In particular, Ramon had headed back to the pharmaceutical facility where he had been conducting his various research projects. The location was quiet, a sterile environment of cold metal and humming machinery, perfectly suited for the work he was undertaking.
There was a significant amount of data and information he needed to gather from the local servers. It wasn’t just digital assets, however; there were physical parts and prototypes he needed to organize and ship out from this location. These components were vital, and he needed to hand them over to the rest of his group to ensure their broader plans continued without interruption.
He moved through the lab with a sense of ownership. He was, after all, still keeping things running using the research money that had been so generously given to him by Bobo. The funds were ostensibly to facilitate the facility’s official projects, but Ramon had been skillfully diverting them to facilitate his own private research.
It had been an incredibly effective way for him to acquire the necessary funds without ever having to dip into his own assets. Why spend his own capital when someone else was willing to foot the bill?
Because of this financial injection, he was also able to build a top-tier facility. The equipment surrounding him was state-of-the-art, paid for by the very people he intended to surpass. Although, the plans didn’t stop at just using the money.
Ramon paused, looking around the high-tech room. He was sure of it. At one point in the near future, this whole facility, the building, the technology, and the land it stood on, would become his entirely.
Currently, inside the facility along with him was Skull. The man had come in pretending to be one of the live human trials for the medicine that was currently being tested. It was a convenient cover that allowed him to move through the building without raising suspicion.
"So, I have a question?" Skull said.
Skull was standing near a display wall, picking up one of the mechanical exoskeletons. He was admiring it in a way, turning the heavy metal piece over in his hands, trying to figure out how it worked. The machinery was intricate, a complex weave of wires and hydraulic pistons.
This particular piece appeared to be meant for a leg, designed to enhance the user’s running speed or kicking power. Next to it, there were those designed for a foot, and further up the wall, Skull could see an entire suit mounted on a display rack.
Skull looked away from the metal plating and turned his gaze toward Ramon. "Isn’t this facility the one that you want the most to be in your possession? It makes sense, right? Given everything you’ve built here."
Ramon didn’t look up immediately. He was tinkering with an arm exoskeleton piece on a workbench, adjusting the tension in the finger joints.
"You’re right," Ramon commented, his voice calm as he worked. "However, it’s harder to get our hands on this one compared to the others."
He set a small screwdriver down and finally looked at Skull.
"You see, not everyone in the Stern family seems to have the same level of unintelligence as the others," Ramon explained. "Bobo is naive, certainly. But she is not stupid. Those are two very different things."
Ramon gestured to the lab around them. "It is quite clear that for her to have been able to build a facility like this, she was given quite a bit of money. You don’t construct a place with this level of technology on a whim."
He leaned back against the workbench. "The Stern family is strange. We learned from Chad that they don’t seem to work together. They are disjointed. But being able to build something like this from so young... it is clear that they have all been given some significant amount of wealth to start with."
Ramon’s eyes narrowed slightly as he formulated his next thought. "So, we need to snatch not just the companies from right underneath them, but their wealth first as well. We need to drain them dry. So, I’m just picking the lowest hanging fruit first."
Skull raised an eyebrow, waiting for the elaboration.
"And that lowest hanging fruit is the department stores that are owned by Karen Stern," Ramon said, a cold smile touching his lips. "She seems to not have any underhanded methods to retaliate. She is a straightforward business owner, which makes her vulnerable."
Ramon picked up the arm piece again, sliding his hand into the gauntlet. "And it’s a good testing ground. I want to see what the older generation of the Stern family does. If they do nothing while I dismantle her business, then I doubt that Bobo will be able to deal with what is happening either."
He clenched his fist, checking the fit of the exoskeleton. "I’m sure them being new to the world of business means they don’t know how to deal with things when the Underworld gets involved."
Ramon then fully secured the exoskeleton on his own arm. The machine hissed as it locked into place, syncing with his movements. He threw a fist out into the air.
Boom!
The punch was fast and solid, almost as if it made impact with the air itself, creating a shockwave that rippled through the room. The sound was sharp, like a whip cracking. Even Skull appeared to be surprised by the sheer velocity and force generated by the device.
"I always have to save the best for myself," Ramon smiled, admiring the lethal piece of technology wrapped around his limb.
"Alright, so say you’re doing this then," Skull said, recovering from his surprise and placing the leg piece back on the rack. "But messing with the department store... how exactly is it going to help you out? Is it just about causing chaos?"
"It is about simple economics," Ramon explained, creating a fist again and watching the servos whine. "A total of three hundred million was spent building that top-of-the-line department store. Further, two hundred million was spent developing the surrounding areas and promoting the place."
He began to pace slowly. "It’s been quite a number of years since then, but the land it sits on has become more expensive. Right now, that department store would be worth at least six hundred million if they were to sell it today."
Ramon stopped and looked at Skull. "But no one wishes to pay a fair price for things. With all of the mishaps we are causing, it’s going to get quite expensive to run the place. The maintenance, the reputation damage, the security issues, it adds up."
He chuckled darkly. "And it will lower the market value. It will become more trouble than what it is worth. That’s when we sell it for cheap, and solve all of its problems."
"Solve them?" Skull asked.
"After all, it’s easy to solve the problems when you are the one causing them," Ramon said. "And then there are plenty of competitors that have been eyeing up the department store for some time. We buy it for pennies on the dollar, stop the attacks, and the value skyrockets again."
"A quick flip for profit," Ramon concluded. "This is quite common when certain people go bankrupt, yet they still have a section of the business that is profitable. I’m interested to see what she does, because I have quite a few cards that I can play as well."
A day after Karen had desperately called the Curtis family, the gears had begun to turn. They had set up an important meeting with one specific group that would be able to help them.
Karen was surprised. She didn’t expect to hear their name again after some time, let alone have them step in to help out. She had wondered if they would even bother to meet her, given the current state of affairs. Yet, they had agreed.
Now, Karen found herself standing in front of a particular building. The structure loomed over her, imposing and significant. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. The weight of her department stores and her family’s legacy rested on this meeting.
She looked up at the signage, her heart pounding in her chest.
"The Billion Bloodline group," she whispered to herself. "You might be my only chance."