to be completely honest, I wanted Mary to play a bigger role in this.
Un fortunately she's a bit too smart to get involved in something where she drives no benefit.
Blackwell wasn't being subtle about it anymore. He'd been on TV non-stop ever since Gustav Hein had been killed, and the police warrant was set to stand unimpeded. It certainly helped that the terrorist attack in SouthTown Central had been blamed on Geese Howard.
… Blackwell probably knows by now that Kain Heinlein isn't working for Geese at this point - but he doesn't care.
Geese Howard wasn't responsible for the bombing of his own lawyer's offices. Obviously. Everyone on the case knew it, but since Blackwell was eager to drum up public support for the takedown of Geese Howard, it was convenient to tell the public Howard Connection had conducted the attack.
*-rid da' good people o' SouthTown of the plague… the plague o' Organized crime! In two days time, our forces backed by federal forces ah gonna bust down Geese Towah and bring dat crim'nal to justice!*
Mary sighed as she watched her former boss gesticulate on the TV screen. It was important that he stir up the public - not only because he needed the support, but also he needed the loyalty of his own officers. If the city of SouthTown was turning against its kingpin, then hopefully the officers who lacked the integrity not to take HCon's bribes would jump ship. The purpose of this PR campaign was directed inwards, and only time would tell if it would work.
*Sheriff Blackwell, is there anything else the public should be aware of about this operation?*
*Sure, Missy. I want everybody ta know that this here's a community effort. We need the Good people of southtown ta support us! If ya see or hear anything related ta Geese Howard or HCon, please contact yer local police precinct with the information. We look forward ta defeatin' organized crime together.*
Mary couldn't help but sigh as the interview ended. She shuffled forward in the convenience store line, and plopped her soda and pack of chips on the countertop. a high school part-timer with a dead look in his eyes listlessly rang up her purchase. He looked exactly how Mary felt as he muttered his customer service lines.
"...Thank you for your purchase, have a nice day…"
Mary gave the cashier an affirmative nod and walked out of the store. She cracked open her bag of chips and strolled down the street as she worked her way through it. Above, the sky was cloudy and humid. The weather made Mary glad she didn't need to wear her uniform, however at the same time - she wanted nothing more than to be in the midst of the Howard connection case.
I was the one who uncovered the CIA HCon connection to begin with… this is -my- case… ugh...
Unfortunately, due to a little bit of tomfoolery with license plate tracking department, she had lost her superior's trust and had been put on probation. That was one reason Mary wanted to be on the case. In the second? For, Rock Howard… . or rather Terry.
To be completely honest, Mary didn't hold any particular affection toward Rock Howard. She never had, and simply saw him as an extension of Terry Bogard. Now that Rock was causing both herself and Terry undue burden, her already thin affection had grown nearly non-existent. Still… she knew Terry wanted to keep the boy out of jail.
I probably should meet up with him… see if I can help him find the kid. As far as I'm aware, there hasn't been a warrant out for Rock yet, Even though his face is all over CCTV.
And keeping Rock Howard out of jail would be very difficult. From what Mary was seeing, Kain had to set the boy up as a scapegoat. his fingerprints were everywhere. His face cropped up on every film. Soon enough, he'd be on the fronts of newspapers as the face of not only the most recent terrorist attack, but also the warehouse explosion a couple of days ago.
Anyone who attached himself to Rock Howard was going to fall, because that kid was standing on a precipice, and he likely didn't even know it. Mary had been put on probation merely because Blackwell is suspected she was helping Rock. It was very likely that helping rock in a significant way would completely destroy Mary's career.
Is it worth it?
Mary sighed and shook her head. She tossed away the empty chip bag and leaned against one of the buildings to look across SouthTown's dusty skyline.
It's not worth it.
Terry Bogard had nothing to lose. Terry didn't have a job. Terry didn't have a career. Terry was pretty much living off of his son at this point - So it was no surprise he'd do anything for Rock Howard. (Not to say SouthTown's legendary wolf was particularly concerned about finances, after all - he picked up debt like there was no tomorrow).
But Officer 'Blue' Mary Ryan? SouthTown's best detective, and famous nationwide for her incorrigibility and deduction skills?
Forget it.
She didn't even like the kid anyway.
This time, things were dangerous. There was no justice being carried out. She wasn't protecting anyone she loved. This case wasn't worth it and Mary wasn't getting involved.
So she looked to the sky and blessed Terry, Rock and Blackwell. She wished all of them success… then she went home.
I think I'll probably have her show up at the end. But she's played her role already, and honestly I don't want to kill her lol. Rocky is kind of bad luck. I've trimmed down the cast a little bit, So hopefully things would be more streamlined as understandable. The police aren't going to do much more as characters, and more so just be a force behind - kind of like the CIA. I included them as parties anyway, even though they're likely won't be many more chapters devoted to Blackwell. Currently the parties in play are:
1) Rock Howard and Kain
2) The 4th elder and ioriyagami
3) Terry Bogard
4) geese and company
5) misc. Police force
Chapter TLDR: Sheriff Blackwell is preparing to raid geese tower