ACT 3: END / AND IT ENDS LIKE ALL STORIES DO POETICALLY
(( take note that while most of these acts have been thought out for years now they are EASILY subject to change. The story of Price is a tricky one that I dont have all the kinks worked out yet & I will definitely be going more in-depths into the events listed in the future. But for RP purposes this is all important information for Nathaniel Price ))
(( Extra EXTRA note. Act 3 is the ROUGHEST act in terms of notes. It’s constantly in flux and fluxuation and as a result some things might be fucking weird. if you’ve got any tips and suggestions feel free to toss them my way. This is going to be a LONG one folk. ))
The holidays have past and Price is back to work. But this time he’s a lot happier. Having that constant source of validation for his existence and it being someone he loves so dearly. He’s on the up & up. And he’s never felt better.
With the major mob families tossed aside, crime is on a low. There are still major cases of course that Price must investigate and catch a culprit.
In some cases Price can see that there are some loose ends and loose threads but threads he doesn’t care about because he caught the culprit.
Everything changes greatly when the serial killer Price first caught who killed his guardian breaks out of prison and then begins to taunt Price ENDLESSLY.
Price is told that he’s too connected to this case. That this can be handled by the other detectives. And everyone - even Hope - tells him to stand down.
But the killer keeps taunting Price and making him and the police force a laughing stock and though Price is told to stay away he ends up getting his nose in too deep.
Deep enough that he ends up encountering the killer without backup and after he kidnapped the Mayor’s son cornering him on top of a high building. Price blinded with rage against the killer ( for his actions in the past, for taunting and making a fool of him, for having people doubt him again ) makes the biggest mistake of his career and shoots the killer right in the head causing him to stumble and fall with the mayor’s son.
Price is demoted. And after weeks of just everything is left as nothing but a beat cop. The commissioner tells him how lucky he is he doesn’t have Price locked away for this --- but after everything Nathaniel has done he couldn’t.
Price is seen as a black sheep. People who once thanked him in the streets have a hard time looking at him. The Mayor HATES him. His fellow officers still care but --- the only person whose fully there for him is Hope. Hope who tells him that they should leave. That this city is hurting Price. Price doesn't’ want to go he wants to put himself back on the pedestal he fell from. They argue and decide to handle it later.
While working as a beat cop Price accidentally comes across something BIG. Small signs and connections with the loose threads in cases all a way from a year ago. But with the way he is now he can’t unveil it. So he goes against the law to uncover it & with Hope and his friends help.
What Price uncovers is massive.
Everything thats happened so far was all a massive set up. Planned by a group who wants more power / money / status in the city. The Commissioner, the lone Gang leader of the Vegas, members of city council, two powerful businessmen, and most surprising of all his guardian the woman who made him see the glory in being a detective.
They orchestrated and pulled the strings of the gang war to wipe the gang threat away from the city and keep the Vegas as the lone and by proxy most powerful gang in secret. Orchestrated the death of the Mayor’s son using Price’s folly. Orchestrated the fake death of Price’s aunt that way she can work in secret in moving things around and doing what needs to be done. etc.
They did all this that way the Commissioner can become Mayor in the next election and the city council members who worked in tangent in him will have more authority among their peers. The Vegas will be in charge of crime and be able to move material and collect funds faster and with ease as the law won’t be too on their ass. The businessmen’s business will flourish. And Price’s Aunt will have gotten what she really wanted --- a cleaner city. The crime rate will fall with these people in charge and life for people will be easier.
( if you can’t tell this is the part thats just a big sweat meme it one that needs a lot of work ! )
Price was a roadblock and a chess piece that needed to be tossed. He’s uncovered this but with all the people involved no amount of evidence will get them convicted. Price is freaking out and Hope is telling him that none of this --- matters.
She’s telling him that if he keeps getting too deep into this he’ll get killed. He’ll loose his life. She tells him to let the other detectives handle this, they can find the evidence easier than he can by breaking the law countless times. She wants to run away with him because she knows that this city is going to kill him.
Price wants to run away too. He wants to be somewhere safe with her. Alone with her. But he’s blinded again by his pride and his need to win and his need for validation. Validation that there is a reason he exists.
She understands. But it hurts. He says he’s sorry and it hurts.
Price is back on it. Getting the exact evidence he needs to nail everyone. He meets with his detectives in private presents everything he knows. They all understand and help him get the last stuff he needs. The last evidence needed to fully implement everyone.
Price runs into his aunt they have a heavy conversation. There’s a lot of these. There emotional.
The conspiracy learns of Price and also learns of what he plans to do. So sending Vega they kidnap Hope and set Price’s apartment on fire burning whatever evidence lies in there. The case of the conspiracy is up in flames and Hope is gone. His neighbor badly wounded and can never walk again.
Price hunts her down. He practically corners the Commissioner and threatens to beat him. But there’s nothing he can do. The commissioner wont spill anything.
He’s blinded with rage and anger and just immensely upset at himself and worried as hell for Hope. But he gets a clue when he gets a text from an unknown number with just the name of the bar close to his home. When he enters the place is empty and behind the bar is the bartender Price had become friends with. In the back where all the liquor is kept was Hope covered in blood. Dead. Throat slit and eyes closed, Price holds her close begging, PLEADING that she has to come back to him.
Apologizing over and over. Crying and Crying.
He’s broken --- but in his broken state he sees something in the blood by her hand. Written. A final message. One word in blood. (Whether its a location or something who knows )
Price stares at the word. Sees it and studies it. And then it all clicks. Why he was a detective in a first place. Because he is smart. Because he is clever. And why he loved Hope because she was smarter than the rest. Taking the word in his mind and his heart he vows for vengeance and uses this final evidence to end everything.
Final chases / car chases / shootout occurs. Price is able to arrest one of the businessmen, kill the Vegas once and for all, and arrest the Commissioner. He’s unable to get the city council members who were involved but he does manage to scare them.
The final piece is his aunt.
It’s melancholic. Filled with both of them not wanting this but knowing it has to happen. She followed along with the conspiracy because she wanted a better world. Because she saw this plan as one that would make the city better. That wouldn’t make anymore Price’s --- boys who have to kill to get the validation they wanted. She wishes Price was different that in him wasn’t the remnants of his Father. Of her brother. She’s sorry and she regrets leaving him and she wishes he had left the city.
She says she wants to die. She says she wants Price to do it.
He does it.
Weeks past again and the city is back to it’s normal state. But Price isn’t, he leaves the force much to the dismay ( but understanding ) of the force. He visits all the people he cared about one last time and one last visit to Hope’s grave before packing up his remaining things and leaving the city.
Hoping to separate from that side of himself that garners heavily for attention for validation. And reconnect with the side of himself that Hope loved so dearly. And change himself heavily for the better.