The Seventh Element
Chapter 2
Our So-Called 'Hero'
Tea Gardner screamed and sat up in her bed in her Domino apartment. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. 8:30. God damn nightmares.
"No one should be up this early." She muttered. Right on cue, the voice activation kicked in. The lights blinked on, and rock music from the 40's started playing. Tea's friends made fun of her for listening to such old music. Now a days, music was digitally synthesized, but in the years of 2140, instruments and human musicians played. Tea liked the real notes. Tea rubbed her temples and groaned.
"Yeah yeah, I'm up." She muttered as the phone rang. She sighed and sat up, the bed retracting into the wall. She went to the wall controls and turned down the music. Then he hit the speaker button on the phone.
"What?" she groaned.
"Hey Gardner, its Mai." Tea hit the DOOR OPEN button, and a tan cat ran inside. Tea smiled.
"Hi honey." She whispered, rubbing her temples.
"If you want to take our friendship to the next level Gardner, we should discuss it in person." Mai laughed. Tea rolled her eyes and pulled a cigarette from a packet on a shelf, and starting looking for a lighter.
"Very funny Mai. I was talking to the cat." She said, looking down at Honey as he devoured his food.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. You still prefer the furry tomcat to the human one." Tea shrugged and stuck the cigarette in her mouth. Moving items on the shelf, she picked up a picture of her and a brunette man. Her wedding day. Tea frowned. How did that picture survive? She had gotten rid of them after a little thing she called 'The Big Freakout'.
"At the least the furry one comes back after sleeping around." She said, ripping the picture in half.
"Hey, it's been five months Gardner, get over him. Tristan was one man, there are a million others out there."
"I don't want a million men, I want one." Tea huffed, finding a lighter. "A perfect one." Mai snorted.
"Good luck Gardner. While you're at it, find us a cure for world hunger and HTS." Tea rolled her eyes and lit her cigarette and laughed.
"Give me a break here Mai." Tea moaned, picking up another picture. "Ew."
"What?"
"Found a picture of you."
"Oh really? How do I look?"
"Slutty."
"Hm, must be an old picture. Listen, Valon wants you to bring the cab in for an overhaul."
"I don't need one." Tea said, sipping the coffee. Lukewarm. She gagged and put it back on the burner.
"Hey Gardner, Valon's had the boss on his back for cab repairs, and when Raphael is on his back, Valon gets on mine, help us both out."
"Tell Valon he should tell Raphael to shove his repair crap. He's been an asshole ever since his step-dad lost the election. And just between you and me, I voted for Dartz. You'd think they'd cut me some slack. Anyway, forget about the overhaul, the cab's purring like the presidential hooker."
"Oh don't give me that shit Gardner, I remember how you drive."
"That was six months ago Mai, I'm a new woman. I crashed battlecruisers, sure, but this is a cab. I can handle a cab."
"Really? So tell me, how points are left on your license?" Tea picked up her ID and squinted at the digital readout under her picture.
"Uh…"
" Gardner, how many points?"
"About 50." Tea lied.
"You lied better when you were in the UFF, Gardner."
"Because the UFF is made of lies Mai. Those bastards were supposed to give me 5 mil for retirement."
"How much did you get?"
"2."
"Cheapskates."
"Factor in that I lost half of it in the divorce now. I'm not good at math, how much have the men in my life screwed me out of?" Tea asked, picking up her reheated coffee. She sipped and shrugged. It would do.
"I hear ya Gardner, to hell with the lot of 'em. Look, Valon's job is hanging by a thread, and he's the only thing keeping me employed. He goes, I go, remember?"
"Oh yeah. How many times did you sleep with him to get that job again?"
"Twice. And shut up." Tea smiled.
"Fine. I'll be there later, just let me get a few fares."
"Whatever. Bye." Tea clicked off the phone and downed the rest of her coffee. She reached over and hit another button on the wall controls. A TV slid out of the wall, and Honey jumped to the floor to watch. Tea flicked her cigarette to the ground, putting it out with her heel as she listened to the TV.
"Ladies ands gents, Maxie Rhod here, inviting YOU on the once of a lifetime trip! An all expenses paid trip to duelist Kingdom for two, accompanied by me, myself and I! Drawing begins today, enter now and win big!" Tea rolled her eyes and grabbed her coat.
"Don't watch it all day Honey, it'll rot your little brain and you'll end up like that fruit." She called. She pressed the DOOR OPEN button, and was met with a gun barrel.
"Gimme the cash!" The mugger hissed. Tea groaned. She really had to move to a better neighborhood. Maybe it was her, but it seemed to be the same guy every month. She looked over the large gun in her face.
"Nice gun. H97, Titanium Assault Model, right?" She asked. The mugger raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, yeah, titanium…gimme the cash!"
"That's some heavy duty firepower there. Could blast me right through the wall." Tea mused. "Guess it's a good thing it ain't loaded." The mugger laughed nervously.
"Whadda ya mean it ain't loaded, your crazy bitch, of course it's loaded!" He snapped.
"Really? Because that little yellow button there shouldn't be lit up if it was loaded." Tea informed him, pointing to a tiny yellow button on the gun barrel. "You wanna load, you gotta press that button." The mugger gulped as one of his hands reached forward. "You want me to get that for ya?" Tea asked, bored. The mugger pushed the button and laughed as the gun beeped three times. Then the barrel fell off the rest of the gun to the floor. Tea rolled her eyes and pulled her own gun from behind the door. The mugger dropped what was left of his weapon and held up his hands.
"Oh shit…" He muttered. Tea crouched down and picked up the pieces of the H97.
"This here is a very bad gun." She lectured, throwing the pieces into her apartment. "I'll hang onto this for ya, you run off an we'll pretend I was scared, okay?" The mugger nodded and sprinted down the hall. Tea smirked and hit the DOOR CLOSE button.
"Wimp."
- - - - - - - - - -
"Please enter your license." The car console beeped. Tea slid into the driver's seat of her cab and pulled out her ID.
"Yeah yeah." She muttered, swiping it through the car's card reader.
"ID confirmed, Tea Taylor Gardner, 22 years old, born 2192, Domino Japan."
"No shit." Tea growled. She flipped up a row of switches, and the car's hoverjets came on with a hiss and a creak. The safety clamps on the car's rear fender released as the car hovered inches above the ground.
"You have 5 points left on your license." The console reminded Tea.
"Yeah, thanks for the little reminder." Tea grumbled. She reached out and hit a switch on the garage wall. The wall before the car slid open, revealing the 'street'. About 150 years ago, pollution has pretty much made most of Earth's surface uninhabitable. The buildings now towered miles into the air, with the streets running between them. There were about 15 lanes vertically, then bout 50 feet of empty air before 'The Fog' started, an empty, cloudy area that marked where the buildings had been adapted from sky scrapers over a century ago. Tea eased out of the garaged.
"Have a nice day, please drive safely."
"I try." Tea replied. A car veered in front of her, and Tea flashed the driver the finger. "Hey, I'm driving here!"