Elevator music... of course... the skunk thought with annoyance, giving a light glare up to the invisible speakers above, peering over his glasses. He looked very unamused within the confines of the elevator, which was currently moving up, numbers ticking by on the wall.

"You seem distressed, sir," came the rumbling voice of a lion, one who took nearly half of the space of the compartment with his mere size alone, whatever tailor that created the substantial suit he wore for his size probably having charged a hefty price. His arms were currently crossed behind his back, looking down at the skunk before him.

"Of course I'm distressed," muttered the well dressed skunk, not even bothering to glance over his shoulder, his eyes fixated on the numbers slowly counting up. "I have two large meetings set up this afternoon, and this Red Wasp, as he so loves to call himself, has already presented me yet another one of these dull meetings. And we both know this one will just turn out like the rest; a stalemate."

"Just present your same argument as before, sir, and this meeting should be over with in mere minutes," suggested the lion, sounding quite bored, as though he had heard the small rant before. "And we can leave the premises as soon as possible."

"Do you honestly have to repeat the very thing that is on my mind?" questioned the skunk, scowling, his mood not one flowers and rainbows. "And he didn't even bother with a proper escort this time! Having me walk amongst the streets, as though I'm just another tourist to this blasted resort. Plus, this boxing tournament is bringing all sorts of people..."

Bane rolled his eyes, one action he knew the man he was supposed to guard would not notice. "Perhaps we should focus on how to approach him this time, sir?"

"Perhaps..." grumbled the skunk, seeming to show defeat, but there was still a drip of irritation to his voice. He found his eyes wandering downward, brows furrowing as he found a wrinkle on his jacket, promptly straightening it out to a smooth, fabric surface.

Just then, the elevator paused, giving a light ding as the doors slid open smoothly, presenting a corridor. The skunk stepped forward, his lion bodyguard immediately following suit, these steps familiar to the striped one by now. Climbing up the stairs, he stood before the doors that greeted him. He placed a hand on the door, glancing down to his watch, studying the seconds tick by. Five seconds... four seconds... three... two...

The mere moment the hand struck four o' clock, he pushed the door opened and entered, stepping inside to the vast room. Without even an introduction, he made his way to the desk on the other side of the room, noting a familiar sitting behind it.




Vince hardly gazed up from his desk as the skunk simply showed himself in without a second thought. Glancing to the clock on the wall, the porcupine sat back, taking a minor drag from his current cigar-of-the-moment. "Hmm, it's a pleasure, Quinton... Punctual as per usual, I see..."

The porcupine eyed the skunk's walking body armour, and gave the employee a wave of his hand. "If you would not mind, I would appreciate it if you simply minded the door outside, same as before... You know the drill, good sir." With a puff, Vince gazed back to Quinton, his features displaying a warm friendliness about them as he gestured to the chair in front of the desk. "Please, have a seat. May I also prepare a drink for you, Sir Quinton..?"




With only the smallest of nods, Bane retreated back, more then happy to leave the two kings of business to their own troubles. He turned, giving a wary glance back to the two before slipping out the doors... or as well as a cat his size could, that is.

Quinton gave a flinch towards the mocking title, taking his seat across from Vince while he heard the sounds of his bodyguard exiting the room. He was on his own now.

"Thank you, Vince, but I will have to pass," he said in the politest tone he could muster, sitting down, his back straight, not a flaw in his posture.

No matter what air of friendliness the porcupine before him gave, Quinton could never trust it, not even for a small drink. Who knew what Vince would do to him if he had the chance? He'd heard the stories, the disappearances... Quinton Moore would be the last to be fooled by such a type as the Red Wasp.

"I would rather go straight to business, Mr. Vince," began Quinton, lacking a proper last name for the porcupine, just like any other person that encountered the resort owner. "You've happened to pick one of the most harrowing days I've had all month, so, frankly, this little meeting is the last of the things I'm particulary worried about."




The porcupine simply shrugged in a suit yourself manner, sitting up in a more proper fashion as he discarded the finished cigar in a nearby trash bin. "My apologies, Sir Quinton, this was a rather important matter, so I certainly could not wait for much longer..."

Another cigar was soon prepped, and the porcupine resumed his smoking.. "In any event, as you may know, this revolves around your new... business just outside of my resort's property line... Other surrounding businesses are also on pieces of the land purchased and owned by me, and all property therein. Your's is... the new kid on the block, so to speak. Young, budding... and most importantly, it is unique. Your trade over there -- EX Gear events, I believe...? It is a business that is soon to flourish over time, more than you can imagine... However, I am once again requesting that we agree on a merge of some kind... Name a price, and I will happily give it to you... In cash, right here, and right now. I am not a poor man, Sir Quinton... If you and I settle on such an arrangement, you will be set for life, moreso than you already are... I can make it happen. All you need to do... is give me the rights to your business and property, and we will be on our way..."

Vince puffed a bit of smoke from the side of his mouth, and eyed the skunk curiously as he awaited a response... "... What say you...? Sir Quinton..."




"I have heard this many times before, Mr. Vince, as you have explained it every time I have sat in this office of yours." Quinton shifted lightly in his seat, a permananet frown on his lips for the time being. "And I will give you the same explanation as I always have." He leaned forward at just the slightest of angles, pronunciating every word with clarity. "I already am 'set for life.'"

"As you may well know, Mr. Vince, I have been in my business for quite some time now, and I already have a plentiful fortune for my ownself. I already have enough that if I decided to simply retire this very moment, I would be, once again, as you say, 'set for life' for another three generations, maybe even more. Why I would even consider sharing any of my property or business with you is beyond my own logic, and may even be an insult to my work. Dare I say it, but it almost seems as though you don't know what sort of business I run, Mr. Vince, but I must tell you it is a properly functioning one that has brought much profit to me and the economy as a whole."

Quinton seemed to settle down back into his chair once more, looking at Vince with judging eyes.

"I very well know that my little trade will, indeed, be quite beneficial to my company, but I refuse to let you dab your dirty fingers into my dealings. I wish not to repeat myself yet again, Mr. Vince."




Vince sighed, and leaned back in his chair, looking quite disappointed... "Ahh... what a shame... what a shame..."

Giving the cigar a puff, the porcupine gave the skunk a steely gaze, an eyebrow quirked...

"Two-four-seven-four, seven-seven-seven-one, six-seven-six-three, one-two-two-one. Seven-nine-zero-two. Five-three-five, two-three, one-five-two-three."

What on earth...?




For once in his life, Quinton was at lost of words, his jaw literally falling agape, eyes widening as the series of numbers ringed through his ears.

"How... how in the blazes...."




"Keh hah hah hah... Impressive, isn't it...? Those aren't the only ones, either... Seven-six-five-nine, nine-seven-nine-three, two-five-six-one..."




This brought Quinton to his feet, the chair he'd been sitting in only a second before sliding back a few feet from the utter force he'd given to the sudden movement. Widened eyes soon turned into a furrowed brow, anger beginning to boil.

"How DARE you!" he screamed in barely controlled fury. "What gives you any right to steal such information?! What have I possibly done to be victim to such thievery?!"




The porcupine smirked, pulling out what appeared to be a PDA from within his suit jacket. "Keh hah hah hah! Now, now, let's be gentlemen about this... Do take your seat, and please, lower your voice... Else my finger slips and I completely bankrupt you in one swift maneuver... Sir Quinton..."




At that time, the two could hear the distant door creak open, the mane-outlined head of Quinton's bodyguard peeking inside, looking at his employer with worry and curiousity.

"Do I need to come in, sir?"

"No!" snapped Quinton over his shoulder, still erupting with anger. Realizing this, though, he took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure, his voice only an octave calmer. "I... I am fine, Bane. Please, remain outside."

"If you say so, sir..." said the lion with disbelief, vanishing back to where he came from with a click of the door.

Exhaling deeply, Quinton retrieved his seat and sat back down with as much dignity as he could scrape up for the moment, running a hand back across his head, flattening the hair that'd been slightly riled up from his frantic movements of frustration and anger. With this, he folded his hands before him, steel eyes glaring at Vince, not capable of hiding a new, cold dislike for the porcupine.

"What is the meaning of this, Mr. Vince?" he said dryly.




Vince merely chuckled again, taking a small drag from his cigar... "I said it once before... you're the new kid on the block... my block... In an sea of property already acquired by mine own hands... And you not only own a piece of land in my neighborhood, but you also have a nice, little commodity I would like to have for myself... It would be annoying to have to compete with a rival business over the same thing..."

Snuffing the smokepiece out on the desk, the porcupine gave the skunk a most stern expression. "And so I decided to be a gentleman, and invited you a meeting with me and my peers. You hardly sat in that chair for two minutes before you absolutely refused my offer, practically spitting at my invitation to become a part of my family... As nice as you have it, Sir Quinton, I could have promised an even better life... With far more protection than you initially deserve.. But, you declined, and most rudely, I should say... In the end, I was rather insulted... and decided, for the greater good, to send my best informants to acquire your most personal of information..."

The porcupine laughed uproariously, and smacked the surface of his desk with his fist, almost finding the situation an extreme amusement. "What kind of people do you employ over there, Moore?! The management my associates spoke with just about folded like a deck of cards when they gave them the proper incentive! I believe the name you should remember is a certain mister 'Jake Ogle'...? My employees merely offered him twice the salary if he complied, and he practically threw your numbers at them...! Keh hah hah hah! Although... It should be well noted that he has since then been enlisted into my employment as our warehouse janitor, and will be doing such work for less than what you were providing him... It wasn't too hard to find sensitive strings to pull on that old sack of bones, and coupled with how quickly he sold you out, I can't exactly say I was thrilled to give him just as much power... Heh...! I now have someone to look over cleanliness until he finally dries up! The prune..." His own grin was enough to quite possibly make the skunk feel sick to his stomach, and the porcupine wasn't quite done yet...

"In any case, in the end, I had what I needed from you... But, I was a forgiving man... I decided to give you two more chances... So I kept inviting you, to possibly come to a settlement of some kind. If you had agreed, even today... I would have filed the numbers away, and done nothing..."

Vince promptly shook his head, however, and gave Quinton a most disappointing expression, like the sort a father would give his own son. "Unfortunately, today... you struck out."




Quinton took all of this in silently, brooding over every word uttered, his cold glare never leaving the porcupine. He did not show a flinch, not one sign of disgust or fury throughout the explanation, a scowl the only feature on his face, hands steepled before him. When Vince finally finished, he leaned back in his seat, eyes darting to the ceiling for a brief moment, as if in deep thought, only to gravitate right back to the thief in front of him.

"...what an immature response to this situation," began Quinton, his take on Vince's actions clear. "I step onto your territory, and since I will not give in to your offers, you believe the perfect solution is to steal whatever I have to my name?"

Quinton leaned forward once more, his look as hard as diamonds. "If it weren't obvious enough, Mr. Vince, I am extremely infuriated with this turn of events. I have been betrayed by my own employee and stolen from someone beyond my control, but this process of dealing with things... I expected much better conduct from you, despite your previous acts I've heard of. It is almost childish; a school boy stealing a weaker one's lunch. Is this how you end most of your dealings, Mr. Vince?"

His back rigid once more, Quinton continued. "Truly you can't believe you can simply get away with such an act without some form of resistance by myself. I have many lawyers, Mr. Vince, many experianced lawyers. You have already happily given me every detail of how you obtained my personal information.... it shouldn't be terribly hard to prove you guilty."




"Heh heh... Keh hah hah hah! You listen here.. I've been 'getting away with' my actions for a -fairly- long time, and it is no surprise as to how or why... When you're one of the pivtoal heads of a broad organization, you tend to pick up on such annoyances like covering your tracks. Regardless of who you turn to for help, there is almost a guarentee that I have had a hand in influencing their favor.. it helps to be quite well-off financially. You get to insert a lot of pawns in different places to pull the strings for you... Any one of your 'many experienced lawyers' may very well be working for me in the long run!" The porcupine smirked, and lit up another cigar...

"Call my actions whatever the hell you'd like -- All it is to me is a way to win. And out here, in this thrilling gambling district, winning is everything...! It doesn't matter what route you take to get there so long as you acheive the goal you set out for... Oh, and to confirm something with you, yes, this is exactly how most of my dealings end, Sir Quinton. Everyone who has crossed me gets their just desserts with no chance of forgiveness from me - this much is fact."

Blowing out a cloud of smoke, Vince leaned a little onto the desk, that same grin still covering his features... "However... despite how much of a hold I do have on your entire -life-... I said before I was a forgiving man... You have one last chance to redeem yourself to me, and all it takes is a small favor. One little thing, and I will let you be on your way, never bothering you or your business ever again..."




Quinton couldn't help but admit the porcupine's words were true. There would be no hope for him if he brought this man to court. Too many strings to be pulled in the long run, and he already knew Vince's power in this area. Quinton had been outwitted, having not approached any of this with a careful step, and with this realization, he felt like a fool. His whole fortune was teetering on the brink, beyond his grasp, and the only way to regain its possesion was to admit defeat and go along with the porcupine's little game.

With a defeated sigh, he attempted to keep his head high and shoulders straight, not wanting to give Vince the satisfication of the victory.

"...very well, Mr. Vince," he said hollowly, his voice filled with malice. "If you are giving the offer, I have no choice then to accept whatever proposal you'll give me, unless I want to just become a mockery of my former self." He gave the porcupine a knowing look. "I only assume you still want me to agree with the same deal from before. If that is the price I must pay, so be it."




"Oh." The porcupine merely chuckled to himself, leaning himself forward with his elbows on the desk, hands steepled as his violet eyes almost burned little holes into his 'guest'.. "Well... whether you wish to keep your business or not after this, is entirely up to you, but... what I seek from you is a simple... activity. Namely..." Vince leaned himself a bit against the chair, grinning practically from ear to ear. "One of our combatants seems to have come up short... To keep things the way they need to be... I formally request that you take their place."

He lit up another stick, and began to give it the usual treatment for such things. "What say you...? I should point out that if you refuse, it will cost you... Specifically, every dollar. But, should you go through with this for mine own amusement... Then I promise you, I will not take all of your money from you. Mark my words. I might very well be a sleaze to people who know the real -me-, but... if there's one thing I'm good on, it is my own promises..."

Huff.

"What say you, Sir Quinton..?"




"You... you are requesting me to participate in your boxing tournament?" Quinton nearly stammered, a disgusted expression on his face. "That sport is meant for low-life people.... buffoons who find joy in beating eachother senselessly! I would never allow anyone to see a man such as myself enter that ring of their's, being yelled at by those savage gamblers that are so easily attracted to your facilities!"

Quinton was steaming now, teeth on the verge of being bared.

"But I assume you will give me any other choices, will you, Mr. Red Wasp?" he spat, any self control now long gone. "This is all for your amusement, to see me thrown into the ring, helpless to whatever barbarian that is my opponent."




"Keh hah hah hah...! It most certainly is..." Vince's features reflected a most sinister smile as he took a long drag from the cigar... "And you know what will happen if you refuse, so... if you would be so kind as to take these with you..." From behind the desk came a pair of boxing gloves, and rather flamboyantly loud shorts tossed unceremoniously over to the skunk.

"They were for our last participant, but he seems to have taken off instead... in such a hurry, that he left these behind... So now they belong to you, Sir Quinton! ... Also, these."

And a pair of sunglasses with star-shaped lenses clattered over the top of the desk. This was making for a most... interesting piece of attire.

Throwing his cigar away, the porcupine simply grinned at his 'victim'. "Oh, and if you also do me the favor of not throwing my alias around... It would be a most annoying hurdle if the wrong ears caught wind of it... And, of course, if I catch wind of your slip-up, I will do something about your runaway mouth, mark my words..."

Sigh.

"Now then... You have about fifteen minutes to get over to your spot. Your match begins the moment you enter the ring, Sir Quinton... Oh, and I should remind you of your stage name - The Rancid Wind. 'Silent, but Deadly' is your slogan. Use it well, accomplished fighter."

The porcupine stood tall, and meandered silently over to the glass windows overlooking his resort. Readying another smoke, Vince simply smiled with utmost delight... "Be a good boy, and do this favor for me... Once you have finished, report back to me, and we will seal the deal on my promise to you..." His violet-hued eyes glanced ever so slightly off to the side to look at the no doubt fuming skunk. "As I have said.. I'm a man of my word. Keh hah hah hah hah!!"




Quinton was now too angered for words, simply standing and snatching the horrid materials from the desk, turning on a heel and marching off, making sure to keep the overly colored shorts a fair distance from his body, his nose scrunched in disgust. He left the cackling porcupine behind him as he stepped through the doors, promptly moving down the stairs and summoning the elevator.

Bane did not have much time to follow his employer when he appeared, stepping into the elevator just as the doors slid shut, looking down at the positively enraged skunk. Taking his position at the back of the elevator like before, the lion gave a deep sigh, his curiousity overwhelming his restraint as he spoke, eyeing the strange looking garments Quinton held with clenched hands.

"How did things go, sir? Much as expected?"

"Oh, things went more then expected," snarled the skunk. "But I can say I'm just thrilled for the agreement we made."


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