Wretched Joy 30 (Patreon)

Commissioned by southmonk

Wretched Joy

Chapter 30

-VB-

Vista sighed as she visited the fourth house on the list of addresses she managed to copy from the packet Everyday Joe. 

And she was the only one working.

Everyone else was still back at the PRT ENE headquarters, arguing with each other over the legalities, ethics, morals, and procedures for the kind of situation they were in.

And …

And Vista was starting to hate them for it. 

People suffered while they argued over semantics and exacting wording of law. People lost their livelihoods while the heroes, police, politicians, and government fought each other instead of who was the real problem. 

And they have been doing it since Lung got killed and Alexandria was forced to retreat. 

It was … It was pathetic. 

For almost a month, they argued and bickered. The heroes and PRT didn’t go out of Downtown for their patrols still.

It was … frustrating. 

She felt frustrated and upset and everything in between because goddamnit she understood why they were arguing!

It sucked to be accused of something even though she didn’t do whatever it was that she was being accused of! She didn’t like the idea of hurting someone who was innocent! She didn’t want to be an asshole! 

At the same time, she was also vehemently against allowing someone to get away with any crime they might have done. 

So this was her compromise. 

The door opened and a woman walked out. 

“Hello. Are you Mrs. Danielson?”

The older woman blinked. “I am. Aren’t you Vista?” she asked. “Oh, it’s a delight to see you!” 

Vista’s shoulders drooped. Each visit started out this way. Pleasant. 

“Can we talk inside, Mrs. Danielson?”

“Whatever for?”

She took a deep breath in and let it out. “Mrs. Danielson, the PRT and the Protectorate are unaware of any crimes you might have committed in the past. However, someone else is aware of them, and he does not care if you are old, woman, young, boy, or the rainbow people. He knows something about you enough to put your name and address down on a piece of paper. I think we should talk about your options before I leave. Because if I leave, then I can’t help you against what’s coming.”

The nice-looking woman stared down at her before she got indignant. “Why I never -!”

“Ma’am. You’re on Everyday Joe’s list. And whatever they say about him, no one ever says his victims didn’t deserve it,” she replied flatly before the woman could continue. 

She was doing something that the PRT and her parents didn’t do: delivering clear and precise communication on the situation at hand. 

And if they rejected her help, then whatever came for them was on them. 

Mrs. Danielson stared at her and then her face paled. “... Him?” 

Vista could hear the capitalization. She’d heard it a few times already while on this mission.

“Yes. Him.”

“... Please, come in.”

Mrs. Angela Danielson brought out a cup of orange juice for Vista and a cup of tea for herself with trembling hands and sat down in this … rather luxuriously furnished living room.

Vista thought about how she should open up. She could go direct. 

Everyday Joe had a very simple methodology to what he did. 

He cut down or beat the shtick out of his current targets and then disappeared for a bit. His hiatus never lasted long, though it wasn’t a recovery, either. He went into a hiatus regardless of any injury or damage he might have sustained. That was it. 

He attack.

He rest. 

That meant that Mrs. Angela Danielson had no idea when she was going to be hit. It could be today. It could be a year from now. 

However, the thing about Everyday Joe was that he had a very good track record against criminals of all kind, and his punishment scaled with what crimes his “victims” committed prior to their meeting. 

Vista decided to be honest and direct about it. 

“I don’t know what crime you committed, Mrs. Danielson, but when Everyday Joe finds a victim and attacks them, the injuries he deals out is in line with what they did. Corruption that didn’t get anyone killed starts with a beating. Corruption that got people traumatized for life starts with bones breaking. Corruption that got people killed ends with them also being killed. Same with gangsters. Drug pushers get gutted. Bullies get beaten. Killers disappear,” she listed out. “And he doesn’t care about legality, Mrs. Danielson. If you did something ethically or morally wrong, then he will also beat you up, though he seems to limit himself to really bad decisions.”

“T-Then what do I do?” the elderly lady asked, horrified. 

“Serve your time. Not what you can get away with but the sentence most people would serve for the same crime.”

“But I’m old!” 

“Ma’am, Everyday Joe doesn’t care. Worse, if your crime is not that bad in his eyes, then he will keep you alive and beat you at the same time. That’s what happened to the former mayor. Joe broke into his home, smashed his teeth in, broke all of his bones, and somehow kept the man alive throughout it all. Then he stapled a list of the man’s crimes onto his arms with a strict declaration that if the man did not go to jail for his crimes, then he would suffer repeated assaults.”

Vista thought it had been hilarious until she saw what crimes the former mayor had committed. 

“You… You are eloquent for someone so young,” Mrs. Danielson muttered. Maybe she was trying to turn the conversation away. Maybe not. 

Vista didn’t care. She came here to fulfill her personal compromise. 

“I am just here to warn you, ma’am. You saw on the news what he did to Lung and Alexandria. PRT ENE can’t stop him. Hasn’t tried at all.”

“B-But why?!”

“... In Everyday Joe’s words, ‘defenders of proven criminals are also criminals.’”

The old lady looked horrified. 

“I don’t know what you did. I didn’t even know you existed before today,” Vista sighed. “But if you did something wrong, then go and serve your sentence. It’ll save you an inevitable beating.” Then she paused. “If it’s something like cheating on your husband, though, then don’t bother. I don’t think he cares about that.”

“W-Why do you say that?” she asked, though the tone didn’t suggest that Mrs. Danielson had any affairs in her younger days.

“If marital cheating was enough to make Joe come and beat someone up, then my parents would have been beaten black and blue,” she replied with a dead smile before she stood up from the couch. “Sorry, I came as the bearer of bad news… but better warned than never, right?”

“R-Right…”

“Would you like me to call the police for you? Oh, and just so you know, police custody and witness protection probably won’t save you. Everyday Joe did walk into Boston court to murder Kaiser, after all.”

… Ah, there’s the reaction she was looking for. 

‘You helped the Empire, didn’t you?’ Vista thought uncharitably. ‘If you were a member, then you killed. And if you killed… then Joe is going to kill you.’ Perhaps she should warn her about that. So she did. 

One of the former city councilors got the blood eagle treatment, after all, and he was about the same age as her. 

So she did. Mentioned what happened to the former city councilor that the PRT managed to connect to the Empire, though they made the connection only after Joe left the evidence and the body. 

Vista left after that. 

Her job was done. 

If Mrs. Angela Danielson wanted to wait for her judgment at the hands of the murderous and kill-happy vigilante, then that’s her choice. 

-VB-

A/N: Vista takes a … surprisingly calm approach?!