Black Market Merchant - Chapter 234: Tipping the Scales

“I can not believe him!” Hugo shouted as he plopped down onto a couch in the Warehouse Arena’s market area. This action sent a shock of pain through his wounded shoulder. He immediately grabbed at the spot and gritted his teeth. “That was something I cannot forgive.”

Ethan was the only one with him at the moment. All the others that survived the battle at the dam, including Jerry, had already gone to rest at their apartments behind the Bank. They were surprised on their return to see that the compounds metal wall had been torn down in several places and a Plain Strider shaped hole had been made through one of the outer gates. Inside they found a host of dead Twisted and Mad Dogs.

From what they surmised was that the compound was indeed invaded by larger numbers of Twisted than the dam was and that it was likely because the Twisted were chasing the Mad Dogs in the first place. It seemed like the wall only slowed down the Twisted and acted against the Mad Dogs by putting them into a cage like scenario. This, however, was not what concerned Hugo, it was what Martinez was doing.

“It was indeed most disturbing.” Ethan said as he sat down next to Hugo.

“Disturbing isn’t even a good description.” Hugo huffed. “When I saw him pulling his weapon out from one of our own gang members backs, I couldn’t understand why. Then when I asked him why, Martinez laughed it off! Killing our own just because they were running away during a monster invasion is just going too far. If I hadn’t announced that the Twisted hoard had retreated and that the town was safe again, he might have killed the others too.”

“I knew the guy he killed last too. His name was Don.” Ethan said planting his face into his hands. “He was only seventeen and lived just up the road from my parents place here in town.”

Hugo shook his head and scoffed. “It was absolutely shameful that the boss would do that, even if he wanted to make a point, killing our own is never a good idea. The others might leave or rebel.”

“Shh, someone is coming.” Ethan suddenly said nudging Hugo’s arm.

The sound of two sets of footsteps could be heard taping on the white tile floor coming their way. “Careful Martinez doesn’t hear you say that. Rebelling is a serious issue. He has been in a foul mood the entire time since the Twisted broke in here.”

The two men on the couch looked up to see that it was Jackson and Jerry coming towards them. Jackson’s usual formal attire was scuffed and torn in multiple places and the white under shirt he had on was splattered with black Twisted blood. It seemed even the normally reserved Lieutenant had engaged in the battle.

“I don’t really care what mood he is in. I can’t just let what he did slide.” Hugo scowled.

Jackson stopped to stand in front of the couch and looked Hugo over. “Are you going to try and stand up to him? From the looks of it, you won’t even be able to last twenty seconds.”

Hugo glanced at the wound and sighed. “I know that I am not up to the task, nor do I think I could beat him at full health either. I’ll just try to verbally confront him and make things out to show what he did was costly to his position.”

Jackson gave a small chuckle. “You know that won’t really do much.”

Hugo sighed. “No, it won’t. Its just he’s been getting more aggressive lately. At first it was just collecting more money and goods from the townspeople. Then it was forcing them to give more than what was necessary and even at times he’d said to openly beat those that refused. He was supposed to be protecting the people from other gangs but now that there are almost none left, he’s turning on them. This is clear especially now too since he ordered the town to be burned down.”

“I agree he had been getting more aggressive, but that was to be expected. He is not from this town like you are. There is no loyalty for him to give.” Jackson replied.

“It still doesn’t make since for him to kill our own though.” Hugo replied. “If he burns everyone’s homes and they find out, the people won’t want to join him.”

“He is getting frustrated.” Jackson said lowering his voice some. “I heard he pretty much lost in a one-on-one duel with the Undertaker. If it were not for the Twisted showing up, he might have lost his life. The number of people we lost in these fights is also more than he expected. Even if the people don’t want to join the gang, they have no place to go and no food to eat, what else can they do? The gang is their only sensible option.”

“You are right, they won’t have a choice but to side with us. They won’t think of joining the Skull either, that is if the Skull still live. Even some of the rumors about them scare me.” Hugo said leaning his head back onto the top of the couch.

“What if they do have another option?” Jackson said quietly.

Hugo lifted his head back up. “What do you mean?”

Jackson leaned forwards and spoke in a whisper. “Do you know about Queen, how she is planning on challenging Martinez?”

“That woman from the Match Fights?” Hugo replied raising an eyebrow skeptically. “Isn’t she just some random person that wants to move up in the Match Fighters rankings?”

“Not quite. Queen is actually planning on taking over the gang as its leader.” Jackson continued to whisper.

“That’s ridiculous.” Hugo laughed. “None of us lieutenants would support an outsider like her. She has nothing to do with this town either, because from what I heard she is from out of town.”

Jackson held up his hand. “That is where you are wrong, she does have a lot to do with this town.”

Hugo paused for a moment as he looked at Jackson carefully. “Go on.”

“Let me ask you this, where did you hide from the Twisted?” Jackson asked. He then snapped his fingers at Jerry and pointed to a nearby chair. Jerry hurriedly grabbed it and brought it over for Jackson to sit down on. Once he was seated, Jackson continued. “You had to of been somewhere good and defendable to have had so many of your forces left.”

“I was at the dam. There were already a bunch of armed people there and one unexpectedly strong woman was leading them.” Hugo suddenly stopped speaking as he noticed Jacksons expression changed. “You mean to tell me that was Queen?”

“Yes.” Jackson replied. “You saw how she had earned the peoples support and that she plans on providing for them. Wouldn’t supporting someone that has the interests in the townspeople be better than someone who is not?”

“Are you saying you might be in favor of her leading us?” Hugo said putting on a grim expression. His voice then began to match Jacksons whisper. “Are you planning on betraying the Mad Dogs?”

“Oh, not at all.” Jackson answered spreading his arms wide. “I fully intend to support the gang regardless of who is in charge. Its just Martinez is going down a bad path that doesn’t seem to lead to a bright future for the gang. You hadn’t arrived yet, but before he started killing those he assumed were trying to run away, he was talking about taking on the Skull again. There was not much reason to attack them in the first place in my opinion. Sure, gaining control of the entire town would make us more money but then what? Martinez has no other plans beyond that, or at least none that he has shared with others.”

“What makes you think that Queen would be any better?” Hugo asked.

Jackson leaned back in his chair some. “Queen had mentioned, not only to me but some others in the gang through ways I can’t go into yet, that there are ways we can improve the town for the people and have them a lot of money for us in the process. You noticed that the dam had electricity, right?”

Hugo rubbed at his wound tenderly as he thought. “You know what, I was so focused on the Twisted that I didn’t even notice but, yah, that tunnel did have electricity.”

Jackson nodded. “Queen plans on using that electricity to power the towns infrastructure and own all of the business via the deeds that are collecting dust in our bank vaults. Think about it, if she can convince the townspeople to work in regular jobs for her and use her place in the gang to transport the goods safely, we can make three or four times as much than what we currently make. Then on top of that both the gang and the townspeople benefit mutually.”

Hugo stopped rubbing at his wound and gave a small grin. “I am starting to like the sound of that. I had seen how well she fought too and if Martinez fights her now, I can’t say for certain who might win.”

Jackson nodded. “She is indeed formidable. Also, depending on who wins, we have nothing much to lose either way.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Hugo asked.

“Because I know you are in favor of the townspeople more so than the gang.” Jackson replied. “That was clear when you first joined us and even to this day. You had already been letting off a lot of people from having to pay tribute. Xander has been keeping an eye on everyone and even acts of kindness were not missed.”

Hugo scoffed. “Screw Xander. Tell me why you are really telling me all this?”

“Because a civil war within the gang will likely happen if we don’t support the winner of these two.” Jackson said holding out both hands palm up to Hugo. “On the other hand, just as you saw from the executions, the gangsters are bound to leave or rebel. It is clear that we need to all agree on some leadership if the gang is to keep from falling apart from within.”

“You make a good point.” Hugo nodded. “I can keep my guys from doing anything rash for the time being. I still want to know more about Queen before making any kind of choice.”

Jackson stood up and looked down at the destroyed jacket he had on. “Well, I am glad you see things my way. I too am not entirely confident in her either. Well, I better go change. You need to as well; you look like a zombie.”

As Jackson and Jerry left, Ethan leaned over to Hugo. “Are you really thinking about siding with this Queen if she does beat Martinez? Isn’t that risky, because I don’t see the other lieutenants letting someone else take the leadership role way from them.”

“Like Jackson said, there is not much for us to loses if either side wins.” Hugo replied laying his head back onto the couch. “Let’s just watch and wait.”