Rushing cold enveloped Ado as she fell. She forced her eyes open against the salty blue expanse, and she felt it seep in behind her eyes and nose. She could feel the water cradling her, gently lowering her into a peaceful sleep. And it burned. It burned her skin, and her eyes, and her mouth. It came at her like a barrage of knives, but still had its seductive way of slowly bringing her to numbness. She was going to die.

She couldn't die.

She waved her arms out to her sides, trying to thrust up, but the water held her back, slowing her movements in its deliberately powerful way. She pushed again, determined to break the surface and feel the air on her skin again, but the ocean's grip was only heavier this time. She made one last bound upward, and a gasp of breath escaped, the water flooding into her mouth and down her throat. The freezing sensation filled her so fast she barely had time to feel the pain. The atmosphere around her grew darker and darker as she fell, and she felt herself grow only heavier as she struggled against it, helpless. She tried to lift her arm one more time, but with no more result than a fleeting twitch of her fingers. She shut her eyes tight against the pain. And it was dark.

Twenty years later

Eight's armor didn't make a sound as she dropped down to the subway platform, springing after her target. The lanky urchin's black shoes pounded against the concrete floor of the Metro as he ran, his footfalls falling hard with his long strides and echoing through the vast expanse above. His breathing was getting heavy, but he didn't slow down. Without slowing her pursuit, Eight reached back for the pistol at her side, unholstering it and pulling the extension from her sleeve. She whipped it out from its folded position, and fitted the barrel onto the weapon as she ran with a small click. She knelt down to the ground in one swift motion, and held both hands out in front of her, locking on and firing in an instant. The small blast flew though the air at the target, but didn't land. It struck the wall, and the urchin jumped down into the subway tunnel with a glance back over his shoulder. He ran into the dark envelope of the stone corridor, and Eight had no choice but to follow.

She hopped down into the track, and her heads up display informed her she should switch her weapon back to a pistol. She disconnected the barrel, folded it, and slipped it back into her sleeve as she sprinted after the target. She could still hear the sound of the urchin's footsteps echoing through the tunnel. She slowed her steps as she got nearer, and pressed her back against the wall as she went in for the final blow. The flickering white lights on the ceiling shed just enough light on the dingy tracks for her to see the ground ahead of her, and the tracks below, but not much else. She could see the cracks in the grey, stained wall, and the posts that held the place up. She kept her eyes trained on the rotting wooden tracks, and the water that had gathered at the bottom. The patches she had seen so far were still, but she kept on. And soon, she saw a ripple. A small puddle, less than a meter wide, quivering under the cool lights. Her pace quickened as she followed the sound of his footsteps. He had to be close. She heard a small splash, and flipped on her flashlight. Nothing. He wasn't there. She scanned the area, but he was nowhere to be seen. That wasn't possible.

"Vera, infrared on." Eight commanded out loud, flicking her flashlight off. Her vision fell into a harsh contrast of deep blues, and she panned around again- there. A bright red and orange figure stuck out among the darkness. She took a step toward it, and then another. It was behind the wall— and it was fading away. She clicked her flashlight on, feeling along the wall for a seam, but found nothing.

"Vera, tell zero-one that I've lost the target." Eight relented, her tone bitter but determined. The message went through, and she continued her scan of the wall, looking for a seam, a doorway, anything. She pushed on segments of the wall, feeling for an odd texture or some kind of hidden door. Nothing.

"I'm going in to take care of it." 01's voice came through, a bit staticky. She must have been above ground still. There was a distant booming sound, and then Eight heard the hard chatter of stone tumbling down from the ceiling on the other side of the wall.

"It's an old Metro station." 01 reported, "It's burning up down here, I can't pick up any heat signatures."

"Any visual?" 02's radio clicked on- her voice was clearer than 01's.

"If I had a visual, he'd be fried to a crisp right now." 01 snarled, the bloodlust on her mind apparent.

"No killing." Eight reminded her leader quietly, almost under her breath, "We need information from this one."

01 grunted unintelligibly through her headset. Eight's fingertips caught on a crack toward the very bottom of the floor, and she dug her fingers under it and pulled out. A small access door pulled open reluctantly, the hinges stiff with rust. It opened to a gap maybe thirty centimeters high, and fifty centimeters wide. She knelt down, and felt a wave of warm, humid air rush at her face. She got down on her stomach, and pulled herself into the opening. She slipped though a small silver tunnel, at least a few meters long and probably the same size as an air vent. When she emerged, she was surrounded by jungle. Overgrown bluish-green vines and trees carpeted the ground and walls, tumbling out and filling the room. Artificial, brightly colored light spilled in from the jagged hole One had blown in the roof, illuminating the whole station in a rainbow of harsh whites, blues, and reds.

01's short, sleek, shining form stuck among the explosion of nature, like a beacon in the overgrown mess of greens. Her armor hung between jet-black and chrome silver, a strange dark gleaming color broken by lines of faint blue energy. It absorbed the light from above, almost making her look like a shadow against the sickly green backdrop. Her Octoglasses shone with the same cyan outline as her body, and the number one on her chest glowed pink, signaling her rank as commander. The arm cannon grafted to her left hand smoked with heat, outlining her imposing figure quite dramatically, and the aura around her smelled of fire and chemicals.

"You're sure the target was here?" 01 asked, her voice cut and cold.

"Unless the gear is faulty, I'm sure he came in here." Eight confirmed, "Infrared picked him up until he reached the wall, then he disappeared."

"Zero-two, one-one." The commander barked, "I need a full sweep of this room and an immediate two-kilometer, all depth perimeter."

The two soldiers vocalized their acknowledgement, and Eight heard the movement as they carried out their new mission. 02 dropped down to the ground beside One, and immediately started out to the left. Eight went the opposite direction, starting at the wall and looking for any exits. It was hard to tell, with all the overgrowth, so she was quick in her search, running her hand along the wall as she walked. She wasn't far down when Two called out from the other side of the station.

"I've got a trapdoor going down." She said, kneeling down and opening the panel, "I'm checking it out."

Eight walked over to 02, who had her hands braced in either side of the opening, looking down in. The narrow beam of Two's flashlight revealed an old industrial walkway, rusty and covered in dried ink and blood. A musty, metallic smell rose from the lower level as they peered in.

"What are you waiting for?" 01 asked impatiently. She was standing over them now, hands on her hips as she looked down with them. 02 adjusted her grip on the sides of the square gap, and, without responding, hopped down. It was a good eight feet down, but she dropped down without a sound. 02 motioned for Eight to follow.

"Go." 01 nodded, "I'll stay up here and keep watch."

Eight took another brief look down, and dropped in. She felt her ankle twist under her when she landed, and let out a small yelp of surprise. She slipped and landed on her backside, in a liquid a bit thicker than ink. Two looked back, confused, but when Eight lifted her hand, Two rushed to her side.

"Headset settings linked to Zero-two." Vera reported in Eight's ear. Her visor took on the dark contrasts of the infrared camera, and she saw her hand was warm with the substance before she felt it soaking into her gloves.

"It's blood." Two whispered, "He was just down here."

Eight got to her feet, scraping her boots on the dry segments of the walkway where she could find them, and followed Two. No words passed between them as they jogged down the metal grating, listening for any sounds of their prey. The infrared showed him behind an employee door not far ahead, but still, she couldn't be overconfident. Eight glanced around as she advanced on the door, taking in the subterranean, industrial landscape of her surroundings. Below them was only an ocean of water, held in by the skeletal, metal paneled walls. Empty tubes ran up the sides of the place, all of them intact but bone dry. Two put her hand on the doorknob, and counted down with her fingers. Three. Two. One.

She flung the door open, and Eight rushed in, weapon raised. The room looked like it had been built for security purposes- it was small, but crowded with blotchy, black monitors, and a small desk and overturned desk chair. It had a strong smell of old wet fabric, and the best part? The urchin wrestling with the door. Eight shot him in the back, the dart exploding and embedding a few chunks of shrapnel through his poncho into his skin. He went on, trying to unlock the door at the far end of the room, but it only took a few seconds for the sanitized ink to kick in, dropping him into an unconscious pile on the ground.

"We've got the target." Two reported proudly over the radio, walking over to the limp body.

"Copy that, Zero-Two." 01 replied. Two hauled the urchin over her shoulder, and Eight waited as she got the him arranged. Once Two had a firm grip on him, she started back out the way they came, and Eight walked behind. It took the both of them to haul him up the ladder to the jungle area, but once they were up, there was a helicopter waiting for them. A pair of Sanitized soldiers came to pick up Spyke, taking him from 02's arms and whisking him to the aircraft. They took off immediately, soon leaving the contained jungle eerily silent.

"Good work, girls." 01 acknowledged concisely, "Get back to HQ. Take a shower. And... don't stray too far from home."