Chapter 64: Ore Deposit
Cain studied the Rose family for the better half of two weeks.
He watched all of their major clubs, took note of their most frequent guests, and snapped photos of all the people who entered the clubs in case they were the unlucky ones who never made it back out.
From his reconnaissance, Cain learned multiple things.
For one, the Rose familia employed hundreds of people. From guards to dancers, farmers to drivers — the Rose familia employed a large portion of Sao Paulo's population.
Another thing Cain learned, and something he found particularly interesting, was that women primarily ran the day to day businesses of the Rose familia, from the drugs to the sex; women controlled it all.
When traced back, Cain noticed that it all led to Emilio's sister, Maria. She groomed female pimps, got them hooked on cocaine, and then coerced them to further the pyramid scheme.
Thus far, all the men seemed to have laborist jobs: guards, bouncers, drivers, farmers; they all worked with their bodies.
That isn't to say the women didn't — they worked their bodies more than anyone and Cain could attest to that — but the hierarchy was very strictly drawn.
Then, lo and behold, the first of the month arrived.
It was the day Maria would finally leave the center of the city to inspect the various farms located around.
As such, Cain tailed her.
She left one of the clubs at midday with the sun already setting.
In her convertible coupe, she raced across the city's highways and left city limits. By the time her engine shut off, it was already dusk.
She stepped out of her vehicle and onto dirt road. Then, in high-heels, she walked towards the amalgamation of vintage trucks and vans.
Behind the cars, a rickety fence surrounded the Rose familia's crops. Although, since it was already dusk, the working men had all but gone home. Now only the gunmen remained.
Maria Rose strutted across the tropical environment and shouted at the gunmen.
"Paperwork guys! Come on, let's go! You know the drill!"
Meanwhile, Cain remained hidden in the foliage of the jungle. Crouched behind a line of brush, he tip-toed through the tree line and ducked underneath the windows of Maria's car.
He leaned against the vehicle's passenger door. Then he tried it.
*clunk*
It was locked.
Cain had an idea, albeit a simple one, but for some reason he didn't expect Maria to lock her car.
'It's the middle of goddamn nowhere!' He complained.
'Why lock the door?!'
Due to his improved senses, Cain overheard the conversation between Maria and the gunmen.
"Weather's been bad, Miss Maria."
"And?"
"I think we'll produce less this year."
"By how much?" Maria asked, her tone a mixture of annoyance and restlessness.
"We'll probably only get thirty-five, forty if we're lucky."
"A loss of fifteen kilos?"
Back at Maria's coupe, Cain scurried across the dirt road in search of sticks. He gathered all he could find and stuck them into the passenger door's lock. He jimmied them aggressively to no luck.
Amidst his frustration, Cain argued with himself.
'Could I use the mist and brainwash everybody?'
'Absolutely. In fact, it'd be a piece of cake.'
'But where's the fun in that?'
Another stick snapped in Cain's hand.
'The more people I kill of his, the more alert Emilio will become.' Cain argued.
'And he's already gotta be pretty pissed off — maybe that's why I can't seem to find him!'
*snap*
Another stick extinguished.
'This is a waste of my time.' Cain concluded.
With his nail, he tried to dig out the pieces of wood jammed into Maria's side-door.
Battling against the thin pieces of wood, Cain couldn't get his nails in deep enough to scoop the broken pieces out.
So he molded his finger into a thin needle and rammed it into the car door.
Then, his eyes gleamed.
'I'm so fucking stupid!'
Cain pulled his needle-esque finger out of the door's lock. Then, he pushed his entire finger against it. While doing so, he willed his finger to loosen itself.
Slowly, his finger transformed from solid to mushy, mushy to soft, soft to flimsy. As a result, Cain's finger poured into the keyhole and filled its space.
Then, he solidified it once more.
Cain turned his finger.
*click*
The car unlocked.
Cain slipped into Maria's coupe unnoticed. He slid into the backseat of the vehicle and squeezed himself on the floor behind the seats.
He barely fit. Like a contortionist, Cain's body bent and protruded in pretzel-like ways. Nevertheless, he was hidden as best he knew how.
Now, all he had to do was wait. And the wait was not long.
Some twenty minutes later, Cain heard Maria excuse herself.
He heard the sound of her heels trudging through the dirt until eventually, Cain heard the vehicle unlock.
Maria stepped in. She closed the door and ignited the engine.
She propped down the sun visor and flipped open its mirror. She pulled red lip-stick from her purse and began touching up her makeup.
Once she was done, she put the car in reverse and spun it around. Driving down the dirt road, every bump and rock that impeded Maria's car sent a distinct sensation through Cain's back.
Time passed and paved road returned. Cain could feel it.
Perfectly isolated, Cain summoned the |Jar of Mist|.
Its ivory surface appeared within Cain's hand. Carefully, he pulled the scarlet rope that bound it.
Mist spread.
And thanks to Maria's egregious use of air conditioning, the mist quickly diluted itself and melded with the car's clean air.
One moment, Maria was passionately singing along to one of her favorite songs.
Then suddenly, in the middle of a chorus she liked to belt, Maria went silent.
Cain painstakingly removed himself from the floor of the coupe.
From the rearview mirror, Cain's face emerged.
He leisurely stretched his arms wide and let out a pent-up yawn.
Acting as if it were his own car, Cain leaned into the front seat and turned the music off.
"Maria?" Cain said.
"Yes?" She was monotone.
"Can you take me to your brother, Emilio?" Cain asked.
"Yes."
"Good." Cain closed his eyes and leaned back into the coupe's leather seats.
At this point, all he had to do was wait.
***
In another world... time persisted.
The camp atop the grassy hill was all but complete: a robust town hall, two infirmaries, a greenhouse, and twelve cabins occupied the space.
The cabins were large, about the size of a townhouse, and could fit sixteen people each with the aid of bunkbeds.
The town hall was like an auditorium. It was only a single room, but contained more space than two cabins combined. This would be the camp's meeting hall, trading hall, and information hub. Already pinned across the walls, rugged blocks of wood hung. Painted across their visage, maps and pathways illuminated the camp's surroundings.
The camp itself, or rather the hill it occupied, stood at the edge of the forest. As such, west of the camp was barren — no forest to speak of, but to the north lay the underground stream of water Olive discovered. To the east stretched the entirety of the forest and to the south, the orchard of fruit trees grew and the strangely bulbous fruits from them painted the skyline lavender.
In the greenhouse, Isaac wished to cultivate smaller bushels of fruits — berries and nuts, but of course, in order to do so, those bushes needed to first be discovered; a task that's been handed off to the select men Isaac personally trained — Miles naturally excluded.
The infirmaries, meanwhile, contained no more than four beds alongside a nightstand for each of them. At the front of the infirmaries, beside the entrance, a desk sat in addition to large cabinets where any future remedies or tonics could be placed.
With construction complete, at least for the immediate future, the division of labor was transformed.
First, near the water well found within the husk of a perished tree — six men were stationed at all times. They guarded the natural well and roamed its vicinity. Every four hours, two of the six stationed there would return to camp.
This not only created a constant dialogue between the two parties, but in the event nobody returned after two hours — Isaac would know that the well has fallen.
Next, the orchard to the south operated in much the same way. Six men were stationed there, yes, but instead of two returning every two hours and swapping with others — two men constantly moved between the camp and orchard at all times.
These two delivered fruit to and fro. They carried baskets with them, stuffed to the brim with spheres. When they returned to the orchard, empty basketed, two different men would take over. Like this, the six would rotate until their shifts were complete.
Twelve men accounted for, guarding both the water well and the orchard. Similarly, twelve men were forever stationed at the camp. Some were guards, some continued to weave more rope from the grasses, and some were intellectuals: architects, engineers, cartographers, etc.
Amidst all of this completion, however, the finishing of construction and the deliverance of water and fruits — skirmishes finally broke out within the depths of the forest.
The skirmishes were localized to a specific area and only the men with combat related Abilities were allowed to intervene. The battles took place to the southeast, near a crater discovered in the forest.
The crater devastated the lush greenery as both trees and bushes escaped the surrounding land. In the center of the crater, however, and what attracted so much attention, a shiny metal protruded from the depths of the dirt.
Silver poked through the dirt and reflected the light from the sun above.
This silver was what the Orcs and the humans were after. So much so that Isaac and Olive themselves made the ore deposit their number one priority. Alongside them, Koa, Teddy, and Darnell were present.
Koa with incendiary bubbles.
Teddy with botanical communication.
And Darnell with body part assimilation.
Koa's bubbles ignited into bursts of golden flames whenever they popped.
Teddy's mind understood the rustling of plants and the movements of their roots.
Darnell's body assimilated with whatever he held, absorbing the prominent property beholden to whatever it may be. For example, when Darnell possessed a stick — his arm solidified until it too was made of robust wood.
Koa's Hawaiian.
Teddy's English.
And Darnell's African-American.
The five of them, in conjunction with Isaac and Olive, prepared to raid the silver deposit.
At this moment, seven Orc's mined the ore while three observed the crater's vicinity. In the last two hours, no Orc's have left the area and no new one's have arrived. Based on Olive's recent observations, the Orc's worked in shifts of about seven hours.
Every seven hours, a new group of ten would come and relieve the ten already here. Meaning, the group of five humans had five hours to spare — four to be safe.
"Are there any other Orc's in the vicinity?" Isaac asked hushed.
Teddy placed his ear onto the grass and closed his eyes.
"None that the grass can see." He responded.
"Good." Isaac nodded.
"Teddy will stay around the crater's perimeter. Make sure to check the area every five minutes. Darnell and Olive will eliminate the three guards. Try to do it swiftly and quietly, best if it's in a single blow. Koa and I will eliminate the seven in the crater. I'll try to gather them together. Meanwhile, Koa, I need you to pour as much as you can into a single bubble — we need it large enough to cover all seven of them. As they burn, I'll finish them off."
"Yes, sir!" Teddy and Koa saluted.
"Got it." Darnell replied.
"Let's hope this works." Olive sighed.
///LostNoteFound///
THANKS A LOT!!! Hooverfh and moofin for the stones!! Couple of stoners aren't ya' :D
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