Chapter 2: Decisions, Decisions
When the two arrive at the front door, the mafia boss comes to an abrupt halt as he places a hand on the knob. As a result of his halting, the client bumps into him from behind, a quiet 'oomph' released. The sudden thought of how the others would react towards the visiting man comes to mind, if one of them even coincidentally comes out of the living quarters while they were heading towards the office, that is.
'Might not go so well,' he thinks doubtfully.
"Oi, watch it." The demon grumbles, shooting the man an intimidating glare.
"Ah, my apologies." The guy replies, sending his own to the mafia boss. Though, the look of inquiry shrouds more prominently within his secretive eyes. "I do not believe it was my fault for you to decide on taking a sudden halt in front of the entrance. Was not honestly expecting it."
"Yeah, well... I just did it 'cause I'm given' ya a heads-up, is all." He snarkily counterattacks.
He gets a mirthful chuckle in return. "So, you have admitted to it." If Benicio could see the stranger's face now, it would tell him that the guy's having fun messing with him. "For that, I'm thankful that you considered granting me a heads-up."
...Alright, he's starting to dislike this guy the more he's near him. The mob boss needs to hurry this deal up, do the job, and collect the dough.
The demon toon does an eye-roll while groaning in response, his glare hardening by a fraction. "Anyways, we're gonna be passin' some companions of mine as we head in. If they come out of that room on the left of us," He points at the door, "I can guarantee ya when they see ya, they'll get wary an' start askin' questions."
"I see."
Then, to put the rest of his instructions bluntly, "A couple of them might even get the wrong idea since… well, you're a total stranger an' ya haven't done business with us before. So, don't make any unnecessary noise while we head to my office. Got all that?"
With an affirmative nod, lips form into a delighted grin. "Not even a peep shall pass my lips."
The mafia boss mimics the nod. "Good. Keep up an' don't lollygag."
With that being said, Benicio opens the front door and begins leading the man through the corridor as quietly as they can be. While they pass by the Henchmen Living Quarters, the stranger turns his hooded head towards one area to another as if studying the place. As he does this, the mafia toon listens to the group within the room bursting into a racket of laughter. Through it all, Abel's voice shouts over the riot, adding something into another something, and a whole slew of hilarity comes about again.
Sounds like he's attempting to crack some jokes and is succeeding in riling up the others.
To him, the angel rarely does jokes. He's much more of a serious type than a jokester like himself, so it's a nice thing to hear the rebel having fun instead of having a stick up his ass.
Just listening to all the toons enjoying themselves in there, getting together to create these rare and precious moments without the mafia fuss hanging over their heads all the time, gets Benicio to form a smile. At the same time, though, the expression holds a dispirited aspect. The demon nearly loses the pace in his steps as he continues hearing their happiness, and this action catches the stranger's gaze. The look was not in the form of questioning but towards empathy.
The mafia toon does feel regretful towards missing these moments. Spend that lost time going through work-related business and planning ahead of schedule for future ones, all the while having to look after their well-fares... Going through more of those overlapping ordeals to the point where a great distance is possibly widening between him and the others is pulling at his stained heartstrings. He doesn't need that canyon to stretch further.
The demon boss wills himself to keep going, the unknown individual staying behind him.
In the end, somebody's gotta bring in the essentials. As the head of this mafia family, that is one of his primary responsibilities. He can't let any of them down nor show signs of weakening unless otherwise happens. He'll be damned to put them in absolute harm's way once more.
This unknowingly further stirs the ad nauseam.
The two have reached the office in record time with no one coming out of the rooms. The laughter has died down to a moderate level, but the shouts and other commotion can continuously be heard, even from where they are. It's still pleasant to listen to.
Benicio grabs a hold of the brass knob and opens the door with a flourish of his wrist. Just to perhaps taunt the mystery man more, he bows as a servant would to their master as a gesture with his right hand is made towards the desk. "Welcome to my humble abode..." Straightening, the hand on his left settles on his hip. "Have a seat at one of the chairs, then we'll get started."
The figure does as he's told, taking a seat in one of the two cushioned armchairs positioned in front of the desk. Before the demon himself enters, he takes a cursory glance at the empty hall, making sure that nobody had heard them coming through it nor find and question one of them about their ulterior motives. Seeing as the coast is still clear for the time being, he closes the entrance. The boss then makes his way around the other seat towards his oak desk where a leather swivel chair behind it awaits him.
Benicio plops down in the seat before kicking his feet up onto the surface, casually putting one ankle upon the other. "So, Mr. Creeper-Creeps, tell me what we can do for ya at this time?" While asking, he lifts his head, then puts his threaded fingers behind his skull to take on a relaxed front.
Without speaking a word, the figure reaches into his cloak. Taking something out of an inner pocket, he sets what resembles to be a package onto the desktop. It's relatively the size of an earring jewelry box, though the demon wasn't entirely sure in his assumption, considering that its appearance is wrapped up neatly in regular cardboard paper. Might not even be a jewelry box under all that wrap, though. Held together by a thin twine rope, a hastily tied bow made out of the same material finishes the ensemble.
Benicio just stares at it for a moment, questioning the legitimacy of this package, before glancing back questionably at the unknown man. "Uh... What's this? Is it somebody's birthday today?" Lowering his arms, they lay on his lap, squinting at the other skeptically. "Ya gonna need to give me more details than that, pal. It could be a bomb, for all we know, an' I'm not puttin' my guys in danger if that thing starts tickin'."
Another chill is sent down the mob boss's spine as the figure laughs - again, annoyingly finding the situation possibly funny. This time - and it might be his imagination acting up, the rasps in each pitch sound a bit maniacal in his eardrums. "No need to know the contents of this package yet, my friend."
"We're definitely not friends." Benicio quietly mutters out, sending over a blank expression.
The unknown being dismisses the comment, continuing his response in relative calmness. "I can assure you that it's not a bomb, mister…?"
"Benicio."
"Ah, yes. Thank you." The smile widens as he proceeds to speak more. "This package is by no means a threat to you and your henchmen, Mr. Benicio. If it were one, the bomb would have started detonating as soon as we've met. We both know that we have not heard any noise coming from it."
The answer allays much of the tension within him, but there is still uncertainty left to subside. "Guess that makes sense..."
"I'm glad to hear that it does." There is no mockery found in that reply. The stranger's head motions to the object. "You see, my purpose for meeting you is: I wish for this package to be delivered to a certain institution for a certain dear friend of mine. The building is a fairly old one in the middle of the misty woodland. I wish to go there myself, but my intended plans for the visit have changed without my consent and thus, I would not be able to give it to them in time."
The mafia head's nonexistent eyebrows furrow at the cryptic description. "This someone... For clarification, who's it goin' to just so that I know who to give this to?"
A shake of the head. "My sincerest apologies, Mr. Benicio. That, I can not divulge for privacy purposes, but you will know once you see them. All I will say is: She has a fondness for the night."
Curiosity melts away into a deadpan irritation. "Seriously? That's all I'm gettin'? 'She has a fondness for the night'?"
"Yes, that is all you are getting... For now, at the very least." His grin shows an arcane-esque quality. "The rest, you shall have to discover for yourself."
And while he speaks, a midnight-colored briefcase unexpectedly slides out of the stranger's cloak. Setting it on the desktop next to the package, he spins it around and unlatches both its brass fasteners. When opened, two rows of cash lie inside its beige lining, followed by more of them nestled into individual fish-net pockets.
"This is half of your payment." He leans back into the seat. "You will be handsomely compensated for your services, along with receiving the other share, when the task has been completed."
As cartoon logic takes over, the demon's mouth drops to the desk surface and transforms his pie-cut eyes into dollar signs.
This could be the lucky break he's been looking for in months! Yet... if the past taught him anything, it's that there is no such thing as easy cash hand-outs, even though it comes walking beside you while you're waiting at the crosswalk for the lights to change colors... which may or may not have happened to him at some point.
News flash: Just another toon that resembled a suitcase, who suspiciously looked like he was about to break into a run from something. And that something, after taking a few seconds to make his decision, turned out to be a few cops deciding to show up right when the lights changed. Long story short: The suitcase toon comically ran when green and the cops gave chase while waving their batons in the air. The two of them did manage to capture the toon, but not before one of them had nearly gotten run over while crossing the crosswalk.
That day wasn't one of his best. At least, he didn't make a fool of himself in public by opening the guy up to see if there was anything in them. However, he still holds a grudge towards himself for not doing it before the cops came.
"May you be alright, Mr. Benicio?"
Blinking his eyes back to normal, Benicio gawks blankly at the stranger for around a minute. Decisional thoughts were trying to drown his mind, leaving behind a muddled mess of clipped and scrambled word patterns. Quick! Think of something that doesn't sound dumb! "Uh…"
Stranger-man still has his head tilted in a curious mannerism. Dumbass! That's not the right answer!
Swiveling his chair quickly so that the stranger doesn't catch onto the befuddled embarrassment written on his face, eyes now occupy themselves towards one of the windows. "Th-That's a bunch of cash for just playin' mailman…"
"Yes, very much -"
The mafia head surprises the visitor by swiftly turning back around and slapping a hand hard onto the desk. "What's the catch?" His eyes narrow into a glower, leaving no room for malarky.
The other being jumps in his chair, having not expected that to happen. Then again, this demon's current emotional switches uneasily threw him off, which he hasn't been used to since taking on his last job. He promptly grasps onto his usual composure. "My, suspicious, are we? I'm a tad troubled by your impetuous inquiry. I'm just a generous person that wishes for someone's endeavors to bear fruit."
Oh, how he would love to slap that baiting guy right in his face! "Well, ya a creep, for starters. Not to mention, unless ya wish to make ya forehead my gun's new bullseye, ya better straight up quit bein' so goddamn cryptic an' -" The toon shuts his mouth before any more words spew out, freezing up in the process.
Oh hell, he better not have caught any unwanted outside attention from his yelling. Even the stranger became frozen by it. Though, whether his expression was out of startlement or fear, the toon doesn't know. Benicio waits for a response with bated breath, the other patiently letting him do so. It felt like minutes had passed before some of the tension in his shoulders ebbs away. Nothing other than silence had called back to them, and for that, the demon is grateful.
"Just... forget what I was tryin' to say." He mutters morosely. A sharp exhalation comes through gritted teeth and clenched jaw as he leans back into the seat. "Didn't mean to lose my temper like that. Just…" He shakes his head. "I just hate it when my clients withhold info from me like what ya doin' now. It's nothin' against ya, of course."
Wait... Why is he showing a piece of weakness to a complete total stranger? Is he being hypocritical now? Breaking news: Hypocritical Demon Toon on the Loose!
Although he understands, the unknown being keeps to himself towards this demon's temperament. "You are forgiven, seeing as you are currently stressed out. And, don't be looking at me like that; I have been perceptive of others since I was a young lad." Private eyes send a reprimanding squint at the less-obvious, suspicious look. "I wonder, however, about your other clients' thoughts towards how you treat them…" The unknown male mumbles out, sighing a bit tiredly.
Benicio stubbornly frowns back at the criticism. "I treat how I want them to be treated an' vice versa." Simple, to the point, and justifiable... Maybe.
"Perhaps so…" His head shakes in disagreement towards something thought-provoking. "My apologies for being this cryptic, but I can not say much unless you wish to bestow me a swift death by another."
"Another?"
Ignoring the cartoon's short yet simple question, mystery man tries to wrap up the info session with a question of his own "So, to put an end to this meeting as I am now needed elsewhere, what shall you say? Do you wish to carry on with my request?"
The quietness comes back as strong as lavender incense. Through this waft, the boss decides on what to do next.
Deep down, something about this assignment continues to make Benicio's inky skin crawl. It's fraying the ends of his nerves to no end as if they were being doused in boiling water. These questions and theorems racing through his brain like rapids in a stream aren't helping his case, honestly. Not one of them allows him to decipher first. He knows the dangers and possibly grasps the time crunches towards how long the tasks take, given how many have been accomplished over the years. His acknowledgment towards getting someone close to death again because of his errors and shenanigans is heavily evident enough.
Will this endanger him and his mafia family? Yes. Is it likely to be obnoxiously irritating to get through? No doubt about it. Not all heists come out as a hundred percent success.
If the payment packed in full gets all of them farther in life until the next heist drought, however, then so be it. The boss will take this on with caution, along with plausible prior planning, of course. After that, he will go over the investment with the others, fine-tune the details and, hopefully, not create misunderstandings along the way. Yeah, he could somewhat see this panning out. All of this to get through, just as soon as this meet-and-greet hurries the hell up.
"I shall say, I don't have much time left here. If there are any more questions you desire to ask, please, by all means, don't hesitate now." Unease has crept into an uncomfortable trembling, along with a concealed hand fidgeting the rim of the cloak.
"Ya have mentioned before about this misty woodland area…" Benicio starts off the question. While this may be his last to get out of the guy before they possibly meet later on in life, Benicio couldn't rack his messy brain to ask for more. "Ya mean this is the same one as that creepy ass forest twenty miles south of Toon Town, correct?"
The mysterious man simply nods.
The number of details he's gotten so far didn't feel like much, the toon mulls over. Though, something tells him in the recesses of his mind that he's gotten enough to go off, until the rest of the pieces link into place. Nobody would tell him what those pieces would be.
"It isn't too far from here, then." The mafia boss stands up and holds up his hand to the man to shake it. "Alright, that's all I wanna ask. Ya got yaself a deal."
Seeing as the guy isn't taking his hand, the silence leads the toon into a dance of confusion.
Instead, he grants Benicio a bow, stands up from the armchair, then silently strolls off to the exit in a grace found in swans. These actions leave the office in a quiet waiting; an ominousness seeping into its shroud. Benicio blinks dumbly at the retreating being, the emotion going towards both the unexpected movements and at the mystique quality the stranger carries upon his person. The package and case stuffed with bills still rest on the desktop, the latter left open and revealing.
For a minute, Benicio stands there and watches the doorway close with a quiet click.
Another minute flies by. He snaps out of his uncertainty and bolts towards the door, wanting to make sure that his family wouldn't even get a glimpse of this mystery guy. The wood swings open with a slam. Benicio now stands in the divide with shock evident on his face as he finds the hallway completely void of anyone. Nothing, not even a footprint or a noise, was left behind.
It's as if the man had vanished into the very air itself.
Despite the stretching skepticism damning his mind, Benicio drops the expression and merely shrugs his shoulders. He should be questioning this entire situation further. He should get mildly irritable on the fact that this mystery guy gave him a skeletal creation of his request. Definitely should've been more forceful in his questioning than to let it slide for the sake of not letting the others hear his, as Abel dubs it, "blow-ups".
Maybe he should have thought this whole request through better...
Deciding that standing at the door would do him nothing worthwhile, the boss makes his way down the hall. The belief that the man had probably just sprinted down the hallway on very light steps before stepping through the next exit weighs on his thoughts. Nobody, in his opinion, could be able to traverse through something without interacting with another on their way. Hell, even with toon logic, a toon can't be completely silent. It's just not possible. He pushes those thoughts to the back of his mind.
Finding himself standing in front of the Henchmen Living Quarters now, Benicio presents a smile. It's good to hear that the commotion on the other side has been kept going without interruptions. And, by the sounds of it, the henchmen are still being entertained in there. Makes it easier for him to slip right on in without any notice. Wait, scratch that... At least, either Abel or Alice would notice him, more so on Alice as she's used to him sneaking around. Damn angels and their near-accurate perceptiveness!
Just as he is about to open the door, the aforementioned chooses to be opened for him by none other than Alice.
Putting a hand to her heart, the angel is startled upon finding the mafia boss behind the wood. "Oh! Bendy, I wasn't expectin' to see you there." She whispers low enough for no one else to hear, bringing the door closer so that only her head and neck are through the crack.
The demon shakes his head, then places a finger in front of his lips. His narrowed eyes faintly glare at her. "Oi! How many times do I need to ask ya to stop callin' me that, Angelcake?! It's Benicio, not Bendy."
Before Alice could give another one of her replies, the door gets pushed gently out of the way. They now find themselves unexpectedly interrupted by the other angel. Both the demon and angels freeze on the spot, the second angel emitting a quiet noise of surprise when his sights target Benicio.
"Ah, crap…" Benicio begrudgingly mutters out.
Shaking out of the shock, Abel fires a frown at the demon. Inquiry shows next in his eyes as he crosses his arms. "Well, well, well, look who the cat dragged in. Decided to finally join the party, Demon?"
The other cartoons, having been entirely present in the room, pause from what they were doing to watch the happenstance. Jack and Fonzy sat at the couch, both toons' heads overlooking the back. Boris is leaning against the pool table with the cue stick's tip closing in on a numbered ball. Luna stands next to him with her stick in hand. Another cue stick lies discarded across the table, presumably Abel's. Gizmo, Diana, Deeralyn, and Elymas are situated at the end of the elongated dining table, facing each other with cards spread out in what looks to be Crazy Eights.
A concoction of emotions is evident on each of their faces, ranging from surprise to confusion to even a smidgen of delight.
Awkward silence begins to permeate the room, the stares not helping the grey blush creeping onto Benicio's face. Why did Abel have to immediately pick the wrong timing this time?!
The coloration gets Diana to giggle softly, the tips of her fingers from her left hand failing to smother the sound. The demon shoots a glare her way, causing the fairy to instantly stop her fit. She shows him a fearful expression, making him soften his. He understands that she doesn't want to anger him, but it's almost rude to laugh at one's misery. Almost.
As awkward as it felt being here, he strides right in with an air of nonchalance while hiding his already frazzled nerves as best as he could. No need to rile up the others just yet. Upon entering, he takes notice of everyone. Even the henchmen, who normally have their own homes, are here.
"My, my, everyone's here an' accounted for. Ain't that convenient." Each of his words feigns taunt astonishment, yet holds honest acceptance. Good, because despite not wanting all of them on this task, he gets the sense that everyone is required for it.
Not sure what the boss means by that, Benicio is greeted with questioning stares. He dislikes the fact that he'll be the one to bring the party to an abrupt conclusion.
A sigh breaks through, schooling his face into a neutral facade. "I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but we'll be havin' another important job ahead of us tomorrow."
The family is now stupefied by the news.
Boris glances at Luna while asking, "Didn't ya tell us Benicio was lookin' for potential targets? How in the hell do we now suddenly have an assignment?"
Luna shrugs her shoulders, her hands taking a defensive and allaying gesture. "Don't look at me, I told Boss to go on break. I saw him go outside before koming in here to join you all."
Benicio clears his throat to get the family's attention back onto him. "Yeah, about that, Luna... It seems that my break has turned itself into another work-related thin' again." A sheepish grin breaks a little through the facade.
"Like it always does when ye're involved…" Abel mumbles, eye-rolling at the notion.
Benicio gives him a deadpan look. "As always, Feathers, it's nice of ya to kick a person down."
The angel just sarcastically smiles back. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"You two…" Elymas shakes his head disapprovingly before cutting into the conversation. "Pardon me for the intrusion, Benicio. I'm afraid that we don't completely understand what you mean by "urgent job"."
The mafia boss shrugs. "Fair enough." Turning away from Elymas, he casts his sights upon the rest of the toons. "To give everyone a quick update, while I was on my so-called "break", I met this guy - who was a major creep, if ya ask me - who offered a ton of dough to do a simple operation."
Gizmo's eyes were wide throughout the news. "Wait, wat? Away on! Ye've been blatherin' wi' someone we don't nu av before?!" You can hear the mixture of askance and disquietness in his voice.
Benicio sends him an acknowledged apologetic glance, knowing that the crow would be upset because he had missed his chance to take up the bodyguard position again. Honestly, while the demon boss doesn't need to have a bodyguard all the time, he'll accept the crow's sentimentality and for doing his job very capably.
Everyone views him with their troubled expressions. All of the henchmen didn't approve of the idea of Benicio conversing with unbeknownst strangers, considering their track record with certain individuals throughout the years. Some of them seemed nice enough before turning wicked; others gave either an aura of strangeness or sociopathic ticks… They would rarely encounter genuinely kind clients these days. Each with their own experiences, their counterattacks, the pains, etc. Whether the customers were human or toon, they've presented them with an array of surprises and predictabilities that surely stuck the members' memories for the rest of their days.
Guess how they would react if they've found out that just minutes ago, the stranger had entered headquarters. By Benicio's guess, their feedback could be akin to fireworks going off in a warehouse.
The mafia boss pinches the inked skin between his closed eyes. Then, reopening them after getting his next thoughts in order, he uses the same hand to point a thumb at the doorway. "Just go to the Conference Room. I'll explain everythin' there."
The henchmen glance at each other, unsure about this whole situation. Doing as they're told, each one either gets up or lays down what they have in-hand before leaving the room. The group makes their way towards the aforementioned area. Benicio, the last to follow, closes the door behind him. He starts walking in the direction of his office, needing to retrieve the briefcase and package first.
Not losing sight of the boss again, Gizmo takes notice of Benicio making his way further down the hall. "Wha ye 'eadin'?" The crow calls out, expressing inquired confusion. "Yer want us ter go ter de conference room, roight?"
"Uh... Yeah... Yeah, go in there without me." The demon replies in a preoccupied manner, not glancing back at Gizmo. "I need to grab some thin's first before I regroup with ya guys. Won't take long." He then resumes his trek.
And from that, Benicio's brief reaction depletes some of Gizmo's spirit. He's not used to these types of reactions from the boss, so from this, his head drops and he emits a saddened moan.
Luna, having been watching the whole thing happen by the Conference Room entrance, attempts to lift the crow's spirit by placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Don't vorry much. He's been tending to do zat lately due to overvorking himself. It vill kome to pass before you know it."
The crow's head had risen as she spoke, a bit of hopefulness gleaming in his eyes. "I-I'll take ye ward for it."