Sometimes Unexpected News Isn't Bad News? (Marcelo)

[pyroprincess]

"You'll forgive me, but I'm rather surprised to hear from you, Mr. Rosenthal." Stephanie replied after picking up the phone, expecting the call to have something to do with some unfinished bureaucratic process, or perhaps some regulator asking questions about why she'd been dismissed from the board. It was surprising when the next thing he insisted was for her to call him 'Ben'. What she'd heard next absolutely floored her.

"... you what?" She paused for a moment and spoke into the phone. "Ben. I'm flattered, and you know that I do want it, but Sebastian will kill you if he finds out you've been in touch with me like this, let alone to offer me a seat back. You have kids and a grandchild." But she didn't hang up, she couldn't even if she wanted to. She remembered Ben Rosenthal as a fairly mild-mannered man, but she heard a righteous anger in his voice when he spoke. He didn't know what exactly Sebastian had done to them, but he'd clearly influenced their minds. She imagined that such a thing would be especially offensive to a man who had loyally backed her father through thick and thin.

"You'll forgive me, Stephanie, but I've also taken the liberty of getting in contact with your husband, through quiet channels. Allow me to be very clear about this. We want Sebastian Shaw out of our lives, and out of the company that we spent our lives building- that he is <i>destroying</i> with his personal grudges. Something that he would never have done in the past. The news hasn't come out publicly yet, but the last quarter was ... pretty dire for us. Sebastian's lost a lot of his old political influence and the loss of the Veridian accounts hurt us more than we thought it would. We're virtually shut out of Latin America entirely now, and the Europeans are too broke for us." 

Rosenthal paused for a moment. "Maybe we've been King's Men too long. If you or your husband or any of your allies can give us reasonable assurance that Sebastian won't be able to personally target us, we will give you the company. Maybe we would do better with a Queen. It seems the Hellfire Club has been thinking similarly." 

After the conversation ended, Stephanie set down the phone and texted Marcelo immediately.

"Have you heard from a Mr Rosenthal?" 
 

Comments

[vesper_verde]

"Younger, more well-preserved sister?" That phrase would go over like a bag of rocks.

Some days, it just took a simple comment to make Marcelo realize how big of a thing he was trying to do, topple Stephanie's father. 'Command codes for any Sentinels' was one such phrase in a world with X-Men.

Particularly a world where Marcelo was married to a known mutant. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms.

"So, would your father try to insert her as a mole? He has to know I'm behind a lot of what he's losing."

[pyroprincess]

"That's not what my gut is telling me, but it's not impossible." Stephanie replied. "I'm inclined to think that she's telling the truth, though. Father might think to make a mole, but she's more than a little injured. I'm fairly sure she's got broken ribs from the way she's been standing and sitting.

My feeling is that he's become so desperate that he's not going to try for anything subtle. I think he's going to try coming for one or both of us, personally, very soon." She shivered a little bit. She couldn't lie to herself. The idea scared her a lot. Her father was a very powerful and dangerous man.

"I don't know if we can afford not to take assistance wherever we can get it."

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo let out a long, slow breath. If Stephanie's father came for him, there wouldn't be much of Marcelo left. He had no illusions about that. He had been reminded fairly often that he was just human and fairly squishy just for being so. He would be nothing but a smear.

But it would be worth it to get Stephanie free of Shaw's influence. All of it. She deserved freedom like that.

He glanced down at the ring on his hand. He had at least made her very happy for awhile, but that didn't mean he was going to stop. Sebastian Shaw would fall, and Marcelo Alencar da Silva was going to be the fulcrum to make sure it happened.

Hopefully, he managed to live through this.

"Okay. He said calmly. "I'll call the doctor. See if I can get a house call or the closest private clinic they work at. We'll get her protection and she'll have an offer to work for one of our companies. Because Sentinels very bad."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie reached out for his hand.

"We're going to get through this. Alive. And free from his giant fucking shadow, at last." The thought was one that she could barely comprehend. Not having to constantly look over her shoulder. Not worrying constantly about Marcelo.

Being able to take what was hers and make something decent out of it.

She impulsively kissed him hard, until they were both a little breathless.

"Let's do this. Let's take the motherfucker down, hard."

[vesper_verde]

He held onto Stephanie after the kiss ended. His hold was a little tighter than normal.

"You're such a poet when you're not speaking in Spanish," he teased lightly. He gave her one small squeeze and then gently let go.

"Let's go make the world a better place. Even just a little."