BANE: avenge

chapter 20

Early update because I'm auditioning for American Idol tomorrow... 😘 ♡♡♡
~Asteri~

After a short rest, which Al insisted was not short at all, I stood & asked him if he knew where we were. He answered promptly, & I wondered what I ought to do next. Brushing my dress off, I decided I should put on my coat, & afterwards decide what to do.

I looked around & decided that I should start walking towards the second location, because there was simply nothing else I could do.

“So! Where are we going Miss?"

“Ara, not Miss.” & I told him where I needed to go.

He nodded, knowing exactly where it was.

“Why would such a fine lady as yourself wish to go there? Rather a dump, it is."

“Now, that's none of your business."

“What isn't?"

“Nice try, urchin. I am not telling."

He huffed, but his face quickly cleared of that & became rather curious looking.

“Well, I do suppose a murderer like you would like to go there, no matter how fine of a lady you are. I've heard stories about that place..."

“I am not a murderer! I have never murdered anyone!"

“Oh yeah? Since when is pushing people out of fennies to their death not murder?"

“I did not push him out! He fell!"

“That's not what everyone is saying."

“Not everything people say is true, additionally, I am somebody, therefore, everyone is not saying I murdered him, because I am most definitely not."

“Most everybody is, though!"

“What most everybody says isn't true either, Al."

“So you just happened to bump into the man & knock him out of a finny that was 8 stories high."

“Yes!"

I sighed at his finally comprehending.

“That's what they all say. You are definitely going to have to make a better excuse than that, Miss. We ought to work on it."

“I am not going to work on it! It's the truth! I could care less if it is what they all say!"

“The judges will not care less. I should say they will care quite a bit..."

“Surely there is some way to get out of it."

“I would tell you to hide from them, but you're” here he paused & stared at my head, “face is kind of stand outing."

I was plagued & tired of hiding anyway.

“Oh! Oh! You are going to see these fishy folks to hide, are you not?"

“Unfortunately not."

“Oho? So what are you going to do?"

I was silent for a few minutes as I continued following him. I looked around at the dirty streets, seeing all the poverty & ruin around me. This was London? This was the gr& & beautiful city I had been told of? This had nothing to do with what I had been told.

Half-naked children tumbling about in the filth & dust that composed the streets, mothers, in rags, weary of life pulling them away from me as I passed. They looked at me with a judging eye, eyeing my temple & SRDs disapprovingly while big, burly men with grimaces walked past the children & they did nothing. Did I really look more fear inducing than one of those men? Were my metallic anomalies & odd eye more fear inducing than the men that lived in such a place?

I was jolted out of my reverie by Al saying something.

“-re block."

“Wait, what?"

“I knew you weren't listening to me. That cyborg SRDs work?"

“I was thinking! Of course it works!"

“Sure it does."

His voice implied he believed quite the opposite.

“It works perfectly fine!"

“Mmhmm..."

“I insist!"

“Alright, alright, I get it!"

“What were you going to say?"

“Not was going to. I did say i-"

“Enough of your smart mouth."

“I did think I was quite intelligent, but to be told so directly by a lady of your-"

“By the gods! What did you say?"

“Which part of it?"

“The parts I did not hear!"

“I haven't the slightest idea of which parts you heard."

“Alright, well just repeat the whole thing."

“If you say so..."

“Yes, I do."

He cleared his throat & snatched my coat from around me, running a ways off & then running back to me, holding out the coat.

“Fetched you your coat, ma'am."

He grinned up at me as I snatched the coat from him.

“You did it wrong."

“Wrong? I did it wrong?"

“Aye, you did the whole scene incorrectly."

“I did?"

“Yes."

“I did?"

“Yes!"

“So you say... But I can-not just believe everything I hear any old person say out on the streets. There are liars out on these streets."

“Yeah, you can-not just believe everything I hear any old person say out on the streets. I am not just any old person, though. I have placed the rest of my day practically into your hands. I could have spent the past couple hours following you around for no reason, but I am trying to trust that you have not been leading me around in circles."

“That is true, I suppose. So, what did I do so wrong?"

“You neglected to lower your voice as you did when you said those words in the beginning."

“Lower my voice?"

He let out a forced laugh.

“You lowered your voice, I am quite sure you did. I especially noticed that because of how odd it sounded & how you stopped doing it after a while in our conversation."

“I was hoping you would not notice that. Seems you noticed it after all."

“I do not blame you. I am sure you have gotten mocked about your voice quite often."

“Yes, I get mocked often. Yeah, that is exactly the reason why I did it. Absolutely."

A few seconds later.

“Definitely."

A few more seconds later.

“Undoubtedly."

He paused again & I interjected.

“You certainly do not seem too sure about it at all, Al."

“Sure about it? Why, I am completely sure about it! In fact, I am so completely sure, it is completely beyond doubt!"

“Yeah? Why do you keep repeating it then?"

A few seconds, then a burst of speed.

“Why, look! We have arrived at the place, miss!"