"On the one hand, you should pick a five star restaurant. You will be able to eat the best things you will ever taste in your life. On the other hand, if he reneges on his promise and doesn't pay, you might have to drop a kidney to pay for the meal."
"Hmm. This is a tough choice."
Kelvin shook his head in wonder as he asked, "This is a tough choice for you? Deciding to go to his place or not was not a tough decision, but deciding on the restaurant is a tough decision."
It rolled its white hollow eyes at him and said, "Don't be a stick in the mud. I wasn't going to really suggest that you enter his place. I would have been satisfied if you stayed outside of it and asked him to come out to meet you."
They argued the rest of the way. It was about a lot of things, but it all centered on which restaurant to pick. It turned out that Wrath was correct. Deciding on a restaurant to use as the meeting place was a difficult choice.
It was far more difficult than deciding to go meet the information at his place or not. It is because there were too many factors to consider.
None of those factors was the price of food because he didn't plan to actually do any eating. But the quality of the restaurant did matter, as it would determine if they had security or not and what level of security they had.
First of all, he had to decide if the restaurant would be in district 666 or the proper part of town. Restaurants in District 666 always have strong security, but there was a chance that their security could be paid to turn on him.
As for the proper part of town, most of them rely on the police force for security, so they don't have reliable security. Considering that the information broker had close ties with the police force, he couldn't rely on the police to be on his side in case of an altercation.
He would need to find an expensive place to get good security, but places like that are difficult to get into and even more difficult to escape in a hurry from. After all, he would look like he was dining and dashing if he started running all of a sudden.
The restaurants also had to be close to the ground so that he could jump down in case he had to escape. An elevator or staircase just won't do if he needs to be urgently far away from someone.
The two of them went through a lot of factors and had to visit a lot of restaurants to inspect their layouts, determine their security level, and identify the ease of escaping.
Eventually he decided on a place in a nice part of town. It was not a restaurant. It was a public park. The two of them couldn't agree on a restaurant to use for the meeting.
It was not that they argued too much and had two different options to decide on, but they couldn't settle on one. It was because all of the restaurants were lacking in one way or another. The two of them were in agreement on that.
So they chose a tiny spot of land between the skyscrapers of the concrete jungle that is the city. It was open so he could fight without being limited by space. He could also easily escape and reach his hoverbike that was parked nearby.
The best part was that he could access it with weapons and grenades strapped to his body. He and Wrath agreed that it would do for a meeting place with a shady character that puts up missions for people to try and kill him.
Next, he shifted into his full metallic form. He wanted to be ready for anything. Only then did he send the address to the information broker and wait.
The man arrived with his entourage an hour later. The convoy was smaller this time around. They were just five black armored cars instead of 18.
Three of the cars opened first. Nine guards came out of it to survey the area. They were all wearing the same kind of suit that Zain wore. But unlike Zain, they were smaller.
They walked around the park, checking everyone out. Then they surrounded the park.
Only when they were sure that the location was secure did the information broker come out of his vehicle. The red-skinned man in a black suit sauntered over to where he was sitting on a bench with two guards flanking him.
The man was wearing his sunglasses, so no one could see his eyes. He smiled at Kelvin and said, "Nice location. It is open, so it is easy to fight or escape."
Then he complained, "But there is no food. How are we going to have a good time if there is no food? And we are to sit on a bench? That's just going too far."
He sat down on the bench. Kelvin shifted away from him to make sure that there was space between them.
The man was still complaining. "Look at this bench? It looks like it has been under the rain and sun all year round for many years. It will damage my precious suit. I wouldn't have minded if you ate too much at a restaurant, but this bench might actually reach my limit of tolerance sooner than expected."
Kelvin didn't say anything. He didn't speak because Wrath had warned him not to speak easily. The shadow spirit had said that his tone, his mannerisms, and his accent would be able to clue an observant person into details of his life, such as where he grew up, and would be able to identify him in the future regardless of who he changes into.
The information broker noticed this and asked, "Are you going to be silent throughout the whole meeting?"
Kelvin wrote something on his phone and let it convert it into audio for him. The phone said, "No. I plan to speak."