AAG - Storytelling Part 2

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Continuing her narrative to Wyngarde, Adrienne tells him about getting her sister on board.


"It's didn't work, Adrienne. Your Canadian has been misdirected and you don't have the support."
 
"Don't have the support?" Adrienne laughed at that. "Too many blows to the head, Jason? I have the White Queen for a sister. And with her came all the support I needed."

"And why would she support Sebastian Shaw? No, you're being played."

Adrienne shook her head. "Nope. Shaw's a known entity for her, and she thinks he's fun. Whereas you lack ambition, which she doesn't approve of. Let me tell you about our conversation."

***
One of Emma's office minions showed Adrienne into the plush CEO's quarters with only a slight look of disgust. She'd actually made an appointment to see Emma this time, so Adrienne didn't see what the minion had to be discomfited about. Maybe she didn't like Adrienne's latest boot design. Or the fact she'd shown up in jeans, a cable-knit sweater, and her leather motorcycle jacket rather than more formal attire. Or maybe it was the food bag in the psychometrist's hand. She supposed the fish and chips was rather pungent, but Adrienne was really curious as to whether her sister would actually eat the stuff so she couldn't resist bringing it in for their lunch together. "Hey sis," she greeted with a smile as she flopped down uninvited into a chair opposite Emma's desk. "I had a really interesting meeting with Jason Wyngarde recently. Thought I'd tell you about it over lunch. I even made an appointment," she beamed.

Emma rolled her eyes at her sister. “I’m sure Sandrine was thrilled you managed that much, at least,” she said dryly. “You wouldn’t believe how much she hates having to rearrange my schedule.” Emma sniffed pointedly. “What on earth did you bring with you? And did it die in some kind of terrible industrial oil leaking accident?” she asked. “More to the point, why on earth were you talking to Wyngarde? I thought we’d managed to make sure that didn’t have to happen anymore.”
 
Giving Emma a withering look, Adrienne pulled the cardboard takeout boxes from the bag and passed one to her sister. "Fish and chips. Not like they make in London, of course, but I can bring you some of the real thing soon." She took out a plastic fork and dug in to her own meal. "Yeah, I thought we did too. But I suppose we should have known he wouldn't follow any rules but those of his own making, which I'm afraid are non-existent. 
 
"He decided to threaten me," Adrienne went on, "say I was selling sex for drugs, sexually abusing the students if I didn't help him." She shuddered. "And then he offered to release my assets back to me. All of them. If I'd just go to London and steal a quantum encryption key to give him access to the Blue Queen's databases. I Read various objects in his office," she explained as she chewed on her lunch, "as well as his school ring. I found out what he's planning to do. He wants to plant information on Emma Steed's database that she and Shaw have been doing dirty deals. He's going to tip off the Red Rook and get the Red Court to accuse them. Suspend them, call a meeting of the Lords Cardinal to decide what to do with them. Strathdee and Templeton are in on it in order to oust Steed and the Red King as collateral damage, but Shaw's the main target of Wyngarde's mechanations. He wants the Black Kingship.”
 
"But I was thinking," she continued eagerly, "Doug's pretty good with computers. Our Girl Friday at XFI, Sarah Vale, she is too. I want them to build a false database on top of the real one, so Wyngarde fucks with the fake and we can track what he's doing. Then, when the meeting with the Lord Cardinals happens, we flip the switch."
 
Emma didn’t respond to her sister for a few moments, taking the opportunity to think things through as she opened the cardboard box her sister had given her and prodded gently at the contents with the plastic fork provided. She moved a couple of chips around with her fork as she considered Adrienne’s information. “Wyngarde thinks to supplant Sebastian, does he?” she mused, frowning. The schism between Emma and the Black King had occurred long ago and was deep and wide, but their shared history was still an important part of Emma’s personal definition of the Hellfire Club. “I wonder what Belladonna would think of that. I suspect such ambition backed by so little ability would amuse her.” Emma looked up from the food she was carelessly toying with. “I don’t think I’d approve of a Black Court without Sebastian. It wouldn’t be half as much...” Emma searched for a word. “Fun. And Ms Steed has proven quite a useful ally in the past. I think you’re right, Adrienne. Wyngarde’s plans are best thwarted.”
 
"Yeah, thanks Em," Adrienne answered, rolling her eyes a little, not at all surprised that Emma was thinking of what was best for herself in this situation. If Adrienne hadn't been the one getting repeatedly tormented by Wyngarde she might have been this calculating about it, too. "Speaking of Belladonna," she continued, "I'm going to talk to her brother about assassins, because we're going to need them in our pocket rather than Wyngarde's. We're also going to need Betsy Braddock, Amanda Sefton, Jean Grey-Summers, and David Haller. I've already got Garrison on board to bring in his father and Jane Hampshire-" her nose wrinkled distastefully at that comment "-to bring the Red Court on board. Gar's going to get his father to vouch for me with Emma Steed, as well, so I can bring her in on it." It was convenient having a telepath sitting across from her, since that meant as Adrienne spoke their names and connected them to what she needed them to do, Emma could be privy to the whole plan in her head. "I get to experience the... hospitality of the London Courts firsthand very shortly," she smirked, shoveling fish into her mouth. "Any advice?"
 
Emma considered the connections that Adrienne was making between the names she was speaking and a surprisingly intricate and detailed plan that she’d devised and allowed a warm flush of Frost pride to touch her. But there were a lot of people to be brought on board to make this work and a large number of them ate treachery and double-dealing for breakfast. A telepath would be helpful in papering over any cracks that may appear. “Take me with you,” said Emma. “I can catch anyone who may be thinking of – I believe it would be triple-crossing you by then and make sure that doesn’t happen. And it’s useful to have the White Queen by your side. My reputation alone will keep a lot of the outer Court people in check and stop them making stupid power plays that might interfere with your plans.” Emma pushed aside her uneaten fish and chips and sent a quick telepathic message to Sandrine to order in a salad and an air freshener. “Stay for lunch,” she said to Adrienne. “Sandrine’s going to bring me something edible. We can nail down some of the details.” Emma smiled suddenly. “Though if you keep coming up with plans like this, Adrienne, I’ll have to recruit you back to my Court. Or shoot you.” She grinned. “What a terrible decision to have to make.”
 
"I owe myself twenty bucks," Adrienne muttered with a grin after Emma commented on being brought something edible. She chuckled at Emma's quandry as she started on her sister's fish and chips. "Can I vote for not shooting and say that if you want another plan like this you can just ask and I'll gladly provide without recruitment or shooting?" Despite being nervous about the possibility of being shot, she was proud of herself for impressing her older sister. "Also, uhh, yeah, I figured it was sort of a given that I'd be asking you to come with. There's no way I could do this without you." It wasn't so much her sister's reputation or her usefulness that made her necessary to Adrienne, though. Adrienne wanted her there because knowing she was there made Adrienne feel stronger. It may not have been true that Emma would have protected her at any cost, but Adrienne believed it was true, and she figured that was the important part. She had faith that if things went to shit, Emma would get her out alive.


Wyngarde is told of Emma Steed's involvement with the plan.


"So after getting Garrison Kane and my sister on board," Adrienne explained, "my next step was to talk to the Blue Queen, which I did the morning after I 'seduced' her, when she invited me for tea."

***
When she made her way out to the garden for tea, Adrienne was dressed in her overseas-flight-attire of slate grey leggings, a white cashmere tunic sweater, and white slingbacks, her hair pulled back into a loose French braid. She didn't intend on spending much more time in the country. Wyngarde was expecting her back before the day was out. But first she needed to have was could prove to be a very difficult, possibly dangerous conversation. "Good morning," she began as she was shown to a seat opposite the Blue Queen, wringing her hands together nervously. The attendant who was waiting on them departed and she let out a shaky breath. "Emma, I need to tell you some things, and I need you to... not kill me until I finish all of it?

"I'm- I'm not really Black Court," she admitted before allowing the other woman time to respond. "My sister's claimed me for the White as protection against the Black, except the Black are trying to blackmail me into working for them. Well, one of them in particular," she muttered, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "I was sent here to get access to your database on behalf of Jason Wyngarde, who's in possession of my company and my finances due to his powerful ties in the legal community. He's claimed that he'll relinquish control back to me once I give him the information on your data key. The information I got early this morning when I was alone in your room.

"I'm a mutant, you see," she explained, plowing ahead as she always did when she was uncomfortable, "a psychometrist. My powers granted me the ability to figure out where you kept it, and also to touch the key and give Wyngarde the access he desires to your information. These same powers, however," she continued, holding her hands up in a defensive gesture, "have allowed me to glean information about his master plan, which includes manipulating Strathdee and Templeton into helping oust you from the Blue Court so they'll in turn help him oust Sebastian Shaw from the Black, leaving Wyngarde as the Black King. I can tell you with certainty that Wyngarde is going to take the data on the key and plant off-the-books business connections between you and Shaw, along with evidence that you've enlisted Shaw's help in removing Templeton as your King. He's going to leak bits of this to Jane Hampshire, and you're going to be forced to submit to a review of the Inner Circles. Are you following me so far?"

"I see." Despite the passionate night the two had spent together, Emma seemed all business the morning after. Her expression gave very little away, making her watchful eyes very unnerving. "You tell me this as a courtesy?"

"Uhh... well, not exactly," Adrienne answered, even more nervous now that Steed's eyes were on
her. "Look, I know you don't know me very well, but you have to believe me; I didn't come here to help Wyngarde destroy you. I wouldn't do that. I mean, yeah, he's got my money and my business and I want them back, but it's not really about that. He's threatened the people I care about. Nearly killed some of them. He thinks I'm property to him, that he owns me because he's holding the lives of my friends against me. I can't let him get away with it. So I came here to turn the tables on him. I'm telling you this because I know I can beat him at his own game. But I need you to trust me. I've got a plan, you see. Can I tell it to you?"

Emma might have smiled then. She positioned herself towards Adrienne, legs crossed under a skirt the color of robin eggs. "Do go on."

Adrienne relaxed slightly, letting out a breath she'd been holding. She sipped at her tea. "There are people that I trust who possess mutant abilities related to computers, electronics," she continued. "They're going to construct what they're calling a 'ghost system' on top of the real database on your key. Wyngarde can fuck with that one, incriminate you and Shaw, and he'll think he's fucking with the real thing. Except everything he does is going to be documented in the macrodata. That way, when my people pull the plug, it's going to become obvious where each file Wyngarde planted came from. In addition," she continued, smiling slyly now, "the files are then going to show the Inner Courts just how much Wyngarde's been fucking with Shaw's shadow companies and accounts. Including his ties to Asian money laundering.

"But I need you to play along when Wyngarde calls you out about the data and convenes the meeting of the Inner Courts," she explained. "You're probably going to be suspended, and a meeting of the Lord Cardinals will be called, with, of course, a huge party to cover up the real purpose of the get-together. My sister is going to bring Christian Kane to the party under the guise of helping you blame Shaw as the instigator of those deals the two of you supposedly made. Christian Kane can vouch for me," she added. She hadn't brought it up before now because she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of someone vouching for her. It was a level of trust she didn't grant easily. But Steed needed to know that Adrienne could be trusted, so Adrienne in turn had to trust that Christian could make that happen for her. "He trained you, right?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "You trust him?"

Emma's expression turned distasteful for a moment, and quickly turned serious again. "Christian didn't just 'train me'," she corrected, "he is one of my oldest and dearest friends. I trust him with my life."

She considered for a moment, manicured nails tapping on the file forgotten paperwork she had been perusing before Adrienne's arrival. "If he trusts you, then perhaps I can also trust you a second time."

"You know, he once got me embroiled in a fight against a villain who wears a bag over his head?" she pointed out, giving Emma a slight smile. "But thank you for trusting me because of him," she nodded, sipping at her tea again. "I appreciate it, immensely. When this is all over, you're going to be able to prove to the Lords Cardinal that the Blue King is trying to set you up to oust you, and in turn oust him."

"Oh Quentin. He really has no idea what he is getting himself in to."

She picked up her tea again, cradling it in her hands in a comforting gesture and sighed. "This will be like outwitting a spoiled child. The outcome may be satisfying, but you can argue until the sky falls about whether the opposition is fair."

Adrienne chuckled a little at the comparison. "Okay, I have a great mental image of that because I'm a teacher and spoiled children are my bread and butter. But do you have lots of experience with spoiled children?"

"Not in the literal sense, no. Children were never in the cards for John and I." Emma smiled when she spoke her late husband's name, still very much in love with the man she married. "But I am a member of the Hellfire Club, and
sometimes that is just as bad."

Continuing to chuckle, Adrienne finished her tea and set it aside. "Oh, I hear ya," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "Hey, can I ask you a personal question related to that? You seem like a sensible woman," she pointed out respectfully. "Why do this? This whole Hellfire Club thing, I mean? I mean, you don't seem like... everyone else I've met from a Court."

Emma genuinely laughed then, a bright sound rarely heard from the Blue Queen. "My dear, if we were all bickering ego-maniacs, the Hellfire Club would never have survived this long. We are currently having a..." she paused to consider her words very carefully,"...rough patch with regards to our membership."

Adrienne gave her a look that clearly said she wasn't sold on the 'we're not all bickering ego-maniacs' thing. "Do you think that could possibly change once Templeton's been removed? I mean, is he the reason for the rough patch, or is it more just a drought of sensible people in general?"

Emma didn't seem to notice Adrienne's skepticism. "Without Quentin, your Mr. Wyngarde would certainly find someone else with too much money and not enough sense. The Hellfire Club favors the ambitious, but all too often someone else is pulling the strings."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I'm going to utterly destroy Wyngarde," Adrienne smirked, "and leave the Blue Court for you to pull the strings."