Amber stumbled up into the light, supporting Hekket over one shoulder as she went. Water tumbled off of them as they sloshed up the stairs and staggered to a halt in the safety of the new passage. She cast a fearful glance back over one shoulder, expecting the monster from the deep to come surging out after them. All she saw was Idas, half-swimming, half-scrambling his way out of the water. He slumped down into a sitting position beside them, leaning back on his hands, and for the first time since she'd met him she could see genuine fear in his eye.

She turned her attention back to Hekket, who was clutching his ribs with a grimace. "Are you alright?"

"I think so," he gasped. "Just...winded. That thing hits like a wrecking ball." He looked around until he spotted Niamh lying a few feet away with Darien kneeling by her side. Her face was tight with pain and Amber could see the indent of the creature's claw mark in the thigh plates of the other girl's armour. Niamh coughed once, and then spewed up a fountain of sea water.

Shrugging off her hand, Hekket tottered over to their injured comrade and knelt down to examine her injuries. Amber followed, and she found that her legs were shaking, partly with adrenaline and partly with residual fear. She tapped Idas on the shoulder as she passed.

"You okay?"

"That oversized crab broke my jackhammer," he said sourly, shaking his head as he continued to stare into the water. "I had that gun for two years."

Concluding that he was fine, Amber patted him on the shoulder and continued on, joining the others alongside Niamh. She was scraped and bruised from her ordeal, but she seemed to have survived the encounter with minimal injuries. Hekket felt up and down her leg, extracting a growl of pain and she flinched, almost kneeing him in the face.

"Doesn't look like anything's broken," Hekket declared, beginning to get his breath back. "And the armour's proved its worth. How do you feel?"

"Not...great," Niamh groaned back. "Still, I'm alive and I guess that's something."

"Hold still." Hekket examined her head next, gently turning it from side to side, searching for any sign of damage. Aside from some superficial grazes, however, he found nothing life threatening. "You were lucky. How does that feel?"

"It doesn't feel lucky, I'll tell you that much." She glared at him. "You done poking and prodding me?"

"Depends. Can you stand?"

"I think so."

With Darien and Hekket assisting her, Niamh managed to get unsteadily to her feet. She took a few steps, limping badly. Her face was tight with pain as she moved, but the tough operative gritted her teeth through it.

"This should help," Hekket said, sliding a tiny syringe from his med-kit. He stooped down to Niamh's injured thigh and stuck the needle in, extracting a sharp gasp.

"What...is that?" she hissed.

"A muscle fortifier – it'll help keep you mobile until we can get your leg under a proper scanner."

"Thanks." She looked to Darien who was standing watching proceedings with a black look on his face. "And...thanks."

"Don't mention it," he grated and his gaze shifted.

Amber had spent enough time around the operatives of Hammerhead Squad to recognise the shifts in atmosphere within the group. She could feel it now, an indefinable sense that something was about to lash out of control, bubbling beneath the surface. She followed Darien's iron stare and at the other end she saw Brannigan standing mute, her carbine hanging limply in both hands. The new girl had yet to move from her position several metres back from the water's edge. Amber felt a surge of anger roil through her at the realisation that Brannigan had simply abandoned them to fight the undersea behemoth alone.

It appeared she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

Darien stalked across the space between them, waves of fury rolling off him with an almost tangible force. Despite her own anger, Amber felt a stab of apprehension at what was to come and she moved up behind him, ready to intervene if she had to. While Darien was an unequalled commander, she knew he had a vicious streak that would show itself when pushed.

"Alright, Brannigan," he snarled. "You've got exactly five seconds to explain to me what happened down there."

"What...I didn't-"

"You were in a bad situation and you buckled, kid."

Some of Brannigan's stunned demeanour fell away and she bristled. "Don't 'kid' me!"

"Give me one good reason! That thing had one of your squad-mates trapped and what did you do? You turned tail and ran."

"I..." Brannigan's eyes widened. "I didn't run! It came down and I lost sight of everyone when we scattered. What was I supposed to do?!"

"Stop and think," Niamh interjected, limping over alongside Darien. "You had a motion detector, you could hear us on the comms, you could have tried to find us."

"It's not that simple!"

"It is that simple," Darien yelled. "Being part of a Blink Squad means we have to be able to rely on you! You've just shown me that we can't! One of your squad-mates could have died while you hid up here!"

"I'm sorry alright! I just – I didn't know what to do! I'm not a coward."

"Could've fooled me," Idas put in.

"Screw you!" Brannigan straightened up, looking Darien in the eye. "Ever since I walked into this team you people have been treating me like something you scraped off the floor! You don't give a damn about me so why should I give a damn about you?!"

"That's where you're wrong," Darien replied. "I may not like having you down here with us; it wasn't my call. But any one of us would have risked our lives if it had been you that thing got hold of. We don't abandon each other. That's the only reason any of us are still alive. Since that's a concept you can't seem to wrap your head maybe you're in the wrong line of work." He gave her a disgusted sigh and turned to address the others. "Check your gear. We move in five."

"None of us would have been in that situation if you hadn't agreed to go along with that doctor's insane plan," Brannigan exploded suddenly, her shrill voice echoing up and around the walls of the corridor. "What happened down there was your fault, not mine!" Her voice echoed for a few seconds and a horrified silence descended on the group. Amber knew instantly the girl had made a mistake when Darien stopped; his whole body went rigid.

Then he wheeled around and punched her in the face.

Amber's breath caught in her throat as Brannigan was knocked flat by the force, letting out a yelp of pain and shock. She scrambled backwards, clasping her jaw with one hand, staring at Darien's wrathful form. He took a step toward her, dragged her upright by her combat vest and slammed her against the wall.

When he spoke his voice was a menacing hiss. "Listen you arrogant little white-blood, you are here to follow my orders, to the letter. Question me again, and I won't think twice about leaving you down here. Do you understand me?" Brannigan's mouth opened but she didn't answer. The veneer of insubordination fell away and she simply stared back at him, dumbstruck.

Amber looked at the others, not quite believing what she was seeing. They simply watched, impassive as their commander vented his anger. She shook her head in amazement. This had gone more than far enough. Stepping forward, she put a hand on Darien's shoulder. She could feel him trembling with rage but he relented, looking at her.

"Darien," she said softly. "Ease up. I think she gets the point. We've still got a job to do down here."

For a moment she thought he was going to hit her as well, such was the fury that shone behind his eyes. In the end, however, he gave a barely discernible nod of ascent. He released his hold on Brannigan who slumped against the wall with a gasp.

"Everyone secure your gear and move out," he growled. "I'll take point. Amber, you and Hekket keep an eye on her."

He stomped away, leaving Amber facing the shell-shocked rookie operative. She waited for a few seconds, letting the air settle before she said anything. Hekket loped over and took a quick look at the girl's eye where Darien's fist had landed. It was purpling already, but was a superficial injury.

"She's fine," he said bluntly. "C'mon, I don't want to get left behind."

"Can...can he do that?" Brannigan whispered. "He just-,"

"He's in operational command," Hekket interrupted. "He can do what he likes. And for the record, I agree with him. Now the best thing you can do is shut up, keep your head down and do exactly what he tells you. Maybe then he won't try to get your operative status revoked when we get home."
"What?!"

"Don't act so surprised."

"Hekket," Amber said sharply. "You're not helping."

"I'm just-," He stopped himself and turned his eyes skyward. "Sorry. Maybe this is a conversation for another time." Turning away he motioned with his head. "C'mon, we're still on a mission."

Amber reached forward, putting a hand on Brannigan's shoulder. "Look, I know you're angry right now, but Hekket's right. The best thing to do now is just follow your orders – go by the book, okay?"

"Doesn't seem like I have much choice," Brannigan muttered. "For what it's worth, thanks for stepping in when you did. I thought he was going to kill me."

"He's just making the point. Darien isn't a squad leader for nothing. You shouldn't question him like that, especially in front of the others. They trust his judgement and so do I."

She nodded, shouldering her carbine. Satisfied that she'd quelled the stormy waters for the moment, Amber made a quick check of her own weapon before leading Brannigan back into formation with the rest of the squad. The air around them still crackled with the tension of the earlier confrontation, but gradually the operatives' attention shifted back to their surroundings once again. This corridor had no windows – an interior passage untouched by the weight of the ocean. As they moved through it, Amber began to notice more of the strange spider-like murals carved into the towering supporting struts, less monolithic than the one engraved on the door but no less unnerving.

When they reached the end of the passage they came to a branching junction, but built into the far wall Amber saw an open doorway. When they approached it, however, she realised it wasn't another hallway. This looked more like a large elevator shaft, only there was no elevator. She moved up alongside the others and craned her neck to look out into the passage.

"We're inside the central spire," Darien said. "This shaft ought to take us straight to the main control room."

"How're we going to get up it?" Niamh asked.

Amber considered it, examining the interior of the shaft. While she couldn't see any sign of the elevator, she did see a series of staggered ledges that looked like hand and footholds built symmetrically into the walls. Each one protruded a metre out into the shaft, and their edges were lined with silver nodes that glinted in the light.

"Anyone fancy a bit of a climb?" she suggested.

"A bit?" Hekket looked dubiously at his mapper. "That shaft is two hundred meters high. And you don't want to know how deep it goes."

"Okay, it's a big climb. Niamh, you think you can manage it?"

The squad's second in command examined the ledges and gave her injured leg an experimental flex. "Yeah, I can do it."

An instant after she spoke, however, Amber heard an ominously familiar rumble from back in the bowels of the city proper. She looked back over her shoulder and took an instinctive step away from the edge.

"You hear that?" she hissed.

Brannigan leapt away from the elevator shaft as though she'd been scalded. "Another quake!"

"Everybody back off!" Darien barked. "Up against the walls and sit tight."

Amber didn't need any further urging after their last close shave. She got well away from the elevator shaft and tucked herself up against one of the wall supports, just beneath one of the monstrous spider glyphs. Then she hugged her carbine close and waited for the shock wave.

The walls shuddered as the next quake arrived. Amber swallowed a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the supporting pillar behind her vibrating under the tremendous forces. It didn't last long, but the impact was still sufficient to leave her tingling with apprehension. Fortunately the structural integrity of the current corridor seemed to be intact. Slowly the operatives of Hammerhead Squad unfurled from their respective hiding places and reassembled around the elevator shaft.

"Are you sure we should climb this thing?" Idas said, clearly not thrilled by the prospect.

"It's our best shot at getting straight up to the control room," Darien answered, craning his neck to examine the shaft again. "And we've got no idea how many more locked doors and stairways are blocking our way if we take a different route." He unslung his pack and delved inside to find a length of thin hard-nylon rope. "Everyone, break out the climbing gauntlets and tether up. Idas, you're up first. Amber, watch our backs."

Amber fastened her tether to her belt then handed Brannigan the other end. She noticed the other operative's face looked pale.

"You going to be alright?"

"I hope so."

"I'll be right behind you." She locked her Blink issue climbing gauntlets over her hands and tested the flexibility of the grasping claws. "Let's do this."