The Winds of Change

[High Tide]

“You'll never find a bottle stronger. You know I'm to be trusted. I know what you'd do to me if you even suspected me of swindling you. I'm not even making a profit off this one, I just knew you were the only man who could truly appreciate something of this caliber,” he spoke standing much too close to me, and it was all I could do not to smash his face in and just take the rum for myself. If you could call it rum. I had always hated Arnold. He talked entirely too much and I couldn't stand his voice. It had this sort of lifting quality to it, as in he had a way of making himself sound like he was the most important person in the room. I spit on the ground near him, letting my mood be known.

“IF I even had the slightest inkling that you had even one single time THOUGHT about swindling me, you wouldn't be standing here right now. Take the cash, and if you think to count it in front of me, I'll send you to sleep and take it back. It's all in there and you shouldn't have to question that. Now scram, before I make you,” I snapped at Arnold who though used to my venom in general, was not prepared for such an onslaught. His shakiness caused the bottle to slip from his hands for the slightest of seconds before he recovered and caught it. He choked up on the neck and I smiled. I hadn't lost my touch.

He handed me the bottle as I handed over the envelope of cash. It was a fat wad, but if what Arnold had said was true, I was going to sleep better than I ever had tonight. Popping oven the bottle I took a sniff and recoiled. I never recoiled from a strong drink, but this was an understatement. I turned back to see Arnold's back towards me as he walked away. “Arnold!” I called out to him. “You've done well. Get me more of this in future and I'll pay you double,” I yelled loud enough for him to hear me.

I turned away then, before even hearing his response. You could build a man up in the business I ventured in, but to keep him respecting your superiority you had to show him that you really didn't give a fuck about his opinions, or even responses. At least it wasn't a bluff. I really didn't give two fucks about what Arnold had to say as long as he brought me the sweet, sweet nectar of life.

I had arranged the meeting not far from my shack that I called a home and so it was not long before I threw myself down in my favourite chair which doubled as my sleeping space in the messy, crowded room. I wasn't joking when I called it a shack, it literally was the definition of a shack, or a shed. Whatever you preferred to call it. Everything I owned, everything I needed or wanted was here in this tiny square. Some called it messy, I preferred to look at it as cozy. At least it offered another layer of insulation from the brutal elements that battered the paper thin walls of this place. It was cold in the winter, almost unbearably so, but I made do.

Yet I felt like I was slipping. Somehow the power balance had shifted, and Wasp and Trouble had me on the back foot. I had agreed to an idea that Wasp had brought forth, coincidentally before our first match partnered up together in a long time. It wasn't that it was a bad idea, but it was the first time I had allowed him to execute on an idea that I hadn't at least had a helping hand in. It made me feel vulnerable and I didn't like that. Yet I had no choice but to go through, with Trouble backing Wasp's idea, I didn't exactly have the numbers in my favour. In the end our goals were the same, and so I would let them play their little power shift. They would find out soon enough who the one in control was, even if I had to teach them myself.

I kicked my feet up, and sent my boots flying into one of the piles of clothes, hoping it was the dirty one and not the clean one. There wasn't room for organization, a dresser in here and I'd half to ditch half my necessities. It just wasn't going to happen. I was hungry and spotted a half eaten bag of chips thrown off to the side and I reached over and grabbed them, digging into them ravenously.

Yes, we would put up a hell of a fight, but winning the fight wasn't always crucial to winning the war, I thought to myself as I devoured the potato snack. Wasp had finally come up with a good idea, and I was going to be the one to reap the benefits of it. Whether they did or not, I really didn't care.

Yet I couldn't shake the thought of not being part of the plan that finally propelled us forward, the idea that would help us cement our name in history forever. At least I had a friend to help me with that. I retrieved the bottle of “rum” from my inner pocket of my pirate's coat and smiled. “Hello my good friend, so nice to see you,” I laughed to myself as I cracked the bottle open once more. “Cheers to Dominator, to Crazy Boy, to Stormm and to Matthews. To Wasp and most of all, to me!” I clinked imaginary glasses in the air and submitted myself to the oblivion that was about to come to me.

I would sleep well tonight, lifted high on the back of the winds of change.