There is a knock on the hotel door and Leo walks over to open it, revealing Sal.

“Hey.” Sal says as he walks in casually. “We should probably talk about the job. It's pretty simple, but I thought you should know the background.” He says as he walks over to the couch and takes a seat.

“Ugh, yeah. Sure.” Leo says as he walks over and takes a seat.

Penelope walks into the room and looks at Sal with some surprise. She was preparing to do some casual touring around the city with Leo and she wasn't expecting company. Why is he wearing a fedora? She thinks, somewhat bewildered. “Hey, ugh, watcha guys talking about?” She says as she walks over and takes a seat.

Sal gives Penelope a blank stare, processing the situation. “Dude, you brought your girlfriend?” He says, finding the matter somewhat unprofessional. “Is she cool? Like is she vampire cool, or is she werewolf cool?” Sal says, weighing the fictional ideas with his hands.

Confusion finds itself on Leo’s face. “Dude, what the fuck are you talking about? She’s cool, okay. But maybe not quite all the way cool. We should probably talk outside.” Leo says as he stands up.

“What? No, I’m cool! I love vampires!” Penelope exclaims, not wanting to be left out.

Leo sighs and bends down to give Penelope a kiss on the cheek. “We get there when we get there, babe. Just try to be patient.” He says before turning and gesturing to Sal.

Sal lets out a smirk. “So many secrets. What could he be hiding?” He whispers enticingly as he follows Sal.

A slight frown appears on Penelope’s face. “I’m super cool! As cool as a cucumber!” She complains unhappily.

…

…

“So… One of the Voodoo Squad guys, Harry, hired us for this one, and he’ll transfer the work points over when things are done. But essentially, he’s trying to import a shit ton of the devil’s lettuce into the East Empire. His trade route is setup and ready to go, which is impressive in itself because the East Empire is locked up tighter than a nun’s asshole, but… In a weird turn of events, it’s possible that the East Empire ambassador to the Old Kingdom either did or didn’t hear a bunch of shit.” He says before pausing to see a head peaking out from behind the door.

Leo turns around and lets out a sigh. “C’mon, Penelope. No peaking. Be a good girl and wait inside.” He says.

“Hmph!” Penelope harrumphs before closing the door.

Sal looks to Leo and shakes his head. “You know she’s going to eavesdrop, right?” He says, pointing out the obvious.

“Alright, whatever. Just don’t say anything about, you know... Keep it presentable.” Leo says.

Sal gives Leo a blank stare. “You know I’m starting to think that she isn’t cool at all.” Leo says, considering whether they should make a move to somewhere more private.

“Hmph!” Penelope harrumphs once again, her voice muffled by the door.

Leo shakes his head. “It’s cool, let’s just finish up.” He says, feeling tired.

Sal lets out a sigh. “Fine. Anyways, in many cases it would have been easier to just kill the guy, but apparently the Black Star corporation doesn’t look too kindly on the murder of humans? I didn’t know this, but apparently they take a bunch of work points away and you get a demerit point. So, considering the situation, we just have to watch the guy for a couple weeks, enough for things to get started. Harry says that once it starts generating income and enough people are paid off, the ambassador wouldn’t be able to generate any big waves. If things are cool, we don’t really have to do anything but sit on our ass for a couple weeks, but you know, if he tries something… Well, we’ll just have to watch attentively.” He says.

“Fuck. So we’re basically drug smugglers now? That’s fucked. You know, I’m basically the IT guy, right? Would you ask the guy fixing your internet for a drug hookup? You wouldn’t, right?” Leo says. He felt like he had already slipped on the slippery slope and now he was falling into a canyon. He was not satisfied with how this life was turning out.

Sal pats Leo on the shoulder and lets out a sigh. “I know, bro. I know. But after being around the other guys from the Voodoo Squad… We’re probably going to get involved in weirder shit than this.” He says, not too happy with the idea either.

“Fuck it. Everyone’s sucking someone’s dick, right?” Leo says, once again in defeat.