Okay, here it is! I've redone the chapter, most of it, because I didn't like it. Reread it because a few things are different.
Metropolis: Fallen Light
Chapter 2. Fallen Defenses
"So . . . What's your name?"
Rock was going on his third drink, the girl was going on her fifth.
"Halo. Halo Silo Kane. Any of those three names would suffice." She laughed loudly, seemingly for no reason, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway; no one was in the bar except Halo, Rock, the bartender, and two Upper-city robot cops in for their one o' clock drink- something they referred to as a "wake-up call."
"So, mystery-man, what's your name?" Halo went in for another shot and spilled some of the bottle's contents on her hand.
"Uh . . . Rock."
"You sound uncertain."
"Nah. It's Rock." He gulped down some more of his drink and looked at the clock above the bar. "Uh-oh. One-thirty."
"It can't be! We only came in here around- hiccup- eleven thirty."
"Yeah, well, crap happens. Let's, uh . . ." Rock looked at her gulping down the glass. "Let's get you home."
Halo looked at him with stern eyes.
"I'm not drunk, Rock. I'm perfectly sober." Rock raised one eyebrow as she helped herself off the barstool, but released his hold on doubt when she snatched her coat from him. Under that coat she had been wearing short shorts and a shirt that was a little big for her. When Rock payed for the drinks and they had stepped outside, Rock stopped to wait for Halo to tie the sash around the overcoat she wore.
"Where to?"
"Anywhere but home."
Rock looked at her as she looked ahead, her face firm, her features troubled, her warm, green eyes icy. Rock was rather tempted to ask her why not, but he felt he shouldn't pry.
"Actually . . . I do have a meeting to go to." Rock looked at her again.
"Where at?"
"Zone Three."
Rock wrinkled his nose. Zone Three, huh? Rock didn't like the sound of that.
"Well . . . The least you can do is let me walk you down there."
"I don't think that's such a great idea."
"Why not?"
Rock looked rather hurt, but Halo looked up at him and smiled. She then cocked her head slightly to one side and reached up for his sunglasses.
"Why do you wear these? It's not even snowing right now."
Rock took them back and looked at them.
"Well . . . I really don't know."
Halo smiled more broadly and said, to Rock's humiliation, "Your eyes are too pretty to hide." With that she turned from him and began to walk in the direction of the Zone One gateway (gotta go through Zones One and Two to get to Three ^_^). "I suppose I'll see you some time around, right, Rock?"
After that the elevator jerked and Halo was being taken down to the Zone.
Rock turned from the gateway and began to walk in the direction of Back-Alley. When he reached there the clock had already set on two fifteen. About time Rock got back home! Rafe wasn't anywhere in Back-Alley. He had probably gone there and hadn't seen Rock at all, so he probably left. Oh well. No illegally-roaming robots were out when Rock was patrolling anyway.
"Oops," Rock thought. He discarded his thought, however, when he reached the open town square of Metropolis. It was completely blanketed in snow, not a soul alive was out on the streets, and the lights looked almost black through the thick swirls. Soon enough, however, he was bending over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath, on the front step of Duke Red's manor.
"Rock?" Duke Red's cook, Till, stood at the door, watching him. "Come on in here and go up to your room before Duke Red wakes up." Till closed the door as Rock began to climb the stairs. "And don't bother getting a shower until morning, you must wake up at seven, you know.
Great, then I'll have four hours of restless sleep, Rock thought sarcastically. His hand glided smoothly up the handrail as he slowly walked. His room, of course, was set up on the third floor of Red's house, away from the main living quarters. Rock didn't really mind; he liked his small solitude.
Rock also liked his small room, and when he opened the door he realized how little he appreciated maids. He liked his room to seem small and cramped, only the maids always felt like they had to come in and clean up.
When he stepped in the doorway he un-buckled his low holster belt and placed it on the dresser, which stood tall next to the door. He closed the door behind himself and locked it, then took off his shirt and boots and collapsed onto the bed.
"Damn my generosity," he said sleepily, closing his eyes. "I really- yawn- shouldn't have gone out for drinks with her." Not long after that his snores could be faintly heard.
~*~ Somewhere other than Rock's room~*~
"I don't like the looks of him."
"Kenna, you don't like the looks of any Marduk."
"He's a Marduk?!"
"Yeah. You were spying on me anyway, I should think you would have noticed the symbol."
"Halo Kane, you know the rules!"
"So do you, yet you never follow them!"
Kenna went silent and heard a moan from the room where his sisters and nephews were sleeping. Halo had recently gotten back from the meeting in Zone Three, and Kenna had been woken by her tripping over the doorstep . . . Again.
"But what I do is strictly for political purposes. You and I both know it."
"Well, how do you know I didn't just see the Marduk symbol and decide to use Rock to my advantage?"
"You were never a good liar. Besides, you're not manipulative enough."
"How would you know?!"
Halo and Kenna always got into arguments like these. Often Kenna won, but Halo felt this one was leaning towards being completely random and right out of "left field."
"Kenna, give it up, this is going no where."
"No! Admit it, you're not a good liar and I argue better than you!"
(-_-;) "Fine. I forfeit."
Halo began to walk back into Fern's room. Kenna, her "ex-boyfriend," was never satisfied until he got exactly what he wanted. The only time Halo could remember he didn't get what he wanted was when Karen, his sister, got knocked up and she wouldn't allow him to kick the guy's ass who ran out on her.
"Still . . . He's good at what he does." Halo said this sleepily as she climbed under the covers on the floor beside Fern. Not long after that she was asleep as well.
A/N: Okay, yeah, I know, it sucked, but I'm having a rush here and my next two exams are this week and, well, I'm rushing. It's not nearly as interesting now as it will be AFTER the next couple o' chapters, but be patient, I'm workin' on it. I've got billions of other things to do.
