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⇨☾⇨Rogue rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes at Chance's dialogue. "Keep your voice down." He spoke while sighing in his hand. As they walked through the slums together, Chance found ways to be even more innocently snobbish. Still, he was far more frustrated with the DWMA than with Chance. "Ah hate that school." He balled his fists up tightly in his hands. "They send delinquents to my neighborhood as a punishment. Then act like they're doin' folks 'round here a favor. Ah guess anythin' that ain't gentrified is a charity case to them." Rogue walked into the soup kitchen with Chance and handed him gloves, a hairnet, and an apron. Chance would have to remove his expensive hat and cover his nice tunic with far less fashionable attire. "How much help are we really doin' anyway? If the DWMA actually invested in this community then they'd have nowhere else to send kids for detention. They're just keepin' folks down at this rate." Rogue complained as he settled into his station beside Chance. He scooped the chicken soup into the bowls with a ladle and recognized many of the people who were coming in. "Hey Ronan! I didn't know you were in the DWMA!" One of his old neighbors piped up and seemed genuinely glad to see him. "Yuh, that's why ya ain't seen me 'round much. I'll be back for Christmas!" The older man nodded as Rogue served the soup. Chance would probably be startled by the man using Rogue's birth name, Ronan Cormac. "That's great! You take care now." Rogue gave the man a weary smile and a "you too" nod. He figured that his old friend was probably too hungry to be bothered by a long conversation, plus there were many more people in line. A drunk man walked up to the counter where Chance would serve him food. The amount of people coming in was overwhelming. "Hey there Richie Rich. Get me sum ********' soup and maybe some money while you're at it!" Rogue glared at him and his stupid slurred words at Chance. He supposed Chance would have to get used to seeing assholes in the slums.

⇨☾⇨Rogue could feel himself tensing up with every word out of Chance's mouth. "Do ya know how much of an expense the DWMA is for the city? The least they could do is help in community development to pay the taxpayer back." He was uncomfortably tense as he explained how the DWMA was feeding into the inequity of Death City. "Most people don't have enough disposable income to invest a meaningful amount of money. My parents were too busy choosin' between food or diapers for me to invest their meager earnings from their tight-fisted bosses." Rogue spoke with bitterness as he remembered what happened to his parents. His shoulders only got tighter as he watched the interaction between Chance and the drunk man. He glared at Chance briefly for his response before looking at the man across the counter. "Git a move on or there's gonna be trouble." He tilted his head to show him the way to his seat before the man snarled. "You're right, wouldn't want him rolling around in the dirt with a peasant like me." He scoffed before taking the bowl and walking away.

⇨☾⇨Rogue seethed as he felt his blood boiling along with the soup pots. He focused on serving the rest of the people in line, thankfully without incident so far. Once the line began to die down, Rogue would take Chance aside. He was annoyed because it was obvious that the sheltered boy had much to learn and Rogue was unsure if he had enough patience but he would still try. "Yew need to watch your attitude 'round here. Almost everyone we've seen works full time but they still can't afford to buy enough food. Do you think that's right?" Rogue could feel his temper escalating as he asked Chance the question.

⇨☾⇨Rogue was holding back but was now outright upset. "Don't say that! They did the best they could. They didn't have a union, do you think they could've asked for a raise without gettin' fired and replaced?! Those jobs just treated my parents like they were nothin'." He felt his anger rising as he remembered how young they died, purely from the circumstances of their poverty. Rogue continued to feel insulted as Chance continued his classist diatribe. "I'm from here, what you call dirt. I guess that means I'm dirt to you too." He stuffed his balled fists deep into his pockets as he continued being defensive. "Unlike you, these people aren't a "they" to me. I'd still be stuck here if I didn't go to the DWMA. And I'm only in the academy because I'm riskin' life and limb to be a Meister. I've gotta risk my life every day or go back to poverty. Those were my choices." Rogue seethed as he walked back to the academy and away from the soup kitchen with Chance. "Who would choose to be poor? Most folks ain't born with the same resources as yew. And the rich still hate us for that." Rogue stayed heated as he continued walking and stomping out his rage. "The rich get their money and value off the backs of workers. Without workers, then there's no investing. Everyone should have to create their own necessities to live and own the resources in common. Communities can work together and help each other. No rich people and no government taking advantage of the people who make society possible." It was a paradise really. Everyone could be free and work together to make the world a better place. But no, people obsessed with their own greed and power had to prevent it from happening and Rogue planned to change that.

⇨☾⇨This conversation was quickly exhausting him. "You need to give folks more credit." He admonished as he watched Chance slink away from him. When he went on about his parents Rogue rubbed his temples. "I'm sure they do and they're more than compensated for it. My parents were poor, worked hard, got sick, and died, the end. The powerful could've made it so that doesn't happen, but they won't 'cause it hurts their bottom line, it's disgraceful." He scratched the back of his head as Chance cut him off with a sudden change in accent. "Why's your voice keep doin' that?" He felt like his hair was on fire as he listened to this rant. When Chance said that he would not accept that it was all for nothing Rogue just sighed. "At least they're still alive,,." The Meister became sentimental as he remembered them. He could not understand why Chance was so materialistic about his memories. Rogue had no toys but his parents made it a loving home for him regardless to the point where it did not matter. "To make a difference, I need to stop the people who are so greedy that they make the world worse. Like earlier, who's holding Lord Death and the Death Scythes accountable? Nobody. So might makes right for them. Same with that witch queen and that Kishin egg businessman we stopped earlier." Rogue was determined to stop the rich and the powerful from controlling the world anymore. "People need freedom. I ain't out to control nobody. AIn't nobody fightin' for the people down here because they can't give them somethin' in return. It's bullshit!" Rogue, like Change, was frustrated at the world right now. He knew that there must be people out in the world like him but he had yet to meet them and it was becoming disheartening. Rogue would not give up.

⇨☾⇨Rogue huffed as he looked at the polluted river filled with waste from the factories. "Open yer eyes, Chance! Even that water in front of yew is being dumped into by Lewincorp!" He jabbed his finger upward at the massive industrial processing plant dozens of feet away from them. Before Rogue could get into another rant, he shut his mouth as he watched what happened next. There were a group of workers, hundreds of them, walking out of the factory. It was unusual and seemed to obviously be a strike. Then he suddenly felt the disturbance of the Lewincorp factory manager beginning to exude Kishin egg energy. "Wait...I think those workers might be in danger. I can't quite make it out, but I think there might be a Kishin egg over yonder." Rogue took a road over the river and ran with Chance toward the factory. As the workers assembled after their staged walkout, the factory foreman and other managers stepped out of the building. He was licking his lips in a hungering fashion as Rogue tried to blend into the crowd. "Get back to work! We already warned all of you that your bonuses were forfeited this year because of budget cuts! You've known this for months!" The foreman shouted at the group who began instantly shouting back for fair wages. "This don't look good. That man looks like a killer to me. What do you think?" Rogue was calmer as he spoke to Chance from the sidelines and analyzed the man. How he wished that he had soul perception abilities to learn more.

⇨☾⇨Rogue looked over at Chance and just shook his head as he spoke. "Stop that. You're the one who started all this by spittin' on poor folks." He reminded Chance with a classic "you started it" line. Nonetheless, Chance not being able to transform into his weapon form was certainly not ideal. He continued watching the shouting match between the Kishin egg and the protesting workers. The stakes were increasing and Rogue was feeling the tension rise between him and his partner as a result. "Are you not transformin' because you're bein' petty?" He asked with an accusatory tone.

⇨☾⇨Rogue rolled his eyes at Chance and felt no desire to mend the bridge after he felt that Chance was making him lose his temper. "Fine! Go back to mommy and daddy and their money for all I care!" Rogue was complaining about the system of wealth inequality and Chance was the one making it personal. As if the rich had it so bad that their efforts needed to be recognized for personal industriousness. After he finished shouting at Rogue, the foreman immediately chimed in. "You're all being unreasonable and forcing my hand...security!" The group could easily be replaced by new hires in the area. There were plenty of unemployed that could do this menial labor in the manager's mind. The wealthy factory owner watched as guards from the factory began performing brutal crowd dispursement. Mace was being sprayed into the group as Rogue looked at Chance and just gave him a look of "I give up on you" before running toward the factory owner. He began to transform into a red-skinned goblin form similar to the greedy businessman that Chance and him had stopped earlier. One worker got loose from the crowd and lunged at the director while his comrades were being beaten. The factory owner thrust a knife into his heart before consuming his human soul. Did no one else just see that?! The factory foreman committed murder out of "self defense" before his very eyes.

⇨☾⇨Rogue knew that he had to put a stop to this but he had no idea how to do so. He released red smoke at him and allowed an illusory image of himself to take the hit of another thrust of the man's knife. Rogue ran toward him and punched him in the face in a brutal attempt at retaliation against the murdering capitalist. Rogue would not see the group of five security guards who were running up behind him to club him with batons.

⇨☾⇨AGH!" Rogue shouted as he felt the blunt pain bruising his back. He heard Chance's shouts before turning around and seeing the group of security guards rushing to attack him. He held his hand out as Chance's pistol form landed in his hand. He pointed the revolver at the remaining guards and finished them off with another few shots as they swung at him and he dodged. "Look at yew, savin' me again." Rogue smiled at the gun before his serious look quickly returned. He watched as more guards attacked the crowd with increasingly excessive brutality. "They're doing the same thing to everybody else!" These workers were not even fighting anybody. One security guard started beating a woman within an inch of her life before Rogue fired a round at the guard and dropping him. Rogue extended his hand and filled the area with red smoke. The smoke would not effect the workers but shrouded the workers in illusion making them harder to detect for the guards. When the security guards stopped attacking them with their superior weapons, the workers pushed back. "I'm not letting you ruin this!" Rogue turned around when the Kishin egg shouted and ran toward him again with the knife. "Just let 'em have the better wages and turn yourself in!" Rogue yelled with hate at the murderous, greedy man. Rogue would extend his arm to let Chance make the choice to give the finishing shot.