As the tubby bald man reached the podium, different members of his entourage looked around and appeared to give various glances and signals. Suddenly, a number of people within the crowd started to clap and sing loudly – bellowing the Councilor's name as they did. It was a figurative and literal song and dance, with plastic smiles and handshakes being given almost too freely. Coats and jackets were removed, to reveal t-shirts with the shiny face printed on the front – something that caused the Dawn Logistics crew to simultaneously swallow lumps in their throats. Things only got worse from that point, as the ridiculously obvious plants got more vociferous, as if trying to forcefully coerce the rest of the assembled crowd to join in, and as the Councilor reached the podium, he looked over the crowd, raised his clenched fist into the air and began pumping it robotically with a goofy smile on his face, as if he was some kind of freedom fighter freshly released from prison attending a celebration rally. The wooden fist pumping continued for a few more seconds before a few cheap firecrackers went off, blowing coloured sparks and cheap confetti all over the place. The plants then cheered and whooped, while the rest of the crowd looked wholly disinterested.
"…somebody please, kill me now." Natalie said, beads of cold sweat rolling down her forehead.
She wasn't the only one in a state of cringe induced shock, as Morgannin and Bryant's faces were contorted from cringing so hard. It looked particularly painful for B, who stood with his fists clenched incredibly tightly. Meanwhile, everybody was so focused on the painful sight before them, that they didn't notice the group of children that gathered in front of Builder Baby, who was also standing still, appearing to be dumbfounded – although who could really tell what a giant plush baby was thinking or feeling at any given moment. The Councilor continued to fist pump, but mixed in a few waves here and there and this went on for entirely too long. He even pointed and beamed at either random or nonexistent people in the crowd like a professional wrestler making their entrance. Eventually, he raised both of his open hands, as if trying to calm and quiet the 'passionate' crowd – of which only the plants were singing. The rest looked completely disinterested, and most of them looked annoyed – as if they had been duped somehow.
"Thank you, Comrades!" He boomed cheerfully into the microphone, continuing to push his freedom fighter image. "Thank you for the warm welcome! This is an auspicious day indeed, as…"
The standard, copy and paste political speech proceeded to be delivered poorly, with the Dawn crew all wondering how this man was even chosen as a candidate for District Councilor within the party itself. They all pretty much zoned out until the direction of the speech suddenly caught their collective attention.
"…as we are all aware, our District has an awful reputation which means that certain services are not available to us. I've watched the people of our District suffer long enough, and decided to do something! I personally did the research, looked around and found the best possible company to provide one such service that we lack – courier services!"
As the Councilor spoke, Bryant, Morgannin and Natalie all turned her heads to look at Ryan – whose eyes were basically bulging out of his head in surprise. He then answered the gazes by shaking his head curtly.
"Fuck no." He exclaimed. "I had to call and remind him yesterday that we were going to be in the area."
"Of course you did." Bryant said with a slow shake of his head.
"The reason why I was even able to convince New Dawn Movers to agree to service our beautiful District, is by telling them that the rumours about our area are all false. There are no tensions between Sections, no animosity amongst so-called gangs, none of that. I have given them my personal guarantee that this is a safe and hospitable area to work in, and that they will be able to collect and deliver with ease. To prove this, I have invited Mandoza and Zola, the two leaders of the supposed gangs involved in this false, fabricated turf war that has been mentioned countless times in the media and online!"
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the entire parking lot changed as heads started snapping around, searching for the aforementioned gang leaders. The expressions of everybody present – including the Councilor's entourage and the t-shirt wearing plugs – were panicked as if they couldn't believe what had just come out of that idiot's mouth. After a few moments of silence, everybody let out a collective gasp as the two gang leaders arrived, with scowls on their faces and entourages in tow. The Councilor's security perked up and started paying attention as the two mean looking groups approached from opposite sides. They crowd split and broke apart, with a large number of people looking slip away, all the while the journalists were actually looking invested in what was about to happen. Mandoza and Zola met in front of the podium, and while the Councilor continued to go on about how his leadership was about proving naysayers wrong, the two men and their respective groups never took their eyes off of each other – glaring as if they would stop breathing if they did.
"…now come!" The idiot Councilor boomed. "Rising Sun Couriers, come forward so we can all take a picture to commemorate this wonderful occasion!"
The security as well as members of his entourage all tried to convince Councilor Mkhize that it was a bad idea, but he insisted on not only taking the photograph, but for the two gang leaders to stand next to each other. Tension around the two groups began to rise, and is was tangible enough to the point where anybody with a brain could recognize that it was time to leave. The Councilor however hopped down from the podium and stood between the two leaders, reached for their hands and tried to force them to shake. Things went from zero to a hundred in an instant after that, with Mkhize's security as well as the two gangs all converged to the same point with glowing limbs and eyes. A multicoloured explosion of clashing powers erupted from the point of contact which sent people and the podium flying every which way. Expletives and insults were being barked at each other by the gangs, the members of the crowd who hadn't been sent flying were busy screaming and running away.
As the build up of what just went off was happening, Bryant, as a former soldier, saw this coming and muscle memory had him reaching for a non-existent weapon. He wasn't the only one of the group to react though, as Builder Baby also anticipated something happening and was already on the move. As the initial explosion went off, he was already moving, however due to the suit being as ungainly and restrictive as it was, he couldn't actually do anything himself. He then looked at B, who was live to the situation and screamed.
"The children! Goo-goo!"
Bryant's head snapped around to look at the mascot, and his soldier instincts mixed with his instincts as a father and he nodded, immediately understanding what had to be done.
"Morgannin, Natalie! We gotta get all these kids onto the back of the truck and get them the fuck outta here!"
"What?! Why us?!" Morgannin shrieked.
"Because nobody else will! Now hurry!"
"Fuck!" Morgs boomed before grabbing a crying kid by his rather large head and tossed him over his shoulder like an empty beer can.
The boy landed in the load bed of the truck with a super loud thud, and after a brief silence, he started crying even louder and with that, Nat started helping too – albeit a lot gentler.
"Are you fucking happy now?!" Bryant boomed as he glared at Ryan, who had a massive grin of satisfaction on his face.
"OF COURSE YOU ARE!!!"