6th street
"Who is that handsome guy?" Mike walked to the front of Luke's house while brushing past Vic.
"Some Gram's friend" Luke shrugged and walked into the house.
"Gram, Mike said that you looked older than the last time he came here to visit" Luke shouted.
"You b*st*ard, I didn't say anything" Mike pushed Luke aside and cursed at him angrily.
"I said beautiful, Gram.
Beautiful.
And you are absolutely stunning today.
Don't listen to his non-sense.
You know how he likes to fool around" Mike hurriedly said.
"Have you eaten?" Gram asked Mikel her face soften.
"Just ate, before I left. I did some burger by myself" Mikel puffed his chest proudly.
"Alright, you boys can head upstair and don't make any troubles" Gram warned and sighed with heavy heart.
Luke looked at her deeply, curious about the conversation from before but he didn't ask as he knew Gram too well.
If she wanted to tell him or she think he should know, he would be the first to know. Otherwise, nobody could open her mouth.
"You did some burger and you didn't bring me some? What kind of a friend are you?" Luke said while they were climbing up the stairs.
"It got burnt a little" Mikel laughed wryly.
"You got the entire thing burned, right? Show off."Luke scoffed as he saw through Mikel's words just now.
"Uncle, the man sent his regards" Luke shouted when he passed his uncle room.
Hearing no reply, Luke moved to his room with Mikel.
After shutting the door behind him and seeing that Gram didn't follow them up, Luke sighed in relief and said.
"I think I hit the amount" Luke looked at Mikel with unprecedented serious.
Mike turned his head and looked at Luke with a stern gaze.
"Think about it carefully, Luke.
Once the authority knows about it, death would be the least of our concern and I'm not over-reacting this time"
Luke stood in silent as he knew that Mikel was right and he was indeed not exaggerating.
"My head is exploding right now. Arrggh" Mikel jumped into the bed and screamed at the pillow.
"Why the hell did you father leave some blueprint behind that need some radioactive element as a core material?
Okay, let's set the safety issue aside, the regulations about these materials were insane.
If you got caught, you will be taken straight to the radies, risking your lives purging the land where nobody dare to live.
You might even be executed to warn the others not to commit the same crime!
and how did you even know about the price range and the channel to get these kind of materials? you know that they could track you down or bait-selling you right?" Mikel asked, clearly freaked out.
"I went to the 6th street" Luke whispered.
"Are you freaking out of your mind, Luke? That place was like the darkest corner of the Capital's western region.
If that street was really clean up, the Capital would have a couple more scourge teams." This time Mikel glared at Luke angrily, trying to suppress the urge to scream at his face.
"I met a guy who we helped repair the gadget and asked around, coincidently, he was Max's big brother and he offer to help me"
"Max's brother. Which Max are we talking about again? Don't tell me it was that Max who was our school biggest bully"
Luke nodded slowly.
"Wow. Just. Wow. I don't even know what to say right now?
What the..?" color drained from Mikel's face like he was about to pass out.
"Calm down, Mikel. I think it's not that big of the deal right now and it wasn't like I have any choice.
I need that thing and you know it" Luke looked at Mikel with helplessness and determination.
"It's Uranium-235 and not some cabbage that you can pick up from anywhere, Luke.
I've asked around and the only way to acquire it is from excavating remnants of the war weapons in the radies.
The only groups that went to the radioactive fallout are the scourge, and they needed to smuggle them out without any safety equipment.
I don't know if they know this, but a life was needed for a piece of that thing you mentioned.
Not a risk but a trade.
Do you understand now?
The chance you are getting the actual thing is very low and I think you are being scammed by that Max's brother. What a timely coincidence!" Mikel said.
Luke didn't interrupt him like usual as Mikel had never been this serious before.
Mikel was always easy-going and not taking anything too seriously. When there was a problem he would say, 'the fate should be the captain, and we can just flow along'.
However, this time the works he put in to research on this illegal item must be tremendous and this warmed Luke's heart .
Luke knew that this was going to be the first time that he had to take Mikel word in consideration.
"I'm just going there to see. If I'm not sure that they have it, mission abort.
How does that sound?" Luke raised both of his hand up.
"What's there to see?
6th Street is not some historical monumen.." Mikel sighed before he could finish the sentence.
"Whatever you say boss" Mikel finally gave up.
"But under one condition" He added.
"What is it?" Luke asked, curious.
"That blueprint. You have to finish it first. I mean WE have to finish it first before going for that U-thing" Mikel said strongly while whispering the last word .
"Sure. Why not? I'll have to do it alone anyway" Luke smiled and shrugged jokingly.
Mikel didn't mind the joke and continue,
"I told you that I am going to visit Gram today because there is something that I need to tell you both" Mikel said, there was a hint of melancholy in his eyes.
"What is it?" Luke noticed something strange with his best friend as he didn't act like he actually did.
He seemed quiet today.
Mikel sighed and said, "Let's talk downstair.
Might as well let you both know at the same time, save me from saying them twice"
..
"What?! But why would she do that?" Luke was upset.
"I don't really know.
I asked her and told her that I don't wanna go.
All I get was her sympathized looks and an hour of her crying non-stop.
She said that she couldn't say and she was sorry. When I see that she was about to cry again, I promised to go with her.
I don't know what to do at that moment.
At first, I thought that it was just a possibility, so I didn't tell you and Gram. But now it seems more and more likely that it's going to happen" Mikel said sadly.
"Do you know where you are going ?"Luke asked perplexed.
"She said the Capital's Central region, Area-1.
My father is there"
The table was so quiet that they could hear their own heartbeats.
"Tell us again when you are going.
Don't you dare go without saying good byes or I'll have him chase you to the end of the world and take you a** back here" Gram broke the silence and spoke pointing at Luke.
Mikel smiled and said,
"Of course, Gram"