Chapter Text
‘We’re in the big fat negatives, Chief,’ Faye said with a smile on her face.
It wasn’t funny. At all. How could Faye still smile at the MBCC’s financial situation when it was so dire? ‘You wouldn’t happen to have some DisCoins in those,’ Chief nodded at the metal crates behind Faye, ‘would you?’
‘This is the supply office, not the bank,’ Faye said. ‘We’ll be needing about 300,000 DisCoins to repair all the damage that the mania induced duck rebellion has caused.’
‘300,000…’ Chief murmured, blood running cold.
‘The cafeteria and the kitchens were totally annihilated. It’s not a matter of simple repairs and cleaning. There are pipes and wiring that need to be completely redone among other things. The duckies are also out of action and resting up. Medical said that they won’t be able to work for a long while, which means we’ll have to pay for extra labour to keep things running too.’
The doors to the depot slid open. Heels clicked on the floor.
‘We’ll have to take out a loan, then,’ Chief said.
‘Ummmmm, we can’t.’ Faye tilted her head, and Chief could see her reflection in Faye’s sunglasses.
‘Why?’
‘We haven’t paid off the other ones yet, and literally nobody will let us take out a loan with them right now. Unless you want me to contact some shady people, that is.’
Chief stared at the countertop that Faye leaned on. The light on the cash register flashed as if laughing at their predicament. Just how did they end up in a situation like this? A duck attack. Sounds as ridiculous as it was. And before that they’d had a raid on their storage facilities, before that a generator had exploded, taking out the neighbouring ones, and before that… Is the MBCC cursed? Chief wondered.
The clicking sound of heels drew nearer, and Eirene strode into view. ‘Excuse me for overhearing, but might I provide a suggestion?’
‘Oh, hey,’ Faye said. ‘Been waiting for you.’ Faye had been speaking to Eirene quite often ever since Chief had approved of her visits to discuss business related matters. The supply office has been tripling its profits ever since.
‘What do you have in mind?’ Chief asked.
‘You could simply start a business to make the money you are lacking,’ Eirene said.
‘That’s easy to say, hard to do,’ Chief said. ‘And what business could the MBCC get into to make a large amount of money in a short time? Selling vegetables at market stalls isn’t lucrative, and we can’t have anybody doing any of the illegal jobs on the dark web. The safe commissions don’t pay well either.’
‘You have a much easier option.’
‘Which is?’
‘You.’
Faye hit her palm with the side of her fist. It annoyed Chief a little that Faye understood what Eirene was saying while Chief was still left in the fog of confusion.
‘All we have to do is turn you into a licensed franchise, Chief,’ Eirene said as if it was the most obvious thing ever.
Chief blinked.
‘That’s genius.’ Faye bounced on her feet. ‘Make Chief into a franchise and watch the money roll in!’
Chief frowned. ‘Wait, what?’