Chairman Phan slammed his hand on the desk, hopping to his feet. His face had turned the fresh color of tomato. “What do you mean she said ‘no’?!” He demanded. There was silence on the other end for a moment as he caught his breath, sitting back down in the chair. Across from him, his son crossed his arms impatiently. He held up a hand to forestall an outburst and glared at the table, “Well? Say something, Mint.”

“She caught on immediately and was offended by the honey trap, sir,” Carla said and cleared her throat, he could tell she wanted to say more, instead she added, “She stated that the arrangement between ASTA and the Pandora Committee is a partnership and implied that she could raise her prices if she wished.”

He frowned, “Sounds like a threat to me,” He growled, clenching his fist, “Who the hell does this nobody think she is?” He grumbled and shook his head, “Remain closeby, I’ll call you when I have a solution.”

“Yessir,” Carla mumbled and ended the call.

He stared at the phone for a few seconds before letting out a sigh, “Her background says she has no experience in business and that there’s no way she’d have this kind of backbone, her acting at the senate hearing notwithstanding,” He rubbed his temple, “Bitch.”

“I can deal with it,” His son said.

The chairman shot him a glare, “Don’t do anything stupid, boy, just leave it to me.”

“But what’s the point of these connections if-” His son started, exasperated.

“The point is to have them and use them correctly, you order a hit on that woman and it’ll throw the entire world into chaos. Until there’s someone who can replace her, you, with an established laboratory, she’s untouchable in that respect,” The Chairman growled, jabbing his finger onto the desk, “You need to think ahead, son.”

“Perhaps she knows she’s untouchable,” His son said, crossing his arms, “Maybe she needs a wakeup call to how vulnerable she is.”

“I said,” His father said with a deadly tone, “Do not do anything, understood?”

His son lowered his head, “Yes sir.”

The chairman leaned back and huffed out a breath through his nostrils, reaching for his drawer and pulling out a cigar. He cut it and lit it, taking a drag and rubbing his temple, “I’ll speak with the committee lawyers and see what angles we can take, we-” A knock came to the door, cutting him off, “What is it? I’m busy!”

“Chairman Phan, it’s an emergency!” One of his aides called from the other side of the door. 

Phan got to his feet, “What? What is it? Another Dharan?” He called, hurrying to the door and throwing it open. Just what I need, another crisis and the registration centers aren’t even built yet! Let alone guild halls. Damn it all. He stared down at the young man who looked up at him with wide eyes. “Well? Speak up!”

“We’ve received messages from Vietnam, France, Turkey, and others keep rolling in. The representatives are furious, sir!” The aide said, quickly handing the Chairman his tablet. The Chairman snatched the tablet up and reviewed it, his expression growing hard for a few moments before turning pale. “How did she know?” He murmured, “Georgia, India, Russia, what the hell…” he ran his fingers through his hair and walked over to his desk, leaning against it as he read more. 

His son gave him a frustrated look, “What is it?”

The Chairman ignored his son, snarling and throwing the tablet to the desk with a noisy crack as the screen shattered, “That…” He was about to start swearing when he looked up at the aide standing in the doorway. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie, “...get me a direct line set up with miss Chernovna, please.”

The aide looked at the damaged tablet then back up at the Chairman and nodded, hurrying to make the arrangements. The chairman sat down and clenched his fists, “For now, son, put building the laboratory out of your mind and focus on other pursuits.”

His son hopped to his feet, “What? Father, do you know how much work I put into getting those permits and arranging for the staff to be ready?” He shouted, “You can’t be serious!”

His father gave him an even stare, “Sit down.”

“No! This is ridiculous! What could she have possibly done to push you back so hard?” He demanded, “She’s a nobody, you said it yourself!”

“I appear to have been wrong,” The chairman grunted and looked at the broken tablet, “She put all agreements with my constituent nations on hold and issued a formal protest to each of them concerning a conflict of interest in my office.”

“That’s impossible, the elections were private, how could she possibly know which nations voted for you?” His son protested.

“Don’t you think I know that?” The Chairman barked, “She clearly has a powerful backer and I’ve stepped right on that backer’s tail.” The phone rang next to him and he cleared his throat, “Now keep your mouth shut,” He snarled and hit the speaker button. “Miss Chernovna!”

If I don’t clear this up, they could put in a vote of no confidence! What a mess!

“Chairman Phan, what a pleasant surprise to hear from you so soon!” Came the pleasant sing-song of Sonya Chernovna’s voice over the phone.

“It would seem that there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding between you and my subordinate,” He said, a vein throbbing in his neck.

“Oh there was no misunderstanding, Chairman,” Sonya said, “I understood the request from your office quite clearly.”

He cleared his throat, “Even so, don’t you think this reaction is a bit extreme?”

There was a pause and what sounded like a small laugh, “Chairman, be relieved that I didn’t cancel the agreements outright and demand a renegotiation. They’re only paused,” Sonya said soothingly, “This was a little warning, nothing more. I very much want to maintain a positive relationship with your office going forward.”

My office? He hesitated for a moment and then relaxed his shoulders.

“A warning then? Understood, I think we both understand one another very well now,” He said with a deep sigh, “May I ask that-”

“An executive order,” Sonya said, catching him off guard.

“What?”

“I want you to sign a order within the Pandora Committee enshrining intellectual property, I don’t want to have this conversation with you again, Chairman. I think we’ll get along much better that way, and it’ll look good for you to take that initiative, don’t you think?” Sonya said.

He clenched his fists tightly, nearly drawing blood, But if I do that I’ll never get the research for my son! You goddamn bitch! Making it sound like this is for my benefit!

“Chairman? Are you alright?” Sonya asked.

He let out a sharp breath and gave his son an apologetic look, “I’ll have it written up and passed on to the committee today, they’ll still have to vote on it.”

“I’m confident they’ll make the right decision,” Sonya hummed, “As a show of good faith, I’ll unpause the agreements as soon as we get off this call, I’m looking forward to saving the world with you, Chairman.”

And you’ll pause them again if I don’t do as you say.

He looked up at his son who was sitting like a taught string, his throat tense and his eyes bloodshot. He let out a breath through his nostrils, “And to you as well, Miss Chernovna. Thank you for being so forgiving in this situation.”

“Of course, Chairman, I’m glad we could get this all worked out,” Sonya said, “Have a wonderful day,” She added before ending the call.

He stared at the phone for several seconds as his son got to his feet in a huff, “Father!” His son called, he looked up at the young man and fixed him with a deadly stare.

“Go home, Duong, now.”

–

“THAT BITCH!” 

BANG!

The punching bag crumpled, scorch marks marring its surface. Bits of burned stuffing poked out from where the leather surface had been breached. Duong stood in front of it, his heavily tattooed shoulders rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath. Sparks of electricity danced around his fingertips. His fingers flexed like claws, his eyes fixed on the spot where he’d destroyed yet another piece of equipment. He turned away and stalked towards the bench in his private gym, snatching up the towel and wiping down his face.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to play out! He thought, his mind racing, How could she have those kinds of connections? It happened so fast there wasn’t even a chance to come up with a counter play!

He sensed a pulse nearby and whipped his head, the door to the gym opening and revealing one of his house staff. The woman kept her face expressionless as she bowed politely in the doorway. He scowled at her, “I thought I said I didn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Miss Feng is here, sir,” She said delicately.

He bore his teeth and stalked towards the attendant, “Do I look like I’m in the mood to see her right now?” He bellowed in her face, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt. “Are you stupid or have a death wish?” He snarled.

The woman kept as straight a face as possible, but he could feel her trembling. He frowned and looked past her towards the empty hallway as she took a steadying breath, “M-Miss Feng insisted that she wanted to see you. N-next time I will-”

He looked back at her, “Next time?” He let go of her shirt, “I don’t need staff that can’t follow basic instructions,” He snarled and grabbed her by the face, her eyes snapped open but before she could make a single sound of protest he felt for the electrical charge that ran throughout her body, that spark of life that kept the brain going and the heart pumping. He ripped it out of her with a single flex of will, drawing the energy into his body. There was no scream, just the sound of a body hitting the ground.

He stepped over her and stalked down the hallway, “This better be fucking good.”

He threw the doors open to the lounge down the hall from his gym and stormed into the room, his expression cold. His black hair was a mess around his face and he hadn’t even bothered throwing on a shirt. A woman sat on a couch not far away, smoking a cigarette. She looked up at him with a frown, “You didn’t have to kill her.”

“Shut up, what do you want?” He snarled.

“Rumor mill has it you had a rough day today,” Miss Feng said, brushing her long black hair behind her ear and pinning him with those eerie amethyst colored eyes.

He frowned, “Don’t beat around the bush, I know you’re watching what I’ve been up to, get on with it.”

“I just figured you could use some help,” She said, crossing her legs. She pulled her phone out from her jacket and held it out towards him, “One phone call and your problems will be dealt with, I’m confident in that.”

He raised his head up, “Yeah? What do you have in mind?”

“I happen to have a friend in the Night Society, he’ll take a job off the books if I ask nicely enough and it’s interesting for him,” She said, waving the phone at him. He looked down at it and then up at her, his expression unreadable for a moment.

He shook his head, “My father told me having her killed would be a bad decision.”

“Your father also screwed up your deal for you, didn’t he?” She pointed out, “His judgment isn’t exactly trustworthy as far as you’re concerned.”

 He narrowed his eyes, “Watch what you say about my father,” He said before letting out a sigh, he didn’t really care if she knew his business, he’d known she’d been keeping tabs on him since they entered their original arrangement, “But you’re not wrong. You really think your assassin can kill this woman? She’s surrounded by men armed with anti-monster weapons and her secretary has powers.”

“I’m confident in his abilities,” Feng said with a smile.

“Alright, fine, but why are you even doing this for me?” He asked, settling onto the couch a small distance from her. 

She pouted at him, “What kind of fiance would I be if I didn’t support my future husband?” She asked and put a hand on his shoulder, “Let me call him and set the table, mm?”

He looked away and nodded as she dialed out.

–

Blood dripped from his knife, oozing onto the floor from the open wound in his target. The body lay still in the dark room, rain pattering against the window outside. He looked down at the lifeless thing that had once been a politician and sniffed, turning away. Another boring job, another nobody someone wanted dead for a reason he couldn’t care less about. At least the money was worth his time, though a part of it would go back to the Night Society as part of his dues, but that was just how it was.

Park Beyol rolled his shoulder, it was time to go. The clean up crew would be there soon and he was starting to get hungry. He glanced down at the knife in his hand and it melted into a silvery ooze that trailed up his palm before vanishing into a small cut in his wrist. I was efficient before the flash, but now I don’t even need to carry weapons with me. Jobs that were a bit tough before are painfully easy now. I’m getting bored.

His pocket buzzed and he paused, he pulled his phone out and glanced at it. Feng Hyunh? What does the heiress of the Da Mau syndicate want?

He tapped the button and brought it to his ear, “Feng.”

“Razor, I have a job for you.”

“I’m not interested in minor crimelords,” Beyol said.

“How about the Voice of the Hero Movement?” She pressed.

He paused and tilted his head to the right, turning to look out at the storm raging outside, “...I’m listening.”