By the time Valentine showed up I had already finished my second bowl of ramen. Despite being a front for a black market dealer they made some really good grub. Without missing a beat I asked if there were any booths in the back fit for a meeting. Five minutes later I was seated behind a table in a private room with the three leaders of Zephyr. It was a bit bare for a meeting room, but things of this nature rarely had the most class in my experience. I did wish I’d been able to get more than a folding table though.

Valentine had chosen a much more formal suit for the occasion, while the second player in the lineup wore tactical gear and an actual shoulder mounted AI controlled pistol. I was in awe for all of five seconds until I realized it was an epic drop pulled from the area beyond the Bandit Lands. I’d get my own later. I might even paint it in cooler colors.

The third guy was the most intimidating of the bunch. I always viewed purely black armor as the best for intimidation, and this guy didn’t disappoint. Smooth armor covering every inch of the body, angled in ways that would cleanly deflect any normal projectile, and a full helmet all combined with the silence and good posture made for a rather imposing figure.

I leaned forward on the table and began speaking, hoping that I might be able to make it through an actual negotiation without breaking down. Selling guns to random people was always easy, as I had the advantage. Now I could almost feel the nervous sweat, and the shaking of my breathing threatening to overwhelm me.

“So I have a target that I need taken out, and Zephyr needs quick boosts to its combat foundations. Me and my associates have already done some of the information work and have come up with a suitable plan for escape. Our only problem is that we are unable to field enough players to feasibly assault this place. This is where we’re hoping your guild can assist.” I steepled my fingers so that I might appear more confident than I really was. I was terrible at negotiating.

“You say you have a target, and yet your problem is not directly our own. We could choose to ignore your issues and gain a steady influx of items and equipment, or we could even do our own research, rendering you and yours obsolete. What’s to stop us from cutting you out of the deal entirely and taking care of this ourselves?” Valentine spoke up on their side while the other two leaned back. I chuckled as I did the same, hoping they would view me as non-threatening.

“You could choose to ignore it or deal with it yourselves, but then you lose out on any future deals you might have with me. While that might not seem like much at the moment, all it would take to even the playing field again is me dropping the location of another item rich location to one of the other guilds. Suddenly you’d be embroiled in a three man race where everyone has the best weapons and tech. As you mentioned over our messages, a sixty-forty split in your favor isn’t a bad offer at all. I could even sell directly to guilds that are enemies of your enemies. Tip the scales in Zephyr’s favor, all while staying neutral.” The guy with the shoulder mounted pistol sat up, sat at me with a relaxed yet firm gaze.

“Those are some bold claims. Say we do cut you in. What do you bring to the table that makes you worth forty percent of the score, aside from knowledge of the building and an escape route? What makes you special enough that we need you?” I’d almost forgotten what Duveen had said about the flash drive, thankful that he’d been thorough enough in his work to get something as special as it was.

“I’ve got a quiet way into the building that you won’t find out about unless you keep me in the loop. Quieter than explosives, and easier than breaking down the front door. You want to get in before Bastion police can come down on you like a ten ton hammer? You’ll need me.” It was a bluff if I’d ever made one, but that skeleton key was my best chance at getting their help and remaining a part of the job.

I stood up from the table, heading for the door leading out of the broom closet of a room. “I’ll give you a few minutes to think about it. Information, a readily available escape plan, and a way in that doesn't involve getting shot or arrested.” I stepped out and into the main room where there were several merchant NPCs of a much friendlier disposition, providing details and advice to other players who were looking at armor or weapons, respectively.

The counters were all made of bulletproof glass, with various guns and ammunition types sitting safely locked away. I didn’t want to wait too long so I only browsed for the few minutes I had, making a mental note to buy an extra three rounds for my grenade launcher, along with a thermal scanner that would wrap around my head like a visor. After those few minutes of perusing and adding things to my mental list, I walked back into the room, hearing a discussion between the three abruptly cease.

“So, have you come to a consensus on whether or not you want me on the job?” I slid into my seat once more, clasping my hands together and looking at each of them in turn. They all looked at each other before finally the guy in full armor sighed, a deeply modulated voice coming from within his helmet. “Valentine will be your contact for this, and we’re only willing to keep you on if you agree to take thirty percent of the acquired items. You’ll be allowed to take a single item first and foremost from the entire haul if the mission is successful. If not, you take what we give you. Do you accept our terms?” He seemed to stare right into my soul as he spoke, the terms dictated being heavily against me, but also fair enough in regards to getting the very first pick of everything there. I just had to ensure things went well.

“The terms are fair enough. I accept and agree with them, though I’ll need to speak with Valentine here about necessary arrangements before the raid is carried out.” I received a nod at that, both players standing up and walking out the door, leaving me alone with Valentine who brought out the contract. “They’re not going to wait for you?” I crossed my arms as he signed his own name on the paper with a pen, before sliding both over to me. “I have my own method of transportation, as I’m sure you’ve already seen. I do apologize for how our last business meeting went, though I’m sure you’ll be delighted to hear that my men procured all the firearms and ammunition you supplied us. I know I was overjoyed to hear that you hadn’t perished along with your associates.” His words made me forcibly suppress a shudder as I signed the contract with my alias.

“Sure, you were happy. Regardless, we need to iron out the details here. Me and mine will get more information as it becomes available while you prepare your men. I’ll message you with documents containing information relating to troop strength, shipping manifests, and the escape route as they become available to us. If it's not there, that means we couldn't gain access to it. All I ask is that you try to have your people in a relative state of readiness on the day we attack.” I didn’t trust him for a second, his honeyed words glossing over the fact that he’d led Lion’s Mane right to us, not caring whether we lived or died. If things didn’t pan out the right way on this job, I’d consider putting Zephyr right below the Whitman Arms Dealers on my list of targets.

We had to hash out a few other details, such as logistics and rough estimates for when the job would take place. Valentine didn’t want his members sitting on their hands for too long, and I certainly didn’t want to wait long enough for Whitman to come after me with full force. We shook hands and left each other to our respective errands. Mine involved browsing the items on display, looking for things that might help me get a better read on the building and its inhabitants.

The thermal scanner was something I couldn’t pass up, despite its cost of two thousand credits. It was very user friendly, a configuration menu popping up when I powered it on, an arrow pointing to a button on the side that I assumed would bring it back up if pressed. I set it up to my liking, though I had a rather difficult time at first since I was completely unfamiliar with the technology despite it being as simple as it was.

After that I bought three forty millimeter rounds for my grenade launcher, a black wetsuit that I’d be using for infiltration, as I wanted a closer look and a few photos of the inside of the building, since the flash drive hadn’t contained any. I also bought a portable jamming device the size of a brick, just strong enough that any cameras that might see me would broadcast nothing but static until I was safely out of range. Overall, it was a lot of tech that ended up being far more expensive than I’d expected, dropping me from the forty six hundred credits I had down to only six hundred. This last bit of money was spent on a silencer for my Recycler Pistol, an uncommon piece of tech that worked exclusively with Recycler weapons. This pulled me down to a solid one hundred twenty five credits, leaving me feeling like I was going back in time to when I was dirt poor.

The memory slipped into my mind unbidden, the feeling of asphalt beneath my feet and only a vague sense of purpose guiding my actions. I barely noticed the looks I was getting as I spent money like water, players staring in awe and hatred alike. I walked out with my near gear stowed away, the only visible thing being the wetsuit that I slung over my shoulders on the way back to the apartment.

The journey was fairly uneventful, though someone did ask me if there was a reason to go scuba diving. After lying through my teeth about potential loot at the bottom of the ocean, I let them run off to presumably buy scuba gear to either confirm or deny the lie as truth. I sent a message to Hugh as I walked, asking if he could get the truck back to me before night fell. I only got his response by the time I was walking back in the door to the apartment, the door sliding quietly closed as I went to my room to change.

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Sender: Hugh_Jass

Message: Sorry, no can do. The bounty quest I found and took is a group bounty, so it’s likely to take some time, and I can’t just drag them around on foot. I’ll try and save up for a car of my own so I don’t have to keep you from yours. Once I’m done I’ll bring it back.

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I was tempted to simply recall the truck, refraining only because Hugh had been around for a bit and it would be a shame to lose him at this point over a bit of convenience. So I simply changed into the wetsuit, then began figuring out where to hide the jamming device before finally giving up. I went out again with the wetsuit underneath everything else for some fabric and sewing supplies, losing another twenty five credits for a large enough quantity that I’d have more than enough if I had any projects in the future. Sewing the black fabric onto the wetsuit to serve as a pocket for the jammer was simple enough, though it took me ages to tie the thread off as I’d never been the best at sewing. At least the apartment was quiet when I got back.

Then I realized another problem. I couldn’t have both the jammer and thermal scanner on at the same time, as the jammer scrambled the thermal scanner until it was turned off. I had to rub my eyes several times as the blind debuff cleared after that. As I stared down at the two items on the counter, I couldn’t help but mutter to myself a few choice words.

“God, I’m dumber than dirt.”