The Deal (Ariadne)

[legacy_of_evil]

"Okay, Stella. Be safe. I'll see you when you're back."

Norman hit "END" and the call closed down. Stella was away for an indeterminate time on business, meaning that he needed to handle things for himself. He could get another assistant, yes, but no one had Stella's ability. He sighed and set the phone down, then pulled out his appointment book and looked over today. Breakfast meeting. Lunch meeting.

Dinner meeting with the representative from Typhon Group, followed by a meeting with his contact from the Organization.

His return to New York after another hiatus was low-key this time around. OsCorp was ready to make a major announcement but he needed to put a few other things in place. He flipped on the TV in his office and watched Christina Frost's new reality show with a smile.

She was already doing better than he hoped. E! owed him one for the suggestion.

He pressed the intercom button on his desk and waited for Lucy, his secretary, to answer.

"Lucy, please get a representative from Typhon on the line. I need to iron out some final details."

"Right away, Mister Osborn." Lucy said.
 

Comments

[hisstress]

She'd verbally poked, prodded, and jabbed him, and he'd taken it in stride.

Good. She liked that.

"I know the myth," Ariadne said. "In some places, she was also considered a snake goddess." This was, clearly, where Viper had gotten the idea of Ariadne's name from.

Well, that and the fact that it had once been an alias that the original Spider-Woman had gone by.

"What Minotaur did you have in mind?"

[legacy_of_evil]

No disbelief. No confusion. He mentioned killing a Minotaur and she didn't bat an eyelash.

He liked that a lot.

He nodded as she also spoke of Ariadne being a snake goddess. Norman liked the idea of goddess of poison. He liked the idea of poisons in general, but his R&D division was behind the curve on making deadlier ones. He needed some new info to funnel them.

"The CEO of Roxxon Energy Company. His name is Dario Agger. I don't propose we kill him outright. That would be hard. And stupid. What I do propose is weakening Roxxon's hold in a few areas while we let some of the more law-abiding masked-types handle the illegal things that we know Roxxon does." Norman said.

"And when the time is right, then we bring him down."

[hisstress]

Ariadne had enough blood on her hands to fill a few Olympic-sized swimming pools. To her, suggesting taking someone down was akin to being asked if she wanted another cup of coffee. It was a part of her daily life.

"Killing him outright would be faster, but you're right. That's not the smartest move to make here." She smiled, then. "I do like the idea of keeping the capes busy, though. Out of my way." She folded her arms in thought. "I can help you out with resources, but I'm sensing that you have some sort of plan here. Care to share the details?"

[legacy_of_evil]

"Not a fan of the heroic set, either? Join the club. We have cookies." Norman joked.

"I do have a plan but it's got a lot of moving parts. Pieces need to be moved into place. Roxxon's environmental record is terrible. A small, independent watchdog group bombarding the airwaves with that information would put their PR machine to work on keeping up their rep. That's part one." he said.

"The Mayor of New York is also in Agger's back pocket. He gets the City Council to sign off on legislation proposed by Roxxon's chairman. Didn't the Mayor deny Typhon Group's bid to be the city's pharmacy benefit manager recently in favor of Winstead Medications? I know you researched Winstead while they were bidding. Guess what company owns Winstead? And guess who's funding the mayor's reelection campaign in violation of campaign finance laws?" Norman asked.

"The Mayor needs to be neutralized or bought off. Make him toxic and Agger will drop him like a hot potato."

"You want to keep the super-types busy, that part is a little easier. Roxxon is a slow burn until I can net a hostile take-over. Then Agger can be killed but we need soldiers. He's got an army working for him. Literally." Norman said.

"So, we need soldiers, a new mayor, and a major distraction for our costumed friends. Let's kill three birds in one shot."

Norman leaned in close and whispered.

"We need a war. A bloody one. Turn New York into Bosnia and the capes won't have time to worry about anything else. Dead bodies get them all up in arms." he said.

[hisstress]

Politics, taking control of people in power, these were things that HYDRA was definitely interested in.

Helped with that whole world domination thing.

It was definitely a project that Ariadne could hand out resources to, and help oversee. With one caveat.

"I'm all for helping out with this, Norman," Ariadne said. "Certainly, you've got a lot of cogs turning, and I can see where HYDRA would be able to lend support. Here's the thing, though. Publically, in any matter, I don't want any of this to lead back to HYDRA. I'm on your side here, because the fallout of this is certainly something that interests me. But for now, HYDRA's a silent, non-public partner. Deal?"

[legacy_of_evil]

"None of this will blowback on HYDRA or Typhon Group. In fact, I need two things that won't cost you much in terms of resources." he said.

"The first is copies of the Mayor's campaign donation records. I've requested them several times over the last couple of months but I'm getting stonewalled. If those get over to the Daily Bugle, I'm sure they'll run with the story." Norman told her.

"The other is the names of a couple of assassins who are good at what they do. I'll handle the contact through another associate of mine."

[hisstress]

"Done." Getting those things wouldn't be too difficult. It might take a little bit of work, but HYDRA had good people work for them.

Well, good bad people.

And they had spies everywhere.

"Though I have to say. HYDRA's best assassin is sitting right in front of you."

[legacy_of_evil]

Norman's eyebrows rose in interest. He wouldn't have thought of her as an assassin. She didn't look like the kind of woman who did her own dirty work.

And that was probably why she was good.

"You're the best? I've known a couple of good assassins. I might even be able to use your talents sometime soon." he said.

"What's your favorite implement? Knife? Sword? Gun?"

[hisstress]

The expression on Ariadne's face didn't change when he asked those questions. Sure, the smile was still there, but there were secrets hidden behind that smile.

"I'm trained to kill in a variety of ways," she said after a moment. "Whatever's most convenient, depending upon the mark. I would say that I'm not a fan of guns, though. They're so impersonal. Death is the last conscious thing a person experiences. They should go out while someone's there to hold their hand, don't you think?"

[legacy_of_evil]

"Guns do the job too quickly. I agree that killing someone is a personal thing and I prefer slower methods. Sometimes, you need to watch the light fade from someone's eyes, hear them take that last breath." Norman said, his mind going back to a time in the past.


"A crushed windpipe lends a certain powerful terror to the act." Norman said.

"Do you enjoy killing people?" he asked her, his tone suddenly very genuine and inquiring.

[hisstress]

Did she enjoy it? Ariadne wasn't sure. She was certainly good at it. She enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. If she didn't like you, watching your life slip away was certainly something of a pleasure.

"Sometimes, it's a necessity," she replied. "Sometimes, sport."

[legacy_of_evil]

"Nice dodge." Norman said. Perhaps he'd finally found a chink in her armor? Or maybe she just wasn't comfortable talking about how much she liked killing people.

"There's nothing wrong with it, if you do. Death isn't a source of fear. It's liberating, if you think about it a certain way." Norman said.

"And murder can be a form of stress relief if you have no others."

[hisstress]

"Is that how you release your stress?" Ariadne asked. "I somehow can't imagine you to be some sort of banal serial murderer, running around the city at night, casually killing people."

Well, unless he was in a goblin suit.

Was that a thing he did?

[legacy_of_evil]

Is that how you release your stress?

Norman gave her an appraising look, weighing her question.

"Only if I'm left with no other means, Ariadne." he said.

"Serial killing is boring. If you're going to devote the time to killing someone, you need to know the person. Get to know their routine. Learn all of the things they love and fear. And like you said, hold their hand at the end and watch them go. It's like a relationship, except that you already know how and when it's going to end." he said.

[hisstress]

"If you're this brutal with your business deals, I can see why you're so successful," Ariadne replied. "But no. Though I may enjoy it sometimes, for me, killing is a means to an end. One body is just another rung on a ladder for me to climb as I make my way to the top." Though, to be fair, she was also bred to be one hell of an assassin. Viper wanted her daughter to be able to protect herself at all costs. "But you don't get to where I am without being the best at what they do, however dark it may be."

[legacy_of_evil]

"I understand that line of thinking completely, Ariadne. So many people settle for just being 'good', when they should focus on being the best at what they do. That's where the real competition comes from." he said.

Just then there was a flash of movement outside the window they sat near. A black-and-red blur swung past the restaurant, up and away, but Norman's eyes tracked the movement as it happened.

The red blur was in the image of a spider.

He slid out of his seat without warning and ran outside.

He saw Spider-Man swing away from their location and simply watched hero move along to whatever was happening next in the city. His eyes remained focused on the direction he'd left in even after he disappeared from sight.

[hisstress]

There was no good and bad. Not in Ariadne's world. No, her world was filled with grey, tinted with greens, blacks, and yellows.

Ariadne raised her eyebrow as Norman rushed to the window. She followed him at a leisurely pace, and stood behind him, arms crossed, patiently waiting.

"Saw something that interests you?"

[legacy_of_evil]

Norman turned back to Ariadne, the expression on his face cold and distant.

"Sorry. Thought I saw a spider." he said, shrugging.

"I hate spiders."

[hisstress]

"Funny," Ariadne said softly. "My mother loved them."

[legacy_of_evil]

"My family has a bad history with spiders. One killed my grandfather and my father."

Norman turned to face Ariadne, looking down at her slightly.

"And what do you think about them?" he asked.

[hisstress]

"Mmm." Ariadne peered out the window. "When you say 'spider', I get the distinct feeling you don't mean the eight-legged arachnids," she said. She did, of course, know what specific species of spider Norman was referring to.

"My family has some history with...cousins...of your species," she said. "They don't matter to me, though. I mean, what's a spider to a snake?"

[legacy_of_evil]

"I don't like spiders at all, four-legged or eight." Norman said. He certainly hadn't expected their conversation to take this direction but it felt good to talk about it a little.

He raised a sable brow as she said she had some experience with spiders.

"Spiders and snakes both possess venom. I've been trying to increase my immunity. Spiders have been killing Osborn men since before I was born." Norman said.

"He killed my grandfather. He killed my father." Norman said quietly.

"He will not kill me." he vowed.

[hisstress]

She quietly smiled at the bit about the venom.

If Norman only knew of her true nature.

But Ariadne was a woman full of secrets, and that was one of them. No one ever needed to know one-hundred percent of her business.

"As long as you don't give him reason to, I'm sure he won't," she said, in a matter-of-fact tone. "You've heard of self-fulfilling prophecies, I'm sure. They're in many of the Greek tragedies. The protagonist sets out to stop something heinous from happening - something that's happened to family members before, you know. Anything. But instead of preventing it, they only invite the inevitable in."

She looked out the window again. "If you haven't engaged him yet, then maybe you can break that cycle."

[legacy_of_evil]

"I wish it was that simple, Ariadne." Norman said quietly.

"Unfortunately, I'm not that lucky." he said, finally heading away from the window to go back to his seat.

"Heroes impose their morality on the world without regard to the feelings of others. Simply because they believe it's right, it's right. If I do the same, I'm ruthless or amoral. But simply because a man puts a spider or a star on his chest, that somehow makes it okay." Norman said, shaking his head.

"I can't stand for that. Life is about freedom. Freedom to live how you choose, so long as you aren't a threat to others. But heroes are a threat to our bottom line. The vision we have doesn't exist in their world and theirs doesn't match up with ours." Norman told her.

"The only inevitable thing here is that they'll try to stop HYDRA when the real work begins." he said.

"When that time comes, we have to be ready to make examples of as many of them as possible."