Chapter 10 - Cash Corporate(2)
The train screeched to a stop. Dust and steam drifted through the cracks in the old carriage doors as they reluctantly slid open.
Sector ten.
Cash stepped out first, mood sullen. He stared dazedly at the structure until his hands begun to tremble.
"This place looks smaller," He said quietly. Immense sadness whirled up in him. This was Ray's legacy. This was his father's legacy and yet it was now in this deplorable state.
Once it had been a proud industrial complex, two storeys of glass and steel and a massive garage. Now it was merely a shell, a collapsed building which barely retained a fraction of its past glory. It was a tomb.
He stared at it for a long while.
"It looks smaller", he said repeated.
"It isn't," Coin replied, stepping down beside him. "You just remember it larger than it was."
He was right. Cash did remember it larger then it was. Because that was just what Ray did. He made things larger. Brighter. Full of life.
The scent of oil
The laughter of his crew
The blaring siren that marked the start of every haul.
Ten years ago...
Ray stepped into the bustling building, two boys in tow. They were young, barely ten. The gray haired one lagged behind, staring around in awe, while the other, a golden blond, walked beside him with a quiet, calculating curiosity.
"Keep up you two," Ray called over the noise, his voice warm and commanding. He moved like a man who owned the space, not because of power, but because everyone trusted him to.
"Is that one ours?" The gray haired boy, Cash, asked, pointing to a half-disassembled hauler covered in oil stains.
Ray grinned. "That particular one is family, son. Built her from scrap. One day you'll drive her as well. A beauty she is."
The blond haired one, Coin, ran a finger along the console panel, studying it's circuit lines.
"It's inefficient," he muttered.
Ray laughed. "Then make it better."
Around them, workers grinned, used to this sight. The boss often came here with his boys, one a cheerful little chap, the other a textbook.
Everywhere, the coin emblem of Cash Corporate gleamed in bold golden paint.
It wasn't just a company then, it was a living thing. A promise.
And Ray Bob was its beating heart.
****
Now…
"Well, well,…..well. If it isn't Ray's two little precious orphans." A sneering voice rang through the rubble, leering at Cash and Coin.
Cash turned immediately, recognizing the voice. He knew who it was. The damned Little Sack. Wrath slowly filled his eyes.
There, at the entrance, stood Little Sack with an entourage, five or six men that wore the same smug smile that made Cash's teeth clench.
Little Sack was a textbook idiot. A wiry, malnourished man with sharp cheekbones and hollow eyes that seemed to dart constantly, like a cornered rat.
His limbs were unnaturally long and thin, giving him a haunched insect-like posture. Cash had been quite terrified of his appearance when they were young as he looked like a rather large mutated fly.
"If it is young Mc-Fly", Cash sneered. "What brings you to this part of town?
"Heh, hehe," Little Sack chuckled, his grin twitching. " Funny, right? You think that's gonna piss me off?"
He stepped forward, boot crunching on glass. "I heard you two were back in business. Thought I'd come see the ghost's for myself."
Cash clenched his fists. There was nothing more he would have loved right now that to wipe that smug grin of the idiot's face.
"Coin" Cash called out to his brother, whose gaze stayed locked on the building, fingers twitching slightly. Calculating, patient.
Little Sack spread his arms wide, smirking.
"So this is it, huh? The mighty Cash Corporate" He kicked a rusted metal plate on the ground. It clattered away with a hollow echo.
"Didn't think I'd live to see it crumble"
Cash's jaw tightened. "Careful where you step, Fly. That floor used to hold better men than you."
"Better men." Little Sack stopped abruptly, feigning shock. "Better men." He stated out loud, dramatically.
"Where are they then." He paused, looking around and gesturing exaggeratedly.
"They aren't dead, are they?, Money boy?."
Behind, the men burst into laughter. One spat on the floor.
Cash took a slow step forward, the muscles in his arm coiling. "You've got five seconds to walk out of here before I make you a part of the wall."
Sack tilted his head, mock amusement in his voice.
"Five seconds huh? Bold for a regular man who hasn't undergone any mutation'"
Little Sack finally lay down hs trump card.
His smile split his face like a cracked mirror. He reached into his greasy coat and whipped out a thin holo-pad. Light bloomed, crisp, official, the Ministry's seal burning red at the center.
"You boys think you can just swagger back and stake a claim?" he said, voice raspy.
"Apparently not. Auction closed last week. Cash Corporate, transferred. Certified. Paid in full."
He slapped the pad down at Cash's feet. The holo projected a line of text that made Cash's blood run cold.
[Asset Transfer: Cash Corporate
Buyer: Sack and Sons Company Limited.
Authority: Sanctuary Assets Unit
Timestamp: Third Hour, Clearphase. ]
Laughter bubbled up from the entourage. One of them shoved a stamped paper into Cash's face as if the smell of bureaucracy would sting harder than the words.
"You see?" Little Sack crowed. "Legal. Clean. Your daddy's empire has been sold to the highest gutter rat. Now get out of here before I have my boys remove you, permanently."
The men behind Sack grinned widely, flexing their muscles. Heat surged along Cash's jaw. His hands curled until his knuckles whitened.
Coin didn't move at first. He looked at the holo pad like one would inspect a faulty circuit, slow and considering.
"Forgery", Coin said flatly.
Little Sack laughed, sharp and quick. "You calling me a liar, blueprint boy?"
"You've got one choice," Sack growled. "Walk. Or get carried ou…."
Coin cut him off before he could finish.
"Fifteen armed drones."
"What?" Little Sack stuttered, clearly confused.
Coin continued, his voice as flat as ever.
"Fifteen armed drones are aiming at you and your goons as we speak. You have two choices. Walk. Or get carried out."
Coin didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to.
He tapped his wrist terminal once. The holo-pad at Cash's feet beeped. A new overlay slipped over the Ministry's seal. A thermal grid. Half a dozen red tiny dots were in the direct line of fire of fifteen blue dots.
Little Sacks eyes widened, his grin faltering.
"You can't do this." He stuttered, looking around. "You can't commit murder in the sanctuary. It's the law"
The men behind him were equally spooked. The looked around, warily.
"Try me."
A simple statement, and yet it sent shivers down the spine of Little Sack.
Coin.s face remained impassive, his tone flat. But his eyes radiated a chilling aura that caused goosebumps to break out on the skin of those who heard him.
"I'll be back."
Little Sack spat once, hissing.
He and his crew slunk away, boots crunching over glass and rust. Over head, the bells tolled louder, their pattern now frequent.
"We have to return."
Coin said, to a very quiet Cash.