The door burst open. Mika, currently busy with her documentary ("look at them, ain't penguins the cutest, most huggable non-flying cold-climate birds in the world?") jumped on her feet, stiffened.
Lawrence came out from the door. A strange woman trailed behind.
He looked at her, gestured that everything was alright. She loosened a bit... Or at least tried. There was something subtly different about the chief. He looked... colder. Seriouser (was that how you called it?). Cooler. And now he had the look, something that made it impossible to lock eyes with him for too long. He had the look of a bona fide villain now.
Nevermind the "Cat love" shirt he never realized he had on.
Ohhh, it must have been that. He finally got serious. She had been waiting for it. Up until now, he had played the harmless no-talent villain, but that was finally over. The question was, what made him drop the act?
"Up, Mikaella" he spoke in an authoritarian tone. "It's time for a strategical meeting."
"Yes, chief." She thought for a second, then added. "Who's this woman?"
"An ally. For the time being. Keep an eye on her, in any case."
She nodded.
They headed to the under-basement, interim conference room. As a side thought, Lawrence thought they had to move their operations base somewhere else. His house was a place to relax, not to plan the next big hit.
He would have to see about that.
"Charming place." Christiane ran a finger through one of the armchairs, lifting up a layer of dust. "A little bit of cleaning would come in handy, however."
"Very well. I'll see you take care of that." She nodded. "Take sit, minions."
Mika and Christiane both took their sits in the seats they thought the best. Lawrence couldn't help but notice how Christiane directly went for the couch's last cushion, from left to right. It reminded him of a certain group of genius friends, but he never said a thing.
"Christiane, this is Mikaella." The person in question made a V for Victory sign with her hands. "I'll introduce you to her with more detail later, depending on the results of this conversation. Mikaella, this is Christiane. Probationary minion. We will be interrogating her for the first part of this meeting."
"Pleased to meet you" Christiane bowed her head lightly.
"Pleased to meet me too" Mika she waved her hand in a 'don't let it bother you' gesture. Lawrence's eyebrow twitched in unnoticeable way.
"That finishes introductions. Now, let's get to business, shall we?" Both of them nodded. "Very well. First things first. Christiane, I want to hear how you found me. Take in consideration that everything you say here ought to be the truth, otherwise you might find yourself in a rather nasty situation. And explain everything in a way my minion and I can develop a security strategy accordingly."
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
"Yes sir." Christiane took her glasses off, put them in the neck of her blouse, and started talking.
"Suspicions that a powerful third power had appeared in Worne YK came to me three days ago, close to the last Wakening Season. I happen to work at LHU state office, mostly doing paperwork and dusting up here and there. The work I do isn't even worthy of calling me secretary, but the pay is generous and the job is not too hard.
I do, however, hear many rumors working where I do. Things, like the latest troublesome villains, their movements and the like. Big arrests. From time to time, I hear of an important operation to take down a villain organization. I also have access to a little bit of delicate information over the heroes working for us. Things like romantic relationships, tension between two heroes. Not something you could use to frame them, but enough to cause a level of psychological damage, if used correctly."
Lawrence nodded. That meant she could be a useful source of information on the primary enemy, the LHU. So far, there hadn't been any moves from their side in relation to Lawrence. That could change easily as he gained power in the city. The bigger his name, the worst the threat he would represent for them, and the harder they would try to take him down.
He would beware of them from here on, he decided.
"Continue."
"Well, three days ago, as I was saying, rumors of a big explosion happening in between Downbridge and Wellington neighborhoods reached my ears. I, being a curious person by nature, and that curiosity multiplied with the last Wakening Season, decided to meddle in this business. As a hobby, if you like. As rewarding as it could be, office work is boring, and I am the sort of woman who is attracted to interesting things."
"Explosion" Lawrence reminded her that she was in the middle of a report.
"Yes. Sorry. In short, I did my job, asking around and using my powers a little bit, and found out the person behind this incident. Johnny Chase, owner of Exodus and, indirectly, leader of the Hellhound street gang."
"Make a small pause and tell me why you didn't report this to the people in the LHU."
Christiane smiled. "Well that wouldn't have been so funny now, would it, Mr. Lakewood?"
Lawrence huffed. Not the most decent of reasons. But it suited her.
"This time I directed my efforts into Mr. Chase's people. It was a hard thing to do at first; they were all well trained and security was strong. It was hard to investigate without raising suspicions. However, I managed to do it. I didn't get a name, but I found out that two people had been taken in for meddling with the construction company's expansion business. One of them was an underaged girl, powered.
After that, all I had to do was looking for recently missing people that matched the description, cross-reference that list with the police's database and, voila, I got an address."
Lawrence had to admit that Christiane was good at her thing.
"A little of surveillance on you, and I was ready to meet you. That's why I went shopping in a mall where I knew a regular pick-pocketer usually rounded, in the exact same time as you." She smiled.
"What if that didn't work out?" Lawrence asked.
"I would've contacted you directly. Although it would be boring that way."
In a way, Lawrence understood her. She lived for entertainment. Lawrence was a little like that, too. Why else would he aim for world domination, after all?
He pondered. What she said didn't sound too simple, but not entirely impossible, either. It wasn't baseless, at the very least. To him, it didn't appear like she was lying. And even if she was, she had presented a viable way of finding them. He could prepare against that, even assuming it wasn't the truth.
So that was it for that part of the meeting.
"Very well" he said, looking at Christiane. "I don't trust you as of now, but you've presented me with a reasonable enough argument. Mikaella, I want to hear your own reflections about the matter later on."
Mika nodded. She didn't want to speak. Not when the chief was acting so cool.
"Now, let's move on to the next topic. I want to hear what you know of my plans. I want to hear how you know what you know. And I want to know what you think of them"
Lawrence crossed his legs. He rested one arm on the armchair, the other holding his head.
"Tell me, everything."