The One-Seven

Chapter 20: Phone a Friend

Percy let out a satisfied breath as he placed the glass down on the bar. The rum burned pleasantly in the back of his throat, and he felt a hint of warmth spread across his cheeks. Montoya had dragged him to a cop bar, O'Malley's, in celebration of their closure of the case. While they certainly had more questions, and the future seemed to get continually murkier, they were still flush with the thrill that came with the closure of any case.

"So, Metro," Montoya began as she swirled around the Moscow Mule in her hand, "You've been in town for about a month, so now you have to answer the important question."

"And that is?" Percy chuckled,

"Which is better." Montoya said simply, "Gotham or Metropolis,"

"That's a trap," Percy said with a laugh, swiveling in his stool so he was addressing his partner squarely,

"Yup," Montoya said with a grin, "So tell me what I want to hear," Percy laughed, and shook his head.

"It's got its problems, but I think I'm liking Gotham better by the day." He said, as he signaled for the bartender to refill his glass. "Metropolis was definitely cleaner. Didn't have the organized crime issues we have here, but Gotham feels more...familiar, I guess. Reminds me of New York honestly. The people here seem like real people, with real problems. Metropolis wasn't like that. The stereotypes of Metropolites? Fairly accurate. You wouldn't believe the number of people we tracked down that truly thought there was nothing illegal about tax evasion."

Montoya snorted into her glass, "You get a lot of white collar over there?"

Percy nodded, "There was the odd robbery-homicide type deal, but for the most part I dealt with things like corporate fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, money laundering. Things like that."

"Isn't white collar usually the Bureau's beat?" Montoya asked, and Percy snorted,

"You think the feds wanna touch Metropolis? Home of Superman? Absolutely not. They stay as far away as possible. They have an office, but I don't think I interacted with them more than a handful of times my entire time in the city."

Montoya narrowed her eyes, "Why would they back off just cause Supes is in town?"

"Politics," Percy said simply, and when Montoya just looked confused, Percy explained, "Whether I like it or not, Superman means a hell of a lot, to a lot of people. And regardless of the fact that the man's a bit of an idiot, he does a lot to keep the city, hell the entire planet, safe. The way it was explained to me, was that the Bureau backs off so that Big Blue's image stays powerful. If there were a bunch of federal investigations going on in the city, it would make the Boy Scout look like he's not doing a very good job. If people don't think he's doing a good job, they might try and pull some shit, which makes the city more dangerous." Percy took a long pull of his drink,

"The thing you have to understand is this, Metropolis might as well be the Silicon Valley of the East Coast. There are twenty-five Fortune Five Hundred's that are headquartered in the city. It's a fucking golden goose of tax revenue, and the standard of living is higher per capita, than anywhere else in the country. The city draws enough attention from heavy hitters just because Big Blue is there. The thought is that the Bureau doesn't want to make it a stomping ground for other shit on top of it. Might drive business away, drive down the housing markets, keep people from investing in the city."

"Wait" Montoya said slowly, with a small shake of her head, "That seems real contradictory. Didn't you tell me there are bunkers in the city for when Supes fights some heavy hitter. How is that any better?"

Percy let out a derisive snort, "Because it's more socially acceptable for the city to be ruined by some freak of nature, than it is for it to be ruined by a bunch of powerless monkey's in suits. Alien invasion destroys half the city? That's fine, who could predict that?" He asked sarcastically, "But a bunch of corporate execs stealing the pensions and retirement funds from their day laborers? Well how is Superman supposed to punch that?" Percy downed the rest of his drink, and placed his glass back down on the table in a clatter.