You would think I had insulted his mother from the way he frowned at me and crossed his arms. "My name is not Joe. It's Joseph." he said crossly. I just blinked. "I am so sorry. I was told that was your name." I said. He nodded to let me continue offering the proposal. "I believe you would be a great candidate for a clan engineer position. If you were willing, I could help fund a PEP and PEA lab for you to manage with your new clanmates." I told him. It made everyone expect the PEA units shocked. I then introduced them to each other. Ramon would be the leader of the clan. Mateo would be treasurer. Fabien could be the cybersecurity officer. The 2 PEA units here would probably be doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the clan. They were super intelligent and had super strength and durability. "Since Sixteenth Notes Clan is so successful in our region, I thought it would be a good idea to see if it could be repeated over here." Joseph looked off to the side. "Hmm. I guess? How did you know that I was a PEP unit? I was undercover and hiding really well." he asked. I said "I have an eye for it."
Recruiting him came with a nice bonus. He had a partner that he shared an apartment with to cut down on rent. Both of them were janitors at a local bank. Oswin had the day shift and Joseph had the night shift there. It was a simple lifestyle they led. They were cyborgs so all they needed was to pay rent to have a roof over their heads and electricity for them to charge themselves. We went over to the bank to get a look at Oswin. He looked like a guy that really went to the gym a lot. If Oswin said yes, they would be able to join the clan too. Maybe he would be a regular member. Or, maybe they would give him a new officer position. He noticed us and came over to see what was going on. Joseph pitched him the idea and he readily agreed. He had to close out the day, but it was an at will employment job. Both of them would quit. While he was busy cleaning up at the bank, we had to look for some good real estate. I was not a Devil. Unlike Brett and Paul, I could not simply spawn in a new building at will. It was not hard to find a public library and look it up. We were currently in Ultron City.
Scrolling through the real estate sites, I found a very nice house up for sale in the suburbs. It was an hour away from the city. These houses were at the edges. All the big and really impressive houses were further inside. It was fine. Money was not an object for me. I was able to pay it right out from my account. I turned to everyone. "Okay guys. This will be your new headquarters going forward. What are you going to call yourselves?" I announced. It then went to Ramon and Mateo to deal with. All humans were known for being more creative than the cyborgs. After a bit, they decided to go with Clan Edge. They were a pair of edge runners after all. I asked if the PEA units had names. They did not. It was sad. Because they were cleaners for the transmission hubs, they simply moved when they were given the mission. I pointed to one of them and said "Your name is now Wayne." He pointed to himself. I just looked at him. "Wayne?" he repeated. I then pointed at the other one. "Your name is Peter." I told him. He accepted it. "Now, you need to register your clan at the nearest safehouse."
home base
