< The Monetary Circumstances of Mr. Strauss (1) >
The Federation Marshal is part of the Elysium Central Police, ESPD, but strictly speaking, they’re closer to a freelancer. Instead of being controlled by the police, they’re given work on commission. The typical jobs they take on are the execution of most wanted criminals with unknown whereabouts and no hint of them being dead or alive. The ‘government executioner’ job is basically most of the work that Federation Marshals are given. As their main job is to eliminate criminals that most likely go through illegal body modifications and reinforcement, it’s rather reasonable that the Federation Marshals are given a strong immunity privilege.
They obtain information from the seven Elysium cities, and either take them in, or kill them at the scene. And receiving pay depending on their performance was the simple contract that they had with the government.
It was dangerous to let them run free like this, and it actually came up as a big social issue a few times. It wasn’t as though there wasn’t an attempt to try and control the Federation Marshals.
But even so, the reason that they are able revel in the close relationship with the government from the comfort of their private offices and brandish their absurd immunity privileges was because of one simple reason.
Each and every one of them was basically a living weapon made possible through the unimaginable weapons implanted in their bodies.
---
“If you don’t like it then do it yourself, Deputy Assistant Commissioner.”
[Why are you being like this, Marshal. I’m just asking you to be more flexible when dealing with this matter.]
“If you don’t like how I do things, you can just look for a different fucker. Why are you telling me what to do after giving me the job? It’s not like I killed a civilian.”
[But that doesn’t mean you needed to kill every one of the gangsters, right?]
“Why don’t you try and tell the thirty-something gangsters to hold still for a moment so you can tie them up. See how it goes.”
[…..]
“You seem to keep forgetting but I work alone. It seems like you’re thinking of me as a police unit.”
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[Couldn’t you request a capture drone?]
“Ah, I don’t take tin cans with me on the job. It’s unlucky.”
[Unlucky, that kind of superstitions…]
To be honest, while it’s possible to demolish them, it’s just not possible to capture thirty heads. It’s obvious they’ll make a run for it. So, Allen just made the simplest decision of prompt execution of everyone on the site. The result- he was taken to the Central Prison for the excessive use of force.
That’s why he was treating the Deputy Assistant Commissioner like shit.
[But, even so…]
“Hang up if you don’t have anything more to say. And try not to call me if it’s not job related.”
[H-Hey Marshal!]
Allen hung up and lit a cigarette. The Vice Marshal was working through the documents as if she were used to a Colonel level officer talk down to a Deputy Assistant Commissioner. In the rather cramped looking office of Federation Marshal Allen, it was just the Marshal and Vice Marshal.
Two people only.
[M-Mr.Strauss is a s- s- scumbag- is a]
And one miniature flying drone for the chores and miscellaneous work.
Allen grimaced at the impromptu insults.
“The fucking tin can is at it again.”
[Mr. S-Strauss is an… idiot.]
Only the audio output module of the stuttering drone was broken. That made it worse. Even though he told Lin Lang time and time again to fix it, she didn’t listen.
“Catherine is so smart. And she so good at talking.”
She rather liked the stuttering drone. She herself, gave it the name Catherine.
“You’re the one that recorded it.”
“Nope.”
[N-N-Nope.]
It was the same voice.
When Lin Lang didn’t have much to do, she recorded insults about Allen on the cleaning drone ‘Catherine’. And every now and then it would pop up like this. Allen sighed because of the annoying Catherine flying around and glared at Lin Lang.
[C-Cigarette smell is fucking d-disgusting-ing.]
“If you have a complaint, say it yourself, Vice Marshal. And when did you use words like ‘fuck’?”
“I keep telling you, I didn’t record it.”There was an incident where he got pissed and hit the drone with an ashtray. That’s when the speaker was broken.
But Lin Lang said there was no need to fix it since it wasn’t broken and let it be.
Even while annoying him, Catherine cleaned up the ashtray on the ground, and returned it to its place.
“Fucking hell. I need to replace my Vice Marshal or something.”
“You already know, but I’m the last support you’ll receive from the ESPD for Federation Marshals. If you fire me, you’ll work alone. Forever.”
Even as she emphasized ‘Forever’ she didn’t even glance over at Allen.
Federation Marshals are freelancers, but Vice Marshal--a Major in the police department-- Lin Lang was a full-time employee of the ESPD. They’re meant to be assistants to the Federation Marshals, but in truth they were sent by the ESPD to keep an eye on them. To be fair, if he didn’t have the Vice Marshal, he was pretty much helpless, so he needed her even he was there to keep tabs on him. She was also a vital link in receiving instant support from the ESPD. Because of Allen Strauss' temperament, twenty Vice Marshals resigned and it didn’t come as a surprise when the ESPD declared that no more help will be sent after Lin Lang if she were to quit.
Maybe it’s because Allen treated the Vice Marshal well or maybe the Vice Marshal just had an iron will, they’ve been a team for five years already. While it doesn’t mean they work well together, at the least it means they were able to bear each other’s presence.
To be honest, Allen will need to grab onto anything to keep her onboard if Lin Lang ever declared her departure. So the result was him whining like this, and Lin Lang slyly annoying Allen through Catherine.
He didn’t have friends because of his shit temperament, and she didn’t have friends because she was a workaholic.
In the end, they were both unfortunate in a similar way that they only had each other to let out stress on.
[M, M, Mr. Strauss is a d-d-dumbas…]
Before Catherine could complete the sentence, Allen jumped out, grabbed the flying drone and pressed the mute button.
Looking at the drone flying in silence, Allen let out a deep sigh of relief.
“That’s better.”
Even so, Lin Lang turns it on when he’s not looking.
“You can’t treat poor animals that can’t talk like that.”
“It seems to be good at talking?”
“You can’t treat poor talking animals like that.”
“It’s not an animal in the first place.”
“Catherine will be sad.”
“What the fuck are you saying?”
Allen shook his head to Lin Lang’s absurd statement as if he had enough. Lin Lang always manages to say absurd things like that with a straight face. Although, Allen knew by now that’s how Lin Lang jokes.
Unlike the statement that Catherine would be sad, Catherine was working hard.
Allen spread himself out on the sofa and muttered.
“Anyway, why aren’t we getting any jobs of late?”
Federation Marshals get paid as much as they work. As is expected of Elysium. there’s no such thing as a salary for freelancers. So, if he didn’t work, he would starve. The last work had been given to him after a month’s hiatus.
“It means Elysium is that much safer. It’s a good thing.”
“You get to say that because you get a salary from the ESPD.”
I say it again, but the Vice Marshal gets a salary from the ESPD.
“I get bonuses depending on your work so if you don’t work, my salary decreases too.”
“But you still have a minimum salary.”
“The base salary of 4000 credits isn’t that much.”
“That’s on the high side. The average salaryman makes 1000 credits a month. It’s four times, four. You’re full of it.”
“A Major is classified as a high-ranking public servant. Four thousand credits for a high-ranking public servants’ salary is very low.”
“But don’t you still make more money than me as of now? Why am I the superior? You make more so shouldn’t you be the superior? You be the superior.”
“Got it, Allen Strauss.”
“W,What?”
She talked down to him as if she was just waiting for that moment. Lin Lang gestured to the door with her chin.
“Go rob a bank.”
“What?”
“You have the immunity privilege, don’t you? Hurry up and go rob a bank. I’ll give you a tenth of the profits. Just for you.”
“The privilege doesn’t stop turrets, okay?”
“Do it.”
“Do you have a lot of pent up emotion towards me? Why are you doing this?”
Allen had to give a strenuous explanation about the fortress-level defense system installed in the banks and why it mattered to get Lin Lang to nod her head slowly.
“You can’t even do that much. The Marshal is disappointed in the Vice Marshal.”
(note: Lin Lang is roleplaying as the Marshal.)
“Then I return the words back at you. The Marshal is disappointed in the Vice Marshal.”
“You’re that old and you are still calling yourself in the third person, that’s unpleasant.”
“You did too!”
“I’m young.”
“Fuck, let’s wait and see if you never age.”
“Then Mr. Strauss would be even older.”
“Do you job Vice Marshal.”
“Yes sir.”
Working on her duties while muttering was just so her.
“There certainly have been less jobs. It means Elysium is that much more safer probably because some shi... fantastic Federation Marshal finished his recent job with a massacre that spelled demise for criminals and their activity.”
“You’re saying it’s my own fault that I don’t have any work?”
“I’m saying there is reason to observe meaningful correlation.”
“Don’t drone on.”
“Anyway, with my base salary of four thousand credits I can pay rent, eat three meals a day, go see the opera and other concerts, and have a social life…”
“Stop bragging and get to the point Vice Marshal.”
“If this goes on, the data shows Mr. Strauss will go bankrupt in six months.”
“W-What?”
Allen’s eyes went wide upon confirming his financial status.
< The Monetary Circumstances of Mr. Strauss (1) >
글쟁이 S (Writer S)