Chapter 1497: Going Out on a Limb and Screwed Over
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Luke hadn’t used any super abilities on Aunt Annie.
The other party was very calm and showed no intention of becoming entangled. Instead, it was the middle-aged men on Adrian’s side who were agitated.
So, this had nothing to do with Annie, this hired hand. In any case, Luke was quite familiar with her big boss.
Tony had mentioned before that it was Pepper who put together the policy guidelines for the disaster control department — it was a department to help wipe the a.s.ses of the superheroes.
It would be strange if a department like this didn’t get scolded. If Aunt Annie’s abilities and methods weren’t good enough, she wouldn’t be able to get anything done.
Now that he had the chance, Luke took a look at the personality and abilities of the person-in-charge in pa.s.sing.
Sometimes, whatever good you did couldn’t prevent the person on the tail end from botching things up.
For example, it took a lot of effort to rescue victims in the early stages, but if the personnel who distributed relief supplies later all acted high and mighty, and some were a little corrupt, the tremendous effort put into the earlier rescues would be diminished.
Judging from their interactions just now, this Aunt Annie was pretty reliable.
She was level-headed and didn’t flaunt her abilities, and knew exactly what to do.
The New York authorities had already put in clauses when they opened the bidding for contracts.
It was also because Adrian had taken a big risk that he had fallen into this predicament.
After walking 200 meters along the road, Luke opened a door and walked in.
Adrian was stunned. “Is this… a law firm?”
He raised his head, only to see the sign proclaiming “Josie’s Bar” above him.
Luke smiled. “It’s been a while. Let me buy you a drink. Don’t worry, I’ll call a professional lawyer over.”
Adrian was lost for words. Looking at Luke, who had already walked into the bar, he followed him in.
What else could he do? He had already lost the job to that old woman, Annie; all he could do if he went back was drown his sorrows.
The eight middle-aged men behind him thought the same thing, and quickly followed Luke inside.
Josie raised her head from cleaning the bar. She was about to say that she wasn’t open yet, but when she saw that it was Luke, her words changed. “Hey, we don’t serve minors here.”
Luke nodded with a smile. “We’re all adults here.”
He then turned around and said, “Order whatever you want. My treat.”
The men behind him all cheered.
They were out of a job, but at the very least, they had the company of alcohol. The day wasn’t a total wash.
Soon, the bar bustled with activity.
A group of middle-aged men held beers and chatted as they watched the football game on TV.
It wasn’t that they were ungrateful, but Luke and Adrian clearly knew each other and looked like they wanted to talk in private, so everybody tactfully moved away.
Luke called Foggy, and after that, Adrian told him how he had ended up here.
Luke already knew what happened today; Adrian now talked about what happened before.
It had started with the California earthquake.
He had run into Luke when he was fleeing with his wife and daughter.
After the earthquake, he felt that Luke had a point, so he changed jobs two months ago and moved to New York.
While they were a little worse off here, it wasn’t a big problem.
After the attack by the test subjects, however, he felt they had to move, and he also had to consider his daughter’s school expenses.
After the Battle of New York, he suddenly found an opportunity.
The New York authorities were offering temp contracts to cleanup companies to dispose of wreckage from the battle.
Adrian had felt that if he entered this line of work now, he might be able to undertake reconstruction projects and freight work in the future.
So, in order to make a fortune, he took out his savings and found a bunch of old friends from California. They put together their money and took out loans to quickly set up a freight company.
The New York authorities had to restore order in the city as soon as possible, so restrictions were significantly relaxed, which allowed their new company to enter the industry smoothly and get a lot of business.
If everything went according to plan, their freight company would be able to pay back the loans amounting to several hundred thousand after completing this contract.
By then, the dozen new engineering vehicles and large machines they had bought would become the company’s net a.s.sets, and they would still be able to make money for years.
With that, everybody would turn from wage earners to bosses.
If everything went smoothly, it wouldn’t be hard for them to become millionaires in a few years.
But —
Stark Industries suddenly set up a disaster control department and directly cut into this business.
Other established companies would only lose out on the expected profits, but could still get some money.
There was also a compensation fee for terminating the contract early. It wasn’t a large amount, but it could be considered a sign of good faith.
However, most of the money from Adrian’s group came from loans, which they would only be able to repay after they completed this contract.
Without this business, they would immediately go bankrupt.
Odd jobs were nowhere as stable as official contracts, and the pay wasn’t that good. They also had to spend time looking for jobs, and making money quickly was a big problem.
So… Adrian was in a dilemma.
At that moment, Foggy hurried over after receiving the call from Luke.
He hadn’t been at the office just now. He had too much to do recently, and had been out and about most of the time.
After listening to Adrian’s explanation, he looked at Luke.
Looking at his face, Luke nodded. “Just spit it out. Adrian can take it.”
Relieved, Foggy said to Adrian, “Since you’re Luke’s acquaintance, I’ll be frank.”
Pausing for a moment, he then continued, “A few of my friends have also asked me the same question. The contract you signed should have been a standard munic.i.p.al contract, right, Adrian?”
Adrian had a bad feeling. He smiled bitterly. “Yes.”
Foggy said, “So there aren’t any loopholes in this contract, and the munic.i.p.al department won’t sh.e.l.l out a huge amount in compensation. Even if you want to sue the government, the only party you can sue is the munic.i.p.al department. Even if you win, it’ll take a few months or even years, which won’t help you at all.”
Luke sighed inwardly.
He had thought the same after hearing Adrian’s words.
It was clear that Adrian had gone out on too big a limb, and when something unexpected happened, he had been left floundering
But most people had to take a gamble. It couldn’t be said that this choice had been wrong; it could only be said that Adrian wasn’t very lucky.
Foggy looked at the silent Adrian and gave Luke a meaningful look.
Luke excused himself and went to the bathroom with Foggy.
Foggy lowered his voice. “Are you sure you want to help him?”
Luke remembered how Adrian had moved to New York after listening to him, only to be caught up in an extremely dangerous period in New York and then screwed over by Tony’s cleanup crew.
If it was possible, Luke didn’t mind lending a hand.
So, he said, “Just tell me if you have a solution. Is it because it’s been a while since you had a girlfriend? You’re so wishy-washy.”
Foggy glared at him.
A moment later, he finally controlled his expression and coughed. “Cut the c.r.a.p.. Let me tell you, the renovation company expanded again recently, and it has around 100 people.”