Recycling Center/2.0 and Prior

== Mechanical Failures ==
Matt Rhodes was given full control of the recycling center under Leslie Ling, a Korean news reporter. Mr. Ling gave him instructions to run the facility while he was away and left the city for an indefinite amount of time.
At this time, employees needed to be "whitelisted" to enter the facility, much like the current Vanilla Unicorn. They could only work between the hours of 0700 to 1900 Los Santos time. This was implemented due to people going in and staying in all day, running with boxes all around the facility and just grinding for money to sell to NPCs in the back room. 
Matt implemented rules to prevent running in the facility. He hired managers who were trusted with the keys and able to “hire” temporary workers during the open hours of the Recycling Center. These managers would run a shift during the day and buy the boxes collected from the temp workers. The managers would then sort the materials and keep what was necessary. At that time, several of the materials were entirely useless. (wood, gold, and dye) These materials had to be dropped due to a bug with the locals in the back room not buying them, so it was a loss on Matt’s end as he paid employees for boxes of useless material.
== Friendly Competition ==
The QuickFix and Stroke Masters were the only mechanic shops in the city at this time. The Recycling Center was also the only reliable source of materials in the city for the mechanics, so Matt immediately began negotiations for pricing for the shops. They would get a better deal buying in bulk than regular people buying small amounts.
Despite his best efforts, Matt struggled to get them to agree on pricing from the beginning. Both shops were competing for better pricing and each one wanted a better deal than the other on materials. Matt could not find a solution, and he could not haggle on pricing because if he went any lower he would be hemorrhaging money instead of turning a profit. Few people were willing to accept this as an answer and claimed he was just monopolizing the materials, so Matt and Tessa struggled to keep the fragile peace between the two businesses.
Saab began to get increasingly upset by the situation, and made a few comments that Matt took as threats; resulting in him cutting off the supply of materials, until he received an apology. This, of course, did not go over well, and the two most hard-headed men in the city were at odds with each other from that point on. This pushed Matt and Tessa closer to the Lost MC, making them more willing to do deals, and provide materials with priority over Stroke Masters.
Murphy Braun was hired to represent Stroke Masters, and attempted to mediate the situation. As there was no way for Matt to change his pricing model without intervention from someone like Leslie Ling, he was unable to give them any leeway. Murphy began to get angry along with Saab about the situation, and would not listen to Matt and Tessa’s pleas for patience.
=== Simon L. Harth ===
Meanwhile, Matt witnessed a man leave a note at LifeInvader, threatening to kill the CEO. He notified the CEO, Jay DeSanta, and called the police. That man was Simon Harth, the brother of Jacob. Simon knew Matt reported him and told him never to do that again or he would regret it. Simon then began to stalk Matt, leaving notes at the Recycling Center with ominous messages and threats. Matt became extremely paranoid at this point due to threats coming from multiple directions, all centering around the Recycling Center.
Simon always rode a bike to stalk them, leading both Matt and Tessa to have an inherent fear of bicycle sounds. Matt and Tessa noticed Simon lurking around one day. They decided to take out two vans to set up an ambush for him and demand to know what he wanted. Tessa was waiting behind a building close to the Recycling Center when she heard the sirens. That was the moment she realized Matt had probably sent her there to keep her out of harm's way. She drove to the Recycling Center to find Matt's van abandoned and drove straight to Mission Row to file a report to the police. Matt called her that night and let her know he had been stabbed by Simon. This event led Matt to seek the protection of the Lost MC of QuickFix to assist in filling orders for materials, because it was no longer a safe environment.
Matt did not tell the police that Simon had stabbed him, instead opted to tell people that someone random had done so. He took Tessa to the parking garage by the beach and they spoke about the future and how he wouldn't know what he would do if someone went after her. He said the problem would only go away once Simon was dead, and Tessa said that she would help him make Simon disappear if that is what he wanted. They decided to let things play out and see if Simon would continue to stalk them, while they turned their attention back to the situation with the Recycling Center.
== The Kidnapping ==
Men in masks with disguised voices threatened Matt while he was running a shift. Matt knew it was Saab because of what he said over the phone, referencing something Saab had told Matt the previous day. The Lost MC showed up in full force to protect Matt and looked around the area, where they spotted the masked men on a nearby rooftop looking back at them. No one was able to catch them, however. Matt decided to cut off sales to Stroke Masters entirely and said they would have to get their materials through a third party seller. This essentially forced Stroke Masters to close down due to lack of materials, and infuriated Saab.
Saab decided that the best way to get what he wanted was to kidnap Matt and force him to change his policy. Denzel, Johnnie Boston, and Dee (Denzel's wife) were all on board with this decision.
They drove up on Matt and Tessa as they were taking materials out of the outer storage at the Recycling Center to transfer it to the van for a delivery. At the time, being overburdened caused slow movement and carrying an overburdened person was impossible. When they got out of the car, one of them fired a couple of shots into the air at Tessa. This was not intended, and caused everyone, including the kidnappers, to panic. They handcuffed Matt and held a gun to Tessa. They tried to pick up Matt to put him in their trunk but realized they could not move him due to the amount of materials he was carrying. At this point, they heard sirens and decided to bail out but one of their crew members was unable to enter their vehicle. That person took off on foot into the canal behind the Recycling Center and the car followed. As this was happening, the Lost MC appeared while Tessa uncuffed Matt and called the police. The Lost MC followed the escaping car but broke off as the police arrived.
The police made the arrest, and Matt and Tessa found out via the news who was involved. The crew was held until trial, and decided to dispute the charges with a court case, because the police shot Denzel while he was fleeing and unarmed. Saab and company were in jail for a couple of weeks while Murphy Braun set up their case.
=== Bullhead Law ===
As Tessa was a key witness in the case, Murphy Braun put out a $50,000 bounty on her head just days before the case. He wanted to make it so she could not testify since her statement would likely mean the loss of his case and the conviction of his clients. Chang, Ming, and several others were hunting her that day, asking around for her. Matt caught wind of this from the Lost MC who had been asked what she looks like, where she hangs out, and other things that would lead them to suspect she was in danger. He took Tessa to the nudist camp in the mountains to hide her until things calmed down, and they went incognito for a few days until the case eventually got dropped, and the crew was released due to scheduling issues with the court case date.
=== The Resolution ===
Things were tense for a short time after that, but then the management of Stroke Masters was changed to Wilson Robins, and the Recycling Center went public. Peace was made between the three businesses, Simon was reported dead, and Matt went on an extended, but well-earned, vacation. Eventually Saab returned to the city and approached Tessa to apologize to her for his behavior, but she will always remember that he was willing to kill her and her best friend over scrap metal.
== Recycling Center Member Roster ==
RhodesSergeant.png|Matt RhodesOwner
TessaPeekTrailer.jpeg|Tessa LambOwner
Category:2.0 & prior
Category:2.0 and Prior/Businesses