[center][h2][color=a187be]Zeki Glaedwine Loom- Various hours of the Afternoon[/color][/h2][/center] Standing outside the medbay, Zeki looked down at the man he'd just beaten into submission after the mask on him had gone horribly wrong. Zeki was ruffled, and annoyed, as the fight had ruined his suit. Still, the man had survived, and Zeki's plan was going well. Pacing down the hall, and looking at him again. The man was still muttering to himself, a sign he was still shocked from the madness the masks could bring on. He turned to an angel by him, the same one who had reprimanded him for looking at the masks earlier. [color=a187be] "And how is Mr. Scott Johnson's health? Any news?"[/color] She looked down at him, almost glaring. "After the beating, and your delayed help, I'm surprised he's alive. We haven't sent him to the hospital, he's going to live. His mental health is recovering a bit at a time as well. Do you have to be so violent?" Zeki sighed. [color=a187be]"I'm just a simple businessman. I dislike fighting at all. It's rather disappointing to me that he had to be dealt with so roughly. I was hoping he would break out of it in the time I gave him." [/color] "Why do I think you're lying on why you waited?" [color=a187be] "Why DO you think I'm lying? In any case, I need to know when he'll be together enough for me to talk to him." [/color] "Give him a little bit of rest, poor sod has a broken arm, a concussion, and a wade of madness to sort through. Oh, and some insidious seal drained him of his essence, he'll need that returned, demon." [color=a187be] "Racist, aren't you?"[/color] "Mr. Glaedwine, I work for a demon in a factory that grants humans powers of angels and demons." [color=a187be]"For a pretty penny too, in any case, I've dealt with worse. I'll be on the phone, come get me if he gets up." [/color] The angel shook her her head, and her wings moved similiar to a 'whatever' stance from a human throwing up their hands. Zeki on the other hand picked up his phone, and a couple presses later, had it against his ear. [color=a187be]"Hey, Maria, how's business."[/color] He moved his ear away as a torrent of yells came down the phone, in a mixture of English and Spanish. From the couple of catchable words, it seems like she was pissed he'd left her with so many customers. [color=a187be]"You know, most bosses wouldn't tolerate this kind of abuse."[/color] "Que Caray! Most bosses don't leave a single employee with 12 customers at once and say 'it looks like you've got it'. Besides, your contracts are the best job security, you can't break them." [color=a187be]"No, I don't want to break them. I'm perfectly able. Besides, even the backlash hitting me for breaking it, how would you like to look your age?"[/color] "... Yes sir. What do you need? I doubt it's just checking up on me, though that would have been nice 30 customers ago." [color=a187be]"30 customers? Wow, we hardly get 12 in a day, that new site must be working." [/color] "Don't get your hopes up, most left when they found out your best contracts are outside of their reach. What do you need?" Zeki sighed. [color=a187be]"Right to the point aren't you? I need you to come to Mr. Azoth's mask factory, and-"[/color] "HIJO DE MA-! Do you know what I'm putting up with?" [color=a187be]"Close the shop."[/color] "Close the shop?" [color=a187be]"Close the shop."[/color] "...Mr. Glaedwine, I've never once shut it early, not in my 20 years here. Why?" [color=a187be]"Maybe if you didn't yell at me, I would have told you. Pick me up a new suit on the way by the way. This one's tattered. Pity, I liked these ritz." [/color] "What's going on?" [color=a187be]"You're getting a new co-worker."[/color] "A new co-worker...?" Silence was on the other end before Zeki hung up. Turning back to the bed his victim was laying in, Zeki finally entered the room. The other man was conscience, and a mask sat on the bed next to him. The man looked confused. [color=a187be]"Mr. Johnson, how are you feeling?"[/color] "The voices.... they stopped... What's going on!?" [color=a187be]"You had an incompatible mask. It's rare, but it happens sometimes. The soul inside this mask, Albelee, "[/color] Zeki tapped it with his cane [color=a187be]"didn't get along well with you. It was ripping apart your sanity. As soon as my friend here, Azoth told me, I came rushing to help remove it. Azoth is very concerned for his customers, and I'm a friend of his. You are lucky I did helped when I did. You were at the brink." [/color] "You saved me?" [color=a187be] "Well, I tried, I'm sad I didn't manage to save you sooner, if I only I could have. If I may asked, what is it you need the mask for." [/color] "Demons! That's right, there were demons! A gang, the Dabura brothers, they were terrorizing my town, I needed the mask at all cost, they have my daughter hostage! I need that mask!" The man reached for it, only for Zeki to swat his hand away with his cane. He was honestly tempted not to. Afterall, a human ready to go back through hell, wanting to go through the same experience again, just on the offhand chance it worked? Interesting, Zeki hadn't expected that reaction, and he was sad he had to stop it. [color=a187be] "Not so fast my friend. You'll only end up with more injuries." [/color] "But I have to save her!" Zeki put his hand up to his chin, seemingly thinking, though to him this was all a game. He'd thought out how he was going to milk it from the beginning. [color=a187be]"I can help you, but only if you let me."[/color] "How? How can a businessman help against vile demons." Zeki flashed a small smile at the man, tipping his hat with his cane. From outside the room a ghostly blue light illuminated the hall. Back inside the room, the man was shocked and stammering as he looked at Zeki, who looked completely normal once again. "Y-you! You're not human! You're a demon too! You're one of them!" [color=a187be]"I assure you, I'm not one of them. I am here to help you. I swear I'll get your daugher back." [/color] The man's fear turned to gratitude. "Really, would you? You, you're not tricking me are you?" [color=a187be]"Oh, it's no problem really. Trust me, your daughter will be back by the end of the night. I'll have it done quickly, wouldn't want her hurt. I'll slay those evil demons because I'm a nice one. What is your daughter's name?" [/color] "Julia Johnson." Zeki finished the text. [color=a187be] [i] Crow, I need a favor. A couple of demons are annoying me, could you do me a favor and have them unannoy me? They are called the Dabura brothers, they stole a human's daughter, Julia. Name the price, I'll pay you later. ~Hell's Broker[/i][/color] He closed his phone as he finished. [color=a187be]"Done. I don't expect this to take long. Would you mind if I ask a favor in return?"[/color] "Are you doing this just to force me into doing something for you?" [color=a187be]"Of course not my friend. But I figured you are going to have a problem after this. With your arm like this you can hardly work. I suspect you took out a loan to pay for that mask, correct? I want to help with that too."[/color] "How did you know that? Have you been spying on me?" Zeki obsessively glanced back at his phone as a response came in. [color=a187be]"No, no, nothing like that. It was just a guess. You seem to love your daughter very much. I just suspected you did whatever it takes to help her. Right? You do love her."[/color] "Of course I do!" [color=a187be] "Well, I don't want her, or you suffer for this. It was very noble of you. How would you like to work for me?" [/color] "What could you possibly want me for? I trade stocks for a living." [color=a187be]"Well, as I told you, I want to help you. You do have one thing I could use though. You have a heroic spirit. I found an ancient artifact, it can only be used by a human like that."[/color] Zeki flat out lied on that last part. Only he was suppose to be able to use the item, but he wanted to have the man feel good about himself, and he wanted it too seem like Zeki was unable to do so, not unwilling to do so. As he told him of this 'legendary artifact', so legendary that Szayeis had made it probably recently with little time or effort, he pulled out the orb from his ruined suit. As he did so and unwrapped it, yelling was heard down the hall. Definitely Maria. She probably found the angel from earlier. Maria hated angels more than Zeki did. They hadn't grant her wish when she prayed to them. Zeki, a demon, had. He sighed, and tied it back up. [color=a187be] "We need your daughter rescued first anyways. My friend said he'd do it before tommorrow." [/color] "Who is that?" [color=a187be] "Oh, it's one of my employees, Maria Lopez Estrada de los Reyes." [/color] As he said that, she walked into the room, carrying a brand new suit in one arm. She had an angry look on her face. "I'd like an explanation, Mr. Glaedwine." Zeki spun his cane in his hand, amused at the response. [color=a187be] "Would you like a ticket? I believe this man wants one as well. Would you mind explaining a few things to him? I have a few matters of business to attend to. I don't expect an answer from him until his daughter is back, but might as well fill him in." [/color] With that, Zeki got up, picked up the new suit, and left the room, dialing on his phone incessantly. Both Maria and Scott looked at eachother, neither quite sure what to say. Zeki was always a hard man to understand.