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To Catch a Fox [Skype]


Zeig

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The underworld's grime and dirt wasn't as charming as its affinity for bits. Nothing in this world moved if the bits didn't get it going. From getting information about who this mark was, to getting even a chance to see the contact, everything up to finally getting what Dunder was claiming to want. Of course, the materialistic pursuit of bits wasn't as much of a bother to the stallion as he had plenty.

 

The real prize was a hardcore theif. As elusive as they come, the "White Fox." A wanted criminal with a price on his head.

 

The only way Dunder could get this close was to fake his identity. He wasn't Dunder, he was "Pale Ale" an Itailian Earth Pony brewer who was displeased with some Trottingham competition. To shield his identity, the pegasus wore a large itailian overcoat, and a fake mustache.

 

They agreed to meet in Trottingham, under a bridge. What the contact was up to, whether it be a trap, trying to keep his identity secret, or just posture to make sure Pale did not do anything. The stallion's hoofsteps echoed through the buildings and pillars as he approached the meeting destination.

 

-----------------

 

To say this contact was different would be a lie.

 

He'd gotten used to all sorts during his fervid years making a name for himself, and in that time, those said sorts had made themselves known - most of the time discreetly, other times with outright propositions. Some even found themselves barking up the wrong tree, getting innocent civilians drawn under suspicion thanks to a subtle misdirect, weeding out the superficial from the serious.

 

Pale Ale had passed with flying colors - up to this point. And this point was exactly why he made it a point to meet with his clients.

 

Xiphos silently studied the Pegasus as he walked past the rooftop he was perched upon, obviously heading in the direction of the agreed bridge. He could not have looked any shadier, donning a large coat that fairly screamed 'I'm hiding something!' - but that only lent credibility to his story. A brewery owner could ill afford to be seen slumming with suspicion looking Aerions in the dead of night, after all, even if Xiphos had a clean record. In fact, the insistence to meet at night instead of during the day in a public space had immediately set alarm bells ringing.

 

He was either dealing with an amateur, or a mastermind.

 

But he was curious, so help him, which was all the motivation Xiphos need to silently unfurl his wings and touch down onto pavement a good ways away and out of sight from the bridge, his own coat more stylish yet still long enough to cover up his mark. It was far too easy a matter to make an obvious amount of noise as he trot into sight, pale green eyes fixed on the other stallion.

 

"Pale Ale, I presume," Xiphos spoke up, and barely stifled an eye roll at the clichéd introduction. "Word is, you've been in the market for a procurement job." The Aerion offered the Pegasus a cheeky grin, but reached into his bag at the same time, pulling out both his trusty magnifying glass and a packet of cleansing cloth. The former was enchanted, and could pick up traces of magic or spell usage if he focused with it (very handy for bucking spell-trapped houses), and the latter...well. Kinda obvious. "First things first. Let's see your cutie mark, or no job."

 

-----------------

 

The place Dunder had picked out was indeed sketch, Dunder himself was sketch, even the way Dunder trotted was sketch. A complete disregard for being subtle was exactly what Dunder was aiming for. Almost as if the pony had grew up reading Itailian crime novels. If all went well, that disregard would get picked up as amateur recklessness and lower this pony's guard.

 

The stallion's mane and tail were even done up differently to go in according with old Itailian mane styles, the Jacket was from Itailiy, Dunder had been working on his accent. Too much was on the line and it all was ready to fall apart.

 

As he trotted he was non stop scanning the landscape with his eyes. For all he knew he was trotting head first into a trap. Another plan that he accounted for, Under his wing, disguised as a feather and attached to his wing by adhesive was a hidden blade. Removing it will suck, but it was well worth safety.

 

Just as Dunder expected the contact to be a flake. After all, taking the money and running wasn't that bad of a deal. The stallion expected no more of the scum of Trottingham. But Dunder's eyes caught movement above, wings unfolding and a pony falling to the ground in front of Pale . The aerion introduced himself, straight to business. A cutie mark check.

Came the moment of truth.

 

Pale lifted his overcoat, and turned to the side to reveal a cutie mark of a beertein filled and complete witha head, without saying a word. He just eyed the aerion with suspicion. At any moment the stallion could try to pull something. Pale was a wealthy pony after all.

 

Pale 's cutie mark had no trace of magic, besides the ambient pegasus magic. If everything went well, the cleaning rag would turn up nothing as well.

 

Dunder's heart was racing, blood rushed to his face and legs. But nervousness he did not show.

 

-----------------

 

Nice and easy, just how he liked it. Or didn't really, that was boring.

 

Still, Xiphos knew the trade far too well by now, and forced a suspicious, wary, and somewhat frightened look onto his face as he trot forward, holding his items of truth in one hoof. The Pegasus seemed nonchalant and at ease for the inspection, but his eyes were filled with just as much suspicion as his own. Really a rookie, this guy...too many old timey films.

The Aerion was careful to keep to the side where the Pegasus was holding up his coat - give him more reaction time should the other stallion try to grab a weapon of some sort. Eyebrows furrowed, Xiphos didn't bother wasting anymore time as he first looked through the magnifying glass.

 

Nothing. Whelp, that only left cover up, and Xiphos was quick to follow-up with a vigorous scrubbing of the cutie mark with his rag. Any discomfort he caused the other stallion was ignored as the Aerion stepped back, taking a long, hard look at the cutie mark, then his rag.

 

...

 

"Whelp!" he suddenly exclaimed, using his wings to abruptly leap backwards to a safer distance from the pony, "that takes care of that." A cheeky grin once again stole over the Aerion's face, though the slight tremble in his voice came out loud and clear, as if he were simply putting on a brave face in front of the unknown. "Guess I have no choice but to ask...what do you want?"

 

-----------------

 

Dunder had to avoid fleeing when the other pony got close. At least the aerion smelled good, Dunder would give him that. He was even a looker...

 

No! there was a job to do! Dunder snapped himself out of it. The contact looked unalarmed as he used the small tool to examine Pale's cutie mark.

 

Everyhing about this was too close for comfort, but even the aerion could not get away fast enough after giving the pony's flank a good rubbing. That was not good. Just one more thing that Dunder would have to take care of.

 

When they were a safe distance apart, Dunder squared up with the pony in front of him, still eyeing the aerion. "I need an item from my competition here in Trottingham." Dunder paused, still looking at the stallion as he started to pace back and forth a few pony-lengths. "I am here because my competition has an item that he would find later at my Itailian competition's hooves. I need you to break into Trottingham Central Brewery Co. Steal a golden chalice, the headbrewer's own, and bring it to me. When I geet what I want I will reveal the locaion of your payment." Pale said, his italian accent only an Italian native would be able to tear apart.

 

"I have your down payment even..." Dunder slowly reached behind him, grabbed a purse from under his wing and set it on the ground. He felt his pockets, as if looking for something, "Oh, dios mio. I forgot it!" He looked at the contact, "Can you toss me your cleaning rag?"

 

-----------------

 

Huh. Hmm-hmm. Yeah-huh.

 

Oh. One of those types. The White Fox really needed to stop accepting these types of jobs.

 

...Oh.

 

Xiphos listened patiently as the stallion began talking, pacing back and forth as if the very thought of his competition in Trottingham was making him agitated. In truth, the Aerion normally would have gone through several more lengths to confirm the Pegasus' identity...asking him the name of his rival business for instance, quiz him on facts that the real owner would know. Seeing how easy it was to find out somepony was trying to sniff out the White Fox, it was normally common protocol to collect all that data on the client he needed beforehoof, but...well...

 

Could he really be blamed? Meadowhawk had been in town, there'd been no way he'd miss stalking his marefriend!

 

Still, these cutthroat sabotage deals were almost always fun, and Xiphos didn't move a muscle as he stared critically at the other stallion. "Ta ta," he chided, making a point of obviously stuff the enchanted magnifying glass and cleaning rag down into his bag, "sorry bud. Tools of the trade. And, I'm thinking we need to clear some things up, before this goes any further."

 

He really needed to change up his approach. Obviously, the White Fox's method of operation wasn't clear enough to the average street goer.

 

"The White Fox gets paid in full, upfront," Xiphos extrapolated, mimicking Pale's pacing pattern as he began to talk, "and you, get to pick up your chalice in an agreed location, at an agreed date." The Aerion shook his head a bit sadly, as if he were honestly put out by the demands of the White Fox. "Sorry bud, but that's how he works. If I don't have the full payment ready for him when he shows up..."

 

The dark Aerion let his voice trail off mysteriously, a bit frightfully, and even went so far as to let his eyes wander a bit, as if recalling a fearsome memory. He shook his head though, pulling himself out contemplations, to refocus back on the Aerion. "I don't make the rules - he does," he claimed, piercing green eyes staring Pale Ale straight on.

 

-----------------

 

As Dunder expected, the aerion didn't surrender a thing. This whole situation was getting more messy. Dunder just needed to get out of there now with what he wanted. The hard part was already over. But this tango will have to continue until Dunder's needs were met.

 

Dunder slowly reached his head down, grabbing the tie of the purse and pulling it off with a quick neck jerk. With a wing, the stallion reached inside and pulled out what looked like a choclate bar. None of it gave off any traces of magic. "Ah, what a shame. This choclate is almost to die for." The stallion tossed it in the air and caught the heavy brick with his other wing.

 

The stallion slowly put the bar on the ground, eying the other pony. He slid the bar about halfway between them, the bar clanking like an ingot against the ground as it slid. "Gold ingots disguised as chocolate bars." In all honesty, Dunder didn't really care about what this pony would get punished with. And to throw down with the white fox would almost be easier thancatching him.

 

"Untraceable. And hard to move across the borders in such a volume. disguised as white chocolate." Upon further inspection it'd be seen that the 'chocolate' was wrapped in paper over foil. And the ingots were painted white.

 

Pale waved his hoof at the pony, almost as if pointing "Maybe I can make it up to you, actually. You like anypony? Perhaps a mare?" Pale stared right back, a grin spilling across his face.

 

-----------------

 

Did he say he needed to stop accepting these types of jobs?

 

Scratch that, this rot was interesting.

 

Still, the time for acting was not over, resulting in a near miss as Xiphos almost broke out into a gleeful grin. Luckily he was able to restrain himself, even if he couldn't help the way his eyes roved over the other stallion with something akin to curiosity, but more base. Pale Ale was really trying to test the White Fox's boundaries, wasn't he? He either really didn't understand how these types of business deals were conducted, or -

 

Or what? Xiphos still didn't know. All signs pointed to an amateur business pony replicating everything he'd ever seen in films and photography, but the Aerion honestly could not shake off this feeling. This sense of...

 

Excitement.

 

"Look buddy," Xiphos grate out, only affecting a somewhat irritated tone as if he were finally losing his patience, pale eyes glancing nervously out into the darkness behind the Pegasus, "you either play by the Fox's rules, or you don't get his help. One thousands bits was the price, gold bar or no. Pay up or walk out." As tempting as the ingot laying innocently between them was, his run in with that engineering pony from Canterlot had made Xiphos leery of pretty much any innocuous object that was 'freely' offered him.

 

Not to mention he didn't trust a solid gold bar that a Pegasus could pick up and toss about with his wing tips.

 

Pale Ale's sudden offer, however, was enough to startle a sudden bark of laughter out of the dark stallion, one that was completely genuine. "You kidding me?" he guffawed, finding himself unable to stop once he started, "how do you think I got into this mess in the first place?" His laughter abated as Xiphos sighed, eyes once again affecting a somewhat haunted look...before they abruptly snapped back onto the Pegasus, crystal clear and narrowed.

 

"Last chance, Ale", Xiphos goaded, moving forward enough to slid the bar back towards the Pegasus with one hoof, and the Aerion had to console himself as his curiosity bayed its lament over the loss of what could have been a neat toy. Think of the cause, Xiphos, the cause. "You either follow the White Fox's instructions to the letter, or we're done talking."

 

-----------------

 

The situation was taking a severe downturn, from danger of failing his objective to possibly being in very real danger. Dunder reckoned that his best bet would be to carry out the rest of the deal, no matter the cost. Or if the cost was too high... hopefully the White Fox would rather not lose this bat-winged shmuck.

 

Pale's tone started to get more firm in response. "Listen here. I don't know how much you know about this sort of business. But I am washing the money and melting it down. The better I do this, the less likely the guard will come down on you and your compatriot. " Dunder Picked up the ingot with his hoof, shaking it in the air. " This is the payment! These are the bits we agreed on!"

 

He was starting to get frustrated. Especialy at the laughing, Pale started to blush. "And stop looking behind me, your scare tactics don't bother me one bit!" It was a solid shot in the dark, but if Dunder correctly called this bluff, then it should put this pony back into the fluster.

 

"You think the payment is a trap?" The pony spilled the rest of the gold ingots disguised as chcolate on the ground, each of them clanking and bouncing off the ground.

 

-----------------

 

Clearly he didn't.

 

"Clearly you don't," Xiphos said languidly, only now affecting a somewhat bored look as he trot over to lean lightly against one of the pillars holding up the bridge, forelegs crossed in front of him. "We agreed on a thousand bits, not a a gold bar, see? The White Fox doesn't care how careful you think you're being - he knows what he's doing."

 

It still kinda smarted, remembering how that seemingly innocent plush toy had almost brought the entire REA down on his temporary residence in Canterlot. Worse still, only sheer dumb luck had altered Xiphos to the cause of the give-away, not any skill or observation of his own. No, no way he was making the same mistake again, especially not with a client he hadn't taken every precaution because he'd been preoccupied.

 

Still, Xiphos had to raise an eyebrow at Pale's sudden outburst, apparently having misinterpreted his faraway looks as something completely different. Ah buck it, that hadn't worked. New tactic...which was to say, none at all.

 

"I do," the Aerion stated easily at the Pegasus' accusation, eyes greedily drinking in the fall of several golden ingots. "Bits can't be tampered with, that's why he works in bits and only bits. Simple." His green eyes swung back upwards onto Pale, narrowing slightly.

 

This Pegasus was being...very insistent.

 

-----------------

 

Dunder licked his chops. The possibility of having to use a contingency plan was growing. Dunder waved his hoof side to side, as if trying to smack the other pony's words out of the air. "Alright, alright. Listen. I'll give you the thousand bits." Dunder began kicking over the ingots. "Take these too. They'll be an extra." The pony sighed.

 

This bat was getting more and more secure in his position of power. Dunder felt that this course of action wasn't the best path to take. Gaining the Fox's trust would have been preferrential. Not raising any flags.

 

"I don't have a thousand bits on me. What do you want me to do then, all I have on my is my personal bit purse." Pale said, a defeated tone in his voice. He lowered his head.

 

-----------------

 

The business pony was already being fined a hefty amount to act on good faith that the job would be completed as instructed, and despite this, was offering the surely extravagant amount of bits the gold bars were worth as a simple bonus, instead of taking back his hard earned bits and giving him no more than what he had agreed to pay for a service he had no way of knowing wouldn't simply take the bits and disappear into the wind.

 

Now Xiphos knew something was up. No business pony worth his salt gave so much without a clear assurance of getting what he wanted in return.

 

Maybe a henchpony? This wasn't actually Pale Ale at all, but somepony lower down in the ranks who was taking the risk to meet him here. That meant, though, that Pale had still authorized the exceedingly ludicrous amount of bits that were currently being spent on a shady and 'good faith' venture, because there was no way a lackey would simply shell out that much money from his own pockets.

 

"Don't wan' 'em," the Aerion stated cheerfully as he took a few steps forward towards the pile of ingots, "don't want extra, don't want different. He just wants his bits." Really, it was kind of a shame...Xiphos was getting more and more curious as to exactly why the Pegasus was so insistent on having him take these disguised gold bars. Too bad he couldn't -

...Huh. They were as light as they had appeared. Highly suspect.

 

Xiphos didn't bother trying to sneakily pass the gold bar under his coat, having already picked one up with a wing in plain view of the Pegasus. He stared at Pale Ale for a brief moment, before the cheeky smile was back on his face, the gold bar slipping into his bag. "The Amber Fountain, you know it?" he questioned, rather blithely. The Amber Fountain was smack dab in the middle of a shopping center in Trottingham, besieged on all sides by stores, cafes, entertainment - and at all times of the day, too. "One week from now, be at the fountain at the sun's zenith. Make sure you bring the agreed payment this time, will 'ya?"

 

Hopefully Pale Ale - whoever the buck he really was - would listen this time, because despite every warning bell in Xiphos' head going off all at once, well...he was intrigued. The Aerion gave the Pegasus one last grin, fangs glinting in the faint moonlight, before he made a repeat performance of jumping backwards, this time using his wings to propel him out from under the bridge and into the night sky.

 

And once he was safely out of the way, the Aerion dug around in his bag for the magnifying glass and the golden bar, languidly flipping over to fly backwards as he studied the object, humming faintly into the darkened night.

 

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