Sorry, more of the same kind of. It's pretty much more setting the stage, but I promise this is the last chapter or that. After this we go into full gear mode of actually telling the story, this is just wrapping up all the background information you need to know
oOo
The people turned out to be just as colorful as the city. They all wore clothing of a variety of colors and with just as many alternative styles, each person looking so unique to each other. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling like she stuck out in her Kane co outfit – the bright white and dull blue. Amid all the people a man wearing a dark black suit and sunglasses caught her eye and ushered her over. Julie's eyes widened and she pointed to herself, to ask whether or not he actually meant her, and the man just nodded. Curiously she walked over.
"My, don't you stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd like this." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"Yeah, I guess I do." Julie nervously brushed back some of her hair. What would someone from Motorcity do to her, a Deluxian? If her father had been telling the truth it wouldn't be anything good… but then again so far his information hadn't been correct on several layers.
"Hey, don't worry, none of us are gonna hurt you." He gestured to the crowd. "In fact, down here most people used to be in the same position you're in."
"Really?" Julie raised an incredulous eyebrow, even though he wouldn't be able to see it under her bangs.
"You'd be surprised how many Deluxe citizens who have woken up and realized their plight upstairs rush down here. The past doesn't seem to follow that many people down into Motorcity. Give it a few days – you'll get new clothes, try new things, and find your niche – everybody does." Julie wasn't sure why she was surprised, but the kindness of the man touched her.
"Thank you, I-" But then there was an explosion and their conversation was cut off. She whipped her head around to see smoke billowing up from somewhere deeper in the city. Julie turned to the man. "What was-" But he was gone.
"Don't worry about it too much." Someone in the crowd told her, and once again there was that kindness. "Rayon doesn't stick around for too long, especially during an attack; he's got a family to protect after all."
"A family…?" But the screeching of tires on asphalt grabbed her attention once again away from the others, and sure enough a car burst through some piles of garbage towards them, followed closely behind by a series of Kane bots.
The car was wide and low to the ground, a glossy black with red patterns all over it. Six tires and obviously built to be durable, even Julie could tell that much. It flipped around, driving backwards so it could face the Kane bots, a gun emerging from a hatch on top the car and began to fire at the small floating boxes. It managed to hit a few, and then flipped back around to once again tear through the city.
"Who was that?" Julie said, her voice full of awe. A citizen, an older lady with graying hair, turned towards her, caught one glimpse of her clothing, and gave a warm smile.
"Of course you wouldn't know, dear, I'm sure this is all quite a culture shock to you." She patted Julies hand. "That boy's from a newer emerging gang, if I remember correctly they call themselves the Burners. They've been talking a lot for youngsters, about trying to protect Motorcity. They seemed like good boys." The lady nodded to herself, and Julie looked in the direction the car had gone.
oOo
His wrists were raw. Raw and hurting and they throbbed. He had been struggling with his chains for a while now, but he didn't know if he had that kind of strength anymore. They hadn't fed him for the past few… days? He wasn't sure what a day was anymore, he just knew it had been long enough that his stomach felt like it had some beast inside of it, trying to claw its' way out. The door opened with a hiss. He didn't even look up.
"I'm sorry Chilton, you have no idea how incompetent some of the people who work under me are." Mike's head whipped up, Kane was walking into his cell, holding a platter of Kane cubes. "They were just supposed to hold you in here, not starve you to death." He put the plate down within reaching distance of Mike. Mike, in turn, looked up warily.
"How do I know-" Mike's underused voice gave out and he fell into a coughing fit.
"How do you know you can trust me?" Kane voiced his question for him, and then shrugged. "I guess you really can't. I realize that I've hurt your trust, but you have to understand – I only do what I do for the good of Deluxe, and I still believe that you know what that is.
Kane left after that, leaving the plate of food. After staring at it for about a second Mike reached forward and wolfed it down the cubes.
oOo
For Julie, things spiraled from there. She eventually managed to meet the Burners in person, well, at first she only met one – the one that drove the car. He was just barely taller than her, but he had well built upper body strength, and an explosive kind of personality. But he was fairly nice to her, and that was what really counted. There was a second seat in his car, behind the front one – the drivers area devoted to buttons of all sorts, a gear shift, and the steering wheel.
He took her to the Burner's base – what appeared to be an old restaurant of sorts that had been repurposed. There turned out to be two other Burners; Chuck, a blonde who let his hair fall into his eyes, tall and lanky and was apparently in charge of security checks, and Jacob, a man who she recognized as her fathers' old partner, who owned the restaurant, was the car expert, and fed the boys.
After some small talk, he took her off to the side and told her that he knew who she was – something she had decided was best to stay a secret, especially down here. She told him that she wanted to protect the city and people down here. He got a strange look on his face, told her she was a lot like her mother, and took her back into the main room.
Julie became a Burner.
Jacob made her a car of her own. A smaller car, he told her it used to be a police cruiser, which was yellow and black. She added her own goodies from Kane co to it, holograms and cloaking and the sorts. And she fought tooth and nail for Motorcity against Kane when she could, and the rest of the time she was upstairs in Deluxe, working on her internship, hanging with Claire, and getting what info she could.
She wasn't sure when she started cloaking her Burner clothes to look like Deluxe clothes instead of it being the other way around.
They found another Burner, a boy named Dutch who had escaped from Deluxe so that he could express himself. He took to the cars quickly, and in no time he replaced Jacob as their mechanic, customizing himself a unique car with speakers and a small pod like area for his driver seat.
They worked together okay, but it was never a perfect fit, Julie could admit that. They were close, but not too close, and they fought probably a bit too much. Chuck never went on runs with them, instead staying at Jacobs. Everyone had their own escapes, their own lives that the others didn't know about.
At Jacobs, an empty room waits to be occupied.
oOo
Kane continued to visit him, what Mike figured was about once a week. And eventually one day he stands close enough that Mike could punch him, and offers his hand.
"Mike… I want you to know that I still trust you, and I'm willing to earn back your trust." He says smoothly. And Mike thinks about the city down below, about the freedom and the color, and closes his eyes briefly (Kane patiently lets him take his time) and he lets go of that dream. Deluxe is his city after all.
He grabs Kane's hand.
oOo
Well, I hope you liked it, again I know it's kind of an underwhelming chapter, but I needed to make sure that I set up the situation well enough that we were all on the same page ;)
~the-east-hutner