Elgin's Enigma ✔

Part 45

EXT. OUTSIDE CITY HALL– DAY

THERON stands at the podium and the flash of cameras luminate his face. The large crowd cheers at his entrance as people wave red flags in excitement. JORDANIA and ERLE watch him as Jordania scribbles into the Codex. Erle scrunches his nose in disgust.

ERLE CONT'D: Politics was never my cup of tea.

JORDANIA: Shush, he's gonna talk.

Theron smiles at the crowd and clears his throat.

THERON CONT'D: What a day to be alive!

A wave of cheers erupts from the crowd. Theron takes a breath and gives a chuckle before waiting for the noise to die down.

THERON CONT'D: This is a day that will go down in history. One you will look back upon with your children, your grandchildren. It will be the day you tell them Elgin turned a corner. Became a city truly worth noting. Already the markets are up. Trade is good. We are going to bring back jobs here. Everyone can feel it.

JORDANIA: How did they even clean this place so fast? It didn't look like it got wrecked from that riots two days ago.

ERLE: My dad hired lots of help thinking it would look good for his image. He was hoping more people would vote for him.

JORDANIA: If it makes you feel any better, I didn't vote for your dad.

ERLE: No. Why would it make me feel any better? Wait, aren't you underaged?

JORDANIA: Whoa, listen to what Le Mort is saying. We might miss something.

THERON: First, the abandoned church. Valuable property just sitting there, and Rosenberg didn't know what to do with it. I do. An industrial park. Factories. Processing for tetracite. Jobs, job, more jobs. So many jobs we'll have people coming over from Telvin. Telvin, of all places! They'll be jealous of our jobs. I'm sure it will be built soon. We'll get to the demolition right away and let the bidding start from businesses. They'll be overpaying to come move here!

ERLE (grumbles): And then we'll be overpaying for rent.

THERON: As for our depleted police force, I see Rosenberg left it in absolute shambles. A disgrace.

Erle seethes at the comment and Jordania glances at him. She takes a step away.

THERON CONT'D: We will begin hiring immediately. New police officers will be on the force. A new lead detective to investigate the crime around our city. We will be discussing a curfew, to help protect our youth from misbehaving and temptation. Quiet streets are safe streets. Safe streets breed proper adults.

JORDANIA: Wow, so Roch is really gone.

ERLE: Yeah, dad is a hot head.

THERON: To help maintain this proper society, we will be putting in restrictions to religious practices that fall outside officially recognized religions. We'll have these new public safety laws written up in no time at all so that you can rest easy. We wouldn't want anyone to feel like they live in a void.

Theron stares at Jordania and Erle. Erle is uncomfortable with his stare while Jordania wiggles her eyebrows.

JORDANIA: I knew he was the villain type.

ERLE: Did you really want this?

JORDANIA: Hell yeah, give me hard mode. I'll beat this game with a hand tied behind my back.

ERLE: For heaven's sake.

JORDANIA: Shush, I'm listening to the new mayor here.

THERON: And you can consider the train station fixed. Those trains will be on time by tomorrow, this I promise.

ERLE: Fixed? By when? You can't have them fixed in a day.

THERON: Oh, and for safety reasons, we will be resealing the catacombs. They're too dangerous with the blockade in place today. They really should be absolutely locked away. Wouldn't want anyone to fiddle around in there.

JORDANIA: Oh, he's good.

ERLE: A good mayor? I doubt it.

JORDANIA: A villain, duh.

ERLE: A–

JORDANIA: The next thing coming out of your mouth better be a joke about how all politicians are villains.

ERLE: My dad is a politician.

JORDANIA: So, you're the villain's sidekick?

Erle stays silent and walks away. Jordania giggles to herself before chasing after him.

JORDANIA CONT'D: Erle, c'mon. I was only teasing.

The two leave. Theron stands proudly at the podium and raises his hand with a large smile.

THERON CONT'D: Let this be a historic day!

The crowd roars in cheers. And chant his name.