Wet Work
Stratford Campus
The Office Mr. Black occupied was dim; the only illumination was from the soft lights of his table lamp. What you could see is that the office was decorated very tastefully. Not with the exaggerated flair the Merovingian would have preferred, but for Mr. Black it was perfect. The desk was big with three separate monitors on, each monitor displaying stock information, shipment manifests and news. Mr. Black looked at the monitors briefly before settling back in his chair. He held a glass of scotch on ice in one hand while the other held an expensive cigar. He chuckled quietly as he read the report from Ikebukuro from the monitor. Seems yet another exile tried to take a stand against the Merovingian and lost his head over It, thought Mr. Black as he shook his head and got up from his seat walking around it to face the large glass windows behind him.
The city was laid out like glittering jewels in the late evening and the glow from the city seemed more enhanced from the downpour outside. Mr. Black sighed as he took a small drag from the cigar. Idiots, he thought as he let out a breath of smoke, trying to take on the Merv all by themselves, well that’s what you get when you’re impatient. Mr. Black knew all about patience, hell to rule over the family he had it was a necessity. Each of his “children” and a “wife” at each others throat trying to fight over scraps in the hopes to get a foothold to him. If that wasn’t bad enough, he had the Merovingian as competition. Mr. Black knew that the Merovingian’s power was massive. He literally commanded Mega City’s underworld with his army of exiles and loyal red pill employees.
It wasn’t an easy ascension to power for Mr. Black, serving for as long as he had for the Merv was a lesson in humility. The final humiliation for Mr. Black and the one that made him break away from the Merovingian was when he lost his job to a newly arrived exile who displayed better efficiency. Flood, thought Mr. Black with a grimace as he turned and stabbed his cigar in the ashtray on the table, you think you may have won something from me when you had me ousted from my rank. But what did you really win? I have my freedom from the Frenchman and more power than you could ever imagine, and you remain as his underdog, his lackey.
Mr. Black pressed a button on his desk and sipped the last of his scotch as the large double doors to his office opened. The aide stepped in and said quietly “you called Mr. Black?” Mr. Black nodded and walked to his coat rack “Looks like I’m going to call it a night. Send the car out front; I don’t want to get soaked.” The aide nodded and said “very well sir”
As the aide left Mr. Black donned his coat and hat looking once round the office he started to walk towards the doors. Yes you think you won something Flood but you stand to lose more than you could ever know thought Mr. Black as he opened the doors and stepped into the hallway, and I am going to make sure you are the first to fall before the Merv does.
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Barloke hung suspended upside down outside the large building one floor above Mr. Black’s office. He felt the blood rush to his head, he was soaked from the downpour and he was clearly not in a good mood. Some way to make a living he thought as he adjusted his goggles, hanging upside down like a soaked bat this time! Barloke knew that he shouldn’t have took a mission so soon from the last one he did, but Flood was very anxious for him to start this mission. Seemed simple enough, all he had to do was get some data cards from Mr. Black’s office and bring them back to Flood. The earpiece beeped and he heard “operator, Barloke have you arrived on site yet?” Barloke sighed and said into the mouthpiece “already here Laura.” Barloke wasn’t convinced totally, but he did suspect that this program was a little too overprotective of him. In the Real “Laura” was constantly reminding him to take his meals regularly, to exercise and get in the training programs more. Last night she even told me I was not getting enough rest! Thought Barloke as he examined Mr. Black’s office from the outside window, shaking his head he realized he was in for one hell of a job, especially with the parameters that Flood set up.
“I don’t want Mr. Black to have a clue that he was robbed” said Flood from the monitor in the cockpit of Barloke’s hovercraft. “I don’t want a repeat of the last mission you were on with every guard alerted to your presence.” Barloke grimaced knowing that it wasn’t his fault he was spotted but also knew that it was a waste of time to argue with Flood.
With a sigh, Barloke saw that getting into the office was not going to be easy, especially with the sensors that were in place on the glass pane. Barloke magnified his vision and switched the goggles to infra-red and scoped the office again. There it is! Barloke thought with a satisfied nod, the air duct would be cramped, but it was enough to get him in the office and more importantly it was the only entrance not laced with alarm sensors. Barloke flipped over until he was right side up and began to climb the rope hand over hand until he got to the roof. He was just over the lip of the roof when he heard the familiar click of the sound of a hammer being pulled back. “Freeze buddy, your spiderman days are over.” Barloke groaned as he looked up at the lone guard and hoped that Flood wasn’t expecting the data cards anytime soon…