76. Mark's Hunch, David's Hunt and A Long Awaited Meeting.

Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but this story is based in an alternate earth with some changes in its timeline.

This story does not intend to represent the celebrities/real people or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fictional, and it should be viewed entirely as such.

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Recap of the Previous Chapter –

Mark was relaxing after some fun exercise with Eva, she asked him why he was upset. Mark told her that he only gave the first version of the Killing Joke, they talk about it at length as Mark tells the story behind the real killing joke.

2 days later Nina is waiting for Mark at a lounge in the Heathrow Airport. She thinks back about her investigations on Mark's company to see the work culture and environment. Her findings tell her that Mark is the best person to work for in Hollywood.

After Mark arrives she tells him about all that she has accomplished in her given task. She lists the IPs she was able to acquire for Mark which included – Transformers, The Witcher, Forrest Gump, Warhammer 40k, TMNT and all the books in Mr. Tolkien's catalogue. Mark is very satisfied with her work and praises her sincerely as he leaves.

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– Quotes of the chapter –

~ If you only do what you can do, you will never more than what you are now ~

~ A Wise Old Red Panda.

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~ Mark's POV ~

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Date: Wednesday, 19th September, 1990.

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Location: At the Heathrow Airport entrance.

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Time: 7:58 am.

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After a pleasant meeting with Nina, Mark was on his way to meet up with his team. After the incident with River, he had wisened up and grown even more cautious. Now all the main actors on the tour were accompanied by two guards.

He had hired three guards for himself as well after the incident. All the guards were recommended and vetted by Mr. Kim, his ever present driver/bodyguard.

As he was reaching the area he swiftly put on a mask, as he was getting near the press area he pulled up his hoodie.

"Rose." He called out to his only remaining secretary after the purge he booted his two secretaries and 3 different employees whom he found were acting as spies for rival studios.

Well he actually found more but he knew he could feed them false information to fool his enemies through them so he kept them on board.

But he eliminated any spy who was either at the manager/executive level in Eidolon. Because at such a high profile level their sabotage might do more harm than any advantage he can get through the false information he could feed his enemies through them.

So now he only had one secretary and two assistants who helped in his day to day activities. Rose was one the most loyal and competent persons in his employ despite only being 28.

So he decided to give her a chance to shine, as such he had chosen her to be the tour coordinator for their international PR tour.

Her job was to work as a mediator between Universal and himself, as such she was in charge of planning the tour in such a way that it didn't hamper his comfort or his plans.

She turned around at his voice and identified him with a single glance. But still asked the childish passcode that Mark decided on.

"Password?" She asked, with a chuckle.

"Disney can suck my ****." He whispered in her ear as he leaned in.

She had a naughty smirk on her face as she whispered back in a seductive voice, "I don't know about disney, sir. But I am always ready to suck yours."

Rose wrapped her arm around his elbow as she brought him forward. His security team and Mr. Kim identified him finally and made a human barrier around him.

He was wearing sunglasses to protect himself from the flashes of cameras that the mob of paparazzis were clicking non-stop. Finally he and his team were escorted to the van that will take them to their assigned hotel.

After seeing the tinted glass windows, Mark let out a sigh of relief as took off his mask and glasses as he asked Rose, "So what's my schedule looking like?"

"We only have an interview with ITV at 4pm after lunch." She replied checking to see if everything was in place.

"Drive." She ordered the driver.

"Rose." He called out to her and gestured for her to lean in.

"Tell Charlotte to be ready to work on Steve as soon as the interview ends. I got some place to be." He said in her ear and then leaned back as he thought about how his day had started and what plans he had for the rest of the day.

'Hmm, meeting with Nina to check out her progress with the IP buyout was definitely a surprise, to think she made that progress in just over 2 months. Must say she did good, if she keeps working with this good, I might really have to promote her soon.'

'Meeting with Anne is something I have preparing for some time now. But I still feel a bit nervous.'

he chuckled as thought about her face. 'hehe.. her reaction to who I actually am will be so fun to see.'

'Hmm, she has been feeling a bit down after losing in the first round, I need to do something nice to cheer her up as well.' He thought about how he had his work cut out for him.

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~ After the Interview ~

Mark had one his bodyguard, Steve, who had a similar build as himself, pose as him and sneaked out the backdoor in his actual appearance.

He looked down at the book he had wrapped up for her, it was the gift he had prepared for his meeting with her for the first time.

It was a compilation of his ideas on the lore and world building for a magical fantasy world. But he kept it generic while avoiding any specific plot points.

It might serve as a good archive of ideas to draw inspiration from for any author working on a novel in a magical or fantasy setting.

He was even thinking about including a downgraded version of it in the Workshop's curriculum.

Maybe one for every genre and even a guide on how to create one's own power fantasy system that makes sense.

His latest book was about how to create a great villain, one who isn't a villain just for the sake of it but because it serves a purpose and has deeper reasons behind his actions.

As he was thinking about his latest efforts in improving the Workshop's curriculum and ensuring that better artists are born out of it to hold up the weight of the world's expectations with their creative talents and honed knowledge.

He didn't realize but he was being watched by someone in the crowd. That person had been tailing him from the time he had exited the ITV office.

Despite Mark's [Cloak & Dagger] skill, this person was able to identify him and was even able to follow him without alerting Mark of his presence.

This showed that the person was an expert spy or agent and quite familiar with Mark. After following him for a while and ensuring that no one else was following him, he decided to intercept.

Mark was walking leisurely in a happy mood, his day was going great and in a few minutes he was going to meet Jo for the first time face to face.

The glee from owing the IPs of stories that had formed his childhood had him filled with such nostalgia, his mind was in a happy place. As if nothing could wipe the smile off his face today.

As he was turning a corner he saw a man who had overtaken him before but now had stopped. He turned around halfway and stood on the corner, looking at his face surprised him a bit.

He gestured for him to follow very subtly and then made his way to the nearest slightly empty cafe. Thankfully it didn't take him long to find one such spot as he was in London, where coffee is a very popular drink.

He sat down and ordered a cup of coffee for himself, the man he had seen entered after a few minutes as well. His dress was casual as well, but he had a mustache and wig on to disguise himself.

He beelined his way to the table behind Mark and sat with his back to him. He slowly shifted his chair so as to be even closer to him but did so very slowly as he didn't want to draw any unwanted attention.

As the waitress came over with Mark's drink she took his order as well and left.

Seeing that they had some privacy now, Mark decided to start the conversation. He leaned back in his chair as he said, "I didn't expect to see you here. David."

"Expect the unexpected, right Mark." The man now identified as David, the Watch Commander of OverWatch replied.

"Are you here for me?" Mark asked, as he looked around to see if any new customers had come in.

"Not exactly, I am here on another case. But, the information you had asked for came in early. So I thought I might as well deliver it to you as I was close by." He replied without moving his lips. David was an expert ventriloquist, a skill he had developed over a decade of field work so that nobody could read his lips.

It also muffled his voice, ensuring that it didn't travel too far from him, working as an excellent tool against people trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. He wouldn't be caught lacking like that, never.

Mark's expression changed slightly, more serious now. 'that really was faster, at their usual pace I didn't think I would get the information before I came back from the tour.' But he didn't voice his thoughts as he had a more pressing question.

"So, who was it?" He asked lightly as he took a sip of the coffee. It was expertly made, a blend of two different beans, slow roasted to perfection, to give it a mellow bitter aftertaste.

"It was the big man in the house of mouse." David replied smoothly, still use code as his paranoia won't even allow him to name the suspect of the conversation.

"I see." Mark said, his voice gaining weight to it. Now more serious as if trying to contain his wrath but not surprised as if he had expected the answer and he only served to confirm his conjecture.

He had taught a few skills of his trade to Mark, so he wanted to see if Mark really had guessed the person or organization behind the scenes.

"You knew?" He asked.

"I had a hunch, that it was Disney. Both my instincts and analysis point at Micheal or at least someone directly under him." Mark replied as he scratched his nose to hide his mouth. His other hand holding the cup tightened around it, he took a deep breath as he let it go.

"You would be right." David replied, confirming his thoughts.

Mark didn't reply, but his mind was running a mile a minute. Going through every possible way he could harm Disney but then he stopped. As the best way had already been taken by him.

Micheal Eisner was a person he had read about and seen interviews on the television. He had even read first hand accounts of people that worked under him, reading about Hollywood executives was a favorite pastime of his.

He knew the thing Micheal cared for the most, was his pride, his accomplishment of raising Disney from its deathbed to becoming one of the Big Six studios of Hollywood. It really was a praise worthy deed but now it would be one that Mark would target.

It had already started with his plan to steal the beauty and the beast. He would slowly hollow out Disney from inside until there was nothing left to bring Eisner to his knees. Disney was a giant to the current Eidolon but there was one place where he was sure he would beat Disney in.

The Box Office. He would specifically target the days where Disney would release their own movies and drive the audiences away from Disney.

Actor scandals, false reviews from paid critics, misleading the audiences with ads, etc. He would reveal all of these under the table methods Disney used to drive the potential audiences away from them.

The game had finally begun. While his mind was conjuring up more ways he could harm Disney. He saw the waitress approach again, this time with David's coffee.

Mark tapped his foot twice to signal this and then leaned forward to drink his coffee.

David stopped as well; he was about to warn Mark about not doing anything reckless. He knew Mark was a steady and calculative person but when those close to him are harmed, he can get a bit unhinged.

He thanked the waitress and accepted his coffee. After making sure they were alone again, he spoke softly, "If you need any help dealing with the mouse then let me know. Also please don't do anything reckless, Mark."

"I am a businessman and a professional, David. I won't do anything reckless and bring unwanted attention to me." Mark replied nonchalantly, he never thought about doing anything reckless.

His way of exacting his revenge would take longer but it would definitely be far more satisfying. The case that brought David to the big apple did draw his attention as the Overwatch mostly operated in the states.

"So what brought you here?" He asked, as he took the last sip of his coffee.

"It's the Schofield brothers. Particularly Philip, though his brother is no different." He replied, taking a sip perfectly maintaining his poker face. Not even showing a hint of the disgust and rage he felt inside.

"The pedo." Mark muttered under his breath as this seriously was something he didn't want anyone to even mistakenly hear about.

"You've heard about him?" He asked, wanting to see if Mark could provide him some new information.

"Just some rumors, they're pretty bad though. The guy is well connected, but it shouldn't matter to you. What matters is that you can't give this information to the BBC or ITV."

"They will do their very best to bury this scandal as it will make them look bad. Your best bet would be the sun and the guardian and avoid any small newspaper this time as they might just sell the info to BBC for money."

"Also look into the staff of his news programs I have heard they're in on it, as well. If you can get them to talk you can find some pretty incriminating information. At least enough to put him away for decades."

Mark looked around to see that most of the people sitting near him and David had already left. So he decided to reveal a bit more, "Grooming children and then getting into relationships with them isn't something that we can allow them to get away with.

"Same goes for his brother and anyone else who enabled them, looked the other way, some who were even depraved enough to partake, ALL OF THEM MUST SUFFER." He growled under his breath.

After taking a deep breath to compose himself, he took out enough money to cover the tip and got ready to leave.

"Well, I got a someplace to be, good luck on your hunt, David." He whispered, as he got a turned away to leave.

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After the eventful meeting with the commander and getting a confirmation on his guess of Disney being the thorn in his path, he made his way to the meeting place they had decided on.

It was actually a quaint little in the outskirts of London, he had decide on it as it was actually the place where she used to work at to pay her bills. The place where he was supposed to have first seen her at and heard of plight from another server.

It was an operative who did it, but thankfully he had his detailed written account of the encounter. So he could easily fake the encounter and make it seem as if he was the one who was actually there.

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~ Joanne Rowling's POV ~

Saying that she was nervous would be an understatement, sitting at the very place where her life finally changed for the better made her feel butterflies in her stomach.

It was a small quiet little spot that had somehow barely able to survive despite the declining economy in these depressive times.

Maybe it was location, that brought her mind to how it all started. Her story was almost like a fairytale, at first being discarded by her then husband due to an unwanted pregnancy.

Well it was actually due to their constant fights and struggles caused by her pregnancy but her point still stood. Her husband just couldn't take it anymore and after a lengthy and ugly fight they got a divorce.

Being a newly divorced mother of a 2 year old girl was hard and doing multiple part time jobs to barely keep them both fed was a struggle. But just like fairytales that her daughter, Jess was so enamored with, a kind stranger had reached to her with a helping hand.

The odd thing about it was how she never got to meet him in person, a man who worked for him arranged for her to be moved in an apartment his employer owned.

Her pride at first wanted her to refuse the kind gesture at not wanting to accept help from a stranger. But her dire straits forced her to accept, the fact that the place was in a posh and safer part of the town close to a kindergarten only sweetened the deal.

Still she requested that she wanted to atleast pay part of the rent and utilities, a thing she found really difficult at first. Until the stranger with whom she was exchanging letters with asked if he could recommend her for a job.

She didn't want to be even more in debt of him, but maybe them writing letters to each other allowed him to know her well enough to guess her thought process.

He expressedly said that it was only a recommendation and that it would only allow her a fair chance to get an interview at best.

And that whether she got the job or not, would totally be on her abilities, reading that finally put her mind at ease. It made her take the leap of faith and go for the interview, which suprisingly she aced, impressing her employer.

Through their letters, she finally got to know his name as well. It was Mark, he said that he was a book author, with a few works that sold really well. That was how he made his initial money and later through a few smart investments it only grew higher in value.

She could tell that he didn't really care much about money and instead was focused more on arts mostly stories and different ways to tell them. So they mostly talked about literature, arts, fictional novels and even things about the world that fascinated them.

Her connection with Mark was an intellectual one, she could tell he was a very smart man. Knowing obscure facts about animals, geography, history and even having a keen interest in the human psychology.

After exchanging letters for months on end, she had come to trust him implicitly. So much that she had even told him about her ideas for her original story that she was conceptualizing.

The world she was trying to build for her character was one of magic and the occult. A world of magic and brilliance, of a young orphaned boy on a magical train going to study the art of magic in a magical castle.

Her ideas, were random and scattered, written on post it notes and they were so many that they filled up an entire wall in her new apartment. But they were disjointed and disconnected, that's what talking with Mark made her realise, the one thing she was lacking, her story needed an overarching theme.

One that would very subtly run through all the adventures of her young hero. Mark had sent her many books whenever she would ask him about a problem. He was quirky like that, as he never gave her a straight answer. Instead he just sent over a book with a portion of it marked, as telling her her to find it herself.

Her unasked task was then to read the book, focusing especially on the marked portion and then write the answer of her own question that she inferred from reading that book. This had gone on for over a month before he told her about a competition.

It was one were professional writers participated from all over Europe and Mark had requested her to sign up for it. He had even laid out an enticing bait to motivate her for the perilous task.

He had told her that if she signed up for the competition and earnestly participated in it then he would meet her face to face very soon. This was something she had only fantasied about in her dreams.

A chance to meet Mark, she was a little embarrassed at how happy that thought made her feel. Even though it started out maybe as a charity case but through the letters she could tell that Mark had actually come to think of her as a close friend and really cared about both her and Jess.

Her friendship with Mark, might have only started off as a coincidence. But it had grown with her feeling deep respect and admiration for the man who she had found herself deeply indebted to. But surprisingly it didn't make her feel bad, instead it almost felt natural like Mark was someone whom she could always depend on, someone who would always be in her corner.

So it wasn't really a surprise that she had jumped at the first chance of finally being able to see him in person. Signing up for a writing competition where people from all over Europe sent in their work to be graded and judged.

Unfortunately she was ruthlessly rejected in the first round and even though it was something which she had expected it still filled her with self doubt about maybe she was in the wrong path or maybe writing wasn't for her.

Mark had really helped to dispel her negative thoughts, in his latest letter he had kept his promise and even invited her to the place where it all began. But this time with her as a patron and them finally meeting face to face.

~ To be continued…

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{Author's Note: And CUT! Hmm I think I really nailed the cliffhanger this time. I know, I can be evil sometimes. This chapter was fun, especially with all the introspection and dialogues we got to see a lot of povs and behind the scenes like how Mark helped JK, David confirming that it really was disney behind the "River incident", with him also being on the hunt for Philip Schofield and his brother, etc.

Btw Philip Schofield is a real life person, one with some deep connection. Despite him grooming children and doing a lot of illegal and questionble. His crimes are downplayed and portrayed as if people should feel sorry for him. Two words. FUCK HIM. He will get what's coming for him, david will tear him a new one. His brother and everyone involved, BBC will be painted red with their own blood.

Anywhos, moving on, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.

If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day. (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}