AAG - The Deal

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Wyngarde summons Adrienne to a loaner office during the party to discuss their deal. Wyngarde is cagey about the deal they'd made and tries to make other offers, so Adrienne finally loses patience.


"Adrienne. You are looking lovely this evening, although I think black would suit you far better.” Wyngarde said, in an expansive mood as he bent and kissed the back of her hand. He had told her to look for him before the opening of the main ballroom, which would be the principle cover for the ruling by the Lord Imperial. As par their agreement, he had agreed to release his hold on her assets just prior, once he was satisfied that his plans where moving forward unhampered. He wondered if the surprise guests were a way of showing them that Xavier was keeping an eye, or a power plot by Emma Frost. Either way, his plans were well in place. Adrienne had seen Garrison leave the room with Jane Hampshire earlier, Braddock and her date were under Bloom’s telepathic surveillance and the White Queen, her consort, and the White Knight were in the midst of the party and unable to make any moves unseen.

No, he had won.

"You're right," Adrienne answered with a grin, looking happy and at ease. "White's never really been my colour. I know it's still early, but how are you enjoying yourself so far this evening, Jason?"
 
"Splendidly. It is always an invigorating feeling when everyone is doing just as they are expected to. Although, I'm surprised that you allowed your 'escort' to leave with Hampshire. She has designs on him." 

"I'm sure she does." The grin was replaced by a bemused upward tug of a corner of her lip, along with a shrug. "He does have a certain quality that prompts that sort of thing. She'll have more trouble with him than he's worth, though. 'Got a temper on him. And he's far too delicate when it comes to institutions such as the Hellfire Club. Delicacy coupled with pigheadedness," she murmured, rolling her eyes. "Doesn't understand the Club at all, and yet simultaneously thinks he can outsmart us all. I only brought him as a favour to my sister, and I'm fairly certain she only asked to please her own consort."


"I have always found that those liaisons prove unpleasent at the end. It would seem that your once desperate wish to keep him safe has flagged." His voice held an amused tone, but also an approving one. It was, after all, the kind of callousness famed from the Black Court. "No doubt with Jane occupying him, you'll be free for more suitable distractions. Please, I have been loaned a private parlor where we can conduct our business. I assume you're looking forward to returning to your former position and status?"

"My once desperate wish was apparently wasted on another hotheaded loser. Guy couldn't even keep his job at the FBI; went and killed a bunch of people he shouldn't have," she muttered with a derisive snort, but seemed to brighten up when Wyngarde made his last comment. "I am; very much so. Shall we?"
 
"Certainly." Jason led her through a series of corridors, until he reached a parlor door and unlocked it. From the adjoining parlor, they could clearly hear the sounds of at least three people have sex and the occasional crack of a paddle. He ushered her into the room, which had a desk at one end and a couch at the other, and went to the sideboard to pour them both drinks. "I must say, the London Chapter does deliver on the amenities. It will be a useful ally."

"Sounds like you're pleased with yourself," Adrienne commented, "and you have every right to be. To your landing a new ally," she announced, toasting him with her glass. "It also sounds like you're satisfied with my work." The last comment was a little pointed, but still mostly playful.

"More than satisfied, Adrienne. You may not know it, but you have helped usher in a sea change for the Hellfire Club." He perched against the edge of the desk, sipping from his glass. "By the end of tonight, Sebastian Shaw will no longer be the Black King of the New York Hellfire Club. In fact, he'll be lucky if he's not barred for the rest of his life. There will most certainly be a power vacuum, which means opportunities."

"And also means me getting my financial holdings back, yes?" she suggested helpfully as she rotated her glass in her hand.

"What would you say to sitting on the boards of fifty companies, instead of just one? Billions and trillions in assets that you would quietly control for the benefit of the Black Court and your own soon to be immeasurably larger accounts?"

"Maybe some day, but not right now, Jason," Adrienne responded politely, finishing her drink. "It's been a long couple days, and I'd rather take some time before discussing further business dealings. For now I just want back what you've taken from me."
 
"Opportunities comes in flashes. Listen to me, Adrienne. In a week, Shaw will be gone, and he doesn't know it yet, but the vast amount of his wealth and control has been slowly converted over to control of the Black King. Not him, specifically. I'm going to take his place as Black King and his empire away from him at the same time, leaving him with virtually nothing. Just as he did to my father. I will be the Black King. I will still gave that galling Cajun creature as the Black Queen, but she holds no power." He came over to her, standing very close. "Be my Black Bishop. You'll be the face of the financial empire; one of the most powerful business women in the country. I don't share Shaw's twisted lust and hatred towards your sister. We'll make peace with the White Court and even your X-Men. Once Belladonna is ousted, you will take your place as the Black Queen, a Lord Cardinal of the most powerful Court in the Hellfire Club. It's for the taking now." 

Well, shit. Black Queen and peace between the Courts? Peace between the X-Men? It was pretty fucking tempting. Except for one part. The part about being Wyngarde's queen. "Opportunities do come in flashes," she murmured, struggling to look him in the eyes. "And you know I'm an opportunist, so I do appreciate you making the offer of this opportunity. But as a self-preservationist, I can tell you I don't want this particular opportunity. It's not for me. I don't trust you, Jason. And I'll only trust you less if you give me even more that I could lose. I'm sorry, and I thank you, but I decline your offer. I only want what I came here for."

Wyngarde's face turned ugly for a moment. "Do you understand just what I've offered you? And you're willing to throw it away for a miserable small time couture and, what, twenty million?" She turned away and he grabbed her arm. "Maybe I should just fuck you now. If you're too stupid to understand this chance, that wet hole is about all you're useful-"

She'd been expecting this, and moreover, had been struggling with it for some time but had finally come to the conclusion that it was necessary. And yet she still hated herself a little as she swung the arm with the glass still in it and cracked it against the side of his head. Shards pierced her own flesh but they barely registered as she shot to her feet and grabbed the heavier bottle from which he'd filled their glasses in her uninjured hand, keeping her eyes on him as she brandished it in his direction, rather than giving any attention to the sensation of warm liquid dripping from her palm. "Touch me again, asshole, and I'll knock your fucking head off. And then stick this up your ass and take pictures for the internet."

Wyngarde pressed his hand to his temple and shook his head, trying to clear the pain. When his fingers came away bloody, he snarled and lunged at her. 

"Oh, Christ," she muttered, sounding exasperated. She spun away in a dodge and hit him again, having to transfer the bottle back to her bloodied hand in order to hit him on the same side, aiming to get as close to the original blow as she could. Then she kicked him in the groin. "Stay down, Jason," she ordered, voice venomous as she shifted the bottle back to her good hand. Keeping an eye on him she grabbed a Kleenex box off the desk and bunched a few of them in her bleeding hand.

"You're dead, Frost! Your company is gone, and once I'm king, I will burn you and your fucking sister. I will hire a thousand assassins for that fucking school, and send the brats' hands back to you. I am going to destroy everything you care about-"

"And how are you going to do that, exactly?" she interjected, sneering at him, "when I've taken away all your resources, and your only ally?"
 
"You don't even have the money for a plane ticket home, bitch. And you can forget about our deal!" 

"You're going to release my money," the brunette told him coolly. "Quite enough for a plane ticket home, I should think. I can't forget about our deal, unfortunately. I did what you asked, now you give me what you owe me, or I'll kill you. Simple as that."