[Central Desper: Desper's capital and metropolitan, dystopian city.]
Welcome to Central Desper, a city buzzing with noise, activity, and skies filled with enough pollution to degrade paint off of buildings, cars, and other things. The city's landmass was over ninety thousand square kilometers and was encroached with tightly packed buildings that were three-floored and above. Not a single building in the city had either one or two floors, making it a haven for parkour-fevered characters. This also meant that little to no sunlight would reach people during early morning and late evening hours.
Not only did the city suffer from overpopulation and too many high-leveled buildings, but it also had too much pollution and traffic. Central Desper's traffic was so bad that you could literally spend days on the road, simply on a trip that can take one hour. For this reason, over forty-five percent of road vehicles in the city could hover, allowing those rich enough to afford them to fly over the traffic in style and comfort.
Being one of the world's largest suppliers in oil, textile, metalworks, and beast crystal products, weaponry, and machinery, this meant that the city also had a lot of factories. A lot of factories meant a lot of pollution, and a lot of pollution meant tons of sick people. As a way to combat this paint-removing, lung-killing, skin-peeling polluted air, Central Desper's citizens were required to dress in a dystopian manner (look it up). The attire went like this: a headscarf was worn to protect one's hair and head. Safety goggles for eyes, metallic face masks with air filters for the nose and mouth, scarves to keep them warm in case of sudden wind changes, leather jackets capable of protecting the skin from the sun's UV rays, thick pants for both men and women, and knee-high boots to keep the bones in the legs from withering from the inside.
In other words, little skin was to be exposed, especially during intense weather conditions. Unfortunately, the unpredictable weather started to change from extremely hot to cloudy with a chance of slightly acidic rains.
"Here, put these on, kid." The second officer handed Dezhong a change of protective clothing so that Dezhong wouldn't get injured. As they got closer to HQ, the acid rains intensified as a thick haze slowly filled the air, forcing all hover vehicles to fly lower and avoid hitting power lines and over-towering buildings.
"The headscarf, goggles, and leather jacket are to keep the rainwater from touching your skin. Please keep your hands in your pockets at all times. We didn't come with gloves so bear with us."
'Damn, I can't believe dad worked in such conditions every day.' Dezhong said to himself as he peeped through the moving vehicle's windows. Below him were hundreds of people walking in the rain in clothing very similar to his, only they had thicker clothes on. 'Can't begin to imagine how these people cope with these conditions every day.'
The police hover squad car landed in the parking lot of Desper's Police Headquarters. The building was a large, box-shaped facility with twenty floors above and below ground. Its windows were heavily reinforced with steel bars to keep people from breaking in or out. The roof of the building had sniper units mounted as well as mechanical units fitted with heavy chain guns powered by intermediate-tiered beasts.
The parking lot had about fifty cars in it, but it itself was wide enough to fit three hundred squad cars and still have enough room to fit fifty armored vans. While walking through the acidic rain into the building, Dezhong couldn't help but feel amazed by the grand size of Desper's Police Headquarters and how heavily protected it was. The thick walls, reinforced windows, and sniper units on the rooftops gave off an impenetrable fortress setting, making the boy wonder what else was inside.
"Follow us, Dezhong." The first officer said with a cheap smile. "We'll get to your dad's office and have you out of this hellhole in no time."
*FWOOM*
As soon as he entered the building, Dezhong was welcomed by the stench of body sweat, rotting corpses, and cheap air freshener sprayed all over the place. He and the officers walked past other policemen and women busy working to detain all sorts of criminals. Some were as old as can be, and others were no younger than preschool students. Others were teenagers like him, and as he walked past them, his now-sensitive ears picked up on what they were saying.
*"Look, it's Kong's new inner circle guy."*
*"He must be the new muscle."*
*"Or maybe his daughter's fifth new bodyguard. Wonder how long he's gonna last."*
*"Probably half the year. Although, he does look sexy in that outfit."*
"Yeah, I'd avoid making eye contact with those Gorilla ruffians." One female officer laughed at Dezhong while hitting her metallic baton against the crystal-plated metal bars. "These scums of the Earth will say all sorts of things to mess with you."
*"Probably because he's one of us."* One girl, who was Dezhong's age, shouted as she licked her lips with a wild grin. The female officer quickly frowned in suspicion while turning her attention to Dezhong. However, the teenage boy was already halfway across the hallway and was acting a little edgy all of a sudden.
*'One of them? No, that can't be right. Chief Prince would never let his son be one of those. He's been trying for years to arrest Kong. Sadly he's never gathered enough intel against him, but…what's this girl talking about saying the kid's one of them?'*
-----------------------
"Assistant Chief Mane," the two officers addressed their new commander as they entered what was once Chief Prince's office. The room where Dezhong would spend a few nights with his father was no longer what it used to be.
What was once a plain white room with a few cabinets, a large work desk, and a sofa set with a television was now a pretty room with lavender carpets mounted everywhere, even on the walls. The area where Chief Prince sat now had the same desk with the words 'Chief Mane' engraved on it. The back wall had a large-for-nothing portrait of Mane staring off in the distance.
As Dezhong saw this with his own eyes, he couldn't help but feel enraged at how fast his father's replacement was at making sudden changes. First, Desper's head of police is changed, and now the same culprit is busy switching up the place like it's some kind of TLC episode.
"We're here with Chief Prince's son."
"It's Chief Mane from now on, officers." Mane commanded, with a bruised ego clearly showing in his tone. Unlike Prince, Mane was a slightly shorter man with a less muscular build, a square-shaped head, close to no hair on his head but a dead serious look on his face. Even though he was smaller than his former leader, he still had the look that demanded respect and showed off the authority he had. "Please show him his father's belongings and leave. I'd like to have a word with him."
"Yes, Assistant Chief." The both snickered and quickly dashed away from the office.
"I SAID IT'S CHIEF NOW!!"
*Author's Note*