With the Commissions out of the way, Oliver and Lily settled into the circle of chairs with his friends- including Marty, who, despite his obvious excitement over the Talisman tome, chose to participate in their usual 'planning session'.

"Before we start with the usual planning..." Tyrone started slowly, his voice hesitant. "There's something I need to talk to you about, Oli."

Hearing the uncertainty in his friend's voice, Oliver's concern was instant- just what could rattle Tyrone of all people? "What's up, T? Everything ok?"

"Yeah- I mean, I think so." Tyrone shrugged. "But... While you were gone, I had a meeting. A big meeting, and I'm not sure what to make of it. A man named Thomas Fine came here on behalf of his boss, Robert Mann... to offer you an apology."

"An apology? For what?" Confusion laced Oliver's voice- as far as he was aware, he had no connection or interaction with anyone bearing those names.

"Ok, let me start from the beginning." Tyrone sighed, taking a few minutes to tell the full story of his meeting with Mr. Fine and his boss's loose connection to Carl Hardeman Sr.

Oliver took a moment to think through the story before he spoke- the whole encounter felt strange to him in any number of ways... "So... This guy, Robert Mann, he's a big deal? Rich, connected-"

"All of that, and then some." Tyrone quickly confirmed. "We're talking about a guy that rubs elbows with politicians, has connections in more countries than I can name, and his assistants probably have more money than our charity's budget."

"Why the hell would someone like that bother sending an apology?" Ed blurted out in disbelief. "I mean, no offense Oli, but, even with all the money you have running through this charity, it's all chump change to that guy!"

"And he was only loosely connected to Hardeman." Gary pointed out, somehow looking unfazed by the whole thing. "I mean, that would be like T sending one of us to Burger Shack to apologize for one of his football buddies being a jerk to a cashier..."

"It is possible he merely wishes to form a connection with Oliver." Lily chimed in. Seeing she had everyone's attention, she hurried to expand on her statement. "You said he is rich and connected, yes? Perhaps when he looked into the events, he took note of the rise of the charity and decided he wanted to be on good terms with someone that could potentially become an influential individual in their own right."

"Or he noticed something was off and wants to get close so he can figure it out." Oliver sighed before shaking his head. "That was a possibility we considered before starting the charity, but it still kinda annoys me that it could be happening."

"It's also possible that he's just an eccentric millionaire." Marty add with a knowing look towards Oliver, eliciting a small chuckle from the group- all of them enjoyed teasing Oli for his 'eccentric millionaire' cover for things. Shaking his head, he turned serious once more. "But, seriously, there is no way of us knowing his motivation for contacting you. It really could be as simple as him wanting to avoid creating an enemy just because of their association."

"Strategically, him contacting you is a bad idea if he's trying to dig up some secrets, anyway." Gary added with a thoughtful look. "I mean, why risk alerting you to his interest? Unless he's trying to make you paranoid so you make a mistake..."

"Yeah, that kind of twisted logic doesn't help." Tyrone grunted, a tinge of frustration edging into his voice. "I mean, Mr. Fine seemed like he was being straight with me, and he was certainly pleasant to talk to... but I don't know, man. The whole thing felt weird to me, but whether that was because something was off, or because I was surprised to be talking with a major mover over something he was only vaguely connected to, I just can't say."

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"If I may, I believe I have a viable suggestion." Lily said softly. Seeing she had everyone's attention, she smiled softly before turning to face Oliver. "He suggested dinner, indicating a social environment more than a business one. So... You should arrange a meeting with him. As long as you are careful in your interactions with him, it should provide an opportunity to discover his motivation."

"That... could work." Tyrone nodded along slowly, his mind already racing down the possibilities. "As long as the dinner is at a restaurant- something nice and public- it's pretty unlikely to be some sort of a trap... At least not a physical trap..."

"Of course, that also means leaving Oli to deal with someone adept at both social and political maneuvering..." Tyrone finished with a wry smile.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Oliver uttered, dead-pan.

"Well, since he didn't put a time frame on it, it's not like we have to respond immediately. Right?" Marty threw out before a wolfish smile flashed across his face. "And, since we've got time, I've got an brilliant idea."

Seeing everyone lean forward in anticipation of whatever idea he had, Marty spread his hands like the answer should be obvious to them all. "A Bounty."

"Dude, we were probably going to talk about Bounties in a minute anyway..." Ed scoffed, giving his friend a look like he had lost his mind.

"I think I see where you're going with this..." Oliver sat up straight in his seat with a gleam in his eye. "You're saying we should post a Bounty, right?"

"Exactly!" Marty snapped his fingers in emphasis. "We know almost nothing about these guys, Mann and Fine, except for what you can find in the news and stuff, right? Well, why not post a Bounty for information on them? Let someone else do the legwork for us while we keep our distance..."

"Kind of like hiring a private investigator? That's fucking brilliant!" Gary added with a laugh.

"You know, I've thought about doing that before..." Oliver mused, the idea clearly appealing to him. "It just didn't make a lot of sense to try to gather information like that for the Bounties I took, considering I didn't really have enough information to even know what to ask for... But for investigating these guys and trying to get an idea of who they are and what they may want?"

"Yeah, I can see the potential."

"Here's what I'm thinking..." Marty said, rapidly making notes in his notebook. "We start kind of vague, requesting a dossier on them. Once we have a general outline on them, we can start focusing Bounties on specific areas we want more on- obviously we don't know what to focus on yet, and I doubt we will learn everything about them, but it should give us some clues as to what we're dealing with."

"I like it." Oliver grinned. "I'm not sure exactly how to word the Bounty-"

"Leave that to me." Tyrone smirked, pulling out his notebook. "And, while I work on that, Marty can take notes on the Bounties you have available- you did still want to take do some for the extra cash, right?"

"Yeah, but only those with a short duration- like, a day or two." Oliver shrugged. "We're still working on getting Jal and Lily settled, so I don't want to go running off for an extended trip at the moment. But, yeah, a simple job with a short time frame would be fine."

"Excellent." Marty practically vibrated with excitement- he always loved this planning sessions; they were even more fun than his usual game nights! "Ok, you start perusing and I'll make note of any quick jobs for us to discuss."

"Sounds good." Oliver nodded, already pulling up the Bounty Board... And the first entry gave him pause. "Now this... is interesting."

Local Bounty: Dimensional Pocket

Objective: Clear the Dimensional Pocket of Hostile Creatures and Retrieve anything of value contained within

Details: A fragment of a parallel reality has come into contact with Earth, creating a small pocket dimension. While rare, these 'Dimensional Pockets' pose a significant threat if left unchecked- given time, the fragment will integrate with local reality, releasing the contained creatures into the world. As the creatures contained within have been deemed hostile, it is necessary to eliminate them. The team entering the Dimensional Pocket will be led by Agent Jane Doe of the FBI's Paranormal Investigations Division.

Compensation: 20,000 credits and an equal share of anything retrieved from the pocket

Accept Bounty? (Yes/No)

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