Meeting the Mayor (Mike and Mozzie)

[Generalfoley]

Joe walked down a hallway of the former Empire State Building, now known as the Empire City Spire, accompanied by a couple of guards. He and Mike had arrived in Empire City a couple of hours ago, pulling the J-10 into a nearby mechanic's shop. Joe had slipped the mechanic to paint the original yellow and blue paint job between the J-10's plates behind Mike's back. He liked the old paint job better than the new black one that Mike had on it.

Joe looked around the hallway. The Empire City Spire had changed since the last time he had been there. Now, instead of just holding the Mayor's office and the garrison, it also held the new school, Empire City Academy, where kids around the city went to learn, whether they wanted to or not. He looked over at Mike, who the guards had dragged with them.

"Please be respectful of the Mayor. He's an old friend of mine, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult him."

[God Mike]

Mike was bored... so incredibly bored... He preferred the uncivilized lands outside. Out there, you wouldn't get blown to hell for simply firing a few rounds into the air to attract a zombie or ten... Stretching lazily, Mike took a look around and got a taste of the old world, and he found that he was disgusted. He much preferred the new, zombie-filled world. It was much more easy to live in.

"Please be respectful of the Mayor. He's an old friend of mine, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult him." Joe said, and Mike hummed, thinking. Would he go with the smartass answer, or the smart answer? He chose smart.

"I will act as polite as possible," he answered calmly. "Though I may inadvertedly insult him, as I have no idea what type of person he is, so the only guarantee I can make is that I won't intentionally insult him..." Then, he added under his breath, makign sure that Joe didn't hear him, "...too much..."

[Generalfoley]

The guard ahead of the two opened a door.

"The mayor is waiting to see you." The guard said. Joe nodded, and entered swiftly. He saw the man, nursing a glass of wine while his spectacles shined in the late morning sunlight. He looked over and grinned like a kid in a candy store.

"Joseph!" The man yelled, putting down his wine glass and walking towards the Irishman. Joe smiled as he approached the Mayor of Empire City.

"Mozzie!" The two met, engaging in a complicated handshake that ended with a brotherly hug. Joe broke the hug first.

"How's it been, Mozz?" Joe asked, motioning for Mike to come over.

"Mozz, this is Mike, a guy who'll stick by ya through thick or thin, as long as there's adventure and shiny things along the way. Mike, this is Mozzie, the Mayor of Empire City and one of the greatest Con Artists in the world." Joe said, laughing as he said so.

"So, Mozz, what's with the extra security? It's not like you to hire on shticks like Wes." Wes was the man who had let them in.

"Desperate times, my friend, call for desperate measures." Mozzie said, picking his glass of wine back up. He sipped at it before his eyes turned darker. He set the wine back down and clasped his hands together.

"Hey, uh, Joe. Did you, uh..." Mozzie trailed off, but Joe shook his head, a frown on his face.

"No. Sorry, Mozz. But I'll keep looking for 'em." Joe said. Mozzie pulled out a bottle of red wine, and poured it into two more glasses, which he handed to Joe and Mike.

"1969 Remoissenet Vosne Romanee." Mozzie said, smiling a little. "Reminds me of my days back before the outbreak, when I conned rich people out of their stocks, out of their bonds, out of their wine collections." The stout scholar sighed.

"Good times, good times." Mozzie sipped at his wine again. He then pointed at Mike.

"So, Michael, how did you and Joe meet up? This might be a tale worth hearing." Mozzie smiled, while Joe inwardly groaned. Mozzie loved stories a little too much.

[God Mike]

"Hey, uh, Joe. Did you, uh..." Mike watched the exchange, preferring to stay in the background as he scoped out the office. The guy had a very shiny cigar cutter on his desk. It was very shiny...

"No. Sorry, Mozz. But I'll keep looking for 'em." Mike barely even bothered to consider who they were talking about, as he felt his hand twitching. He so wanted to grab that thing... He was saved, however, when that Mozz guy handed over a glass of wine.

"1969 Remoissenet Vosne Romanee." Mike took off his gas mask and hung it on his backpack, sniffing the wine before taking a sip. How could anyone enjoy wine? As the Mozz dude was talking, Mike reached into his pocket and took out a steel flask, opening it and pouring some of the contents into the wine glass. Moonshine can make anything taste better. Sipping the wine, he found out that he was right.

"So, Michael, how did you and Joe meet up? This might be a tale worth hearing."

Mike hummed, trying to remember just how they met. "Well, I almost shot him, sneaking up on me like he did, and then I just winged it. We tore through some zombies, found some shiny things, some guns... then we met this Billy Badass in a cop car, and went to the casino."

[Generalfoley]

"Okay, so I was a little... misguided in what I thought would be a good story. Still, Joe," Mozzie turned his attention back to Joe. He saw Mike moving towards the cigar cutter and it was fine with him. It wasn't all that valuable, in the end.

"What brings you to EC? I know that you don't do anything unless it's for a reason." Joe chuckled, having gotten up and browsed his collection of books. He sipped at his wine before he turned back to the Mayor.

"I just need to talk to Briggs about some books and a few other things he owes me. He has yet to repay me for my losses in that mission you sent us on." Mozzie just rolled his eyes.

"You're still angry about the jacket?"

"I liked that jacket!" Joe responded before sipping his wine sheepishly. "It was a nice jacket. Still, he owes me stuff, and I intend to get my stuff."

Mozzie nodded. "He's over at the loading docks, where Trucks come in for supplies." Joe nodded. He sat back down.

"But Mozz," Joe began. "Why did you call us in here in the first place. Not just to chat away the evening and drink fine wine, I assume." Mozzie frowned, and set down his wine.

"You're as sharp as ever, Joe." Mozzie said. He looked over at his long-time friend, who had long since set his cup of wine down.

"I need your held with a task. Something I could only ask a friend to do." Mozzie took in a deep breath and started again. "I've received reports of two women matching Juliana and Susan's descriptions in New Chicago a few days ago. I need your help in tracking them down."

Joe put a hand on his chin. He knew how important this was to Mozzie, and more to the point, his sanity, but he couldn't exactly take off to New Chicago on reports that were probably more than a few days ago. Sure, he and the other cities have been working on getting communications back up, but right now civilization was still slow in that aspect, and they had been using military codes that very few people alive today knew. Decoding them took time, so the information was around six days old.

"Mozz," Joe began. "I know how important to you this is, but we have to think logically. I couldn't exactly go out and risk my life on reports that are probably short of a week old. And even if I found them, what then? I couldn't bring them back, not safe and sound anyway, and not without leaving Mike back at the bunker and god knows I would never do that. I said I'd do what I could, but we need to be reasonable. I know a few guys, maybe we'll get the word out, eh?"

[God Mike]

"I know how important to you this is, but we have to think logically. I couldn't exactly go out and risk my life on reports that are probably short of a week old. And even if I found them, what then? I couldn't bring them back, not safe and sound anyway, and not without leaving Mike back at the bunker and god knows I would never do that. I said I'd do what I could, but we need to be reasonable. I know a few guys, maybe we'll get the word out, eh?"

Mike's eye twitched as he set the glass down on Mozzie's desk. He was just about to shout at Joe for claiming that Mike wasn't fit to stay in the Bunker by himself, but then his memory caught up with him as he realized what they were talking about.

"Juliana and Susan?" he asked, blinking. "As in... women? Out there? Alone? Unarmed? Defenseless? In distress?!" Mike twitched again as he once more put on his gas mask, striking a heroic pose. "I, the Handsome Viking, accepts this challenge!"

Now, Mike looked down at Joe. "And you! I'm disappointed in you, G.I. Joe!" he said, pointing accusingly at his partner. "Your friend wishes for you to help him find two women who seem to be of some kind of importance to him, and you're gonna refuse to take care of it personally?! We must do this, Joe! We must! It's the right thing to do! It's what makes us the good guys!"

Then, Mike struck another heroic pose, his hands on his hips, Superman-style. "Besides," he said, a huge grin on his face, which was hidden by his gas mask, "I'm a sucker for damsels in distress. Don't worry, Mr. M!"

Mike walked up to Mozzie and put a hand on his shoulder. "I shall find these females for you, even if Mr. Wet-his-pants over there won't," he said as he jutted his thumb over his shoulder at Joe. Joe didn't actually wet his pants (to Mike's knowledge), but Mike figured he would take it as a good enough accusation of cowardice to agree to do this.

[Generalfoley]

Joe pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Mozzie had a steely expression on his face.

"Mike," Joe began. "Juliana and Susan are Mozzie's sister and daughter, respectively. They've been lost since the Outbreak, and he's been looking for them since. This is probably the closest anyone's got to a lead in two years." Joe hoped that this revelation would dissuade the Swede from what Joe knew he was planning. But deep down, he knew it wouldn't do shit.

Joe turned back to Mozzie. "And since Mike's so keen on this... quest," the last word dripped off his tongue as if it was old, unused. "Then I have to follow. There's no way in hell that he's taking the Jeep alone; there's no telling what condition it would be in when he got back, let alone if it came back at all." Joe took a breath.

"So, Mozz, I'll help you out with this, since Mike's jumping for an adventure. But remember-"

"I know, I know, I'll owe you one. Any favor, any time. I know the terms, Joe. We've been friends for too long for me to forget." Mozzie finished his wine and got up from his seat. Joe did as well, placing his wine glass on the desk. They shook hands in their complex handshake, and Joe proceeded to walk away, motioning for Mike to follow. They still had to get that stuff from Briggs.

"Good luck in finding them." Mozzie offered as last words. Joe nodded and did a semi salute. Then left the room.

[God Mike]

"So, Mozz, I'll help you out with this, since Mike's jumping for an adventure. But remember-"

"I know, I know, I'll owe you one. Any favor, any time. I know the terms, Joe. We've been friends for too long for me to forget." Mike was really glad he was wearing his gas mask, 'cause he was certain that he was looking pretty stupid, gaping at Mozzie the way he did.

Stunned, he followed Joe out of the office, his mouth still hanging open in shock. Only after the door had closed did he snap out of his shock, and growl. "This is bullshit!" he hissed quietly as they walked. "If it wasn't for me, you'd be the one in charge, and you'd never have gone on this epic quest to save the damsels in distress, yet he'll owe you if we find them?"

Mike was muttering to himself, and in a childish rage kicked the wall lightly, scoffing. "Fine," he said as he dug his hand into his pocket, fishing out a cigar cutter, "see if I'll give this thing back to him when we return..."

Pocketing the cutter again, Mike looked at Joe. "You know, if all of your friends in this charming city are like that Moss Man, we... are gonna have a problem."

[Generalfoley]

Joe sighed again. "Well, to be fair, those 'damsels in distress' are his flesh and blood. If I were in his seat, I wouldn't be too hot on you finding my sister and daughter either."

Joe shook his head as he walked down the hallway. They weren't accompanied by guards this time, a sign of trust from them, apparently.

"Let's just go to Briggs before we leave. I want to get the shit he owes me." Joe said with finality as he walked. He unbuttoned his holsters, always prepared, ever cautious. He always had an uneasy feeling in Empire City. No matter what crisis, EC was still New York, in every nook and cranny.