Hey guys and girls, this is the March update.
Review replies.
Kreep13: Thanks for the support. I hope I can deliver the great story you are looking forward.
FanFicReader105: Thanks for reading and don't worry, this is going to go far.
KafeiDetour: I'm also looking forward to see how it turns out.
Bluntag: Well lets just say, this is Book 1 that will focus on Limitless/Marvel, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis and another Reality/Universe. My hope is that I'll be able to write a whole series of books revolved around the adventures of Emperor Edward Morra and The Morra Empire. Plus, DEFIANTLY NO TWILIGHT! :D
GenoBeast: This is an AU…Plus today we do have multidimensional theories. An'ran wasn't tempting him with Tok'ra knowledge, it was more of an enticement. Like I said to Bluntag…other 'books' will be the crossovers into such realities. That's the plan, it'll add more to each stories.
Tamahome8: So am I.
Theborgcollective: I hope I can give you what you want…but when writing a story such as this…it's hard not to make the characters arrogant.
Sujuuk: First off, thank you. But like I've said to both Bluntag and GenoBeast, this will only focus on three realities…other books will explore other universes. Also I've never even heard of Gundam 00.…sorry, But other books will go into other realities….especially the Mass Effect universe. I will however look into your suggested reads at a later date..I don't want any cross contamination.
Blackholelord: Well don't worry..I've also read both versions of this idea and I didn't like the fact that they were both Evil. I will pre-warn you, this fic will have a few villains working within the empire as a sort of Penance for their crimes.
Jabbarulez: First off..love the name and secondly, thanks for the support. I hope this fic really takes off.
Douchiesnacks: You seem to be my most loyal follower..you always review and read my work. Thank you for all the support. I hope you fall in love with this story and here's more.
I've been working on with VexMaster. His 'Galactic Imperium' inspired me to write this and its thanks for him that I've been able to write this. This Fiction will follow the same base as 'Galactic Imperium', except this will have Eddie Morra (Limitless) as the main character. This story would not exist without VexMaster, so check out his work. VexMaster also helped by editing this and Chapter 1. From now on, all chapters will be 100% SpearheadWorks Original. Please R&R to let me know what you think.
-Spearhead
Chapter 2: The Proposal
The light from the afternoon sun beamed through the frosted glass panel at the centre of the front door. A figure moved closer to the door and obscured the sunlight. As the obvious female shadow reached the door, she lowered herself to enter her key into the door. After a click, the door slide open. The sunlight, now not blocked by the front door, shone through the doorway. The blonde women entered the cabin and closed the door behind her. This was Lindy Morra. She hurried through into the front room, not actually bothering to check if the front door had closed properly.
"Eddie?" Lindy's voice was filled with worry. As she entered the front room, her head turned to look into the kitchen. She saw no Eddie. She turned to look at the living room. Eddie and Carl Van Loon were sat on separate couches. Carl and Eddie were, as always, wearing suits.
"Hi honey." Eddie smiled. He looked more energetic than normal and for someone who was on NZT-48, it was really disturbing.
"Hey." Lindy said as she sat down next to Edward.
"Hello Lindy." Carl smiled. Eddie of course knew that his smile for Lindy was sincere pleasure. Eddie knew straight away that Carl only wanted the improved NZT. See Eddie had read a book and taken a class on body language from the famed lie detector, Dr. Cal Lightman. Of course Carl didn't know this and even if he did, he still wouldn't be able to hide his micro expressions every time he said something.
"So, now we can talk." Carl smiled knowing that he would eventually get what he wanted. He wanted the drug known as NTZ-48. The smile caused his face to crease and wrinkle.
"What do you want Carl?" Eddie asked. He knew, but wanted to get it out in the open.
"Well, I have a proposition for you." Carl smiled. His brown eyes glittering in the sunlight. They showed age and experience. That didn't scare Eddie. With NZT, he was the smartest man on the planet. He knew all about business and law. Carl didn't stand a chance in a negotiation.
"What kind of proposal?" Lindy asked the aging man.
"Well, simply, I want access to NZT-48. My investments are not going as I'd hoped. I need the drug. I've lost everything." Carl admitted. His head slowly sank as he said the words out loud.
"Yes, I've heard." Eddie nodded.
Of course, what Carl has said was 'mostly' true. Although the Van Loon Associates was in trouble, particularly since the departure of Eddie and the rumour that Eddie left the company because he saw no future there, had made a significant negative impact on the company. Carl had lost a lot of money, and then the share prices of several key holdings in his portfolio dropped dramatically. He still had the mansion in New Jersey, three apartments in Manhattan, a farm in New Hampshire, a cattle ranch in Texas, two mansions in Orange County, all together worth just over $33 million. He still had his collection of thirty six vintage cars worth $27 million, and he had his three yachts, private jet, several real estates in United Kingdom, Italy, France and Canada, all of which totalled at $37 million. Of course, there were several bank accounts in Switzerland and Cayman Islands that still made Carl worth well over $200 million not including those non-cash assets.
What Carl was really talking about was the $732 million dollars of worth of private stock portfolio that was reduced to meagre $53 million over the past year, and the $6.6 billion dollars invested in Van Loon Associates by so many investors over the last 30 years had been reduced to mere $3.9 billion dollars in three months. Eddie was not 'directly' responsible for this downfall of Van Loon, but Eddie had 'some' influence in what had happened to the Van Loon Associates, because Eddie wanted to make sure that Carl did not threaten him again. Certainly, Eddie can deal with Carl whenever he wanted, but Eddie wanted to make sure that Van Loon was his 'bitch', just in case Carl wanted to take a bite Eddie at crucial moment. The problem was that now Carl wanted the new NZT. Of course, Eddie didn't really have beyond his secret cache because he no longer needed it, but Carl with NZT could become a problem.
"Carl... You don't really expect me to just 'give' you the stable, semi-permanent, and safer version of NZT... Do you?" Eddie mused, eying the aging business man with sharp stare.
Carl nodded.
"What do you want?" Carl asked, anxiety immediately showing on his face.
Eddie looked at Carl's eyes. There was no distinctive coloration of eyes that was the first sign of NZT user, so Carl wasn't taking the original NZT probably since he knew how dangerous it could be.
"Half." Eddie said firmly. Carl stops smiling after hearing Eddies words.
"Excuse me?" Carl asks. His face became hard and somewhat stiff.
"I want half. Half of your stocks, co-ownership of all of Van Loon Associates assets." Eddie replied bluntly. This was the only way he would have full knowledge of Carl's movements, business plans and resources. He would have Carl under his thumb and Eddie would have stakes in Van Loon Associates which was a privately traded company.
"Let me get this straight, you want me to sign over half of everything I own. In return I get the NZT. Am I correct in assuming this includes any future investments?" Carl probed.
"It does. Unless you want to give it all up. Retirement would be good for you, I'd make sure you're well off. Think of it as a replenishing trust fund." Eddie smiled as Carl's eyes dilated with anger while he faked a smile.
"Do I have a choice?" Carl asked. The truth was, he didn't. He knew that Eddie would be straight on the phone and buying shares of his company, as soon as he left. Carl couldn't afford to make an enemy of Edward again.
"I think we both know the answer to that." Eddie forced a smiled. All the time, Lindy was just watching rather than taking part in the negotiations.
"Alright. We can be partners in this." Carl smiled, knowing his options were rather limited. He could accept or decline. If he declined, he could guess that his stocks would continue to fall.
"Good to hear. Now I can have a months supply ready for you when you get back to New York city." Eddie nodded. He was giving Carl the original NZT, so he could keep him on a short leash.
"Good. I think this will be most profitable, for the both of us." Carl forced a smile at Eddie's obvious attempt at control. Carl Van Loon stood up and fastened his suit coat. Eddie and Lindy stood up to see him out.
"It was great to see you Carl. I hope to see you soon and this will be a good thing." Eddie smiled as he held his left arm and armed it toward the front door. Carl, followed by Lindy and Eddie walked down the hallway. Carl opened the doorway and exited the house. He turned to see Eddie and Lindy in the doorway.
"I'll see you soon. Lindy, Eddie." Carl nodded and smiled before he turned to leave. The business man walked down the path towards his black Mercedes Benz. His driver opens the door and Carl lowers himself into the comfortable car. Eddie and Lindy watch as the car drives off down the leaf covered road. It would take him at least ten minutes till he could see their neighbours cabin. Lindy retreated back into the cabin and Eddie followed but not before glancing up at the invisible Tel'tak. He could only predict where it was, but Edward had never wrong in his predictions before. The green leaves swayed in the gentle and barely noticeable wind that blew past carrying the smell of freshly cut grass and sweet pollen.
As the door closed, Eddie turned to look at his holiday home. It was still as immaculate as the day he bought it. The white walls looked freshly painted and the black marble floors looked as if they'd just been washed. In the cloak room, coats and shoes for all seasons were arranged neatly.
Eddie had a flashback to his old apartment. He was standing in the hallway/kitchen/dining room looking around at the dump that was his home. Dirty dishes were either piled up in the sink or scattered around the apartment. The horrible cream walls had turned a pale green or gray from all the filth that had accumulated over the years. Clippings from newspapers and a postcard from Hawaii clung to the fridge. Clothes, dirty or clean, were littered all over the place. Unread books stacked untidily on the floor and reached the height of the window or sofa. While empty food wrappers and wasted food lay on the table or on the lowered shelves. The first time he truly cleaned that place, was the same day he had his first taste of NZT-48 and even then, he felt as if he was in six places at once.
His new apartment in New York and his cabin were palaces compared to that box shaped flat. They were both modern and were always clean. The walls of the cabin in particular were the cream they were meant to be and had no missing sections or plastered marks of failed attempts at hiding holes.
He found reminiscing both meditative and enlightening. He could recognised things from his past with perfect detail that he hadn't been able to achieve before NZT. He even noticed new things that eluded his sight when the memory was made. Small, insignificant things, but they bought a strange yet welcome gratification when Eddie remembered them.
Eddie walked down the hall and entered the kitchen to find Lindy preparing some vegetables for the evenings meal. Even though it was a few hours off, Lindy always prepared for both lunch and dinner early. She said it was so she knew it was done, but Eddie knew that she only did it to keep busy. Lindy had always been a busy body. She never liked staying still and doing nothing. If she had been on NTZ for longer than one time, Eddie always joked that her head would explode out of sheer boredom. A smile crept onto Edwards face at that thought.
No one alive knew about NZT except Eddie, Lindy, Melissa and Carl. Eddies associate who had helped him to retrieve the stash of NZT-48 from Morris Brandt, had unfortunately been killed six months ago in a prison riot. Eddie knew that with the number of people he had killed that no way was he going to get out of a jail sentence.
Eddies attention was captured by the television playing in the background. It was some documentary about Japanese Submarine missions during the Second World War. Eddie had no interest in such historical events. He had always favoured the ancient world. Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Vikings, Saxons, Persians and other such empires had always fascinated him. He somewhat fancied himself as a historian with the NZT.
His attention was quickly snapped by Lindy as she placed the cabbage onto the stove. She turned to him, leaning against the worktop, and just looked at him for a second. His piercing blue eyes and brushed brunette hair were his two most prominent features. Unless he smiled, then you found yourself lost in his pearly white teeth.
"What do you think?" Lindy asked finally looking at her husband.
"About what?" Eddie answered with a question. He knew what she was talking about, but didn't fancy talking about the man who had just left their home.
"Do you think he'll sign?" Lindy asked as she turned to chop the fresh carrots.
"He has no choice. He wants the NZT, he'll have to sign." Eddie smiled remaining in the kitchen entrance.
"Why do you want half of Van Loon Associates anyway? You have Morra Industries, do you really need another companies paperwork to stress you out?" Lindy asked as she continued to chop the orange vegetable.
"If Carl has NZT, then he could become a threat. If I own half of everything he does, I'll have control over his assets and he can't move against me." Eddie explained his logical thinking as he moved to help his wife, who shooed him off as she got a hold of some cauliflower.
"I see your point. But do you really think Carl would do that?" Lindy asked looking at him.
"He did before. He bought Ivan Pharmaceuticals to try and blackmail me into working for him last month. I'm only doing this as a precaution. A safeguard, if you will." Eddie smiled at his understanding wife.
"Alright. But be careful. I still have a lot of money to spend." Lindy joked leaning over for a kiss.
"What's yours is mine and mine is yours." Eddie kissed his wife of the lips quickly.
"That's it?" Lindy asked shocked by the briefness of their contact.
"You have to earn it." Eddie joked as he turned and left the kitchen. He could hear Lindy let out a laugh in genuine amusement. Eddie heads upstairs towards their bedroom.
There you go. Please review because there's nothing like getting outside input. Hope you all enjoyed it.