The Underworld

"So you say the best entrance that we can currently use is here?" A young male voice asked doubtfully.

"Yes kid, now shut it and let me remember the access point!" An old hoarse voice replied in agitated as it urged the owner of the younger voice.

The two as guessed were Hugo and Sticky Joe, after a 45-minute ride they came to a place Hugo had doubts and suspicion about, and the place was one of the walls of Iron city.

No one knows why but the walls were made of water, about 40 feet tall, extremely high pressure thick water walls. He remembers seeing them in the movie but being here in front of them felt surreal.

'Who the hell decides that it was a great idea to turn water in a wall, I think the water nations in Avatar would love this tech, I wonder if I can go there some day with my dimensional travel as well as other dimensions and realities. Which beauties and things will I see and enjoy out there?' Hugo thought longingly.

"Ah! Found it! Hey!? Kid stop day dreaming and give this old man a hand here!" The hoarse shout of Sticky brought Hugo out of his thoughts back in reality.

Old Sticky was trying to move a boulder that was as tall as him and about a meter wide, but since it was heavy he called for Hugo for his help. Dismounting off his bike, he was next to the old man and gave him a hand. The thing was so damn heavy that they were straining hard, Hugo could even hear the stress in the cybernetics of the old man.

"Damn it! Old man, how much more do we have to push this thing!?" Asked Hugo while gritting his teeth as he pushed. He dug deep just to have it wiggle slightly.

"Aghh! Quiet kid! This is to help you, now push it a little more we are almost there!!" Urged the old man in an equally strained voice.

Digging his heels in the ground, Hugo gave one more push and held it there. Just as he was thinking about how much more to put in with his already tapped out strength, a loud click reached his ears. The it was followed by a rumble as if a large door was being opened.

"Haah! Haah! We did it kid, now let's get a move on before it retracts!" The old man said as he moved quickly towards his bike.

Hugo moved as well after seeing the old man's hast. Following Sticky he finally saw the gates that he had heard opening, they were not far away from the boulder. From the street road a large hatch opened up with an inclined ramp for vehicles, and revealed a dark passage, it was as sinister as the true road to the Underworld itself.

His guide had turned on his light on the bike, and Hugo did the same as well before plunging in the darkness itself with the only source of light being both their lights.

There was a loud rumble again, the same one he had heard when pushing the boulder and thus Hugo didn't bother turning around as he knew that it must be closing bringing up the reason why the old man was in such a haste.

Soon the surroundings began to brighten up, and Hugo could finally see his surroundings, though not far. The path they were on was flat and straight like a tunnel and two trucks could travel side to side with slight space to maneuver, a few broken pieces of rocks and rubble were at the sides, some had fallen from the top, this were the sources of light in this dark place.

The engines of their bikes echoed in this passage, as they rode in silence. Each one on guard against anything that could ambush them down here. And not to mention that they hadn't even reached the actual underworld yet. 10 minutes and they reached an intersection, there old Sticky slowed down and came to a halt and got of his bike, he gestured for Hugo to do the same.

"From here onward we go by foot." He told his young companion.

Nodding in understanding, Hugo got off as well. He first checked his gear and equipment? Noticing things were in place he took his staff in his hands. And hid his bike behind a large rock and covered it with a large clothe his pulled out of his bag. Sure it might not work, but it was better than nothing, besides he would track it down once he returns.

Turning around he couldn't find the old rusty, dusty and musty bike. He looked around for a bit and still couldn't locate the old thing, it was as if it had blended with the surroundings. Sticky chuckled as he noticed the look of confusion on Hugo.

"Ehehe! When live as old as me, you pick up a lot of tricks and skills." He merrily laughed as he vaguely explained. Hugo just shook his head at this and decided it was best if he didn't even bother to ask as he knew this old man would not give him any advice and knowledge for free.

The walk was silent, as their flash lights did their best to give enough light on the surroundings so as not to get hurt by falling in a hole of stepping on a sharp metal or anything of the sort.

After an uneventful trip, which Hugo was happy for, what he also noticed was that the deeper they walked in the shabbier and old the surroundings looked. There were increasing signs of damage and wear at every place he looked.

Sticky stopped at an entrance that had only security bars as its door, he reached out with his cybernetic hand and pulled it open. It seemed like it wasn't even locked, they then proceeded to a little longer.

"Turn off you light!" The old man said, as he also cut his. Hugo was puzzled but none the less did as instructed. When he did, he could see a little light up ahead, frowning he pocketed his flash light and dropped the little red cylinder in his hands and hid that hand behind his back. In the other hand he reached for his staff and gripped it tightly. he looked over to Sticky and noticed that his expression was calm, but Hugo was not willing to bet on another as trust was a dangerous thing here in Iron city.

Sticky noticed the staff, and gave the young man a mental nod at his vigilance. Soon they were out of the corridor and Hugo beheld the wreckage that was the underworld!

"This here kid is the underworld. The path we had taken is not known to many, only those that had been in Iron city for centuries know about it, from here onwards we descend." Old Sticky gave a quick introduction and explanation. Hugo just nodded and looked down.

Where they stood was about a good 10 meters from the bottom, down there was rubble from broken walls, old large metal parts and glass, looking a bit further he saw that the ground he was looking at before just now was nothing but a piece, like an island, he could see under the dim lighting coming from above them that there were a few more islands below this one or others at the same level at it but a bit further away.

One shouldn't assume that these islands were small, no, in fact some were as large as football field, like the one he was looking at below him.

"Alright kid, I'll see you down!" Sticky said before jumping down!

He landed with a thud on his two cybernetic legs as he lowered his body to absorb the shock, he straightened up and dusted his hands and looked up to Hugo, and gestured with his still human hand for him to get down.

Hugo just nodded, he looked around for a place to climb down. 10 meters was pretty high, and he had normal human flesh. He wasn't going to jump at all. Who knew what kind of sharp things were in that rubble, plus if he got injured this soon, if trouble came he would be easy pickings for some of these savages.

He found an old but still strong concrete block that was pretty tall, below it was a large metal gear that was slightly shorter. Seeing this he took it, he leaped towards the block as it was a few feet away, he stopped to stabilize before climbing down towards the old rusted gear and with a jump he was on the ground.

"Nice thinking there, kid, I thought you were going to jump for a second." Sticky said with a chuckle sarcastically.

"I was tempted, but I kind of love the current rearrangement of my bones, so I'll hold off such thought for now." He replied with equal sarcasm, though he was truthful about leaping off high places once he got out of here.

They then started their walk, they would reach places that were the end of these islands before descending down. It seemed like Sticky knew the best places to descend from, Hugo was very glad at that moment for having him here. A few hours passed like this, and they decided to have a small break for snacks, Hugo took out his flat cakes and ate them. Sticky took out a what seemed like canned meat.

Having been feed and water as well as slightly rested they got up again, the entire trip was in silence. No one said anything, nor did they want to. It was like an unvoiced agreement, Sticky was glad too that Hugo was not one that talked or asked questions, it was as if he wanted to be brought there and be done with him. Sticky liked such arrangements, made it easier not to get involved with whatever Hugo was up to.

After descending three more islands, where the light got even dim, they stopped. They stood on an island that was bigger than the ones that Hugo saw before, it even had a few rundown houses, and buildings. Other than that it was the same as the ones above it.

"We are here kid, this is the mark we agreed on, now give me credits and we will complete our transaction." Said Sticky as he pulled out a device that showed how far they had really gone.

Hugo pulled out a similar one and nodded as well, he then reached inside his bag and drew out a small sack which he threw towards Sticky who caught it easily in his cybernetic hand. He then opened it and counted quickly, nodding he then turned around without even saying goodbye.

Hugo saw this and just shrugged, then he too turned around and walked in a random direction. But then he stopped as Sticky's voice called out to him.

"Hey kid, don't go that way, there is a died end there, nothing but a bottomless drop that no one come out from. Head this way, you will be able to reach a spot after an hours walk it will lead you a good kilometer down before getting to a place that is hard to go down but even harder to get out from." Sticky couldn't even believe that he turned around and gave advice to the kid, this was unlike him. Maybe it was that he got paid as promised for the first time in a long while, or that he liked Hugo's character he didn't know but he still gave it anyways.

Hugo looked at where Sticky was pointing him to go, he nodded a thanks and took out another stack from his back pocket and threw it to him.

"Thanks again old man, take care." He walked towards the direction he had been advised to go, Sticky caught it and nodded as well and walked away as well.

Hugo then stopped and headed back in the direction he had originally been walking in before Sticky told him to change course after seeing that Sticky was out of sight. It didn't mean that he didn't take Sticky's advice, it was that he wanted to see for himself if it was actually true. He was just following up to his own thoughts earlier, and that was;

Never trust anyone in Iron city.