nextgenerationmarvel | Two isn't too many cooks, is it?

Stephanie would have preferred to have had lunch in either of her two "fortresses", Languedoc, which she actually owned now, and La Navarra, her favorite restaurant, now more than ever. Still, Alistaire's taste in food was good enough and she liked to see him every now and again, to make sure he wasn't doing anything that would bump up into her scheme of interest.

Of course, the answer to that question was that she'd finally done the sensible thing and got back together with Marcelo. Only last night really. She was still probably palpably giving off afterglow.

"You'll no doubt find out soon enough." She answered civilly. "So, Alice dearest, why did you invite me out for lunch? Just wanted to see your old Aunt again?"

"I always enjoy your company, Auntie. Plus, a little birdie told me that you've been very busy lately. All kinds of property purchases, unusually tightly located. More personnel. Population surveys.

A more cynical person might think you're building an army.

I give you more credit for altruism than that, but I am a bit curious."

"Well, you know, since Father built an arms manufacturing concern, I thought it only reasonable to supply the other half of a well-functioning military-industrial complex." She looked at him for a moment, rather neutrally. "So what is it you think your dear Aunty is up to-" Then her phone rang. Her lawyer.

"You'll have to forgive my rudeness, but ..." She stopped for a moment. "What?" She looked at Alistaire.

"Your father has apparently got a court order freezing Shaw Industries assets."

Alisa LeBeau was not a happy camper. She came marching into the restaurant, dressed in a black pin stripe pencil skirt, brown suspenders, white dress shirt, black stripe tie, and a very sour look on her face. She pushed past various waiters who tried to stop her, as she did not have a reservation. Her red on black eyes gazed about the restaurant, before finally finding Alistaire and his Aunt. With a heavy sigh, she made her way over to them.

"Alistaire, I got some... err... bad news..." Alisa finally leaned down to whisper into Alistaire's ear about what was going on. "Your car was jus' repo'ed. Aparently someone froze your assets an' is collectin' . I would 'ave beaten dese guys to a pulp for you, buy dey were heavily armed. Almost as t'ough dey were expectin' a mutant owned de property."

Edited 2013-01-14 06:37 (UTC)

Alistaire was about to tell his dear aunt his leading guess as to what her project was, when they were interrupted. His face twitches into a grimace for a moment, and he shrugs. "He's your brother. Probably just making a pest of himself until he gets a trust alteration to shut him up again. Bold, I grant you, but--

And then Alisa shows up. Alistaire goes very still at the news she shares, although his expression doesn't change. He turns back to Stephanie. "We're under attack. He's moving more decisively than I would have expected." He gets out his backup iPhone, glad he always kept a few on pay as you go cash accounts since they were harder to interrupt service to. He starts tapping away at his contacts menu. "We'll need investigators, first and foremost. Grandfather's will was ironclad, so if Shinobi has managed to get a court order, it has to be from a judge securely in his pocket. He doesn't have the financial means to buy one, so it'll be blackmail." He looks up at Stephanie. "I'll need your legal team on this. Mine is better for keeping me in the papers, but out of jail and off the front page. They don't have the business litigation experience yours do. Do you have any on a retainer independent of Shaw Industries money?

Family infighting over the business is all well and good, historically respected even, but Alistaire Shaw's father just took his car away. Modern society dictates this means war.

Stephanie was about to say something downright caustic, but it seemed that the seriousness of the situation was rammed into Alistaire via the car. It would of course be something relatively petty like that that would trigger decisiveness in Alistaire, but regardless, she'd rather he understand what was happening.

Thankfully, a lot of Stephanie's people were independent of Shaw Industries and even the Industries team had more loyalty to the Shaw name than to the company per se. The apartment was an ironic blow, as she was planning to move in with Marcelo anyway. It would simply have to be expedited.

"My legal team will be available. Even some of the Shaw people can be convinced to work on promise of future payment if need be. Don't underestimate their determination to stay out of his hands. I'll still have some connections, unless he can get me fired off the Board as well.

I'd be curious to know where your train of thought continues to. Personally, I suspect that if he's finally got the guts to attack us, that he'll be trying to do more than financially inconvenience us."

She looked contemptuously at her glass of wine and finished it in a gulp.

"He's a trapped animal. Nothing to do but put him down." She looked at him. "Or this madness will continue, one way or the other." Other words were on the tip of her tongue, but she had a moderate reputation for gentility that she'd like to upkeep.

"The move to freeze our assets is a delaying tactic." Alistaire mutters to himself. And his acquaintances wonder why he keeps so much cash ready, even with the safety risks. "I've got enough places to stay that they won't be able to bar me from all of them. As much as your legal team is going to need to take point on Industries matters, you Auntie, are going to need my lawyers even more." He puts down his phone and looks at her.

"He's got no solid ground to stand on, so he's going to turn the ground we're on to mud, if you'll excuse the metaphor. Get ready for the mother of all smear campaigns, and it's going to come hard at not just us, but anyone in our inner circles." He looks at Alisa. "If there's any dirty laundry to know about, now's the time for disclosure. The only way to control a message is to get ahead of it.

If he starts putting enough garbage left, right, and center, even the board's loyalty to you won't be enough. He'll compromise them as well." Alistaire grits his teeth and puts his thumb against his forehead.

"This sucks. A pine box or scattered on the breeze. Those are his options now."

Of course, killing someone with a phasing ability wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but there were always options.

"He's gonna go after me? Good luck wit' dat." Her mouth just formed a thin line, arms now folded over her chest. "Only dirty laundry I got is de connection I got to your Grandpere, Sebastian Shaw."

Well, she had more dirty Laundry than that, but it was impossible to dig up as far as she was concerned. Unless you wanted to count what she and Alistaire did behind closed doors.

Edited 2013-01-16 04:06 (UTC)

Stephanie thought about it for a moment, what Shinobi could smear her with. The whole Brooke thing was sillier than anything, and anyways, the gossip news cycle would soon be occupied by her getting back together with Marcelo. Her dealings in business and academia were notable only for her tirelessness and impressive accomplishment. She didn't have the power in Shaw Industries yet to affect any dramatic business decisions by herself.

She took out a piece of paper and wrote a single word, which she drew their attentions to. It was virtually impossible for anyone who wasn't sitting at the table to see, and at least one of them would have noticed anyone caring to look. After a second or two, she took it away and crumpled it up neatly.

"Mutants."

"Well then..." Alistaire says simply, sipping his drink. "That's quite the message to get ahead of."

This did not bode well. Alisa was obviously a mutant or something. But coming out and letting the world know it was all true? It left her unnerved. It was like revealing a secret weapon to the world and then having them vote on if you can still play with other countries or face sanctions.

Her unusual eyes looked over to Alistaire, then back over to Stephanie. "Would people believe him if he told de world about dat? Revealing such information could put you both in more jeopardy. It could even lead to company boycotts."

"Perhaps not immediately, but trust me when I say that it would come out eventually. The property purchased around 11th Street? That particular area of town is well known." Stephanie took a breath. "You're right, it puts us in a difficult situation. Which is precisely why I think he would use it."

"I for one always figured I would have to divulge it eventually, though I was hoping to do so in a few years, when I had control of the company. Most of Shaw Industries' contracts are long-term ones. I have no doubt there'd be some fallout, but I think it's the social implications that are more vexing."

Stephanie sighed. "Whatever we do, it has to be done properly. Nothing rash or foolish. We want to take control of the narrative, not let the news cycle trample over us."

Alistaire falls quiet for a long minute, eyes shutting and steepling his fingers in thought. His head tilts down, until he finally opens his eyes and looks up again.

"We need to move very carefully, but... people love do-gooders, Auntie. Being in the right place, at the right time... to deal with the wrong caliber of person... It could be quite the social windfall, for someone with the appropriate... talents."

"If you mean me, I can try an' seek out Shinobi an' see what he's up to an' what his plans are." She spoke softly, quietly so only Stephanie and Alistaire could hear her. "I wouldn' mind. Business for me is a bit slow, an' if it 'elps to protect you den I'm more den willin' to t'row my hat into de ring."

"That might be legitimate enough for you, but I think the Board would be more disturbed by certain brands of ... good deeds than by certain revelations." Alistaire's reputation worked well enough for him, but she had an altogether different one, one that necessitated at least the appearance of keeping clean hands.

She nodded, staying calm and collected. "We need to find out what he plans in the long run. Though finding him has never been easy. One thing he knows to do well is hide."

"True enough... and heroism has that nasty side effect of people expecting you to do it again." Alistaire cracks his neck to one side, rubbing at his shoulder. "Can't have that."

Another minute's thought. "There is another power-base besides Shaw Industries we could tap. One that thinks just as little of your brother as we do. I think we have enough pieces to make a fresh start of it." He glances at Alisa's place at his side, quite sure Stephanie will understand his implication. "Shaws have always risen to the top there."

He sits back as he tries to reflect on his father. "He'll make a lot of noise and a lot of slander at first... some of it might even be true. Long run isn't his style. He'll adapt on the fly after he puts each wave of attack into motion. It's almost admirable. Almost."

Stephanie leaned back a little bit, listening to Alistaire. She certainly understood his implication well enough, though she was less than sure of the wisdom of doing so. There were far more powerful and dangerous people than Alistaire who had an interest in keeping the Inner Circle as little more than a memory.

"Just remember that there's more than just Shinobi to consider there, Alistaire. Do remember what happened to my father, your grandfather." Shinobi was an essentially short-term problem. Stephanie was far more concerned about attracting the attention of either Essex or Selene, either of whom, bluntly, were a little above her or her nephew's level. At least for the time being.

"I still suspect all this is likely to be a feint, before he attempts to have us dealt with permanently. That is certainly in his style, after all."

"De calm before de storm, so to speak." She kept her arms folded over her chest, a somewhat annoyed sigh escaping her lips. "I do not like dis. His actions are like dat o' a spoiled child who ain' gettin' his way, not a full blown t'reat. Perhaps dere is a greater t'reat behind all o' dis. He's de bait, an' someone is waitin' to reel you all in wit' a hook. I again urge dat you let me see if dere is more to dis den what we can see. I prefer dat all our bases are covered before any real action be taken."

Two isn't too many cooks, is it?

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