Collecting Intelligence II

Back at the Brothel Alex, and Brandon sat in a makeshift office that operated as the Madame's personal quarters and office. Previously, before the fracture, it had operated as a sandwich shop. The woman who sat before the two men were in her late thirties, or possibly early forties. Though her age did not detract from her beauty, but rather enhanced it.

She had long black hair, and amethyst eyes, Unlike her subordinates she did not wear skimpy clothing, but rather business attire. Her thick stockings showed off her juicy thighs quite well. While her blouse displayed her massive cleavage to great effect.

She took a long puff from a cigarette and blew it into the face of Brandon. One might think such a beauty would have an enticing expression, however, she merely scowled in contempt at Brandon. Brandon was one of the most frequent customers of the brothel, and as such, she was very familiar with him.

Personally, she was not a fan, from her perspective Brandon was an alcoholic arms dealer who had gotten lucky and grouped up with exceptional people. She was amazed he had not gotten himself killed by this point.

She looked at Alex and her expression flipped around entirely. She had a much better impression of the kid, as an information broker she was aware of how exceptional he had proven, and spoke to him in a manner more suiting of a professional madame.

"Tell me stud, why are you grouped up with an idiot like him?"

Alex's face was stoic, he remained disenchanted from the woman's seductive nature, which simply grew the madame's interest in Alex. Alex tried to hide his outrage for being dragged to such a place. If word got out that he had visited the brothel, he would undoubtedly have more false rumors dragging his good name through the mud.

Alex merely shrugged his shoulders and answered in a nonchalant manner

"shit happens..."

Brandon gawked at Alex as if he had been gravely offended, though Alex knew the man's expression to be a joke. The two friends were well accustomed to such banter. The woman smiled seductively at Alex and shifted her glance back to Brandon, despite his faults he was clearly the brains behind this transaction. However, she liked dumb guys, so her interest in Alex heightened.

"So let me get this straight, you want information on an untouched liquor supply of substantial size?"

Brandon nodded in agreement, at this point he had dropped his playful act and began speaking in a serious manner.

"That's right"

The woman crossed her arms in a manner that emphasized her bust, a wry smile appeared on her face "I might know of a location or two, but what is in it for me?"

Brandon reached into his jacket and pulled out five spools of thread and placed it on the table in front of her. The madame stared at the items in shock, she had never seen such a supply of iron-silk thread before. This was no meager sum of wealth. However, she quickly reclaimed her composure as if the shock in her eyes had never appeared. She puffed out her chest and rejected the offer

"Hmmph... Not good enough!"

Brandon got up from his chair and slammed his hands on the desk "What the hell are you talking about? You can trade this for practically anything in the entire airport!" The look on the madame's face turned cold as she glared daggers at Brandon "Sit down!" she commanded with an authoritative voice that could belong to a dominatrix.

Brandon quickly sat down and scratched his head, faking a smile as he apologized "I'm sorry for my outburst Madame, but what more could you possibly want?"

The busty woman played with her pen as she sat back and spun it around on the desk until it landed in Alex's direction. She looked at Alex with lustful eyes as she echoed her decree.

"Forget about the thread, I want the kid"

Two separate answers were shouted simultaneously

"Deal!"

"Fuck no!"

The two men looked at each other with contempt. Brandon was outraged that Alex had turned down such a good deal, and Alex was enraged that his friend would dare attempt to pimp him out to an older woman who just so happened to run a brothel.

The woman leaned close to Alex, so close that he could intensely smell the perfume she was wearing and whispered in his ear

"Are you afraid I'll bite? I promise if you spend a night with me you will never forget it" she then made some distance from Alex and put on her signature smile.

"I suggest you two take some time to think about it. You know where to find me when you have come to an agreement."

With that said Alex stormed out of the brothel and Brandon followed. The two were arguing constantly about the potential deal, and ultimately Alex had enough of his friend's constant pleading.

"Bro! I'm not some gigolo you can pimp out every time you feel like it!

Though he tried to contain his voice, in his infuriated state it still managed to seep into the surroundings. With several people nearby overhearing their conversation.

Brandon sighed in defeat, he did not know what to say, if it were him he would definitely take the deal, but this kid had more principles than he thought.

"How about we regroup with the others, and see what they found out. If they found an alternative we won't need to discuss this further."

Alex ultimately agreed with this request, and as such, the two regrouped at the Swan Son Tavern to see if they could find Cassie and Derek. By the time Alex and Brandon arrived, Cassie and Derek had already finished their conversation with Lucas and were merely waiting for their comrades' arrival.

Alex sat down at the table across from Cassie and Derek, luckily the table was devoid of any strangers. As such, they could talk amongst themselves about their mission without the worry of prying ears. Cassie looked at the scowl on Alex's face and immediately understood their negotiations did not go well.

"So who wants to go first?" she said with a serious expression.

Brandon could finally vent his frustrations about Alex's stubbornness

"We got a good deal, however, Mr. holier than thou over here has decided he's too good to pay the price!"

Cassie and Derek looked at the two with confusion, they never could have guessed the price Alex was required to pay. Alex on the other hand snapped at Brandon immediately upon hearing his words

"Fuck you! You want to pimp me out to that woman! I'm not some common whore!"

Cassie's eyes grew wide with surprise, she had never expected this to be the good deal Brandon had mentioned and inquired further

"The madame wanted nothing else?"

Brandon shook his head and astonishment spread across Cassie and Derek's faces. Derek grew excited as he blurted out his "brilliant" idea

"I'll do it!"

Cassie sneered at Derek with disdain, Alex gawked at the kid's shamelessness, and Brandon laughed heartily at the boy's optimism. A round of beers had finally reached their table, carried by a young waitress. Brandon took a sip from his beer before spoiling the naive kid's mood.

"I'm 90% sure the madame is not into little boys, better luck next time kid"

Derek's face grew red from embarrassment, he should have just kept his mouth shut. It was at this time Cassie revealed the potential agreement she had come to with Lucas.

"We met with an information broker, he seemed a bit shady; however, the terms he discussed are not unreasonable."

Alex was delighted that the conversation had been shifted away from the idea of pimping himself out, and immediately took the chance to investigate the details.

"What does he want?"

Cassie smiled and raised three fingers

"bone scorpion carapaces."

Bone scorpions were exactly what they sounded like, giant scorpions whose carapace appeared to be made out of bone. They were fairly common seeing as how they evolved from the overly abundant scorpions that plagued the land before the fracture.

Their carapace was an excellent crafting material for armor and weapons, as such there had been a high demand for them. However, despite the commonality of such creatures they seldom appeared on the market, largely because of how difficult they were to kill.

For Alex and his party, they would be a minor challenge at best as long as they did not run into a group of them. However, if they could they would definitely trade for them here in C-Gate rather than hunt the beasts down themselves.

As such the party was left with two options to obtain the intelligence they so desperately needed. Pimping out Alex to the madame, or collecting three bone scorpion carapaces.