavy to move without the aid of some heavy duty construction equipment, not to mention blocking the walkway just enough that it would force disembarking passengers to huddle together when they tried to pass through.

Thick black gloves gripped the hilt of his sword uneasily, his eyes carefully surveying the state of the station through his thick corrective lenses. The somewhat gaunt Corporal Shaffer warily stepped off of the train and onto the station deck, positioning himself just to the right of the door. This unfortunate MP was probably the only member of the team that hadn’t actually signed up for this mission, at least not voluntarily. His ‘friend’ had decided to put his name on the list, thinking it would be a wonderful practical joke. Needless to say, Jack didn’t agree with him.

“So, Where is the sewer entrance exactly?”

Corporal Corwen adjusted the thick leather strap that allowed his SMG to hang freely in front of his chest, idly stepping off the train as he did so. A single gloved hand rose, swatting away a bit of stray hair that had passed in front of his eyes.

“I’ve got the address right here, don’t worry.”

He stuck a hand into his right side pants pocket, fumbling around for the small piece of paper that headquarters had entrusted him with. It took him quite a bit longer then it should have, and he was probably doing it on purpose. The boy had a tendency to try and make things much more dramatic than they
needed to be.

“See! Right here. The entrance we’re looking for should be just beyond that first row of buildings over there. If you quit whining, I might let you have first whack at any hot little slummies that come our way”

“Oh god..”

Jacks neck jerked forward when she said that, a single hand slapping over his mouth as though he were trying to stop something from getting out.

“Ugh, I didn’t join the Military to date slum pirates and wade through shit..”

Eventually, the pair would make it to the end of the street, find their way to the building that had been the site of the most recent murder, and the resulting forensics investigation. It was easily identified by the myriad of caution tape that had been stretched across it’s various openings.

Some of the tape had actually come loose, bits of yellow littering the floor in all directions, though a fresh roll of tape had been stretched across the front door. The building itself was actually quite small compared to those that had been built around it, with only a single door and window on it’s front side. It’s facade suggested that it was just barely capable of supporting a single person.

The manhole that the group was looking for could be found a good ten or so feet away from the front door of the house, smack dab in the middle of the street. Jack withdrew a crowbar from his equipment pack and placed it just along the outer edge of the manhole cover. With a heavy grunt, he lifted it from it’s place atop the sewer entrance and tossed it to the side.

“After you.”