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Azure chuckled to himself as he shut the door behind him, leaving the dazed lizard in the safety of his quarters. "Another one down," the skunk muttered. He remained by the door for a few seconds, listening to make sure that the reptile wasn't going to come out of the trance too quickly before walking away from the door and down the hall. "That should be enough...It better be."

The skunk rubbed his head as he walked down the hallway, rubbing away the start of a headache. That was the fifteenth one today, and the sixtieth in the last four days; after that much hypnosis, putting that many people into trances, it was starting to catch up with him. Hypnosis was relaxing, people said; not for the hypnotist, it wasn't.

Still, it had to be done. There were too many people around here that could cause trouble if he didn't take steps, and he didn't have a lot of time in which to do them. Not when Vinnie was breathing down his neck, and the iguana could bring the weight of his whole organization down on top of the skunk's head any day now.

He still couldn't believe that his cover had been blown so quickly. The skunk had been extremely careful to make sure that his backstory for the assignment was bulletproof; he'd gone over it with a fine toothed comb, and then presented the damn thing to his handler. Alpha had told him that he was sure that it would stand up to anything that Vinnie checked it against - mostly because the whole thing was true, though the panda probably hadn't known just how true - but somehow, something had gone wrong. He still wasn't sure what it was, but something had given Vinnie cause to doubt him.

And he never would have known about it, either, if he hadn't gotten extremely lucky.

The skunk's face tightened in a grimace. That was what bothered him most; he was supposed to be one of the best, yet his target was smart enough and sneaky enough to keep him in the dark almost perfectly. Azure had never thought that Vinnie was smart enough to pull something like that off, but apparently, the iguana was better at this than he thought.

Knowing that Vinnie suspected him had given him the edge that he needed, though. As soon as he'd found out, the skunk had started taking steps to secure his safety, and to prepare a way out. The sixty people that he had visited in the last four days hadn't been a majority of Vinnie's organization - not even a very big percentage of it, for that matter - but they were the people in charge of the...enforcing...that the iguana could order. With them on his side, Azure would at least have a little more time to carry off his escape, and in the best case, he'd have a good deal of firepower on his side if things went to hell before he expected them to.

But having those people on his side was only the first step, something to buy him time. They wouldn't directly turn against Vinnie, after all; they were too loyal to consider doing something that out of character. They'd defend him to the boss, and they'd delay their own subordinates. They might even defend him against other, lower ranking members of the Family shooting at him, but they wouldn't take up arms against the iguana. Even the best hypnotic trances and the best rationalizations he could come up with hadn't shifted them from that.

Instead, he'd planted alternate memories in their heads, intensified friendships, increased their loyalty to him; in other words, he'd made himself an integral part of their mindset of the Family. They couldn't see the Family working without him. As long as that held, and as long as Vinnie himself didn't stand in the room and order a head enforcer to shoot him, Azure didn't have too much to worry about for the next few days.

But that would only hold for so long. Vinnie, much as the skunk hated to admit it, would figure a way around that before a week had passed. Before he did, Azure needed to deal with the boss and get out. Alpha wouldn't be happy about a premature end to the operation, but his handler would just have to deal with it. There wasn't enough time to do this any other way.

Azure stopped at the elevator, looking at himself in the reflective doors. He looked haggard, compared to how he'd looked just a few days ago. His eyelids drooped slightly, and his eyes were bloodshot. His tail hung a little limp, and he hadn't had the time to brush it out and groom it for over forty eight hours. Even his suit was haphazardly spread over his form, looking wrinkled and ratty. It just looked...disappointing.

Shaking his head as he pressed the call button, Azure thought about heading back to his room. A shower, a fresh change of clothes...even five minutes of brushing out his fur and making it presentable again would do wonders for how he felt right now. The idea was so strong that he almost let out a moan at the thought of it, suppressing it at the last second as the elevator pinged.

One of Vinnie's newer guards was inside, a gecko. He had his arms crossed in front of him, and nodded at Azure before stepping to the side to let him in. The skunk returned the nod before stepping inside, pressing the button for his floor and watching the doors close.

"You look like shit," the gecko said after a second.

"Feel like it," Azure responded, shrugging. "Long days, you know; you get used to it after a while."

The gecko blinked a bit, and Azure chuckled. "What, you think working for the big guy is all chicks and expensive drinks? Heh, you got a lot to learn, new guy, you got a lot to learn."

He took a little comfort in the way that the gecko started shifting from foot to foot at that, his eyes turned down in thought. Clearly, the new guy hadn't put a lot of thought into his new job, if this surprised him.

Ah well. He'd learn.

Another beep announced their arrival on the skunk's floor, and Azure nodded at the gecko as the doors opened again. "Well, good luck. Hope the boss is in a good mood today; saw him shoot a guy a few days ago because he didn't like the way he wore his shoes," Azure said with a grin. He just barely managed to hide his laughter as the gecko's eyes went wide, and changed color a bit.

Shaking his head at how easy the new guy had been to mess with, Azure made his way down to his room. It opened quickly, and he locked the door behind him tightly. Now, the only way that he could be reached was through the phone, and the only reason he didn't turn that off was because he really, really didn't need to give Vinnie more evidence to use against him at this point.

His shirt, followed by his pants and his underwear, hit the floor. His shoes formed the center of the pile as he stepped out of them, and then flopped down on the bed. Azure groaned as he laid face down on a pillow, his tail draping over his back a little bit like a blanket. It was warm enough to be comfortable, and the temptation to just let himself drift off and sleep the day away was almost irresistible.

Yet, there were other things that he needed to do yet before the day was over, so he rolled over and looked up at the ceiling. "Damn it, Vinnie; you had to make this a lot harder than it had to be," he muttered under his breath.

Slowly, Azure pulled himself off of the bed and walked over to his dresser. Rooting around, he found a brush, and started dragging it through his tail. Several knots made the first few tugs kind of painful, but he gritted his teeth and kept going. Just because he was exhausted didn't mean that he had to look it.

The brush worked its usual magic on his fur, and slowly, the usual shine and smoothness returned. He dragged it around his chest and his head as well, getting everything back into place. Seeing it get back to normal in the mirror drew a sigh of relief from his lips, and Azure found himself smiling again for the first time in days. Seeing himself looking more normal, less haggard, just made him feel better.

Back in the drawer it went, and he pulled out some fresh clothes. Just putting on some clothes that didn't stink of sweat and long days refreshed him, and Azure sighed as he settled the white shirt and its matching jacket on his frame. It was good to not have all that sweaty musk following him around with the new underwear and pants, and fresh socks definitely didn't hurt. Of course, he couldn't exactly get rid of the odor in his fur without a shower, but at least the fresh clothes would hide it, and at least he wasn't too bad for the moment.

He looked over at the clock on the wall. It was a little bit after noon; that meant that Vinnie would be out and about, looking over some of his operations. With any luck, Al would be with him, but even if the dragon was still in the building, it still meant that the iguana's office would be open.

Azure stepped back into his shoes and walked to the door, locking it behind him. Several other guys in the hall walked with him over to the elevator. They stayed at the one going down, while he waited for the one going up. They disappeared into the down one quickly, and he was soon left alone with his thoughts again.

They were plentiful enough company. Thoughts and plans of how he was going to get out of the Family; how he was going to deal with Alpha's complaints about not having enough evidence on the Family to bring them down yet; the trouble he was going to have keeping himself off the radar long enough for his plan to work and keep the Family from chasing him down. There were many things to be concerned about, and a lot of them weren't particularly pleasant things. But they still had to be considered and dealt with. If he didn't make sure that they were taken care of, then who would?

His elevator dinged, and he stepped inside. This time it was empty. "Must not be too busy upstairs," he muttered under his breath as he walked inside. He pressed the button to head up, and waited.

It was a very short wait. Nobody stopped the elevator on the way up, and it just shot straight up to the penthouse. The doors opened, and Azure groaned.

Al was at the door to Vinnie's office.

The red dragon looked at him as the doors opened, and nodded his head. Azure nodded back, keeping his grumbles inside and unvoiced.

While he would have never known about the suspicions that Vinnie had about him were it not for Al, the dragon didn't know that he'd told the skunk anything. It had been done while Al was in a trance, after all, and the things that followed probably didn't register in the dragon's memory, either. At least, Azure hoped that they didn't; he doubted that the dragon would like remembering that he had sucked another guy's cock and swallowed cum, even if he hadn't been in complete control of himself at the time.

But that was beside the point. Al was the second in command in the Family, and Vinnie's most trusted bodyguard. Even though the skunk had been promoted to be the dragon's partner, Al was still the one that commanded all the authority, and for good reason. The dragon was a legend across the entire east coast, famous for his ruthlessness and the way that he never lost a fight once he decided to get into it. Azure hadn't believed the last claim, not until a few days ago when they'd gotten into a fight. He'd managed to get a few blows in on the dragon, but even his better moves hadn't seemed to so much as leave a dent, let alone put the dragon down. If it hadn't been for the fastest and most off-the-cuff induction he'd done in his life, Azure was pretty sure that he'd have been sleeping with the fishes that night.

Again, though, that was something that Al didn't remember. He'd probably been reminded of Vinnie's suspicions by now, though, and if that was the case, there was no way that the dragon would let him into the boss's office.

Fortunately, the skunk had figured out a way around that. If he could get Al to not shoot first and ask questions later, at least.

He stepped out of the elevator with a small smile. "Hey, Al. The boss out like usual?" he asked.

"Yeah, he went for some lunch or something," the dragon said with a shrug. He leaned against the wall, his position just enough to show off a few weapon bulges at his sides and the ever-present knife that he carried. "Why? You have business with the boss?"

"Nah, I just wanted to see where he was." He reached into one of his pockets. "I got something to give him. Mind if I step in the office and leave it in there?"

"You can leave it with me, and I'll give it to him later." Al held out his hand expectantly.

"You sure?" Azure nodded towards the door. "If he's not there, I can just go in and - "

"You can leave it with me, or you can wait until he gets back and give it to him then," Al said, his voice sharpening and his eyes narrowing. "Now, gonna give me whatever the thing is, or are you going to stop wasting both of our time and wait for the boss to get back?"

Azure shrugged. Well, at least Al was acting as expected. The skunk started to turn, one of his shoes sliding around to hook at the heel of the other. It kept that shoe glued to the floor, and as he lifted his leg up, his foot came free. The shoe was tight enough that it tugged the sock down as well, which was just what he wanted.

He looked over his shoulder, and allowed himself a grin as he saw that the dragon's eyes were glued to his feet. The trigger he'd planted was still in place, just as he'd hoped.

Keeping one foot pointed back towards the dragon, the skunk kicked off the other shoe, pushing it over to the side for the moment. "Glad that trigger stuck in his head," Azure muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he slowly walked backwards towards the dragon. He kept one foot up at all times, making sure that the trigger was still in view for the dragon, keeping him in his trance. Al just kept looking at his feet, too, making it easier for him to keep the dragon focused on them.

He stopped just in front of the dragon, standing on one foot, keeping the bottom of it pointed up towards Al. "You are deep in trance, Al," Azure said, keeping his voice just on the quiet side, just calm and soft and smooth. "You remember your trigger...you remember what seeing my foot means to you. You are deep in trance, calm and cool and collected. You are ready to listen to me...ready to do what I say..."

"I'm ready...to do what you say..." the dragon said behind him.

"Good, good." Azure smiled. "Now, I'm going to lower my foot, and you're going to stay in trance...you're going to stay cool and collected...you're in control, you're in charge...you're just doing what I tell you because you know that you can handle anything I might try...

"Now...remember...you are relaxed...you are in trance...you are still going to do what I say...even when you can't see my foot anymore," Azure said. Taking a deep breath and hoping that this would work, he slowly lowered his foot back down to the ground, his tail twitching nervously as he waited.

When there was no immediate pain or questions, the skunk slowly turned around. A small smile grew as he saw that the dragon's eyes were still drooping down, looking at him in that almost dopey, sleepy look that hypnotized people often had. "Still got it," he muttered to himself.

He leaned in, whispering to the dragon. "You will stay here, and you will act as though there is no one inside of the boss's office. You know that you can trust your old friend Azure...you know that you can trust me in there...there is nothing that I can do in there that you can't fix, you know that...And you know that I can be in there alone...and you don't have to tell anyone about it," he whispered. "I'll be right back...just wait here...and don't let anyone else in."

The dragon slowly nodded to him, and Azure slipped around the dragon to the door. It was locked, but after he had gotten summoned up here enough times, he knew enough to get a keycard made for the boss's door. It was expensive, and Alpha had chewed his head off for authorizing that sort of expense, but it would be worth it today, Azure thought to himself as he pulled the card out of his pocket. A little slide back and forth, and he heard the click of the lock coming loose. Allowing himself a little smirk, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

It clicked shut again behind him as he walked over to the iguana's desk. "Let's see just what you were careless enough to leave behind," he muttered to himself as he leaned over the table.

Ridiculous amounts of paper were scattered over the desk, each one little more than an innocuous set of numbers and tables. Most looked like they could have been some sort of account, but Azure left them alone; if there was one thing he had known going in, it was that Vinnie had a ridiculously good head for numbers. He wouldn't have made a mistake like the Capone family had years ago, nothing that would get him caught in banking or tax evasion or fraud or anything like that. If anything, the mobster would have overpaid and done everything to look like a contributing member of society.

No, he was looking for something else. The iguana loved to write out plans on paper before carrying them out. Usually he shredded them, but the skunk had the idea that maybe, just maybe, Vinnie had been a little too stressed out to be as cautious as he usually was. Suspecting people inside his own organization would make anyone distracted, and with enough distraction...

Well, not enough distraction to leave stuff out on the top of the table, at least. Azure shook his head a few times, putting the papers back into the proper piles. A quick look confirmed that they were in the same spots that they had been in when he'd entered the room, and then Azure bent down, looking at some of the drawers that the desk had.

Unfortunately, they were all locked. More unfortunately, they were all physical locks rather than electronic, so the keycard would be useless here. The skunk rubbed his head, shaking it softly. "Vinnie, of all the times to NOT be high tech," he muttered under his breath. Another agent might have had the skill to pick these open, but that was one thing that he DIDN'T know how to do, but up until now, it hadn't been something that he'd needed. He'd always had his hypnosis to fall back on, something to make someone else open up the locked doors for him. Admittedly, he had Al, but even the dragon wouldn't likely have the key to the drawers here. Vinnie was too paranoid to pass out something that valuable.

There was one more option. Azure was loath to use it, but he had to admit that there was the option of just breaking the drawers open. However, it would just tell Vinnie that he'd been here, something that he was desperately trying to avoid. He wasn't ready to leave quietly yet; giving himself away would throw everything out of control, and he really didn't want to chance things going that crazy.

But...there wasn't much choice. Leaving the Family was bad enough. If he left without anything to show Alpha, though, he was going to be in even more trouble.

Azure sighed. "Maybe I should have picked another line of work," the skunk muttered to himself. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a little metal tube. It was thin, only about half the width of his pinky finger, with a small button along the bottom of it. Keeping a good grip on it, he got under the desk, and looked up at the bottom drawer. "Alright...let's see if this was worth the expense," he muttered under his breath, pressing the button.

The top of the tube opened, releasing a thin spinning drill. It pressed into the metal, and he felt the wood shavings start falling down on his hand immediately. Wincing at just how much evidence he was leaving behind, he held the button down, watching the drill go up higher and higher in the wood. Up...up...

He grinned as he felt the resistance change, going from wood to metal. "There we go...now...just a little more," Azure muttered under his breath. The drill was moving much slower now, pushing up through the metal. It was a lot hotter now, and he grunted softly at the hot shavings landing on his hand. It wasn't enough to actually burn his hand, but it was hotter than he was comfortable with, making him grimace as the shavings landed on his fingers. "Almost..."

A soft 'crack' announced that something had given, and Azure pulled the drill back down. A little sigh of relief slipped from his lips when he saw the drill was still in one piece.

Getting out from under the desk, he pulled the drawer open, and started flipping through the different files.

It was a gold mine. There were all sorts of diagrams and plans hidden inside, from plans on how to deal with one bank that was holding back on a payment to a time table for a fire bombing along one of the older streets in the city. None of them were much more than concepts on their own, but all pulled together...oh, the agency could do a lot with these. Vinnie would go nuts from having so many of his plans stymied, Azure was sure. Or, he would, if Azure's plan went wrong. If it went right, the iguana would be too busy with other stuff to care about his plans going to hell.

Tempting as the other drawers were, the skunk knew that he had overstayed his welcome already. He shut the drawer and pushed aside the shavings that had fallen to the floor, scattering them amidst the carpet. With any luck, Vinnie wouldn't know that his desk had been messed with. Azure wouldn't count on it, but maybe he'd get lucky.

He slipped out of the office, and stopped in front of the dragon. Al looked like he was about to come out of trance, but Azure wanted to make sure that the trigger would work again later. Standing a few steps in front of the dragon, he lifted up one foot again, and watched over his shoulder as the dragon looked down at it again. Eyes drooped and mouth opened slightly, and the skunk smiled.

"You won't remember me being here," Azure whispered, tucking the papers he'd taken into his suit. "You will tell Vinnie that nobody came up here, and that nothing happened in the office while he was gone. You'll forget that I was here, and you'll make sure that the boss has no reason to suspect that I was here, or that I got past you. Do you understand?"

"Understand...no one was here...no one was in the office..." the dragon muttered behind him.

"Good, good," Azure said. He lowered his foot, and he walked over where he'd left his shoes. He slid them back on, and then called the elevator. It was empty, as he expected, and he stepped inside, riding it back down to his floor.

The ride felt longer than usual, and despite feeling pretty confident about getting the plans, Azure couldn't help worrying that he'd find a group waiting for him down on his floor. No matter how much he had prepared, he knew that the iguana was a time bomb. The skunk thought that he had a couple of days, at least, but even with all of his preparations, there was always the chance that he had missed something. Without Vinnie under his control, he couldn't say what the iguana would do, and if the lizard decided to take action early...well, things could get dicey.

Thankfully, there was nothing waiting for him on his floor. Letting out another sigh of relief, Azure broke out in a run to his door. Nobody was in the halls, so nobody saw his nervous rush. He opened the door, and slid inside, throwing the papers down on the bed and pulling out his cell phone. In the past, Alpha had always been the one to call, and he'd always been the one to answer. Azure was pretty sure that what he had to tell his handler would be worth changing things up a bit, though.

It only rang a few times before the click of someone answering filled Azure's ears, followed by Alpha's voice. "What are you doing? You know I'm only supposed to call you, not the other way around."

"Considering what I have to tell you, Alpha, I think that you'll change your tune."

"What, some new plan the lizard has about recreating the Boston Tea Party?" Alpha asked, the sarcastic note clear in his voice.

"What would you say if I could give you a firebombing time table, the locations of four brothels, proof of three hitman contracts, and a few other things?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds, and Azure smirked at the thought of the stunned look on his handler's face. Alpha had always been just a little bit too cocky; sometimes it was just so fun to remind him that just because he was a fed and Azure was a freelance operative didn't mean that Azure was his inferior. "Are...are you sure that all of the information you have is accurate?" his handler asked.

"Pretty sure; it was all pretty clear, and it matches Vinnie's handwriting," Azure said, looking at some of the papers. "From what I got here, pretty sure that you could screw up his operations for weeks, if not months."

"Now this is what you're getting paid for, Azure," Alpha said. There was a very definite grin in the handler's voice. "You got anything else for me?"

"Yeah, some news that you're not going to like."

"What's that? Some sort of argument with the other guards? We can handle -"

"No, nothing that minor." Azure sighed softly, rubbing his forehead lightly. He pulled the top part of the phone away from his ear in preparation for the explosion to come, and said, "I'm going to have to run; Vinnie's got suspicions, and he's going to act on them any day now. I'm going to be leaving, and soon, probably in two days at most."

The explosion was about what he expected, and he was glad that he had moved the phone back. Even holding it at arm's length, he could make out every word that Alpha was saying. "ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?! You run, and the entire Family is going to know you're guilty. No, no, you stay where you are. You're being paid to find out information, and you just proved that you're better at it than most anyone else we've sent on this job. Now you stay right the fuck where you are, and you do your job. You're not allowed to run, do you hear me? You're not given permission to run off."

He gave his handler time to keep shouting for a little while longer, and when the other guy had run out of things to say, or the breath to shout it, Azure brought the phone back to his ear. "Alpha, you might want to keep something in mind here."

"And what is that?" Alpha snapped.

"I just handed you all the intelligence you could possibly need to keep Vinnie in a state where he is losing massive amounts of money and sleep for weeks, months, years if you do it right. I got you that information in less than a month. I have done what I've been paid for, and more," Azure said.

"But you could still -"

"Get killed? Very easily." The skunk leaned back on the bed, shaking his head lightly. "Alpha, you seem to think that I'm just going to leave you high and dry. I'm not. I'm going to make sure that, when I leave, this crime family is going to more or less sink itself."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Well, if I screw up, then you'll have all the plans and information that you need to deal with Vinnie and his group," Azure said. "There's going to be an upload coming to you in a few minutes, after this call. You'll have all the information I have in your inbox."

"And if you don't screw up?"

"Then this stuff won't even be needed. But it's good to have a back-up, don't you think?" Azure chuckled. "See you, Alpha."

He clicked the phone shut before his handler could say anything else, flipping the other end of it open and starting to take pictures of the documents. There were so many that it took almost an hour to get them all photographed, but eventually he had it done. He snapped the phone shut, and quickly addressed the massive package to his handler. A little beep announced its sending, and Azure put his phone away.

The skunk had barely put the phone back in his pocket when he heard a knock on the door. He paused, then gathered the papers together, shouting, "One second," to cover the sound.

It didn't take long to get all the papers into one big pile, and he shoved it back in his suit, hoping that the bulge wouldn't be too large. It didn't look like it was in the mirror, but he could be wrong. Taking a couple of deep breaths to gather himself, the skunk walked to the door and unlocked it.

Three wolves stood outside, two of them with a pistol in hand, and the third with his hands crossed in front of him. None of them were familiar; they must have been a group from outside of the Family. The pistols were pointed right at his head, and the wolf in the front smirked at him. "Azure. Your boss would like to have a word with you. Do you want to come along with us, or shall we just bring him your body?" the wolf asked.

Azure suppressed the instinct to slam the door in their faces, and smiled softly instead. "I'll come along quietly," he said, holding up his hands. "But you might want to re-think the guns; Vinnie doesn't like having his guys threatened in-house, you know that."

"Heh, but you're not one of his guys, are you?" The wolf gestured for him to step out of the room, and Azure did as he was requested. The two armed wolves stayed behind him, as did the one calling the shots, and they directed him towards the elevator.

As he walked along, Azure's mind was racing at a mile a minute. Vinnie was moving a lot faster than he thought, and doing a brilliant job to bring in people from outside the Family to deal with him. He hadn't expected the iguana to pull something like this off, not this quickly. The big guy must have been planning on how to deal with him for at least a week, if not longer; all the hypnosis on the enforcers in house was not quite a waste of time, but it was darn close.

The elevator came down quickly, and Azure stepped inside. One of the armed wolves entered with him, as did the one in charge. The other one stayed in the hall, holding his gun on the skunk until the door closed.

"Why are you leaving one of your boys down there?" Azure asked.

"Just in case you find some way to get out of here," the wolf said. "I want to keep my eggs in different baskets; it's part of the reason that Vinnie hired me."

Smart wolf, Azure thought to himself. Not a very good thing for him, of course, but he had to give the other guy credit for keeping possibilities in mind. Most operatives and mercenaries would only keep the positive possibilities in their plans; this guy was thinking of how to handle things if the skunk got loose. Which meant that a simple fight against the two of them in the elevator was out of the question. Another guy running around the hotel, armed, and knowing his target while Azure didn't know him would be too dangerous to risk right at the moment.

If he was lucky, though, he could still handle this. They probably didn't know about some of his other assets in the Family.

The elevator stopped at the penthouse, the doors opening. Al was still at the door, and looked up as they brought Azure out of the elevator. "So, the boss called for him, finally?" the dragon asked, lifting an eyeridge.

"Yeah. He thought that we'd be better at it than you," the wolf said. The one holding a gun kicked the skunk from behind, and sent Azure tumbling forward, landing on all fours from the surprise blow. "No offense meant, Al."

"Offense taken," the dragon growled.

Shaking his head a few times, Azure started to pull himself to his feet. He didn't bother saying anything; obviously the dragon knew what was going on, so he couldn't persuade him to help a fellow member of the Family. If there was more time, he might be able to convince the two of them to fight each other over pride, but there was no time for subtlety now. He'd just have to be satisfied with things being a bit messy.

While the wolves and the dragon were arguing, the skunk kicked off his shoes, reaching down and pulling off his socks as well. He was halfway through pulling off his socks by the time that the wolves noticed what he was doing. The one without a gun turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "If you got something in your shoes that you're planning on using as a weapon, you better forget it. I'm not against putting you down right here, right now; Vinnie's paying for your body up here, not your mouth or your life."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to be doing anything to you," Azure said as he pulled his socks off. He had his back to the dragon, so he couldn't see just how his feet were affecting Al, but he hoped that it would work out as well as it had earlier in the day. "You know, there's something that you might have found out, if you actually bothered to look into my history."

"Really?" The wolf chuckled, crossing his arms. "What's that? Some sort of training in a monastery somewhere?"

"Well, that too, obviously," Azure said. He chuckled, crossing his arms as well as he rubbed the back of one leg with a foot, knowing that it was showing off the bottom of the foot to the dragon. "But there's something else. I learned a lot of hypnosis back in the day, and I still know how to put people into pretty deep trances. I know how to plant triggers in the heads of my subjects, and I know how to make them stick there for a very long time."

The wolf rolled his eyes. "If you're going to try and hypnotize us - "

"Oh, not you." He smirked, nodding his head back at the dragon. "Him. Al?"

"....Yes?" the dragon answered, the sleepy tone in his voice all that Azure needed to hear to know that the trigger was still present.

"Your old friend needs some help...these wolves want to hurt me...want to make bad things happen to me...help your old friend."

Azure leaped to the side as the guns went up, throwing himself out of the line of fire. As he leaped into the air, things seemed to slip into slow motion, as the armed wolf brought his other hand up to steady the gun, tracking the skunk in the air. Azure winced, bracing himself and hoping that the wolf was a bad shot.

However, the wolf was aiming at the wrong target. Two pops cracked the brief silence, and the armed wolf fell to the ground with two holes in his head. The other wolf barely had the chance to turn before his forehead split open, his skull pierced by the knife that the dragon kept at his side. He stared forward for a second before falling to his knees, and then on his face.

The both of them had died in the space of time it took for Azure to hit the ground, and the skunk shook his head in shock. He knew that Al was good...but he had never seen that kind of rapid execution of an opponent, and while the dragon had been under trance for that matter. How the dragon had any enemies that had lived long enough to spread the tales about his prowess astounded him, to say the very least.

But, at least they were dealt with. There was still the third one somewhere in the hotel, but at least now the odds were on his side. Vinnie would think that he had three guns on his side to keep Azure under control; he was likely going to be pretty pissed to find out that he didn't even have one.

Getting to his feet, the skunk turned to the entranced dragon. "Thank you, my friend," Azure said with a nod. The dragon nodded back at him slightly, holding still as Azure approached him. "Okay, we're going to talk to Vinnie now. You need to act normal...act like you're not in trance...show the boss that you're still you. You need him to think that you're just the same as you always are...act like Al...but be ready to help me...you will still follow what I say...as long as I am barefoot, you will do what I say...do you understand?"

"Yes...understand," the dragon muttered under his breath, shaking his head a few times. The alert look returned to the dragon's eyes, and he smirked. "Get in the office, skunk; the boss wants to talk with you."

"No problem, Al," Azure said with a nod of his head.

Rather than ringing the intercom, the dragon unlocked the door with a swipe of a card. Pressing the door open, the dragon nodded for the skunk to get inside.

Vinnie waited at the desk, Azure saw, and the iguana was not looking very happy. He walked over to stand in front of his 'boss', and heard the dragon walk in behind him, standing right behind his shoulder. A slight slide-click sound told him that the dragon had a pistol ready as well; he hoped that Al was going to abide by the rules that he had set down, but the skunk couldn't do anything but hope at this point.

The iguana leaned forward, his hands on his desk as he growled, "You know, I've thought that you were a mole for a while, Azure. Ever since you started having those strange calls on your cell, I thought you might be doing something against me, but I never thought that you'd be as stupid as you were today."

"What are you talking about, Vinnie?" the skunk asked. "What weird calls?"

"I keep bugs everywhere. Helps me keep an eye on people around here. But when you were talking, when you were in your room on your phone, something happened to scramble them up. Now, I don't know any phones that you can buy out there that scramble the bugs that I get in the rooms, but that might have just been some sort of tinkering you did for some mission or something when you were still working as a merc.

"But if you think that I can get through something like that, you're mistaken." The iguana reached over to a small box on his desk, pressing a button on it.

The skunk winced as he heard the conversation he had with Alpha repeated, the entire thing recorded. So...that was how Vinnie had gotten the last bit of proof; but how, if the calls were scrambled?

Vinnie let the conversation play out to the end before turning the box back off. "You know, I was about to figure out how to stop the scrambling...but then you called this 'Alpha'. You called him, and then, all of a sudden, everything was as clear as day. For a mole, you're a shitty piece of work, Azure. If that's your real name."

"I did good enough to get enough information out of you to shut you down," the skunk said with a shrug.

"Not good enough to keep from being noticed." The iguana looked around the two of them, and blinked. "Hey, where are the wolves that brought you up here?"

"Oh? Them? They're in the hallway still," the skunk said with a shrug.

Grumbling, Vinnie leaned back in his chair. "Well, doesn't matter. Al here can put a bullet in your head as well as they can. And then, when the feds or whoever the hell is running you finds your body tomorrow, maybe they'll think again about messing with me."

Azure couldn't help chuckling just a little bit, and the iguana's frown got a little deeper. "What's so funny?" he growled under his breath.

"You, Vinnie," the skunk said, his laugh getting a bit stronger. "You, and how you think that you're still in control."

"And I suppose that you think that you're the one in control, huh?" Vinnie glared at him. "Why don't you prove it, if you think you are." The iguana crossed his arms, looking at the skunk expectantly, smirking slightly. "Go on. Show me what you can do."

Grinning, Azure turned his head to look back at the dragon. "Al? Put a bullet through the boss's chair."

The room echoed with the gunshot, and Vinnie went ramrod straight as a hole bloomed in his chair, barely a centimeter away from his head. Turning to stare at it, he took his eyes off of the skunk.

Azure took his chance. Leaping over the desk, he tackled the iguana backwards, carrying him and the chair to the floor. He grabbed Vinnie by the collar, brought his fist back, and slammed it right against the iguana's cheek. He felt a tooth come loose from the iguana's mouth, saw it fall to the floor, before he brought his fist down again. This one hit the lizard on the chin, just hard enough to send the crime boss into dreamland.

He sighed softly as he sat up again, straddling the lizard's stomach as he looked down at him. "Well...that went better than I thought," Azure muttered under his breath.

He had both an opportunity and a problem now. The problem was that there was no way that anyone would believe that the iguana had been injured in an accident, and now, Vinnie knew that his second in command was on Azure's side. There would be no more surprises, no more chances to bring Al out as a secret weapon. That chance had passed.

On the other hand, he had an opportunity as well. Even though the boss knew his secrets now, he had the boss at his mercy. Azure had been planning to get the iguana alone at some point to carry out his full plan, but he'd thought he'd need a few more days for that. If he could do this right, and do it right now...

"Al?"

"Yes?" the dragon answered, sleepily.

"Help me get Vinnie to his room."

#

The bedroom of the penthouse was incredibly spacious, bigger than the whole room that Azure had for himself, the skunk was surprised to see. He could only imagine the type of entertaining that Vinnie must do up here, and the tales that the whores that the lizard bought himself could tell.

Of course, if any of them were here now, he doubted that they'd recognize the use he'd put the room to.

Both Al and Vinnie were tied up, their arms behind their backs and ropes across their chest and legs. Their eyes were covered and their mouths gagged, their legs tied together at the ankles and knees, and their genitals tied around the base, forcing them into hardness. The skunk smiled at them, the way that they were tied back to back on the bed, and slowly pulled the pendant off of his neck as he considered what he was going to do with them.

They were the heads of the organization. Vinnie worked out the way that it would run, and Al was the one that enforced the running of it. Vinnie came up with the plans; Al made sure that they were carried out. They were almost symbiotically tied with one another, one the brain, the other the body. Just taking one of them out of the equation would drastically reduce how effective the entire Family was, and there was a point where Azure had been tempted to take one of them out, just remove them from the equation.

But that left the other one to continue the operations, and though Azure wanted to believe that the Family would die off with just one of the heads, he knew just how competent both Al and Vinnie were. Either one could hold the Family together, and with enough time, they could find someone else to replace the missing half, possibly making it even stronger than before.

No, he had to deal with both of them.

It had taken him a long time to figure out a way to bring them down without actually killing them; Vinnie, he had no problem with, but Al...Al was ruthless, a killer, but he was doing a job, more than fulfilling a passion the way that Vinnie was with this kind of work. Plus, he kind of liked the dragon, man to man, as well as...other ways. He didn't want to have the dragon's life on his hands.

Eventually, he'd figured out a solution. Now, he just had to see if he could make it work. It was something that he hadn't tried before, and he hoped that his hypnotic skills were up for the task. If they weren't...

The two of them started squirming. Just starting to wake up, apparently. Good, Azure thought to himself; this would be useless if they were still asleep for this.

They wiggled back and forth, their arms bulging as they fought against their bonds. It was futile, as the knots were tied too tightly to be escaped, and he knew that the dragon wouldn't be able to break the rope. He'd bought it particularly for that purpose. Still, it was rather amusing to watch them squirm and shake, their arms and legs bulging as they tried to pull themselves free from their bonds.

That was nothing compared to what they did when they realized that they were naked, though. Vinnie in particular was hysterical, as his green cheeks turned red, and he started shouting in high pitched shrieks against his gag. It was almost like hearing a female shouting instead of a big strong crime boss, and it took all of the skunk's self-control to keep from bursting out in laughter at the sound.

Al was more controlled, as Azure expected; the dragon stopped fighting and instead turned his head a few times, the little flaps around the dragon's ear-holes twitching as though the dragon was trying to gather more information by sound. Al's nostrils flared lightly as well, and the skunk nodded his head in approval at the dragon. Obviously Al had been in situations similar to this before, and he had been trained with how to deal with it. Nothing less than he expected from the dragon; all the more reason that he needed to deal with him, rather than allow him to stay with the organization.

The skunk allowed them to squirm around in terror for a bit longer before getting up. He made his footsteps a little heavier, and watched as both heads turned his way. They followed him as he walked over to the foot of the bed, where they were, and paused. His silence made Vinnie sweat, and it made Al tense, he saw, by the dragon's bunched muscles.

Rather than speak, he reached over and undid the blindfold on Al. He kept the gag in, though, and he chuckled a bit as the dragon looked up at him in shock. "Surprise," Azure said with a small chuckle.

The skunk held his pendant up in front of the dragon's eyes as Al stared at him in confusion, giving it a little spin before setting it swaying. "You remember looking at this pendant, don't you?" he whispered, his smile growing slightly as the dragon gave an unconscious nod. Oh, this would be easy, he thought to himself. "You remember watching it...seeing it sway...seeing it go side to side....you remember watching it while listening to your good friend...watching it while hearing your good friend talk...remember that watching it relaxes you...

"Yes, you remember...just keep watching it...keep letting it remind you of how much you watched it before...remember how it made you feel so relaxed before...remember how you just relaxed, while listening to your friend...listening to your good friend Azure..." The skunk smiled as the dragon was starting to slump over more, leaning forward against the ropes across his chest, almost dragging the iguana forward with him. "Yes, yes, that's it...keep listening...it's so very normal to listen...you remember how easy it is...just keep listening...keep listening, keep watching...keep relaxing as you watch and listen..."

It didn't take long for the dragon to re-enter his trance, and the skunk smiled as he simply held the pendant up in front of the dragon's face. The soft grunts and growls from the iguana hadn't stopped or slowed the trance at all. Al had slipped right back into it easily, though the skunk wasn't silly enough to think that the dragon actually wanted to be hypnotized. That would be just arrogant. No, his body and mind just remembered the last one well enough that it was easy to send him down into trance. Like anything else, falling into a trance got easier the more times that a person did it, and Al was no exception.

"Just relax...relax and stay in trance...relax...relax and listen..." Azure whispered to the dragon, getting a slow, steady nod with each little suggestion he gave the bodyguard. He nodded back at the dragon, hiding a chuckle. Oh, this was going to be fun.

Now, the hard part. He turned his attention over to Vinnie, and slowly undid the blindfold that the iguana had around his head, laying it over to the side.

Vinnie had none of the confusion that Al had, though that was understandable considering that the iguana had been hearing him whisper to the dragon this whole time, and he hadn't been under hypnosis while he was being tied up. Instead, the iguana was all rage and sputtering anger, spitting against the gag in his mouth as he doubtlessly tried to swear as much as he could, cursing out the skunk in what was doubtlessly highly original language that was fated to be spoiled in the gag he wore.

Shaking his head a little bit at the iguana, Azure let the pendant drop down in front of the iguana's eyes. Vinnie showed some slight worry, but his eyes were drawn to the pendant anyway. The skunk smiled, tapping the side of it and letting it slowly sway, side to side, side to side, back and forth. "Hello, Vinnie. I'm sure you know how this works. Stare at the pendant, get hypnotized, follow my orders. But you're so strong willed, you know that you won't fall for that. I bet you're thinking that I'm just looking like an idiot, trying to hypnotize someone like you, trying to put you in a trance that only an idiot would be weak enough to slip into.

"So you'll just keep looking at this, trying to prove a point. Just keep watching the pendant sway back and forth, back and forth. You know how much of an idiot I look like trying to hypnotize you, so there's no harm in trying to prove me wrong here. You just want to show me how much better you are, how much stronger you are, so you'll keep watching. After all, you can't possibly be hypnotized, can you?"

The iguana continued to stare at the pendant, a little smirk on his lips confirming that Azure was guessing his feelings just right. It didn't matter, though; the skunk knew that most people believed that they couldn't be hypnotized. It just took a little bit of work to get through the armor that most people put around their minds. Once he found a way to distract them, then they were easy enough to handle.

Vinnie was proving to be no exception. Though the iguana continued to smirk, his eyes continued to follow the pendant, going back and forth with the same pace as the gem. Now and then, Azure caught sight of the lizard's muscles twitching, trying to pull his eyes free, but it was just a little too hard. Sure, there was a second where the eyes flicked slightly to the side, but not enough to actually look away from the pendant, and they were back on track barely a second or two later.

He continued whispering to the iguana, smiling all the while. "That's it...you know you're the one in charge...you can relax. You know that everything is going to work out right in the end. You're too smart to get caught...even if you did get hypnotized you'd just get free later. You know that your Family will obey you utterly, that they'll make sure that you don't get harmed in any way. No matter what you do, they always come crawling to you...always follow your orders. You don't have to worry about a little trance...you don't have to worry about anyone else getting control of you. As if they could. But even if one did, it wouldn't matter to you. You are too strong, too smart for that.

"You're relaxing...just letting your guard down a bit...you can always bring it back up again later, but for now, you're letting it down...letting in the sound of my voice...letting my words into your mind...letting the words in as you follow the pendant...you just love to follow the pendant...show me how strong you are...how powerful you are...your will is strong, so there's nothing to worry about...You're relaxing because you want to, not because of what I say...you're slowly getting more...and more...relaxed..."

The iguana leaned forward, the smirk slipping from his lips. Vinnie's eyes drooped slightly, but they kept following the pendant back and forth. He was quite close now, Azure thought to himself. Not a lot more to go.

"That's it...you'll just show me how strong your will is...just show me how strong you are by going into trance...after all, you can always climb back out of trance again...It'll just be for a little while, just a little while to prove you're strong, stronger than me. That's it...just relax...and slide....into trance..."

There was always a moment when it was clear that the subject was in trance. Sometimes it came when the eyes closed; sometimes when they slumped forward against their arms; sometimes when they just had a different sort of presence to them in comparison to normal. In Vinnie's case, this sign was a great sigh, and a small smile that crossed his lips. There was no sign of the malice or mischief normally associated with the iguana's grin, but only a sign of pleasure, of happiness.

Azure chuckled a bit, stopping the pendant right in front of the reptile's face. "I guess you really needed to be in trance," he muttered under his breath. Unlike Al, Vinnie really did seem to enjoy being in trance. It was very different; rather than the simple calm that the dragon showed - though Vinnie had something of that, too - the iguana actually looked like he was in a very pleasured state. As if he had wanted this for a long time. Perhaps he was under more stress than Azure had guessed; having his mind basically put on hold would do the crime boss a great deal of good.

But there wasn't time to really enjoy the crime boss's strange pleasure in being in trance. He had work to do, and only a limited time in which to do it.

Stepping back from the two tied up reptiles, the skunk stripped down. His shirt and jacket flew over his shoulders, and he kicked his pants over to the pile as well. His shoes and socks were still out in the hallway - something that might bite him in the butt, but he had to get this done now - and his underwear followed shortly after. The anticipation of what he was going to do to the two of them already had him hard, and Azure paused to give himself a few little strokes, a little reward for getting so far into this.

Taking his hand away when he felt a little pre against his fingers, he joined the two naked reptiles on the bed. It didn't take much effort to tip them over, and the bed was cushioned enough that the jolt wasn't enough to wake them from their trance, either. They continued to stare into space, both with mouths slightly agape, their eyes half closed. It was almost adorable, he thought to himself. He reached out, undoing the gags on each of them, pulling them out and dropping them down on the floor.

Once they were both on the bed, facing away from each other, he slid around them, taking a seat a little past their heads. He spread his legs a little bit, and slowly lowered one foot in front of each of the reptiles. He knew that Al loved it, and though it wasn't entirely his thing, it would be fun to put Vinnie a bit more in his place. "Okay, Vinnie, Al, start licking the foot in front of you. You don't mind doing it...you know that you want to just relax...just do what you hear me tell you to do...just - Ooooh."

Neither of them hesitated, and he immediately felt a forked tongue against each foot, licking along the underside. His toes were close to their chins, so they licked towards his heel instead of towards his toes. It was a little bit different than how it had felt when Al had been licking up his feet towards his toes, but considering how good their tongues felt down there, he wasn't going to complain. The skunk's hand fell down to his cock again, stroking it as he watched the two hypnotized criminals work on cleaning his feet with their tongues.

He timed his strokes to the feeling of their licks, up on one lick, down on another. Each tongue was moving steadily towards his heel, and then would drop back down to his toes when the heel was reached. It was almost a tickling feeling, he thought to himself, but without the way that a tickle feeling made him want to kick out. Instead, it was almost a stroking, a wet, warm stroking that was indescribably pleasant.

They were quick as they licked up and down his feet, eagerly going at it like a pair of dogs at a water bowl. He moaned softly as they licked between his toes, along the bridge just under his toes. They lapped at his arch, and kissed at his heels before going back to the top, each lick leaving a little tingle behind after they had reached the end, dragging the pointed ends of their tongue against his sensitive feet before starting again, dragging the entire length of their tongues along the bottom of his feet.

It wasn't long before he couldn't take it anymore, and he pulled his feet back. They licked at the air a few times, but he gave them something different to lick at. At least, he gave Vinnie something, as he moved down the bed and presented his cock to the crime lord's mouth. This was the ultimate test of the trance that Vinnie was in; if it wasn't strong enough, the iguana would lash out, fighting back against the thing he was presented with.

Thankfully, there was no sign of struggle on the iguana's face. However, there was also no sign of Vinnie doing what he was supposed to do. Azure thought that maybe he had done something wrong. Then, he remembered; there had been no command given. The iguana didn't know what he was supposed to do.

"Suck on this," the skunk whispered. "It's nothing wrong...you are just proving how much you aren't afraid of me...proving that you are doing this of your own free will...you will suck on my cock...showing that you are doing this of your own free will, and not under trance...after all, you are so strong...so strong willed...there's no way that I could make you do something..."

Azure couldn't hide his grin as the iguana leaned forward and swallowed the tip of his cock into his scaly mouth. Soft moans slipped from the skunk's lips as the iguana took it all the way to the hilt on the first go, pulling the entire length into his throat. It was just amazing how good the iguana was at this; he would have thought that Vinnie would need a little education, but either the trance was bringing out repressed urges, or the iguana had done something like this before, and had just never told anyone. Either way, Azure didn't care; he was getting the blowjob of his life from the boss that had been about to kill him less than an hour ago.

"Heh...Karma's....a bitch...isn't it?" he muttered at the crime lord. There was no answer, nor did he expect one. All that Azure expected was a blowjob, and he was getting that in spades. He moaned softly as the lizard bobbed his head back and forth, sliding along the increasingly wet and shiny shaft, and the skunk suppressed the urge to reach out and push Vinnie down his cock further. There was no way that he was going to risk breaking this trance, not with the big guy's teeth so close to his cock. Al, maybe, but this guy? Not happening in a million years.

Not that he needed it anyway; the iguana was extremely good at it. He could feel Vinnie's cheeks pressing against the sides of his cock as the reptile slid back and forth along his cock, and it took all of Azure's self control to keep from thrusting forward, pushing himself in and out at his own pace. He panted and moaned, particularly when Vinnie pulled his cock into his throat, and then swallowed around it. It almost felt like a female's pussy squirming around him, milking him, and he barely held out against that the first time.

Looking down at the two reptiles, the skunk grinned at the sight of the bondage-enhanced erections that they sported. It wouldn't be particularly natural to them at the moment, but with a little more work, the feeling of being erect would become synonymous with giving oral...and other things as well, for that matter. At the moment it just looked sexy.

He let the iguana suck on him for a little longer before pulling his cock free, giving it a few strokes with a grin. "Prepare for your new place, Vinnie," Azure muttered under his breath. With a grunt, he squeezed his cock, feeling his orgasm wash over him, and watched his cum wash over the iguana.

It splattered all over the lizard's cheeks, and over his lips. The white color was a drastic difference compared to the green scales that the iguana was covered with, making it ever so easily visible. He grinned to himself at the sight of it, patting the iguana's cheeks lightly with a nod of approval. "That's a better look for you than any of the suits that you've ever worn," the skunk said with a chuckle.

Vinnie said nothing. Again, not surprising. Azure looked at the two of them, and shifted his position again, moving down to where they were tied together. He undid those knots, but left them tied up for the most part.

Now, for the interesting part. It took a little bit of work, but he got Vinnie down on hands and knees, and put the dragon on top of him. He grabbed hold of Al's cock, and guided it between Vinnie's ass cheeks, pressing the tip lightly against the iguana's hole. There was a slight twitch in both of the reptiles at that, but neither looked like they would wake up from the trance, at least not yet.

Sliding around in front of the two of them, he pulled out the pendant once more. It started swaying as he spoke. "Now...you two are going to have a new life...a new working relationship...You know that you've been hiding something from each other...an attraction that you've never understood before...but now you're going to let it out...you're going to stop hiding this attraction...and you're going to show it to everyone...

"It's a simple thing...you have relied on each other every day, worked together for years...it is a simple attraction...it started as a friendship, but now...now it's so much more...you know this is the truth...you know this is the truth...that you lust for each other..." They nodded at him, and he continued. "Your lust...your need for sex...will grow...and grow...You need it badly. You need each other, and you need others...your libido is growing now...that familiar need for a mouth...for a hole...it's getting hotter, stronger, isn't it?"

They nodded, and both were panting. He could smell just how aroused they were, a small stream of pre coming from each of them, starting to get the bed wet below. He grinned, letting the pendant sway as he continued. "That's it...you know its the truth...you will let it out...it's not right for people as strong as you to hide what you really feel...you want to let it out...you want to show everyone what you need...and use others for what you need..."

His reptiles seemed to understand, and Azure heaved a sigh of relief, though not necessarily one that was happy. If this worked the way that he thought it would, it meant that there were going to be a great deal of uncomfortable males in the Family over the next week or two. Some would leave because they couldn't work for a fag, as they'd think of it; others would leave when they realized that the bosses would be looking to screw everyone, rather than screw them over. It would take a while, but this would bring them down, lose them all their support.

"Now...you will wake up in three hours...and you will remember what I have said...remember the new needs you have...and you will act on them with your subordinates. You will use them as you want...you will act on your lusts...but only with men. You will only do this with the men in your group," he said, hiding a little smirk. This would have outraged them before, but now they were only nodding eagerly at his commands. "And in six months...in six months, you will wake up. In six months, you will wake up...you will remember what you have done...and see it the way that you normally would." That would be enough time for the organization to crumble, for Alpha to put them in jail; if it wasn't, then Azure was backing the wrong side here.

He got to his feet, slowly pulling his clothes back on as the two reptiles whimpered in need, filling the room with their musk. The skunk buttoned his shirt, and was halfway to the door, before turning back to them. "Now...fuck each other...The ropes will come undone when you wake up in three hours." He grinned as they started moving, dragon cock spreading iguana ass open, and he slowly let the door shut behind him with a chuckle.

#

Three months later, in New York City, Azure opened a newspaper that had an interesting headline. "Sex Mob Broken! Mr. Vinnie Arrested!" The skunk smirked around his coffee cup as he read about how the federal authorities had finally taken down the infamous organization of his former boss, who had turned the whole thing into one giant brothel for gay men and girls that liked yaoi between guys. It was quite entertaining, and the front page was a big - though censored - shot of Vinnie being in the middle of three guys, with one under, one behind, and one in front of him. Apparently he'd been found like that.

According to the article, the Family had turned out to be run by Al after the skunk's departure, the more 'dominant' dragon taking the reins of power and turning the group into its current state. Vinnie had become the dragon's bitch, and had handed over all control quite willingly, if only so he could have more time sharing his ass with his subordinates.

He put the paper down on the table as a man in a suit approached him. A black scaled dragon, with white eyes and a scar over one of them, sat down on the opposite side of the table. "You have to admit, that could not have gone any better," Azure said with a chuckle.

"Indeed. I know I enjoyed the show," the dragon said. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small flash drive. Pushing it across the table, he said, "I know Alpha already paid you, but here's something a little more...personal. As well as a new contact, a new assignment, if you want."

"Heh, something from you?" Azure asked.

"Not me, but I'd recommend him; he's usually got some fun stuff."

The skunk pocketed the flash drive, taking another sip of his coffee. "Thanks. I'll definitely look into it." He chuckled. "You know, considering you know how to find me after all these assignments, I almost think you have a hand in how they come to me, how they turn out."

"Now, how could I do that?" The dragon chuckled a bit, standing up from the table. "Good luck, Azure, if you want to go with the next assignment."

The dragon disappeared in the crowd, and even the skunk's normally keen eyes couldn't pick up just where he went. He shook his head slightly, and looked down at the pocket where the flash drive was. Well, another adventure couldn't hurt...