Democracy is Dead

Chapter Twenty Three

"You are amazing, do you know that? Amazing."

"You've definitely changed your tune since my first trip to the theatre."

He sighed. "I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you. It was unfair; we can't all be graced with my amazing worldly awareness now, can we?"

"Nor your arrogance, luckily," Athena replied, grinning.

He didn't get the chance to reply because the tube arrived; on time, for the first and only time in Athena's life. She couldn't help but sigh as she got on.

Inside, Athena could only make out glimpses of the vibrant turquoise benches which lined the tubes in between the suited commuters occupying them. There wasn't a lot of room to stand in either. Dyo led her further into the carriage, but it didn't improve and they found themselves pressed together close enough to send Athena a bright shade of fuchsia.

The Freedom Institute was six stops away and the tube only grew busier. "You'd have thought," Athena said to Dyo quietly, "that after all the technological advancements we have achieved over the past centuries, we would have managed to invent a form of transport on which all paying passengers could actually find a seat."

Dyo laughed. "Maybe you should propose a vote."

"Maybe I should." She poked her tongue out at him. "Seriously, though. That is what these companies should be worrying about - not weapons and warfare, but public transport."

"If only they would see reason!" He raised his eyebrows, shaking his head theatrically.

"Don't mock me," Athena replied with a scowl. "I mean it. There are so many important things that the votes could be changing. The system could do so much good, if it wasn't broken."

"Well," Dyo said, pressing his lips to her ear, so that only she could hear him. "It's a good job we're going to fix it then, isn't it?"

She turned her head, intending to smile at him, but her lips met with his instead. A jolt of electricity ran through her body as she stood there, holding on to him in the middle of the train.

They nearly missed their stop. If it hadn't been for the curt station announcement seconds before the doors shut, the Institute would have become a distant, hazy memory while they rode the train to the end of the line, their lips barely parting.

But they jerked apart - or as apart as they could get - at the announcement and Dyo grabbed her hand in his again, pulling her through the doors as they started to close.

They paused on the platform for a moment, breathless and laughing.

"I guess we should get going," Dyo said, his eyes locked on to hers.

"I guess we should," she replied, smiling.

"It's a shame though."

"Such a shame. Do we have to go?"

Dyo broke eye contact, sighing. "Unfortunately we do. Bree is counting on us - well, me. I didn't tell her that you would be coming. But what she doesn't know can't hurt her. Come on." With a wink he was leading her from the platform and back out into the open air.

The building towered above them across the road. It looked dark and empty.

"How are we going to get in?" Athena asked, struck by the magnitude of what Dyo was attempting to do.

"Through the front door, silly," he replied, leading her through into the lobby, where a lone receptionist still occupied her desk. The doors on either side of her were both flanked by security guards.