Participants:
| Scene Title | Delicate |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cardinal wakes up after being kidnapped |
| Date | March 19 2011 |
An Auto Shop
An Auto Shop.
It isn't the most pleasant awakenings Richard Cardinal has ever had.
It's probably not the worst, either.
After the copious amount of cold water being splattered into his face. The sound of clattering and movement can be heard in the darkness that encompasses Cardinal's world. As consciousness slowly fades back in, it becomes more and more obvious that someone is talking. And already in the middle of a sentence.
"…So I think you understand that this is necessary."
Cardinal is blindfolded. Hands bound by tight rope, needled through the pegs of the chair he is positioned in. His ankles secured to the legs as well. Water drips down from his face as the smell of oil fills his nostrils. Adynomine courses through his veins making going into the safety of his shadows impossible. After the initial clattering and the sentence is laid out it's relatively quiet. Until…
SMACK
Knuckles lay hard into Cardinal's left cheek just below the eye. Sending him and his chair going over to clatter to the ground. Another silence follows. "He'll be here soon. So I need you to act the part." The voice sounds more familiar now as memories sprinkle back into Cardinal's waking mind. "A civil war is going to happen. And if I act the right way? This could be my ticket to the top." The voice is murmuring quietly. "But for that ticket to be valid… I'm going to need your help. I figure you'd be dead without me, so it's alright that I'm commandeering you like this." Warm fingers apply themselves to the tender injury on Cardinal's face, working the blindfold off.
Dong-tian's face. Smiling lightly. "So you're just going to have to roll with this, alright?"
Cardinal finds himself laying in the middle of a garage. A few vehicles up on risers, and a few other projects sitting in their stalls. The garage seems mostly vacant of people, Dong-tian being the only one in sight.
As the blindfold's pulled from Cardinal's face, he squints upwards. To be entirely honest, he can't see shit, the drug rushing through his veins keeping that little piece of his eyeballs that never fully corporealize solid. And he's not used to seeing light the same way as normal people do. He may not be able to focus on Dong-Tian's features very well, but he knows who it is well enough.
"I always— " A croak of breath, and then he swallows a bit of water that had splashed on his face, "I always liked your sister better than you. And I liked Fulk better, too."
Someone's cranky.
SMACK
Another fist fall comes down on Cardinal's face, the other eye this time. Before Dong-tian straightens up over him, one hand massaging the knuckles of the other hand. Ow. His hand falls, the punching hand flexing and being shook out a little. Finally Dong-tian sighs down at Cardinal. "That's because Fulk rolled over for you. And I imagine you wanted my sister to do the same thing for you. I'm hoping she didn't. Or these bruises might become less business and more personal." Dong-tian lets out a light sigh as he goes to bend and grab the back of Caardinal's chair.
Hefting him back up into the seated position, he lets out a grunt from the weight. "You've always been and apparently always will be, an asshole. I've heard about what happened. Why I'm the way I am right now. Because of you from the future." Dong-tian takes a few wandering steps to place himself in front of the person. "You ever realize that you might stop fucking things up when you admit that you're not God?" A rapid exhale is sent out as Dong-tian turns sharply. "You want some water?"
The question is tossed over his shoulder as Dong-tian heads to a cooler under a suspended car. Bending a water bottle is snagged out as the immaculately dressed 'Chinese' gangster makes his way back to Cardinal. "But that will have to wait for a later time. Right now we need to talk about what's going to happen, right now. Can you do that for me, Dickie?"
The impact of that fist bounces Cardinal's head off the wall, bruises already rising to darken the flesh; he'll have difficulty seeing once they begin to swell, but until the drugs are out of his system he'll be as good as blind anyway, unless he's given the time to acclimate to the situation. "Why… does everyone'n their mother insist on psycho-fucking-analysing me lately? You all suck at it, too. Was there a marathon of… Criminal Minds on or something?" It's a dazed muttering, because he's been hit in the head a lot recently.
Once he's given a chance to breath, he gives his head a tight shake, "Sure. If you stop hitting me in the fucking face. S'bad interrogation technique. Go for the stomach, ribs, appendages. Never the face."
"Could try to give you a little advice before you start fucking up everyone's lives or I could kill you." A little pat pat is given to Cardinal's shoulder. "Your call buddy." The water bottle is uncapped and held in front of Cardinal. Dong-tian pulls it down some. Ready to tilt into Cardinal's mouth should he want water. A light smile plays on his lips. "Never watched Criminal Minds," He starts in a conversational tone. "Should I try it? I like that one guy in it. From that one movie. The blonde guy?"
The water bottle is recapped and set down on a nearby tool station. Dong-tian leans against it, elbow propped out. "Oh come on Joker." He laughs quietly. "This isn't an interrogation silly. What could you tell me? Besides how many times you've wacked it to my sister. I just need you to look the part for when the boss man gets here. See.. There's a little confusion in the Ghost Shadows right now. "See. There's a lot of Triad that were brought over from the Flying Dragons. You remember them, right? Well them and some other folks in the Ghost Shadows don't like the direction Zhao is headed in. And Zhao has this hardass right hand, Lei. But the Vanguard? He likes me. And he's split on this whole hit thing. See, Zhao is radical. You need to be killed just because you were laid on the table. He's all about appearances and shit. The Vanguard of the Ghost Shadows is a more forward thinker." Dong-tian pauses.
"He's on his way here right now."
"You know, when you said you had the Ghost Shadows handled," Cardinal mutters, a bit of water dribbling down his lower lip as he lets his head drop back, "I kind of trusted you there… so what is it that you fuckin' want me to do here, Brian?"
"You're not dead, are you? I would say I'm handling it." Dong-tian murmurs, looking a little agitated down at the man. His hand comes up to pull off the sunglasses. "Just do your thing. I'm handing you over to a man named Xilai. If he does things as I expect, you'll be free to go in an hour or so. If he doesn't well.. He'll probably ask me to kill you." He grimaces a little bit. "But he'll do what I expect. He's a good man. He'll use you to further his own ambition." Good man. "He and I will want you to retaliate against the Ghost Shadow."
Turning some to grab a picture off the tool station. Held in front of the other man, he notes to it. A hard looking forty year old Chinese man. "I want you and your GameOver people to attack him. In retaliation. He organized the attack against you. The hit. He really wants your balls. So I want you and your people to get together kill this guy." Dong-tian murmurs, putting the picture back.
"You know," Cardinal spits a bit of blood to one side - probably nicked his tongue with his teeth during one of those hits - and squints at the photograph, "If you wanted me to kill someone you could've just asked. I've got a whole fucking bunch of people just spoiling to kill the fuck out of someone."
"There's a lot of politics in this thing man. It's delicate. If things don't look just the right way this will all blow up in our faces, I'll get killed you'll get killed. Everybody dead. You got it? So you need to do me a favor and have a talk with your ego and cock and see if you can't ask them if you can be in charge of your body for a couple days." Dong-tian places the photograph back down. Smoothing it over the tool table. "It has to look this way. Okay. You need to trust me. I know that I just punched you a couple times. But it's a necessity." He holds up his hands palm out as if surrendering something.
He looks as if he's about to say another piece but just then there is a faint click of a door being opened. Dong-tian grimaces some. "Look like you're a prisoner."
And with that he's stepping away cleanly.
"Sure, sure. Trust you. It's not like you're missing ninety nine percent of your usual brain capacity or anything," Cardinal mutters under his breath, his head falling forward to rest his chin against his sternum, his eyes closing as he waits for the next person to step into the room. He's been tortured before. In comparison to John Logan's hospitality, this is a luxury suite.
Four pairs of expensive shoes clip clap along the hard cement flooring as Dong-tian approaches Cardinal with a slightly larger man walking at his side. Dong-tian tucks his thumbs into his pockets as he glances up at the elder, stone faced man before gesturing to Cardinal. Chinese is uttered crisply to the man before a hand is held up.
Xilai approaches Cardinal quietly, sizing him up as if he was a vehicle rather than a man. Examining his different parts, body damage, his lips press out some. It might be a lemon. Xilai circles the man in the chair for a moment before pausing in front of him. "Cardinal." The accent is a heavy Chinese one. Much more obvious than Dong-tian's.
"My apologies that we must meet under present conditions. My name is Po Xilai. Most of my colleagues call me Shrimp Boy." A light smile curls over his stoic features as he examines the other man. "My enforcer here informs me that you were taken by Lei's men." Scanning over his wounds, a light frown spreads down. "I am sorry they hurt you. Zhao's policies are hurting the Ghost Shadow, not helping them. We need policies that ensure we gain powerful allies. Not spurn them." The accent is thick, each syllable pronounced with difficulty. "I would like to ask you Cardinal. If you might find it in yourself, to forgive the Ghost Shadow. Or at least, forgive me."
"Mister Po." It's spoken in a tired, dry voice as Cardinal opens his eyes once more, narrowed against the reverted lighting and the bruising that's swelling around his eyes, "You know… I've been remarkably patient with the Ghost Shadows Triad. I was an associate of the Ye family. The Dragons went down, I left you be. Someone takes out a contract on my life… I handle it diplomatically. And now I've been dragged away from lunch, someone tried to kill me, I was beaten up and tied to a fucking chair. My capacity for forgiveness is starting to run a little thin here. I'm just saying. I haven't been pissing in your yard, so what's Zhao's beef?"
Xilai tips his head back at Cardinal's words. He half turns to face Dong-tian who only responds with a light shrug. Xilai is then returning his icy gaze down to Cardinal. "Your frustrations are valid." He explains after a moment of stuttering over his words. His eyes lid down some at the bound man.
A crisp command is uttered in Chinese. And Dong-tian is immediately moving to Cardinal's back to undo the bindings with a switchblade.
"Zhao insists the contract from Logan has been re-instated. Some of Zhao's inner circle dispute this. In particular, me. Regardless. If the contract is in place or not. We should be a bit more choosey with who we choose to assassinate. As you have already proven you are a difficult man to kill. Not many evade the Ghost Shadows for so long." He smiles a bit dangerously, "Takes a shadow to evade a shadow, I suppose."
"With all due respect, Cardinal. And I realize you have been taken through some rough times. I am not public relations. I am a business man. And I am here to conduct business with you. If you are ready to divulge a solution to our mutual problem, I would enjoy speaking with you. If you would like to gripe." He turns some a hand motioning dully to Dong-tian who is currently pulling back his jacket to reveal the gun holstered under his arm.
"Nobody ever appreciates my humor," Cardinal observes past blood-flecked teeth, "I'd be more than happy to discuss business with you, Mister Po. You and I both know that while you could kill me right now, doing so would bring an unbelievable amount of shit down on the head of the Ghost Shadows. I'm far too connected a man to be killed like this. On the other hand, I know that you can't simply let me walk out without some sort of deal, because I'm probably pretty pissed off right now. So. Let's deal."
Xilai lets out a cut off laugh. "I apologize. English is my fourth language. Some of the nuances are lost on me." Fourth language and he says nuances. "You should not underestimate the Shadows, Cardinal. We don't have the power we do by being cockroaches under the feet of Richard Cardinal. I have respect for you, Mister Cardinal. So I would hope you have respect for me."
Po circles the chair once again before pausing in front of it to peer down at Cardinal. "Zhao's right hand, the Mountain. Lei. He will not relent. His lust for Zhao's approval cannot be satisfied. He is unfit to lead. A poor temper and no honor. He must be dealt with. He is the one that did this to you before my Enforcer retrieved you." Xilai motions to Dong-tian and then back to Cardinal. Apparently Lei and his boys tooled up Cardinal. And not Dong-tian. "With your help we can eliminate him. I have a plan. And if you are willing to take part. We can get rid of a weak link of the Shadows while ensuring this contract business, will be forgotten."
"If I didn't have respect for the Ghost Shadows… well, let's just say that I do, you do, we put away our dicks and talk business like reasonable people, instead of what we both really are," Cardinal chuckles faintly past the pain, his shoulders shaking briefly before he returns to listening. He nods ever so slightly, "I think I could see my way to helping you out with your little problem, Mister Po. I take it that if he dies, you're next in line, as it were?"
"That would be correct. Upon being raised to the Mountain, I would be Zhao's right hand. And my enforcer would take up the Vanguard position. And be next in line to take Mountain Master." As Xilai murmurs this quietly, Dong-tian is smiling softly over his shoulder. Xilai watches the other man quietly. Before looking down at Cardinal. "Well my associate will go over the details with you, I look forward to standing next to you in battle, Mister Cardinal." His hand is offered, and if Cardinal takes it, he will notice the man's skin is a little hot.
It's taken, and clasped briefly, Cardinal's lips twitching in the faintest of smiles. "Always a pleasure doing business. Next time, though," he suggests a bit dryly, "I do have a phone. I'm in the book, even…"