Sumire was organizing several reports from the various branches of her pharmaceutical empire, when there was a light knock on the door. “Enter.” she bid without looking up from the mountain of paper work she had on her desk.
A young Japanese woman, a little older than Shiina, entered the spacious office. She was the typical Asian beauty, petite with a round face and dark charcoal eyes. Long jet black hair was swept back into a relaxed braid, as she stood in front of the large rosewood desk. Bowing deeply, the young woman greeted the CEO in their native language. “Mrs. President. I have urgent news regarding Lady Shiina.”
For the first time hazel eyes regarded the young woman standing before her. The papers and reports forgotten. Sumire leaned back into her black, leather chair. “Please continue, Kiyomi.”
“Ma’am. Report from Yon in France stated that a few hours ago, Lady Shiina’s latest job was a set up. The man she was hired by turned on her, and shot her in the chest. Missing the heart by mere inches. Afterwards detonated the warehouse they were in. Yon fished her out, but she was severely wounded and unconscious. The left leg was shattered and there are several long lacerations due to the falling debris and the proximity of the explosion. He wishes to know if he should send Lady Shiina to the Kyoto branch facilities?”
Sumire felt her stomach drop as she listened to the report. Grasping the armrest of her chair tightly, the business woman tried to steady herself. Closing her eyes and exhaling deeply, she had to make a decision. When cinnamon orbs opened, she looked at her aid with determination. “No. Tell Yon to send her to the Paris Regional Medical Center.”
“Ma’am?”
“I do not want Shiina to know we’ve been keeping tabs on her.” she paused and exhaled again. “Contact Josephine Éclair. She’s the CEO of PRMC. Let her know Shiina is being taken to her hospital, but being admitted as a ‘Jane Doe.’ Josephine will know what to do, but have one of our own sent in as a personal doctor to over see Shiina’s health. Preferably one that Shiina has never met. I don’t want her to know we’ve intervened.”
“Understood.”
“Also, send in Harada.”
“As you wish.” Kiyomi bowed again before exiting the office.
Hazel eyes closed once again as the door clicked shut and she was left alone. She felt ill, and wanted to rush to her granddaughter’s side, but forced herself not to. Turning to face the large windows in her office, Sumire watched the light rain drizzle across Upperton. February 27th, 6:14 PM, the atomic clock read from its place by the window. That meant it was 2:14 AM in Paris.
With a heavy sigh the CEO answered the knock on the door with a tired “Enter.”
A young man with bleached blonde hair and gray eyes entered. With a deep bow he stood in front of Sumire’s desk silently.
“Harada,” the older woman acknowledged the young man still facing the windows, “Have you found a suitable candidate?”
“I have narrowed it down to two, Ma’am. The first is Professor Dementor. He is the ideal candidate. No fatalities on his record, and he does not use any type of conventional fire arms. He pays incredibly well, and his success rate is 90 percent. The highest by far. Very well known throughout Germany and most of Europe, he is expanding to America and Asia.
“However I perceive he will be difficult to handle. Relying solely on himself, and his inventions, I seriously doubt he would be of any use to us.”
“And the second?” Sumire pinched the bridge of her nose. Suddenly feeling very tired.
“Drew Lipsky. He is an up and coming mad scientist. A tiny fish compared to Professor Dementor, but he has potential. He is in dire need of funds and help. I believe he would be perfect for our plans, since he is rather desperate to make a name for himself.”
“I see. And the reports?“
“Here.”
The regal woman swiveled around to face the artificial blonde and take the offered folders. Flipping through the large folder without interest, she paused at the pictures of Professor Dementor. A frown marred her face as she looked at several snap shots of the short German. There was just something about him that she didn’t like. Most likely the ‘superior than thou’ air he had about him. Sumire silently agreed with her assistant. Although Professor Dementor would be otherwise ideal, she doubted he would follow her ‘suggestions.’
Opening the other, thinner folder, hazel eyes took in the shots of a scarred, blue hued man. Aside from his crazed look-most likely due to the timing of the picture-and the odd tint of his skin, he seemed to be the lesser evil of the two.
Although Sumire hated the idea of going behind her granddaughter’s back, this had to be done. With the latest development, she was forced to take action. Shiina was the last of the Goroda bloodline, and her only granddaughter after all. She would protect Shiina, no matter the cost. A part of her still felt guilty she couldn’t do the same for her own daughter, but she was determined to save her granddaughter.
“Contact Mr. Drew Lipsky. If he is to be our choice, I want to be assured he will follow our directions. Neither Mr. Lipsky, nor Shiina must know of our intentions.” Sumire closed both files and stacked them neatly to the side of her desk. Then as an afterthought, she continued. “And find a better name for him. If he is to ’employ’ my granddaughter and become a renowned megalomaniac, he cannot be known as ’Drew Lipsky.’”
“Understood.” Harada bowed and exited the room.
“Hard at work, I see.”
Drew jumped in the small space as the accented voice reached his ears. “Good heavens man! Don’t you ever knock?”
Harada smirked at the scowling blue man as he walked over to the work bench. The large magnifying glasses Lipsky wore gave him a bug-eyed look. It was hard to not laugh at the sight of the older man.
“Actually, I did. But there was no answer, so I just let myself in.”
Irked by the casualness of the business suited man, Drew barked out. “Well what do you want? I’m a busy man. My robots won‘t build themselves you know.” He was on a roll before he was so rudely interrupted. The updated designs of his beloved Bebes were just too thrilling to ignore. For the first time in years, he had proper funding to purchase the required parts. The arms alone were a small fortune. Drew was just too excited, it seemed like luck was finally going his way.
One month ago a hot shot business man approached him. Claming that his employer was very interested in his work, so much so that they were willing to invest in him. The only trade off was he had to report to Harada every month, and all his schemes would be joint property of this ‘employer’ and himself. He was given a month to decide, but he didn’t need it. Although he didn’t let on how desperate he was, he thanked every god he knew of for this lucky break.
After that freak accident that turned his skin blue two years ago, no one wanted to invest in him. He wasn’t even allowed near fully operational labs anymore. It burned him that he was shunned by all of his peers for one little mistake. It was like college all over again. He vowed he would make them all pay. He just needed some way to do that. That was the reasoning behind his frantic work with the Bebes. Or so he clamed when he was interviewed by that smug prick standing before him.
“I was just curious to see your progress, is all. Now that my employer is funding you, we expect to see some great results. As per our contract.” he said the last part slyly.
“Tsk. You would see results if--”
“If what? Dr. Drakken?” the young man interrupted. Slightly taken aback by the name, Drew said nothing as the gray eyed Asian continued. Harada mentally smirked, interjection of Drew Lipsky’s new name was a success. “You have all the funs available to you. The potential is boundless, yet all you do is lock yourself away in this shed. The parts you require are expensive-not that that is a problem-but you are a proclaimed mad scientist. However you purchase all the parts you need like any good citizen would…I’m beginning to feel like I’m not in the presence of a villain at all, but a poser.”
Blue skin tinged red with anger as he listened to the young man before him. How dare this lackey tell him what to do. He was the mad genius here. “Oh and I suppose I should just rent a huge lair, and hundreds of henchmen, and assistants, and just bill you for the entire cost?” Drew was trying to be sarcastic and rude, but by the smile tugging on the Asian’s face, he realized he wasn’t.
“Correct. You need only give me the bill to be verified by my employer.” The stupefied look that overcame the scarred man was priceless. “However,” he deliberately paused just to watch the older man lean in anxiously, “do not expect everything to be paid for entirely.” The blue man’s face dropped, and Harada continued, thoroughly enjoying this conversation.
“I, personally suggest hiring one capable assistant. And as for the parts…consider, ‘outsourcing‘ the competition. I hear a Dr. Acari, has developed a micro tick. Now, that is something to behold.” gray eyes watched the scientist process the information for a moment. Smirking Harada pulled out an envelope from the inside of his gray suit. “Have a good day, Dr. Drakken.”
Drew blinked as a large envelope was slid across the work table. He didn’t get a chance to say anything as the young Japanese man walked out of the small room. Quickly tearing open the envelope, a half folded page fell out. It was a clipping from ‘Villainy Underground,’ of a quickly raising thief and mercenary. ‘SHEGO’ was written in stylized neon green lettering across the top page. To the side was a picture of a beautiful, pale woman, in a black and green cat suit. The article was short, but it held nothing but praise for this sensational thief and mercenary. A smile curled across blue skin as onyx eyes read the article for the fifth time.
Yes. Things were most definitely going his way. “Dr. Drakken…” he whispered to himself in the empty room. He liked the sound of that name.
AN: Sorry this took so long. I was finishing up this chapter when my computer blacked out, and I lost everthing. Re-typing this whole chapter was a pain, and for a while I just wanted to chuck it and forget the whole thing. But alas, this had to be done. Short chapter, I know. Next chapter will be longer…I hope. (sweat drop)