Lawrence caught himself knocking at his neighbor slash meta-human's door.

According to the information he had gotten, Gallutneck was a sort of jack-of-all-trades. He had mind-improving skills, fighting skills, and negotiation skills. Those were nothing but the words of a captured enemy, however, so they might as well be a bunch of lies.

Somewhy, though, looking at the eyes of his prisoner after Christiane finished with him, he felt like the poor guy wasn't lying. Or would, in fact, dare to lie again in his whole life. Or look directly to anyone. In fact, Lawrence thought he looked a little like a broken robot.

Just what on Earth did that woman do to him, he wondered. No, in fact, he didn't want to know. He was perfectly good being able to sleep as he was. He didn't need to change that.

"Pizza delivery service" he yelled, banging at the guy's door. His voice came out oddly calm, which was, as previously stated, odd. Inside he was already picturing the thousand ways this could go wrong.

Be it as it may, he ended up using the cliched bait phrase. He was sure Gallutneck would realize the whole thing was an ambush, unless he was so stupid he thought a delivery guy brought him a pizza he didn't even order for some strange reason. Lawrence highly doubted it. Not that it actually mattered. The subject in question was trapped. There was no secret exit from the house. He knew because he had telephoned Johnny Chase and asked him for the house blueprints. It was such a bliss to have someone working in a construction company as an ally.

Even though that very same ally kept constantly ticking him off about the matter with the Yakuza.

"Yes, I'm coming" a cheerful voice came from the other side. The fact that the owner looked (sounded) eager to open the door wasn't doing anything to reassure him. He had, as a matter of fact, told Mika and Christiane to stay on his house. He wanted them close in case anything happened, but he considered it was best to come alone. He wanted to negotiate with Gallutneck, if possible. Showing up with no support whatsoever would give off the feeling that he came in the name of peace. Or at least he hoped so. The other way to look at it would be saying that he was a complete idiot trying to kill himself, but Lawrence didn't want to talk about it.

With a rusty creaking, the door was opened. Gallutneck's face was revealed.

He looked... Not like Lawrence had expected, he had to give it to him. He didn't look like a psychopath, nor the leader of a gang of stupefied porcine apes. He had the face of a comedy man, and the energy of a young boy. His yellow-ish eyes brimmed with curiosity, and his lips were curled in a half-smile half-grin that somehow he saw fitting on the man. His light-brown-ish hair looked alien to the concept of a hairbrush, but it suited him as well.

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"My, if it isn't Mr. Neighbor? Did you happen to spot a pizza delivery man in your way here? I think they rang for me."

Lawrence glared at the man intently, although his smile never faltered, nor he displayed any other signs of feeling bothered by it. "I think we both know the pizza boy went off for a walk." He looked behind Jean Gallutneck's shoulder and inside the house.

"May I come in?"

"I can't see why not! Would you like lettuce soda? Or maybe potato crackers?"

Lawrence was rooted to the ground for a few seconds, trying really hard not to put a blank face. Thankfully, Incomprehensible worked exactly for that. Without the slightest hint of doubt, he replied with a resolute "Crackers, please."

"A man after my own heart! ~ Okay, no, that sounded wrong in so many ways at once. Ahem, well, step in and make yourself comfortable! I was attending another guest, however, just so you know."

"Is he part of your gang?"

"Oh yes! He is my tech's guy. He's the one who told me you smacked my boys' asses."

"I see."

"Couch or armchair?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Of course it do~ HOLY SHIT I SPURTED SOMETHING I SHOULDN'T!!!" Gallutneck suddenly realized he had handled himself off in a silver tray and fell to the ground. "What does a split personality serve for if it doesn't help with these things?! DAMN YOU, JOHN!!! THIS WAS YOUR ONLY JOB"

Lawrence decided to pretend the guy wasn't screaming at nobody in particular, and cleared his throat before speaking. "Well, that should make things easier for both of us. I believe you know why I'm here, don't you?"

Gallutneck looked at him with hurt eyes and a resigned face. It felt way too exaggerated though. "Your win! I surrender! Finito! Game over! I am at your total mercy! Let the punishment~" He gulped and zipped his mouth under Lawrence's scornful glare. "Well, eh, you get the point. You got me. Now what?"

"First comes first. Where are my crackers?"

Gallutneck blinked. "What?"

"Crackers. I believe you did promise to bring me some. I'm waiting. One doesn't make their boss wait."

"Yes, of course~ wait what?!"

"Cease your blabbering minion! Go fetch me some potato crackers!!"

"But~!"

"NOW!!!"

"YESSSSS!!!" The prankster faded in the darkness of a hallway, looking for a package of crackers and too busy to notice that he wasn't in fact this person's subordinate and that it was actually the first time he met him.

Lawrence sighed internally. He had met these kind of people before, in fact. Mostly in games. All you had to do was imposing your own pace so you didn't get caught on theirs'. It worked wonders on him. It would also help a lot with the oncoming conversation.

"YOU'RE NOT MY BOSS!!!"

"SILENCE MINION!!!"

"YES BOSS~ Wait. I'M NOT YOUR MINION!!!"

"WHERE ARE MY GODDAMN CRACKERS??!!"

"RIGHT AWAY SIR!!!"

Lawrence sighed. "What a service. And he calls himself my minion? I should seriously consider firing him."

Oh, wait. He really wasn't his minion...

"Meh. Details. Nobody actually cares..."