He turned with wide eyes and for a moment all he could do was look down at the piece of technology the man had dropped. It looked like something that could be stuck into the wall in the underground eternity; a mess of wires, plastic and apparently glass that he couldn't really place any real significance on, but if it was broken now then that couldn't bode well. A very slippery character, I should think, Joe muttered, causing the man to look up at who exactly had been carrying the object and was questioning him now.
"Am I...?" he gasped, daring to drop the jacket from covering his mouth in order to address him. When was the last time someone had asked him if he was okay? he could hardly remember, and he really didn't know the answer. He supposed he was very far from okay, but he had to be cautious and spilling out all the details to a complete stranger probably wouldn't be the best way forward. "Theoretically I am not, but in practice I am still breathing despite the air, so perhaps," he shrugged, his hands gripping at the handlebars protectively. "Is it... always this black in the city?" he asked, wide-eyed at the possibility that pollution had finally won the battle.