Chapter Text
“So, how was your first day?” Joel asked, opening the plastic bag of food that Jimmy had brought back to the apartment and finding what he was looking for.
“My coworkers are a bit strange, but they were looking out for me,” Jimmy said, grabbing his own food. “I was basically given free reign of the kitchen.”
“On your first day?” Joel asked, skeptical. He had every right to be, but Jimmy needed to assure him that it was fine. Tango and Skizz were completely harmless! They’d been nice to him, and they’d genuinely wanted to help Jimmy learn where everything was and what he needed to do.
“Well, there’s only three of us working there. And I was hired because the guy who was previously in the kitchen blew up an oven,” Jimmy explained. It made sense, but Joel still seemed concerned. “He's in charge of the dishes now.”
“Let me get this straight,” Joel said, slowly. “You were hired yesterday and given full control of an entire kitchen today. Because one of your coworkers blew up the oven.”
“Yes?” Jimmy said.
“Where was your other coworker during all of this?” Joel asked.
“He’s the waiter. And the manager, I think? He showed me how the new oven worked and then went out to deliver food,” Jimmy explained. “They’re both nice people.”
“The last time you said that about someone, I had to punch them,” Joel said, flatly. He took a judgmental bite from his burger.
“No- I mean, they’re actually nice. Look.”
Jimmy scooted over and showed Joel the string of messages he already had with Skizz. Joel swallowed his bite of food, and his eyes widened in recognition.
“Wait- Is that the video where that snooty chef messes up grilled cheese- Like, he burns the bread and the cheese isn’t melted?” Joel asked, leaning in so he could see it.
“Yeah!”
“Oh, go look at the comments. They’re hysterical.”
“That’s a good idea. Let me see.”
“And if your coworkers start being weird to you, I’ll punch them, too.”
“I can tell you for certain that Skizz and Tango do not deserve it.”
“Just in case. You know my hands are rated E for Everyone.”
“Joel, no.”
“Joel, yes.”
----
Cyber City is built around a river.
This isn’t that much of a unique feature, as there are several other cities built around rivers. Cyber City doesn’t use water for its electricity, so the river is mostly a tourist destination or a route that boats take as they cross the country. Because the river wasn’t central to the city, there were certain spots that weren’t as noticed by the public.
The warehouse that Tango was approaching now was one of those places.
It was a large rectangular building, with a curved roof that was more hole than roof. The windows were all either broken or gone, and, by all means, it looked empty.
This was not actually the case, as Tango was here for a good reason. Well, it was actually for some incredibly nefarious reasons, but the point stands. He had a reason to be here.
Tango did not usually look like the type of guy you’d see slinking around back alleys and abandoned warehouses. He was definitely up to something tonight, though, so he’d made sure he looked the part. So here he was, wearing dark, unremarkable clothing to cover his features aside from his sharpened teeth. It was enough to let the types of people who usually lurked here know he had business in these types of places, but not that he was the one helping to provide the business in the first place.
Flipping a hidden switch in the wall revealed a card reader near one of the doors to the warehouse. The metal had shifted so that the technology could appear, and Tango had swiped his card and slipped inside, closing and locking the door behind him. It had the capability to connect to certain CyberLinks, too, but Tango didn’t have one. He didn’t trust CyberLinks, despite both Skizz and Impy insisting they were fine after having them installed (Skizz hadn’t gotten one until he’d needed to replace his fingers, but Impy had one for a long time before that). Tango didn’t particularly want to have a piece of a computer in his brain, reading his every thought, so he used an ID card to enter instead. It was more primitive, but at least he could be sure his thoughts were private. He was pretty sure a computer wouldn't understand him any more than he understood himself on an average Tuesday.
Inside of the warehouse was a sleek, white laboratory, with pink and purple LEDs between the painted metal panels on the walls and bright white lights on the high ceiling. There were no actual windows to the outside, but the space still felt open, instead of suffocating. Tables were scattered around the room in the nonsensical organizational system that Zedaph had come up with, all containing various experiments in action, and with holographic screens on display as well, each with their own tasks.
Of course, Zedaph himself was nowhere to be seen, but Tango knew he was on his way. Zedaph got alerts whenever someone entered his lab, depending on who opened the door. His security couldn’t be beaten… Except by the boss, maybe. The boss had apparently doxxed and killed the last person who had made an attempt to find him. That guy with the purple wing mask- The one who had invited Tango to this organization, after he'd survived the destruction of his previous group and joined this new family- had thought it was a funny story to tell Tango so that he would keep his nose out of the boss’ business. (Tango hadn't seen him since, but he was sure that guy was still watching him.)
Tango pulled his hood off and tapped his foot on the tile floor. As if sensing his impatience, Zedaph came strolling into his laboratory seconds later, grinning in that way he always did whenever he had a particularly difficult problem to solve. His arms were both mechanical, sleek and silver with pink lights decorating them at the joints. (Zed hadn’t been as lucky as Tango when they’d blown up that warehouse, but he likely would have ended up giving himself cybernetics even if he didn’t lose both of his arms in the explosion. He was that sort of person, after all.) He’d rolled his slightly singed lab coat’s sleeves up to the elbows, showing off the metal of his hands. Other than that, and the welding helmet on his head that had the visor pulled back, Zedaph was dressed normally, in his brown sweater and a pair of jeans. They were also slightly singed. Tango was pretty sure Zedaph was in the middle of building something before he’d arrived.
“Hey, Zed!” Tango cheerfully announced his presence, waving to him.
Zed blinked, locking his unnaturally purple eyes in Tango’s direction, and he skipped over to the door to join him.
“Hello,” said Zedaph, not even bothering to go through with the usual formalities expected from his position. “Did you come all the way out here just to see me? Or is there something you need?”
“A bit of both,” Tango explained, because he couldn’t lie to Zed. Sure, he could lie to other people, and he could lie to himself, but not to Zed. “It’s been a while since I’ve stopped by. And the distribution point I’m in charge of is running low.”
“Redstone or glowstone?” Zedaph asked. He always got straight to the point when it came to business, and that was one of the reasons Tango was certain Impulse wouldn’t be hearing about his visit this evening until Tango was long gone. And after Skizz had talked to him. Hopefully. If Skizz chickened out, then whatever was coming was a Future Tango problem, and so Future Tango would deal with it. Present Tango would carry on as normal, even if Future Tango would hate him for it later.
“We need both,” Tango answered.
“I’ll arrange a delivery for tomorrow morning,” Zedaph said, turning on his heel and tapping on one of the screens scattered about his lab. “I can get it tonight if you test something with me, though.”
“I’m not snorting redstone again,” Tango said, immediately.
“No, no, this one’s for- You know.” Zed waved towards Tango’s left arm. “I was thinking. You know those claws you’re putting on Skizz’s suit? They’d suit you, too.”
“I’m good with keeping my teeth as the sharpest things in my body,” Tango said. “Claws would make it hard to keep low-key, which is kinda part of my mission.”
This was true. Lots of people had done stranger things to their own teeth in the name of fashion, so Tango’s shark look didn't stand out as much as it would if he was in the past. Claws were a bit harder to hide, especially when Tango’s mouth could easily be hidden by a face mask. Lots of people may have claws, but they were still unique. Tango tugged at his gloves. If he agreed, then his claws would truly stand out, and that wasn't something the bosses wanted from him. He was undercover. Standing out too much would cause suspicion.
“That steam abomination is not low-key,” Zed said, pouting at him and completely ignoring Tango's momentary inner turmoil. “Can’t I please put a teensy laser cannon inside of it so it has some actual use? I mean, I made my pointer fingers into welding torches, and they’ve been very helpful around the laboratory!”
“No,” Tango said. He blinked at that news. Well, that explained why Zedaph seemed to be slightly singed all over. It was also terrifying to imagine something that powerful at Zedaph’s literal fingertips, but that was on brand for Zedaph. He could be as flashy or eccentric as he wanted, so long as he continued supplying the family with product without being caught by the cops. Tango did think lasers were fun, but Zedaph was unfortunately too late to customize Tango’s accessories further. “I’ve already got something like that, but better.”
Tango had to say something else, though, because he couldn't stand there and take Zed's comment about his hard work being ‘a steam abomination’ without defending himself. Especially when said ‘steam abomination’ functioned far better than any of the ‘proper’ cybernetics Tango had seen in action. He'd debugged Skizz's fingers enough times to know his technology was superior. “And don’t disrespect steam! Our ancestors didn’t have all of this fancy redstone, you know. I’m working with what they left for us! For the aesthetic!”
“When did you- I’m not going to ask.” Zedaph changed his mind quickly. Just as Tango was more than a little intimidated by the fact Zedaph’s pointer fingers were apparently welding torches, Zedaph was concerned about what Tango had managed to do to himself. Well, not really concerned, but curious, because Zedaph did not know what fear felt like, and Tango was obviously passionate about this project. “Can I see it?”
“I’ll show you if you schedule the dust delivery for tonight and keep this visit on the down-low for a couple of days. I don’t really want to talk to the bosses until they’re scheduled to check in on my progress,” Tango explained. Skizz would handle talking to Impulse. And then things would continue as normal. The sooner that happened, the better.
“Fine… But I want to see how it works.” Zedaph agreed to Tango’s request. Of course he did. Tango could trust him to be upfront about what he wanted in return.
There wasn’t even much of a catch to getting this favor. Which wasn’t an easy thing to come by, in this world. Everything has a cost, no matter how insignificant it might seem. Zedaph just placed value on things differently than most people did, and it was because of this that Tango felt comfortable taking off the glove on his left hand and flexing his fingers now that they weren’t restricted by the leather.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go to your testing range,” Tango said, as he rolled up his sleeve to his elbow. “I hope you actually fireproofed it this time, or else it's gonna get a bit toasty in here.”
Zedaph’s eyes suddenly grew wider than dinner plates, and he clapped, his metal palms making a loud clanging noise as they hit each other.
“Oh, I knew I’d forgotten something!”
Tango sighed. He really didn’t want to blow up this warehouse, too.
----
Jimmy had class today, but only in the morning. He'd be done before he needed to take the train to his new workplace, and, once he came home from his job, he'd be able to do his homework and go to sleep. Perhaps he'd make dinner for himself and his roommates, but it was likely that they'd all be fending for themselves that evening. Oh, well. As long as Grian didn't mess up his ramen again, it wasn't Jimmy’s problem.
Of course, Jimmy had failed to consider the pop quiz his professor dropped as soon as he entered the classroom. And then he'd failed to consider that it wasn't a quiz, it was a full test. Something the professor was using to check on their students’ progress in understanding the topics previously covered. They'd explained that the results of this test would help them come up with a personalized lesson plan for each student, to help them remember the material better.
Jimmy wasn't allowed use of his CyberLink to cheat and get the answers (It was odd, turning it off, when he'd gotten so used to having its presence constantly humming behind his ears), and the test was difficult- as it was meant to be- to complete, so the test left him feeling particularly drained.
Jimmy left class that day somewhat dazed, like the world wasn't exactly spinning, but also that he wouldn’t have any trouble navigating to his workplace and doing his job.
So, Jimmy took the train to the station closest to where Cyber City Pizza was located. It was a quiet neighborhood, despite the way the buildings seemed to be a bit older than most of the novelties that Cyber City advertised itself to be. The homes were tall, and blocky, and the supposedly eye-catching neon signs that were covering every wall faded into the background, just a bit more white noise to be tuned out as Jimmy passed by. Cyber City Pizza had one of these signs, too, though it was a lower brightness, and it hung slightly sideways above the entrance to the restaurant.
Jimmy entered, still carrying the bag he'd taken to the university that morning, and he met eyes with Tango, who was speaking with an older-looking man who wore a three-piece black suit. The man was sitting at one of the restaurant tables, like he was waiting to order something, and Tango was standing nearby, though his notepad was in his apron pocket. That should have struck Jimmy as odd, but maybe a man who had the money for a suit like that sometimes wanted a slice of pizza. And since there were no other people in the restaurant, Tango would be able to keep track of his order without writing it down.
“You're early,” Tango commented, and the man he was speaking to went quiet.
“Yeah, I thought I would have a bit more time to myself this morning, but things didn't turn out that way.” Jimmy sighed. That test had taken a lot out of him, but he was still capable of working. “It shouldn't affect my performance at all.”
Tango patted him on the shoulder, and he gave Jimmy a pointed grin that showed off his teeth. “Why don't you go in the back and get ready? I've got things handled here.”
“Okay,” Jimmy said, and he walked into the kitchen.
Tango, from where he was negotiating payment with a new client, didn't fail to notice the way he'd reacted as soon as Jimmy had come in and made direct eye contact with him. The man had clammed up, terrified of the tall, looming figure with dead eyes, yellow wings lighting up behind his ears, and a bag of what could only be assumed to be filled with instruments of torture. This was someone who spoke casually with Tango, so obviously he had to be involved with the business Tango was conducting here.
Despite the fact Jimmy was definitely just here for work after spending the morning in a classroom, the client was wary of him.
Tango had to test this. Jimmy wasn’t actually a part of anything illegal, but his presence had done something to the client. Tango could turn that to his advantage.
“Pay double of what you're offering now, or you'll figure out what's in that bag,” Tango whispered into the man's ear.
He was pleased to see that the threat worked. The man happily paid double of what he needed to, and was even happier to leave with all of his limbs intact.
Tango pushed the chair back into its proper position at one of his tables, and considered what just happened.
He'd been struggling to get that client to pay what he owed for the products this front provided to him. Tango was close to snapping his fingers one by one, just to prove a point. (It was kinder than what Impy would do to him, considering Impy preferred making examples out of the people who thought they could pull a fast one on him. And then killing them once they had no more use.) And then Jimmy had shown up early, fresh from class (judging from his backpack, anyway) and clearly on good terms with Tango.
Somehow, Jimmy’s presence had driven that man to immediately double his previous offer, which was far more money than he'd actually owed.
…
Tango had to hand it to Skizz. He'd been the one to look at the application that had come in and gotten attached immediately. Tango hadn't even finished his background check before Skizz was writing an acceptance letter on one of the counters in the kitchen. He’d gotten so excited about it that he’d spilled tomato sauce on the paper he was writing on.
Jimmy wasn't involved in anything that had to do with Skizz and Tango’s actual line of work, though.
Which made this new situation a bit complicated.
Tango wondered, then, if he'd be able to pull off another deal like this one. Jimmy was sticking around, and he was good at what he did, so… Tango would have another opportunity to test this theory out.
He needed to consult Skizz, though he was certain Skizz wouldn't be against it. As long as Jimmy didn't actually get involved, then he'd be safe.
Plus, Tango had just gotten twice the amount of money he’d initially asked for. Impulse would be pleased with this turn of events. He was always pleased when profits exceeded expectations.
Perhaps- Perhaps, if this wasn’t an isolated event, Impulse wouldn’t mind the financial troubles that Skizz still hadn’t talked to him about regarding Jimmy’s paycheck. It was because of Jimmy that this deal had gone so well, after all.
“Oh, did he leave without ordering anything?” Jimmy asked, coming out of the kitchen with his apron around his waist and his bag missing, probably put away somewhere in the kitchen so it wouldn’t get in the way.
“He wasn’t pleased with our menu options,” Tango said, feigning a sigh that wasn’t exactly fake. The client had been difficult to deal with, but now that he’d paid, Tango didn’t have to worry about him any longer. “Who knew that the place named ‘Cyber City Pizza’ specialized in pizza?”
Jimmy hissed through his teeth, sympathetic.
“Oh, I am so sorry. We had those types come to the print shop when I still worked there.”
“It’s fine, he’s gone,” Tango said. “You should probably get started in the kitchen, or else Skizz will blow up the oven again.”
Jimmy seemed to suddenly gain more awareness, and he nodded, dashing into the kitchen and closing the door behind him.
Tango was finished setting up, so he also prepared himself for the start of the work day.
He would talk with Skizz later, once they wouldn't be distracted by other people.
And then Skizz could take this information to Impulse. They'd figure out the rest after Impulse made a decision.
----
The Company Behind CyberLink: a mysterious organization that is based in Cyber City. Their name is a secret, but their activities are not. The boss of this company has several high-profile government officials in his pocket, allowing the company to continue to do its business in the city without any investigation into what that business actually is.
On an Unrelated Note: Seven members of Cyber City’s governing council have recently been spotted in a rehabilitation center for those who are addicted to glowstone dust.
