The sun rose in a quiet fashion, the sky, clear, accompanied by the sound of trains passing by every now and again, peaceful, but in a rundown warehouse trouble was stirring.
"Ashley got bagged." Raphael said to a group of five people, excluding him. A young lady, with bright pink skin and long blue cornrows, her face in a permanent scowl, hopped off the old couch she was lying in and turned to face Raphael. "Come again?"
"I said…Ashley got bagged, last night I was out on the Dennis strip, working on a mural I wanted to make", the other five stared at Raphael intensely as he continued his story, "Police came out of nowhere ,five of them, then a fucking army of them and I had no choice but to leave him." A man with burgundy red skin, tall and muscular with dark-brown dreads tied back, pinched the bridge of his nose, "Raphael…how many fucking times do I have to tell you to not graffiti on the Dennis strip for fucks sake!"
"I know, I know! But its deeper than just Ashley getting bagged-"
"What do you mean it's deeper than Ashley getting bagged— we can't just get him out tomorrow and business can't continue without him"
with his arms out and face painted with a hint of worry, Raphael responded, "Listen for a second Martin, everyone listen closely. First of all, Ashley is an initiate and so am I, ordinary jakes(term for police officer) can't touch us if they tried. if it was just five of them at first, we could handle that and get away before the swarm could near us. But one of the jakes I was fighting was an initiate."
The group collectively inhaled at the news, "What's the JBPD doing sending an initiate to stop graffiti?" A blue skinned male, skinny, average height and curly blonde hair, asked in confusion.
"I asked the same thing, to one police officer— I don't know his name, but the name of the initiate was Matilda Bascott, apparently she's part of a-"
"A fucking family," The blue boy said, " I've heard of the Bascotts, They're rich and powerful, got a long legacy of initiates. but they're foreign, why would they be in JB?",
Raphael replied, "The officer said suttin about an end to the crime in JB, a revolution, an end to us." A deep silence engulfed the room as they all digested the information that was given to them.
"If the Bascotts really are a family, my guess is that the government have made an arrangement with the Bascotts to utilise their manpower and tip the scale against gangs. If thats the case I don't have to tell you how devastating the consequences'll be for us," Raphael said lowly.
Jaybreakenham, and many cities and countries alike, have a check and balance system that controls the power and governing of their respective jurisdictions. However, they're not controlled entirely by governments; each city and country at large are inextricably tied to independent, unofficial organisations that hold enough power to where they have a say so, indirectly or directly, in the governing of the said place. Whether that be gangs, or families, their pervasive influence is a large factor in the culture and lives of your everyday citizen, wherever you go. Some of these organisations may have interests that lie completely out of line of governmental interest. They may want to overtly break the law, like selling drugs or graffiti and so a quiet but controlled war goes on between the two. Arrests after a certain point of infraction, arrests only in specific jurisdictions, a blind eye to the selling of lower class drugs and things of that nature. But if a foreign power comes into the equation, the fragile balance breaks, mayhem ensues and one side gets disassembled while the other takes the power the other side once had.
"Fuck…", said the pink girl, understanding the gravity of the situation.
Martin spoke, "First things first, we need to get Ashley out of jail, Samantha", A girl with bright yellow skin, short in stature and an orange, curly afro responded to Martin,
"yeah"
"You're gonna have to contact Ashley's clientele, tell em you'll be providing for now, if they ain't cool with it you're to say Ashley's on a business excursion." She nodded her head, grabbed a phone and walked towards a computer. "AD, handle business as usual, get your guys to try find any information on the Bascotts" The blue boy AD grunted in agreement and got ready to head outside. "Tina and Robby," The pink girl and a red and orange man, with short straight white hair, looked at martin, "Get a couple of your best men and round up some money…we're gonna try bust Ashley out."
All activity in the warehouse paused as they all eyed Martin.
Raphael was the first to speak up. "Are you out of your mind?"
Martin responded slightly irritated,"Raphael…you're on time out, it's cause of you Ashley got nicked in the first place-"
"Don't give me that crap". Martin and Raphael stared at each other, the tension raising the hairs on everyone's skin.
"Raphael's speaking the truth, how the fuck are we gonna get Ashley out of jail when they supposedly got a new load of initiates!" Robby said in protest of this arrangement.
Martin paused before he spoke, looking at Robby as if he could see through him, his every thought and feeling. "I don't speak just to speak, I think things through. My plan was for you to round some men and we scout the possible locations Ashley could be held up." Martin raised his hand to show the number three. "There's only three locations Ashley could be in right now, JBPD has three processing centres they use for any gang related activity, They know Ashley to be a part of 7side, chances are he had his phone on him, maybe some product as well— he even fought the police officers, with how our mayor is, they're not gonna take more than a day to send him somewhere where it'll be extremely difficult to reach." He paused to take a breath, "And that can't happen because business must run smooth, he has the most lucrative clientele, and if he's gone for too long it's problems for all of us. We don't want problems. So the only course of action is to scout where Ashley is being held, i'll use my inside-men to get us in and we break him out tonight."
His pitch, as devastating as it was, was sound. "Does anyone have something to say? Thank you." Martin got a cigarette out of his trench coat and walked out, a serious look on his face. Tina walked to Raphael who was sitting on the floor against a brick wall covered in graffiti.
"Hey Raph", her tone calming.
"What's good Tina…", his tone on the other hand, calm, but laced with bubbling agitation.
She took a seat next to Raphael, he was looking as if he was in deep thought, almost as if he was not aware of her presence.
"Don't be upset that Ashley got nicked, we're gonna get him out of there." Raphael continued looking forward intensely, before he turned to Tina, now making her the focus of his intense gaze.
"Thank you Tina, but i'm not upset",
"Then what's the look on your face"
"I'm thinking…thinking about the reality of Martin's words. The reality that's soon to come, do you know what's soon to come?" She looked at him, not feeling the pressure of his gaze as she already understood it wasn't directed to her but at whatever was troubling his mind, however upon his words her face too became more serious.
"I understand what's going to happen at the jailbreak. It looks simple on paper but I know we're probably going to have to fight, kill most likely"
Raphael chimed in, "The deaths of police officers on 7side's hands…", Tina's serious face began to falter and fall into a subtler more depressive look as she said,
"I don't think we have the power to handle that. It almost makes me ask…" she looked at Raphael for a moment then looked away, "If getting Ashley back is worth it." Raphael looked at her for a moment then continued gazing into the distance.
"Martin is a smart man," Tina turned to face Raphael once more as he spoke, "He's a passionate man as well. If the police are smart, wherever Ashley is held is going to be filled with enough initiates to make leaving neigh-impossible. He won't send you to your deaths. but he will most definitely give you the choice." She looked down thinking about the question she would eventually have to answer "When given the choice...what will you do?".
But Tina never answered and instead they sat in silence.
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The sun was high in the sky, the time a few minutes past two. Raphael was on top of a building gazing at his unfinished masterpiece. It was a female crocodile shaped as a woman, in a white suit with a puffer jacket and aviators, holding a leash with two naked men, tongues out like dogs. At least that's what it was supposed to be but two men with construction jackets were painting over it. He chuckled, 'These people don't appreciate art.' He threw a burning cigarette with sniper accuracy onto one of the mens face and walked away smiling to the music of confusion and agony his action conducted.
He jumped off the building and landed on a street near the Dennis strip, a part of the city people refer to as T-block. The T named after a powerful man named Tiziano. His ethnic name makes many mistake him and his people as a family though that is not the case.
Families are more dignified than gangs who are usually just a collection of people who sell drugs or conduct illegal business, not necessarily blood related. Families are people who come from a lineage of initiates, people who are part of a bloodline that awakened supernatural powers of high pedigree. Although everyone has these supernatural powers innate within them, most people do not get to a level of power where their powers have real destructive capabilities. If that was the case law & order would be extremely hard to maintain, it's why police officers don't carry guns, since an initiate is rare to come by. Crime would be indefinitely higher than what it is. And coming from a family almost guarantees power; almost every initiate hailing from a family has immense destructive capabilities which is why families have so much political power in wherever they decide to reside. They're like walking nukes, armies, that can change the world wherever they step. Tiziano is not one of them, he's simply a gang leader, one higher on the totem pole than 7side.
Raphael walked the streets until he arrived at a chicken and chip shop. 24/7 Chick N Dine, labelled in red with a white background thats degraded with time. inside, a bunch of kids in uniform fresh out of school.
"Yooo it's Raphael", one male with yellow and blue skin said as he entered.
"Bossman lemme get a 6 chicken wing combo", the cashier smiled and nodded, "love" Raphael said as he walked to the table of school boys and girls.
"What are you man telling me" Raphael said spudding each of the guys on the table,
"broooo when you coming back man, schools been dead without you!"
"mums life man I can't handle ms.martins by myself"
Raphael chuckled at the statements, "You know I can't come back, they excluded me, but what, you guys been good?".
A girl with bluish skin and features similar to Raphael said, "These Tiziano guys keep looking at us when we leave school but I know they're not gonna try anything". Raphael smiled with a grunt just as the cashier told him his food was ready.
He paid the man, and right after he looked at the girl and nodded his head towards the door telling her to head outside.
"Alright guys I'm leaving"
"Aight Rebecca, I beg you send the homework though, mans not tryna do that tonight I can't lie" A boy with lime green skin said.
"I gotchu", she replied as she grabbed her handbag and left.
"I'll see you man, any problems, you got my line" Raphael said as he left with Rebecca.
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"How's school", he asked as he ate his chicken & chips.
"It's okay, just preparing for exams but it's boring I actually don't want to be there anymore". He offered a chicken wing to her but she shook her head and he ate it instead. They continued their idle chatter until they arrived at a bench in a park, not far from a small neighbourhood.
"You know mum misses you" Rebecca said apprehensively, as they sat down. Raphael exhaled looking at the kids playing football on the grass.
"Tell her I miss her too"
"So when are you gonna come back?", He turned to look at Rebecca for a moment before returning to look at the kids. "You know how dad feels, he kicked me out-"
"But It's been six months now," Rebecca interrupted, "mum and dad have been arguing all the time about it— he doesn't say it but I can tell on his face he's worr-"
"Rebecca." He took a moment to pause. "You know I love you, I love you and mum but nows not the time to talk about home, something big is about to happen."
You could hear the laughter the wind carried from the kids at play, absorbed into a world of their own, unaware of the trouble Raphael's facing, the trouble the city too will come to face.