The Comfy Cartel

Valkyrae II

It had been a couple of weeks since Rae had joined the cartel, and Rae was still getting settled down. Rae inspecting her Fans as she walked along the aisles of her division.

Rae sighed. She hadn't realized how lonely this job really was going to be. Rae had no enforcers, and all her new fans were still tense and nervous with her. When Rae was under Toast, she was only an enforcer, but at least she had Sykunno as her partner in crime. But now, she hadn't seen much of Sykunno at all, even though she remembered that Poki and Toast's divisions were supposed to collaborate a bunch. Hell, she hadn't even seen much of Poki, and the times she did she was giving her orders to pass down to her fans.

Rae looked up at one of her fans. "Aponte!" Rae called out to a young man with freckles who was reading a book. "How'd the job go?"

Aponte looked up from his book, startled at being called at by an overseer. "The payment went over smoothly. They gave the usual complaints, but they delivered the protection taxes on time."

"And where's the cash?" Rae asked.

Aponte picked up an envelope from his desk, and handed it to Rae. Rae counted the bills. "There's only 450$ in here. That's fifty dollars short." Rae said.

Aponte blushed. "Maybe you counted wrong?"

"Bleh. Keep the fifty as a tip, hopefully Poki doesn't get too mad." Rae said. "It's not like she pays attention to our department anyways."

Rae recalled her recruitment interview with Poki. Poki eagerly described exciting undercover missions and intelligence gathering. In reality Rae was given all the menial work. "Unless we're in a feud of some sort, you're not going to see much action." Poki admitted.

So Rae ended up getting the boring stuff of Poki's division. Tax collection, intimidation, all the boring stuff. Rae assumed that she was getting this stuff because Toast's division was notorious for being in charge of that stuff and Rae came from Toast's division, but Rae didn't even come from that section, in fact, she came from the assassination division!

Rae waited for the clock to strike twelve, so she could take her lunch break. Usually, she would go to the High-Ranking only cafeteria, for only enforcers and up, because she'd get to see Sykunno there, but most of the times, Corpse was fighting over Rae for Sykunno's attention. Eventually, Sykunno stopped showing up at the cafeteria altogether, because he was "Busy". This was actually plausible, because the amount of people showing up the cafeteria started to decrease as well at around the same time, most of them going under the excuse that there was some secret important business that they needed to do. When Rae first got hired, there were about 50 people in the cafeteria, at least. Now, you'd be lucky to see twenty.

Rae stopped showing up as well, also, not because she was busy, but because she was lonely. Sykunno was her only real friend there, and now that he was gone, all she got were jealous stares from her female (and male) coworkers for getting so much attention from Sykunno.

Rae glumly stuck her fast food into the microwave, and opened a pack of Famous Amos cookies. Why did she have to be so hostile to strangers?

Rae's only reprieve was the occasional visits of another overseer, Janet. Janet was supposed to be in charge of the classical intelligence stuff, spying, undercover missions, all of that stuff. She was the second-in-command to Poki, because of how central her section was. Fortunately, she was pretty nice, and visited Rae pretty often. 

But even then, Janet's been visiting less too.

The door to Rae's department burst open. Janet walked in, with a serious look in her face. 

"Janet!" Rae cried out. "Where have you been?! I haven't seen you for the past three days!"

"Sorry for not visiting." Janet smiled. "I've been busy, but I wanted to fill you in on what's going on."

"Finally!" Rae exclaimed. "I've been wondering why everyone has been acting so weird."

"It's the Barons. The Bloody Barons are back for more." Janet explained.

Rae's raised her eyebrow. She hadn't been in the cartel for quite some time, but she did remember the last time the Barons struck. They were the most brutal, horrible, spineless gang in the streets. They were led by some chick named Natalia, a lady who used any means possible to get what he wanted. She had been personally hunted by the Barons while she was a Rogue. 

"The Barons?" Rae whispered to herself. "I thought Toast shut them down a few years ago!"

"Well now they're back stronger than before. The situation is getting dangerous. We're losing fans left and right because of them, and out territory is starting to shrink, albeit, only slightly."

Rae furrowed her brow. The Barons were definitely concerning, but something didn't add up to her.

"So we're acting so differently, because of that?!" Rae asked. "I get that the Barons are brutal and all, but that sounds like we're overdoing it."

Janet sighed. "The Barons have been growing in strength for a while now, nearly half a year. Our Fans have been showing up in the streets mugged, held ransom, or even killed by them. This was fairly common in the streets, but it's getting much worse now that the Barons are back."

"However, this still isn't something worthy for such an overreaction right?" Rae asked. "Gangs rise up and down all the time, but the Cartel always stays at the top!"

"You're right." Janet explained. "It would be an overreaction, if it weren't for-"

"Yes?" Rae asked eagerly.

Janet paused and looked at Rae. She hesitated for a moment, before speaking. "I'm sorry Rae, but I'm not classified to tell you that."

"Are you kidding me?!" Rae exclaimed. "I'm an overseer! Surely I have a high-enough rank to know these things!"

"I'm sorry Rae, but you're just so new." Janet explained "If it makes you feel better, Corpse hasn't got much info about this either."

"Just be careful Rae. Never say anything that others shouldn't here." Janet warned. "I've got to get back to my work, but maybe we could catch up during the Planting." Then Janet was gone.

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A/N

Wow i finally updated hallelujah

Bloody Barons inspired by slytherin ghost cuz i couldn't think of anything else

I edited this to string out the plot more lol