Puppet {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 4

Tobias Florian wasn't as impressive as I thought he would be. He was around the same height as Blu, had sleek black hair and hazel eyes, and was wearing blue jeans and a dark blue button up dress shirt. It was an unusual outfit to wear considering how hostile the world was now, and I had to wonder if he even had a weapon on him.

When he stepped into the room, he snapped his fingers and the two men with him dropped their guns onto the table before standing back. Both were blond, but one had longer hair than the other. They must have been Florian's two body guards.

"It's been a while," Tobias greeted and stuck his hand over the table.

Both men accepted his hand and shook it before blue eyes leaned against the table, "It has," he looked over at his companion before eyeing the two men behind Tobias, "I like your friends."

"Can't be too careful," Tobias explained, "What about you? Where is your Phönix Anführer?"

The man with blue eyes squinted seriously, "Doesn't Führer refer to Hitler? Our boss isn't Hitler, you should know that by now!"

Tobias just rolled his eyes, "Führer means leader."

"I don't care about your Russian language, we have more important things to discuss."

Tobias' eyebrow twitched in obvious irritation, "It's German. I'm Austrian. Shouldn't you know that by now?"

"Austin?" there was confusion in the soldier's dark blue eyes, "I thought your name was Toby."

Tobias lifted his hands and rubbed his temples, "My name is Tobias Florian, I'm from Austria."

"So your name is Austin Flowers?" blue eyes elbowed his dark skinned companion, "Get it? Austin Flowers?"

"I get it."

"Warum muss ich mir das antun?" Tobias took a breath and dropped his hands, "I think I'll aim my conversation to you, Mr. Knight," he made a point of saying the name just to specify who he was talking to, and the dark skinned man nodded.

"I'm important too you know," blue eyes insisted, "I'm the second in command."

This made me pause. Then that other man, Knight, was definitely the leader. At least I knew who to aim for now, but... the ring. Damn it, why did I still have a conscience? Why did I suddenly feel guilty about what I was supposed to do? He was my mission, I had to focus. Married or no, kids or no, it didn't matter. He was just another stain of blood. Just another nightmare.

"Why did you contact us?" Knight asked, and I turned to focus all my attention on him, "It was short notice, we didn't even know you were in the states."

"Yes, well until recently I wasn't," Florian pulled out a chair and sat down, lifting his feet and propping them onto the table.

He was acting so... calm, not at all like an informant should act around buyers. He was treating the two soldiers like they were longtime friends.

"A few weeks ago I got a call from an old friend of mine. He wanted me to deliver something to the Phoniks Vidroh, don't worry," he held a hand up when both soldiers tensed up in preparation of something violent, "I highly doubt it will kill you," Florian folded his arms over his chest, "Probably."

"What is it you're delivering?" Knight asked.

"More like who," Florian lifted a hand and waved it, "I don't exactly know the details I'm afraid. I honestly don't know why I agreed to this. I was happy in my lovely Austrian mansion, but then I get a request I couldn't refuse, so now I'm here dodging the Con Rồng in order to deliver this... this boy, back to where he apparently belongs."