The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 36: Exasperation

Chapter 36: Exasperation

The Boss walked back and forth with his fingers wrapped around his chin.

"I can’t believe you brought her here..." He muttered in disgruntle.

He had an intense and moody look on his face that didn’t look like it was going to let up any time soon. And it didn’t help that his mood worsened every time he caught sight of Elias, whose back was slumped against a wall.

"Does it even matter? I know you warned us to stay away from the LRM, but maybe it’s a good thing." The Street Rat rubbed the side of his swollen face, displeased with the Boss’s method of handling the situation, "I think by having her with us, it would allow us to hunt even more Predicaments for you to resurrect. And having someone from the LRM would also lift our people’s spirits—"

"That’s not the point!"

The Boss stopped walking and turned to look at the Street Rat.

"My only worry now isn’t the fact that you brought the LRM here, even when I strictly said not to, but that you antagonised her already!"

"An... antagonised?" Elias repeated, confused, "What do you mean? I barely said anything that could’ve given myself away! If you’re just trying to blame me because I got your Predicament killed, Ross, then that’s just petty."

The Boss, who went by Ross — or specifically Ross Kestrel — tilted his head up and placed his palms over his face; his eyes filled with exasperation. Afterwards, he slid his hands down his face before making his way over to Elias.

After crouching down in front of him, Ross lunged his hand out and grabbed the Street Rat’s collar before pulling him in threateningly.

"No normal person would willingly destroy an asset that’s still in good condition. The fact that she destroyed the Predicament we all painstakingly killed without even the slightest bit of hesitation meant she caught on." Ross scowled, "You really think someone from the LRM would be so naive?"

After letting his words sink into the Street Rat’s mind, Ross released the man’s collar before getting up; now more stressed than when he faced his first Predicament.

Everything up to this point was going so smoothly...

’Suppose nothing can go as truly planned,’ Ross rubbed the gap between his brows, as if he was trying to massage his stress from his face. ’I’ll sort out my plans after meeting her.’

Turning around, he pushed out his hand for Elias to pull himself up with.

"Take me to where she is, and... sorry for the punch in the face," Ross apologised, then added, "You really are aggravating, don’t you know?"

"Yeah... I’m aware. My gang said the exact same thing, but it’s better than the blackeye you gave me when we first met." Elias groaned as he pulled himself up. "Anyway, I’ll take you to her."

He then paused.

"But before that... let me in on what you guys are doing."

"What we’re doing?" Ross quirked an eyebrow, then realised what he meant, "Ah, you’re talking about the Predicament, right?"

Glancing back at the group that worked on the corpse, who were now using welding tools, Ross explained:

"We’re planning on outfitting this Predicament with anything we can find to make it deadlier. For example, metal spikes, metal sheets as armour. Whatever really."

Elias furrowed his brows slightly at the end of Ross’ sentence.

"Whatever? Then, could it have a cape?" Elias tilted his head, intrigued, "Think about it, if it’s gonna be all decked out, and spiked, you might as well bump up the ’badassery’ with a cape. After all, when you guys are done with it, I doubt any other Predicament in this area could take it on one-on-one."

Ross stared at Elias with a deadpan expression, then, after a while, pondered on the idea — imagining a Predicament equipped in metal armour with a cape.

’Although it’s impractical, it would be pretty badass...’ He thought, now fully convinced.

"Alright, fine."

"Awesome! Now, let’s go." Elias faced the doors, "Although she didn’t look like it, we shouldn’t keep the LRM girl waiting."

"You’re right... ah, before that." Ross placed a hand on Elias’ shoulder, causing the Street Rat to look back in puzzlement.

"Yeah? What’s—..."

Ross raised his hand, then slowly folded his fingers to make a fist.

Then, after a moment of suspense, he said:

"Sorry in advance. I want to make a good first impression."

WHAM!