Chapter Text
Mayor Belos, a man who appeared to be pushing eighty with his gray hair tied up in a bun, stood in his cold, dark office. He faced the window, overlooking the city. His city.
“Mr. Mayor.” Belos looked at the intercom on his desk, a tiny voice that sounded like it was forcing itself to sound sweet coming out of it. “Mrs. Blight is on the other line.”
“Oh, good. Put her on, then.”
“Yes, sir.”
There’s a BEEP, and Belos went to sit behind his desk and answered the phone. “Odalia.”
“Mayor Belos!” An even more sickeningly sweet voice spoke. “So good to hear your voice! May I ask, how are you this—“
“Do you know how long I’ll be mayor for?” Belos asked, cutting off Odalia’s schmoozing.
“Oh, um, well, four more years, of course! With that reelection—“
“Only offered me four more years. And trust me when I say that four years tends to move fast for a man my age. You so much as blink, and it’s suddenly the end of your term before you know it. And with that, I will no longer be mayor and you will no longer have tax payer money funding this little pet project we share. Isn’t that right?”
“I—Yes, sir.”
“Yes, time is a precious currency for both of us, really. More precious than any dollar we possess, and I do not like to waste my time. Would you, Odalia?”
“O-Of course, sir! I completely understand—“
“If you understand, then why must you continue to waste it with that embarrassing robbery you committed today?” Belos asked, venom seeping in his voice while his body remained relaxed.
“Oh! Don’t worry, Mr. Mayor, I’ll make sure those children face punishment for that embarrassing display. Driving through traffic, getting in a brawl—”
“And who was it that they fought, again?”
“Uh, that spider girl?”
“La Arachnida–Or whatever she is, yes. That’s the problem.” Belos stood up from his chair. “Because didn’t you promise me that your operations would not draw her attention? And in the likelihood that you did, you would take care of it?”
“I did! And I will.”
“Then how, pray tell, is Arachnida still alive?”
“Well, those two particular employees weren’t trained to kill. Only for stealth, theft, and evasion—”
“All of which they failed to do tonight, getting caught and putting us on Arachnida’s radar.”
“Respectfully, sir,” Odalia spoke with much more certainty and defensiveness, “It’s not like she knows about me, you, or anyone else. My little black cats, at the very least, make sure their identities are secret, as well as the identity of whom they work for. She doesn’t have anything to go off on.”
“But she’s aware that something is going on and could potentially investigate.”
“Repsectuflly, sir, does the child who jokes as she swings through Midtown like a female Tarzan scream, ‘Detective,’ to you?”
“Never underestimate an opponent,” Belos spoke, his voice raised just the slightest decibel. “Regardless of how effective she is at finding out who we are, she still knows something is wrong, and she’ll be keeping an eye out.”
“If she does, sir, I will handle it. I will hire every mercenary I can find. I may even hire our experiments, if necessary.”
“See that you do get it done. Otherwise, I’d hate to send my Goblin out to do your job for you.”
“Of course, sir. I understand.”
“I sure hope that you do. I don’t want all this work and planning to go to waste within a month. Because if it does, it’ll be your head I’ll bite off. Am I clear.”
There was a pause. Belos could hear the slight, calming breaths on the other end. “Crystal, sir.”
“Good.” Belos hung up the phone with a growl. Though it was involuntary, as he felt this urge–This hunger grow inside him. He then pressed a button on his intercom. “Kikimora, is my seven o’clock in yet?”
“Yes, sir,” his assistant told him. “He’s been waiting for an hour, eager to meet you.”
“Good. Send him in.” Belos then sat back down in his seat, straight and settling himself to form a mask of respectability. Soon, a burly, hairy man in ratted clothes and grime on his face stepped in, holding a trapper hat in his shaking hands.
“Hello, Mr. Mayor Belos, sir!” the man said, clearly nervous. “It’s an honor to meet you! When the fine folks at FEAST said that the Mayor himself wanted to meet me for a meal, I couldn’t believe it. Did they mean it when they said you’ll be sending me to a better place, sir?”
“Oh, yes.” Belos smiled, a slight blue glow shimmered in his eyes as he did. “A much better place for you, Mr. Carstine. Do close the door, though. I wish for this meal to be private…”
“Oh, uh, yes, sir.” The man went to shut the door, silencing the room from anyone wandering the halls outside Belos’ office.
None of them would have heard the screaming otherwise.