Austin and Kai had left the platform and finally exited the station to see they were in Centerfield. They had exited just in time to see Gary being placed in a patrol car and taken away.
“So what are we going to do now? Are we going to follow them?” Austin asked. “Or are we going to call Elijah or someone to help Gary out?”
“Don’t you think sometimes Gary needs to learn a lesson?” Kai said, which was an answer that took Austin by surprise. “Gary is a great leader because he cares for everyone, and in a way, that is what drives his strength.”
“However, sometimes his actions can cause trouble for him and others. The situation is no longer like it was before. If we wanted to stop them from attacking, we could have also just simply told them who we were, but Gary decided to act out with his fists because, well, that’s all he knows.”
“So I want to show him that acting in other ways, other than his fists, is also a good option. We’ll get him out, and we’ll go to the meeting in his place. For now, let’s enjoy Centerfield for a bit. It’s one of the safest places in the world after all!”
Centerfield was one of the bigger cities that received a lot of funding from local governments, so there were no shortcuts when it came to using funds as well.
There wasn’t a single pothole in the roads that were being used. All buildings were maintained and improved as new legislation came into effect. The pathways were set up so pedestrians had priority as well.
It was, in a lot of ways, the perfect standard for how a city could be.
“Being here, it makes me sick,” Austin said as he sat on a park bench watching families enjoy their time with their children.
Playing badminton, and even seeing gardeners maintaining the public parks.
“I know exactly what you're feeling,” Kai said. “How can such a place like this exist when there’s still so much trouble out there? It’s a perfect place made for what they deem the perfect people.”
“If they can make a place like this, why don’t they make it everywhere? So seeing it, it just sickens you that a bunch of politicians are the ones that get to live a peaceful life. They say they’re for the people, but they’re just for themselves.”
“They say what they want just to get elected, the people believing things will change in their cities, and yet nothing happens. If anything, over fifty percent of them are corrupt, taking part in hush money from gangs and then reverting it back to here so they can live their perfect life, forgetting everything that is happening out there.”
The moment Kai had finished his speech, he could hear the sound of resounding claps, and an orange man coming over in a black and red outfit sat down on the bench not too far from them.
“Judging by the way you guys talk, it seems that you're not from around here. No one would admit to something like that out in the open,” the man said.
Kai took a glance to the man on the right and then smiled.
“The one you're looking to meet, he’s not here at the moment, Officer Kanu. It appears that he has gotten himself in some trouble,” Kai explained.
As the two of them had arrived at the meeting spot.
——
For Gary, he was calmly complying with everything so far. He had entered the vehicle and continued to follow Ryan as he brought him to a small station.
It was nowhere near the main base center which he could see as he was in the car a few times while riding. Entering the place, he then went downstairs where there were around five large cells.
There were a few people in a couple of them and the others were empty. Eventually, he had arrived with Gary and placed him in the cell.
“Wait, how long am I going to be in here for?” Gary asked.
“Until Sir Ken is happy,” Ryan replied. “Look, you got involved with the wrong guy. Sir Ken is the mayor of a tier 2 city. He’s got his hands in a few people in Centerfield, and his city brings in quite a bit of donations to Centerfield and the White Rose.”
“So we need to comply. You need to understand, in the situation you were in, there wasn’t a right or wrong. You were forced to be in the wrong either way.”
“Wait, what?” Gary replied, annoyed by the fact that a White Rose agent was saying these things of all things. “What about your pride? Didn’t you take this role because you wished to help the people from Altered?”
“So why are you helping someone just because they give bigger donations?” Gary asked.
“I do,” Ryan replied. “We at White Rose can do what we do because of these people. Which is why we need to look after them. We have to turn our heads to a few people doing these things so we can go on to help the general public. As I said, you just annoyed and messed with the wrong person, so I need to do my part.”
It looked like Ryan was ready to walk away at that point, but Gary needed to meet up with Kanu. He thought he would just get a telling off and then he would be on his way, but it didn’t look like that at all.
“I thought White Rose cleaned up their act after the Phoenix Gang scandal, and now you’re saying they’re like this as a whole!” Gary asked.
Ryan turned back.
“That was true corruption up at higher management. This is just how the system can keep going. The smaller scale things like this, there is no way the upper management would ever come down on things like us.”
“Report it, and no one will believe you. Oh, I almost forgot, I need your name so I can put it into the system,” Ryan asked.
Gary was hesitant for a moment, but if it would get him out without fighting, then maybe it would be okay.
“Gary Dem,” Gary answered.
Ryan just chuckled with a smile and shook his head.
“Yeah, right, and I’m John Bena,” Ryan answered. “I’ll come back when you’re ready to give me a real name.”