Pullin' at Straws

"Well, should I go get my car? I mean, it only has one other seat, so it's not exactly the family sedan, and not very discreet, but it'll go where it needs to go." Sam smiled. This day just got a bit more interesting.

Sam looked at Raito, then Darken, a thoughtful expression on his face. "D'you think 'the boss' would mind that you're both part of G.U.N.?" Sam was clearly wondering if the boss of a gang would mind a couple Feds walking up to his place, but perhaps since they were investigating the disappearance of this Kurezai, the 'boss' wouldn't mind? Sam was also looking quite happy, even though he probably shouldn't be.

Mawricio was still astounded things were finally starting to look up for him, he dusted himself off and looked at Darken "Yep, that's the long and short of it my friend" The crocodile was in high spirits, but one of the suggestions from Darken caught his interest, as he shook his head forlornly "I did try, but unfortunately, as Raito says it was all wiped, even back when I asked a year ago, I do remember what the details were: Corporation street at around 3:30 pm, Saturday, Aug 13, 2016." he shook his head to stop the sadness gripping him again "And yeah, there should be one of the higher-ups there, If he's done this he should be thinking he has a good grip on me, so somewhere there too keep an eye on me makes sense" He stays still for a moment before realizing darken didn't even know his name "Oh!" He grins and does a small respectful nod "Mawricio Caracerro, Head of security for the shattered emerald"

His attention quickly shifted over to Raito however "I doubt it... street CCTV is handled by local police, and there was a security breach in the Central City systems not too long ago... there’s a chance this Del Rio owns the only copy of this recording.” Mawricio sighed annoyingly "So much for cheating ourselves out of this mess" He continued to listen to Raito as she spoke, smiling as she did "Yep, Beating the s*it out of people sounds like my ideal evening"

He looks over at Sam after hearing his comments and chuckles "My friend, who said the boss needs to think you are gun? if you show up in civilian clothing he will not suspect a thing. And I would not worry about transport, for now, my job isn't far from here. although... last I checked danmaku isn't exactly within walking distance..." Come to think of it, he hadn't heard much about danmaku in recent times, he knew it was a start-up company and it hadn't been up for very long but that was about it, that wouldn't be suspicious if it wasn't for the fact that half the time the place looked derelict or at the very least empty of people.

Darken's stomach dropped. Raito was right. It wasn't the fact she was right that caught him off guard, but rather what she was right about. The grey fox wasn't in his home town of Glasby anymore, GUN didn't have access to everything, there were divisions. Divisions within divisions. He hadn't had any need to do something like this up to this point so it hadn't clicked in the foxes mind.

Indeed, any CCTV footage would be far too difficult to obtain. Not to mention that the security breach had also wiped a fair portion of the records, something that Darken had hoped wouldn't have effected the suspect footage from Kurezai's kidnapping, but even just by what the crocodile said, recalling when the event occured, the fox knew any record was well and truly gone.

Raito seemed completely on board with the endeavor, so the grey fox allowed himself a bit more confidence in his agreement to involvement.

"Well then that's just great." He sighed, referring to the loss of the security footage, "In that case, I don't really have a reason to stick back and avoid the heat, I'd better serve the case in it rather than out of it. It's good to meet you Mawricio. I don't mean to start any small talk, since this seems urgent, but I can't say I've heard of the Shattered Emerald. I've only been here a few months."

He chuckled after hearing Sam's offer. The grey fox remembered what Sam had done for a living before meeting him, and if he'd picked up doing it again then his car would be quite the mode of transport to show up to a hit in. 


"Well then my only question is: How much time do we have until Del Rio sends his boys and girls over to Danmaku, and will we be able to explain the situation to your boss before then?"

“Shattered Emerald...” Raito folded her arms, before saying “Caen... he wanted to go there a few months back for a drink, apparently. Seemed pretty upset the next day. You don’t think he knew Kurezai? Did Kurezai visit often?”

Raito nodded as Mawricio spoke to Sam “Yeah. Technically while I now have to attend, this isn’t official G.U.N. business, so I have to go covertly. In other words, civilian clothes are the best way to go. Not too sure about Darken’s labcoat, but I’ve met people who wear weirder coats all the time.” She laughed a little.

“Danmaku is pretty far from here on foot, though... I’d go by myself, but my ride is still kinda totalled. Long story.” She cocked her head “so, Mawricio, guess our next port of call is the Shattered Emerald.”

Sam nodded, thinking. "Well, I guess I'll get my car and bring it to the Shattered Emerald. I would like to repeat myself, though, because my car only has one other seat. We'll need another vehicle." He smiled at Raito. "That's a damn shame! Whaddya drive?"

Sam was obviously quite excited. "Always good to meet new people! Nice to meet ya, Mawricio!"

With the trio seemingly on his side, he decided that sitting around more and wasting time wouldn't be for the best, it was early morning but the quicker he got his boss on board the better things would pan out. "You've never heard of the shattered emerald?" Mawricio stated in astonishment "It is the greatest night club in this entire city, at the very least its the only independently owned one. It is a fantastic establishment I can assure you!"

He calmed himself down and straight out his Hawaiian shirt "Del rio's men are sporadic and are made up of a bunch of armed to the teeth, barely trained mooks. For all we know they could show up at any time, but at any rate we should have more than enough time to sort things out"

As he said this and prepared to head to the Shattered Emerald, Raito uttered something that made mawricio's heart almost stop.

“Caen... he wanted to go there a few months back for a drink, apparently. Seemed pretty upset the next day. You don’t think he knew Kurezai? Did Kurezai visit often?”

The only Caen that Mawricio could connect to Kurezai was an actor called Caen Flare, know, at least to Kurezai, for his action movie series "A Freedom Fighter without a cause" a movie series that Mawricio could only label as a gig for a paycheck in an acting drought but kurezai absolutely adored those movies so he would watch them with him, even he had to admit they were dumb fun. But then there's the question of how Caen could even know he existed, let alone the bar he worked at... could Caen have something to do with this? no, he imagined, that would be ridiculous, the bar's reputation proceeded itself that's all, but why would Caen be upset about him not being there... it just didn't add up in his head.

He couldn't think for much longer, everyone around him was asking the same thing "Yeah... Lets head to the shattered emerald, Ill see you guys there at around 5pm and yes sam, bring the Sudan, I have a feeling us two will need to go danmaku, boss is gonna have a lot to speak to darken and ratio about"

And yet the question of Caen continued to tease Mawricio...

Caen was a name that sounded familiar to the grey fox, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe he dreamt of someone named Caen, not impossible, Darken had been harassed by very odd dreams lately. But in all honesty, the first day he arrived the fox had gotten wasted in an attempt to drown his spirits and separation anxiety, many locations were visited that day, no names were remembered.

"I mean... I probably went there at one point, but I don't think I can say I remember the name sorry..." Darken grinned a little sheepishly, having tried to forget the wildest night of his life for the last 10 months. But his ears perked at Sam's mentioning of a different vehicle to the one he'd imagined. Clearly the four of them were not going to be going to club SE in a Limousine.

"Uhh." The grey fox was then more than somewhat alarmed by Maw's mentioning of his boss needing to speak with the two GUN members. "We..." The last thing he wanted to do was get identified on this job, although with Raito around it miiiight not be so bad? "Are going undercover right?"

Raito kept her arms folded as she cocked her head at the crocodile “Do I look like the kinda girl who goes to clubs? Last thing I need is a hangover or busted ears.” She thought for a second “then again, it definitely isn’t Caen’s scene either. Really weird why he’d wanna go there.” She lay that thought to rest as Mawricio explained why Del Rio’s men should be feared, to which the fox scoffed, “please, armed to the teeth and barely trained lackeys are a dime a dozen. Guns are worthless if you don’t know how to use them.”

She nodded slowly as the croc gave the general plan “5PM, right. Guess this gives me a chance to get started on the paperwork so I can actually have this count as official G.U.N. business.”

She laughed as Darken was clearly unsettled by the idea of Mawricio’s boss knowing they were from G.U.N. She looked at him with a grin “what? Just pretend you’re just any old guy walking around with a lab coat? Chill, you’ve got me around, so I’ll make sure you don’t get any stray bullets in your pretty little head,” she said, somewhat snarky in tone.

Mawricio decided to clap his hands loudly to draw attention back onto himself “Okay so, heres the plan, I’ll see you two at the shattered emerald tonight at 10pm, hits not meant to be till 12 so we got plenty of time to get things sorted.” He declared “I would prefer it if you were to come undercover, it’s within the law however people there would be freaked out if they saw gun agents stroll in there unannounced.” He explained, clearly hoping he hasn’t lost them somewhat, he had just won their trust and he wasn’t about to immediately piss it down the drain. Mawricio dipped his hand into the bag around his waist and brought out 2 pairs of both a business card and a VIP entry ticket. “One to let you know where you’re going, and another two to let you speak to the boss without arousing suspicion.”
Things were about to be getting underway and he was excited for it, naturally, but he didn’t know how this would be, Del Rio had strength in numbers but if what Raito said is true, that ultimately shouldn’t be a problem in the long run, should it?
“I’ll see you guys at the shattered emerald” and off he went to finish his jog
THAT NIGHT: 10PM
The air was cold and still, the only ambiance that was penetrating through the alleyway to get to the shattered emerald was the low buzz of overhead AC’s and the distant barking of dogs. Music was coming from inside, of course, the sort of EDM you would expect from a dance hall but it was quiet and muffled trying to get out the front door. Mawricio was on shift at his work, as such he donned in his usual security uniform, consisting of black shoes, trousers, and tuxedo. He leaned against the door with a profound sharpness in his eyes contrasting his somewhat drowsy stance. It was usually quiet at this time of night, the nightclub didn’t usually get very busy until around midnight so during this downtime would be a perfect time to get the boss on board… if they even could.


Slowly, one could hear quiet footsteps and an equally muted but upbeat music playing out, turning the corner appear 3 youths, all donned in a pink hoodie and facemasks on, some sporting jewellery and all of them wielding baseball bats or chains of some variety. The first one to speak would be the largest one standing in the middle of them, while the others walked backwards to learn on a nearby garbage dumpster.

“Hey! Handbag!” the large youth blared aggressively, to which Mawricio met with a rather bored look “hmm” he hummed before pulling out a clipboard and skipping through it “oh, well im sorry sir you don’t seem to be on this evening list”

“How cares about some f*ckin list, you know why we’re here” the youth snarled, Mawricio simply sighed and walked over to them slowly “Yes. I got your little note from your boss about it, you can be good boy scouts and go home now and im sure Del Rio can give you a cookie” he hummed once again with a smile on his face. It was the first real trouble he received all evening.

“We ain't here for a cookie punk” the youth squawked annoyedly and grabbed mawricio's collar with great speed “No. Please. Not the collar” mused Mawricio which the youth met with a hearty laugh as did his cohorts “Why handbag? Your momma hand press it for you or something?” the youth viciously cackled. It was at this point the small smirk that Mawricio had was starting to turn into a small yet noticeable scowl as his fist slowly begun to clench. “Well, there wasn’t a need to make things personal now” Mawricio stated calmly to which the youth merely scoffed “yeah, why no-“ he was immediately silenced by Mawricio’s hand clasping at and shutting his mouth, as the youths entire body was slowly lifted skywards by Mawricio's lone arm, then in one swift motion the youth was thrown directly into the garbage dumpster his friends were leaning on, rattling them. The two smaller youths could only look up nervously at Mawricio who was fixing his collar and dusting off his shoulder, it only took a cold hard death stare for the remaining hoodlums to scatter completely.

The crocodile sighed deeply and returned to his post “Just another night on the job” giving himself a self-satisfied smirk with the work he just did.

The grey fox sighed, submitting himself to the situation. No more apprehensive thought, it seemed that he was committed now, and the situation was only getting worse with every minute. He was sort of already aware of the possibility for there to be armed guards, but Raito actually using the words in a sentence set his teeth on edge.

"O-old guy?" he whispered, looking down at his lab coat and GUN boots as well as his very grey fur underneath the open coat. Alright, he could uhh... he probably deserved that, his muzzle fur was a little wild given the recent set of events, and if he squinted with a little bit of a hobble he probably could pull it off.

"Thank you Commander, my head may be pretty, but I have to say yours is gorgeous. If you don't mind, I'd like to work together in the 'avoiding stray bullets' so that both of our attractive looks can remain intact."

Why not? Why the hell not? He only hoped Raito wasn't going to detach his head from his shoulders. Either way, he accepted the cards that Mawricio handed over, examining the entry ticket and business card. 

"See you there dude." He said to the croc, but focusing on giving a very frightened look to the other fox.

10PM:

Raito fell silent, her mouth falling open as Darken openly flirted with the fox. Her cheeks deepened into a light pink. She took the card from Mauricio quickly, and turned her back from the group “T-ten, right... I’ll, uh... I’ll catch y’all later...”

With that, the fox set off, walking in the direction of the G.U.N. headquarters, ensuring she stayed at a quick pace so a certain grey fox wouldn’t catch up. She zipped up her jacket, suddenly feeling vulnerable.

——————

Later, at 10PM, she sped through the streets, on a slightly battered black bike, her equally black outfit shining under the pale blue moonlight, occasionally interspersed with the yellow glow of the streetlights. Finally, she came to the right alleyway, and skidded to a stop.

“Hah...” she sighed, as she climbed off, turning off the engine and stretching her arms. She slowly walked into the alleyway, just as a few youths ran past, the smell of garbage wafting into her nose as they passed. Why did they have baseball bats, though?

As she reached the Shattered Emerald, she assumed the one answer that was most logical: they were after Mawricio. That’s when she noticed Darken, looking fairly stunned by the appearance of the young mobians. “Haha, first time in the back-alleys?” She asked, nudging him with her elbow as she walked past.

The sound of a motorcycle powering down the main road behind him was nothing that brought particular attention to the fox. Despite having gone home and researched his GUN companion for the upcoming task- for strategic and planning purposes of course- and being aware of the fact that Raito did indeed drive a motorcycle, he paid no mind to the hearty sound of the old engine. It was just another vehicle going down that street, as far as he could tell.

So it came as quite a shock to him when the leather-jacketed fox in question spoke up. He was half expecting to turn and feel a boot collide with the side of his head, but nay, instead Darken was greeted by a smirking Raito, elbowing him as she walked past. "I... I've been in places like this before." He stumbled, trying to assure his compadre in probably the least convincing way possible.

The grey fox was about to try and say more to recover and in doing so only dig himself further into the hole which he'd found himself in, but the organiser of the event stepped out from around the corner. Mawricio. And thank god.

Darken tried his best not to make eye contact with Raito as he followed the crocodile, he'd had a lot of time over the course of the day to think about what he'd said earlier and if anxiety ever wanted to prove itself a burden, it'd done so already. The large ominous black doors were familiar, he could say that much. And the Jazz synth that thumped from inside was certainly of the fox's calibre. However the dainty smell of martinis and co. wafting from somewhere inside made him a little sick. It brought back thoughts of one particular night a few months ago. Not gonna do that again.

Trying to overcome the feeling of dread and impending doom, considering the party hours were yet to begin, as pointed by the cleaning of the dancefloor, Darken gazed over to the Elevator. The night air was crisp, but the Air conditioning inside was reasonable, especially once the aforementioned party hours kicked in. He tried to hug the fleece sweater as discreetly as possible, but also tried to keep his hands by his side as if it would do better to cover up the large steel GUN boots he chosen to keep on for the undercover operation.

"Your boss... He uh... He into all this?" 

It was an attempt at conversation as th made themselves towards the elevator that'd be going to their destination.


"I personally... love a but if neon and electro... Can't say I'm much for group dancing unfortunately."

"Right, yeah, you totally look the type," Raito remarked as she nodded at Mawricio in greeting, following the crocodile into the building, seemingly unfazed by the thumping music and the strong smell of alcohol. Of course, she had grown... accustomed to the smell of alcohol, as she'd taken up mixing her own drinks at home to spice up her limited downtime with something that was equally fun and also able to get her a little tipsy sometimes. The music, though? Well, I guess you could say you've heard all types of crappy music in her line of work. 

"This... Really doesn't seem like Caen's type of place. I mean, I'm pretty sure he's more into his rock rather than... whatever the hell this is..." Raito said, looking around. "This friend of yours... You sure he didn't know Caen? Or whether he was important to him in some way?"

Raito narrowly missed a stain on the floor, which looked to be sticky to the touch, and was a sickly purple colour. "Ugh. Hey, you guys, you missed a spot!" She called out to the cleaners, before continuing following Mawricio.

"Your boss... He uh... He into all this?" 

"I personally... love a but if neon and electro... Can't say I'm much for group dancing unfortunately."

“Not particularly, but it’s what popular with the clientele around this part of the city and well, the last thing the boss wants to do is disappoint his beloved customers” Mawricio stated like with a very professional inflection. He was used to giving out these sorts of spiels at the door when the club wasn’t on restricted entry, however it’s been on restricted for a while now for obvious reasons. “You do not need to group dance if you feel nervous however…” He smiled and leaned into Darkens ear “Based on that passing comment of yours, an offer to a dance would go awry hmm?” He chuckled and pulled away before his ears perked up to Raito’s question.


"This... Really doesn't seem like Caen's type of place. I mean, I'm pretty sure he's more into his rock rather than... whatever the hell this is..." Raito said, looking around. "This friend of yours... You sure he didn't know Caen? Or whether he was important to him in some way?"


Mawricio nodded solemnly and took a breath “I don’t know if kurezai knew him on a personal level but that boy idolized Caen. He was the lead star in every single action flick kurezai would rant and rave about.” Mawricio explained, accented by a chuckle every once in a while “Each production he showed me smelt like the same B-movie trash you would catch at midnight on some public access station, like the actors wanted to cover rent or something. Not like he cared, he loved those things. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went out of his way to stop him on the street for an autograph!” Mawrico laughed but then it started to peter out once he remembered kurezai wasn’t around. “He was a troublemaker, petty fist fights and shoplifting booze mainly. Tequila would be one he tried to smuggle for me but… I always returned it when he wasn’t looking, by the time I was friends with him, crime was a distant memory for me.” The crocodile snapped to reality for a moment when he realised telling current G.U.N operatives that he was an ex-criminal seemed like a poor decision. “S-sorry about that… Yeah, kurezai was a caen hyperfan I think is the best way to describe it.”


He look ahead sheepishly as he approached the elevator labelled V.I.P “Okay, the boss’ office is up this elevator, you guys ready to see him?” Quizzed the reptile before calling down the elevator, it creaked down like it was somewhat in disrepair and the inside wasn’t much better. The polish on the wood was wearing off, some of the seats were missing cushions and the light in the middle flickered madly most likely due to poor wiring. And it ponged with what can only be described as; cigarettes mixed with tears. “We… don’t get V.I.P’s around here very often so… not much point repairing the elevator” Mawricio joked, trying to bring levity to a situation that was rapidly increasing in awkwardness by the second.

The fox sighed, yeah he'd been a bit cheeky if he was honest with himself. But damn, he had been pretty impulsive these last few months, given that sometimes the laughs to be had were so rewarding. Work stress was playing its part in the way he lived his personal life he supposed. Whatever, he should be here to get some more work stress, not to release it like the more recently reckless nights he'd spent in places like this.

Darken had no idea who the Caen fellow was, but it seemed he was an actor. God, the fox hadn't watched a movie in a long time. Perhaps he could ask the commander... no. Enough. The researcher tried to zone out until the words 'shoplifting' and 'booze' were mentioned in conjunction with one another, and snapped him back into reality. Not that he was actually bothered by the fact that Mawricio was an ex-con, the fox cared more personally about character than history. Even if Maw admitted to still being part of that life he'd still leave the handling of that to Raito anyway.

"Rea-" his voice cracked, "Ready as I'll ever be." The fox said, closing his eyes in disappointment at himself before watching the elevator rattle its way down to the party floor where they were waiting for it. It was surprising that there was a couch inside the lift. Darken didn't even pay attention to the fact that it was in poor condition. He'd completely forgotten to look up before entering the building, but if there was a need to sit down going up this thing it must be pretty damn tall.

The smell of cigarettes certainly didn't avoid him though, but he chose not to comment, it was a club after all. "So uhh... Raito, you're friends with a professional actor?" Subtle. "And uhh Maw, this boss of yours... he uh how's he feel about GUN?"

As Raito listened to Mawricio, she seemed to look more and more pained until she finally said “aw, shit. Now it makes sense... Ugh. Look, he’s not the kinda guy to star in a movie to cover rent, he just genuinely loves acting, and uh... He reads a script, thinks ‘that’s fun’ and says yes to his agent. Minute he hears of any fans...” she sighed “he kinda has to personally talk to them. He gets so excited and... fuck, he probably thought Kurezai stood him up.”

She let out a little laugh as Mawricio cut himself off when talking about himself and Kurezai being ex-criminals “I’m not gonna arrest you over some petty theft you did years ago, doesn’t help me when you’re presumably on a more straight and narrow path.”

As the V.I.P elevator came down, it was visibly in disarray. Darken looked nervous about it. Or maybe he was nervous about meeting the boss? Raito shrugged her shoulders, stepping into the elevator and slumping down on one of the seats, crossing one leg over the other. “Can we just hurry up with this? Quicker we get the info we need, quicker we can find out what happened to your friend.”

Mawricio was taken about my Raito speaking so swiftly and profoundly about Caen, it almost seemed like she personally known the guy. “I see… Im sorry for assuming so lowly of him, but kurezai doesn’t stand people up for love nor money. Wait but a moment… he came into the bar after kurezai went, you think he came to the bar to pay the respects for a then presumed deceased super fan?” 

It sounded like a longshot even for Mawricio but it had too many pieces in favour of it but how the hell did those two spot each other, it couldn’t have been as simple as bumping into each other. There had to be something to make them collide but what… Mawricio’s face visibly began to contort and sour in thought. It was broken momentarily by Raito’s giggle, an endearing one at that. The crocodile chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck “Yeah, ive been clean for about 5 years now. I had to be after… circumstances.”

He cleared his throat again and went back to thinking again. Caen lived in the city no question, but he would never come around the more run down areas, not with the pockets that guy has. The flare family has enough capital to buy the shattered emerald 10’000 times over, so that was out the way.

Mawricio couldn’t help but crack a smirk at darkens rather loud voice crack “It sounds like the pressure is getting to you my friend. Don’t worry, it’s very easy to talk to my boss he-” He was about to finish before being cut off by Raito’s outburst, her iron boots stomping and clanking across the elevator before sitting down in the back of the elevator.

“Of course, I like your style Raito!” He hurried darken into the elevator and punched in the inputs for the 3^rd floor of the nightclub. As the elevator slowly ascended Mawricio remembered darkens question. “Ah! Well, he likes GUN quite a lot, sure he grumbles writing out tax returns and the like but he likes them a lot more than the police. He can’t STAND the local police. They take the first bribes you give em no question asked. For an honest businessman, you can see how that would be a pain in the ass?”

He knew of someone who had a run-in with GUN in a less than stellar manner, for something a lot worse than shoplifting, but if he brought that up now he would be in deep sh*t. He opted to go back to mulling over the kurezai case. Thinking back to everything that has been said, his eyes shot open and starting to chuckle quietly “Darken you sly dog, trying to hook up with your commander. Your charisma lightens my soul, Godspeed you ballsy son of a gun~”

The small grey fox sat himself down on the admittedly nasty couch, and breathed a sigh of relief in seeing the crocodile punch in the 3rd floor. They weren't going to have to be in this cramped room for too long, a prospect which had begun to scare the professor as he had to awkwardly endure the ignorance of his attempts at small talk and the ever-increasing chuckling of Mawricio.

He kept his back straight, sitting only barely on the edge of the stanky lounge's seat with his hands on his knees. "I think I'll leave most of the talking to you guys, and if I end up doing any thinking I'll try to keep it quiet." He half-mumbled. 

Although listening to their crocodile guide talking, he couldn't exactly say he bought the reasoning behind the boss's distaste for police officers. They were already talking about gangs and crime and involvement and all those sorts of things. Officially, Darken understood why Maw had to say what he was saying, but personally he honestly didn't care much for the official nonsense, whether or not this place was legitimate or not was of very little concern to him.

"Nah, he's not the type o' guy who goes and just 'pays respects' for a guy who died, especially a fan of his. If their death is even the slightest bit weird, he will get himself involved in finding out what happened." She scoffed "there's a reason he hasn't been straight-up arrested by G.U.N. more than once for his vigilantism- he's... ferocious. He gets results, too. And... let's just say a friend of his fills out all the paperwork he'd have to if he actually was a G.U.N. agent."

She smiled at Kurezai's admittance of being 'clean' for a half-decade. "I'm years beyond arresting a petty thief like I'm a rookie cop, gotta leave some work for the people at the bottom, right?" She joked, before laughing. 

"Oh, by the way, kid, uh... Darken..." Raito said, as she turned her head to look at the fox "one, you could do much better  than me. Why not start with someone, uh... Closer to your age, yeah?" She joked, grinning widely "and don't worry, if you wanna keep your little trap shut, you do that. But don't try to be the silent and intimidating type, you just... Don't fit the role, sorry." Her voice was blunt, but still somewhat jovial.

Mawricio rubbed his neck with a smile curling up in the corner of his face “Don’t make me seem too innocent now, I still had to spend 2 years behind bars. I don’t wanna get into why” He took a deep sigh “The memory of what happened still leaves me quite raw…”

By the time that Raito had finished emasculating Darken’s manliness they had reached the third floor of the nightclub, and this floor was in stark contrast to the elevator. The floors were carpeted a purple color and the door’s lining the corridor had a weak shine as if they were still cleaned albeit infrequently. There were 5 doors; 2 on each side of the corridor and one situated at the end with a glass window on it, texted painted on which read: Yamato “the Jackal”, Businessman and investor.

The floor had a more pleasant atmosphere as well, it had a faint vanilla smell and the thumping music from the downstairs dancehall had faded out into a serene ambiance that seemed to be seeping out of the room at the end of the hall.

“That’s him” Mawricio cooed with a smile on his face. “The boss lies just behind those door’s… negotiations won’t be easy, He’s convinced Kurezai has… well…” The crocodile looked down slowly at the floor somewhat dejectedly for a moment before looking back up again “But no need to stress, you people are trained negotiators I assume, you should be able to help me talk it out” He stressed, dusting off his suit and readjusting his tie, seemingly preparing to greet his boss with as much respect as he could offer. “By the way, Raito, I would advise against trying to be intimidating, we’re trying to get him on our side not bully him into not stopping us. He’s my employer and if I have to show him great respect I would advise you do the same” He said with a serious yet calm voice.

With the reprimanding from Raito, the small grey fox took a deep breath of relief. He didn't exactly like being told what to do, but in a situation where he was a fish out of water, it was comforting to know what was going on. Darken decided not to sit on the vile lounge suite, and instead reflected on what information had been passed about. Kurezai, Mawricio's friend, was missing- perhaps dead. The professor had his own experience with losing a friend, although in a very different way, although no different in the way of association with death. 

A kidnapping is very different to having to lock someone away in an ancient underground shrine, not offering any form of diminishment, but just different in comparison. But with rebuttal and reflection now complete, they were about to head towards the boss's chamber. At the end of a much gentler hallway than the rough and tumble downstairs dancefloors, smelling of vanilla beans- and genuine ones too rather than imitation vanilla, he wagered- instead of the mangey smoke, alcohol, and somewhat vomit-ridden elevator.

"I'm not going to try being intimidating." Indeed, his frame was far too small and offer any effective intimidation, besides that of officiality. Even if he wanted to try, it didn't seem that 'Yamato' was any coward to officiality. The fox felt a little hot under his collar, and unzipped the neck of the polar fleece he'd donned before coming here on this cold night.

"Don't worry Maw, I will." He whispered, trying not to break the peace of the calm office hallway as he craned to get a look into the boss's office through the window.

As soon as the elevator rang out to let the trio know they had reached the third floor, Riato got up, letting out a somewhat aggressive grunt as she did so. "Time behind bars means nothing, nowadays. Only if you get life will I evber judge you as anything less than a normal person. Hell, the man that your Kurezai friend looks up to so much has had to be bailed out more than once by me." She shrugged her shoulders, before adding "let's say he's only an honorary G.U.N. member because of his constant vigilante behaviour. Lets him at least not be arrested by local cops... most of the time."

As she stepped into the hallway, she breathed in the faintly perfumed air. "Ah, now this is more my style. No loud music, just nice... Quiet. Easier to think, y'know?" She continued ahead of everyone else, turning to look at Mawricio as she did so, walking backwards "I'm the type of gal to only show respect when I'm given equal respect. As long as he don't act like a wise guy, I've got not need to be intimidating. Just chill, don't forget that this is my job. I know when tio put the pressure on." She grinned widely, almost as if she was trying to... reassure the crocodile?

Mawricio seemed to lighten up once the smell of vanilla had wafted up his nose. It was his suggestion to have the hallway smell like this, it was a favorite of kurezai’s and it was often sprayed out to welcome him back from a particularly brutal shift at the post office he worked at.   Strange that jackal had decided to spray it out now of all nights, perhaps he was feeling nostalgic, but maybe… he had hope kurezai was alive, that was something they could capitalize on.

“Yeah, kurezai liked vanilla to clear his head with as well. He was rough and tumble at times but it’s amazing he bought into aromatherapy like he did. Wide-eyed I tell ya” Mawricio chuckled. He smiled a nodded along with what darken had said but his eyes shot open again upon raito’s comment which made him curious. “Caen is a vigilante AND an actor? Wait, if he’s interfering where he doesn’t need to then… Maybe he came here for answers. What if he wasn’t paying respects, he wanted clues to his dissapearence!”

He brushed off raito’s follow-up comment swiftly “Okay great, thank you so much! Raito, I think Caen was here to find kurezai like you said!” He said this a bit too loudly, one could tell because as this question was roared, the door to jackal’s office creaked open. Standing in the doorway was a jackal of average build with fuzzy jowls and a fedora circled in an orange trim. He adjusted his suspenders and took a good hard look at the trio, his gaze locking onto darken’s boots. He scowled and looked up at Mawricio, pinching his nose and groaning.

“Mawricio, you come here to work on the anniversary of my son disappearing into smoke, probably dead in a ditch. With some undercover G.U.N agents to what, try and talk to me? Buddy I-“He takes his hand off his face and gives an exasperated look “He’ve been though this, He isn’t coming back. It hurts to say, and I love you for trying to find him. You’re my blood brother but… I can’t keep going if your gonna be like this with me…” The jackal by this point had started to tear up, wiping a tear from his eye.

“Boss…” Mawricio whispered, reaching out a hand in a vain attempt to comfort him “It’s different this time, w-we have a lead this time! Del Rio has a copy a-“

“Del RIO?!” Jackal roared, stomping over to Mawricio “Why the hell are you talking to him?! Do you know what he’s been doing to us?! To every other club in this sh*thole?! HE WANT’S US UNDER HIS THUMB, AND YOU’VE BOUGHT HIS BLUFF?!”

By this point Mawricio was emotionally withdrawn, he was astonished. He had seen the boss annoyed before, but he had never lost his cool like this in the 12 years he had known him. Before he could speak, jackal had already started losing it again. “Why! Why did you buy it! How desperate are you?! Why can’t you just accept his death!” Jackal huffed angrily but slowly he started to cool. Someone would need to talk fast otherwise he could walk into that office and give up on his son being alive until his death bed.

(Looking back at me old writing it's kinda bad so please excuse me if Darken behaves a little differently or if I repeat myself)

The vast disparity between the alcohol-and-vomit-and-cigarette-smoke drenched elevator and the perfumed hallway was beyond welcome. It wasn't the case that the fox couldn't handle the former... musk, but it was the case that his nose was more familiar with sterile labs or the humid smells of his childhood rainforests. Darken allowed himself to take a deep, nasal breath of the vanilla aura to calm himself from the lingering anxiety of meeting a mob boss face-to-face. And it didn't escape him that the others were taking their time to enjoy the new flavor of air either.

For the most part, he was going to allow himself to remain silent, seeing as he wasn't actively being called upon by either his fellow fox or the crocodile, and spend his time listening. Interesting to note was the 'subject's - the subject being Kurezai - interest in aromatherapy, and particularly the current vanilla ambience. The second thing to note was the constant presence of the 'Caen' person at the forefront of the conversation. Maybe he wouldn't be brushing that under the rug now, it was starting to sound like they were both implying Kurezai might've been a bit more invested in him than the fox originally assumed... or perhaps vice versa.

His thoughts of questioning Raito about Caen, and likewise Mawricio about anything Kurezai might've said about the actor were all put to a halt as they arrived at the door to Yamato's office. Darken took a sharp breath. The word Yamato being famously associated with a Meropis legend about a sunken Overlander battleship of ancient origin. The legend relates to massive size, power, and control over the seas. If Yamato was the mob boss's real name, then it could simply be ironic foreboding, but if it was his... street name then, well, it was abundantly clear from that alone that the three of them were standing outside a very dangerous room.

The grey fox expected the crocodile to open up the office door and lead the pair of them inside, but the door seemed to open itself as they approached. Out popped the head of The Jackal, followed by the rest of his body. He had not been expecting to stand this close to the boss so soon.

His face grew rather hot as the gaze of the canine dropped to his boots. They were the most secure thing he owned, and figured that if they were going to be running an infiltration op soon, they'd be among the few things he could get away with wearing without being noticed, but it turned out he was wrong. Embarrassing. While Darken's thoughts were immediately thrown into a slurry of panic and disjointed worry at Yamato's reaction, he managed to piece together the retort that 'What if I killed a G.U.N. agent and took his shoes?', but decided it would neither be appropriate given the circumstance or that the conversation had already moved on to graver matters.

So Kurezai was Yamato's son. Another thing the fox made sure to take note of, though any further note taking beyond that point was interrupted again by the shouting and brisk charge towards Mawricio by The Jackal. He didn't honestly expect the mob boss to partake in any violence right here in the hallway, but the aggression startled him beyond his wits. 

He jumped a little as the altercation took place in front of him, but his lips remained sealed, though he did glance slightly over to Raito in case she tried to intervene. Darken took his time in observance to calm down as best he could in the short span of time, and under the shouting still occurring over the top of him, and take one last note.

Indeed, despite Yamato's recent declarations of his Son's assured death, he began with saying 'probably dead in a ditch' meaning that there was clearly still an ember of hope in The Jackal. His more emphatic objections were likely a coping mechanism, and anger at Mawricio's association with Del Rio. 

So far Darken's note taking hadn't provided much in terms of helping with finding Kurezai yet, but for the immediate situation they'd provided plenty enough information to stop Yamato from shutting himself out from the three of them... and his own son.

"If Del Rio wants everyone under his thumb, then doesn't that give him a good enough reason to kidnap your son? How can you ignore that possibility, or the possibility that someone else has a similar motive and accept his death like this?"

He said it quietly, but solidly.