The creature dragged the plastic container across the concrete, stopping each time the handle caught in a seam. Halden tapped a second container farther down the passage. The animal lifted its head and followed the sound.
“Clear of the pipe,” Sera said.
Kellan checked the wedge behind the barrier. Eli placed both hands on its frame. Valea and Orrin waited with the net gathered between them. Davin stood near the maintenance exit, where he could reach either team without blocking the route.
The creature nudged the bait past the marked line. Its tail cleared the last pipe support. Kellan stepped away from the barrier and gave Eli a short nod.
“Ready.”
Halden tapped once more. The animal lunged toward the sound. Its shoulder struck the panel. Eli activated Anchor.
The pressure settled behind his ribs, familiar now but never comfortable. The panel held against the impact. The creature recoiled, claws scraping. Valea and Orrin stepped around opposite sides and pulled the net closed. One weighted edge snagged on the barrier foot; Orrin dropped to a knee and freed it before the animal could reach the gap.
“Two seconds,” Sera called.
Eli felt the hold strain as the creature struck again. “Releasing.”
Kellan pushed the wedge into place with his boot. Eli let go of the talent. The panel shifted against the brace but stayed upright. Valea drew the net tight while Orrin secured the lower edge to a ring in the floor.
The creature rolled, tangled itself further and made a sharp clicking noise. Its tail struck the concrete rather than the pipe. Davin approached with a short restraint pole, keeping its end away from the animal’s mouth.
“Can we get a box around it?” he asked.
Halden brought a ventilated equipment crate. Its lid had a damaged latch, so Kellan replaced it with a strap from the team’s supply bag. They eased the netted animal inside without placing hands beneath its teeth. The creature struck the side once, then settled into a corner, breathing quickly.
Eli leaned against the wall. A sharp pressure lingered behind his eyes. He checked the time and told Tessa when he had released the hold. The unfamiliar irritation he had felt during earlier training did not arrive immediately. That did not mean it would not arrive later, so he remained clear while the others moved the crate.
Tessa checked Orrin’s bandaged hand and asked Eli whether he was dizzy. He said no. She looked at the barrier and the secured wedge before letting anyone pass it.
“Is the valve safe?” Davin asked.
Halden went to the bypass and turned the wheel back to its marked position. The mechanical gauge settled. He inspected the cable the creature had pulled; its outer covering was damaged, but the connection remained intact. He called a maintenance worker to replace it before the alarm circuit was restored.
The city desk sent a government biologist to assess the captured animal. She arrived twenty minutes later with a hard case, a transport carrier and a colleague in protective clothing. Her name was Dr. Imani Cho. She did not approach the crate until Halden explained where it had been found and what equipment it had touched.
“Any bites?” she asked.
“No,” Tessa said. “One hunter cut his hand on a cable cover before the animal reached him.”
“Any contact with the water?”
“Not observed. It was near the controls and a pipe support. A technician is collecting samples.”
Cho knelt beside the crate and looked through the ventilation slots. The creature clicked at her. She clicked her tongue once in reply, then shook her head at her own impulse.
“Probably not useful,” she said.
Orrin smiled. “It answered you.”
“It clicked because I got close. I wouldn’t call that a conversation yet.”
She asked the team to describe its movements. Sera explained how the current had shifted as the animal moved, and Halden described the valve and cable. Eli added the reaction to tapping and the dropped tool. Cho recorded each observation with the name of the person who had seen it.
“I’d like to take it alive,” she said. “The holding facility can isolate the carrier and monitor its behavior. The city offers a modest payment for a documented transfer.”
Davin looked at the crate. “The bounty is for removal or containment. Killing it gives us a clear result.”
“Capturing it alive can satisfy the removal requirement,” Cho said. “I’ll sign for the transfer and provide the city with the record.”
“What happens if it gets out?” Valea asked.
“We use a double enclosure and a monitored room. I can’t promise no containment system ever fails. I can tell you this carrier is rated for the animal’s observed size and strength, and the facility has handled comparable specimens.”
Eli crouched beside the crate, staying outside the reach of the ventilation slots. The creature’s eye appeared between the bars. It watched him, then moved away from the light.
“What can you learn about the water?” he asked.
“Potentially whether it carries or produces anything that affects the system. We can examine material from its skin and the carrier. That won’t replace water tests, and a clean result from the animal won’t explain every symptom reported by workers.”
“Can you keep it without taking it through the neighborhood?”
“The transport route goes around the residential block. The vehicle has a secured enclosure.”
Orrin looked at Davin. “We caught it. I’d rather not kill it if the city accepts the transfer.”
Valea nodded. “It didn’t attack until we startled it.”
Davin studied the animal. “If the city refuses the bounty because we handed it to you, who pays my team?”
Cho called the city desk on speaker. The official confirmed that a documented transfer to the government facility counted as removal under the posted terms, subject to the report. Davin asked for the confirmation in writing. The official sent a message with the assignment number and the condition that the gate itself still required assessment.
“That’s enough for me,” Davin said.
Cho and her colleague brought the carrier alongside the crate. They checked the latches, then opened a narrow passage between the two enclosures. The animal refused to move. Halden placed the bait container at the far end of the carrier and tapped it gently.
The creature remained in its corner. Orrin suggested turning off the nearest lamp. Cho agreed. In the dimmer light, the animal crept through the opening and into the carrier. Her colleague closed the internal door; Cho checked it twice and secured the outer latch.
“Please record the time,” she said.
Sera wrote it in her notebook. Tessa listed the people who had handled the crate and asked whether they should wash or change equipment before returning to the clinic. Cho gave a decontamination procedure appropriate to the known contact and said anyone with symptoms should report them to a clinician. She did not claim the animal was harmless.
The transport team loaded the carrier onto a cart. As it passed the maintenance exit, the creature struck the side again. The cart rocked. Orrin caught the handle while Cho’s colleague steadied the carrier.
“That’s why we didn’t carry it by hand,” she said.
They secured it to the cart and continued. Outside, the second bounty team watched from behind the gate. One hunter called that they could have killed the animal in half the time. Davin did not answer. He handed the city official the transfer confirmation and pointed out the damaged cable that still needed repair.
Before the transport vehicle departed, Cho asked Halden to identify the exact section of cable the creature had touched. He led her to the annex entrance and pointed it out from a safe distance. Her colleague photographed the damaged covering beside a scale and recorded the location without moving the cable.
“Will you take it?” Halden asked.
“Only after your electrician makes it safe. A sample from the surface may help us compare residues, but I don’t want to interrupt an active system.”
The electrician arrived with insulated tools and a replacement lead. He isolated the circuit, removed the damaged section and sealed it in a labeled bag for Cho’s colleague. Halden checked the mechanical gauge throughout the work. When the new cable was fitted, the alarm panel showed the bypass position correctly.
Cho wrote the transfer time for the cable separately from the animal. “If we find something on this, we’ll need to know where it was and who handled it.”
Eli remembered the creature taking the cable in its teeth. He described that moment again, including the fact that he had not seen it bite through the covering. Cho asked whether the animal had touched the water itself. He said he had not seen it do so. She thanked him and placed the sealed bag inside a second container for transport.
The hunters took off their gloves at the designated station. Eli washed his hands and face, then checked his notebook. He had felt no new fragment since releasing Anchor, only fatigue. He wrote the time, the brief hold and the absence of an obvious symptom. Tessa reminded him that absence at that moment did not guarantee a later symptom; he put the notebook away before the conversation could become another exercise.
A facility worker approached Halden, holding his stomach. He said he had felt nauseated since the previous evening and had come in because he could not afford to miss a shift. Another worker, hearing him, said she had been sick that morning. Halden asked whether both had worked near the annex.
“I haven’t been in there this week,” the woman said. “I work the upstream station.”
Tessa moved them to the shaded side of the yard and assessed their immediate needs. One was alert and able to answer questions; the other had become pale and was struggling to remain upright. Tessa called for an ambulance and gave the dispatcher the symptoms and location. She did not assume the gate or the creature had caused either illness.
Davin offered a vehicle. “It’ll be faster than waiting.”
“The dispatcher is sending an ambulance,” Tessa said. “Keep the lane open. We may need your vehicle for the other worker after assessment.”
The worker who had felt sick the previous evening sat on the curb. He was angry with himself for coming in and angrier when Halden asked why he had not reported the symptoms.
“Because the last time I missed a shift, payroll made me wait two weeks to correct it.”
Halden crouched beside him. “I’m asking because we need to know who else might be affected.”
“Then ask payroll why people keep coming in sick.”
The ambulance arrived. Tessa gave the paramedics the timeline the worker had provided and the list of known exposures, including the uncertainty about the gate. The paramedics took the more seriously affected worker to the hospital. The other agreed to contact his clinician and wait with a colleague rather than return immediately to work.
Cho paused beside the transport vehicle. “The animal is contained. The gate still needs inspection, and the water samples need testing. Don’t let anyone treat this as an all-clear.”
Halden nodded. He called the utility office and reported the illness without naming a cause. The technician sealed the collected samples and recorded the points and times. More samples would be needed upstream and downstream if the hospital or utility requested them.
Davin signed the transfer form and handed Eli the independent team’s copy. “The city will process the inspection fee and the share after the report.”
“Thank you,” Eli said.
Davin glanced toward the departing ambulance. “I thought we were here for a creature.”
“So did I,” Eli replied.
At the clinic, Leah had already received calls from two waterworks employees asking whether they could be seen. Tessa checked the remaining appointment space and called Marisol for help. The team’s successful capture had not stopped the calls. A worker was on the way to hospital, others were feeling ill, and the sealed samples had not yet been tested.
Eli put the transfer form in the folder and helped Leah move chairs into the waiting area. He left a wide path to the door for anyone who needed to be carried out. Outside, the transport vehicle took the captured creature toward the government facility while the first patient arrived at the clinic holding a hand against her stomach.