“Yes,” Bar admitted. “When I heard you were putting a crew together, I began cleaning up the place. I was a little disappointed you went to H.A.V.E instead of me for a lair.”
“Well, that was obviously an error. This place is a lot better than the lair H.A.V.E gave me. Is the rest of the lair like this?”
“Not really,” Bar admitted, “but it is mostly functional. I can give you a full tour of the place after we agree to the price.”
“Of course,” Victor said with a smile. He felt much better after hearing that. “Business is business.”
Bar looked at Victor and scowled. “Some things don’t change. Twenty years in the slammer and you still can’t smile to save your life.”
“My smile is authentic.”
“It looked like a sneer.”
“Yes, it does.” Victor conceded. “Which is why it is authentic. There’s not another quite like it, but enough about my smile. What would this place cost me?”
“A job?”
“Sorry?”
“You have been expanding your crew after beating those mercenaries, and I am certain there are certain positions you will need to fill. I want to be your information executive.”
Victor looked at his friend in shock. In true, Victor knew he would need an information executive sooner or later. Owlgirl was his communications executive and while the hacker was great at her job, his crew would need someone on the street. Someone who could gather the information and rumours that weren’t posted on the net. Victor knew that Bar was a perfect fit. However, …
“Are you sure?” Victor asked. “Jolly, you are retired, and you have your own business as The Finder. Why give that up to join me?”
“Who said anything about giving it up?”
“Well, you can’t continue as The Finder after joining me. Information brokers need to be neutral. People are not going to The Finder for information if they know he is affiliated with a villain group.”
Bar rolled his eyes heavenward. “Victor, you know that was never the case in real life. Most information brokers are affiliated with one group or another. That’s how we get most of our information.”
“I know that, but the affiliation is secret. They are more like an understanding between two parties. Like what the two of us have right no. You pass me some nuggets of information, and I pass you some secrets to sell. Why change that? Also, how would your current clients react if you join me?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“They will probably have no reaction since The Finder is not joining the Sweet Crew.”
Victor blinked, but it only took a second for him to get it. “Your boy, Peter. Everyone thinks he is The Finder.”
“And he will continue to be The Finder. His old man is the one who will be joining The Sweet Crew. Good name by the way.”
“Thanks,” Victor replied as he thought about Bar’s offer. “I can see how it can work. You can be an executive and be my man on the street, while continuing your work as The Finder. However, that only answer part of my question. You have a good life, Jolly. A thriving business, kids, Two Drinks Tavern. Why do you want to come out of retirement?”
The cafeteria became silent as Bar took his time before answering.
“I never like the way it ended.” He finally said. “We were villains, and I understood that I may not have a choice in the matter, and if I got nicked by a hero, or got injured on a job, or even killed, that’s something. But I had to quit because our boss went crazy and decided it was a good idea to poison hundreds of thousands of young kids. It never sat right with me. That’s not how I wanted to end things. Now, I have a chance to make things right. So, why not give it a shot?”
Victor was glad his friend took his time, and the answer did not really surprise him. The Candy Crisis left a sour taste in his mouth as well.
“Is that the only reason?”
“No, but it is a big part of my decision, and having some affiliation in the coming days would be a good thing. You saw what happened in Lantern City?”
“I doubt if there is anyone on the planet who haven’t seen a video or two about it.” Victor scoffed, and that was the truth.
For reasons that no scientist or mage could understand, the dimensional plane Nexus was on has a tendency of interacting with other dimensions. When that happens, tears between the dimensions called ‘Gaps’ would appear. Gaps aren’t common, but they are not rare either. The historical record of Nexus was filled with them, and Nexus had been invaded several times by aliens and demons who used these gaps to travel to Nexus. Most people on Nexus knew what to do when Gaps occurred, schools even run drills for students in the case of Gaps appearing nearby, but even in the long history of Nexus, what occurred over Lantern City was one for the record books.
Ten days ago, Gaps began opening around Lantern City. None of them were the kilometres long ‘Invasion Gaps’ that were the bane of civilizations, but the sheer numbers of gaps that appeared was something else.
When the first Gap appeared, no one really thought much about it. Some monsters came through, and the news did their usual blow-it-up reporting, but the Gap was spotted early, and the heroes of Lantern City were quickly activated. While the heroes fought the dimensional monsters, the scientists and magic-users of the city focused on closing the Gap. They managed to do so, and the whole matter was over within half an hour. It was a textbook operation for a Gap.
Then, the second Gap appeared.
Before this one could be closed, a third one was spotted. Then, a fourth, and soon reports flooded in about Gaps appearing outside the city. The main hero team of the city, the Bearers of Light, was immediately called in, and seeing the increasing number of Gaps, the Champion of Lantern City, HeroLight, invoked the Nexus Accords. The heroes and villains of the city entered a truce to combat the dimensional monsters.