Chapter IV
The Underground

Roddy awoke.

Looking about, Roddy found himself to be confined in a narrow space at the bottom of a deep, thin breach which led to the surface. He could just make out the night sky, but other than that all appeared to be dark and silent.

"Just my luck," he thought to himself. "The explosion must have opened this underground fracture beneath me, and dropped me straight into it. But then, I've already fallen ten thousand feet in various stages. Why shouldn't the universe conspire to drop me another thirty?"

Roddy attempted to climb out of the hole, but the soft earth made this impossible. He only managed to bring more dirt down upon him as his hands found nothing to support his weight.

Roddy bent down to better inspect his predicament. He was standing on solid rock, and as he felt around in the dark he soon realized he was at the end of some sort of fissure. It was damned narrow, but as he bent down to peer into it he was amazed to see a faint light. Roddy bent as low as he could, and squeezed himself into the narrow stone tunnel.

Thirty feet of anxious crawling later, the fissure began to widen. Another twenty feet and Roddy could walk. Another ten and he was standing upright as he discovered the source of the light.

Roddy pushed himself through the last narrow gap, and found himself in a long tunnel lined with walls made of cut stone blocks, like something out of a medieval tale of castles and dungeons. This tunnel appeared to be unused, possibly for centuries, but it led to another that was the source of light.

Roddy made his way quietly to the next tunnel, which crossed the first at a T-junction. This one was much the same construction as the last, except it had electric lights and wiring bolted to the ceiling. It appeared to be used for storage, as dozens of wooden crates lined its length. Each crate was marked with German writing and insignias, and Roddy would have loved to get a look at the contents, except he didn't have a crowbar. And even if he did, making a lot of noise opening boxes like it was Christmas morning didn't seem like a particularly smart idea.

Roddy explored the tunnel quickly, finding it narrowed down to an impassable gap at one end like the tunnel he had just left but led to further passageways in the other direction. He followed the winding, intersecting tunnels, looking for any way out.

As he proceeded, Roddy began to hear hints of activity ahead. Voices speaking German drifted down the corridors, possibly still several intersections further on, but Roddy realized he was going to have to come up with some kind of plan. Something better than strolling directly into a German operation in a filthy British uniform.

There is an old saying about the best laid plans. And seeing as this was hardly the best laid plan, or even a plan at all, it was hardly a shock to find it immediately went astray. Roddy was making his way down a long winding corridor as a door opened to the side, leaving him standing face to face with two German officers.

"Hier kommen!" Roddy heard one of them yell at him from behind, as he was already in motion and well on his way to the next intersecting tunnel. He was beginning to understand that 'Hier kommen' was German for 'stand still so I can shoot you better'. He made it around the corner just as the officers began to fire.

Roddy made it to the next corridor, only to find it filled with German soldiers. Their momentary confusion at finding themselves interrupted by an RAF pilot in a filthy uniform waving a gun allowed him to pull back into the previous corridor with hardly a shot fired in his direction. He immediately noticed the two officers rounding the last corner, and fired a shot to keep them back. They retreated, but Roddy assumed they hadn't gone terribly far.

Meanwhile there appeared to be a great deal of activity in the corridor ahead, although most of it seemed to be of the 'clearing out' sort, from what Roddy could hear. Suddenly there was no sound at all, which was oddly disquieting. This was followed by a single set of footsteps coming down the hall toward him.

"Time to do something really stupid," Roddy suggested to himself, realizing that one against one had to be the best odds he could hope for. Roddy led with his Webley service revolver as he rounded the corner...

A steely grip clamped down on his wrist before he even had his head around the corner, pulling him fully into the hallway to face the largest soldier he had ever seen in his life. The man must have been over seven feet tall, with shoulders as wide as a London bus. He wore only a light, short sleeve shirt with khaki trousers and enormous boots; Roddy assumed the German army had decided to salvage their clothing budget by not making him a jacket to go with.

Roddy wasted no time in using his free left hand to strike the massive jaw that stuck out above him like an overhanging concrete balcony. He might as well have punched one of the stone walls for all the good it had done – or bad, as the pain radiated down his arm. The Germanic giant simply glared at him, then threw him into a wall.

Roddy was amazed to find he still had his revolver. Recovering from his encounter with the solid stone, he raised his gun and aimed at his enormous enemy. It was only then he noticed that there was one other person in the hallway with them.

"I would not shoot him, if I were you," said the beautiful blonde woman wearing the SS officer's uniform, in a light German accent. She leaned with nonchalance against the wall, observing the battle. "That will only make him angry."

Although this advice seemed sincere, Roddy chose to ignore it as the soldier advanced on him. Roddy fired, hitting the massive man dead centre in the chest. And, as suggested, the hulking Hun simply became enraged upon finding the hole Roddy had left in his shirt.

There was no chance for a second shot as Roddy found himself lifted from the ground and his back slammed into the ceiling. He stared into the Neanderthal Nazi's angry eyes as he held Roddy above his head double-handed, pinned to the ceiling, until he found himself dashed back to the ground. Roddy was too dazed to notice that the gun had fallen from his hand before he was lifted from the floor and raised to the ceiling a second time.

The mountain of muscle threw Roddy at the ground again, but this time Roddy was prepared. Grabbing onto a pipe that was bolted to the ceiling, Roddy used the soldier's own momentum against him, swinging down and kicking out at the center of the expanse of chest before him.

The soldier stumbled back, momentarily off balance. Roddy dropped to the floor and ran at the dastardly Deutschlander, leaping and dropkicking him in the chest with both feet, knocking him to the ground. Roddy wasted no time in charging at his downed opponent.

The giant lay on the ground, temporarily stunned. A steel-toed boot to the head should have put an end to the fight, except Roddy did not get the chance. An immense hand the size of taxicab door caught his foot mid-swing, putting an end to Roddy's control of the situation. As the soldier stood he lifted Roddy by one leg, preparing to dash his head into the stone floor.

"Enough!" shouted the beautiful SS officer; Roddy had almost forgotten about her. She approached the pair of combatants, and bent down to look at Roddy as he swung upside-down.

"Now, are you ready to behave?" she asked as if speaking to a child.

Roddy was beginning to see cooperation as a definite option. As the blood rushed to his head he nodded – briefly, as he thought he might either pass out or throw up – and followed up with "Yes, behave. I'd like to do that."

The SS officer stood and addressed the soldier. "Drop him," she ordered curtly. Roddy barely had time to tuck his head before being let to fall, landing on his shoulders. As he made no attempt to escape on his long journey to a standing position, the officer dismissed the Bavarian behemoth.

"You may go, Fritz," she told him. The Teutonic terror took one last look at Roddy, then turned and left the pair alone in the corridor.

"His name is Fritz?" said Roddy. "Now he really doesn't look like a Fritz."

The woman ignored Roddy's fatuous statement.

"I am Major Valeria Engel of the SS," she introduced herself. "And you are?"

Roddy straightened himself to attention, or as close as he could get in his current bruised and battered condition.

"Flight Lieutenant Roderick Williams, serial number 32789315!" he announced, in his best name, rank and serial number tone.

"Flight Lieutenant Roderick Williams, serial number 32789315?" replied Valeria with a captivating laugh. "That's quite a mouthful." The Major then wrapped her arms around Roddy's neck, pulling him into a deep kiss.

What seemed like a very pleasant lifetime later, she released him.

"That was quite a mouthful," Roddy said.

The Major walked toward the next corridor with Roddy at her side. "Whatever are you doing here, Flight Lieutenant Roderick Williams, serial number 32789315?"

"Roddy straightened slightly. "I will not talk, Major," he replied with British stiffness.

The SS officer smiled disarmingly. "I only ask to make polite conversation," she told him. They entered another corridor where she directed two uniformed soldiers with rifles to fall in behind them. "We get so few British pilots tunneling into our underground base. And please, call me Valeria."

She noticed as Roddy scanned the area. "Please do not consider escaping," she said. "We have over one hundred soldiers in these tunnels. You will not get far."

"Any more like Fritz?" asked Roddy.

Valeria laughed. "Not yet. Currently he is one of a kind. Something of a science project. But he is impressive, is he not?"

Roddy had to admit that yes, he was impressive. "Stopping bullets was a bit of a surprise, I must say."

"He has been given a titanium breastbone," Valeria told him. "Currently this is a prototype, though. In the future we hope to replace all of a soldier's bones. Can you imagine an army of such creatures? They would be unstoppable. So you have heard of our super soldier program?"

"Only in passing," Roddy replied. "I had no idea the program was this far advanced." Roddy noted that they passed several groups of soldiers in the tunnels, going about their duties. "You say there are over a hundred soldiers stationed here? That's far more than we were led to believe."

"I suppose if you observed from the surface, you might assume the number was far less," Valeria suggested. "There are many more soldiers down here, in the passages below."

The pair and their escorts came out of the tunnel and into a wide open room which appeared to be the main base of operations. It looked like it was perhaps half military operation, half scientific laboratory, and half medical operating theatre. Doctors, soldiers, and scientists moved about the large space, poring over reports or inspecting dials on large electrical equipment. The centre of the space ominously contained what appeared to be an operating table, for purposes unknown.

"This facility is quite impressive," said Roddy. "Did you excavate it yourselves?"

"Nein," Valeria replied. "These are natural caverns that ran beneath the original castle. They were discovered centuries ago and used for many purposes. Some of them go on for miles. They can be very deep, and very dangerous. But I like danger, don't you?"

Roddy noted that one side of the enormous room appeared to be missing, and did in fact fall off into a deep, dark, possibly never-ending hole. They passed close to the edge, and Roddy peered down.

"Danger is my middle name," he quipped.

Valeria led him through the wide room, and back into more twisting tunnels. They went down a series of steps cut from the rock. Valeria slowed at the bottom as they were about to turn a corner.

"I'm afraid this is where I must leave you," she told him. As they came around the corner, Roddy realized they were in the castle dungeon.

"And here I thought we were getting on so well," Roddy suggested.

"Oh, please don't feel badly toward me," Valeria pouted. "I would love to continue our conversation, but there is no way for me to trust you, is there?"

"No, I suppose not," Roddy replied. They approached the barred cells and Roddy was surprised to see that the first three each already contained about eight or ten men, including Captain Lupei.

"Oh yes," Valeria told him. "We easily overpowered your little attack force. This base is firmly under German control, so I'm afraid you cannot expect any sort of rescue. And now I must really say auf wiedersehen."

Valeria held Roddy's shoulders, pulling him toward her and kissing him briefly. Every man in the tunnel then watched as she turned and walked to the stairs. She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Goodbye, Flight Lieutenant Roderick Danger Williams, serial number 32789315. Perhaps we shall meet again."

When the last of her hips, legs, and ankles had disappeared up the stairs, Roddy turned to his closest captor. He smiled, and tilted his head with a wink toward where Valeria had so recently stood. The soldier gave him a gritty smile in return, then hit him with the butt of his rifle.

The second soldier shouldered his weapon and pulled out the keys to the cell. The one who had hit Roddy kept his rifle pointed at the men behind the bars, forcing them against the far wall. Roddy realized that if he ended up behind that locked cell door he would be as helpless as any of the other men. If there was anything to be done, he had to do it now.

As the cell door was opened, Roddy threw himself back against the soldier behind him, pinning the man against the narrow corridor wall and holding the rifle under his arm, pointing it toward the ceiling.

The second soldier spun around at the sounds of the scuffle. As he reached for his shouldered weapon Roddy kicked him through the open cell door. Ten trained men quickly overpowered the soldier and then came to Roddy's aid.

Captain Lupei took the rifles from both soldiers, keeping one for himself and giving the second to one of his men. Roddy grabbed the large ring of keys, locking the guards in the cell before using the keys to release the others. The narrow corridor was soon filled with rebel soldiers.

"Captain," Roddy addressed Captain Lupei. "We need to either capture or destroy this facility. We need weapons. Lead your men back through the tunnels, and find the armoury."

"With pleasure, Sir!" said the Captain. He snapped a salute, then charged up the stairs with his men following. Roddy was about to join them when he heard a voice calling from the far tunnels.

"Roddy! Roddy, please!" called the small, soft voice. Roddy was mystified and so followed the voice back through the tunnels, past all the empty cells until he found a small, barred room with a single occupant.

 "Thank the heavens, you have finally arrived!" said the woman as she reached out to him through the bars. "I knew you would come for me Roddy!"

A/N: I hope that surprised you! Who could possibly be in the tunnels, and know Roddy? Any guesses? And also be sure to check out the photo I've included of Major Valeria Engel of the SS!