Apr 26 22:15:00 107 PA - A Vigilante is born.
From Chronicles
Bailey smacks her lips as she swallows her sip of the bitter drink in her hand. She looks down at the label for a moment and nods her head to Jack's statement. "So, the gangs pay civic taxes?" she chuckles, the thought seeming strange to her. "In return, they get to carry heavy artillery in city limits, is that it?" She shakes her head, "That's an interesting social policy."
The whine of a hovercycle sounds as Ash drives his beat up speedster down from above, moving to park the bike over by the public hangar. Deploying the landing stand he kills the engine and sets it down before he pulls off his motorcycle helmet and rakes a hand through his spiky blonde hair and blinks a few times, taking a look around before he starts to step off the bike fully.
"I don't know -that- much" says Jack, shaking his head a little. "I suppose they manage somehow ... personally it is a place where I prefer not to go" he chuckels, "Although all the good clubs are there I suppose" he makes a face. They are both visible inside the office of the hangar, leaned up against the desk and chatting, drinking beer. The rain seems to fairly vicious out there. Jack glances towards the sound of the whine, though such sounds aren't exactly uncommon here.
Bailey nods her head as Jack speaks. "That's a good call, just avoiding the place all together," she agrees. Wondering about the clubs, she looks over, "So you go clubbing, Jack?" she asks, smiling. "Shake your booty on the dance floor, do you?" she chuckles lightly and follows Jack's glance through the windows of the office to see the bike pulling up.
It is nasty as all hell outside, thus necessitating Ash to heading indoors to sign in to make sure his bike isn't tossed out of the hangar and whatnot, and also sign for an electric charge. Fortunately, he moves quick and is inside, stomping slush off his boots as he shakes water and sleet out of his hair. Finally he brushes off his shoulders and looks around the office, raising an eyebrow as he spots Bailey and Jack. He tilts his head to the side, "Staying out of that hell outside?" He asks with a wry grin.
"Ah-uh, na-nah" Jack moves from the desk, doing a turn, moving his hips - "Though I'm not any good at it, but hey, it's fun" he chuckles at Bailey, "And yourself lass?" he inquires, turning his head to look at the newcomer then. "Ah, hello there mate. Yes, rather. Bein' a wet rat isn't much fun. What can I do for ya?"
Bailey ooohs and aahs at Jacks moves his hips about. She sits down in the chair behind the desk and fans herself so she doesn't swoon over. She takes another sip from her bottle and looks over as Ash comes in, "You've got keen observation," She says to the deebee, thinking for a moment, "And what the fuck happened in the dregs the other day? One second we're shooting some monster, the next everybody's gone totally fucking crazy? What happened?"
"Just need to sign my bike in for a charge and hold it over. Police orders, since it's got weapons on it." Ash says with a shrug in answer to Jack before he looks over at Bailey. A sly grin slips across his face at what she says then he blinks innocently, "What?" He asks, "Shit happens in the Dregs." He shrugs, "I didn't know that guy, all I know is someone tried to hit me with a car, then another guy shot me in the back. Neither of which I don't really know from Adam, one not at all. Seemed the easiest way to try and get guns pointed away from me."
"Oh ... you know each other" Jack says, looking from one to the other, blinking as he listens to the conversation. He takes a sip of his beer, then he turns around to pick up one of the forms that need to be filled out for that particular activity, and hands it over to Ash on a clipboard - with a pen, naturally.
Bailey shakes her head as she leans back in the chair while Jack offers Ash the paperwork. "That's messed up," she says before looking to Jack, she nods her head, "We went on a run to some coalition town last week, almost got pinched by the locals. Then the other day, Ash here was the object of a giant lizard's affections."
"You're telling me." Ash says with a smirk as he takes the form and starts to read it to make sure it is what it needs to be before he signs anything. Appears the d-bee is literate. "First I had to dodge a car, then some yahoo pops me in the back with a laser pistol... costs me eight grand in repairs... Was not a good day." He signs the paperwork once it seems to be in order even reading the fine print before he hands the clip board out. "See you made it out healthy and whole, that's good."
Jack was apparently expecting someone literate. Funny how that works out! "Oh, I see ... " he says, looking from one person to another, brows hiking up a touch slowly as his attention wonders from speaker to speaker. Jack takes the clipboard with the paper and puts it in the inbox pile.
"Barely," Bailey aknowledges, "Those creeps nearly put a hole in me on the way out." She shakes her head again, and takes a sip of her beer, putting a foot up on the corner of the desk like she owns the place. She thinks for a moment or two, "Someone should show those jerks who's boss," she states, the subject a sore one for her. She looks over to Jack, "You don't have access to any bombers or anything, do you?"
"It's the Dregs babe." Ash says to Bailey as he watches the paperwork get filed, "The gangs run it cuz the cops won't go in to clean it up." He rolls his shoulders in a shrug. "Such is the way of the slums." He raises an eyebrow, "Bomber?" He looks back and forth between the two curiously.
Jack's brows hike up just a little higher, and he asks, "You have a city block or a city that you would like to see leveled?" he inquires, looking back at Bailey, a little surprised. "We have all sorts of things here, but there's a difference between a grenace you throw and a five hundred pound bomb or two. Just a little" his eyes shift from one person to the other. "Probably not a good thing to use in the city."
"Not a city, just a neighbourhood," Bailey says. "The dregs and I don't seem to get along. I've been in town for two weeks and I've been shot at twice in that area." She takes another pull from her beer, not really drinking much, just enjoying the taste. "If the police won't clean it up, maybe it should fall to responsible citizens?"
Ash smiles amusedly at Bailey at that, "You just have to learn the rules of the Dregs Bailey." He moves to lean against the door frame. "The Vigilante's aren't half bad, someone stole one of their cars is all so they were pissed. They actually take care of their people better than the Clash or the Family does. The Clash, now they're real thugs, mercenary sorts. Best to stay away from them unless you can afford safe passage. The Family, they don't care about anyone or anything except that they make good credits. Doesn't matter who suffers, but, they make it -look- pretty, even when it's really not."
"Heh" Jack smiles and hms softly, "I imagine though, if something like that were done, whoever dropped the thing wouldn't be living in this city no more" he replies, looking to Ash for a moment, possibly soaking up the information or whatnot.
Bailey shrugs her shoulders, "Well, it'd be a start," she says sourly as she shakes her head. "I just don't understand why the police let them run rampant like that? They've got more than enough equipment and resources to clean it out.."
"No money in it." Ash says simply, "The people of the Dregs are poor, or they'd live in the nice half of the city. Lot of innocent people who are just trying to survive in there. But they don't have the money or the influence to move out. The gangs, at least are some sort of authority. Someone moves on Gang turf they come down on them. It's not ideal, but it's better than nothing at all." He reaches up and scratches his chin lightly, "I've lived there my whole life, sure, I could get out, but it's what I know. The people there, yeah, there are some bad ones, but I've met some bad ones in the 'light' side of the city too. If the police cracked down on the Dregs, a lot of innocent people would get hurt, and likely be forced to leave Kingsdale because they can't afford to live anywhere else. So long as the people in charge of Kingsdale don't care about the people in the Dregs... nothing will be done."
"Mmm ... plenty of people who haven't done anything either in there though, right lass?" Jack comments, "not that I like the riff-raff" a nod, then, "Well, nice to see you're all alive then, right? That counts for something I'd say."
"I wasn't serious about carpet bombing the place," Bailey says, setting her bottle down on the desk. "I just meant that letting gangs run around with heavy artillery, preying on innocents is pretty low. On my way down here, I'd run into people all telling me how great Kingsdale was, how it was one of the last bastions of freedom and all that jazz. But it's just a bunch of gangers preying on the weak." She shakes her head distastefully and slips her foot off of the desk to sit up. "And all the complacency I see makes those who are well to do just as guilty as the gangers."
Ash grins, "Freedoms a double edged sword babe. You have the freedom to make something of yourself, get out, do something with your life. It's not like Kingsdale is the Coalition. Nobody's forcing anyone to stay there, they could leave if they wanted to, or they could find a way out of there. No such thing as a perfect place, everyone wants different things. The freedom, is the freedom to choose for yourself. Besides, the gangs aren't really that big an issue, they're easy to deal with. It's the slavers I have a real problem with." He wrinkles his nose, "It's a rough place for sure, dangerous, but the whole worlds dangerous."
"That is silly. There's no need for freedom to imply you need to be poor or a jerk. Your freedom stops where my nose starts, so goes the saying" Jack comments, frowning. "The dregs are there because it benefits the city in one way or another. There is nothing altruistic behind it, it is probably nothing more and nothing less than bean counting."
"Exactly, Jack," Bailey says. "That's why these gangs need to be dealt with. They think their freedom goes beyond your nose, right into your face, that just isn't right." She sniffs as she stands up, looking through the office door to see if the rain has let up any--it hasn't but Bailey's got a fire under her now, and she slips through the office to the doorway, "And someone's got to let them know that."
Ash points at Jack with a grin, "By that statement mate, Freedom is a myth. You're right that it does benefit the city though, that's where the criminal underground is. It brings in business to the rest of the city. I'm sure the higher ups have their fingers in the pie too." He grins and folds his arms across his chest, "But, Freedom is what you make of it. Like I said, there's no walls stopping people from leaving the Dregs. There's no guards forcing people to be in there. It's just where they can survive, and in the Dregs, my freedom only stops at your nose, if you're strong enough to make it that." He shrugs, "I've just gotten fairly good at making sure my nose isn't around for that to be tested." He looks over towards Bailey, "It might be best if you just stayed out of the Dregs if it's not working for you babe. If you can afford to hang here... and only go slumming when you want to... no real reason to head in there. Specially now that your monster is dead no?" He then frowns, "So, who's going to take care of those people when you're gone? You clear out the gangs, say you even clear them all out. Who's going to stop something worse from coming in and abusing the people?"
"That seems a deep debate" Jack breathes out, looking from one to the other. "Leavin' so soon? Don't get yourself hurt and I'll show you something good lass" he looks back to Ash, "Definitely a deep debate, mate - maybe some day ... we can debate the merits of having the debate based on the merits of us affecting anything whatsoever."
"Well, when the gangs are all gone, the police won't be afraid to show their faces in that part of town, maybe the people who live there won't be afraid to begin building real lives," Bailey says. She gives Jack smile and a nod, then gives Ash a warning glance, "You tell any of that scum that I'm coming for them, you'll wind up on that list as well." Stepping out of the office, she turns, "In the mean time, stay dry," she says before popping her collar back up to head into the rain so she can think things over.
Ash shakes his head, calling out after her, "The police won't move in there Bailey! You go after the gangs, the smallest of them will outnumber you two hundred to one!" He shrugs and then looks over towards Jack, "Freedom to make her own choice, even if it's suicidal." He looks out at the weather again then hmmms, "Wonder if I can make it home without getting soaked if I run at full speed..."
"That's different than freedom to take someone else's life, eh?" Jack waves to Bailey, and look back to Ash. "Alright, I have to go take care of thing s- hav some coffee if you like, or a beer, I'll be around" he says, heading back into the hangar from the office.
