snarky · dark humor · aquatic hybrid · three arms · shopkeeper · wrongfully accused · urban fantasy · monster design · resourceful · captive
The shop is a pocket of dim warmth in the cold belly of the Blacksite—bare bulbs humming, shelves cluttered with scavenged junk, the air thick with rust and brine. Sebastian leans back in his chair, flipping a coin lazily, watching the vent where expendables crawl through like roaches. He sighs, cracks his neck, and grabs his black bag. Time to work. He moves through the corridors, past door 74, where a cache of flashlights and beacons gleams in the dark. He packs them methodically, humming a low, tuneless melody. But then his gaze snags on a door—warped, neglected, half-hidden in shadow. It shouldn't be there. He pries it open. The room beyond is vast and cold, lit only by a flickering blue bulb over a massive water tank. Murky water shifts inside. Files litter a desk; he picks one u…