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	Josie sniffed at the suit's cuffs, and pulled cufflinks through the holes for the button. Still smelled like iron. Didn't matter. She'd probably have to wash the suit again, before the week was out. Setting the jacket down on her couch, and kicking off her shoes, Josie headed towards her bedroom, shedding her work clothing, and replacing it with much more relaxed flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. She didn't expect anything to happen for the next few hours, so she amused herself by watching a particularly violent horror movie, then turning up the volume, so the neighbors got scared. However, her relaxation didn't last for long, as her phone began to vibrate. Groaning and pressing the answer button, she saw that the caller was Jack himself. She perked up. It had been far too long since Jack had called her outside of work! [color=Red]"'Ey, Jack! How are ya doin' this fine night?"[/color] Maybe they could get a chance to talk, to catch up.

	However, her hopes were destroyed when Jack's voice was deathly still, with no trace of his fake Cockney Accent, replaced by his normal voice, which he almost never spoke in, unless things were serious. "Listen. Josie. Byron just gave me a call. I can't tell you exactly what, but there's something you need to deal with, yourself, very soon. Please, Josie. Represent us well." Then the call ended on his end, clicking off into a long [i]beeeeeeeeeeeep-[/i]

	Josie was immediately alert. What would happen that Jack needed [i]her[/i] to represent the Enigma Gang? Her version of 'diplomacy' involved seeing how close she could get a knife to their balls before the person cracked. Turning off the television, Josie went to the window, and looked down from the third story of the apartment complex, scanning the street below.

But it wasn't from the street that anything would come, instead it was from a far less likely seeming source. The television had gone dark when Josie had turned it off and while it didn't turn back on a new image of a sort began to take form upon the large screen. It was a strange projection, slightly distorted and hazy but it would be rather clear what was being shown there. There were three people shown upon the screen in what looked to be a reflection of some other room entirely. Though it was difficult to make out details of anything other than the people themselves. 

One was a veritable giant of a man, a man who looked like he could go head to head with a car and come out on top, his hair was long in the back, but clearly balding from the front and the top. His skin seemed only moist and the old fashioned suit he wore was plainly straining to contain his form. Another was a slim woman in a dark grey trench coat, dark auburn red hair hung in two long braided lengths from the sides of her head framing a delicate and fragile face that was currently furrowed in concentration. 

And between the two of them stood one who was difficult to look at. The man was of average size and build, but one look at any of his exposed skin would cause instant disgust. His hands were covered in sores and mottled growths of skin, pus oozed from cracks and crevices there, and folds of greyish white skin seemed to slough around with each twitching motion that his hands made. His face was thankfully largely hidden in the shadows of the wide brimmed bowler hat that he wore, though the cigar that was clenched between his teeth shed a faint light that illuminated some of an even more hellish expanse of putrid pestilence. His right hand gripped the ornamental top of his cane and the left was mostly still aside from the odd twitching.

It was possible that the voice which sounded forth from the screen, a thick and phlegm filled voice made even more alien by an odd echoing distortion would be the first thing that alerted Josie to the appearance of the sending. "Ms. Reaper. From one artist of brutal messages to another. I must" there was a pause where it seemed the man had literally frozen for a long second before he continued. "commend you on your work at the docks."

Josie was completely unaware of the message, until there was a voice. Coming from the Television. Which she had turned off. 

	Whipping around to face the suddenly not-so-darkened screen, she summoned a blade, and within a millisecond of its summoning, had sent it towards the television. However, at the last moment, she dissolved it. Maybe this was the thing that Jack had told her about, and it wouldn't do to wreck her own television. Thing looked expensive, at the store Josie stole it from. Staring at the three, she saw some of the oddest individuals she had ever laid eyes upon. 

	One big man, the tough, presumably, stood there to emphasize their gang's power. The woman, it seemed, was the meta who was sending this call, as she appeared to be in deep thought, or in heavy concentration. Then, in the middle, was a contender for the ugliest non-corpse Josie had ever seen. However, it didn't disgust Josie as much as it intrigued her. The man was probably a meta, unless he had some sort of strange disease. And even then, it'd have to be metahuman abilities which would let you function under such conditions. However, Josie took it all in stride, and moved over to the couch in front of the television, sitting down. 

	[color=Red]"Well, thank you, sir! I appreciate that someone else can find it to be pleasurable, rather than a disgusting means to an end.  If this is a business call, I'm sorry for not being the most prepared. It's my off day, y'know? However, if ya want to speak about business, I'm listening."[/color] Josie smiled, but she was personally wondering who these people were, and she never was the best at keeping a poker face, so her curiosity showed on her features.

"I prefer bubbling puss and fetid ruins for my messages, but we work with the tools we have." The grotesque man said in response as he exhaled a large cloud of noxious fumes from his cigar and his grim visage shaped a disturbing smile. His lips cracked and folds of skin tore as he did so, blood and puss leaking out around the cigar, though oddly he didn't even seem to notice. 

"I am" the man began again before another of those odd frozen pauses, "the Cancer. And obviously I know of your presence in my city." He spoke casually, seemingly without caring. "And I would offer a proposal. This city has long been open territory. You have proven your place and earned a domain, it will be respected. But there are those who seek to end the balance and who wish to stamp us out." The man took another long drag on his cigar.

"They will......" this time when the man spoke again it wasn't a perfect continuation. "We offer you a place in the new order. A federation of criminal enterprise, a grand alliance to ensure we all profit and maintain our territories, and defend against the Shroud."

Josie leaned back, arms along the back of the couch, and listened thoughtfully. The man made an interesting proposition. The Shroud loomed over all crime in the city, controlling most gangs indirectly. If it wasn't controlled by the Shroud, or at least have connections with the Cowl, it wasn't allowed in Lost Haven. Which Josie admitted, wasn't good for business. Competition is the spirit of capitalism, or some shite like that. However, Josie frowned at the break in the message. It wasn't good to be rushing into deals without all the information, beforehand. However, she nodded, saying, 

[color=Red]"Well, Mr. Cancer, I must say. Your offer is very profitable for my group. And as I'm essentially the next link in the chain, below my boss back in England, I will accept your offer. However, I will tell my boss, eventually, and I don't know what his views on this deal will be. But whatever his decision is, I will stand by it. For now, though, I accept your offer graciously, and look forward to a profitable relationship."[/color]

The putrid man smiled, and taking a long drag on his cigar, said, "We'll keep in touch," and the transmission cut out, leaving Josie alone in the room once more. Well. He certainly was a... character. Josie was contemplating her actions, and whether she should've taken the decision into her hands, but Jack [i]did[/i] say she should represent the gang- 

There was a sudden knock on the door, made from a wooden object hitting the board of the door.