(This is a test run to see how much interest I get in this. Do you guys want me to continue? It'd be all about superheros. I'm even open to suggestions for pairings if I get enough responses to continue this.)
Vertigo stands at the massive windows overlooking the ocean with his hands folded behind his back. As the leader of the North American Coalition for Superhumans (the NACS), or as it is more informally called: Nax, he has felt the impact of recent events more than most. To make matters worse his board of advisors were split on the issue almost exactly by half. Honestly, the final decision was his to make regardless, but with lives on the line... What if he were to choose incorrectly? The results could reach far beyond even ECCS. This was an unprecedented case-
A knocking at the massive maple doors to his office distracts him from these troubling premonitions. He sighs.
"Yes. Come in!" He says, raising his normally quiet tone to reach through the thick wooden doors.
One of the two doors creaks open. Vertigo does not turn from his position because he has a good idea of who it's going to be. One of his advisors, no doubt; perhaps with another situation he must take into consideration as this particular issue progresses day to day...
"Hey! Hey, you should give me like, I dunno, 20 bucks. Cool, bro?" A voice rings out in the room before the door is even closed. It's a very loud, and very familiar, voice.
Vertigo, or as he is known to his family, Matthew Williams, turns around with a small degree of surprise.
"Alfred..."
"What? You look kinda spaced bro. You okay?" Alfred walks over and leans against the massive desk centered in the penthouse office.
"I just wasn't expecting you..."
"That's cause I never tell ya when I'm comin'."
"... right. I know." Matthew sighs, a much different sigh than a few moments ago. Alfred's grating personality brings back a tired kind of annoyance that is welcome against the storm front in his mind.
"So 20 bucks then?" Alfred asks again.
"Don't you have your own money Al?" Matthew walks around his desk to face his little brother.
"Uhhhh, yeah but like, I'm still in college and not the head of some crazy organization cause you were born first and stole all the crazy powerful juice from Mom. You won the birth lottery so you should take care of your family."
Matthew smiles slightly. He can't help it. "Hmmmm... As compelling as that 'argument' was- what if I say no?"
"But you never say no!"
Matthew smothers a laugh. "Is that really true? I'm enabling you. I should cut you off. Make you get a job."
"I have a job! Brooooooo please!"
Matthew turns, pretending to ponder it further. "No really. You're always claiming to be independent maybe-"
"It's only 20 bucks, man, c'mon!" Alfred pops up off the table and tries to get back in Matthew's line of vison. Matthew is hiding a grin behind his hand.
"Only 20 dollars now. Then you're asking me for bail money. I have to draw a line."
"Mattie!" Alfred tries to take Matthew's wallet directly from his pocket. With a shout Matthew jumps away.
"See? You're already stealing!" He's laughing now as he moves so that there's a chair between them.
"No fair! I wasn't!" Alfred easily lifts the chair. His strength is far beyond any normal person's.
"I think- Don't you dare break that- you were trying to-"
Again the large maple doors open. Both men freeze. Matthew's smile slowly drops off.
"He's here." The man with the ribbon tying his hair back says. There is no smile with these words, nor any hint of his usual playful tone. Alfred and Matthew exchange looks. The first sets the chair he was holding in the air back down.
"Thank you, Siren." Matthew's brief respite is over as quickly as it had begun.
"No, you don't understand. It's not the ambassador from Japan. He's here."
Matthew closes his eyes for a moment. "I see." He turns to his younger brother, and takes a twenty from his wallet. "Here. Take this. Go out and have fun."
"Matt...?" Alfred looks between the man called Siren and his older brother. He can sense that something isn't right.
Matthew shakes his head once. "Go on. I have... a meeting now. I'll see you tonight, okay?"
"... okay." Alfred gives his brother a hard hug before stepping out the door, as though he could make things better with only the one touch.
"Let him in now." Matthew moves back behind his desk. He does not sit down. He does not want to be in any position of weakness for this encounter.
"Yes. Best not to keep him waiting." Siren steps out the door. Matthew can hear his light footsteps retreating down the hall. They return shortly this time, accompanied by a much heavier set. The door opens and closes one last time.
"General Winter." Matthew says.
"Vertigo." The General acknowledges with a cold smile.
"You were not who I was expecting."This surprise is not a pleasant one.
The two lock eyes. General Winter's smile does not even flicker. "We have a problem."
Matthew actually laughs. "That is an understatement."
"I didn't come here for you to laugh about this issue." General Winter tilts his head slightly. "I expect you to be serious."
Matthew's laughing attitude vanishes. He knows what the General is like, and he knows that he cannot tolerate any question to his leadership if he wants to be taken seriously. "You have no idea how serious I am. You came here because you knew that you could rely on me, didn't you? This isn't going to be like our first, and last, meeting was. Ivan."
"Very well. Matthew. I am here to know what you know."
Matthew leans forward, both hands firmly on the cool wood before him. "The implications of that offer being equal, correct? I'm not willing to work with someone who will slow me down."
"I am sure we know just as much. The answer to your question is yes."
"Only one yes? A sharing of information between groups, and nothing else?"
"No," Ivan sits down with a slow, yet practiced, movement. Nothing he does feels wasted. "There is much more to my offer. We are beyond point of working alone. I am not going to kill my people for this."
Matthew's nails scrape against the wood, but he tries to keep his reaction under control. "You're here to kill mine?"
"Did I say that? Do not be so hasty. There should be no death if we work together. That was my point. This will not work if you distrust me or the восточноевропейский сторожить."
"The Eastern European Guard is a powerhouse that has previously only answered to themselves. Why are you surprised that I don't trust you?" Matthew does not sit down.
Ivan folds his hands in his lap. "The NACS is paid by the American government. I would not throw stones, as it is said. Besides, we both know that this situation has spiraled beyond what either of us would desire. I am willing to admit my weakness. If you do not admit yours then perhaps you are not fit to be a leader."
Matthew flinches slightly, and immediately regrets it, but Ivan always seems to know what to target. He smiles slightly when his enemy shows weakness.
"I do not believe that, of course. After our last meeting." Ivan continues. "I believe that we are playing an old game now. This, however, is a new enemy."
Matthew closes his eyes for a moment. Ivan only admits that he wants a level playing field once he has made sure he could still have the upper hand. And the worst part of this? He was right: Matthew did not have the luxury to turn him down on any ground.
"He hasn't left the island yet. We don't know if he could board a boat without sinking it, in the state that he's in." Matthew reluctantly sits down.
"His name is Kiku Honda." Ivan replies. "We know where they found him. We know what his original power was."
"Yes, when they opened that old bunker they found him. And... some form of energy absorption wasn't it? That's why the bomb affected him the way it did." Matthew frowns to himself. A lot about this particular case made him feel distinctly uncomfortable.
Ivan nods. "He has mutated beyond control."
That was the essence of the problem: the Japanese man had been sealed away for years with the radiation that he was forced to absorb. Being superhuman hadn't saved him from the tragedy of Hiroshima. It had cursed him. Fighting such a man didn't really set right with Matthew, but he wasn't even sure if Kiku was human anymore. He'd been causing a lot of damage.
"We should combine our notes." Matthew glances at the stack of papers he's been receiving. Some are pleas for help. He hadn't been sure what to do. Perhaps this will not be such a bad partnership, if Ivan is serious about his willingness to work together.
"Yes. We both understand the basics of our situation. That being said, I have brought my elite here."
Matthew is a little startled by that. "The Guard's Front Line is with you?"
Ivan tilts his head slightly. "Of course. I knew the outcome of this meeting before I decided to come. I want us to find a solution quickly."
"Good..." Matthew reaches into one of his drawers. "I can set you all up with rooms here. We have more than enough space."
Matthew, Vertigo, is uncertain about General Winter's intentions. He has no better plans... He has no better choices.
