Roy stood in a room, waiting for Mister Deadman with three other Knuckles. Mister Deadman hadn't said why they were there, and Roy didn't like it. It reeked of a lousy job he was about to be volunteered for. But that was his new station in life, wasn't it?

He missed William. William gave him a purpose in life, a direction, and an outlet. He couldn't even find a good target to flay with the whip at his waist. The other Knuckles were just too valuable to the operation.

Roy licked his lips. Maybe someday he'd be a Finger, and that would all change.

Click.

"He's taking too long." The man beside him tapped his sharpened nails together. "I was pulled off my shift for this."

He was Zhu Chu, a short, old, bald man with a pointed face and long whiskers. From what Roy had learned so far about the other Knuckles, he was one of the longer-lasting ones. However, even with a decade of work, he was still a Knuckle.

However, he had nothing on the other person in the room.

"He'll be digging his own grave if he keeps us waiting."

A woman, nearly as tall as the room, leaned against the far wall, a massive shovel leaning next to her broad frame. Long, frazzled red hair exploded out from a yellow helmet covering her head, and two black goggles covered her eyes. Roy gulped. She was taller than he was and looked like she could fold him in half.

She was Lucrezia Minatore, or Lucre for short. Her shovel could cut through stone like butter, all thanks to the power of her curse. The two of them looked like the strongest Knuckles in the operation together. Roy wasn't sure how well he measured up.

Snap. Snap.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Mister Deadman stepped in, snapping twice before frowning and shoving his hands in his pockets.

Behind him, the massive bulk that was Cragg followed, carrying the body of a man over his shoulders. Together, they walked into the center of the gathered Knuckles. Mister Deadman stopped, and Cragg stopped beside him, but no one made a move.

Slap.

"Dump him on the ground, you hear?" Mister Deadman groaned, slapping Cragg on his shoulder.

Thump.

"Sorry, boss," Cragg said after dropping the body down.

The man was breathing, but a sticky web covered his entire body. He was asleep, and his entire body was bound. Roy didn't recognize him, but he was the new guy. He checked the other Knuckles, but they were as clueless as he was.

That left Mister Deadman to give them what they needed.

"Alright, now understand why I brought all of you here," Mister Deadman said, nudging the sleeping man with his toe. "Keep it cool, but we have a problem."

"I see a sleeping guy, but I don't know why that's a problem," Roy said, squatting down to get a better look at him. "Looks like he got caught by the spiders, but with all that rushing around earlier, I wouldn't be surprised."

"You wouldn't because you're not in the know, you hear?" Mister Deadman sighed, his hands quivering in his pockets. "This is one of our Knuckles."

Clack. Clack.

"That doesn't mean much." Chu snapped his fingers together. "He just didn't make the cut."

"What are you, a wise guy?" Mister Deadman shook his head. "None of that here, you hear? Keep it cool. This guy has been with the operation for a while. He knows what's up and when to keep his head down."

"That doesn't mean he can't make a mistake," Chu said, his whiskers twitching.

"There's got to be another problem." Roy nodded. "There's mistakes on operations all the time."

"Just take his gem and break it!"

Lucre stepped away from the wall, picked up her shovel, and marched forward, ready to swing down. Roy fell back on his hands, and Chu discreetly stepped to the side. Neither of them was going to be able to stop her if she decided to go wild with that shovel.

"Cragg!"

Clatter.

Without a word, Cragg stepped forward, hammer coming out of the sling on his back and intercepting the shovel as Lucre swung. There wasn't enough force in the blows to cause a loud noise, but the wood of both weapons shook against the other as Cragg held the shovel at bay.

"Now, play it cool. His gem isn't here," Mister Deadman said. "That in itself isn't that unusual. However, we couldn't find it anywhere nearby."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Lucre stepped back with a grunt, shaking her head as she stomped back to the wall. She crossed her arms and leaned against the stone, still holding her shovel in one hand. Roy got his feet back under him and stood up.

"You can normally find the gems after?" Roy asked.

"Usually, they stash them not too far away," Mister Deadman said. "The ones set to ambush incoming ships store them somewhere on the ship until our cleaners can get on board. If they're in the sewers or out in the streets, they'll be in nearby barrels or under a cart."

"You think someone took it?" Chu asked. "One of the Knuckles?"

"It wouldn't be cool, but I don't think that's the right option," Mister Deadman said. "We've got some dangerous folks running around under Miss Malone's control. We've kept them because restraining them strengthens her curse, but that doesn't mean they couldn't find a way out."

"The swarm." Chu nodded. "You think that was someone breaking free."

Mister Deadman nodded.

"How would they even do that?" Roy asked. "You said that you had this operation locked down tight. They'd have to break their own crystal to get their memories free, right? And you keep them all in the sewers."

"There can be ways around curses, you hear?" Mister Deadman shrugged. "Maybe someone was strong enough that our spiders didn't work on them. Maybe they didn't think that was cool. Maybe they were able to break free. The fact is we don't know, and that makes it hard to keep everything cool."

Roy frowned. What looked like a solid operation a few hours before now looked like it was teetering on the brink of destruction. Maybe he would have been better off on his own, not that he had a way off of Grim Aegis.

Like it or not, he was in the same boat as the other Knuckles. The brothers were known quantities thanks to his brother's dealings with Undertown. The fact that Roy had gone to them after William's death didn't help him get away from the Underground Lords.

He could feel the chains wrapping around him.

"What are we going to do about it?" Chu asked, his whiskers twitching as he looked between the Knuckles and Mister Deadman.

Snap. Snap.

"That's what we're here to find out, you hear?" Mister Deadman put his hand back in his pocket. "You four are the strongest Knuckles in this operation. If anything else happens, you're all the best ones to respond besides myself. How can we play out this operation and keep it cool? That's what we've gathered here to answer today."

Boom. Crumble.

A rumble shook through the roof like a thunderclap in the distance. Roy froze, halfway to his whip, as he looked up. Mister Deadman stopped speaking. Chu's whiskers shook. Lucre remained unmoved.

"I never heard something like that before, boss," Cragg said.

"We have less time than I thought." Mister Deadman narrowed his eyes.

Skitter. Hiss.

From the hall, for the second time that day, spiders scrambled across the ceiling. The four Knuckles and one Finger stood in silence over the body of the fallen Knuckle as the spiders passed by. Roy ducked down. The scratch of the spider legs sent shivers down his spine.

Boom. Crumble.

More loose rocks and dirt fell from the ceiling, finding ways through cracks in the stone without hesitation. Roy's heart beat a quickening pace in his chest as blood rushed through him. he knew a fight was coming, and he wasn't ready for it.

"What's the plan, boss?" Cragg asked as the spiders retreated in the distance.

Boom. Crumble.

Mister Deadman looked between them all, gauging each one of them with his cold grey eyes. Roy felt small under that gaze, like he had never done a single thing right in his life. Once he was done, Mister Deadman began to nod. He pulled both fingers out of his pockets and snapped them to a beat only he could hear.

Snap. Snap.

"We've got to move fast, you hear?" he said. "Cragg, go get the people off duty and gather them up again. They're going back to find what that was."

"Yes, boss." Cragg saluted before stomping off into the hallway.

"What if it's all just a distraction?" Chu asked, preening one of his whiskers with his nails. "This could all be a farce to get us out of the sewers."

Snap.

"Don't think I didn't think of that." Mister Deadman pointed at Chu with one white-gloved finger. "Keep it cool while I figure out how we'll handle that particular possibility."

Snap. Snap.

He began to snap. His eyes roved over the three remaining Knuckles. Roy closed his fist to keep his hand from shaking. Everything was moving too fast. It was just his first day on the job.

Boom. Crumble.

"Alright," Mister Deadman said. "I have a plan."

Roy gulped down the dry lump in his throat. His best bet was to be as far away from the main action as possible. He only hoped that Mister Deadman would take it easy on him, considering it was his first day and all.

"Chu, you and Roy will monitor things underground." Mister Deadman pointed at both of them. "Pull any Knuckles you need to keep down here to help you keep an eye on everything. I'll take Cragg and Lucre up top to see what's happening."

Clack. Clack.

"Wouldn't Lucre be better down below, considering her curse?" Chu asked.

"I would keep her here, but she started digging up already." Mister Deadman shook his head. "She was never able to keep her cool."

Roy looked behind him, where the woman should have been leaning against the wall. However, no one was there. Even the massive shovel was gone, and it had all been done without a sound. All that was left where she had been was a hole, as tall as she had been, dug into the wall and leading into darkness.

"How?" Roy whispered.

"She's got a short fuse," Mister Deadman said, stepping up to the hole and putting a foot inside. "When Cragg is done mobilizing the troops, send him up after me. He'll be more useful up there than down here, especially if we want to keep the level's foundations intact."

"As you command, Mister Deadman." Chu nodded, bowing slightly with one arm across his chest.

"See that you don't let anyone steal the gems, you hear!" Mister Deadman yelled before disappearing into the darkness.

Roy deflated as he left. It was just his first day on the job, but he was already caught up in the operation, which was almost falling apart. At least he didn't have to confront whatever was shaking the level's foundations.

"We need to hurry." Chu turned to the door, leaving Roy with the unconscious Knuckle still sleeping on the ground.

"Wait!" Roy rushed to catch up.

He didn't want to be left alone.

Fwip.

A cut, faster than the eye could see, sliced through the air above Roy's head. Roy instinctively ducked and only lost a few hairs in the process. They fell in front of his face in the silence between the attack.

"What kind of Knuckle are you?" Chu asked, one finger extended behind him, though he hadn't turned to look at Roy. "Are you the kind to throw your life away for your Finger, or are you the kind to do what is necessary without risking too much?"

"I guess..." Roy gulped.

"We'll find out together," Chu said, shaking his head, lowering his arm and starting through the door.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.