The girl lashed out with her hands, catching the thug's eye in a lucky shot, he recoiled, dropping his knife. He screamed and threw a heavy right hook. The girl squirmed and ducked her head, causing the fist to hit the man restraining her.
She kicked out with her left foot, and wriggled free, ducking below the reach of the first man, and taking off down the allyway.
"After her!" the first man screamed, clutching his eye to stop the bleeding,
The second man stumbled and grabbed the knife, hurrying to catch the girl. He could see her turning the corner ahead, trying his best to catch up even with his limp. She rushed up some large stone steps, disappearing between the large towering buildings.
"Come back here bitch!" he called out, hobbling up the steps,
He stumbled out round another corner, seeing her standing out in the open ahead. He chuckled, she had hit a dead end.
Before him was a small girl, late teens, a look of fear in her eyes. Her dress was tattered and dirty from the streets of the metropolis. Her long brown hair was dirty and tangled, her clean blue eyes piercing the gaze of the thug.
"You picked the wrong neighbor hood missy, we run this part of town..." he hissed, running his finger across the blade of the knife,
The girl eyed up her surroundings, seeing no way of escape without backtracking past the thug. He grunted and stumbled foward, a shadowy figure appearing behind him. He collapsed to his knees, and fell forwards onto his face, revealing a bloodied patch of hair on the back of his head.
The shadowy figured stepped forward, throwing aside a piece of lead pipe.
"Are you okay child?" the lady asked, stepping into the lamplight,
The lady lead Georgia into the bashed up church, closing the doors behind them. She scuffled about, kicking a bench aside and pushing it infront of the door to stop people getting in.
"I'm sorry child, my name is Cynthia, are you alright?" the lady whispered, placing an arm over Georgia's shoulders,
"I'm f-fine" Georgia shivered, the cold breeze sweeping through from the holes in the ceiling of the church,
"Oh you poor thing, you must be freezing!" Cynthia exclaimed, holding her closer, "Do you live nearby lass?"
Georgia shook her head, inspecting the rundown church she was in.
"How old are you girl? Do your parents know you're out?" Cynthia asked again, moving swinging open one of the large wooden doors. She beckoned for Georgia to follow.
"I'm Eighteen, my parents were killed when I was born" Georgia explained, following the lady into the room.
There were a few rotted wooden barrels in one corner, a desk coated in cobwebs in the other. A few dusty bibles were stacked up against the cold, stone walls, a crucifix hanging above the desk. Cynthia pulled a small length of rope extruding from the floor, revealing a squared trapdoor in the tiles.
She waved Georgia down the stairs to the basement of the old building, following her down shortly after.
The basement was full of old furniture and supplies for the church, a sleeping mat next to a huge hole in the far wall. The stonework had collapsed, revealing a nicely decorated room on the other side.
Georgia stepped through, admiring the decorated room. It was some kind of extravagant lounge, with dusty furniture and ornate trimmings. The walls were delicately plastered with expensive wallpaper and hand-carved skirting.
Cynthia smiled and lead her through the next door, which opened out into a gratuitous foyer. Georgia gasped, taking the sight in. They were inside of an old theatre, a few bits of the walls had collapsed, and time had shown it's mark, but other than that the building was in perfect condition.
"This is the lobby to the old Palace Theatre here on New London. An earthquake sunk the surrounding areas, city got lazy and just built over it. This theatre is completely intact, forgotten about through time" Cynthia explained,
They were at the top of a large set of stairs, leading down into the foyer, with doors to the main theatre at the bottom.
"Come, follow me to the main theatre" Cynthia beckoned, descending the staircase.
Georgia followed, still taking in the spectacular underground wonder. The area where the main doors would have opened onto the street had rubble blocking the way, the Palace Theatre was a well hidden secret and safe haven for Cynthia.
As Cynthia disappeared into the main theatre, Georgia stopped to admire a crude poster on the wall. It was actually a sheet of some material, but someone had painted a figure onto it.
A beautiful handmade butterfly had been glued in place of the figure's face, symbolism of some sort. Underneath there were some words, also crudely painted on.
Georgia took one last glance at the painting and slipped in through the doors after Cynthia.
The inside of the main theatre was very impressive, the main stage ahead had a large tree, literally growing through the woodwork.
"When the theatre sunk, the water mains under the stage burst, most of the main stage rotted, oddly enough, this tree grew here, right out of the ground. The soil underneath is very fertile, so a rich garden grew" Cynthia indicated to the massive stage lights, "It was as soon as we turned those on, things began to grow down here in their light"
Georgia weaved her way through the seats, making her way to the stage,
"How many of you are there living down here?" Georgia asked, looking around to see if they were alone,
"There are a few others, we store most of our supplies backstage, where the props used to be stored, and we converted alot of the changing rooms to bunking areas" Cynthia smiled, "I'll take you to meet the others now"
Cynthia led Georgia through a stage door, leading backstage. The lighting was all working fine, and the air about the theatre was heated.
"We have heating, electrical outputs and clean water, all thanks to Mr Smith, an engineer who lives nearby" Cynthia explained,
They passed one of the changing rooms, and stopped at the doorway, inside were a small handful of children, playing a game involving chalk. There were clean beds set up for them along the walls, with a working television in the corner.
"I used to run an orphanage up there, but the gangs in the area torched it because I wouldn't pay thier protection money, so I gathered all the children I could and brought them down here for safety"
Cynthia led her away down the corridor, they passed a kitchen area, set up where the make-up department would have been, a stove and a fridge hooked up by some tables.
Cynthia stopped as the end of the corridor opened out, revealing a room of crates and supplies. There were stacks of tinned food, a few baskets of assorted food stuffs.
"We often have to go out and collect supplies, if we get really desperate, some of the children often sneak out and take stuff from the warehouses the gangs front"
Cynthia smiled and pointed to another door,
"That leads to some of the lounges, we have an old Kusari sensei who lives at the far end, he is well trained in all sorts of combat and keeps us safe, as well as cleaning up this place and keeping it running right"
She pushed open the door and showed Georgia into the next corridor,
"I sleep in the room on the left here, this one on the right is all yours if you like, you'll find all the blankets you'll need back at the supplies, feel free to stay with us as long as you like"
Cynthia smiled again,
"Thank you, thank you so much..." Georgia said, hugging Cynthia.
Cynthia had taken care of her little flock very well, Georgia was never hungry or cold anymore, she felt welcomed for once, she had a family. The two weeks she spent talking to the children in Cynthia's care, telling them the wonders of space.
She felt at home, but she was yet to meet Mr Yataki, the Kusari sensei who kept himself locked up down the hall from her own room.
She rapped her knuckles on the door, awaiting a response. Nothing. Georgia gently pushed the door ajar, peering in, the place was all smokey, and smelled of incense. She pushed the door open a little bit more,
"Mr Yataki?" she called out, "Hello?"
Still nothing, she tiptoed in, peering around the corner into the next room. She could make out a number of ornaments and interesting plants, but she couldn't see anyone.
She hurried inside and closed the door behind her,
"Mr Yataki? Are you here?"
Still nothing, she crossed the room and peered into the next room, inside was a rather large Kusari man, upside down, his hands keeping him balanced above a small sheet of sharp spikes. She stared in awe as he carefully kept himself from toppling over into injury.
"You going to come in girl? Or are you just going to stand there?" He uttered, hardly strained,
"I-I, I'm so sorry, but..." She started, looking down at her feet, ashamed, "Could you teach me how to do that?"
The Kusari man rolled himself forward, landing safely on his feet without any sudden of difficult movement.
"You want to learn the grace of the bird? The prowess of the predator?" He asked, keeping a stern face,
"That sounds so cool!" Georgia smiled, stepping into the room,
"I will teach you if you are willing to learn, these halls make a good place for practicing acrobatics" He grunted, "Now, do exactly as I say Miss...?"
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![[Image: butterfly3.png]](http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww260/AkuraKalevra/butterfly3.png)