Traumkäufer

The imposing figure soon revealed itself from out of the dark hallways, its long legs and broad shoulders constructing the very image of dominance.

His fittingly lupine hair was a dark, colorless gray, swept back raggedly to frame his sharp features. His suit was also gray, and nicer than all his minions’ by design. Old though he may have been, his piercing blue eyes gave the patriarch an air of charisma suited to his business. However, as he approached the children, coming closer and closer, they could slowly start to see another side to him- this great, all-encompassing ugliness in his expression, like a burning vendetta against the happiness of the entire universe.

Ed stepped away. Morgen picked one of the kids to single out- the blue-haired one, she ought to do- and leaned right into her face, his creaking and groggy voice made listenable by his silver tongue.

“Thanks, Edgar. Ah, what a friend. He and I grew up in a park owned by Maria Luchster, y’know. Oh, what was it called back then… something like Rosegarten. Have you heard of it?”

Frankie paused before shaking her head. She already knew how sick this man was, but despite the fact he was doing it inches into her comfort zone, his speech was so personable compared to that of Bozo’s or even Washington’s. If Kidney was an uncle, this man sounded more like a younger grandfather.

“Well, that’s not especially much of a surprise, er…” Frankie didn’t even really notice him glance over to Travis, who showed him their files in the park database on a small tablet. “…Frankie. Because, well… by the time we were old enough to notice how much it fucking sucked in that boring shithole of a park, we did something about it right away, and now what used to be that park is the home base of my company, Wolfcorp.”

He paced around the room, finally letting her go. Even if the Americans had only learned this man’s name but a few days ago, the rest of the captives had known him their whole lives as an ender of childhood homes, devourer of any park he thought he could swallow. Anything he actually made out of the space was exploitive- always profitable, but never especially enjoyable to the children who could feel the sheer bottomless lack of heart in his creations, even if they couldn’t explain it. None of them expected him to ever talk to them, much less lock them in a dark basement with no exit, but they’d always known him as a creature of their nightmares- a man who could take their everything in seconds.

“That’s all just to say…” Wolf continued, still pacing. “I’m punctual. Always have been. Soon enough, I’ll have this park, too. Because when I don’t like something… I get rid of it.”

He gave a toothy smile, crouching down to Frankie’s level again, this time with a friendly light in his eyes.

“Is there a reason that, say… I shouldn’t like you?”

Frankie was breathing heavily and couldn’t understand why she was being singled out. It made sense to her at first, spending so much time in a pairing where she was the only one flipping people off and yelling at them, usually. But this time… there were so many of them, why her?

Maybe he sees me as the weakest link, she ascertained. That made a lot of sense, given what she knew about Morgen, but there was just one thing wrong with that- Frankie wasn’t the weakest link anymore, and she damn well knew it.

She stuttered as she got it out, and her teeth chattered while she did it, but she still managed to let ring exactly what she wanted to say with little compromise to the anxiety pulsing in her heart.

“B-Because I’m the girl… who blew up Venge City… who won Kidney’s moon game… and who can tear down your whole life when she tells the cops just how much of a monster you are.”

Frankie waited for a reaction, holding eye contact… but to her surprise, and in direct contradiction to every rich person she’d ever known, Morgen Wolf’s face at the moment wasn’t angry in the slightest. He kept on smiling, maybe giving a little chuckle, and stood up, finally backing off from her. Unfortunately, Frankie still couldn’t catch her breath, as the strange response only made her heart beat faster.

“And I suppose it’s the same for all of you?” He addressed the captives, though he had turned around, digging through a briefcase handed to him by his lackey Travis.

“Y-yeah?” Percy gave the most pathetic whimper of a response possible, but it was something.

“Good, good.” He nodded without looking at them. “You know your value. You’re smart kids.”

Wolf turned back to his captives with a mountain of green in his hands and started handing it out to each of them like candy.

“Some for you… some for you…” It almost seemed like a joke as he gave each and every one of the children fortunes behind their wildest comprehension. This could get our parents back right now, the sisters’ brains practically exploded. The others were just as surprised but they didn’t even know what they’d do with so much money, just despairing at its overwhelming weight. “All equal, of course, don’t fight now…” The man really did sound like a friendly grandfather, the one you liked the most.

“Are we all satisfied?”

Frankie felt the weight of the money in her hands…

The weight of her relationship to her parents, stranded up on the moon…

The weight of her own life, very much at stake…

And threw the entirety of her fortune onto the dirty dungeon ground.

“Go to hell, old man.”

Morgen smiled and turned over to Edgar for a second.

“Ed, where does she live?”

He got done scanning.

“Merrytown, sir.”

“Merrytown. Perfect. You want to know what I’ll do?” He started looming around her, putting three fingers on one shoulder before grasping them both tightly once he was behind her, talking right into her ear so close that she could smell his breath. “I’ll buy your hometown. I’ll buy your house. I’ll buy your parents. I’ll buy your life. Then you, and everything you've ever dreamed… will only be a small part of me.” He cackled. “How’s that sound for a deal?”

Frankie shuddered. If there was a worse fate than death… this was it.