Testing the Waters (Tag: Oni)

[Vector]

The sun shines through the Brooklyn Bridge as below a long stretch limo pulls into the docks. There are several workers present, unloading a large freighter filled with giant metal containers. Off to the side of the ship, 3 men watch the limo pull up beside them. The driver gets out and rushes over to the side of the vehicle and opens the door. Stepping out first is Kyu and then Alister.

"Mr. Van Skier, welcome. I wasn't expecting you." the man standing in the middle of the 3 said in a strong German accent.

"Of course you weren't. You have no forethought Gerhard. Did you expect me to stand by as you try to push me out of the business?" Alister said sharply.

"Push you out? I would.." Alister got closer and cut him off. "Don't play me as a fool. I pump a lot of money into the trade and freight business. You think I am simple? I didn't get this rich by not watching my money. My Spanish partners came to me with your offer and wanted to know if I could match."

Alister walked a little closer. This prompted the two men by Gerhard's side to step closer to him, with their obvious bulges in their jackets letting him know they were packing. "I see you still hire goons as well Gerhard. You may want them to take a step back or they could regret it."he said calmly.

The simple goon was offended by Alister's' comments and pushed him back. Alister smiled and remained calm. "You know Gerhard, the first sign of bad business is forgetting where you came from and forgetting who helped you in the first place. Maybe it got lost in translation somewhere but the old saying goes, never bite the hand that feeds you."

"Are you threating me?" Gerhard asked. Alister grinned. "I don't believe in threats. I let actions speak for me." Alister calmly explained. "Withdraw your offer by 9am tomorrow." he said coldly.

Gerhard laughed. "And if I don't?" he said in a cocky tone.

Alister gave him a cold, deep stare, "If you don't, I'll put you out of business permanently."

Those words struck a cord with Gerhard's henchmen. The bigger of the two walked up to Alister and pushed him again. "You better leave mister before I make you leave." he spoke with an uneducated tone.

Alister turned and looked at Oni. Alister nodded and quietly spoke as he was walking back to the car, "Please show them it is disrespectful to push me."

[Onikuma]

Onikuma stands at Alister's side, watching and waiting for the go-ahead. He almost lept at the first push, but held himself back, knowing Alister would tell him when he was to step in.

And when that time came, it was beautiful. Onikuma grabbed the whip from inside his jacket and lashed out at the big goon, wrapping the whip around the wrist of the hand he had pushed Alister with. Pulling the goon towards him, Onikuma reaches inside his jacket once more, and before the goon can react, Onikuma had pulled out a tanto and severed the man's hand.

"If you speak one more word of disrespect to Mr.Van Skier, I will make you eat this hand." He says coldly "And there sure as hell arent enough of you to provide me with a challenge, so I recommend you listen to what Mr. Van Skier has to say."

[Vector]

Very pleased with what he had just witnessed, Alister stepped forward again. "9am tomorrow Gerhard. Your last chance." he said and then stepped back into the limo. As he waited for Oni to join him, he spoke to the driver. "We need to go to the Bentley's." he spoke directly.

As Oni stepped into the car, Alister smiled widely. "Very nice my boy. Not only did you prove yourself to me, you showed restraint. You knew when to move and when to wait. You sent the message loud and clear. I thank you, but our day isn't over. We have another stop. I had someone design a security system for me and some how it was compromised one of my holdings. So I need to go get answers."

[Onikuma]

"If I see you again, you had better bring more men." Onikuma says before stepping into the limo.

As they start to drive off, Onikuma thanks Alister for the praise. "It was hard not killing them all." Onikuma admits. "But I have a feeling that working with you is going to be fun." He smiles as they get closer to their next destination.

[Vector]

They pulled up outside of Bentley estate and got out of the car. As the approached the door, it opened up. Standing in the doorway was Chandler Bentley, founder of Bentley Software and Security.

"Alister, what brings you to my home today?" he asks as he extends his hand. Shaking it, Alister enters with Oni just behind him. "Chandler, my old friend, we have some business to talk about. Where's the rest of the family?" he asked with a smile. Chandler closed the door behind them and walks the two visitors down to the office. "Well the wife wanted to do some shopping for Alex's birthday, so Alex took her out for a little while. So tell me, what brings you buy today?"

Alister took a seat as he watched Chandler walk behind his desk and sit down. "Well Chandler, to be honest, I'm displeased with the security program you wrote for my holding companies. We've been attacked by the same hacker 4 different times now. This was supposed to end all of that and it has done nothing of the sort." he spoke very displeased.

Bentley looked shocked. "Alister I have my best men on it. We've been tracking him but this guy is good. I don't know how he does it. It's like he becomes one with the computer and get it to do whatever he wants. There are no guarantees with computers. Someone is always developing new technology." he explained.

Alister didn't like what he was hearing. "I never pegged you for the type to make excuses. I came to you with a problem you told me you could fix. You have written 3 different programs now and nothing has worked. Between the money I spent paying you and the money that has been syphoned off of my accounts, I've lost over 3 million. That is unacceptable. Now instead of results, I get excuses. Chandler, I'm sorry but I must go in a different direction. You're fired." Alister said sharply.

"Alister really? You can't do this. We have a long history together and I've done my very best work for you. I'm sorry but I will figure this out." Chandler pleaded.

Alister looked at him with disgust. He couldn't believe someone he had so much respect for would not understand that without results, there is no job. "Chandler, lets talk about this in a moment. I need to use your restroom if that is OK?" Alister asked. "Of course. Down the hall."

Alister got up and started heading to the door. As he passed by Oni, he whispered, "Kill him." and said nothing more, wanting to see if his new employee had it in him.

[Onikuma]

The order given to him by Alister shocked Onikuma. But if this was how business was done on earth, he had to catch on quick.

But this man didn't look like much of a challenge, so Onikuma had to come up with a quick way to have some fun with it.

Without a word, Onikuma leapt forward, driving a powerful fist into the man's abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. Now grabbing him behind the head, he pulls down and thrusts a knee into the man's face, shattering his nose. Onikuma let's the man lay on the floor for only a split second before he picks him up by the collar, and hurls him into the wall, jumping along with his prey, as they both crash into the floor. Onikuma's eyes almost seem to glow as he loses himself to the bloodshed, laying punch after punch into the torso of the man until all he can do is cough and spill blood from his mouth.

Still not content, and heating up with an unhealthy rage, Onikuma grabs hold of both of the man's arm, and using his concentrated chi to enhance his strength, tears them both from his body. Breathing heavily, and still seeing red, Onikuma finishes by picking the armless body up, placing it against the wall, and using his now drawn tanto to pin the body to the wall.

Taking a step back from his mess, Onikuma slowly starts to calm down, and can't take his eyes from the bloody, dismembered body pinned to the wall. "Uhhh, Alister? Alister, I think I may have went overboard.."

[Vector]

Alister walked back into the room and was taken back by what he was seeing. "To the car, quickly now. We must go." he said quickly. He stood there for a second after Oni and left the room. Mixed emotions and filled him. It was what he wanted but such a brutal death to a friend, he didn't quite deserve that. But what was done is done he thought as he turned and started to follow Oni. Just then he heard someone pulling up outside. "Kyu, hold up. We have company. Get out of site." he ordered needing to act quickly.

[Onikuma]

sensing the urgency in Alister's voice, Onikuma ducked into a separate room, out of site. Pressed up against the wall, he waited and listened for something, anything, to happen.

[Quake]

Alex pulled up outside his house and quickly ran inside. "Dad I'm home. Mom forgot her purse so I came back to get it. We're going to grab lunch while we are out. Do you want us to bring you anything back?" he yelled out as he walked down the hall to his office.

Alex opened the door and dropped to his knees. Staring at the body of his father pinned to the wall, he screamed out, "NOOO!! Dad...Oh my God...Dad..." he couldn't look, but yet had to keep looking back. He struggled to get his phone out of his pocket and call 911. A mixture of horror, anger, and sadness was washing over him. "I promise dad, I will find who did this to you and make them pay." he said through tears.

Then something caught his attention. He remembered seeing a limo outside, and he ran down the hallway to see who it was. As he made his way down the hall, he was hit from behind. About to pass out he could hear faintly two men talking. He looked up and seen a man with multi colored eyes, but for all his effort, he received a kick to the head that put him the rest of the way out.

[Vector]

Alister had hit Alex in the back of the head with a charged up plasma punch out of panic. It was unlike him to act this way, but under the circumstances, he would let this one go. He did realize that he showed Oni one of his powers and he wasn't ready to do that.

Angry with himself, he turned to Oni and said, "We need to go now. Get to the car." As he was about to leave, he noticed that Alex was starting to stir. He would have ordered Oni to take care of it, but he knew he was going to have to talk to the boy about control and figured it was best for him to take care of it. He noticed that Alex may have gotten a glimpse of Oni, and as Alex was about to look at him, Alister kick him in the head, knocking him out for sure.

They quickly got in the car and pulled away. Alister looked at Oni but wasn't sure what to say to him. He did good when it came to taking orders, but there was a blood lust about him and that was going to be hard for him to keep a low profile. "I think it's best if we head home. We'll talk more then." he said brushing Oni off, giving himself a chance to think on how he was going to approach the situation.

[Quake]

Alex awoke to a buzzing noise. He couldn't place it right away as he was trying to wash the cob webs out of his head. It took him a couple of seconds to remember what had happened and realize that the buzzing was his phone.

Getting to his feet, he took the phone out of his pocket and seen that it was his mother. Looking at the clock, he noted that it had been some time since he had left her. He couldn't tell her, not now. Hitting the ignore button, he waited for the line to clear then called 911. When the operator answered, he paused briefly, "Someone killed my father, send the police." he spoke, still stunned from the events and the head trauma. He gave them his address and walked out the door, not being able to bare the sight of his father in that condition.

Walking outside, he reached into his car and got into the glove box. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes, he took one out of the pack and threw the rest back in the car on the seat. He walked back to the steps under the covered porch, sitting on the top one and lit the smoke as the first police car arrived.

He sat there, not really looking at anything, still stunned, hoping it was just a horrible dream that he would soon awake from. The officer had approached him cautiously, starting to talk to him but he really didn't hear anything the officer was saying. Finally snapping out of it, he looked at the officer, a single tear falling from his eye, trying to hold back the flow that was building and said, "Someone killed him.....he's in the office...he's.....dead." was all he could manage to get out.

[Vector]

They arrived back at the mansion and went inside. Alister motioned Oni over to the study. As they entered, Alister went right to his desk and pulled out a bottle of scotch and a glass. Filling it, he downed the first glass pretty much in one drink. Setting the glass back down, he filled it again, put the cap back on the bottle, and sat back in his chair, this time taking only a sip.

He looked over at Oni with slight disgust. He couldn't blame the kid because he was just following orders, but to go to that extreme was glorified madness.

"I hope that wasn't your best work Kyu. To say that I am surprised is an understatement. If you wish to continue to work for me, you'll need to tone it down a little. He was a friend of mine after all. I thought that was made clear." Alister spoke. Almost immediately he felt better getting that off of his chest.

He looked at Kyu, awaiting his reaction to what he had said. He didn't want him to think that he was mad so he added a small retort. "You listen very well though and I do like how you do not attempt to question my orders." he added in a little more upbeat tone.

[Onikuma]

Onikuma stood and listened to Alister. He could understand why Alister would be slightly upset over what he had done, but a kill was a kill to Onikuma. His reputation in his homeland was that of brutality. Sure, he knew hundreds of easier ways to kill someone, most taking less time and involving much less blood, but Onikuma wasn't an assassin- he enjoyed the bloodshed.

But if that wasn't how Alister did things, Onikuma thought to himself, then he may need to change his ways while working for him.

"I Apologize Alister." Was all he said, not knowing if Alister was going to want him to explain himself, or if it was best to just drop the topic and move on.

[Vector]

Alister just stared at Oni for a moment then took a deep breath. "Well good, now that's over, I have some work to do in my office. Take some time for yourself, but keep a low profile. I also want you to keep an eye on Alex Bentley. Find out if he knows anything but do not engage him. We don't know how much he knows." Alister ordered as he turned and walked into his office.