Gunned | SatoSere

Chapter 12 - Incomplete

"Those two will have a picnic, if you know what I mean," Gary says suggestively in a way that Ash pointedly ignores.

"Now, do you find it wise, General, to leave these dangerous weapons in his hands?" Lysandre speaks again, a brow raised.

"Ash has proven to take care of our citizens in the ways we can't, Prime Minister. I would find it foolish to doubt his abilities now after all this time," Xerosic responds firmly as he closes the weapons case, placing it beneath his seat once again.

Cilan joins in. "If I may add, Ash and his people put down an entire trafficking ring just this past month due to his connections and skills, reuniting countless daughters and sons with their families. Is that not cause for respect?"

The man responds with nothing but a hollow, unmoving gaze.

"You seem to have some reservations, Prime Minister. Care to share with the class?" Ash says airily, not at all threatened by his pointed doubts.

"The Ketchums. They're here in the city, disrupting our way of life and encouraging other youngsters to take up their dreams of being the next mafia leader. We've had petty crimes all over the city and blackmail reaching to the seated members. Do share with us, Ash, what plans you have in motion to deal with this threat to our city? Your kind seems to like to resort to... under the table bounties or explosive methods?"

Ash's eyes narrow sharply at the implication. To stoop as low as her spineless step father who felt threatened. He sets his mug down calmly but Gary winces from his post, knowing the elongated silence from Ash is a dangerous territory to tread. The leader himself didn't need weapons to hit his marks. He only needed to remind people of their places in the world he wants to fix in his own ways.

"Remember, Prime Minister, you are alive because I let you be. I would consider your words very," his tone drops to a swirl of venom, dripping off him lips in a promise of torture, "carefully. We wouldn't want a tragic accident to happen for this whole country to witness, would we?"

The Prime Minister doesn't act in fear outwardly, but Ash's eye catches the bob in his throat from the swallow he makes. Bullseye.

"You know as well as I do, I can keep my hands clean if I need to, but that's the whole deal isn't it? I dirty my hands, my people's hands, bloody if we need to so yours stay clean from what you're too afraid to touch," Ash continues, his voice rigid and channeling every threat he has ever received before he left those same people for dead. "I kill murderers, drug dealers, and rapists alike so you don't have to give fair trial or flimsy life sentences. I bring order to this city by keeping wannabe gangbangers in line and we have fought battles that your dusty counterparts could scarcely imagine from their fake wooden thrones. For that, I will do as I fucking please."

Ash rises from his seat and the fire cracks loudly as he takes a step toward Lysandre's seat, leaning down to eye level with him face bare inches from his. The flame gleams against gold, and it would be an insult to call his gaze a simple warning.

His mouth parts with a snarl brimming beneath the surface. "So, instead of boasting like you're the one who owns this city, you'll stop wasting my time and tell me what you know about the Ketchums and their dogs. Is that clear?"

A tense silence passes before Lysandre's jaw creaks in another wheeze. "Crystal."

Serena hears snippets and pieces of the conversation that filter through the door muffled. Her feet start to hurt after what feels like hours, and she wants to know more of what lies beyond the barrier. She wonders if there's something she'll find in the party below that might give her answers instead of straining to eavesdrop like this.