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Chapter 19: The Words
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Ian started observing his surroundings, noticing a peculiar thing not far away, 'Hm? That's...'
Not that far away was the train tack that passes through central Gotham, a train was passing by at an alarming speed, its destination seemed to be the Wayne corp building.
Ian could see two dark figures that seemed to be fighting, the speed of the train was no obstacle for them. They were but a dark spot in his vision as they were that far away.
He frowned, 'It seems that I'm late. As I thought, this should be the sonic bomb incident... I really wanted to acquire it but... If I am to take advantage of the future chaos in the future, I need to be prepared before it even happens.'
Ian shook his head as he started heading back home, disappointment was apparent on his face, 'I really wanted it, I also wanted the batmobile, it's so cool... Too bad, I'm sure the bat had many security measures in it anyway. At least the jump was cool.'
He then called Ralf and asked, "How did it go?"
"I-it was easy? There were only a few guards there, and we caught them by surprise. We're almost done transferring everything, but..." Ralf's tone was a bit shaky as if he had yet to get his wits back from what he had just experienced.
"But what?"
"We lost someone. He was shot down by one of the guards after hesitating in following the plan. The other ones had no problem killing people, but he did... and I didn't notice." Ralf muttered under his breath, seemingly in regret.
Ian heard everything, so he offered his wisdom, "You did well, but you made a mistake. Just make sure to never do it again.
We have set sight on a position that forces that on us, but know that if you so wish to pull out, just let me know.
Never be afraid of letting me know how you feel, and you yourself make sure this is what you truly want. Let the boys know of that as well.
I don't want to see you guys regretting this in the future just because you've not thought it through, alright?"
It's not like Ian has no compassion, he does, he just finds it hard to show it under his numb emotions. Moreover, he never saw death as a problem, it's what it is, the natural flow of things.
Death was never a fear of his, if it happens then whatever. He was however looking forward to a change of perspective, perhaps it will happen in a world such as this.
"No, I already decided, I want to be a part of this," Ralf responded almost instantly with determination in his tone.
That brought a smile to Ian's face, "OK, let's met up in the coffee garage. That's the safest place for us,"
Ian made his way to his car under the radar of cops and made his way back to the coffee.
He noticed plenty of people circling around it, each one of them is one of the former beggars now protecting the area, their home.
The coffee was open as always, it was pretty much safe heaven for the Olster street's people. Nothing bad ever happens around it.
That was why there were so many people inside, taking sips of their coffee with no care whatsoever though everyone was still paying attention to the coffee TV for the news.
Ian then made his way to the garage, it was quite large. Ian made sure to destroy a few walls in the renovation process to make it bigger, and within was a simple white truck.
The boys were also inside, Barney was sitting on the ground just staring at the insides of the truck and mike was next to him.
Ian glanced at Ralf, noticing a bit more life in him and perhaps more determination. He nodded at him before taking a look at the things in the truck.
"Guns, Cash, bombs, and... Narcotics." Ian frowned as he spilled the last word.
"And we found this in a safe," Ralf said as he handed him a black pouch.
"Oh? Is that what I think it is?" Ian took it into his hands and clearly felt those little things inside bringing a smile to his face.
He opened the pouch and poured a bit of the thing inside on his hand, "A waterfall of crystals, beautiful little things."
Ian remarked as almost ten tiny diamonds fell to his hand and there were more where that came from, "The quality is subpar I guess but the quantity makes up for that."
He then just shook his head and put the things back in the pouch, "Who am I to complain, I only spent little to nothing to get them... And boys, well done."
Ian then glanced at Barney, "Are you okay?"
Barney who seemed in a daze woke up and mumbled, "Yeah, I'm fine. However, we have so many things, like I'm in disbelief of how far we've come..."
Ian raised his brows at that, he meant something else when he asked the question, "I meant are mentally okay, do you want to stop. I can assign different jobs for you where you'll never have to use a firearm."
"What? No, I want to help as much as I can and go as far as you go for the jobs,"
Barney instantly shook his head as he stood up, this seemed to have become his passion, and Ian didn't think he would be able to do anything else more than this from the look in his eyes.
Ralf voices his observations, "It's okay, he took it even better than me."
Ian let out a small laugh, brought a single diamond from the pouch, and threw it to Barney while saying.
"That's the Barney I know, and for that, you deserve this. Don't worry, it won't be counted in the final cut, so enjoy,"
Barney barely caught the diamond and just stared at it afterward, Ralf didn't let him get anywhere close to them beforehand, so the opportunity to hold it in his hands was... "I-i can really have it?"
Ian nodded, leaving him to his celebration. He turned his attention to the absurd amount of drugs in the truck, "Now let's get rid of these, burn them in their entirety,"
"What!!? Why? We don't even need to distribute them ourselves, we can just sell them to someone else."
Mike couldn't help but voice his opinion, then added. "This is so much free money for all of us! It's what every crime family in the city does!"
Ian remained just as calm as gave a gentle genuine reason, "I don't want, I don't like drugs or anything that takes one's free will. It can be as simple as that, money doesn't really matter that much."
Mike however didn't really see the genuineness in his tone, "What? We stole and did so many things, so why stop in this? Moreover, do we have no say in this? I can even manage the whole project myself."
Ian turned his full attention to Mike, staring at him with his pale brown eyes, calmness never leaving his eyes.
He kept at it for a full minute making not only Mike nervous but also everyone else. Mike started to realize that perhaps he overstepped his bounds, perhaps the desire for money got to him, something common in Gotham.
"No." After a while, Ian finally started making Mike confused, "No what?"
Ian released a sigh, he wasn't really staring at Mike but just zoned out contemplating a few things.
"No, you have no say in this, not one bit. I will not change my mind and everything you all wish to do under the name of Cat's rest will have to go through me.
I can trust Ralf to make the right decision most of the time, but you two... not at all. You disappoint me Mike, even Barney who we all know is Barney didn't let all of this get over his head.
Do you know what happens when you let greed control you without having the ability to bear the consequences? You simply die, cease to exist, a single bullet is all it takes."
Ian approached the timid Mike and continued, "Whose bullet you might say? Crime families, the heroes who kill. The moment you put yourself in that position, you accept the consequences.
Do you think a family like the Falcone won't be able to trace their stolen drugs if they're out on the street, do you take a family that ruled Gotham for decades for a joke?"
Ian took a deep breath, "I lost myself there for a second. but that all doesn't really matter, what matters is that I don't want to do it thus it won't happen."
He took one last glance at the shaky Mike, giving him one last chance, "Get yourself back together. Letting your desires control you is rarely a good thing."
'An advice I do not abide by but I have that luxury, not everyone does,' He thought to himself.
Ian then started walking away, "Ralf, follow me, we have a few things to discuss." He went on to set up a plan with Ralf, a major one that'll decide the future of the Cat's rest.