Cole
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I overslept a bit. And now I have to run to the location to meet up for my exclusive. I was up till almost midnight crafting my questions, I'm gonna start slowly, trap him and get him on camera admitting to everything. I can't wait to hit him with what I caught from the ladder. I am going to be famous!
I should get the stream started
"Hey hey there cole miners, thank you for joining me on another hard hitting episode of journalistic excellence. Today we head back to the mysterious recycling plant to confront the owner about his terrible secret" Perfect delivery. Not very many people watching. eh, I'll do the intro again before going in.
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Roy
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He's live streaming. And apparently he caught something from the ladder?
"Livestream? We need to get the non humans out of there then. Verdandi...."
"I'll be in my shed." he said with a hint of amusement
"Sorry!" I called after, "Nola, We should also get rid of the table and chairs. They don't make sense here" I said. Nola started with the un occupied chairs while Tyler, Dave and Kathy got up.
"Can we get new pants and shirts for Ty and me?" I asked
"Before you do that hun, can you check and see if you have a set of coveralls that match? I think it will be good for image and branding. Green if you got it" Kathy said to the dark knot in the wood grain of the table. We really need to get you a 'thing' for the rest of them to talk at.
I have a set of mechanics uniforms in blue, and enough dyes that were green. They aren't exactly the right size, but I can make it happen. I just have to try a little. Give me a second on that uniform.
"She's working on it" I said to Kathy.
"It is fascinating to watch you work." Kathy said
"That's one word for it." Dave said sarcastically, earning him a punch in the arm from Tyler
It wasn't long before 3 sets of new uniforms showed up. They had black steel toed boots, they looked like an older model that was brand new. That makes sense I guess. Nobody with any sense is throwing out new boots. The undershirt was a bright yellow color. The overalls were a John Deere green, all capped off with a bright yellow ball cap. We're gonna look like sunflowers in these things.
"Nola dear, can you go just a shade or two darker on the green and add a yellow highlight to the waist, name tag area and down the sides of the legs. We want to break up the form a little bit so we don't blend into the background. Better for the camera." Kathy said
"Who's the 3rd one for?" Dave asked.
"You dear. You're one of the boys now. Time to get your hands dirty for a little while. Just while the camera's rolling" Kathy said, "And before you ask, I need to be directing. So no" She said with a smile
Tyler and I stifled a laugh at that
"Fine, I'm supervising the youngins" Dave said with an exaggerated old timey accent.
"Youngins? You are like 5 years older than me." I said with a laugh.
"I'm 47." Dave said flatly.
Tyler and I both looked him over, and his wife, who nodded as we did.
"Rich 40 is middle class 25." Kathy said jokingly. Maybe there's something to that.
Jokes on them, we extended our lifespans 20 years. So even if I look like a worn out paper bag, I'm gonna be my best self for longer.
Still, I should work out and eat better.
Anyway
The new uniforms were done. Kathy gave her seal of approval and Nola popped out a few small tents for each of us to use as changing rooms. I left my old clothes and the new coat on the floor of the tent. I figured Nola could take them all when she took the tent back.
When I got out Tyler and Dave were talking.
"Why can't I be here?" Tyler asked.
"Because this place only takes 2 to run, and we need that burner phone for this afternoon. The sooner we undo the heist the better." Dave said. Yeah, I don't think that's the reason we are kicking Tyler out before the press shows up. He is a bit of a wild card.
"Fine. Anything else you'd like me to grab while I am out?" Ty asked
Food! One of everything.
Nola summoned a finger thick stack of 20s and started mentally poking me to tell Tyler.
"Nola want's to try more food. And lunch wouldn't be a bad idea." I said
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Oh, get us some champagne, nice wine, glasses and mixers. I have been emailing some friends. After a soft run I'd like to invite some city and charity people here to see about getting a patron." Kathy said. She does work fast.
"Fine. Nola, you gonna give back my Truck?"
Oops. Sorry Ty. Coming right up. I even filled the tank for ya.
The truck emerged from the ground in front of the gate and we waved Tyler out. Per Nola's spying Cole was only another few minutes out.
"Roy, I know he's your friend, but its best if he isn't on camera for now. In fact, I'd say Verdandi goes on camera before he does. The public reaction to him would be more manageable." I hope that was a joke, she sounded serious.
"I get it. Even for people that like him, he is a lot. But we can't hide him forever." I said
"We'll work on it" Dave said.
"Now we deal with your other wild card."
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Cole attempted to re do his monolog a few times at the gate while we debated whether or not we should tell him to turn off the camera or just risk a live confrontation. We knew he caught something yesterday, the what was still up in the air. If it was just Tyler with his big "fuck off" gun, we can more or less ignore it. Sites like this are allowed to have private security, and he was breaking in.
But if he caught something else, like Verdandi or Burt, we would want to have that confrontation off camera.
"What if you said you wanted to apply make up and set up shots before starting. That's boring, right?" I asked Kathy
"Men." She said as she shook her head with a smile "That could work. Do we have anything that could work as makeup?"
Kinda. Not a lot of options, mostly empty or expired tubes from house cleanups. No make up cases though.
After relaying that Kathy asked for a light pink tool box of some kind. It helps the kit only has to look the part till the camera goes off.
When Cole had just started his 6th re take of the opener we opened the door to greet him.
"Hey there! I heard you outside. My media coordinator wants to get you in makeup and work on staging for the interview. You have a minute?" I asked trying to sound as natural as possible
He bought it. He began signing off. Several times. Oh this is painful. But he did mention the address several times. I guess if he thought we had guns pointed at him that's probably smart. We aren't planning on killing him, but if we were, that would be something to keep in mind.
I just want to get this started, but instead I am here leaning against the gate listening to the same sign off slightly differently over and over again.
After what felt like forever he clicked off the camera and came inside. He didn't even flinch as I closed and locked the gate after him. I wish I could bottle this guys confidence and sell it.
I thought Kathy would try to tease the truth out of him while doing makeup. But no. Apparently the makeup selection was so bad she went straight for the interrogation, tag teaming the guy with her lawyer husband.
"I saw your worm when I checked the video, ok? What is it? Some genetically modified creature you use to process things? An alien? What are you hiding?" He said anxiously. I guess the confidence was more of a surface level thing.
"Hold that thought." Dave said, waving me over to a huddle. "We don't have a lot of choices about reading him in. Either that or have Verdandi play meat the press" Dave said.
"He doesn't eat people" Probably. It hasn't come up in conversation yet. "And we can still work with him. He told me first time we met he had absolutely no integrity." I said
"Oh today gets better and better" Dave said
We rounded back on Cole who was not so subtly tugging on the gate latch. Not a real gate my dude. You aren't getting it open that way.
"You want the truth? Congrats, you can get it. But the camera stays off till we're done. And then you will help us cover it up." Dave said
"But the people have a right to know..." Cole started
"You don't actually care." Kathy said definitively. "You want to be famous and rich. You told Roy you have no integrity first time you met him, if that's still true - we can help with both" Kathy closed out
"Why don't you take a seat. I'll explain everything" I said
"There aren't any chairs around..." He started as a chair bloomed from the ground next to him.
"Verdandi and Burt" I called out towards the shed and pit "Please introduce yourselves to your new co worker"
He got wide eyed and silent upon seeing Verdandi. "I am ready to listen now." He said without looking at any of us.
Over the next half hour we explained the truth and the lie. The truth about our recycling operation and the risks that we faced, and the lie we were going to sell to high society and the world. And his role in that lie.
He got sold pretty quickly on the idea of rubbing shoulders with high society types at private events, being first on scene for all of our public exploits, and using Kathy's network to expand. He took the carrot so readily we barely alluded to the stick. He let us know about his dead man's drive and promised to let us follow him home to erase it after we were done.
What none of us expected was what happened after we were done negotiating the media plan.
"Is there any way I can work here on site with all of you? I can... learn to be helpful at this." Cole said nervously
"I don't see any reason why not. We can't pay much till we work through our cash flow issues." I said in response. Dave gave me a death glare muttering about extra paperwork. Probably should have asked my lawyer first.
Welcome to the team Cole
We ran through his web show after that. The 'terrible secret' had to pay off for his audience. We had to come up with something bad enough, but not that bad. We landed on 'toxic run off', with a pre made solution to the problem. The chemical shed we had been using to hide Verdandi. We moved him out and re decorated the place. As long as the camera doesn't turn around he won't be in the show. We even rigged up some pipes coming off the flower to sell the new 'runoff collection' device. In reality we were just filling an IBC tank with brown colored water. It was safe enough to drink. But the people didn't have to know that. The toxic materials were being captured safely and processed somewhere offsite, supposedly. Dave said we would likely need to pay someone for that, even if it was just water, but as long as we start making some money we should be able to cover it.
In the end we came out still looking good, Cole got his web show and we got our new captive press agent. He wanted to get a selfie with Verdandi, but we said no. He was a bit disappointed at that.
Dave followed him home to ensure the destruction of the drive.
That left just Kathy, Verdandi and I at the site. Burt was still sleeping off his late night activities with us.
"We need to do something about you Verdandi. Figure out a costume or uniform we can get you so you can have a bit of freedom. Especially since we just took your house away." Kathy said to Verdandi
"He still can't hear any of what you are saying. " I said as I started to relay the message
"I got some of that. House, uniform, you, also my name" Verdandi said in response
"Impressive. You weren't kidding when you said you were fast with languages" I replied
"It will be great to talk with you without a translator Verdandi. If you ever want to practice I will be here to help" Kathy said.
Things were finally coming together. We had a plan, we had progress, we had a team and we were growing.
The future looks bright.