The Businessman and the Negotiator; the Itami and the Knight.

With the Drago Enterprises situation having devolved, France proved to be the focal point between Xelot-Demai conflicts, manifesting itself in a number of Black-Ops conflicts as well as a fierce cold war.  Rayad Demar sat in his office, laughing to himself at the term as he read the report, wondering to himself how there could be such a thing as a fierce cold war.  He was forced to admit however that the Xelot Army did have the Demai Operatives at their wits end, and apart from resorting to terrorism, there was little that the Demai could do to shake the Xelot grip on the country.  Rayad raised an eyebrow as he contemplated that option.  It was a known fact that it would be impossible to legally connect the acts of terrorism to the Order, but everyone would know that it was him… everyone who was important that it, since civilians never really mattered in these forms of conflicts, causing him to dismiss that option.

“David.”  He sounded, causing his communications link to search its database until it came across the name, and attempted to make the connection.  The connection took longer than most, but that was expected given the operative’s particular line of work, forcing Rayad to be patient before the link was finally made.

“Ah Rayad, a pleasure to see you, how can I be of service my friend?”  The man answered, fixing the collar of his eccentric suit.

“Ever fashionable I see.”  Rayad jested, mentally comparing the designer suit which he wore to that of his long time friend.  “I need you to look into something for me, as it seems that we may actually lose this cold war in France to those zealots… I’ve decided to ensure that they remain confined to that block.”  Rayad explained, causing his friend to smile.

“I see… so how far east are you moving?”  The man inquired.

“What makes you assume that I’m moving east?” Rayad now inquired, trying to deduce the man’s reasoning.

“Well, we all know that the Mercenary has a strong hold in North America and Canada; the Rogues may as well control the South and the Caribbean.  The Xelots have placed their grip on England and now France, and the Itami seems to have made his base somewhere near Romania… it would only be logical to concentrate your forces in the east, where your influence and military might is the strongest.”  The man reasoned simply.

“Knowledgeable as ever I see… well you are right, I’ll be sending the specific location to your data pad, so stand by for transmission.  I expect that this will be an easy job for you?”  Rayad inquired, almost rhetorically, waiting for his friend to check the location and his mission before given the reply.

“This shouldn’t be a problem.”  He said as he looked at the data pad, before turning his gaze back to his comm. link and raising an eyebrow.  “Is this purely in the interests of the Order or are there other beneficiaries?”  The man now inquired, causing Rayad to laugh.

“There are others, but I assure you that their benefit, benefits us as well.”  Rayad smirked, causing the man to laugh.

“Very well then… you were always the superior businessman.”  He laughed.

“Indeed, and you were always my most competent negotiator.” He replied.  “May I expect results soon?”  Rayad inquired idly.

“Of course, just warn the Itami not to impede my progress with any unnecessary acts of heroism.”

“No worries, Maximillian knows all to well that his assistance is not required.”  Rayad explained.

“Excellent, then I will report momentarily.”  He replied, causing Rayad to nod before ending the link.

With this now, Rayad sounded the name “Marshack”, creating the connection between himself and his rival.

Once again, the connection took a while to connect, but this was expected as Marshack was probably contemplating whether or not he wanted to put up with Rayad’s annoyance.  Finally, the link was made and Marshack faded into view.

“What is this about Rayad?”  He inquired sharply, causing Rayad to smile.

“It about the completion of your quest… I’m to understand that a couple of my operatives were pivotal to its completion?  I was just calling to tell you that no thanks are necessary, the Order of Demai is always glad to help the nation of France when it is in need.”  He laughed lightly, as Marshack rolled his eyes.  “I look forward to us being able to work together on many more projects like this.”

“I would rather not.”  Marshack replied abruptly, ending the link.

Rayad raised an eyebrow, noting that the exchange was considerably shorter than usual, meaning that Marshack was either exceedingly annoyed, or genuinely busy.  Rayad thought to himself, he hadn’t called Marshack in a while, so there was no reason for him to be this annoyed, since he knew for a fact that he was the only one who could actually get under Marshack’s skin like this.  This left only the option that he was actually busy.  This left Rayad somewhat uneasy as he wondered exactly what was going on in that Fortress.

Back at the Xelot Fortress, Odessa, Marshack Almed, and Shin Itami were concluding a business meeting, as Shin now rose to leave the facility.

“I apologise for any bad blood that the actions of sons may have caused… can I assume that this has smoothed everything over?”  Shin inquired, causing Marshack to nod.

“The only aim of my operatives was to ensure that your nephew did not end up the unwilling pawn of Rayad Demar and his lackeys, I harbour no ill will towards you for doing what I would have done in the same situation… and this show of good will on your part is unnecessarily gracious.”  Marshack explained.

“Well, I must admit that you are not the only beneficiary in this deal.”  Shin expained.

“I wouldn’t expect to be.”  Marshack replied, before continuing.  “But still…”  He said, starting again, before being cut off by Shin.

“You’re welcome.”  Was all he said, before Marshack nodded, requesting that the shields be lowered so that Shin could teleport out.

As Shin, left the Fortress, the shields powered back up, with Rayad sitting at home in Tel Aviv, wondering just what The Itami and The Knight had planned for himself and the rest of the world.  The feeling of unease would stay with Rayad for quite a while as he tried to figure it all out.