A Complicated Business

[Sans]

No sooner had the star-spangled soldier reintroduced himself to Dustin did Marcus confront the vulpine mayor. Despite his cold, dead eyes and stoic expression, the cyborg’s raised voice and the subtle hiss in his words was a dead give away to his emotional state. He went down onto one knee so he could stare right into the glowing, amber eyes of the fox, his robotic fingers digging into the fabric of his jeans as he shifted himself forward just the teeniest amount. To most anyone else, such a movement would be imperceptible, but as soon as Wright had leaned towards the mayor, the red-skinned brutes had already drawn their swords and moved themselves in front of their leader. The smile that had been painted on the orange-furred mammal’s face had disappeared and was replaced by an almost indistinguishable grimace. Behind the legs of his guards, and with the downpour of the rain, his body was awash in darkness, with only his eyes, unblinking, cold, and calculative, perceptible.

The vulpine did not speak a word for a long while. Outside, he was as stoic as the robot, locked in a staring contest as they dared each other to make a move that would reveal themselves to the other. Inside, however, Rando was a tumultuous hurricane of emotions and wants. Not only would the Empire not leave him and his island alone, they would dare to send thugs such as this “Marcus” to threaten him into submission. Had they no respect for him at all?

Of course not, he thought to himself, that question had been answered long ago.

He snapped his fingers together; his bodyguards got the signal and stepped out of the way as the mayor moved past them towards the cyborg. He grabbed the tip of his fishing hat (the top of which was beginning to overflow with water,) and removed it from his head in a show of respect.

“Forgive me for the interruptions, mister Marcus,” he said as he dipped the hat towards the cyborg, spilling the water on his hat onto him, “I didn’t know it was illegal for a mammal such as myself to become reacquainted with a friend of mine after he had been gone for so long. Am I correct in believing this, mister Marlin?”

The old man flinched as soon as the fox acknowledged him. He stuffed his hands into his pockets to hide their uncontrollable vibrations.

“Y-Yes, sir. I-It is not illegal to hold personal friendships and relationships with members of staff as long as it does not impede work ethic or performance.”

“I see. However, what does it say about disrespect to superiors?” the fox replied, glaring right at the cyborg as he began to circle him. He made sure he was well out of arm’s reach as soon as he began his interrogation-esque circling.

The writer paused as he glanced back from Marcus, to Captain America, than back to the fox. The vulpine’s paws were held behind his back, and he could already see the shine of his claws beginning to jut out from his fingers. He gulped, the crashing of the rain around him masking the noise as he responded.

“It…” he said, “disrespect to law officials of any kind is subject to immediate arrest, sir.”

“I see.” Mayor Rando stopped to stand right behind Marcus. He gestured his paw towards his bodyguards, who nodded and sheathed their weapons. Like before, the cyborg’s face was as cold and expressionless as the steel within his body, but unlike the steel, he could feel every last nerve in his body close to snapping at the fox. Before he could pop, however, the fishing hat-wearing mammal walked up towards the slightly more muscular human in the overcoat, his fingers jabbed up towards him and his voice an almost imperceptible hiss.

“So, as a friendly suggestion to you -as you are clearly the more experienced and thus the leader of this… interesting pair the both of you make up- that it would be wise -if your employers send you to another location with a similar intent- to put your ape-pet on a leash.”

The static, unmoving expressions on his face were soon replaced with a clear snarl, the canines of his mouth visible and gnashed together. Just as soon as he was done talking, however, did this go away, replaced with the confident smile he had met them with. He stood in silence, waiting for anyone to respond to his ‘suggestion’ before motioning them to come with him. His bodyguards soon moved up to him, walking by his side while glancing back at the newcomers with frowns on their faces. Marlin Dustin stayed right next to the mayor, who tried to catch up with as much as possible with him before they got to his office.

—————————

The former law official didn’t provide any direct answers to many of Rando’s questions. He dodged around the question of why he hadn’t shown up to work for so long, only mentioning he had been dealing with ‘family troubles.’ The lack of a straight answer seemed to annoy the fox, if the increasing amount of times he heard him sighing was any indication, but he made no effort to call him out or press any further.

As they walked through the streets of Rando Island, passing through marketplaces filled with colorfully-dressed citizens and the aroma of fresh sugarcane, unclean and flooded alleyways with litter everywhere, and finally the city square, which served as the center of all the activity in the city and where business was most profitable and where politics occurred, Dustin chanced looks back towards his allies whenever he was certain they were not staring right at him. They maintained a level of calm he couldn’t believe they were capable of doing. He half-wanted to believe that they were just as nervous as he was, with his fidgeting hands and clammy cheeks blue from the cold. By contrast, he was glad they were maintaining the facade, if it was a facade at all. It was better than knowing what they were thinking about and, more specifically, what they thought of him.

He knew he should have told them during their brief meeting, but he couldn’t have afforded being found out. Now, he just had to find a way to get them out of Rando’s sight before he-

“Welp! This is the place!”

The group stopped, staring up towards a large clock tower that rose above every other building in the city. Large lanterns hung all around the tower, illuminating the clock and almost every other potential feature to be perceived so it could actually be seen within the rain and fog. Just ahead of them was a large, golden statue of a fox with a small fishing hat on his head and sitting on a throne-like chair. There were cracks underneath the base of the statue, as if something had been pulled out before the statue was constructed. Also at the base was a silver-plate with the words 'Mayor Nicholas Rando - Hero of Lando City' engraved into the metal.

“I know what you are thinking,” the fox said, chuckling as he observed two newcomers looking at the statue, “I did not anticipate my citizens being so… righteous in their love of me. I only keep it there to keep them happy. I would much rather have something more… accurate, so to speak.”

“What would you rather have, if I may ask, mister Mayor?” said Captain America as they walked towards the door of the clock tower.

“It wasn’t easy becoming mayor, I can assure you,” Rando replied, passing off a set of keys to one of his bodyguards so they could fiddle with the lock that was far too high for him to properly reach, “I figured it would be more representative of my struggle to get to where I am today. I certainly didn’t want the glamorous painting of a crusader that my citizens created.”

The soldier nodded, closing his mouth as soon as the door opened. The tower seemed to look a lot bigger on the inside than it did on the outside, a feat in and of itself considering the sheer scale of the thing. They traversed a long hallway, passing by doors that lead to elevators and stairs going up towards the actual clock part of the clock tower. Gears rumbled up above, providing a near constant stream of noise that was hard to shake off properly. Neither the bodyguards nor Rando himself seemed to be bothered by it, however.

As they closed in on a door at the other end of the hallway, Marcus took the time to look around with his cybernetically-enhanced eyes. There was nothing of immediate note except for one thing. Most all of the walls, if not covered by a door, were plastered with newspaper clippings, certificates, and general awards written to the mayor himself. He was somewhat amused by the notion of the fox participating and scoring gold in a shooting competition and boxing. With every article he found he saw a picture of the fox, smiling and congratulating himself for his success as his dead-eyed, smiling citizens clapped in the background.

Everyone’s attention was soon brought to the door. A sign was displayed above it; it was labeled ‘The Mayor’s office.’

One of the vulpine’s guards opened the door and moved out of the way for everyone to step inside. Rando entered last, tugging on the pants leg of the officer holding the door open and gesturing a signal to him. The glowing, bulged-eyes militiaman nodded before closing the door and remaining outside the room.

The short delay gave the newcomers ample time to observe their surroundings. The room was rather tidy, with stacks of files and papers sidelined off to various antique tables and chairs that were placed to the side. Wooden shelves of books, most of them about economics and law, stood a few feet behind a brown, expertly-crafted and polished table that made it clear who it belonged to. Upon the table was a small, black casket that Nicholas opened to only place his cigarette in it. Alongside the casket was a huge array of letters, most of them containing a stamp of Empire approval on them and placed haphazardly all over the table. Finally, above everyone in the room and over a small fireplace was a white, porcelain mask with four red stripes that connected from the edges of the mask to the eye-holes and mouth.

The mayor took his seat behind the table, scooting himself forward as both Marcus and Captain America did the same. His one remaining officer stood to the side of the door, arms-crossed and frothing at the mouth. Marlin Dustin remained at the fox’s side with his hands behind his back, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

“Alright…” the fox began, holding his paws together. He decided to start off simple, see if he couldn’t lull them into a sense of security, “what is it you are investigating, if I may ask?”