Trevor
The two men stared at Kane for a few seconds before realizing he was pointing a gun at them. One of them quickly said, ""We come in peace!"
"If you come in peace then I suggest you drop the guns on your back and any other weapons on you, and kick them over here." He pointed at his feet.
One of them looked distressed at this order while the other calmly unsheathed his gun from his back and laid it across the floor. He then asked, "What year is it?"
Kane looked puzzled, what did this guy have for breakfast that he would forget the year. Then Kane thought about the vortex, how they had come through it. Had these people come through time? Kane shoved away the thought for now and answered the question, "2395."
Now both men looked distressed. Kane dismissed this also and asked for their names. One said, "Jim." When the other didn't answer, Jim said, "and this is my accomplice, Vor."
The scanner on Kane's belt whirred for a second, then showed a red light, indicating that the names weren't found anywhere in the directory. Kane hit the button for "world scan" and again, a red light shone. Seeing that Kane didn't believe them, the two men started to inch toward the door.
"Now we can do this the easy wa-- Hey!" he said as the door slammed.
No sooner had Vor' shot off the doorknob that he heard a crash behind him and shattered glass fly past his head. He whirled around to see a near seven-foot tall, black-clad Enforcer staring him down with glowing green eyes. Thanks to Vor's height, he slipped under Kane's legs and bolted in the other direction.
"I'll pay for the damages." Kane replied at the thought of the broken window. He then sprinted after the "fugitives". However, even as Kane saw their shadows turn, as he skidded around the corner, they were nowhere to be seen.
A huge mob had formed right at that corner, and, with all the people, he couldn't get a good look at anyone. As he looked up and over the mob, he saw it. Kane now realized where he was, on Direct Port 1, the main street of Direct events. The recent taxing and political rumors about the origin of Direct and its sudden secrecy to the whole matter created a huge uproar, creating a firestorm to just about all the citizens. He just didn't see the severity of it all, he simply dismissed it as just another rumor. He never thought it would lead to this.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Leon crumpled yet another paper into a wad and threw it in the basket on the far wall. Half the pages on his notepad were already gone, he didn't care, he was just bored out of his mind and wanted to do something.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and his impulsive brother ran into the living room. He stopped, stared at Leon for a moment, then swiftly walked to the closet. While rummaging through it, he began talking, "There's gonna' be a rally tonight, actually, there is a rally tonight, yer' coming right?"
"No, its stupid and you're going to get yourself hurt."
"You treat me like a kid-
"Because you are one."
"..."
"Listen," Leon began, "Direct's time will come, it's just not now, you guys are making this too big for what it really is."
"Then what is it?"
"Nothing."
"Michael would've gone..." he turned, grabbed a baseball bat, and was gone.
Leon sat silently for a moment, looking down at his notepad. He threw the notepad against the wall with all the strength he had, its pages falling everywhere like fall leaves. He reclined the chair and lay, staring at the ceiling...
* * * * * * * * * * *
Torches were lit, bats and sticks held high, signs of hostility everywhere. Kane had the sudden urge to defend Direct, maybe because it was part of his agreed code of establishment, but the urge subsided after a few moments. As long as no one noticed him there, no harm would come to his career.
The crowd wasn't chanting anything, just yelling obscenities and throwing stones, he even saw children in the mob doing the same. Just then, the Direct main doors opened and guards poured out. One of them had a megaphone and, even then, was yelling at the top of his lungs, "Return to your homes, you are in direct violation of--
"Of what, Direct scum?!" someone screamed from the crowd.
The officer remained unfazed by the comment and decided to skip any further "violation" warnings, knowing it wouldn't do any good. He handed the megaphone to a nearby aid and gave a hand signal Kane recognized, it meant "mobilize". Just then the remaining soldiers brought the shields that had rested on their backs to their fronts.
Uh, oh. This doesn't look good, I may have to intervene after all. Dang, and I was waiting for just another normal weekend, Kane thought. "What am I thinking, this is normal."
Kane sensed a presence beside him, and caught a side view of another citizen. Hey, he looks like that kid. He grabbed the "kid's" arm and yanked him over so they were face to face.
"May I help you?" the young man replied. Although there were some very similar features about him, in the light Kane could clearly see this was a much older and surprisingly calm teenager, most likely just out of college. He was wearing a cut-off trench coat and gloves, everything else Kane couldn't define even in the light, except for .
He hesitantly loosened his grip and brought his hand away. The two men glared at each other for a moment.
Bang!
The shot hit nothing but air, but it brought everyone's attention to the main door staircase. An officer had fired and began to speak into the silence. His voice rang over any murmur that escaped the crowd, and he wasn't giving orders. His speech was crisp and sympathetic, quick to reassurance.
"Now I see that all of you are angry, I see that all of you are tired. Well, frankly, so am I. As I go for a morning stroll, I hear people talk down to the Direct Grand Council. They say that we care nothing of your rights and we're too cowardly to stand in front and lead the factions. Well, if I don't care about your rights, why am I talking to you right now. Now, all through today you've been told you're in violation of some unheard purpose, hell, for all you know you could be in violation of not resting on Sunday cuz' that's our day of rest."
That sent an uncertain chuckle and a small murmur of agreement. However, the other officers were all staring at this one, looking very worried.
"My name is Trevor Marks, and I'm a Direct officer, it's suddenly my job to make you people miserable? I didn't see that on the establishment code."
Kane was wondering how long they'd let him talk, or maybe they'd just demote him if he was ever done talking. He had recognized the name and he noticed the guy next to him did also. Trevor had been in the news about two years ago, something about a kid getting severely injured in a crossfire and then later dying. Rumors said things differently, but then again, they were only rumors.
"I promise I'll get to the bottom of these rumors, if they are even rumors. I will prevail, without bloodshed." Trevor ended the speech monotone, stepped off the staircase, and motioned the other soldiers back inside.
Whatever the commander had said before that while Kane was thinking, it calmed the crowd down immensely, most of them were already leaving. Whew, I guess it will be another semi-normal weekend. Kane calmly looked around for any other Enforcers, he didn't really need to, and they weren't very numerous. He strode back to his apartment by the Enforcer building to get some early sleep.