Episode 5, part 1 - The game is about to change...
Ahri watched curiously as the white hextech hover-truck pulled into one of the parking spaces in front of LoLmart. Big, black lettering on the side of the truck read: MundoCorp – Spec Ops Division, with Mundo's universal logo printed to the left of the letters. She saw the driver-side door open, and a solidly built man with short black hair and buzzed sideburns stepped out. He carried a fancy, golden manager's pen over his ear.
Another more slender man stepped out from the passenger side, this one wearing a black stetson cowboy hat that partially obscured his features. Long, flowing black hair and a shaped beard and goatee rounded out his appearance so that it resembled that of a classic card-dealing gunslinger. The two men went around to the front of the truck and conversed with each other for a moment, and then the larger man proceeded to walk towards the store entrance - he seemed to be the leader, and the slender man followed suit behind him.
As she watched the two men, Ahri remembered earlier how Veigar had told her it was imperative she be on her best behaviour today. Something big had happened in the complicated corporate environment of Valoran, and the hextech truck that stood outside had been the result of orders directly from Corporate Mundo himself. No doubt, Mundo had handpicked the persons who were now stepping out of the truck (actually, he probably just threw cleavers onto a dartboard with pictures of various subordinates on it), and Ahri felt her ears positively tingle with excitement as she thought about what possible intrigue all this might entail. Twitch had been asked to hide as he usually does when the store had company, and Veigar was standing nervously beside the counter in anticipation of their arrival.
Ahri watched the larger man as he entered through the sliding doors and walked up to the front counter of the store.
"Hey...he's pretty cute," Ahri whispered to herself.
Veigar motioned for Ahri to quiet down. "This is serious, Ahri!"
Ahri fixed her hair back slightly, then perked up her ears, clasped her hands together, and flashed her cutest smile at the two men as they walked up.
"Welcome to LoLmart #77! My name's Ahri -"
The larger man held up a hand, abruptly silencing her.
"We've already been briefed back at MundoCorp HQ. I'd rather we get down to business first, and save the small talk for later. For now, you can refer to me as Jayce, the regional manager for the central Valoran zone. My partner here is codenamed Twisted Fate, otherwise known as TF, chief agent of special operations." Jayce turned to Veigar. "Veigar, lets get this started. And bring the girl too."
"Yes sir...of course!" Veigar said, a tinge of nervousness in his voice.
Veigar motioned the two men over to the food station, and pulled out four chairs from one of the larger dining tables. Ahri started following behind the two men. She seemed to be a bit upset that Jayce had not even bothered to refer to her by name.
Jayce and TF sat down on one side the square table, and Ahri and Veigar sat down across from them. Beads of sweat could be seen forming on Veigar's forehead. He looked around and noticed the bits of old sausage chili and random cheese nips scattered over the floor, and gave Ahri a slight nudge.
"Psst, Ahri, where's Twitch? I thought I told him and you to clean this place up this morning," Veigar whispered. Ahri, trying her best to ignore Veigar, simply gave him a shrug.
Jayce stared at Veigar from across the table, and raised an eyebrow.
"Twitch? Who's this Twitch you're talking about?"
Veigar winced and turned his head to face Jayce.
"Umm, Twitch? I was just uh, wondering where my eye went. I mean where my twitch went. It twitches. Eye. Twitch."
Veigar pretended to twitch his right eye, and pointed to it, giggling nervously.
"See! There it is! Good old eye twitch!"
Jayce stared at Veigar coldly for awhile, then rapped his knuckles on the table calmly.
"Ok, then. Before we start, I just want to state that this store you run is shockingly filthy, and I will be filing an official demerit on your manager's record when we're done with all this."
Veigar's right eye started twitching for real.
Jayce sat back in his chair and seemed to relax slightly.
"Ok. Let's get down to business. As you know, store #77 is located right in the heart of the institute of War's Champion's villa, which gives it a reliable source of tourist income for whenever there's a match held here. What most don't know, however, is that the company that ends up controlling the stores within Champion's villa also ends up with a large amount of political influence within the institute of war itself, and that translates to both political and economic influence across all of Valoran. LoLmart 77, then, serves as MundoCorp's official and only foothold into the institute, which is why it's imperative that it does well so we can convince the League to give MundoCorp a general development permit for this area."
Jayce motioned to his partner, and TF took out a hextech holographer from his coat pocket, and placed it on the desk. It emitted a large, holographic map of Valoran on the screen, along with a picture of a spectacled yordle with a massive brain, with text below that read: Heimerdinger, President of Darkplum Technologies, Inc. Beside the text was a company logo of a black plum that looked like someone had taken a bite out of it. TF looked at both Ahri and Veigar, then proceeded to speak with a smooth, laid back cajun drawl.
"Now, here's where things get tricky. As y'all know, Darkplum Inc is the only other corporation big enough to challenge MundoCorp both economically and politically, and my agents within Darkplum HQ have come back with some disturbing news."
The hextech holograph switched images to a map of the inside of Champion's villa. In the center stood a massive spectator's arena that enclosed a field of justice, with multiple residences, stores, and other facilities surrounding the arena that roughly combined to create a small but growing city.
"Darkplum Inc has recently received a conditional permit to erect one of their Plum retail stores within Champion's villa. Now, I 'reckon none of us are stupid, and we know they don't plan to stop at just one store. Their ultimate goal is to win the right to develop Champion's villa as they please. If they can win the institute over, then that means they gain the political influence necessary to oust MundoCorp and make sure they never do business within Valoran ever again."
The hologram changed again, this time to a picture of a yordle covered with blue fur. He was sitting atop a massive weaponized mech, replete with dangerous weapons like flamethrowers, stun rods, and shield generators. Below was the plum logo and text which read: Rumble, Chief Annexation Officer, Darkplum Technologies, Inc.
"Now whadda ya'll reckon is the easiest way to win the exclusive development permit? Why, eliminating the competition, of course. My spies have good info direct from Heimer's mouth saying Rumble is on his way here now, as we speak, to LoLmart, along with a small band of hired mercenaries, in order to forcefully take over this store, and annex it into Darkplum inc."
The hextech holographer turned off with a slight click, and TF placed the emitter back into his coat pocket. Jayce stood up from his chair, and faced the rest of the group.
"We've been sent here as an advance guard, both to put a stop to this annexation attempt, and to oversee further expansion of this store into a MundoMart, so that it's big enough to compete with one of Darkplum's retail Plum stores.
Jayce looked at Ahri and Veigar to make sure they were comprehending everything. Ahri smiled and and started applauding happily.
"That was such an awesome presentation, Jayce and TF! I wish I was as good as you guys!"
Jayce stole a quick glance at Veigar, who was now attempting to slide under the table to hide himself. Jayce cleared his throat, then motioned for silence. He took out a hextech tele-device from his pocket.
"Ahem. I'm not quite done yet. Now, in order to fend off Darkplum's annexation attempt, we have in the back of our truck an advanced robotic security guard, one of the latest new technologies from Mundo's new robotics division. With a press of this button, the truck's teleporter device will warp the robot into our store."
TF groaned loudly after hearing Jayce utter the word "Mundo" and "robotics".
"Seriously Jayce? That's what we've been transporting this entire trip? You realize MundoCorp's robotics division is the laughing stock of the entire corporate world?"
"Shut up TF. Mundo demanded we take the robot out for field duty. It's out of my hands," Jayce whispered. He pressed the button on his remote, and a blue beam appeared within the store. After it dissapated, it revealed a dingy, yellow robot with huge hands and steam coming out of it's back. It emitted a slow, monotone robotic voice.
"BLITZCRANK AUTOMATED DEFENSE SYSTEM ACTIVATED. HELLO WORLD. I AM NOW GOING TO START THE MACARENA. PLEASE DANCE WITH ME HUMAN MASTERS. I AM ALSO PROGRAMMED WITH THE ATL STOMP, CRIP WALK, AND GANGNAM DANCE STYLES."
The robot started shaking it's hips and flipping it's hands in an imitation of the macarena dance. TF groaned again in disgust.
"Goddamit, we're so screwed. Mundo seriously needs to let spec-ocs make the on-field management decisions."
The sound of a large explosion suddenly boomed across the store, and the double sliding doors blocking the entrance to the store shattered violently. A giant mech with a small yordle sitting atop it walked in, followed by two men, one wielding a brutal-looking axe, and another spinning an oddly shaped whirling axe in both hands. Another shorter but grizzled looking man holding a shotgun and wearing sunglasses stepped in from behind. He raised his gun into the air and let off a wild shotgun blast.
"Awww yeah! Black Doom mercenary company here. Sorry, but this is the end of the line for you folks."
The mechanized yordle laughed at the grizzled man's exclamation, then rose up haughtily and introduced himself.
"Rumble, chief annexation officer for Darkplum Inc. On behalf of our great CEO Heimerdinger, I hereby claim this store as the new property of Darkplum Technologies, Inc!"
TF rose suddenly from his chair, sending it tumbling onto the floor. He looked at the grizzled shotgun wielding man with disgust.
"Why if it isn't old Malcolm Graves. Couldn't cut it in Mundo's spec ops divison, so now you're runnin' a sad little mercenary company, eh?"
Jayce turned to face the intruders. He grabbed his pen from his ear, then looked back towards TF, Ahri, and Veigar.
"Damnit! They're here early. TF, Ahri, Veigar, get ready, we are NOT going to let them take over this property!"
to be continued in Episode 5, part 2...things are about to get nasty!