Bang Theory || Ryan

Some days, Ryan was brutally reminded that he had to run an actual criminal organization, he was overdramatic and ambitious, but he was not stupid, not everything could be solved by screaming curses, as much as he tried, some things needed more finesse to be deal with, some people needed a more diplomatic approach, and some dealings required mountains of paperwork. That last one was exactly what Ryan had just finished, after a few hours and aided by more alcohol than most would think was appropriate he had finished what work he had today, and now he was enjoying the brief free moment by lounging on his office, practically melting into his chair, feet up his desk in what looked like a not very comfortable position, but it surprisingly was.

It was mostly quiet, sometimes he heard movement from outside his office, people passing by and muffled voices, but so far, no one had come inside to disturb him, and Ryan wondered how long this false peace would last. There was always something happening that needed his immediate attention, a plan that needed to be set in motion, information the needed to reach his ears, problems that needed to be solved, Ryan this, Ryan that, it was often quite chaotic. It was true he had Ruby to help him around as his right hand, but there were still thing that could only to be resolved by him. It was nice to be able to sit back for a few minutes.

A few minutes passed, and Ryan grew bored of doing nothing, he removed his feet from the table and got up, deciding now should be a good moment to go around the warehouse and talk with a few of his people, see what they were up to or if anyone had decided to blow the place apart again, the usual stuff. Before he could open the door, however, there was soft knock, and curious as to who would have such a light tap, he opened the door quickly, since he was quite close to it already, and to his surprise Ruin was standing there. Ryan didn’t remember a single instance the man had approached him on his own volition since he was hired “Ruin!” He said in greeting, voice booming loudly, since more often than not he forgot his inside voice. “What brings you to my office?” He said with a friendly smile, making a gesture so the other man would enter. He eyed the files and papers the other was carrying and silently wished it wasn’t more paperwork, but something that would be actually interesting. Considering Ruin was his hacker, there was a very good chance that was exactly the case.

The hacker was so skittish, just Ryan speaking normally was enough to make him fumble with all the files in his hand. Granted that normal Ryan was unnecessarily loud, but still, the leader was a friendly person, especially with his family, there was no need to act so scared. Ryan would have to make sure Ruin would become more accustomed to his presence, it was unacceptable for a member of the family to feel scared near him. At least he accepted to enter the office with only a minor stutter. “You know, just Ryan is fine, especially in private.” He said to the man after he entered, all these formalities were so stupidly unnecessary, only served to make the boss-employee gap bigger.

Ruin seemed unsure of where to start his explanations, looking at the files briefly before gathering the courage to show them to Ryan. The leader stayed silent, letting the hacker begin his explanation in his own time. The files were placed on the desk, and Ryan sat down again to take a good look at what Ruin had found, listening attentively to what the man had to say. He hadn’t heard about any bombings, it was usually him who liked to explode things, and lately Enigma hadn’t targeted anything or anyone. The Bianchi, on the other hand, seemed to be taking a liking for explosions lately, if his suspicion about the PD bombing were to be believed.

He let his eyes travel quickly through the file, Ruin had been pretty through in his research, but that was to be expected. For what he gathered, it wasn’t some a bomb with fire and explosions, but more like a trap full of blades that had a minor explosion as consequence. He listened in silence as Ruin explained everything, only humming curiously to himself as the man finished. “No, no, don’t worry, it’s not a waste of time, it’s always nice to know what the enemy is up to, even if it doesn’t directly affects Enigma for now.” He waved his hand in a ‘don’t worry’ gesture, trying to reassure the nervous man The amount of courage Ruin seem to need to just talk with Ryan, it made him want to scream it was fine, and not to worry, but he suspected that would be counterproductive.

One of the victims died instantly, the woman who survived was badly injured. If they had connections with the Bianchi, it would be very interesting to know what caused this sudden need to eliminate them, and why in such a dramatic fashion if a bullet to the head could be more efficient? A message, perhaps? “I don’t think it’s a threat to us, even if people start pointing fingers at us, there’s not much they can do..” He said after a few moments of looking through the file. “How is this woman now? Do you know if she’s still alive or if she has ties with any known group?” He asked, finally looking at Ruin again. This may not be a threat, but it certainly could be an opportunity. If she hated the Bianchi enough, who know what kind of secrets she would be willing to spill.

A sneer appeared on Ryan’s face when Ruin showed him the old newspaper article. The Bianchi family held power in this city for so long, it was no wonder the rotted touch of those white rats were so deeply embedded into the city, and also reaching outside Chicago as well, as the picture implied. Ryan couldn’t wait to run them off here and take their place. The point right now, however, was that the Bianchi was cutting ties with a family that apparently was an old ally, that was good, let them slowly shed away their connections, make themselves weak with the habit of getting rid of entire groups, Ryan would only watch delighted, and hopefully pick up the discarded pieces.

It was possible Ruin was right, he didn’t make a habit of keeping up with Bianchi gossip, but he heard something or other about the heiress of the family recently inheriting the family business. Under new management, it could mean there were changes, and everyone knew people don’t usually like changes. He nodded in silent, letting Ruin explain his findings before carefully thinking on what to say. “So an old ally that cut ties rather violently recently, I wonder what happened…” it would be a hard thing to find, it would not be something the Bianchi would want to divulge. “That is actually good news for us, it means they are losing ground, allies. An investor here, a supporter there, it may not look like much, but if they are losing people, it means their power getting smaller. Now if only we could take these allies to ourselves…” It would not only benefit Enigma with resources and information but it would only be adding salt to the wound, make them mad Enigma was taking their toys. Ryan was a leader who viewed the benefits of certain decisions, but he was also incredibly petty.

The good news was, as Ruin discovered, that the woman had survived and was in no danger of dying. Well, from the injuries at least, he would bet the Bianchi wouldn’t be happy to know there were survivors. The man’s words had merit though, a warning to anyone who tried to mess with the most powerful family in town, after Enigma had kicked them in the figurative junk with the bombed harbor, the general respect for them had decreased, it wouldn’t be odd if some small groups tried to take advantage of the chaos, gaining courage to be more daring, upsetting the status quo. “Yes, it could be warning, I thought so too, but I don’t think it’s not directly aimed at us, if they could do something to us there would be no warning, I can tell you that.” He also didn’t believe the family was so ‘afraid’ they would try with cheap scare tactics.

Ryan paced around the office in thought, noting in vague amusement the sort of military posture Ruin had adopted. He definitely should find a way to make the boy more comfortable around him. “You did good, Ruin, in bringing this to my attention.” He said in praise, a heavy hand patting the man briefly on the shoulder to show his appreciation. “I want you to find where is this woman now. I believe this is a perfect moment to pay her a visit, while she recovers of such a tremendous betrayal.” He wasn’t really sure who betrayed who in this situation, of course, but enemy of my enemy and all that. “At best we could recruit her and she would share all sorts of juicy Bianchi secrets.”

Vengeance, yes, strike back who hurt them, make them pay. But Ryan more than anyone else knew how hard it was to get payback from someone more powerful than you, layers upon layers of protections and walls you had to go through to just scratch them. A lone woman wouldn’t be able to even get close to any Bianchi, much less do anything resembling vengeance, she would need all the help she could get if that was the case, luckily for her, Ryan was willing to lend a hand to help her get what she wanted, with just of the small price of telling him some Bianchi secrets. He hummed in agreement to Ruin’s words, a smirk forming on his face as ideas passed through his mind.

When talking about their next course of action, Ryan was more ranting to himself, trying to figure out the best route to what they should do, hearing Ruin’s tense words caught him of guard. He shot a thoughtful look at the mustached man. “True, it’s possible she wouldn’t want to get herself involved with anyone right now, maybe she even want to jump off boat and forget anything to do with criminals.” Everyone was suspicious in the crime life, it made sense that the woman who was just betrayed would want to stay away from anyone she didn’t already know, but Ryan still thought it was worth to pursue. “Doesn’t mean we can’t try. And besides, this may be our only chance, who knows what’s the next move by the Bianchi, if it was me, I would want her dead as fast as possible. So if we are to do something, it’s best to do it before anything can happen.” A dead ally was a useless ally, after all.

But Ruin did have a point, they would have to make her trust them, or she wouldn’t even bother to talk to them, much less start spilling secrets. But that was a bridge that could be crossed after they found the woman, they were Enigma, if that wasn’t enough to convince people they weren’t working for the Bianchi, Ryan wasn’t sure what would be. “If she doesn’t want to join us, at least we try to get some information, I’m not saying to fill Enigma with Bianchi rejects, that would be stupid, I’m just saying this can be an opportunity.” Ryan was still quite picky when it came to Enigma members, one or two Bianchi rejects was fine after proving themselves, but if he grabbed any stray Bianchi he found, he was sure it was bound end in backstabbing and betrayals.

Ryan would do the visiting as soon a Ruin found where the woman was exactly, probably a hospital if he had to guess. He was about to inform the man of that course of action when Ruin spoke first, and Ryan was taken back at his words. It hadn’t crossed his mind to send Ruin to this particular mission, as much as he was a great hacker, Ryan knew people skills were not among Ruin’s strengths “I was planning on going myself, you already did your part in finding all this information.” He gestured towards the file, but there was a certain determination on the man’s eyes, perhaps it would be good for him to do this? It was his work after all. “If you want to come, you’re more than welcome, I can understand wanting to see things through. Just give a location and we’ll go” Who knew, maybe it would help instill some courage into the man.

The hospital, that was to be expected if her injuries were so bad as they looked, the hospital had a certain security to it, but Ryan was confident they could sneak past it to get to the woman, he’s heard Ruby had done the same before, and with Ruin’s hacking skills, it shouldn’t be too hard to add their names to the allowed visits, the problem though, would be to make sure the woman didn’t start screaming as soon as she saw two strangers in her room. “You do that, tell me as soon as we’re able to go. We should go when she’s awake, avoid startling her too bad, and hopefully she’ll listen before calling security.” It was very possible this mission would fail due to how much the woman was willing to listen, but again, Ryan wouldn’t know until he tried.

He was glad Ruin accepted to come with him, Ryan honestly thought it was good for the man to go into field missions once in a while, but he wasn’t stupid enough to put the man into something dangerous that needed combat skills. If the worst came to happen, and some sort of fight broke at the hospital, he was confident he could manage to get them both away before anything too serious happened, but again, the chances of that happening were slim to none. “It’s settled then, we’re both going, I’m sure you’ll do fine.” He answered with a nod, reassurances coming naturally to him.

Obviously they wouldn’t go immediately, Ruin still had to prepare a few things, and Ryan really wanted to read those files more carefully, he thought briefly about the man’s questions, before shaking his head. “Nothing else right now, do what you have to do to get us into the hospital with no problems.” He extended his hand towards the files that Ruin apparently wanted to take with him. “Will you need those? I wanted to look at them more carefully.” He would allow Ruin to take the files if the man really needed them, but hopefully the man was just being himself and making sure he wasn’t being a bother in leaving his papers around.