Chapter 344: Bad Pickpocket
He pulled up to the side of the street and parked in front of a garage. It had a large garage that could open up. The second floor had some windows and an open outdoor balcony. The balcony was cluttered with some sheets of metal that were precariously stored there.
Jace stepped out of the truck just as a pair of people on a motorbike drove up. It was clearly a custom work, typically something that small could not hold two people even if they were young teenagers.
"Cain-" Jace began telling Cain to open the garage door so they could put the truck in the garage. But then he saw the teenage girl on the back of the motorbike reach into the back of his truck. He flinched as he watched her get pulled off the motorbike as she got her arm stuck.
"Aahhh! Ow! Damn deities!" The young girl cursed. The young man looked back for a moment before he raced off in a hurry. Jace sighed as he moved over and undid some of the covering. Causing the girl to mumble in awe despite the pain, "woah..."
"Trying to steal blindly is a good way to lose a limb." Jace reminded her as he pulled her hand out of the maze of metal she got her hand trapped inside of. Jace looked over her hand for a minute and then clicked his tongue in annoyance he would have to patch up her hand. He then picked her up and carried her over to the sidewalk. "Cain, open the garage door. Cho, watch the kid. Make sure she does not run off before we can patch up that hand." Jace ordered as he moved back to his truck.
The young girl jumped in surprise as the garage door of the building she was standing next to began opening. The neighboring buildings were small time racing garages. This one used to be one for an older group. But they bet away all their money and then were forced out because of their debts.
So there were not many people on the sidewalk nor any vehicles parked on the sidewalk. But the amount of people looking out the shop on their smoke breaks was a lot. It was nearly lunch so it made sense. But it was still a lot of people who were glancing over at her.
Jace pulled the truck up the sidewalk and into the open garage door. The inside of the building was covered in dust and there was a bunch of spare metal sitting round everywhere. That would be useful. One of the devices he brought was a manufacturing device that could turn metal into shapes or other metals if he had the appropriate input ores.
He pulled in fully and parked the truck and then climbed out of the truck. "Looks like we are going to need to do some organization." Jace looked around before moving to his truck bed and began pulling off the tarp covering partially, "Cain, see if you can find the way to the roof. Cho, bring the girl in here." Jace told them and watched out of the corner of his eye as Cho pushed the girl with her head. While the girl continued to hold her bleeding hand. He pulled out a red bag with a white cross.
"Umm... it is okay I can just go." The girl offered as she looked at the partially revealed equipment with a hint of greed and awe. He had seen the same combination many times before. It was part of the reason he picked this area. He wanted to get back to his roots as an orphan street rat.
"Stay." Jace ordered as he looked around and found a pair of stools. He picked one up and blew the dust off it. Frowning as he did and then set it down. "Sit." Jace ordered and she moved over to the stool and climbed up onto it. "Good girl." The girl blushed but Jace rubbed Cho’s head and the girl blushed even harder. "Go count the amount of metal sheets and then look up there." Jace nodded at a ladder that led up to a ’second’ floor. It was just a raised platform that led to the outside balcony. It was the bedroom of the building.
Cho nodded and then trotted over to the nearest pile of metal. Jace shook his head as he brought over the other stool and set the first aid bag on the chair. Opening it up to get a few things to patch up the gash that appeared on her palm and to wrap her wrist that was already starting to bruise.
"Why are you helping me? Usually when someone catches me stealing they would box my ears and send me to the local PD." The girl pointed out as she held out her hand to him.
Jace began with cleaning the blood from her hand. Then he put a healing patch over her hand where the cut was. Then he put some salve on her bruised wrist and then wrapped it in a bandage to restrict movement until it fully healed. "Because I am guessing you are from the orphanage or the slum district. Which is it?"
"Why? Are you going to say something sappy about my poor status in life?" The young teen began to puff up her chest as she was preparing what was no doubt a speech about being born on the lowest status of their society.
"Nope. Because I grew up in a poor orphanage. But I was wondering more about who you were stealing for?" Jace asked as he finished wrapping her wrist and then double checked his work. "I know how the slums work. But I do not know about this place. From what I understand this colony station is only five years old. So I am guessing you were transferred from somewhere else."
"No, the Princess’ Pride is only five years old. But this district, the slums and race track have been around for twenty years. The colony station was built using three other stations and expanded from them. They call this slum district and the racing district, The Waterways. It used to be The Waterways entertainment station." The girl explained as Jace stepped back and set the first aid kit on the ground and sat on his stool.
Jace absorbed the information and nodded. "So what is the local outfit that is running your orphanage?" She gave him a confused look and he chuckled. "Big time gangs, mobs, and mafias who reach beyond just a single location know better than to have kids running around as petty thieves. It is bad for the district’s reputation. They want to have more foot traffic and get them some more customers."
The little girl blinked as her eyes glazed over. Then after a moment she blinked and nodded. "Okay, I understand."
"No, you don’t." Jace chuckled and shook his head. "Just think of my words later. Now what about the locals?"