Silhouette

Greetings, Silhouette.

Word of your achievements has reached us. Doctor Bones does not care about the politics and conflicts among the various groups inhabiting Sunken City, as long as they respect her rules. She much prefers to remain neutral in all matters.

That being said, we have heard rumors regarding you, and your abilities have caught her eye. I am writing this letter on her behalf to invite you to a meeting, to discuss a potential venture. This is not an obligation, merely an invitation. Doctor Bones believes there is something you could do for her, something that she is more than willing to reward if you would accept.

Should you accept this meeting, present this letter to one of the persons watching over our vast elevator network. For numerous reasons, Doctor Bones does not stay in one location, so arranging a location for the meeting will have to wait until the last moment. Do mind that accepting this invitation does not legally bind you into accepting our offer as well. Should you decide to, you are free to decline our business proposition after our talk. Once again, there would be no ill will from this decision.

We hope you take the time to think about our offer.

May we see each other soon,

With kind regards,

Pierre Potisha, secretary of Doctor Abigael Jessica Bones.

James studied the letter in his tentacle again and again. It had been a few hours since he left Mesker now, parting with the man and ending their training early when the wizard confirmed that this was indeed a genuine letter written on behalf of what was the Sunken City's unofficial leader. Well, overseer may be a more accurate term. She had no plan to rule or direct the various people here hidden from the sun, instead, she made sure everyone behaved and didn't cause too much ruckus.

James had heard about her in the past. He knew she was an archaeologist who had come to study the ruins of the city, ensuring they would be preserved and enforcing order via a large number of mercenaries she paid quite the substantial salaries to act as an unofficial police. While there had been a few incidents with some of those hired muscles abusing their power in the past, the general consensus was that Doctor Bones herself was an honest woman and a welcome check on the power balance of the Sunken City.

Some of the larger criminal groups - namely, the Villains and their mooks - didn't appreciate her interference, but they were also smart enough to understand that everyone else banding together under her banner to fight them off for breaking the rules would end poorly. Not to mention, her rules were ultimately merely rules on how to wage war and fight, not interdictions to fight at all. Besides, Bones' main interest was the center of the city, and guess what place was right above it on the surface? The Hero Union Headquarters. Ego, fighting Bones and her bodyguards would attract the Heroes' attention, and if the fighting got serious enough would even create openings for them to plunge into the depths and join the battle directly.

And, for similar reasons, these Villainous groups' lairs were away from the center of the city in the first place, preferring to control the edges of the Sunken City, perfect places to create secret entrances and ensure illegal trade could happen freely. They did have large bases in the heart of the underground, but those were closer to embassies and shelters for agents between missions than proper defensible locations, leaving those gateways to be their biggest locations in the Sunken City. Even then, everyone agreed that their larger bases in the slums were their true headquarters, and those they had mutually agreed not to attack because they formed a security perimeter to keep the Horror quarantined should it rampage again. Zalcien being destroyed hurt all businesses, including the illegal trade. For better or worse, even they needed the city to keep standing.

All of that was to say that Doctor Bones was considered a reliable person. A trustworthy one. Oh, James wouldn't be dropping his guard, but he had promised to try and keep his paranoia in check, and if she truly had a business proposition... Well, he already had ties with Blake Black, having some with the underworld's other biggest neutral party would do wonders for his operations. James had no plan of becoming the new big mafia in town, but showing them that he could rival them would hopefully scare them away.

It hadn't worked perfectly so far, but it had worked well enough. A new big name on his list of allies and a few more feats under his belt might well be the final things he needed to ensure his strategy worked.

And so it was he found himself going to one of the nearest elevators, to be sure he could quickly retreat and come back to the Shadow Den if this turned out to be a trap or a diversion. Not the actual nearest sadly, since that one was manned by the skeleton who welcomed James into the Sunken City. She had been very friendly, but James had learned since then that undead could "perceive" people's souls in some way, and as such were very hard to trick with a disguise, even with shapeshifting. She would recognize Silhouette was James. And if she ever let that fact slip, willfully or not, it wouldn't be hard to spot the other shadow man in Silhouette's group on the surface, one called James.

Instead, James had to head off for the second nearest elevator. This one was operated by a vampire, though not the same one positioned above the skeleton. This one was a woman, though she was as bored and apathetic as her male counterpart had been - until James presented Bones' letter, that is. That had woken her up with a jumpstart, to the point she almost jumped off her seat. From there she dialed her phone, a landline one, and informed her superiors that Silhouette was ready to meet the big boss.

All of that had taken an hour at most. No, most of the time that had passed since James' parting with Mesker had been spent waiting. Well, he had been directed to head back up to the Sewers Network where a gondola then brought him to yet another elevator station, this one far larger and more decorated than any of those he'd been to previously, but that's where the wait truly began. At least the side room he'd been offered was pleasant enough, and they'd even offered snacks and drinks. He had to refuse, not just because of the paranoia of being drugged but because his shadowy form couldn't consume food. Something he hated to be reminded of.

James... Tried his best to avoid thinking about the past. He was stuck here, in this body, so he couldn't afford to wallow in nostalgia and self-pity. That wasn't to say he didn't miss his life before he arrived in Zalcien or his humanity, but he had to focus on the now. Besides, as much as he wished he could have a way of going back to a human body sometimes, he was well aware he wouldn't have lasted long had he kept his old form. Not if he had appeared where he did, in the sewers of the slums.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Maybe as a human, he could have tried to get into an interdimensional castaway program with the Union. He would have been harmless, he would have had nothing of value, and the world at large would have ignored him. As he was now? Not only was it too late, but his new body could do far too much to be left alone, to not catch the attention of dangerous people. He was better off building his own defenses rather than relying on an institution too large to fail. He didn't doubt the Heroes meant well and that did a lot for the city, keeping its Villains in check, but... Well, the Patcher had been allowed to live. He fixed that problem.

Besides, James didn't hate his new form per se. He liked his powers, even if they could get him into trouble. He wouldn't be where he was today without them. He had managed to help so many people. He even managed to become the CEO of his own budding company. He just... He just wished he had to way to turn it all off, even if only for short periods. To be a normal person, with a limited field of vision, with a sense of taste, and with proper bones and organs and insides rather than make-believe facsimiles, even if only briefly.

Thankfully the end eventually came to an end when people entered the room. Four of them, to be precise.

The first and most obvious one was the giant lion man dressed in heavy military armor with a rifle on his back and smaller knives and firearms strapped to various parts of his body. Honestly, the only reason James could tell he was a lion was that his dark mane was far too voluminous for the man to wear a full helmet, instead forcing him to make do with a piece of armor that only covered his forehead and the sides of his face. He also had a pair of goggles, though those were currently up between his ears, leaving his quite vibrant blue eyes exposed. The man nodded at James before looking around the room, likely making sure everything was safe before making way for the rest of the group.

The second one was a middle-aged ginger woman in a beige outfit. It wasn't the stereotypical colonial explorer look, thankfully, but there was still doubt that someone wearing something with these many pockets with tools peeking out of them was likely to be the archaeologist who had invited him, Doctor Bones herself. The woman was surprisingly unremarkable, though that could just be James' habit of running into eccentric personalities ruining his ability to deal with ordinary people.

The third person was a strangely familiar sight, though James knew for certain he had never met the man himself. Rather, he remembered what Mesker and Techlord had mentioned had happened after his fight with Sydakors. He never saw the celestial elf monk himself, but the radiance and almost tangible holy aura surrounding the long-eared person glaring at him gave him a good feeling that he was dealing with Sydakors' former surveillant. The triangular pupils and platinum blonde hair were easy tells too.

The last person to walk in was another woman, this one shorter and far darker-skinned than her employer, if James' theory of these all being mercenaries paid by Bones was correct. She wore a light green body suit with a white vertical line in the middle, thin strips of gold separating the two colors. Her surprisingly natural blonde hair - James' means of perceiving the world let him see her roots - was tied in a dread ponytail that fell down to between her shoulder blades. She had no visible weapon and wasn't radiating energy like either of the other two mercenaries, so her strange choice of attire led James to believe she was a Super of sorts. She stayed neutral as she closed the door behind her and joined the others.

The group sat down on the seats on the opposite side of the waiting room, facing James. Well, most of them. The two women and the lion did, while the elven monk chose to keep standing instead, his arms crossed and his back straight as he glared down at James' sitting form. Well, as much as his Silhouette body could sit, given the lack of legs.

"Doctor Bones and her guards, I presume?"

The archaeologist smiled and nodded, and for a moment James almost thought she would get back up and walk over to shake his hand. Given her lifestyle, though, it made sense that, no matter how friendly and at ease she looked, she wouldn't be naive enough to trust a stranger so easily. The protection the mercenaries offered was why she could be so easy-going.

"That's me! And you're the Silhouette I've been hearing so much about. It's a pleasure to finally put a face to the name. Or lack of face, in your case. Ah, sorry, was that impolite? I'm not the best at dealing with people, face or no face."

"I take no offense. I can see the difference between an insult and a clumsy attempt at conversation."

"Oof, thank the Nine for that. I know our intel said you were reliable and stable, but you never know on this side of the road, you know?"

"I do. I know the feeling. Might I ask who your companions are? I believe I'm familiar with one of them, but not the rest."

"Oh, right! On my left is my right-hand man, Pierre Potisha. He's the one who wrote you that letter. He's also my number one bodyguard and problem solver. He's very good with guns!"

The lion man nodded.

"It's a pleasure to see you, and to see you're willing to hear us out."

"Doctor Bones' reputation is impeccable. Hearing you out is the least I could do."

"Aw, thanks! Anyway, on my right is my left-hand woman, Sabile Selitt. She's a geomancer, the Aspect kind, no magic there. Her powers are incredibly useful in my field of work, and to deal with anyone who decides they don't care about my rules anymore. The Sunken City may be trapped in a false underground, but the ground beneath our feet is very real. Even if it wasn't, she can just as easily manipulate the giant bricks of the dome."

"People underestimate how many things made of stone surround them. Especially those from the surface coming down here. Plastic wasn't as popular before the Horror struck, and people then similarly preferred the durability of rock in many other matters."

"Geomancy, uh? I know it is one of the least popular forms of elementalism, but I always found it fascinating personally. It may not have the same reputation as fire, water, and air do, but I find earth is likely the best to master of the classic four."

"I appreciate the sentiment."

"And lastly, we have the man who mentioned your name to me for the first time. This is Bo, a servant of Malk and worshipper of Triotaur. Please excuse his grumpiness, he's still mad about you killing that demon back then."

"I was opposed to your presence, Destroyer."

James knew better than to threaten a man in the middle of an otherwise friendly talk, even if this Bo didn't seem to share the same courtesy. That being said, he could still his discontent by making the shadows on his side of the room a little darker to underline his annoyance as he spoke.

"I killed a demon. A fact I haven't worked hard to keep secret, but haven't spread either. The means I used, however, are for me to know alone. Am I making myself clear? Or do you wish for a demonstration?"

"Whoops, sorry about that, Silhouette. The poor boy is over a century old and still jumbles every social interaction. Don't worry, I'm not here to judge your methods, blackmail you with secrets, or anything of the sort. As per our contract, Bo cannot share this information without my authorization, and I have no interest in letting it spread. People would go a teensy weensy bit mad if they knew there was someone with Destruction down here."

"So long as you're willing to sign a contract to confirm this, I will forgive this... Incident."

"No problem, Pierre will get you that ready. But I didn't have him call you here to talk about Sydakors, as much as killing a demon is impressive and does somewhat factor in what I want to ask you."

"That is to say?"

The woman grinned as she leaned forward.

"How would you feel about joining me for some archeological spelunking?"