Chapter Five

Septimus sat at a table outside Gino’s East, enjoying one of the rare sunny days that graced the great lakes.

“Sir, your order.”

The waitress placed the deep dish meat-lover’s pizza on the table, and walked off. Sep grinned. One of his favorite things about Chicago was the food, whether it be the flavoured popcorn, the pizza, or a Chicago dog with extra banana peppers. You could always find something close by to eat that had enough calories to make dieticians faint. Levering a slice of the thick cornbread crust pie onto his plate, he decided to spend the week in town. If for no other reason, he had just made himself 35 million, so he could afford it.

~~

Tony pulled a wallet from his back pocket, and gasped when he checked the contents.

Allen glanced over to see the Chief Master Sergeant ogling a very large wad of green.

“Duuude.” Was all Allen could say.

Tony grinned. “Guess we don’t have to walk, do we?”

He stopped, and hailed a cab. As they climbed in, Tony told the cabbie to drive to Millennium Park. Once seated, Allen gave Tony a questioning look.

Tony explained. “Hey, this guy could be anywhere, so we should start in a big public place. Perhaps someone will know our Mr. S. Banner...”

The cab pulled off to the side of the road, and stopped. Allen glanced outside.

“This doesn’t look like a park-” He was cut off by an angry voice up front.

“Hey, I don’t drive people that deal with Banner. That guy bought out my pap’s business.” The cabbie finished up his words with a rude gesture pointing toward the door.

The two teens climbed out. Tony saw a Chicago Transit Authority map, and grabbed a copy.

“Hmm. It appears that we’re on the corner of West Foster and North Ravenswood. That’s a long way from downtown.”

Allen suggested they try and find some food. “Grab a taxi, and this time don’t mention our target.” He was directly telling a superior to do something, but he didn’t care. They weren’t on duty after all...

~~

Septimus checked into his suite at the Marriott directly across the street. He always asked for the top floor. It fed his narcissism. Slipping the hotel card into the door, he turned the handle and walked into the five room area. He had rented two suites and connected them. It was about 450 a night, but that was pocket change for the man of billions.

Dropping his bag, Septimus walked out on the balcony, and gazed the ground far beneath him. Suddenly, he clamped his hands over his ears.

Come, now... we must keep working... we need more...

“Damnit! Can’t you stay content for more than a few hours?” Cried the man, now curled on the floor of his suite.

It was like a drug. To get the voices to shut up, he had to do more, but every time he did, it seemed like the voice grew less content to wait. Septimus sometimes felt less like the driver, and more like the mule, when it came to his “business”.

“Fuck you. I’m staying for the rest of the week, and I’m not changing my mind!!!” He yelled, pulling himself up to a table.

~~

Tony paid the cabby, and joined Allen in looking at their surroundings.

“Cool! A pizza joint, with a hotel directly across the street! We can use this as our base of operations.”

Allen just nodded. He was looking at the delicious food adorning the tables of the customers outside Gino’s East.

“Man, one thing about earth that I missed was the meat.”

Two hours later, a very full Teenage duo walked into a top floor suite at the nearby Marriott.

“I’ll go get some ice.” Tony offered.

Walking into the hallway, Tony felt a slight chill as a muscular man in a smoking jacket passed by, turning into the room next to theirs.

“Geeze, that guy could use a Pinkie Party...” Mumbled Tony.

~~

Septimus had gone out to buy sleeping pills. If all went well, he would be so unconscious, even the most horrible abominations, not to mention that voice, would be blotted out for the night. On returning to the hotel, he passed a strange kid in the hallway, causing him to pause in thought. Something about him made him shiver. He carried himself with an upright, military-like, posture, and stepped forward in a way that made you think he was advancing into a heavily fortified sniper nest. It was probably nothing. As he closed the door, he heard the kid muttering. The words “Pinkie Party” caught his ear. Was that a code word for something? He didn’t care; he had bodyguards following him around (he didn’t even know who they were, for safety), it was probably one of them. He popped the lid off the canister of pills and swallowed two dry. Tonight, he would be worrying about nothing but sleep.

~~

Allen woke up to the sound of thunder, emanating from a murky sky above the maze of steel giants in Chicago. Sighing, he got up and walked into the kitchen area. Allen was considering starting a coffee addiction when Tony walked in from the second room.

“Well, perhaps we should save Millennium Park for another day. Care to go sightseeing?”

Allen responded sleepily, “Lets go somewhere that has a lot of caffeine and or taurine.”

Tony chuckled. “Sounds like the Sears Tower.”

The highway seemed to be at a crawl, no matter what time of day (or night) it was. Tony and Allen decided it would save time if they asked around the financial district to see if anyone knew about “Buyout Banner”, as it turned out he was called. From their internet search at the hotel, the two had quickly learned of the man’s track record of shorting companies. Sure, he wasn’t an evil dictator, but he was close. Many of the businesses he purchased were driven into the ground for personal profit. Some economic trend watchers said Banner could have actually single-handedly caused the “great recession” in the second half of the 2000’s.

Stepping out of the cab, Allen looked up. He couldn’t even see the upper portions of the Willis Tower. It used to be the Sears tower, but according to a small sign, the Willis Bank had purchased the building’s naming rights in 2003.

Tony strolled into the lobby. “I’ll ask about meeting someone.”

Allen nodded, but kept looking around at the extreme grandeur of downtown Chicago.

“If only Luna knew what she was getting us into...” escaped from Allen’s lips.

“Um, excuse me? Do you need help?” The voice came from a small lady standing by some boxes.

Allen blinked. “Uh, hi. My name is Allen.”

The woman extended her hand as if going for a fist bump, but quickly opened her palm for a handshake. “Clara Jacobs. Are you from around here?”

Allen realized he had a great opportunity. “Actually, I’m in town for a, uh, business proposition with a guy named Septimus Banner. You know him?”

Clara’s fists clenched at her sides, yet her face kept a pleasant expression. “What? A kid your age, talking to Buyout Banner? Don’t do it.” Her eyes narrowed. “He’s the reason I lost my job today. Whatever you’re thinking of, he’s just going to shred you.”

Allen looked at Clara for a second, before deciding to take a leap. “I’m trying to stop him.”

Clara’s expression became muddied. After what seemed like an eternity, she leaned over and whispered into his ear, “Do you belive in magic? Or other worlds?”

Allen’s eyes widened. “Wait... are you... from there?”

Clara nodded. “Come, lets go somewhere that isn’t... well... next to the Willis Tower.”

Tony walked out of the building, looking dejected.

“Hmph. ‘Get your fifteen-year-old butt out of here’... What did they think I was going to do? Walk up to a company president with a hand-buzzer?” he grumbled.

“Tony! You won’t believe this!”

~~

Tony and Allen sat across from Clara Jacobs at a small Dunkin’ Donuts.

Allen ventured a question forward. “So... Clar-er- Cadence...” the last word rolled off his tongue in an odd way. It felt so... correct... saying that word. “...You are working with your husband to learn about earth?”

“Yes. There is just so much knowledge here! We agreed that someone should try and learn a bit of it.”

Tony spoke up. “Yeah, but why not one of his guardsmen?”

Princess Cadence was the wife of Shining Armor, who happened to be captain of the Canterlot royal guard and Twilight’s big brother.

“Well,” responded Cadence, “The royal guards have their own duties. Not to mention that transportation across universes requires extremely powerful magic. Really, only Celestia, Luna, and I have such a spell available.”

“Uh-huh,” said Tony. “Anyways, you’re sure Banner looks like this?” He held up the picture Cadence had given them.

“Yes. I took it myself with one of those nifty digital cameras you humans have.”

Tony turned to Allen. “We need to get back to the hotel. Now.“