Negotiations

The inside of the office wasn't what Yern expected. It seemed more like a bedroom than an office because of the small bed tucked in the corner of the room. He'd never thought about it before but there was nowhere else for the PE's to sleep in the district unless they wanted to sleep in the rundown houses like everyone else, so they probably all did sleep in a barracks in the compound. Maybe it was a perk of being chief that he had his own bedroom in his office.

The chief made his way behind a desk that had stacks of paper filled up on it and flopped down into the seat. He stared at Yern for a few seconds.

"So what wrongs are you trying to right? If it's anything nasty, you can forget it!" He said while picking his nails. 

"There was a fight in the Marketplace yesterday morning that me and a friend were apart of. Even though it wasn't my fault I'd be willing to pay a fine for you to forgive our crime." Yern explained.

"Oh so you plan to win me over with money. It's smarter than most of the other little gangs around here, they all try to scare me into submission." The chief said.

"Who said anything about gangs? We are aren't apart of a gang." Yern tried to play dumb.

"You think I'm stupid boy? My men went to your clinic and saw your guards with their weapons. Who'd want to attack a clinic unless it was somehow attached to a gang!" The chief yelled as he stared at Yern. Him and Allen's plan of the PE's not connecting the clinic to their gang had failed miserably. 

"Okay, you got me. But gang is a negative word. Let's say group instead." Yern suggested.

"Whatever, how much is your group willing to pay for your crimes to be forgiven? The bar will demand a large amount for damages to their establishment and reputation. And of course we need our cut." The chief said.

After a while of Yern throwing out numbers and being shot down by the chief they finally came to an agreement at 3000 bronze pieces. Yern could feel his heart shrivel up when he agreed to the price but it was better to lose the money than to be on the run. After giving the bonus he'd promised to his enforcer and paying this fine out of pocket he was down to 3600 bronze pieces left in his personal stash. He'd spent almost half the money he had risked his life for in just a few days.

Yern didn't like to spend his own money but he knew it was for the better if he paid for it. He didn't know how much money Allen set aside for these sorts of things but he wasn't sure their members would get paid if they paid the fine. He knew once this blood war with Marrow was over the gang would start making real money so he wasn't completely devastated by the loss of pieces.

"You guys must be selling smoke weed if you can hand over 3000 pieces that easy." It was not easy for Yern at all but he wouldn't let the chief know that. "I get it now, that's why you're fighting Marrow's boys! You're stepping on his toes!" the chief laughed as he smacked his desk in excitement. Somehow the chief had the completely wrong idea but was still right about them fighting Marrow. After he calmed down he continued talking. "So it's a turf war, well I hope you win. I'm tired of that twisted bastard." he said seriously. This intrigued Yern. Why did the chief want Marrow to lose? So he decided to go deeper.

"It's not a turf war, its a blood war and we're winning." Yern said hoping it would make the chief continue talking about Marrow. Yern knew almost nothing about the man and needed to get information anyway he could. The PE's would figure out it was a blood war anyway whenever bodies turned up or the gangs raided each others HQ, so giving the information away didn't bother him.

"That changes everything. What's your name?" The chief asked, extending his hand. He seemed to have a newfound respect for Yern after hearing they were winning a blood war against Marrow.

"Yern. What is your? And why do you want Marrow to lose the war?" Yern responded and shook the chief's hand. The chief's handshake was a firm one, something Yern expected from someone in his position.

"Hark. That's Chief Hark to you younger folk. I'll tell you about the very depressing reason I despise Marrow." 

Chief Hark told Yern about when he first came to the second district as a PE. How he had a family back in the city and how his son always wanted to see where his father worked. And how foolish he was to bring him into the slums. Marrow was a young criminal at the time and heard about a PE's son being in the slums. Marrow saw Harks weakness and struck at it. He kidnapped his son using PE's he'd gotten close with to get him out of the compound and demanded an extreme amount of money. Hark paid it and got his son back, but as a result his wife left for another city and took his son. Not to mention the torment he had to endure from his coworkers after the incident.

Marrow was smart enough to use the money to hire protection so Hark couldn't get to him and years later had convinced most of the PE's not to interfere with his business. Whether it was by bribery or intimidation they had an unspoken rule about messing with Marrow's business or members of his gang. Yern finally understood why they could openly sell smoke weed or attack someone and have no consequences. 

"Earlier you said me being in a blood war with Marrow changes everything. What did you mean by that?" Yern asked as he sat in the chair he'd pulled out of a corner during the story. The chief showed the first smile since Yern had met and said 

"I can finally get my revenge on the man I couldn't touch for years. Yern, if you can take out Marrow's gang you'll get the same treatment as they have. But I get to end Marrow." Yern was shocked. Chief Hark had sounded so disgusted when he talked about the PEs who looked past Marrow's crimes. Now he was offering Yern's gang the same thing. Yern shocked must have shown on his face. "I know you think I'm a hypocrite but I could care less. That man made my life miserable for year and I'll be damned if I don't take the chance to return the favor." Chief Hark said shrugging his shoulders. 

"You getting Marrow is the only condition? I'll need something done too, I'll pay if necessary." Yern said, recovering from his initial shock. Yern was still surprised but this was the help they needed to attach Marrow's HQ.

"There are a few other conditions that shouldn't be too hard for you to accept. What is it you need then?"

"We know where Marrow's HQ is, but there are too many guards for us to handle. Maybe you could throw them in a cell on some bullshit charge." 

"And what do you think they'll do when they get out? I'll do it free of charge but you'll need to get rid of them permanently at some point." 

Chief Hark explained the few other conditionals to the deal and Yern started to head back to the clinic. Chief Hark didn't let him forget about the fine he still had to pay. The trip to the Peace Enforcer Headquarters turned out so much better than Yern ever expected. He had got the PEs off him and Sar and gained something like a ally against Marrow.

After a half hour walk he was back to the clinic. From the lights he could see he knew Allen and the employees were working. The guards saw him approaching and seemed surprised. They all probably thought Yern was in a jail cell by now. Yern didn't blame them since he'd expected the same thing.

"Get Allen and tell him I'm calling a meeting further back in the Circle." Yern said as he approached a male guard in front of the clinic. Yern went back to the house they'd all slept in the night before and waited in front of it. He was trying to decide if he trusted everyone enough to tell them about the alliance with Chief Hark. He hadn't interacted with many of his members besides the enforcers so he didn't have much to base his trust on. He decided that he would tell Allen, Tack, Sar and Lilith. He would let them decide who they trusted enough to tell. Just as he made up his mind, everyone was arriving at the meeting spot in front of the house. Allen looked both surprised and angry with Yern but everyone else was pleasantly surprised with him being back.