Marco watched as Leo arrived right next to him with a satisfied grin on his face and he looked really smug with the way he slowly swaggered over. Marco was in a state of panic in his heart, but did not show it on his face, he was imagining the horrors he would have to face for offending and losing to the leader of a crime family, but he still could not bring himself to beg for he was never one to submit to anyone, not even the government and their so called laws. He was prepared to take what ever this person was going to do to him but he wasn't actually prepared and was caught completely off guard when he heard what the person before him said after arriving next to him.
Leo stood in front of and bent over his defeated opponent's face to ask him a simple question.
" Will you be willing to work for me and join the Fanucci family? "
It seemed his question had caught the fellow off guard as he had a dumb expression on his face that said he didn't understand what was asked, so Leo went ahead to give him an explanation.
" It's nothing serious really. I'm just in need of talents like yours to help me put my plans in motion. And seeing as how someone with abilities like yours is living his life based on petty crime, it goes to show you have no where to go and nothing to do after your loss today. Besides I could offer you way more than what you probably have now and with a little training and polishing I could turn you into a real priceless gem to display your talent and abilities to the fullest for the world to see and recognize".
The dude was still not to sure of what Leo was offering him, and Leo didn't feel like still exposing further till the guy joined him, so he again took out another black card and gave it to him.
" Take it, and when you make your decision come find me", he said as he walked away.
He soon stopped and turned around to ask, "There's something I don't understand though. Why is someone with your abilities living like some second rate street thug when you could probably do better. With your abilities, I expect other families and gangs to be rushing to recruit you?"
The guy looked at him with a disheartened expression in his eyes and a passive look on his face at the question Leo had asked, like Leo had managed to hit a soft spot. He really didn't give it much thought before replying.
" It's not like we have any other choice but to live like this, and besides, my abilities aren't to great and I'm only a rank two superhuman, evident of the fact that you put both me and my boys down so easily. Not many families or gangs would be interested in people of our rank, which could easily be substituted with expert ex soldiers that have both experience and skill in fighting superhumans ".
Leo just sighed at this reply. He realized people in this world really didn't understand the unfair advantages against other normal human which the superhumans regardless of rank had. Any soldier could be trained given sometime, and depending on his training methods, he might be a nightmare for his enemies on the battlefield. Now imaging a superhuman with the ability to control fire no matter how little it is, if he was trained the same as the soldier, his strength could gain a major qualitative increase in close combat battles because of the possibility to overwhelm his opponent with the fire he controls. They may have the same training but the ability to manipulate fire sets them world apart in terms of real destructive power.
This was the reason Leo was so excited when he discovered superpowers in this world. As long as he could give people like Marco the skill and positions he could easily form a powerful force to be reckoned with for the family.
As he turned to continue walking away, he could now understand the other person's disheartened look from earlier. He was born with and able to awaken an abilities in a world which was not fair to anyone in general expecting good things to happen to him, only to realize the rank of his ability had disqualified him from living the life he dreamed of.
Leo while walking away tried to comfort him by saying;
" If they won't accept people like you then all the better for me. Like I said before, your ability could be very useful for me to achieve my goals, so if you make up your mind on whether to accept my offer or not, don't hesitate to come find me".
By now the unconscious Antonio had woken up with a look of dejection and embarrassment for disgracing his boss and the family in public, but he was still surprised by what he saw when he came to. His boss who had never gotten into any fights had actually defeated six youths who seemed to have been holding weapons and from the burn marks around one of them must have been an ability holder. But his young boss had still taken care of them and looked to be quite fine, and had won with an overwhelming victory.
He hadn't realized his boss had such skill until now. If someone had told him about it he would have doubted them, but seeing it with his own eyes gave him the feeling his boss was more amazing than he made himself seem, and he would probably be able to make the family rise again.
When he saw his boss was done talking to the guy on the floor and was making his way over. He got out of the car and went forward to greet him and apologize for his actions earlier.
Leo didn't really care for Antonio's apology. Antonio's defeat was to be expected against an opponent like Boris but the reason he didn't try to comfort him was because of his attitude towards his loss. Antonio felt he should work harder in order to be of use to the family and not repeat what had happened earlier ever again. And Leo could see the desire for revenge and strong will to get stronger in his eyes and was glad this defeat and disgrace could served as motivation for Antonio quick growth.
He got into the back seat of the car and Antonio got into the drivers seat after him, as the car started heading in the direction of home ending his first experience outside the house in this new world. He was a little excited about his gains today and couldn't wait to put his plans in motion when they got back home.
...…..
The next day he had a special guest and it was just who he had hoped to meet. Allen had come for the discussion he promised and the boy seemed rather excited and very interested when Leo told him about distillation, which was the one method Allen couldn't grasp in finishing his research on a new type of alcohol.
Leo informed Benedetto of his plans to visit the brew with Allen and informed Antonio who had recovered from most of his injuries and could move around comfortably again, to prepare the car for their departure.
When the car was ready the left for the brew which was on the outskirt of the city in a very remote area. After hours of driving they arrived at a broken down facility which was supposed to be the brew. It looked abandoned, covered in dust and some missing walls.
It would seem like this asset of theirs was also destroyed during the conflict but no one noticed. He went in and took a look around with Allen, discussing renovations and equipments needed to make the brew operational again. They were able to reach an agreement of $1 million for premium equipment which some had to be custom made from scratch because they didn't exist yet, and an additional $200 thousand for repairs for the building and installation of the equipment. Bringing the total cost to $1.2 million, almost half of the remaining family funds.
When they got back, he left Allen and his uncle to discuss in more detail on the matter and hopefully they could get everything ready very soon. He wasn't too bothered about the matter and believed the two of them would be able get thing going soon and he was also reassured by Allen promise that; the only needed to prepare the equipment and fix up the building for production to begin, all he lacked previously was the distillation process which Leo had given to him and it would only take a month for the first batch of products to be ready.
With everything on that side settled Leo started thinking up ideas to gather the various talents the other families and gangs neglected, to train them before the products were ready, so as to create a new family structure for easy management and control of the business. He needed the people he was going to put in charge of both marketing and securing the product, to have at least basic training and strength in the respective field.