Marcus Fisher was a towering, and obviously, intimidating individual, at a height of just barely over seven feet. He had always been seen that way, especially at first glance. He was a perfectly fit, exceedingly large, and implausibly powerful figure of authority; be it physically or mentally. And because of this, Marcus assumed, the stranger who stood beside Ghost, eyeing him carefully and giving off the impression of slight (if not complete) fear, was didn’t feel any different than the rest. Be it intimidation, or just an awkward moment, the four people who occupied the lift area, were completely silent.
The lift was located at the top of a staircase in a three level room of the underground Chatrani complex. It was empty, except for the four, and the air was stagnant. It smelt, in the most describable way possible, like machinery, or perhaps it was just air from the surface that had seeped down through the minuscule space between the walls of the elevator shaft. It was also extremely cold, as this area wasn’t heated at all, so it only made things worse. The stranger in front of him was suffering from it and the unease of the situation very badly. Quaking from goose bumps and trying her hardest (as apparent as it was) to be quiet and as unmoving as she could, she let out a nearly inaudible sigh when his eyes moved away from hers.
Ghost stood perfectly still and impassive, a cold glare looking back at his own, as she had Evelina’s arm around her neck and held by her own, another wrapped around the dark haired woman’s waist, as she sobbed quietly into the vanilla coat of her friend. Evelina was an obvious wreck: her outfit a dirty, slightly torn, and slumping mess. Her jacket was shifted down her shoulder, the shirt beneath it folded and in need of immediate laundry, and her pants covered in dirt gained from sliding against the sides of her bike. Marcus looked her over for a minute, cursing himself in his head, and he glanced back at Ghost. He motioned his head a bit to his side, away from his shoulder, and the pale woman immediately responded by lifting the slumping girl a bit more and carrying her past his side and down the stairs. That left Marena in the company of the giant alone, and she didn’t take to that very well.
In an effort to somehow ease the eeriness of the state of affairs, he spoke calmly and quietly, extending a hand. “Marcus. And you are?”
It didn’t seem to work well, at least, immediately. She flinched, as if unsure how to act, before reaching out and shaking the waiting palm. “…Marena. My name is Marena Acanthe… Excuse me for asking, but…” Marena paused, her eyes glancing about, the location not exactly seeming luxurious, and she bit her lip lightly. “Where are we?”
”You know where we are. You’ll see it soon enough.” Letting go of her hand, he looked her over a bit more, his deep voice somehow causing her to tremble about as he spoke. It wasn’t readily noticeable, but he was doing his best to read her, at the moment. “You don’t look like one of Priest’s. You’re a hired hand.”
”…That’s right. I was hired to…”
”Do you have any weapons on you?” He cut in when she trailed off, still scanning her and the reactions she made.
”…Yeah, yeah, right here, I just-" She began to reach at her sides and he raised a hand to stop her, shaking his head.
”I know.” He smirked slightly, despite himself, and turned around, looking at her over his shoulder, intently. “Welcome to the Chatrani. You can call me the Golem.” He began to make his way down the staircase that moved down the three floors along the four walls of the room, no longer looking at her. A few moments later, Marena followed, looking about, as they trailed a good ways behind Ghost and Evelina. As they made their way to the bottom, he stopped along the edge of the stairs, looking over at a pair of double doors, before glancing back at Marena.
”I’m going to hire you. If you try anything, I’m going to kill you. But you already know that.”
She was smart enough to understand she didn’t have to acknowledge that, as she knew it instinctively. Instead, she nodded in compliance, and almost relief, before heading to the doors. “Gemini, you can call me Gemini, then.” She stood still for a moment, a hand rested on the metal, horizontal bar of the door, before pushing her way into a better lit area; the main hall of the complex, and the door slowly slid closed afterwards. Golem watched it for a second or two, before directing his attention toward the other women in a dark space against the wall furthest from the door and under a staircase.
Evelina was in the corner, utterly silent, but crying, an unending stream of tears sliding down her cheeks as Marcus witnessed weakness in her for the first time. Her hands were locked over her head, through the strands of her hair, knees brought up closely to her chest. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond, but he hated seeing her in this state; and more so, he hated why. He wasn’t about to question her about what happened out there, and he moved in close before crouching, resting a hand on her Eve’s shoulder comfortingly and leaning in close. Ghost was a foot or so at her side, standing, arms folded, and watching her friend with eyes of grief equal to that of Evelina. Her woe was from watching the girl in this broken state, and though only her eyes showed it, they usually spoke more and better than any of her words could.
Golem searched for Evelina’s eyes under a guise of tears and ebony hair. “We’re here, Evelina… We’re all here. I’m sorry.” It took a few moments for a response, but surely enough, Evelina lifted her eyes enough to acknowledge his words, before staring back down and continuing her noiseless plight of tears. His arms slowly wrapped around her in a tight enfold, and Evelina’s crying became intensely audible, sinking her head into his shoulder as he did his best to soothe her. She said nothing, and did nothing but shed tears, and he let her for a few moments, before raising his eyes to meet his other, fellow Nightrider.
Natalie was a strange woman, with a strange, but close affection for her beloved friend, and while she was seemingly motionless, her eyes were pained greatly at the sight, and she understood what he wanted. Crouching at Evelina’s side, as Marcus pulled away slowly, she held her friend tight, coming to her feet and lifting Eve with her, before slowly walking her en route to her sleeping quarters. Evelina would need rest, and to be alone.
As intimidating as Marcus was, there were moments when it did not make the difference. He found himself unable to think of a better way to help her when she needed help most. Or perhaps, she just needed to be alone.
Standing, the brutish man began to show his own weakness; ineptitude when it came to handling this situation. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes and resting a hand against his forehead, angered at himself for not going out after her tonight, angered for not knowing soon enough. But he was even more angered for not being able to help Julia that evening three days ago.
He wouldn’t let anything like that ever happen again. He wouldn’t let them lose anyone again. But now he was unsure if it was already too late save Evelina.
* * *
”Fourteen…”
”She did it inside the cathedral?”
”Priest outside.”
”Shit…. You talked to her?”
”Marena…?”
”Yeah, miss bounty hunter.”
”Yes. Evelina didn’t want to talk.”
”Look, I told you to keep a watchful eye on her. As I did, I mean, if we had both-“
Those blue eyes were numinous. They weren’t read, but everything they said spoke the truth. He had never seen Natalie without her icy contacts, and she was the type of person that you could only understand by expression and expression alone. They only made it incredibly difficult to tell if what you saw was truly what was meant, making her an emotional, perplexing enigma of a woman.
Her glare alone cut him off.
”You know as well as I do that neither of us would have stopped her.”
He was silent, and tired, so he didn’t argue. What she said was true. Had either of them had the opportunity to stop Evelina, they would have opted not to. It was just something he knew, rather than had a reason for.
”Yeah.”
They were in the north wing of the Chatrani, and it was early morning, and Golem was perpetually exhausted, having not slept in over a day. This matter hadn’t been the only problem of his as of late, and he could only hope for a break. They strolled down the long, open passage that lead to a large number of the more public facilities, rather than personal areas. The cafeteria was beyond the wall at their left, the entrance having been passed a good distance back, and the gymnasium, library, and other sections were ahead, interlocking rooms at the end. Natalie Stanford, paused, shaking her head and closing her eyes for a few long moments. Marcus also stopped in mid-stride, watching her and patiently waiting.
”I’m going to get something to eat. And watch her, and bring her food as well. Find Killswitch if you must, but she won’t take kindly to him bothering her.” She said, opening her eyes after a moment, and quickly turning away, fixing the ends of her cream shirt as she headed off.
”Rest.” She said, leaving into the opposite direction. The thought she left him with was a nice one, as rest sure sounded like a hell of a good idea. Her heels clacked in the hallway as she dashed away, and he nodded. Marcus understood what she meant by bringing him up, very well indeed. Killswitch was one of the older ones of the group, and ‘ranked’ (a term he refused to really use) higher than the rest of the Nightriders. He was a decent guy, but Evelina always seemed to have a problem with him. Chances are, he was asleep or on his ass lounging about somewhere anyway, at the moment, so it didn’t really matter.
He stopped suddenly, as he neared the end of the long passageway, and peered down at the ground. He knew his surroundings pretty well, and the deep crack in the stone floor at that ended at his side, originating from all the way beyond the door of the gymnasium, wasn’t something that had been there before. The tear in the earth was obviously very recent, and he looked back for Natalie, who had disappeared too quickly for him to question her as if she saw or heard anything. There was a light at the corner of the end of the hall that shone just fine, but beyond the closed doors of the gym, through the glass panels that showed the inside, the radiance of light inside was erratic.
Marcus gave out a deep and rugged sigh, dashing forward to see just what the hell would cause the electricity in there to flicker about. He was a pretty fast runner, physically fit as he was and all, and the gym was an area he visited frequently, and had originally put together himself. And as he burst into the door ahead of him, tired eyes scanning the environment, his fists clenched, and then loosened, as he began looking around, completely mystified.
It's a fucking warzone...
The lights were flickering because the pairings of them overhead had almost all been completely crushed by the floor. The ground of the gymnasium and risen upward, almost in a perfect, straight alignment, into the ceiling. Whatever did it, must have did the act fast, as the stone pillars had pierced the ceiling and caused a layer of it to come crushing down on the left side of the gymnasium, large sections of rock and concrete having laid waste to the workout equipment below. The entire room was still clouded by dust that had yet to settle from the continuously crumbling rocks from above, and the sparking electrical wires than hung down, the severed ends of the protruding cables popping in a haze of sparks that rained down on the rocks and torn floor below.
Marcus walked inside quickly, shielding his eyes from the fog of pungent dust that blocked him from seeing anything past the first few feet of wreckage. The large, cerulean mat that had once been used for training had shredded into ruptured pile of foam that split where the rocks protruded, now entangled in the mess of iron from the various exercise utilities. “Is anyone here? Christ… What the hell happened…?” He shouted into seemingly nothingness, his blaring and deep voice drowning out seconds later.
And there was a noise, a kind of shifting sound against the ground and a persons voice soon after. Amidst the shroud of smoke and debris, someone had been in here when this had occurred. Golem disregarded his eyes, and suddenly began moving forward, stepping past broken gravel and steel to reach what could only be a faint grunt of pain that would occasionally ring out in the distance. The gymnasium was huge, and now it was incredibly dark and tough to traverse. The noise came closer and closer, until suddenly he stumbled upon it, reaching ahead and looking through the blanket of swirling dust.
He reached out and his hands found the shoulders of a girl, who suddenly shot out of the guise of murkiness. Her eyes met his, and in them he saw what could only be total fear. And he was right, as immediately she backed away, kicking, tears streaming down her face as her back hit the wall and a hanging electrical wire continued to spark intermittently. He wasn’t sure if it was the reflection of the light, but her eyes were a deep, glimmering emerald that seemed to slowly die out and fade into azure. She stood still after a moment, and Marcus had absolutely no idea how to react.
She was a young, Chinese girl, just about the same height as the woman Gemini, from earlier. Her hair was tied back, and she had an outfit that suggestion she had been in here, working out. She looked slightly bruised, dirty, and extremely afraid. For a moment, he saw Evelina. The young girl quickly sought solace against his chest, the man who had found her, unsure of what had just happened. She was going on about it, and Marcus just stood there holding her, staring off back into the colossal devastation that had been executed on the room. She sobbed in hiccups, jolting about as she tried to find words, and he quickly began to console her, fearful of her condition after seeing the aftermath of whatever it was
”…Tell me, tell me what happened here. No, no, it’s… It’s okay… It’s….”
”I didn’t mean to, God, I didn’t mean to, please… Please believe me…”
”Didn’t mean to what? Tell me what happened- Tell. Me.”
He pulled back a bit to get a look at her eyes, and he watched her closely. She stopped crying; silence overcame her, and any sense of intimidation began to fade as she slowly recollected her thoughts and tried to find words. He continued to hold her closely, and though it only took a few moments, it seemed like an eternity before she could realize what she was to say. Swallowing hard and wiping her eyes quickly with one hand, she shakily leaned back in, on the verge of crying once more. Her voice seemed so small, but what came from it, was exceedingly intriguing, and cryptic to him.
”I-I…I…Did…This… I think… I… Did. This…”
* * *
“The king is dead! The king is dead! Long live the king!” Vesper quickly swung out of his seat, raising his arms, and aptly bowing in front of the young man. The small, wooden table, already being supported by a break pedal and an old, coverless novel, shook at the sudden movement. The chess board slid, causing some of its wooden pieces to careen off the edge, clacking against the rough concrete floor. But it didn’t matter, as it was readily apparent who won.
The Chinese-American man pranced about, going on about an unknown audience in his crazed mind cheering him through his victory, and all the while, sat Mackenzie Emmerich, watching him blankly from the seat opposite of his opponent. He ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, and gradually sighed. It was like this every time he lost, and he lost every time.
Chess was not his game, and such an anomaly confused him greatly. At the age of fifteen, Mackenzie had only known this area, Prague and the Chatrani, and was accustomed to all the people who lived there. Though a virtual outcast amongst the rest besides a few of the Nightriders, he was regarded as one the most intelligent of the people there. He was an exceptional child, to say the least, and nothing less had been expected from him, as that’s what Emmerich’s were known for: being exceptional.
In spite of this, it was fairly annoying to have everyone expect such great things because of his intellect every waking moment of his life, and ignore him where he truly wanted credibility. He was seen as perfect, and at the same time, ignored for everything beyond his I.Q. And it seemed as if everyone was quick to find faults in things he did, which only made him feel worse, at times. Not many people associated themselves with him, for one reason or another. He wasn’t necessarily eccentric, but others couldn’t relate to him all that well. It was as if his intelligence was only novel because of his age, and at the age of fifteen, it was wearing thin, and he was being left alone.
Well, Vesper was different and he could relate to the man, to an extent. Despite the fact that he always seemed to take the opportunity to exploit Mackenzie’s mental aptitude every now and then, he was a cool guy, and often times it was for his benefit. Mackenzie, over time, had grown to learn a great deal from him, and knowledge, to him, was much appreciated. But he didn’t always find himself to be pleased by it; such was the case this evening. Vesper had, once again, asked Mack to play him a game that he found excruciatingly hard to understand. Chess, a simple test of strategy and calculation that should have been easy to grasp, and while for the most part, he understood it, he wasn’t exactly good at it.
”Can’t… You just, like, say checkmate? Normal people say checkmate, Vesper. At least, that’s what I gather.” He raised an eyebrow, almost leering at the man, but there was no end to the triumphant tone in his voice.
”Nope! Where’s the fun in that? Don’t tell me you’re a sore loser now, Zero.” He lively paced about, his eyes gleaming at Mackenzie and a grin on his face from ear to ear, as he continued to rub in the pathetically quick and merciless victory. He winced at the use of his nickname, Zero, which was beginning to become another source of irritation for Mackenzie. He wasn’t sure how he had gained it, but over time, that had been what he was called, and he didn’t particularly enjoy it.
He always assumed he obtained it because Marcus once stated that Mackenzie must have thought only in code, and that all that went on in his mind was ones and zeros. Granted, as preposterous as an ideas it may have been, the moment Zero got his hands on a computer, he could do whatever he pleased. It was as if hacking was recreational for him, at times; a sort of pastime. Because of this, even though he still couldn’t win a single match at chess, the others had fun with the name, and it stuck.
Whatever the case though, and whatever Vesper was getting ready to preach, it was beginning to grate his nerves. ”I’m far from a sore loser, Vesper. It’s just not my thing, so… You can quit making a big deal out of it.” He casually stood up from his chair, stretching and stubbornly looking off to the side.
”Don’t take any offense; it just goes to show, book-smarts don’t hold a candle to skill and wisdom gained from over time. At least, not against this mechanic, but I know how much of a sore loser you can be.” He chuckled lightly and looked around; finished with the game and ready to attend to whatever he had been up to before the young teen stopped by. Zero hadn’t taken it personally, even if it peeved him: Vesper was just an incredibly fun loving guy, and was right about a few things. And Zero did hated losing, especially at a game that supposedly tests ones wits, of strategy and the mind. One would argue he should be expected to win every chance he got to play, so poking a little fun at the irony of such a thing was anticipated by the young man.
”It’s beginning to seem like more like a weekly ‘occurrence’ with you, and besides, I came here looking for spare junk, not to play board games.” He shrugged and thoughtfully tugged on the strap of his goggles, which were situated over his head and eyes, like always. Glancing about the garage and ignoring Vesper for the time being, he couldn’t help but notice how messy a condition it was in. The scene almost reminded him of his sleeping quarters, which certainly wasn’t a good thing at all.
It was more of a badly maintained storage area in vain of a junkyard, at least, the portion of it where Zero stood. He turned around, and winced, as he nearly tripped over a cracked and useless radiator parked at his feet. It was accompanied by a rather immense amount of similar second-hand goods, and he once again found himself questioning how Vesper called it a work room. The far end was in a bit better shape. The lifts that lead up to the amphitheatre lot were surrounded by all the various vehicles that had been collected or worked on, that just weren’t really in use. They were somewhat tidy, in case there was ever a need to put them to action, so the western wall didn’t look so shabby indeed.
The rest of the expansive garage was a swamp of mechanical refuse that made it near impossible to traverse. The area as a whole was a basic, yet large lot of four walls lined to the ceiling with shelves of electrical parts, scrap metal, out-dated gadgetry and the like. And of course, such a place was paradise to Vesper, being the strange little mechanic that he was. Though, Zero really had no place to argue; after all, anyone (few that they were) who ever saw where he slept, would probably go blind by the hive of computer monitors that seemed to all be in use at once, if they could somehow avoid becoming entangled in a jungle of wires and cords.
Still, had Vesper taken the time to fix up the place, it would have looked quite nice. But he wasn’t exactly a tidy looking man himself. He never dressed in anything particularly interesting, and seemed like an unkempt mess. His looks weren’t certainly one of his priorities, from what Zero had gained, and neither was the tidiness of his environment. It was making looking for a damn thing seem like an impossible chore. Eventually, Vesper spoke up, as the dirty blonde boy rummaged through a pile of materials that didn’t seem dangerously sharp or incredibly rusted. “You’ll get good at it in time, Zero, in time. There’s potential for you in everything.”
“Even the Nightriders, you think?” Lifting up a sheet of battered aluminum and examining it, he asked, before letting out a sigh.
”Hah, well… I don’t know about that, at least, not anytime soon. It isn’t the most rewarding job in the world, you know.”
Zero shook his head, once again having the feeling his age was detrimental to whatever potential he had. At this rate, a rewarding career for him would be scraping the grime off the toilet seats for the other patrons of the Chatrani. ‘Recognition would be nice. It’s not as if I need money; there’d be nowhere to spend it in ruin of a city. I really need to get out of here, but she’s not even ready yet… Kay is my ticket, though.’
It was obvious that what he needed wasn’t here, and he was becoming more anxious than ever to get back to work. Turning to Vesper, who was off in his own little world, he inquisitively grinned. “Hey Vesper, where did you find most of this stuff, anyway?”
The older man paused, and looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Hmm… Various transports, bikes and the like, just took them all apart. The useless ones, anyway; why do you ask?”
”Well… Where did you find them?”
”If you look hard enough up there, you can find anything. You’d be surprised what gets abandoned out on the surface. Now that reminds me… I need to go out to that crash site sometime this week. Didn’t you hear? Some English fool got careless and made a bit of a messy landing a good ways away from here. Probably lots to salvage, and should be okay for the time being.” He nodded, looking about for his tool set, and Zero blinked, pulling his hands away from the heap of metal before him.
”Salvage? Yeah… Yeah, I suppose. Listen, I’ll talk to you later…” He quickly got up and started heading to the exit from the garage, smirking privately. ‘He’ll salvage what he can sometime this week? That’ll take too long.’
”Oh? Well, get some rest from now on, you need to quit the late nights. You’re going to need it for when I beat you next time.” Vesper watched the kid curiously for a moment, but didn’t pay it any mind. Zero sprinted off, closing his eyes and shaking his head. ‘Rest… Hah.’
* * *
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