Titans - March of Progress

Lounging against a lamp pole, a cigarette between his lips, Jalel surveyed the place of work for Sain, on the opposite side of the road. It looked like any other factory, with a high brick wall around its boundary, with various small buildings pressed right up to it. His eyes locked on the open gate, gently swaying in the wind. He looked around his position, and flicked his gaze about the other five youths lying in wait behind him, and the two opposite, leaning against the factory outer wall. As he surveyed their expressions, he noted a mixture of excited, eager or grim looks upon the youths faces. The mixture just made Jalel scowl. One of them looked at Jalel, a look of uncertainty appearing.

"Boss... you sure this is a good idea? We are just standing on the street... in plain sight" came a question from the youth and Jalel just sneered in return.

"Course it is you dumb shit. I already told the Cobra's this was going down. You see any police nearby?" Jalel snapped to the youth who just looked away sharply, and seemed to survey the area.

"No... I don't see any" came a reply after a few moments and Jalel just sneered.

"Like I said. Cobra's have made sure cops won't even show up if someone gets shot" Jalel stated, and opened his coat so that his followers could see the flintlock pistol strapped to a makeshift bandolier. As a few of the youths eyes opened wide in surprise and awe, Jalel just smirked.

"Cobra's gave it to me. Said casters still bleed when shot. Told me to take care of it quick too. So I expect you all to play your part and corral Sain so I can shoot him" Jalel stated bluntly, and the youths murmured their understanding.

Once more, Jalel sneered and looked away from his youths, and fixed his gaze on the gate.

"Make sure you tell me if you see him, cause if he gets away, I will shoot you instead" Jalel added, bridling. He could almost feel it as the youths around him cowered in fear, and all that did was stroke his ego, his sneer turning into a self satisfied smirk.

Moving his gaze along the wall flanking the right side of the gate, fixing his attention on the two of his subordinates lounging there, just as a boom resounded within the factory, causing Jalel to flinch in surprise. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, just as he felt something wash over him, like a pulse of energy. And it sent his skin tingling and hair raising even more.

As the sensation buzzed over his skin, he felt the hairs on his arms raise as well as time seemed to slow for a moment. Jalels eyes shot to the wall, and the two youths lounging against it. He saw them both step away and look straight at him, confused. Just as confused as they were, he stepped forward, the hair on the back of his neck still standing on end, even as a sense of danger settled in his gut. He felt the knot twist and turn, right as another boom sounded from within the bounds of the factory, quickly followed by a piercing shriek that rang in Jalel’s ears.

Stepping forward again, Jalel stumbled in the road as another wave of energy washed over him and the earth shook, a loud crack sounding out. Jalels gaze remained locked on his followers by the wall as he stumbled, and he watched horrified as in a bare instant, the two youths disappeared beneath the wall as it blew outwards behind them, engulfing them in a cascade of stone and brick that plastered the nearby street in debris, chunks of the debris sailing straight past him and down the street to who knew where.

Freezing on the spot, Jalel witnessed a raging battle between an old man and what he at first thought was a man cloaked in blue. Jales eyes darted between the figure, and an old man flailing his hands as he thrown against a wall by a blue flash of light. Jalel unfroze in an instant and took a panicked step backwards as he realized a magical battle was taking place in this space, and with the slaughter of last night still fresh in his mind, Jalel felt a wave of pure fear set in, urging him to run.

Jalel stared silently still, mouth hanging agape, and slowly he began to turn but stopped, frozen once more as he saw Sain appear with a sword and charge the blue figure. He watched Sain jump and slash the figure that let out an intense, screeching and visceral scream, before simply exploding in a pulse of white, bluish light, sending both Sain and the rest of the building flying in an instant.

His fear took a backseat to his hate for the barest moment, and Jalel dumbly reached into his coat and produced his flintlock pistol, and lifted it in a shaking hand, aiming to finish Sain now. He held the weapon up and grasped it in both hands, shaking near uncontrollably, aiming at nothing in particular now, as Sain had been blasted out of sight. His hand shook so violently that he dropped the pistol and swore. As he bent down to retrieve the weapon, a roof tile thudded into the ground less than a meter in front of him. Jalel started in shock and looked up as more tiles came crashing down around him. Looking to the sky, Jalel saw flaming pieces of rubble arcing through the sky and falling back to the ground, ripping through the roofs of the surrounding buildings and smashing into the surrounding area.

Jalel’s mouth hung agape a few moments as he stayed rooted to the spot in fear. As another tile smashed into the ground near him, he finally snapped out of his fear induced trance and as terror urged him stronger still, Jalel turned and ran, leaving the pistol and his followers buried beneath the wall. He just ran as he had never run before.

* * *

Niall stood in the lobby of his friend’s room, awaiting a reply. Keran casually lounged on a leather couch as he picked at a tray of exotic food before him, his gaze studying Niall. After a few moments, he just sighed and nodded.

“Very well. I can take your brother with us back to Gestonia, but I doubt I will be able to let him stay at my residence there. That would be pushing the boundaries of my family’s patience I am afraid Niall. I am already frowned upon for having a friendship with a commoner” the young lord stated before popping some sort of small seedless fruit into his mouth. The young lord chewed slowly, seemingly enjoying the taste of the fruit before swallowing and continuing to talk to Niall.

“No, you will have to deal with him when we get to Gestonia, and as for staying a few more days here, I can’t leave later then tomorrow. I made a commitment to be back in Gestonia no later than Friday” Keran finished, an impassive look blanketing his face.

Rubbing his temples in what seemed to be becoming a regular fashion, Niall sighed, accepting his friend’s views.

“It will do and thank you Keran. I’ll make it up to you I promise” Niall stated, letting his hands drop down behind him. He clasped them at the small of his back and bowed his head forward for the noble. It was something he was always expected to do. Straightening up, he looked the young lord over. Keran sported a strange haircut, his blonde hair swept to one side of his head in an odd manner. He held a perpetual look of boredom on his hawkish face that many young women found attractive. Niall thought the lord’s popularity was more due to his wealth however. Looking to the left he saw one of the Barlow family maids peeping around a curtain, who gave him a disgusted look. He scowled. Even the servants here were wankers.

“Midday tomorrow Niall, no later. If you’re not at the port with your brother, you will have to find another way to get to the capital” Keran stated right before popping a chocolate covered strawberry in his mouth.

Niall refocused his attention on Keran and nodded to show that he understood before he turned and dismissed himself from the room and exited to the hallway. Truthfully, Niall was glad to be out of the stuffy place. He made his way down the hallway and reached the elevator that would take him down to the hotel lobby. He still didn’t know why Keran preferred staying in this place over his parent’s manor. Maybe he could get away with more parties or something?

Niall just sighed and grabbed the rope by the elevator, and yanked it, hearing it ring the attached bell a few floors below. Then he turned and waited for the contraption to rise. While he did so, he faced the windows of the lobby and surveyed the bustling city beyond them. Looking out over the city hall, in the distance he saw the harbor and the ships occupying it. Looking further still he saw the offshore mines that provided many jobs for the Rindese citizens. Moving his gaze further still, Niall noticed the suburbs where the middle class lived and finally the slums and nearby industrial district where the factory that Sain worked at was located. Finding what he thought was the factory, a shock ran down his spine as he saw a military sky-sloop slowly circling the area, as a thick plume of smoke drifted from factory. Niall just stood there, frozen as he watched the ship continue to slowly circle the area, clearly doing laps of the factory area. Looking at the smoke, Niall clenched his jaw. It was definitely smoke from a fire. Not the usual smog that came from the place.

Suddenly feeling sick to the stomach, he heard the elevator arrive and the rattle of the doors as the lift attendant opened them. Niall snapped out of his frozen state and turned fast, practically leaping into the thing, right past the lift attendant who just looked at him in a surprised manner.

"Sir, to which floor would you like to go?" the man asked, an elderly looking gentlemen in a neat red suit and hat, stark against a neat, short and grey beard.

"The bottom. Bottom floor thanks!" Niall replied, his eyes wide as his heart hammered hard. He just clenched his fists tight as the lift attendant nodded, closed the doors of the elevator, and then yanked on the control lever.

The elevator shuddered a little, and then started to descend, down past the few floors. And it went slowly. Niall bounced on the heels of his feet, irritation starting to build. It would have been quicker to run down the stairs.

Finally through, the elevator hit the ground floor and Niall lunged forward, forcing the doors open himself. He practically exploded past the doors, causing a surprised cry from the attendant. He sprinted out of the building and looked around desperately. Eyes settling on a nearby open roof carriage on the side of the road, he hailed it and moved forward, and climbed up into the back seat, even as he produced a number of bills from an interior coat of his pocket.

"Good day sir. Where would you like to go today?" the driver asked, turning around to look at Niall. The driver could have been identical to the elevator attendant from earlier. Fore he wore a short grey white beard, and looked to be in his fifties at the very least. The only difference was his clothing. He wore a heavy grey coat, with fur lining about the neck, and a fluffy hat. Rindai was in a cold spell, so it made sense.

“I need to get to the industrial district as fast as you can get me. Can you do that” Niall asked the driver as he held out the bills to pay. The driver just raised a brow at Niall, taking in his expression. Niall was pale, and shaken, his hands visibly trembling as adrenaline raced through him.

"I can get you as far as the boundary between the commercial and industrial district. I don't go to the factories. Too many gangs" the driver stated and took the produced bills, then flicked through them, counting, before handing two back to Niall. Then he just turned and flicked the reins of the carriage, the two horses snorting quietly. Then the driver guided the carriage onto the cobbled streets, and started to move, the horses hooves clopping on the cobbles barely discernable over the myriad sounds in the area.

As the carriage moved through the area, passing the occasional other carriage, or pedestrian's, Niall just surveyed the area they were travelling through. It was a business area, with many hotels for those constantly passing through, as well as people from other districts who took up permanent residence for various reasons. Like Keran for example. He lived in a hotel perpetually so he did not have to deal with his parents unless he wanted to.

The area was definitely affluent, and it showed in the numerous richly dressed individuals who moved about the area, attending their own business, meetings or what ever it was. Most wore coats, brightly colored or embellished with frills and Niall just pursed his lips. It was all fashion that had once been quite popular in the Imperial Capital, but was now considered old news. The fringes of the Empire were always behind on the trends it seemed.

As the drive continued, much the same attire was seen in the commercial district, albeit mixed with much more lower income dress as those of middle income mixed with high society going about their business. The area was so much more busy, with bustling crowds, and carriages and wagons filling the road. Which in turn caused the carriage Niall was in to slow to an absolute crawl. Leaning forward, Niall just tapped the driver on the shoulder.

"I am going to get out here. I will move faster on foot now. Thank you regardless" he stated and the driver turned and just nodded.

"Have a good day sir" the driver stated and then turned back to look at the road. Niall just stepped out of the carriage, and then stepped up onto the side of the road, along the foot path, and started walking, dodging and weaving himself through the crowd.

Even though the crowds were thick, it didn’t take long to get to the industrial area on foot, but as he turned a corner leading to the factory, a roadblock came into view, manned by soldiers. Clearly what had happened at the factory was of a serious nature.

Wide eyed, Niall approached the soldiers keeping back an angry and shouting crowd at the roadblock as another dump of adrenaline rushed through him, his mind creating various assumptions about what could have happened at the factory. What could have happened to Sain. As his hands trembled, and he chewed the inside of his cheek, Niall pushed his way through the crowd rather aggressively, a few people swearing at him in protest. Forcing his way to the front, Niall got a soldier’s attention by practically waving manically in his face.

“Hey mate, what’s happened, why is there a roadblock here?” Niall asked, his voice oddly high and on edge, cracking slightly, which wasn’t surprising considering his nerves. The soldier just shot him a disapproving look, obviously having his hands full.

“You know as much as me, and all I know is my orders. Now step back” the soldier stated bluntly before lifting his musket butt menacingly, as though he intended to hit Niall in the face with it. That was enough warning Niall needed, figuring these guys had the right to defend themselves with force if necessary.

So, thinking he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the soldiers, or a way through the roadblock, Niall turned around and shoved his way back out of the crowd. Once free of the shouting mob, Niall made his way back down the road, going back a block and moving down one of the smaller alleys, and as he had thought, he found that the small alleys weren’t blocked or guarded.

Running through the alleys in the slums, it didn’t take him long to find the main street from his home that led to the factory. Not wasting any time, Niall sprinted up the sidewalk, only slowing to a halt when he saw that a crowd had formed at the end of the street just like the other one. Reaching the crowd, he pushed his way through once more, and found himself at another roadblock, this one positioned right in front of Sain's workplace itself. The bad feeling got even worse when Niall saw an armored carriage parked in front of a gaping hole in the factories outer brick wall, the horses armored also, and neighing and stamping their hooves in agitation. Niall could see a soldier with the horses, attempting to calm them down.

Looking past the carriage and into the factory through the gaping wall, Niall could see a few people inside the hole moving about. The one in charge seemed to be a tall dark-haired man, and by his rich attire he seemed to be someone important.

There were police and soldiers all around, and a few corpses lying next to each other, all with light blue sheets covering them from the prying eyes of the public. Throwing his gaze back to the man in charge, Niall watched as the man moved out of the way, allowing some soldiers to exit the hole, carrying a stretcher with a limp form laid out upon it. Niall drew himself up to his full height, almost on his tip toes as he sought to see who was on it. He felt sick to the stomach, almost wishing that his hunch was wrong. When the soldiers took the stretcher around to the back of the carriage, they passed into Niall’s view and he instantly recognized the un-moving person laid out upon it. He felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he saw Sain laid out on that stretcher.

“Shit, Sain" Niall whispered to himself, eyes wide and hands clenching in panic. Emotion rolled over him in a wave and he staggered, feeling unsteady for a brief moment, a high pitched sound ringing in his skull. It almost felt like he was going to faint. Thankfully he did not fall over, being pressed on all sides by people in the crowd.

As his senses came back, and the ringing stopped, Niall acted on instinct and pushed forward, and grabbed the edge of the barrier making up the road block. Then he leapt over it, exploding out of the crowd as he lunged towards the stretcher, now being pushed into the back of the armored carriage.

"Sain! Sain!” Niall yelled as he got less than two steps past the other side of the barrier, being summarily knocked clean off his feet as two soldiers cut him off and tackled him to the ground. It barely registered as Niall hit the ground with a hard thwack. He instinctively broke his fall, keeping his chin to his chest so as not to crack his head into the cobbles. After a couple of seconds of struggling, realization washed over him of what he had just done, and Niall froze, wide eyed as he looked straight up at a scowling soldier, the man’s musket pointed right in Niall’s face, the hammer pulled back.

“Stop” the command was shouted by the tall man who came to stand in front of an immobilized Niall, a hand being laid to rest on the angry soldiers’ arm. The entire area seemed to freeze, and everything seemingly became quiet. Even the angry mob on the other side of the barrier. The soldier grudgingly lowered his musket, seemingly disappointed he didn’t get to shoot someone.

“You know this young man?” came a curt, no nonsense question from the tall dark-haired man. Niall turned his gaze on the man, feeling like he recognized the man from somewhere. Niall cleared his thoughts and then nodded in a short jerking motion. Gulping, he answered the man properly.

“I do sir. He’s my little brother” Niall replied with a constricted throat, panic deep-set in his gaze. The man stayed quiet for a few seconds, a thoughtful expression on his face, before giving the two soldiers a curt order.

“Bring him with us”.

The man turned away then, his attention taken by something else as Niall was hauled to his feet and guided into the back of the carriage, only to be seated above the laid-out stretcher that held his motionless brother. Two armed police stepped into the carriage, seating themselves opposite Niall, their eyes locked on him and batons unslung, resting on their thighs at the ready. The doors were closed after them, the click of a latch sounding out, and after a few moments, the carriage began to move.

Niall cast is gaze at his brother and just scrutinized every inch of the youth, finding that Sain had a giant burnt hole in the chest of his shirt, and although he was covered in blood, Sain didn’t appear to have any injuries. Niall exhaled shakily and leant down, grasping his quietly breathing brother’s hand, squeezing it softly as the carriage bumped down the road.