ic Family Takeover

[Tiffany Korta]

9:00 am Monday 28^th September 2020

Summers Advance Designs, Jasmine House, Downtown West 66

 

Downtown West 66 was a rather modest skyscraper that housed a legacy of the Summer’s family, one that could be coming to an end very soon. The massive Majestic Industries corporation was looking to buy out the company, what with Jerome King holding a place on the board.

 

They were obviously hoping that the Summers had no interest in the future of a company they had little to do with for the last couple of decades, but a Summers never lets go of the past easily, especially one that was specially to there beloved…

[Tiffany Korta]

Scarab III

Kamala Khanufasa knew none of this but she still wasn’t happy in the slighest. When she’d been asked to discuss applications of some of her technology she’d done her homework and was happy with the companies focus on using technology to help people who put there lives on the line. So she was less than happy when the young excutive she met had wanted to discuss military applications of her technologies. Cross words had been exchanged, and she may have punch the young man, and she’d stormed out of the office.

 

Stomping through the corridors she wasn’t looking where she was going with a potential disastrous situation.

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Honestly? Charlie wasn't sure why he was even there. Sure, he'd read up on Summers Advance Designs. He knew what it was all about, it Ms. Summers' late mom's old company, and her dad had kind of let it do its own thing, but suddenly someone was trying to buy it? Alright, he could get why the Summers clan wasn't happy about that, but... he still wasn't sure why he had to tag along with Alek for this. It honestly wasn't his thing.

 

"Hey, watch out!" He quickly stepped out of the way before a woman smashed right into him. She was pissed about something, but she should still watch out!

[KnightDisciple]

To many in the world of "big business", Aleksander Garen Nakani was a wild unknown. An Eastern European orphan adopted by a couple who were, frankly, unknowns before that point and for years after. It was less than a decade ago that they became permanent assistants and employees of Duncan Summers and Calliope Summers, the wealthy patrons of the prestigious Claremont Academy, as well as a half-dozen major charities scattered around Freedom City and the Eastern Seaboard. Loren Barbeau firmly established himself as the overseer of the Summers' ancestral home, the grounds, and several other private property holdings, many of which were converted to either historical sites and museums, or transferred for charitable causes over time. Melissa Barbeau is the more formidable force, and in the last 5 years has aggressively managed and expanded the financial status of the Summers family, taking the post of "financial advisor" as a sort of open license.

 

So when their adoptive son, himself an alumnus of Claremont Academy under the direct tutelage and supervision of Calliope Summers, and recent recipient of dual degrees in Business Adminsitration and Computer Administration, summa cum laude from Hanover Institute of Technology. Today he wore an all-black affair, the very picture of young, vibrant business in the new millennium.

 

As Kamala Khanufasa stomped past, he side-stepped without having to look at her, and with a gentle tug for his apprentice to aid his own maneuver. Only after she was past did he look up, closing his flat black portfolio and tucking it under one arm as he pulled off his gold-rimmed sunglasses (which Charlie knew contained a wealth of AR data visible only to the wearer). As he spoke to Charlie, he gently folded the glasses up and placed them in their padded case, then in his jacket pocket. 

 

"Best to get used to it. People in business are often irritated or mindlessly hurrying."

 

He checked his watch, and waited about 30 seconds, before nodding with a slight smirk.

 

"Alright, now we go in. That puts us exactly one minute after the on-calendar meeting start. Early enough they won't be completely relaxed, but late enough we'll catch them off-guard. Remember, you're my intern here. You're in there with that laptop to provide information, but please try to keep the commentary low. I'll manage the people."

 

With that, he smoothly walked forward, making his way down the rest of the hall and to the ornate wooden doors leading into the board room. With one arm, he smoothly opened one of them and stepped inside, his face holding what some might think was an almost vapid smile.

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, good morning! Are we ready to get started?"

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

Boardroom

The meeting room was an extravagant thing dominated by a massive ebony wood table with inlaid panels and a cutting edge (civilian) holosystem. The room was cold with no touches of beauty, even the original logo had been taken down to be replaced with pictures of the current board.

 

The board was only five other and the glasses provided a wealth of information about the seven men on the board, ironic considering who had founded the company. The text scrolled in Alex’s vision was extensive taken from the investigations of both Duncan and Calliope, indeed it was possible to tell from the style of the two.

 

All of the members had minor infractions from basics things like harassment and all forms of unsavoury assaults, traffic violations and all you’d expect from people who used and abused there powers. Two were corporate traders, obviously planning to asset strips parts of the company, who had been investigated several times for insider and underhanded trading. One was a rumoured weapons dealer, associated with several terrorist and supervillain groups, he was rumoured to have personally tested his product on undesirables. The other had ties to organized crimes and was probably laundering money through the company and using company assets to move stuff in and out of Freedom City.

 

And then there was Jerome King. The Raven’s files on Majestic Industries went right back to the early days of Duncan Summer and covered all the other crimes commited here and so much more, and frustratingly they’d never been able to pin even the most minor crime on the company. Jerome might be young but rumours suggested that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

 

“Hello there I’ve don’t think we’ve met before, I’m Jerome King.” he had a rich soothing voice and a winning smile as he offered his hand to Alex.

[Tiffany Korta]

Scarab III

Corridor

Kamala was going to let them go and just get out of here, bubt something the oldest of the two had touched her final nerve and she turned back to give them a piece of her mind. She’d missed Alex by second but managed to catch Charlie, the little firebrand stabbing at him with a finger.

 

“You tell your boss that I’ve never been so insulted as to be invited here to even consider using my technology In such way, I will take my battery and shove it so far…”

 

Maybe it was her extra senses but something seemed off and looking around she spotted something that was off about this situation.

 

“Wait did you see that?”

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"Sure, you're the boss. I'll take notes, no funny business." Charlie quickly adjusted his tie. He liked wearing ties, he liked dress shirts and all that, but the jacket that Alek had made him wear? That was a bit much, to be honest. It was a bit tight over his shoulders, he didn't feel like he could move properly in it. 

 

He only just got a quick look inside and heard the man greeting Alek, while he shifted his suitcase with his laptop back from his wrist and to his hand, when the woman that had almost hit him came storming back and stabbed at him with a finger. He instinctively moved his suitcase up in front, using it to protect himself.

 

"Woah, woah, hey, chill lady!" There was something about her that was scarier than just about anything he had seen as Nevermore so far. Maybe because he couldn't just hit her with a ravenrang or pop out of there? "I got no idea what you're going on about, everything going on here is normally so far above my paygrade that I wouldn't even know where to begin! I'm just the guy that takes notes for the boss, you're the one that almost hit -"

 

See what? He was almost about to slip into Nevermore mode, but... no. Secret ID and all that.

 

"What?" he instead asked with a flat tone.

[KnightDisciple]

Alek took Jerome's hand with a beaming smile, eyes sparkling in delight.

 

"Good to meet you, Jerome! The pleasure's all mine! Hey, nice to meet you, you too. Nice tie!"

 

He quickly made the rounds of the table, shaking the hand of each person present. In the back of his mind, Alek made a note to scrub his hands with the strongest safe soap he could after they got out of here...

 

"It seems something held up my assistant. My apologies; he's serving as a part-time intern. Paid of course, don't want the journalists coming down on us about unpaid labor or whatever, right? Haha!"

 

He gave the group an exaggerated wink before casually dropping the portfolio he'd been holding onto the table. He sat down with a flourish, sweeping his suit jacket just so to keep it out of the way yet look fashionable. He flipped it open as he continued to smile, taking just a second to glance at it before looking up at everyone present. He clasped his hands on the table and leaned forward a bit as he spoke.

 

"I'll be honest, I'm absolutely a new face here. I'm sorry for the surprise entrance, but I'm eager to get to know how things go around here! Oh, you know what, how rude of me! I apologize, Mister King, I forgot to give you my name a moment ago."

 

He leaned back, one hand moved to rest on the side of the lush chair, the other positioned to prop up his head as he leaned it to one side. 

 

"My name is Aleksander Nakani. I'm here as the duly-appointed, legally-empowered representative for Mister Duncan Summers and Miss Calliope Summers. They recognize this may seem a bit odd; the Summers family has been fairly hands-off for several years now. But it's a new decade in a new millennium. Time for a change! Alas, Mister Summers must be cautious of his travels at his age, and Miss Sumers is ever so busy with running that little academy. So they sent me. I do hope that's alright? I have all the paperwork regarding Power of Attorney, Proxy Voting Power, and so on. Boring stuff, really. So. Catch me up, if you don't mind?"

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

Corridor

Both of them saw the same time, from either end of the corridor were a series of people in SAD jumpsuits and pushing what appeared to be cleaning trolleys. Innocent enough if it wasn’t for some rather suspicious looking bulges under there arms. Cleaning staff did not tend to go around armed, even in a city full of Super villains.

 

Boardroom

Jerome didn’t see non·plussed at Aleks credentials, instead giving a smile that looked liked he had to practice to do such things.

 

“I will be honest Mr Nakani we didn’t expect that the Summer’s estate to send a representative.”

 

As Jerome spoke out of the corner of his eye Alek’s saw the exchange of a large note between two of the men, so someone even jokingly excepted some would be sent.

 

“Do you need to know why we’re here today Mr Nakani or are you also up to speed on why we’re here?”

[Tiffany Korta]

Scarab III

When she saw the guys moving around with some potentially malicious intent Kamala quickly considered her options. You didn’t just wander into a business meeting with a Scarab Pack, all she had was the suit she was wearing a few samples of her tech and her wits. So at least she had that in the plus column.

 

Even though there was no way she was going to just let these people capture the building, though she would need time to figure out a plan. Having not been spotted, as far as she knew, she ducked low and began to make for a nearby office whispering loudly to the idiot she’d be chastising, he could be useful in a crisis.

 

“Quickly this way we need to work out why they’re here.”

[KnightDisciple]

Raven III

 

Alek smiled at Jerome. 

 

"I've been doing some extensive research on the recent moves within Summers Advanced Design, but I'm of the mind that the most accurate picture of what's happening will come from the people involved in the work. In the trenches, if you will. So I would absolutely appreciate a brief recap of the current state of things as well as the action items on the agenda today."

 

He reached down and shuffled some papers, and as he did so threw out a casual comment.

 

"That's also why I have interviews scheduled with a random sampling of employees at all levels of the company for later today. I like to get a good cross-section of something when I'm working on it." 

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Wait, wait... did those people in SAD uniforms have guns under their arms? That didn't make a whole lot of sense, did it now? No, Charlie was pretty sure that the cleaning staff wasn't supposed to be armed here. He looked at the lady that had been yelling at him for pretty much no reason at all, how could he get away so he could tell Alek about it, or better yet, do something about it? He had to figure out a plan here, get her out of the way before these guys did something and... She went completely professional whispering to him and pulling him along to an office. Which, good. It got her away from them for now. And he had his utility belt in his suitcase, even if Alek thought he didn't need to bring it and he could come up with some plan and... 

 

Right, the woman was still here. Time to play idiot. Put those acting lessons to work.

 

"What are you talking about? Would you let go of me? My boss is gonna get pissed that I haven't joined him yet."

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III

Kamala took control of the situation dragging the idiot into a near by office, she’d considered calling her carapace but that would be too obvious. Still she was very smart and could improvise thing well enough.

 

“Keep an eye out for them, once they’ve secured the area they’ll probably start going office to office.”

 

As she spoke she went through the basics, checking her cell, the offices phones and computer. All of them blocked. Going through a mental inventory she took a screw driver and began to work on the computers power pack.

 

“If we’re going to avoid those thugs we’re going to have to work together. I’m something of an inventor, specialising with superconducting materials” she waved the screwdriver around “What exactly can you do?”

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

“I’m here to make an offer to roll this company into Majestic, with a generous share option entice you all to sign.” he smiled a shark like grin “We have a rather extensive portfolio to explain the benefits to yourself and the company.”

 

He began to operate the tablet set into the table, looking momentary confused and frustrated as the device didn’t seem to do what he wanted it to. Before speaking his frustration he looked up and apparently understood why the system wasn’t working. Alek’s didn’t need that though the subtle ka-chunk of a bolt being pulled back on several automatic weapons.

[KnightDisciple]

Raven III

 

Alek gave Jerome another one of those odd smiles.

 

"That's certainly an interesting concept. I'm wondering if we'd all agree on what "generous" means, mind you, considering what the intentions of the Summers family is. Now, that's not to put off collaboration with Majestic off the table; that would just be rude, and I wouldn't want anyone to accuse me of being..."

 

Alek went very still as he heard the sound of more than one firearm being readied. His face went blank, though he uttered a slight sigh. A subtle gesture of his wrist shook it in a pre-determined pattern, which set off a silent, invisible alarm to Charlie's own device; his apprentice would feel a slight "pulse" from his phone vibrating, but the noise would be minute. Alek's hands slowly went flat on the table, and then the only movement was his own breathing, and him speaking.

 

"Right, would you all rather I just sit quietly here, or are we going to need to get up?"

 

His voice was pitched such that it was clear he was speaking to whoever was behind him holding an arsenal of guns. 

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Charlie froze and stared at the woman. She was clearly not just some business woman that had been all pissed off at him for being in her way, she was telling him that much, at least. Those guys were moving around, and he needed to do something about them, but he couldn't really do much without blowing his cover. His utility belt was in his suitcase, but she would catch on to something being up if he brought htat out and...

 

"I'm just an intern?"

 

Technically not a lie? He did his best to sound like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, at least.

 

"Come on, what do you expect me to do? I'm just here to take notes during the boss' meetings."

[Tiffany Korta]

The Scarab III

Now sat on the desk with the guts of several PSU’s Kamala gave a little sight and gestured with the screwdriver towards a large storage cupboard.

 

“Fine before trouble starts hide in there, I suggest you stay low in case there are any stray shots. Or you can go a join the other hostages, hopefully they don’t have any real malicious intentions towards then.”

 

She would after all be try to release the hostages as soon as she could, even if at least one of the was a scum bag, it was the heroic thing to do and she was most definitely the hero. But more people meant more variable to take care of and she was smart but there was limits after all.

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

There was five guys plus a leader all dressed in tactically aromor with there faces covered. They were holding rifles and looked very much like they knew what they were doing. Normally not a problem for The Raven, but the whole setup added complications.

 

“Your our now hostages, as soon as the FCPD arrive e’ll let them and you know our demands.” he had a slight unidentifiable accent “But just so you know we mean business.”

 

He drew his pistol and picked one of the other businessmen, ironically the arms dealer. Calmly walking over to the man he put a single round through his knee, not a fatal round but it would be deliberation for some time. Over the man’s howls of pain h turned to the others with a grim smile

 

“Hopefully none of you will give us any trouble.”

[KnightDisciple]

Raven III

 

Alek did what he could to react with a measure of shock and fear on his face, while still keeping his body from making sudden movements. It was harder than one might think to do exactly that. After the noise of the gunshot faded, he spoke up with only a slight tremor in his voice.

 

"I'm more than happy to not give you all any trouble at all. Could one of us get something to put on that gentleman's leg to help with the bleeding? I'm more than happy to do it. It'll keep my hands occupied, after all."

 

He sat still and kept his hands flat on the table as he spoke. He didn't have a lot of medical training, but he could manage enough to keep a man from bleeding out. "Apply pressure" was not exactly complicated medical advice, after all. 

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Charlie knelt down by the cupboard, his briefcase in front of him. He silently opened it, reached into it and slipped on his belt, making sure to his it under his clothes before stood up again.

 

"No, I really don't think staying in there's a good idea. I'm gonna stick to you like glue, lady! You look like you got all this figured out, so I'll, uh... play lookout or something?" 

 

That worked, right? He hoped it worked. He had to be stealthy about this, couldn't let her figure out what he was going to do. 

 

"Two pairs of eyes gotta be better than one, right? I'll stay out of the way while you... do whatever you're gonna do?"

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

Boardroom

The apparently leader of the terrorist gently pushed Jerome towards the exit of the boardroom.

 

“We’re going to negotiate with the FCPD, if they cause any trouble try to wound not kill. They still have some use to us.”

 

His grin suggested he wasn’t totally worried if some of them suffered accidents.

 

Office

The young woman was working hard on whatever crazy contraption she was working on, but it seemed that there time had run out. Voice could be heard from outside the door and someone was beginning to try the door handle...

[Tiffany Korta]

Scarab III

Kamala had most of the parts in place, the lack of tools was frustrating but she was managing with what she had at hand. She was fighting the urge to make it near perfect, as was her normal approach, it only had to work well once or twice.

 

Still time wasn’t on there side, and she doubted anyone would appreciate if she created a gravity large enough to slow time.

 

“I need another minute at least. You’ll need to stall them somehow.”

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"What do you want me to do? Go block the door and have them shoot at me? Come on, they'll just shoot me through the door."

 

Charlie reached into his briefcase while he was talking, pulling out a tripwire. It was probably a good thing Kamala wasn't looking right now.

 

"I'll just hide over here, hope they don't see us, and, shout and get shot if they do?"

 

He threw the tripwire trap out near the door, hoping to hde it from Kamala with his talking, then quickly moved to anywhere that he could hide inside the room.

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

With the boss apparently out of the room one of the goons took it upon himself to grab the offices small first aid kit and throw it at the feet of Alek.

 

“Stop that idiot from whimpering if you must…” he turned to the other goon and gave a rather nasty smile

 

“Not that it will matter for much longer as it is.”

 

This was starting to look less and less like simple hostage situation, something far worse looked like it was on the cards.

[KnightDisciple]

Alek calmly, slowly bent down to pick up the kit. He gave no outward indication of fear at the comment about how long it would matter. Instead, he went over to the injured man, and the cluster of other "big names" who were as far away as possible from the men with guns. He knelt down next to the injured man and gave him a slight smile as he opened the kit.

 

"Listen to my voice. I know you're in pain. It hurts a lot. Don't grit your teeth, or try to hold in the pain. Breath with me."

Alek took several large, soft breaths as he worked to pack gauze into the wound. He grabbed the hands of one of the other board members.

 

"Hold this here, don't be shy."
 

His own hands free, Alek continued the breathing. 

 

"Breath with me, everyone. It'll help you stay calm. There we go, move your hand like-yes, thank you."

 

Within a few moments more, the man's leg was, if not repaired, at least at the point that it was not at risk for immediate bleed-out. Alek calmly wiped his hands with a couple of the small sanitation cloths packed into the large kit; he handed several to the board member who had held the gauze.

 

"Thank you. Now, let's all try to sit quietly for a few minutes. Seems like a good idea, yes?"

 

With that, Alek turned around and sat down on the ground. The fact that he just happened to be sitting seiza was of no consequence. He closed his eyes for several moments, then opened them and tried to take in the room, its occupants, and the opportunities in front of him.