Chapter 3- Another restless day
6:30 AM- Blake's apartment
- "Damn..This is the first time I slept so well, ugh better check if Byron sent me anything on the phone"- Blake mumbled to himself, looking at the clock and getting off the bed, stretching, then checking his Smartphone for any messages.
- "You got some jobs to do today, you have one hour to show up or don't bother showing up at all"- Blake sighed upon seeing this message, cleaning his eyes and putting the phone back on the drawer next to the bed. He closed the bedroom door and headed to take a morning shower, coughing slightly and scratching his head with a soft yawn. Unfortunately for Blake, the water in the shower are almost always cold, he couldn't afford a heater, nor he had the time to install one. Once he started to wash himself, the water that dripped from his body had a gray texture, he looked at the dripping water and sighed. His entire body was covered in sweat, dry blood and dirt from all the dirty work he does, when he's lucky enough, he showers twice a week - when you're in combat, personal hygiene is a low priority for a criminal like Blake. He rubbed his arms around his back and chest, feeling the rough and deep scars surrounding his once smooth body, from all those constant battles his skin paid an ugly price. You could pretty much see scars, wounds and nasty sores all over him, on his arms, legs, and most noticeable - on the face. It only took mere 2 minutes for him to do a quick shower with the ice-cold water, he took a dry towel and dried himself quickly. Sure he had a full hour for himself, but he tends to always do things in a hurry to catch some spare time for everything.
Like any day, he wore his black buttoned long shirt with a popped collar hiding a quarter of his jaw, long black pants, and of course the standard issued pair of black shoes with small blue stripes on them. It may seem dumb to wear all black in the unforgivable San Paro sun, but they were the only clothes he had left, that didn't get burned or damaged without repair. The simplest breakfast Blake could make in the remaining time was just black coffee and a cigarette on the side, he always liked to eat his food at the apartment balcony, also a good place to smoke and not stink the whole place. He had enough time to relax, which he wasn't used to at all, being a criminal is mostly just tight schedules and non stop pressure from both your team mates and the work itself.
Only after relaxing for several minutes, he couldn't take it anymore. This relaxation is something that he didn't experience for years, and it drove him mad enough to get to the Bloodroses HQ earlier than needed. His head was constantly pumping as he left the apartment, went downstairs and got in his car, rushing to the HQ as if time was pressing on to him, despite he had a lot of it just for himself.
7:05 AM- Bloodroses HQ, waterfront dist.
He finally arrived at the HQ, surprised to see he wasn't the only one going for a mission this early in the morning, a whole line stood in front of him, full of criminals from mostly the low ranks. High ranks almost never show up to the HQ, for them all the missions and exact details are given via the Smartphone. The criminals kept pushing each other, as if they were standing in line for food with food stamps in their hands, well they did resemble homeless people a lot. Blake tried to push some people off to get to Byron eventually, it was a little hard but he did get through most of the criminals desperate for a job.
- "Move along assholes, I can't wait any longer! ..Come on already! move your asses out of the damn way!" -Blake yelled at the criminals standing on the line, he was stressed, feeling like somebody is aiming a rifle on his head and if he won't get there on time he would be killed. They looked at him with a frown, hollering back at him with rage, and trying to fight their way into the contacts standing by. Byron, alongside Britney Bloodrose, another contact giving out missions from low to mid ranked criminals, stood there with him and tried to calm down the raging mob.
-"Hey, hey, hey be quiet all of you! Calm the fuck down or you all will go hungry today!"- The crowd heard Byron's words and silenced. -"Thank you, now..All low ranked criminals report for Britney, all low between mid rank report for me..Now stop making such a damn mess, we're civilized people after all aren't we? Or all of you are savages? Yeah I don't think so..Now act like human beings and stand in line without making any sudden movements."- Byron frowned, pointing to the criminals where to stand, then sitting on the counter with his palm on his forehead. These idiots seriously act like little kids, Jesus...Why are low ranks so childish..- Byron thought to himself before getting to see the next criminal in line. The line for mid ranks was much smaller than the low ranks line. So many rookies, so little missions and time.
Until it was Blake's turn, 5 different criminals took their jobs and rushed to do 'em as fast as they could. They wanted to get more when they get back, time is precious for job hunters. Blake raised his brow from their immediate reaction to getting a mission, he thought that those guys might've took the job hunting too far.
Finally, Blake was able to speak to Byron. -"Finally someone who isn't insane as fuck, how was your long awaited sleep bro?"- Byron asked, patting Blake on the back. -"It was pretty good, but I'm still not really used to it..Anyway I need my missions, and you need your manual labor, give me what I need and this'll be quick."-Blake replied with a slightly faster tone. -"Woah there, no need to rush this thing..Well, anyway, your missions for today are: Join the team in the Financial district, they need some backup with the cop problem. Raid a house and steal the drugs that were taken away from my associates by an enforcer, And...wow lucky you, that is it for today..Consider yourself lucky Blake, now go do your work"- Byron said, giving Blake a second pat on the back before letting him go do his job.
It may seem like a small amount of missions, but each can last even up to 5 hours, depending on the case itself, and the number of people present for that specific mission. Some missions can be done alone, yet many require a team of at least 5 people, or even more when things get dirty.