Chapter 5: The Two Mysterious Individuals

Chris quickly put his computer away. He became intrigued.
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Lena. I work here with Steve, but you rarely see me because I’m so busy. It’s alright, I guess.”
Lena went behind the counter and started making herself a cup. I thought all she did was clean tables, Chris thought.
“So what can you tell me about Haven City? It seemed like Steve was scared crazy when I asked him about it.”
Lena turned and looked Chris deep in the eyes. “Mr. Reporter, there’s so much you can learn, but so little you can share with the public, about Haven City.”
Chris wondered, “Who is this girl?” But he quickly grabbed a tape recorder.
“You don’t mind if I record this, do you? I need as much information as I can get.”
“No, not at all,” Lena said with that infectious smile. “But once you get there, I would be careful…you never know what might happen. Where do you want me to start?” she said as she took a sip of her coffee. “Steve’s story, my story, or background about the city in general?”
“Oh, just go in that order…” Chris said as he sipped. “I didn’t even think that Steve had a story…I figured you did…”
Lena slapped him across the face.
“OW! What the dicken was that for?”
“Why else would Steve run out of his own establishment when you asked him about Haven City? Wake up, Mr. Brilliant Journalist!”
Chris then had an epiphany. “Wait a minute…something happened to him there, didn’t it?”
Lena nodded, then proceeded to tell him their story. Chris hit the record button and listened intently.
“You see, Steve and I…for one thing, we’re kind of…married.”
Chris almost spit out his coffee, but instead barely managed to swallow it down. “Come again? Steve never told me that.”
“Of course he’s not going to tell you that! If he told you, you probably wouldn’t believe it!”
“Very true. Continue.”
“Anyway, also, Steve and I were both born in Haven City.”
Chris couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Then what were they doing in Pittsburgh? He thought.
“You see, Steve and I were living a great life together there. Our king was running the kingdom and city very effectively, and keeping all the intruders at bay. Our city is very prosperous, full of riches. Multiple enemies try and take them from us. Over time, we’ve managed to kill several of them off…except for one…the Thunderbolts.”
“The Thunderbolts?” Chris thought for a minute. “Wait…I did a story one time on them. Aren’t they a bunch of villains who got nowhere in life, so they took out their frustrations by robbing, stealing, and killing?”
“Pretty much.” Lena said as she stared into her coffee. “They are so persistent. Fortunately, though, they’ve cut back to invading only once per season.”
Chris thought to himself – wait a minute, that’s four times a year! But he didn’t want to discuss it; he just continued listening.
“However, one year ago, the Thunderbolts were ready to conduct their winter invasion. We were struggling to keep warm and prices were really going up. It was tough, but we still had to have our defenses intact, and we did…but…” Lena started crying and getting very emotional.
Chris tried to sympathize. “Oh, Lena, it couldn’t have been that bad.”
Lena screamed out, “THEY DID A SNEAK ATTACK! THEY CAPTURED KING QUINN AND TOOK ALMOST ALL THE RICHES FROM THE HOMES!”
Chris said, “Oh…”
Lena sniffled as tears streamed down her face. “We had to get out of Haven City. It was so much destruction. We hardly had anything left. So we just took the next ship that went out, and here we are in Pittsburgh.”
Chris couldn’t believe he had been so blind. He thought his life and his problems were bad, but these two individuals – and so many others – had been through much, much worse.
Chris touched Lena’s cheek. He wanted to cheer her up.
“Lena, I know this is hard for you. But what you tell me could not only help me and the paper, but help the people of Haven City. Can you tell me about the city itself?”