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Business dinners, whilst generally mundane and filled with pointless schmoozing and equal parts posturing from all parties involved, could, on occasion, get quite lively. They were an essential part of building and maintaining bridges between company executives and big wigs, Rhys personally detested them, although the food was always a nice bonus and the alcohol, if only in moderation, definitely helped sweeten the deal, making it more bearable.
Zer0 if asked would agree that they were detestable, however it was his job to protect Rhys, both as his bodyguard and as… well, whatever they were behind closed doors was of no concern to the people Rhys dined with at such events. That being said, he certainly enjoyed having a laugh at the attendees expense at their ridiculous attempts to outdo one another, Zer0 was all for a bit of healthy competition but his kind of contest was far more bloody and or bullet laden than whose business card had been printed on better card stock.
This particular dinner was with a lesser known company from Junpai-7, a family business that dealt in experimental ammunition. They had reached out to arrange the meeting with the Atlas CEO himself in the hopes of a collaboration of sorts, or so they had pitched it. They had even agreed to meet planetside on Promethea, on Atlas’ home turf. Zer0 had been skeptical irrespective of this, if anything their eagerness to please was more of a red flag, if they were a smaller company surely a trip like that would cost them money they couldn’t guarantee a return on for a deal that may still fall through, inviting Atlas into their home territory would have been equally suspicious, but why not simply arrange a meeting over echo.
Rhys insisted that they simply seemed inexperienced, eager to meet face to face to seem professional or something, he’d stressed remembering how that felt and so he wanted to give them a chance. Formally they agreed to disagree that day, as CEO and bodyguard, but not without resistance, Zer0 could only advise Rhys on these matters, ultimately it was the CEO’s decision if he agreed with it or not. However that didn’t mean Zer0 couldn’t tell the man exactly what he thought.
“It is ill advised / to think with your stomach on / company matters”
:|
Is what he had said, a bright emoticon glaring back at Rhys who had no real come back for that past a garbled mix of about five different words he tried to say at once. Eventually he settled for a huff, turning back to the holo monitor on his desk, electing to ignore the assassin who promptly vanished into thin air. Their disagreements often ended like that, at least during office hours. Whilst Zer0 was concerned for Rhys from a professional standpoint, he was also of course concerned from a more personal one too, hence the less than professional quip that had ended the discussion.
However the meeting had gone ahead, the head of the company had landed on promethea and one bruised ego and an awkward car ride later, Rhys and Zer0 had arrived at the restaurant of choice. It was a nice place, Rhys’ PA had picked it and sorted everything for him, he would have to thank her later because Elpis did she know how to pick a restaurant. It was beautiful, and whilst he wasn’t a seafood fanatic, well he liked sushi, nothing said class like a place that served exclusively seafood, or so he thought at least.
Whilst Rhys was busy daydreaming about the architecture and wine pairings, Zer0 was already scrutinising the first red flag of the night. The other party had already arrived, and were waiting at the table with a bottle of what looked to be champagne.
“A little early / for celebration is it / not? they Jumped the gun”
That brought Rhys back down to reality, his gaze on the assassin for a moment before finding his to be dining partners for the night.
“Huh? What, because they’re drinking champagne? They might just like the taste” Rhys shrugged, turning his attention back to his bodyguard. They looked an odd pair really, Rhys dressed in a maroon damask two piece suit, accented most importantly with a simple black dress shirt, silk of course, no tie, the top two buttons left undone to showcase the brilliant blue ink that lay beneath; a touch that Zer0 always appreciated, even if it meant sharing something usually reserved for his eyes only. Zer0 was dressed in his usual get up, fully suited, booted and strapped in ready to go, this was after all still work for him, why dress differently.
“Nobody likes the / taste, you said so yourself Rhys / or did you forget?”
:P
That had Rhys rolling his eyes at the black void of a visor, he wondered what face Zer0 was really pulling behind there- if he even had a face, no, of course he had a face- right? “The good stuff is nice, I just meant people pretend to like the cheaper stuff because humans are weird and have weird customs that none of us actually like but we all go along with for some reason... I don’t know- look why does that even matter, the champagne is irrelevant” By that time Rhys had caught the eye of the head of the group, sat in the place opposite where he assumed he would be seated.
Without another word to his bodyguard Rhys was setting off towards the table, waving in greeting as he went. “Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting, I was hoping to get here early but you went ahead and beat me to it” Rhys was all hearty sweet talk and smiles as he reached the table, extending his cybernetic hand out to his guest. The man stood to greet him, strong hand grasping the metal one, easily pulling Rhys almost too harshly forwards as he shook his hand. Red flag number two.
Zer0’s visor remained blank as he followed Rhys’ heel, remaining a good distance away but close enough that their guests were aware of his presence.
“Thank you for coming all this way, I appreciate that must have been quite the journey” Rhys finished with an awkward laugh, having to practically wiggle his hand out of the crushing grip, he was thankful he had gone for the metal hand, he had enhance sensitivity but it was at the very least stronger than his flesh hand.
“Not at all, the pleasure is all mine. Always fancied a trip to the big city, I can see why you chose to settle here” The man’s voice was thick, heavy and gruff from what could be presumed, years of smoking and hard liquor. The man sunk back down into his chair, Rhys following suit as Zer0 sized up the group. There was the head honcho, a man sat on either side of him, his lackeys no doubt and a man stood not too far behind the group in an all black suit, and shades on- indoors. Not that he could really comment what with the fully black visor he wore.
“These are my associates, business partners if you will. You see we run something of a family affair back on Junpai-7, ain't no thicker bond than blood, wouldn’t you say Mr Strongfork?”
He hadn’t even had the chance to order a drink and the man was already steaming ahead into conversation, this was going to be fun, Rhys thought to himself, fiddling with his shirt cuff beneath the table. “Ah, well that saying is often misquoted you see” What was he doing? “The blood of the covenant runs thicker than the water of the womb” A nervous laugh bubbled in his throat, how he had remembered that he didn’t know. “I’d argue that, at least for myself personally, the bonds I made outside of that have served me far better” What in the name of all that was holy was he talking about. “But! I would also argue that blood can mean either familial or chosen, and well if it's both I’d say you’re onto a winner”
“A man after my own heart!” The man boomed, clasping his giant hands together. “You know, I like your thinking. Ain't nothing more important than that choice, surrounding yourself with the right people” He unclasped his hands, reaching for the champagne bottle, other hand extending a thick finger in Rhys’ direction. “Like minded people. That’s what we’re here to do today, Rhys, can I call you Rhys?”
What was the point in asking if you were going to do it anyway, Zer0 seethed silently, visor remaining blank as he watched the scene unfold. That bottle had been opened before they got there, it was unlikely to be spiked as they too were drinking from it but he did not trust this man.
“Ah- hah! Well” Rhys cleared his throat, shifting in his seat. Play it cool. “First name basis usually works best if reciprocated, no?” The man across from him had seemed to consider it for a moment, eyes fixed on Rhys in silence for almost a moment too long before clearing his own throat. “You’re quite right, where are my manners? Julius, the name is Julius. So how about we have a toast, to names, to friends, and to family” Red flags number three and four popped up almost in unison as those familiar words slipped from the man's mouth as he reached for Rhys’ glass.
Zer0’s gloved hand shot out, covering the rim of the flute before Julius could begin pouring. All four men were looking at the assassin now standing beside Rhys, casting a shadow over him. Expectant eyes demanded an answer for the intrusion, one which he was more than happy to provide.
“He will order his / own. Champagne does not sit well. / Delicate stomach.”
The hand was removed and Zer0 stepped back, leaving a rather embarrassed looking Rhys in his wake. He wanted to protest because, well that wasn’t true in the slightest, he could have come up with something less embarrassing- that had to be the worst excuse he had ever heard; and this was Rhys, he was the king of terrible excuses, he would know. He would have words with Zer0 about that later but right now his guests were looking at him as if he had just murdered someone, and he had to follow up with something to burst that nice awkward bubble his bodyguard had just created.
“It's true, I can’t- don’t know what it is but no matter the brand it just- heartburn. Gives me really bad, heartburn- ah… hah” Nice. Nice save, now if the floor could just open up beneath him that would be excellent. Julius seemed to be processing it still as he placed the bottle back into the bucket, instead waving down the server for Rhys.
“A bottle of whatever this gentleman would like” Not so much a red flag but an egregious enough comment considering the table was in Rhys’ name, thus on his card. So he would be having whatever he liked, and not because you said so thank you very much sir.
“Ah, I'm not much of a drinker” Rhys smiled politely at the waiter, turning his attention away from his guests. “Just rum, spiced, single shot, dash of cola oh and some lime… please, thank you” The waiter simply nodded, making a mental note of the order.
“Of course, right away. Shall I notify the chef of your arrival?”
Rhys looked back to Julius for confirmation, both shrugging in what seemed to be agreement. “ Oh uhm, ye-” Rhys started but was suddenly cut off by Julius’ booming voice, drawing out his own half baked attempt at an answer.
“Yes! That’ll be great, give us five, ten minutes before you start bringing stuff out ok, mkay?”
The waiter admittedly, looked a little shocked before nodding and turning to fetch Rhys’ drink for him. “ Sorry” Julius sighed, leaning back in his chair, looking far too relaxed for the reality of this situation. “You know how they can be, they’ll never leave if you don’t just tell ‘em plainly. I didn’t mean to interrupt”
Dick move. Zer0 remained silent despite the mounting pile of choice words he had for this man. The sooner this was over and they were on their way home the better. Business deal or not, he no longer cared how they walked away from this, only that they did as soon as possible.
“No hard feelings?” Julius spoke before Rhys could again, god this guy wasn’t going to shut up was he. Rhys forced his best polite smile, and grinned through the pain of having to make conversation with this asshole. “None at all. Like it never happened.”
“Oh I am glad” The man replied with an equal amount of thinly veiled politeness. Rhys didn’t really know how to respond to that in all honesty, he just kept looking back awkwardly at his guests, who equally weren’t giving him anything to work with. This was going to be a long night.
The server promptly returning with Rhys’ drink broke the silence, placing a napkin on the table before setting the tumbler down atop it. “There you go, sir” The young boy directed a polite smile at Rhys who returned the gesture, reaching for the glass as the boy disappeared back towards the bar. It seemed the venue was empty aside from them, so the server had very little else to do but stand behind the bar cleaning and recleaning glasses that really didn’t need it. However Rhys was sure the boy was thankful for a relatively quiet night for once, even if it meant having to look busy. The CEO hummed thoughtfully as he brought the glass to his lips, taking a sip of the perfectly mixed drink.
Zer0 watched over the man’s shoulder, trying not to linger on Rhys too much as he wasn’t who the assassin really needed to be watching. The men on either side of Julius had cigarettes lit and were lounging back in their seats, seemingly uninterested in whatever was going on between Rhys and their boss, although Zer0 was fairly certain they were likely paying far more attention than they let on. He could not see through tables but he guessed they were all armed, they had long since discarded their jackets so chest holsters were out of the picture, but from the way they were lounging back in their seats he presumed they both had at least a pistol on them each, hip or thigh holsters.
Julius likely carried his own weapon too but he seemed much more of a hands on man with fists like that, if anyone was going to make a move they’d end up regretting it was most likely going to be one of the three goons. Julius was the obvious option with his size and position directly across from Rhys, so naturally Zer0 put him lowest on the list of threats. No one was that stupid, and if they were… well, it wouldn’t end well for them.
Now the last person was where things got tricky, they were shrouded in darkness behind the three front men, having the advantage of the back wall to skulk against whereas Zer0 was out in the open, fully illuminated in the restaurant light. This made them threat numero uno. Zer0’s attention was divided between all four but he kept as much of an eye on that fourth mystery man as he could given the low light. A very deliberate choice really, they may as well have placed a big neon arrow pointing towards the man in the back, to Zer0 it would have had the same effect.
A noise to the left grabbed his attention, pulling him out of his analysis. Rhys and Julius were also disturbed from whatever useless small talk they had fallen into, Zer0 never paid much attention to what was being spoken about, he heard it, he was listening but only really for certain buzz words or anything off colour that meant worse was to come.
The chefs themselves were carrying out the various dishes they had ordered ahead of time, Rhys really needed to thank his PA for all of this, ordering ahead like this just made everything so much easier, no awkwardly trying to listen to your guest whilst also trying to choose from an extensive menu, it was one less thing to stress about and Rhys was thankful for anything that took even a little bit of pressure off for these events. He may be a CEO now but that didn’t just make one's anxiety just up and disappear. He had a thicker skin now for sure and over time he had gotten better at managing certain things but being a CEO just gave him a million and one new things to be anxious about, so he was eternally grateful for the people in his life like his PA and Zer0 who made things just that little bit easier.
Rhys had ordered the coquille de crabe en bouillon … it had sounded fancy, he didn’t really know what he was ordering other than it had crab in there somewhere. He had been in a rush between meetings when he ordered, he kept putting off looking at the menu until his poor PA had to catch him on his way out of the office and force him to look at it.
He liked crab, he'd had it before in sushi and those crab sticks that aren't really crab, no he’d had other things with crab in them surely… either way, that didn’t matter because regardless of whether or not he had eaten crab before he’d never had it quite like this. His eyes widened as the dish was placed in front of him, a small pair of what looked like pliers joining his plate as he tried to process what he had ordered. That was a whole crab. A whole entire deep sea crab, still very much inside its shell and he had absolutely no idea how to get it out.
Rhys looked at the honestly rather barbaric looking tool he had been given to eat with, whilst the other’s dishes were being presented. It wasn’t barbaric, it simply looked like a nut cracker, it was obviously meant for cracking open the shell with, he was being dramatic. Everyone else seemed to have gone for much easier to eat dishes, almost as if they had actually looked at the menu.
Zer0 noted the way Rhys’ hand hovered awkwardly over the tool, usually he was keen to dive right in, he couldn't blame him either really, working long hours left very little time for good home cooked meals so the opportunity to eat out for business was always a welcome occurrence. So when Rhys gingerly picked up the device, turning it over in his hand as if inspecting a bomb, Zer0 put two and two together. He knew Rhys better than anyone. Rhys had no idea what he was doing.
There was something funny about the CEO’s bodyguard better knowing his way around what most would consider fine dining, than the CEO himself but that could wait for later, he would have fun tormenting Rhys with that when this was said and done.
“So” Rhys started when the chefs finally left them alone, Julius leveled his gaze with Rhys, cutlery already in hand. “What have you got for me, let's talk business” Rhys tried his best to sound professional whilst wrangling a spindly leg from the crab out from the broth. Julius’ demeanor seemed to shift for a second, Rhys barely noticed it, too busy trying to get the torture device around the knuckle… or knee on the leg, the joint?
“Business? Oh-” The man laughed, positioning his fork above a chunk of meat amidst the pasta on his plate. “No, let’s not go getting ahead of ourselves here, so formal Rhys” On Rhys, Julius’ fork pierced the meat, stabbing through some of the pasta too.
Red flag five. This was a formal dinner, planned around discussing business. What reason did they have to stall? Zer0 kept his gaze on the man before Rhys, visor remaining blank in a void like glare, reflecting the intent in those eyes concealed behind the tinted material. Rhys didn’t seem to like that response much either as he had paused his wrestling with the crab, remaining quiet as he cocked a brow.
“Well forgive me, but your proposition has piqued quite the interest in my investors. We’re all very excited to hear what exactly you’re bringing to the table” They were inexperienced, Rhys reminded himself, they didn’t know how these things went. That was all. “Your munitions could be the leg up Atlas has been searching for for some time now, so you can imagine you’ve caused quite the stir.”
Julius seemed to take this on board, nodding as he twirled his fork, collecting pasta in a neat spiral around the utensil. “Well we’ll get to that, all in good time”
That was it? That was all he was going to say after all that, no thank you? No we’re excited to show you what we have to offer? Rhys was giving them everything and they should have been chomping at the bit to sell themselves to him. But no. They seemed hellbent, or rather Julius did, to talk about literally anything but these weird and wonderful experimental munitions they had been bigging up in their emails. Inexperienced or not, that was weird.
Rhys was debating whether or not the benefit of the doubt applied anymore if they were just going to be outright stupid about their business but apparently he had taken too long to respond and with Zer0 glaring over his shoulder at Julius, the man had had enough of whatever thin facade they had been hiding behind and the next thing Rhys knew, Zer0 was lunging across the table.
Zer0 had heard that which gave away the slip of the facade, a sound so quiet that anyone else would have, and did miss. There was a very faint click from behind Julius as the man in the shadows cocked his gun. He had known these men sounded fishy, no one travelled all this way for a first time business meeting, if they even had travelled from Junpai-7, for all they knew everything they had told Rhys was a sham.
There was a split second for the assassin to react before it would be too late, and he had very little to improvise with, drawing his sword would take too long and so he lunged for the closest weapon available, which happened to be Rhys’ crab fork. He launched it in the direction of the noise before vanishing from view, a strangled cry coming from the mystery man as he stumbled into view, Crab fork lodged in his throat.
Rhys jumped back in his seat in shock, as the men across from him turned to look in horror at their companion, Zer0 reappeared behind him not a moment later, grabbing the fork and yanking it to the left, cleanly slicing open the man's throat. There was another gurgled cry as he fell forwards, hitting the table in a brilliant spume of crimson. Rhys gagged visibly as he stumbled to stand up and out of his seat, nearly taking the chair with him in a desperate attempt to get away from the bloody fountain laying face first on the table.
It seemed the brutal display had stunned the men enough to have them fumbling for their guns, giving Zer0 the perfect opportunity to teleport back over to Rhys, grabbing the CEO by the arm before vanishing from view again.
They landed in the back seats of the car that had been waiting outside for them, Rhys gasping as he hit the leather, braced by Zer0. The poor driver almost screamed, dropping his novel back onto the second passenger seat in the front of the car, stepping on it before Zer0 had the chance to tell him to drive. He knew the drill.
“Oh my GOD!?” Rhys gagged again, pressing his hand over his mouth, eyes squinting shut as he tried to push the image out of his head. “Oh my-” He heaved “You just” Turning to Zer0, Rhys mimicked stabbing himself in the throat, having to cover his mouth again. “Oh- GOD” Zer0 remained silent, sitting calmly beside Rhys, it was best to let him get it out of his system. This was a regular occurrence for them, or it used to be… they were used to far gorier scenes.
“His- it- ohmy- it was everywhere- god, I’m never going to be able to unsee that '' Rhys rubbed his eyes, finally sitting back in his seat, taking a breath.
“There was a lot of / blood, yes. Rather spectacular / if you ask me” Zer0 spoke in that same monotonous tone they always did, a stark contrast to Rhys’ rather panicked rambling. Rhys turned his head to fix Zer0 with a disbelieving raise of his brows. He wanted to say he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he absolutely could. This was Zer0 after all, and whilst Zer0 knew Rhys better than anyone, Rhys liked to say he knew Zer0 better than most too.
“You are absolutely awful, you know that?” Rhys couldn’t help but laugh, scoffing as he lay his head on the assassins shoulder.
“I just saved your life / is that any way to talk to / your knight in armor”
XD
Rhys scoffed again, shaking his head against Zer0s suit. “You know it's meant to be a knight in shining armor, right?”
Zer0 appeared to consider it for a moment before shrugging, earning a little annoyed grunt from Rhys as he was jostled. “My armor is not / shiny, why lie. Also, too / long for a haiku”
:D
“Oh my GOD- you are the worst” Rhys turned his head into Zer0’s shoulder, groaning against the armor.
The pair stayed like that for a while, content to share one another's company after what had just happened. Rhys was happy to still be alive and, well… so was Zer0. The quiet closeness they shared in the back of the car was all they needed, Zer0’s arm coming up to wrap around the smaller man as he nestled slightly closer.
“... I’m never going to be able to eat crab again”
Rhys sighed, as if that was the important take-away from the night. He lived to complain about crab another day, that was all that mattered to Zer0.