"Are you going to call another public meeting?" Gladys said. "It's the kind of thing that we need to do. You understand that it's mandated by law right? And I'm only saying this because Janet keeps bugging me."

Bagel groaned. He did not want to have another one of those meetings but it sounded like that was going to have to happen anyway. No matter what he did, he was going to have to hold meetings with the public would have the option to comment. He would have to speak to his shareholders. He did not want to speak to the shareholders. He had. A artificial intelligence that he could use to speak to the shareholders now but he didn't want to speak to Janet. Janet kept trying to keep him on one side of the law. He didn't really care that much about human laws anymore. Not when human institutions were not able to pick up the slack.

"I understand that we need to have another public meeting. You can put in the calendar. That's fine. I don't think that I want to say much in it. And there is not much to relate that we can't just put in the newsletter. So why not just moved the newspaper only and then have a short public meeting that we announced in the newsletter without much time for people to react?"

"Are you saying that we need to have an inefficient meeting that we don't post the time of in advance with the idea that we're going to have to do what? Avoid scrutiny?"

Bagel rolled around on the countertop. "We don't have to have a reason that we're not announcing stuff in advance. People understand that there's a lot going on. Let's use it to our advantage."

"We could put a call-in number there and just test it out to see if it works. And then it doesn't really have to work. If it works great, if it doesn't work, oh well."

Bagel adjusted his whiskers as the door to the Bodega opened. This time, Lisa had brought her own hot sauce as she went to get breakfast. Gladys gave the other woman a hard look before turning back to Bagel. She whispered into his ear. "Did you know that she's still working at her job? It's kinda ridiculous."

Bagel didn't even know if humans still could have jobs in this environment. It seems ridiculous to imagine someone working in this day and age. Or at least some will not contributing to the greater good by being a part of the adventurous guild or trying to create a safe place for people to live when they were not out killing monsters. So many people spent half their day killing monsters and the other half resting and recuperating.

They need to have a place to come back to when that was done.

That was generally a place that he technically owned and would eventually charge rent for. He would give them a little bit of time to get their act together before he started asking for a reasonable amount of rent. He heard of humans asking for ridiculous sums of money just for the privilege of living in the city. He didn't understand that. Why couldn't everybody just live in a bodega like he did.

"I don't see why I would care. Her money is still good here no matter what she does so long as she kills mobs."

"I can agree to that. We need the breathing room."

"And all we need to do is just make sure that we put the public meeting someplace you have access to that you can control. People are too busy right now. I have too much on that plate to actually follow up with a niche government institution. Or even just a niche institution. That's adjacent the government. They're too busy to go after us even if they wanted to."

Bagel nodded. "Keep them busy doing the city's work. That sounds like a plan. Now we just need a way to get all the materials that Vince is wanting us to get for his crew."

Gladys smiled widely. "Well, I finally have an update for you on that. It looks like we've been able to source a warehouse in New Jersey that has most of the parts that we need. So it would be great if we could get a job out to the adventurous guild. We would need to probably figure out how to get a 18-wheeler or a box truck to get the specific parts we need. Now. It's going to be in East Rutherford. At least that's some place that we can drive easily."

Gladys took a little bit of time to explain to him some of the logistics of getting a crew together head to New Jersey. It sounded like a lot of work and he was not ready for that.

He had people for that and he was prepared to use them.

"Oh and Meatball wanted to be on this one. Apparently she's never been to New Jersey?"

Bagel rolled his eyes. "I've never been to New Jersey, but you don't hear me trying to lead a caravan there for supplies."

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"You and I both know the anarchy that would happen if you left for more than a day. So how about we'll save the nature trips to the garden state until we've got the entire city locked down."

Bagel shrugged. It didn't hurt him to stay put. "If they're taking Ashley or Kate I'm on board. Or if they have a drone escort. Either one."

"I'm sending my top men."

"You're doing what?"

"Top. Men."

It wasn't like he would be able to do much about that. Top men were her domain.

He had to deal with the current problems at the moment.

"Alright. Let's talk to Meatball then next time we see her."

---

"Bagel it's so awesome! I get to ride in the big truck and we're going all the way to someplace exotic called New Jersey! I'll be sure to bring back some good cards for you."

"It's just a parts run though."

"But it's my little adventure!"

It would have been the time for him to consider inviting espresso on our trip. He didn't want to do that. Espresso would need to be transported from midtown back to where they were. That was work.

"Copernicus already told me that Jellyside Layer is having some difficulty getting more cats. Specifically The new cats that are awake and don't seem to want to do anything for jelly's side layer despite them investing heavily in them. It's almost like it wasn't a good idea to begin with."

"Of course. That makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't be doing this if I hadn't wanted to do it. The few that they converted that I talked to? Spots, Percy and Garfield all want to do their own thing."

"You met an awakened cat named Garfield? And he kept the name when he transferred over?"

Meatball snuggled into him. "You got to ask him about his opinion on lasagna. He knows how to talk. Apparently his former owner used to read him this comic strip?"

Bagel wasn't her rise for the obvious bait. Every cat knew Garfield. The other question was how far into the lore did one want to go. Bagel did not want to go anywhere with it. He doesn't understand why the system gave him approximate knowledge of Garfield but not real knowledge of other things that he wanted to know like civil engineering and how hold a bridge or tunnel. But those are limitations the system gave him and if he wanted to have these things built, he would find somebody to do it for him.

He would then pay them handsomely to enact his bold plans.

"Why do you think that the system gave us approximate knowledge of Garfield? Was it that important?"

"Probably not. But it doesn't weigh everything equally. It would probably tell us all about the major cats in human society if there were any."

"If there were any, yes. But you know they were not put them in their own history books even if they wanted to. Human history is not the history of their planet. And that was damn sure what Copernicus told us the first time that we all got together."

For a while they just sat there. She was chewing over something or perhaps... Perhaps it was nothing. He couldn't really think about that.

He didn't want to be rubbed the wrong way. This whole situation it made him realize how comfortable he gotten with her. It was very comfortable. She felt like his family and he was quite all right with that.

More the point, it's so far but it was about the farthest he would have been from her since she'd been awakened. And she'd been awakened for a while. He'd gotten used to the idea of her coming back after her dungeons and unloading all of her issues with very specific things that happened in them. He'd almost grown to expect it.

"Are you nervous about me going to New Jersey? Because I don't have to go if you really don't want me to go. Really it's fine."

Bagel knew how much this meant to her and and to the mission in general. He didn't want hold her off of going. But neither do you want to make her think that she needed to not go. There was no world in what you could have it both ways. Either she went and he didn't like it because he regretted her going. Or she didn't go and then she would regret not having another fun experience.

It was a lose-lose situation. He knew what she wanted to do. And he also knew that she wouldn't go if he said not to go. He decided that it would be good for him to not agonize over this. She would tell him what she wanted to do and he was just going to have to let her do it.

"I want you to make sure that you stay safe. And I know you are probably the strongest cat we have in Manhattan."

Her purring which had already been a tangible feeling he could latch onto increased. He couldn't help but smile. She was getting what she wanted. And he was content to let her go and come back and tell him everything. If he could make us peace with that, then he would be quite all right.

---

Todd crossed his arms. "So you want to take the ferry up to Queens? Then we're going to start attacking the specific flying Titan class mobs that harassed our people?"

"That's right. We're going to see if we can make some flying decks for the next raid on Staten Island. Now I know what you're thinking. We need to leave the ferry there as your backup and escape plan but you guys have the Verrazano. You'll be fine."

Todd stood by the board and grumbled.

"You don't have to go on the mission if you don't want to. We've got plenty of people willing to go," Ashley said.

"I was really hoping that after we got established in Staten Island that I would get the ferry."

"In what world am I ever going to give up my baby, you've got to be kidding me. That is legitimate salvage for the adventurers guild. Nobody else is going to be running this Ferry around except for us, especially in this economy. We will pick you up whenever you want pretty much, but once you're there eventually you're going to have to spend your time clearing that Island."

"I never thought that it was going to be like this. But I guess I don't have anything to offer you."

Ashley laughed. "You've got us playing taxi service for you and you going to complain about that? When we get the other Ferry up and running we can station it there. But it's going to be manned by some people. It's not going to be a personal limousine on the water. Do not give me those puppy dog eyes. They will not work on me. You know I like women."

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