After successfully avoiding Alice like the plague for the rest of the day, Lucas was able to return home in peace.
Pulling out his phone he pressed '1' to speed dial his best friend; Ron Vander.
"Classes are over. Got kinda delayed but I'm currently heading home as we speak. I just called you to let you know I might be a bit late."
"Hmm, you're actually late for once? Seems like something happened. You got some nice juicy gossip to share?? Ahhhhh, I swear, with friends like you who needs gNatflix.", Ron's deep voice could be heard replying with obvious hints of anticipation and amusement.
But his amusement got cut short as spork came flying at him with its pointed ends headed straight for his eye!
"Who are you talking to? Just cause I'm usually silent doesn't mean I'm dumb…*wack*..Hell-oo..I don't who you are but if you are a person of identical sex chromosomes, i will find you and make you regret everything!", Yuri Vander; Ron's fiancé said in an apathetic voice after she had snatched the phone from him and smacking him on the upside of his head. She had decisively changed her last name as suprise for Ron's 20th birthday.
Yuri had just walked into the room and heard Ronan sighing in exaggerated manner causing her to erupt. She's very sensitive about her belongings, and his sighing just sounded too sus. Especially knowing the amount of female "friends" he still keeps in touch with
Her chest was heaving up and down in agitation causing Ron to involuntarily look at it transfixed in a daze.
"What are you looking at? Do you really thi-"
"Um Yuri? Lil' sis? It's me, Reef… ", Lucas Reef cautiously interrupted. Lucas knew he had to help his buddy out or else he would be condemned without any chance to defend himself. Though this couldn't be blamed on Yuri. It's Ron's fault for being a damn playboy in his earlier years and still being friendly with some of his past flings. A true idiot indeed.
But even though they quarrel on a daily basis, it's never becomes serious and single people usually keep as far away from them as possible with all the dog food they start stuffing down your throat once they start.
"Oh! It's Reef. Are you coming over for dinner?", Yuri replied with a mixture of suprise, relief and embarrassment coating her words unlike her previous aloofness. The three of them were close friends and it's was a normal occurrence for Reef to free-load at their place using the excuse of "lil' sis's food is the best" or something similar.
"Ah nah. Me and Ron have work at midnight remember. They call us vigilantes and "Rogues" but always turn to us for help when their stumped. Really annoying people.."
"Oh riighht! That was today, wasn't it? Or it should be tomorrow cause it's at midnight, i guess. The government has always been inconsistent in its inefficiencies and are a real hassle with all the rules and regulations they try and impose on most things. Though I'd still prefer if you guys would stop going out to "play". Just settle down and have a normal life. I know that's not possible but we can all dream, can we not?"
"Ahaha…", Reef could only awkwardly chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck knowing that it was all he could offer as an answer.
***
It was 8:00 in the evening.
A cockroach could be noticed, if one strained their eyes in the dark or had night vision, crawling across the ground in a small alleyway. As the cockroach made his way toward the dumpster for his next meal a foot clad in a combat boot came crashing down on it instantly taking its pathetic life.
The man who seemed to appear out of nowhere scowled at the mess left under his boot. Lucas never liked cockroaches. Even in death they were repulsive.
Right now, most anyone who knew him wouldn't be able to recognise him.
His hair now was coloured blood-red and metallic mask coloured black covered half of his face, exposing only his two eyes. But even his eyes appeared different as they were now bright yellow.
He wore a black full-sleeve tee and black skinny jeans that clung tightly to his muscular body. His combat boots still dripping with the deceased cockroach's innards, continued to march forward.
He recalled that someone had just moved into his neighbourhood; Stephen if his memory was to be trusted. The only reason he even bothered to remember was cause of his sweet ride. A Harley Davidson Iron 883! Though that wasn't the only reason. You see that ride wasn't Stephen's ride to begin with. It was actually Susan's, his sugar momma's for lack of a better term.
Stephen is a small-time actor who has appeared in some films as some minor roles like the deceased friend of the main character, the deceased brother of the main character and even the deceased husband of the main character's deceased sister.
He started to get more traction thanks to Susan's patronage. Susan being a 41 year old women who also happens to be infertile finds pleasure in such endeavours. As she is one of the major shareholders of a fairly prominent cosmetics brand, she has ample money and power to convince some people in the industry.
Lucas could see her bike parked in the front of his driveway. The bike was lent to him for his personal use and to take her on occasional joyrides.
And now he was going to "borrow" this bike to go out for a much needed joyride.
Prying off the license plates, Lucas proceeds to pull out a small rusted key. He then jammed it into the ignition. Suddenly as though it were a semisolid, it reformed itself to perfectly fit into the keyhole. With a quick turn of his wrist the bike roared to life.
Immediately after, he sped off before anyone could spot him.
After driving for about 30 minutes he arrived at his destination: a strip club. Not just any strip club but the most famous one in Bluestorm city which is owned and runned by the Hale family, the strongest family of Bluestorm financially and politically.
Bluestorm is a coastal city along the south western part of Amer, a major continent situated in between the Atlantic and Pacific ocean.
Other continents include Eura, Austem, Indina and the Antartic islands .
These continents were formed as a result of the collision of existing continents with each other leading to expansion and also breakage.
Amer was formed when North and South America collided into each due rapid shifts in the tectonic plates. The mountain range thus formed was named The Espejos after the weird sightings that were reported by the surviving members of the first expedition team.
Austem was formed due to the drifting of Australia towards Antartica and the collision of many islands and sudden emergences of land masses from the ocean onto it. Thanks to that, it is rich in a variety of resources and generates most of their income through exports and tourism due to the peculiar sights one can witness there.
Eura was formed when Europe broke off from Asia and collided with a major portion of Africa. The rest of Africa crumbled into many islands that are constantly floating across the globe but somehow always evading collision with any other landmass.
Indina is just Asia except it isn't connected to Europe anymore and a rearrangement borders took place due to a variety calamities and a lot of human greed.
And finally the Anatartic islands are exactly what you think they are: a bunch of islands. Antarctica got broken into many different islands consisting of the Inner islands and the Outer islands. It has been reported that no one has ever returned after venturing into the Inner islands.
***
Lucas walked towards the back of the building after parking his ride. There one could see a different entrance that was seemingly unguarded.
Lucas walked up to the drunkard sitting beside a dumpster and tossed him a black card with the serial number "696" inscribed into it.
With faster than normal reflexes, the old man caught the card. Looking at the serial number on the card, the old man was slightly surprised but still proceeded without hesitation. A subtle trace of pity could be seen in his eyes.
A faint blue glow could be seen emanating from his hand that held the card. The card then started to glow too as it resonated confirming the authenticity of his ID.
Flicking the card back at Lucas, old man looked at him one last time as though he was trying to confirm an assumption and stopped and shook his head in pity as he noticed nothing out of the ordinary in him.
Ignoring the man's probing, Lucas continued to stride forward till he reached a stairway leading downward. Above the stairway a sign read;
"STAIRWAY TO HELL"
Looking at that ever familiar sign, Lucas took a deep breath like always and proceeded downward.
Luck isn't given it's earned.