On the other side of the city, inside the Blazing Hand's compound, Gin found himself returning to the Boss's room. This meant that the man had already watched the recordings of the battle. Finally, it was time to act.
Ever since the Boss came back from the penal facility, Gin had been noticing changes in his behavior. They were small changes at first, but lately, he has been seeing them more. While he was not always an easy person to reach, he had become more distant.
Before, the members of his inner circle were always around him. Now he spends his time alone, only coming out to bark out orders. Gin had no problems taking orders; however, he resented the mistrustful new behavior the Boss was showing.
As he reached the room, Gin knocked on the door with a respectful tone, communicating his presence. The man pushed down his resentment and doubts. "Boss, you called for me?"
From inside the room came the boss's voice. "Come in, Gin."
The man enters the room as he always does. This time, he noticed Scorch marks in the form of a fist print on the wall by the monitor. Gin looked at it for a second and resumed walking towards the boss. This was another change; his behavior was becoming more volatile.
The Boss was sitting on his couch, observing as Gin entered. The glowing red eyes could be seen through his aviator sunglasses. While his expression was calm, Gin knew this man. His eyes will only glow when he's agitated. "Gin, have you seen these recordings?"
Gin stands in front of the boss and slightly bows as a form of greeting. "I have examined my copies in detail, sir."
The Boss glanced at Gin as if he was seeing through him. "We have a problem, Gin. The person inside the black power suit is aiding the Vultures. He was probably the one who built the mechs. This means that the Vulture Queen has a mech engineer."
Gin had arrived at the same conclusion. "I fear that you are right, sir. However, the black powersuit is very advanced. ...I think it's military grade."
The Boss contemplates for a few moments after hearing Gin's opinion. "I think you are right. In light of that, we are going to need a mech engineer of our own."
Gin straightened his back. "Do you want me to pick up the boy from the droid shop?"
The Boss's eyes dim again. "I wanted to leave this matter for when things cooled down. But inlight of these events, I am forced to act. Bring the boy here, but avoid the Droid Boutique. There is a lot of surveillance and guards in that area."
Gin bows again. "It shall be done, sir." He then steps backwards twice and then turns to exit the room.
Back at the military surplus store, the three men decided to adjourn their meeting for the moment. They would resume this discussion in the afternoon. Mark left Jack's shop and moved back to the Droid Boutique. In the way, the young man grabs his comm-pad and calls Johnson Real Estate.
After a few rings, the call connected. "Johnson Real Estate, this is Mindy. How can I help you?"
The cheerful secretary threw off Mark a bit. He hoped to talk to the man directly. "Hello Mindy, my name is Mark Warren, and I would like to talk to Mr. Johnson, please."
The cheerful voice of the secretary sounded again. "Of course, please hold for a moment."
Soft music played for a few seconds. Then, Mr. Johnson answered. "Hello, Mr. Warren, how can I help you?"
Mark returned the greeting and went right to the point. "Hello, I am calling you because I'm interested in acquiring a new property."
The realtor answered quickly. "Is the property one of our listings? Which property are you referring to?"
Mark lost no time in answering Mr. Johnson's questions. "I'm afraid not. The property at the moment is owned by a bank. It is an old junkyard near Riggan's Point. However, I will pay a commission if you help me acquire this property."
The sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard came from the other side. After a momentary silence, Mr. Johnson felt the need to advise his client. " I found the property that you want. However, I feel the need to advise you against buying this property. The place is crawling with criminals and gang members. Even the authorities stay out of the zone."
Mark was expecting this advice. This warning only means that Mr. Johnson had morals. A person who only cared about profit would have never mentioned this point. "Dont Worry, Mr. Johnson, I am aware of the situation of the property. Nevertheless, see if you can drive the price of the property down because of this. The size of your commission will depend on the price drop you get me."
The promise of a higher commission invigorated the man. Even men with morals fall prey to a little greed. "No problem, sir, I will call you when I have something." Once again, the realtor was surprised by the young man's business acumen.
As Mark arrived at the Droid Boutique, the young man found the delivery people from Cooper's Appliance. They were loading the old machines into the truck. The new machines were already installed. At the moment, Rachel was inspecting the equipment.
The young man approached her. "Hey Mom, what do you think of the new equipment? With this, we will have two automated production lines to build new droids."
Rachel examined the machines thoroughly. "These are very good machines. When you told me this morning about the equipment you bought, I was afraid you had purchased the wrong equipment. But this is exactly what we need. How did you know what to buy?"
Mark had a bit of a smug smile on his face. "I have been upgrading the production equipment of my virtual workshop. There is not much difference between the machines that make mechs and these. Only the size sets them apart. I saw them the other day when I took Melly to Tina's Sweet Shop, and decided to acquire them. I managed to get a discount by giving them the old equipment."
The woman started a test on the new machines. She operated the terminals while talking to her son. "Mark, I've called my friends and offered them jobs. They have all accepted. We will start by refurbishing the droids in the warehouse. Although I fear it is best to recycle them and produce other droid designs, these are a bit old."
Mark came up with an Idea. "Mom, why don't we start by repairing droids at the shop? That way, we can get experience and improve our abilities to design droids. That is what we do on the A.M.S. workshop."
The woman was intrigued by his suggestion. After her hiatus in the world of robotics, she was behind in the recent techniques and procedures. This would be a good way of catching up. "That is a good suggestion, Mark, but at the moment, the shop has no capital to buy production or repair rights for the most popular droid designs."
Mark scratches his chin. "What if we create an account for the shop and I transfer some money to it? Would that work?"
Rachel was reluctant to keep leeching off her son's money. "I have another Idea. Why not patent your droids and lease the manufacturing rights? That way, we can fund the shop without dipping into your account."
Mark was happy with this. To him, the more people who produced his technology, the better. "I have no problems mom, I will leave it in your capable hands."
Rachel smiles at her son. "I hope to have a patent by the end of the day. We can then lease the fabrication rights."
The young man leaves the Droid boutique. He moves up the elevator and into his house, where he enters his room with the intention of logging back into A.M.S. However, as he walks into his room, Mark finds a cardboard box on top of his bed.
His curiosity got the better of him. The young man opened the box and found a familiar garment inside. It was his Grease Monkey denim jacket. The last time he saw this jacket was at the entrance of The Pit. Once he woke inside the blacksite, the young man was no longer wearing it.
This was a message, and Mark understood the meaning. His grandfather is back. Ever since the incident at the blacksite, he had been lying low. The young man and his family had forgotten about Moreau. The image of someone taking Melly rushed through his mind.
Fearing the worst, Mark ran to Melly's room. His mother was downstairs, where there were guards and cameras, but the golden-eyed girl was alone in her room. Reaching her door, he walked in. Melly was lying in bed with her VR headset on. At the moment, the girl was in the virtual world playing with her friends.
Mark decided to call Bart and tell him about the event. However, the moment he reached for his comm-pad, the device started ringing. The ID caller read Bart. Without delay, he answered the call.
On the other side, Bart's Voice sounded angry. "Mark, check the comm-grid. Parker is back. I'm sending you a link for a talk show called the Hot Seat. He's being interviewed about finding a cure for the Milcheam plague.
Mark clicked on the link. The screen of the comm-pad was divided in half; one half showed the call with Bart, and the other showed the interview.
A good-looking female reporter was interviewing Dr. Parker amidst laughs and comments. "Dr Parker, you and your team managed to cure a plague that had paralyzed most of the Milcheam System for the better part of a decade, and you did it in a little over a week. Can you tell me how?"
Dr. Parker laughed pretenciously. "Valentina, it is all thanks to my wonderful team at Evolugen. They give me the support that I need to find the answers that elude most people."
The woman was showing an exaggerated smile. In a way, it looked forced. "What I find truly wonderful, Doctor, is that not only did you find the cure, you also provide it free of charge to the people affected by the plague. Why did you decide to do this?"
Dr. Parker's smug expression filled the screen. "Valentina, I believe that every human in the galaxy has the right to live a healthy life. No matter the place or social status. Health is a right every human being should share."
Mark cut the feed. The young man had an expression of disgust on his face. "How can anyone believe this pretentious man?"
Bart's voice came over the line. "He probably paid a gazillion credits to the network. Did you see Valentina's face? She was forcing herself to smile. What gets to me is that now people will forget about the Blacksite event."
Mark decided to tell Bart about the gift sent by Dr. Parker. "Yeah, about that, I just found a box on my bed. Inside was the jacket I lost in the blacksite. He is sending a clear message."
Bart had an angry tone, but he managed to keep a cool head. "That is meant to intimidate you. He can not do anything for the moment. He is in the focus of public opinion. It will be harder for him to make moves for a while."
Mark sought Bart's wisdom."What do you think we should do, Grandpa?"
Bart thought for a moment. "Try to see if you can find something in your inventory to help with security. I am working with some friends on my end to find some dirt to put Parker away."
Mark shakes his head. "I really thought we were done with him."
Bart shared his wisdom with the young man once more. "Mark, people like him are never truly gone until they get what they want or keel over." The man takes a deep breath to calm his emotions. "For the moment, he can't do anything but harass us. Just keep about your day. We will talk in the afternoon."
Mark followed his grandfather's advice. He placed the jacket into his closet. Soon after, he grabs his VR headset and logs back into A.M.S. As he enters the hangar, he is met by Melly and her friends. They had just finished an operation and were repairing their machines at the grease monkey workshop.
The moment Melly saw her big brother, she hovered over with her fairy wings to greet him. "Hello, big brother, I was waiting for you. Alex and I tried your mech for a while. We were both impressed by it. Your new mech is very good."
Mark smiles at the predictable girl. "Why do I feel like you are going to ask me for something?"
Melly smiles tenderly. She noticed that every time she smiles like that, Mark will do anything she asks. "Can you improve my Star Dancer?"