Multi-Dimensional Merchant System

Oliver massaged his temples slowly, trying to ease his headache. Even with Ashton- the man that hired Eve- answering all of his questions without hesitation, unraveling the tangled knot to find who was actually behind it was a pain.

Ashton, despite working for an investment company, actually received the order from their parent company and a man named Robert... But the order didn't start with him, of course. He got his order from their parent company.

And that order came from one of their financial officers... Who got the order from someone he owed a favor to and was a fellow member of the board for a local charity...

And that man received the order from the senior partner at the law firm where he worked, a man by the name of Norton Graham... Who actually earned his position thanks primarily to being personally contracted to Carl Hardeman Sr.

While Oliver already had an idea of the origin, having detailed confirmation helped him to finalize his plans... And he had to thank Ashton for doing most of the work for him... And giving him new information about the system, though perhaps it was a different system? He couldn't, and now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

“You know, Ash- Do you mind if I call you Ash?” Oliver said, his masked form looming over the cowardly man. “You saved me quite a lot of time and effort. I have to ask, though, why go through the effort of digging through all that bureaucratic bullshit? You were already doing what they wanted and getting things in motion, so why bother?”

Ashton licked his lips nervously. “W-well... Worst case, it was to cover my own ass. You know, in case things went wrong... Like it did... And... Best case? I could use it to blackmail them later. I don't want to mess with the Hardeman estate, but... Using it for some other benefits was definitely possible...”

“I... I've told you everything. Please, just don't kill me! I swear, I won't tell anyone about this...”

Oliver chuckled and clapped the man on the shoulder. “Ash... How can I trust you? You hired a mercenary, admitted to planning to blackmail your bosses... And, at this point, you've probably guessed who I am. I'm not exactly a forgiving person...”

Slapping a piece of duct tape over the man's mouth before he could start begging or crying, Oliver turned and walked away. It was almost midnight already, and if he wanted to deal with these idiots and still have time to tackle his bigger problems... With a sigh, he pulled out his phone to start planning things out.

“Looks like you've had a busy night.”

Oliver froze, instantly recognizing the voice. His trusty FAL appeared in his hands as he turned to scan the area around the abandoned house he had used for the 'interrogation'. “I remember making some very specific threats about what would happen if I saw you again, Eve.”

Soft laughter from the roof behind him caused Oliver to spin in place and raise his gun to his shoulder, but he saw no sign of the woman.

“But you haven't seen me, Oli. Besides, I thought we were already past that little misunderstanding?”

Oliver grumbled to himself and shook his head, the gun disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared. “Let's skip the flirty banter, ok? Like you said, I've had a busy night. And it's only going to get busier. So, tell me what you want and I can get moving.”

He could practically hear the pout in Eve's voice when she spoke. “Fine, just take all the fun out of this.”

“Mostly, I was just following along to watch. I'm not usually the voyeuristic type, but you are just deliciously vicious...”

“Get to the point, Eve.”

Quiet giggled echoed behind him, but Oliver refused to continue going in circles with her. After a moment without a response from him, Eve huffed and spoke again. “Fine, fine. I imagine you plan to go deal with some other assholes, so how about I clean things up for you here? I doubt these assholes will really be missed... And I could use a good meal or two.”

“Free food is the best food, after all. I'm pretty sure that's a motto for college kids or something.”

Oliver shook his head slowly. Yeah, he could be vicious... But Eve was literally a monster.

Then again, letting her clean up would help a little. While it wouldn't really save him that much time, it still meant one less thing. And that he could get moving immediately. Except...

“And give you leverage to use against me? I doubt you're above using them to blackmail me later.”

The night grew silent for a moment as his words landed. Just as he was about to head back in to finish things, Eve finally spoke up. “What if I promise not to do that?”

Oliver chuckled softly. “Like I asked Ash in there... How can I trust you? Especially since you're already pushing our agreement by showing up here.”

“Come on, Oli! If I was trying to cause you problems, there are easier ways than that! Besides, maybe I just want to be friends with someone as fun and vicious as I am for once. You know, it's really hard to make friends with other vampires. Nasty bastards that they are, you can't really trust any of them. Except me, of course.”

For a moment, Oliver felt her directly behind him, nearly pressed against his back. “Maybe if I do this for you... You can talk to your girlfriend about sharing?”

He spun around suddenly, but Eve was already gone. Soft, snickering laughter echoed from the house. “I'll just go ahead and handle things here. You go take care of your other business.”

“And text me if she agrees!”

Throwing his hands up in the air, Oliver stomped away. Eve was going to do whatever she wanted anyway, and he doubted he could stop her. “Don't forget to get rid of the car!” He shouted back at her as he left.

Oliver had thought through how he would deal with Hardeman. Posting a bounty was an option, but he immediately discarded it. Even if he had the credits necessary-which he discovered would cost him only about 10,000, a surprisingly reasonable amount- who knew how long it would sit there before someone took the job? He had already let this particular problem fester for too long; it was best to deal with it now.

And a part of him simply wanted to do it himself.

He hated going in blind. While he had Hardeman's address... That was it. No layout to work from, no idea about the security the man had in place... If not for his drone, he would hesitate to even consider moving on the man so soon.

Oliver was constantly glad he had grabbed the drone when he could. It had paid off several times already, and he expected it to continue to do so for some time.

His earlier use of the drone had take roughly a quarter of its charge, but he figured that he had more than enough left to get this done. From his hiding place several blocks away, he piloted the drone as it zipped along the road to the house in question, and Oliver's eyebrows rose minutely in surprise.

The house was surprisingly understated. While it sat on a sizable corner lot, it was a simple two-story affair. While larger than its neighbors, it wasn't excessive in its size or decoration. Oliver's best guess was a dozen rooms on each floor, including the addition over the garage.

Still a lot of space for him to search alone when looking for his target, but definitely not as bad as he had expected. He wasn't sure if it was because Hardeman refused to pay for a larger place, or if he just wanted to appear more down to earth than he really was... But that didn't matter anyway.

More surprising was the lack of security guards. He didn't spot a single one patrolling outside and, considering the general lack of lights on inside, he doubted many were there either.

At such a late hour, only two rooms had lights on in the entire house: One on the first floor, and another on the second. Flying the drone closer to the lit room on the first floor, Oliver listened carefully for a moment.

A small smile crossed his face when he heard hushed conversation.

“-about time for your walk through, isn't it?”

“Yeah. I hate when Mr. Hardeman decides to work late. He always yells at me when I peak my head in to check on him.”

“Just don't do it then. What, you think someone is going to climb the building just to fuck with him?”

Soft laughter echoed from the room, before the other man growled a response. “How do you think you got this job, Mickey? The last guy thought the same thing and got fired for not checking in like he was told to do. I'm sure as hell not going to throw away such an easy job just because I get yelled at once or twice...”

Oliver continued to listen to the mostly silent room until the man returned from his walk through. Then he made his move.

Just as the idiot guard had predicted, Oliver chose to climb the side of the house, his improved attributes making it feel nearly effortless. With the lack of handholds on the well maintained building, he got a running start and leapt up, catching the edge of the garage roof. Pulling himself up quickly, he edged around the addition that took up a good chunk of the space. Leaning around the corner of the house, he stretched out enough to grab the closest windowsill.

And then just swung out to hang from it by his fingertips.

The feeling of power and grace was almost intoxicating, but he hurriedly suppressed it. Being confident was fine, he reminded himself, but growing arrogant could get him killed. The slight twinge from his earlier gun shot wound reminded him of that clearly- though it also reminded him of the subtly disquieting feeling of Lita, his armor, sealing the wound and feasting on the small amount of blood that had flowed from it.

Something else to think about later... Or ignore, as he knew he would likely do. He already knew she fed on his blood, anyway.

Shimmying across the windowsill, he didn't hesitate to swing straight to the next one. And then the next. In less than a minute, he reached the only lit window on the second floor- Hardeman's office. Pulling himself up carefully, Oliver perched on the narrow sill and gently pressed his ear to the window. He could barely make out the soft rustling of papers and the creak of a chair.

He couldn't be completely sure it was Hardeman... But he also seriously doubted it was anyone else.

Pulling a hammer from the system warehouse, Oliver knew he had to be quick. As soon as he broke the window, the guards would likely come running... And, judging by the sign on the lawn and the stickers on some of the windows, the security system would probably send an alert to the police.

With a deep breath to steady himself, Oliver swung the hammer. Glass shattered, spraying the room beyond, and he dove through the flying glass and swinging curtains.

The moment his feet touched down again, he turned to the large man sitting behind the heavy oak desk... And had no doubts that he had found his target. The family resemblance was obvious, the man looking exactly like an older- and admittedly fatter- version of Carl.

Hardeman immediately reached for the cell phone sitting on his desk, but Oliver closed the distance in two swift steps, his Psi Blade appearing in his hand instantly... And, as Hardeman's head tumbled to the lushly carpeted floor, Oliver couldn't help but mutter to himself.

“Honestly, I thought that this would be a lot harder.”