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"Tony the Tamer"

"No, listen Pete. I don't know who you've got to sleep with to get this deal, I want to be on board when the next product is announced, alright?"

"But--"

Tony disconnected his cell phone, shutting it off and returning it to his suit pocket before crossing one leg over the knee and looking up at the driver casually staring at him through the rearview mirror. The tiger chuckled and leaned back. "Agents, am I right?" He asked.

"Were you--talking to me, sir?"

Tony glanced around the empty limousine and chuckled. "I think you and I are the only ones here, what was your name? Dameon?"

"Devin, sir." The man said, obviously nervous talking to the celebrity riding in the back of the car. "Devin Smith."

"Well, Devin. Have you tried a bowl of the cereal I endorse? I mean, it's got my muzzle plastered all over it, so I assume you recognize me."

The human smiled, his white teeth contrasting the darker color of his lips. "It's kind of hard to without the bandanna, sir." He said.

Tony laughed and pointed at the man. "You got me there. I'm just on my way to a meeting, so I can't exactly go bounding around there wearing nothing but a red bandanna. You know?"

"Very true." The man said after a bit of a thoughtful pause. "I have been wondering if you were in fact the Tony the Tiger since you got in. I'd have figured you would have your own limo and not need to call a service."

"It's all in the discretion, Devin." Tony said as he pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket, spotting the location he was to be dropped off at approaching quickly. "I don't really like to live much in the way of materialistics..." He slipped the shades on. "But when you've got a show to put on--"

The car came to a stop amidst a large crowd of people who suddenly turned cameras flashing toward the approaching limousine and cheers erupted from the crowd as Tony was released from the back right door. Immediately, two large men dressed in black; an ape and a lizard, rushed toward the tiger and protectively led him toward the large swirling doors of the building they had pulled up in front of. Having lost their prime target, the reporters began to swirl around Devin in his vehicle as he immediately shifted the limousine into drive and quickly got himself out of there before he could get mobbed.

The trip to the elevator was quick while people tried to mob the tiger with pamphlets, restaurant menus, tray liners, anything that he could possibly sign for them. He obliged with a few of the requests, but after three or four signatures, the elevator let out its loud bell and opened for the tiger to get escorted into. Things quieted down as the doors closed, and Tony looked over the two massive security guards as they rode the elevator in silence, only the soft sound of music playing in the speakers kept any semblance of noise in the lift as it climbed its way up the building. "So... you two are my bodyguards for the day? Who'd you have to kill to get this cushy gig?" He smiled.

Hardly skipping a beat, the lizard to the left tilted his sunglasses down and turned to the tiger. "I'm afraid that's classified, sir." He said before using a finger to push his glasses back in place, maintaining the deadpan expression even as he turned facing the front again.

Tony smirked, these two were on his detail before and they weren't bad guys at all. Just pretending to be nothing more than hired thugs for celebrity protection. His smirk immediately faded though, as the elevator gave a ding, reaching its destination with the doors swinging open to reveal his agent; Pete Demone, an unsavory human with a mouth that seemed twice as big as it should have been and teeth quite a bit too white to be natural. He had a gaudy diamond earring in his left ear, hipster tinted glasses that only partially obscured the color of his coal dark eyes and a suit that would have been a better fit in a mortuary than in a talent agent's office. Tony's spine shuddered at the very sight of him.

"Tony! How is my favorite striped client doing today?" He asked in the snobbiest voice Tony could possibly imagine. "I'm surprised you didn't accept my offer to come in by helicopter, it would've been so much easier than that media circus that tried to maul you outside."

"I like being in the public, Pete." Tony said with a bit of a growl on his voice as he took his sunglasses off, revealing his blue eyes underneath. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to undermine my image for the sakes of your gains, alright? Now where shall we begin?"

"Ah yes. Come with me." Pete responded, sounding a bit affronted by the tiger's brash attitude toward him. "I'm sure you'll be delighted with the ideas these guys have come up with for your next "Grr-reat" cereal right?" His voice cut off immediately as the tiger glared at him. "Right--" He corrected himself. "Your catchphrase, not mine... gotcha."

The meeting started off well enough with Tony meeting several executives from the company that produced his cereal, but it quickly got boring. In the tandem of coming up with concepts like adding cherry bits to his cereal to creating a holiday 'peppermint' flavored version of his frosting, the tiger slowly turned his attention out the massive window that encompassed the boardroom. He could see a steady cloud beginning to build, seemingly from nowhere near the edge of the city. It piqued his interest more than the meeting did for some reason; mostly due to the fact that it seemed to have no origin, it just formed over the city in an ominous tornado-like pattern. As he stared at the clouds, he completely lost track of the meeting. He could see shapes forming near the bottom of the vortex that hovered over the city; shapes resembling... shark fins or something spiraling through the clouds. His heart began to beat faster, he knew something was wrong, especially as he noticed that lightning began to arch from one of the shapes to the other.

"Tony? Tony!"

Tony's concentration was shaken by the sound of Pete's voice. Closing his eyes and shaking his head to clear the distraction he managed to mutter: "Wh-what?"

"Are you okay? You're a million miles away and these guys are talking a lucrative deal!"

"Sorry... was this about the cherry bits in my cereal?"

The three clients glanced at each other. "Well, that is a possibility, it was a runner-up in our contest to find the best "Fit-for-you" flavor. Our top idea is to introduce a banana flavored version of the cereal that turns their milk yellow!"

Tony gagged at the concept. "You're seriously not wanting me to endorse people drink a bowl full of a banana-flavored yellow liquid are you? Why not just pre-cast headlines reading "Urine Epidemic Sweeps the Nation - Pranks Putting Jackass to Shame"?" The group stared at each other confused. Tony rolled his eyes and elaborated. "I don't want people to drink what looks like bowls of piss from my cereal, it's not my thing so I don't think any of them should have to suffer from it." He leaned back in his chair and growled. "Banana flavor is an interesting idea though, we're always showing a "balanced breakfast" being that of a bowl of cereal with slices of banana in it."

"Banana is good." "Yes it is good. No yellow milk--" The executives began to mutter amongst each other as another flash of lightning drew Tony's attention back to the window.

The storm cloud had swollen to a massive proportion in the sky but the fins still appeared to be circling around the middle, looking more solid than they had a few moments ago as lightning and electricity began to surge brightly between them when all of a sudden: BOOM a brilliant flash of light resulted in the entire board room losing power. Electric projection machines suddenly shut off and the phone they were using as a conferencing tool with others went dead. It was then that everyone joined Tony in watching the large storm clouds which resulted in a rather shocking event to witness;

It came from the center of the storm, spiralling as it flew down toward the ground. Everyone in the room shrieked in surprise except for Pete; who silently ducked behind one of the large office chairs, denying the existence of what had emerged, and Tony, who simply looked with a gaze of intrigue at the creature:

It was a dragon, he figured. A large black and gray dragon with two arms, two legs and massive wings that stretched at least one hundred feet from one side to the other his height was difficult to determine; somewhere around sixty or seventy feet gauging the distance from the office to it. Electricity surged around his massive frame as he swooped out into the open, his wings unfurling as it let out a shockwave so massive that every window in the office shattered loudly, sending shards of glass in every direction and knocking everyone to the floor.