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With nothing business-related planned for the next day, Harry actually allowed himself to sleep in, and he woke up in a leisurely fashion when the chime of the clock hit ten. Opening his eyes he saw the familiar sight of white hair splayed out across his chest. Harry propped himself up on one arm to stare at his lady love. Asleep like this Ororo seemed almost innocent, a faint smile on her face, as she cuddled into his shoulder, but her face hinted at the strong soul within, as well as her innate kindness. "God I love you Ororo," he said to himself, before looking over to where Jean should be and frowned a little.
Jean wasn't there, having surprisingly got up out of bed without waking her two lovers and left the room before they woke up. "Now I understand why they don't like waking up without me here. It's very disconcerting not seeing your bedmate beside you when they were there when you fell asleep." He said shaking his head.
This movement seemed to jostle Ororo awake, and she groaned a little stretching in place which did very interesting things to her anatomy. Harry shook that thought off however, wondering where Jean was, which had driven his original plan for the morning out of his mind.
He had actually intended to pamper Ororo a little this morning, since her part of the operation against the Spineless Ones had been much more difficult than Harry's or Jean's. Spiral might have used a slightly less impressive repertoire of spells, but she had been much more mobile, and her teleportation skills had been phenomenal according to Ororo. Neither of those last two points had applied to Mojo himself, even if he had more power, which was itself debatable given how he seemed to lose power halfway through the fight when Reed cut him off from the broadcast systems.
A few of the spells Mojo used had seemed interesting, but Harry was unwilling to look into them, fearing that they might have long term effects on him. Back in his old dimension the 'Dark' label was handed out to anything the ministry didn't want to deal with for various reasons, most especially an inability to track certain types of magic. Or that they were blood-related which, despite its label even in non-magical society to the contrary, did not mean that they were Dark in total.
Yes, there were certain rituals that were undeniably evil, those needing unwilling sacrifices and cannibalism for example. But many blood related rituals were designed for familial protection or security. Harry was living proof that the strength of well-prepared and willing sacrifice was powerful indeed.
But despite the Ministry's debasement of the term Dark, there were spells that marked the soul of their user, one of which looked disturbingly like one of the spells that Mojo had used in his battle against Harry. The coruscating ball of red and black energy reminded him of one that was designed to make your innards turn slowly to acid inside you, a pure torture spell that effected the person using it by making them revel in the pain the spell caused. That example and the darkness spell that tried to act like a Dementor's aura made Harry very wary of trying to figure them out.
That didn't matter right now though, and he leaned forward, taking one of Ororo's ears in his mouth for a moment licking and nibbling at in just the right way to cause Ororo to jolt into full wakefulness with a gasp. "Morning Ororo." He said his eyes full of love as he leaned down to kiss her now as she looked up at him with a smile on her face.
After a blissful moment she pulled back and looked across him to the other side of the bed, her brows furrowing. "Where's Jean?"
"That was a question I was thinking myself. Shall we go see if we can find her?"
Ororo nodded and got up out of bed, as always uncaring of her nudity. Though she did notice Harry had a bit of a 'stiff' issue which caused her to laugh wickedly. "Later for that, my Harry."
"And there goes my plan for a nice morning in." Harry grunted as he got out of bed, looking down at himself and willing his reaction to disappear for now. "You'll get your fun later." he said in an almost mocking tone, still looking down, which caused Ororo to laugh again, shaking her wild mane of hair as she did.
After Ororo got dressed the two of them linked arms and exited the room heading downstairs to search for the third side of their triangle. They found Jean in her workroom, working on something that Harry didn't recognize offhand. It was a board of some kind, and it took a moment for Harry to realize it was one of the hover boards that the Spineless Ones had used to get around in.
Jean had several new items in her room since before the meeting with William and the others, including one deep construction analyzer that was the best she could buy from Reed Richards, coupled with the hard light technology that she had already installed. It allowed her to fully map both the exterior and the interior of an object quickly and efficiently without the need to take it apart. Jean actually preferred to take things apart herself, but this way she could concentrate on different aspects of reverse engineering rather than the nuts and bolts of it. She could thus spend more time building her own versions, which was even more fun.
As her two lovers entered the room Jean was walking around the hard light display of a cutout of the device, enlarging one section after another while dictating to thin air, apparently having set up a recording system connected to the computer that she had dedicated to her laboratory, another purchase from Reed. None of the four computers Jean had added to the castle to replace the first two they had been using were purchased on the open market. Like her lab computer she had bought them from Reed at a rather hefty sum. While Reed was not a businessman he was not going to turn up his nose at profit either, even when dealing with friends.
"So miniaturization will not be a problem, so long as the central power unit that runs the antigravity device remains intact. If I can do that, there is no issue with creating smaller hover boards or something similar. The computation and control aspects will be more of an issue, because despite the advanced nature of the hover-technology, the computers and their abilities are somewhat more primitive than I would've expected, definitely designed to only do a few jobs. Certainly someone like Reed or Stark or, though I hate to say it, that sexist prick Pym could do a better job on the computers."
"The weapons technology however is much more interesting, most especially what looks at first glance as if it is some kind of pumped fusion weapon, which Ben Grimm reported." Jean went on, lifting the hover board that she had been studying off the scanner with a telekinetic hand and putting it to the side for now. She whistled a little as she reached into the bag of holding that she had taken to carrying, pulling out what looked like an almost undamaged heavy combat android from Mojoworld. "God I love magic!" she said laughing aloud.
"We do too." said two voices behind her.
Jean whirled her grabbing at her chest in shock, her heart thundering at the sudden surprise. "Gah, sorry didn't hear you come in. Err, morning, you two."
"Where did all this come from?" Harry asked looking at the stuff she was currently looking at, a faint smile on his face.
"What, you didn't think I was going to leave all that lovely technology just lying around did you? While you were busy with the injured, and are you all right to be up and about Ororo?" Ororo nodded and Jean went on. "Well anyway, while you were doing that, I was scrounging around. The battlefield was so littered with bits of android I was able to pick and choose the best parts. I don't think the actual robotic technology is going to be much good, or at least we might be able to better it, but the heavier weapons were very effective. They nearly got through my telekinetic shields a few times, and I know they singed Colossus and Ben."
Harry laughed quietly shaking his head looking at the hard light diagrams spread out in the air of the room. "Glad you kept your eyes on the prize like that Jean." He loved watching Jean work, it was like watching Ororo teach languages or either of them fly or even Emma while she conducted business. It was part and parcel of their characters, and Harry loved every piece of their personalities.
Jean flushed under his appreciate gaze, then moved forward quickly, catching Harry in a kiss. Harry deepened it, his hands going down to her shorts clad rear and lifting her up off the ground for a moment.
She reluctantly leaned backwards, then leaned to her side to kiss Ororo even while Harry kept hold of her rear, her legs lifting to wrap around his waist. Ororo too deepened the kiss quickly, her own hands gently moving through the redhead's hair while Jean put her arms around both of them.
After moment however she moved backwards, huffing a little when Harry reluctantly let go of her rear. "Anyway, I have a lot of things I need to look over now. I'm not certain how much of it I'll end up adding to our team's combat gear, and you really need to think up a name for us Harry, but I have no doubt that a lot of it can be incorporated to this or to our future space projects. Flight boots for example, or even jumping boots. I'm not certain how well the hover technology will do if we take it any appreciable length away from the ground, but we'll see. There's also repulsor technology, something like Iron Man/Tony uses, but a bit more compact but less energy efficient."
"The weapons though, I bet we can scale them up, and maybe have our first weapons system for any kind of space-based battle we get into."
By the end of that Jean's eyes were shining with something other than physical desire, and she turned back to her work eagerly. "I'm going to work on this until lunch. After that, I'll be working with Dani for the rest of the day. She's almost close enough for me to let her continue on her own, we're concentrating now on actually controlling her powers rather than just stopping them from lashing out without her input. Have to say her powers might go a lot further than just being able to create the illusion of someone else's fears, but it might take a few weeks before she's ready to really use it."
"Excellent, and I think I'll speak to the rest of the team about this." Harry said waving his hands. "We should make it a standing order that if we can, we should scrounge for anything useful after a battle."
"That supposes that we'll always be the winners rather than being forced to flee or something similar." Ororo said dryly but she shrugged. "It's still a good idea though."
Harry nodded, then looped one arm around Ororo's waist. "In any event, we'll see you for lunch Jean, now I'm going to go pamper this lady for a time. Again, damn good job."
Jean grinned. "Have fun!" She winked at Ororo who actually blushed a bit, but was willingly led out of the room by her hand as Jean turned back to her work.
OOOOOOO
Later that day Jean smirked when Ororo and Harry entered the dining room. Ororo was practically floating, and not because she was using her powers. Ms. Brown was the only other woman there who was experienced enough to know what she was seeing in Ororo, and she smirked too then looked over at Dr. Druid, who shivered a little as if someone had just walked over his grave.
Harry motioned to Amara and the rest of the team that had operated against Mojo to come and join them at one of the dining tables, while the rest of the castle's denizens went back to their food. "Now that we've had a night to rest and recuperate, does anyone want to say anything about our last mission? I've decided not to do formal after action reports, not yet anyway, but I think we can learn from every mission we go on, and I'd like all of your input."
"More command and control." Nikolai said promptly. "More communication between teammates would be excellent especially if we split off to assault different objectives like this last mission often, though we were able to get by without it this time thanks to Phoenix. One of the things that Jean showed us that I would've liked to see us all use is that heads up displays, some way to monitor our systems heavily was also mentioned, how far along are you on that?"
"I've finished building prototypes for the actual helmet, as well as disks that can monitor your health, which we'll incorporate into all of our uniforms. For the HUD system itself, that we'll need a programmer for. I'm an engineer not a programmer, give me a physical problem and I can solve it but that's not a physical one. The prototype helmet I showed you all works, but getting information into it will be much more difficult."
"I could ask Reed to look at it, but he's got his own projects, and he's already admitted that he doesn't like programming all that much." That wasn't to say he wasn't good at it, Harry thought to himself, Reed was after all a genius and that wasn't an overstatement in his case. But that didn't change the fact that he had the attention span of a rabid weasel for anything not involved in pushing the bounds of known science of his family, and simply disliked programming.
"What about Forge?" Ororo asked. "He has a young Native American mutant we met a few days before you arrived Harry." She explained, noting his quizzical expression. "And he's a good engineer and programmer from what I can remember. Something to do with his powers I think."
"Forge was grabbed up by a legitimate government think-tank a few months back." Jean replied with a shrugged. "I looked him up right after Harry offered me the job of being chief engineer. It's legit, I made certain of that, even asked Emma to look into it which actually helped her cover after she came by that first time. They're looking into the Hulk you know? He's been on TV a few times, but they're looking for ways to detect gamma radiation and both shield from and remove it somehow."
"Sounds important." Harry nodded. He had seen a few images of footage with the Hulk, and wanted no part in dealing with him. Oh, he could think of several magical means of controlling or simply stopping the Hulk, but right now he wasn't about to go looking for Banner. He had more than enough on his plate right now, and the only way he would be able to find Banner was if he went Hulk on someone, not something Harry was happy about contemplating. "Kitty's at least a year of hard work away from becoming a good enough programmer to do this for us, so let's move on to anything else you guys can think of."
Piotr frowned a little. "I personally would like to get some long-range weaponry added to my battle gear. My armor withstood most of what I was hit with, but it would have been nice to hit back without having to throw things or smash the ground to create shockwaves, especially if I'm fighting aerial targets. Also, possibly some kind of 3-D mapping system, something to stop us from running into an ambush. Those TV stations would have been deadly traps for us if we had been facing a more flexible enemy."
Even with the androids not being able to make plans for themselves, the TV station had proven deadly enough. The rebels had lost dozens of men in that assault despite the best the adventurers from Earth had been able to do.
Nikolai nodded at his fellow Russian. "You've been training with myself and giáo sư on your aim anyway, so that's a good idea." Shiang Chi refused to be called master in English, saying the word had been badly debased in Eastern cultures. "And on that topic, can you think of a way to make the plasma or rail guns into semi-auto fire, or a machine gun mode? Something so we can lay down covering fire quickly, rather than shoot at a specific target would be excellent."
"Again I could build something that would be able to scan the environment I suppose. It would be difficult to build one that would be able to scan through rock and steel up of course, but it could be done. Miniaturization would also be a problem." Jean mused. "As well as programming of course."
"That apparently needs to become our priority, we need to find a programmer we can trust." Harry replied.
"Or possibly sublet the different programming issues." Ororo said with a shrug. "The British government is incredibly happy with us at the present, I bet we could ask them. Or we could ask Emma to find us someone trustworthy."
"Emma would be my choice." Harry said firmly. "I like the British government, and I like King William, but I don't want anyone that could be even tempted to create back doors or something doing anything for our teams. I know just enough about programming to know that's a severe worry. Anything else?"
Amara held up her hand. "I'd like something like what Wyatt used, a personal teleporter. If we run into anyone who can remove me from the ground, I'd lose most of my offensive abilities. I'd also like to step up my training on a gun. I think I'm far enough along in my sword training to make up the loss. Also, emergency portkeys back here linked to whatever device you all create to monitor our health. That might be a major help down the line."
Harry waited a moment to make certain no one else had any more suggestions, before smiling at all of them in approval. "I find all this good, excellent brainstorming people. Jean is working on some more stuff that might be added to our battle rattle later, but for right now I think you all have deserved a day off. So shoo." So saying he waved his hands like he was warding away flies, before turning and ordering some food from one of the house-elves assigned to the lunchtime meal.
The younger group left with a grin leaving Harry with his two loves for a moment. They smiled at one another, happy at how the conversation had gone and then set to their food with a will when it appeared.
OOOOOOO
Elsewhere another magic user had closed in on her prey. In fact the Enchantress, whose name, though few knew it, was Amora, had found Thor the day before, but had been sidetracked several times. Still she was here now, and the gorgeous (if she said it herself) blond woman sat on a nearby roof, hidden under an illusion while she pondered how best to get the thunder God to agree to go back to Asgard. She watched him for several hours that evening, frowning irritably at the simpering stupidity of the courtship going on in front of her although she noted that Thor was a little irritated as well, and seemed to tense his muscles whenever he kissed whatever-her-name was. As if the Enchantress could be bothered to remember human names.
That gave her an idea however, and she waited until Thor was asleep, on the couch for some reason, while the woman slept in a bed in this small human apartment. After waiting another hour she quickly cast a series of spell on herself, floating over to the apartment's window easily enough and then through the wall before once again becoming solid. On silenced feet the Enchantress padded over to Thor then touched his brow briefly while she intoned a rather complicated spell, connecting her mind to his for a brief time.
Thor knew he was sleeping, knew he was dreaming but that didn't make what he was seeing have any less of an impact. For a moment Thor was held in stasis, watching as Jane, human woman he had fallen in love with aged and died. Indeed the entire world around them, some kind of forest, much like the park they had been to earlier that day on their 'date', which was the odd human name for courtship, moved through the four seasons. The park had been 'pretty' enough if a little too controlled for his liking.
However, he watched now as that somewhat familiar landscape and Jane continued to grow old before his very eyes while Thor remained the same. Eventually he was left standing over her grave, a eulogy of some sort being said in the background.
Thor looked around irritably. "This is not mine own dream, someone is trying to tell me something. I would prefer to speak face to face, reveal yourself now!"
"Gladly oh prince of Asgard." Said a female voice and he turned quickly.
Behind Thor stood a statuesque blond woman, her hair falling straight over her shoulders and down to the small of her back. She wore form fitting green and white armor, with a headdress to match, which left her legs from mid-thigh down, her midriff and arms bare. Nor did the dress so much hide her chest as bring it to your attention while still barely covering her feminine treasures.
"Lady Enchantress." Thor nodded his head slightly, taking in the sight before him, before shaking it off. "Are you here of your own volition, or has Odin-father sent you to take me back?"
"Lord Odin has given me the task of convincing you to come home, using any means I see fit." Amora replied, conjuring up a set of chairs. Her own was of a kind she'd seen in a store earlier that day as she walked around the human city, a 'recliner' it was called. She sighed pleasantly leaning back in it and putting her feet up. Humans have made some of the most marvelous inventions since the last time I had dealings with them.
"I chose simply to force you to see that you and this woman are two different species. You are a god of Asgard, and she is a mere human. Unless you know of a way to lengthen her lifespan or wish to shrink yours, what I showed you will come to pass sooner or later. Worse yet, she will come to resent you, as you keep going unchanged, while she grows old and withers."
"Ah but it will be sweet while it lasts." Thor replied.
"Will it? Can you even hug her without having to control your great strength?" For some reason the blonde was able to convey a wealth of meaning in that term, so much that Thor actually flushed, which did not go away as she went on. "How likely is it you would lose control during your lovemaking and thrust a little too hard? Humans are fragile creatures after all. You'll always have to be careful, and what if you want to become a little more… passionate a quick, steamy tryst rather than leisurely making love? A single moment of inattention would cause serious harm to her." The Enchantress finished, again giving that word a wealth of different meanings, smirking coyly as she stretched purposefully to bring attention to her assets.
Thor blanched, but responded gamely. "I am in full control of my strength at all times lady. I will not be swayed by thy blandishments temptress, no matter how difficult that may be!" Despite this declaration he had difficulty pulling himself away from the view the Enchantress was giving him. Yet eventually he looked away, frowning.
The enchantress waited, crossing her legs not at all incidentally flashing quite a bit more of her thighs at Thor who gulped a little. He was a man after all, and as such he had certain needs, which hadn't been met lately. Worse, Thor was beginning to realize unless he found a way to limit his own strength, they might not be able to be met with Jane at all.
After a moment however, Thor's love for the mortal seemed to prevail, and his face firmed up. "No. I will not leave Jane. No matter how short our time will be, I will spend it with her gladly, regardless of any difficulties we face, either within or without!"
He went on more grudgingly. I will however allow you to create a way for me to speak with Asgard. Yet even without my feelings for Jane I would be loath to return to my father's mighty city. There is much to be seen on Earth, much to learn from these humans." Beyond his infatuation with Jane, Thor knew he was addicted to many of the human's food so he desperately wanted to stay on Mid-guard.
"I cannot fault you there." The Enchantress replied honestly. "I am somewhat fascinated by the humans myself." In her case however it was the furniture and fashion. She had watched a show where women had been striding along some kind of walkway, wearing all manner of clothing that looked magnificent! And there were groups of people called fashion designers, whose entire job was to simply come up with new and interesting clothing. That appealed greatly to her, and the Enchantress wondered what one would have to do to join such a group.
Still she frowned, wondering how best to continue with the task Lord Odin had given her. In a martial contest Thor would destroy her. Nor did Amora wish to simply eliminate Jane, not yet. While her orders allowed for that, it certainly would set the Thunderer against her, something Amora didn't want. Besides, as she had shown Thor, a mortal's life was simply to brief, too weak to worry her one way or another. Amora felt that Lord Odin was overreacting badly, and that simply waiting would be the best course. If Odin wanted her to take more direct action, he could tell her in the future.
Right now, she decided to take what she could get. The fact this would allow her to remain in Midgard herself without having to worry about Lord Odin recalling her personally was also a major factor of her wait and see attitude.
"I will remain in this realm myself, and if Lord Odin demands your turn and has a solid reason for it, I will return you to him." She said seriously, holding up what looked like a bracelet made of stone on one wrist. "This is a runic array designed by Lord Odin personally to transport you back to Asgard if I must, even against your will. It was not however your being in Midgard that bothers him, it was only that you left without a word or order, and that he fears your love with a mortal woman will cloud your judgment."
"My father worries overmuch, and my judgment is not impaired by my love of Jane, rather it is enhanced by her good council." Thor replied virtuously.
Amora shook her head in amusement at the very idea, but shrugged as well. "I cannot say Lord Odin will not order me to try to force you to end your relationship with the mortal girl more aggressively, but until then I will not act against you." While she would have preferred to get rid of the human woman and pursue Thor herself, he was a magnificent specimen of man after all, the human realm fascinated her too much to want to push that now. "For the rest, a formal apology when you see him next can smooth over his ruffled feathers. So long as you vow to return if needed, our discussion is concluded."
Thor nodded, and with that the dream ended. Enchantress smiled down at Thor as his eyes opened, then leaned down, her teeth nipping him on the ear before immediately changing into her gaseous form and leaving quickly, leaving behind the sound of her low, throaty, almost sensual laughter, echoing around the room. Thor stared after her for a moment before resolutely turning away to his bed on the sofa.
OOOOOOO
Harry and Ororo spent the rest of that day with Melody and the other children, all of them having finished their lessons for the day with Ms. Brown, who was of the firm opinion that mornings were for work and afternoons for makeup work or athletics. As none of her students presently had any makeup work she was fine with it. Fay knew however that eventually, when more and more students joined them and lessons became much more formal that would change. She was a little worried about the youngsters getting spoiled by the half-days they were doing now, but not enough to stop it.
They first played a few team games, then Harry showed them what Quidditch would look like. This got a few terrified and one or two ecstatic responses. Evidently flying on tiny bits of wood was not for everyone. Harry could relate, Hermione had hated the sport from the get-go, and he had never really had any time for it. Even when his flying skills had been noticed he hadn't actually joined the Ravenclaw team.
That day and the next were almost entirely days off for everyone. Harry spent an hour a day or so going over business related items, then spent most of the rest of his time getting to know the rest of the people in the castle better.
OOOOOOO
"So," Harry said plopping to the ground next to where Danielle Moonstar was sitting in the lotus position on the floor of her room. "Jean says that you are nearly ready to start using your power offensively, what do you think of that?"
Danielle came out of her meditative trance to look up at him, answering him readily. "Worried, jubilant that I got this far, concerned. We understand what my powers do when they're out of control, what can they do when I'm in directing them? How much command can I really exert over it? I don't know yet, but it would not…" she paused. "It wouldn't be right not to learn, if that makes any sense."
Harry nodded. "That's good attitude to have. Your powers are just like any other skill, use it or not that's up to you, but you need to know how to control it regardless. Have you given thoughts about what you would want to do with your life going forward?"
"I want to join your team." Dani said firmly staring up at him, her eyes serious. "I know I'm young for it, but I think the cause you're fighting for, and your ideas going forward from what I know of them, are worth fighting for." She paused for a moment again, looking a little shifty. I was astonished to hear that the spirit of Angwusnasomtaka was training the Stormbringer, but even that is a mark in your favor." Angwusnasomtaka was the name of the goddess that Gaia had assumed in Native American myth.
Raising a hand to hide his smile Harry shook his head mentally. Danielle did not speak like a normal teenager, she was much more serious, and much more self-controlled even before Jean was able to teach her control of her powers. Her eyes told a story of someone who was very driven, and much more worldly than her age would suggest. It was no wonder she and Jean got along so well. "Okay, so tell me what you can bring to my team."
Dani began counting off point on her fingers. "I'm an excellent scout, I also have an excellent eye for shooting, though I prefer a bow. I have a way with animals, and can get most of them to obey me for short amounts of time depending on type. A horse or other semi-domesticated animal for example will follow my orders so long as they're in my presence, but a natural predator such as a cougar or coyote will only follow more subtle suggestions." Dani had actually run into both those predators while out on hunts during her summers with her grandfather, and knew this for a fact. "I'm in excellent shape, and a black belt in judo. Let me start training with Shiang Chi, and I bet I can make up for lost time quickly."
She finished counting on her fingers and looked up at Harry again, her eyes almost challenging now. "And let's face it, while Paige and Amara have a lot of power to them and they might have buried the hatchet, they still have issues working together because they are so different in temperament. You could use someone with a level head who can help ride herd on them without being obvious about it, which you don't have at present."
Harry removed his hand from his mouth, showing his smile openly. "You've been thinking about this for a while haven't you?"
"Ever since Wyatt asked you if he could join you and I found out precisely what your long term goals were." Dani said with a shrug. "Wyatt's right, there are some causes worth fighting for, and both mutant rights and defense of Earth match that criteria, let alone the good you want to do with your potions and other projects."
"Well you convinced me to give you a trial run at least. You'll start training with Shiang Chi later today. He's training Nikolai and Peter at the moment, so you'll join Paige and Amara during their training. If you perform well enough in that, I'll give the okay for you to start training in the team exercises, those which we don't use our powers in. After Jean says you're good to go with using your mutant ability, you can join the rest."
Danielle grinned now, transforming her face from the serious expression that she had been holding to that of a very pretty young girl. "Thank you sir, you won't regret it."
You know what Harry thought to himself, I'm almost positive she's right about that one. That didn't have anything to do with what else he sensed from the girl either, she was simply that driven and composed. But beyond that Harry sensed there was something inside of her, he wasn't certain if it was magical potential yet as he hadn't given her a full physical just yet, nor had she been in the castle long enough for the potential, if she had it , to 'ignite' because the background magic, but there was something there.
Elsewhere, alas, Emma wasn't having as easy a time of it, even if she wasn't facing any sort of crisis.
OOOOOOO
"I know you're up to something." A voice said from behind Emma as she moved from her bedroom down to the first floor of her mansion. She turned raising an eyebrow in query at her sister, who was the one who had spoken.
Cordelia was standing behind her looking a little irritated, as well as inquisitive, but not overly antagonistic. The times they had spent together since she had moved back in after their father had died had done wonders for their relationship. They were almost like a normal family, distant still from one another, but closer than they had ever been before.
"And exactly what am I up to?" Emma asked.
"I don't know but I'm going to find out! You've been acting… weird! First of all, you disappear for hours on end, practically every day. You're keeping really strange hours, your bed hasn't been slept in these past few days, and you've actually been emotive these past few weeks and not in a snarky sarcastic way either. , I'd even say you've been bordering on chipper for the last few weeks, hell I saw you grin the other day! "
"Did you just use the word chipper in a sentence?" Emma asked looking distinctly astonished. "Well done."
As Cordelia fumed at her little joke, Emma went on, waving away her sister's concerns. "Eventually maybe I'll let you in on the secret sister dear, when you prove you have a certain level of maturity." And when you prove I can trust you, she thought. "Suffice it to say it is nothing that will bother you, or hinder my ability to handle the family corporation. Other than that, it is my business, not yours."
"Fine, be that way." The younger girl replied with all a typical teenager's surliness. "But I'll figure it out eventually."
"I'm sure you'll try. Now, your friend is supposed to arrive today, are you ready to see her?"
"I wouldn't actually call us friends exactly." Cordelia replied, now looking a little shifty. "We didn't exactly run in the same social circles if you must know."
"Define social circles, did you bully her? Is this going to cause trouble?" Emma asked, her eyes narrowing.
Cordelia waved that idea away. "No, nothing like that."
Emma smirked internally, knowing that her sister had also become more outgoing and emotional, but her change had nothing to do with finally finding people she could trust. No, it had everything to do with their father no longer being around. His funeral had occurred a few days past, and had been a very private affair. Emma was still debating on going back and pissing on his grave, possibly after drinking a lot and trying to write out Peter's name, but her upbringing argued against it.
She tuned back in to the conversation when her sister went on. "It's just we were part of very different cliques that's all. I was part of the out-crowd I suppose, the rebels, the ones always getting into trouble."
"I know that, I've seen your transcript, and your juvie-record." Emma replied dryly. "Get to the point please. I have a meeting I need to leave for in a few minutes."
The younger girl scowled at her, but went on willingly. "Anyway, she was part of the geek squad, into books and reading and stuff like that. Not computers or programming, just fantasy novels and stuff like that. So we never really interacted outside of bumping into one another a few times in the dorms. We were friendly I guess, just didn't have much to do with one another."
"I see, well in any event, try to get along with her when she and her parents arrive. I might not be back in time to greet them, so you'll have to entertain them. They all might be staying here while we put Firestar through a full physical."
Emma left Cordelia there nodding her head to continue her journey down the stairs, and from there directly into one of the family's heavily armored limos. The four guards assigned to her today had already gone over it and she nodded cordially to them all while they got on the radio with their commander telling him they were off.
He had proven worth his weight in gold since Emma had hired him, even if his changes to the schedule seemed a little paranoid at times. He had already found and stopped two attempts to infiltrate the mansion, and stopped her and the men guarding Emma from running into what might have been an ambush.
Thankfully today his paranoia proved unnecessary, and the ride to Frost Engineering's corporate headquarters didn't take long. By the time they arrived however Emma had undergone a sort of transformation. Gone was the somewhat personable, if rather caustic young woman that had been talking to her sister.
In their place was a businesswoman, who radiated arrogance and self-control when she opened the door and exited the limo. Two bodyguards moved in front of her as they entered the building, peeling off to join the security station in the entranceway, while two more followed up behind continuing on with their charge. A very quick elevator ride later, and Emma walked briskly into a conference room where five middle-aged men rose as one to greet her.
"Gentleman." she said coolly, moving swiftly to the front of the table and staring them down, gesturing slightly with one hand to indicate they could be seated once more. "I'm glad you all seem to appreciate who is in charge here, there have been rumblings among the managerial staff of several of my family's holdings since I took over, including Frost Engineering, that displeases me. Understand me gentlemen, I am not my father, I do not care how long you have worked for the company, how loyal you are, or what secrets you keep, if you cannot do your job to my satisfaction I will fire you. I fired several people throughout my holdings for being unwilling to work with me, or not performing up to my standards. I will not hesitate to do the same here."
She waited a minute for that to sink in before going on, her voice still devoid of any emotion, her eyes cold. "For the past two quarters Frost Engineering has been losing money in comparison to my family's other businesses, all of which have been showing a marked rise in their profits both in America and abroad. I am here to see if any of you have any theories as to why this is, as well as here your plans on how to get us out of this slump. If I do not leave with enough concepts to make me think that you are at least competent, the results will not be pleasant."
One of them made to protest, but Emma stared him down, as cold as a viper about to strike. "Your contracts state implicitly that I can, as hereditary chairman of the board and outright owner of this company, fire any of you for incompetence. Two losing quarters gentlemen, one of which was during the Stark Crisis, is more than sufficient for that. Now, I will open the floor to anyone who has constructive…" she emphasized, her eyes narrowing, "points to open up with to address this."
About six hours later Emma exited the building having fired four of the five men in that room. One of them, strangely enough the oldest in the room, had been flexible enough to actually come up with a few plans that could work. The man, one Nicholas Penske, had also had a few ideas on new products to share which his division managers had passed on to him. The others had all said that they needed more time, or had come up with ideas that were based around laying off workers or other things to streamline the company in order to turn a profit.
That had not been the way Emma wanted to go. Go big or go home, she thought to herself shaking her head. Having gotten used to talking with Jean or at least listening politely while Jean waxed eloquent on engineering issues, she had hoped to find at least one manager who was that enthusiastic about that side of things, but none of the men in that room had ever been engineers really, they were simply managers of said.
Once she was in her armored limo again she opened up a call to her secretary. "I've just fired four of the five district managers for Frost Engineering." she said without preamble. "I left Nicholas Penske in charge, he had some good ideas as to new products that we could put out without too much time necessary creating the templates, and a few good ideas about entering the transportation sector. Keep a close eye on him, I'll want to know if he can turn the company around before promoting him into the president position there."
That position had been vacant since shortly after her father's death, the former president having been one of his more odious, though capable, toadies. His father would never allow someone to work for him if he wasn't competent, but would overlook anything else so long as the man did his job to a high degree and was loyal, thinking that covering up such secrets gave him another lever to control them. Emma did not think like that, to put it mildly.
A word to the police about the bastard's collection of child pornography, including homemade videos of a few of the kids in his neighborhood, and he was now going to serve the rest of his life in prison if Emma had any say of it. There was no hint that the man had crossed the line from watching to touching, but such people bothered her on a visceral level.
"How long are we going to give him to show a profit madam?" Greg asked his fingers flying over his computer even as he talked.
"Let me get back to you on that one. I have copies of the plans for some new products, but I'll want a set of independent eyes to look at them and tell me what she thinks."
The man's eyebrow rose, but he nodded anyway. He had long since come to the conclusion that his employer had several different irons in the fire that he didn't know about, and had rapidly come to the conclusion that he was happy with that said of affairs.
"In case it turns out the items are unlikely to sell, I'll want a study on how much we could sell the company for, and if it is an economically sound maneuver at this time. I personally don't think it would be, but Stark Enterprises is solidifying itself in the private sector far faster than I had expected, even with its mobile computing products." Though if it is, I might sell it to Harry, since eventually he'll need a larger industrial base than his house-elves can provide. "Another idea would be to switch assets from FE to Cold Steel, get with our analyst division and see how much that repurposing would cost as well."
"On that note I will want full dossiers on our top ten programmers, as well as what their opinions are on the programming involved in some of Stark Industries mobile computers. I don't think we'll be able to duplicate it, but we should see if the programming at least is good enough for us to acquire and make use of in our own products to compete with them."
The man nodded, not mentioning anything about the legality or illegality of such a maneuver. Emma went on. "On a similar vein, find out why Steed Industrial's holdings are still being administered by the government. I couldn't find anything out while I was in the UK, but I think it might be a legal issue, so sic our legal analysts on it. Those properties are too valuable" For Harry and I both, "to let them continue to be run by the government if we can find some way to get a hold of them."
Indeed, if Emma added those holdings to her own, she would possibly become the richest woman in the world, able to call on more resources than even Shaw and Buckman.
Her secretary made another note on his computer. "Anything else madam?"
Emma frowned tapping her fingers together thoughtfully. "Yes, how goes getting Sandman out of prison, and is there an update on our data on Peirce's holdings?"
"Our agents have figured out who is blocking your petition to release the Sandman, madam. It seems they're connected to Ozcorp. We haven't discovered the why of it yet, but it is certainly their money being funneled into keeping Sandman behind bars." That they couldn't prove it in an open court without admitting to breaking the law in turn went unsaid.
"The why does not matter, only the how. Besides the warden who else have they bought in the process that is stopping me from getting the Sandman out of jail on a work release program? I've looked at his records in prison, he's been a model citizen and is showing all signs of actually being remorseful for what he's done. But the more time that goes past, the less likely a work release program would be able to truly integrate him successfully back into society."
"I will redirect our inquiries to look into that madam. As to your other query, we've narrowed down a few more sites of Pierce Industrial, his medical holdings are also now almost entirely mapped out. May I ask again what this is about?"
"A precautionary measure." Emma replied blandly. "I have reason to believe that nearly all of the initial assaults against my family's holdings after I took over, both computer based and the sabotage attempts came from Pierce, including the attempts to infiltrate the mansion."
Greg nodded, taking that at face value. "I will warn you however that it is rather a large bite to chew if we make Peirce an open enemy. We compete with him directly in several areas, and he can call on more… extralegal resources than we can."
"I have no intention of doing something so stupid, but forewarned is forearmed. That is all, I'll want to see you at eight this evening with those dossiers." The man nodded and without another world word Emma ended the call.