Epic RP Part 3
30 May 2008 23:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shichahnIn which Shadow makes a deal with the enemy, and Perion yells at what was briefly a mint plant.
On the outside, the building was seedy, but on the inside, it was definitely much nicer looker. It used to be just as shady as the facade, but as soon Sebastian had taken up his new girl, Millan, she had made some changes in the decor. Now the office was girlier looking, plants in the corner and the woman's desk covered in cute mascots from overseas companies. Of course, the plants were all fake, there was no need to go inviting trouble should she come around. Millan made a face, remembering the last encounter she had had with Perion. She had blacked out for a week before coming to and couldn't remember anything, though now she had a penchant for sunshine and the smell of soil. The sunshine part... eh, but she could do without having the urge to stand ankles buried in the dirt. That was just gross.
She tossed back her black hair, glancing at her computer monitor. No new e-mails in her inbox. She looked down at the phone, trying to will it to ring. Millan didn't mind the downtime in the office so much, but with Sebastian in the mood he was in, she didn't have anyone to have a little 'break' with and there was no way in hell she would ask any of the thugs. Ugh, they were all ugly and stupid and smelled funny. A couple of them were married or had girlfriends, but she couldn't see any of them could have landed something like that. Their partners all must have been trolls.
Not wanting to think about Sebastian's cohorts and with nothing much else to do, she grabbed one of her girly magazines off the desk, flipping through it and catching up on the latest celebrity gossip. She had to keep herself entertained somehow.
The street went flying by at blinding speeds as Shadow skated down the sidewalk, on the hunt for a pay phone. Car, fire hydrant, car, ... winged goat thing on bike, child with wings, car... Ah, there, up ahead. He skidded to a stop, throwing up sparks as the metal soles of his air shoes ground against the concrete. He stepped into the booth, went over what he'd been told, then plunked in the change and dialed the number.
The magazine went flying down as the woman grabbed the phone, speaking into the receiver with a sweet voice, "Lethe & Styx Enterprises, Millan speaking, how can I assist you today?"
Wow, someone was desperate for a call. The phone had barely gotten a chance to ring. Judging by the voice, it must be Millan. Lucky him.
He could go a number of ways with this. And honestly, he wasn't used to dealing with businessmen. His usual tactic would to be to cut straight to the chase and demand to speak with the man in question, but Perion's advice would probably get him through faster in this situation.
"It's about the Orchid Lounge. I need to speak with Dis; it's important he get this message himself," Shadow answered, in his best businesslike tone.
There were a few seconds of silence on the phone during which static crackled softly in the background. "Hold, please." Millan clicked a button on the phone cradle and put Shadow on hold. Argh, shit. This was not going to be good. Sebastian had come out of a rather nasty meeting earlier that morning and had been in a foul mood the rest of the afternoon, not to mention that he had seemed to have a hangover. Millan did not like dealing with him when he was like that.
She went over to the office door and knocked softly before poking her head inside. The blinds were drawn shut against the light and she had wrinkle her nose at the musty smell that assulted it. The man had apparently never heard of using an air freshener. "'Bastian, baby? You have a call, line one." The woman retread quickly before he had time to respond, taking her place back at her desk.
Sebastian didn't even bother looking up from his paperwork when she informed him that he had a call, grimacing and setting his rather fancy, shiny pen down with great care. He loved that thing, for no particular reason. It wrote great and made his signature look all nice and official. He smirked a little and scratched at the stubble on his face before picking up the phone, cradling it between his jaw and shoulder while shuffling his papers together. "Dis. Speak."
Well, that was quick and easy. Thank you, Perion. He could only hope the rest would go as smoothly. He would have to figure out what a man who had access to everything could possibly want in payment, but he'd managed before.
"I have a proposition for you, Dis," he began, calmly. "I have come to possess a very unusual material and I would like to duplicate it as exactly as possible. I've been told that you are the best in Belmont when in comes to finding just the right person for the job."
"Mmhmm..." Sebastian raised his eyebrows at the phone, not having expected that, but keeping his cool. Every once in a while, he would receive a call like this -- someone wanting something strange, someone he hadn't ever met before when he knew a lot of the people in the city (at least the ones that counted), but it wasn't often and it always made him just this side of uncomfortable. Which, by the way, was a hard thing to do.
"And if I do this for you..?" He didn't care if he could actually do it; the man wasn't above stealing when it came right down to it if it protected his assets, but before he made that decision, he was just dying to know what he would get in return.
"For your assistance, I will grant you one wish," he answered.
The last time he'd done a deal like this, he'd told the good Doctor he'd grant him a wish. That had worked out nicely, even if the old man's desire had been all seven Emeralds. It was a predictable answer, for someone who had just been offered anything they wanted, and Shadow had paid up. He was used to being able to get anything he wanted, Doctor Eggman was; of course, so was Shadow.
This would be similar, certainly. Humans were simple, and from what he'd seen in this world so far, gods and goddesses weren't much better. Money, women, fast cars, someone dead rather than alive. It was always the same.
That certainly wasn't the answer he had been expecting, but he found comical and laughed into the receiver, a sick, wild sort of sound. "I have every thing that I want, what would I do with a wish?" And he certainly did have every thing that he could ever want; the money, cars, women and more. If he wanted to rule the city, he probably could, but he wasn't that ambitious. As long as trouble was stirring, he was pleased.
"Nobody has everything they want, Mr. Eneas," Shadow replied. "Only the idiots and the unambitious are completely satisfied. But if you aren't interested, then fine, I'll be glad to talk to your rivals. I'm sure someone out there would like the opportunity to have you removed."
If need be, he would name-drop Perion, but not yet. He wasn't quite sure what the man's reaction to that would be, and so she was risky to use, best left as a last resort.
Oh, the rivals. Lovely. "We already have a tracer on your phone. You're at 310 Ash Street, cross section Lark. You may want to rethink calling me an idiot." If he wanted, he could have a sniper out there in under five minutes, but that would be such a waste of resources. It didn't matter anyway, once he gave the street address, they usually shut up and gave him what he wanted. He wasn't so much a business man as a bully, but it was practically the same thing; such a fine line. Anyway, he did mostly have everything that he wanted, with the exception of one thing. But he could have that soon enough if he truly wanted, without anyone's help.
Shadow was unconcerned. Why should he be? It was simply a scare tactic. He already planned on teleporting out of the phone booth rather than walking out onto the sidewalk. He glanced around, checking the area. The street was narrow enough that a marksman would have to be fairly low in one of the buildings across the street to get a clear shot at his head through the glass of the booth. He would keep an eye on the windows just in case. It didn't hurt to be cautious, but actually fearing for his life would just be stupid.
"I realize you're no idiot. Which is why there's something you want that you simply aren't telling me about. Luckily for you, I already know."
Well, here goes nothing, he supposed.
"Perion."
That did it. Sebastian was all ears now. He almost dropped the phone at the mention of his ex-wife's name and he had to steady himself before speaking. There was a distinct twinge of strain in his voice through the coldness. "How do you know her?"
Hmmm. So many routes he could take with this one. Again, though, he had to admit, Perion knew exactly how to deal with the man.
"Let's just say I've been staying at her place for a little while now." There was no smirk on his face, but the sound of his voice sure implied one.
"...That stupid little bitch!" Sebastian snarled into the phone, loud enough to make Millan in the other jump in her seat and drop her magazine. How dare she just forget about him so easily and shake up with... with whoever this guy was. He was probably some pansy assed doctor from the hospital who was calling to gloat. Oh, he would get them both; there was no way that this man could get through to him on his own with the mention of that vile woman's name.
Sebastian's voice was filled with warning, tones pure hate and angry. "If you dare touch what's mine..."
"I wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Eneas," he replied with a touch of that same smirk. "In fact, I'll return her to you, good as new. But you'll have to do me that little favor."
At least the thing about not touching her wasn't a lie. What a revolting thought.
Perion would be equally glad if she were there. Um, hedgehog and goddess. Ew. No thanks.
In the meantime... Sebastian took a deep breath. "Return her to me and I will look into your replica."
Shadow had the upper hand here, he knew, and he wasn't going to let the man get away with that. He wanted out of this damn dimension, even if it meant bargaining with some creepy businessman over the nonexistent sex life of the guy's ex-wife with himself.
"Hm. I'm afraid you'll have to do a bit better than simply look into it for me, if you want me to deliver her to you as-is," he stated boredly.
"I'll get you the replica. I can have my people looking into it by this evening." The last word was raised slightly in a questioning manner and he barred his teeth at the phone. If he ever met this guy, he was going to kick his ass before reclaiming what he believed was rightfully his.
"Perfect. Now, unfortunately, I'm waiting for a new cell phone to come in as mine was recently damaged. I trust you still have Perion's number; you may contact me there." Stupid GUN satellite and its failure to exist in this dimension.
"I do. Goodbye." Sebastian all but slammed the phone down into its cradle, sitting at his desk with his fingers steepled in a creepy manner. Outside of the office, Millan was huddled in her office chair; she had heard enough to know that her boss's day had made a turn for the even worse and she wasn't looking forward to him emerging from his lair.
Shadow hung up the phone and shook his head, smiling ever so slightly. The man had been so angry! He hadn't had a good excuse to screw with someone like that in a while. He should do it more often, he thought. Usually he would prefer to play someone so that they didn't know they were being played, but subtlety wasn't going to work in this situation. It was a stupid game that Sebastian wanted to play, but he would play it if it meant getting home.
Instantly, he was at Perion's front door, and gave a knock.
The knock woke Perion out of her haze and she rolled out of bed groggily. While Shadow was away, she figured she would get herself some well deserved rest and had gone down for a nap. It had helped, her head was less fuzzy and confused than it had been earlier that afternoon, and she was generally feeling better. The prospect of getting out of this world had helped substantially, though, and it was a good part of her better mood.
Slipping on her bathrobe, she went to answer the door, blinking blearily down at the hedgehog. "You're back pretty fast," she stated, moving back to let him. She wanted to know how it went, but she had a feeling it had gone alright since he hadn't smashed his way through the door and had knocked instead. That had to count for something, right?
"He's looking into it. One of his men may call here this evening. If your phone says it's one of them, I suggest you let me answer," he replied as he walked on in, not really looking at her but heading for the kitchen. He grabbed himself a glass and got some water, then sat down in the chair he'd had lunch in not too long before.
"Mmm," she responded sleepily, still not entirely awake, and followed behind him after she had bolted the door with both locks. It was still light outside, even if it was raining, but she wasn't going to take any chances. "I wasn't planning on answering the phone today, anyway. Saves me trouble." She smirked a little, plopping back down into her own chair that she had occupied earlier, yawning.
"Good." Even though it had been raining, he himself was mostly dry, which was probably appreciated by Perion as he wouldn't have cared much if he was dripping water all over the room. The quick run over, the shelter of the box, and of course the teleport had all prevented him from getting soaked, although drips were starting to collect at the low points of his quills.
Now, he would have to figure out what to do about Perion. He was in control here, and he intended to keep it that way, by issuing the terms of handing her over to the greatest extent possible. Normally he wouldn't bet on such an advantage as he was the one asking the favor, but it was clear that Sebastian was desperate.
Perion did appreciate it indeed, though thankfully the floors were hardwood and would be a lot easier to dry than actual carpet. It wouldn't do much for some of the scuffs that marred the floor, which was part of the reason that she had put off moving for so long after the divorce; she could really use having that deposit back, though she supposed it wouldn't matter too much longer, if everything went alright.
Though she had to wonder what he did to make Sebastian agree to help him. The thought made her uncomfortable and she shifted a little in her chair, but it could have nothing to do with what she was thinking. It could have everything to do with the Emerald itself, considering what it was. That would definitely be something that Sebastian would be interested in, but Shadow would have to guard it carefully. That bastard would probably try to find any way to take it, even if he couldn't figure out how to use it. The interest value in a curiosity like that would appeal to him greatly in the very least.
It might have been troubling to Perion if she knew that if he had really had to choose between risking his Emerald and turning her in to her ex for good, he would have done the latter, and it wouldn't have been a difficult decision to make. Okay, so, she wasn't that bad. He would admit that. She had held his interest that long and that was more than could be said for most people. But the Chaos Emeralds were unique, powerful, and belonged to his world. Never mind that he wouldn't be able to leave here without it; it needed to be reunited with its six sister gems in order to allow him to access his Super form, which truly was like having the power of a god.
But, of course, no one-or-the-other mandate had taken place. Perhaps in Sebastian's mind, it had, or would. But even if it would be so easy to leave her in his hands and make off with the replica jewel once the deal had been arranged, he was set on bringing her with him. He didn't really know why, but it didn't really matter. It was just one of those things that happened.
It would probably be best if she were in on it, though, he finally decided. He set the glass down.
"Sebastian wants to exchange the replica for you," he said.
This news didn't surprise her. Why should it? It was the exact stunt that Sebastian would pull and she knew how much he wanted her back, how much he considered her one of his possessions. But still. After the week she was having she couldn't help but let her jaw drop before clamping it shut again in a frown, brow knitted into a furrow. When Shadow had left, before her nap, she had calmed down some. Hell, she had even started to think of names for the fetus and was even considering her future with it, should all things go well.
"You traded me for the replica?" There was something niggling at the back of her mind and it was really starting to worry her. What if Shadow traded her for his precious Emerald and just left her? Did he have any reason to keep her around after he had gotten what he wanted?
The notion looked like it had slapped her in the face and it was with a hurt expression that she turned on the hedgehog. "You're not... You're not going to leave me, are you..?"
Her question caused him to look at her as if she'd suddenly sprouted another head - not a look of utter shock, mind, but rather, one of confusion and possibly disgust. She was so sincere about asking, too! It was almost like some terrible soap opera. Sure, she'd probably developed abandonment issues after what had happened with Millan and her ex-husband, but come on, now.
"Of course not," he snorted.
She had known him for less than a day, of course she was going to have issues with him just up and leaving after getting what he wanted. The look she gave him was one of relief and she visibly relaxed. "Thank you."
Perion wasn't sure what she would do if she couldn't get out of here soon, what with her ex-husband looming over her. This plan wasn't something she liked very much, but that was incredibly obvious. She knew it had to be done, though, as much as she wished it didn't. If there was anyone in this city that could help them out, it was him.
This whole thing would depend on how Sebastian planned on giving him the information about who to go to. It wasn't as if they could trade Perion for the replica directly; Sebastian was only providing the information on who would make it, after all, not the stone itself. Shadow would have to meet with the craftsmen so they could measure the specific qualities of the gem. What wasn't clear was whether Sebastian would then obtain that from the craftsmen by his own means and trade it for the girl, or if he was handing Perion over solely for the information, and then would have to pay whoever made the replica separately. Either would work with him, although dealing only with Sebastian would be the easiest.
However, in either case, Shadow didn't doubt his ability to get what he wanted. The men making the replica Emerald would be easier to pay off than the idiot who wanted the girl back. Hopefully this would all be clear when he was called back later this evening.
All she was going to think about for the rest of the night was that phone call. That would be the closest Sebastian had been to being around her for weeks and that idea didn't sit well with her. She almost asked Shadow if there was another way to do this, but she couldn't bring herself to. If she was part of the trade, Sebastian would want her first before he did anything else and she had no idea how long the Emerald would take to replicate. Probably quite a while, considering it was alien, in a sense, technology. Of course, it might not take too long at all and the two of them would be out of there before she knew it.
There was this sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she thought about it and she forced herself to get up in order to fetch herself a glass of water. Having to go back to him... Perion shuddered.
She didn't look so happy, Shadow noticed, sipping at his own glass of water. Well, he supposed, that was too bad. She'd told him to use her name, after all. She'd get over it. It was her ticket out of here, and she'd volunteered to help in order to ensure that.
"You're the one who knows how he does these sort of things, usually. What can you tell me about his tactics?" Best to be prepared, of course.
She looked down at her glass of water, thinking a moment. "Don't be surprised if he tries to kill you to keep the Emerald. If he thinks he can make a profit off it, he'll do what he can to keep it. He uses a lot of under handed tricks."
"I think he would soon regret trying such a thing," he stated. "He's already threatened me once, anyway. It's not surprising that he might do so again." He wondered if Sebastian had ever single-handedly wiped out a warlike species, or if he'd ever killed a battalion of soldiers in one night. Probably not, he could only assume.
"Have you ever witnessed a trade like this?" he asked, more curious about those specific details.
"I haven't, actually. He kept me out of most of the business until the end, when he started making it my problem." Perion shifted uncomfortably, being brought back to those days when the apartment had been used as a safehouse for his wounded peons or when he would bring some of his whores home to say hello. It was surprising that she hadn't tried to get out sooner, since she had had her suspicions, but she had wanted to make it work for a while there.
"With something like your gem there, he wouldn't have any idea as to its value. I'd lie, say you were trying to dupe some collector with a copy."
It was good advice, he had to admit. "You think that would work on him?"
He would have to trust her judgment, based on her earlier successes. These were the sort of things he usually had Rouge around for, she was the one who was good at talking to people. Especially men. Shadow was a weapon, not a strategist, although he wasn't stupid, either. But Rouge had made deception her job, and it was one she was extremely good at.
"It might. He's done similar things before. I would just... worry about him thinking I told you. He's know I know how I work. That's a big disadvantage to us." She rubbed at her eyes, getting rid of the last of the sleep there. She was still tired from her nap and didn't want to think as much as she had to right now.
Shadow sat in silence, nodding a little. Yes, if it became obvious that he and Perion were working together, the whole thing would be jeopardized. The hope was, of course, that Sebastian would be compelled by jealousy to plow forward. Given how easily he'd caved, it wasn't an unreasonable assumption that he would continue to act in such a way out of desperation to reclaim the girl.
"If a situation were to occur in which I couldn't recover you immediately after the trade, where do you think he would take you?"
"I... don't know." And she didn't. Perion wasn't sure where Sebastian was rooming nowadays, she wasn't even really sure if he was going to keep her alive. The divorce had been far from pretty and some had been thrown around on both of their parts, both of which she doubted where just glib jabs at the other.
"We can figure that out later; I'm more concerned on making it seem like we're not working together."
"Fine. So what would you suggest." Again, she knew the guy; it was best to start from there.
"Of course..." He thought a moment. She should probably know what he'd already told Sebastian, since having things match up would make fabricating something easier.
"He's very jealous. I believe he thinks I'm sleeping with you. Or that I threatened to, should he not do as asked. It seemed to work well," he remarked wryly.
...It took a few moments for that to register before she burst out laughing. Oh, that was rich. Sebastian was even more fucked up than she remembered and she couldn't wait until he saw what Shadow looked like. "That is good." She giggled, taking a good while to quell it before being able to continue on with what she was saying. At least she had a good laugh, she hadn't had that in a while.
"As far as tricking him... Staging that I'm you're hostage is a little over the top, especially since we'll probably tell him that you're trying to trick a collector out of his money. If we pretended I was actually sleeping with you..." and here she had to stop, cracking up again. She almost wished she had been there for that part of their conversation. "Once he sees you, he'll know you're definitely not my type."
Well, that seemed to amuse her. He supposed he should feel insulted, except that he agreed wholeheartedly. Shadow waited for her to calm down a bit and stop with the laughter, before nodding in agreement. Maybe he needed a prop of some sort, like a nice clear plastic case to put the Emerald into. If he was trying to deal in jewelry, after all, he wouldn't want the merchandise to get scratched. Shadow actually wasn't sure if the Chaos Emerald could be scratched - after all, the Master Emerald had been shattered, yet the echidna had put it back together without a mark, and he'd never actually seen any sign of damage on any of the gems. But it would be for show, and that was what all of this was about.
"We may not need some kind of complex story like that. He just simply needs to not suspect that you're giving me inside information, unless he's really that paranoid." Which maybe he was, but there wasn't much that could be helped if that was the case. Unless they could find a way to play to that paranoia.
Paranoid not so much, but definitely desperate when it came to some things. From what she remembered, he was very comfortable with where he was in life as far as who he associated with and kept around; if anyone crossed him, he knew how to take care of them.
"I think if we're ourselves, we might be fine." She couldn't help but giggle again, thinking about all of their fighting. Yes, if they kept that up around him, then it should be alright, all things considered.
"Agreed. Especially if you act as though I never reassured you that I would take you back," he said, having a sip from the glass of water he'd almost forgotten about, the importance of their conversation outweighing any consideration of the beverage. If she acted as though handing her over was a true, deep betrayal, Sebastian would probably feel even more like he'd 'won'. And anything to get him to be overconfident in his victory would give Shadow more opportunities to catch him off guard.
They would need a place to escape to, he realized. Somewhere far out of the way, where he could work on tearing the dimensional barrier down if it was something that would prove to take time. Maybe a trip to the mountains would be in order after all, while they waited.
"I can do that easily. I also think it would be wise if you didn't let him on to any of those tricks you can do. Just act like everyone else. Chances are he'll think you're just some weird hybrid. No offense." She added that last part as an after thought. A three foot tall, talking hedgehog was a little hard to believe, come on now.
Perion had forgotten all about her glass of water as well, though she found she wasn't all that thirsty anymore. She poked at the glass a moment before setting it aside to ignore some more. Her mind was on far more important things. "I could always try seducing the bastard. It wouldn't be hard." There was this dress she had that he had liked, something that she kept in the far reaches of her closet to never be worn again. It might work as precaution, in case everything else fell through, though she desperately hoped it didn't. He'd probably end up missing his nuts if he tried to get his greasy hands anywhere near her.
"Best not to unless I can't get you back immediately, or something else goes wrong. And no. I'm not going to let him know what I can do." That was something he'd certainly planned on doing. Perion herself didn't even know half of what he was capable of, which was probably why she was so worried about getting this right. As long as he could get to the Emerald, the replica, and her, in some way or another, they would be fine. And if he had to, he could just start picking off her ex and his lackeys one by one until he got what he wanted. They wouldn't even be able to try and hold Perion as a hostage, if he could stop time, grab her, and walk right out. They would never know what happened.
"The seduction idea... I don't know where it would get you. Use it to buy time, if you feel as though you must." It was unlikely it would become necessary, however, and that was for the best. It seemed like one of the more obviously suspicious tactics. Then again, Sebastian was that desperate, wasn't he.
Perion shrugged. One of the easier ways she found to get to Sebastian back when the two were together was to bat her eyelashes and pout her lips. She found it vapid and she didn't know it worked, but it did, and if it got him to give her what she wanted, then so be it. "We'll see what happens."
Hopefully nothing bad would happen, but knowing how most of her ex-husband's plans went, someone was probably going to end up dead. Unconsciously she left a hand rest of her abdomen. Man, this kid was probably going to hate her if she made it through this, dragging its teeny little cells through hell like this. Poor baby. That was another thing she didn't want Sebastian to find out about, the baby. She would warn the hedgehog not to mention anything about it, but she highly doubted he would. There would be no point, it wouldn't make a difference in anything, she thought. At least she hoped it wouldn't make a difference in anything.
Perion opened her mouth, about to voice another concern over their slowly formulating plan when she was interrupted by the phone before even getting a word out, the ringing cutting through the air almost menacingly. The woman half-rose before sitting down, looking at the phone before glancing at the hedgehog.
Well now, that was fast. 'Later this evening' had become quite early this evening. All the better, really. Unless the caller was someone else entirely, which would be a bit of a disappointment.
Shadow slid out of his chair and reached up to get the phone, answering with a calm "Yes?"
The voice on the other end of the line was light and lilting, definitely female.
"Hello, is this the Eneas residence?"
"It is." If this wasn't one of Sebastian's secretaries or something, he had to admit he might feel just a little let down. Oh well. He was eager to get this whole thing over with, though, that much was certain.
"Is a Miss Perion available?" The plucky voice asked, sounding as cheerful as a child that just received a pony on their birthday.
"Can I tell her who's calling?" He raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Perion a moment. He really, really hoped this was some kind of stupid ploy.
Perion looked back at him, confused. Who the hell was it?
"Minthe~ May I ask who I'm speaking to?"
Shadow covered the mouthpiece of the phone tightly with a gloved hand, and held it behind him.
"Minthe?" he asked Perion quietly.
Perion shook her head, giving him a quizzical look before the lightbulb went clicking on. "That bitch! Give me the phone." She held out her hand, demanding.
He hesitated briefly, staring coolly at her. He recalled that tone from when she'd been talking about Millan. If this was in fact the call he'd been waiting for, wouldn't it be better if he was the one to deal with it, so it didn't look like Perion was in on it?
Then again, maybe 'that bitch' described a number of people in Perion's life, for all he knew. With a slight frown, he handed her the phone.
She took and growled into the receiver. "Yes?"
The phone conversation took only a minute, probably less, and it wasn't so much a conversation as it was a Perion listening and getting angrier by the second. Finally, she slammed the phone down, glaring at Shadow. Not so much at him as in his general direction. "Tomorrow. That club you met me at. Dis will be there."
"Hm." It was interesting he'd made sure his message went to Perion first, rather than talking with Shadow directly, as they had agreed. It had confirmed for him that Perion was there, and by telling her the message and having her deliver it, it had essentially made sure that if they weren't working together after all, Shadow wouldn't get the message and wouldn't arrive. He wished he hadn't handed the phone over, after all.
Things would still work out, though. They could both be aware of what was going on but disagree over its nature, he supposed. Or there was the sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal act they could put on when they went to retrieve the duplicate Emerald, as he'd mentioned to Perion already.
"Did she give a time?"
It wasn't so much that, though Sebastian would be able to deduct it from what he would be told when Millan put it, it was more Millan wanting to piss off Perion. Even though Sebastian wanted his ex-wife back, Millan was far more petty and once she had heard that the woman was part of this, she was going to use it to get any sort of jab in that she could.
"Nine in the evening. It's late." Perion frowned, fidgeting. She didn't want to go, but Millan had specifically said the invitation was extended to both of them. And if the invitation was for both of them, that meant the two of them had better be there at nine sharp or else the replica was out of the question.
Nine is late...? If the rest of the world operated at odd hours, Shadow would honestly prefer it. He didn't sleep much. The early hours of the morning were some of the best for getting things done. Of course, he'd slept a fair amount back at that compound, but that was because sometimes there just wasn't anything else to do.
"And you're expected as well, I take it. This will be interesting." Potentially bad, but definitely interesting.
To her, late depended on when she worked. Sometimes, late was six in the morning, other times it was nine in the evening. Since she was supposed to be working tomorrow during the daytime... Though it didn't matter much. Perion was going to call in, tell them that she was going to take vacation time off. She wasn't going to be working there much longer, so why not enjoy the days she had left in Belmont?
"Of course. Did you expect anything different?" She stopped herself from scoffing, instead setting her forehead in her hands with an angry sigh. Great. This was just great.
"And if you don't show?" Shadow watched her evenly, not fazed by her small outburst. This was business, and that meant it was time to be completely serious. Such a display of emotion, while expected from her by now, was rather counterproductive.
"I don't know. No one has ever not shown. You just don't do that with him; you listen to him." She shook her head, staring down at the table. Chances are if she didn't show up, he'd just take what he wanted by force and forget the deal entirely.
"I see." While he was sort of curious to see what the result would be in any other situation, now was not the time to experiment. This would have to work, or they would be dodging Sebastian frequently in the future as they continued to look for more options. And if the man controlled as much of Belmont's underworld as he claimed to, that could be extremely difficult. Shadow wasn't tied to this city and could survive anywhere on basically nothing, but Perion wasn't the same, and had a child to look after.
"I'll be there at eight thirty. I want to look around and see the building layout, and if possible, identify who in the area is with your ex-husband so I know who to keep an eye on. I'll come back here by eight forty-five and we can arrive together." Considering the club scene and his small size, it would be easy to scope out the place without making an impression on Sebastian before their scheduled meeting.
"Alright..." A thought crossed Perion's mind and she glanced out of the archway leading from the kitchen to the living room, the mantle with its upturned photo in sight. "You'll probably want to know what he looks like before hand, right?" As she asked, she kept her eyes glued to that frame.
"I would." He followed her gaze to the photo frame, then glanced back at her before walking out into the living room. With a bit of a hop and a forced hover on his shoes, he was tall enough to reach, and took the frame and enclosed photo down from the mantle before landing back down on the floor.
The photo showed a much happier Perion, dressed in her wedding gown, the arms of Sebastian wrapped around her waist. His hair was black and eyes dark, with a smattering of stubble along his jaw, and he was just a little taller than Perion. In the photo he was smiling, but even though it crinkled his nose and stretched the corners of his mouth, it didn't quite reach his eyes. All in all, though, it was a lovely photo and the woman almost felt it a shame to keep it face down like she did, which attributed in part to why she kept it there in the first place.
Not having gotten up, Perion was watching Shadow carefully from her spot in the kitchen, chin resting on a hand. "He looks a little different now; gained some weight after we were married."
Shadow studied the face carefully, hoping he didn't look too different. Humans could be hard to tell apart, sometimes. There was a lot of variation in their faces, but it was hard to recognize for someone who had only ever personally known a limited few up until one had drafted him. Still, he figured he wouldn't have too much trouble picking him out of a crowd.
The tuxedo in the picture wasn't very helpful, though. "Does he wear anything distinctive?"
"He... well. He carries with him a hat, at all times. It's not much to look at, but..." She bit her lip. She had forgotten about his little trick when she forced herself to forget that he could be stalking her; there wasn't much use in worrying about it and she had to get on with her life in some way. "It lets him become invisible when he chooses."
An invisible hat. That was different. Shadow raised an eyebrow, imagining that. He couldn't think of a way that it would obstruct any of their plans, but it was definitely something to keep in mind.
"How does he usually dress?"
"Like anyone else. Jeans and shirt, usually something smart, but forgettable. Sometimes a suit to work, but I doubt he'd show up there in something like that, he'd want to blend in." Perion bit her lip, thinking. "He does have a scar, though. On the back of his hand, like little cuts. There was an incident with some roses a while back."
Oh, an incident, right. Shadow nodded. It was unfortunate, the whole jeans and shirt getup, but not surprising, considering. It would make spotting him a little more difficult, but oh well. He would manage, somehow.
"Is Millan going to be there as well?" On the one hand, he didn't want her and Perion to kill each other, but on the other, it would make finding him in the dim club with all the people and flashing lights so much easier if he had a second face associated with him.
Her eyes narrowed just a fraction and her nostrils flared. She may just have to put a ban on saying that name in this household ever again, she didn't like it one bit, and why should she? "I wouldn't doubt it."
Well goodness, go ahead and get all pissy over mentioning her name, then. Still, Shadow figured he didn't know the half of their history together - and, of course, Perion had a very active set of emotional reactions to everything.
"You'll have to ignore her, or you will get in the way," he stated coolly, watching her. Maybe he should say Millan's name over and over again so she could work on her reactions. It would almost be funny.
If he did that, she'd smack him hard. Not like she'd actually be able to hit him, but she'd sure as hell try. "I won't get in the way," she replied, equally as cool. Perion could feel herself slipping back into that mood she had been in the night before, when she was drinking. That kind of rough, what-the-hell-ever mood. She could actually go for a drink right now, but her hand on her abdomen reminded her exactly why she couldn't.
"Good." She had better be right. All that remained now was to wait until tomorrow night, and the deal would be more or less sealed. He could almost feel the ever-more tangible reality of walking the streets of Central, or Station Square, or even the old corridors of the ARK once more. It would be a good place to stop for a while, to reflect on whether or not he really wanted to attempt time travel. If he got it wrong, if it couldn't be done, who knew what could happen? Or if it could, and he changed history forever...
No. Better to think about such things another time. Right now, he had to focus on what he would say to Sebastian, to present the least risk to himself and his Emerald. He could always find a way to get it back if he lost it; he'd originally stolen it from the National Reserve Bank, after all, and if he could get past their security, he could get to it wherever it was. It would just take time to find it if he lost it, without any better detector than his own sense for its power.
Perion fidgeted a moment before standing up and pacing around the kitchen under the facade of looking for something to eat, partly because she had nothing else to do, mostly because she was nervous and scared and couldn't keep herself still for longer than five minutes anymore. She wasn't sure what she was going to do once she faced Sebastian and Millan. Well, she knew what she'd like to do, and that was beat the shit out of both of them, but what she was most likely to do was stay back and keep out of the way. It would be better for Shadow, anyway, if she didn't make any sort of move. Mostly she was going to be shown that she was actually part of the trade, wasn't she?
Shadow jumped up onto the back of the couch and faced the kitchen, watching Perion because, well, she was moving. It was sort of like the visual equivalent of background noise, in a way. His eyes weren't exactly focused on her, anyway.
Perion was a liability. A bargaining tool, and an informative one, but a potential problem. She could stand to improve her poker face, for one. Her anger was too noticeable. It would be strange, of course, if she showed up at the meeting tomorrow and seemed perfectly content to sit and chat. That would be more suspicious than anything. But despite her attempts to assauge his concerns, he was really having a hard time believing she wouldn't, at some point, dive for Millan's throat. And if the two girls ended up fighting each other, he doubted Sebastian would be able to ignore it and continue on with business.
His eyes did focus on her, then, watching as she tried to make herself busy. She was too nervous, even now, it seemed. They still had over a day to go. Maybe they could take a trip to the mountains tomorrow. She could distract herself, while Shadow found a location to make the rift.
A box of cereal almost fell, but Perion caught it before it hit the floor and placed it back up in the cabinet shelf. Her hands were shaking, she had dully noted, but she didn't say anything. She thought about going to go take a couple of aspirin, maybe make that headache she was developing go away. Or perhaps she'd just go requisition herself a sedative from work and tranq herself before tomorrow's events occurred. That sounded lovely, actually, but she didn't think the hedgehog would be on the same page with that.
Exhausting her food search and finding nothing, Perion curled up like a battered cat in the one plush arm chair in the tiny living room. She didn't have a whole lot of furniture in the room, since it was rather small, but it had a somewhat cozy and comforting feel. She glanced at the mantle and a picture of her mother; she supposed that maybe she should call her before she left this world for good, but didn't think she could stand her mother getting upset about it, especially not know. Perion's mother was sensitive about those sorts of things since her husband had passed away; it was the whole reason she had moved to the city, to be closer to her daughter.
The woman sighed shakily, trying to keep all of the emotions in. It wouldn't do good if she let them all out right now, not when she had to try to brave.
Shadow had never seen someone on the verge of emotional breakdown, but he imagined one of the earlier stages probably looked something like what Perion was doing right now. It must have been daunting for her, to do something useful with her life for once. Humans, and probably by extent their more divine counterparts, were lazy, ignorant sheep. Push them just outside of their comfort zone and they snapped if they weren't strong enough. A goddess was probably more emotionally durable than the average human, but right now there didn't seem to be much difference.
No matter. He would get through this one way or another. There wasn't likely to be much he could do for Perion right now; she was going to have to suck it up and get through it on her own. He had other things to think about.
"I'm going out," he announced, not that she really needed to know. But a run sounded nice, as compared to being cooped up indoors. He leapt down to the floor and stalked toward the entryway.
Next: To Be Continued
On the outside, the building was seedy, but on the inside, it was definitely much nicer looker. It used to be just as shady as the facade, but as soon Sebastian had taken up his new girl, Millan, she had made some changes in the decor. Now the office was girlier looking, plants in the corner and the woman's desk covered in cute mascots from overseas companies. Of course, the plants were all fake, there was no need to go inviting trouble should she come around. Millan made a face, remembering the last encounter she had had with Perion. She had blacked out for a week before coming to and couldn't remember anything, though now she had a penchant for sunshine and the smell of soil. The sunshine part... eh, but she could do without having the urge to stand ankles buried in the dirt. That was just gross.
She tossed back her black hair, glancing at her computer monitor. No new e-mails in her inbox. She looked down at the phone, trying to will it to ring. Millan didn't mind the downtime in the office so much, but with Sebastian in the mood he was in, she didn't have anyone to have a little 'break' with and there was no way in hell she would ask any of the thugs. Ugh, they were all ugly and stupid and smelled funny. A couple of them were married or had girlfriends, but she couldn't see any of them could have landed something like that. Their partners all must have been trolls.
Not wanting to think about Sebastian's cohorts and with nothing much else to do, she grabbed one of her girly magazines off the desk, flipping through it and catching up on the latest celebrity gossip. She had to keep herself entertained somehow.
The street went flying by at blinding speeds as Shadow skated down the sidewalk, on the hunt for a pay phone. Car, fire hydrant, car, ... winged goat thing on bike, child with wings, car... Ah, there, up ahead. He skidded to a stop, throwing up sparks as the metal soles of his air shoes ground against the concrete. He stepped into the booth, went over what he'd been told, then plunked in the change and dialed the number.
The magazine went flying down as the woman grabbed the phone, speaking into the receiver with a sweet voice, "Lethe & Styx Enterprises, Millan speaking, how can I assist you today?"
Wow, someone was desperate for a call. The phone had barely gotten a chance to ring. Judging by the voice, it must be Millan. Lucky him.
He could go a number of ways with this. And honestly, he wasn't used to dealing with businessmen. His usual tactic would to be to cut straight to the chase and demand to speak with the man in question, but Perion's advice would probably get him through faster in this situation.
"It's about the Orchid Lounge. I need to speak with Dis; it's important he get this message himself," Shadow answered, in his best businesslike tone.
There were a few seconds of silence on the phone during which static crackled softly in the background. "Hold, please." Millan clicked a button on the phone cradle and put Shadow on hold. Argh, shit. This was not going to be good. Sebastian had come out of a rather nasty meeting earlier that morning and had been in a foul mood the rest of the afternoon, not to mention that he had seemed to have a hangover. Millan did not like dealing with him when he was like that.
She went over to the office door and knocked softly before poking her head inside. The blinds were drawn shut against the light and she had wrinkle her nose at the musty smell that assulted it. The man had apparently never heard of using an air freshener. "'Bastian, baby? You have a call, line one." The woman retread quickly before he had time to respond, taking her place back at her desk.
Sebastian didn't even bother looking up from his paperwork when she informed him that he had a call, grimacing and setting his rather fancy, shiny pen down with great care. He loved that thing, for no particular reason. It wrote great and made his signature look all nice and official. He smirked a little and scratched at the stubble on his face before picking up the phone, cradling it between his jaw and shoulder while shuffling his papers together. "Dis. Speak."
Well, that was quick and easy. Thank you, Perion. He could only hope the rest would go as smoothly. He would have to figure out what a man who had access to everything could possibly want in payment, but he'd managed before.
"I have a proposition for you, Dis," he began, calmly. "I have come to possess a very unusual material and I would like to duplicate it as exactly as possible. I've been told that you are the best in Belmont when in comes to finding just the right person for the job."
"Mmhmm..." Sebastian raised his eyebrows at the phone, not having expected that, but keeping his cool. Every once in a while, he would receive a call like this -- someone wanting something strange, someone he hadn't ever met before when he knew a lot of the people in the city (at least the ones that counted), but it wasn't often and it always made him just this side of uncomfortable. Which, by the way, was a hard thing to do.
"And if I do this for you..?" He didn't care if he could actually do it; the man wasn't above stealing when it came right down to it if it protected his assets, but before he made that decision, he was just dying to know what he would get in return.
"For your assistance, I will grant you one wish," he answered.
The last time he'd done a deal like this, he'd told the good Doctor he'd grant him a wish. That had worked out nicely, even if the old man's desire had been all seven Emeralds. It was a predictable answer, for someone who had just been offered anything they wanted, and Shadow had paid up. He was used to being able to get anything he wanted, Doctor Eggman was; of course, so was Shadow.
This would be similar, certainly. Humans were simple, and from what he'd seen in this world so far, gods and goddesses weren't much better. Money, women, fast cars, someone dead rather than alive. It was always the same.
That certainly wasn't the answer he had been expecting, but he found comical and laughed into the receiver, a sick, wild sort of sound. "I have every thing that I want, what would I do with a wish?" And he certainly did have every thing that he could ever want; the money, cars, women and more. If he wanted to rule the city, he probably could, but he wasn't that ambitious. As long as trouble was stirring, he was pleased.
"Nobody has everything they want, Mr. Eneas," Shadow replied. "Only the idiots and the unambitious are completely satisfied. But if you aren't interested, then fine, I'll be glad to talk to your rivals. I'm sure someone out there would like the opportunity to have you removed."
If need be, he would name-drop Perion, but not yet. He wasn't quite sure what the man's reaction to that would be, and so she was risky to use, best left as a last resort.
Oh, the rivals. Lovely. "We already have a tracer on your phone. You're at 310 Ash Street, cross section Lark. You may want to rethink calling me an idiot." If he wanted, he could have a sniper out there in under five minutes, but that would be such a waste of resources. It didn't matter anyway, once he gave the street address, they usually shut up and gave him what he wanted. He wasn't so much a business man as a bully, but it was practically the same thing; such a fine line. Anyway, he did mostly have everything that he wanted, with the exception of one thing. But he could have that soon enough if he truly wanted, without anyone's help.
Shadow was unconcerned. Why should he be? It was simply a scare tactic. He already planned on teleporting out of the phone booth rather than walking out onto the sidewalk. He glanced around, checking the area. The street was narrow enough that a marksman would have to be fairly low in one of the buildings across the street to get a clear shot at his head through the glass of the booth. He would keep an eye on the windows just in case. It didn't hurt to be cautious, but actually fearing for his life would just be stupid.
"I realize you're no idiot. Which is why there's something you want that you simply aren't telling me about. Luckily for you, I already know."
Well, here goes nothing, he supposed.
"Perion."
That did it. Sebastian was all ears now. He almost dropped the phone at the mention of his ex-wife's name and he had to steady himself before speaking. There was a distinct twinge of strain in his voice through the coldness. "How do you know her?"
Hmmm. So many routes he could take with this one. Again, though, he had to admit, Perion knew exactly how to deal with the man.
"Let's just say I've been staying at her place for a little while now." There was no smirk on his face, but the sound of his voice sure implied one.
"...That stupid little bitch!" Sebastian snarled into the phone, loud enough to make Millan in the other jump in her seat and drop her magazine. How dare she just forget about him so easily and shake up with... with whoever this guy was. He was probably some pansy assed doctor from the hospital who was calling to gloat. Oh, he would get them both; there was no way that this man could get through to him on his own with the mention of that vile woman's name.
Sebastian's voice was filled with warning, tones pure hate and angry. "If you dare touch what's mine..."
"I wouldn't dream of it, Mr. Eneas," he replied with a touch of that same smirk. "In fact, I'll return her to you, good as new. But you'll have to do me that little favor."
At least the thing about not touching her wasn't a lie. What a revolting thought.
Perion would be equally glad if she were there. Um, hedgehog and goddess. Ew. No thanks.
In the meantime... Sebastian took a deep breath. "Return her to me and I will look into your replica."
Shadow had the upper hand here, he knew, and he wasn't going to let the man get away with that. He wanted out of this damn dimension, even if it meant bargaining with some creepy businessman over the nonexistent sex life of the guy's ex-wife with himself.
"Hm. I'm afraid you'll have to do a bit better than simply look into it for me, if you want me to deliver her to you as-is," he stated boredly.
"I'll get you the replica. I can have my people looking into it by this evening." The last word was raised slightly in a questioning manner and he barred his teeth at the phone. If he ever met this guy, he was going to kick his ass before reclaiming what he believed was rightfully his.
"Perfect. Now, unfortunately, I'm waiting for a new cell phone to come in as mine was recently damaged. I trust you still have Perion's number; you may contact me there." Stupid GUN satellite and its failure to exist in this dimension.
"I do. Goodbye." Sebastian all but slammed the phone down into its cradle, sitting at his desk with his fingers steepled in a creepy manner. Outside of the office, Millan was huddled in her office chair; she had heard enough to know that her boss's day had made a turn for the even worse and she wasn't looking forward to him emerging from his lair.
Shadow hung up the phone and shook his head, smiling ever so slightly. The man had been so angry! He hadn't had a good excuse to screw with someone like that in a while. He should do it more often, he thought. Usually he would prefer to play someone so that they didn't know they were being played, but subtlety wasn't going to work in this situation. It was a stupid game that Sebastian wanted to play, but he would play it if it meant getting home.
Instantly, he was at Perion's front door, and gave a knock.
The knock woke Perion out of her haze and she rolled out of bed groggily. While Shadow was away, she figured she would get herself some well deserved rest and had gone down for a nap. It had helped, her head was less fuzzy and confused than it had been earlier that afternoon, and she was generally feeling better. The prospect of getting out of this world had helped substantially, though, and it was a good part of her better mood.
Slipping on her bathrobe, she went to answer the door, blinking blearily down at the hedgehog. "You're back pretty fast," she stated, moving back to let him. She wanted to know how it went, but she had a feeling it had gone alright since he hadn't smashed his way through the door and had knocked instead. That had to count for something, right?
"He's looking into it. One of his men may call here this evening. If your phone says it's one of them, I suggest you let me answer," he replied as he walked on in, not really looking at her but heading for the kitchen. He grabbed himself a glass and got some water, then sat down in the chair he'd had lunch in not too long before.
"Mmm," she responded sleepily, still not entirely awake, and followed behind him after she had bolted the door with both locks. It was still light outside, even if it was raining, but she wasn't going to take any chances. "I wasn't planning on answering the phone today, anyway. Saves me trouble." She smirked a little, plopping back down into her own chair that she had occupied earlier, yawning.
"Good." Even though it had been raining, he himself was mostly dry, which was probably appreciated by Perion as he wouldn't have cared much if he was dripping water all over the room. The quick run over, the shelter of the box, and of course the teleport had all prevented him from getting soaked, although drips were starting to collect at the low points of his quills.
Now, he would have to figure out what to do about Perion. He was in control here, and he intended to keep it that way, by issuing the terms of handing her over to the greatest extent possible. Normally he wouldn't bet on such an advantage as he was the one asking the favor, but it was clear that Sebastian was desperate.
Perion did appreciate it indeed, though thankfully the floors were hardwood and would be a lot easier to dry than actual carpet. It wouldn't do much for some of the scuffs that marred the floor, which was part of the reason that she had put off moving for so long after the divorce; she could really use having that deposit back, though she supposed it wouldn't matter too much longer, if everything went alright.
Though she had to wonder what he did to make Sebastian agree to help him. The thought made her uncomfortable and she shifted a little in her chair, but it could have nothing to do with what she was thinking. It could have everything to do with the Emerald itself, considering what it was. That would definitely be something that Sebastian would be interested in, but Shadow would have to guard it carefully. That bastard would probably try to find any way to take it, even if he couldn't figure out how to use it. The interest value in a curiosity like that would appeal to him greatly in the very least.
It might have been troubling to Perion if she knew that if he had really had to choose between risking his Emerald and turning her in to her ex for good, he would have done the latter, and it wouldn't have been a difficult decision to make. Okay, so, she wasn't that bad. He would admit that. She had held his interest that long and that was more than could be said for most people. But the Chaos Emeralds were unique, powerful, and belonged to his world. Never mind that he wouldn't be able to leave here without it; it needed to be reunited with its six sister gems in order to allow him to access his Super form, which truly was like having the power of a god.
But, of course, no one-or-the-other mandate had taken place. Perhaps in Sebastian's mind, it had, or would. But even if it would be so easy to leave her in his hands and make off with the replica jewel once the deal had been arranged, he was set on bringing her with him. He didn't really know why, but it didn't really matter. It was just one of those things that happened.
It would probably be best if she were in on it, though, he finally decided. He set the glass down.
"Sebastian wants to exchange the replica for you," he said.
This news didn't surprise her. Why should it? It was the exact stunt that Sebastian would pull and she knew how much he wanted her back, how much he considered her one of his possessions. But still. After the week she was having she couldn't help but let her jaw drop before clamping it shut again in a frown, brow knitted into a furrow. When Shadow had left, before her nap, she had calmed down some. Hell, she had even started to think of names for the fetus and was even considering her future with it, should all things go well.
"You traded me for the replica?" There was something niggling at the back of her mind and it was really starting to worry her. What if Shadow traded her for his precious Emerald and just left her? Did he have any reason to keep her around after he had gotten what he wanted?
The notion looked like it had slapped her in the face and it was with a hurt expression that she turned on the hedgehog. "You're not... You're not going to leave me, are you..?"
Her question caused him to look at her as if she'd suddenly sprouted another head - not a look of utter shock, mind, but rather, one of confusion and possibly disgust. She was so sincere about asking, too! It was almost like some terrible soap opera. Sure, she'd probably developed abandonment issues after what had happened with Millan and her ex-husband, but come on, now.
"Of course not," he snorted.
She had known him for less than a day, of course she was going to have issues with him just up and leaving after getting what he wanted. The look she gave him was one of relief and she visibly relaxed. "Thank you."
Perion wasn't sure what she would do if she couldn't get out of here soon, what with her ex-husband looming over her. This plan wasn't something she liked very much, but that was incredibly obvious. She knew it had to be done, though, as much as she wished it didn't. If there was anyone in this city that could help them out, it was him.
This whole thing would depend on how Sebastian planned on giving him the information about who to go to. It wasn't as if they could trade Perion for the replica directly; Sebastian was only providing the information on who would make it, after all, not the stone itself. Shadow would have to meet with the craftsmen so they could measure the specific qualities of the gem. What wasn't clear was whether Sebastian would then obtain that from the craftsmen by his own means and trade it for the girl, or if he was handing Perion over solely for the information, and then would have to pay whoever made the replica separately. Either would work with him, although dealing only with Sebastian would be the easiest.
However, in either case, Shadow didn't doubt his ability to get what he wanted. The men making the replica Emerald would be easier to pay off than the idiot who wanted the girl back. Hopefully this would all be clear when he was called back later this evening.
All she was going to think about for the rest of the night was that phone call. That would be the closest Sebastian had been to being around her for weeks and that idea didn't sit well with her. She almost asked Shadow if there was another way to do this, but she couldn't bring herself to. If she was part of the trade, Sebastian would want her first before he did anything else and she had no idea how long the Emerald would take to replicate. Probably quite a while, considering it was alien, in a sense, technology. Of course, it might not take too long at all and the two of them would be out of there before she knew it.
There was this sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she thought about it and she forced herself to get up in order to fetch herself a glass of water. Having to go back to him... Perion shuddered.
She didn't look so happy, Shadow noticed, sipping at his own glass of water. Well, he supposed, that was too bad. She'd told him to use her name, after all. She'd get over it. It was her ticket out of here, and she'd volunteered to help in order to ensure that.
"You're the one who knows how he does these sort of things, usually. What can you tell me about his tactics?" Best to be prepared, of course.
She looked down at her glass of water, thinking a moment. "Don't be surprised if he tries to kill you to keep the Emerald. If he thinks he can make a profit off it, he'll do what he can to keep it. He uses a lot of under handed tricks."
"I think he would soon regret trying such a thing," he stated. "He's already threatened me once, anyway. It's not surprising that he might do so again." He wondered if Sebastian had ever single-handedly wiped out a warlike species, or if he'd ever killed a battalion of soldiers in one night. Probably not, he could only assume.
"Have you ever witnessed a trade like this?" he asked, more curious about those specific details.
"I haven't, actually. He kept me out of most of the business until the end, when he started making it my problem." Perion shifted uncomfortably, being brought back to those days when the apartment had been used as a safehouse for his wounded peons or when he would bring some of his whores home to say hello. It was surprising that she hadn't tried to get out sooner, since she had had her suspicions, but she had wanted to make it work for a while there.
"With something like your gem there, he wouldn't have any idea as to its value. I'd lie, say you were trying to dupe some collector with a copy."
It was good advice, he had to admit. "You think that would work on him?"
He would have to trust her judgment, based on her earlier successes. These were the sort of things he usually had Rouge around for, she was the one who was good at talking to people. Especially men. Shadow was a weapon, not a strategist, although he wasn't stupid, either. But Rouge had made deception her job, and it was one she was extremely good at.
"It might. He's done similar things before. I would just... worry about him thinking I told you. He's know I know how I work. That's a big disadvantage to us." She rubbed at her eyes, getting rid of the last of the sleep there. She was still tired from her nap and didn't want to think as much as she had to right now.
Shadow sat in silence, nodding a little. Yes, if it became obvious that he and Perion were working together, the whole thing would be jeopardized. The hope was, of course, that Sebastian would be compelled by jealousy to plow forward. Given how easily he'd caved, it wasn't an unreasonable assumption that he would continue to act in such a way out of desperation to reclaim the girl.
"If a situation were to occur in which I couldn't recover you immediately after the trade, where do you think he would take you?"
"I... don't know." And she didn't. Perion wasn't sure where Sebastian was rooming nowadays, she wasn't even really sure if he was going to keep her alive. The divorce had been far from pretty and some had been thrown around on both of their parts, both of which she doubted where just glib jabs at the other.
"We can figure that out later; I'm more concerned on making it seem like we're not working together."
"Fine. So what would you suggest." Again, she knew the guy; it was best to start from there.
"Of course..." He thought a moment. She should probably know what he'd already told Sebastian, since having things match up would make fabricating something easier.
"He's very jealous. I believe he thinks I'm sleeping with you. Or that I threatened to, should he not do as asked. It seemed to work well," he remarked wryly.
...It took a few moments for that to register before she burst out laughing. Oh, that was rich. Sebastian was even more fucked up than she remembered and she couldn't wait until he saw what Shadow looked like. "That is good." She giggled, taking a good while to quell it before being able to continue on with what she was saying. At least she had a good laugh, she hadn't had that in a while.
"As far as tricking him... Staging that I'm you're hostage is a little over the top, especially since we'll probably tell him that you're trying to trick a collector out of his money. If we pretended I was actually sleeping with you..." and here she had to stop, cracking up again. She almost wished she had been there for that part of their conversation. "Once he sees you, he'll know you're definitely not my type."
Well, that seemed to amuse her. He supposed he should feel insulted, except that he agreed wholeheartedly. Shadow waited for her to calm down a bit and stop with the laughter, before nodding in agreement. Maybe he needed a prop of some sort, like a nice clear plastic case to put the Emerald into. If he was trying to deal in jewelry, after all, he wouldn't want the merchandise to get scratched. Shadow actually wasn't sure if the Chaos Emerald could be scratched - after all, the Master Emerald had been shattered, yet the echidna had put it back together without a mark, and he'd never actually seen any sign of damage on any of the gems. But it would be for show, and that was what all of this was about.
"We may not need some kind of complex story like that. He just simply needs to not suspect that you're giving me inside information, unless he's really that paranoid." Which maybe he was, but there wasn't much that could be helped if that was the case. Unless they could find a way to play to that paranoia.
Paranoid not so much, but definitely desperate when it came to some things. From what she remembered, he was very comfortable with where he was in life as far as who he associated with and kept around; if anyone crossed him, he knew how to take care of them.
"I think if we're ourselves, we might be fine." She couldn't help but giggle again, thinking about all of their fighting. Yes, if they kept that up around him, then it should be alright, all things considered.
"Agreed. Especially if you act as though I never reassured you that I would take you back," he said, having a sip from the glass of water he'd almost forgotten about, the importance of their conversation outweighing any consideration of the beverage. If she acted as though handing her over was a true, deep betrayal, Sebastian would probably feel even more like he'd 'won'. And anything to get him to be overconfident in his victory would give Shadow more opportunities to catch him off guard.
They would need a place to escape to, he realized. Somewhere far out of the way, where he could work on tearing the dimensional barrier down if it was something that would prove to take time. Maybe a trip to the mountains would be in order after all, while they waited.
"I can do that easily. I also think it would be wise if you didn't let him on to any of those tricks you can do. Just act like everyone else. Chances are he'll think you're just some weird hybrid. No offense." She added that last part as an after thought. A three foot tall, talking hedgehog was a little hard to believe, come on now.
Perion had forgotten all about her glass of water as well, though she found she wasn't all that thirsty anymore. She poked at the glass a moment before setting it aside to ignore some more. Her mind was on far more important things. "I could always try seducing the bastard. It wouldn't be hard." There was this dress she had that he had liked, something that she kept in the far reaches of her closet to never be worn again. It might work as precaution, in case everything else fell through, though she desperately hoped it didn't. He'd probably end up missing his nuts if he tried to get his greasy hands anywhere near her.
"Best not to unless I can't get you back immediately, or something else goes wrong. And no. I'm not going to let him know what I can do." That was something he'd certainly planned on doing. Perion herself didn't even know half of what he was capable of, which was probably why she was so worried about getting this right. As long as he could get to the Emerald, the replica, and her, in some way or another, they would be fine. And if he had to, he could just start picking off her ex and his lackeys one by one until he got what he wanted. They wouldn't even be able to try and hold Perion as a hostage, if he could stop time, grab her, and walk right out. They would never know what happened.
"The seduction idea... I don't know where it would get you. Use it to buy time, if you feel as though you must." It was unlikely it would become necessary, however, and that was for the best. It seemed like one of the more obviously suspicious tactics. Then again, Sebastian was that desperate, wasn't he.
Perion shrugged. One of the easier ways she found to get to Sebastian back when the two were together was to bat her eyelashes and pout her lips. She found it vapid and she didn't know it worked, but it did, and if it got him to give her what she wanted, then so be it. "We'll see what happens."
Hopefully nothing bad would happen, but knowing how most of her ex-husband's plans went, someone was probably going to end up dead. Unconsciously she left a hand rest of her abdomen. Man, this kid was probably going to hate her if she made it through this, dragging its teeny little cells through hell like this. Poor baby. That was another thing she didn't want Sebastian to find out about, the baby. She would warn the hedgehog not to mention anything about it, but she highly doubted he would. There would be no point, it wouldn't make a difference in anything, she thought. At least she hoped it wouldn't make a difference in anything.
Perion opened her mouth, about to voice another concern over their slowly formulating plan when she was interrupted by the phone before even getting a word out, the ringing cutting through the air almost menacingly. The woman half-rose before sitting down, looking at the phone before glancing at the hedgehog.
Well now, that was fast. 'Later this evening' had become quite early this evening. All the better, really. Unless the caller was someone else entirely, which would be a bit of a disappointment.
Shadow slid out of his chair and reached up to get the phone, answering with a calm "Yes?"
The voice on the other end of the line was light and lilting, definitely female.
"Hello, is this the Eneas residence?"
"It is." If this wasn't one of Sebastian's secretaries or something, he had to admit he might feel just a little let down. Oh well. He was eager to get this whole thing over with, though, that much was certain.
"Is a Miss Perion available?" The plucky voice asked, sounding as cheerful as a child that just received a pony on their birthday.
"Can I tell her who's calling?" He raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Perion a moment. He really, really hoped this was some kind of stupid ploy.
Perion looked back at him, confused. Who the hell was it?
"Minthe~ May I ask who I'm speaking to?"
Shadow covered the mouthpiece of the phone tightly with a gloved hand, and held it behind him.
"Minthe?" he asked Perion quietly.
Perion shook her head, giving him a quizzical look before the lightbulb went clicking on. "That bitch! Give me the phone." She held out her hand, demanding.
He hesitated briefly, staring coolly at her. He recalled that tone from when she'd been talking about Millan. If this was in fact the call he'd been waiting for, wouldn't it be better if he was the one to deal with it, so it didn't look like Perion was in on it?
Then again, maybe 'that bitch' described a number of people in Perion's life, for all he knew. With a slight frown, he handed her the phone.
She took and growled into the receiver. "Yes?"
The phone conversation took only a minute, probably less, and it wasn't so much a conversation as it was a Perion listening and getting angrier by the second. Finally, she slammed the phone down, glaring at Shadow. Not so much at him as in his general direction. "Tomorrow. That club you met me at. Dis will be there."
"Hm." It was interesting he'd made sure his message went to Perion first, rather than talking with Shadow directly, as they had agreed. It had confirmed for him that Perion was there, and by telling her the message and having her deliver it, it had essentially made sure that if they weren't working together after all, Shadow wouldn't get the message and wouldn't arrive. He wished he hadn't handed the phone over, after all.
Things would still work out, though. They could both be aware of what was going on but disagree over its nature, he supposed. Or there was the sudden-but-inevitable-betrayal act they could put on when they went to retrieve the duplicate Emerald, as he'd mentioned to Perion already.
"Did she give a time?"
It wasn't so much that, though Sebastian would be able to deduct it from what he would be told when Millan put it, it was more Millan wanting to piss off Perion. Even though Sebastian wanted his ex-wife back, Millan was far more petty and once she had heard that the woman was part of this, she was going to use it to get any sort of jab in that she could.
"Nine in the evening. It's late." Perion frowned, fidgeting. She didn't want to go, but Millan had specifically said the invitation was extended to both of them. And if the invitation was for both of them, that meant the two of them had better be there at nine sharp or else the replica was out of the question.
Nine is late...? If the rest of the world operated at odd hours, Shadow would honestly prefer it. He didn't sleep much. The early hours of the morning were some of the best for getting things done. Of course, he'd slept a fair amount back at that compound, but that was because sometimes there just wasn't anything else to do.
"And you're expected as well, I take it. This will be interesting." Potentially bad, but definitely interesting.
To her, late depended on when she worked. Sometimes, late was six in the morning, other times it was nine in the evening. Since she was supposed to be working tomorrow during the daytime... Though it didn't matter much. Perion was going to call in, tell them that she was going to take vacation time off. She wasn't going to be working there much longer, so why not enjoy the days she had left in Belmont?
"Of course. Did you expect anything different?" She stopped herself from scoffing, instead setting her forehead in her hands with an angry sigh. Great. This was just great.
"And if you don't show?" Shadow watched her evenly, not fazed by her small outburst. This was business, and that meant it was time to be completely serious. Such a display of emotion, while expected from her by now, was rather counterproductive.
"I don't know. No one has ever not shown. You just don't do that with him; you listen to him." She shook her head, staring down at the table. Chances are if she didn't show up, he'd just take what he wanted by force and forget the deal entirely.
"I see." While he was sort of curious to see what the result would be in any other situation, now was not the time to experiment. This would have to work, or they would be dodging Sebastian frequently in the future as they continued to look for more options. And if the man controlled as much of Belmont's underworld as he claimed to, that could be extremely difficult. Shadow wasn't tied to this city and could survive anywhere on basically nothing, but Perion wasn't the same, and had a child to look after.
"I'll be there at eight thirty. I want to look around and see the building layout, and if possible, identify who in the area is with your ex-husband so I know who to keep an eye on. I'll come back here by eight forty-five and we can arrive together." Considering the club scene and his small size, it would be easy to scope out the place without making an impression on Sebastian before their scheduled meeting.
"Alright..." A thought crossed Perion's mind and she glanced out of the archway leading from the kitchen to the living room, the mantle with its upturned photo in sight. "You'll probably want to know what he looks like before hand, right?" As she asked, she kept her eyes glued to that frame.
"I would." He followed her gaze to the photo frame, then glanced back at her before walking out into the living room. With a bit of a hop and a forced hover on his shoes, he was tall enough to reach, and took the frame and enclosed photo down from the mantle before landing back down on the floor.
The photo showed a much happier Perion, dressed in her wedding gown, the arms of Sebastian wrapped around her waist. His hair was black and eyes dark, with a smattering of stubble along his jaw, and he was just a little taller than Perion. In the photo he was smiling, but even though it crinkled his nose and stretched the corners of his mouth, it didn't quite reach his eyes. All in all, though, it was a lovely photo and the woman almost felt it a shame to keep it face down like she did, which attributed in part to why she kept it there in the first place.
Not having gotten up, Perion was watching Shadow carefully from her spot in the kitchen, chin resting on a hand. "He looks a little different now; gained some weight after we were married."
Shadow studied the face carefully, hoping he didn't look too different. Humans could be hard to tell apart, sometimes. There was a lot of variation in their faces, but it was hard to recognize for someone who had only ever personally known a limited few up until one had drafted him. Still, he figured he wouldn't have too much trouble picking him out of a crowd.
The tuxedo in the picture wasn't very helpful, though. "Does he wear anything distinctive?"
"He... well. He carries with him a hat, at all times. It's not much to look at, but..." She bit her lip. She had forgotten about his little trick when she forced herself to forget that he could be stalking her; there wasn't much use in worrying about it and she had to get on with her life in some way. "It lets him become invisible when he chooses."
An invisible hat. That was different. Shadow raised an eyebrow, imagining that. He couldn't think of a way that it would obstruct any of their plans, but it was definitely something to keep in mind.
"How does he usually dress?"
"Like anyone else. Jeans and shirt, usually something smart, but forgettable. Sometimes a suit to work, but I doubt he'd show up there in something like that, he'd want to blend in." Perion bit her lip, thinking. "He does have a scar, though. On the back of his hand, like little cuts. There was an incident with some roses a while back."
Oh, an incident, right. Shadow nodded. It was unfortunate, the whole jeans and shirt getup, but not surprising, considering. It would make spotting him a little more difficult, but oh well. He would manage, somehow.
"Is Millan going to be there as well?" On the one hand, he didn't want her and Perion to kill each other, but on the other, it would make finding him in the dim club with all the people and flashing lights so much easier if he had a second face associated with him.
Her eyes narrowed just a fraction and her nostrils flared. She may just have to put a ban on saying that name in this household ever again, she didn't like it one bit, and why should she? "I wouldn't doubt it."
Well goodness, go ahead and get all pissy over mentioning her name, then. Still, Shadow figured he didn't know the half of their history together - and, of course, Perion had a very active set of emotional reactions to everything.
"You'll have to ignore her, or you will get in the way," he stated coolly, watching her. Maybe he should say Millan's name over and over again so she could work on her reactions. It would almost be funny.
If he did that, she'd smack him hard. Not like she'd actually be able to hit him, but she'd sure as hell try. "I won't get in the way," she replied, equally as cool. Perion could feel herself slipping back into that mood she had been in the night before, when she was drinking. That kind of rough, what-the-hell-ever mood. She could actually go for a drink right now, but her hand on her abdomen reminded her exactly why she couldn't.
"Good." She had better be right. All that remained now was to wait until tomorrow night, and the deal would be more or less sealed. He could almost feel the ever-more tangible reality of walking the streets of Central, or Station Square, or even the old corridors of the ARK once more. It would be a good place to stop for a while, to reflect on whether or not he really wanted to attempt time travel. If he got it wrong, if it couldn't be done, who knew what could happen? Or if it could, and he changed history forever...
No. Better to think about such things another time. Right now, he had to focus on what he would say to Sebastian, to present the least risk to himself and his Emerald. He could always find a way to get it back if he lost it; he'd originally stolen it from the National Reserve Bank, after all, and if he could get past their security, he could get to it wherever it was. It would just take time to find it if he lost it, without any better detector than his own sense for its power.
Perion fidgeted a moment before standing up and pacing around the kitchen under the facade of looking for something to eat, partly because she had nothing else to do, mostly because she was nervous and scared and couldn't keep herself still for longer than five minutes anymore. She wasn't sure what she was going to do once she faced Sebastian and Millan. Well, she knew what she'd like to do, and that was beat the shit out of both of them, but what she was most likely to do was stay back and keep out of the way. It would be better for Shadow, anyway, if she didn't make any sort of move. Mostly she was going to be shown that she was actually part of the trade, wasn't she?
Shadow jumped up onto the back of the couch and faced the kitchen, watching Perion because, well, she was moving. It was sort of like the visual equivalent of background noise, in a way. His eyes weren't exactly focused on her, anyway.
Perion was a liability. A bargaining tool, and an informative one, but a potential problem. She could stand to improve her poker face, for one. Her anger was too noticeable. It would be strange, of course, if she showed up at the meeting tomorrow and seemed perfectly content to sit and chat. That would be more suspicious than anything. But despite her attempts to assauge his concerns, he was really having a hard time believing she wouldn't, at some point, dive for Millan's throat. And if the two girls ended up fighting each other, he doubted Sebastian would be able to ignore it and continue on with business.
His eyes did focus on her, then, watching as she tried to make herself busy. She was too nervous, even now, it seemed. They still had over a day to go. Maybe they could take a trip to the mountains tomorrow. She could distract herself, while Shadow found a location to make the rift.
A box of cereal almost fell, but Perion caught it before it hit the floor and placed it back up in the cabinet shelf. Her hands were shaking, she had dully noted, but she didn't say anything. She thought about going to go take a couple of aspirin, maybe make that headache she was developing go away. Or perhaps she'd just go requisition herself a sedative from work and tranq herself before tomorrow's events occurred. That sounded lovely, actually, but she didn't think the hedgehog would be on the same page with that.
Exhausting her food search and finding nothing, Perion curled up like a battered cat in the one plush arm chair in the tiny living room. She didn't have a whole lot of furniture in the room, since it was rather small, but it had a somewhat cozy and comforting feel. She glanced at the mantle and a picture of her mother; she supposed that maybe she should call her before she left this world for good, but didn't think she could stand her mother getting upset about it, especially not know. Perion's mother was sensitive about those sorts of things since her husband had passed away; it was the whole reason she had moved to the city, to be closer to her daughter.
The woman sighed shakily, trying to keep all of the emotions in. It wouldn't do good if she let them all out right now, not when she had to try to brave.
Shadow had never seen someone on the verge of emotional breakdown, but he imagined one of the earlier stages probably looked something like what Perion was doing right now. It must have been daunting for her, to do something useful with her life for once. Humans, and probably by extent their more divine counterparts, were lazy, ignorant sheep. Push them just outside of their comfort zone and they snapped if they weren't strong enough. A goddess was probably more emotionally durable than the average human, but right now there didn't seem to be much difference.
No matter. He would get through this one way or another. There wasn't likely to be much he could do for Perion right now; she was going to have to suck it up and get through it on her own. He had other things to think about.
"I'm going out," he announced, not that she really needed to know. But a run sounded nice, as compared to being cooped up indoors. He leapt down to the floor and stalked toward the entryway.
Next: To Be Continued
