The elevator was not really a comfortable place.
Decorated, nice carpets, chilling music and not cramped...It was actually a pretty nice elevator.
Voro didn`t really considered that the case, nor did Ms.Solt.
He stood leaned on one side, she on the other pressing the buttons, and the only sound heard was the slow dings of floors rising.
-5
-4
-3
Voro used the while to crack his bones, calm his breath, contract every single muscle...quietly. Not to alarm or annoy the fellow traveler, his warm-up was minimal.
"Would you please wait until we are outside of the building"
She said with a hint of disgust at him.
"No * cracks his neck* Not really "
*DING*
-Floor 0-
[ Now entering Lobby ]
Camo/Military lady went in front of him with a slight head gestures to follow her up, and added a frown meaning together "Shut up, stay quiet, follow me"
So he did.
_____________
The lobby was a completely different experience than the underground.
Even though he was here a few days ago, now that he could actually see it and not be in a hurry to kill someone, it was a very nice place.
Clear floors, regular and not eye-blasting lighting, low professional murmur of a government office and dark wooden desks with secretaries behind them. Normal, everything was just normal.
'Customers' were a bit odd, just as when he stormed in, men in tactical gear or in hunting clothes waiting in lines for the receptionists. Suits coming in and out of elevators, lab coats driving with amounts of cardboard and paper....A bit odd.
But nobody looked at them as if they were odd there. Lady in camo and guy in sweatpants.
Solt had been recognized by a few of the clients, brief nods, short greetings and her minimalistic returning gestures. Nothing new for her, nothing new for them.
No one looked at Voro for more than a glance, just another guy in the office. So he could just follow the lady through the lobby.
Above the whole crowd and in a perfect place for everyone to see, there were large display screen, glowing and quietly playing in a loop. Voro stopped for a moment to see what it was.
And of course, it was an advertisement.
Aerial shots of the black monoliths and timelapses of them fixing up the surroundings. Of course , only the nice ones, forests, farms, maybe outside of the cities. No destroyed homes and definetely not underground caves. Just nice black towers on concrete plazas.
Then the Hunters. Brave and handsome. Selected few kept coming in and out of frame fighting....something...on screen. Shots of training, drinking and mysteriously disappearing before the dark monolith, just to come back outside with humongous biceps.
And of course, peak of government ads, guards, soldiers and hunters all together in front of a monster army ( or something similar ) and in front of a poor crowd of civilians.
FBAM Hunter Division. Protecting what matters.
Join now and change yourself for the better tomorrow
'Recruitment ad. Of course it is'
Voro watched the whole thing until a new , slightly different started playing and his head managed to turn sideways slightly.
"They started running these 2 weeks ago" Solt kept walking further away from him "Keep walking"
He caught up "They work"
"Applicants doubled" *Tsk* "Quality did not"
_________________________
Processing window was a glass plane and a box.
His things came in a sealed plastic bag - inventory confirmed everything missing was present, knives, the weird fragment, the ring he never uses. And his phone. Which was dead.
"Charging point by the exit" Solt was already moving.
Voro plugged it in and sat by the wall while the screen slowly lit up and showed the greenish logo. Sigh of relief when it finally turned on.
First time someone noticed him was some Hunters walking by and mistaking him for an addicted teenager, but hey, someone looked at him at least.
Once it loaded up - seventeen notifications.
Thorne, Thorne , Thorne. Government number, Unknown number. Thorne. News alert. Thorne. Security deposit, Thorne. His neighbor, his other neighbor. Thorne. Spam. Spam, another news alert. and Thorne yesterday.
Plugged it out, stashed it next to the headphones and followed Solt outside the main doors.
It was cold, as a normal afternoon in the city. Gray sky without any clear weather signals, traffic, pedestrians, food carts...Normal, boring day.
Voro stood on the stairs and breathed for a good while.
Solt came by him and stopped, sat on top and just....did nothing for a while. She felt different than a second ago. Silent but not deadly silent. Just not talking. Her posture showed it far too much. Shoulders dropped, jaw unclenched and hands in pockets. Not for long though.
"Right" As she lit it on "Sorry about the box"
Voro snapped his neck towards her. 'Who starts a conversation like that?!'
"Not my call" Still almost emotionless and plain. No guilt, not even a little bit. "Maren does what he wants inside. I just happen to be here"
"Yeah...sure." He sat down next to her "Nazi`s said almost the same thing"
*stops smoking*
"You could`ve said no at some point"
"Yea *starts smoking again* I could have" And managed to finish the cig in one go.
Both stood up again and looked at the traffic.
"There`s a tournament by the way. FBAM is putting it together. Six weeks from now - public venue, live coverage, sponsored and so on. Finals have sixteen Hunters going for the win"
"A show"
"A circus" She pulled out another cig "A circus that affects your legal classification, resource access and site assignment. So." Another drag. "Read the mail when it comes."
"What mail"
"The one you`ll get before it starts, 3 weeks give or take. Everyone above level 5 will get one"
"That`s ... not a small amount of people"
"Well there`s not THAT much. But this is a visibility campaign after all, people will try harder. Besides. Half the population thinks we`re government assets, other thinks the Towers are just the beginning , something is coming after them. Hunters are just in on the action "Another drag of smoke "Neither of them are completely wrong, which FBAM doesn`t enjoy."
"Pfftt, like they know more about this then the rest" Voro almost laughed it off.
"Cause they do. You don`t spend millions and thousands of people to know less, especially if you are doing it publicly"
"Right....publicly"
Leaves and trash bags flew by, clouds darkened for a short while and a slow drizzle started.
"The underground." His voice was quiet "How many people know?"
"Fewer than should" Her`s was even quieter "More than they like. It stays quiet because the results are quiet. Nobody who goes in there, comes out talking about it. At least not for long"
"Except me."
"Except you" another cig done "Until someone gives an order to shut you up"
"They can order whatever they like, I don`t care"
"You should" * thunder crashed far away *
"Yeah? Who can gives than order huh? Maren? General somebody? "
She was pulling out a third cigarette, looked at it for a while deciding if she should, and she lit it anyways.
"Someone above Maren" She stopped looking at Voro "He could do that too, but this might go over his head soon. And let me tell you, that list goes higher"
"Maren already seemed like he runs the whole cave by himself"
"He does" *exhales a black cloud into the rain * "So he doesn`t care what`s going on above the ground. Until he gets a phone call. Which I noticed you noticed"
"Hard to miss when he almost threw it into the rocks. Who was that?"
"Don`t know. Don`t care. I stopped trying to find out and so should you"
Thunder rolled again, closer this time. Pedestrians started to open up umbrellas, and the food cart rolled a tarp over his venue.
They watched the street for a moment in silence.
"Tournament huh. Sixteen of us. Publicly. They really want to see us for what we are"
"THEY want the people to see us like THEY want us to be" She corrected Voro quickly
"Know the difference"
"HAH. They can try" Now that made him laugh "It`s going to be hard censoring that much blood live"
She crushed the cig.
"They will do what they do. Control people. Show what they want. You should at least show the normal people , that Hunters can be trusted. That they`re not ... scary."
Voro smiled.
"But, how do I tell you this *thunder roars * we ARE"
Solt stood up and dusted her butt off.
"You fight well" She said this, as everything else, without emotion "Strange, untrained but well. Better than average at least" She glanced at him "But you also fight like you`ve been hunted. A lot"
"The other way around actually" He turned towards her.
"I know" She blinked for the first time, or the first time Voro saw that "I know what I`ve said"
Rain poured on the pavement
"You move well for some delivery girl" Voro stood straight, on the top step, slightly taller than her for the moment "Don`t you feel wasted moving subjects around?"
"Not really" She picked up her bag and stashed the cigarettes, prepared to go down to grab a taxi.
"Still....You wouldn`t last 5 minutes in my Tower, let alone any other one"
Solt rolled her tongue in her mouth and stopped in the middle of the stairs.
"Say that again. Please" as she turned around towards him
Voro smiled wider from the top of the stairs.
"Did I say five? Sorry, I was being generous. Polite even"
The taxi waited on the street. Rain came down heavily.
And she walked back up the stairs to match his gaze.
With a god damn smile wider than Voro`s.