Mr. Cain walks down the Las Vegas streets. Ah, Las Vegas, a city full of lights and entertainment, casinos and clubhouses. Las Vegas seemed as suitable of a place for the Cain Train to pull into station as any. As Mr. Cain was pondering which of the collectable trading cards he had just been handed was his favorite, someone else on the sidewalk attempted to discretely draw his attention.

Psst! Mr. Cain! I have some news for you.

Herman could never turn down an opportunity to hear the latest news. Often times he was approached by reputable businessmen who had picked up some obscure piece of information out of the press which could affect Mr. Cain's stock portfolio. It was never a good idea to turn away that sort of information.

Mr. Cain, I've been chatting with some friends of mine. We heard some guys are going to move in and try to take Godfathers' Pizza out of commission… Permanently! They're just waiting for the right time to launch their own business in competition with yours.

This really got Mr. Cain's attention. It wasn't every day that you heard someone wanted to put your business under. He had to inquire as to the details.

Whoa, whoa, how do you know this? Where are you getting this information from? Have you done anything to confirm that it's true? Herman's mind was racing with the possibilities.

Well, I've heard it on good authority. A friend of my friend that I trust implicitly says that he heard it from a guy who would know. It's practically first-hand. I'd take it to the bank. You need to watch your back.

Herman struggled to hold back laughter. He had been worried for a second. This was nothing more than the same fear mongering he had heard so many times before. "Mr. Cain, we've heard that the competition has stolen your special sauce recipe!" "Mr. Cain, we heard you were about to be indicted for murdering a bus full of Venezuelan nuns on vacation in the Dominican Republic." "Mr. Cain, we heard that you were having an affair with some floozy for thirteen years." Horse droppings. All of it was just insufferable crap. Mr. Cain moved onwards without paying much heed to it, only to be harassed by another young man.

Psst! Mr. Cain! Good luck! Herman was genuinely puzzled at this point, as he had dropped out of the Presidential campaign and had no further need for luck. He asked why he was being wished good luck. Oh, I'm sorry, I should have clarified. I heard your friend Funtcase is going to go on a killing spree in the next few hours and I wanted to wish you and he luck in wiping out your foes.

Cain was totally stumped by this absurd rumor. He is a businessman; what could possibly have prompted such ramblings? Uh, thanks kid. I'm going to keep walking in this direction now. . .

Just then Herman hears another call from the shadows. Psst! Mr. Cain! I heard you're on your way to Jesper's headquarters this very moment to shoot him in the face and then skullfuck the corpse. I hope the consistency of the brain-matter is to your liking!

Cain's jaw dropped and he was speechless for almost a minute, staring at the young man that had shared this information. Finally, he regained composure. WHAT? I mean, seriously. What the fuck?! Where do you guys come up with these insane ideas? I am a respectable businessman and I have absolutely no desire to do violence on anyone. I have no idea why anyone would believe the contrary, and I have no idea why anyone would spread rumors to the contrary. I have no idea why anyone would want to do violence on me or my business or anything. It should go without saying, but skullfucking is just completely gross conceptually.

Frankly, I'm rather sick of these rumors flying at me every which way while I am just trying to walk down the street and enjoy my evenings in Las Vegas! If I want to watch a gladiatorial match, I'll go to Cesar's Palace. I have no desire to be thrown in with the lions myself. Please, just leave me out of the story-telling. Las Vegas is here for your enjoyment, but not by turning every tourist in the city against each other.

Amen Mr. Cain! I think all of us in Las Vegas are tired of these pathetic rumours. Do people think that just because our city is open to new people to setup that we're a rag tag bunch of mobsters who are only out for ourselves?

We've had another rumour flying around today about our fair citythat we're upset over the misdemeanour of a particular person and we're going to frog-march ourselves into another city and take them out. All of it of course is complete bullshit. I spoke to someone from this city and they had the same view as me... it's all utter nonsense.

Note to these people, we DO talk to each other, we DO work together, we DO talk to the other cities about any problems we have or they have. We always try to help out when a fellow mafioso is gunned down, we always try to worm out the bad eggs amongst us. So please stop the pathetic whispers, they are not working and never will. We're not a rag-tag bunch of idiots. We know how this world works and we are trying to build a city to be proud of.

Rathbone pauses to listen to the well-spoken man.

People will always try to make something out of nothing. It's in their nature. The truth is, there are a lot of discontent folks running about this place. Some have had their fathers gunned down by the current leaders, others are  just bored and want a little excitement and some are just too lazy to make any changes themselves. So what do they do? They talk, because that's really all they can do.

I wouldn't worry too much about what is said. In the end, your actions will provide the answers to the questions and accusations people are throwing your way.