TSAIWOKI Chapter 4

Chap 4

The Park was generally known as the poorer area of Clearcoast, being too far inland to fully prosper from either tourism or trade. Straddling the line between the Park and it’s richer cousin, the Waterside, were a few rows of residential apartments and scattered restaurants. This tenuous balance between the poor and the rich was at its most obvious here. The dividing force separating the two sides that protected these few middle class folk from the horrors of the Park was a group known as Limbo, which in turn was aided by a few individual groups of vigilant and reputable members of society. All reputable organizations, such as Limbo, needed a reputable source of funding.

Maria Sabato and her restaurant were more then happy to provide funding to the group. Homestyle Italian Grill might not have been the most inspired name for an Italian restaurant, but Maria was proud to run it. The business had been in the family for years and she was the latest in a chain of owners. In her opinion, it was thriving under her reign. Profits had never been higher, at least that’s what it seemed like looking at the tax reports.

It was even to the point where they had enough money to sponsor an event or two, Maria thought as she sat in her nice apartment and looked over the economic success of her restaurant. Sponsoring an event that left an important legacy like a marathon could be a hassle and was a fairly risky gamble. Yet if it payed off, then the payout of smiles would be well worth it. The advertising opportunity it would provide also might have factored significantly into the equation, not that Maria would admit it. More advertising could easily lead to more profit, which could easily lead to padding out her family’s pockets with wealth.

A few other side operations that the restaurant did also led to Maria having a constant flow of income, although Maria didn’t advertise them at all. The good people in Limbo always helped out to make sure one of their top supporters stayed wealthy. It irked Maria that the Homestyle Italian Grill wasn’t the top source of funding for Limbo. It was highly useful in Limbo’s endeavors of policing the streets and enforcing justice, but it wasn’t the top contributor. Even after practically doubling the Grill’s profits she still was being beaten out by her brothers Giorgio and Roberto. Giorgio ran a quiet, scarcely documented, transport service which always used an alias for its customers. The drivers were some of the best in the city and would literally drive you wherever you wanted for the right fee. They would even drive through a warzone for the right price, and they often did. Their anonymity policy and habit of using varied, nondescript cars as transportation had made them popular with supervillains and the occasional superhero. They would drive you right up to the bank for a heist and, if paid enough, chances were they would drive you away from it too. The cars didn’t have distinguishing marks to alert anyone of their existence and all business was done online or in person.

Roberto, on the other hand, was a prime source of information for Limbo. No good, reputable, upstanding, law enforcers could work without information on their residents. Roberto ran a work center where he would take in just about any bum off the street, turn them into a somewhat respectable member of society, and then find work for them. He, of course, expected to be paid back for his service to the community. Many people who went in his centers left as a member of Limbo. The luckier ones became henchmen for any prospective villain, terrorist cell, or the odd hero.

It is a well known fact that alongside neighborhood enforcement and tax collecting, Limbo also served as a central hub for villains across the state to find a suitable group of minions. These minions were, of course, expected to make sure Limbo was well informed of any of their contractors whereabouts ahead of time.

Maria Sabato resented her brothers for having a more important job in the grand scheme of things. Information and transportation ensured an organization like Limbo ran smoothly. Her job was nearly as important to Limbo, but it was lacking in the stardom and recognition she craved. The Grill wasn’t supposed to be in the spotlight due to its side services, but to Maria that was irrelevant. The Grill worked like a nearly flawless machine in its duties, but that was the problem. It was nearly flawless. As in, it could do better. For the life of her, Maria couldn’t figure out what it could do better.

It was at times like this that she had to remind herself that being chosen to run the restaurant was an honor. It had served a noble purpose during the Prohibition and its value hasn’t diminished over the years. The only thing that had changed was the increase of profits and its purpose. It was a source of pride that Maria had been so influential in increasing the Grill’s profits.

Which led Maria back to her current situation. With a sigh, she set down the economic records and put an end to her daily brainstorming. She wouldn’t be able to outwit her brothers today, just like the day before. The daily lack of success constantly disappointed her, but she went into it every day with a hopeful outlook. That outlook didn’t stay with Maria for longer after. Now she had to accomplish the next goal on her daily agenda; dropping off the recipients at the bank.

Depositing the money was a fairly simple task and an utterly crucial one to the function of Limbo. Without this money, many of their endeavors would have been a mere pipe dream. With those thoughts in mind, Maria grabbed her trilby hat and her briefcase full of money and recipients.

It was a pleasantly sunny day in Clearcoast and the light rays warmed Maria’s skin in a comforting way. She preferred walking places rather then driving. When someone drove somewhere they tended to miss out on all the places they passed and the destination lost its significance. That, and it allowed her to keep an eye on the neighborhood. A few people were out on the streets and walking next to the tan apartment, but she didn’t recognize any of them and so didn’t spare them a second thought. A few strangers nodded to her as they passed by and Maria shot them a quick smile in return. The smile was intentionally predatory at some of them. It was her way of reminding them that they were in her debt and they still hadn’t paid it off. She didn’t spare them a second glance after they passed.

Idly she noticed that a few people seemed jumpier then normal. A quick scan showed that it seemed every person on the street was jumpy, even the ones in Limbo. A glance down the an alleyway let her make eye contact with a few members of Limbo, who were identified by the single black glove they wore that had a stylized L on it in white. The members shoved their hands in their pockets and lowered their heads slightly. They seemed slightly nervous when they left, as if they were afraid of her attacking them.

They didn’t have any reason to flee her gaze if they hadn’t somehow screwed up recently. The fact that everyone on the street, including Limbo members, were uneasy set Maria on edge. Unconsciously, she quickened her pace and and shoved her hand in her pocket, toying with the small knife any self-respecting Sabato had on them at all times. It brought her a small amount of comfort as she walked towards the bank with her briefcase full of money.

She froze mid-step when a repeating pattern of three quick beeps followed by a delayed long beep played. Hastily she pulled her phone out of her pocket. That was the ringtone reserved for relatives. They rarely ever called to talk about the weather, so it was obvious something was wrong.

Maria unconsciously let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was her cousin Danny calling. He rarely ever called, and usually only in a dire emergency, but he was the least likely to bring bad news. In the corner of her mind, she remembered having 5 missed calls from him when she woke up in the morning. She rolled her eyes and answered her idiot cousin.

“What happened this time?” Maria’s voice held an obvious exasperated tone in it.

Danny’s voice sounded confident to an untrained observer, but Maria knew her cousin. She could tell he was trying to hide his nervousness under a mask of confidence. It seemed the mask had shattered pretty badly, she noted. “Look, Maria, I can explain, but-“

“But what? The only explanation for wrecking your car again is your own incompetence. It’s getting tiring how I’m the one who keeps having to bail you out. You don’t even return the favor! Call Roberto or Giorgio, anyone but me!” Maybe she was a little too angry, but he was the screwup of the family and she was a little on edge at the moment. She felt it was justified.

“I already tried. You’re the only one who ever picks up the phone anymore.”

“Then stop screwing up so much. It’s embarrassing and shameful! This is the-“ Her phone beeped again, another family member was calling. Maria pulled her phone away from her ear and stared at the number in concern. It was Roberto. She almost didn’t want to answer. She hated his calls almost as much as she hated Danny’s, because Roberto consistently only called when there was bad news to be delivered. News bad enough that the whole area shivered in fright. Her voice had a slight cold and panicked quality to it, “-Roberto called, I’m hanging up. Goodbye.” Maria quickly h hung up on the black sheep of the family and answered the bringer of bad news. At least he was blunt about it and didn’t ramble.

Roberto’s voice was quiet enough that it was barely picked up by the phone, “Damocles has been injured. We’re bringing him to your apartment. I have a dri-“

Maria hung up mid-sentence and shoved her phone deep into her pocket. She replaced it with the pocketknife and brought it up to hold onto her trilby hat as she ran back to the apartment. Fear flooded through her and her legs felt hard to move. It made sense why everyone was so skittish; Damocles has been injured enough to retreat.  He was Limbo’s trademark enforcer for a reason and a terrifying supervillain. He and a group of fellow Limbo members had fought against a trio of heroes and won with minimal difficulty. It was implausible to think he’d been injured. But Damocles wasn’t perfect and Roberto never joked about anything.

Maria sprinted to her apartment, not caring about the looks she was getting in the slightest.