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xp_logs((Wyngarde and Powell socked by Dex))
Adrienne is summoned to Boston's Hellfire Club headquarters and accepts a deal from Jason Wyngarde in hopes of winning back her freedom.
Although she was unfamiliar with the Boston headquarters of the Hellfire Club, the imposing Middlesex County mansion brought about the same feeling of nervousness for Adrienne as the New York building where she had come to feel threatened upon every visit. The fact that she had ever wanted to be a part of this society that seemed to enjoy putting her reputation, freedom, and even life in danger made her laugh in disbelief as she parked her bike in the drive and removed her helmet. She only hoped, based on the phone message she'd received earlier, that the Hellfire Club's control over her might end soon.
The message from Jason Wyngarde stated only that her presence was required at the Boston headquarters of the Hellfire Club at a specific time to discuss a matter that would lead to her problems going away. Informative though it might not have been, Adrienne was so eager for the end of said problems she was willing to meet with Jason to find out more. Also, it was her experience that when Wyngarde summoned her, it wasn't optional. All he need do was point out that he could very easily arrange for an accident to befall someone she had met at Xavier's school and Adrienne would jump through any hoop he presented. With this being their current relationship, Adrienne found it hard to believe that Wyngarde would ever let her off of his hook, but she wasn't about to spit in the face of any opportunity he gave her to be rid of him.
Clapping at her jeans and leather jacket a little to rid them of any dust she might have collected during the ride, Adrienne entered the mansion and was greeted by a doorman who showed her into what she assumed was the Black Court's meeting room within the Hellfire Club mansion.
Her throat went dry out of fear when she laid eyes on Jason Wyngarde, and she swallowed nervously. She hadn't actually seen him since she left New York; he had been giving her orders about how he wished to use her powers via email and telephone. "Jason," she greeted in as light a tone as she could manage, "long time, no see. How will you be attempting to make my life miserable today?"
"Adrienne. You do realize that all your little forays into what I can only imagine you consider wit annoy me?" Jason looked up from the file he was reading, and went back to it, dismissively. "You have not been as useful as we in the Black Court had hoped. It displeases us, Adrienne. Especially since I know how much you want to be useful, don't I? Why don't you remind me just how much you want to be helpful?"
"I want to be helpful so much that I gave up everything I had so I could be useful to you?" Adrienne suggested. She desperately wished she was still the type of person who would arrange for the killing of a man who made her afraid for her own life and the lives of her colleagues. It would be nice not to have to worry about Wyngarde anymore. Trying to be righteous sucked sometimes. "I've done everything you've asked, Jason. I don't know how much more useful you'd like me to be, but I'm sorry I've displeased you." 'Displeased.' If she squinted her eyes at him Adrienne could almost see the monocle and the white fluffy cat in his lap.
"Are you? Our people here in Boston say your efforts have been... forced, at best. I was hoping for a little more initiative on your part. To ensure this, I've arranged some incentive for you, for a new business opportunity we're currently pursuing." Wyngarde said, and leaned back in his chair as her cellphone went off in her pocket. "Do answer it, Adrienne. It will be either your lawyer or your CFO. I'm never sure these days who outranks who in most private enterprises like yours."
Eyebrows skyrocketing in curiosity, Adrienne picked her phone out of her pocket and answered it.
"Adrienne? It's Mark Powell. Jesus, thank Christ I got a hold of you." Powell had been her business council almost since the beginning; the son of a close family friend who'd agreed to take her on as a client when she'd left modeling for business. "We're in trouble down here. A Federal Task Force just walked through the doors and handed the board a hold on all transactions until we can explain dozens of business irregularities with our overseas manufacturers. I just talked to Russell Manning, the Special Investigator on the case, and he's saying that Pacific operations of both of our main banks have reported transactions and off the books transfers with accounts on the FBI's organized crime watchlist. Adri, they think we're laundering money for Asian gangsters through our plants in the Pacific Rim." He paused, as if the unrealness of the situation had only finally hit him.
Powell's tone of incredulity had Adrienne stifling a giggle. The fact that Powell seemed so shell-shocked only served to highlight the fact that the entire thing was just so... fitting, with what her life had become since she'd met Jason Wyngarde. It almost seemed normal to be receiving news like this now. "Alright, Powell. Just stay calm. All of this is a mistake. I'm going to make some calls of my own to try and figure out what's going on, and I'll call you back as soon as I can."
She disconnected and turned to face Wyngarde. "Nice touch. I really don't need to know how you managed all of that, do I? Just tell me what you want to make it go away. What's the business opportunity." She didn't bother making it a question, because no matter what it was she would be finding out and going ahead with it regardless.
"There's a small pharmacuetical company that is going to be releasing a new cardiac boosting drug - a major advance in the treatment of heart disease, I'm told. Unfortunately for them, they are simply undercapitalized, and lack both the money and the credit to survive long enough for the drug to save them. Right now, there are two major corporations neogitating a takeover of Eulud Pharm. One is Shaw Industries, and the other is Frost Enterprises. Eulud could represent a major source of new revenue for the Black Court, as well as an aggressive slice of the market in pharma, where our position is currently weak." Wyngarde looked over the file at her. "We want you to vet Eulud for potential risks prior to the bid. You will do so in secret and discuss the results of your findings with only me. If you comply, the federal investigation will discover that most of the 'evidence' they have linking your business with illegal money transfers is the fault of poor accounting practices originating in the Pacific, and nothing that your board or you personally can be held responsible for. Until then, your business and all your personal accounts and holdings will remain frozen, and you will have no access to them."
Wyngarde touched a button on his phone and his assistant came in with a legal sized envelope. "Inside you'll find a plane ticket, hotel reservations and enough expense money to cover your investigation of Eulud. There's a party in four days at the club in New York. That ought to give you enough time to come to some conclusions."
Adrienne stared at the plane ticket in the envelope she grasped as she absorbed what Wyngarde wanted her to do. She couldn't anticipate the evil of the scheme right away, and that worried her. "If I do this for the Black Court, you drop the federal investigation, and I get to return to Westchester. You leave my students and colleagues- all of them- alone. No more threats on their lives." Her position hadn't improved to the point of allowing her anything to bargain with, but she bargained anyway. She had only what she'd had a year ago- her powers, which Wyngarde seemed eager to use, to the point of threatening the mansion if she didn't let him use her powers as he wished. But enough was finally enough. Adrienne was miserable, had been miserable for a year, and she had to at least try to put a stop to Wyngarde's using her. Maybe he wanted this drug badly enough to let her return to her former life. "You let me go back, and I'll keep letting you use my powers." Of course she had no intention of letting him do that, but she could cross that bridge when she got to it. She would figure something out.
"Don't be stupid. I have no intention of letting you walk away from the Black Court so easily. You will do this or I will make sure that you're reduced to begging for food money. And if you make any contact with your former friends at Xavier's, I will see to it they pay the price for your actions." Jason said chillingly. "Are we understood?"
Adrienne clenched her fists so hard her nails drew blood from her palms. No! she wanted to scream, no we are not understood! Her phone was in her pocket, she could pick it up right now and phone Garrison, Vanessa, Amanda, Emma. They would help her through this, get her free of Wyngarde and the Black Court without anyone being hurt. Except she didn't pick up her phone. She never picked it up, no matter how many times she wanted to, because she'd gotten herself into this mess despite all of them telling her at some point or another that her involvement with the Hellfire Club was a bad idea. If she'd listened to them in the first place she wouldn't be in this mess now. It was a mess of her own making, and she couldn't risk involving them, getting them hurt, or worse, by cleaning it up for her. She had to figure out how to do it herself.
"Yeah, we're understood," she muttered darkly, staring at the floor in defeat.
Adrienne is summoned to Boston's Hellfire Club headquarters and accepts a deal from Jason Wyngarde in hopes of winning back her freedom.
Although she was unfamiliar with the Boston headquarters of the Hellfire Club, the imposing Middlesex County mansion brought about the same feeling of nervousness for Adrienne as the New York building where she had come to feel threatened upon every visit. The fact that she had ever wanted to be a part of this society that seemed to enjoy putting her reputation, freedom, and even life in danger made her laugh in disbelief as she parked her bike in the drive and removed her helmet. She only hoped, based on the phone message she'd received earlier, that the Hellfire Club's control over her might end soon.
The message from Jason Wyngarde stated only that her presence was required at the Boston headquarters of the Hellfire Club at a specific time to discuss a matter that would lead to her problems going away. Informative though it might not have been, Adrienne was so eager for the end of said problems she was willing to meet with Jason to find out more. Also, it was her experience that when Wyngarde summoned her, it wasn't optional. All he need do was point out that he could very easily arrange for an accident to befall someone she had met at Xavier's school and Adrienne would jump through any hoop he presented. With this being their current relationship, Adrienne found it hard to believe that Wyngarde would ever let her off of his hook, but she wasn't about to spit in the face of any opportunity he gave her to be rid of him.
Clapping at her jeans and leather jacket a little to rid them of any dust she might have collected during the ride, Adrienne entered the mansion and was greeted by a doorman who showed her into what she assumed was the Black Court's meeting room within the Hellfire Club mansion.
Her throat went dry out of fear when she laid eyes on Jason Wyngarde, and she swallowed nervously. She hadn't actually seen him since she left New York; he had been giving her orders about how he wished to use her powers via email and telephone. "Jason," she greeted in as light a tone as she could manage, "long time, no see. How will you be attempting to make my life miserable today?"
"Adrienne. You do realize that all your little forays into what I can only imagine you consider wit annoy me?" Jason looked up from the file he was reading, and went back to it, dismissively. "You have not been as useful as we in the Black Court had hoped. It displeases us, Adrienne. Especially since I know how much you want to be useful, don't I? Why don't you remind me just how much you want to be helpful?"
"I want to be helpful so much that I gave up everything I had so I could be useful to you?" Adrienne suggested. She desperately wished she was still the type of person who would arrange for the killing of a man who made her afraid for her own life and the lives of her colleagues. It would be nice not to have to worry about Wyngarde anymore. Trying to be righteous sucked sometimes. "I've done everything you've asked, Jason. I don't know how much more useful you'd like me to be, but I'm sorry I've displeased you." 'Displeased.' If she squinted her eyes at him Adrienne could almost see the monocle and the white fluffy cat in his lap.
"Are you? Our people here in Boston say your efforts have been... forced, at best. I was hoping for a little more initiative on your part. To ensure this, I've arranged some incentive for you, for a new business opportunity we're currently pursuing." Wyngarde said, and leaned back in his chair as her cellphone went off in her pocket. "Do answer it, Adrienne. It will be either your lawyer or your CFO. I'm never sure these days who outranks who in most private enterprises like yours."
Eyebrows skyrocketing in curiosity, Adrienne picked her phone out of her pocket and answered it.
"Adrienne? It's Mark Powell. Jesus, thank Christ I got a hold of you." Powell had been her business council almost since the beginning; the son of a close family friend who'd agreed to take her on as a client when she'd left modeling for business. "We're in trouble down here. A Federal Task Force just walked through the doors and handed the board a hold on all transactions until we can explain dozens of business irregularities with our overseas manufacturers. I just talked to Russell Manning, the Special Investigator on the case, and he's saying that Pacific operations of both of our main banks have reported transactions and off the books transfers with accounts on the FBI's organized crime watchlist. Adri, they think we're laundering money for Asian gangsters through our plants in the Pacific Rim." He paused, as if the unrealness of the situation had only finally hit him.
Powell's tone of incredulity had Adrienne stifling a giggle. The fact that Powell seemed so shell-shocked only served to highlight the fact that the entire thing was just so... fitting, with what her life had become since she'd met Jason Wyngarde. It almost seemed normal to be receiving news like this now. "Alright, Powell. Just stay calm. All of this is a mistake. I'm going to make some calls of my own to try and figure out what's going on, and I'll call you back as soon as I can."
She disconnected and turned to face Wyngarde. "Nice touch. I really don't need to know how you managed all of that, do I? Just tell me what you want to make it go away. What's the business opportunity." She didn't bother making it a question, because no matter what it was she would be finding out and going ahead with it regardless.
"There's a small pharmacuetical company that is going to be releasing a new cardiac boosting drug - a major advance in the treatment of heart disease, I'm told. Unfortunately for them, they are simply undercapitalized, and lack both the money and the credit to survive long enough for the drug to save them. Right now, there are two major corporations neogitating a takeover of Eulud Pharm. One is Shaw Industries, and the other is Frost Enterprises. Eulud could represent a major source of new revenue for the Black Court, as well as an aggressive slice of the market in pharma, where our position is currently weak." Wyngarde looked over the file at her. "We want you to vet Eulud for potential risks prior to the bid. You will do so in secret and discuss the results of your findings with only me. If you comply, the federal investigation will discover that most of the 'evidence' they have linking your business with illegal money transfers is the fault of poor accounting practices originating in the Pacific, and nothing that your board or you personally can be held responsible for. Until then, your business and all your personal accounts and holdings will remain frozen, and you will have no access to them."
Wyngarde touched a button on his phone and his assistant came in with a legal sized envelope. "Inside you'll find a plane ticket, hotel reservations and enough expense money to cover your investigation of Eulud. There's a party in four days at the club in New York. That ought to give you enough time to come to some conclusions."
Adrienne stared at the plane ticket in the envelope she grasped as she absorbed what Wyngarde wanted her to do. She couldn't anticipate the evil of the scheme right away, and that worried her. "If I do this for the Black Court, you drop the federal investigation, and I get to return to Westchester. You leave my students and colleagues- all of them- alone. No more threats on their lives." Her position hadn't improved to the point of allowing her anything to bargain with, but she bargained anyway. She had only what she'd had a year ago- her powers, which Wyngarde seemed eager to use, to the point of threatening the mansion if she didn't let him use her powers as he wished. But enough was finally enough. Adrienne was miserable, had been miserable for a year, and she had to at least try to put a stop to Wyngarde's using her. Maybe he wanted this drug badly enough to let her return to her former life. "You let me go back, and I'll keep letting you use my powers." Of course she had no intention of letting him do that, but she could cross that bridge when she got to it. She would figure something out.
"Don't be stupid. I have no intention of letting you walk away from the Black Court so easily. You will do this or I will make sure that you're reduced to begging for food money. And if you make any contact with your former friends at Xavier's, I will see to it they pay the price for your actions." Jason said chillingly. "Are we understood?"
Adrienne clenched her fists so hard her nails drew blood from her palms. No! she wanted to scream, no we are not understood! Her phone was in her pocket, she could pick it up right now and phone Garrison, Vanessa, Amanda, Emma. They would help her through this, get her free of Wyngarde and the Black Court without anyone being hurt. Except she didn't pick up her phone. She never picked it up, no matter how many times she wanted to, because she'd gotten herself into this mess despite all of them telling her at some point or another that her involvement with the Hellfire Club was a bad idea. If she'd listened to them in the first place she wouldn't be in this mess now. It was a mess of her own making, and she couldn't risk involving them, getting them hurt, or worse, by cleaning it up for her. She had to figure out how to do it herself.
"Yeah, we're understood," she muttered darkly, staring at the floor in defeat.
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