Northline — Don Dax Mercer

Mercer grew up in the most crowded blocks of North Blocks, in a stretch where police response times ran long enough that neighbors learned to look out for each other or not at all. He didn't start as anyone's boss. He started as the guy who walked older residents home at night because nobody official was going to.

Northline grew out of that habit rather than any plan — informal protection that turned, over years, into a crew built on the simple fact that a neighborhood that trusts you also hands you its kids. Mercer didn't buy loyalty. He was just present long enough to earn it.

His street name, Brick, undersells how far he'll go to protect what's his. Rivals pushing into the neighborhood usually discover that the "ordinary" bystanders are less ordinary than they look — plenty of them owe Mercer something, and none of them hesitate to warn him.