25th Exploit: Turmoil and Preparation 1

Clark's hassling of Antonio has finally landed the TC head of Engineering and Science in hot water. Paranoid of retribution, Clark seeks to tighten his personal defenses as much as he can.

25th Exploit: Turmoil and Preparation Pt. 1

Bo approaches Clark's desk with a level of purpose behind his step. Zorn steps slightly between him and Clarks desk, looking down menacingly at Bo. Bo looks back at up, before turning his gaze to Clark and crosses his arms.

"Pardon the intrusion-" Bo speaks "-but we need to talk. Ive got some things on my chest that I need to take off." Clark tilts his head and grimaces.

"Oh? You have something you'd like to say? Pal, Ive got a lot I need to do so-" Clark waves his hand forward in a 'go away' gesture. "-shoo."

"I don't think so." Clark's slightly frightened annoyed look turns to anger. "Never in my two and a half years with the Tai Corporation have I ever been as misused as I have with the likes of you, Mr. Rweise. Throughout this whole affair Ive grit my teeth and bared with your childishness because I respect the nature of status. But, I question, if a person with such a high status such as yourself is sending me on spying errands on a punk who had no initial intent against you or anyone else in the corporation, just because he destroyed property that he had no clue about, should I listen to such a baby minded lunatic?"

"WHAT-"

"I continued through with the job regardless because I refuse to quit any mission once Ive started it!" Bo's fists begin to quiver. "Throughout this whole ordeal, I never gave in, not until I couldn't pursue them anymore! Now-" Bo points past Zorn, at Clark. "-I refuse to do anymore petty jobs for the likes of you ever again! If that means I lose my job, so be it, but I'll be damned if I risk my sense of self respect for a sociopathic man like you anymore!"

"Are you through?!" Bo glares at Clark through his shades. "Well then, let me say this Mr. Lucas, you don't want the errands I have to offer you won't be getting them anymore! And the bonus I was gonna give you is-" Clark snaps his fingers. "-GOOONE pal, and before you say anything it was gone before you walked into my office anyways! You go on about being this diligent worker ant, but that amounts to nothing if you can't even do every bit of it right!" Clark smiles angrily. "You don't want to help me? F*****g good! You're an self important loser too high on his own aire of low importance anyways! You know I saw that green haired idiots dumbass friends on my camera feed right?! They broke the rules of the note!"

"Oh you saw them?" Bo lowers his head and smiles at Clark. "Well, you can expect to see them again soon! Making good on your word is one thing, but you really signed the deal when you stood outside and let those journalists interview you AFTER tossing that girl out the window! That Antonio is certainly going to show up to flatten your foolish face!"

"WELL THEY SHOULD HAVE HEEDED THE GOD DAMN RULES!!!" Clark pulls out his gun and points it at Bo. "You know your place, mule! You are NOOOOT paid to judge your masters, and I'm done listening to TRASH talk big! You underestimate the Tower, the moment that grass headed m**********r pops his head in them doors he's going to be overcome by some of the most deadly people in the world! Personally I'm more worried about what Tai is going to do at the moment!"

"You underestimate the kid." Bo opens his fists at his side. "He doesn't pay mind to sound reasoning or thought. I saw it at Rose Mali park personally. In a moment where he should have been left incapacitated he pushed on and stopped a heist, without his full capability. Quite frankly I was impressed." Bo smirks. "His stubbornness reminds me of yours in a way. Two peas in a pod-" Clark stands up from his desk and threatens to pull the trigger of his gun.

"I ought to shoot you f*****g DEAD!"

"Are you gonna? Do you want to see how deep that hole you're digging goes? I wonder how that will go over, another incident in your office in the span of a day. I can see the headlines already; Lunatic Tai Corp big wig sent to prison for life." Clark slams his gun down on his desk and is livid. He yells at Bo incoherently. Bo simply laughs. "Rest assured, if I'm here and either of those guys come to attack the Tower I will do everything in my power to put a stop to them, but it will not be for your sake Mr. Rweise." Clark spits across his desk, past Zorns head and onto Bo's face. Bo casually wipes the spit off of his cheek.

"You useless piece of trash! I hope your jaw gets shattered!" Clark turns to Zorn. "Zorn, dump this garbage out of my room now!" Zorn grins and shoves Bo backward, making him fall on his butt.

"Get your a*s movin' small fry." Bo stands up and turns. He begins to walk, but stops to say something else.

"I wonder, if they're smart enough to attack the place after Tai and his entourage leave, will the vast distance from this floor to the ground level be enough to protect you, or perhaps its a distance you'll end up falling-"

"I SAID THROW HIM OUT!" Zorns grin vanishes. He quickly grabs Bo by the back of the neck and hoists him up easily. Zorn opens the door with his free hand and thrusts Bo out of the door, sending him flying into the guard rails, almost over them. Zorn slams the door behind him and locks it.

---

A little over a hundred and twenty floors below Clark's office, the 19th floor to be exact, a young lanky man with a dark complexion, just a shade darker then Bo's, is stomping through the corridors of the tower, speaking rather desperately on his smartphone. He is a relatively high ranking associate of TC's offense unit, second in line (excluding the head of Offense). He wear's a strikingly similar uniform to Grendel's, just color swapped to white and light grey. As a matter of fact hes one of the only members of the TC outside of the top brass who has attire that isn't traditionally black. He has brown eyes, smooth thick black hair combed back to the left, and a look of sheer disappointment on his face. This angry young man is Jeht Dunville. The back of his smartphone has an outline of an ostrich on it.

"-But sensai!" Jeht turns a corner sharply, nearly knocking over a fellow TC associate. Jeht's pace slows to a walk as he grows deflated. "...Yes sensai, I understand." Jeht disconnects and pockets his phone. The associate he ran into a moment ago casually walks behind him.

"Jeht sir, what is-" Jeht turns his face just ever so slightly, half facing the associate. The man shivers as he stares into an eye of sheer apathy. Jeht's mouth is very slightly opened in a subtle frown. He is the very picture of disappointed anger. Its his rippling smooth aura that is putting the associate on edge.

"...Ive been pulled from the trip to Kurishia. 'I'm not needed for the President's protection'" Jeht lower's hes head and sighs long and grieved. He faces forward once more and begins walking away from the TC Associate.

"Sir, I'm sorry-" The mans shades split horizontally. The bottom half fall off first before the rest of the shades follow. "H-huh?!" Jeht lowers his head before 'vanishing' forward and away from the associate."

---

"Alright!" Antonio punches one hand into another and smirks. "Three days is fine! Guess in the meantime I can go back and talk to Luke." Jace looks up at Antonio. "He deserves to know what happened to one of his students. You wanna come along Jason?" 

"Maybe next time." Jason shrugs. "I'd better get ready for this personally. Unlike you and Clarice I'm more or less a tag-a-long. There's a lot for me to think about you know?" 

"If you decide against joining us-" Clarice rests her wrist on the hilt of her blade. "-all Ive said is to absolutely be kept secret. In fact forget I even exist if that's the case, for both of our benefits." Antonio 'pfft's. 

"Hell with that! Jason if you drop out I'll mock you relentlessly!" Jason glares at Antonio, who's grinning like an idiot.

"I'm not gonna turn tail!" Jason sighs. "Anyways, I might have somethings at my place that could benefit us, I recall having some useful junk." Clarice raises a brow.

"Like that odd glove weapon of yours." 

"Well, maybe nothing quite that exotic but I'll see what I can dig up." Jason crosses his arms. Tony is scratching the side of his nose with his pinky. 

"As long as you don't dip on us." Jason grumbles as Antonio smirks. Tony looks down at Jace. "You ready to go?" 

"A-actually, I was hoping maybe Clarice will let me stay here for a bit."

"Huuuuh?" Antonio leans forward toward Jace. Jason begins to snicker. "You wanna what?" Clarice looks over at the two curiously. 

"Hmm?" 

"Yo, Jason." Jason almost breaks out into laughter. 

"Yeah, I know!" Jace begins to blush. Clarice is confused. Tony is doing all he can not to laugh.

"H-hey! Don't you two get the wrong idea now! I just don't want to suffer being run through the air at high speeds again! From Inizioville to St. Costas, one thing, but from here all the way home?! I'm gonna need more mental preparation for that Tony!" 

"Suuuure, fine." Tony rolls his eyes, not believing Jace's excuse for a minute. "As long as Clarice doesn't mind you being here I guess." 

"So long as he doesn't disturb my meditation or break anything he is welcome to stay here for now. I don't care." Antonio smirks and heads toward the door. 

"Alright, then I guess I'm out then." Tony opens the door. It's raining. "Don't you drop out on us Jason." Antonio waves and laughs as he exits the house. Jason is comically annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah. I won't damn." Jason walks toward the door. "Guess I'm out too." Jason looks back at Jace and smirks through his scarf. "Don't have too much fun here kiddo." Jace blushes again.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Jason laughs as he closes the door behind him. Jace looks up at Clarice, whose cold stare leaves him intimidated. She's looking at the locket over his neck. She says nothing as she turns away from him. "Heh..." 

---

Clark sighs as he lifts up the phone on his desk. He has his laptop open and he's skimming through a list of names.

"Zorn." Clark suddenly speaks. "While I'm getting this dealt with could you go and get the car ready? After I make a call we're going to the St. Costas hospital." Clark grumbles. "While I'm still allowed to leave..."

"Oh? You're letting me drive it finally?" Zorn seems giddy. "I'll have it all revved up and ready!" Zorn unlocks the office door and exits the room. Clark is immediately made nervous when his most faithful employee is absent.

"Alright, better make this quick. Whose available?"

 Clark mouses through a relatively sizable list of names. These are mercenaries for hire, the ones highlighted in red are TC regulars, including Zaine. Clark immediately grimaces and waggles the mouse arrow over his name angrily. He scrolls up, looking for anyone with a star next to their name. A star indicates someone of high acclaim, and even a few names have two stars. Clark glimpses 'Margret Stone', the only three star on the list but he's highlighted in black, which for the TC represents a 'do not hire'. 'Besides, The Star of Norot is about as pricey as it gets and is working a job anyways', Clark thinks to himself. Clark finally spots a name that he likes. 'A regular that often gets hired by the Head of Marketing and Recruitment Ole Runnels, and has a star to boot!' He eyes the phone number to the right of the name and smirks.

"The Great Beheader... Hope you don't mind me using one of your favorites Ole." Clark begins to dial the number. He pauses to look over the list of names. "Alright, alright alright alright... is there anyone else I want?" Clark shakes his head. "No, Zorn and this fellow should be good enough." He finishes dialing and waits for 'The Great Beheader' to answer.

"Who calls?" A raspy, feminine voice pierces through Clarks ear. "If this is another scam call I'll find you and I'll gut you slow."

"Huh?! No this is Clark Rweise of Tai Corp!" A curious gasp escapes the silhouetted woman. 

"Tai Corp? I just finished doing a job a few days ago! This related?"

"Oh no, not at all. This has nothing to do with Ole." The woman is quiet for a moment. "You're already familiar with being hired with us so it shouldn't be a thing."

"Well, you can say that, but I juuust picked up the new Rise to Duty, and I was all ready and content to start playing it all week." Clark wears a look of worry. The womans raspy laugh cuts through him like fingernails on a chalk board. "Guess I can put it on hold! What's the job and pay, chum?" 

"The pay is 15'000 buci, half now half when the jobs done."

"Fifteen hundred?" The woman sounds embarrassed to be hearing these numbers. "That's a pretty low ball for assassination-"

"Wait its not an assassination, the job's to be my bodyguard for a few days."

"WHAAT!?!" Clark removes the phone from his ear as the woman's shriek pierces him. "Whose joke idea was that?! I'm a f*****g killer for hire, not some babysitter daycare nursery having b***h! I do jobs that I can go in and out, get 'em done fast so I can go home, play with myself, play the latest AAA game on the market and sleep! When it comes to killing someone I-Am-FANTASTIC!!! Playing at some escort mission though?!" The woman laughs angrily. "Bad joke! Did Ole tell you to prank call me with that tasteless crap!? I-"

"Sixty five now thirty five later, 50'000 buci." Clark hisses his new offer angrily. "Dumb b***h, I don't have the time to make pranks with that fat clod, I only ever associate with him during our weekly meetings. Don't you look down on me just because I'm looking to tighten our defenses for a bit." The woman grumbles irritated, but she thinks for a minute. Never in her life has she heard of such a sweet down front payment as 65%. 'This Clark is obviously desperate'.

"Seventy, and 100'000 buci and you've got yourself a damn babysitter."

"Seventy?!"

"Be glad I don't take that 'dumb b***h' comment out of your f*****g head pal."

"Sixty five and 50'000 is final-"

"Bye! Will be seeing you veeery soon dead man! <3" Clarks eyes widen.

"Wait!" The woman smirks. Clark grits his teeth. "Damn it, fine! 100'000-"

"Add another zero, chump." Clark is infuriated. "Clearly you're used to hiring cheap bums. I'm NOT cheap, and I DON'T take disrespect lightly little man. That extra zero is a punishment for fighting my initial deal." Clarks hand starts to spas out as he loses his cool. He looks at the time at the bottom of his laptop. "So? You still gonna hire me punk a*s?" A defeated sigh escapes Clark.

"Fine. A million. seventy now thirty when the jobs done." Clark grumbles. Its not that a million buci is a lot, to someone as wealthy as Clark its a drop in the ocean. The idea of giving such a gross loathsome scumbag that much is what bothers him. "Deal?"

"YIPEEEE" Clark cringes. "I look forward to meeting you, boss man!"

Author's Note

Jeht Dunville - 6'4, 231, 22