Fan Request. Ariadne is the Point Man and Arthur is the Architect.
I had my doubts about this one. I mean Arthur is so sexy to me because he is fighting off bad guys. Then I started to to think;
"I'm a modern 21st century woman, why can't girl save boy? They did it in 'Hunger Games'."
The only way I could really make this work for myself was go the sci-fi way. I modeled this after the old series "Dark Angel". A really kick ass show that FOX canceled along with "Firefly, Terminator: Sarah Connor Canonicals" and "Futurama".
YOU SUCK FOX!
If you have never seen "Dark Angel", I highly recommend it.
The Broken Dream World
1.
~ The sounds of shouting pulled Ariadne out of sleep. She had closed her window to the cold, bitter winds of the night, but the building she lived in was old, and neglected. All sorts of noise carried through its walls and pipes. She looked at her cell phone. The power had gone out again in the building, and she was grateful she had remembered to charge her cell phone.
'Prepare for the worst.' She thought as she checked the time. It was still a few hours before she had to be up for work. But her mind was suddenly very much awake.
'All that sleeping I did on the last job.' She thought bitterly.
~ Her rented room was small, but big enough for her. She had her own bathroom, which she was grateful for. The water always came out clean, although never hot. A thing she was less grateful for. She could remember a time when the world actually worked. When she was little, if you turned the hot water on, it rushed out pipping hot and you could have a real shower.
As things were now, She had a pair of pliers permanently affixed to to the bath tub faucet. The real faucet had long ago rotted away. She used her small gas heater to warm a few pots of water and dumped them into the cold bath water. This achieved a marginally warm bath for her, and was better then nothing.
~ Outside of the old building she called home, Ariadne saw the cause of the shouting. Some idiot had parked his car out front and was shocked that it had been stolen. She had to suppress a laugh as they wanted to call the police. She knew the police would do nothing and only tell the victims they should have known better.
~ She walked to the local paid parking to get her bike out. These days, almost no one but the very rich or corrupt drove cars. Most people made do with public transportation, bicycles or motorcycles. Ariadne was lucky, she had saved diligently for two years to afford a used black Nemesis motorcycle. It got excellent gas mileage, and with gas hitting alarmingly high records again this spring, she could barely afford to fill it up.
When she was little, her parents each had a car. They would go to the store and everything was easy. She could remember it, if only a little. A time when there was food enough and space enough. Where all the kids went to school and the power and hot water was always on.
It seemed like a dream, that mythical childhood, before things fell apart.
~ It had started with civil unrest. People rioting in the streets. At first it was only on the news. Her parents talked about it. Her mother worried about it. But it wasn't something that effected her or her world. The rioting was happening overseas and didn't involve them. Soon enough, the rioting was happening in their city.
Suddenly, there were national guard soldiers on the streets. Helicopters shining high wattage lights over the city. Her mother crying that this was a war zone. News of food rationing and her teachers showing them how to use gas masks.
She didn't understand what was happening. The whole thing seeming like a grand adventure to her and the other children. Something that was fun and out of the ordinary.
Then one day, people turned up missing. Kids from her class would go home to find their parents had vanished. Leaving everything behind. Dishes were in the sink, clothes still in the washing machine, and no one home.
Ariadne's mother worried all the time. The government closed down the office she worked at, and her father was hording food. Preparing for the worst.
Their rations had been reduced and her neighbors had started to disappear.
"The Peacekeepers." Her mother would hiss as the family all slept in one room of the apartment they had been 'relocated' to. "They must have thought the Millers were talking."
"We just have to keep quite. Not get involved." Her father had hissed back in the darkness. The power was out and likely to remain off.
"They reduced the rations, again!" Her mother cried. "A loaf of bread a day, no meat and no fruit. We have a child!" She said desperately. "What are we going to do?"
"We just have to stay alive." Her father said.
But they didn't. When Ariadne was eleven, she came home from school and found the small apartment empty. The Peacekeepers had most likely taken her parents. She never saw them again.
She had packed a bag and stayed at her cousin's home until the schools became the focus of the new government. They controlled what was taught and if it was found some school was teaching anything the new government thought too revolutionary, the school was burned.
At age thirteen, Ariadne had to leave school forever. Too many schools had been burned and the ones that were spared were too dangerous. Any type of home learning was out of the question. Libraries were closed or burned. The internet hadn't been up in years.
She had to get a job. Labor laws had changed and she could only get rations if she worked. If she didn't work or wasn't in school, she got nothing and would be left to starve.
Mercifully, there was plenty of jobs. She had no trouble making money. When she was 16, the cousin was murdered and her family had been taken by the peacekeepers. Ariadne wasn;t home at the time, so she was spared.
She had been on her own since.
~ She drove her bike through the crowded streets. Streets that were swamped with people, bikes, trash, abandoned cars, and other refuse. Even with people disappearing, the streets were always full. Most of the buildings around them sat empty. Not many could afford rent these days. They lived out of their broken old cars or found shelters as squatters. The only ones who could make it in this world were the young. People who were able to work two or three jobs. The old, were left to starve.
Starve they did. It was becoming nothing at all to see a body on the streets. People ignored it, and the collectors would pick them up in a few days.
'Perfectly normal.' She thought and road on. The loud engines of her motorcycle revving as she finally cleared the crowded inner city.
She felt wonderful with the wind in her hair like this. The open, if dilapidated, road before her. She recklessly raced her bike to the district crossing.
She had an appointment to keep.
~ District police guarded the areas of the city she could and could not enter. A simple forged district pass allowed her through district 8 to district 7 and then 6.
'Costing me more then it's worth.' She thought as she handed over the expertly forged district pass to the fat man who looked ridiculous in his guard's uniform.
~ District 6 was a somewhat better area. It wasn't as run down as the crime ridden streets of district 8. She knew, only by rumors, that districts 9 and 10 were even worse. In district 6, she noticed that there were cars on the cleaner streets. The power was on and the building didn't appear vandalized by street 'artists'.
'Wonder what district 5 and 4 are like?' she wondered bitterly. The unfairness of it all. How some people were not allowed to live and work in a better, safe, cleaner district. The new Government's way of keeping order.
She roared up to the address that had been texted to her. The message unknown so vague she knew it had to be work related. No one messaged her unless it was offering her work.
In a building that still looked new, a security guard met her at the door.
"Name, Please?" He asked looking down on her as she carelessly straddled her bike.
She looked at him scornfully. Not impressed with his broad shoulders or obvious strength.
"Ariadne." She said pulling off her sunglasses. "I have an appointment with someone named Arthur. He sent me this address."
The guard stood a little straighter as she listened to a voice in his ear piece she couldn't hear. Her sharp eyes looked over his shoulder and spotted a small black security camera. She recognized the high tech camera that no doubt took in every detail.
"Arthur and his party are waiting for you in the penthouse." The guard said politely. "You can park you bike in the privet garage, Ma'am."
"Thanks." Ariadne said pushing her sunglasses back down and rode to the underground parking garage of the building. The guard waved her in and showed her to a reserved parking spot. He walked her to the lift and used a special key to grant her access to the top floor.
The elevator was rich and clean. Like the New Government never laid it's hands on it. She wasn't used to riding in elevators and was shocked that the it had a small plasma screen TV in it that ran old commercials.
Ariadne had to smile at that. She remembered commercials from when she was little. They advertised things no one could buy anymore. Fast food, toys, weight loss plans and cars. It was like time travel.
All too soon, the lift dinged to the penthouse and the doors slid open.
Ariadne snapped her careful eyes to the young man standing in front of her. He was tall and very lean. He had dark brown hair that was cut very short and wore black rimmed 'hipster' glasses. His clothing could only be described as odd in this world. He wore nice slacks, a dress shirt and neck tie. She didn't know men still dressed like that.
"I'm Ariadne." She said after taking a moment to sum him up.
"I know. I'm Arthur." He said in a deep voice.
"So, I hear your looking for a Point Man." She said.