"Polo."

David Smith stepped into the room with the air of a man that felt no fear. A man that knew both himself, and the world around him. Knew how to harness and manipulate them both to his best advantage, and never had a single doubt as to the outcome. He wore a dark grey business suit tailored for a man of his height and slender build, and a four-button vest to match, with a blood red tie contrasting both the dark suit and the white silk shirt he wore beneath. The only part of his wardrobe that spoiled the billionaire businessman look was his shoes. Designed to both be comfortable and maintain excellent grip on most surfaces, they resembled a cross between climbing and running shoes, light and agile. How he came to be here, dressed like that and with no visible weapons, was anyone's guess.

There were three things that stood out to him as he entered the dojo-looking arena, and the first was too obvious for anyone to miss. He was not alone. There was one man standing smack dab in the center of the room, and another had revealed himself by speaking the first line of the ever-popular children's game. He was off to David's right. There were others, his instincts told him, but as yet they had deemed it necessary to remain hidden.

The second thing was the realization that his first opponent, the one in the center of the room, was not alive. Not in the typical sense at least. The knowledge came to him at the first look he had of the man, but it took him a few moments more to reason out why he knew it. It was the breathing, or rather the lack of it. He stood stock still, immobile as a statue, without his chest rising so much as a millimeter. No living being could manage that, apart from an insect, and the being before him was not an insect. At least... he [i]hoped[/i] it wasn't an insect. He really didn't feel like pulling an Agent K.

The third thing was even more subtle than the second, and it was the fact that he'd been here before. He'd been to dozens of rooms almost exactly like this, but until now he'd never encountered the same room twice. A small smile curved his lips as he slid a finger across a small knot in one of the posts. 

He was beginning to glimpse the beginnings of a pattern.

Now he just had to get through these goons and figure out the rest of it. Which was probably easier said than done. The one to his right had come in carrying a head, and Smith recognized it from an encounter not more than two hours before. The man had been skilled, at least enough to manage an escape from a mob of three just before they ran into the slender man in the business suit. That particular meal had been very filling... But getting back to the point, the man to his left was obviously no slouch in combat. Even so, he ignored him for the time being and walked directly up to the statue in the center of the room, stopping just far enough away that if it were to hold out its sword directly at him, the tip would just barely press against his tie. He wasn't a fool, after all.

Then he just stood and stared back at the thing, wondering what it was that made it tick.