Lance was scavenging the insides of an imperial drone, it had been shot down by raging protesters turned insurrectionist.
Lance had no clue as to why these people would shoot down a drone, it's not as if it would change anything, but he wasn't going to complain as this was an opportunity to gather scrap that he could sell to Jumbo, a vendor who ran a junkyard.
As he rummaged through the insides of the damaged drone, he noticed that most of the control systems were fried, and the motherboard was cracked in half.
"Aw, man," Lance grumbled as he climbed down from the side of the drone.
He had hoped that there was something that could be salvaged from the drone, ammo, switchboards, anything, but no, there was nothing.
Lance sighed as he dusted off this ragged clothing, his pants were riddled with holes and his shirt was 2 sizes too big.
His clothes were hand-me-downs from his big brother, who had died in the war against the Trirons, or at least that's what Lance had assumed as he hadn't seen his big brother for almost three years now.
As for Lance's parents, they were long gone, his father left, and his mother was killed in a drug deal gone wrong.
This left Lance on his own at a young age.
As Lance finished dusting off his clothes, he began to scan his surroundings.
He was in the middle of a dilapidated building, the metal that formed the walls of the building was bent and rusted, the glass that formed the windows was broken and shattered, and the steel beams that once held up the building were now bent at unnatural angles and rusted.
There were tags all over the walls of the building, most of them reading, fuck the empress, or give us back our children.
Lance could understand their anger and pain, he remembered seeing soldiers going from door to door and rounding up all sorts of people, from children to adults.
He knew that the empire needed soldiers to fight the war against the Trirons, but he never understood why the soldiers took children.
Aren't they too young to fight? He wondered.
But he also knew worrying about the past wasn't going to bring anyone back.
It was like the same thing that happened to his brother.
Lance cried and fought to keep his brother, but Jonathan still had to go, and he never came back.
Lance sighed as he thought about Jonathan, and began to slowly make his way out of the building, careful to avoid the random shards of rusted metal and piles of debris.
Lance exited the building and was greeted by the neon lights of the city, which shone brightly against the backdrop of the night sky, towering skyscrapers could be seen in the distance, and gathered at the city's center.
The streets were relatively devoid of people.
In their place were piles of trash and garbage alongside various cars and trucks that were burning on the streets, and electric trains racing down rail lines that were high in the sky.
The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance, alongside gunfire and explosions.
Such occurrences weren't uncommon nowadays, as many people who had nothing left to lose, decided to challenge the imperial government and empress herself.
Lance knew to avoid the main streets and rail lines at all cost, as they were hubs of violence and destruction and even though he could get plenty of scrap from such places, there was also the high possibility of him getting shot.
And Lance decided that it just wasn't worth it.
He continued to make his way down the street, careful to avoid the burning cars and trash.
Today had been a waste, he failed to find some decent scrap or clothing, and he didn't find anything to eat or drink.
"Another bust, soon I won't have anything left to eat, I'll have to see if Lia will spare some more rations for me, but I doubt it, she's already mad at me from last time." Lance mused aloud.
He continued to make his way through the ruined cityscape, his stomach growling from time to time, his brown eyes slowly scanning his surroundings.
Eventually, he made his way to the outskirts, signified by a large open field of black-grass and trees with neon purple leaves, the signature landscape of Camorra.
It was also where Lia set up her shack.
As Lance continued his journey, he was greeted by the bright flickering light coming from Lia's shack.
The walls were patched up with random scrap metal, the windows were covered by thin black cloths that were riddled with holes.
As Lance grew closer the sound of metal clanking began to grow louder and louder, as if someone was striking a hammer upon metal.
Lance continued to grow closer toward the shack, his movements slowly becoming more stiff, as his teeth began to clench.
Lia was a strict woman, and she was clear about her boundaries, while she wasn't unkind to Lance, she certainly didn't favor him there have been several times when Lia outright ignored him.
I just have to be nice and avoid making her angry again, I just need to ask once, he thought to himself.
When he finally reached the old rusted door of Lia's shack, he took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes.
They then knocked on the door three times and took a step back.
The loud hammering from the inside of the shack continued.
Lance approached the door again, and this time he knocked harder, the hammering inside the shack came to a halt, and it was replaced by the sound of something scraping across the floor.
Then Lance began to hear footsteps, they were heavy and slow.
"Five words to say your piece before I start shooting!" A feminine voice that had a tinge of gruffness to it shouted, followed by the sound of an electric pistol charging.
Lance's heart began to pound, and his mind quickly began to race for the password to Lia's code phrase, it had been so long since he had said it, that he had forgotten.
Was it, time flows in all directions? He questioned himself.
"Times up!" Lia shouted
In a panic Lance screamed out whatever was on his mind at the moment, "Lia it's me, Lance, I forgot the password I'm sorry!" He shouted as he dropped to the ground and covered his head.
There was silence, followed by a heavy sigh that sounded from the inside of the shack, "Of course I know it's you, no other idiot would knock on my door, and I wouldn't have been shouting my intentions, ya damn idiot."
Lance breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the sound of Lia's door unlocking, his body slowly rising from the ground, and his gaze slowly rising upward until he locked gazes with a set of harsh crystal blue eyes.
"Get up." Lia said in a harsh tone, "and dust yourself off, you already look like shit, I'd rather you not smell like it."
Lance nodded as he finished standing up, he then began to dust off his old and ragged clothes, hoping to appease Lia.
Lia, a woman in her mid-thirties, reached out a hand toward Lance and tightly wrapped it around the collar of his shirt.
Lance, confused at such an act, grabbed at her hand and tried to loosen her grip, but Lia only sighed as she yanked Lance into her shack and threw him onto the hard metallic floor, she then closed the door and locked it.
She then turned to Lance and held up three fingers.
"Now I got three questions for you Lance, why are you here, where the hell is your gun, and finally, why the hell are you not hiding?"
Lance slowly stood up from the floor, and reached for his shoulder, as it was hurting due to him landing on top of it.
"Hiding?" Lance asked in a confused tone.
Lia nodded as she placed her pistol into its holder, and turned towards a large imperial drone that was atop a large wooden table, the drone was badly damaged, there was a massive hole in its side, as if a rabid animal had attempted to burrow through it.
"I know you're not stupid Lance, you had to have noticed the increased amount of drones around our city, so I'll ask you again why aren't you hiding?" Lia asked as she began tinkering with the drone.
Lance shrugged, "People have been shooting them so much that I didn't see a point in hiding, and I sold my pistol to a rebel for his candy bar." Lance admitted as he walked to Lia's side.
Lia took a deep breath and placed her forehead atop the drone, she then exhaled and shifted her gaze towards Lance, "Lance, they are kidnapping children again, do you want to end up like your brother? Selling your pistol for a damn candy bar?"
Lance looked down at the warped and dented floor beneath him, "I'm sorry Lia, I didn't think–"
"Clearly, but I want to hear your reasoning for such stupidity, and if it's stupid I'm not giving you that food because I already know that's why you came here."