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

[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."