Crawling along. Stuff is gonna pick up soon. Just so many differetn parties in this

"Oh? Unmarked bills? Impressive, Rocky-boy..."

It was early morning in Kain Heinlein's hastily erected base of operations, and today he had a very important visitor. A very important visitor, carrying some very important cargo…

Cash. Cold, hard, unmarked, untraceable. Perfect… a little too perfect...

Rock Howard was standing across the industrial metal table with his hands duct tape behind his back and two guards at each side. They were holding him beneath the arms - per protocol, but at this point there were more so holding him up than holding him back. The boy looked exhausted. His hair was a mess. There were dark circles under his eyes. He flinched at every sound, and had this gaunt look about him. He was absolutely changed from the first time Kain had kidnapped him. Something significant must have happened. Kain wanted to know what.

With a screech, Kain pulled the folding chair from beneath the table, and took a seat. His pristine white suit was almost glowing as the sliver of sunlight reflected off it. Kain had positioned the table there for that very effect. He was quite proud of how absolutely out of place he looked in their decidedly grimy surroundings.

He leaned over and held his chin in his hand, staring Rock in the eyes and smiling gently. That seemed to annoy Rock. The teenager curled his lip and averted his gaze.

"Where did you get this, Rocky?"

Rock glared at him.

"Why do you care? It's money… and it's untraceable. Do you wanna go after Geese or not?"

Kain chuckled. It was very obvious that Rock had no idea how gang dealings worked. Did he think they didn't know how the police operated? Kain wasn't dumb. He knew Rock had quite close connections with SouthTown PD. Dad's girlfriend was a cop - for god's sake. Kain tapped the table and clucked his tongue. He let a hint of danger slip into his voice.

"Why? Well… because I need to know who you're working for. Nobody gives a nineteen year old kid fifty grand and doesn't ask for anything in return. Also, we noticed the car you pulled up in wasn't yours. You had the sense to remove the license plate, but we found the VIN etching. You can tell me right now who sent you, or… we can beat it out of you. Which do you prefer?"

Rock looked offended.

"Beat it out of me? Is that how you treat your investors?"

"It's how we treat rats. Before we kill them."

That startled him. Evidently whoever had sent Rock to them, hadn't mentally prepared him for how serious this matter was. Did Rock think he could just waltz in here willy nilly without any personal consequence? Sure… the base of operations wasn't glamorous by any means, but regardless, Kain was the former underboss for HCon. His mere presence made this sacred ground.

Rock glared at him. He had made some weak attempt to break free from the men holding him by the arms, but to no avail. He mounted a weak defense.

"I'm not a rat."

"Every single rat has said that. We still killed them. Spill the beans, Rocky-boy… I know Dear ol' dad's sweet with the Police department. Just give me a name."

"..."

Silence. Then after a moment, Rock shrugged rather nonchalantly, as if the person he was about to rat out wouldn't really mind much.

"My Boss."

Kain narrowed his eyes. The famously unfriendly Yagami Clan heir had sent Rock Howard here with fifty thousand dollars? Really? That was ridiculous... but Iori Yagami was ridiculous, and he likely had attached some ridiculous condition to these funds.

"What does that snake want in return?"

"Um."

Rock sighed.

"Boss said if I could get my revenge by just funding you, and told me not to fight 'cause he doesn't want me to get in trouble… He said as long I'm not involved with the combat, he'll send over as much money as you want. Can we get on with it?"

Kain arched an eyebrow, looked his nephew up and down, then to the pile of cash sitting on the table. Rock immediately saw the assumption in his face and quashed it.

"There is nothing going on between us."

"Okay, Allright~"

Rock kicked and hissed for a moment, before he settled down. Kain didn't really care what agreement Rock Howard had with his insane employer, so long as there were no strings attached to him. Still… it was dangerous to leak too much information to Rock, on the off-chance that Yagami was interested in defending Geese Howard's assets. Regardless, the lure was just too appealing. Yagami was insane, yes, but also wealthy enough to throw money around willy-nilly. Well… hopefully the VIN number would corroborate Rock's story, because unlimited funds, for a vigilante operation, was essentially a dream come true.

After a moment Kain opened his mouth to speak. If the DMV report came back clean, he could accept the money… but what about Rock's motivations? Kain leaned forward the observe his nephew closely. It seemed to make Rock uncomfortable.

"Alright, Rocky… Great that your employer likes you so much. But tell me… why are you here? What changed?"

Rock's expression turned uncharacteristically fierce. When he spoke, his voice dripped in venom. The sudden change startled Kain, but the willowly man buried the reaction beneath his suave persona.

"Geese Howard murdered my best friend."

"Oh?"

That sounded like something Kain would do… not his greenpeace brother in law. Regardless, the emotion on Rock's face was as real and raw as could be. This boy hated Geese Howard. Without a doubt. There was no need to further question his motivations.

Kain smiled, and motioned to the guards.

"Pull up a chair for our guest, would you? Now… let me share with you our plan."

See if I can write another one today