Chương 9: Social Status

ID cards are used in various situations to identify someone and check their status within society. The colour of an ID card is the quickest way to check someones status, as such, there is a colour for every level of societal standing.

White cards are given to people who live in City 4 and 5 and indicates that they have the lowest of societal status. Blue cards are given to those from City 2 and 3, indicating that they are the middle class of society. People who are lucky enough to live in City 1 have golden cards to indicate their 'superior' status.

Users work off of a different system when it comes to their cards. Ability users are given red cards so that their importance is always known to those around them. Of course, it's fairly obvious when someone has an ability just by looking at their eyes, but sometimes their eyes could be covered like Alex had done.

Lastly there are the black cards which are given only to those with Unique abilities. Anyone with a black card is always given priority anywhere they go with only 1 exception. Black cards are considered the second highest rank of importance within Pentagon, with Gold cards reigning supreme.

"So does that clear things up for you now, Sir?" The receptionist asked with a smile on her face.

"Yes, it does, thank you for explaining." Alex replied while smiling at the black card he now held in his hand.

"I heard certain coloured cards even give you discounts when buying things!" Tom said as he also stared at the card.

"That's true." The receptionist said. "Half of everything earned in Pentagon is sent to City 1 in the form of taxes, depending on the colour of your ID card you will pay less towards those taxes. For example, if something costs 10 credits, then 5 of those credits are going towards taxes. With your black card you would only pay 6 credits in total, as you are awarded a 40% discount on the total cost. The 4 credits you aren't paying are part of the taxes, so the shop owner won't be losing out."

"Oh, well I'm glad the shop owner isn't losing- Did you say half of everything is taxes!?" Alex suddenly blurted out his question mid way through his sentence.

"...That's correct." The receptionist said with a nervous smile on her face.

Tom looked at Alex with a shocked expression on his face. "Half is just...It's way too much!"

Alex, with a similarly shocked expression, replied in kind. "It's a scam! What do they do to deserve half of everything!?" Alex's shock turned into anger as he thought of how his parents had to struggle just to buy food everyday, now he knew why it was so difficult or them.

If his parent didn't have to give half their earnings to taxes, how different would life have been for his family? Could he have seen his parents for more than an hour each day? Would they have had enough money that his parents could afford to take more than just a single day off every month?

"Lets just go." Alex said with an irritable expression on his face.

Tom didn't hesitate to follow behind his friend and gave the receptionist a wave as he walked away. Alex was walking so fast you could almost say he was jogging. While trying to keep up with Alex, Tom noticed that the sunglasses he was asked to hold were still on the seats they were sitting at earlier.

He silently scolded himself and decided to run over and pick them up so he could give them to Alex before they left. Before he could take a single step towards the sunglasses, however, they lifted into the air on their own and flew into Alex's hand.

Alex put the sunglasses on as he exited the building and started walking towards his home. Tom followed behind him, thinking about how cool it would be to move things with his mind like Alex had just done.

As the two young men left City Hall, the receptionist wrote something down on a piece of paper and placed it in her pocket with a devious smile on her face. She picked up the landline phone on her desk and dialed a number.

"Yes?" The person on the other side said with a gruff sounding voice.

"I have some information to share, high priority. I assume the payment will match it's quality?" The receptionist said.

There was a pause for a moment before the gruff voice spoke again. "Tonight." The person on the other end put down the phone, ending the call. A large, greedy smile covered the receptionists face as she went back to doing her paperwork.

"We should split up here." Alex suddenly said. "I'm planning on sitting my family down to tell them about all this so-"

"No problem bro, I'll see you on Monday." Tom said as he slapped Alex on the back and went down a different street that lead to his own home.

Alex waited until Tom had disappeared from sight before he rounded the corner into an alleyway just ahead of and saw two men standing there smoking cigarettes. " Seems you know what to do when you see us." One of the men said.

"Boss wants to see you." The other said as he walked out of the alleyway with the other man following behind him.

Alex walked a few steps behind the two men and followed them to what looked like a large factory. This was his gangs hideout, or 'base' as the new boss calls it.

'I'm glad I saw them enter that alleyway before Tom and I walked passed it. Who knows what they might've said or done with Tom if I hadn't sent him away...' Alex thought as he entered the gangs base.

The inside of the building was just one large open room. There were about 30 people scattered throughout the room doing various different things. Some were moving things from one place to another while some were inspecting the bladed weapons they had against one of the walls on a rack.

Standing in the middle of the room was a small group of 5 people, each of them with glowing eyes that made their status as Users apparent. The two men leading Alex brought him to this group and addressed the man in the middle.

"We brought him, Boss." One of them said as he shoved Alex towards the group of 5.

Alex averted his eyes from the man in front of him out of fear. This man was a ruthless psychopath that killed for fun and happened to be the new leader of the gang.

"So, what happened with Oscar, kid?"

bình luận bình luận của 1

Bình chọn

GỬI QUÀ TẶNG

Load failed, please RETRY