Penny knocked twice and entered Doc Paragon's office. "A Mister Fox is here to see you, sir."
"Show him in," Paragon said.
"Who is this Mister Fox?" Edmund Gaunt asked.
"A wealthy man who's offered to fund us. I want you to meet him."
The door opened again and a man in his late twenties entered the office. He was wearing a hawaiian shirt and shorts. His skin was somewhat tanned and he used black sunglasses. His prematurely grey hair was slicked back. Adem noticed that, instead of shoes, the man was using slippers. This reminded him of the main character of a movie he once saw, about nihilists and bowlers.
“Hello, William,” Fox said. His tone of voice and everything in the way he acted and moved indicated that he was a relaxed person.
“Hello, Link,” Paragon replied. “I’m glad you came. I want to introduce you to these two gentlemen. This man is Edmund Gaunt, the Shadow Chancellor.”
Fox and Gaunt shook hands. “Nice to meet you,” Fox said.
Adem, following the local courtesy rules, stood up and offered Fox his hand.
“And this is Adem Different,” Paragon continued.
“A pleasure,” Fox said.
“Likewise, Mister Fox,” Adem replied.
“Oh, drop the Mister, willya?” Adem had become quite good at pinpointing earthling’s origin locations based on their accents, but he couldn’t figure out where this man came from. His accent seemed to come from everywhere at once, if that was possible. Fox patted Paragon in the back heavily. “William knows better, see?”
Fox looked around and smiled. “This is shaping up nicely. Yeah, this is gonna be one heck of a group!”
Edmund didn’t feel comfortable with this man. “How admirable of you to fund Vanguard expecting nothing in return, Mister Fox. You must be quite a philanthropist.”
“There’s nothing admirable about this! Who said I expected nothing in return? Of course I do! William and I already...”
“I knew it,” Gaunt interrupted. “You want us to work for you, don’t you? Well, let me—“
“Actually, I want to work you, pal. The only condition I gave William for my money was that he allowed me to come along for the group’s missions.” Both Adem and Edmund raised an eyebrow.
“No offense... Link,” Adem said, “but if this group’s missions are anything like the ones I took part of in the La Perdita group, then you will be put in extreme danger.”
“Not to mention,” Gaunt added, “that a man like you will do nothing but get in our way and hinder us during the missions.”
Fox smiled. “I’m aware of that little problem. In fact, the contract I signed with William frees the team from any responsibility if anything should happen to me during one of the missions. If I fall, you have the liberty of leaving me behind.”
“But that would be considered unethical,” Adem said. “We can’t do that.”
“But we must,” Paragon said. “The contract stipulates so. Link knows quite well what he’s getting himself into.”
“Exactly,” Fox said. He looked down at his watch. “Now, you must forgive me, but my favorite croissant shop in France just opened. Be seeing you, eh?”
Link Fox left in a rush. When he was gone, Gaunt looked at Paragon.
“What are you thinking, Paragon? Why did you accept the man’s condition? He’s nothing but an useless jerk. You have enough money to fund the group by yourself.”
“Trust me, Chancellor,” Paragon said, “he’s got quite an amazing redeeming quality...”
