I stared at the front of Fanny’s, which scale restaurant not far from the shelter; At least, it scale for the uy. I’m sure if it was topside it would have been the cheapest, lowest quality, greasy spoon joint.

  It occupied the etom floor of one of the ercial buildings, had tiled floors, private tables and booths, a massive ter to sit at if you were alone, and had people serving you at your seat. Nyx informed me that, on the surface, it would be known as a ‘diner’. I’d never been inside, way too expensive before I became a samurai, and with the samurai meals there was no reason to head there after being chosen, but today ecial occasion.

  I’d tacted the heads of the local gangs, and requested a meeting at a ral location, whided up being Fanny’s. A month ago I would never have imagined booking aire restaurant, or talking to the gangs from a position of strength, but times had ged.

  Even though I arrived a little early, the outside was crowded. There were half a dozen small groups huddled around the area, different gangs eying each other up. I had no doubt that someone would have started a fight, if my bears weren’t occupying the area. I casually walked to the front door, trying to ighe stares I was getting from pretty much every single person oreet, and headed inside.

  At the rear of the diner were half a dozen people, each sitting at their own table. I’d reized most of them, Dante from the Neon Scorpions, Eine from the Saints, Jessup from the Brokers, and two girls I vaguely reized from the remains of the Void Runners. Beside the people I reized, there was also someone from the Junkers, and Obsidian Order. Far more than I expected, far less than I’d invited.

  The two girls from the Void Walkers, or Wall Walkers as they called themselves now, saw me first, and scowled in my dire. Not that I could bme them, I did kinda put them oreet. I was actually a little surprised they survived until now. As I got closer, the rest of the gang leaders turned, and stared at me warily. It made me a little self scious.

  Sihe tables were a little spread out, I walked over to the ter, climbed up on one of the stools, then sat down on the ter so everyone could see me. I caught the woman behind the ter giving me an angry look, but decided to ignore her. “Howdy all, gd you could make it,” I said.

  “Like we had a choice,” one of the Walker girls scoffed, “everyone knows what you did to the Walkers. No one wants to mess with you, or risk getting on your bad side.”

  “That was your boss's fault,” I shot back. “She nning to attack me first. You’re just lucky I didn’t leave you all in the building when the bears attacked.” The girl stared daggers at me, but she didn’t talk back.

  Across the room, Jessup cleared his throat. “So… Why did you call all of us together? You mentiohis meeting tional, but implied it would be in our best i. Why are we here?”

  “Right. I guess I could have mentiohat earlier,” I mumbled, “The reason I called you all here is to figure out a way for us all to co-exist.”

  There was a moment of silehen someone burst out ughing. “You’ve moved in, dispced some of the locals, flooded the area with surveilnd armed teddy bears, and now you want to talk?” Dante asked incredulously.

  “I’ve been busy,” I replied with a shrug, “no one pined when I ed up the streets after the incursion. Plus, it’s not like any of you dislodge me, so it’s better that we try a along.”

  “Most of us thought you’d push out and start taking over additional turf once you had enough forces, are you telling us you’re not going to do that?” Eine asked. The woman was dressed all in an all-white outfit, not quite a suit, but the closest you’d get around here.

  “Fuck that. What the hell would I do with more territory?” I huffed. “The bears are there to defend me, and my family, and everyone just feels safer around them, so that’s created a buffer zone.”

  “So they’ll just back off, if someone wants to move in and take over those streets?” the man from the Junkers asked. He looked scruffy, with his dirty overalls, and greasy stained shirt. I khey spent most of their time destrug stuff, but I assumed they could have found something er.

  “Fuo. It’s a no-gang zone, and it’s going to stay that way,” I replied.

  The man snorted, “So, why the fuck did you gather us all? To lord your strength over us?”

  “No. Fuck! I want to try and make things better around here, and I wao ask for you… maybe not for your support, but not to fuck with the people involved.” Everyone in the room just stared at me like a crazy person, so I sighed, head in hands. “I want to start a school, teach the local kids some transferable skills, so they don’t have to sift through trash their entire lives.”

  “Why?” came the question, from someone across the room. I didn’t bother to look up and see who.

  “Because I holy think that’ll improve things in the long ru’s be ho, life down here sucks, and now that I have the ability to ge things, I want to do it.”

  “So, you’re asking us to support this project of yours, draw potential recruits out of our territories, what do we get out of this?” Eliane asked.

  “Ah! Good question!” I replied, actually sitting up and pointing in her dire. “I didn’t expect you to do this for free. I figured I could maybe bribe you all to work with me, a along, at least for a little while.”

  “With what?” Jessup asked, actually sitting up for the first time.

  “That depends on all of you. I’m currently gearing up to do some stru, so I offer my services to shore up the buildings in your neighborhoods, or maybe provide you with teprove the area. I have a lot to offer.” I paused for a moment, “but no ons, or anythiructive.”

  “Like what?” Dante asked.

  “How about public use fabricators? I probably print a few out with patterns for furniture and other utility options. You and your people turn the scrap into usable items, or shit you could sell. I’m sure if you worked with Jessup, and the Brokers, you might even be able to find a market for some of the shit you make.”

  A couple people gnced over at the big man in the suit, who just shrugged. It’s not like I ran this by him beforehand.

  “ we request other shit? Maybe get you to pull your fug squirrels out of our territories?” The person from the Obsidian Order asked. I didn’t know if they were a man or a woman, because they had a heavy bck outfit, plete with a veil. I don’t know why the entire gang decided to hide their identities, but at the same time, I didn’t feel like asking.

  “I won’t do that… yet. I’m sure many of you have heard that the Guiding Light has been poking around tely, and even though not everyone believes they’re a threat, I do. The squirrels are helpirack them down. When I’m finished dealing with them, I’ll sider removing them, but not yet.”

  “You’re not doing a great job of establishing trust. Not willing to back off your bears, leaving your squirrels in our territory, I don’t see why we should trust you,” One of the Wall Walker girls mumbled.

  “So don’t, I’m not f you to. I’m here to inform you that I’m not going to try and expand, and offer you advantages for w with me. If you don’t want to work with me, that’s fine. I’m not going to force you. Any other questions?”

  The gang leaders all exged looks, trying to determine what their rivals would do, but no one spoke up. After a few seds of silence, I hopped down from the ter. “Feel free to think it over. I don’t need an answer right away, I still o build the building. Just message me once you decide.” Since most of the gang leaders appeared to be on their augs, and I didn’t want to disturb them, I wandered up to the front.

  The street outside was, thankfully, still quiet; no violence had broken out. I took it as a good sign, if they could get along together, at least for a few minutes, maybe they’d be willing to work with me. I stretched, popping my shoulders before sliding into a booth by the door. It would only be a matter of time until they told me their answer; Hopefully it would be worth the wait.