"So you got no problem with our numbers racket.", Trish assessed.
Preston objected. "That is not what I said. What I said was that I don't see how I can stop people from spending their hard earned caps the way they want to spend them.
"But two things would be enough common courtesy for us to not look too closely at it. There isn't an ADDICTOL for gambling, so if there's someone with a real problem that's affecting his family or turning him to real crime, I expect...it would be mighty neighborly of you to cool him off instead of milk him dry. And if there isn't the slightest whiff that the game is rigged, it would be better for everyone. In concern of...how did you put it, General?"
"Domestic tranquility, not my words."
"Yes.", Garvey continued. "Domestic tranquility."
Trish twisted her irradiated features up even more. "My dear Colonel! Not only do we run only the most upstanding establishments, but the trust between a house and its client is holy."
Hancock laughed. "She got you there, pretty boy."
"Do you see anyone reaching for their gat?", Morowski interjected.
"um, No?", Hancock reacted.
"Then keep quiet."
The other ghoul in the room frowned.
Malone decided to move on to the next topic. "And I know you don't have a problem with our runnin' boys and girls."
"You...know...?", Ronnie Shaw began.
The General's entire face scrunched up and she put her left hand to her forehead. She made sure to keep her right hand free.
"How...young...is the youngest of these 'boys and girls'?", she asked very carefully.
"I don't know.", Malone said. He turned to Trish. "What, you think maybe Marcus? On account of he's nineteen, after doin' that extra year in Diamond City's school?"
"What's that gotta do with anything?", Marowski asked. Then he realized. And immediately jumped up, shouting "Hey! We ain't no sickos/"
"Sit down Morowski.", Hancock warned.
"I told you to keep quiet unless someone was drawing."
The Mayor of Goodneighbor gestured a thumb at the General. She uncocked the hammer of her .44 that was pointed directly at Marowski's face.
"Well, at least that's not the problem I was going to have to solve.", she observed. "All of your...employees are there of their own free will."
Malone nodded. "Yeah. They ain't exactly Trigge...made Vault 114 citizens themselves, that are initiated or anything. They can walk away whenever they want."
The General's scowl deepened. "If you ever, ever get someone coming to be one of these 'boys and girls' because they have no where else to go, or they're young even if they do - you will escort them directly to Minutemen custody."
Marowski shrugged. "Sure thing, we can let you take them off our hands. Unhappy entertainers don't make for happy clients, know what I'm saying? Except for the type that don't need to made happy, and the family don't need them no ways."
"And disease?", the General continued.
"We got ole doc to keep 'em checked out.", Malone assured. "People ain't buying if it ain't clean."
The General sighed. "What about your clients?"
Malone looked to Marowski and Trish. Marowski answered. "Hey, were gonna be in a vault right? We can throw in a complimentary check up with the pre-game shower included in the price, okay?"
"One more thing.", she raised. "What about the resultant children? It's not like birth control is a readily available chem in the Commonwealth."
Morowski shrugged. "How do you think I joined the rackets? I was...wait, what did you say about birth control being a chem."
The mobster immediately turned to his other two and started rambling off questions and thoughts.
The General gaped at him. "You've been running a prostitution ring and are the largest chem dealers in the Commonwealth and birth control hasn't even occurred to you?"
"Hold on a minute will you?", Morowski held up a finger to the General as he continued to confer with his others.
"Alright. We think we can make the birth control chem. For our boys and girls, it'll be part of their buy in. Everyone else has to pay. Good enough for you?"
The General considered the consequences. Driving the practice underground would not only make the whole situation worse but make some other criminal organization if the Triggermen gave it up to become Vault 114. If she allowed the Triggermen to keep it, then she could put conditions on it as long as it didn't break the business' back. What's the worst that could happen?
"We get to inspect to make sure your conditions are up to standards set.", the General dictated.
"Not on constant surprise.", Marowski objected. "Can't have the feds harassing our customers."
The General glared at him. "We get to summon anyone at any time away from your bordello and into Minuteman custody. That way, they aren't intimidated by your people and if they're not medically fit or working not of their own free will then we can take them away and come back in force."
"Free of charge?", Marowski asked.
The General folded her arms. "I do not want to even tempt the government to be dependent on taxes from this industry. It's too easy to lead to corruption."
The mobster leaned back. "Then go ahead, more power to you. It'll keep my people honest."
She looked to Preston. He seemed embarrassed by the whole thing. She looked to Shaw. The more aged woman (if not technically 'older') nodded once, but only once. "It seems the matter is settled."
Marowski leaned back on the couch and laid his arms behind his two associates. "So now..."
The General sat forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "Now."
"The chems.", they both said.
The General started. "You have to bundle ADDICTOL with every batch that can addict a person. If a person is buying per dose, you still have to provide one even if you have to keep track with some sort of frequent buyer card. I'm not allowing you to sell a product that no one needs yet is still addictive."
"Hey, some people do need it.", Morowski informed. "I've heard more than one farmer that's told me that BUFFOUT or JET saved his family when a pack of ferals came through."
"Then put that in your brochure.", the General commanded. "Along with 'An ADDICTOL in every batch'. It's the cost of doing business now."
All three gangsters looked sullen. "Anything else, General?", 'Skinny' prodded.
The General softened her face. "In fact, there is.
"The Minutemen have currently been supplying their own RADAWAY, RAD-X, STIMPACKS and ANTIBIOTICS. You can do it for cheaper. So I'm going to get it from you for cheaper than I can produce, even if it's not cheaper than you can produce. And on the scale of the communities of the Minutemen and the service itself. We'll retain the capacity to produce, if your vault is ever compromised. But with your producing for cheaper, I can put people and resources elsewhere. If I ever can produce chems for cheaper than you can, you're in tough luck.
"There'll be enough caps coming your way to make it worth your while. Not enough to live like kings instead of ordinary citizens. But enough unless the Commonwealth falls into dire straits and I need to squeeze you for a bit. Ronnie will have quotas for what we expect."
The man hesitated. "If we ever do get the squeeze, we get to put it on the books and come for the loan after the fact? Interest free, of course."
The General shrugged. "Fine."
Marowski nodded. "I don't think we object to any of this. So are we kosher?"
The General frowned. "Mayor Marowski: Territory ceded to Vault 114 is the vault itself and the adjoining subway station. The surface above it or any new digging is not counted as within this space.
"Your communities security is free to enforce its laws within that territory. Triggermen, if your forces will retain the name, will not be allowed to operate as such outside of that territory - identical to Watchmen, Diamond City Security or Vault 81 officers. With the caveat that your local laws include everything we've discussed as condition to entrance into the Commonwealth. As a free gift from me to the Commonwealth, everyone else involved in these...industries will be held to the same accountability. Just because I'm keeping you from posing a danger doesn't mean I'm allowing others to be one.
"You will make a space within the vault itself available for a Minutemen office. It will earn my favor if it is Vault 114's Overseer's office and adjoining chambers, and the reverse if it isn't."
Marowski shrugged. Malone spoke up, "Yeah, we can do that."
The General stood and Marowski matched her. "Then I'll expect Representative Trish to come to the next council meeting and officially sign the Constitution."
Marowski extended a hand. "Congratulations, General. You've saved a lotta lives today. And made an old gangster go straight."
The General shook that hand. "No, Congratulations Mayor Marowski. You've just legitimized several unique economic enterprises you hold a nigh monopoly over while loading the security of them onto the government, making yourself the richest man in the Commonwealth. Well played."
She leaned really close to him while retaining his hand. The General whispered. "And when your representative votes in the council, I expect she'll remember who gave her that vote in the first place instead of being a hard head. That would be bad for business."
Marowski sideways gazed at her. And nodded.
