Collab with: [@The Savant]

[hider=Flashback.]

It was extremely painful to walk all the way home, took about two hours to do so to the outer junction of Khia and Esille. Scotti lived in the pits with his family. It was a place that was known to flood every handful of years and drive all the [i]rats[/i] out of their homes and poverty stricken community. Sometimes Scotti and others wondered if the wealthier individuals in Slia understood their pain, hunger, or problems while being comfy on silken cushions and never having to lift a finger to do anything themselves. 

Getting to the worn down two-story structure that was squished in between two other buildings, one abandoned, and the other was a small processing plant. The fumes caused him to choke up on his breath as he had to shove his weight into the door to force it to open because of all the junk in the house. “[color=white]Mam! I’m home![/color]” he waited for a few seconds before sighing out — she wasn’t home – then he heard two kids screeching. 

Slamming the door shut, he heard crying too, and rubbed his face. “[color=white]If you are hurting each other, may the gods help you, because I am not dealing with this bullshit today! Nova!? Defora!? Beno? Kilo?! Jun? Silan?[/color]” Calling out his siblings names. He knew some of them were home. 

“[color=white]KILO AND NOVA ARE OUT![/color]” he could hear his little brother Beno scream from up stairs. 

“[color=white]Thanks! How about Defora, Jun, and Silan!?[/color]” Scotti was cleaning up the entry way so people could get in and out of the house easier. 

“[color=white]I’m here![/color]” shouted Silan, his little sister. 

A huff could be heard from Scotti, moving a few things, “[color=white]How about Defora and Jun!?[/color]” 

Silence rattled the house and Scotti stood up, “[color=white]Beno!? SILAN!?[/color]” 

“[color=white]Jun went to school today! A-ah-an-and Defora is at work still, she called, and she said she will be working late![/color]” 

Shoving a few things into the entry closet and shutting the door, Scotti slid down that door and sat there on the ground. Rubbing at his face. “[color=white]Thank you![/color]” 


Jonathan meanwhile, was coming back from his little venture in the tunnels. He didn’t find anything valuable, but he did find some plants helpful for his drug making. But he couldn’t shake off his previous interaction with those two.  The scenario kept playing in his head over and over again. People wanting nothing to do with him was quite common with Jonathan. Most people feared him and would actively avoid him rather than interact with him.  He didn’t know the reason was his behaviour and appearance. 

Jonathan was coming out of the tunnel when he noticed a few scavengers walking past him. The group moved closer to the wall to avoid being near Jonathan.  The Ratman had his head down as he walked towards the city.  His first stop back in the city would be to see Red about selling off the fungus he found. Red was a drug maker like himself. And Red would occasionally help him with making the drugs. Usually they would split the profits every time they sold the drugs they made. Unfortunately, Red lived in the poor part of the city, so Jonathan always had to tread carefully.  As Jonathan walked through the door, he was greeted by Red, who was oddly clean cut than most drug dealers.  

“Hi Jon, how are you?” Red smiled as he ushered Jon into the room. Their relationship was close but not as close as Jonathan would like it. 

“[color=00a651]I’m okay.[/color]” Jonathan said as he followed Red into his makeshift lab.  Red picked up a small package with some drugs inside. 

“Here is the stuff. Just don’t go too overboard with that stuff.” He said, knowing that sometimes Jonathan would get high as a kite. 

“[color=00a651]Don’t worry, friend. I wouldn’t.[/color]” Jonathan traded some of his drugs for Red’s stuff. After that, he left heading out. As he walked the street, he passed a building and went inside. He knew a grey market doctor was inside, and he could sell the drugs he got for money. “[color=00a651]Hello, hello. I got some of the good stuff for you.[/color]” He said, smiling behind his mask. 

As everything checked out around the house, he cleaned up a little, and made sure all his siblings had something to eat. Going up to his room, he found a few things that could be used to trade with that old lady, possibly if she was nice, and a handful of coins. It was really nothing so he doubted that it would get him anywhere with easing the amount of pain he was in or getting his ankle examined — hopefully it wasn’t broken. Scotti wasn’t sure if he should go back out or not, but he did. 

Going outside, he struggled to shut the door because it had wrapped so much, and he went down the house steps before limping in one direction and playing with the items in his hands. A handful of coins, a whole hard drive full of blueprints of the inner infrastructure of the city, and a list of access codes to Esille storage units. 

“Ah, look, we’re not accepting any drugs that we don’t produce ourselves. We don’t know if it will even help our patients.” The secretary said, looking skeptical of Jonathan. But Jonathan shook his head as he pulled the package from his backpack. 

“[color=00a651]No, no it’s not bad drugs, it’s good drugs. It helps with pain all over.[/color]” He said, removing his mask to show his burnt face. He moved the package closer towards the secretary. “[color=00a651]It’s morphine; it’ll help stop the pain.[/color]” Adding as the secretary was calling the head doctor to speak with Jonathan.  A few moments later, a tall man with a big mustache wearing a lab coat approached them.  

“Hello, my. Can I help you?” He said, eyeing Jonathan.  The Ratman smiled and held out the package to the doctor. 

“[color=00a651]I wish to give some of my morphine to your clients; I do not need them as much as your patients.[/color]” As Jonathan said this, the doctor looked superiously at him.  He wasn’t sure if whatever was inside the package had morphine in it. He had encountered many crazies that wanted to trade for drugs. 

“[color=00a651]Well, I appreciate the thought.[/color]" the doctor said, taking the package and opening it. The doctor thanked Jonathan, who surprised him by not wanting anything in return. The doctor would need to do some test first to see if he's telling the truth. 

Going into the little business area of the area that he lived in, Scotti was looking around, and he honestly could not talk himself into walking anymore. There were the shady doctors and things nearby — the type that might screw you over or actually help depending on how much you paid but say nothing to determine it. Going over to a bench that was practically destroyed by abuse from the citizens in this area, he knew it wasn’t smart to sit down, but he had to. Rolling up his pant leg and pushing down his sock. He hissed out in pain, “[color=white][i]This sucks,[/i][/color]” he whispered under his breath. 

Scotti gently touched his ankle and his body shook in the response of pain. It hurt way more than it did when it first happened but that was likely due to the adrenaline decrease in his system. Leaning against the back of the bench and closing his eyes. He let out a sigh. It was going to take him forever to just get to Khia at this rate. 

As Jon came outside the clinic, he noticed the kid from before in the tunnel.  At first, he did not want to talk to him since the kid would still ignore him. But he noticed one of his pant leg was rolled up and the bruised ankle he was nursing. This may be the right time to do another good deed.  He was standing a few feet away from Scotti before making his presence known. “[color=00a651]Hello. Are you okay? Do you need any help with your ankle?[/color]” Jonathan said pointing a gloved hand to Scotti’s ankle. 

Scotti jumped out of his skin as his eyes opened in surprise when he heard someone close, he didn’t realize anyone approached, and he paled when he saw the figure in front of him — Ratman — and his lips parted a little then they shut. He stared while the man spoke to him and he could feel himself tense a little bit. Should he be talking to this guy? Then he glanced at his ankle and cursed himself internally — Everyone knows I am hurt now especially this guy… dammit… — Scotti thought for a second. “[color=white]Yeah…[/color]” he replied at first while rubbing the back of his neck to show some anxiety. “[color=white]I mean… you don’t have to help me. It’s fine. I’m fine. It’ll heal up,[/color]” Scotti began to roll his sock up and his pant leg down. 

“[color=white]Uhm…[/color]” Scotti then glanced up at Ratman. “[color=white]I don’t know if you can really help with it. It’s badly sprained,[/color]” the kid explained. 


“[color=00a651]I got something that could help.[/color]” He knelt on the ground, setting his backpack in front of him.  He rummaged around inside his backpack, taking a few moments to find the last of the morphine vials. Remove junk and other items from the bag and put them on the floor. “[color=00a651]Ah ha.[/color]” The Ratman exclaimed, finding the last vial of morphine. Taking out a small pouch which had the needle and other equipment for injecting the morphine. He put away everything else so he didn’t lose his loot. “[color=00a651]Here is my last one; you probably need it more then i do.[/color]” He said, offering the pouch and vial to Scotti.  

The young man seemed to look at the Ratman with suspicion and uncertainty. His mother always told him not to trust the scavengers which for the most part probably kept him alive. However, he was face to face with one that he’s heard plenty of rumors about. Nervously he wished he could sink more into the bench and disappear while he watched the older man fiddle around with his bag and bring out a small vial. 


His heart was racing and he could hear it throbbing in his ears, “[color=white]I… what…[/color]” seemed very conflicted while the man handed him the vial. “[color=white]What is that exactly?[/color]” Scotti wasn’t sure if he should take it or not before getting an answer. 

At first, he looked perplexed by his question and then offended as if his offer was not good enough. “[color=00a651]It’s morphine, morphine that I use to help with the pain.[/color]”  Jonathan said, pulling back his hands so the pouch and vial were close to his body.  His eyes were closely watching every movement Scotti made. Again, he understood that what he was offering was quite suspicious. But he found it hard to prove that he didn’t have malicious intent. “[color=00a651]You seem to be in need of some, and I can always get more.[/color]” Jonathan added, but didn’t move as if doing so would offend Scotti. 

Scotti seemed to stare at Ratman in thought, he shook his head, “[color=white]I appreciate the offer. I do. I can’t afford that,[/color]” the younger man said with simplicity that only came with such a rough life — a poverty stricken life. “[color=white]And I bet it would help but I really don’t think I have enough money or items that would exchange for that. See,[/color]” Scotti decided to pull out what he had in his pocket — a handful of credits/coins, an unmarked flash drive which had a whole map of the tunnel systems, and a piece of paper with fresh codes to storage bins all over Dominion.  

“[color=white]Unless you think any of these might be useful to you? I really don’t want to just take your work,[/color]” Scotti might be young and rough around the edges like any boy his age in his socio-economic class but he wasn’t going to just take something from someone without a fair trade. 

Jonathan was now staring at the items Scotti had taken from his pocket. His attention moved to the flash drive and piece of paper Scotti had in his hand.  “[color=00a651]What are those?[/color]” He asked, pointing to the flash drive and piece of paper. Perhaps they could be of use to Jonathan. And perhaps Jonathan would be able to trade with Scotti. With them trading, perhaps Scotti would be more inclined to interact with Jonathan. And maybe the items Scotti had could be useful the next time he goes scavenging.  

Looking at the items in his hand, he picked up the flash drive with the other hand, “[color=white]This is a flash drive that has the most accurate and current map of the tunnels, ducts, vents, and other areas under, above, and around Dominion,[/color]” he then put that back into his hand with the other items. He picked up the piece of paper that had codes categorized by city-district and what type of storage, “[color=white]This is the fresh codes of the storage units of the Dominion government in every city district. The codes tend to change every three months and sometimes every month for food, so they are only good for so long.[/color]” 

“[color=00a651]Well, I think that would be good enough to trade. Information for medicine.[/color]” Jonathan said, wondering if Scotti would be okay with such a trade. Although Scotti would not want to part with such information, it could be pretty valuable to him. But it looked like he was in a lot of pain, so trading for the vial could be viable. Getting the codes would be good for getting some free food, and the map of the tunnels would be even more valuable for scavenging.  

Scotti didn’t know if he could trust Ratman or not, what if it was poison, or something else? It was as much as he could trust anyone else in the Gray market or surrounding areas — he nodded, “[color=white]Yeah,[/color]” he replied at first while looking down at the items. It wasn’t like he could use the storage codes anytime soon so he held out his hand even more for Ratman to take whatever he wanted from it. “[color=white]If you think it’s a good trade. Take what you want then,[/color]” Scotti said confidently, hoping he was making the right choice. 

Jonathan smiled. The flash drive would be much more helpful than the codes. With the map of the tunnels, it would be much easier for him to scavenge items. He handed the pouch and vial to Scotti while taking the paper and flash drive. He put his newly acquired items into his backpack before putting them back on. “[color=00a651]Thank you. I hope your ankle gets better.[/color]” He said, feeling quite excited that he was able to make such a good trade. 

Scotti gave Jonathan a smile, “[color=white]I appreciate it,[/color]” he seemed to have settled down way more than when Jonathan first approached him. Ratman wasn’t that bad. Why did people say so many things about him? He was a little odd in the tunnels but he didn’t seem dangerous or violent, just emotional and possibly misunderstood. That was when he remembered he had to pick up his little siblings from daycare — Marie, Dino, and Troy. 

“[color=white]Maybe, I’ll see you around?[/color]” he got up from the bench and secured the items that he traded with Ratman. “[color=white]I hope you have a good one,[/color]” he gestured a wave before slowly walking away with a limp. 

“[color=00a651]Oh yes, I am sure we will meet again very soon.[/color]” Jonathan said, his smile widening underneath his mask. He waved Scotti goodbye and watched him slowly limp away. Now that he had that done, his next order of business would be to speak to another associate about expanding his business. 

[/hider]



A few hours later, Jonathan was seated in a dark, smoky room in the back of a nightclub. Across from him was the owner of the nightclub and a local drug lord named O’Bannon. O’Bannon was involved in the drug trade and quite liked the drugs that Jonathan was creating. Jonathan was there wanting to negotiate his pay and would be given a tour of the main lab. 

“Thank you for coming in to meet with me.” O’Bannon said as he leaned back in his chair, puffing away on a half-lit cigar. Jonathan was smiling under his mask but wondered why O’Bannon wanted to hire him. There didn’t seem to be a reason for someone to hire an eccentric scavenger. Although, perhaps his drug cooking was the reason he was being considered for employment.  “We heard many good things about your products, and I wanted to hire you as one of my cooks.” He added while taking another puff of his cigar.

“[color=00a651]How much would I be paid for my services?[/color]” Jonathan asked, leaning forward so O’Bannon could see his masked face in the light. O’Bannon nodded, relaxed inside the chair, and spoke. 

“You will be paid a commission for each batch that you cook. And for each batch, you will be paid 50,000 dollars. Of course, you probably know how dangerous this business can sometimes be. I hope you can keep a cool head in stressful situations.” O’Bannon had heard of The Ratman and how erratic he could be.  But he knew that the Ratman made the best drugs around. So, having him in his pocket would be invaluable. 

“[color=00a651]I will be cool as a cucumber. And that sounds dandy as candy.[/color]” Jonathan said, leaning back into his chair. With enough savings, he would be able to buy a new apartment. The two men shook hands, and Jonathan was happy with the deal. However, it would interrupt his scavenging. However, this opportunity could prove fruitful for the drug making techniques he could learn.  Learning the building and making his way towards his favourite grey market clinic for some more morphine.