The Second || 𝘩.𝘴.

『21』| 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚃𝙸𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙽𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁 𝙱𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙺

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THE
SECOND
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CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
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THE
TIES
THAT NEVER
BREAK
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[[ HARRY. ]]

I roamed into the room, breathlessly as I felt my heart skip a beat at the sight of Dixie, a hostage not once but yet again, tied down with rope in a sitting chair. Her eyes met mine as her lips fell agape, the intimate affection pouring from her brown eyes as a knowing smile grew on her face.

My smile warmly grew too, tears coming on. "Hey." I mouthed to her silently. "It's gonna be okay." I mouthed again in silence.

She was speechless, nodding slowly.

"The name's Sage Castillo. What we stand for, is the fight to liberation. Not to defund the police, but to make our voices heard. That the souls gone deserve to be seen and heard too. If it isn't obvious already, the authorities are cold blooded and controlled by every movement when it comes to our governing system. They've murdered the innocent lives of people caught in the rubble of what they've caused, and the government has left people bankrupt to fund these weapons used against innocent lives."

"How long until they catch a clue, Nicky Blue?"

Nicky Blue was a TV show host on channel five that went rogue on screen, preaching a movement against the police, and against the government. Nicky Blue is still imprisoned until this day. Though the freedom fighter would be engraved in the minds of many everlastingly.

"Only time'll tell." Sage Castlillo said, the emotions drained from her facial expression.

"You feel that too, huh? That hopeless feeling? That this could be a fate Blue Velvetina will face for a really long time? Bask in it. Do everything you can to fucking swim in it. Revel in it." Vera said. "Because it's going to be a long fight for the freedom of our streets from bankruptcy, from the killings, even racial injustices against black people. But dare anyone protest or whisper this in the streets, they'd be asking for Armageddon. Families just want to stay together."

Vera was right, the last protest for racial justice and liberation for Black lives ended in families being torn apart, riots on the street that caused a rumble, clothes being torn from people's backs, and nails scratching skin until blood shed. And the only thing the police did was deter person after person at this protest. Their only objective was to clear the streets, kill the switch, and silence the voices that plead freedom. It was chilling, it was haunting. The last protest for anti-bankruptcy and anti-violence ended the same, in chaos and in dread. The authorities went at great lengths to silence the people of Blue Velvetina for years, for decades, perhaps dating even further back in history.

The Heist was a tell-tale of rebellion, to let the government system know that we were here to fucking stay, and if it'd be on their turf, then so be it. But the mafia stood for freedom, equal rights, anti-violence, anti-bankruptcy, and racial justice. This liberation was made an obstacle to obtain, by barbed wire intimidations and sickening violence--pain was everything this city grew to know. There had to be that spark.

"Fair enough. But if you really want to know, I am neither against or for you all."

"You're afraid, aren't you? What'd happen to you all if you stood for us?"

"We don't want another riot errupting the streets." A young black man said. "My name's Havenshaw."

"Nice to know ya, Havenshaw. But just to let you know, Blue Velvetina's as safe as it can be while we got the authorities attention, and while we got them in a real chokehold, holding them in place without a single next thing to do. We steal to give back to fucking communities that need it, without touching a single bank account, something that those governing fucks could never do overnight. You'd be surprised to know that the whole city has their best for us. We're merely giving back what the government system stole from us for stupid guns, bloody murder with actual intent." Vera replied.

"The shooting wasn't... Intentional? Ace Heller's case." Sage spoke in a small voice, confused yet distraught as tears brimmed in her shocked eyes.

"When does the police not lie, Sage? And of course it wasn't intentional. It was a matter of life or death, otherwise Ace would've been shot dead himself if he hadn't kept the man from getting to that telephone." Max chimed in.

"There's a sea of witnesses and they all say the incident was self defense especially when it comes to the authorities' will to kill, will to clear every path no matter how corrupt. They've willed Ace's freedom and it's the only thing keeping him with us in the now. We couldn't be anymore grateful. Ace is like a brother to us all." Carmen remarked.

"Sage, the statistics of innocent lives dying did significantly go down since the Heist began." Another one of the protestors said. "They've got a point."

"I never said they didn't. But we have precautions here, and I call these shots." She said, a bit shaken up. "You lot are the center of a very controversial phenomenon, but that isn't what I needed from you all."

"What is it then?" I asked.

"We were going to protest racial injustices against black people, it's for the Black Lives Matter movement and what we unfortunately don't have, are the funds. We want it to be upbeat and magical, so we're going to need music, we're going to need food, and we're going to need performers. If you guys abide to fund this for us all, we'll give you a stage to voice yourselves and what you guys stand for at the peaceful protest.

"You kidnapped my girlfriend... To lure us into funding for a peaceful protest?"

"Had to intimidate you guys in case. For all I know, troublemakers will be troublemakers." Sage said. "Precautions at their finest." She motioned her hands, smiling sarcastically.

"Fair enough. We abide. We always will. When is this going to be?" I asked her.

"Next month on the fourteenth. Noon." Sage replied.

"You've got our help." I nodded as Carmen looked at me with the most kindest and caring eyes, as tears welled in her eyes.

"Of course." She agreed. Before Sage could say anything, Vera unexpectedly walked over to her, giving her the tightest embrace. Sage cried into her shoulder with the most passionate sobs.

"She's the light mate. After all." Ace eased while he spoke into my ear.

Sage unties Dixie and she runs into my arms. I embraced her for the longest, her warmth reminding me I was home.

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