Discovering Ashes 16

“Oh, you must f’give me, Jack! Where are m’manners today?!” He said cheerfully. I felt the ropes holding my wrists loosen until they were free. As I sat up, I muttered my thanks. It was then that I saw my surroundings - truly saw them - for the first time.


A dingy, dark brown chamber, like the kind you’d find in some fuckin’ video game or castle dungeon or something, was really the best way I could describe the room I was in. All around me, though, electronics of all kinds were jerryrigged into working with the old-as-shit bricks and mortar. The light that had blinded me earlier I now saw to be a single incandescent bulb hanging from a loose cluster of wires that ran the ceiling and wall into another area where I could see a generator. On the walls were monitors, each showing different images of statistics, videos, and photographs of city leaders.


“What the…”


“Welcome to mah innuh Sanctum, Jack Carnegie. Very few are allowed in here, but the ones I let in always leave with a better… understandin’ of what my organization does.”

 “And, that is…?”

“Why, we run things of course! Your precious  ‘Phoenix City’ is kept in check by yours truly! Y’see, Jack, We - that is t’say myself - keep the crime in this fair, fair city in check!”

 I chose that moment to look behind me to see my captor, Viper. He must have been pretty sure of himself, since from what I could see, he had no way of defending himself in case I wanted to just scream ‘Fuck you!’ and deck him right then and there. Admittedly, he had this… air around him, this charisma that made me listen, made me want to hear more. Maybe it was the navy blue suit with red tie and white undershirt that reeked of a time gone by. Maybe it was the crow’s feet or the slight wrinkling of his skin in various places on his face and hands. Maybe it was the white hair that for some reason screamed with a wisdom I hadn’t seen or experienced before.

Hell, I never paid attention to anyone’s hair! But this guy… everything about him oozed a kind of… demanding presence. This was the guy who’d sent that kid after me?

“So your riddle,” I started. “It wasn’t just a riddle, was it?”

“Ha ha, you are a smart one, Suh! Yes, I admit it, it was a test, son!”