The Matters of Power

Chapter 21- West Anton High, Winter War [4]

A aura of silence covers most of the ride towards west of San Anton. Carl is browsing his phone, Yan stares blankly at the bus's roof, Quarter attempts to sleep (awkwardly), and the gang members who joined us have been talking amongst themselves as well as taking a few glances at me every once in a while when they think I'm not aware. Their thoughts don't exactly think highly of me, but they are willing to tolerate my presence because of Quarter and his somewhat reluctance to involve me in this plan to get Fernando's money back. I'm still uneasy about using my powers in this situation, but I know I must keep my personal oath to heart and find out what West Anton High has to do with these petty robberies. The bus finally arrives towards the familiar west side of San Anton, and we hop off to group together from a fair distance from the assumed Mar-cart meetup spot. "Carl," Yan starts off, "we got here, now I assume you have a plan? A good plan?" He emphasizes the last part, but Carl ignores it and goes on, pulling out Moogle Mapinator. "The meetup up is here, near the department store that the Jessilia wants Marcus to go and, I assume, to rob him of $50 by some goons in hiding. I've been lucky enough to get us a place even remotely close to our advantage. Marcus goes in visibly alone, while some of us go around and cover their escape routes. Worst case, we go all-in and forcibly get either the girl, if there even is one, or the ringleader of these schemes." That's... quite a detailed and sensible plan. I don't wish to discredit Carl, but I didn't think he had it in in, for better or worse. Quarter seems content, "Good plan. You and Yan stay on the street out of sight of the alley, while I will go around. I want to see this criminal's back tall before I see them tremble by being caught." He sure is quite enthusiastic about his pursue of justice.

Yan looks at his watch, ignoring the phone in front of us. "Yikes! It's about time that Marcus should be there. Remember everyone, we don't press violence unless it's the only option, and be sure not to cause so much a stir that someone calls the police on us." So even Yan is with the idea of not doing this by violence firstly. I'm starting to think that he's not that bad of a guy, if he weren't closely associated to Quarter's gang. With that, I make my way to the alley just as Carl instructed. Unfortunately, my sixth sense tell me that there are six people in the alley: one female standing in the middle in clear view and five guys hiding out in various parts of the alley, behind cardboard piles, stray pillars, and such. It's a good thing I spotted them beforehand, but I can't let them think that I know about this ambush. I approach the woman in the alley, staring at me somewhat patiently with a stiff posture. "(Woman) So... is this what he said was our target? I thought he was exaggerating, but I guess he hit the jackpot to steal from this cute guy." I shudder to think if she was manipulated or blackmailed to do such a thing. I try to talk to her, "Uh, yeah. Hi there. Are you Jessilia?" Surprised by my question, she replies, "Y-yeah. Yeah, that's me. So... 'Marcilian'. You want the craftsman's ring, for $50? Can I see that you have it?" Oh boy, she's trying to be sure of my money to see if I wasn't wasting their time. Seeing no other option, I pull out the $50 I had in my pocket thanks to Yan and visibly show it to her. "Sorry, but can I see the ring that you have? I'm sure that this can cover the cost said in the pricing that you said in Mar-cart?" I can see that she didn't think I would pry on the ring so soon, so she tries to stall by faking the process of going through her pockets. Before she can finish her act, the brutes start to appear from their hiding spots and start to surround me.

Their faces just speak the word 'bully' based on the expression on their faces. "Hey, hey now." One of the leaner ones talks to me, "I'm sure that a nice guy like yourself can wait for the young lady to find what you wanted to buy." I reply, "Well then why are you here? I'm sure hiding yourself in a thieving manner isn't the correct way to be here in a Mar-cart meetup." "We're just here to make sure that she is safe and doesn't get harmed or cheated by customers. Now please be a good person and pay for the item that you wanted to buy." I refuse to give them the money and put it back into my pocket, making them agitated and slowly close in on me. Suddenly, Carl and Yan come from the street to push off some of the thieves and stand by my side. "Wha- It's a trap! Get out of here, scatter!" They try to run the other way from the alley but Quarter is already there, standing menacingly with his other members to become a wall that they couldn't possibly break through. "You're making a mistake!" The leaner guy shouts, "This is just a meeting between two people from Mar-cart, you can't just steal from them!" Frustrated, Carl steps forward. "Really? You're the ones that are stealing from the buyers! I bet you never even had a craftsman's ring to begin with, lying stinks!" They can tell that their deception has gone bust, and all at once try to fight their way out of this encirclement, surprising us initially. These West Anton High people have some ounce of fighting skill that's for sure but everyone else is almost better at them in every way while I just stand there dumbfounded at the skills they display. "(?)I gotta get out of here to tell the boss! There, that kid with the good looks, he looks like the weak spot to get through!" My instincts show me that one of the thieves is running straight at me, hands protecting their face and ready to ram at me with their full body strength,