Crouching Insect, Hidden Dragon

“Well I must thank you for informing me of such an event.” I remarked formally, but internally my curiosity grew. That individual was certainly a follower of THEM, so being careful around that purple haired fellow in the future wouldn’t be a terrible idea. My companions still slept, and my duty was to guard them, so I did as such.

Until with a sudden jolt, Dan Heng awoke. She rapidly translated into a hop off the bed and a summoning of her spear. I gave her a small wave and she dispelled her weapon before rising to her feet and giving me a curious gaze.

“Where are we?” Her tone was confused, but became curt as she narrowed her eyes at Natasha who decided to answer her question.

“The Underworld, more specifically in my clinic. You were dropped off by Sampo who has disappeared . . . as usual.” She let out a sigh as she stared at Dan Heng. Dan Heng’s no nonsense glare managed to worm some more information from the woman. 

So we really were in the Underworld then. Certainly an interesting place if the Prince’s knowledge was to be believed, though I doubted this was the same Underworld.

“Sorry for any trouble he’s caused, he doesn’t work for me if you're wondering.” 

Dan Heng let out a sigh as she sat back down on the bed and crossed her thighs before giving me a light look, as though to question if I had any issues with the current situation. Of course I did, but they were not at all relevant here. 

Or at least not in a way she could address.

“I believe it would be best if I took a look around, can you watch March and Stelle?” Her tone was casual, but I could tell that she also wanted to keep me out of danger as well in case of something going wrong. 

“Of course, though I don’t doubt I’ll be catching up with you soon enough.” I gave her a smile and she returned the gesture before setting out of the room.

Leaving me alone with the beautiful older woman in front of me. A smile slowly worked its way onto my features as I watched her, I could sense the faint power of Preservation running through her body. 

A small boost to her physique, and certainly something that helped her when she was all alone hard at work on a long night.

Perhaps she wouldn’t need to be alone. I moved towards her as she bandaged the scrape of a sleeping child, and as she reached over to grab her supplies it was already in her hand courtesy of my pinsir- hand. It was a hand.

She threw me a brief glance of surprise, as I had handed her exactly what she’d needed. Thus was the power of Propagation. To worm our way into anything, and fill any roll. Though it did help that the Prince’s knowledge had some foundation in this field.

“Are you the only doctor here?” I decided to break the silence after I’d finished assisting her, assisting doctors becoming a consistent part of the ‘Sam’ track record now.

“One of the few, but this is my clinic. I appreciate the help, it's not often I get an extra set of competent hands.” I smiled at the praise, every minuscule gesture of my body movement was formatted to appeal to her. She wasn’t part of the Astral Express, so was it truly against the Prince’s wishes to gain an ally via a light flux of my Burrowing?

“You looked like you could use help, it would be wrong for me to turn you away without feeling any guilt at just leaving you all alone." 

She let out a light laugh at my statement causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“I understand that quite well, I’m sure you’ll understand that it goes much deeper as well if you continue down this path as you get older.” 

Now I was at a crossroads. I could feel my Burrowing start to get a little more active than I intended it to. It was built into my instinct, and had the Prince not instructed me to not be too ‘weird’ I would have very well continued. 

However I decided to soften my ‘pursuit’ for the moment, and instead just give the woman a soft smile. She gave a faint sigh, but I could already see the fondness in her eyes. It was hard to find others who you could connect with in the medical field on an emotional level. After all it tended to be quite the emotionally painful job, and everyone involved with it tended to crack sooner or later.

“Ugh, what happened?” The ‘Princess’ awoke from her slumber and I made my way over to her with my hands in my pockets, allowing Natasha to take a breather away from the action instead of informing March of the situation.

“Good morning March, how are you feeling?” My tone was soft as I gazed down at her. Her eyes were cracking open as she rose from her back and nearly pulled into a ball as she let out a yawn.

“Sleepy.” Then she caught her yawn, and frowned. “But mostly confused. Where are we Sam?”

I smiled gently at her words, for I wasn’t exactly sure. But I could still give her some form of answer.

“We’re in the Underworld, a piece of the city that was sealed off some time ago.” 

“Huh, well I’m glad the Knights are back together again! Actually, where’s Dan Heng?” 

“She’s taking a look around, so it's just us and the sleeping Stelle for now.” 

She swung her legs off the bed and stood up. After a few light stretches she threw me a smile.

“Let’s go take a walk around, it smells like a doctor’s office in here!” She grabbed my hand and prepared to pull me out of the clinic, but sadly I had to refuse the call.

“That’s because it is. Dan Heng wanted me to watch you guys while you sleep. I’ll just be a door away if you need me.” She put her hands on her hips and threw me a light glare.

“Well that’s no fun, I want to spend time with you. Just the two of us!” 

My Burrowing twitched at her words. It was not my place to act here, only the Prince could fill this role. To do otherwise would be traitorous.

“Sorry March, I have to wait for Stelle to wake up.” My eyes flicked over to her as she muttered a word in her sleep that caused my teeth to clench.

‘Stelleron’

I made my way over to her and gently held her hand, March followed me slightly confused so I gave the best answer I could.

“I think she’s having a nightmare.” Stelle’s face was slightly distorted, and March’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh Stelle . . .” She held Stelle’s other hand softly and softly moved some of her long hair off of her face and to the side. “Nightmares are the worst.”

She turned to me and a soft sigh broke from her mouth.

“How about I stay with Stelle and you go help Dan Heng, sticking in pairs is better than leaving her all alone out there.” Her tone was thoughtful, and filled with a certain happiness that I was accustomed to hearing. Then she paused. “Wait a second!” Pulling out her phone with a flick of her wrist she went to call Dan Heng.

Though the number didn’t seem to work this deep under the earth.

“Well it looks like that isn’t going to work.” With a small huff she pocketed the device and then gave me a light smile.

“Well you can still trust me out here, but someone has to find Dan Heng because she’ll probably realize soon enough that she doesn’t have a way to contact us.”

She made a good point, and I obviously trusted her with Stelle’s safety, so I gave her a gentle smile that caused her to lightly blush.

“Thank you March, I’ll go check on Dan Heng . . . I’ll just need to find her first.” 

As I made my leave I tossed her a ‘See you later’ and gave my goodbyes to Natasha while also offering my future aid should the need arrive.

“I’ll stop by if anything happens, you can count on my helping hands if things ever get dicey. Thank you for helping my friends and I.” 

“Of course. It’s a doctor's duty after all . . . and thank you.”

With that I left for the outside, and the vibe of the area was already enrapturing. This underground city was beautiful, and thrummed with resilience.

https://i.postimg.cc/m2Svczpp/underworld.png

It was long lasting, it did not Propagate as I did, replacing itself with new versions in order to survive. Instead it Preserved itself.

The Prince’s faction had never built a society before, though I do wonder how it would manifest itself. As I took in the slightly dusty air I caught a whiff of the slightly river-like scent of Dan Heng. Though currently she more or less smelled like smoke.

Either way her scent was an easy flex of the Prince’s ability aways. Ah, there’s her trail. My pace was slow as I took in my surroundings. I didn’t spot any blood in the streets, the streets of which were relatively clean for being in an underground city.

A good indicator of the state of the area I was in gave me a small insight into its people. They didn’t seem openly hostile to me, nor did I seem to draw too much attention. I suppose I blended in quite well then.

I kept following the trail until inevitably I ended up in front of a large building with two big boxing gloves of red and green lights. Christmas colors? Was Christmas a thing here? I’m just going to assume that's a coincidence until someone else tells me otherwise.

Either way it didn’t matter too much, I just needed to find Dan Heng before she ended up figuring out that she couldn’t call us and was lost.

It’s not that I lacked faith in her abilities, it’s that I lacked trust in how much time we had. I made my way inside, and I spotted Dan Heng being accosted by a middle aged man who seemed quite enthusiastic to have her on center stage.

“-you have to come up! There’s no time!” He prepared to grab  her wrist but I grabbed it from the air with a frown.

“Who are you?” My glare and curt tone silenced him immediately. Only for him to pick back up moments later.

“H-hey! I’m the organizer here, we got a great recommendation for this young lady and it would be a huge mistake to pass up on it! For both me AND her!” 

I raised an eyebrow at Dan Heng. Why was she letting this guy do this? Instead all I saw was her cheeks slowly turn red, causing me extreme confusion.

“Also who are you!? You don’t have the right to interfere with the affairs of Cold Dragon Young!”

I deadpanned before giving a sigh.

“Well if it’s what Cold Dragon Young wants then there isn’t much we can do.” I removed my grip from the man who shook his arm slightly before I nudged Dan Heng. “Go get 'em Cold Dragon Young, your loyal fans are watching.”

She blushed and returned her arms to that crossed position she was so fond of before she steadied herself.

“I didn’t sign up for this, while I’m up there fighting, look for who did.”

I gave her a small smile, I could handle that. 

Though I didn’t have much to work with, my instincts told me to get the height advantage. So I began to climb the wall and after a while I was gently hanging from the ceiling. Until I heard a few certain words over the loud speaker that caused me to frown.

“With special thanks to our tall, dark, and handsome friend for introducing me to Cold Dragon Young, a legendary warrior who has remained hidden until today!”

I knew he was trouble, but was an agent of the Elation messing with us?

Perhaps . . . could he be onto me?

The more likely explanation was that it was just a follower of THEM being their odd self, but I still wasn’t too sure. 

This is something I would need to look into.

AN: We are back after quite some time, and this time Cold Dragon Young takes on the deadly foe of two robots after everyone wakes up. Additionally, a mysterious Sampo like being seems to have forced her into such a predicament!

Perhaps a mugging is in order.

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