The Comfy Cartel's Dirty Secrets

The Mission Begins

You turn the corner and see a door swinging shut at the end of the hallway. You quickly walk toward it, still keeping your eyes peeled all around you out of habit.

Your hand slowly wraps around the embellished handle, and you pull it open.

You take a step forward as you look around at the magnificent room, filled with multiple computers, over a dozen high-end monitors mounted onto the walls, and a lush sitting area, across the room, where 4 people were currently seated around a coffee table, watching you with trained eyes.

"...hello!" Tina says, waving awkwardly at the serious-looking bunch, making the man with sunglasses imperceptibly roll his eyes while evoking a small grin at the corner of Poki's mouth.

"I'm Michael," a smaller man curtly says, slouching on the couch as he casually flips a butterfly knife in his hand. He turns his wrist to check the time, clearly wishing to not be there.

"I'm Lily, as you know," Lily says as she folds her hands in her lap, sounding much more cheery. "And this is Poki and Toast." She beckons first to Poki, who crosses her legs and nods her head slightly, and then to the other man sitting on the couch with perfect posture, still wearing his sunglasses.

"Where's the Don?" You ask.

"He has more important things to attend to," Poki says, patting the seats next to her.

You nod and slowly sit down, still skeptical of their intentions.

"I'm Tina," Your sister meekly says as she sits down next to you, close enough that you were almost rubbing shoulders.

"They know, Tina..." You mutter.

"What's with the attitude?" Toast asks, directly addressing you. "You don't trust us?"

"I have no reason to."

"How strange... If we wanted you dead, maimed, or hurt, we would've done so by now," he observes.

"You're sending me in to die because you don't want to send in one of your own people. Cut the niceties and show me what I'm dealing with."

Tina gently places her hand on your shoulder and squeezes.

Poki reaches her gloved hand forward and picks up a small remote from the table. She points it toward the largest monitor and presses a few buttons until a single static image of two golden snakes intertwining to form a figure-8 appears.

"...what's that?" Tina asks.

"The mark of T3. All of their key members have it somewhere on their body."

You furrow your brows as you stare at the intricate, scaly pattern of the snakes.

All of T3's members have... that... on their bodies? Mafia tattoos are so out of fashion...

"Why are you showing me this?" You ask.

Ignoring your question, Poki presses a button and moves on to the next image.

You see a crisp photo of a drop-dead gorgeous woman, staring directly into the camera with an angry grimace.

You examine how her dark hair falls in soft waves around her shoulders, and your thoughts linger on her for a moment longer.

You look back and see Michael, Lily, Poki, and Toast keeping their attention squarely on you and Tina, not being nearly as distracted by the pictures as you were.

"Rachel Hofstetter," Lily says, answering your next question. "Nickname: Rae. Don't use it unless she lets you, though, or else you're dead where you stand."