Negotiating Can Be Difficult (Izon vs. Kyte)

“You seriously think this offer was worth our time?” the young Xeno asked as he slapped the small wad of zeni on the table. Kyte, the Avatar of the God of Azure Flames looked down upon the imposing human with a taunting sneer, as if daring him to so much as raise his hand at the younger looking man. Irritation was evident in the human's eyes, and he seemed to be taking quite a bit of offense at a boy treating him like some third rate slob. Of course, this was exactly what Kyte had envisioned for this encounter.

“You don't want to test my patience. My superiors,” he spat the word, “are far more patient with people like you than I am. I'm here to collect. Now pay up... before your precious hardware store has an accident.”

Kyte hated using underhanded tactics in order to keep himself from getting caught by the law, but it was a necessary risk of the job until he became powerful enough to level the city around their ears. On his home planet, entire cities had been built out of little more than paper and wood. A violent sneeze could have torn down most of the villages on the planet. The existence of the rampaging avatar hadn't helped them try to build anything more solid, either.

The man looked at him and said, “Who do you think you are?! You and your East Syndicate asshole friends can get out and stay out.”

A demonic smile alighted upon Kyte's face as he reached out for the man's neck. Of course, the human did whatever any self-respecting human would do in a time like that. He tried to armbar the smaller man, but only succeeded in having both of his arms broken with a single flick of Kyte's delicate wrists. The man sunk to his knees in agony as the alien creature just looked down on him with an indifferent stare.

“Tsk, tsk... whoever said you could fight back?” he said as he stooped down and placed a hand on the man's shoulder. “Well, I didn't want to break your arms, but I suppose accidents do happen,” he continued in a hiss.

He stood up and began to walk to the door before turning around and surveying the man. “I hope you'll keep this lesson in mind the next time one of our insurance agents comes to collect,” he said through gritted teeth as he popped open a pack of cigarettes, popped up a single one expertly, and lit it with the energy from his finger.

“Always remember,” he said as the door closed and the waft of nicotine drenched smoke hit the man directly in the face.

Outside the small establishment, Kyte took a long drag of his cigarette, letting the cool minty taste run over his taste buds, and let the smoke issue from his lips in myriad, coiling shapes. He threw the cigarette on the ground and ground it softly with his heel before floating up into the skyline of West City.

“I'd heard there was a man here they wanted to do business with... an Ian Lancaster. Maybe I should check up on this guy?” he said to himself, as if anyone could hear him at his altitude.

He floated up to the highest building in the city and just lounged around on the roof for a few moments as he thought about what he was going to do next. According to the townsfolk, those few who didn't run away from the blue-skinned, sickly looking creature, Ian Lancaster lived just outside of West City in a mansion somewhere.

“Shouldn't be too hard to spot,” he finally decided as he looked for roads leading out of the city. While there were a few, knowing the wealthy as well as the Avatar of Flame did, he determined that this person would be living on a rather nice, but small road, where there were few people to bother him while he was negotiating his big trade deals or whatever it was that affluent people did.

He flew off in the direction of the part of the suburbs he thought would be most likely, and found himself correct. Shortly, a large house became visible on the horizon, and Kyte let himself down easily into the front yard, curious as to what the East Syndicate would want with someone like Ian Lancaster.

Then again, he reasoned, I don't know enough about Earth underground politics to even make an educated guess.

He reached up with one hand and knocked on the door, hard enough for the wood to warp slightly under the pressure.

WC: 775

Ian sat in a deck chair. His previous balcony was getting fixed so he resided on the balcony in for the spare bedroom which was on the other side of the house. He wondered why he never made this his office. It was a much better view of the city, their towers reaching like fingers high in the sky. The very example of western civilization. A true testament to human ingenuity. They were weak by nature, but they had one hell of an imagination. No other race he knew did everything from art, music, architecture, inventions and warfare. Humans never went small when looks mattered.

He took a sip of tea. It was a black tea that he drank to counter the mercury that his body was taking in from fish. Not that he'd die, but it'd help keep him from getting ill. The landing of a heavily armored warrior alerted him. There was a hard knock on the door. Right now he was the only one here. Everyone else prepared for his departure or were already heading to Terathola.

Sitting up, he went to the edge and called down. "Is there something I can do for you?" He hoped he wasn't hear regarding anything that happened the day before with the Briefs family or Capsule Corps. He didn't particularly want any visitors. He had wanted to be alone, in his own thoughts.

Even though he didn't mind killing, he avoided whenever possible and the bug claiming to be a friend of Ryouji, and probably Broly, had forced him. He knew that little band were going to be problems in the future and the sooner he got off this planet and go to his new home, the sooner he'd be relaxed. He wouldn't ever forget them, nor would he ever take his eyes off of them, but with the security there at the station, he'd know when they arrived.

WC:327