Chapter 724: Protests Don’t Work.

Sitting behind his office chair, Jonah typed on the keyboard projected through his OAM. Halfway through a report he should have submitted the previous night, he slumped back into his chair and sighed, rubbing his eyes. Though it was barely noon, he was far too exhausted to keep going like normal, and the desire for a quick nap quickly overwhelmed him.

"Hey, old man. Guess the years are getting to you, huh?"

Freezing at the sound of the familiar voice, he then looked up, eyes widening as he saw the red haired youth standing before him, arms in the pockets of his jacket.

"Dante?"

"How are you doing?"

Several questions came to his mind, but the answers quickly followed.

"You can see him, but you aren’t taking him out." Saying as much, the old police captain stood up. "Not unless the charges are dropped."

"Don’t worry. I will get it sorted out."

The reply caused Jonah to wince. He truly wished it wouldn’t come to this.

"Listen, Dante... you..."

"Don’t think about it too much."

"Right..."

Somehow, Jonah found it difficult to even look at his face. The things he heard about the youth weren’t easy to believe. It had always been clear that he was involve in shady businesses, but things had escalated far too quickly. Now, the danger radiating from him triggered Jonah’s alarm. Though he tried to ignore them, his instincts as a veteran police officer told him the youth was trouble fa beyond what they can handle.

"This way."

Walking ahead, the old officer showed him to the holding cells. Nowadays, the station hadn’t been making many arrests, so they remained empty most of the time. That wasn’t to say that the streets had been peaceful. Fights and shootings happen all the time, but most incidents had been beyond what the police force could handle.

Jonah had wondered why the BEO had yet to deploy a hero team to Hollowgrid. The district has seen its fair share of incidents, and with Inferno around, it was looking like things would only get much worse than when the Blood Hounds and Black Cross were still around. He didn’t want to blame it all on the red haired youth, but as things stood, Jonah couldn’t prevent what’s happening from warping the image he had of him in his mind. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"Don’t be too hard on him." He said, connecting to the cell’s lock. "He had been through a lot."

"I know." The youth said. "I’m not here to berate him."

~[ ]~

It felt... weird. Dante had always been aware of the chasm building between him and the others, especially the police officer, Captain Johanson. His position as the boss of an emerging gang didn’t necessarily mean that he had to be at odds with law enforcement, but the old officer clearly didn’t approve of the path he was taking.

-Who the fuck cares what he thinks?-

Trying not to let Jonah’s awkwardness get to him, Dante went into the holding cell. Normally, the place would have three or four street rats using it as their lodging for the night, but today, only one man sat on the rusty benches. His head remained down even though he should have heard someone enter, which spoke of his current mental state.

"You look like shit."

When he heard his voice, Ross finally looked up. Dante might have exaggerated, but the middle aged maintenance worker did indeed look like he has been down on his luck. His blonde hair, which had grown beyond its usual length, was a disheveled mess. It was clear that he hadn’t been to a barber in some time, seeing as he now sported a beard as well.

"Dante?"

"Been a while, huh?"

Still stunned, Ross could only stare at him in disbelief. After a short while, he seemed to crack a smile, letting his head hang once more.

"Do I really look that bad?"

"Guess jail isn’t for you, huh?"

"You bet."

As silence settled between them once more, Dante walked over and sat by the man’s side. He said nothing for a while, unsure if anyone wanted to listen. Eventually, Ross broke the ice with a question.

"Did he make it?"

"He will," Dante replied. "Things just looked worse than they actually are."

"Thank god..."

The world was a cruel place, even more so in the capitalist nightmare of the Radmir Union. A couple of months ago, the local government decided to outsource the city’s maintenance to a private company, something that had undoubtedly been a result of the usual game played by those with deep pockets.

Ross, being part of the city’s maintenance crew and the union formed by its members, had joined a protest demanding that the decision be overturned and their positions restored. Things went out of control, and riots erupted. He ended up striking one of the guards blocking the entrance to the city hall, and by the time he made it back home, the city had already issued an arrest warrant for him and the rest of the protesters

"Seriously, man, what did you plan to achieve by doing that?" Dante asked. "You know protests don’t work."

Nothing would have overturned the city’s decision to kick its staff to the curb. Not even a riot that forced Flame Guard to intervene.

"Well, it’s not like we had that many options." Ross said. "Did you know? They aren’t even doing it to cut the costs. That goddamn cop charges a lot more than what we were being paid."

"Yeah, that’s the life cycle of public services. They cut the costs until no work gets done the use it as an excuse to outsource to some corpo that charges triple and still half asses the job."

"This one apparently uses cheap androids." Ross let out a chuckle. "Guess the clankers are going to replace us after all."

"Well, clankers don’t hit people with pipes on the head."

Ross let out another chuckle, and so did Dante. The silence returned soon after, but this time, it was Dante who broke the ice first.

"I will make this disappear, so hurry up and get your act together."