Chapter Fifteen
Llana was nice enough; she explained the drug making process in overwhelming detail including how to properly package it in Janus Cosmetics canisters. Unfortunately I was going to need a refresher on the names and purposes of all the chemicals as well as absolutely everything else she described. This was not my forte; I failed my math and science courses in high school. I only graduated because my professors knew how to take advantage of scared, stupid girls.
"Don't sweat the small stuff, you won't be working the sensitive parts of the process for a while. Newbies are involved in packaging, set up, sorting, and tracking inventory," she shrugged as we passed a workstation. Llana stopped, turning on a stiletto heel to face me. "Also not everyone who works here looks… good. Don't freak out and don't make eye contact unless you want to get gutted," she smiled sweetly. I gave her a thumbs up and we continued around the factory floor. Once again Llana pulled me to a halt and pointed to the windows of a raised office in the room.
"That's Roman's hobby room. Avoid it," her voice dropped a touch.
"Hobby room?" I asked. She gave me a look as if I were the most innocent stupid person she'd ever met.
"Weren't you in Blackgate with him? Did you just miss it every time?" she was incredulous. Screwing up my brow I thought over what had happened in the penitentiary. Super criminal dealings, threats, he liked to publicly torture people that disappointed him... Oh.
"Nevermind, got it."
Llana patted me on the head, fluffing my hair, "good girl." Trying not to feel gratified because of a woman who was probably my age praising me I saw the door to the hobby room cracked open and a familiar man emerged.
"What the fuck happened to you?" Croc rasped, wiping his bloody hands on a rag. Llana gave us both a curious look. "You two know each other?"
"Blackgate," Waylon clarified. The boss's girl set her hands on her hips, "makes sense."
"Well after I got ditched by everyone Batman felt like paying me a visit," I leveled an irritated look at the scaly man. He rolled his eyes and began wiping flecks of red off his chest and stomach, "so what're you doing here, brat?"
"She'll be working with the cosmetics," Llana explained then winked in my direction, "when she's got a set of working grippers of course. Until then she'll be shadowing." We stood in a semi circle, eyeing each other up when Llana seemed to pep up. "Mr. Jones, why don't you continue on with the rest of her tour? I've got an appointment with my man to keep," she grinned mischievously. Croc huffed and nodded, allowing Llana to escape the drug lab and hunt down Black Mask. I looked back up as Waylon descended the steps from the playroom and continued on past me. "Hurry up, brat." I glared, hobbling after him.
"Hold on, I'm crippled," I grouched at his back. He stopped twenty feet in front of me, turning halfway to wait. "This is going to get annoying," he muttered to himself. When I reached his side he continued on at a snail's pace, allowing me to somewhat keep up with him.
"Thanks," I mumbled, ears burning. The big man shrugged on massive shoulder. "So Batman's got it out for ya."
"Yeah. I got home and he was there. Yelled a lot and left me lying on the floor with a broken arm. I had to wait till the next morning to get it checked out. Fucking insurance," I recalled bitterly.
When we entered the shipping floor Croc lazily pointed out things and people of interest, mentioning I should avoid Black Mask's enforcer and this area in general unless I was wanted to get crushed under shipping containers. Judging from rusty stains on the concrete floor that was pretty sound advice.
/AN: Ugh fillers, sorry. I'm still trying to learn how to write well, hopefully all this exposition isn't killing ya D: And I don't know the etiquette for this on this site but if you've reviewed, followed, or are even reading this anonymously that's really amazing and I appreciate it so much :3/