Small Steps 1.5
Lights
Hei Xiong watched his nightclub, technically open but largely empty. The club usually was, this early in the evening. There were several young men and a couple women at the bar, some fortifying themselves for the night, and that was enough reason for the club to be open.
Bale, one of Hei's employees, came over to where he sat. "There's a girl outside the club. She's askin' for you, sir."
Normally, Hei wouldn't think twice about ignoring some random girl who wanted to talk to him. However, at a slow time like this, he really had nothing better to do. "Eh, I can chat for a bit."
Bale saluted and went towards the door. Bale was always too formal for his own good.
After a minute, he returned, followed by who Hei assumed was the girl, almost old enough to be a woman, at the door. She had long, dark blonde hair in a braid, small green eyes, and a few freckles on the bridge of her nose. Her face bore several small scars, with a larger one on the corner of her cheek, like a macabre smile. The girl wore a red dress and matching jacket, with what looked like high-heeled boots with the heels broken off, and a blue handbag that didn't quite fit the outfit. She immediately noticed Hei, met his eyes, and smiled wide.
"Hello, Junior," she said once she came close. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Hei kept a stern face. "Aren't you a little young to be in this club?"
"Yes. It's a good thing I'm not here for the club, isn't it?"
"What are you here for, then?"
"Why don't you take a guess?"
"I don't have time for this."
"Sorry to interrupt your very busy evening, then…"
Hei could practically feel the sarcasm in her voice. He didn't like it, but the fact that she spoke to him like that, despite knowing who he was, meant that she was very confident or very, very stupid. She didn't seem stupid.
Hei studied her face. Not a fighter, that was for sure. She clearly didn't have Aura, nor was she muscular. The scars were from recent wounds, all roughly the same age as far as Hei could tell—not more than a month old and probably less. She seemed chipper and carefree, but Junior doubted that. This girl was carefully controlled. She wanted the conversation to go a certain way, she had this planned out. She was hiding something darker behind that happy mask...
"Revenge," Hei said. A guess, but a vague enough one. "Probably on whoever gave you all those scars. You're hoping to get some dirt, maybe hire some of my boys..." Hei saw the girl's cheerful smile melt into a smug grin. No.
"They say you know everything, Junior."
I think I see what she's getting at... "That's obviously not literally true, but I still know more than anyone else."
"Regardless of the details, you have a lot of data at your disposal. You're selling raw data to anyone interested. Not the smartest business model."
What would you know about running a criminal enterprise? Junior realized. She's probably never held the reins herself, but she's worked with someone who has.
She continued. "Do you think the people who make money off of metal, or Dust, are the people who pull the raw stuff out of the ground? No, you make money by refining the raw material."
NOW I know what she's getting at. "Your point?"
The girl pointed to one of the patrons. "Green-hair over there's planning to make a move on Red over there. By the time he feels confident enough, he'll be drunk, it won't go well. His friend doesn't want to be here, he's just here because of Green. Bartender's working out, hoping he can move up to a bouncer position. Probably tired of listening to people's sob stories."
Most of that sounded like it could just be plausible-sounding nonsense, but the last gave Hei pause. The bartender on duty, Ignis had complained about the patrons more than once, did want to be a bouncer, and the main reason Hei hadn't granted his request was due to his unintimidating slight build. That said, it wasn't exactly a secret; it would be hard to imagine the knowledge leaving the organization, but not impossible...
"I've seen this before. What number am I thinking of?"
"I'm not psychic, Junior," the girl said. "I'm just good at putting the pieces together. Green's looking over at Red every couple of minutes, but trying to hide it. He's also drinking quickly enough that he'll be halfway to stupor by the time he'll have half a chance to talk to her. Blue's trying to convince Green to slow down, and not drinking anything himself. Plus, given how uncomfortable he is when the club's empty, I don't see him enjoying the night life. As for the bartender, he's keeping his conversations with the patrons short, brushing off their attempts at starting stories when he can, and has the look of someone who just started a strenuous exercise routine. It'd probably be good for him to back it off, at least a little."
If Hei trusted her...she was something special. But that trick still wasn't enough that he thought he trusted her.
"And what is it you're proposing?"
"You give me the pieces, I put them together."
"And why are you coming here, specifically?"
"You have what I need, and I have what you need. You have the information, I have the intuition."
"Hm." The Xiong family had always been a prominent one in the Vale underworld, and Hei's father, Banbai, had made it the family. His elder sister, Hese, had a knack for politics and diplomacy, while Hei himself was good with money and aesthetics. A few years ago, Banbai had died. Hese took over the family, and Hei was content running their primary front and headquarters. Then Hese died, too, leaving Hei to run everything. He was good with accounting, and personally had presence and strength, but he wasn't able to keep the Xiongs at the top, especially with Volkov, Torchwick and other newcomers pushing their way to the top so fiercely. This girl would fill in some pretty holes in his leadership capabilites, and sounded a bit desperate. Perfect...too perfect.
"Do you have a name?"
"You can call me Tattletale."
"That's a bit of a mouthful. How about Tale for short?"
Tattletale shrugged.
"Well, Tale, I'll be thinking about your offer, but if there's nothing else—"
"Two things, actually. I'm interested in a bit of quick cash right now, so..." She took a few small containers out of her bag. "Careful. They're volatile."
Hei carefully took the first, which looked like it might have been an empty lipstick container. Hei carefully removed the top and looked inside. Dust, Fire Dust most likely, raw.
"A bit ironic, considering what I said about selling raw Dust, but it's what I got."
Hei looked in the other containers. One was another lipstick container with raw Wind Dust; the other was a soup can with a taped-on lid, a few Dust crystals, and a lot of padding.
"Where did you get all of this?"
"And here I didn't think you'd be the type to care."
"Clever girl. For all of this, I'd say..." The lipstick containers probably had about half an ounce of Dust between them; raw, elemental Dust tended to go for about two or three thousand lien per ounce. She probably wouldn't expect much from those, but the crystals…they were probably somewhere around four ounces total, and even basic elemental crystals were valuable. Even for a low-quality one could sell for far more than raw Dust, easily five thousand lien per ounce for a decent crystal like these. Those prices weren't taking into account the recent Dust thefts, or the fact that the White Fang was taking out Schnee trains. In case the supply issues weren't enough, plenty of people were stockpiling Dust, foreseeing either a lack of Dust they would need or a chance to profit off of a shortage.
"Dust's volatile stuff," Hei said, still considering his options. Of course, those were the prices on the open market; he could usually get away with paying lower prices, simply by not asking questions about its source. Then there was a chance that this Tattletale wouldn't know the value of what she had...
Tattletale rolled her eyes. "I know what I'm doing. I wouldn't be here if I was so careless I couldn't handle Dust transport." No, Tale's intelligent. She'd look up the value of what she had before selling it. I'll have to be more subtle.
"I'm sure," Hei said. "I'll give you a thousand lien for the raw stuff."
"Fifteen hundred."
"A thousand. Good luck finding a better deal. Not many places deal with such small amounts of raw Dust."
"Eh, touche. One thousand it is."
She resisted, but collapsed too easily. Hei felt that she was making a statement—something like I'll work with you, I'll work on your terms, but I won't let you control me. She might have just been haggling, but that didnt' fit.
"Now, for the crystals. Normally, something like these could be worth more than ten thousand lien."
"Two Fire Dust crystals, one one point eight ounces, one of point six; one Wind Dust crystal, one point five ounces. Roughly eleven thousand, four thousand, and six thousand lien, respectively."
"That's if they were good crystals, and they aren't. They were cheap to begin with, and you damaged them by carrying them in a tin can. I'd pay something like seven, three, and four thousand. Fifteen thousand for all the Dust, including the raw stuff."
"I didn't damage them. They crystals are worth more than twenty grand, they'll be worth more soon, and you're willing to pay about seventeen thousand lien for the crystals. Given the way the market's going, it's a good investment."
She isn't wrong. "And how do you know that, Tale?"
"You're not a bad liar, Junior. Maybe the best I've dealt with in Vale. But I'm better at noticing lies than you are at making them."
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"I'd assumed you were smart enough to figure that out on your own."
Hei was just about convinced that Tattletale was as good as she said. He had trouble imagining that anyone trying to get an agent on the inside would have her act so belligerent, if they were even willing to give up such a valuable associate. It was still a bit risky...but Hei had been playing it safe, and lost ground to the new blood. If he continued the way he had been going, he risked destroying the Xiong family, or leaving it stuck underneath some other group.
"Eighteen thousand for all of the Dust. And your other offer…consider it accepted."
She smiled. "The lien, please?" Hei had one of his boys get it; Lisa counted out the money and smiled. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Junior. Hopefully, this will be a mutually profitable venture." She smiled. "And I don't think it'll come up, but if you ever get a chance to betray me, you'd best not take it."
"The same goes for you."
"Sure. Oh, one last thing. I know a guy trying to unload a bunch of stuff. Like, crates of it."
"What kind of stuff?"
"Weapons, I think some more Dust, miscellaneous effects...I don't think it's all sorted yet."
"Could be worth looking at."
"Cool. Sometime tomorrow evening work for you, or someone you trust?"
"Eleven." Hei suddenly realized that Tattletale had been leading the entire discussion. Hei personally cared more about getting a deal done than how he looked afterwards, but he was someone important now. It wouldn't do to just ignore appearances. Best-case scenario, one of his cousins would take over. There could be a couple of factions fighting over who would be the best leader. Worst-case scenario, one of the Xiongs' underlings could seize their syndicate. Wouldn't that be a tale—how he lost the Xiong syndicate for his incompetence. "Here."
"Here? Are you crazy?" Tattletale asked. "Sure, bring a few crates of stuff through the nightclub. Easy, no one'll notice. I find it hard to believe you don't have any way of transporting it to somewhere more secure."
That was a blunder on Hei's part. Trying to act like he was in control, failing and acting like an idiot. And I imagine that's exactly what she wants. "And what do you suggest?"
"Twenty-second and Carmel. Part of the warehouse district, no one would care about someone moving cargo from one warehouse to another.
"This guy has a warehouse?"
"For now."
Twenty-second and Carmel…the only warehouses by that intersection, aside from corporate ones, were a few abandoned buildings and the White Fang base that had been captured. Hei realized that this could be a chance to talk with whoever did the deed.
"Sounds like a plan. I look forward to meeting this mysterious 'guy'."
"Any chance I'll get a cut?"
"I'll look into it after we seal the deal. No promises."
"Fine by me. I'll come by tomorrow, same time?"
"Sure. Contact information?"
"What, address and phone number? That needs roots, and I'm kinda new in town. When I get some, I'll let you know."
Hei sighed. "Could you at least tell me your real name?"
"Lisa. See you tomorrow." And like that, Lisa was gone.
Looking back on it, Hei decided that the meeting was a net profit. Between an easy few thousand lien from reselling the Dust, whatever he could get from meeting with this "guy," and Lisa's future services, the family had gained capital. He still could have handled it much better, of course. She was in control, that wouldn't do. Hei just had to make sure he didn't let any blonde chicks emasculate him again.
