[Blue Archive] Substitute

New Chums, New Conundrums

How did it come to this? Was my one and only thought.

"LISTEN UP, WE'VE GOT HOSTAGES IN HERE SO YOU BETTER LISTEN TO OUR DEMANDS!"  Rabu was holding me in a rather tight headlock. Screaming out the shop towards the cops and security guards.Or rather security bots, the little floating drones were something else. "Hey, don't get comfy! Act scared or I will start hurting you!" Jeez this little lady doesn't really seem all that confident. Then again there's only her and her two cronies. "You two, go find the clerk he's probably hiding in the storage room!" She barks her orders while pointing at the other two girls.

"Yes Captain!" They both scamper off towards the storage room. Hmmm captain huh, I look at Rabu after the two leave our sight. So I guess this little lady is a hotshot or just the boss of this motley trio. Welp only one way to find out.

"Hey Rabu, who are you gals?" I try to look at her but her grip on my neck is just good enough I can't really turn my head to her. I also have this very strong urge to lash out, but I stifle it. Lashing out to break free would only escalate the situation.

"Hmph of course an adult like you doesn't know about the helmet gangsters." The way she said that sounded very insulting. "Afterall you look like you crawled out of a dumpster." Alright, maybe I should get new clothes. "We're the helmet gangsters and I'm the captain of the splashy gang!" Okay so they are wannabe gangsters, neat I suppose. Also a splashy gang is that a joke?

"So how long has your gang been active?" I try to get comfortable in her headlock but it's hard because of her coat's zipper teeth. I notice her other hand move towards her face.

"Why should I tell you?" She asks sounding a bit confused.

"You want to sit here in awkward silence young lady, cause I don't." Honestly I prefer anything other than silence.

"Fair enough."  She scoffs.

"About a year or two now if I recall." I want to say it sounds like she doesn't really know herself. But for all I could know, she could be telling the truth and just unsure of when they became active because she joined late.

"I see, so you girls control any territory in this city or what?" Might as well make the most of this weird, yet stress inducing situation.

"Yeah we got quite a bit. We snagged some territory in the black market district. Apparently another group of our guys got hired by some people to snag some more. If they succeed we'll get a cut of the territory for ourselves." She sounded quite proud that they had territory. I guess any self respecting gang would want their own turf. But I'm really curious about this other turf, so I know where it is and to avoid it.  Afterall I don't like the idea of being a hostage to a teenager, especially a trigger happy looking wannabe gangster. I slightly move my head to try and get away from her coat zipper teeth. But she grips my neck tighter. "Stop squirming before I knock you down on your knees!" I sigh upon hearing that, resigning myself to this fate.

We sit there in silence for a bit and nothing really happens. Not until about the thirty minute mark. We both heard the loud screeching of a megaphone from outside the helmet shop. "Attention perpetrators, we are willing to listen to your demands. In exchange we expect your cooperation!" I could practically feel Rabu's joy that the cops finally decided to play the game. "Please state your demands and we will see if we can accommodate you!"

"Hahah, looks like they're ready to play. Now then what do I want?" I couldn't believe what I just heard from Rabu.

"How do you not know what you want? We've been sitting here for the past thirty minutes in silence!" The second I scold her for not thinking about it she hits my head with the butt of her gun. I shake off the pain.