maddest | [video] rebel without a cause

[Al takes his time to read over it, everything he can see.]

Whoever does this will have to deal with Lucifer eventually, won't they?

Almost immediately. Like a feather in front of a cat.

And you think I would be a good choice?

[The smile is more wry than Al looks like he should be capable of. The years have jaded that innocence a bit.]

He won't leave me be, no matter what you do say.

I think I want to settle on Mustang. But, I want it to be a temporary position.

That man is the closest thing Ed and I have to a father.

[Very softly. Suddenly, and very sadly, he wishes Break could have met Maes. He would have adored him... and they could use him now.]

He's already lost things in the wars back home. As much as I trust him, he is human and Lucifer is very beyond that.

The idea is that the ombudsman would not have to deal with Lucifer. The police force would. The ombudsman would be-

- but would Lucifer see it that way?

Honestly? He'd probably try to turn him onto his side. Which wouldn't actually be terrible- I want him to keep the police force permissive.

[Al presses his lips together in a line and pours the tea. He prefers not to involve himself in these things. It would be so nice just to live a peaceful life, but...]

This isn't to say that I don't trust you, but are you sure you have the right set of priorities right now?

You're essentially trying to use a hammer to kill ants on a glass ceiling.

Then you're misunderstanding what I'm trying to do.

Help me to understand, please? I don't want to get off track.

All right. Leave Lucifer out of the picture for now. Go back to this police force.

You didn't hear this from me, but I have reason to believe that there are even more changes they're discussing making. A curfew. Restricting the Wastelands. Unconfirmed rumors, and I don't want you to repeat them.

What a true Ombudsman does is work with an organization to assess fairness. He would have no say in policing matters, no influence in forming policy- but if a citizen of the city approached him with an issue he'd conduct a complete inquiry into the fairness of what was going on. It'd keep them from making any of us disappear. His reports would be open and accessible to everyone. He wouldn't have the power to free a guilty party, just to name inequality when he spotted it.

They're actually a very standard part of most organizations like this. Be it any sort of social policy.

[Al nods, picking up his teacup. Finally.]

He would be very good for that.

If he were involved from the germination of the organization, he could stop the problems before they arose.

Now, aside from all that, there's Lucifer. He is going to test the police force, almost immediately.

People have talked about doing this before. It's not often that they get far.

In this place, a police force is the resistance.

What do you mean?

Right now they're not a main power. The main powers are those who hurt people and cause incidents. Madara, for instance. When those happen, the residents work together to solve problems.

But the people like Madara don't work with others like them to cause more chaos. They have their own ambitions and no reason to work together, no goal.

Destroying the police force could become that goal. They're making themselves targets. And if Madara and a few others worked together it would be very difficult to stop them.

This is going to sound dreadful, but maybe that's fine?

Why do you say that?

The worst thing that'll happen is they'll be killed. It's a small organization of foolhardy, brave little people who'll no doubt get a certain masochistic delight from throwing themselves in the line of fire. It'll keep the villains off the rest of us, batting at the pretty shiny toy on a string.

That is terrible.

[Softly, though he does see why Break would feel that way. It's still terrible.]

It would solve our problem for us.

Until they're dead. It's wrong, using people as a shield. If you or anyone else uses them that way, they will die, or worse.

I'm not going to do it deliberately, I'm just not going to cry if one of them gets killed rather than Katara, Rhyme, or any of the other children.

And when does a life stop mattering? What age?

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