The first challenge came from the drug lord. Nero was lucky enough to be warned. Again he was thankful for Ora's attention to detail. She'd managed to see that the man had been getting supplies from somebody who wasn't part of Muite's crew. She'd found the supplier's name in his books, shameful.

This had forced Nero to pay closer attention to him. He'd actually found a place in the Plaza 3, where the drug lord was based, just so he could be close enough to react to whatever he could find out. He'd moved in with his youngest most anonymous runners. There were a thousand of them in each plaza, alone, lost. Forgotten by everyone. Perfect when he needed someone followed

The man the drug lord had called for backup was from the Greenbacks.

The Greenbacks were large. They were old, powerful well connected, Nero actually wondered what they were doing somewhere so far and isolated. But what was really important was that their presence was destabilizing. His whole kingdom was at risk of unraveling. Drugs, for good or ill, were a money maker, and a means to take care of the people who'd decided to follow him.

He decided to approach the Greenbacks before they could investigate what Nero had done to the drug lord.

The Greenbacks had started as a political organization, and they still maintained that fiction, with the alliances they made with the ruling party of the day, and that gave Nero an idea, and leverage.

The man was welcomed into the plaza like a politician, Nero could tell the man enjoyed it, being king of the trash heap.

As the man stepped out of his car, walking into the cafe Ora had managed to discover was their meeting spot, Nero was waiting inside, a little stressed, powerful men like this were more likely to kill him for interfering than hearing him out. But he was relying on the element of surprise and that the area was generally completely low risk.

"Welcome boss", the greenback was puzzled to hear his voice, immediately glancing to the drug lord.

"I'm the man he's surely told you so much about,"

"Really," The greenback spoke, amused, "You're Nero? Are you here to strip me naked and send me home?"

The man was already relaxed, secure in the knowledge that he had a thousand pound gorilla backing him up.

Nero laughed, trying to kill whatever tension there still was. "I'm hoping I can help your people make more money, have more peace."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The man sat, spreading his legs. A waitress brought the two men a beer.

Nero got to working his magic. He explained that the people around were an underutilized resource, and not just because they could buy more drugs. Instead, Nero tried to offer a solution to the declining amount of public support the Greenbacks were getting.

The greenbacks were old, and recognizable to damn near any man woman and child in the country. They'd come up famous for supporting the people. They'd never been allowed to form their own political party, but they had weight and control in the policies passed in parliament.

But with age and notoriety, came a history of very public scandals. They had in fact just been banned from politics during the last election and declared a group supporting criminal activity, effectively criminalizing membership once again. This was not unwarranted, they'd been caught red handed giving bribes to members of parliament to mediate public service contracts. There were rumors about how they were involved in drug trafficking all over the country.

The greenbacks were richer than ever, more connected to the levers of power than ever, but they had terrible public image.

Nero proposed a solution, he had control over the same territories Muite used to have, the same people, the same drug users, But more importantly, There were a thousand times the number of people in his territory who didn't use drugs. But were similarly disaffected and neglected. The last elections had been extremely narrowly won, and the voters in his five plazas out of the maybe forty plazas in the shanty would have been enough to change the outcome of the elections of the largest city in the country. And he wasn't going to stop at five.

The greenback was intrigued. He sat forward on his seat. "I'm listening, but the way I see it, we can do this without you, we can even do it without Ahan" Sambi, the greenback pointed to the drug lord, who'd been sitting quietly, morosely drinking his too warm beer.

"You can, but my people chose me to take control, and Muite's people already hate him, he's been drinking from that cup for too long."

Sambi nodded.

Nero let the atmosphere settle, allowing Sambi to digest his proposal. Nero had already began to relax, Sambi himself was not a purely economic animal, and gave him the feeling that a partnership would not be unwelcome.

"In exchange, " Sambi responded, "You want what? Our support, money?"

Nero launched into the second part of his proposal, something a little riskier. He wanted contracts, He wanted a share of the government cake. Local cleaning and repair, small construction projects that would allow his people an external and reliable source of income.

"And the drugs, we had an agreement with this guy, we cant allow new business to take away from old business"

"Business as usual" Nero responded, Ahan sat up, energized.

Sambi smiled, took a deep draught of his beer, the first one since they'd walked in.

"We'll find you"

Nero stood up, aware that he'd been dismissed. He knew he'd made a bit of a risk just showing up. but he thought he'd made a good case for himself.

He left the building to Ora's inquisitive gaze. They left to find a place where they could go through the dealers books in person, to see if they could find any more surprises. later, he'd head home, report to Sherry and a few of the other big traders, he'd ask them for advice, and wait for the Greenbacks to come back to him.