"You can have it all," he said, choking on the words.

"Everything you want," Marmelstein echoed.

"You will give points?" the Master asked craftily.

"Everything's negotiable," the defeated Bindle stated.

"Whatever you say," agreed the dejected Marmelstein.

"I have heard a rumor that a film starring the foulmouthed jester Edward Murphy was said to have lost money. This in spite of domestic grosses exceeding one hundred miilion dollars and a production cost much lower than this," said Chiun the Insightful, who had studied the habits of these Hollywood cretins and was aware of the sly manipulations they were known to make on paper. "This so that the makers of the film did not have to pay the writer."

"A lie," Bindle insisted.

"A mistruth," Marmelstein interjected.

"And if it was true, we would never do that to you," Bindle stressed.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Marmelstein agreed.

"That would be prudent." The Master of Sinanju nodded sagely. "For if I were to ever learn again that you have attempted to cheat me, I would be forced to deal with you thusly."

And in demonstration, the Master of Sinanju did raise a single fearsome fingernail.

The Master did draw this lone Knife of Eternity along the center of Bruce Marmelstein's heavy desk. He expended no effort and when he was finished, a single sharp line-more precise than any manufactured edge could produce-bisected the gleaming piece of mahogany furniture. As Bindle and Marmelstein watched in fear, the Master did slap both hands flat on either side of the line. In the wake of the thunderous clap, the desk did separate in twain, dropping open like the petals of a blooming flower. The rumble of the crashing fragments shook the fortress to its very foundation.