Disclaimer: I don't own these YouTubers. If I did, it would be called slavery. Slavery is bad. This has been, a PSA.
__________
Third Person PoV
Terroriser
_____________
"Haha! I win again!" Brian fist pumped the air, a wide grin on his face. "Ey, Moo, you in for another match?" Brian couldn't help but crack his knuckles in preparation. Brock 'mm'ed thoughtfully.
"Yeah, sure," he said. His voice sounded far off, as if he were thinking about something else.
"Hey, is somethin' bothering you? You've been distracted all game." Brian couldn't help but feel like Brock wasn't entirely there.
"Hmm? Oh, no, nothing's wrong, Brian. My boss just chewed my squad and I out because we lost a case to another department."
Brian stared at his computer screen, eyes unblinking. "Uhh, Moo? That sounds like something wrong, bud. You wanna talk about it?"
Moo didn't say anything.
"No," he sighed heavily, "I don't want to, but it's probably better that I do. . . See, Liam--my boss-- he hates my team and me. Like, he's willing to sack us at the slightest thing, but Luke always plays the 'That's-Against-Our-Civil-Rights' card. But it doesn't stop him from trying to get us all fired. So today, early in the morning, someone broke into a bank and completely destroyed its vault. Most of the money was shredded and the walls and ceiling were painted on." Guiltily, Brian waa glad Brock hadn't gotten that case. Despite Brock's boss's anger, Brian much preferred that to Brock on that case.
"Sounds like that musta been several people to me," Brian replied, taking a sip from a can of Monster. Je only ever really drank the green one, but this time he had had to conform with a blue one. The green ones were extremely popular here, apparently.
"Yeah, that makes sense, but that's not the problem." Moo continued. "Liam intentionally sent my team and me in blind. He didn't tell us where the bank was, so we had to talk to other cops in the area to figure that out, and then, because we got there after our back up from the other department, we had to be the back up, so the case went to the first team."
"And lemme guess," Brian set the Monster down. "You guys got in trouble."
"Yes! And it wasn't our fault!" Moo's voice went up several steps of the musical scale. "But we still got chewed out, which sucked, but at least the others on the force were nice and one guy even gave us cookies that his kids made."
"Were they poisoned?" The Irishman couldn't help but envision a small seven year old adding several drops of rat poison to the batter; their wide, innocent looking eyes glinting with malice and mischief.
Moo snorted, laughing as he said, "No! God, Brian, not every child is a devious murderer."
"Hey, you never know," Brian raised his hands in a peace position. "Kids're crazy these days."
"Not that crazy." Moo laughed, the sound of his slightly squeaky computer chair coming through Discord along with his giggles. Brian joined in, trying to stifle his laugh. It could get a little loud and obnoxious sometimes.
A vibration brought him back from the brink of laughing his ass off.
Hey, you got any easy to reach safe houses nearby? -S
Brian paused for a second before answering. Yeah, just let me find the address. -T
"Hey, Moo, I gotta cut this short. Duty calls." Guilt came crashing down. This was their down time, where he and Moo could relax and complain about stupid and senseless things; now here Brian was, putting work in front of his friendship.
"It's okay, I understand. We'll play again tomorrow, right? I'm thinking Gmod?" Moo's voice was calm and understanding, if a little disappointed.
Brian nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great. Again, I'm really sorry, Brock. . ."
Fidgeting with his hands in his lap, Brian looked down. Not like Brock could see him, anyway, they hadn't used Skype this time.
Moo sighed. "It's okay, really. I know how tough your job is, especially with all your. . . Connections. You can't anger them, can you?"
"Ugh, don't remind me." He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on it a little. "I almost lost my pay one time because I made a slightly intentional mistake."
"Be careful, wouldn't want any trouble, right?" Moo chuckled. "Just remember, if push comes to shove, I have several friends in the police force, myself included, and some in the FBI."
"I'll keep that in mind." Brian couldn't help but laugh at how flippantly Brock gave him this information. You'd think he'd keep it a secret, especially with Brian's line of work. But they had made a deal: Brian helped Moo from time to time, Moo would help him from time to time. Essentially, supply and demand, but with a little more leeway. "Anyway, see you tomorrow, Moo."
"All right, bye, Brian."
Moo_Snuckel has disconnected
Exiting his game's main menu, Brian left Discord. Quickly, he flipped through his phone's info, looking for a specific address. Once he found it, he quickly typed it down.
125 Amberling Drive, Downtown -T
Not even two minutes later, his phone vibrated again.
Thanks. You're a life saver. -S
Brian chuckled at that; Adam just couldn't stay out of trouble.
Just don't get caught getting in, the place is supposed to be abandoned. Go in through the back of the house, cameras face the front, near a big blue and white house. -T
Got it. Thanks again, dude. -S
Pocketing his phone, Brian sighed, and turned his computer off. Sometimes, being the connections and info guy was tough, but at least he had a friend that helped him with the job. Getting up, Brian's chair swiveled as he left. His stomach rumbled as he walked to his living room, reminding him that he hadn't eaten dinner yet. He made a quick stop at his kitchen to whip himself up a sandwich of some kind.
His phone vibrated again, making him groan as he pulled out some mayo, pickles, tomatoes, cheese, and ham.
I swear to God, Adam, if you got caught I will end you. It took me so fucking long to convince every single interested fuck with money to stay away from that building and if you fucked up I will never forgive you.
Checking his phone, Brian mentally prepared his long ass lecture for Adam if he got caught.
Any new corp hiring ppl? We could really use a new gig. -D
Not Adam, then. He let go of a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Getting new safe houses was difficult, but a new job? Oh, that was too easy. Brian slapped down a few more things onto his sandwich while he typed.
You're lucky I was already looking into this. The corp is called Adri's Insurance. They pull in a nice wage. Here's their website. -T
The reply was instant.
Aight, thanks. Hopeful this goes well. I'll get Marcel to help. -D
Brian nodded appreciatively. Marcel took pride in his work and liked to be considered extremely professional, he'd be the first natural choice. Especially with Scotty's connection to him.
Good luck. -T
Brian quickly finished his sandwich and took a bite. In three months time, something really big would hit the news headlines, he could feel it. Brian's lips widened into a grin. This was fun.
____________
Third Person PoV
Moo
________________
Several weeks passed after Moo and his friends 'lost' the case; Liam seemed to have come to his senses and kept all of them at the back of any operation. They weren't even allowed on the scenes of the crimes! And as much as Brock hated this, it was better than him trying to get them sacked all the time.
Brock continued playing with Brian after he got out of work, Brian's hours were much more flexible compared to Brock's, but they always managed to have time to talk and hang out.
Brock knew that Brian's line of work could help the police weed out several criminals, but it could also put Brian in a lot of trouble with his connections.
Their friendship held sway over Brock's decision. His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. Brian meant more to Brock than the law.
"Hey, Brock, you all right?" Luke looked at him, concern in his eyes. Brock nodded, giving a small smile. He loosened his grip on the wheel.
"Yeah, sorry. Just thinking." They were parked in front of the sign they always hid behind to watch for speeders. The streets were pretty calm, only about twelve cars were passing by at a time.
"About?" Luke prompted, Monster in hand. He chugged some.
"Nothing in particular, really." Brock shrugged, the cruiser's idling engine giving a rumbling background noise. "I'm not sure if I put my clothes to dry or not. I'm also wondering if I bought groceries for the month."
Luke chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "You're fine, Brock. Out of all of us, you seem to be the most level headed and well-prepared."
He glanced at him, an eyebrow raised. "I thought you were the most well-prepared, Luke."
Luke laughed, shaking his head as he put the speedometer down. "No! I'm the most well-organized, not the most well-prepared. I like a clean work space; that doesn't mean I make sure I have everything I need."
"True." Luke worked best in a proper working environment, he said it made him actually want to work.
"Well," Luke stretched the best he could in the average sized cruiser. "This is boring as shit."
"I dunno, Luke, things could always be shittier." A smile graced his lips as Brock struggled to keep a straight face.
Luke opened his mouth before closing it again, eyes dark. "Did you... Did you just make a goddamn pun?" Brock stayed silent. "Because if so, that was smooth and subtle. I almost didn't realise what you'd said."
"Whether I made a pun or not, is a debate left for a later time." Brock grinned, winking. Luke laughed, shaking his head.
Routine life quickly bored them out of their minds. At least Bryce and Ohm had ticketed a few people their turn. This time, though, everyone was being good, law-abiding citizens.
"Seriously?" Luke complained, huffing as he crossed his arms and scowled. The light glinted off his shades. "Not one fucking speeder? You'd think people would go over the speed limit because they 'have places to go'. But no! Today has to be 'let's all obey the law' day!"
Brock chuckled at Luke's antics. "Well, you can't expect crime to happen everyday."
Luke snorted derisively. "Uhh, Moo? This is fucking Los Santos; of course there's crime everyday!" He waved his hands around, smacking them into the ceiling of the car. "Ow, son of a bitch!" He cried out, cradling his hand for a second. He huffed. "You get the point."
"Yeah, but what can you do? Sometimes, even Los Santos has to take a break." Brock shrugged, looking out at everyone else's cars zooming by. Morning shift couldn't get any worse.
_________
"We've got an arrest issued for Adrison Ford. Move it, move it, move it!" Liam barked, his face going red from his screaming.
"Adrison Ford, the insurance guy?" Bryce murmured, confused.
Brock nodded, taking his eyes off his computer monitor. "He's been scamming people for months and evading taxes---for several years now."
Luke whistled. Ohm shook his head, his eyes wide.
"How'd he get found out?"
Brock typed a few things in. "Apparently, one of his newer employees ratted him out after finding out."
"Wow, so, we probably wouldn't have known this if it weren't for that employee, huh." Luke shook his head, eyes bright with anger. "How can someone who's company already makes a shit ton of money scam people? Like, how greedy can one person be?"
He shook his head, shrugging. "Who knows? There're a lot of people who are just way too greedy for anyone's own good."
The group became subdued, Ohm and Luke scowled while Bryce and Brock simply frowned, all their faces screwed up in confusion.
"You think I care? I can bail myself out, you idiots! You can't touch a millionaire!" Yelling and spitting everywhere, red-faced, Adrison came in. His hands were handcuffed and being held behind his back by Officer Max(everyone he was friends with just called him Gassy Mexican, or just Gassy).
"Unlikely, Ford. All of your money is going back to their rightful owners. What little you do have is gonna be needed for your lawyer." He tugged Ford along, grimacing when Ford started yelling about his rights and how he could pay everyone double what their salary currently was, all they had to do was let him go.
"I bet Liam woulda jumped at an offer like that." Luke's scowl deepened, his face looking older.
Ohm coughed to hide a laugh. "Yeah, if it weren't for the fact that he had Adri's Insurance as his insurance provider and that he was one of the people scammed."
"No way, really?" Bryce shook his head, crossing his arms. "I know Liam is a jerk, but I wouldn't want anyone getting scammed into debt. Not even him."
"I dunno. . . Maybe he can go into a little debt." Ohm pinched his index finger and thumb close, winking. "But hey, at least he's getting his money back, right? So all's good."
"Yeah, all's Gucci." Luke cackled as he laughed at his own joke. Everyone joined in, laughing along.
Sometimes, being on the sidelines wasn't too bad. It had its upsides.
_________
Third Person PoV
Joshua
______________
"Mike, we're gonna be late!" Joshua quickly shouldered his book bag and slung his camera strap around his neck.
"I'm coming, hold on! Let me just grab my notepad." Mike's voice came through the small hallway, the bedroom door closed.
Joshua smacked his forehead lightly. "Shi--I forgot about that." He quickly rummaged through a drawer in the small kitchen, trying to find Mike's notepad. "Dude, it's over here."
Mike opened the door, slanted chocolate brown eyes confused. "What's it doing over there? You know I leave it next to our bedstand in case of emergencies."
Joshua nodded, remembering well all the times that Mike had leaned over him to reach his 'trusty little notepad', elbowing Joshua's stomach in the process. "I wanted to rewrite your notes so you'd remember to add a few details that you'd missed into your article, and I guess I'd forgotten to put it back."
"Oh, okay." Mike grabbed his notepad and grabbed the car keys from our little rack of keys. The rack had several hooks to put keys there, but because their apartment key and their car keys were put onto the same keyring, they didn't really have a full key rack. "C'mon, let's go."
_________
The press at the court hearing were all snapping pictures and writing down tidbits of the conversations going on between the judge, the jury, the lawyers, the witnesses, and the whistleblower. Only, the whistleblower wasn't there. Not really. James Scott Matthews had met briefly with the judge through a Skype call and was now relaying the events that had lead to him ratting out Adrison Ford about the scamming and tax evasion. He was being completely anonymous. Ford didn't even know his name.
"--been told to file a few things, and while I was in the system I saw that there were several people whom I had helped set up their insurance had several 'add-ons' attached to their names. Digging deeper, I found out that Mr. Ford hadn't been filling any kind of tax form and was, in fact, scamming people for their money. I couldn't just standby and watch, knowing this man was scamming innocent people. How would I have felt, if I were sudddny paying for things I had never asked for or wanted? I told, because it's called being a decent human being."
This man had guts, Joshua gave him that. Not everyone would say this all so bluntly. He made sure to snap a few pictures of Ford, trying not to snigger. His face struggled to keep its composure, the hue turning red.
Like my dad...
Mike religiously took notes, jotting down details. Eyes shooting down and up as he looked from his notepad to the judge, he scribbled down a few things the judge was saying.
"We will now be having an hour break so the jury can decide upon their verdict." The judge smacked his gavel as everyone got up to leave, filing out to go and try to get a quote from anyone there. The Skype call was still on. Mike got up and walked towards the computer.
"Excuse me, Mr. Matthews? Are you still there? I'd like to ask a few questions." He clicked his recorder on, hopeful.
Nothing. Then, "Uh, sure, man. Fire away."
"What was your initial reaction to finding out about the scamming and the tax evasion?"
A whoosh of air. "Honestly? It was 'What the fuck?'. Because how would you react if you find out that your job of three months was doing this kind of shit? It's not right."
Mike nodded, eyes serious. "Were you ever worried about what your boss might have done if he'd found out it was you?"
A chuckle. "I mean, even now, my voice is put through a voice changer just in case he ever does figure out it's me. My voice is normally higher than this."
Mike continued asking questions, right up until the court came back into session.
"Right, well, thank you for your time. We'll leave you to get back to the court."
"Hey, no problem, man. I just hope I don't have to go into the Witness Protection Program."
They laughed at that.
Going back to their seats, they waited anxiously for the verdict. There were soft murmurs as everyone stood at the edge of their seats; Ford gave off an air of nonchalant-ness, but his blue eyes gave away his worry and anxiety. His laid back posture was too rigid to be relaxed, his shoulders too tense.
Finally, one of the jury, a woman with dark hair and thick eyebrows set in a seemingly permanent frown above her serious dark eyes, stood up. "The jury has decided," she said in a clear, loud voice. "The jury has found Adrison Ford guilty of tax evasion and the scamming of over a hundred people."
Ford exploded. "You can't seriously expect me to take the word of this bitch as a real verdict!" If his face had been beetroot red then, than this was explosive dynamite. "I am one of the richest men alive! I earn more in one day than you all do in one month! I can buy all of your property and leave you out on the streets! I can---!"
"You can shut your mouth, Mr. Ford," the judge snapped sternly. "The jury has spoken. Adrison Ford, you are guilty of scamming people and evading taxes. For this, we sentence you to twelve years in prison and the money you scammed out of people will be redistributed back to them. Take him away." He pounded his gavel, each hit resonating in the court room.
Ford was pulled away, spitting and kicking, screeching about how unfair and prejudiced the court was.
The computer that had been used for the Skype call was promptly shut down, after thanking Matthews and closing the Skype program. Everyone was leaving, some reporters following after the convicted man trying to get a response.
Mike looked pleased with himself as they walked out the doors of the courthouse. "Got a good scoop, huh?" Joshua nudged him a little in the ribs, grinning.
He chuckled, eyes glittering with excitement. "Oh, yeah. Check it out: 'Ford Has to Fold'." He lifted his hands, as if he were giving a title. "You think your mom and dad'll like it?"
Joshua sighed and looked up at the blue sky. "With us? I doubt they'll even read it."
Mike looked down, pensive. Joshua's parents were always a sore topic. With Joshua following a 'terrorist' religion and with how he and Mike lived, combined with Joshua's father's homophobic perspective and Joshua's mother's xenophobia, there was very little middleground for them. Joshua had tried slowly integrating them to accept his and Mike's way of life, but they weren't the most receptive parents. Eventually, Joshua moved in with Mike and his family. Once they'd managed to scrounge up enough money, they went searching for a nice little apartment for the both of them, which was their perfect little safe space and home. Joshua didn't believe his parents would ever accept his and Mike, but Mike had his hope that maybe, if given enough time, Joshua's parents could learn to accept then. At this point, all Joshua was hoping for tolerance from them.
"I'm sure they just need time." Mike looked at Joshua, smiling softly. "Just... Give 'em time."
Joshua sighed, exhaling deeply. "Yeah," he nodded, tentatively smiling back. "I can do that."
"There's the Josh I know and love," he lightly nuzzled his neck. "Now, let's go eat. I"m starving!"
Joshua laughed and followed after him, getting into the passenger side of the car. "I'm thinking sushi, what about you?"
Mike scrunched up his nose. "Ew, I still don't see how you like that. It's raw."
Joshua scoffed. "And like your medium rare burgers aren't?"
"Well, but that's different!" He protested, crossing his arms. Joshua and Mike glanced at each other and burst out laughing.
"How about we make some pasta?" Joshua giggled, wiping away a stray tear.
"S-sure." Mike chuckled. "Pasta sounds great." He started the engine up, pulling out of the courthouse parking lot. Joshua buckled up, looking out the window. For a moment, he could have sworn he'd seen his father.
________________________