Immortality Heist: The Sands of Time

"Once upon a City," Stormboy smirked to himself as he watched the various activities of the Cityzens from the balcony of an eight storeys high building. This was his residence for now, and the most unbelievable fact was that it was in the City. A few days ago, a Backfencer can never, ever get to live peacefully in the cruel City. That was how wasted and unbalanced the City is now, thanks to Storm and the other Backfencer gangs.

Though temporary, the house was furnished to the taste befitting a City Highborn (the upper class Cityzens, with wealthy privileges, or those that attained that position through proper connection with the right people).

So, for now, Storm has nothing to fear regarding his stay at this beautiful building. His dark mind reeled back and forth in thoughts as he downed the last of the wine from the tall glass cup with a satisfactory grin. Deep in his belly, he was quite proud of what he has accomplished.

His primary motive was something else entirely before— steal the tube for the Underworld Lord— but somehow that didn't happen. Little worry, it wasn't totally his fault. But what the City has turned into after the operation at the Towering Tower was nothing but good. It was chaos. It was a win for Storm. A win for him and all the Backfencer gangs.

He winced at the thought of the word "Backfencers". He hated being called that.

All these happened almost at the expense of his life. Storm didn't know what happened after he passed out in the vault, but he was convinced that he had died. Death, sweet and peaceful beckoned on him in the vault after seventeen days of being trapped inside, and a ginger strike that matched the same number of days. Only he and two of his gang members survived that ordeal... And yes, another one who escaped, possibly with the tube.

Storm hates thinking about that boy. He was sure that the tube was in his small bag he held till he lost consciousness. But he had seen the boy who pretended to have been unconscious for about ten days, standing by the vault door just before he passed out. The boy opened the door for the Backfencer reinforcement and slipped away from the fools... Slipped away with the tube.

Storm has never thought of killing a child before, but as it stands, he will be so close to doing it when next he comes across the boy. He hates to admit it, but the boy was his gravest mistake ever.

After the rescue from the vault, then came the torture. The Underworld Lord called upon senior gang members, especially Griffin, to torture Storm till he confesses where the tube was. Because it was so much a doubtful thing that a little boy had stolen it from a gang leader.

So, they thought maybe Storm hid it somewhere for his own purpose. Storm was marveled at the fact that they even thought of that. Did he even know anything about a f**king tube with weird particles inside? What could he have possibly want it for?

One of the seniors, Swampwater, Who was the leader of their small gang back when they were still in the ghetto, was shot and killed in the crossfire with the City Force. And his best friend was Griffin, who has now been assigned to torture Storm. So, the aggravated Griffin tried painful and skillful methods and tools in torturing Storm. These punishments went on for days, till it became glaring that Griffin wasn't even trying to get a confession out of Storm. He was only torturing him for the fun of it, and vengeance for his dead friend. Why? Because if Storm hadn't blundered the operation, his friend would still be alive.

The painful days later stopped for Storm when the guys spying on the City's activities suspected that Foeblaster was also looking for something... Somebody, to be precise.

Putting the pieces together, it became known that Foeblaster is looking for the boy as well because the tube was with him. And this just proved Storm right all along.

So, Storm was set free, and an order was sent but the invisible Underworld Lord for the gangs to spread out into the City and find the boy also. The Lord will take no chanced letting Foeblaster get to the boy first.

The gang will move in groups— ten per group. And to ensure total involvement, the Lord will be doubling the pay of the group that finds the boy first, triple pay if they deliver the object safely, and five times lay if they deliver both the boy and the tube. This alone made everyone excited, thus every hand was on deck.

Storm shifted his weight while resting on the balcony. A sharp pain course through his upper right arm. The wounds from the torture chamber hasn't healed fully. He shrugged off the pain though. What is a little pain for a huge gain?

He who had broken the safest confines of the Towering Tower and robbed it of one of the most precious object, unseen. If not for the huge blunder made by one of his men, it would have been a suvveful operation and the greatest one there is. But now is not time to complain.

He had survived more than two weeks of hunger and thirst, and this mission has killed more men from the City Force than the total combined broke he joined the Underworld gang. And now that the City is devoid of patrolling City Guards to put order on the Cityzens, the chaos that followed is unreal.

A part of the huge fence surrounding the City has been breached, and his Backfencer followed has started moving in to the City from the ghettos. The City streets buzzed with them even in broad daylight as there was no one from the City Force to stop them anymore.

The City people steered clear whenever they see the Backfencers at first, banging their doors shut during the day, changing lanes when they see a thug approaching and clutching their purses tight when close to one. All these precautions came naturally for them since there was no Forceto report to at the moment, and the City people are not so violent to start a war of their own against the savage Backfencer thugs. For a long time now, they haven't heard anything from the City Guardian, Foeblaster regarding this situation. The Cityzens needs help but it wasn't coming from the government. So, they just accepted them silently and let them live in the streets with a vow not to have anything to do with them...

Until a little something arrived to spice things up...

The Backfencers, along with their rash activities came with their own precious possession known as "Dreamland Ticket". This item is nothing other than a plant locally grown in the ghettos, which after attaining full maturity, the leaves are cut and dried with a little quantity of strange pepper-like powder. After drying, it is then grounded and mixed properly and packaged in rollsof flexible plant leaves. It is then inhaled through the nostrils for use... But the "true enjoyment" happens when. It is rolledin some special leave and lighted at one end of the rolled leaf, to be smoked at the unlit end. That is the "Dreamland Ticket"

This name was coined from the fact that one starts seeing things after taking a drag; people, objects and shapes twisting in and out of one's vision like in a proper dream. So, with this one can whenever he wants even without sleeping.

This Dreamland Ticketstarted slow at first because normally, the Backfencers brought it only for themselves and not the City people. Until an old cityzen was half forced, half persuaded to take a drag. The old man took it and went into a world he never believed existed, stumbling multiple times on his way home. He recovered himself later, but this old man won't stop coming for more, and of course, the Backfencers won't stop giving him, even for free. They hail him whenever he takes a drag.

And in no time, what started free became the thugs' source of income.

He who had broken the safest confines of the Towering Tower and robbed it of one of the most precious object, unseen. If not for the huge blunder made by one of his men, it would have been a suvveful operation and the greatest one there is. But now is not time to complain.

He had survived more than two weeks of hunger and thirst, and this mission has killed more men from the City Force than the total combined broke he joined the Underworld gang. And now that the City is devoid of patrolling City Guards to put order on the Cityzens, the chaos that followed is unreal.

A part of the huge fence surrounding the City has been breached, and his Backfencer followed has started moving in to the City from the ghettos. The City streets buzzed with them even in broad daylight as there was no one from the City Force to stop them anymore.

The City people steered clear whenever they see the Backfencers at first, banging their doors shut during the day, changing lanes when they see a thug approaching and clutching their purses tight when close to one. All these precautions came naturally for them since there was no Forceto report to at the moment, and the City people are not so violent to start a war of their own against the savage Backfencer thugs. For a long time now, they haven't heard anything from the City Guardian, Foeblaster regarding this situation. The Cityzens needs help but it wasn't coming from the government. So, they just accepted them silently and let them live in the streets with a vow not to have anything to do with them...

Until a little something arrived to spice things up...

The Backfencers, along with their rash activities came with their own precious possession known as "Dreamland Ticket". This item is nothing other than a plant locally grown in the ghettos, which after attaining full maturity, the leaves are cut and dried with a little quantity of strange pepper-like powder. After drying, it is then grounded and mixed properly and packaged in rollsof flexible plant leaves. It is then inhaled through the nostrils for use... But the "true enjoyment" happens when. It is rolledin some special leave and lighted at one end of the rolled leaf, to be smoked at the unlit end. That is the "Dreamland Ticket"

This name was coined from the fact that one starts seeing things after taking a drag; people, objects and shapes twisting in and out of one's vision like in a proper dream. So, with this one can whenever he wants even without sleeping.

This Dreamland Ticketstarted slow at first because normally, the Backfencers brought it only for themselves and not the City people. Until an old cityzen was half forced, half persuaded to take a drag. The old man took it and went into a world he never believed existed, stumbling multiple times on his way home. He recovered himself later, but this old man won't stop coming for more, and of course, the Backfencers won't stop giving him, even for free. They hail him whenever he takes a drag.

And in no time, what started free became the thugs' source of income. Friends of the old man started lining up at the joint every morning for a pinch of the Ticket. Even some of the City women jumped on it. Joints and branches opened up at strategic location in the City, so it can be available for everyone. Good grief, this was just the start of chaos.

A Dreamlander— someone who drags this Ticket— on his way to work may just decide to pull a few stunts he has never pulled in his life. Of course, they are always met with broken bones, wounds, but they still come back for more Ticket. Companies started losing constituency because their employees would rather sit and jest at a joint with a Backfencer than woke their ass off in a company. They only go for work when they are out of cash to buy the Dreamland Ticket. This caused the aristocrats, the company owners of the City fall into a silent rage. But since it is silent, nobody cares. These rich men didn't show up when the Cityzens needed help, so they can't dictate what they do when they finally found their way with the Backfencers.

The Backfencers became a plague on the City, spreading their influence with their Ticket.

Storm looked down the long black road from west to east, sucked his teeth noisily and satisfaction coursed through his being.

"Once upon a City," he said again, smiling. The smile turned into a wide grin as he stepped back into the warm room. He placed the empty glass on the table and dropped heavily on the soft sofa facing the door. He could still hear the sound of bed creaking from the other room by his right. He shook his head in disgust. Those two have been at it for a few hours now.

"Flair, quit screwing and get your ass over here." Storm yelled out. But even then, the sound of the creaking bed wouldn't stop. Storm decidedto give IP and wait for them to finish with whatever nonsense they are doing.

He rested his back against the foam, careful not to open the wounds on his back. A lot has been on his mind. Well, a lot has always been on his mind, he just doesn't have the balls to voice them out. Some dangerous questions never left his thoughts but he cannot afford to tell his mates lest it gets to the ears of the Underworld Lord and get him killed.

One of these questions was, "who is the Underworld Lord? And why does he want this silly tube so badly?"

From what he gathered, it was now beyond obvious that this blue-green particles inside that tube holds more power than any amount of money that they could have stolen. The Underwood system has never been this unsettled even when they fail a robbery operation.

These tights has kept him up lost nights, and it has rummaged in his mind for so long that it has awaken a sleeping feeling inside of him— a feeling of involvement. He wants to play this game as well, as a high ranker, not just a pawn. Even if he is a pawn at the moment, he wants to reach the last line by all means and attain that power to play properly.

The tube has killed his closest and men and almost killed him too, that he felt it unjustifiable to neglect this feeling. Yes, he has been involved all along but not in the right direction or for the right reasons. What he needs is just one bold step which he will be taking anytime soon.

But first, he must find the boy Jimmy... And he wants to be the person to find him first out of all the gang groups sent out. One thing was certain, the boy knows about the tube, he knows what the tube was meant for, and what powers it possess. Because there is no reasonable excuse for a little boy to steal something that looks Yo be of no value from a dying criminal. He certainly knows something.

He laid out the City plan drawn on the large paper, on the round glass table. After studying it for a while, he rolled it up and bowed his head in frustration at the creaking noise still coming from the bedroom.

"Flair!!! Take your filthy John Thomas out of that Cat and get the fuck over here!!!"