A few days had passed since Harry Cardenez had visited Notsburg in the hopes of striking a deal. Just like he had said in the meeting, there was more than one Tier-2 city that they could do business with, and so he had spent these last few days in an attempt to set up another meeting. Just as he was sifting through the reports of the Tier-2 gangs in those areas to avoid another such situation, frenetic knocks came from behind his doors.
Bursting into his office was one of Harry’s newest assistants, a promising young man whose clothes were drenched. “Sir, we’ve just been informed that one of our factories is under attack! It looks like it's coming from one of the gangs.”
Harry didn’t even look up, rather he huffed out a loud air as if it was bothersome.
“This does happen once in a while. The gangs in the city forget who exactly took over this place just because we don’t push and shove our name everywhere. Just notify the Freaks to deal with them, and tell them to leave behind some men to protect it for the next few days.”
After giving his order Harry went on with his business, but his assistant still stood there. “Sir… are you sure that this will be sufficient? According to the reports, the gang that is currently attacking us isn’t one of the local ones. It’s too early to say who they are, but they’re definitely from an outside city.”
This finally got Harry’s attention as he placed his pen down and closed his laptop. He knew that this would happen some day, another city attempting to take over theirs. They were doing well so far, which was one of the reasons the man wanted to collaborate with a higher tier city to avoid becoming the target of an attack.
“Send out a full force. We need to send out a message so other groups won’t do the same thing.”
“Yes, sir!” The man bowed down.
The Freaks were sent to the factory location, and with their strength and power it didn’t take them too long to deal with the outside gang. After some interrogation, they discovered that they came from a nearby Tier-3 town, though this was more of a scouting party.
The Freaks didn’t hesitate, deciding that slicing off their heads and sending it back to the town would send a clear message in case the gang leader would want to come for them as well. Harry wasn’t sure if that wouldn’t provoke them, but he trusted in the Freaks’ judgement.
The next day, the same thing happened again, only this time another factory was targeted. Once more, the Freaks were able to deal with the mess, yet they found out that it wasn’t the same gang that had attacked them the day before.
One attack could be called a coincidence, but two in such a short timeframe…
‘Two attacks, one after another and both at the factories. Although they didn’t manage to destroy much this is cause for concern. Fixing the damage will take some time, though fortunately we’ve been ahead of the schedule so far. Still, if this continues to happen, our workers might soon start to quit.’
The third day, things get ever worse, both factories were being attacked at the same time by two different groups. The Freaks were strong, but there weren’t many of them. In this situation one would have to deal with one and then the other.
As they cleared both places, many of the workers, as well as equipment had been destroyed in the second factory. Seeing the site, Harry had clenched his fist, and as he thought, many workers too afraid to go in were deciding to quit.
Harry slammed his fist right on the desk.
‘How do I solve this situation? Two groups have decided to go after us. Both of them are local towns. If I send the Freaks to go deal with one of them, then we will be defenceless.’
It was at that moment that a number of calls were coming through on Harry’s phone. He answered them, dealing with them one by one. The men stationed outside of the room could just hear shouting and cursing on the first few.
After that, it settled down but the calls hadn’t stopped coming in and when he eventually did. Harry was lost as he put down his phone.
‘Those clients just cancelled their orders all of a sudden. It should be impossible for them to have already heard about the factory attacks…or maybe they were targeted as well.’ As this thought came to Harry’s mind a certain image of a man in a red suit appeared.
One that he had recently met, the man named Slith. Harry’s phone rang once more, this time from an unknown number, usually he wouldn’t pick these up but in this situation he answered the call.
“Hello, dear friend.” A deep voice, a voice that he had just thought of had entered his ears.
“You’re behind everything, aren’t you? Is this your way of trying to force my hand?” Harry questioned, yet all that could be heard on the other end was the sound of soft chuckles.
“I don’t have the slightest idea what you might be talking about, neither me nor anyone in my city has even lifted a finger.” Sloth replied.
At the moment, with the way things were going, Harry knew that the business he had built up with his own sweat and blood was falling apart. Which was why right now, he decided to swallow his pride so salvage what he could.
“Please stop…I will sign the deal with you under your conditions, and we can work together. That’s what you want, right?” Harry asked.
This time, there was laughter on the other end. “Sorry, but I thought I made it clear that offer was only valid during your stay with us. You were given a chance and yet you rejected it. You wanted to get up here at the big table, but there is a reason why people like you can’t reach it. Now, have fun dealing with the consequences of your own actions, and enjoy watching your whole company burn down.”
The phone call had ended there, and Harry was left staring at the desk in front of him. At this point and time the only thing he could do was talk to his son.
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