Vince grinned to himself as he organized the paperwork for the day's events, examining numbers correlating to the event turnout, the event results, and the projected number of attendees to his resort for the next couple of days... The numbers were looking good, and looking hot. Perhaps a few of the rounds were total jokes -- but having such stars turn up, like Sonic the Hedgehog, or the gigantic turtle of the wrestling circuit, really kept things riding high. Not to mention the last match of the day between Mr. Hawkins and the detective...

"Ahh, yes... Today was a good day-..."

The two bodyguards to either side of him simply remained at attention, sharp eyes watching the door from behind their classy shades. They had to be ready for anything, after all -- Vince was about to have a possibly unruly visitor...




SLAM

The doors of the office suddenly burst open with great force, in marching the expected visitor. There was no timed arrival, no proper etiquette with entering, just a rage-fueled walk straight to the desk.

The skunk's suit was hastily put on, his hair a tangled mess, and it seemed as though his nose had swollen to twice its previous size. Quinton's appearence was absolutely horrendous compared to his last visit with Vince, having made a bee-line to the offices above the resort to speak with the big boss.

"I have been embarassed... ridiculed... in front of hundreds," he growled under his breath as he approached the desk, not seeming to notice his bodyguard appearing through the door behind him. "I stood no chance... none at all!"

He slid out the chair awaiting him forcibly, falling into it, his body rigid as he began to glare holes into the man's face before him. Bane took a standing position a few feet behind the chair, seeming displeased with the situation. "You better keep to your word, Vince, or else all this shame brought onto me will have gone to waste...!"




The whole time Quinton spent getting from the entrance to the chair, the porcupine simply eyed him with a most amused expression upon his face. As Bane entered shortly after, Vince's own kept a fairly close eye upon him, ready to lash out with their own weapons if necessary... Once Quinton took his seat, the resort owner sat up in his chair, and lit up one of his usual cigars. "Yeah, you got destroyed out there... I saw it all. A sweet, but short performance for the ages... Though, it wasn't just hundreds -- the numbers show that I may have had thousands, like it or not! Keh hah hah hah!"

Taking a drag from the cigar, Vince exhaled the smoke and continued to give the skunk a most condescending smile. "In any case... didn't I tell you before, Sir Quinton...? I always keep my promises... and I have certainly kept mine..."

Huff..

"Very well, then." The porcupine rose to his feet, before walking to the left, gazing out the windows that allowed such a tremendous view over the nightless city. "Keh hah hah... I will not take your little shop. You may go back to it, and you will never have to see me again! I will not bother you anymore..."

He appeared to be done with the skunk. He simply gazed out upon his resort, smoking that cigar, as the two guards stood close by...

"However..." He tossed the remnants of his smoke aside, and was soon to replace it with another. "I just wanted to let you know that I decided to help myself to a bit of a donation from the whole of your savings... Keh heh heh.."

What was that...?




Quinton's fingers curled in onto to the arms of the chair with enough force that it wouldn't be any surprise if the porcupine happened to discover bent wood and scratched grooves later.

"You have no right!" he exclaimed, still outraged. "You made your deal clear! I fight in the match, and you leave my fortune be.... unless me being beaten to a pulp wasn't enough for you!"




The porcupine gave Quinton a most venomous smile.

"Indeed, I made my deal crystal clear, Sir Quinton. Whatever gave you the idea that I did not understand mine own promise...?"




Quinton just stared at the porcupine with steel eyes, studying the look Vince was giving him. His mind then wandered its way back to their previous conversation, from before the match. He remembered Vince's words, and the deal, letting things echo back through his mind, and slowly, his eyes began to grow wider for a growing realization, noting what he had simply looked over earlier in the day.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came, to shocked at his own ignorance.




"Keh hah hah... I take it you finally realized what I'm getting at.." He lit up a new cigar, and wandered back over to his executive seating, taking his place behind the desk. "Indeed... I promised exactly... 'I will not take all of your money from you'. And so I didn't... Just, you know... about ninety-nine percent's worth."

The porcupine was mad. He had to be. That expression in his violet-hued eyes was simply beyond sanity... He appeared to take great pleasure in emptying his jacket's pocket, tossing the contents over to the other side of the desk in the skunk's general direction.

Bound by a clip, sat a measly two hundred dollars. The last of what remained to Quinton's name.

"Now that our deal has been successfully fulfilled, you may go." Vince began to pour himself a glass of freshly-opened wined, the resort owner losing interest in his quarry. "I have no further business with you."

...

"Oh. I should at the very least let you know -- it would appear the latest news reports have detailed that a certain shop with extreme gear had been completely stripped of everything in a mass looting the night before. Seems somebody tried to start a fire, even... As you are headed out that way, I imagine you would want to know how safe the neighborhood currently is in that direction... Just thought you should be aware, Sir Two-Hundred. Keh heh...! Keh hah hah hah!"




At first, Quinton only stared at the small clip of money laying upon the desk, seeing the measly amount of bills that didn't even measure up to his true savings. The size of the folded paper seemed to mock him, sitting there, folded without any consideration... and they weren't even new.

Then, the snap.

The skunk leaped forward from his chair, a mixed bag of expletives, none he would have never expected he himself to say, erupting from his mouth in a constant flow. A wild look was in his eyes, one out to grab the throat of an enemy with clawing hands as he snarled, beginning to make his way across the wood of the desk, knocking away the porcupine's possesions from its surface. Whatever litte dignity Quinton carried when entering the room had now completely vanished, and if a look could kill, Vince would surely be cold and silent that very moment.

Before any of the resort boss' guards could intervene with Quinton's rage fueled forward assault, large hands landed on the skunk's jacket, pulling him back with relative ease. It wasn't long before Quinton had the tree trunk of an arm of his own bodyguard wrapped around his waist, holding him back as he tried to break himself free. Bane, appearing to be under no strain to hold back his employer, snatched the clip of bills from the desk, giving Vince an apolegetic look.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Vince," he began with his booming voice. "He can be a bit... rowdy when under pressure."

The lion then proceeded to drag Quinton towards the doors, the skunk's feet barely even skimming across the floor as he continued to yell and scream at the man who stole his fortune, not capable of freeing himself from Bane's grasp.




The whole time. The whole time, if there was any way Vince could have been expressing his joy moreso than he had before, he would have done it. He hardly flinched as the skunk practically tried barreling across the desk's glossy surface in an effort to get at his own throat, flailing of limbs and the knocking of items small potatoes to the mammal's utter -rage-. As the skunk's own bodyguard so graciously pulled him away, the whole fiasco was simply too much. The porcupine's grin was practically stretching ear-to-ear.

Pouring himself a new glass that was so generously replaced by the hands of one of his own employees, Vince raised the beverage in a toast as he called after the two. "Oh, Sir Bane. If you are so inclined, now that your employer has hit hard times, we could always use a fellow like you among security personnel. We only hire the best, after all..."




Bane paused in his backwards retreat, offering a small glance down to the skunk tightly held under his arm. He studied the childlike tantrum and the skunk's overall hostility at the moment before considering his future. His employer was nearly dead-end broke, a mere shadow of his former self. The lion had been paid well, but along the way he'd be treated with condescending comments and felt overall distaste towards his employer. And now, with him only having a couple hundred to his name... their truly wasn't any point in dealing with Quinton's presence any longer.

"My apologies, Mr. Moore," rumbled the lion as he turned, opening the office room's door with his free arm. "But I think you no longer can afford my services. Working for you was amongst one of my many troubles as it were. Farewell."

The small statement made, Bane then promptly tossed the skunk right through the open door, Quinton landing in a mess of scattered limbs and ruffled clothing. Before he could even rise to look up at his guard, a projectile in the form of a crumpled mess of bills smacked him straight in the face. He swiped the cash away, teeth nearly bared as he looked up back to the doors, trying to scramble onto his feet.

"You brown-maned bastard!" he screamed. "I'll make you into a rug if I ever-"

The second slamming of the door that night occured, leaving the skunk's noise level only to muffled yells through the thick wood. Without a second thought, Bane flicked the lock on the wooden barrier as well, making sure his now former employer would never make his way back into the office.

The lion smoothed out his jacket then, turning back to face the room, gray eyes finding the porcupine.

"Now, what was this about hiring?"




Vince simply grinned, and gestured to the empty chair. "Ah, wonderful to see you're interested. Have a seat right there, Sir Bane... Care for a drink? A cigar, perhaps? Unlike the most unfortunate fellow outside, I treat my employees well..."


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