Five minutes later.

Ron Smith appeared on the balcony of City Hall.

The crowd below instantly erupted.

"Give us our money!"

"Liar!"

All sorts of objects were thrown up at him, but Smith didn’t flinch.

He stood there, his expression solemn, carrying an air of heart-wrenching, tragic heroism.

He raised a megaphone.

"Citizens! Fellow workers! I know you’re anxious! I’m anxious too!"

Smith’s voice was loud and clear, drowning out the noise from the square.

"I want to pay out the pensions too! I also want the factory to be running at full speed right now!"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the angry faces.

"But!" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Smith abruptly raised his hand, pointing straight to the south, in the direction of Pittsburgh.

"Our money is being withheld!"

"We worked day and night to support Pittsburgh’s development! We sent them our best steel, the blood and sweat of our workers!"

"But that mayor, Leo Wallace, he broke his promise!"

"He took our goods but is holding our money hostage!"

"He’s sitting on a mountain of five hundred million US dollars while our elderly go hungry! While our workers can’t afford to eat!"

Smith’s voice was filled with deep pain and bitterness.

"He claims it’s because the roads are cut off? That’s just an excuse!"

"He just wants to default on his debt! He wants to suck us dry to fatten up his own city! To patch up his own political record!"

A low buzz of discussion rippled through the crowd.

Compared to distant Washington and the complexities of Federation funding, a treacherous neighbor made for a much more convenient target for their hatred.

Smith struck while the iron was hot.

"As for the pensions..."

He looked at the elderly men in their old suits, his tone becoming soft and sincere.

"I know times are tough for everyone, and I know this is your life-saving money."

"City Hall’s accounts are indeed empty. We fronted all our liquid capital to the steel mill to get the machines running again, to give our young people jobs."

"I thought that as soon as the money from Pittsburgh arrived, we could fill this gap."

"But I never expected them to be so shameless."

Smith sighed, his face a mask of helplessness.

"But please, I ask you to trust me."

"Since I was able to find you jobs, since I was able to get a factory that was shut down for three years running again, I can definitely get your money back."

"I’m going to Pittsburgh right now."

"I’ll block Leo Wallace’s door. I’ll sleep in his office if I have to."

"I won’t come back until I have the money!"

"Please, just give me a little time. Give Erie a little time!"

The workers looked at each other.

They were still angry, but they knew Smith was telling the truth.

The factory really had reopened, and the orders were real.

Without Smith, they might still be at home with nothing to do and nothing to eat.

"Let him go!" a foreman shouted. "If he can’t get the money back, we’ll go to Pittsburgh and help him!"

"Yeah! Let him go!"

The retired old men also relented.

After all, they were decent people. It wouldn’t look good to push him too hard.

Since the Mayor had gone this far, continuing to cause a scene would just seem unreasonable.

The crowd began to slowly disperse.

Smith watched the empty square and let out a long sigh of relief.

He returned to his office and picked up his phone.

He dialed the number for Joe Byers, the Mayor of Scranton.

"Joe, it’s me."

Smith’s voice had regained its composure.

"I’ve calmed those people down. I’ve thrown all the blame onto Pittsburgh."

"How are things on your end?"

"About the same," Byers sounded tired on the other end of the line. "I also pushed all the responsibility onto Leo. I told them he’s withholding our project funds, and the workers are getting ready to go to Pittsburgh in a group to collect the debt."

"Good."

Smith sat back down in his chair.

"Joe, we need to be clear-headed about this."

"It’s obvious what’s happening this time. Warren is killing the chicken to scare the monkey."

"So many cities joined that damn alliance, so why is it that only our Federation funding was cut?"

"Because Warren wants to make an example of us to scare the others."

"The mayors of the other cities are definitely just watching the show right now, because they aren’t under this much pressure."

"So, we can’t just sit here and wait to die."

"We have to go to Pittsburgh."

"For real?" Byers asked.

"Of course," Smith sneered. "We’re going to find Leo Wallace."

"Since he’s the one who dragged us into this mess, since he wants to be the so-called Alliance Leader."

"Then he needs to take responsibility to the very end."

"We’re going to force his hand. Force him to fight Warren. Force him to break that damn blockade."

"Otherwise, we’ll self-destruct on his front lawn."

"Alright," Byers agreed. "I’ll set off now. I’ll see you in Pittsburgh."