An even playing field

‘Shit, yo, what the fuck happened to you?’

‘I got fucking ambushed. Is the Boss here?’

‘Upstairs, yo.’

‘I can grab him. Who ambushed you?’

‘That fucking cop. The one who’s the mayor’s son.’

‘Oh, shit. Over that fuckin’ alien piece of shit?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Even more glad I turned that job down now.’

‘Shhh.’

‘I always thought that guy was soft.’

‘Yeah, well, he had help. This demon bitch!’

‘...Wait. Say that again. Did you say a fuckin’ “demon”?’

‘With horns and red eyes and shit! And fire!’

‘Yo, man, that sounds fuckin’ nuts.’

‘You’re shittin’ us, right? How the fuck’s that even possible?  You ain’t had a knock on the head or nothin’? ‘Cause this is some fuckin’ fantasy shit, dude.’

‘Multiple knocks to the head by the look of it.’

‘...I’m gonna get the Boss.’

‘I’m not making this up! This whole thing’s over a fucking alien, don’t you think that sounds like fantasy shit?!’

‘Yeah, man, the one single alien in the entire town. I ain’t sayin’ you’re lyin’, dude, just… fuck man, I dunno. This ain’t a supernatural heavy town, an’ fuckin’ demons?’

‘Boss? We got a situation.’

‘Yeah? What kinda situation?’

‘Austin’s back, and bloodied. He says he got ambushed by the cop that shat out that meteor droppin’ cunt and, uh… a demon.’

‘What? Are you shitting me?’

‘Eli thinks Austin got punched in the head one too many times, but that’s what he’s claimin’. Fire, red eyes, horns, the works.’

‘It never fucking ends, does it?’

‘Nope. No explanation why a demon’d be interested in Austin, providin’ he got it right.’

...

...

‘What happened to you, Donovan?’

‘Like I told them, I got ambushed by that cop and the demon he was hiding behind. She came to my place, knocked on the door and fucking teleported me! He was waiting, and she attacked me and started making fire and shit and saying she was gonna burn my balls off!’

 ‘Jesus.’

‘You get this bitch’s name? Man, this is fucked.’

‘No, she never said. They took a photo of me after, saying they needed me to look messed up and that it’d get their point across.’

‘That sounds dodgy.’

‘Get their “point” across? So this gotta be ‘bout the beatdown that never happened, yeah? So, shit, does that mean the mayor’s got demon enemies? An’ we stumbled into the way agreein’ to this job?’

‘I can’t think of anyone else they’d wanna show that photo to. If that’s really the case, that’s way beyond what we signed up for.’

‘Yeah, if this is gonna get us landed with a risk of castration by fire, we’re gonna have to back out. You reckon the mayor knows ‘bout this? If Eli’s right and this is one of his enemies, then he must’ve known.’

‘Sure sounds like it. I’m gonna have to talk to him again. This is fucking stupid.’

‘If you want me to come with, just say the word. Extra witness can’t hurt.’

‘Yeah, would be good. Cheers.’ 

‘So you believe me?’

‘Honestly, all that just sounds too weird to make up. And if you were making it up, you wouldn’t admit to being beaten up by another bitch. You’d make out it was a bloke.’

‘We probably oughta get talkin’ to the Mayor at the first chance then. Reckon we can catch him tomorrow?’

‘May as well go over to his place. Don’t think I feel like making an appointment.’

The next day...

‘Fancy place.’

‘Yeah, wouldn’t mind a nice joint like this myself.’

‘Evening, gentlemen. Who are you here for?’

‘We’d like to see the mayor.’

‘And who should I say is asking?’

‘Oh, tell him it’s Mr. McIntyre.’

‘Sir, there’s a Mr. McIntyre here to see you. Um, yeah, that’s who he said he was. Him and a Mr…?’

‘Nguyen.’

‘Mr Nguyen… Right, okay.’

‘He’s coming down, if you don’t mind waiting here.’

‘Not inviting us in?’

‘Uh, not just yet, no.’

‘Fair enough. So how long you been workin’ for the Mayor?’

‘A year, now.’

‘Must get boring, standing here for hours on end.’

‘Ah, there’s no room to get bored. I’ve got to stay alert.’

‘Hey, who are they?’

‘Guests for Tate.’

‘Oh, he never said people were coming over tonight.’

‘It wasn’t a planned visit. We’re just dropping in.’

‘Yeah, just a flyin’ visit to get some clarification from Mr Mayor, and then we’ll be off. Nice to meet you anyway, love. I’m Tracy.’

‘I’m Brie. Nice to meet you too.’

‘Come on, let’s talk somewhere else.’

‘You’re not inviting them in? Tate?’

‘What was all that about?’

‘What do you think you’re doing, turning up here?’

‘We had to talk to you. It’s kinda important, and we didn’t wanna fuck around gettin’ an appointment.’

‘You don’t want your girl seeing us?’

‘I’d much prefer to be discreet about this. There’s a lot that would be too awkward to explain to her.’

‘You caused more of a scene just then.’

‘It’s my problem, I’ll deal with it later. Go on, what’s so important?’

‘Austin Donovan got ambushed yesterday.’

‘Oh, that. Yes, unfortunately I already found out about that.’

‘...And it never occurred to you to tell us?’

‘I knew you would find out before long anyway. I had other concerns on my mind.’

‘Except you’re the reason he got attacked.’

‘Excuse me? May I point out that it was both Austin and yourself who fucked up that job?’

‘You can, sure, but as a rebuttal, we weren’t aware one of our boys was goin’ to get ambushed not just by your fuckin’ pig son, but some demon bitch too. That’s some valuable info we could’ve done with way in advance, Tate.’

‘Exactly. We didn’t sign up for any of that supernatural shit. Fucking demons?’

‘Look, I don’t need this right now-’

‘And you think we did? I don’t want to put my men in the way of that kind of danger for working for you. Roughing people up from time to time, sure. But we’re not getting involved in jobs that risk revenge from people who can fucking throw fire around.’

‘You’re acting awfully high and mighty for someone whose negligence recently got me ambushed, as well as bungling the last job I asked of you.’

‘You got beat, Austin got beat. So both sides fucked up, and now we’re on an even playin’ field.  Except our Austin was nearly set on fire. Last time I checked, the Gallos didn’t do that to you. So that’s an extra fuck up on your side. We ain’t bein’ high and mighty, Mr Mayor, we’re pointin’ out that we ain’t gonna risk our boys if you ain’t gonna tell us about every risk we could encounter doin’ your jobs. If our boys get fucked up or killed, then who’s gonna do your shit?’

‘...Alright. Fine. Point taken. Despite everything, I don’t want this arrangement to come to an end. We can still be mutually beneficial to each other.’

‘I agree. But I have to look out for my men. You need to get someone else to deal with your supernatural problems.’

‘Don’t worry about that. I have someone else on it.’

‘So this ain’t likely to happen again? You can swear it?’

‘I promise.’

‘Good. That’s what we came here for. So that’s a deal?’

‘Yes. Truthfully, I had no idea Ellis would side with her. They’ve never worked together. They were enemies, too. I was wholly unaware that had changed.’

‘Alright. ’Least we got this hashed out now.’

‘We’ll leave you to get back to your girl. Nice one, by the way.’

‘Thank you.’