Lawrence gulped. That was some big machete. And some big man who probably knew how to use it.
"Welcome to my humble interrogations room. You like it?"
"I'd like it even better if I wasn't locked up in it."
"Is that sarcasm what I'm looking at?" the man said.
"Oh, no, I wouldn't dare. You just have something in your eye."
The man left out a roaring laughter, then looked back at him.
"You know what, I like you kid."
Lawrence was about to point out that twenty-one wasn't an age that merited being called 'kid', but held back his tongue. This man was probably around his middle forties, so he supposed he did look like a kid to him. Especially since the men looked like he went to the gym as often as he went to the bathroom. Besides, the machete in the table did a good job making him think twice before making this guy angry.
So he settled and went straight to the point.
"Why am... No." He knew the answer to that question already, or at least he thought he did. Looking smarter in front of a possible, probable, enemy, was the smart thing to do here.
"What do you have planned for now?"
"Looks like you know why you're here" he said, taking out a cigar box and lighting one up with a Zippo.
"I know, and I know who you are, Johnathan. And I know your business, and the why of the sewers explosion. I know more than you'd want me to. And I know something you probably want to know, and I know you won't harm me, at least not until I tell you everything, because you are a careful man and you didn't build this underground empire by leaving loose strings. So how about you attend us in a different room, a proper guestroom, so I can sing the song you want to hear?"
Johnny let out a ring of smoke, worthy of a Tolkien story, and looked straight at Lawrence. Lawrence felt as if he was looking straight at his soul, and so he decided to do the same with him.
Silently, he activated his Evileye.
----------------------------------------
Johnathan Chase
----------------------------------------
Nothing. So he wasn't empowered, huh?
"It appears you already know my name. It's as you say, you know quite a lot, mister..."
"Lakewood. Lawrence Lakewood."
"Well then, Mr. Lakewood. You were right, I do want to hear about this information you say It'll be of my interest. Let me take you to a proper guestroom, as you say..."
----------------------------------------
"Passable."
They were now in what seemed to be an office. Smooth, neat white walls, some lamps hanging in the ceilling, expensive-looking rugs. Showing off his money without exceeding. Mika was staying really quiet, and Lawrence understood she was waiting for instructions. He signaled her to stay calm.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Lawrence couldn't actually evaluate the acceptableness of the room (he was the men who wore beaver mules and pawprint shirts). So he had to go with whatever he could think off. Luckily, his negotiation skill hadn't worn off just jet. He also took time to observe the new quest the Root had assigned to him.
----------------------------------------
Lawrence Lakewood --- Villain
Meta-ability:
Criminal Mastermind --- Certain actions you make trigger a chain of coincidences that will eventually act on your favor. (Grade: C)
---
Features:
-Facade: While interacting with others, unless purposefully avoided, your thoughts will be unreadable. Affects language and body language as well.
-Silver Tongue: Become an excellent negotiator. Effect wears off after negotiations are done. Cooldown: 2 hours.
-Evileye: Targeted objectives will have their status displayed, in the case they are meta-humans. Observing a target for a long enough time gives you an insight on how they fight and how to fight them.
---
Pending Tasks:
-First Stain
-Grand Master
-Financial Fiasco
-God Raises Them...
---
55 FP
----------------------------------------
-God Raises Them...-
Powerful connections are useful when your goal is world domination. Get powerful leader to owe you one
Reward: +50FP
----------------------------------------
Talk about a hard task. And a juicy reward.
"I wont ask how you know all you know. That was probably Rohn or Cain in action. Not Bob, he's too scared of me to talk."
"I wouldn't know why." Lawrence felt pity for the man whose name was so complicated to pronounce that even his boss spelled it wrong.
"What I will ask you is that you tell me what you know. Damage control, if you like."
It wouldn't do bad for him to put his cards on the table. Lawrence needed an advantage over this guy. Information was a two-bladed sword, but Johnny couldn't kill him (he didn't want to think about it) until he heard him out, and he could work him along the way to make him think a deal of some sort would be the best viable option. Plus, he had Facade, which would make him impossible to read, and Silver Tongue, which would help him sweet the deal. Not a bad combo for this case, no.
Besides, if things turned ugly, he had Evileye out to help him. And Mika could break free any time, and machete or not, he doubted a single man could do much against two empowered villains who had gone through a hell of a week. Especially against Mika. She seemed keen on breaking bones.
Alright, that sounded like a plan. He was ready for this...
Well, almost ready.
"Before we start, let me ask you something."
To tell the truth, he was curious. Out of the many things Cane had told him, Lawrence just couldn't figure out the key for the quickness of these people. It was literally one day until they got him.
"Sounds fair, as long as you remember who's holding who on custody."
"How to forget."
"Spit it out, then."
"How did you catch us?"
"Oh, a tricky question, than one. But alright, as long as you tell me what I want to know, I'll be willing to tell."
"Speak."
"As you know, my power extends to a very important part of the city. As it happens to be, that includes a contact in the LHU. A certain someone who pointed me to another certain someone, who was being held on custody for suspicion of crime complicity. A man who could use tracking abilities. So I pulled some strings, got him free with clean record. And gave him a job offer with safety guarantee, plus a sweet weekly payment."
"I see."
"i have a side question for you too."
"Say."
"My boy could only find one of you. The girl, I presume. What did you do, if you didn't know you were being targeted?"
"I honestly have no idea." Maybe a side effect of Facade? He wasn't completely sure.
Johnny gave him the look, and then sighed. "I guess you're not lying."
Talk about sharp intuition. And the man had no abilities! What a beast.
Johnny took out a bottle of Jack Daniels. Johnny didn't know much about drinks, but he suspected it was very expensive. He took a couple of drinking cups just as expensive-looking, and poured a shot on both.
"Then, Mr. Lakewood" he said, pushing one of the cups towards Lawrence. "Tell me everything. From the start. And don't lie to me. I'll know when you do."