Chapter 13: Renegotiations

“Megaboy? This seems fun.”  Artemvian was laying down on his couch with the phone raised above his face.

“Jack in!”  The tiny blue character shouted.

Artemvian, the rising star mercenary of Nero City, stayed there.

Once every few hours, he would switch positions.  But his head was always attached to some part of the couch, while his legs stayed stretched or folded.  The Mage would get up to grab water once in a while.  Other than the kitchen and the bathroom, however, he never strayed too far.   The sounds from the show changed, from Season 1 to Season 2 and so forth.  A few times, he changed the show itself.

No training.

No effort to better himself.

He just watched anime, ordered food and slept.

And so six days passed.

Chinese takeout containers littered the room.  Trash was everywhere.  His sofa was indented in various places, grease stains from his hands and hair marked his favorite positions.

Artemvian’s phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Artem?”

“That’s me.”

‘It’s Riley.’  Riley’s voice sounded strained somehow.  ‘Artemvian, is everything alright?’

Artemvian ran his hand under the couch.  He grabbed the first thing to brush against his hand and put it straight into his mouth.

“Hmm.  Sour Cream and Onion.”  He crunched into the thing, noting the paltry texture.  Stale.

‘What?’

“I’m fine.”  Artemvian sputtered, grabbing a strand of his own hair and pulling it out of his mouth.  It was long and stringy..  “What’s this about?”

Artemvian could feel the anger rolling off his phone.  Riley’s sigh was quiet, but not quite unheard.  ‘The job, Artemvian.  You never told me which job you decided on.’

“Ooooh, right.”  Artemvian mulled over the job choices in his head.  He ran his hand under the couch again, found something and ate it again.  He spat it out immediately.  “Ew.  What in the devil’s eye was that?”

‘Artemvian.’  Riley’s voice was sharper than a knife.

“Nate & Nate.”  Artemvian said without preamble.

‘The pharmaceutical.  If you already had your mind made up, why didn’t you contact me first?’

“Cause I like pissing you off.”

This time, the sigh was much louder.  ‘Fine.  I already sent the information over.’

“...What?”  Artemvian felt his smirk turn into a slow grin.  “You knew I’d take the Nate & Nate job?”

‘Of course.’  She replied,  ‘A million doilies? That’s a lot of money.  I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.’

“So why’d you bother asking?”

‘Maybe,’  She drawled, ‘I like pissing you off, Moneti.’

He sat up on the couch.  “Well, not sure what I did to deserve that.”  Slightly annoyed that Riley knew his next move, Artemvian shrugged off the various knots from his back and shoulders.  Reaching for his tablet, Artemvian checked the encrypted message.  “The contract changed? I thought it was 500,000 doilies up front and 500,000 after the job was done.  What’s this line about ‘up to’ 500,000 doilies?”

‘Things have changed.’  Riley answered.  ‘We’re meeting with the Nate&Nate rep tomorrow, but it seems they got a lot more applicants than initially wanted.’

‘But they asked for me by name, didn’t they?’

‘That’s the problem.  They have another mage applicant.’

‘Huh.’  Artemvian grimaced, ‘What’s the reputational cost of changing the contract like this last minute?’

‘Big.  The mercenary world is all about reputation and keeping your word.  But Nate&Nate is a pharmaceutical heavyweight.  Which means they can just throw doilies until someone desperate enough bites.’

“Tch.”  He clicked his teeth.  “So I have to actually work for the 500,000?”

‘I’m hanging up.’

“Alright, alright!”  Artemvian exclaimed.

‘Are you done joking around?’

“So they changed the contract.  Can we do the same?”

Riley took time to think.  ‘Nate & Nate might raise a big stink about it, try to send your reputation through the gutter for price gouging them.  But it’s possible.  Companies take that sort of thing seriously though.’

“I’m guessing that Nate & Nate doesn’t have the best reputation though?”

‘True.  Why? What’re you thinking?’

“A way to get more money.”  Artemvian swept his hand under the couch again.

‘I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but whatever you do, it has to be clean.  If it’s not, well, just remember that other mercenaries are aiming for this contract as well.  They might not take kindly to you messing up the scene like this.’

“Understood.”

‘Is that it?’

“One more question.”

Riley waited.

“So I’m thinking about starting a Meowtube channel.  Like a Vlog.  Day in the life of a mercenary in Nero City and whatnot.  Is there anything in the contracts about streaming?”

Riley hung up before Artemvian could finish the sentence.

“Rude.”  Artemvian muttered into the phone.

***

The next day, Artemvian found himself at Riley’s Joint.

The twilights be blessed, the Mage had actually showered, shaven and brushed his teeth.  After having taken the time to clean his body, he wore his usual outfit.  A techno-leather jacket with black jeans, completing the look with a classic white t-shirt.

“Hey, Moneti.”  Brant waved from behind the bar as Artemvian strolled in.

“Hey yourself.”  Artemvian took a seat.  “Turkey.  Provolone.  Bacon.  Extra crispy.  Ooooh, and you know how I love that mayo.”

“Can’t.”  Brant shook his head, cleaning a wineglass.  “Boss said to send you upstairs as soon as you walk in.”  The young man took a look at the clock.  “Actually if you’re any more late than this, she might take it out of your hide.  And then mine.”

“Spoilsport.”  But the mage complied, navigating through the back of the bar and heading upstairs to the offices where Riley discussed jobs, contracts and other sensitive information.

He knocked on the door.

“Come in.”  Riley called out.

Inside, he found Riley as expected.  But she wasn’t alone.

The man was a shy under six-feet tall and plain, much like Moneti himself.  But the similarities ended there.  Artemvian could blend into a crowd, sure.  But there was a quiet confidence to him, a certain wolf-like quality to the man.  Artemvian was the sort that went unnoticed because he didn’t do anything of note, but once you started paying attention to him, it was hard not to notice the mage.

The man was plain in the opposite way.  He was the sort to be dismissed with a look.  A dark brown suit and a frizzled tie, the glasses-wearing man picked at his sleeves incessantly.  He had a beaten up briefcase that had tales of ages spent indoors at the office, behind a desk.  In a world of cybernetic enhancements and futuristic technology, it was a miracle that the man managed to look so nondescript.

“Artemvian, this is Mr. Plain.”  Riley did the introduction, “Mr. Plain, meet Artemvian Delacreau Moneti.”

“That has to be a code name.”  Artemvian said immediately.  “I mean, just take a look at the guy.  Mr. Plain? Really?”

“Artemvian.”  Riley shook her head.  “Mr. Plain, I’m terribly sorry about his behavior.  But I assure you, his skills are top-class.”

“No need, Ms.Riley.  I know that talent comes with its own share of… percularities.”  The man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, holding out a hand.  “You are right, Mr. Moneti.  That is a codename.  My real name is hidden for the purposes of this transaction.  I hope you do not mind.”

Artemvian shook the Plain’s hand then sat down.  “My name is fake too.”

Plain ignored the quip.  “I’m here today as a legal representative of Nate & Nate.  I’ll be acting as liaison and point of contact for all your inquiries, requests and any questions you might have for Nate & Nate.”

“Riley here is my legal representative.”  Artemvian said, unphased by Plain’s lack of reaction.  “She’ll answer all your inquiries and questions.”

“You’re not funny, Artemvian.”  Riley glared at him.

“On the contrary, people find me hilarious.”  But the Mage was pouting at the cold reception.

“I’m sure you’ve read over the contract, but I’ll go over it regardless.”  Plain cleared his throat.  “You’ll be collaborating with other mercenaries to transfer the cargo to the Wastelands.”

“Wastelands?”  Artemvian shot Riley a questioning look.

“Outside the city walls.”  Riley said dryly, realizing Artemvian barely looked through the file she emailed over.  “I assume that Nate & Nate will prepare the necessary paperwork?”

“Naturally.”  Plain tightened his tie.

Riley had known this, of course.  But she had asked for Artemvian’s benefit, if just to give the quirky mage less chances to talk.

“The package will be picked up by a team of agents which we’ve prepared specifically for the second half of this contract.  Once the package has been successfully delivered, your involvement ends.”  Mr. Plain handed over a piece of paper.  “Up front, we can offer up to 250,000 doilies.  After a successful completion, we will pay you another 250,000 doilies with a bonus on top, which will depend on the severity of this mission.”

Artemvian leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. “Riley?”

“That’s less than half of what we agreed upon.”  She said urgently.

“The market has changed.  We received more than enough applicants for this contract.”

Artemvian sniffed.  “I thought they asked for me by name.”

“We asked for a mage.”  Plain explained, “Your name came up more than once.  But you are still relatively new to the scene, Mr. Moneti.  There is no way for us to confirm that you are worth the initial promise of our payout, especially now that circumstances have changed.”

Armtemvian and Riley shared a look.

“Is he saying what I think he’s saying?”  Artemvian asked.

Riley knitted her brows, tapping on the contract.  “You’ve found another Mage.”

Plain sighed.  “Long story short, we’ve found certain individuals whose reputation far outweighs Mr. Monetis. Nate & Nate has decided in their best interest to invest in the potential of agents whose track records are much more extensive than Mr. Moneti’s.”

“This is highly unprofessional.”  Riley crossed her arms.  “You should know what the Mercenary Market is like.”

“We know exactly what it’s like.  That’s precisely why we are doing this.”  Plain’s gaze was uncompromising.  “However, we do agree on the point that the redlining of the contract was handled rather poorly, especially on our part.  As such, if Mr. Moneti is willing, we are willing to offer him 100,000 doilies to break the contract.  On the condition that he signs an NDA.”

“NDA? What’s that? A sandwich?”  

“Non disclosure agreement.”  Riley’s glare never left Plain’s face.  “100,000 doilies is a tenth of what was promised to my client.”

Plain didn’t flinch.  “That is the offer.”

Riley chewed on her lip.  She saw through the giant pharmaceutical’s plans now.  They had dangled a 1,000,000 doilies to Artemvian.  Though Artemvian’s reputation was growing, it was still just that: growing.  Talented her client might be, he still didn’t hold a candle to the tried and true experts in the mercenary business.  By offering 1,000,000 doilies to Artemvian, Nate & Nate had drawn out other mages out of hiding.  

Mages with more experience than Artemvian and who were willing to work for a mere 1,000,000.  A 1,000,000 doilies to hire a skilled mage?  That was a chump change to a corporation like Nate & Nate.  Especially in a market where skilled Mages were so limited.

Riley cursed whoever had been in charge of mercenary recruitment.  Artemvian had been used and Nate & Nate was about to throw them spare change to shut them up.

Perhaps it’d be best to take the hush money, thought Riley.  Artemvian could build up his reputation steadily.  She was sure of it.  He was skilled, more skilled than he let on for sure.  There were rumors on the Deepweb that his skills were blown out of proportion, that footages of his skill had been edited.

Instead of taking a shady deal like this, it might be best to start fresh.

“Fine, we’ll take the-”

“I’ll do the job.”  Artemvian said suddenly.

“Excuse me?”  Mr. Plain raised an eyebrow.

“You heard me.”  The Mage stretched.  “I said I’ll do the job.”

“I must admit, I’m surprised.  May I ask for your intentions?”

“Well, if I chicken out on this job now, every stray dog and bottom-feeding mercenary is going to hear that I got gypped by Nate & Nate.  And that reflects badly on my broker.”  Artemvian hooked a thumb towards Riley.

Artemvian was right.  Word traveled fast.  People would find out that Artemvian got used by Nate & Nate and it was no secret that Riley was his broker.  Riley’s reputation would take a hit.

Still, this was her mistake.  Riley wasn’t about to put Artemvian through this shady deal just for that.  He had too much potential for that.

“Artemvian, you don’t have to do this.  This was my mistake.  I’ll fix it.  So you don’t need to–”

“I just want to add in a clause there.”  Artemvian tapped the contract.

Plain eyed the paper.  “What kind of clause?”

“You don’t have to pay me the deposit at all.”

“...Go on, Mr. Moneti.”

Artemvian’s eyes twinkled.  “You only pay me on completion of the mission and according to the level of my contribution.”

“...What if you contribute almost nothing to the mission? What then?”

“Pay me what is fair.”

Plain’s eyes clouded over with greed and Artemvian knew the man couldn’t resist.

Of course.  Negotiators like Plain got paid on whatever they saved.  Everything that they didn’t pay Artemvian would go straight to Plain’s pocket.

An irresistible fruit.

“Well?”  Artemvian pushed.

Without another word, Plain took the contract.  He took out a metallic pen and simply hovered the tip over the paper.  A beam of light extended from the point, simultaneously erasing and rewriting parts of the contract.  After he was finished, he passed the paper on to Riley.

Riley read it over, “Artemvian.  Are you sure?”

“Sure as heck.”

They both signed it.

Plain took a copy of the contract and stood up, “It was nice meeting you, Ms. Riley and Mr. Moneti.  This was much more productive than I originally anticipated.  You’ll be receiving a set of instruction on where to meet tomorrow.  Please take care not to be late this time, Mr. Moneti.”

“Yassuh, Massuh Plain.”  Artemvian saluted.

A hint of a smile passed over Plain’s eyes.  “Then I’ll be on my way.”

After he left, Riley turned on Artemvian.  “You’re sure about this?”

“Sure as heck.”  He repeated.

“...Then I’ll trust you.”  She shook her head and stood up.  “I’m going to look into who’s going to be on that job tomorrow and send you the profiles by tonight.  It’s Nate & Nate though, so I can’t guarantee anything.”

“Nate & Nate.”  Artemvian smiled at the door that Plain left through.  “Heh.  This is going to be fun.”