The Doctor Is In

The Underdwellers

   "Mr. Kaliban, would you please sit down?" I ask him, making my voice a little louder to match his.

"I will not!" he declares, clenching his bony hand into a fist.

Slowly, I begin to make my way around the table separating us, "Mr. Kaliban, what do you want?"

The lights above begin flickering again, more rapidly this time, and behind me the door rattles violently. Then, the lights begin shattering, I slide under the table and cover my head as the shards crash to the floor. The door finally bursts open and the security guard rushes in,

"Dr. K, are you alright?" he grabs my arm just as the last shards hit the ground.

I'm surprised he already knows me by name, "I'm fine, thank you."

We look around, Mr. Kaliban's vanished.

"Ugh, not again." he pulls out his walky-talky, "We've got an escaped patient in the Penitentiary, Cell Block B."

I walk over to where Mr. Kaliban just was. I lay my hands on his chair. It's warm, so mark one against him being an actual ghost.

I start walking back, when my foot catches onto a very thin string, nearly causing me to trip,

"What?"

I bend down and pick up the string. Upon reaching the floor, I realize that there are several strings lying on the ground, and even some that lead up to the ceiling. These must be what made Mr. Kaliban float in the air. The strings all seem to be pointing to the right, so they must have detached from him when he made a run for it. I follow the string and it leads me to a plain wall on the right side of the room. The door was locked when we were both in the room, and even if he had escaped through there, the security guard outside would have noticed. I start feeling around the wall until I find a slightly loose tile and push on it. The entire wall pushes back and slides away to reveal a dark staircase. I look behind me and see nobody's there. The smart thing would be to go and find a security guard to report this. I look outside and see the security guard is no where to be found. I turn back around into the office, where the staircase still sits, waiting. Would it be appropriate for me to investigate without a security guard present? I roll up one of my sleeves and carefully take my first step down. With no equipment or weapons, there's no way for me to defend myself, but it's not like I'm not already taking a risk by investigating by myself. I'm also trusting there's no traps here, because if Mr. Kaliban escaped down here so quickly and without much noise, there couldn't be any obstacles in his way. I slowly crawl deeper down the corridor, untrusting of every step. I soon begin to see a faint green glow at the end of the staircase, along with a pool of liquid. I get my first whiff of sewer stench, and my stomach and throat curl back in disgust. My foot hits the pool of liquid, soaking my shoe and giving my foot an uncomfortably damp feeling.

I look around, and see that yes, I am in the sewer passageways below the asylum. The small puddle I stepped in models as an example of the entire passageway floor that is either damp or housing puddles of various shapes and sizes. There are eerie green lights hanging from the equally damp stone walls, so at least I can watch my step. I begin walking down the path, keeping an eye out for any sign of Mr. Kaliban. Along the walls are various works of graffiti, similar to the one’s found in Gotham City. “HA HA HA” written in messily applied green paint and similarly green and messy question marks are among the few of the illustrations included. Mr. Kaliban certainly isn’t the only person who’s been using these passageways. These must be how so many Arkham patients slip in and out of the asylum so often. It’s really strange that the faculty hasn’t discovered this place yet.

There’s a turn coming up, and on the wall in the reflection of the green lanterns, I can see a shadow hunched over in the corner. I brace myself against the wall, and peer around the corner to see Mr. Kaliban hunched over a table full of scattered gadgets and mechanisms. This must be where he stashes all of his equipment.