CHAPTER 60 - ALLIANCES

"You know I could get killed just for meeting with you this openly, right?" Emma Frost lightly said as she twirls the glass in her while addressing the dark skinned woman sitting in front of her desk.

"Oh please, we both know you're just exaggerating." The woman waves off the White Queen's concern as if they were trivial worries which in turn prompted a chuckle out of Emma.

They laughed for a few moments before Emma's face got serious as she addressed a pressing concern to her. "How did you come across such information, Mystique?"

Mystique, who was disguising as a black American woman, only shifted her face to that of a man that Emma recognized due to his affiliation to a potentially hazardous group.

"They call him Vision, right?" Emma commented in a light tone but her mind was already going through a whole slew of 'what ifs?'.

'Do the Avengers know about the inner dealings of the Hellfire Club? If so, this will be very disastrous for me.' One of the powers of those in the Inner Circle of the Club was how easily they blended into the crowd of pigs in the real world. They hardly made the headlines unless it was for something that would positively impact them.

"Isn't it weird how a robot has such autonomy?"

Mystique snorted at Emma's words which somehow surprised the latter but Mystique clarified before she could ask. "It's like every one blatantly forgets that the 'robot' is not just made up of metal."

Emma's eyes widened as she understood what Mystique was trying to say. According to the information they were able to peruse from Vision's advent, it was explicitly mentioned that he was part organic and part machine.

She wanted to ask more about any information of his personality Mystique might have gleaned from whatever interaction they had but waived those thoughts away and focused on what was currently important. "Do you have any idea how he came to possess such detailed information?"

She really wanted to know and depending on what Mystique said, she would decide on whether to help her on this promising undertaking of hers.

What she was stealthily snooping around for was to determine the extent of information Vision, and in extension the Avengers, had on them. Who really was a step ahead in their war for power?

"I have no idea, Emma, but I think it's safe to say he's not alone in this. I doubt a group as inwardly volatile as the Avengers would allow someone like Vision to walk around and do whatever he pleases without one of them keeping him within a scope's sights. Not to mention after that stunt he pulled at the hearing."

Mystique's reasoning normally would have been on point but she was entirely wrong because of one thing and one thing only which flawed her entire perception of who Vision was.

The Avengers were all geniuses.

Regardless of the disparity between the comparison of each of their individual characters, they all excelled at their specific field with hardly any rival in sight.

And as history has always dictated, geniuses were always the weird ones.

"I've heard what you are trying to say but what do 'you' want from me, Mystique? In case I never made it clear from the beginning, I want nothing to do with the Avengers, least of all an antagonistic relationship with them so unless what you're offering is of monumental value other than the heads up you've given me, I'm afraid I will have to cut our meeting short." Emma said, reverting back to her business persona that she's created and perfected since her teenage days. 'No offense love, but it's just business.'

"How would you like having half of the Club supporting you?" Mystique's words immediately gained her attention.

"I'm listening."

"I know you already have some damning information on a few of those in the Circle and all I need is for Vision, or whoever is behind him, to go after one of them while we use this chance to clean up some space, hmm?"

The two of them smirked and a coalition was set.

°°°°°°°°

At the same time that Emma and Mystique were having their secret meeting, Edward Buckman and Sebastian Shaw were having one of theirs. The details, though slightly different in context, were about the same topic.

"As agreed upon, I did manage to have my people salvage whatever they could from Norman's serum and now it's time for you to live up your part of the deal." Shaw said while sipping a 30 year old drink.

Edward snorted at Shaw's attempt at the noble comparison of a loan shark. "Project: Armageddon is something I've been planning towards for years now, even before my admittance into the Club. It's all about safeguarding our natural interests as humans against any invading species, for example mutants."

Shaw's face betrayed no emotion as he beckoned for Edward to continue. "With the emergence of mutants, it won't take long before they filter their way into every industry under the sun and by then us humans will be relegated to nothing more than defects in their perfect world until we are killed off and Project: Armageddon is the solution to that."

"How so?"

"While it's still not practical, it's more than halfway there. Despite the dangers the mutant race brings with them, we can't ignore the treasure they brought also." Edward said with his eyes flickering in excitement for Shaw to ask what he meant.

Shaw rolled his eyes but played along for the time being. "And what are these treasures?"

"Their genes, Shaw, their genes." Edward said with a huge smile on his face. "Not only the mutants, but mutates also. So far I've gotten the mutagene of the Hulk, and Alpha level telepath and a slew of others but I've not yet cracked how to perfectly fuse all these mutagenes to create the perfect weapon. At least that it was until something happened…"

Now Shaw was without a doubt hooked. Who knew Edward who lacked any real substance behind his actions was spearheading something as ominous as this without anybody knowing?

He had thought Edward only had a fetish for trafficking mutant organs which was why he regularly kidnapped them.

"Come on now, old boy. Don't keep me in suspense." Shaw joked as he refilled Edward's glass and prompted him to continue which the latter gladly did without the alcohol even prodding him.

"Helen Cho cradle successfully fused organic tissue and machines together to form a sentient life form. It was a stroke of brilliance but I want to push that forward. Instead of just tissues and whatnot, what if I succeed in fusing multiple mutagenes into one and fusing that with the vessel for my perfect soldier?" The more Edward spoke, the colder the chill that went down Shaw's spine became but he never let the small smile on his face vanish. "If I can do this, I will finally have the perfect weapon to erase mutant kind from the face of the earth."

It was only then that Shaw realized just how dangerous the man he's known for years now truly was. The hatred he had for mutants was not something natural, but then again so was mutants. Hate couldn't be rationalized most of the time. Sometimes it's just something one grows up with.

His thoughts were forcefully snapped short when he heard Edward's following proposal.

"Do you want to join me, Shaw? Unlike the others in the Circle, you are the only one I can trust with this kind of information."

Hearing the sincerity in Edward's voice, Shaw was almost tempted to forgo his plan of killing Edward when he was through with him and he's outlived every aspect of his usefulness… almost.

"Of course, my friend. While the others might party hard and blow away through every sort of luxury on this planet, at least there's someone I can count on to look at the bigger picture." Shaw said with an impassioned expression as if lamenting a forgotten regret. "To the future."

"To the future." The both of them clinked their glasses and drank their wine before falling into smaller conversations.

'To the future indeed.'

.

.

.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

You can find +10 chapters ahead in my patreøn

Patreøn.com/QuackVader