Hired Muscle [Private Job]

"Now ya remembers what ya gots ta do right?" Said Theobold Thawn, Darc's current client, a man of ill repute; the typical low-life loan shark scum. Usually Darc would have nothing to do with a man like Theobold Thawn, viewing them as greedy bottom feeders whom had no other skill save for bullying the weak.

Darc very rarely challenged opponents weaker than himself, finding no challenge in it whatsoever, and would normally have never taken such a job as this. However, he had recently hit a bit of a dry spell where jobs were concerned, and if he expected to be able to eat without the hassle of constantly stealing his food, he had no choice but to suck it up and take one of the few remaining jobs on their board in the guild. His choices were slim, between simple errand jobs, bullying some sadistic girl's cheating ex, etc. None of them posed any sort of challenge, and so he went with the option that would at least give him some modicum of excitement, albeit at the hands of a weaker foe.

"Yes. I remember Thawn. You've reminded me no less than five times now. We're to perform some unsanctioned demolition on some shops of a client of yours who is behind on his payments, and get him to cough up the money. Now, if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if we could pick up the pace and get this over with. I'd prefer to finish this quickly." Darc told the man with a tone that warned the man of his quickly shrinking fuse.

However, being the incompetent type, Theobold proceeded to try and puff up to Darc, "Now ya sees here. I don't take kindly ta bein' given no cheek. I'm yuh's client, dontcha forgets that."

This however simply caused Darc's temper to flare, his eyes temporarily flashed red as he quickly spun to face the small man, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him closer, glaring directly in his face, "Now you listen here fool. I don't take kindly to picking on the weak, there's absolutely no challenge whatsoever when your opponent can't hope to challenge your strength." He said still holding tight to the man's shirt as he swiped the air with his free hand, his glaring eyes piercing the wide and shook ones of the small man, "You need me a hell of a lot more than I need you right now little man. If I have to I will tough it out and break our current contract, and then what will you do? Especially after I've released all of my frustration out on you? Ya got it, Thawn?" He almost shouted at the man, his eyes wide and angry.

"Alright, alright, I got it!" The man yelled stumbling as Darc finally let him go. "Jeez." The man said a couple moments later, still flustered, "You guys ain't no joke. Nightmare's right on the money." Darc coughed an amused huff at that.

Soon after, their demolition proceeded as planned, thoroughly smashing as much of the product as they could. The man Theobold was looking for however hadn't shown up when his first shop had been vandalized, so they quickly moved on to the second. Though he didn't have a taste for the kind of work he was performing at the moment, he couldn't deny that it felt good to release some of his pent up frustration through demolition.

They didn't have to wait much longer for the man Theobold was looking for to show up, "What the hell are you doing to my shops Thawn?!" The shopkeeper yelled at Darc's client.

"Doing as I promised Frank." The small man responded with a wave of his finger, "I've given yuhs plenty of chances Frank. It's time for ya to pay up. No more games, or my new friend here's gonna puts the hurtin' on ya." The shopkeeper gave Darc a once-over before looking back to Thawn, "What happened to your other two goons? They get tired of constantly destroying my shops?"

"Nah," Thawn responded, "I gave them some well earned time off." The shopkeeper arched a brow at that statement, but Darc soon stepped in, "The two goonies apparently needed a sick day, so they called in. I'm their temporary replacement." The shopkeeper's second brow shot up at this knowledge, his face showing he couldn't believe the ridiculous news.

Darc ignored Thawn's grumble of annoyance at him pulling the rug out from under him, and then stepped forward, "Listen," Darc started, the man's warry eyes following Darc, "You seem like a decent guy, and I'm not typically the kind of man that bullies those who are weaker than I am. I'm no saint, don't get me wrong, but I do have my own code. We've already dealt you a hefty blow to your product. If you simply give the guy the money you owe him, we won't have to add any doctor bills to the pile. Sound good?"

Darc truly was trying to rationalize with the man, however, despite his best efforts the fool apparently decided to take his chances. Maybe it was because Darc was a new face, perhaps his lean profile compared to the hulking forms of Thawn's typical goons seemed unapposing in comparison, but Darc soon found himself being assaulted, or rather attempting to be assaulted by the shopkeeper.

Darc easily avoided the man's meager attempts at fighting as effortlessly as an adult would avoid a child's uncoordinated swings. Darc attempted a couple more times to reason with the man, but he refused to listen. So finally Darc aimed a couple of blows to the man's stomach, and his solar plex, quickly and effortlessly stunning the man. Immediately after Darc grabbed the shopkeeper by the throat, lifted him up off the ground and slammed him into the wall.

He pierced the man with a cold gaze as he waited for him to focus, "I did try to warn you. But you refused to listen. Just be thankful I decided to show you mercy and not break all of your limbs. Now, where is the money?"

"O-o-over there." The shopkeeper managed to huff out, still trying to catch his breath, and weakly pointed to an unsuspecting book behind the register. Darc released the man, letting him slide back down to the ground in a heap as he retrieved the book. Opening it, he found it to be hollowed out, housing a wad of jewels. With the money retrieved he returned to Thawn and tossed him the money, then held out his own hand for payment.

Thawn eyed him for a moment before sighing and grabbing out the bag of jewels, then tossed Darc his payment, saying, "Ya sure are speedy at this. Much faster than my other guys. What would yuhs say to some long-terms employments?"

"Not in this lifetime or the next." Darc instantly responded as he pocketed the money and walked out of the shop, then glanced behind him as he continued walking to say, "And I expect you to lose my contact info Thawn. Otherwise, the next time I see you, I'll be here to take away more than your money."

Word Count: 1,207 / 700