Working (Open) (R?)

[Jack Smith]

November 20th, 8AM.
Jack walked out the front door of his apartment dressed in his black dress pants, tucked in white long sleeve collared dress shirt, black belt, and matching shoes. He locked the door behind himself. He continued through the hallway, found the stairs, and went down all 10 flights to the lobby area, passing nobody on his way down the stairs, but encountering a good number of people in the lobby. He walked of the door of 255 south grand avenue, los angeles, california 90012, onto the sidewalk. It was another terrible sunny day, it was about 52 outside right now, but it would go up to somewhere in the low 70's. He looked up at the sky, near the sun, and cursed under his breath. He had been watching the weather channel before he left, he knew it would be like this, but still didnt like it.

He turned right, ignoring all the people and cars around him, and headed straight for work (420 south grand avenue). It wasn't even a mile there, he arrived in no time, and walked straight through the front door. He headed to his desk, but was interrupted by Bill, the only employee there that seemed to actually like mornings. "Hey Jack, how's it going?" Bill asked, "Not too bad Bill, how about you?" he replied, thinking of ways that he could kill Bill. Bill was about 6'2", probably 180 pounds. He had black hair that was slicked back, and was dressed pretty much the same as Jack. Jack had either gotten a little too caught up thinking of ways to kill Bill, or just didn't care enough (probably a combination of the two), that he completely missed Bill's answer. He heard something along the lines of 'good,' and figured it was ok to walk off. "Yup, well, I'll be at my desk if you need me. Need to sort out some things." Jack told Bill, walking off. He came to his desk, and put away some of his stuff, his keys, his phone. He pulled out some papers, and a notepad, and started going over them. He still needed to save up some more money for next months rent, but he should be fine by Monday. He reviewed all the prices of the cars, all thier parts, accessories. Looked over financing for his last customers, made sure everything looked ok still, and then got up and waited by the front. The front of the place was a huge glass window/wall, and the glass door he had walked through. The rest of the building was painted white, with black tiled floors. There were cars out in the lot, cars inside the building, and cars in the lot out back. Cars were everywhere, and he had to sell them. It was still pretty early in the morning, so it wouldn't be very busy yet. He stood watching the lot like a hawk with a couple of other employees. They were all ready to rush to the next person to come in.

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

Joshua was mad. With a scowl he changed his stance and told himself he was beyond mad and approaching fucking livid, he had passed up 'more pissed off than an angry hornets nest' in all but a few short seconds and was now pulling into the next stop. "Would someone explain to me why the hell we're really entering a....car dealership?" he asked in a clipped tone, his jade coloured eyes flashing just slightly behind his Prada shades. His fingers idly played with the burgundy tie of his suit as his toes wiggled in the comfort of italian leather, it wasn't like he was surprised that his grandfather sent him to this random place due to the joy he got in tormenting his grandson. "Sir, your grandfather is a sadistic bastard who enjoys tormenting you for his own joy. There is no reason other than to make you go through the pains of working with a car salesman and purchasing a car you really dont need, i do believe he said to 'haggle and not throw money at them like i know you will'." Steve had answered efficiently and with humor much to Joshua's irritation though not directed at the captain of his security detail, the man had been assigned to the lithe brunette when he was only 13 and had become his most trusted confidant. "Yeah wel....this whomps!"

* * * * * * * * * *

As the small caravan of black Escalades pulled into the dealership the first thing Joshua noticed was rows upon rows of cars, and unfortunately he wasn't going to get much time to calm himself as he was pulled from the armor plated vehicle by Steve and into the showroom. "I can walk on my own damnit!" he hissed out at the chuckling man and proceeded to the sharks...car salesmen. It didnt take much time for him to notice the looks he was getting from pretty much everyone in the place and once again he thanked his bastard of a grandfather for throwing him to the wolves "I need a car?" he said in a questioning manner not really knowing how to get someone's attention you didnt want in the first place.

[Jack Smith]

They hadn't been waiting too long before Bill had to run to the bathroom. The rest of them stood watching the lot, nothing. Bill came out of the restroom and made his way back towards them as the first customer pulled in, since the bathroom was on the other side of the store, and Bill had been walking back, he was closest to the door now. It looked like Bill would get the first customer of the day, and sure enough he did. But while Bill was with him, a row of black Escalades pulled in, all of the car salesmen were instantly staring intently at those Escalades, even Bill dared a glimpse. Jack rushed over to the front door, with an impossibly fast power walk, leaving the other employees behind him, cursing thier legs for not reacting fast enough. This was going to be a big sale, he was going to be set for a couple months after this. He put on a fake smile as he saw the man being dragged into the showroom, this was obviously his target. He was reluctant, which was good, that meant he could get this over with quicker, and the man would probably go with the first price he said. He noticed an odd smell from the man, but couldn't quite place it. He was human, that was for sure, but something was different. He had an urge to kill him, a little stronger than normal. He wondered how he would do it, right here, the man's guards were ready, clearly a little uncomfortable with Jack's large height, but comforted in the fact that he was so skinny. He ignored the scent, and supressed the urge easily, going back to what the man had asked. From the questioning manner in which the man asked for a car, Jack assumed he didn't know too much about them, that was even better. "Well you've come to right place then!" Jack replied in a friendly manner to the mans question like comment, with a smile on his face, "We have some great cars here.." Jack said, continuing on about various unimportant features of each, making sure the man followed, and making his way towards the front right corner of the store, where the most expensive car they had lay on display, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. If he sold that, he would make 130k at asking price. He wouldn't have to work for a while from that. He hoped that the car would catch the mans eye.

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

Joshua noticed the man striking towards his position and he stood defensive wondering if this was how a salesman normally acted, with a small smile he took his sunglasses off follwing the very enthusiastic man. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his security detail fan out within the showroom and outside around the escalades to prevent anyone who would take action against their charge "I hope my guards don't detract from your car dealership or dissuade anyone else from approaching, they have a habit of intimidating pretty much anyone and then asking questions later." His jade coloured eyes twinkled slightly as they looked at the car salesman and then shifted to the Mercedes-Benz in front of them, oh how he wished he could just give the guy a briefcase filled with money for the entire sticker price if he hadn't been ordered not to.

"You know i would normally have not cared and simply handed you over the full sticker amount in cash plus any extra crap i dont need but get anyways 'cause i just can, but then my grandfather who happens to be a sadistic bastard wants me to suffer." his voice slightly hurt and hid the most of the resentment he felt right now, the way his grandfather played him like a pawn brought back memories of how his parents used to do so. Joshua shook the memory from his mind and tucked it within the chest of things he had labeled 'never again', with a sigh he circled the sleak car trailing his fingertips across its surface "Okay...we'll haggle, then i will run up a huge bill which will make us both happy seeing as it's not our money. But it has to look like im not enjoying it, it sounds kinda kinky i know and in honest truth im sure deep down we'll both feel some kinda enjoyment. So seeing as you were the first one out of all these men to intercept me and you know your shit...well why dont you tell me all about this car? And i do mean all."

[Jack Smith]

(OOC: let me say upfront that I don't actually know much of anything about cars, but if you'd like here's a site with a review for it: www.internetautoguide.com/reviews/09-int/2008/mercedes-benz/slr-mclaren/index.html )

"Oh no, your guards are fine, I'm sure they won't bother anyone" Jack replied reassuringly, not actually caring wether they did or not, now standing in front of the car he had been going for. Jack was a bit surprised by the man's bluntness, then again most people are trying to save money. He decided that trying to play games with this man wouldn't help at all, and just went for the truth, after elaborating on all the details of the car itself. "Well, if you want the car NOW, and you want to run up a HUGE bill, you could buy this one right here. This one is our show one, it drives around to different lots, we have it for another week still. What normally would happen, of course, is you put in your order, and the car is custom made for you, with that you also get a tour of the factory where it comes from, which was built by one of the world's greatest architects, Norman Foster. But if you were to buy our show one here, well, you would be almost obligated to replace it for us." Jack said, going out on a limb and hoping this man would go for it, "This car itself is $495,000. And if you'd like to look like your really in pain, we could pretend to haggle on the price in the other room, as would be normal, I give you an offer, you give me a counter one, I make you wait for 20 minutes while I talk to my manager about it, and come back with something else." This was a crazy idea, what was he doing? What person in thier right mind would go for that? But this person seemed different.. He couldn't help but be drawn back to that scent, there was something off about him, and he could not figure it out. The desire to tear this man open, and see what makes him tick was grew some more, easy to control since he had killed just the other night.. What a fun night that was. He had found a nice woman walking down the street, it was about 2:30 in the morning, she was clearly drunk. He followed her for a little while, circling around in his car, waiting until she was alone for a minute. At last, 2:53 came around, and there she was, walking alone. He got out of the car, "Excuse me ma'm, do you know where I could find.. Oh my gosh!" he shouted at the end, pointing away from himself. He ran over to her as she looked away, towards where he had pointed, and choked her. He placed her unconcious body in his backseat, quickly tying up her hands and feet, and headed for the abandoned house he had found earlier. One of the man's guards sudden movements brought him back to the present, he had gotten a little carried away for a second there. The man wasn't talking yet, so he must not have been off for too long. Thinking of the other night seemed to make going out on a limb less of a bad idea. He could see the man taking in everything he had just offerred.

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

Joshua nodded along as the man explained to him how the car thing worked and if purchased outright from the dealership he would then have to fork over the money to replace the showroom car. He was surprised to realize that he had found a guy after his own heart in the figurative sense though, both men seemed to be fully commited to racking up a nice sized bill "Oh, that does sound painful. Why don't we enter your office and do the haggle thing, you tell me that you need to check with your manager when you're really just shooting the breeze waiting for me to cave." His eyes flickered across the man's face noticing the slight waves of facial expressions yet not paying heed in the slightest, he was more wary of his guards response and made a mental note to ask later.

The man's office was rather imposing as it seemed a little too small making it more personal and harder to keep his cool, nothing was worse to him than losing that precious control he had over his powers and letting them flare out of control. Joshua sat opposite of the man and waited for the 'torture session' to begin "Damn i'm rude, i didnt even tell you my name and here i am sitting in your office making you go through this whole just to appease my twisted grandfather's enjoyment. Joshua David MacArthur, spoiled rich kid with a bunch of issues." With ease that spoke of experience with these things, he placed a business card on the man's desk stating his job title and the fact he was a MacArthur as in MacArthur Enterprises. Joshua extended his hand to the car salesman and waited for a handshake.

[Jack Smith]

Sitting across from Joshua, he took his hand to shake it. "Oh, it's perfectly fine, this is far less painful for me than you." Jack replied in a joking manner, but it was in fact the truth, "My name's Jack Smith, car salesman, nice to meet you Joshua Mac... MacArthur?" Jack said, a little stunned at who the man actually was. He had taken him for some kind of celebrity, and in a fashion he was, but not the kind they get around here. Jack looked at the card the man had laid down on his desk, sure enough, MacArthur Enterprises. A thought suddenly crossed his mind. Could it be..? That might explain the mans different smell. Maybe thats what they did there, maybe MacArthur Enterprises was doing something very illegal behind very locked doors. They could have made him, and thier paying him off to keep his mouth shut. But why wouldn't they just keep him locked up? Maybe he could do something that prevented that. Mind control, super strength, speed, there could be any of a million possibilites. The man didn't look strong, but neither did Jack. Chief Operating Officer? What did that mean? Operations to capture these mutants he had heard about? This man could be very dangerous. He better keep it cool, and play his cards well. Jack had thought the relatively small number of murders and disappearances he had been causing each month wouldn't attract so much attention in such a large city, but maybe he could be wrong. Would someone really catch onto that? His victims were random. Theres no way, but to be safe he better watch his back for a little while. "MacArthur Enterprises? Well if you'd like to run up a larger bill, I can recommend someone to fully armor your car. That wouldn't go to us of course, it would just be for your amusement. Which I'm sure you'll get plenty of from this car anyways. But back to business. Since your so intent on having this car here Mr. MacArthur, the asking price would be 990,000, but I'll go ahead and take of 20,000 from the start. If that price is fine with you, then we can just pretend to keep haggling as long as you'd like, and you can come out and say that you brought me down 20k, which isn't bad, especially considering I'm sure they expect you to just go with the asking price." Jack was apparently having a very good day today. If he sold this, he was probably going to make enough money to not work for almost 20 years.

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

Joshua knew that Jack connected his last name with the company even without looking into the man's thoughts, the slight stutter and stiffening of the shoulders was positive indication that he was now not just a random rich kid with issues. "Yeah...that MacArthur. I'm not tied to any of the branches we have within the country of the few we have around the world, i'm more of a gopher in the sense my grandfather gives an order and i carry it out. Mostly i oversee the sites within the United States to ensure their individual programs are running as they're supposed to. I'm pretty much kept in the dark i guess." His brows furrowed in confusion over his own ease at explaining what he did in the company as well as hinting at a few of his insecurities, there was something off putting about Jack and so from years of experience put himself on guard.

He mulled over the armor option of the car and knew that Steve would press for the vehicle to be up to his standards "My head of security would have to look into this place you mentioned, any features added to the car would hae to meet his standards as well as have him present when the car was fitted with them. His pickyness saved my life in Germany a year ago, they surrounded the envoy and killed 5 of my guards...sorry i dont know why im even telling you this." Joshua signaled Steve over and asked him for a cold water bottle, turning his head again his eyes roamed over Jack and took notice for the first time since arriving that the man was fucking tall and knew why his security detail was slightly on edge. "Your probably more strong than how you look, i mean you're pretty fucking tall but skinny and yet i really do think you could snap my neck if you wante to. That's how it usually is right? The really least intimidating people are usually more than strong, take me for example...i'm pretty lithe but i can handle myself. So am i wrong?"

[Jack Smith]

He took orders from the head of the company, was followed by an escort of guards with armored cars, and was apparently related to the head of the company. Joshua was indeed very high up, and at such a young age, no doubt due to his heritage. Still, he must be important, so why would they send him here if they knew about Jack? Wouldn't they send some sort of agent to determine if he was indeed something they were looking for? Or maybe that's exactly what this was, and some kind of strange tactic. Hoping Jack would be intimidated and make a mistake? Jacked rushed through possibilities, but there wasn't enough to go on. This man seemed to be telling the truth, but if he were an agent, wouldn't he know how to lie very well? When Joshua signaled for his head of security, he assumed he would be taking the address of the place for the armored car, but Joshua just asked for some water. At the question of Jack's strength, a warning light went off in his head. This was dangerous territory. Was that a hint? Did he know about Jack? And the last part, did that imply Joshua did indeed have powers? Combined with the mans scent, where he was from, and the things he was asking, Jack was beginning to like this situation less and less. This was either a strange coincidence, or something was going on, he was sure that it was one or the other. Though other than him eyeing up Joshua quickly, as if to look for some kind of hint, he tried to show no outward changes, though he may have shifted a bit. Jack slightly laughed at Joshua's question. "I highly doubt I could snap your neck off, but I like to think that I can handle myself well enough. That's not to say that I actually could, I wouldn't really know." Jack replied with a smile, knowing full well it was entirely possible that he could indeed snap his neck off. He briefly considered trying, just to be sure he could. If this man had some sort of ability, maybe he couldn't, then again, maybe he could. He would hopefully be able to tell before he killed him though, Joshua would probably try to do something. And if he did have powers, something was up. But if he didn't, something could still be up. This could be just a normal person, that happens to be some kind of very young agent. Either way, a bad move. So Jack decided just to continue the conversation. "So what brought you here looking for a car?" Jack asked, looking through his desk for some paperwork that would need to be filled out.

[Joshua D. MacArthur]

His brows furrowed at the onslaught of thoughts coming off of Jack and wondered briefly how someone could actually string together the amount of thoughts this man just unleashed at him. Sure he knew that it was un-intentional, but still it hurt at the start when his mind's walls had been at the lowest strength and all of a sudden a mack truck of thoughts hit it dead on. "Holy crap! he thought to himself as he massaged the bridge of his nose, it had been unexpected and only a slight stream of his powers leaked out before he tightened his control...the pen rolling across the desk testement to that slip.

"Oh the car? No i don't really want it or need it, see my grandfather in all his glory decides where to send me. Just two days ago i was in Nevada at one of our sites in the middle of nowhere, the research programs there discovered something that needed my oversite to continue and after finding that everything was okay i gave the go ahead." Joshua took the water from Steve and took a large sip to lessen his irritated throat, didn't like coming to SoCal often as the air always did something to make his throat irritated. Capping the water bottle he placed it on Jack's desk and cracked his stiff neck "So my grandfather, most of the time when im sent somewhere it's for the company and yet there comes a time when he just wants to piss me off and send me on one of his "missions". Last time was a year ago in Germany, after i returned home he congratulated me on surviving his test. Anyways, is there any paperwork i need to sign?