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“Its really got its own kinda of beauty you know?” Dutch kept saying, but Claire just rolled her eyes.
“All I've ever seen down here is ruins rubble, bots attacking oh and what was that you showed me earlier?” she stood to go get another drink
“The TIRE FIRE!” Texas shouted and hit the table, “that thing is amazing, did you know I started that?”
“Yeah a tire fire.” Turning back towards the table she sighed, “When is Julie getting back? I mean its great that shes out with Chuck and Mike and all, but she said she would be here almost an hour ago.”
“Yeah ummm about that, neither of them are answering calls, and Chuck hasn't sent out some kind of S.O.S, so I think its probably just something stupid that they ran into, nothing to worry about.” Dutch scratched his head and looked down at his feet a bit.
“Great. Glad I didn't have plans today.” eyes still rolling Claire ordered another drink.
“Your girl ditch you again?” Foxy smiled as she got to the bar.
Smiling Claire turned to her, “Me? Well maybe a little, probably just got themselves pinned down by bots or something. No big deal I guess.” She brushed a few strands of hair out of her face before grabbing her drink, “What brings you here? Thought you guys didn't really like leaving your own turf on weekends”
“Nah we're good, the Warriors are off by a couple days. Lizzy got them convinced it was Wednesday last night. Got them some calendars from a few years back. They probably won't catch on too quick.” Foxy laughed a little because Claire kept looking down at her feet.
“Claire!” Dutch called from over at the table
“You here with them?” Foxy tipped her head back towards Texas and Dutch.
“Well sorta, Julie was supposed to be back like an hour ago, she was gonna show me 'the sights' because apparently there's something special about this place other than the smell”
“Sights? I could show you a thing or two, if you don't mind ditching those two”
Claire looked back at Texas and Dutch. Then to Foxy. “Guys I think I'm gonna go with Foxy, she said she could show me around”
Still smiling Foxy slammed her drink and started toward the door “You coming?”
“Oh umm.. Yeah. Coming” she set her drink down and ran for the door.
“See ya later I guess?” she could just barely hear Dutch as she stepped outside
“Here!” Foxy tossed a helmet her way, “Its gonna be a tight with both of us in here, but you should be fine, Lizzy fit when she broke down a couple weeks back.” Foxy dug around behind her seat for a moment before pulling a folded jumpsuit out and tossing that Claire's way as well, “you might want to change into this, it can get a bit dusty down here.”
“yeah umm..” Claire looked around for somewhere to change
“Don't worry I'll keep a look out, just do it behind Kitsune, its not like anyone's out here even”
Claire looked around for a moment before ducking behind Foxy's car. “I can't believe I am doing this”
“Well you could keep wearing your Kane Co. unitard” stepping around the car Foxy kept on smiling, “but you'd be picking dirt out of that for the next couple weeks” laughing Foxy leaned on the car, “What is it you even do with them down here? They spend all their time fighting Kane's bots and repairing their cars, hell they don't really even control much down here, just a little chunk of neutral space.”
Claire felt her face flush as she tried to pull the jumpsuit on while Foxy watched. “Mostly we just hang out, Dutch is funny when hes not geeking out and Mike is pretty cool” pulling the suit up over her hips she realized it zipped up the back.
“What about Chuck? Hes kinda cute in a soft screamy sorta way” Foxy walked over to her, smoothing some of the wrinkles in the jumpsuit's waist before slowly zipping it up.
She shivered a bit as the cold zipper ran up her back. “Uggg don't even get me started. Hes sweet, and yeah hes definitely better looking than most of the guys up in Deluxe. But hes just sooo... I don't even know.” Claire turned toward Foxy because she seemed to be helping smooth the wrinkles in the suit out a little too much.
There were a couple awkward seconds where Foxy just stood, staring before shaking her head and jumping into the car, letting the seat slide all the way back. “I know what you mean guys are just a drag most of the time” getting in she motioned for Claire to hop in in-front of her.
“Ummm I'll really fit?”
“Yeah just keep your legs out of the way, I tend to drive a little on the fast side and if I need to change gears in a hurry I'd rather not hit you” smiling as Claire climbed in almost on top of her, Foxy fired up her engine and, leaning closer she smiled as they took off, “You ever drive before?”
“What?”
“You heard me, you ever drive a car?”
Claire shook her head, “No, Julie was going to show me last time I was down, but then something came up and we just ended up at the bar.”
“Wait was that when you two just made fun of the Duke and your boys doing karaoke up front?”
“Yeah” Claire snorted as she laughed, “Texas and Dutch totaled her car so she got to sit there with us while the rest of the Burners did back up so they could hit up his scrapyard out by the old airport”
Foxy eased up on the gas a little bit and let one hand rest on Claire's thigh, “Grab the wheel, I'll keep to the pedals, I have those adjusted to where I like them.”
“I don't know if-” she stiffened up as Foxy took her hand off her thigh and used it to make her grab the wheel
“Both hands, if you crash her I'll take it outta yer ass” letting go of Claire's hands she laughed and let off the gas even more. “Its mostly straight here, just a little rough so keep both hands on the wheel and relax.” leaning back her hands slid back down onto Claire's legs. Claire tried to focus on the road and not crashing as they trolled along, barely twenty miles-per-hour on the old six lane road, but she couldn't help but smile to herself as Foxy kept letting her hands drift up her thighs. “Careful, we're gonna speed up a bit now” hitting the gas hard she laughed as Claire screamed and gripped the wheel so tight you could hear her gloves stretch. The speedometer spun, climbing up above seventy in a second, topping one-fifty a moment later.
“TAKEITTAKEITTAKEITTAKEITTAKEIT!” Claire screamed still white knuckling the wheel.
Foxy leaned into Claire smiling as she narrowly avoided a fallen sign. “You're a natural, just relax a bit” sitting up a bit more Foxy put one hand onto Claire's waist, the other ready to grab the wheel, just in case something happened. “Just keep your eyes open and keep rolling, we're gonna be at the first place I gotta show you soon. You'll like it, most people don't even know it exists.” A few miles down the road Foxy laughed and grabbed onto Claire's hands. “You ready?” Holding them in place Foxy took control throwing them off the old highway and onto a narrow side street. They flew toward an dilapidated old building with warning signs covering it old rusted doors. Foxy smiled as she felt Claire tense up and, moments before they tore into the building hit her e-brake and spun, car slamming through the doors in reverse. . Coming almost to a stop Foxy smiled, hit the gas and dropped them into a gaping crack in the ground, “Down we go.” the car barely fit down, but the crevice widened as they went deeper below old Detroit. After the tunnel leveled off Foxy turned on her lights and killed the engine. “Here we are”
Claire just looked around amazed. The ceilings were high, high enough that she couldn't make them out other than from small specs of white light shining back at her. The floor was mostly smooth, and looked like white marble. The walls were rough, looked like they had been roughly cut with a saw. She took off her helmet as she climbed out of the car.
“You like it?” Foxy asked as she pulled her helmet off.
“What is this? Some kinda old cave or something?”
“It used to be a salt mine, way back in the 1970's, company went under was bought out, don't think it was used much after that. Just left us with fifty some miles of this.”
“It looks like stars up above us.” Claire just kept looking up.
“twelve hundred feet of rock are up there too.” Foxy smiled, “get back in, and you can keep your helmet off. I know a shortcut to the other place I gotta show you from here. Don't worry about your helmet though; I take it easy down here”
Claire hopped back into the car, looking at the ceiling that sometimes dissapreared into the shadows above them, other times were barely ten feet overhead. “How did you find this place?”
“It connects with the selenium deposits we refine. Not many of the girls have ever been in here though. We found it waaay back before I even had a car. My family used to hide here from Kane and his bots before most of them left.”
“Oh ummm..” Claire looked sheepishly at her hands
“Shit. Didn't want to get you down. Either way, there aren't many things I agree with the Burners on, but keeping this place how it is is one of 'em.” they sat in an awkward silence for a couple minutes before Foxy perked up “Hey I got another place I need to show ya, helmet on, and don't worry it won't be a downer like this place ended up.”
Claire just looked at the rough white walls and smooth floor to the side of the car and put her helmet on. “No its alright, I guess I just don't think about things like that very often. Julie feels really guilty about it though, so I try not to remind her.”
“Sounds like she means a lot to you..” Foxy put her helmet on but leaned back a bit further giving Claire a little more space in Kitsune. With a sigh she started guiding the car through the maze under Motor City. After driving for a few minutes that seemed to just stretch out Claire shivered and leaned back into Foxy.
“How aren't you cold down here? I'm freezing”
“Guess I'm just used to it; either way I can slow down a bit, will cut the wind.” putting an arm around Claire Foxy let the car slow down, the engine still humming ready to jump. “Gotta let it idle kinda fast though; every now and then Kane sends some bots down here to survey and I don't want to get caught coasting.”
Claire nodded and turned a little toward Foxy, “so where are we headed? Is it another natural wonder, or what?”
“Wouldn't call it natural, but it kinda showcases something people don't have up in Deluxe, well not most of 'em anyways.” they hit a slight incline and Foxy started to accelerate. “You'll see.” Foxy kept her arm around Claire as they ascended.
“Well is it something cool, or is it going to be lame like that building Dutch showed me early full of spray paint and creepy carvings?”
Foxy froze for a moment before quickly amending her plans to avoid Central Station. “No, that's Central Station, its alright I guess. I mean its really cool that people can think that stuff up after all that Kane's done, but that's about it.”
“Alright, well where are we headed?”
“You'll see” Foxy took her hand off Claire's waist to shift up smashing the gas, “might want to hold on tight, this is the fun part!”
Kitsune roared as Foxy didn't let up on the gas, all but flying out of the narrow tunnel onto the street. Laughing as Claire screamed and grabbed onto her, Foxy just kept accelerating, “Not far from here, you gonna be okay, or should I get us there a bit quicker?”
“Nononononono” her voice getting higher with each one.
“You sure?” Foxy teased putting her hand back around Claire as she let Kitsune slow down. “This place is sorta like a secret, can't tell anyone about it understand?” They dove off the road into a twisted mess of rubble and scrap.
Claire just nodded, just thankful that she could make out the passing terrain. After a couple minutes they came to the entrance to an abandon parking garage. Foxy flipped on her lights as they rolled in, careful not to stray from a narrow well worn path. After winding down the ramp a few floors they came to the bottom. “This is where we get out; gotta take it on foot from here.”
Claire climbed out first, Foxy right behind her. Kitsune's lights stayed on and Foxy took a moment to admire Claire's silhouette before taking off her helmet. “leave the helmet's here; I use a cloaker so people can't find her.” tossing her helmet onto the seat Foxy waited for a moment and Claire did the same. “This way!” she took off, grinning as Claire hurried to catch up to her. Laughing, Foxy opened up an old fire escape and stepped through into the blackness beyond it, Claire right behind her.
“Wait!” Claire started to shout until she ran into Foxy's back almost knocking both of them over.
“Settle down, I wouldn't leave ya. Besides, you're the third person that's ever seen this place” she fumbled in the dark for a moment to catch onto Claire's hand.
“Who else have you brought down here?”
“Just Lizzy, its kinda like a little retreat. Here” she pulled Claire closer to her, “gotta stay close. This place can be kinda tricky.” Slowly she led her over fallen bits of ceiling tile and up a flight of stairs.
“How much further are we going to have to go in the dark?” Claire whined, as she stumbled along right behind Foxy.
“Not too much further. Why you excited?”
“No, just not looking forward to falling and dieing in the dark here.”
“Fair enough.”
“So how much-” harsh yellow lights buzzed to life and Claire tried to look around.
“This is still just the entry way. Give it a minute to let your eyes adjust first though. You'll want to be able to see once you're inside”
“Why didn't you warn me before you did that?”
“where's the fun in that?” Foxy snickered and stepped up to the door, quickly punching a seven digit code in.
“What do you even have hidden down here. And why-” she stopped talking as she looked through the open door into the room beyond.
The room was unlike anything she had ever seen. The tiles on the floor were patterned; a rich, pure black and ivory forming little t's on the ground. They were uneven, but intentionally so with small raised platforms around pillars that stretched to the brightly colored ceiling. Reds oranges and greens laced with thin blue lines covered the high, arched ceilings. There was some old furniture still bolted to the ground near the walls, seats people used to sit on while they waited. At the back there was a faded painting of where Detroit had been when the building was first made, the lakes stylistically bent around someone with their arms spread.
“You were saying?” Foxy smiled and looked back at Claire
“How do you find places like this? There's nothing like this in Deluxe!” Claire all but ran passed Foxy into the room. “I mean the space and the colors!” hearing her voice echo in the massive entry way she giggled. “And my voice in here. There's nothing like this up there!”
Foxy just kept smiling and walked passed Claire, her boots echoing in the room, “wait you thought this was the main event? I don't even have music or furniture in here”
“This is amazing” Claire just kept looking around in awe.
“Come on, not too much further.”
Claire couldn't stop smiling. And every time her voice echoed off the high ceilings to roll back at them she laughed more. They crossed to the end of the room and turned to the left, going down a flight of stairs that doubled back on itself to meet up with a second set that had been to the right. They met and descended close to another full story, this second floor having the same high arches the upper one did, the tiles faded a bit more, but still beautiful. A half dozen doors were on either side of this second chamber, and distantly Claire could hear running water.
“Whats's that?”
“Oh just a fountain; turns on when I get here; gotta let the water in it warm up or its way to cold to relax in.”
“Show me!” Claire grabbed onto Foxy's arm pulling her along as she raced down the stairs.
“Whats gotten into you all of a sudden?” Foxy went along with it though, “you aren't normally into going fast I thought”
“That's different, come on, where is the fountain at?” Claire smiled as she flew down the rest of the stairs ahead of Foxy.
“One more floor down, but first we need some tunes, what kind of music do you listen to?”
“Music? Umm nothing really, it all sounds pretty much the same, I mean there's only like five bands anyway. Just put whatever you want on.”
Foxy just stood and stared for a moment considering, before smiling again, “I know what we need,” turning she started walking toward the second side room.
Claire sighed and crossed her arms, “How long is this gonna take?”
“Just a minute, but you can go on in front of me. I'll be down once I have the music setup”
Claire squealed and ran ahead, her boots echoing in the hall, clicking as she skipped steps on her way down.
Foxy was laughing as she opened the door. Flicking on a light, she crossed the room and sat at the desk that rested against the far wall. Mumbling to herself Foxy clicked through menus, looking for something she thought Claire would like. Most of the stuff down here was pretty harsh, kinda fit in with the paintings in Central Station, so she kept looking, she needed something that wasn't just noise and shouts and a heavy beat. After a moment she paused. “LIZZY” she all but shouted and went back through the menu's and into Lizzy music, she loved the classics. Selecting the list of 'most played' she stood up and left the room as the sound system came to life downstairs.
Claire was smiling, a drink in her hand when Foxy arrived. “I helped myself, hope that was alright”
“Depends on what you took and if you're going to share” Foxy walked over to where Claire was perched on the edge of the fountain.
“Its labeled 'strawberry daiquiri' tastes a little like the drinks Jacob makes, but good and not slimy.”
“Good choice,” Foxy walked over to the little bar and pulled another one out before walking to sit by Claire. “What do you think of the music?” Lizzy like old catchy stuff, Claire did too apparently as she smiled
“Its fun, they sound like they're actually singing, not just getting told what to say.” Claire scooted a bit closer, looking down at her drink for a minute.
“Yeah most people back then wrote their own stuff. A lot of the people down here do it too, but all they seem to know is Motor City, so its kinda rough, its like how people seem to just make art out of the things they know.”
“I suppose” Claire fingers traced the mouth of the bottle a few times before she looked up. “So I.. umm how did you find this place?”
“Its a long story; well not really I guess. I as just running from some of the Duke's men, ten to one is not good odds, when I ducked into here. Had to abandon my car and hid for a bit till they passed. While I was down here I ended up powering up the old place.” Foxy smiled as Claire leaned closer, until their shoulders were touching. “Mostly I spend days down here on my own, helps me think.” she draped her arm around Claire who kept getting closer. Foxy smiled as she looked down at Claire who was propped up on one arm holding her drink in the other.
“Why was the Duke after you?”
“Something about shaving his eyebrows while he slept or something like that. Babs put me up to it.”
“Wait No. 2 put you up to it? Why?” Claire was smiling as she asked.
“Well its kinda a thing we used to do I'd let her get away with salvage on the border.. She was just a grunt back then. Didn't want in on the Amazons, her family lived on his turf, still does. But she wanted to get back at him for dropping the price on scrap because it was making things hard for a lot of people. Hell his entire night watch let me sneak in and if I hadn't sneezed on him he wouldn't have gotten up. Heck I even jacked his stupid necklace while I was there. ” Claire was finishing her drink so Foxy just kept going, “She's the one that tracked me back onto Amazon turf a couple days later; I captured her and traded her back along with the Dukes nameplate for my car. He's started keeping her around because she was the only one that could follow me, and because she was simply too valuable to lose now that he had traded a car for her.” Foxy smiled and took another drink letting Claire stand up. “Try the orange one if you're getting another” Foxy just watched her walk over to the little refrigerator, admiring the view.
Claire smiled as she walked back, drink in hand, another strawberry flavored one, a shy smile on her face.
Foxy set her drink down on the tiled floor and stretched her arms, her jumpsuit creaking as she did. She looked up at Claire who had a look on her face like she was planning something “What are you thinking?”
"I was thinking that maybe this jumpsuit didn't quite keep all the dust out, and maybe you should help me out of it"
"Is that so? I think maybe you should come down more often, we could get one that fit right" Foxy moved to stand but Claire was leaning over her.
"I think I might like that"
Foxy smiled as Claire moved in closer, kneeling on the edge of the fountain. "I can think of something else you might like" Foxy was looking up at Claire her hands running down her back dragging the zipper with them.
Claire blushed and leaned in for a kiss resting her hands on Foxy's shoudlers so she didn't tumble into the water. "I think i might like that a lot"