Julie had actually been looking forward to spending a slow day in Motorcity. She'd thought it would be a good time to relax and give 9 Lives a much needed touch up. It was only after she emerged from the painting booth that she realized she now had several hours with nothing better to do than watch paint dry. The Burner's garage was empty except for Dutch who was staring contemplatively at a blank sheet of metal and giving off strong do not disturb vibes. She was just trying to decide between calling Claire or working on the report she was supposed to have turned into to her intern supervisor last week when there was a loud clang from the storage closet. It sounded like someone had knocked over a large can full of lug nuts.
She peered into the closet and found she was wrong. Mike was sweeping up bolts from the otherwise pristine floor. He grinned at her. "Hey Jules, are you finished with the painting?"
She decided to skip over pleasantries. "Mike, how many times have you cleaned that storage closet?"
He scooped the bolts back into the can and looked up. "Depends, are we just talking about today?"
She sighed. "That's it, let's go."
He followed her into the garage. "Wait, where are we going?"
"To find you a hobby."
"Cars are a hobby." He protested when Dutch chimed in.
"No, man she's right. You definitely need something to do that takes you away from the garage. Far away."
As Dutch all but shoved Mike into the driver's seat of the new Mutt she got in on the passenger side. Mike drove away from headquarters but he wasn't done protesting. "And what if Kane tries something?"
"He's too busy tormenting Deluxe for a change."
"Well that's ... convenient." He sounded sulky.
"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll get back to us soon enough." She saw a sign for a flea market "Oh, let's stop here; we're bound to get some ideas."
"Wait, you're serious about this? I thought you were just trying to get me out of Dutch's hair."
She sighed in exasperation. "Mike, it's a Saturday. Dutch is working on his art, Chuck is LARPing with his friends, Texas is probably making up new martial arts moves or something and you are re-reorganizing the storage closets. And you aren't even a neat freak. You need some way to unwind."
Mike had been to the flea market before but he'd mostly stayed at the back corner where they sold car parts and old industrial machines. Julie headed right to the center where there was a hodgepodge of household items. She stopped by a table with booth that had fishing poles and lures on it. "Ever considered fishing?" she asked him.
He looked at her like she was crazy. "Have you seen what lives in Lake Erie? It's not anything you want to catch."
She put the rod back. "True and I can't see you sitting still for extended periods of time."
A couple of tables later they passed one filled with what was probably supposed to be decorative things made from old cans. He was slightly alarmed when Julie stopped to look at them. There was no way he was doing something like that. She checked at the price tag on a clock made from an old oil can with the logo still visible on the face. "Do you think Jacob would like this? He collects old oil cans doesn't he?"
"No, he collects used motor oil. The cans just give him somewhere to put it."
She turned to stare at him. "He collects used motor oil? Why?"
He grinned at her. "Someone probably made him get a hobby once."
Julie rolled her eyes. "Why don't you see if you can find something that interests you?" She said walking away.
He passed by a table of antique books. One of them had a classic car on the cover. he picked it up and realized it wasn't actually about cars after all. Still it looked interesting. He walked over to the table where a little old lady was sitting behind a cashbox. "Just this, thanks."
He called over to where Julie was speculatively looking at a display of bowling balls. "I found something, let's go."
"What'd you get?" she said jogging up to him.
He held up the book so she could see the title, Traveler's guide to Detroit: what to see in the Motor City.
He flipped it open on the way back to the parking lot and began reading aloud. "'Top ten things to do in Detroit. Number one: see the Detroit Tigers play'"
"So there used to be a zoo here?"
He scanned the description. "No it says the Tigers were a baseball team. And their football team was called the Lions"
"Hmm, sports, now that's an idea."
"Racing is a sport. Why are you so concerned with what I do with my free time? It's not like I usually have much anyway."
"Well not now, but what do you plan to do after all this is over?" she said as they reached the car.
"All what?" he asked opening the door and getting in.
"Say we defeat Kane's forces, bring him to trail, expose his tyranny, then what? What are you going to do then?"
"You know I'm not one for long term plans. What about you? You should have even more free time when don't have to worry about working at KaneCo anymore."
She turned away from him and began paying a lot of attention to fastening the passenger side seatbelts.
"There's still going to be a need for office workers. Someone's got to help Deluxe handle the transition." She said quietly.
"Oh" Mike said just as quietly.
He felt his heart sink. Julie's plan was a good idea. She might even be able to pull it off. Especially if his suspicions were correct and Kane had picked her as his newest protégé. But... it had been in the back of his mind that when she no longer needed to be a spy she would come to Motorcity to stay.
He looked over at her. She was still fiddling with the seat belts. They were more complicated than average but they weren't that complicated. He said "I guess life isn't like LaserSwords 2 where you defeat the last boss and everything fixes itself. For that matter I doubt the gangs will start miraculously getting along. I don't know if I'll have all this free time you think I'm going to have."
She finally looked up at him and smiled. "But you won't have to do it while dodging enforcer drones. That alone should give you enough time to - I don't know- take up cross word puzzles."
He laughed at that. "Is it just me of do your suggestions keep getting worse?"
She glanced at the book he'd put on the dashboard. "Well, what's next on the list?"
He found the page again. "'Number 2 Get a chilidog at American Coney Island.' I bet that's not around anymore."
Julie looked thoughtful "Still a chili dog sounds good about now."
He started up Mutt and pulled out of the parking lot. "I'm sure we can find something"
Sitting at the counter of one of the few still functional Mutt Dogs, Julie put down her half-finished chili dog. "I think maybe I've been going about this the wrong way. What are you interested in?"
"Cars and Defeating Kane." Mike said around a mouthful of fries.
"How about before you had all this responsibility? What did you used to do in your free time when you were a cadet?"
"Trained"
She sighed.
"How about you? What do you do when you're not here or at KaneCo?" He asked.
He was probably just trying to deflect her questions but she answered anyway. "Shopping with Claire, laserball, I used to take ballet." She hadn't meant to say the last one out loud.
And of course that was the one he focused on. "I didn't know people even did that anymore."
"They don't. I mean not professionally. There's no Detroit Deluxe Ballet, just people who still make their kids take lessons." It was supposed to improve posture or grace or something. It had been fun when she was a little kid but by the time she was twelve she had been happy to quit. It wasn't like her father had ever come to her rehearsals or anything.
He smirked at her "Okay I'm trying to picture this, did you wear those pink skirts?"
"Tutus. And don't be ridiculous; this was Deluxe. They were light blue."
He looked like he was having a hard time not cracking up. "Got any photos?"
"None that you're ever going to see."
After they finished eating he pulled out the book again. "'Number three: visit the Detroit Institute of Arts.'"
She perked up "That sounds interesting. Do you think anything is still there?"
"Only one way to find out." He tossed her the book as they headed back to Mutt. "You're navigating"
Julie looked at the street map in the book and tried to match up the old roads with the conduits and the construction that had happened over the centuries. "Well that's the Ambassador Bridge so the Institute should be somewhere just north of the Electroblades' territory."
"How close? Will we have to sneak in?"
"Maybe." She grinned "But I'm good at stealth."
Mike had to admit he was feeling better as he headed towards what used to be downtown. He'd had lunch, Julie wasn't trying to drag him to another flea market and it felt like he was working toward a definite goal, however small. "I've always liked exploring" he said.
"Really?" Julie looked up from the display screen where was trying to overlay the old and new maps
"Yeah. When I was little we used to watch these old movies, with an archaeologist who went all over the world looking for artifacts and having all sorts of adventures, sometimes because of bad guys but sometimes just because the places he went were so dangerous. Chuck said that really wasn't how archaeology worked at all but I thought it would be so cool to do that." That had been part of the appeal of Motorcity, the freedom but also the excitement of never quite knowing what was down the next street. It was quite a change from safe, homogenous Deluxe.
The Institute was part of the original strata of the city and even when they found the building it took a little longer to find an entrance that wasn't blocked by fallen building materials or massive conduits.
Julie used her boomerang to carefully cut through the lock he looked down at the old door. "Do you think the security system will still be enabled?"
"Now that's one thing the movies got wrong. Really it's the new buildings where you have to watch out for booby traps and security. With the old ones it's more structural problems that you have to worry about. I don't think this place even has electricity anymore." He said testing the flashlights he kept in Mutt's trunk.
The door gave way and they walked in. There were no wailing alarms or security bots. In fact there was nothing at all in first room or the next. Finally Mike asked "If this is an art museum shouldn't there be art?"
Julie tried to be optimistic "Maybe this is just an unused storage area and the galleries are further on". They checked. More rooms, more empty spaces. The color of the walls changed and some had display cases or stands that no longer held anything. It was obvious there had objects there once but no more.
"So much for being the first people to see this for ages. It's already been looted." Mike commented. He wasn't that interested in art but the empty rooms were depressing.
Julie was using her flashlight to examine a set of hooks that used to hold something. "I don't know if I'd say looted. It's way too efficient for that. They took everything. And there's no damage to the walls."
He thought about that. "The question is when did this happen?"
"You mean was this all sold off before the collapse or is it sitting in a KaneCo storeroom somewhere?" She replied bitterly.
He shrugged and walked into the next room. They seemed to be coming to an older part of the museum. The building was in pretty good condition considering its age. Sure the lights and elevators weren't working but this part still seemed sound.
He stepped out into a large, high-ceilinged room, turned his flashlight on the wall and gasped. There was a mural covering it. He spun around, it continued on all the walls. The entire room was one massive work of art. He called back to Julie, "I found something they couldn't take."
She walked into the room and her jaw dropped. "It's amazing. What are they doing?"
"I'm not sure about all of it but they're making cars in this part." There were planes over that doorway and one panel had hands for some reason but the bulk of the work was depicted people making cars. Really old cars but still, they were the soul of Motorcity. It seemed appropriate.
Julie handed Mike her flashlight and tapped her vest to bring up her digital display. "Hold the lights steady, I'm going to take some pictures for Dutch."
"He'll love this." Mike agreed and something started to tickle the back of his brain.
It was only as they were leaving that it came to the surface. "You know we should bring Dutch here, and not just to see the mural." He said.
"What do you mean?"
"There are all these empty rooms. They should have art in them again. I mean we know artists-Dutch, Tennie . . ."
"Antonio." Julie added and then continued a bit more seriously, "I'm sure there's more out there. Dutch probably knows some."
"It would take some work but make sure the ceilings are sound, rewire the lighting, set up a better access route and it could be something again. It was a great place once. It's a shame to let it go to waste. And I'll bet there are there are buildings like this all over the city." Mike said. It wasn't something he really had the time to do now but maybe someday. Sure it was a huge job but he'd never been one to shy away from impossible goals.
Julie grinned at him "Don't look now but I think we found you a hobby after all."
He laughed. She might be right. He certainly wouldn't mind spending a day like this again.