Revenge is Sweet, Money is Better (Edwin/DJCJ)

It looked set to be another boring day as Edwin spun a pen between his fingers, pushing the button again and again just to hear that satisfying click, and with any luck drive his next door neighbour mad. Though he had no idea who his next-door neighbour was, nor did Edwin particularly care. After all, he had bigger things to deal with right now, and that was making sure that he could make enough to eat for the next few days. He'd already been stuck on noodles for a week and felt he was starting to go quite mad - or dependent on pasta.

So sitting in front of his computer, it didn't take long before he had a phone call. Phone calls weren't particularly surprising to Edwin - he usually dealt with several a day. What he operated could hardly be called a business, but it was the closest thing to one he could muster with limited resources, and he was good at his job even if he hated that he had to do it. What was surprising was the fact that it was coming from his mobile number. Edwin's mobile was hardly unknown, but she only gave it out rarely for special jobs if only because if he was being badgered by idiots every day of the week he was convinced he would have snapped and set someone's house on fire.

The phone rang a couple more times before Edwin figured he should probably pick it up - as much as he didn't want to deal with yet another moron who couldn't figure out why the file 'HOT_IKIGAI_GURLZ_XXX.EXE' had suddenly led to their hard drive melting and their money being shipped off to god knows where, he did actually need to eat. The mobile number showed that it was a 'private caller', though such a thing had never stopped Edwin from answering before. "IT Solutions. What do you want?" 

There was a pause as Edwin listened. "Huh? Yeah, this is Edwin. Who is this...?" Another pause as Edwin listened, now paying more attention to the caller. He couldn't tell much besides it was a woman - probably some business-type. And apparently she wanted to set up a meeting with him. "Wait, what? Who the hell are you? I'm not just heeling at your beck and...huh? That guy?" Edwin grimaced - the woman was describing someone, and he knew exactly who the woman was talking about. "Oh, you bastard, Geoff, you could have at least not given my number to some random..." He coughed, hoping she hadn't caught him muttering. "OK, OK, fine. Fine, where at?" Edwin took out some paper, scribbling down a quick address. "Yeah, yeah...yeah. Yeah. OK, yeah. Yeah, I'll be there. Monday sure, yeah. Right. See ya there." Edwin would have hung up, but the caller had already done so.

He did look at his phone, wondering if he should try back-tracing who'd made the call - but decided against it. Even if he was usually drunk half the time, Geoff was probably the closest thing at this point that Edwin had to a handler (in an extremely loose sense of the word). If that guy gave out Edwin's mobile number, it usually meant something; typically it meant a black market courier job. He hated those jobs, but they paid acceptably and right now, well, money was money.

And so, soon afterwards, Monday had rolled around, and Edwin was trawling downtown, walking towards the address he'd been given - yet another café that he'd never seen before. "Seriously, is Felici just one giant organism that grows cafés?" Edwin wondered to himself, quickly spotting the odd person out - the woman in a black suit and a dress tie, sitting by herself and looking like she was waiting for someone. Well, at least Edwin assumed so, and that was good enough, everybody else here seemed to be at a full table anyway. He walked to a chair opposite her and leaned forward on it slightly. "This seat taken?" he asked the woman. "Need somewhere to sit while I talk to someone about a job." It wasn't a great introduction, true, but it would work well enough to see if this was who was talking to him - and if she didn't get it, she was either not the person he was supposed to talk to or too stupid to be worth working for.

Edwin raised an eyebrow as Audrey laughed - it wasn't exactly meant to be a joke, but he could hardly be concerned with that, but what she said the second afterwards caught his attention. "Me? What on earth do I have to do with any of this? Look, I don't know what you've been told, but I can take care of myself, thank you very--"

However as the photo slid across the table, Edwin cut himself short. He picked up the picture and looked closely at it, blinking a couple of times. And then, slowly, a grin spread across his face and he started chuckling quietly. "...oh, this. This is just too perfect." With that, he put down the table and looked right back at Audrey, an evil gleam in his eye. "Alright, now you have my attention."

Edwin leaned back in his chair. "You want information? I've got a bone of my own to pick with this particular bastard, so I'll give you some for free. You clearly already know he's in with the mob, but he's got quite a few alias kept around - he's aiming to take a few steps up the ladder of power, as I understand it. Of course, for as good as he thinks he is exploiting the security in his phone was almost criminally easy - his real name is Leonard Karasinski, or at least that's the name he's got under a bank account which has the most of his money that I can find." Edwin slid the photo back over to Audrey on saying that. "I don't really know much more about him besides what you've said - and unfortunately, I've accrued a sizable debt of my own to him, which I know he has no intention of ever letting me pay off - if he doesn't just sink me deeper into it."

Edwin sighed. "Honestly, I'd like nothing more than to help you ruin him, but he's got a few friends in high places - if I try anything by myself, he's likely to trace it back to me. And I'm not stupid enough to try and take him in a fistfight. But perhaps with your help..." Edwin hesitated - truth be told, he was still rather unnerved that this would get him killed. But then, with the help of someone who might actually be able to give him some protection, maybe there was a chance. "Alright, my price? You help me wipe my debt out with him without me getting killed - or worse - and I'll do whatever's in my power to make sure he stops being a problem for you. Hell, I'll even waive the usual fee - clearing the debt is payment enough." That, and Edwin wasn't hired for sabotage so often he had a 'usual fee', but maybe better not to let Audrey know that. Whatever risk there was, to Edwin it was worth it to not only put one tiresome debtor out of his way, but maybe let the rest of the black market know that Edwin Melchiott was not a man to be trifled with...