Of Diners and Dives

Part 1: https://steemit.com/writing/@bardbarian/living-the-dream

Part 2:
Sara had come home to find out she had no home. Not knowing where to go, she wandered to a diner that was open in a building she did not remember. She sat in a booth and ordered food that she was not going to eat. She sat, and thought. As far as anyone else knew she was just another prisoner-citizen of the gray city resting from the day’s unrequited labor.

“Well, how did it go? Did you find Captain Lee?” Lione appeared suddenly as if from nowhere. Like he tended to do. He was well dressed. Red coat, white shirt, pressed pants: like a member of the upper class from Sara’s childhood. She had trusted him partly for that at first, but now she wasn’t sure. He sat across from Sara. “Did the old warrior listen to the off-world revolutionary?”

The waiter dropped off the plate of food without making eye contact. “The old man can’t help us, Lione. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be.” Lione slid the plate over and picked at the hash. “I did not think he could.”

Sara was silent for a minute. She wondered why she was not angry. She leaned forward. “You sent me to meet a man you knew was wanted by Creed’s watchers, for nothing?” Lione seemed pleased with himself. “You know what could have happened.”

“Mhm. Ah, well, I knew you would not get caught.” He wiped his mouth with a red, clean handkerchief. “Neither I nor the watchers know where Lee is, but I do know who is is, what he did. And now so do you.”

Sara sat back and met Lione’s gaze. “Thanks for the history lesson.”

“Now you know there are no heroes. Now you know the rot. Now you know what needs to happen.”

“Blow it all up and see what the ashes look like?”

“More like set everyone free.”

“By killing thousands?”

“Is not death a freedom?”

“How can anyone fight for you when you don’t value life.”

“You know better than that,” Lione swatted the air rhetorically, “you have seen the other worlds, a luxury even this slave” he struck his well adorned chest “has not had. You know just how little value there is on this world.”

Sara looked out the window to the city. They were three or four blocks away from where she grew up. The city was dark. There were few lighted windows even 12 floors up. The city was quiet. There was little traffic on the roads. The city was dying.

“Look at our home, Sara, these people are not sleeping. They are sobbing for six hours before the factories open again. Even the air of this world is tainted. Colored, tinged yellow with oppression.”

Sara scoffed.

“What?”

“Nothing, something my-something the old man said.”

“Did he tell you about the killings?”

“Yes,” Sara whispered.

“Then you know he deserves the same punishment as Creed.”

Sara slid out of the booth and walked toward the door. She dropped three pieces by the counter and left.

“Sara, wait.”

She was walking away from her home. Away from the diner. To nowhere in particular just yet. She was crying, and she needed to walk for as long as she needed to cry.

“Sara!” Lione ran to catch up. He held out her three pieces. “This would have gotten them killed.”

“I thought death was freedom.”

“I like that place.”

“Go away.”

“What? Just because an old war hero cannot help you, our partnership is over? There's still a regime to topple.”

“You and I aren’t partners.”

“Ah, the flower, she stings! Associates, then.”

Sara maintained her pace. The tears had stopped. Lione could not see them in the dark.

“Whatever word you would like to use for ‘people who would be killed for the crime of being in each other's company’. Any which way, we want the same thing.”

“And what is that Lione?” Sara stopped. “To burn away all memory of the guy who keeps this city working? To set up a council of pure revolutionaries to judge all tarnished citizens? To break it all apart to see what’s left?”

“There is nothing left! You, you went out there” he slapped skyward “you of all people on this cursed rock should know that this is hell.” Lione believed what he said. Sara could see it. Lione saw the tears at last, and softened. “I don’t know what you expected to find when you came back, but if you are going to fight this, you need to accept reality.”

Lione started to go after her. But he had other business. Sara had one last place she could go, one last potential ally. She now had direction to her walking. The tears were gone. She did not need them anymore.

---

Daniel did not like running. Not in general, he was always “on the run”, but specifically he did not like the action of vigorously pumping one’s legs. In this case to avoid-

He turned a corner and there was another man with a red bandana. Looking back confirmed the other two were still chasing him. Daniel adopted an antic disposition, but his heavy breathing gave him away and the new guy lunged forward. Daniel ducked and ran past.

-those guys. They were the red bandana gang, or that was what Daniel was calling them in his headcannon. They had objected to him having made one of their unfortunate victims hard to find. Or, two of them. Daniel wasn’t sure. He was out of breath. Hard to remember the plot. Not important. He definitely kinda remembered maybe sending three of their friends to a metaphorical hell.

A shot rang out, the building forming the dead end ahead of him was struck, and Daniel threw himself sideways through a window. Two women were sitting to a lean dinner in a small kitchen. The older one screamed.

“Ow!” said Daniel. Also the window glass had stuck him. “I’m sorry, red bandana guys” he gestured violently to the way he had came, “so much running. And gun! Cheating. Do you have drain cleaner?” He moved to the sink and rummaged among the cleaning supplies. “Ah! Even better. Thanks!” he ran out of their apartment and up the stairs. The roof would be good place to jump off of.

The younger woman had already signalled the watchers. She had to if she wanted to stay in good standing.. A man with a red cloth covering his face entered through the broken window. Before the older woman could scream again he very quickly flashed a watchmen’s badge. The younger woman pointed the way that Daniel had run.

Daniel hated running, but he hated running on stairs waaaay more. Fortunately, no-one liked running on
stairs. So he had some time.

“You! Hold it!”

Not very much time. He splashed the liquid in his hand onto the man’s face and-sigh-continued running up the stairs. He heard two more men convincing the first that there actually wasn’t a giant worm eating his eyes, and then all three continued. Daniel looked down as he ran, maybe he could get a shot at one of the other-

One of them looked up, he dropped some more liquid, and it was that man’s turn to slow the others down. This was going remarkably well. The door to the roof was unlocked, the roof was clear. Daniel found an edge with a fire escape and waited.

They burst out. They were angry. Their mouths and noses were covered by the red bandanas (“passed down from goon to goon for generations” Daniel figured) but two of them had bloodshot eyes. The third had a gun. They approached slowly.

“We have orders to bring you to the boss. If we kill you it comes out of our pay. But I seen what happened to the last guys who tried to have a conversation with you, so I figure a few bullets couldn’t hurt.”

“That is an incorrect statement.” As Daniel spoke he swung his arm and let fly the last of the liquid. The man with the gun was aiming. He did not have time to react. “And now, gentleman, it is time for me to depart forsooth to whence I hath came.”

The men watched as Daniel floated off the building, rose into the air, and vanished in a yellow mist. They started to walk to the edge to investigate. The building vanished out from under them and they fell.

Daniel hustled down the fire escape and dropped to the street. He was extremely pleased with himself. That was a tough trick to pull off with household supplies; Creed’s watch had even confiscated all the good stuff. Hopefully there weren’t any unforeseen side effects to his special blend. He looked up and cocked his head. Eh, they would be fine: they looked tough. He turned to walk away and came face to face with yet another gang of red bandanas.

“Danny! Long time, no see.” Lione was also visibly pleased with himself.

words mine, images from Pixabay by way of imgur. Thank you for reading, criticism welcome.

-Matthew