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**Vincent Lane** · (04-22-2017)

The scene opens to the door of XWF Owner Vincent Lane’s office hanging ajar. From within, the camera pics up the sounds of strong language and shouting from Lane.

“How did we fucking let this happen, dude? You’re the money guy, you tell me!”

As we move closer, and a phantom cameraman hand pushes the door open more fully, we see Lane sitting at his huge desk, just as he slams the phone handset down into its cradle.

BING!!!!

“Rox, can you believe this? JJ is supposed to be some money genius, and he just let them walk right in…”

Roxy Cotton, Vincent's vivacious assistant and fiance, slides onto his lap and starts playing with the strands of his hair, calming him.

“I know, baby, that little twerp fucked up your whole day!”

Then, from the speakerbox of the phone,

“Um… Mister Lane? I hate to interrupt, but, I’m still on speakerphone?”

Roxy hops off of Vincent, who has to take a moment to straighten out his suit pants.

“Oh for fuck’s… these god damn intercom phones… Jefferson, dude, I’m sorry about that. Really. You’re a good dude. You’ve made Warfare even more of a blockbuster than it already was, with my awesome guidance. But Theo being here? His crew?”

“The Kings.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, the Kings I guess. He isn’t supposed to be here. He isn’t supposed to be ALLOWED here, and neither is Samuels. We kept Madison around as a courtesy and because, frankly, in his current mental state he’s completely harmless. But Theo Pryce isn’t harmless, and that’s why we SPECIFICALLY put you in charge of watching over the XWF’s investments!”

“Mister Lane, I hear you… I swear, I have no idea how this happened. One day everything in our portfolio was neat. Tight. Perfect. Your 50% stake is still intact. The Japanese and their 40%, too. Shane kept his minority stock of 10%. But Theo Pryce had official documents! He had certified forms! I can’t explain it!”

Vincent looks ready to burst at the seams as he opens his mouth to shout back at the phone. But then...

“Maybe I can.”

The perspective swings around back to the open doorway, where now stands Theo Pryce, the de facto face of the Kings.

“Theo, what the fuck are you doing in my office?”

Vincent tries to stand, but Roxy steps in front of him, calming him and convincing him to stay in his chair.

“Listen to your better half, Lane. You don’t want to stand up right now.”

“What do you want?”

“Oh, I’m just here for what’s mine, Vince. I heard your little chat there. You want to know why I can just walk in this door any time I want to? I’ll tell you why.”

Lane rubs his temples as Roxy gets behind his leather chair and starts rubbing on his shoulders beneath his hot pink blazer.

“Go on.”

“It was really pretty simple, Lane. None of you had any idea. Those ‘Japanese Investors’ that have been such a thorn in your side for the last year or so? The partnership with IWGP? That’s all mine.”

“What?!”

“You heard me. My fingers were in every pie while I ran Pryce Industries. I had people on every continent. And when I needed to liquidate and lay low? I invested in Japan.”

“You’re full of shit.”

“Do a little research, Vinnie. Look up those Japs by name. You know how to Google, right? What’s their parent company? Not IWGP, that’s just a business deal. Who do they represent?”

The speakerbox squawks again.

“Mister Lane, I think he’s talking about the parent company? I’ve got their file open right now. It’s Ryukyu 3K. But I can’t find anything else they’re involved in.”

“Ryukyu?”

“How well do you know your Japanese history, Vince?”

Lane looks perplexed as he takes a long pull off his cherry flavored vape.

Theo pulls a gold cigarette case out of his jacket pocket, opening it and sliding a slim in between his lips and then flicking open an equally golden lighter.

“Good idea.”

“Dude, you can’t…”

“Smoke in here, right. I’ll only be a minute.”

Theo grins around the cigarette as he puffs out a slender, perfect smoke ring that drifts slowly across th office and bursts around Lane’s head like a popped bubble.

“Perfect. Vinnie, I think you need to hit up Wikipedia. Ryukyu Japan was a period known as…”

“Three Kings. 3K.”

Theo taps his temple with an index finger with a smirk.

“You’re smarter than I remember, Vinnie. And you’re right. It was us, the whole time. What? You thought we would ever rally be gone? Please. You’ve done a great job increasing the value of XWF’s stock since I was her last. Made me millions. And now I’m here to exercise the powers of my owners’ stake.”

Vincent’s mouth screws up tight, but then slowly a smile begins to slither across his face. Finally he does stand up, but not with violence. He stands up looking victorious.

“The Japanese only held 40%, Theo. I’m still in charge around here. You’re welcome for all that cash, but please get the fuck out of my office.”

Theo takes a step back in mock submission, but the smile never falters. He shakes his head. Pryce lets out a chuckle as he takes another drag on his smoke.

“Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie… you never were that great at math. You forgot about something.”

“What, dude? I have 50, you have 40, that’s pretty straightforward isn’t it?”

“What about the other ten?”

Lane looks confused.

“That’s Shane’s stake. He wouldn’t stab me in the back like that. Especially not with you.”

“No, you’re right. Shane

hates my guts. But don’t you remember whose office this was before you moved in?”

“Madison? So what?”

“Ah, Vinnie. What was it you said about John Madison a few minutes ago? Something about him being… harmless?”

“Yeah? So?”

“Well Vince, before you came along it was pretty standard practice for Shane to let his administrator take care of a lot of his own personal business along with helping him run the XWF. Shane’s always been prone to some pretty serious mental issues and long periods of absence. He knew he needed backup plans. So, he needed someone to hold his power of attorney.”

“What? Wait… no… oh no...”

“Oh yes. Vinnie, meet the man who holds ten percent of the stock in the XWF.”

Theo steps to the side, and behind him in the doorway stands John Madison, looking every bit like he might have woken up on the floor of a slaughterhouse, other than the 10,000 dollar suit wrapped around his frame.

“Sup.”

“God fucking damn it, that means…”

“Now you understand. The Kings are fifty-fifty with you, Vince. We aren’t going anywhere.”

Theo rubs the cigarette into the lacquered wood of Lane’s desk, snuffing it out and leaving a scorched burn in the desktop.

“All we were waiting for was your guard to drop. Doc D’Ville made that nice and easy for us, playing nice with you these last few months. But once you’re a King, that’s where your loyalty lies.”

Vincent sits back down into his chair slowly, looking over at the smoldering crater in his otherwise perfect desk.

“You come by and you say hello any time you want, Vin. My office? It’s right next door.”

Theo gestures through the doorway to an adjacent office, where a worker is finishing the application of a placard on the door reading “Theo Pryce.”

“See you soon. Partner.”

Theo and John Madison walk away, leaving Vincent slack-jawed as the scene fades out.

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