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"So... to what do I owe this pleasure?"
Roman was squatting down awkwardly, refusing to let any piece of his attire touch the dirty surfaces all around him. Some distance away, on the far side of the room, Neo stood looking absentmindedly at the silent streets and grey skies visible through the cracks of a dilapidated wall. In front of Roman was a... creature? Perhaps a machine of some sort? Its appearance was that of a floating orb coated an unsettling hue of black and red that seemed to pulsate in a disturbing manner; almost as if it were alive. The delinquent had always had a hard time trying to determine what it was exactly, but there were two things he was very much certain of: one, he wanted those weird tentacles coming out of it to stay far away from his face and even farther away from his coat; two, every time that thing showed up it meant bad news.
The orb began emanating noises that resembled the tones of a female voice, yet were far too distorted to be truly recognized as such: "You've failed us, Roman."
The hoodlum adjusted his hat and stood up with some difficulty; his legs were tired from not having sat down in a while. Grasping the tip of his nose with his gloved hand, he took in one, two, three deep breaths and then addressed the strange orb... thing.
"In the strict sense of the word, I haven't failed just yet. I just happened to run into a temporary inconvenience, is all. To me, this is a minor setback at worst: much of the progress that's already been made is set in stone, after all. Although far be it from me to deny what a spectacular stroke of bad luck running into that little twerp was. It's going to be hard to contact and regain the trust of all of my associates... as well as sweeping up any bad seeds that may sprout in the quick time I'll be gone. But such is the life of rats; I can handle it."
Hovering around the room, the orb moved in irregular patterns as Roman spoke. When he was done talking, the orb approached him slowly and then the same distorted voice was heard once more:
"Had we not provided the resources and information your associates have found so valuable, you would have never gotten this far in the first place. Without our contributions, you would still be dedicating your life to trafficking and petty crime. At any time, we may decide to withdraw our support if we deem it is no longer worth the investment. It would be best for you not to forget that."
"PFFT-"
Roman tried, desperately, to hold it in, but he couldn't help breaking out into mocking chuckles. Neo kept looking into the distance, but she too smiled, enjoying the sound of Roman's laughter. So amused was Roman that he barely noticed the orb's tentacles gradually approaching him and floating just above his body. Regardless, with a kind of steadfast confidence that could only flourish as the result of hard-earned experience, the delinquent spoke: "You might have not noticed, but right there you proved exactly why you need me. I can tell you're quite sheltered. If you think leveraging power and influence to threaten others into complying willy-nilly with your whims is a good way to go about business, then I'm afraid you've seen one too many movies. Take it from someone who's had to haggle ever since he was a kid to survive; the finesse of negotiations only becomes that much more important when the law is not there to protect you. Underestimate the people you're dealing with, see them as nothing but no-good punks, and watch how quickly you end up as one yourself. I've often come across the bodies of the people who've made those kind of mistakes lying around, so if you want I can point to their direction so you can go and ask them how it went. Otherwise, stick with me and I'll make sure you get some real power, the kind that won't vanish the second a smart guy with half a clue organizes everyone who resents you to screw you over."
