Chapter 11. Fallen Harmony
"Oh, great. What now?"
Atlas threw his gun back around himself and turned to Halo. He hesitated for a minute before replying. "Well, we really need to go back and see if Shmi and Parth are okay."
"What about Fern and Kenna?!"
Atlas gave a low groan and rubbed the nape of his neck. "But . . . They're probably fine!"
"But Rock was just down here! He could have had them done in or something!"
"We don't know that-"
"And we won't know that unless we look!" Halo hissed.
"But if he got out he could have done something to Parth and Shmi!"
"You go look for them, and I'll go look for the others," said Halo, trying as best as she could to keep her voice down. Atlas sighed irritably.
"Fine." He began to stalk off toward the rotted door and slammed it behind himself. Halo stared angrily at the arch for a minute and then set off in the opposite direction. She looked down at her gun, which was still in her hand. She had fired off only two bullet and now only had four left. She would have to use them more wisely.
Still looking down at her gun she stopped. Atlas was probably right, Fern and Kenna were smart, they were probably okay. Besides, from what Red said, even if they were captured not much harm would come to them. She finally gave in and ran back toward the arch. She opened the door and shouted out his name.
"Atlas!" She began to make her way through all the people when she finally saw Atlas moving through the arch that led to Back-Alley VIII, where they had taken Rock after meeting up in the restaurant in Back-Alley VII. Halo ran to catch up with him and finally did. He turned to her, not in the least bit surprised.
"I figured you'd come around." Halo raised an eyebrow and Atlas decided to drop it before pushing open the door. No one really went down Back-Alley VIII, so it was virtually empty. As they approached the small building that had housed Rock as a prisoner, they saw the door had been beaten down from the inside. Cautiously they stepped on top of it and came into the room with all the chairs. They had been knocked over in what appeared to be a scuffle. But this isn't what attracted their attention. What caught their eye was two bodies across the room, one breathing in sharp gasps and the other lying still on the floor: Parth and Shmi.
** Halo's POV **
"What happened?" Atlas whispered, more to himself than anyone. I looked at him as he tried to help Shmi up into a sitting position. He was still alive, but barely clinging. What looked like multiple stab wounds had punctured his skin and ripped slits in his jacket, which was covered in his blood. No telling what had happened. Parth lay silent and still on the ground. I looked over at him and wondered if he was dead.
"Atlas . . ." Atlas wasn't listening to me. I stood and checked on Parth. He was in fact dead. I took a step back. "Atlas . . ." Still no answer. "ATLAS!" He jerked his head up. "H- he's dead," I told him, my voice quivering. He looked back down at Shmi, who had grasped his collar and was pulling him down to whisper in his ear. I couldn't hear what he said but I knew it wasn't good, because I moment later he fell limply in Atlas's arms, Atlas with an odd expression on his face that I hadn't ever seen there before. Atlas gently put him down and stood straight, his eyes wide and a terrified look etched upon his features.
"W-what's wrong?" I said, unsure of myself or his emotional stability. Whatever Shmi had said seemed to take a toll on him. "Are you okay? Atlas?" He looked at me for a minute before muttering, "Come on," and we began to leave. I was still unsure of myself, like I was out of place.
I didn't know where we were going until we began to head in the direction of the gates. Apparently we were now going to search for our escapee. Or, now more precisely, our accused murderer.
When we finally stepped off the gate into Zone One, I turned to Atlas again.
"Why didn't we keep going?"
"Despite all the robots and the fact that he probably has the urge to shoot them all down, Zone One is the most crowded. It's a lot easier to hide in." I nodded and looked forward. Unfortunately, Zone One seemed to be more crowded than ever be for. But I decided that this could be used to an advantage as well. The more people there was the more chance we had of someone seeing Rock.
"Should we split up?"
"Yes, you're right. I'll go look, you ask around, okay?" I nodded again, keeping my eyes on him as he turned. His face had turned abnormally pale. This made me even more curious as to what Shmi had said. I would have to ask later though, because right now I had a job to do.
To Rock's disadvantage, I knew about everything there was to know about Zone One and people knew me very well because, of course, most of the population here was robots and unlike most Metropolitans, I was on their side.
**
I think I went through just about everyone I could see and still had found nothing. No one had seen Rock go through there! I wondered if Atlas was having any such luck. I was just about to go off and find him when he came running toward me.
"Have any luck?" I asked as he bent over, his palms on her knees, trying to catch his breath. Not too long later he looked up and answered,
"I got a lead but nothing solid. You?"
"No. Nothing at all. No one has seen him come through here." Atlas stood straight. "Maybe he went into that bar over by the gate?"
"It's all too easy . . ." He turned and looked at me, unsure of my reaction. "But I guess we could try." I followed behind him a few feet as we began walking in that direction. I was sort of hoping someone or something would come between us so that I'd have a reason to walk away. Even though I suggested it I didn't really wanna go inside the bar.
But, you know, we can't always get what we want, and I know that all too well. When we got inside the bar I, of course, immediately wished I hadn't even thought of suggesting it. It was full of smoke, even though the vast majority was robots, and it was very cramped in there, though I felt like I could have been the only one to notice. Even Atlas seemed as though he either a) didn't care b) didn't notice or c) was so used to it he felt like he was walking through an empty room.
But no, I couldn't be that way: having to wade through robots and drunken humans, and the alcohol smell was intoxicating, but I guess that's why they call it alcohol, isn't it? I managed to follow Atlas and approach the bar unscathed and I gratefully took a seat on a stool. Atlas stood and questioned the barkeep if he had seen Rock pass by. After a minute he looked at me and asked, "You want some coffee?"
"No, thanks, coffee's overrated."
I saw Atlas give a small grin, amused grunt, and then pay the bartender for whatever he was getting. He came back to me and forced a glass into my hands.
"What's this?" I asked, looking down at it.
"Water," replied Atlas, taking a quick gulp of whatever he had.
"Well, then, what's that?" I was talking about his drink. He looked at it for a minute. I already knew what it was, I just wanted to know why he got me a water instead of a beer. I sighed and drank my water without another word. Truth be told, I didn't really much care for a beer at the moment.
"So," I said after a few minutes. "Rock come through here at all?"
"No. I'll just have to follow my lead for a while, I suppose."
"What's the lead?"
"Well, some guy with a hot dog stand told me Rock had gone through to the Other Side, but the Other Side is so big we'd need an entire search party to look for him down there."
Even though I had asked the question I was only half paying attention. I had been wondering for a while what Shmi had whispered in Atlas's ear, and I figured now was as good a time as any to question Atlas about it. Only problem is I didn't have the guts to mention it.
**
Rock looked over his shoulder. They weren't back there. They weren't following him. Good then. This gave him just enough time to get everything ready.
He approached the arch that led into Lower Back-Alley I and quickly walked through it. His Marduks had been carefully stationed back here to await his command. He only hoped that they were still there.
Rock quickly spotted about ten or twelve sitting around a fire. He approached them and they stood, saluting, at the ready. Rock ordered two away and gave the rest his new command. He only hoped the disguised Marduk had given that troublemaker Atlas the false information.
** Halo's POV **
"Atlas, can we be sure that Rock went down here?"
"For the last time, Halo, I'm positive he said Rock headed this way."
"But Lower Back-Alley I's back entrance is down here, he could have gone through there. Not to mention that Back-Alley I has the access to the other eleven Back-Alley tunnels!"
"You're right, but . . . Let's just take this one at a time, starting with Other Side, okay?"
"Fine, whatever, but . . . Atlas . . . Can I, uh, ask you something? I mean, you don't have to answer if you think it's none of my business, I'm just curious and-" I noticed Atlas had raised one eyebrow, an obvious sign of irritation. "Oh, uh . . . Yeah. Well, I was wondering . . ." My courage was slowly draining, but I had to get this out. "IwaswonderingwhatShmisaidbacktherebeforehedied." I took a deep breath. Atlas stopped.
"What?" He was either appalled by my question or didn't understand what I had said.
"I was . . . I wanted to know . . . What Shmi said back there, before he died and . . ." I stopped. Atlas was apparently thinking this through. He continued walking, though.
"You're right, it's really none of your business. Just don't worry about it." It wasn't my business, but I still wanted to know. Unfortunately, my courage had officially leaked out of my ears, or at least it felt that way, and I didn't think I could have asked again.
Not another word was said until we approached Other Side. Other Side was sort of like a really big void only there was a really lot of pipes and stuff and it kind of artificially heated or cooled the Zones. There really was nothing down there except the pipes and I think a sewer ran under it down into Zones Two and Three.
"Atlas . . . It's kind of . . . creepy down here, if you know what I mean."
"No, I don't, but I can see where that's coming from. The pipes are a little loud." Atlas was scanning the huge pipes across the top of Other Side while I looked around the smaller ones deeper in for Rock. Nothing so far.
"Atlas . . . What do you think the Duke's weapon is?"
"I don't really know. Knowing the Duke it's nothing good. And with the money and the political power he has, I'd say he's pretty much got the scientists to build him a pretty destructive one."
"Hmm . . ." Halo looked over toward the Lower Back-Alley I arch-way. Atlas was slowly taking the gun from around his back and staring at the door as well. We both turned, however, to the right as a wrench came falling across one of the pipes and landing yards away from my feet. And then came what I supposed to be a pipe worker falling maybe four stories to his death. He hit with a sickening crunch on the steel metal floor. Atlas looked around at the pipes again while I rushed to the worker's side.
As I confirmed his death (okay, I already knew he was dead, but given the circumstances I've seen before it could have been worth checking) I looked up for whatever had happen to him. A worker guy doesn't just drop his wrench then throw himself four stories to meet his death on a huge plate of steel. There had to be someone up there, but the first person that came to my mind was Rock.
As Atlas fired a shot and a figured bounded swiftly down the pipes I was proven wrong. It was only one of his Marduks, pointing a gun at Atlas. As I looked up again I saw nearly a hundred of Rock's Marduks lining the pipes on top, pointing guns down, and then at the bottom just standing there. Where was Rock?
"What should we do with them, sir?" asked the Marduk holding firearms on Atlas.
"Don't harm the girl. Do whatever you want with him, but don't kill him yet." Out of the dark doorway of the Lower Back-Alley I entrance came Rock. He seemed to have gotten himself cleaned up pretty good and had even gotten a new pair of those shady sunglasses.
I was still kind of staring at him a little bit when I felt two Marduks grab my arms and lift me up. I was glaring at him when I was carried past him and through the door leading to Lower Back-Alley I.
"Don't you dare hurt him," I hissed quietly at Rock. He only sneered evilly at me and then he disppeared around the corner of the door as the Marduks took me in.
Author's Notes: I don't like the name of the chapter and once I think of a better name I'm gonna change it. But anyway, this one is short too but I simply had to let it fall a little bit before I gave too much off. Besides, it fits better this way. R/R!
