The White Shadow 1: The Dancer

Chapter 19

Diane looked up into the eyes of a beast. Harsh, red eyes looked her down, analysing her choices: Her long hair, light makeup, and the effects of regular estrogen pills upon her chest. The eyes looked away, crinkling in disgust, and Verez turned to the Doctor, who stood out of view behind Diane. "Get my son a haircut," He snarled, "And proper clothes."

Footsteps receded from behind Diane without another word. Verez adjusted the cuffs of his button up shirt and tightened his tie. He sighed and fell down into his plush chair, behind an ornate desk adorned in a dishevelled excuse for paperwork. There was a computer with three monitors, open on stocks, emails, and other important business information. Diane didn't really understand it, that was Darryll's forte. Verez wiped his brow, and looked up. His angular eyes were framed with crows feet, and his short hair was inky back and gelled into a thick, waxy flick. His jaw was angular and stiff, and he held himself like a sculpture, one hand propping up his chin, the other melodramatically sprawled over all his papers. He finally asked, without looking up, "So... Marcus... How... How are you?"
Diane winced at her deadname, and turned her attention to her surroundings. Verez's office was pretty small, but seemed smaller for how ornate it was. A gold and crimson velvet carpet stretched over the floor, and the walls were adorned in many paintings in large and intricate frames. Behind the large, heavy wooden door that led out were two men with guns who would stop Diane leaving. Even if she used her cloak, the door would take too long to open, even though it wasn't locked.
Verez continued, "So you still don't want to talk to me, huh?"
Diane did not want to talk to him.
"Is this because of the super powered drug thing?"
Not entirely, Diane thought, no.
"I just don't understand what I can give you to make you understand how much I care about you," Verez lamented, "And it breaks my heart!" He cried suddenly, throwing his free hand above his head, "It breaks my heart to see you like this-"
Diane turned away from Verez and walked over to the far end of the room. "I'm not going to tolerate you anymore." She said simply. Verez was stunned, and then he sighed, "Alright. I'll just wait for your little rebellious streak to wane before we can get back to business."
Diane really wanted to talk back, she really did. But she knew that it would be futile.
It was at that moment that her phone buzzed in her coat. She dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out the brick to find a message from Darryll. As she read the text, Verez sighed, "Kids these days on their phones..."
The message was three letters. "EMP". Diane, confused sent a question mark to show that she did not understand. Where was the emp? Was she supposed to activate it? Another message came back, "Throw a brick at his head ;P". And then it clicked. Diane sent a final message, "Ten seconds." And then she put her phone back on her pocket and counted in her head.
1
2
3
She turned back to face Verez, who smiled, "Have you come around?"
6
"That was peculiarly fast," The man asked, "Something happen on that phone of yours?"
8
9
"Yep," Diane replied, her face steeped in concentration as she threw her phone at Verez's head with as much force as she could.

What Diane expected to happen was the thrown phone would knock Verez out before an EMP (like the one at Chromwell's warehouse) would detonate and destroy the lights, allowing Diane to rush through the door while the guards were confused and escape.

What happened instead was that The phone exploded. And not just in smoke or gas, but with fire and shrapnel that flew over Diane's head as she ducked quickly. Verez screamed like a child, shrill cries that resonated over the roar of flames and alerted his guards, who stormed into his room, semi-automatic guns brandished across their chests. As the flames swelled and danced higher, a hazy mirage of sweltering heat filled the room, hiding Diane as she pulled her cloak over her shoulders and leaped between the bewildered guards.

Outside Verez's room, security was admittedly pretty lax. It seems being the most powerful man in the city for nearly half a century had made Verez very comfortable. Many staff including maids, butlers, cleaners and even gardeners had began urgently rushing to the masters room up the large flight of stairs and through the corridor, following the loud explosion and smell of smoke, which made Diane's escape relatively easy. Despite herself, she wondered if Verez was okay. Probably not.

Darryll sat upon a bench, Dennis by his side peering over his shoulder. Darryll currently has his phone open on the app he had made to detonate Diane's phone. He felt the mass of butterflies fluttering around in his stomach, his thumbs twitching restlessly. "Dennis," he asked, "am I a bad person?"
"Well to that," Dennis replied, "I ask you what a bad person is?"
Darryll did not answer. He leaned back and stared up at the sky, showing the first signs of a sunrise: a slight orange tint, clouds turning white. Dennis still faced down, his eyes aimed at Darryll. He asked, "Are you worried about Diane?"
"If she could see reason," Darryll thought aloud, becoming vulnerable underneath the dark blue haze of the slowly shifting sky, "She would leave and never come back. She would find herself and become more than her past."
Dennis shrugged. Darryll waited, under the falling moon, for Diane to return.