Capítulo 182: A clear confrontation
As soon as the young man left to do as he was told, everyone's attention swapped back to Rex who was now leaning back on his chair looking out into the rainy city with a careless smile on his face as if he was sitting alone.
'Crazy bastard!' Giovanni said with a nervous smile. He really didn't know where this kid got the balls to do that to the people who had all the power in this conversation. But in a way, he also understood, that if he played the passive role, not only might he not get what he wanted, but they might rip him off to get more benefits.
In a negotiation, that was an unacceptable outcome. Whoever had the momentum and power in the conversation had the strength to take more and give less. That started with who dominated the early game. In this instance, Rex not only stopped their momentum flat in its tracks, but he also demonstrated that he was not someone who could be carelessly dealt with.
This both elevated his standing in the conversation and also gave him more breathing room to develop this starting advantage further. It allowed him to demonstrate his cards. If his position was passive, he might not have gotten even a word in, and throughout the whole discussion, he would have been a puppy in the corner listening and nodding.
So, although he was surprised, Giovanni very much approved of this outcome. He secretly looked opposite the table at the neutral expressions on their faces. Clearly, they weren't amateurs either.
But the twitch from the brows gave away the irritation they felt deep down. Especially, the middle-aged man, Giovanni was rather curious about why he was so intolerant and unprofessional. After all, shouldn't he be the one leading the charge from his side? To be so emotional was unbecoming. It would be very detrimental to his side of the deal if he couldn't rein it in.
He wasn't complaining though since this was better for his side. The more emotional the opposition got, the better the benefits they received by luring them into traps.
But his instinct, which culminated after years of dealing with people, told him that the woman next to him who was quiet and still as if she wasn't even in the same room, was probably the real leader. Or at least someone of higher authority. He wondered how this was going to play out.
The room was silent as they waited for Rex to speak, the middle-aged man wasn't going to talk just to be interrupted again, so he sat silently and waited for the youth to talk. Yet much to his annoyance, Rex remained silent and patiently waited for his tea to arrive.
The young man didn't dally and returned very soon with a tray. As he opened the door, the smell of tea and coffee wafted out invigorating the group. It seems that Rex's decision to bring them something for lunch was a wise choice.
Perhaps a ploy to get on better terms? Giovanni wondered curiously as he put two teaspoons of sugar into his tea before taking a sip.
Rex also prepared his tea to his preference slowly. He finally put down the cup of tea after taking a long sip.
"Do you like the tea? I got it from my colleague here, he said it's from the rare farms in Hoenn with exclusive sales to a small crowd. I hope it's to your liking." He said amiably.
The opposition was quiet for a moment before one of the men to the side nodded with a slight smile.
"This is a wonderful tea, thank you," he said succinctly, a stiff and forced smile hung on his face.
"Well, now that we have something sweet, why don't we get down to business? Mr Rodriguez Sanz, Miss Penelope Green, Alfred Samford, Geralt Zambony…"
He began to name all of them one by one, looking at the middle-aged man as he did so.
"Mr Sanz, as I have it, you are here to answer the proposition we sent to you two weeks ago yes?" Rex asked, downing the rest of his cup of tea before making himself another one.
Rodriguez was momentarily surprised before a small frown appeared on his face, they shouldn't know who he was since they didn't introduce themselves. even when they entered, they simply gave a league identification code without any ID. It couldn't be faked, and it was impossible to impersonate since it changed every 2 minutes.
He realised that this person was rather mysterious. He remembered back to the information, Gaia, one of the core founders of Symphony was completely untraceable, even the league who had access to absolutely everything couldn't find this person. When they tried, a skull appeared on the screen, advising them to stop since they wouldn't find anything. It was a blatant mockery.
They came here today to see if they could extort as many benefits as possible from them before mercilessly restricting the movements of their organisation.
But looking at the man before him, he felt like this was not going to go as well as he predicted.
"Mr Sanz?" Rex asked again snapping Rodriguez out of his thoughts.
"Right, we are here to personally discuss our co-operation in more detail." He said sternly, the meaning was clear, they refused the initial offer and came to discuss better conditions.
But Rex couldn't help but shake his head, Gaia was right in the end. these people just couldn't be content with what he was giving them. He wanted to just end this with some nice discourse, a friendly chat and some tea or coffee, everyone is happy and they all go their own way. But once again, human greed prevails. He had no other choice but to go with Gaia's method.
He slightly laughed, causing the budding amiable atmosphere to suddenly grow colder. Tension once again clung to the room.
He gazed at everyone who were now stiff and tense and waved his hand from side to side as if attempting to dissipate the heavy atmosphere.
"I'm sorry, I should explain myself, better yet, why don't I let my partner explain." He said with a playful expression. Everyone was once again gobsmacked at his attitude.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
the sound of heavy footsteps made its way towards the room in a steady rhythmic pattern.
Soon a 2-meter tall shiny robot came into focus before gently opening the glass door with its metal hands and walking in. Its red eyes and intricate layout astounded everyone in the room. Even Giovanni was shocked as he stared at this groundbreaking advancement in technology before his every yes.
Gaia walked in and sat down in the empty seat that was to Rex's left.
Finally, everyone understood why that seat was left empty this entire time.
[My name is Gaia, I am in charge of maintaining functionality in the company. I execute most of the decisions made and implement the ideas given to me by my colleagues. For reasons you are not at liberty to know, I have decided to appear in this form.
Moving on, as my partner Rex has hinted, and if I may be blunt, you are in no position to demand or negotiate with us in any shape or form. If we are to be perfectly honest, you are lucky we have decided to not extort you for better conditions on the simple premise that we want to foster an amicable and cooperative relationship with the league.
But do not confuse that with weakness.] Gaia said in a mechanical voice that sounded very similar to Ultron's yet less manly and more genderneutral. It was chilling to the bone.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder