Daniel Walker
We stood there alone in the dark. She hadn't spoke. Everything about her seemed familiar, her freckles, her widened eyes, and her flushed cheeks. When an insane person looks at you like you're the one who's crazy, that would usually be a sign to calm down, but I'm not going to let this get away from me again.
"Well? Who the hell are you!" I shouted, squeezing her arm tighter.
"Get your hands off of me." She said venomously. The woman's surprise had faded into anger.
I suddenly felt an invisible force shove me away from her. I stumbled back into the water, and sprang back up immediately, coughing and spitting out the filthy water. The screwdriver had fallen out of my pocket, so much for that plan. I looked back up at the woman. She stared emotionlessly into the water, obviously focusing on something else.
"Hey!" I called.
"Shut up for a minute!" She snapped.
I closed my mouth, and waited. This lady better have some answers. A few seconds later she let out a relieved sigh. Her mask suddenly popped out of the murky water and she grabbed it in mid flight. She was about to put the mask back on but the smell must have made her reconsider. She let it rest in her left hand for now.
She turned to me, a sad look had occupied her face, "Why do you want to know? ...Who I am, I mean."
I hesitated, "I recognize you from somewhere, how come I can recognize you when I can't remember anyone else?"
"You...recognize me?" The woman looked confused.
"So then, who are you?"
The world seemed to pause to see what would happen next.
"...When you're safe, I'll tell you." The woman sighed, "I'm sorry I pushed you."
The woman shoved her hands in her pockets and spun away from me, trudging further into the tunnel. She gave the rope that was still in her hand a hard tug, and I followed her. We climbed back onto the maintenance ledge and followed it.
"We're almost there," the woman said, pointing towards a tall dark shape ahead of us. As we moved closer the dark shape morphed into a ladder that reached up to a manhole. Water dripped through the holes and landed on the ground with soft patters.
"I'll go first this time." the woman said as she gripped the metal bars.
"Wait, how am I going to climb it?" I asked, waving my bound hands in front of her.
Without a word, she quickly pulled another small blade from her pouch and cut the cables around my wrists without any evidence of a second thought. She turned and started up the ladder.
Was she that sure that I wouldn't attack her?
She quickly reached the top of the ladder and pushed up on the manhole cover. She stuck her head out into the open air, looked back down at me, and motioned for me to follow. I grabbed the bars and began to pull myself up, the bars creaked and groaned under my weight. The rust from the bars rubbed off under my fingers.
I grabbed the last bar and pulled myself out of the manhole with a grunt. I stood up to find myself now standing in yet another alley. Judging from the hum of music from the buildings, it must be behind a Mini-Vegas casino, the low thud of electronic music pulsed out of a large black building that took up one side of the alley. A flickering, yellow holosign above a red back door read, "The King's Court."
The woman walked up to the metal door and pounded on it four times. There was no response for awhile.
She pounded on the door again, stronger this time. Two seconds later a little hatch in the door opened.
"What'd you want?" A deep, metallic voice asked.
"I need to talk to Midas." The woman replied.
"Are you Angela Price?"
"Yes."
As soon as she said that a bright flash of light blasted us, the light came from the hatch.
"Identity confirmed, I'll be back." the android closed the hatch. I'm not that enthusiastic about being around even more androids.
The woman turned to me, "Don't say anything stupid. He has the materials we need to help us."
The door suddenly opened and three figures stepped out of the building, two large androids with black and white armor plating in a sort of tuxedo style pattern, and a slim young man with rustled, auburn hair that covered one of his green eyes, and his face supported a self-satisfied smirk. He was wearing a black, high collared jacket with straps that ran down the side. White leather gloves covered his hands. His feet sported a pair of antique, metallic grey Nikes.
The short version: He looked like a rich asshole.
"Angela!" The man said friendlier than I had expected him to be, he spread his arms out in mock surprise, "It's good to see ya! You're a little early though."
"You were expecting us?" the woman asked.
"One of your friends showed up a few minutes ago, the big scary one, and with some effort he said that you'd be here, he didn't say you were bringing a friend though," he looked over to me for the first time and a look of surprise replaced his smile, "Daniel?"
Oh great, even this guy knows me!
"Daniel! Long time no see!" the man walked over to me any threw his left arm around my shoulders like I was his best friend, he almost instantly recoiled.
"Ah! Damn, you smell like shit!" he exclaimed, as if that wasn't obvious. He inspected the brown stain that covered his sleeve, "Dammit, I just got this jacket!"
He paused and shot me a glare, as if expecting me to say something along the lines of an apology. A frown appeared on his face, "As rude as you always were, aren't you?"
"He's sorry,
"It's fine! It's fine! I can just buy another one." He said waving his hands as if swatting me away like a fly. "Back to business then," he said as he turned to the woman again, "What do you need from me, my fair Angel?"
"We need to stay here for a while since Pandora's in town." She explained, wincing a little at the name.
"Well that's fine by me," he said, his smirk returning.
The woman began to move towards the door but was blocked by one of the large, androids. He buzzed, "We need to confiscate any weapons you may possess."
The woman sighed and turned back to Midas, "My knives aren't going to mysteriously end up stolen again, are they?"
"Of course!" He said, with a wink.
"Fine." As soon as she said this one of the bots walked over and started searching the woman, the android took her pouch full of knives and placed it on the ground, there was nothing but ruined paper in her pockets.
The man moved on to me next, nothing in my front pockets. He moved on to the back pockets...
"Sir!" The android called out. I looked behind me to see what was wrong, the android was holding my Pandora badge.
...
"What the hell is this?" Midas shouted angrily as he examined my badge.
"M-Midas, I can explain!" the woman pleaded.
"You can explain why this Pandora badge," he ranted, waving the badge in the air, "which is only issued to agents who hunt people like us like dogs, has the name 'Daniel Walker' in bold white print?"
"Yes! I can! He-" the woman started.
"Midas, you cheating sack of street trash!" A man in an expensive black suit was standing at the end of the alley, he looked like an even richer asshole, "I would like to have a word with you, in private!"
Midas glared down the alley at him. He was obviously not in the mood for another problem. He looked back at us, "You can stay for now, but this discussion is not over."
"Thanks." the woman said with relief.
The bodyguard androids escorted us inside and we found ourselves standing in what appeared to be the backstage area, the electronic thudding of music had grown louder and it felt like the whole building was vibrating. The androids led us through another pair of doors and into the main room. The casino must double as a nightclub, it was flooded with guests and on a balcony a DJ wearing a black hood stood playing an electronic song on a semitransparent mixing tablet.
The androids pushed a path through the crowd and led us past a check out desk and down a hall labeled, "Rooms this way." We walked down the hall to a flight of stairs.
"Your rooms are two hundred twenty and two hundred twenty-one. Please remain courteous of the other guests and stay in your rooms until dawn." One of the large androids in front of us buzzed, it handed us two key cards. They didn't part ways with us until they were certain that we got to our rooms on the second floor, which were directly across from one another.
"Well, goodnight!" the woman said nonchalantly. She slid her card into the door
"Wait." I called after her.
She looked at me over her shoulder, "Hmm?"
"Your name is Angela isn't it?" I asked.
"Yes." She turned to face me. A small smile had formed on her face.
"About what you said earlier, are we safe enough for you to tell me who yo-"
"No." She cut me off, the smile evaporating instantly, "No, you're not safe. Your about as far away from safe as you can be right now" And with that she opened her door and disappeared inside.
So much for the 'be friendly' plan. I turned and slid the card into the door. It clicked and I pushed the heavy door open. A cool breeze met me as I walked into the room. The room was very small, all that fit in it was one bed, a wall mounted TV, and a desk without a chair. The breeze in the room was coming from a window that had carelessly been left open.
I walked over to the window, raised voices outside caught my attention. I leaned out the window and saw that this was the alley were we had climbed out of the manhole. I could see three figures in the dark alley. It was Midas and that man from earlier, they were fighting over something. I leaned farther out the window and tried to hear what they were saying.
The man shouted, "Give me my money back you cheating son of a bitch!"
Midas sighed, "I'll tell you one more time. If there's one thing I don't do, it's lie."
"Bullshit!" The man exclaimed, "I saw you!"
"If I had known that you were going to be such a such a sore loser I wouldn't have even bothered with playing poker tonight!" Midas ranted, "Look, do you even know how childish you sound? You are already a billionaire, what's a few thousand dollars off your account?"
"A few thousand!" the man was not giving up, "I can shut this place down if I want to!"
"Oh so now you've resorted to threats?" Midas asked, "Turn around and leave. Now."
The order surprised the man, "Who do you think you are? You have no right to order me around, kid!"
"Kid? I'm nineteen, not six... Whatever. I'm not giving you an order, it was a friendly suggestion. A way to extend your little life." Midas explained.
"Fuck you!" the man shouted. He raised his arms.
Midas grinned and shoved his left hand in his pocket and pulled out one of Angela's small knives.
The man hesitated a moment before he lunged forwards and swung a large fist at Midas. Midas dodged the punch easily, and swiped the blade across the man's shoulder. The man gasped and grabbed his shoulder. Midas seized the chance and punched the man in the middle of his face, the man fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Something was wrong. The man was screaming and rolling around on the ground way more than one punch should have caused. The man's arms clawed at his face as if he was trying to pull an invisible cloth off. Midas's grin had grown wider as he watched the man writhe in agony. The man rolled so that I could see his face. I let out a short gasp.
His face had been completely encased in metal. Without warning Midas stomped on the man's throat, the man's screams became more gurgled. Midas crouched next to the flailing man and lifted the blade over his head.
I looked away before the scene could become any more gruesome, maniacal laughter burst into my room without my permission though. I shut the window and closed the blinds as quickly and as quietly as I could, and sat on the bed. I put my head in my hands.
I need to get out of here.