THE LUKA URBAN ESTATE ATTACKED BY DEPENDENCY.
By L.M.Taurus
9/30/0028 UWC
15 hours before headline
Luka was in his workshop as he finished building his version of an arm-cannon. "It's done," he said.
"Let me see," said Arlo, walking up behind Luka.
"It's just a prototype," said Luka as Arlo took it off his hands. "It's not going to work for everyone."
"Who will it work for?"
"Us two," answered Luka as Arlo tried to strap the arm-cannon on. Luka pushed Arlo's arm away. "Careful where you aim that."
Arlo saw a target at the end of the hall and aimed at it. He blasted the cannon and his arm flew back, causing him to fall on his butt. The blast took out the target and the wall behind it. "This thing has quite a kick to it."
"It's meant to be used outside," said Luka, who had his arms crossed.
Arlo pulled the arm-cannon off his arm. "Then why do you have a target in your workshop?"
"That was a movie poster of Robin Hood."
Arlo got on his feet. "Oops," he handed the arm-cannon back to Luka. "Sorry about that."
"You're going to pay for the renovations."
"Yeah, I got you covered."
"What are you boys doing?" asked Julia, who stood at the doorway.
"Arlo got a little ahead of himself," said Luka as he set the arm-cannon on the workbench.
Julia went to the hole on the wall. "The arm-cannon did this?"
"You told her about the arm-cannon?" whispered Arlo. "And why is she here. You should have sent her away today."
"I can protect her," whispered Luka.
"What are you two whispering about?" asked Julia.
"I was just wondering why a civilian knows military secrets," said Arlo.
"Yeah, there's little Luka can hide from me," said Julia as she walked over to Luka and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She grabbed the arm-cannon. "Can I give it a shot?"
"Absolutely not," said Arlo as he took the arm-cannon away. "You shouldn't even know this exists."
The doorbell rang. "Are we expecting someone today?" asked Julia.
"I don't think so," said Luka. "Put the arm in the vault over there," he said as he pointed under the workbench and walked inside his house. Julia followed him. "Stay back."
"Why?" asked Julia. "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm not sure," said Luka as they reached the entrance. "Cairo was attacked. I don't want this to be something similar."
Julia stayed behind as Luka looked through the peephole. Arlo joined them after he secured the arm-cannon.
"Shit," said Luka as he pulled away.
"Should I get my armor?" asked Arlo.
"No," said Luka as he opened the door. "What are you doing here?" he asked his ex, Ruby Patel.
"Is that how you greet me now," she said as she entered the house. She saw Arlo and Julia in the back. "Hello Prince Arlo."
"Ruby," he replied.
"Again," said Luka. "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to check how you were doing," answered Ruby. "I heard some of your friends had gotten hurt and I wanted to make sure you were fine. The media hasn't mentioned you in a while, so I was worried." Ruby stared at Julia who looked at her in confusion.
"You were worried about me?" asked Luka.
"Of course I was. Now can you stop being so rude and introduce me to your friend."
Arlo laughed. "I got this. Julia, this is Luka's ex-girlfriend, Ruby Patel. Ruby, this is Luka's upgrade, Julia Cabrera."
"Arlo!" exclaimed Luka.
Ruby walked over to Julia and after a moment, she smiled at her and offered her hand. "It's nice to meet you. You can call me Ruby and ignore the fact I'm Luka's ex."
Julia shook her hand as she observed how elegant Ruby was dressed. "Nice to meet you. You can ignore the upgrade comment."
"You're very pretty. I can see why Luka likes you. He always liked pretty things." She looked back at Luka. "Good job. I hope you do a better job of keeping this one."
Luka put a nervous hand on the back of his head. "Is that all you're here for?"
Ruby faced towards Luka, standing in front of Julia and blocking his view of her. "I was hoping to catch up with you. It's been a long time."
"It's been almost two years," said Luka.
"So there must be a lot to catch up with. We can start with how you met this beautiful thing," she said as she looked back at Julia.
"I don't know," said Luka.
"Don't be rude," said Julia. "Follow me, we can talk in the dining room."
"Luka was never great with house etiquette," said Ruby as she followed Julia to the dining room.
Luka went over to Arlo. "I don't know what's going on."
"It's not good," said Arlo. "I'll tell you that. You shouldn't let those two stay alone for long. I'm afraid Ruby will devour her alive."
Luka went to the dining room where he found the girls sitting.
"Have you two kept in touch over the years?" asked Julia.
"Sadly no," answered Ruby. "Luka and I had a bit of an ugly break up. I don't know if you heard about it. It was in the media and everything."
"No, I didn't," said Julia. "We don't have TVs in my part of the world."
"And where's that? Mexico?"
"Cuba."
"You're from Cuba. I really thought you would have been from Mexico considering what's going on between the world military leaders and that country. It would have made sense if you met there."
"I've stayed out of that mess," said Luka. "I've had more pressing things than Mexico's issues."
"I can imagine," said Ruby. "You're the engineer of the world military leaders. I'm sure you have a lot of work that's behind the scenes. I remember how important your role in the world is." She turned her attention to Julia. "You're a lucky woman to have such a leader as your man. I hope you know that."
"I know more than you can imagine."
"Now tell me," said Ruby as she crossed her legs. "How did you two meet?"
Luka hesitated, but took a step forward as Arlo entered the room. "We met at a club. I noticed Julia dancing and she had me entranced. I couldn't keep my eyes off her," as he said these words, he stared at Julia. "I never believed in love at first sight until that moment. I had to meet her, but I struggled to build up the nerve."
"You were always shy," said Ruby, letting a frown slip by her face. "I'm guessing you build up the nerve?"
"No," answered Luka. "Arlo noticed I was interested and approached her on my behalf without my consent. Usually I would have been angry, but he introduced us."
"And you were okay with your introduction?" Ruby asked Julia.
Julia smiled at Luka. "I don't remember. All I remember now is how charming he was. If you can believe it, he invited me over to his hotel room."
"Now that is surprising," said Ruby as she looked at Luka. She returned her attention to Julia. "And you said yes?" she asked, sounding judgmental.
"Nope," said Julia. "I invited him to my room that just so happened to be in the same hotel." Julia and Luka shared a smile.
"Did this fate of meetings happen in Cuba?"
"No, it happened at a club by our main headquarters," said Luka.
"What were you doing near their headquarters?"
"I was a refugee," answered Julia. "I lived in Haiti when the hurricane hit."
"Wow," said Ruby. "Sounds like your meeting was really fate."
"Luka," said Julia. "Can I speak to you in private?"
Luka hesitated as he looked at Ruby.
"Go ahead," said Arlo. "I'll entertain your guest."
Luka and Julia went upstairs and to his bedroom. "What is...." he said as she cut him off with a kiss. She pulled away but kept her arms around his neck. "What was that for?" he asked.
"That was a romantic story," she said. "You're a good liar."
"I wasn't lying. Everything I said was the truth."
"You still left out a couple of important details."
"No I didn't," he said as he kissed her passionately. They fell into his bed.
"I feel bad for Arlo," said Julia. "We left him with that woman."
"He'll be alright."
"You'll be better."
She pushed him onto the bed then sat on his lap. She kissed him passionately as he grabbed her ass. Julia let out a moan, causing him to get hard. They took their shirts off and rolled around in the bed. Luka kissed her on the lips before moving down to her neck, her shoulder, her breasts then her bellybutton. They unbuckled each other's pants, not being able to contain themselves any longer.
Luka stood up straight as he finished taking his pants off. "I love you," he said as he looked into her eyes.
Julia leaned up. "I love you too." She laughed. "Now help me take my pants off."
Luka laughed as he pulled her pants off. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he lifted her up so their faces were an inch from each other. The two spent the rest of the afternoon in bed making love.
****
It was the middle of the night when a cannon blast went off, waking up Luka and Julia.
"What was that?" asked Julia.
Arlo entered Luka's bedroom, finding them naked in bed. "Dependency is here," he said, ignoring their lack of clothing. Arlo held a large suitcase.
Luka got up naked and went to his bookshelf. He pulled out a book and the shelf moved on its own, revealing a safe room.
"Was that there the whole time?" asked Julia as she covered herself with the bed sheets.
"Hurry," said Luka. "Before they get here."
Arlo and Julia entered the room and Luka closed the shelf behind them. Julia used the sheets to cover her body while Luka stood casually naked in the middle of the small room. He looked at the cameras on his tablet. Arlo stood behind, looking over his shoulder as they watched Dependency go through his workshop.
"Are we going to be safe in here?" asked Julia.
"Yes," said Luka. "We were expecting their attack. They won't get what they're looking for."
"And what's that?"
Arlo raised the suitcase he held. "Luka's arm-cannon."