Acquisition

Caden opened his eyes partially as he heard the buzzing of the front door to his flat. His eyes gazed at the sleeping face of Thea who was only nano meters from his. It appeared they had changed positions in their sleep, though her arms were still draped around his head. He smiled quietly as he pecked her upper lip.

Her eyes slowly opened at the feeling of his lips and smirked quietly to herself. Her eyes remained partially open, not entirely awake yet, just like earlier that morning. "Mornin' my Serpentine lover," she'd say with a quiet and adoring tone. However when she heard the buzzing from the door, she slowly sat up.

Following suit, he would slip off the bed after having a hard time sitting up on the wavy bed.

Thea walked over to the nearby chair in the room at the computer desk and picked up her utility shorts, slipping them on nonchalantly. Though her balance was completely off as she almost fell over in the process, if it wasn't for Caden quickly catching her.

She smiled up at him as she leaned against his chest before pushing off of him and standing straight. She then stretched and walked towards the bedroom door and toward the circular couch in the commons area.

Caden smirked a bit and followed her out, but ended up going over to the door. Forming a pair of darkly colored boardwalk shorts and a tropical themed rash guard shirt.

When he went over to the intercom beside the door, he didn't turn on his camera until he answered the door. "Hello?" Caden asked as a face appeared on the screen of the intercom. It was none other than Malcolm Merlyn.

The boy simply frowned seeing him there, but kept his side of the com off.

"Hello! My name is Malcolm Merlyn from Merlyn Global Group, I've come here to talk to Caden Price?" He sounded friendly, but the boy could obviously see the facade. He was a Manipulative man, and he was likely here to obtain the complex for further monetary gain.

"This is he, what is it you want to talk about?" Caden asked without unlocking or opening the door. He kept his eyes narrowed on the camera.

Merlyn squinted at the camera as it seemed the boy wasn't just opening the door for him after he introduced himself. Was he not liked by the boy? "Can I come in?"

"I have sensitive company over at the moment, I am currently not accepting more guests." Caden started with a sarcastic tone as he leaned against the wall beside the door.

"...Sensitive Company? Aren't you fifteen?" Malcolm snickered at the boy's tone he was using. "I'd like to talk to you about your inheritance. Prior to your resurface in the world of the living, my company was in the middle of acquiring your private commercial assets from the state. I'd like to make a deal with you..."

"You can't wait two more years?" Caden yawned loudly as Thea giggle snorted in the background as he was now clearly pushing at Malcolm's buttons.

However as he recognized the laugh, he raised a brow. Merlyn wasn't expecting for someone familiar to be in the room with the boy. "Wait... Do you have Thea Queen in your flat?" The man scoffed slightly and rolled his fingers along the side of his pants. "Let me in, before I call her mother."

"Her mother knows she is here," Caden retorted with a playful huff and invisibly flipped the assassin off through the door.

"So irresponsible..." Malcolm uttered even though he wasn't all that different. Moira may have a strained relationship with Thea, but he also had a strained relationship with his son as well. "Will you come out here and talk to me then?"

"I mean, we just woke up," Caden stated truthfully with a shake of his head as he denied the invitation to stand outside the room with him. "Do we have to talk about it now?"

Malcolm frowned seeing that the boy was trying to avoid even talking to him.

"Open the door and we'll get this over with." He stated as he made a pecking motion at the door with two of his fingers.

"Whatever," Caden stated as he hit the buzzer on his end, causing the door to pop open.

At that moment, Malcolm came strolling in and closed the door behind himself. He looked at the boy who had weird eyes. He felt as if he had met him sometime before, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. He then looked to Thea and raised a brow at how she was dressed. She was wearing a lace camisole which was semi-translucent due to the material it was made out of.

His eyes then moved to Caden, he never lowered his brow as he looked over what appeared to be beach going or even surfer attire.

"Planning on going to the beach?" Malcolm asked as he then made his way over to the common area. He was wearing his typical dark business attire, he didn't wear a tie. He had a suitcase which he placed on the coffee table as he sat down.

Caden immediately followed him over and sat down beside Thea, between the two of them, as if purposely separating them for some reason.

"You wish to acquire my only means of revenue?" Caden asked curiously as he looked over the man. It was clear this man wanted, or more so needed, more money in order to obtain the resources and assets needed for the Undertaking.

Malcolm tilted his head to the side hearing the boy's piece. He wasn't wrong, that's what he wanted, but he also knew a boy this young could live on the millions he'd gain by selling.

His eyes however locked on a book the boy appeared to pull out of his pocket. It was a hardcover book with a star wars title overlay. Yet from what he remembered, the Star Wars books didn't have the dimensions he was seeing here.

Caden handed the book to Malcolm, a blank look on his face.

Malcolm felt familiar with the weight of this book, the composition of the book, and the color of the pages. He looked at Caden with an inquisitive look on his face, before opening to the front cover page.

He immediately froze, staring at the emblem used by Tempest.

"Where did you get this?" Malcolm asked as he looked over at the boy, both of his brows straightened out in a seriously dark and dangerous expression.

Thea noticed the change in Malcolm's behavior almost immediately. Almost like Caden himself, she could feel the killing intent, the pheromones of a predator emanating of of him.

"Unless you want your son to die in the Glades, I suggest you put a stop to your plans." Caden responded to his question which what seemed to sound like a friendly warning, though could be interpreted in various different ways.

Malcolm remained seated as he stared at Caden, the boy knew a lot and he even said that his son would die in the Glades. Why would his son die in the Glades? "Is that a threat?" He asked as he wanted affirmation of the boy's motives.

"No, it's a warning based on your own actions you are willing to take." Caden remained calm in his response as Thea rested her head on his shoulder sleepily, rubbing the side of her face against his skin.

"A warning based on my own actions..." Malcolm's eyes rested on Thea who appeared either uninterested or too tired to care about what was going on here. "What actions would those be?"

"Leveling the Glades, a place where your son spends quite a bit of his freetime." Caden informed the arrogant and ignorant man known as Malcolm Merlyn. "Maybe instead of trying to destroy the entire Glades... You could clean up the streets, with the skills we both know you have."

"I came here to talk to you about acquiring this establishment." Malcolm Merlyn tried to dismiss what the boy had said about his skills.

"Come on now Mister Magician, you have been released from your vows. Why not make one to protect Starling City? Leveling the Glades will put a target on your back." Caden coined his arabic alias of the Magician from the League of Assassins. "Ra's will try to kill you, and all of your immediate family."

Malcolm flexed his eyelids as he heard him talk of his immediate family, as if he had more than just Tommy his son. This boy knew more than he did, about himself and his descendants it seems. His eyes shifted back to Thea who was now asleep against Caden's shoulder, one of her hands resting on the general vicinity of the boy's pelvis.

"Hm..." Malcolm let out a sigh as he leaned into the couch, which he had to admit was rather comfortable. "You know I could just kill you and make it appeared as if she had done it, don't you?" He seemed confident in this threat, though he could see Caden didn't seem phased by it. That was something that puzzled him, but he also found it weird that his supposed killer had been dropped from far above typical airspace over the city.

"I mean if you want to save your son from his fate, you could always... I don't know, mend your relationship. Stop disappointing him," He looked to the man who wanted to get revenge on a collective of innocent people for the deed of one man. "Besides, you killed the wrong person, the man you killed wasn't the murderer."

Malcolm's eyes widened as he heard this come from the boy's mouth. He had killed the wrong man in his own personal hunt for justice? "Who killed my wife?" It sounded as if once he was given the name of the man, he would run off and hunt him down right away.

Caden saw his chance to pull the strings behind Malcolm, to change his goes and how the future may layout. "If you want the answer to this question, you have two options. Swear your fealty to me and become a hooded vigilante, using your skills from the League of Assassins to kill murderous criminals. Or... Infiltrate the Australian Secret Intelligence Service's elite division and inject Slade Wilson with this cure." He said as he pulled a magic 'trick' and had a blue luminescent vial appear in his hand.

"Cure?" Merlyn didn't seem to like either of these options. While one was easier than the other, and another served a similar purpose to the undertaking, it wasn't necessarily what he had in mind.

"He is infected with a virus that slowly drives him insane via hallucinations. These hallucinations make the individual irrational, easily irritable and murderous." Caden said with a light sigh as he tilted his head to the side.

Merlyn stared at the boy who had given him this information. It was valuable and something he could use for his own betterment and help further his goals. "What do I get out of doing both?"

"I'll stop killing the people on your list," Cade responded with a faint smile across his lips.

Hearing that he was the person who had reduced people to ash and took out an entire mafia family, his face went blank. "Who trained you to kill?" He had seen images of the slaughter at the italian mobster's home.

"My legal godfather, Kenneth Bender." Caden snickered at this as if he was playing with the man.

The name itself sounded like an alias rather than an actual name. The first and last name didn't blend well in Caden's opinion. Though from Merlyn's expression, it appeared he thought the same.

While it appeared the boy was rather forthcoming with information, Malcolm wasn't going to ask who this Kenneth was. The individual was likely just as dangerous as the boy implied he was as he had killed off plenty of people related to those on the list.

"So what will you do, Malcolm Merlyn?" Caden inquired finally as Thea slumped over into his lap.

Malcolm just looked down at the defenseless girl in the boy's lap, then looked at Caden curiously. "And if I wanted to be released from my vow to you, what would I have to do?"

"If you wish to be released from your vow by 2013, I will give you the condition at that time." Caden said as he yawned boredly seeing the Malcolm was going along with the music. Though he would be annoyed of the man wasn't going along with what he was saying.

"Understood... And what about this complex? Will you sell?"

"Ask me again when I'm eighteen," Caden lulled his head back against the couch cushion, leaving his throat wide open. "Then I'll answer that question."

Malcolm nodded hearing the boy, it was a logical decision. When the boy was eighteen he could be seen as a legal adult and have rights to be economically independent. Right now he could only guess that his money was being controlled by either the state, or in a trust fund that followed certain conditions.

"In that case... I'll be going then," Malcolm responded as he stood up, picking up the suitcase which he neglected to open or even use. It seemed negotiations would have to take place in a few more years. "I'll come back tomorrow with my decision."

"Good seeing you, Mister Merlyn... I look forward to working with you."