A World of Grime

The underground + L.A.N.C.E

The further down they went, the hotter it felt, the sound of escaping steam filling their ears. Once at the bottom, thick pipes filled every crevice, coating the ceiling and walls, with a steel mesh floor hiding pipes on the floor too. Each one seemed labelled different, names and numbers and acronyms all over them, but more prevalent was that same symbol.
"What is it with this place and that symbol?" Don chuckled, before looking back.
"Oh, you don't know?" Manuel shrugged. "L.A.N.C.E, created by some old capitalist bastards, designed to own everything. They created everything you see here. Buildings, jobs, currency." Manuel's head tilted. "Oh come on, Mr Vernan, you haven't seen the silver discs? You really haven't been here before, have ya?"
"Enlighten me." His eyes stayed dead, never blinking, holding Oscar with an iron grip all the while.
"Well," Don began to explain, as they walked winding corridors of pipes, hissing and sloshing filling the room, getting hotter and hotter with each step, "When the World crumbled, we lost our riches, yes? These capitalists found small silver discs, thick and thin, large and small, stainless steel, hard to fabricate without the right equipment. So, they began distributing these to people, telling them that they own banks, or that they make buildings, giving them pre-fabricated jobs, and a set pay of discs. If they bought something, the tax would-"
"So they brought back money, big whoop." Don looked back, and Manuel's grip tightened.
"Precisely. I have been payed to send people out, orphans, poverty stricken, the weak, the old, whatever, to bring back material and information to sell, in return for some food and shelter. More often than not, they all die, but that isn't my problem is it?"
"You sick bastard..." Don chuckled.
"Maybe, but I'm the one with the gun, so that doesn't matter much, now does it?" He laughed, before stopping in front of a split path. "So, Mr Vernan, why don't you choose?"
"Choose what?" Don gestured at the pathways.
"Which person I should kill first."