A2: Chapter 14_Adopted by the Mob (An Astoria Story) [LitRPG Elements]

A few weeks pass as I attempt to dial in my formula while still producing a few kilos a week, and Paolo has been surprisingly willing to help. I’m learning Spanish at an accelerated rate, but I can’t quite have the conversations I want to have with him. The important one, though, was if he wanted to stay in Vegas and work for me.

“Will I get my own room and pay?”

“Have I not paid you yet? Shit Paolo.” I transfer him five credits. “As for the room. My boss wants to move production to a new location, and my idea was to build you a room and an office there, and you’d be the site manager?”

“Paolo in charge of people?” He seems to be excited enough to try to ask in English this time.

“In a month or so after we do a run or two at the new location, I know they’ll bring in more people. First, you will help me set the factory up, then . . . you can use a pistol?”

He makes two gestures that I take for preferring shotgun or rifle. I let him know that I’ll scrounge him up something as long as he signs an employment contract. He says he would sign it today if I would take the shackles off. I shrug, ask Tova to send him a contract that pays two credits a week plus batch bonuses for meeting quotas, food and board. I have her add clauses that he cannot intentionally harm me or my interests and I will provide him the tools to do the job. I set the length for five years with the option to renegotiate at years two and four.

He asks if he can recommend people to hire and when I say I can’t guarantee they’ll get retrieved he looks a bit crestfallen but signs the contract anyway. I take the restraints off and he jogs around a bit before putting his hands on his hips to take a deep breath.

“Anything you need before I go off to some meetings?” he makes a shooting motion. I shrug and ask Kenneck if I can rent some range time for an employee and see if I can buy an old hunting rifle or something. He replies that he’s got a new kid that needs something to do and it’ll cost me two Marks an hour. Sweet, that’s not half bad. I pass Paolo off to Kenneck’s assistant, who luckily speaks Spanish.

“Where’d you find this guy?”

“You heard that Carlos put himself in the hospital?” He nods, “Well, the Boss decided that since I was involved . . . I guess, that I needed to learn how to make drugs to replace the income the Org. was losing. I was having issues, and when the Boss asked me if money wasn’t an issue, what would I need to make it work. I said a Columbian. A few days later, I got Paolo.”

“They got you pulling double duty now eh? Rumor has it they gave Miss Fontaine a long mission just to separate you two.”

“It’s not a rumor. That’s what happened. I think the Officers are looking to take their frustrations with her out on me, and exploitation seems the method of choice.”

“Yep. I remember my younger days. Gangs did the same shit before Global Initialization, there’s just less brutality now as the System can help people be less useless. Well, don’t let me keep you. We have a group coming through in two hours, so try to be back by then.”

“So, three credits to buy the gun and the Range time?”

He waggles four fingers, “and I throw in a few boxes of bullets.” I nod at that and transfer the funds.

I make my way to the Canteen, apparently that’s where my meeting with my new liaison is. I don’t see anyone, so I get my lunch from the Canteen and have my ration delivered as well.

“Kimber Novarro, I’m Russel Swain.”

I nod in greeting, when I fail to stand or hold my hand out, Swain sits. “Please excuse my lack of gestures. Hard to tell when I might flick too much aether at someone.”

He stares at my plates and eyes the meat warily. “By now, everyone has heard about Carlos’ unfortunate fate. That said, I will be your distribution liaison. The first thing I wanted to talk with you about is that offsite location. You are to scout and seize a suitable location for large-scale production. Once you have it secure, I want you to move your coca operation to the facility and start producing.”

“Sounds good, who’s paying for the renno of the new space?”

“What do you mean? You have the equipment, you move it. Do I need to speak louder and slower?”

Oh fuck you. “You do know that most of the buildings outside a mile don’t have connected services. It takes money, I get paid 5 credits a week, and that’s nowhere near the thousands I’ll need to refit a facility for large-scale production.”

“I don’t care. Figure it out. You want to be an operator? Start thinking like one.”

“I’m thinking about smearing this fish on your face and waiting to talk to your replacement. Instead, I’ll just take a commitment to reimburse my purchases to make this happen.”

“Sure sure. After the first run of product.”

Now I’m almost certain this scab is trying to take advantage of me. Medvedev and Lamar had diligent about not invoking my contract skills, but they had said that Warram funds would be set aside for this. I see a brief tinkle of gold sparkles fall over his head, and then send a note to Marcella about this Russel guy.

“Interesting approach. I’m starting to think that trying to bully me is a pastime.”

He chuckles at that, “Riding the new Members hard is a tradition. Now stop wasting time and get to work.” He gets up and stares at me. It makes me uncomfortable so I get up and move to a different table.

To my annoyance, he follows me and starts yelling. “I gave you an order, move your ass Novarro!”

“I want to help, but it takes aether for me to do my job and Earth has very little. For me, eating this toxic food is prepping me for work. So the less I have to explain the quicker I can get back to recharging, and moving my ass.”

“I’m going to dock your pay for this you little shit.” He growls before storming off.

There’s no clause for that in my contract, asshole. And you’re not even listed as an officer, so who the fuck do you think you are?! Of course I don’t say this out loud, but it does make me feel that this is getting shady. I have some fun ideas to mitigate this.

/Do you know anyone named Russel Swain?/

\Hey Kimber, is this an emergency or can I chat back later?\

/Later is fine./ I get a chirp and move on with my day.

After sending a message to Haley at the Health Club, asking if they were interested in a few credits a person for a breach and evacuate job in a few days, I meander back to the range, utterly disappointed in my meetings for the day. When I set up a location myself, I’ll be poor again. On that note, I send a note to Mercer to see how the product was performing and if there would be another order in the next few months.

When I get to the range, three men are shooting the shit with Kenneck holding the rifle I bought for Paolo. He hands it to me as I walk up.

“He’s a decent shot, but his discipline is terrible. He shouldn’t be seen carrying it inside the casino.” I check the weapon over and lock the bolt back. “You about to run a private mission or something?” Obvious interest in his eyes.

“I owe another team some gratitude, but if they turn me down, I’ll shoot you a message, yeah?” He nods and I collect Paolo to head back to the Lab. While we walk, I pick his brain about the kind of place he would seize if he had his preferences. His reply was mostly “lots of ventilation, smell will be terrible.” It takes me a while to think of a local brewery or a commercial laundry service.

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The brewery was a thought of convenience. They have gear I want, and the pumps and enclosed mixing tanks would work for this drug process or several of my personal projects. The laundry because it’s a nearly perfect facility for handling heat, moisture, chemicals and vents. Tova finds me three facilities to check out, so I ask Paolo if he wants to go for a walk.

***

It’s rarely the first place you go that you fall in love with, but this monstrous factory floor with chem tanks, pumps, filters and the agitation chamber-like space where so many pipes go is so perfect for what I have in mind it's as though the System sent me here. Now we just have to fight off the mold and the rodents.

Paolo clicks his tongue at me and I draw my shiny new pistol.

“Whoa, pops, no need to sick your kid on us. You’re in our place though, so you should probably leave.” When I turn, I see a kid about my age with two older teens with guns flanking the boy.

“Well, friend. This place is perfect for me and I want to move in. Care to negotiate?” I grin in a predatory way, going for intimidation. The boy quirks his head, while one of his toughs steps forward.

“Calm down Steve. She’s got us out-classed. Rare Track, Magic user, tier two weaponry.”

Oh shit. That kid either has a killer appraisal skill suite or he’s got a mind Track.

“Mm, a bit of both, actually. You are hard to read unless you’re thinking directly about me. How interesting. You mentioned negotiation? We are interested in stability and a chance to grow in relative safety.”

“I am interested in cleaning and restoring services to this laundry facility. My plans after that are my own, unless you think you could work for me?”

“Mmm, need more assurance. We don’t want to leave.” Why the hell would you stay here instead of a smaller, more easily heat-able building? “Yes, it is odd, but with the chemicals here, the containers and the clothing, we can store clean water for a long time, and we have enough warmth through nearly limitless clothing and burnable material.” I stare in shock. I thought me and the grubs had it rough.

Paolo taps me on the shoulder and nods to agree with them.

“Well, my poverty and hard work consultant agrees that would be a great reason to stay. Counterpoint, would you accept living in an adjacent building if it got connected to facilities and you could take the clothing and linens with you?”

Steve taps the boy’s arm and he brushes it off. “What about compensation?”

I snort at that, “I feel running water and access to the Exchange is pretty good. However, I will likely have regular cleaning and disposal work and I pay 1 credit per person per week.” I look around, “Obviously the first job will pay more. Also, if you work four hours or more in a day, I will feed you.”

Ooh, promise of regular food and paying them for the work they do seems doable.

“We are responsible for twenty kids.”

And there’s the catch. Fuck. “I can only afford to hire ten for this job until I start making product here. But everyone will be able to access the utilities and the Exchange, of course.”

“We’ll need fifty credits up front.”

“No way. One credit a piece up front, an additional credit each in three days, and a two credit bonus if you do a good job quickly. Two meals a day for the ten workers as well.”

“Are you trying to be offensive? You’re shorting me at least ten credits.”

I grit my teeth at his gumption, but lately I’ve been feeling like I’m being taken advantage of too, so I’ll ask a few questions instead of just being a thug. “Alright, I’ll bite. How many of your kids are under twelve, and how many are used to prolonged manual labor?” I stare hard at the boy. He tries to stare me down, but I know I have restrained violence in my eyes.

“Listen, I don’t really care how old or how many actual workers you have. You clean this place in ten days or less. You’ll get forty credits no matter how many participate. As long as two of you can help me and Paolo clean once a week, you can stay in an adjacent building with utilities and Exchange access for free. Maybe you don’t think it’s fair, but it’s better than you’ll get from anyone else”

“What if we don’t agree to that?” one of the toughs asks.

“I’ll give you an hour to gather your grubs and leave. Then I come after the three of you, pull you apart, and see how the other kids feel about my deal. I’m tired of being fucked with this week, and you all are starting to test my patience.”

The boy slaps the questioner’s arm and says, “We’ll take your deal.” I see gold sprinkles to know that it was accepted in good faith, and then I look at my interface to see what this building is about.

Yes please. “Excellent, if someone can show me the other building, I will make sure to connect the utilities when I rig this place, we can get this started.” I look down to the boy and levy my discerning gaze on him.

[Kyle Cooper. Mentalist-5. Community leader.] Okay, that’s a lot of responsibility. I wire him the twenty credits I promised.

“I don’t mean to be an ass Kyle, I’ve got some shit going on too, but I can respect you trying to take care of your community. If we work well together, we’ll talk about how we can keep the both of us stable, yeah?”

He nods. “I’d like that, Kimber.”

The building they show me is a five story office building that has multiple rooms and bathrooms on each floor. Interesting choice of community housing. After I claim the building and add it to Nova Chem’s portfolio, I spend the 200 hundred credits for a local repeater Exchange Kiosk for the office break room on the first floor. Through that, I decide to look up some utilities options.

Basic Utility

Water and Electricity for up to 100

100cr

Community

Utility

Water, Electricity, and waste disposal for up to 1000.

1000cr