The Underground
Year 846
The Underground
Jennifer Shepard has experienced much in her 28 years of life. Most of those experiences can be considered standard for a System Alliance N7 Operative, and others, such as the Skyllian Blitz, are things that one would only see in movies.
Her most recent experiences however are so fantastical that they would never even be the plot of the most ridiculous movies. Yet here she is, in another world about to help an inhumanly beautiful fae scope out the slums of a society that the entire world wants to exterminate. Accompanying her are the fae's human brothers, a vampire, and a mystic space monk. What has her life become?
"Are you sure it's a good idea to introduce vampires and werewolves to this world?" asks Simon, shaking Jennifer from her thoughts.
"I mean, it sounds like you have enough problems with these Titans." Simon adds, and Jennifer is willing to agree with him.
Between the Titans and the hostile nations this world seems to be full of conflict already.
"Anyone turned into a vampire or werewolf will be inducted into The Wild Hunt." Aemon replies.
The mention of The Wild Hunt causes Jennifer to raise an eyebrow. She briefly remembers something similar being mentioned in her religious history class when she was a child.
"What is The Wild Hunt?" she asks
"It's from various Northern European folklore. There's a lot of variations of it, but typically it involves a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by a ghostly or supernatural group of hunters engaged in pursuit. So basically magical/ghostly hunters led by a powerful mythological figure like Odin." explains Simon, causing Aemon to look at him questioningly.
"What? I did my research after you did your magic ritual thing. By the way I think it's awesome that you have like your personal forces of magical hunters. It's pretty badass." Simon says.
Chuckling, Aemon gives Simon an approving nod before turning to Jennifer.
"I would say that Simon oversimplified his explanation, but he did not. Through a ritual I am able to empower others in exchange for their loyalty." Aemon says.
"Wow. I don't think that the Force can do anything like that." says Anakin as they come to a stop.
"Woah." whispers Simon as they behold the sight before them.
Woah indeed. From their vantage point is a sprawling city stretching far and illuminated by countless lights in various hues of yellow, green, and blue. The buildings are well uniformed and Jennifer can clearly tell that the layout was well planned.
"King's Landing pales in comparison to this city. Aemon, are you sure that this is the slums." asks Aegon.
Aemon doesn't respond verbally, only humming what seems to be in agreement while observing the Underground. Jennifer isn't sure what he's looking at, but according to Simon faeries are easily able to see far longer than humans, even in the dark.
"Give me your coat." Aemon tells his brothers as he removes his brown coat, leaving only his white button down shirt on his chest.
As Jaehaerys and Aegon give him their coat, Aemon folds them and places them into his inventory, a feature that Jennifer is still wrapping her head around.
With that done Aemon takes out three ruby necklaces and hands them over to Anakin, Simon and her.
"These are spelled to glamor your clothes to fit in. We want to avoid the Military Police as much as possible." Aemon says as they put them on.
Seeing nothing different with her armor, Jennifer looks up, only to be surprised when she finds Anakin and Simon wearing matching attires.
"From your perspective your clothes will remain the same, but anyone else will see you wearing the same clothes as I." Aemon explains
"Cool, but how do we get down? I think whoever gave you directions messed up a bit." says Simon as he looks over the ledge.
"There is no error." Jaehaerys says. "This path was specifically chosen to avoid the Military Police. Any proper path down would be guarded, and we're currently avoiding the Military Police."
"Why?" asks Anakin, but Jennifer can hazard a guess as to why.
"Because the Military Police is who Aemon is preparing himself for." Jennifer says.
"A subdivision of the Military Police, the Anti-Personnel Control Squad. They answer only to the Crown and will commit any action to maintain the status quo." Aemon elaborates.
"And that's bad?" asks Anakin.
"Paradis' current situation is critical. If the status quo remains as is then everyone on this island will perish before they see another decade." Aegon explains, causing Aemon to look at him as if he were impressed. "I was the Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms, politics is politics regardless of the world."
"Fair." replies Aemon with a chuckle before turning to Jennifer. "Can you survive the jump?" he asks.
With a raised eyebrow Jennifer walks to the ledge and wordlessly jumps off.
As she plummets to the ground she cannot help but chuckle when she hears Simon exclaim "Dude, she jumped!"
The fall down is slightly shorter than she imagines, making her landing just a bit rougher than she would and forcing her to roll in order to drain the excess energy.
Soon after she rights herself Aegon and Jaehaerys land near her, rolling once or twice more than her before coming to a stop.
Anakin's landing slightly catches her by surprise as he plummets towards them before extending his hand downwards and a force slightly pushes him back up before he lightly lands on his feet.
"Simon doesn't want to jump." says Anakin as they look up to see Simon arguing with Aemon.
Even from her position Jennifer can feel Aemon's exasperation.
"He's going to throw him." she remarks as Aemon grabs Simon by his collar and tosses him over the ledge before jumping.
"Aaaaaa!" screams Simon as he falls before abruptly crashing on the ground, making Jennifer wince. If he wasn't a vampire he would need a full body cast.
"Get up Simon." says Aemon as he lightly lands on his feet without making a sound.
"Ooh." Simon whines as he turns onto his stomach before pushing himself up.
"Was that necessary?" Jennifer asks.
"He's a vampire. He will be fine." Aemon replies.
"Maybe, but he hasn't been a vampire long enough to be used to these types of things." Jennifer says.
"All the more reason." Aemon responds, causing her to sigh.
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…
For a slum the Underground is not as filthy as one would expect, and despite being under the sewers there is a distinct lack of sewage to be found other than the occasional dirty puddle.
The same can't be said for the people unfortunately. Most of them seem to suffer from an illness that makes their legs weak, brittle, and barely able to walk. Those that can walk seem to resort to prostitution or crime to survive. The last group of people that they seem to encounter in the Underground are merchants who profit from the people's suffering with ridiculous prices for even a single apple.
Seeing all this Anakin feels rage build within himself, but quickly tries to suppress it.
"There is no emotion, there is peace." Anakin whispers to himself. "There is no emotion, there is peace." he repeats like a mantra, only to stop when he feels Simon elbow him.
"Don't suppress your emotions, it's not healthy for your mind." Simon tells him. "Humans are supposed to feel their emotions. If you see something like this and don't feel angry then something might be wrong with you." Simon says.
"The Jedi code preaches peace above emotions." Anakin replies.
"Maybe it's trying to tell you to be in control and at peace even though you feel emotions like rage." Simon speculates.
"Maybe." Anakin replies.
That seems more plausible than suppressing your emotions. Maybe that's what Yoda has been trying to tell him, then again he can't be sure since Yoda's wisdom has always been cryptic.
"Jennifer, as a soldier how do you deal with all the emotions that come with the job?" Simon asks.
"Every soldier I know has a method to decompress and therapeutically deal with whatever negative emotions we feel from a mission, some spend quality time with their families, others keep a journal, but mine is listening to music." Jennifer answers before looking at Aemon. "What about you Aemon? I can tell that you and your brothers have seen war." She says.
"I paint." replies Aemon, surprising the group, none more so than Aegon and Jaehaerys by the looks of it.
"Whenever my emotions feel overwhelming, I take a blank canvas and mindlessly pour out my emotions onto it. I have not done so in years in all honesty." Aemon elaborates before looking at Jaehaerys.
"Rhaenys keeps me grounded well enough." says Jaehaerys, receiving a nod of agreement from Aegon.
"You just need to find your own way to deal with it." Jennifer speculates.
The rest of the walk is spent in silence as they observe the Underground and its suffering people. Eventually they arrive at what seems to be a makeshift market with merchants filling stalls and attempting to sell their wares.
Before they can truly enter the marketplace, screaming draws their attention to the air as a young man only a year or two younger than Anakin hurdles through the air with a contraption Anakin has never seen before. Chasing are a group of 15 men and women wearing a green cloak with a horned horse emblem on the back over the same uniform as Aemon.
"That's the Military Police." Aemon comments as they watch them violently chase the young man.
"What is that contraption?" asks Jennifer.
"The omni-directional mobility gear, or ODM for short. Equipment developed by humans that allows great mobility when facing the Titans in combat. It allows the user to fight in a 3D space as opposed to a 2D one. Highly regulated and almost impossible for anyone outside of the military to not only obtain, but also use effectively." Aemon explains.
"How would a criminal, of the Underground no less, be able to obtain one and effectively use it to evade highly trained military officials?" Jaehaerys asks.
"Let's find out." Aemon says as he leaps two stories onto the roof of a building and launches himself towards the chase faster than many Force enhanced Jedi Anakin has seen.
No one to be left out of the action, Anakin swiftly follows suit, barely able to catch up with Aemon.
It doesn't take them long to find where the chase ended up and they quickly perch themselves on the rooftop over the alleyway where the young man is cornered.
"This wasn't the deal, Minister Klein promised us citizenship." the young man says through gritted teeth.
"Ah, but he never promised that you would live long enough to use it." replies the man who leads the squad of Military Police officers.
"Here." he says as he retrieves a folded piece of paper from his coat and tosses it at the young man's feet.
"He promised." the despairing young man repeats.
"Tough luck kid." the man says with a shrug as he draws a blade from his ODM gear.
Before he can kill the young man, Aemon silently appears before him like a shadow, slicing his sword through the officer's neck. Before the remaining officers can react Anakin and the others quickly fall upon them and within the blink of an eye only the young man, Aemon and his companions remain living in the alley.
"How are you?" Aemon asks the awestruck boy as he flicks the blood off his blade before sheathing it.
As the young boy makes to answer he's interrupted by the sound of Simon vomiting from his position on the rooftops, where he remained during the slaughter.
"Better than him." replies the boy as he points at Simon, eliciting a chuckle from Aemon before he turns to Simon only to see that Jennifer is already attending to him.
"Why were they chasing you?" Anakin asks the boy.
The boy hesitantly looks at Anakin and Aemon before glancing towards the dead Military Police officers and choosing to cooperate.
"Minister Klein hired me to steal something for him. If I did, me and my crew get citizenship. Obviously that didn't happen." he says as he points to the dead bodies.
"What did he want you to steal?" Aemon asks.
"Some file one of his rivals got his hands on." the boy replies with a shrug. "We jacked the file, made it to the meeting point and instead of citizenship the fucking MP tries to kill us. Dumbasses didn't even realize that the folder was a dud." the boy says with a chuckle as he kicks the lead officer's corpse in the head.
"You gave them a false file?" asks Aegon, sounding impressed.
"Of course. I'm young, not stupid." the boy answers with a glare. "Now, if you want anything else it's gonna cost you." he tells them with a smirk.
"You are quite bold, and shrewd. I like it." Aemon tells the boy with a smile as he crouches in front of him. "In exchange for this file and your loyalty, I will sponsor you and your crew's move above ground." Aemon says as he offers his hand to the boy.
The boy regards Aemon with narrowed eyes, doing nothing to hide his suspicion.
"What does that mean?" the boy asks.
"It means that I will give you a place to live and train you, and in exchange you and your crew will fight for me." Aemon explains.
For a brief moment the boy seems to want to refuse, only to glance at the alley, the ceiling of the Underground, and the dead police officers before shaking Aemon's hand.
"My name is Johan and if you ever betray us, I'll kill you." the boy tells Aemon with a glare before releasing his hand.
"I like him." says Aegon with a chuckle as he ruffle's the boy's hair despite his protest.
"Children? That's who you're recruiting to join your forces?" asks Jennifer with glare.
"He has seen at least six and ten name days, he is a man grown." Aemon replies.
"Sixteen. Sixteen! And you don't see the problem with that?" exclaims Jennifer.
"Six and ten is grown. I was hardly a year older when I commanded my first battle." Jaehaerys says with furrowed eyebrows.
"What is the matter, Lady Jennifer?" Aegon asks, equally perplexed as his brothers. "I too killed my first man at seven and ten."
With wide eyes Jennifer turns to Anakin for support only to find that he too is confused. With no other choice she turns to Simon.
"Hey, don't look at me. As far as this is concerned I'm a pacifist. I don't think anyone should have to kill." he says with a shake of his head.
"Fine." says Jennifer as she walks away, her shoulders raised and her posture stiff.
"What's wrong with her?" asks Johan, receiving only looks of confusion from the entire group save for Simon who simply sighs in exasperation.
As they leave the alley, none notice the group of Hassans that appear, taking the corpses and silently disappearing.
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Author's Note: Here's the newest chapter. Tell me what you guys think.