The Capitán was starting to feel like her day would only amount to a lot of sitting around. She’d waited diligently for Dove to bring the Doctor with him, slowly getting used to the pervading smell of death emanating from the underbelly. It was not a process she’d wanted to be subjected to but she had time to think, and even moderate tolerance to the foul odor would prove beneficial for the days to come. An hour or two must have passed, maybe more, the initial urgency left way for something else in her mind. She’d already started planning the days ahead, could it be weeks? It could not matter as of tomorrow but the Capitán didn’t get where she was now by letting herself be held down by fatalism.
She wasn’t fidgeting, she had to force herself to not tap the back of her foot against the floor repeatedly, this frustration was hers alone. Her thoughts were regularly interrupted by the clicking of the camera she’d entrusted to the Doctor. He had the least animated reaction to the incident. The Capitán didn’t entertain the idea of making another theater of anticipation like she’d done for Dove. She’d been in the Funerarium with him when he dug his arms in corpses bowels, she knew if there was someone that could stomach such a display it would be him. The Capitán heard him heading back towards her, his stance unbothered. She felt the touch of the camera against the hand that rested on her cane, the object as cold as the gesture.
“This should be enough for you,” Doctor Closer said.
In truth, his real name could’ve be anything. The playful moniker was attributed to him by the population upon hearing one of the doctors had stepped down from working in the Repository to live in Last Kunlun. A doctor, closer.
“Hope you got panoramic shots,” The Capitán snickered, putting away the camera in her coat’s pocket.
“I’m amazed you find humor in this place, lady Capitán.”
He could’ve asked how she came to know the term panoramic. Doctor Closer had to be the only person in the city to label her as a lady. He took to calling her that way even before they’d collaborated to find the cause of the Stillborn twenty or so years ago. She couldn’t tell if the title was a mockery or a form of respect towards her station. It didn’t matter, the city had found its way to mangle her name more than once and it had never had an effect on her reputation.
“I trust you to be the pragmatic witness to this incident,” the Capitán sighed.
“Between me and the Major?”
“He doesn’t have a sense of smell, and it seems neither do you, I expect objectivity.”
The Doctor made her wait for an answer. From the Major’s descriptions she knew he hid his face as much as someone like Dove, only letting his eyes peek through a solid mask covering his visage. Closer’s popularity had stifled quickly as people learned of his unapproachable personality but he nonetheless became a reknowned figure for helping out with both life threatening injuries and benign symptoms that were before left in the hands of amateurs. The Capitán was convinced by now there was not an ounce of altruism that guided him. If he’d kept antagonizing himself with the population she’d have interrogated him without compunction. Instead she kept a close eye on him ever since, attributing his arrival to an odd coincidence considering what happened the year prior.
Whereas most everyone had been eagerly waiting information about the Sun from yesterday’s Knightcall, The Capitán had been listening for anything the guest doctor would say about Closer. Yet at the end of the call she remained as disappointed as everyone else. The Knight hadn’t even asked about Closer. Unprompted, the Doctor corroborated her and Closer’s findings about the Stillborn without even mentioning him once which frustrated her even more. It was proof that they knew as much as they wanted from the city itself while living and acting separately from everything. And it was proof that they still decide to lie. No, they didn’t make themselves lie, they omitted exactly what they didn’t want to address. They must feel untouchable, she should’ve ambushed this Doctor Faris outside Juren when she had the chance. The Capitán often wondered if she’d gain more than she’d lose by acting more recklessly, but she still had more moves to make before going scorched earth.
“What was the time frame for this incident?” Closer finally asked.
“Their expeditions started around sundown, an hour at most before the torrents started. I came here with Major only a few hours before zenith.”
“Less than twelve hours. Do you know if it was preordained?”
“What like they’ve been building this pretty festival for weeks? No, we had an informant… inside,” the Capitán waved her hand lazily towards the alcove, “We know they’d been digging up storage units from before the Exodus, that’s it. Besides, this whole mess would have rotten to the point of noticing from the outside.”
“This is why I asked, it isn’t rotting.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“What you smelled was fresh death. It will show in the photographs, none of the “cairns” as you call them are in the process of decomposition or you’d have smelled sulfur from up the stairs hours ago.”
“This malevolent shrine does not attract what’s left of bacterias? I don’t think the underbelly is chilly enough to keep all of this from going bad, what are you thinking, Doctor Closer?”
“I cannot say. If it were to spoil, we could start to rationalize, but like you said, what happened here does not follow the rules of nature. This definitely strikes out to me more than the gruesome display. ”
The Capitán felt her heartbeat quicken, she wondered why it had taken this long for it to come to her, the chill of realization that there was something so far beyond her at play here. She came back to reality as she heard the Major going down the stairs, loud steps even with his restraint.
“Does it? We’ve lived under an aberrant star for fifty-two years, Closer, you’ve studied it for even longer. We managed to find causality in a supposed curse last time we worked together, don’t you believe we could do it again?”
She heard him take an inspiration before exhaling, what was he contemplating? The Capitán wondered if he’d parted with his sense of smell willingly or if they’d both been born with a part of them missing. She’d have felt an inkling of camaraderie but the human didn’t inspire anything in her.
Closer didn’t answer instantly but she didn’t need him to, he had been motivated before even if she could not have forced his hand. He’ll help, and she intended to dig in his sides while he was at arms length. The Major reached their level, the heavier steps hinted that he’d brought back what she told him to fetch. She was done here, the Capitán rose and lightly tapped her cane on the ground.
“And some people will go to bed tonight thinking they won’t have to wake up tomorrow,” the Capitán said, heading back up and brushing Major’s shoulder along the way.
“What are you planning?” Closer asked before she was out of ear’s reach.
So he asked after all. No desperation in his voice yet, but he was at least as eager as she was to get to the bottom of this.
“The Major will take samples of every cairn, bring them back to our quarters in Byzance and torch the rest. At your discretion, we’ll meet back there whenever you want, it’s not like it’ll spoil. Now I have somewhere to go before sundown, play nice you two!”
The Capitán climbed up the stairs confidently before he could argue with her. She figured he would have something to say about not putting the underbelly to the flame but she didn’t care to manage his own desires, especially after showing such clear engrossment. Preventing any curious visitor from stumbling into the underbelly was paramount over Closer frolicking in his new playground. They were lucky noone had wandered here so far. This side of the Caldera ended up too boring to attract much attention, or perhaps there was nothing more to be done around here, she couldn’t be the judge.
Before leaving for supplies, Major had done a quick survey around the block to see if they couldn’t trace blood going out of the depot. A fruitless endeavor, as yesterdays torrents wiped the entire city clean of anything, straight into the drains. Still, if something conscious had been the source, and it hadn’t delved deeper into the underbelly, then it had to have gotten out. It was here, somewhere, hiding in this city. Who could tell how long she had to find it before another incident happens. Maybe it already had, and it was feasting at the exact same moment as she was barely starting to grasp the situation.
As the Capitán crossed the depot’s entrance, taking a well earned breath of fresh air, she felt a familiar presence at her left.
“Ah, hello again,” Dove mumbled.
The Capitán could imagine he’d been slumped on the side of the entrance after Major had come in with the containers. She doubted he actually apologized to him like she mentioned earlier.
“I’m going back to catch the green line, walk with me.”
The Capitán wasn’t seeking company but felt like he would’ve tagged along regardless, might as well not have him prowl behind her. He obliged, she heard him get up and follow along, two steps behind her. Only a few streets away, the life of the city blooming around her, guiding her way. Even if she hadn’t often navigated the district by herself, the frontier between Versal and the Caldera was so jarring it was easy for her to follow along. She could hear Dove dragging his feet as they approached the bus stop. She’d be lucky to get a ride in fifteen minutes, as fast and efficient as the three lines of aerobus were, only one of each were still operational. She sat on a bench close to the stop, wiping away water that had already evaporated.
“You want to say something, Dove?”
He didn’t take a seat next to her, neither did she want him to. She heard him take away his mask and put it on the bench.
“Is this your way of letting go?”
“I don’t- I’m not going to kill myself…”
Dove’s voice was low, his stomach empty and his spirit beaten. She expected an attempt to step down from the Cors but the method surprised her. He’d been hiding his own self for as long as the Capitán knew of his existence, living vicariously through this persona of his own making. She couldn’t imagine he was used to venturing outside without this protective shell around his psyche.
“It’d be a shame, not many people will have witnessed this… spectacle at the end of the day. Make something of it then, let it change your world. Just don’t let me catch you executing people again, you’ll be that much easier to find.”
The Capitán didn’t worry about him running around with that kind of knowledge. Even if he was the gossipy kind, noone would believe him unless the spread had already started. By that point, the liability named Dove would be the last of anyones worries.
“I know… I can’t live up to the idea I had for Dove anymore anyway.”
“That so?”
“I didn’t even know their name…” Dove choked.
The Capitán knew he referred to his informant, currently in the process of being scooped into boxes by Closer and the Major, yet she asked, “Who?”
The question must have dug deep but she didn’t hear him react, maybe he had no tears left to shed. She could hear the patrons of a nearby club shouting obscenities over the results of a table party. The air was warm, the steps of a growing number of passerby pattered around her, rocking her mind after the tiring experience and preparing her for the arguably worse fate waiting for her back in the gardens.
“Either way,” the Capitán continued, “The gesture of leaving your mask behind is commendable but you should keep it. It will matter more if you keep it beside you even if you’re stepping down. It’s always going to follow you around whether you like it or not. And who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be ready to suit up again.”
She let the thought sit with him for a minute. For all his faults, the Capitán couldn’t deny he had been useful. She would prefer not burning any cards away, especially now.
“Would… would I have to be part of the Cors again, if..?”
If she had answered, the Capitán didn’t feel confident in holding back a laugh, so she smiled and shrugged, leaving his own interpretation to make up the answer he liked best. The unnamed retired vigilante silently picked the mask back up from the bench.
“Good lad. Now beat it, I want to enjoy Versal’s auditory miracle.”