POV: The Black King
The world was divided into two categories: useful trash and useless trash. The useful were kept around and the useless were discarded. Money and power decided which was which. Those with enough money were kings, and everyone else was their serfs. Presidents, generals, bankers, workers. Different titles for people sitting at different places on the same ladder.
Sebastian Shaw sat very high on that ladder. Though, money was only one of the gifts fate had given him. Shaw was a mutant. Homo Superior. A man born among a new race while the rest of humanity slowly approached its expiration date. The very violence ordinary men used to kill each other became nourishment for his body. If that was not proof that nature favoured some men above others, Shaw did not know what was. Capitalism simply gave that natural order a number. The superior accumulated and the inferior served them. And Shaw had always been very good at accumulating.
Shaw had just returned from a meeting. A gathering of men who moved the world from the shadows of corporations and governments. And of course, as their equal and superior, he had been given a seat at the table.
The world existed in a delicate balance dictated by men like Shaw. Any would-be newcomer who lacked even the courtesy to request a seat at their table could hardly be permitted to overturn it and dictate the affairs of the world himself.
Sebastian sat alone in a room seemingly stolen from the palace of some sultan, surrounded by gilded chairs and a great classical bed. A beautiful robe of black and gold hung loosely from his broad frame while he drank his wine and imagined the properties that would change hands once Adonai Ezra fell.
And the earth was given unto the strong, that they might divide the inheritance of the weak among themselves.
A knock at the door interrupted Shaw's pleasant evening. Few people were permitted to disturb him here, and fewer still enjoyed enough of his trust to enter without waiting for permission. Tessa belonged to that narrow company.
"Ah, Tessa, dear, come on in. Don't be shy," Shaw called jubilantly, raising his glass toward the door as though welcoming a favored guest to dinner. "I was beginning to wonder when you would come looking for your report."
Tessa entered with the composed grace she brought to almost everything and quietly closed the door behind herself. She wore the simple uniform of an executive secretary, a white shirt beneath a fitted black vest and a skirt short enough to draw Shaw's gaze toward the long thighs covered by thin black tights. He allowed himself a moment of appreciation before returning his attention to her face. Tessa remained impassive, as she usually did, her expression offering very little to any man foolish enough to think he could read her easily.
"Thank you, sir. I assumed you would want some time to yourself after returning," Tessa said, walking farther into the room. "How did the meeting go?"
"As well as anyone can expect when gathering the most arrogant and ambitious men in the country beneath one roof," Shaw replied, taking another drink. "Imagine lions, tigers and every other apex predator circling the same watering hole, sizing up their prey until someone finally decides to pounce."
"I thought the gathering was called because everyone had already agreed there was a matter requiring cooperation," Tessa said. "From what you told me earlier, there was a common agenda before any of you arrived, so I assumed the preliminary discussions would have been relatively brief."
"Ceremonial strutting is part of business, especially among peers," Shaw said, settling deeper into his chair. "Everyone measures everyone else's cock with his eyes, until we remember there is money waiting to be made. I sit among peers there, or at least among men successful enough to hold that flattering opinion of themselves. One must allow distinguished animals their little territorial displays before bringing them to the feeding ground."
Tessa allowed herself a small smile. "...Why tolerate them at all, sir?" she asked. "You are already the Black King of the Hellfire Club. There are few circles in the world with greater wealth, influence or pedigree."
"It's true that I am wealthy, and gifted by nature with abilities that place me closer to the gods than men," Shaw said. "But only a fool allows an opportunity to ascend to pass him by. A man should climb whenever he finds a ladder, and when none presents itself, he should build one. The Hellfire Club is one such ladder, this gathering is another, and I intend to reach the summit of every structure capable of carrying me higher."
Tessa considered that for a moment before giving a measured nod. "Even so, I can't say I trust the men involved, especially when each of them has built his position by taking advantage of everyone around him."
"Then you are wiser than most." Shaw smiled, clearly pleased by the observation. "Make no mistake. Wilson Fisk, Norman Osborn, Tiberius Stone and Winston Frost are men who would sell friendship by the pound if the market were favorable, and woe to anyone foolish enough to place faith in their affection. Still, greed has its virtues. Someone who spends his life chasing money and power can be trusted to keep chasing money and power, and when everyone in the room wants the same thing, deals can be made that benefit all of us. That's really the purpose of these gatherings. We discuss opportunities and arrange matters so that wealth and influence continue to concentrate where they properly belong - in our hands."
"I never learned what the occasion was," Tessa said. "but I was under the impression these meetings were rare. Something significant must happen before so many people with competing interests agree to sit at the same table."
Shaw nodded slowly and rolled the wine around his glass. "The gathering is usually called when some national or international crisis presents an opportunity too large for one participant to exploit efficiently. We discuss how each of us intends to profit from it, and make certain we do not stand in each other's ways. Sometimes fortune provides a crisis for us. Sometimes men with sufficient imagination must help fortune along. Two years ago, we gathered to discuss a crisis which, when it reaches fruition, should make me richer than even I currently care to calculate."
Tessa's curiosity immediately sharpened. "What kind of crisis would that be, sir? You have already done remarkably well for yourself, so I imagine anything capable of making you rich beyond imagining must be quite ambitious."
"I am afraid that particular secret must remain mine," Shaw replied. "And I assure you, it has nothing to do with any lack of trust. Only those seated at that table are permitted to know it in its entirety. But if I were you, I'd keep a very close eye on that housing bubble."
"My apologies, sir," Tessa said. "I didn't mean to overstep my boundaries."
"There is no need to apologize. I trust you more than anyone else, Tessa, and you know that," Shaw replied. "In any case, there is another reason these gatherings are called. Every so often, someone becomes enough of a threat to the interests of everyone at that table that cooperation becomes preferable to competition. When that happens, we put aside our private disputes and remove the obstacle. Presidents, political parties and industries…all of them flourish or cease to exist according to the interests of men like us."
"I assume that was the reason for tonight's gathering? Someone has become troublesome enough that all of you have decided you would prefer him gone."
"Sharp as ever," Shaw replied, and genuine approval entered his voice. "Tonight we gathered because of one Adonai Ezra. Our young genius has risen like Icarus, brilliant and convinced that heaven has no ceiling. Unfortunately for him, he is about to learn that the ocean was already full of predators before he began swimming in it, and several of them have grown tired of watching him feed."
"Adonai Ezra?" Tessa repeated, and Shaw could already see calculations passing behind those dark eyes. "His control of social media alone could make him one of the richest men alive within the coming years, assuming present growth continues. I can understand why established powers would begin treating him as a strategic concern."
"Indeed. He has an incredible portfolio of inventions, a genius in the same vein as Anthony Stark by the looks of things," Shaw said. "Would you be able to recreate his applications if you wanted to?"
"Child's play," she said. "Give me a few days and I could recreate any of his social media platforms from scratch. Building them isn't the problem."
Shaw clicked his tongue. "His patents?"
"Exactly. He has patented practically every facet of the systems necessary to make modern social media function efficiently," Tessa replied with note of admiration. "The social graph, recommendation systems, targeted advertising, content distribution, messaging protocols and and…Anyone can build another social network, but the moment you try making it competitive with his, you enter a field of patents. Avoid one and you encounter another. He filed early, broadly and internationally, so challenging him means spending years and fortunes in court while his companies continue expanding."
Shaw chuckled softly into his wine. "You almost sound as though you admire him."
"Hard not to, sir," Tessa admitted with a small nod. "It's almost like he knew exactly which parts of the technology would become essential years before anyone else understood what he was building. Either his foresight is that extraordinary or he knows something nobody else does."
A mutation that allows him to see the future? Shaw thought excitedly. That would explain a great many things.
"Well, all that cleverness has earned him a great many enemies who would happily tear him open and feast on his entrails," Shaw said nonchalantly. "A plan was proposed tonight, and we eventually settled on a stratagem for bringing him down. Once his little empire begins breaking apart, we'll divide the companies among ourselves according to our interests."
Tessa's eyes widened slightly. "I thought you wanted to invite him into the Hellfire Club?"
"I do. He is one of us, after all, a mutant," Shaw said. "And evidently a clever one. He understands the value of wealth and has used his gifts to carve out a place for himself in the world. Those are qualities I appreciate. Under the right circumstances, Ezra would fit perfectly well within the Inner Circle."
"Then why are you helping them bring him down? It's a strange way to recruit someone."
"I've been watching the boy for some time, Tessa. His head is high in the clouds, and he has begun to believe there is nothing above him," Shaw replied, a faint smile appearing on his face. "We invited him three times already, and three times he ignored us, just as Peter denied Christ. That can not go unpunished. Ezra needs to learn that genius does not exempt him from the hierarchy of the world, and I would prefer that lesson reach him before his empire grows beyond anyone's ability to restrain it."
Shaw took another sip before continuing. "There is also the simple matter of power. If Ezra continues growing at this pace, inviting him might as well be surrendering half the table to him. I already have one Selene in the club. If Ezra is going to enter my Inner Circle, he will enter knowing exactly where he stands."
Tessa considered that, then slowly nodded. "So you want him weakened and then recruited once he understands that he needs allies."
"Something along those lines," Shaw said. "Once he has been brought down to earth, I'll bring him into the Inner Circle and have another piece to play against the Black Queen. Selene is dangerous enough that I'll take every capable ally I can get." He smiled and reached again for his wine. "And consider this a test for young Adonai. We already know what sort of man he is when he's winning. I'm curious to see what comes out when you put his feet to the fire."
...
...
Once again, the gods spread my ass cheeks and ram a horse-sized dildo directly into my asshole, Adonai thought, clicking his tongue as Jeri Hogarth continued speaking.
He supposed things had been suspiciously quiet lately. His rise over the previous five years had gone almost absurdly well, with every new company growing faster than expected and every grand idea somehow finding enough money and talent to become reality. There was probably some biblical wisdom about that.
And the Lord looked upon the prosperous man and saw that his cup overflowed, and He sent forth lawyers that his joy might be corrected. Yes, that sounded sufficiently Old Testament.
"This is serious, Adonai, and we need to discuss how we're going to deal with it," Jeri Hogarth said, wearing the stern expression that seemed permanently attached to her face whenever she entered attorney mode. Her dark suit was immaculate, her posture straight, and the folder beneath her arm looked thick enough to beat a man unconscious with. Adonai already dreaded the things within it.
Jeri was one of his Ten Pillars, the Pillar of Law, a title she found faintly ridiculous and Adonai found delightfully grandiose. She had earned it regardless. There were few lawyers who were as competent as she.
Adonai finally stopped the treadmill, he had reached the end of his morning workout anyway. Tabitha Smith immediately stepped forward and handed him a towel. His lovely blonde guard had decided that a black sports bra and tight athletic leggings constituted appropriate security attire this morning, and Adonai found himself briefly admiring the magnificent consequences of that decision.
Fuck, the woman was hot. Cameron Diaz in The Mask level hot, except Tabitha could turn objects into bombs and had an ass capable of distracting him from impending congressional investigations. Boom-Boom was an appropriate codename. She was certainly making something in his chest go boom-boom. And somewhere in the lower of his torso as well.
"If you're finished ogling your bodyguard," Jeri said dryly, "I would appreciate having your attention sometime before the federal government dismantles your companies."
Tabitha glanced down at herself and smirked. "He's protecting an important asset, Ms. Hogarth. Very thorough security inspection."
"Exactly," Adonai said as he wiped the sweat from his face. "I take workplace safety extremely seriously, Jeri. You should be grateful that your employer maintains such rigorous standards."
"I'll remember that when I draft the sexual harassment policy," Jeri replied, though the corner of her mouth moved enough to betray some amusement. "Can we sit somewhere and talk like adults now? I have spent most of my morning reading lawsuits written by people who bill by the hour, and my patience has suffered accordingly."
"After you, my lady," Adonai said, gesturing grandly toward the door. "Perhaps one day I'll succeed in making you smile before noon. I'll never give up. Believe it!"
They moved into the adjoining living room, where Adonai dropped comfortably onto one of the sofas while Jeri placed her folders across the table with greater care. He asked whether she wanted anything to drink, and she requested sparkling water. Adonai went to the refrigerator himself, retrieved a chilled bottle for her and mango juice for himself, then returned and poured her water into a glass. He drank directly from his bottle.
"So," Adonai said, settling back into the sofa. "What's up? Have things gotten worse since yesterday?"
Jeri reached into her folder and handed him a newspaper. "They've gotten worse. Start with the headline."
Adonai unfolded it and immediately found the article she meant.
OSCORP SEEKS INJUNCTION AGAINST AMBROSIA FLAGSHIP TREATMENT
He stared at it for several seconds before lowering the paper. Norman fucking Osborn. Apparently being a billionaire industrialist with dumbass hair had failed to provide the man with enough hobbies other than annoying Adonai.
"Oscorp filed another patent suit against Ambrosia this morning," Jeri explained. "They're claiming that biotechnology used in one of your flagship treatments infringes several Oscorp patents. It's a weak argument from what I've seen, especially because Ambrosia has relatively few products on the market and your underlying process differs significantly from theirs. I doubt they expect to win the case outright."
"That hardly matters if newspapers keep printing headlines saying Ambrosia stole Oscorp technology," Adonai said, glancing down at the article again. "We're still building confidence around the company. Enough stories like this and investors start wondering whether half our pipeline is going to spend the next five years trapped in litigation."
"Exactly, and an injunction can hurt even when the underlying claim eventually fails," Jeri said. "They can delay launches, frighten partners, complicate financing and force us to spend resources answering them. I can handle Oscorp's lawsuit. What concerns me is that Oscorp suddenly has friends."
She opened another folder, and Adonai immediately disliked the number of colored tabs sticking from its side.
"The antitrust pressure around your technology companies has increased sharply during the last few weeks," Jeri continued. "Several senators are publicly asking whether Facebook and YouTube among others create an unacceptable concentration of communications data under one owner. Think tanks have started publishing papers about what they're calling 'strategic communications sovereignty.' Former intelligence officials are appearing on television to discuss espionage risks, privacy organizations are attacking you from their side, and antitrust groups are asking why one man should control social networking, professional networking, video distribution and email."
Adonai stared at her over his mango juice. "Because I invented the fucking things first seems like a perfectly reasonable answer. I don't remember Moses coming down from Sinai with a tablet saying thou shalt diversify thy social media holdings."
"I strongly recommend that you avoid saying that before Congress," Jeri replied. "Especially the part where you compare yourself to Moses."
"No promises," Adonai said. "How dangerous is this actually?"
"Dangerous enough that you should stop treating it as background noise," Jeri said. "I expect the Department of Justice to open a formal antitrust inquiry if the political pressure continues. The FTC is already showing interest in your privacy practices. Congressional committees want hearings. The FCC has begun asking questions about portions of your communications infrastructure, and the EU are discussing their own privacy and competition proceedings. Any one of those would be manageable, but several arriving together creates a very expensive problem."
Adonai leaned back and tapped the bottle against his knee. The timing was curious. Governments occasionally developed sudden enthusiasm for regulating successful companies, and his businesses had grown large enough to invite scrutiny on their own merits, but the simultaneous pressure smelled wrong.
"That's very curious," Adonai murmured. "Oscorp has been a pain in my ass recently as well."
Jeri took a drink of water. "How so? You didn't mention anything beyond the patent disputes."
"They've started interfering with procurement for some specialized components my newest data centers depend upon," Adonai said. "Nothing catastrophic so far, but they bought one supplier we were negotiating with, signed exclusivity agreements with another, and outbid us for production capacity at a third. Each move looks perfectly ordinary when you examine it alone, but together they can delay construction by months. Some of my software engineers have also been receiving very generous offers from rival companies lately. Shaw Industries and Frost International seem especially interested."
"A brain-drain strategy," Jeri said, considering it. "That's actually fairly sensible. They probably know they can't cripple your software companies by taking a handful of engineers, so they keep raising your labor costs and stripping institutional knowledge whenever possible."
"Douglas Ramsey is the only truly irreplaceable one, and thankfully nobody is stealing Cypher from me," Adonai said with a sigh. "He is still one man, though. He can't personally run every other platform while fixing servers and writing every line of code himself. We need talented engineers throughout the companies, so continuously poaching senior people could become annoying over time."
"And now you have antitrust proceedings demanding the attention of the executives who would normally deal with those problems," Jeri said. "There's another issue as well. Hammer Industries lobbyists have started raising national-security concerns around Odysseus Aerospace, particularly your launch infrastructure, satellite program and the amount of proprietary technology under your control. They're pushing for greater government oversight of private aerospace companies."
Adonai slowly lowered his mango juice. "So Oscorp fucks me in the ass, Shaw takes me in the mouth, Hammer fondles the aerospace division, and the federal government stands in the corner waiting for its turn. Christ, Jeri, at least buy me dinner before explaining how thoroughly I'm getting gangbanged."
"A succinct summary of the matters at hand," Jeri said, unimpressed. "Nearly every major branch of your business is being pressured simultaneously, and several of the companies applying that pressure are among the most powerful corporations in the world."
"It would seem our great friends are feeling threatened by me," Adonai said, chuckling as he crossed one leg over the other. "How touching. I spend five years bringing humanity wonderful new toys and apparently my reward is every geriatric robber baron in America deciding to gang up on me. They're trying to overwhelm us through courts, suppliers and personnel all at once. Bunch of cocksuckers."
"Obviously," Jeri said, reaching for the thickest folder on the table. "And these are only the current lawsuits involving your social media companies."
She dropped it in front of him. Adonai stared at the folder. Then he stared at Jeri.
"...Fuck," he said slowly. "That's a very large amount of litigation."
"Roxxon appears repeatedly, and I've found connections to Shaw Industries and several smaller interests," Jeri said. "Lobbying disclosures also show a sudden increase in spending around technology regulation, privacy, communications security and antitrust enforcement. Some politicians raising these concerns have longstanding relationships with the same corporate interests. None of that is illegal by itself, and proving direct coordination will be difficult."
"Politicians on corporate payrolls attacking a competitor under the sacred banner of protecting the public," Adonai said. "Democracy truly is beautiful."
Jeri ignored that. "The important question is how we respond without creating additional ammunition for them."
Adonai opened the folder, flipped through several pages and rapidly lost interest in reading phrases such as injunctive relief and anticompetitive conduct. This was exactly why he had recruited Jeri. He could build revolutionary companies, and remember enough future knowledge to make Nostradamus look lazy, but legal documents still had the supernatural ability to make his eyes glaze over.
"What does this mean for me in practical terms?" he asked. "Assume I have no desire to become an expert in federal competition law before lunch."
"It means you're probably going to spend portions of the next several months, possibly years, dealing with investigations, depositions and congressional hearings," Jeri said. "You should prepare for lawmakers threatening asset restrictions and discussing the forced separation of Facebook, Gmail, YouTube and your other technology companies. They may demand internal records, communications, acquisition histories and information concerning your data practices. We'll challenge excessive requests where appropriate, cooperate where it benefits us, and fight anything that threatens the core structure of the companies."
"Well, I would be worried if I didn't have you," Adonai said with a chuckle. "Still, this is going to delay some of my plans. I think I would have preferred terrorists bombing a few data centers. At least then I could build replacements without spending six months listening to senators ask me how email works."
"Careful what you wish for," Jeri said, and the seriousness in her voice suggested she genuinely wanted him to heed that advice. "Buildings are easier to replace than public confidence, anyway."
"Fair enough," Adonai conceded. "So what do we do? I assume you also brought me a plan."
"Naturally. You hired me to deal with your legal problems, and I intend to earn my obscene salary," Jeri said. "The immediate priority is controlling public perception because investor confidence will react faster than the courts. A public congressional hearing could help us if we prepare properly. You're charismatic enough to sway the public to your side and you have direct access to an audience larger than anything your opponents can assemble through traditional media."
He remembered congressional hearings from his previous life, especially the wonderful spectacle of ancient politicians interrogating technology executives about platforms they barely understood. Clips would be cut apart within minutes, circulated across social media and transformed into memes before the hearing had even finished. The CEOs themselves had learned to use their platforms to shape how those hearings were remembered. Adonai happened to own several of the platforms in question, which gave him possibilities that would have made his old-world media departments salivate.
"I think I see where you're going with this," Adonai said, smiling. "Let them summon me before Congress, answer the serious questions properly, and make sure every ridiculous question becomes a thirty-second clip before the evening news even begins. If they want a public spectacle, we can give them one."
"Within reason," Jeri said firmly. "Your charisma helps us. Acting like Congress is a room full of idiots will not, especially when some of those idiots can subpoena your records. We want you relaxed, cooperative and informed. Let them appear unreasonable on their own."
"Jeri, you wound me. I am the soul of restraint."
"As you say."
Adonai took offense in her lack of faith and finished the mango juice. There was merit in her approach. Public opinion would matter enormously if his enemies intended to frame the conflict around a dangerous individual controlling communications infrastructure. He needed to remain the young genius who gave people free communication, entertainment and access to information.
"Well, it's fortunate that I happen to own the perfect tools for that," Adonai said. "You handle the legal defense and prepare me for whatever congressional circus they arrange. I'll have the communications people start working on the public side, and I want our financial teams tracing every connection they can find between these companies, lobbying groups and politicians. If Roxxon, Oscorp, Shaw, and all that other fuckers suddenly decided to become best friends, I want to know who introduced them."
"I'll see to it," Jeri said. "And until we know the scale of this, I suggest you assume every major project can become a target. Keep documentation clean and make sure executives understand that anything they write could eventually appear before a committee."
Adonai sighed theatrically and looked toward the windows. Five years of near-continuous ascent had perhaps spoiled him. Problems had appeared before, certainly, though most could be solved by throwing money or mutant abilities at them until they went away.
"Well, I'm going to need a proper strategy for this," Adonai said, his amusement lingering even as his mind began sorting through names, companies and possible counter moves. "My enemies have apparently learned the revolutionary concept of teamwork, which is deeply inconsiderate of them. And somehow I think they're not done."
"I agree," Jeri said. "This is probably the opening round."
"Of course it is," Adonai muttered, clicking his tongue again. "Why would the gods ever stop at one dildo?"
...
Later on, after three hours of legal hocus-pocus and other assorted nonsense, Adonai was finally free to take a shower, change his clothes, and attend to less unpleasant matters. Tabitha was already waiting beside the Rolls-Royce when he came downstairs, dressed in tight black leather pants, a sleek black coat, and dark sunglasses, looking every inch the quintessential femme fatale. She handled most of his day-to-day security these days. There were very few people alive who could seriously threaten Adonai himself, so surrounding himself with twenty armed guards seemed excessive, although recent events suggested he might want to reconsider that policy.
Adonai climbed into the back of the Rolls-Royce, and Tabitha slipped inside after him before the driver pulled away from the estate. She took the seat opposite him, crossed one leather-clad leg over the other, and studied his face from behind her sunglasses for several seconds. Adonai had learned that Tabitha possessed a surprisingly good instinct for his moods, which was unfortunate whenever he preferred to brood in peace.
"You don't look very happy, boss," Tabitha said. "I'm guessing Jeri didn't come by to tell you everything is wonderful and you're her favorite client."
"When a lawyer visits you, it's rarely to congratulate you," Adonai replied with a sigh. "Apparently half of corporate America has developed a sudden interest in fucking with me, and the federal government may soon join the festivities. But I digress, that's not what's bothering me. It's actually something personal."
"Well, shoot," Tabitha said with a grin. "I may not look like it, but I'm actually a very reliable person."
"You better be. My life is literally in your hands."
"Please, as if I'm security for anything other than decoration," Tabitha said with a shrug. "Can't complain though. I'm getting paid to do nothing."
"That's not true," Adonai denied. "You get paid to stand beside me and look hot. It's good for the optics."
"You know, your habit of resorting to flirting every time you're brooding isn't nearly as cute as you think it is," Tabitha said mockingly. "So quit trying to distract me and tell me what's bothering you."
Adonai generally disliked explaining too much of what went on inside his head - a man became terribly boring once everyone knew exactly what he was thinking, and mystery had served him well throughout his life. This matter sat closer to his heart than most, however, and an outside opinion might actually help. Tabitha also knew Rogue well enough to notice things he might have missed, assuming he could convince the stubborn blonde to give him a straight answer.
"Don't you think Rogue has been avoiding me lately?" Adonai asked, meeting her eyes.
Almost a month had passed since the whole debacle with the Black Widow, who had yet to make any contact with him, much to Adonai's growing concern that he had badly overestimated his chances of bringing Natasha over to his side. Rogue had been acting strangely ever since that night as well. She was perfectly cordial whenever they happened to be together, but those occasions had become rare, and she seemed to find some new reason to leave whenever Adonai tried keeping her around. At first Adonai had blamed her workload. After four weeks, even he had begun to recognize a pattern.
"I take my offer back," Tabitha said, raising both hands as though physically surrendering the conversation. "Whatever personal crisis you're having can stay personal. That entire situation has looked like a car crash waiting to happen for months, and I have no intention of standing in the middle of the road when it finally happens."
"So there is something!" Adonai said triumphantly, leaning forward in his seat. "I knew I wasn't imagining it. Rogue has plenty to do as the Pillar of Operations, since half her job involves recruiting people I need and handling the logistics behind everything else, but lately she's been taking assignments she would normally delegate without a second thought. Come on, Tabitha, you clearly know something. What's going on with her?"
"None of my damn business," Tabitha replied, her expression flattening behind the sunglasses. "I like both of you, which is exactly why I'm keeping my mouth shut. I'm certainly not betraying something she told me in confidence because you suddenly noticed she hasn't been hanging around your bedroom lately."
Adonai frowned at that last part. "This isn't about getting her back into my bedroom. I'm worried about her, Tabitha. Rogue has been one of the closest people to me for years, and if I've done something that made her start avoiding me, I would like to know what the hell it was so I can fix it."
"Then maybe start with the last month and work backward," Tabitha watched him for several seconds, and some of the mockery left her face. "Think about what happened, think about how you've been spending your time, and think about how much of that time you've actually spent with Rogue. I'm giving you all the help you're getting from me. You're supposed to be a genius, use that big brain of yours."
Adonai frowned and turned toward the window. The obvious starting point was Natasha, since Rogue had certainly been furious that night, but he had assumed most of that anger came from having a stranger shoot at her. There had been Maya Hansen before that, several evenings away from home, the symposium preparations, his search for Forge, and half a dozen other projects consuming his attention. Rogue had complained occasionally that she barely saw him anymore, usually with enough sarcasm that he had treated the remarks as ordinary teasing. Then there were the women, which had never exactly been a secret between them.
"I've been busy," Adonai said after a while. "She knows how much I have going on, and she has her own responsibilities. We've both spent weeks apart before without any problems."
"Sure," Tabitha replied, crossing her arms. "And whenever she does get to see you lately, there seems to be some new woman involved in the story. I'm sure that has absolutely nothing to do with anything, though. Keep thinking."
"Rogue and I aren't together, Tabitha." Adonai looked back at her. "We never agreed to exclusivity, and I've never lied to her about seeing other women. She knows me well enough to understand that."
"I know," Tabitha said, and the dryness in her voice could have preserved meat. "You have been extremely clear about what you never promised her. I'm sure she lies awake at night appreciating your contractual rigor."
Adonai stared at her, receiving a raised eyebrow in return. He thought about Rogue waiting for him after meetings, Rogue dressing up whenever they went somewhere together and pretending she had done nothing of the sort. He remembered how often she had sought him out over the years, and how naturally he had grown accustomed to her being there whenever he wanted company.
"Oh, fuck me," Adonai murmured, rubbing his face with one hand as the pieces finally arranged themselves into an embarrassingly obvious picture. "She thinks I've been taking her for granted."
Tabitha gave him a long look. "I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to," Adonai replied, sinking deeper into the seat. "Christ, I'm an idiot. I kept thinking about whether I had broken some agreement between us, and that was never the point. She keeps making time for me, and lately I've been giving most of mine to everyone and everything else. Then Natasha happened right in front of her, which probably made the whole thing worse."
"I continue to say absolutely nothing," Tabitha replied, though there was a little satisfaction in her smile now. "I'm very proud of how independently you reached these fascinating conclusions."
"Mock me all you like, I deserve this one," Adonai said. He looked outside again and felt genuinely awful now that he understood what had been happening beneath his nose. Rogue had given him years of loyalty and affection without demanding that he become someone he had never promised to be, and somewhere along the way he had become comfortable enough with her devotion that he stopped considering how his behavior might actually make her feel. "I'll talk to her when she gets back. Properly talk to her, without trying to charm my way around it."
"Very unusually mature coming from you."
"I have my moments." Adonai considered the problem for another few seconds before glancing back at her. "Would taking her somewhere nice be a good idea? Dinner, somewhere private, just the two of us. A date, yes, that's a good idea! I could clear the entire evening and give her my attention for once."
Tabitha studied him carefully before giving a small shrug. "If you're doing it because you genuinely want to spend time with her, then I think she'd appreciate that. If you treat it like another problem that needs fixing on your schedule, she might throw you through a wall."
"Then I'll keep the helicopters and string quartet in reserve," Adonai said. "Dinner, and no business unless she brings it up. I can manage that."
"You might survive after all," Tabitha said, settling comfortably into her seat. "Just remember that Rogue has a functioning bullshit detector, and she's had years to calibrate it specifically for you."
The Rolls-Royce came to a smooth stop outside one of Los Angeles's better restaurants, the sort of place where the maître d' remembered guests by name. Adonai stepped onto the pavement and buttoned his suit jacket while Tabitha emerged behind him, sunglasses still covering her eyes as she surveyed the street. He had reserved the restaurant's upper floor for the afternoon. Privacy had become an increasingly expensive commodity in his life, and whatever Alison wanted to discuss deserved a few hours without some photographer hiding behind a potted plant.
The staff recognized him immediately and spared him the usual formalities, guiding him upstairs while Tabitha followed several steps behind. The restaurant was beautiful, with enormous windows overlooking the city. Every table on the floor stood empty except one near the windows. Adonai spotted Alison sitting there before the waiter had finished announcing their arrival, and she looked every inch the pop star and occasional movie star America had spent the last few years falling in love with.
Her blonde hair fell loosely around her shoulders, and the silver dress caught the afternoon light whenever she moved. Newspapers had recently begun calling her the modern Marilyn Monroe, a comparison Adonai considered unusually accurate for journalism.
Alison noticed him and immediately brightened, rising from her chair with a broad smile. "There you are. I was starting to wonder whether the famous Adonai Ezra had finally decided I wasn't important enough for his schedule."
"Please, you wound me," Adonai said as he approached her with his arms open. "I booked an entire floor for you."
She laughed and stepped into his embrace. Adonai leaned toward her cheek for the familiar greeting, already preparing some complaint about how difficult she had become to schedule around since her latest film, when Alison turned her head and kissed him directly on the mouth.
Someone behind him audibly gasped.
Tabitha, presumably.
Adonai had approximately half a second to appreciate the experience, and appreciate it he certainly did. Unfortunately, his brain remained on duty.
Alison would never greet him like this.
Adonai broke the kiss and planted his palm against her chest before she could react. He sent her across the dining room with carefully measured force, angling her away from the windows before she struck the far wall hard enough to rattle the framed art. She collapsed against the floor with a startled gasp.
Adonai wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at her. Fake-Alison looked stunned, blue eyes wide as blood began running from one nostril.
A metallic click sounded behind him. Tabitha had already drawn her pistol. She stood several paces away with both hands around the weapon and the barrel fixed squarely upon the blonde woman's head, every trace of her earlier humor gone. One word from him and Tabitha would paint the expensive wall with their visitor's brains.
Adonai walked toward the woman while calmly opening the button of his suit jacket.
"Whoever you are under Alison's face, I suggest you choose your next words very carefully," Adonai said, stopping several feet away. "If you hurt her to arrange this meeting, whatever purpose brought you here will become the least important problem in your life."
For a moment, the woman simply stared at him with Alison's shocked blue eyes. Then the fear drained away first, followed by the confusion, and the corners of those familiar lips slowly curled upward into a wicked little smile that Adonai had never once seen on Alison's face.
Then her skin began to move. Alison's pale complexion darkened into unnatural blue while blonde hair shortened and bled into vivid red. The silver dress flowed with the transformation, collapsing into scales before reforming as white fabric against her new body. Yellow eyes opened where Alison's blue ones had been.
"Well, now this is interesting," the blue-skinned woman said as she touched the blood beneath her nose and examined it on one fingertip. Her smile widened as she looked from Adonai to Tabitha's pistol and then back again. "I had expected surprise, perhaps confusion, and if I was lucky, another few seconds of that kiss~ Throwing me across the room was much less welcoming." She began pushing herself upright against the wall. "How did you know I wasn't the real Alison?"
"Mystique," Adonai said, his annoyance deepening immediately.
Great. Fucking Mystique.
Apparently corporate America trying to carve his empire into portions like cake wasn't enough to satisfy whatever cosmic bureaucrat managed Adonai Ezra's daily allocation of bullshit. Now Magneto's favorite blue shapeshifter had decided to appear wearing Alison's face. He sincerely hoped Eric had not decided this was the appropriate week to start the whole public terrorism and Homo Superior nonsense.
Mystique stopped halfway through straightening herself, and genuine curiosity flickered across her yellow eyes.
"Oh?" she asked, rising fully and brushing a little dust from her white clothing as though being hurled across a restaurant happened every afternoon. "You know my name. Very interesting. I don't remember introducing myself when we last crossed paths, Adonai Ezra."
AN: As always, advanced chapters are available on my Patreon. If you want to read ahead, vote on which story gets updated each week, or simply support my writing so I can focus more on it, you can check it out here: /abeltargaryen?