Chapter 9: Business As Usual

Arc 1: Out of the Shadows

*Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or anything Marvel-related, all I own are my OCs.

November 2009 - New York City

It was an early sunny morning in New York City as the sounds of trains going through below in the subways and the sound of taxis honking through the busy city streets rang out in the city's atmosphere. The sun was slowly rising as the man known as Cedric Harvey stood on one of the Eagle gargoyles on the side of the Chrystler looking out at the city he now called his home.

In a short time, he has developed intense feelings of love for the city. He loved everything about the city. Even though he was from Chicago, the two cities were known to have some type of beef that predated him. The city he was in now was the city, he planned on living his future in. The city he planned on being the Champion of. He wanted to save the city and the world.

However, these thoughts were cut off when he heard tires screeching and gunshots making Cedric take a deep breath and open his eyes.

"So much for a break," He said before he bolted off in the direction of the gunshots

Meanwhile, a car could be seen driving crazy on East 14th Street in Manhattan. Inside the car, there were 4 men wearing black ski masks. All of them were armed with a mini-uzi and 3 of them were shooting at the cop cars that were chasing them.

"Miles, you should have never shot that damn cop," the driver said looking on with a frown as he kept his eyes on the road.

"Man, I had to. He was onto us," said the man whose name was seemingly "Miles" whose head and arm were halfway out of the passenger side wide as he shot back at the cops.

The criminals were dodging cars left and right on the street as they tried to avoid crashing. The driver made a hard right turn, turning onto a wide empty alleyway The cops who were chasing these criminals made the same turn, following them onto the street. The driver looked back momentarily and missed the arrival of The Black-and-Blue Blur landing in front of them. When the driver turned around, he didn't have enough time to step on the brakes and crashed into The Blur. The car's engine started smoking as the driver's head lay motionless on the steering wheel as he bled from a cut on his forehead and from his seemingly broken nose.

The cop's cars behind them smashed on their brakes causing their brakes to screech as they came to a halt. Several officers had gotten out of their cars and had aimed their guns at The Blur. The Blur simply gave the gentlemen in the car a quick glance over using his X-Ray vision to see if anyone was hurt.

"The driver has a concussion and a cracked rib. The other gentlemen are fine. Just make sure that justice is served fairly," The Blur said right before he bolted up into the sky, leaving before any shots were fired. Some of the cops were stunned by the appearance of the caped hero.

Meanwhile from a distance, unbeknownst to The Blur, he was seen by none other than Kalani Rose who looked on with a smile on her face. She looked down at her phone that was in hand seeing a blurry picture on the phone.

"I got a picture of The Blur," She said with a smile.

Cedric arrived back at home just a few moments ago and quickly rushed into his room to change and shower preparing for his day. He had to visit the office today to review some business plans with a new possible client.

He walked out of his bathroom with a towel wrapped firmly around his waist as his defined upper body was exposed to the air.

He walked towards his closet and pulled the door handles of his closet, opening the door to try to find an outfit for the breakfast. A frown managed to sneak its way onto his face as he looked at his closet, seeing how some of his shirts were missing. He simply shrugged his shoulders and reached in grabbing for another top option.

Cedric quickly changed into his brown leather Chelsea boots with a pair of blue jeans and a white button-up shirt with a navy blue vest worn over it. He wore a gold watch with a brown leather strap on his wrist. He grabbed his bag and walked out of his room to see his mom sitting on the couch watching the television while his aunt was in the kitchen.

"Good morning mom," Cedric as he walked over to his mom giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning son," Kimberly replied as she looked at her son watching as he walked away making his way over to his aunt to greet her.

"Good morning auntie," He said as he leaned in giving an auntie a kiss on the cheek as well.

"Good morning nephew, I see someone is very chipper today," his aunt commented, making him chuckle.

"Well, you would be too if you were having dinner with Madison Maverick. She wants to have dinner tonight to discuss the ideas she has regarding an idea for a hospital," Ced said as he looked his aunt.

"Dinner?" his mother commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, mom. It's just a business dinner."

"A business dinner?" A familiar voice said making Cedric turn his head and see Mikayla leaning up against the wall wearing one of his red and black plaid button-up shirts. His eyes trailed down taking note of her toned, firm legs distracting him from the frowns on his mother and aunt's faces.

"Yes, a business dinner," He said, snapping out of the trance that her legs had him under and looked her in the eyes, ignoring the looks from his mother and his aunt.

"With who?" she asked with her arms folded looking at him with a look that he really couldn't read.

"With Madison Maverick, she wants to discuss her plans regarding a hospital she wants to build. Is that a problem?"

"No, it's not a problem," She said as she walked away, going back to her bedroom. Judging by her tone, it was a problem. But currently, that wasn't the problem he had to worry about at the moment. The main problem at the moment was the looks from his mother and his aunt.

"We didn't. I swear to you," He pleaded as his aunt looked on with a frown on her face as her arms were folded. His aunt shook her head as his mother simply took a deep breath and walked over to her son.

"I hope y'all didn't, I don't need that on my mind," she said as she placed her hand on his shoulder, Cedric took a deep breath and turned his gaze, focusing on the outside view of the city.

Cedric stood in the elevator waiting for the elevator to stop on his floor. He had his bag's strap over his shoulder as he carried a white coffee cup with a black lid over it. He didn't really need the caffeine but he could hear the sounds of a coffee grinder from miles away thanks to his ability to hear sounds from across the globe. It was an ability that he loved but also an ability that he hated as well.

He heard the elevator ding and watched as the doors opened allowing him to step out onto his floor and make his way through the office looking for his best friend. Cedric's eyes roamed around and set on the window desk that the two usually sat at and a smile curled its way on his face as he saw Geoff sitting there in a navy blue 3-piece suit with a white and blue plaid button-up with a pink tie and a pair of brown leather loafers talking to a beautiful brunette fair-skinned woman. She had long straight brown hair with crystal blue eyes and a million-dollar smile. She looked like one of those model types that you could see posing in vogue.

Cedric kept his distance, watching from afar as Geoff was swooning this young woman. He looked on watching as she grabbed a hold of his phone and typed something before placing his phone back down on the desk. She walked towards him and leaned in gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away from him. Cedric could see that his best friend had the biggest grin on his face.

The super-powered alien hybrid walked toward his best friend with a smile.

"Geoffrey Desean Wright, my boy! Who the hell was that?"

"That was Lucy Veal, she's one of the new hires. She got hired last week, she was just telling me how lonely she's felt here and how she broke up with her boyfriend. So we set up a date for Friday night and I guess it's safe to say I struck at the right time, you know we playas do," Geoff said making Cedric chuckle as he took a seat in front of him.

"Well, playa, I hope you two have fun. I got a bit of date myself tonight. Well, not really, it's more of a business dinner with Madison Maverick. We're sup-" Cedric saying but Geoff interrupted him looking on with a shocked look on his face.

"Yo, hold the hell up! You got dinner with Madison Maverick?! Madison 'freakin' Maverick!"

"Yes, Madison Maverick but it's just a business dinner," He said earning an eye roll from Geoff making him frown as he looked at his best friend.

"Bro, if she really wanted to discuss business, she could've just sent an email. Dude, she likes you," Geoff said making Cedric shake his head.

"It's not like that Geoff, we're just two people who are going to have a nice dinner and talk business, that's all,"

"Bullshit," Geoff said as Cedric chuckled and looked at him taking a sip of his coffee, "You two will be butt-ass naked staring up at the ceiling sweating after a hot session by 1 AM."

Geoff's statement damn near made Cedric choke on his coffee as he heard his best friend's bold prediction.

"We won't because it's just business. It's not like that,"

"Okay, if you say so. And another thing, our friend in the cape has been doing a great job. Crime is reportedly down 22 percent from last month's numbers."

"Well, I think he appreciates it, he says it's a lot of work to fly around and keep the city safe but he loves every minute of it," Cedric had to admit it felt weird referring to himself in the 3rd person but he kinda had to in order to make sure no one would connect two and two together and figure out that he was indeed the man in the cape.

"And from what I've seen he's been a busy man trying to expand his outreach going around the globe now," This was true he was expanding his influence. He's been trying to make sure that the rest of the world knew that he had their backs.

"Yes, he has. He feels like he needs to make sure that everyone around the world knows that he's their champion."

"Well, the only thing I can say is that he's not alone. I know for a fact that he has people in his corner that are willing to help him, he just needs to open up and allow them to do so."

Cedric heard what Geoff was saying but he couldn't allow himself to open up and allow them to be put in harm's way. Putting on that cape was already a dangerous task. Putting on that cape exposed him to variables that could put him in danger and put everyone that he loves in danger. He couldn't allow his best friend or anyone else for that matter to get hurt just because they were close to him.

"He'll think about it," Cedric lied when he told Geoff that. He wasn't gonna think about it because his mind was already made up. He knew that Geoff wanted to help him but he couldn't allow that to happen, he needed to keep him safe. Even if he had to do it against his own will.

The two gentlemen just focused their conversations on things that didn't include any topic related to The Blur and continued on with their work.

It's amazing, I'm the reason

Everybody fired up this evening

I'm exhausted, barely breathing

Holding on to what I believe in

No matter what, you'll never take that from me

My reign is as far as your eyes can see, it's amazing

Kanye West's song "Amazing" ran out on the audio system in Miles' state-of-the-art sound system in his own private gym as he worked hard getting a workout in before he went to the office. He stood inside his own gym shirtless showing his toned and defined body as it glistened with sweat. Miles was quite the specimen himself at 6'0 and weighed in at 210 pounds of pure defined muscle.

Miles to put it simply, was a genius with an IQ that very few men in the world could match or beat. He was rich, a billionaire with a net worth of 75 billion dollars. There were only a few men in the world today who were richer than Miles but that net worth only included what he made from his "clean" side of business. That didn't include this "dark" side of business or any of the business that The Monarch did. Despite him being a physical specimen, despite him being one of the smartest men alive, and despite him being one of the richest men alive, it all failed in comparison to the man flying around in a cape that seemed to have his nose deep within his business.

Miles, at the moment, was taking out his anger and his aggression on a punching bag in his gym that is until the door of his gym opened, and in walked his sister sporting a pair of black skinny jeans with a pair of burgundy wedge-heeled booties with a black blouse and a burgundy leather jacket to match her boots. She had a clipboard in hand with a document that need to be signed by her brother.

"Pause," She said, causing the music on his sound system to stop playing. He let out an annoyed groan as he clocked the bag with a one-final blow that left the bag shaking.

"Sorry not sorry but I need you to sign these documents for me," Madison said as she walked forward with a clipboard in hand with a pen. He took the clipboard and the pen from her and signed his signature away on the clipboard.

"You could've just sent them Eveline, she would've gotten them signed," Miles said as he handed the clipboard back to his sister.

"Maybe but I needed the satisfaction of letting you know that, I have a dinner tonight with your associate, Cedric Harvey," She said as she turned around on her heels, not giving her brother the opportunity to say anything. He knew that she was just doing so to piss him off and as much as he hated to admit it, she was right.

He watched as she walked out with a scowl on his face. Miles reached into his pocket pulled out his cell phone and dialed his assistant.

"Eveline, set up a lunch appointment at Marea at 1 PM, and please notify Mr. Harvey, he and I need to have a chat," Miles said before hanging up the phone and placing the phone back into his pocket.

"Play," He said as he went back to his workout, punching the gym bag with ferocity.

The time was now 12:57 PM and Cedric walked into the fancy seafood restaurant known as Marea located on Central Park Street. He walked up to hostess standing up front with hair tucked in a neat bun with a chic black dress.

"How can I help you sir?"

"I have a 1:00 o'clock reservation with Mr. Maverick."

"Right this way Mr. Harvey, Mr. Maverick is waiting for you," She said as she grabbed a menu and lead Cedric to a table with a white cover over the tabel and a window view showing the city. She placed the menu down on the table as he took a seat in front of Miles.

"Can I get you started with anything to drink Mr. Harvey?"

"I'll just have a glass of water to start," he said right before she walked away to get him his glass of water, "Wow, this place looks expensive."

"Not really, the prices are decent," Miles said making Cedric chuckle as he looked down at the menu.

"Miles, your definition of decent prices is different from my definition. Remember we're on two totally different spectrums in terms of wealth," Cedric pointed out making Miles chuckle as he lifted up his glass of wine to take a sip.

"Don't worry, it's on me."

Cedric nodded as he continued to look at the menu.

"May I ask for the reason for this lunch?"

"I can't just hang out with my friend," Miles said as they both looked up from their menus to look at each other.

"Miles, if you wanted to hang out. We'd probably be somewhere drinking Remy Martin at a nightclub. Your nightclub to be exact," Cedric said as Miles simply nodded his head. The hostess brought Cedric his glass of water, and placed it down gently on the table.

"Thank you," he said in appreciation as she placed it down on the table. Cedric turned his attention back to Miles who started to express his ideas.

"Well, I'll go ahead and get this off my mind. My sister told me about the dinner you two have tonight and I wanted to personally ask you what do you want with her?" Miles questioned looking at his counterpart across the table. Judging by his tone, Cedric knew Miles was only asking as a big brother, he was trying to protect his sister from any harm.

"Miles, I only want to discuss business. I'm trying to scope her out as a potential client, nothing more." Miles nodded along as he picked up his glass of wine and took a sip.

"Well, I'm glad you told me. I just need you to be careful. I have to warn you about my sister, she's very aggressive about the things she wants and right now, I believe what she wants is you. So I would just let her know up front that it's just business," Miles suggested.

"Will do. I'm glad we got that out of the way perhaps now we can actually enjoy a decent lunch without the tension," Cedric joked making Miles chuckle as a waiter eventually walked over to the two to take their order as the two sat there and ate lunch together.

The day had passed and now Cedric was in his bedroom in front of the mirror putting on his suit for the dinner. The suit was a navy blue tailored suit with a black button-up and black leather loafers on his feet. Cedric's eyes trailed up and down his body looking over himself. It may have been just a business dinner but Cedric was determined to go all out in order to land himself another big client. The payout from Miles was huge. Like in the 6 digits huge. If he could earn that much on a project with another Maverick, he would finish the year off strong.

The young architect was fixing his coat when he heard his phone ring making him reach into his jacket and pull out his phone. A smile sneak onto his face as he answered the phone and placed it up to his ear.

"What a pleasant surprise," he said on the phone as the voice of his best friend rang out in his ear.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about you, I wanted to check on you and see how you were doing," she said.

"Aside from being nervous about this big-time business dinner, I got I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm just waiting on Joey to get out of the shower, we're supposed to be going to see this movie he wanted to go see. Who's this dinner with?"

"If I tell you, will you promise to not freak out?" After what seemed like a long period of silence, he heard a sigh on the phone before she spoke the words he needed to hear.

"I promise."

"Okay, it's Madison Maverick." And almost on cue, she did exactly what he made her promise not, making him roll his eyes.

"You have a date with Madison Maverick?!"

"It's not a date. It's just a business dinner."

"Bullshit. If it was just a business dinner, she would've just taken you out to lunch. Trust me when I tell you, she wants you. She's a woman who goes after what she wants. And she wants you."

"I don't think so. It's just business."

"Yeah, it's business alright. Her business is-"

"Please don't finish that sentence." Cedric heard her laugh on the under end. She was about to speak but the voice of her boyfriend Joey cut her off.

"Well, Joey just got out of the shower, coffee tomorrow? My treat."

"Sure thing and you know I'm not gonna let you pay for it right."

"Always so chivalrous. You better give me the details tomorrow."

"Alright, I will. I promise."

"Okay, good night."

"Good night." He said before she hung up the phone. He placed the phone back into his jacket pocket and walked over to his dresser, grabbing a bottle of cologne from his mini collection of fragrances. He sprayed a few spritzes on his neck and on his wrist before placing the glass bottle back onto the dresser.

He gave himself one final look over in the mirror and turned to walk out through the door. Cedric walked through the hallway leading to his door. He grabbed the door handle, gently pulling it open to see an unexpected sight.

It was Mikayla dressed in a pink one-sleeve one shoulder cut out dress that seemingly cut off right above the knees with a pair of pink heels. She had her long brown hari strateigned instead of it's usual curly state. There was a light level of make-up on her face that only seemed to enhance her natural features.

"Mikayla, you look beautiful," He said as his eyes trailed up and down looking at her. She tucked a strand of her long luscious locks behind her ear and looked at him, biting her lip as she saw him standing there in his suit.

"You look good," she said, taking a step forwards, to lean up and whisper something n his ear, "I bet you look even better under the suit,"whispering that last part making him nervously chuckle.

"W-uh-wha-what do you have planned tonight?" he stuttered as she giggled at the effect that she had on him.

"I'm going out tonight with a few girls. There's this nightclub on 8th avenue that we're gonna try out. Apparently Fat Joe is gonna be there, maybe some guy will buy me a drink," she said with a smirk as she hoped it would be enough to make him jealous.

"Well, I hope you have fun tonight. Do you know where my mom and my aunt are?"

"They all went out to eat about half-an-hour ago," she said as the sound of Cedric's phone made sound, catching their attention, making him reach into his pocket with a frown. He reached into his pocket, taking his phone out to see Madison's name on his screen. He took a look at the notification seeing it was an address to some place.

"Okay, well you have my number. You need anything, he said as he put a hand on her shoulder ot assure her and drive the point on his message, "and I do mean anything call me, be safe."

"I will. Have a good night," she said before she leaned up on her tip topes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"You too," he said with a smile as he walked away from her, leaving her there alone as she watched him walk off.

After possibly a minute and half, maybe less, he arrived just outside the location he was texted. He had made sure to try to covertly pump his brakes in alleyway to avoid any unwanted attention. He walked out from the alleyway adjusting his coat as he stepped out into the light. He could see it was a penthouse apartment building.

He walked into the building, making a beeline straight for the elevators. He pressed a button, waiting for an elevator to come down to take him to Madison's floor. As he waited patiently for the elevator, he could hear her voice from a distance. He heard her talking to herself and even heard the sounds of music from a distance, it was probably Mikayla.

He heard the ding coming from the elevator, catching his attention. He wait patiently as the doors peeled themselves open, allowing him to walk through. He turned towards the panel lined with buttons with floor numbers. He pressed on the button with the correct floor number and looked forward as the doors slowly closed, waiting for the elevator to eventually rise up the shute.

After a few minutes of waiting for the elevator to make it to the correct floor, the doors finally opened allowing Cedric to step out on the floor and begin to make his way to her front door. It was kinda weird for the two to be having a business dinner at her home.

He finally made it to her door and looked at the door, taking a deep breath before he gently knocked on the door. Almost a second after the second knock the door swung open showing Madison Maverick standing there in a long-sleeved black dress that seemingly hugged her body eliciting her curves.

"Well, you got here quick," she said with a smile as he let out a nervous chuckle as he thought of an alibi to support his timing.

"I was in the area," he lied as his eyes trailed up and down her body, getting a good view of her curvaceous figure in the beautiful, luxurious dress that hugged her body, "you look incredible."

"Thank you, you look handsome," she said before momentarily biting her lip as her eyes roamed his body examining the figure, "come in." She stepped aside allowing Cedric to take a step inside the penthouse. He looked around as he stepped forward seeing the sight of her penthouse. There were a lot of exotic art pieces and artwork in her place. He could definitely tell that she was a person interested in art.

The view from her penthouse was nice, it allowed her to get a clear view of the chrysler and everything around it.

"So I hope you like duck. I made this special dish for us, I thought it would be best to stay inside and discuss business rather than go out and have everyone in our business," she said as she closed the door behind him and made her way closer to him, standing behind him.

"Wait, you cooked?" He said with a surprised smirk on his face as he turned around to face her.

"Yeah, I did. Is that a problem?" she said as she stepped closer to looking at him in his brown orbs.

"No, Ms. Maverick, that is not. I just wasn't expecting you to know how to cook. Most rich people don't, so I assumed."

"Trust me baby, there's a lot more than meets the eyes with me," she said, making him nervously chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Come on, we're gonna be dining in the dining room," she said as she grabbed his wrist and drug him along throughout the penthouse. But little did he know, Madison had other plans than business.

A/N: So I know I cut the chapter short by not really including the business dinner between Madison and Cedric but I did for the sole reason of avoiding this chapter just being a boring chapter with no plot or action.