Chapter 42: Another Tense Confrontation?
With his heart non-subtly pounding against his chest, Lucien quickly drew the pistol inside his pocket, clenching it with one hand as he frowned, looking toward Amira in the window as he said with a serious voice:
"Wake Michael up."
The purple-haired girl’s brows creased, forehead scrunching up as she scowled, a bit confused.
"That’s a... full-length laser blaster? Lucien, why do you have–"
’Shit,’ Lucien thought inwardly, breathing out. ’I almost forgot she’s a trained killer.’
"Wake Michael up!"
Feeling the unhidden urgency in Lucien’s voice, Amira wasted no more time and immediately began tapping the boy, who was fast asleep on her shoulder.
Meanwhile, Lucien’s gaze trailed away from the mirror, fixing ahead, on that narrow space, which was the entrance to the rocky enclave known as the Fig-line. As he stared, he slowly moved the Rover, approaching the place.
However, from this distance, Lucien could detect subtle movements around the entrance to Fig-line.
The entire place seemed to have been blocked by people, or a group of people.
And, squinting his eyes, Lucien could faintly make out a long line of people and vehicles gathered near the entrance.
A queue, maybe?
It made sense. Fig-line was the hotspot for every single traveling criminal in every zerozone.
If Shaw had been a hub, a city and a dwelling place for the criminals of Sector 5, then Fig-line was the router for all criminals in all 7 sectors. Some crazy, homeless ones even lived in the Fig-line.
Even big criminal gurus in the big cities passed through this place.
And, without any single shred of doubt, Prowlers were gathered around here, too. Both the corrupt ones and the genuine ones.
After all, wherever there was criminality, there was Prowler-ity.
’No time for shitty jokes, Lucien.’
Still, he hadn’t expected to meet a damn queue here.
Were they monetizing this shit now, too?
There was no other explanation for this. One or two crews of criminals must’ve put their heads together and discovered that they could probably make a hell of money at this Fig-line.
See, most of the people who followed this rocky place were the type of people who didn’t really want any trouble, they couldn’t afford to be caught, and so just wanted to be on their way.
Exploiting this, if people suddenly brought up guns and told them they’d stir up trouble, cause commotion and disallow them from entering should they not pay them, they would definitely be willing to pay a few Units to get on with their movements. This applied to both those going out of the zero-zones and the ones coming in.
Collect those few Units from a hundred more criminals like them, then do it every day, and... damn, whoever ran the whole queue thing was making bank.
Shaking his head, Lucien put his pistol back inside his pocket.
Making a scene at a place like this was probably not a good idea, he reckoned.
Besides, he was very close to the queue now.
He couldn’t see many vehicles amongst the line of people in the queue. They were a rather rare sight.
But among the few vehicles he did see, there wasn’t any as good as his Rover. The best he noted was a Rart. A sturdy, dome-like-structured vehicle.
It wasn’t a bad car, honestly, but it couldn’t match his Rover in speed or durability.
And that meant that the criminals controlling the queue would probably know that, too.
"Uh... Luci?" Mikky suddenly called, drawing Lucien out of his own mind.
Lucien blinked, gazing backward. He smiled.
"Finally awake, huh?"
Michael, still groggy from waking up, was rubbing his blue eyes, yawning as Amira, smiling, ruffled his black hair.
Sometimes Lucien wondered if Michael was really the older one.
Michael nodded in reply to Lucien.
Lucien breathed out softly.
"Sit tight. Remember the seatbelts," he said, looking at Amira. "Hold him. We’re entering a dangerous area now. I want you both to be as quiet as possible, don’t utter a single word."
Amira nodded, putting a hand around Mikky’s shoulder.
Michael, still a bit sleepy, nodded.
Lucien faced forward.
’You can do this,’ he told himself.
Feeling the pistol in his pocket and remembering that he had a steel body and unique martial arts knowledge now, Lucien tempered his heart to the tune of resolve.
His vehicle was the last in the queue, just behind a steel-cart, which looked like a steel, engine-powered cart with four wheels, furnished like a normal vehicle.
Wearing the most confident smile he could muster, Lucien waited for his turn in the queue.
***
After what felt like an eternity, Lucien found himself staring at the large boulders that formed the narrow entrance to the enclaves and the rocky depth of the roads ahead.
But far from the rocky depths and the dangers that lay ahead, Lucien smiled as the steel-cart in front of him confronted the officials, the ones in charge of this whole checking operation.
And honestly, they were the reasons why he’d been looking at the large boulders earlier.
He could spot three dark-clothed figures crouched in different areas on the large boulders, holding large laser weapons, much like the ones Lucien had seen back in that warehouse.
Lucien drove forward, staring at the five dark-clothed figures walking around the entrance.
After a seven-minute talk with the person inside the steel-cart, they’d let them drive off.
Their dressing reminded Lucien of Lector, Evelyn and that woman, Draena. Only that their dressings had been skintight, worn to maximize efficiency.
While these... these guys wore dark cloaks, coats and robes that rippled with the wind. They wore dark sunglasses, hiding their eyes.
Who the hell wore this kind of clothing under the hot sun?
As one of them walked over to Lucien’s vehicle with that long weapon of theirs, Lucien chuckled to himself. He couldn’t help but think their dressings were all just aesthetic nonsense.
The tense, no-shit expression on their faces, the way they held their weapons, the way they carried themselves and spoke to one another.
Lucien could tell that these guys weren’t normal criminals. They were Prowlers.
And they were pretty low-rank ones. Corrupted too.
He looked at the mirror, staring at Amira and Mikky as he made a gesture, crossing one finger against his lips.
They both nodded.
–knock–! Knock–!
A knock came on the window.
And Lucien, with a bright, brilliant, confident smile, slowly opened the window.
"Afternoon, gentleman!"