Spoiler: show
The basement's air was thick with the smell of smoke and drink, if it hadn't been for the ventilation up top the group of people wouldn't be able to stick around in there. For those who weren't used to it, the atmosphere could be almost overwhelming. Miles and Cassie Lytton had forced themselves to get used to it. Before the war, they wouldn't have ever been seen in a place like this. Miles had taking up smoking the occasional cigarette, much to the disgust of his little sister Cassie. She often sat with some sort of concoction of alcohol, given to her by habit, but she never really drank it.
The basement was huge. It was one of the basements of the power station, disguised as just another engineer's room. It was after hours on a Saturday evening, the best time and place to be able to hold a group meeting. Work typically finished at 7:30PM for most people, and you had to be off the streets by 10PM, so meetings lasted from when work finished to 9:30PM. The basement had a bar and plenty of seating and tables; it could easily hold a hundred people, but for now there were around thirty. Mostly men in there 20s-40s with one below and one above that age group. There were 4 other women, including Cassie and she was the youngest. There was a makeshift stage, individuals got up to lecture everyone else on their opinions. Lucky enough, everyone seemed to agree with each other. They were all there for the same cause; to grow and rebel against the government.
Dangerous as it was, the group was the first rebel group formed on the Ultimus islands, and their meeting place had remain unknown to the police force. They hadn't caused any trouble, and at first, when there were only a handful, they had just created rumours and whispers to generate support. Now they had regulars and the occasional visitor. The long term members were deemed the people in charge, but no one was keen to take responsibility for the group.
"About the current talk of leadership among us..." Miles began, for he chose to take the stand on the stage tonight. "We are fighting to eradicate the dictatorship" he said with a sense of purpose in his voice which made Cassie proud and made every one glow. "So to even think of having one high and mighty leader would be hypocrisy" he stated to the room. A blue eyed Irish man turned to him from the bar and grinned. "Who here would even think that?" Miles grinned back.
"Oh, I don't know Kade. I bet you wouldn't mind running all this yourself, whisky in one hand, police baton in the other" he said jokingly, causing a few laughs, knowing that the chief of police Matt walked around with his police baton out and a bottle of whiskey in his jacket. He was a constant source of mockery, but he wasn't a force to be reckoned with. "Besides, I can't see any newcomers. Still, the night is early". He began talking again to the crowd again. It was the more boring stuff, so after a few minutes his sister lost her focus. Cassie's eyes shot to the opening door of the basement. Someone had been let in by the door guard.