The Offer
In 2052 what the world feared most came to pass, a third world war. A war fought with nuclear weapons and drones, a war which devastated every city, every town and every country. Most believed it meant the end of humanity, the end of the world. However in the vast wastelands of America a light in the darkness emerged, New Boston, the city of hope. The construction of this great haven became a symbol to the people, a symbol that the world they once knew can be rebuilt and once they had that thought in their heads humanity endured.
Now, almost seventy years later when humanity has rebuilt, New Boston is still famed the world over, those who live in the city however, know the truth. The city is ruled by the criminal underworld, mafia families, powerful gangs and corrupt corporations. Though even in this world, one man stands above all else, Don Francis Alduino, the founder and Boss of the Alduino family and the most feared man in all of New Boston.
There were few in the city that ever got the chance to meet the legend though, many believed he didn't exist, or maybe he died a long time ago. All anyone knows for sure is that if the man does exist, he never leaves the Alduino tower, his home and the best defended fortress in the city.
This day, however, one man sat outside his penthouse office waiting to meet him, a petty car thief by the name of Jack James. Someone in his position would usually be overwhelmed, terrified or honoured, instead he just felt irritated. Not just at the situation he found himself in, but also at his own greed. If he just sat by and didn't say anything he wouldn't be exposing himself like this.
"You can go in now." Jack stood up without even acknowledging the secretary behind the desk, what kind of mob boss has a secretary anyway? He waited impatiently whilst the door scanner searched his body for any weapons before opening, how many times do they have to check? He'd been through three scanners already, what a ridiculous amount of security.
Finally after a several minute scan the door finally opened with an electronic whine, the first thing he noticed about the room it revealed was the size of it, a giant rectangular room, the roof as high as a double story house and the length double even that. Whilst he was distracted the door closed behind him and only one sound remained, a strange hissing, to him it sounded like gas escaping a tiny pipe. Jack looked around his surroundings for the origin of the sound, ten guards stood on each side of the room, wearing suits with exo-guard armour crudely hidden underneath. At the far end of the giant room stood a large desk with a single man sat behind it, two men stood on either side of the desk and behind them the entire wall was glass, revealing the outside world. That surprised Jack the most, his eyes had never beheld the outside world, he had lived in the city his entire life. It looked... Dead, no trees, no life, nothing. Yet somehow beautiful... "Mr James. Please, step forward." Jack snapped out of his entranced state looking for the owner of the voice, confused.
It was much too feminine to belong to anyone in the room, at least from first glance. The voice came from the direction of the desk, Jack narrowed his eyes. He realised where the voice came from, it was the man who stood to the right of the oversized desk, he wasn't a man, he was a woman. A very old, androgynous woman wearing a clean cut suit, but a woman none the less. Now that he looked closer he could see a Visionex implant on the left side of her head, the holographic display curling around her head to cover her left eye. The display shone clear and multitudes of unreadable information information flew past it. Jack felt like laughing, It figures a high ranking member of the Alduino family could afford such a powerful piece of kit.
Well, she shouldn't be his main focus anyway, no, the most important man in the room would be the one behind the desk, Jack had not a single doubt that this man must have been the infamous boss of the Alduino family. Without wasting another moment he did as the old woman asked, he began walking towards the desk. The car thief wanted to get a clear look at the famed boss behind the desk, when would someone like him get another chance like this? The man sitting at the desks face was obscured by an holographic monitor, so from where Jack originally stood he couldn't make out a single detail.
As he made his way down the long room the only sounds to be heard were his own boots muffled on the soft carpet and the hissing sound of gas. When he finally reached the desk, the man behind it switched the monitor off revealing his face.Thanks to that, Jack could now see where the hissing originated from. The man before him, the legend before him was wearing some sort of re-breather. Around his mouth and nose he wore a mask, neon blue lining the edges, three pipes found their ways out of it and towards a complicated looking machine on his back. Every time he breathed out a small electronic flap on either side of his mask opened to let some sort of gas escape. So that's why no one ever sees him, he's sick, probably quite badly sick. Jack would have felt disappointed in this so called legend, if not for the rest of his appearance. First off, Francis Alduino was very old, every visible spot on his body held wrinkles, his hair whilst well maintained had still faded in to a light grey. His eyes however had not lost age, they were a deep green and seemed to pierce through whatever they looked at. His eyebrows were thick, but well trimmed. His light hair hung from his head reaching down to his shoulders. This combined with his pristine suit overcoat led to a rather intimidating aura. Hell, to Jack even his re-breather had an intimidating air about it.
Jack locked eyes with the man in front of him, as he did Alduino lifted his arm slowly and pointed at his mask. "Does this surprise you?" He asked. The first words Jack had heard this man say, his voice was light, yet a little hoarse , on top of that the electronic devices covering his mouth made it sound almost robotic.
Jack looked down at his feet, feigning fear. "I-I'm sorry for staring, I just- I was so surprised to see that you're real." He acted as nervous as possible, it's best that way, it's best not to grab attention. It's how he always dealt with this type.
...There was no reply, no laughter at his pathetic cowardliness, no pride filled apology, nothing. He raised his head slowly, locking eyes with Alduino, then Jack felt fear. Alduinos eyes pierced his very being, the old man seemed to look straight through his facade. "I see..." He replied. Jack breathed a sigh of relief, he was just overreacting. The old mob boss cleared his throat. "t's not important anyway. What is important is why you helped my men." He spoke slowly and with authority.
Jack kept up his outwardly pathetic persona. "I- I just heard some men talking about an ambush and it sounded like they were betraying their friends. I just told their friends I didn't realise they were your men sir!" Jack answered, forcing his voice to quiver. Once again there was no reaction on the old mans face. Maybe that was too much of a stretch, Jack thought. There's no one in the city that doesn't recognise the emblem of the Alduino family; The Alduino Tower. It's printed on the outfit of every member in the family.
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Alduino sat back in his chair to an upright position resting his hands together on the desk. "I see, whatever the truth is, you saved my men. And for that, I thank you." Alduino lightly bowed his head, true gratitude from the big boss. "However, this situation is more complicated than just a thank you. Car thief, do you know who's car you were stealing?" Alduinos left eyebrow raised, in a questioning manner.
Here it is, this is what Jack was waiting for, this is the stupid mistake he made. If he didn't stop to warn Alduinos men about the traitors ambush he wouldn't have been caught, he could have been away completely free with one of the Alduino families vehicles, even that alone would have fetched a big enough price to last him years. Jack silently cursed his greed. "Wai-wait. Was, was that your car? I am so-so-sorry. Please, forgive me, I didn't know!" Jack lent on his knees, head down begging Alduino almost in tears, a man with such large pride as Francis Alduino surely wouldn't kill a poor begging man, right?
Alduino gently waved his hand at the car thief to stand, just as Jack predicted. "Stop embarrassing yourself. If I wanted you dead you wouldn't be here right now. But, stealing from me would usually at least be punished by losing one, or several fingers, it depends on what you stole, but you also saved my men. So we'll call it even." Jack let out a sigh of relief, he wasn't going to lose any body parts, that knowledge would make anyone feel at least a little better. "Obviously that's not why you're here. If I just wanted to thank you, I could have sent a letter." Alduino continued, then nodded towards the androgynous woman. "Maria. If you would be so kind." Jack began to sweat, worried about what would come next.
The woman, apparently named Maria bowed lightly, activating a large holographic projection equipped on her wrist. A large screen for all to see flashed in to life on the translucent blue screen. It was a detailed description of the security and schematics of the car Jack attempted to steal. "This car you attempted to steal, it was meant to be unstealable." She began. "The door seals were developed by the greatest scientists and engineers in the city, so leveraging them open is impossible. The windows aren't just bullet proof, they're rocket proof, sou you can't get in that way. We even have low frequency noise amplifiers installed that interfere with psychic abilities. Simply put the only way to to open any door to this car is to use the bio scan, which only chosen members of the Alduino family can use. There is no way to steal our cars, but you Jack James, managed to open the drivers side door." Maria tilted her head, a soft but menacing smile across her lips. "How... Is what I would ask, but we know how." Maria tapped on the screen, which changed to another set of schematics of the bio scan pad for the car. This was not going the way Jack thought it would, he exposed himself so much. Every curse he knew flew through his mind directed at his own stupidity.
Alduino took back over. "The fact is Mr. James, you flipped the bio scan cover and hacked in to the very system. Inside the system are countless walls to protect it, hundreds of different kinds of cyber defences that I don't even understand. Yet you, an apparent petty car thief managed to get through every single one using a decade old implant in under ten minutes." He never took his eyes of off Jack throughout the entire conversation, trying to size him up, looking through him, something, Jack couldn't tell. "You can pretend to be a nobody Jack James, but I've had my boys research you. Perfect marks in school, college and university. Completely graduated education before the age of twenty. A literal genius. And with the kind of genius you have everyone in New Boston should be scrabbling for you. Yet, here you are stealing cars for a living." Alduino paused for a few seconds, his expression unwavering. "You're an overachiever Mr. James, one that pretends to be an underachiever."
Jack clicked his tongue, he didn't need reminding of that by a mob boss. He was almost certain he buried everything about himself, he underestimated the Alduino family. "So, what do you want?" He replied in a blunt tone. There was no point pretending anymore, he dropped the act. Jack heard a sound of dissatisfaction coming from the man on the other side of Francis Alduino, this man also appeared to be quite old, although he must have been many years younger than the boss himself.
Don Alduino released what sounded like a satisfied sigh. "Thank you, that act of yours was almost insufferable. As for what I want... I want you to live up to your potential. I want you to join my family." Alduino opened his arms.
Jack blinked slowly, a little dumbfounded by what he just heard. I tried to steal your car and you want me to work for you? Jack thought. He shook himself out of shock. "I decline." Jack stood defiant. There was no way he would work for gangsters. He was not exactly an upstanding citizen, but he had his own set of principles just like anyone else.
Jack glanced at the man on the left of Don Alduino, his anger was now clear and visible, he did not like Jack, which was fine by him, Jack didn't like him either. Maria however seemed calm, she even kept up her previous smile. Don Alduino raised his eyebrows, but had no other visible reaction. "Well, I can't say that was entirely unexpected, but understand this Jack James I want you, and you will work for me." Alduino narrowed his eyes.
Jack stepped back lightly. "Is that a threat?" He growled back locking eyes with Alduino. Staring down the leader of the most powerful Mafia in New Boston probably wasn't the smartest thing he'd done today.
In response the mob boss shook his head. "Perish the thought. If I had you killed now after you saved my men what kind of man would I be. No, you're free to go Mr James." Aldiuno motioned towards the door which began to slide open.
Jack looked towards the door, caution in his heart. "Just like that?" He asked, worry in his voice. Would they really let him off that easy, didn't he just offend someone with a lot of power?
Alduino clasped his hands together. "Just like that." The old man answered. Jack turned around and began creeping towards the door, caution in his slow steps. His eyes swapped between the guards lining the walls, looking for any telltale movement, waiting for someone to reach for a gun. Much to his surprise, however he reached the door without any incident. Just as he had left the room, Jack heard a voice from behind. "Mr. James." He froze, just about managing to turn his head. "I look forward to our next meeting." As those words left Alduinos mouth the door slid closed. Separating Jack from the legendary Mafia boss and ending the meeting that would change his life for ever, whether for better or for worse, Jack didn't know. All he knew was, he shouldn't have helped those men.