Gemstone Subway Maze

New York in Autumn. Leaves yellow and orange, speckled streets. I was going to a show without a ticket. Barbara Walters was going to. We paralled as we walked up the street to the spot. I told her I was broke, hoping she'd buy my ticket. She didn't. I entered into a dark room where many people sat and stood, watching a flickering screen showing someone's new film. A band playing softly and indescribably in the background. My friend was there. She demanded a ticket. I thought she'd be cool and just let me stay, but she wasn't. I left and was relieved to not have to be at the show. I had more pressing things to do, such as fight the battle that had started in the city. I met up with the large group of people whose side I was on. We were out front of a small building with lots of windows. You could see that inside there were long aisles of cages and a black and white checkered floor. Lots of scientists with white coats held clipboards and checked things off as they visited every cage. Me and a few others strategically entered and went opposite directions inside. When I got to the back wall of the store, the mean guys entered. One guy threw gemstones at me that exploded and ricochetted all over. Some of them broke cages, some of them broke tanks with strange creatures inside. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires. These bastards were bastards because they were trying to kill animals and creatures. I hated them, which is why I joined the group. One of their gemstones shattered a case of glowing orbs with heads inside of them. The heads were evil and were released into the city. We got the fuck outta there. Next thing I know we were running through the streets trying to find a place to hideout. Our organization was wide-spread: there were busses, vans, trucks, spies, headquarters, all over the city. We all went to different places. Me and a few others went into a dark, vine covered apartment with a phone booth, table, and closet inside. We waited for a moment, but it looked as though some mean guys had followed us. We rolled down a ladder in the closet and went up and out. The secret passageway went to the subway system. But there was a secret maze within the subway system that could only be accessed by a handful of secret locations. It was lit by flourescent lights and had tiled walls and lots of staircases. There were lots of street urchins and thugs who used the maze. They were harmless though. We were really worried that the mean guys would find a way in, which they did. We ran a lot, up and down these staircases, sometimes fighting meanies and sometimes bumping into our people--which was a relief. It was easy to get lost and to run in circles in the maze. I passed one of the other access points where a lot of thugs were coming in. It was a senior citizens aerobics class. In the storage closet was a guy who was always fixing something. Beyond him was a blue curtain and when you pulled it back there was the door. I encountered a large open space, dark, lit only barely by a fire in a garbage can. A woman dressed like early Madonna in a leopard print jumpsuit and skirt was singing into a PA system. There was a man with her, just listening, probably sleeping with her. I approached her. I had met her before. Same scenario. I was about to utter the friend whom we had in common, but she recognized me first. We hugged, I felt her waist, it was small and the jumpsuit was too tight. I realized I had been separated from my group. The area I was in was large, two-tiered, very dark, and bustling with transients. But I could hear fighting in the distance, somewhere in the maze. I stood frozen, unsure which way to go. Then I heard a song. A band was playing across the way. It was my people, and one of them was my boyfriend who fought on the good side too. As I walked closer, I saw that they were all there. All of us. It was like a check point. When I arrived in full view there were smiles, soft waves, and sighs of relief and commradery. I caught intense eyes with my boyfriend, then sat down. A man approached me and grabbed mmy arm, told me to get up and practice with the gemstones. I was new and didn't already know how they worked. I had to grasp a mental image, crack the tip of the gemstone, then throw them hard. I couldn't get it to work. I tried to imagine a full moon, a blazing fire, but nothing. Then a mysterious yet familiar figure through a ruby at me and it froze in mid-air as a mental picture: large, bright, gleaming, strong, and personal. That was my image. Then I understood the gemstones. And when I did, a large bright golden gem-encrusted staff flew to me and I became the most powerful fighter on the team. We heard the mean guys' shouts from the farthest staircase, and we knew it was time to move.