Neon District: Redux

Part Two Chapter Four: The Underground Meeting

       Zoo, Cathra, and Sam walked in a single-file line through the sewer system of the District's underground. They only had a small amount of the crumbling concrete path to move across. The sewer water not even a step away from them was a green and brown colour with a stench that made Sam's eyes water. The underground was partially lit by some incandescent lighting which goes to show it had been a long time since any maintenance was done down here.

       Zoo halted just after he passed through a rusted copper gate left open and had enough room between him for the rest to pass by. Sam stood beside Zoo and glanced around the large, round tunnel that they entered into.

       They stood on a platform that stretched around the circumference of the tunnel. When Sam peered down the tunnel, at the bottom of the dimly lit pit was the same murky sewer water. Zoo began to move again and they followed him to a rusted ladder that went to the bottom of the pit where another platform awaited at the bottom. Carefully, each of them took turns descending the ladder and continuing through the network of tunnels that made up the underground sewer system.

       They made their way into a dark tunnel that no longer had any of the vintage lights and all of them halted halfway through the tunnel. Turning to his right, Zoo curled his fist against the corroding brick wall of the tunnel and began slightly knocking his knuckles against the wall like he was knocking on a door. He continued this for a short time before the sound of brick turned into a hollowed echo when he knocked on a small portion of the wall.

       Pushing on that portion of the wall, Zoo hauled open a door that was made of the brick wall to reveal a dimly lit concrete room. Once they entered the room, Sam saw that all the room offered was a rectangular metal table with mismatched chairs surrounding it. The singular fluorescent light bounced off the metal table, illuminating parts of the still dark room. He couldn't even see how big the room was with how dark it was.

       Each of them took a seat on one side of the table with Sam seated on an old wooden dining room chair and waited. He didn't bothered to ask how long they needed to wait because he knew better than to ask such a stupid question to either of them.

       A click-clacking of heels on the concrete floor alerted them to the other side of the dark room. A pair of shiny black heels appeared in the dim light and soon after the rest of the woman's body materialized. 

       Sam's breath hitched when Yuka took a seat on the opposite side of the table from them.

       Yuka looked so different from the last time he saw her. Instead of wearing the leather jacket and jeans, she wore a grey pantsuit with a deep purple blouse. She appeared more expensive, something that you were  not allowed to even glance at without having to pay a fee for it. He guessed that was just one of the perks for working under Mr. Propaganda.

       He wanted to lunge at her and tear her eyes out, he wanted to rip her apart, but all he could do was clench his fists and hide them under the table.

       "Where is your boss?" Cathra started, "are we not important enough for him anymore that he had to send his underling instead?"

       "He had better things to attend to," Yuka replied, keeping her hands splayed out on the bone chilling table for them to all see, "plus wasn't it the Syndicate that called this meeting abruptly?"

       "Our leader called it, we had no say in it," Sam piped up, the sound of his own voice sounding scarily different.

       ""Our?" Don't tell me you joined up with the Syndicate?" Yuka said flatly, her expression and tone giving the appearance of a disappointed parent. At that question, Sam stayed silent; he didn't want to give Yuka the satisfaction of knowing she broke him down enough for him to be sitting here in the first place.