nextgenerationmarvel | Keeping Up Appearances

Alistaire Shaw was the Black King of New York. That much had been put in place by the highest authority of the Hellfire Club, his grandfather; and he had fulfilled the duties of his office appropriately. Alistaire knew the game well enough to know that wouldn't be nearly enough, however. A King needs to do more than simply maintain his kingdom. He conquers. He pillages. He assures his subjects that not only does he do right by them, but also reminds them that none of them have the power to dethrone him.

The problem was that Alistaire was still on his 'being good' project. His relationship with Reiko, for example, was moving along nicely. Alisa's recent freedom had given him back an enforcer he could trust the fealty of. The old him would have had no trouble making some suitably ruthless financial gain, or manipulating events to kill a rival, but now he had to choose his targets more carefully, so as not to destroy the 'progress' he'd made. Still, even with the conflict with his grandfather on the approaching horizon, he had to keep things moving in the here and now.

Normal channels of communication were too risky, so he'd arranged for a special intermediary. A minor functionary in one of his real estate companies, given a particular dose of MGH, to give them temporary telepathy. After a careful 'test' to make sure he wasn't interrupting any marital time with her husband, he opened a psychic channel to Stephanie.

Life had really been much simpler when he'd arranged things so he just had to sign papers, drink, and occupy Selene's bed.

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The intensity of the retort was enough for Alistaire to get the message, shattering past his usual difficulties in processing emotions (his or others'). He had the connection terminated, ordered his employee into a panic room (where water laced with sedatives was waiting to keep them out of mischief for the rest of the time the MGH dose would last), and then waited a polite time for Auntie to calm down before simply calling her from a burner phone.

The first words out of his mouth when the call connects are "I'm sorry."

For Stephanie to have been well and truly calmed down, it would have taken a very long time indeed. The first feeling after the white-hot anger was prickly anxiety. If Alistaire could do that so easily, who else could?

Who else has?

Her tone when she picked up the phone was frostier than anything Robert Drake could reasonably manage. "Did you completely forget everything that's happened over the last several months? Or why we're in this to begin with? No doubt, because it wasn't relevant to your immediate goals."

However, all things considered, the apology did mean something. If he hadn't apologized, she wouldn't have bothered hearing what he had to say at all.

"This had better be important. I'm not in much of a talking mood right now. Make it short."

Edited 2015-07-29 03:49 (UTC)

Alistaire gathered his thoughts quickly, the tension incredibly palpable.

"Auntie... how do I impress people without doing something terrible? I know your stance on my remaining with the Club, but I need to be there at least for now. I need to shore up my status as Black King, but..."

He runs a hand through his hair, normally an affectation he only puts on for how it influences those he's communicating face-to-face with, but finding himself unusually imbalanced at the moment.

"I've been trying. I really have been. It's... been productive.

I don't want to throw it away if I don't have to."

Right now, Stephanie could feel a headache coming on, magnified by the knowledge that she was probably going to have a huge anxiety attack later.

There was something that needed to be addressed right now.

"Alistaire. Sebastian Shaw's reign as Lord Paramount is nearly over. You realize that, right? Any provisional title you may have been offered by him will, at the very least, have to be reconfirmed by whomever succeeds him.

Who will almost certainly be Selene." Stephanie wasn't privy to all the precise details, but she knew that Alistaire had, at the very least, been forced to cut ties to Selene. She assumed Selene would remember that.

"Do you understand how dangerous things are going to be, Alistaire?"

"I understand that... I understand everything.

But I can't give up what power I have until the last second. Not until we're sure it's done. I have things to protect now. You, among others."

His own words are nauseating him, but he's sincere.

"I can deal with Selene. Old-world ego makes her more straightforward than Sebastian. And I've got a marker or two from my time as her Pawn that I can call in if necessary. She'll abide by her word, to the letter of it, at least."

"Being involved with the Hellfire Club doesn't protect me in any meaningful way. You might as well be honest about your ambitions." Stephanie replied. "You want power, it's been bred into you since you were a child." It's not like I'm without ambitions myself, it's simply that I decided that the Hellfire Club was too dangerous and evil a road to follow.

"Alistaire. Don't be cavalier about Selene. Father made you leave her court and cut your ties. At best she will feel that she owes you nothing. Whatever you do, do not underestimate her. She's been around for thousands of years. Nobody does that unless they are as cunning as they are powerful."

Stephanie hoped that he actually understood that, how dangerous it was, to simply be around her but to assume that things would go back to where they were.

Alistaire was quiet for a long few moments, pouring himself a drink.

"...then what do I have left, without power? I don't... I can't understand people the way you can." He pauses. "The way normal people can. I'm not entirely certain I'm proceeding correctly with Reiko even."

There's a gentle clink of the glass tapping the handset as he downs a pour of scotch.

"Money and property's just a way of keeping score. Without power, real power... I don't know who I am."

"There are other avenues to influence and power. The Hellfire Club is very good at making itself seem like the easy way to success, but it will destroy you. Look what it did to my father. I'm not delusional enough to say that he was a good man, but I remember when he knew the importance of family and that true loyalty doesn't spring from terror.

We both know that whatever happens in the near future, what was vital, important, and worthy of real respect about Sebastian Shaw has been dead for a long time."

Stephanie paused for a moment. "I'm surprised that someone as morally ambiguous as you sees all this as such a black and white choice. There's always another way to go about things, even if it's longer and more difficult."

There's a faint grunt of acknowledgment from Alistaire, followed by another pause.

"I don't want to be like them, that is, the worst of them. At the same time, what happens if I show them my back? The near future isn't now, and..." There's a very faint clicking noise as his jaw locks for a moment.

"Shinobi just attacked my holdings."

Even as imbalanced as he is right now, Alistaire can't bring himself to verbalize fear for his life. His ego won't allow it.

"I'm stuck. Can't move up, can't move out."

"I don't think Selene is going to invest significant effort into hunting you down, unless you make yourself a bigger target." Stephanie legitimately believed that. She would have bigger fish to fry.

"Father." Stephanie said quietly. "Alistaire, it's one thing to put up a front for others. But let me be very clear- not being frightened would be stupid. But he will only be a threat for a short while. His fall is imminent."

She paused for a moment.

"I thought I was stuck too, Alistaire. There's always a way out, or a way around. You claim you want to become a better person- and I believe you. But do you think that is going to be possible pursuing power in the Hellfire Club?

It's not just an empty name. It's also a final destination." Not that Stephanie literally meant Hell- she didn't really believe in an afterlife, or a God in the Christian sense. But Hell as a metaphor for that moment when all of your sins came back to haunt you? And drag you down?

She was quite certain about that.

If not for how much he spent on his manicures, Alistaire imagined he'd be biting a nail as his thoughts intensified. His Aunt was one of perhaps three people on the planet who genuinely cared for his well-being. (Four if you counted her husband, who Alistaire still considered something of a question mark where he himself was concerned.) She wouldn't intentionally misguide him, would she?

"So... that's it then? Just walk away? Do I make an announcement, or do I just stop taking and making calls?"

Keeping Up Appearances

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