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Description
Rothschild woke slowly, city lights moving past him in a blur. Everything was a blur, actually. As he lay there, slumped over, he began to puzzle out he was in a moving vehicle. The last thing he could remember was being placed in the vault-like room under protective custody of the Juno LED. There was nothing in the air but the faint background hum of Repulsotech engines radiating through the body of the car.

"Where am I?" Rothschild slurred slightly, finding his lip had split open somewhere between what he last remembered and where he was now. The was no answer but his eyes began to adjust and after several moments blinking he could make out the cage wall between the front and back half of the vehicle. "Where am I?" he asked again, his eyes straining to resolve the silhouette of an officer behind the wheel, the lines of his jaw and neck subtly lit by the light from the intrument panel. Rothschild waited quite a time before trying again "Where am I?" He then decided to get more specific "Where are we going? Where are you taking me? Where am I?"

That was about as long as it took for officer to sigh and shake his head, the light from the console reflecting off of his badge. "You sure do ask a lot of stupid questions." the officer spoke, eyes on the open sky ahead.
"Stupid questions? I just want to know what happened!" Rothschild growled, kicking at the base of the cage to convery his frustration.
The officer remained calm, almost cold, "You were taken into protective custody of the Juno L-E-D."
"I remember that part!"
"Then we had to move you."
"Why did you have to drug me?"
"That's not drugs, that's gas from a pacification gas grenade."
Rothschild paused, thinking about that for a moment. "Why did you have to gas me?"
The officer chuckled ever-so-lightly, "I didn't, I just thought it would make things more... exciting."
"Exciting? What are you talking about? I want to speak to your sector chief, right now! I have rights!"
"Mm. We all have rights, some more than others. Don't worry about my sector chief, I'll introduce you personally when we get there."
"How much longer?"
"Long enough for you to consider your rights."

The officer angled the car into a smooth dive, moving downward through the levels of the third tier. The trip there was filled with more questions but the officer had decided to go silent again, remaining stoic in response to Rothschild's growing frustration and insults that should have introduced a fist into his jaw. The LED vehicle swam through traffic, the Repulsortech engines thrumming in relation to the directions the vehicle took. It was the late evening, now, but the flashy lights and ad-panes lit the sky well enough to read by. Passing into the second tier, the officer keyed something in on the console and the pane nestled into a curve in the dash lit up with plenty of bright lights to illuminate the officer's profile. From where Rothschild had managed to end up he could see deep red hair, just a few inches in length, upon the officer's head and the faintest glint of light off of one incisor, exposed by a broad grin.

* * *

Down on the mid-level streets in tier two stood two men in light coats, leaning against a support pillar for an upper roadway, their eyes watchful.

"Where the hell is he? Showing my face this high in the city ain't exactly healthy, you know. Can't wait here all night." said the man in a red, imitation leather jacket with a cycle shop's fading logo upon the back.
The man in the grey-green coat grunted, "Grow some balls, already, he'll be here in a minute, he just crossed into tier two."
"I'm just saying I got enemies, people that don't like me."
"Nobody likes you, you're an asshole."
"I know, I think that should underline the dedication I'm showing here."
"You'd kill for her. You'd kill me for her, if she said it was the next step."
"I ... yeah, I probably would but I'm saying she's the only reason I'm here."

From above the hum of Repulsortech engines, mixed with non-Repulsortech engines, died down and things grew quiet. A lamp mounted high on the support pillar flickered and died just as a Juno LED vehicle took a slow, careful sweep around the far side of it, moving slowly as the landing struts beneath it withdrew and the suspension system lowered to put rubber on the ground. Coasting to a halt before the two men, the officer behind the wheel studied them for a few moments.

"Show him the fuckin' thing!" said the man in grey-green.
Following instruction the man in the red jacket pulled a scuffed card from his pocket and held it out before him.
"And remember, we don't fuck with him, I know you probably want to beat him to death but that isn't happening."
"Yeah, I know. I'm on my best behavior."

Seeing the card the officer finally killed the power to the engine systems on the vehicle and opened the door to step out of it. Sighing, Phoenix ran his hand back over his head, through his hair before studying the two men. The card was legitemate so he knew he had the right people but he wanted desperately to be in a position where he could do the hand-off himself.

Glancing into the back of the vehicle, Phoenix looked Rothschild over. "He's still a bit out of it, he got some alone-time with some pacification gas for a couple of minutes."
The man in the grey-green coat nodded and looked at the man as well. "Piece of shit looks even more punchable in person."
Phoenix rubbed at his eyes with the side of his hand, "And you haven't been listening to him rant and bitch for twenty minutes."
"That does sound pretty fucking awful," the man in the red jacket spoke up, "I'm gonna get the truck."
"Double-check that fuckin' cable." the other man called out to him as he walked away.
"Yea, yea, I know, I don't want this motherfucker slipping away." the man in the red leather jacket said as he walked down the roadway.

"Scarborough is down there?" Phoenix asked, glancing along the roadway.
The man in the grey-green coat nodded "He looks a fuck of a lot better than he did the last time I saw him and... well, that's a pretty fucking strong statement, all things considered."
"How is she?"
"Good, we think, we haven't seen to much of her since things went down but she's there, safe," he paused a moment "With him, I mean. They're both there."
"Tell him I wish I could've delivered the scumfuck myself. I really wish I could be there to see it."
"It's going to get messy, for sure. Probably worse than anything the Red Star has done in a few years."
"Scarborough seems pretty okay for, you know, everthing that happened."
"He's... really going to make it count. He's only keeping it together for her, right now."
"Same goes for a lot of us in the Red Star. She ain't like their mother or something but there's a lot of them who don't even understand why she gives a shit about any of them."

Phoenix turned his head to look into the rear of the vehicle as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Anderson really must believe him."
"Fucking hell he should, right? You need to know your men in that job, know who you trust to do things without cutting corners or who has a conscience." the man in the coat replied, turning to look at Rothschild as well.
Rothschild squirmed under the scrutiny, turning himself away from them and Phoenix shook his head. "Yea, I just know that the man he believes isn't exactly who he used to be, now."
The faint whine of a hydrogen cell engine began to creep into earshot as the man in the grey-green coat furrowed his brows. "Yea, I imagine he knows. Anderson has to understand what he's doing here."
"He's not stupid, certainly, I'm sure he knows exactly what is going to happen... I just never get used to seeing people actually give a damn. It struck me, the risk he's taking, and he isn't asking for anything. What's your name anyway?"
"Ridge, it was, but try not to spread it around. I imagine Anderson'll get something out of it before it's all over." Ridge replied, watching the beaten up cargo truck climb the incline of the roadway to where it levelled off, coming to a stop near the pillar.
"Let's get this done." Phoenix spoke, pulling his hands from his pockets to pull the stun-stick from his belt. "Get the restraints ready."

* * *

"Mister Scarborough-- Officer? We just arrived, we sent the package to the showers." spoke Ridge, shaking off a bit of the corrosive dribble from outside. It was a smart move, it had a lot of drains.
"S'allright, Ridge, you can just call me Ash. I remember reading your K-I-A when I had just gotten out of the academy." Ash resplied, standing up from what was once a half-decent chair.
"How is she?"
"Better," Ash said, placing his hand on Ridge's arm as he passed him. "She's doing a lot better."
"I know she has made some cold decisions for the Red Star in the past but... I am not sure how she'd respond, if she knew."
"She knows, Ridge. She never even brought up the idea of stopping it." Ash shook his head as he left the room.
Following a few steps behind, Ridge continued the conversation, "Then she knows there's no way to keep you from it."
"Doesn't mean she likes it."
"I'm not sure why she wouldn't..."
"Because as much as I do it for myself it's all still for her, because of her, because of this whole fucking mess."
"So it's not that she doesn't want it to happen, it's that you're doing it on her behalf, then?"
"Yea, that sounds about right. I know she could do it herself but I want this. I just need to know it won't happen again. I have to make sure, with my own fucking hands."

Stepping through a large hole in the wall that served as an entrance when rust had claimed an old metal door, Ash passed into the storage area of the base. His expression was hollow, his eyes lacking any emotions, not even the anger that burned incessantly for days. He was pale, clearly deprived of sleep, word was that he could only sleep when she watched over him. Her shouts had been overheard, demanding him to eat something, to sleep along with her instead of watching over her like a hawk while she slept. Ash began to rifle through large bins of tools and fabrication materials, occasionally pulling pieces out.

"Officer 'Nix said he wished he could do the hand-off himself, that he could see it." Ridge said after a long few moments of silence amidst Ash's rummaging.
"I bet he does," Ash said, pulling an angle grinder from a bin stained with grease and dirt. "He's never seen me really lose it before last week. I don't know if he's curious or if he just wants to see how I go about things."
"I couldn't say." Ridge responded
Ash swept the gathered items off the table into a large bucket and began to toss parts into it a piece at a time as he continued to rummage. "I need to be alone, now," he said as he pulled a heavy wrench from a metal box pushed into a corner. Ash then cocked his head and stood upright "Wait, go tell Marie I asked for one of her cigarettes, get one, then get that big bottle of alcohol I saw in the kitchen area this mornng. In that order, she doesn't need to know."

* * *

The lighting in the showers was poor, a couple of lightrods couldn't decided if they were going to stay on or off and the others had just grown dim over time. There was a constant sound of dripping water in the background, some faucet or pipe somewhere needed to be patched up but it would likely just cause another leak somewhere else in the pipes. It smelled unpleasant but given the location of the base it was actually much better than all the alternatives. Rothschild struggled, the metal of his bindings clattering against the eye-bolt driven into the wall behind him. He sat on a folding chair that had rusted too much to fold at all anymore, his ankles chained tightly to two similar eye-bolts buried in the floor. It wasn't long after he was restrained there that he had began to yell as best he could around the rag stuffed in his mouth. It was dirty with grime and grease, the scent of metal all over it. There were likely some metal shavings embedded in it but that was the least of Rothschild's worries at the moment.

From the end of the hall, Ash rounded the corner carrying the heavy bucket by the handle with one hand and a large bottle of liquor in his right. There was a length of cord looped over his shoulder and his expression was colder than ice. His eyes had narrowed as he approached, his steps finally reaching Rothschild's ears, causing him to turn and look awkwardly down the hallway at Ash as he approached. Each step was a thunderous crash in the silence that suffocated everything when recognition had dawned on Rothschild. Every step made him flinch, his eyes unable to decide if they were trying to plead or just unable to stay on Ash as he approached. Each step rose in volume as Ash neared and the sound was something Rothschild was sure would leave his ears bleeding-- until Ash dropped the bucket to the floor.

Rothschild jumped, his fight to escape his bonds kick-started by the sound of tools clattering. He could no longer look at Ash, his eyes shut tight as he cried out with effort and hope that somehow, something might just give him enough room to get free, to flee and run, run, run. Hope was never in great suppy in Esther, it was unmistakably absent from the Gutter. Ash slowly tossed the cord aside and walked across the room to a row of mostly broken sinks, placing a single clove cigarette upon the rim of one with a worn, nearly dead lighter. From there Ash took hold of the bottle and wrenched the cap off in one rough twist, sending it skittering across the floor and into a circle as it caught the angle of the floor around one of the many sunken drains. Uprighting the bottle, Ash stepped away from the sink and took a long pull from the bottle.

Fire blossomed in his throat, more than he was experienced with, but he swallowed another mouthful, then another and another so that it felt like his throat had been scoured with acid and then set on fire atop all of that. Like he had downed raw, molten steel, it was enough to make his eyes water and make him cough raggedly after taking the bottle from his mouth. Casually, Ash set the bottle down in one of the good sinks, letting it rest in the corner of the basin and stood before Rothschild until he finally summoned the courage to look up. Ash's eyes were the most piercing and terrifying thing he could imagine and it fueled his desperate movements that had caused the metal to bite into his skin and make him bleed.

"Artur Rothschild." Ash said, at last and Rothschild flinched, looking up in a moment of pause. "I remember you. Your name, anyway." Ash began, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned back against the tiled wall. "When I was in the avademy, I think that was when I first heard it. A real good example of just how much you can get away with if you have enough money and your parents are influential at all. Must've grown up pretty good, never had to want for anything, right?" Ash didn't even bother to let Rothschild try and speak, it was more rhetorical than anything, Ash didn't give a fuck about his upbringing. "All that potential, so many open doors and you end up convicted of more counts of rape, sexual assault, and murder than I can even fucking remember. I just remember yelling 'Bullshit!' when they let you out.

"So you walk and the victims-- the ones you let live-- lose their peace of mind and faith in the whole human race. You see, Artur, a person can care-- a person can make a difference... but people, people just don't give a fuck. People will never fail to let you down and so many people were let down when they let you fucking walk out of there. I don't know how the fuck you managed to even do anything but wait for someone to fucking kill you." Ash had a good idea, it involved a lot of private security and very dense security measures. "I mean, it was clear that no one with a badge was allowed to touch you, right?" Ash waited there for a few moments, before Rothschild made a confused sound around the rag in his mouth. "Good fucking point, good fucking point." Ash said, nodding his head.

"Juno and anyone employed by them seem to be unable to even lift a fucking finger. How fortunate that they took you into protective custody immediately after you were found." Ash went on, shaking his head, his hands falling to his sides. "It makes it hard to do the job, Artur, when we know people like you get away-- literally-- with murder and worse. It's like 'What's the fucking point of even doing this?' 'Why the fuck did I have to go to the academy, through all that training if we're never going to use it?'. But no, you, you're untouchable to Juno, your parents can make things happen, Artur. With all that money and the favors-- or hell-- they can bring people you just get to remain untouchable to anyone employed by Juno, anyone with a badge." Ash stopped, moving back across the room to take another large gulp from the bottle, setting it down once more.

As Ash turned around something clattered and skidded across the floor, coming to rest in front of Rothschild. Rothschild looked down, trying to follow it, trying to discern what it was before it came to a stop. Glinting in the light, it stared him in the face while Ash stared at him. Slowly Rothschild swallowed, looking at the badge on the floor and the clear block letters. JUNO. Looking up quickly, Rothschild met Ash's gaze and there was silence again. An unbearable tension fell between them and Ash narrowed his cold gaze on Rothschild.

Ash spoke softly, almost quietly, the words landing on Rothschild like lead weights "I quit,"

Description
Rothschild woke slowly, city lights moving past him in a blur. Everything was a blur, actually. As he lay there, slumped over, he began to puzzle out he was in a moving vehicle. The last thing he could remember was being placed in the vault-like room under protective custody of the Juno LED. There was nothing in the air but the faint background hum of Repulsotech engines radiating through the body of the car.

"Where am I?" Rothschild slurred slightly, finding his lip had split open somewhere between what he last remembered and where he was now. The was no answer but his eyes began to adjust and after several moments blinking he could make out the cage wall between the front and back half of the vehicle. "Where am I?" he asked again, his eyes straining to resolve the silhouette of an officer behind the wheel, the lines of his jaw and neck subtly lit by the light from the intrument panel. Rothschild waited quite a time before trying again "Where am I?" He then decided to get more specific "Where are we going? Where are you taking me? Where am I?"

That was about as long as it took for officer to sigh and shake his head, the light from the console reflecting off of his badge. "You sure do ask a lot of stupid questions." the officer spoke, eyes on the open sky ahead.
"Stupid questions? I just want to know what happened!" Rothschild growled, kicking at the base of the cage to convery his frustration.
The officer remained calm, almost cold, "You were taken into protective custody of the Juno L-E-D."
"I remember that part!"
"Then we had to move you."
"Why did you have to drug me?"
"That's not drugs, that's gas from a pacification gas grenade."
Rothschild paused, thinking about that for a moment. "Why did you have to gas me?"
The officer chuckled ever-so-lightly, "I didn't, I just thought it would make things more... exciting."
"Exciting? What are you talking about? I want to speak to your sector chief, right now! I have rights!"
"Mm. We all have rights, some more than others. Don't worry about my sector chief, I'll introduce you personally when we get there."
"How much longer?"
"Long enough for you to consider your rights."

The officer angled the car into a smooth dive, moving downward through the levels of the third tier. The trip there was filled with more questions but the officer had decided to go silent again, remaining stoic in response to Rothschild's growing frustration and insults that should have introduced a fist into his jaw. The LED vehicle swam through traffic, the Repulsortech engines thrumming in relation to the directions the vehicle took. It was the late evening, now, but the flashy lights and ad-panes lit the sky well enough to read by. Passing into the second tier, the officer keyed something in on the console and the pane nestled into a curve in the dash lit up with plenty of bright lights to illuminate the officer's profile. From where Rothschild had managed to end up he could see deep red hair, just a few inches in length, upon the officer's head and the faintest glint of light off of one incisor, exposed by a broad grin.

* * *

Down on the mid-level streets in tier two stood two men in light coats, leaning against a support pillar for an upper roadway, their eyes watchful.

"Where the hell is he? Showing my face this high in the city ain't exactly healthy, you know. Can't wait here all night." said the man in a red, imitation leather jacket with a cycle shop's fading logo upon the back.
The man in the grey-green coat grunted, "Grow some balls, already, he'll be here in a minute, he just crossed into tier two."
"I'm just saying I got enemies, people that don't like me."
"Nobody likes you, you're an asshole."
"I know, I think that should underline the dedication I'm showing here."
"You'd kill for her. You'd kill me for her, if she said it was the next step."
"I ... yeah, I probably would but I'm saying she's the only reason I'm here."

From above the hum of Repulsortech engines, mixed with non-Repulsortech engines, died down and things grew quiet. A lamp mounted high on the support pillar flickered and died just as a Juno LED vehicle took a slow, careful sweep around the far side of it, moving slowly as the landing struts beneath it withdrew and the suspension system lowered to put rubber on the ground. Coasting to a halt before the two men, the officer behind the wheel studied them for a few moments.

"Show him the fuckin' thing!" said the man in grey-green.
Following instruction the man in the red jacket pulled a scuffed card from his pocket and held it out before him.
"And remember, we don't fuck with him, I know you probably want to beat him to death but that isn't happening."
"Yeah, I know. I'm on my best behavior."

Seeing the card the officer finally killed the power to the engine systems on the vehicle and opened the door to step out of it. Sighing, Phoenix ran his hand back over his head, through his hair before studying the two men. The card was legitemate so he knew he had the right people but he wanted desperately to be in a position where he could do the hand-off himself.

Glancing into the back of the vehicle, Phoenix looked Rothschild over. "He's still a bit out of it, he got some alone-time with some pacification gas for a couple of minutes."
The man in the grey-green coat nodded and looked at the man as well. "Piece of shit looks even more punchable in person."
Phoenix rubbed at his eyes with the side of his hand, "And you haven't been listening to him rant and bitch for twenty minutes."
"That does sound pretty fucking awful," the man in the red jacket spoke up, "I'm gonna get the truck."
"Double-check that fuckin' cable." the other man called out to him as he walked away.
"Yea, yea, I know, I don't want this motherfucker slipping away." the man in the red leather jacket said as he walked down the roadway.

"Scarborough is down there?" Phoenix asked, glancing along the roadway.
The man in the grey-green coat nodded "He looks a fuck of a lot better than he did the last time I saw him and... well, that's a pretty fucking strong statement, all things considered."
"How is she?"
"Good, we think, we haven't seen to much of her since things went down but she's there, safe," he paused a moment "With him, I mean. They're both there."
"Tell him I wish I could've delivered the scumfuck myself. I really wish I could be there to see it."
"It's going to get messy, for sure. Probably worse than anything the Red Star has done in a few years."
"Scarborough seems pretty okay for, you know, everthing that happened."
"He's... really going to make it count. He's only keeping it together for her, right now."
"Same goes for a lot of us in the Red Star. She ain't like their mother or something but there's a lot of them who don't even understand why she gives a shit about any of them."

Phoenix turned his head to look into the rear of the vehicle as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Anderson really must believe him."
"Fucking hell he should, right? You need to know your men in that job, know who you trust to do things without cutting corners or who has a conscience." the man in the coat replied, turning to look at Rothschild as well.
Rothschild squirmed under the scrutiny, turning himself away from them and Phoenix shook his head. "Yea, I just know that the man he believes isn't exactly who he used to be, now."
The faint whine of a hydrogen cell engine began to creep into earshot as the man in the grey-green coat furrowed his brows. "Yea, I imagine he knows. Anderson has to understand what he's doing here."
"He's not stupid, certainly, I'm sure he knows exactly what is going to happen... I just never get used to seeing people actually give a damn. It struck me, the risk he's taking, and he isn't asking for anything. What's your name anyway?"
"Ridge, it was, but try not to spread it around. I imagine Anderson'll get something out of it before it's all over." Ridge replied, watching the beaten up cargo truck climb the incline of the roadway to where it levelled off, coming to a stop near the pillar.
"Let's get this done." Phoenix spoke, pulling his hands from his pockets to pull the stun-stick from his belt. "Get the restraints ready."

* * *

"Mister Scarborough-- Officer? We just arrived, we sent the package to the showers." spoke Ridge, shaking off a bit of the corrosive dribble from outside. It was a smart move, it had a lot of drains.
"S'allright, Ridge, you can just call me Ash. I remember reading your K-I-A when I had just gotten out of the academy." Ash resplied, standing up from what was once a half-decent chair.
"How is she?"
"Better," Ash said, placing his hand on Ridge's arm as he passed him. "She's doing a lot better."
"I know she has made some cold decisions for the Red Star in the past but... I am not sure how she'd respond, if she knew."
"She knows, Ridge. She never even brought up the idea of stopping it." Ash shook his head as he left the room.
Following a few steps behind, Ridge continued the conversation, "Then she knows there's no way to keep you from it."
"Doesn't mean she likes it."
"I'm not sure why she wouldn't..."
"Because as much as I do it for myself it's all still for her, because of her, because of this whole fucking mess."
"So it's not that she doesn't want it to happen, it's that you're doing it on her behalf, then?"
"Yea, that sounds about right. I know she could do it herself but I want this. I just need to know it won't happen again. I have to make sure, with my own fucking hands."

Stepping through a large hole in the wall that served as an entrance when rust had claimed an old metal door, Ash passed into the storage area of the base. His expression was hollow, his eyes lacking any emotions, not even the anger that burned incessantly for days. He was pale, clearly deprived of sleep, word was that he could only sleep when she watched over him. Her shouts had been overheard, demanding him to eat something, to sleep along with her instead of watching over her like a hawk while she slept. Ash began to rifle through large bins of tools and fabrication materials, occasionally pulling pieces out.

"Officer 'Nix said he wished he could do the hand-off himself, that he could see it." Ridge said after a long few moments of silence amidst Ash's rummaging.
"I bet he does," Ash said, pulling an angle grinder from a bin stained with grease and dirt. "He's never seen me really lose it before last week. I don't know if he's curious or if he just wants to see how I go about things."
"I couldn't say." Ridge responded
Ash swept the gathered items off the table into a large bucket and began to toss parts into it a piece at a time as he continued to rummage. "I need to be alone, now," he said as he pulled a heavy wrench from a metal box pushed into a corner. Ash then cocked his head and stood upright "Wait, go tell Marie I asked for one of her cigarettes, get one, then get that big bottle of alcohol I saw in the kitchen area this mornng. In that order, she doesn't need to know."

* * *

The lighting in the showers was poor, a couple of lightrods couldn't decided if they were going to stay on or off and the others had just grown dim over time. There was a constant sound of dripping water in the background, some faucet or pipe somewhere needed to be patched up but it would likely just cause another leak somewhere else in the pipes. It smelled unpleasant but given the location of the base it was actually much better than all the alternatives. Rothschild struggled, the metal of his bindings clattering against the eye-bolt driven into the wall behind him. He sat on a folding chair that had rusted too much to fold at all anymore, his ankles chained tightly to two similar eye-bolts buried in the floor. It wasn't long after he was restrained there that he had began to yell as best he could around the rag stuffed in his mouth. It was dirty with grime and grease, the scent of metal all over it. There were likely some metal shavings embedded in it but that was the least of Rothschild's worries at the moment.

From the end of the hall, Ash rounded the corner carrying the heavy bucket by the handle with one hand and a large bottle of liquor in his right. There was a length of cord looped over his shoulder and his expression was colder than ice. His eyes had narrowed as he approached, his steps finally reaching Rothschild's ears, causing him to turn and look awkwardly down the hallway at Ash as he approached. Each step was a thunderous crash in the silence that suffocated everything when recognition had dawned on Rothschild. Every step made him flinch, his eyes unable to decide if they were trying to plead or just unable to stay on Ash as he approached. Each step rose in volume as Ash neared and the sound was something Rothschild was sure would leave his ears bleeding-- until Ash dropped the bucket to the floor.

Rothschild jumped, his fight to escape his bonds kick-started by the sound of tools clattering. He could no longer look at Ash, his eyes shut tight as he cried out with effort and hope that somehow, something might just give him enough room to get free, to flee and run, run, run. Hope was never in great suppy in Esther, it was unmistakably absent from the Gutter. Ash slowly tossed the cord aside and walked across the room to a row of mostly broken sinks, placing a single clove cigarette upon the rim of one with a worn, nearly dead lighter. From there Ash took hold of the bottle and wrenched the cap off in one rough twist, sending it skittering across the floor and into a circle as it caught the angle of the floor around one of the many sunken drains. Uprighting the bottle, Ash stepped away from the sink and took a long pull from the bottle.

Fire blossomed in his throat, more than he was experienced with, but he swallowed another mouthful, then another and another so that it felt like his throat had been scoured with acid and then set on fire atop all of that. Like he had downed raw, molten steel, it was enough to make his eyes water and make him cough raggedly after taking the bottle from his mouth. Casually, Ash set the bottle down in one of the good sinks, letting it rest in the corner of the basin and stood before Rothschild until he finally summoned the courage to look up. Ash's eyes were the most piercing and terrifying thing he could imagine and it fueled his desperate movements that had caused the metal to bite into his skin and make him bleed.

"Artur Rothschild." Ash said, at last and Rothschild flinched, looking up in a moment of pause. "I remember you. Your name, anyway." Ash began, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned back against the tiled wall. "When I was in the avademy, I think that was when I first heard it. A real good example of just how much you can get away with if you have enough money and your parents are influential at all. Must've grown up pretty good, never had to want for anything, right?" Ash didn't even bother to let Rothschild try and speak, it was more rhetorical than anything, Ash didn't give a fuck about his upbringing. "All that potential, so many open doors and you end up convicted of more counts of rape, sexual assault, and murder than I can even fucking remember. I just remember yelling 'Bullshit!' when they let you out.

"So you walk and the victims-- the ones you let live-- lose their peace of mind and faith in the whole human race. You see, Artur, a person can care-- a person can make a difference... but people, people just don't give a fuck. People will never fail to let you down and so many people were let down when they let you fucking walk out of there. I don't know how the fuck you managed to even do anything but wait for someone to fucking kill you." Ash had a good idea, it involved a lot of private security and very dense security measures. "I mean, it was clear that no one with a badge was allowed to touch you, right?" Ash waited there for a few moments, before Rothschild made a confused sound around the rag in his mouth. "Good fucking point, good fucking point." Ash said, nodding his head.

"Juno and anyone employed by them seem to be unable to even lift a fucking finger. How fortunate that they took you into protective custody immediately after you were found." Ash went on, shaking his head, his hands falling to his sides. "It makes it hard to do the job, Artur, when we know people like you get away-- literally-- with murder and worse. It's like 'What's the fucking point of even doing this?' 'Why the fuck did I have to go to the academy, through all that training if we're never going to use it?'. But no, you, you're untouchable to Juno, your parents can make things happen, Artur. With all that money and the favors-- or hell-- they can bring people you just get to remain untouchable to anyone employed by Juno, anyone with a badge." Ash stopped, moving back across the room to take another large gulp from the bottle, setting it down once more.

As Ash turned around something clattered and skidded across the floor, coming to rest in front of Rothschild. Rothschild looked down, trying to follow it, trying to discern what it was before it came to a stop. Glinting in the light, it stared him in the face while Ash stared at him. Slowly Rothschild swallowed, looking at the badge on the floor and the clear block letters. JUNO. Looking up quickly, Rothschild met Ash's gaze and there was silence again. An unbearable tension fell between them and Ash narrowed his cold gaze on Rothschild.

Ash spoke softly, almost quietly, the words landing on Rothschild like lead weights "I quit,"