Early morning at Heritage Park.
Charlie and Mason sit on a park bench. With coffees.
Kate jogs past them.
Charlie: Your bosses don't know the territory. Why would I put my life's work in outsiders' hands?
Mason: Why would you? Why would you even agree to talk to me today?
Charlie: ...Okay, kid. -I'm tired. For a lifetime, I've fought with everything I had. And come in second. Now, Atcher's finally gone. The city's ripe. But somehow, even with his little idiot in charge, I'm still losing to the Atchers' impossible, relentless luck.
Charlie: And I'm thinking, am I cursed?..Or is this a sign? I don't have the fight in me anymore. Turns out, being number two is pretty nice. I'm proud of what I've built. I'm ready to enjoy it.
Charlie: I won't promise anything. But if your family—right, excuse me, your "syndicate"—can prove to me that they're capable of protecting my life's work...then you may just have yourselves a deal.
