"I don't care how many you have to kill. Just make sure they sell," Geese Howard said angrily over the phone.
"But if we kill everyone," came the voice over the phone, "Then how are we going to buy out the property? There ARE other people with 'interest' in that real-estate."
Geese frowned and leaned back on his chair. "Very well. Then it seems we need to set an example, don't we. Burn a house down, with the entire family in it."
"Understood, sir," came the reply over the phone. "But do you want to make it look like an 'accident', or let it remain as outright arson?"
"It's an example for the others. There's no accident there. Just make sure it can't be traced to us."
"Okay, sir." The man said before hanging up.
Geese hung up the receiver and smirked. It was good to be the 'king.'
However, his contemplation on his latest orders was cut short as the elevator light 'dinged.' As usual, the doors opened with a certain redhead he expected to see. The way she walked into his office let him know something was up.
Geese turned to the elevator and raised an eyebrow at the nosy woman. "Is it time for training already?" He knew that wasn't why Julia was gracing him with her presence.
"Not yet," Julia said in an eerily calm manner as she walked right up to his desk and placed her hands firmly atop it. "But there is something I want to discuss..."
"He was already dead when my boys arrived. I swear."
Her eye twitching, Julia snapped the blonde-haired crime lord, "Not that! I'm talking about Lily!"
Geese sighed. That damn girl had been a subject of conversation with Julia that was starting to really annoy him. Ever since that first trip to Danny's Julia just wouldn't shut up! "What about her?"
"Do you notice how isolated she is?" Julia asked. "How detached from her emotions she is?" A frown soon became etched upon the redhead's features. "Or are you too busy in your work that you don't notice or don't even care about the girl you claim as your own child?"
"I don't claim her as my own child, woman." Geese stood up and stared hard at Julia. "And the way you stick your nose into business that don't concern you is getting old."
Julia didn't even flinch from Geese's glare, long-since used to it. And her own was getting harder as the crime-boss spoke. "And if you don't care, is that WHY you put her under constant surveillance?"
"What would you have me do, then? Allow for one of my enemies to take her away and torture her to get information out of her? Information she doesn't know, by the way," Geese said and walked closer to Julia.
Julia smiled a little. "So you do care..."
Geese's glare intensified. "You're playing with fire, woman. I'd hate to see you get burned."
Placing her hands on her hips, Julia remained firm against Geese's verbal thread. "Look... Geese, let me ask you something... A request really."
"What is it now?"
"You treat Lily as if she's some sort of prisoner..." Julia started seriously. "But she's a child. She deserves to be treated as such." Looking Geese straight in the eyes, she asked, "Please? Let me take her away from the city for awhile; to the forests at the Northern end of the city; WITHOUT your guards following us. There's so much I can teach and show her in such a peaceful setting."
"No," Geese said firmly.
Frowning, Julia crossed her arms over her chest. "All right, then I'll cut to the chase. What do I have to do to get you to agree to let me take Lily away from the guards and to let her have fun for once?"
Geese snorted and returned to his chair around the desk. "Only way that would happen is if I went along," he said distractedly and opened a dossier.
Nodding her head, Julia said, "Very well. I accept those terms." After all, Geese himself looked like he could use a vacation, at least in Julia's opinion.
Geese stopped for a moment and his eyes widened slightly. "What?"
"You heard me," Julia told him firmly. "I accept those terms. So get packing, we're going on a camping trip."
Geese slammed the dossier down and glared at Julia. "I wasn't serious!"
Tilting her head to the right slightly, Julia told him, "Is it now? I can tell that you yourself are strained. You need to get out of this office. This city as well. You need to reconnect with nature and enjoy the wonders of the earth, and for once, not bother to think of their worth."
Geese shook his head in disbelief. "I was fought to a draw by such an ignorant woman. How?"
Julia smirked. "Because this 'ignorant woman' is too stupid to stay down, and if she wasn't 'too kind' and held back, you wouldn't be standing here now."
"Believe what you like, I know better," Geese said with a confident smirk.
"And if you know better, you'll take that camping trip," Julia said as she waved a finger in a manner that reminded Geese WAY-too much of a certain police commissioner that he couldn't pay off.
Geese's eyes narrowed in anger. "Get that finger off my face before I decide to cut it off."
Lowering her hand, Julia did as told for once. "Vent all your anger now. I won't have you being a sour-puss around Lily when we head out tomorrow morning."
Geese shook his head. "These things you want to teach Lily... they are worthless. She has to learn how the real world is."
"If you're talking about teaching her to survive in your city, then it's only the worst aspects of the real world you teach her," Julia said. "That's not all there is to it."
"But that is where you are wrong!" Geese snapped and slammed a fist on his desk. "Lily was born from a poor couple, destined to have a life of misery. That is her reality, a reality I both teach her about and protect her from."
Julia actually jumped a little when Geese slammed his fist, cracking the marble top of his desk. She watched as the crime-lord retracted his first, leaving an indentation and spider-web-like crack pattern.
Geese stood up and stared out the window. "Look down there, woman. Look at the real world."
Julia walked over to the window, doing as Geese asked. Although it was pretty hard to see the streets from seventy-eight floors up.
"Beggars, prostitutes, rapists... That is the real world. A world a pampered woman like you can't even begin to understand," he said softly. "I cannot allow Lily to ignore it, for it would be worse for her in the long run."
Julia grabbed Geese's collar and slammed him against the window, the echo resounding through the room. "Do not speak so lowly of me," she told him in a manner that betrayed the sorrow she was feeling in her soul. "I am not blind, Howard, though I admit I may be too optimistic for this world." She let him down, knowing he would probably strike back at her. "But please. Let me give Lily the right to smile at least once." She looked at Geese. "If you want, this doesn't have to be a vacation for you. Consider it an extended training trip if you will. But please... Please... Just let me take this girl out of the city, at least for a few days..."
Geese stared hard at Julia for a moment before snorting and turning back to the window, to the city under him. "Stupid, ignorant woman," he whispered. "Two days. No more."
"Fine," Julia said. "We leave bright and early tomorrow." She walked up to Geese and did something that surprised both him and her. She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."
Geese's eyes widened at the action. What the hell was wrong with the bitch?! First she attacked him and now she kissed him!
Julia couldn't help but smirk at Geese's confusion. She started to walk out of the room, however as she did so she spoke out to him. "Get packed and get some sleep. We head out early tomorrow, and we'll have a great sparring session out there. I promise."
The lord of South Town stared at Julia's posterior as she walked to the elevator for a moment before shaking his head, trying to dismiss his current thoughts as useless, and sitting down on his chair. He had a few phone calls to make. It was going to be a long two days.
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(Posted Fri, 27 Aug 2004 02:23)
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