Hiss of the Steam

Hiss of the Steam Chapter 7 - Viva la Revolution

But then we realized we might not have to fight them. Behind the guards, citizens began to approach silently. They all carried makeshift weapons of their choosing, some had things as  simple as branding irons, others had guns. One of them jumped on top of a guard with a crazed look on his face and a wrench and began hitting him. The others quickly joined in the brawl. We just stood there gawking at the spectacle. After the last guard had been dealt with, the one with the wrench stood up and walked towards us.

 

“Evenin’ ladies and gents. Seems you’ve started up somethin’ eh?” he said, wiping blood off of his hand so he could shake ours. “Name’s Chatwin.”

 

We all shook his hand and introduced ourselves. He was thin and tall, most likely in his mid-late twenties. He had short messy blond hair and blue eyes, and a peculiar English accent.  

 

“You know, I’ve been waiting for someone like you three. This gang has been giving us a hard time for too long. And from what I see from the remains of these guys’ uniforms, the good ol’ govy has some explaining to do too. And since you seem to know more than I do, you got somethin’ you need to say as well. Let’s talk over a drink, yeah? My treat.”

 

We all looked at each other and silently agreed. We followed Chatwin to the Rusty Gear and got a table.

“Oy, Rupert! Grab us some free ones!” he yelled, holding up four fingers to the man tending the bar. He looked over, saw who was talking and then hurriedly poured some drinks and brought them to the table. He gave Chatwin a small salute and rushed back to the bar.

 

“Yeah, that’s Rupert.  I have connections all over the lower city. So if you need some help, you can talk to me.” Instead of letting us ask him what he could do to help, he continued rambling.

 

“I can’t believe you tried to break into Walter Tower. Did you actually get in? Did you meet Mr. Walter? I can’t imagine it went over well considering, you know, the guards. So what happened?”

 

I explained to him all that had happened at the Tower, leaving out the part about Amber. We also told him about who we were.  “So an ex- Airnavy private, a firearms mechanic, and a second-rate Golemmaker, out to take down the government. Well! You can now count in an insane bastard with a wrench,” he said, pulling out the blood stained wrench for effect. Elliot took offense to the “second-rate” part, but tried not to show it.

 

“Oh, and the majority of the lower city probably. I have quite a following down here,” he said, motioning lazily around the Rusty Gear while still holding the bloodied wrench.

 

“What exactly do you do for a living, lad?” Elliot asked him.

 

“Well, I do lots of things-” he started, puffing out his chest with pride.

 

“Besides being an egocentric prick,” Elliot added quietly under his breath.

 

“I mostly run a shop that makes a wide range of devices such as: tools for... things and... well...that’s about it actually. Huh....” He stopped and looked at the ground with a stumped look on his face.