Chapter 48 - Dinner Meeting

"Hey Babe, can you zip me up?" Gwen asks me as she stands in front of the mirror.

"Of course." I get behind her and pull the invisible zipper up from the small of her back. 

"How do I look?" She twirls around for me to see her angles.

"You look perfect my Gazelle." 

"Are you sure? The white sash on my hips against the black dress doesn't make my butt look small does it?" She asks flusteredly.

"Your butt is perfect."

"How about something more fashionable? We have time for you to change it right?"

"It's a business dinner with someone who I don't know. It took me over an hour to convince you to wear a dress with a back. The shoulder you have exposed is already too much for me."

"You're such a prude." She giggles, wrapping her arms around my neck 

"I'm serious. Who knows what kind of creep this guy is."

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Nia strolls into the room in her usual disheveled look with a small pink bottle. She hands it to Gwen.

"What's this?" Gwen receives the glass bottle.

"Rubbing alcohol in case a guy touches you somewhere. You have to support brother's business plans so unfortunately, you can't get violent. But that doesn't mean you need to let brother's property get contaminated." Nia crosses her arms.

"...thanks."

"Love you, brother." Nia lightly kisses me on the lips.

"Love you too, Nia. Come on, Gwen. It's best to arrive somewhat early."

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Masa

We had to enter a shopping center before we could get to the restaurant, but we still made it a few minutes early. I spot a familiar face standing in front of the restaurant. He waves at us and comes in with a disarming smile.

"Mr. Riddle and Ms. Stacy. I see that you're early. My name's Agent Coulson." He stretches his hand out.

"Hello, Agent Coulson. It's an honor to meet you. Though I wish it wasn't on what I can assume is a work assignment." I return the handshake.

"Yes, I'm here to make sure the interaction between you and Mr. Shaw runs smoothly. But can I ask how you might know who I am? This is my first independent field mission." Did he just say 'Shaw'?

"I can't answer that question. All I can tell you is that I admire your heart, if you ever need a hand, I'm more than willing to provide it. But can you tell me more about this mission of yours? The director didn't inform me about the meeting being with Mr. Shaw."

"Sebastian Shaw, he has connections to the Agency. The director organized this meeting between you, but I don't know the specifics of the arrangement. The table is ready, so we might as well sit down while we wait for the other party."

Coulson leads us inside and past a full dining room and bar. Servers layout well-decorated sushi dishes, the entire restaurant has a very high-cuisine Japanese feel to it. I guess that's expected of a 3 Michelin Star restaurant. We are in a private room with significantly fancier decorations than the rest of the restaurant.

"Okay, Coulson. Could you sit on the other side of my date?" Sebastian Shaw is a sexual creep, I can't have him sitting next to Gwen. I'm gonna fucking kill Fury when I see him next, not giving me a goddamn heads up about a meeting with the Sebastian Shaw. 

"Babe, your tie is out of place." Gwen adjusts my tie and sits down after I pull out her seat, "Who is Sebastian Shaw?" She asks.

"He's the founder of Shaw Industries and a very, very wealthy man. Among other things..." Coulson answers. 

From what I know, Shaw should be the current black king and a leader of the New York Hellfire Club, a group of perversely wealthy and influential individuals that try to collectively grow their wealth, power, and influence even further. The guy's pretty evil, so I should definitely kill him, but he's a mutant who can absorb and use energy to augment his strength, kinetic energy being his specialty. He's nigh-indestructible using conventional methods, but I excel at the unconventional. Problem is, it seems like Fury has some sort of deal with him, so that will have to wait. Hopefully, this doesn't end poorly. 

The door opens and a 6' 2" (1.88 m) middle-aged mountain of a man walks in with a frilled suit. His hairline is receded but it's very bushy and perfectly blends into his thick sideburns. 

Behind him is a beautiful woman with black hair pulled into a bun and pale skin. Black marks like tattoos of lightning bolts descend from her blue eyes and follow her cheekbones. She looks Balkan in origin, maybe Romanian. Her small frame is wrapped in a revealing emerald dress that has a window revealing her side breasts and belly button. She must be Sage, a mutant working for Shaw as an assistant, though secretly she is Professor X's spy. 

We all stand up and I do the painful action of reaching out for a handshake.

"Hello Mr. Shaw, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you Mr. Riddle. I was told you were young, but you truly are a dashing young man. You remind me of when I was young and ambitious." He returns the handshake, his burly hand grasping around mine. He turns to Gwen and picks up her hand, kissing it. "And what a beautiful lady you have to accompany you." I should just kill him, absorb the flesh around his heart and eat it for breakfast. No, I should cut off his balls and stuff them down his throat, suffocating him to death. I can throw him into space and watch as his eyes explode and his body freezes over. 

Coulson catches my eyes and shakes his head. I can't kill him, not yet, but I can make him regret. 

"This is my assistant, Tessa." Shaw introduces. I grab Sage's hand and kiss it as Shaw did to my Gwen. Sage lets out a smile and Gwen pinches my side.

"Well, let's sit down. We can discuss business while we wait for the first course." Coulson says. We take our seats and I end up sandwiched by Sage and Gwen. Coulson grabs a briefcase from the corner and sits down between Gwen and Shaw. A server comes into the room with alcoholic beverages. They immediately serve Shaw a glass of whiskey then they go around serving wine. I guess they don't ask for IDs here.

"So, Mr. Riddle, what makes you interested in buying so many recycling facilities?" Shaw asks me.

"Most of my business has been in the digital realm so far. I'm looking to expand and start manufacturing, though I don't want to spend the time and resources necessary to set up a logistical network for raw materials from scratch. Plus, who doesn't want to save the environment? What makes you so willing to sell off such a massive amount of capital and infrastructure?"

"Recycling plants make a decent amount of money from metal, but any gains are overshadowed by massive losers like glass. There are more liabilities in the business than I'm comfortable with, especially now that we're seeing a rise in massive new mining projects that will make the price of metals plummet. The recycling plants aren't making any money now, and pretty soon, they'll be losing me money."

"You could always charge a premium for the recycled materials." This wine is actually pretty good. I expected something overly strong to neutralize the pallet.

"The recycling plants were built using loans, so they've incurred a lot of compounding debt without sufficient revenue to pay the debt off," Sage answers from my left.

"And I don't want to file bankruptcy in all the companies without a way for them to recover. Director Fury told me that you had a plan to make them profitable when I asked if he had a use for the facilities, so I might as well sell them to you." Shaw continues.

"So I'm gathering that the companies either owe or will owe more than they are worth in whole," I say.

"They're currently worth only 100 million on paper with debts and all," Coulson says, pulling out several documents.

"How much are you wanting for it all?" I ask Shaw, causing him to look away from Gwen and casually look over to Sage. I'm gonna mess this dude up.

"300 million." Sage answers.

"150 million, max. I'm buying what, 2 billion dollars worth of debt?" I counter.

"2.3 billion in debt and 2.4 billion in assets," Sage replies.

"You don't think you can pay it all off? How about 250 million?" Shaw asks. This dude thinks I'm an idiot. I bet I'll be paying all that debt back to him. 

"200 million and that's final. I need enough money to start my operations." Fury really threw me under the bus with this.

"220 million. I'll invite you guys over some time." Shaw's eyes glance over to Gwen. She reaches under the table and grabs my hand.

"190 million. I'll pay for dinner as a bonus. I'm sure you wouldn't fret over a few million, after all, you're already making a profit." Fuck you bastard.

"You have a deal, Mr.Riddle. I hope you are successful in your ventures. Don't be afraid to ask for further help if you need it." You patronizing ass, keep your lewd eyes off my Gazelle.

"If you two just read the terms of this document and sign, I'll act as notary. More documents will be sent tomorrow to finalize the transaction." Coulson says, passing a document to Shaw, who passes it to me after signing it. It's simply an agreement to terms, I sign it and hand it back over to Coulson. 

"To good business." I raise my drink for a cheer and the others do the same. This would be a terrible business venture if I didn't have a plan to make it all go away.

Servers come in with elegantly plated servings of sushi alongside other dishes. Shaw continues to leer at and flirt with Gwen throughout the meal. How do I kill this ass without killing everyone else in the room?

"Relax Tyler. You still have to finalize the deal." A feminine voice rings through my head.

"Hello~Sage~welcome~to~my~mind. Maybe~you~can~ask~permission~next~time?"

"S—sorry. Professor...X told me about...you. Can you put up...less resistance?"

"What~does~Shaw ~want~from~me?"

"There's been a lot of fiscal movement recently and he's concerned you're the cause. He wants to either crush or financially enslave you.",

"Thank~you. I~won't~kill~him, you~have~a~mission~after~all. Now~get~out~of~my~head."

"Wait!"

"Nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan~nyan."

Blood drips onto Sage's napkin from her nose. Nobody notices besides me and her. 

Maybe I can't kill Shaw here, but I can at least screw with him. I move my knee directly under where his glass of whiskey is. I reach out with the Exterus Force and slowly flood his whiskey with a cocktail of chemicals that will lead to Erectile dysfunction. Though I bet he already has it. At the very least, he'll have to take hormone pills for the rest of his life if he wants to feel sexual stimuli. 

After many glasses of contaminated whiskey and one too many sexaul jokes from Shaw, I get enough of it and flood his next glass with a laxative. 

"Sorry Ms. Stacy, I'm afraid that I'll have to retire for the evening. Your company was wonderful." Shaw stands up from the table and Sage follows. She's fucking half your age, Creep.

"The pleasure was all mine," Gwen replies with a bright smile. 

As soon as Shaw leaves the room to enjoy his new life on a toilet, Gwen hurriedly pulls out the glass bottle Nia gave her from her purse and pours the liquid on her hands. She starts rubbing her hands roughly. I stop her and pull her close before she can start puking all over the dinner table.

"Ms.Stacy, what's wrong?" Coulson asks.

"She's fine. My sister is just rubbing off on her. Tell the Director that he owes me." I tell him.

"He...the way he looked at me. I…I'm feeling dizzy." Gwen stumbles.

"Shhhhh…I'm sorry Gwen." I run my hand along her scalp as I console her.

"I want an engagement ring after this." She downs a glass of wine.

"Whatever you want."

"And a honeymoon."

"That can be arranged." I'll make Fury pay for it.

"And a child."

"That's pushing it, Gwen."

"I need a shower." I take my jacket and put it over Gwen's shivering figure.

"See you later Coulson. Hopefully, Fury thinks this was worth it." I tell him.

I absorb Shaw's glass and Sage's blood-stained napkin but I feel nothing more than a slight tingle, looks like I'll need more DNA material to gain anything.

Gwen grabs a bottle of wine and puts it into her purse on our way out the door. 

Shaw will be watching me from here on out, so I'll need to be more careful with my movements until I finally deal with him.

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