Welcome to MadCross, Enjoy Your Stay (Private)

Their footsteps echoed through the halls of the underwater city, two men and a contingent of guards following them. A steady rhythm followed their footsteps as they followed a line of lights through several hallways. "What is the purpose of my Visit here, Griffin? I have duties to attend to in Altostratus." He wore a brown-suit and black tie, the wrinkles and lines on his face symbolic of impatience and the lines he'd crossed in his pursuit of power. Vanity, thy name was Jack Travis. He stood at five foot seven and was fairly portly, though staring at him dead front and center may not have alluded to it. The other man kept walking, eyes half open and a tired expression on his face. He wore a black suit, and stood at around five foot eight. He had no tie on, and his brown hair was unkempt and messy. His gray eyes were dull and emotionless as he pressed forward, only stopping when he heard the footsteps behind him cease. He followed suit, his feet locking themselves to the ground as he turned around and glared halfheartedly at the man behind him. "I'm not taking another step." He raised his eyebrow.

"Problem, Travis?" His tone was gentle, curious like a child and caring like a mother. But behind the voice was a terrifying, underlying connotation-- a sick parody on true, legitimate concern. His sickly sweet smile emerged from the glare as he waked back over to face the man, slouching slightly. "We're only a few minutes from MadCross' Capitol Building. I'm sure you can have your tantrum there."

"No, I will not! Until I understand what this farce is about, I will not progress further into your hovel." Hovel? That was fairly insulting.

"I'd remind you that in my tenure here, fitness ratings for my sector have gone way up. My people are in better shape here than anywhere else. I'm also running the most economically sound sector in the history of the city. I have accomplished all of this in the last five years! Not to mention all my recent medical contributions from our health and safety department. Please do not call MadCross a 'hovel'. If anything that would be Altostratus, which constantly uses its wind-generated energy to bully the other sectors. Or did you forget?" The old man clenched his fist.

"You little shit! You don't know anything. Since you're hydroelectric generators have come into play in this city, our power has shifted towards the lesser. We don't carry as much weight in the council meeting like we used too, but you have two of the other sectors wrapped around your finger!" Jake waved at the guards. Most of them moved away, save for one who stood at his side.

"Okay, I guess you're having this tantrum now. We can do that here, I suppose." He sighed heavily. Truly Jack was an unreasonable man, yet his passion for Altostratus gave him a certain flare. In fact Jake had come to admire him for it, but now it was becoming a liability in the face of his plans. "Here's the thing, Travis. You and I have not seen eye to eye for along time. Face it. The other sectors come to me because I offer better goods, services, cheaper power and cleaner energy at that, all without creating a dependence on them because MadCross' populace has learned to grow their own food, purify their own water and make their own power.. I've created an amazing society of independent beings."

"Yeah," he shouted out, "With the highest mortality rate and lowest life expectancy of any sector! Your 'Devil May Care' approach has turned this formerly wonderful city in to a den of madness!" At those words, Jake turned to the guard and nodded. The man's face was covered, but his body language expressed excitement. As he grabbed Jack Travis by the arm, he handed Jake a large, gleaming knife from his hip-sheath. Jake ran his finger along the blade, staring hungrily at it. "What are you doing! Release me!"

"I tried to be civil. We could have talked about this, you know. You could have died quietly. Now you die screaming." The old man tried to pull free from the guard's iron grip but was slammed hard into the metallic wall behind him, a loud thump reverberating from the space around them. The guard pinned him against the cold surface, the fear in Jack's eyes bleeding from his tear ducts and down his face in clear streams.

"Please! Stop!"

"Do you know why?" His voice came as a hiss from a serpent's mouth, dripping with venom and fanged. Jack shook his head, the shock of the situation finally jolting him from sanity.

"I don't know," he sobbed, "I don't know anything I swear just let me go!" His cries were desperate, and Jake savored them. He brandished the knife at the man's throat, and pushed his head back against the cold metal while pressing the knife to his adam's apple. The guard covered his mouth when he tried screaming, leaving only muffled please and shouts in their stead. Jake practically fell on top of Jack, whispering into his ear with sinister glee.

"Do you know why I renamed this city to MadCross?" The man shook his head lightly and sobbed in response. "Its like this, you see: morals. Tie. Us. Down. I've under my control millions of people at their physical peak, living their lives for themselves by committing crime after crime and making breakthrough after breakthrough in every single field imaginable. We have more than enough food. Our desalinization process allows for virtually limitless water. He have a nigh-infinite source of energy. Everybody in my district is employed, and there is clearly more than enough to go around. Do you understand now?" He shook his head again, a muffled plea for mercy escaping with his exasperated cries. "Let me elaborate: I control a world full of over abundance. Nobody here has to fight with anyone over anything, and yet they do. That old city? Disorder everywhere. Before I came here, nobody was truly living but now? Its survival of the fittest, which is true order. The Natural Order. Here, the only law we have is don't die. Madness is our religion here. Foolish, unnecessary waste of life is our norm. That will never change." he shoved the knife deep into Jack's throat and carved a deep slit, the blood spurting out onto part of Jake's face while the soldier released his hand from Jack's mouth, letting have a final, pained scream. Before Jack died, Jake whispered some final words to him. "I call it MadCross for our way of life. For our god. For our religion." He stood back from the corpse and the guard let it fall limp before swinging it over his shoulders. "You know where it goes Joseph. To the furnace." He grinned as he walked into his district, heading towards the MadCross Capitol building. "Today's bodies are tomorrow's fertilizer."