| All the Little Children |
| Summary: | Emma Frost has a mission. Now she just needs agents to send on the mission. So she finds some. |
| Date: | 2014-08-06 |
| Related: | Various |
| NPCs: | NA |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Plot |
| Players: |
 .. .. .. |
The invitation was not transmitted electronically. There was no phone call. No fax. No email. No, instead an envelope appeared - without stamp or processing code - in the Defenders For Hire, Inc. mailbox. The envelope was heavy, rich stock, a creamy white. Opened, it revealed a single card stock sheet with silver and gold metallic embossed message, inviting Ms. Sally Blevins and Ms. Katherine Bishop to a meeting. The address? A penthouse office in one of the tallest, most majestic, most expensive buildings in all of Manhattan. A quick check would reveal that the floors in question are leased to a single corporation: Frost International, Incorporated. No explanation is offered, however, for the reason for the meeting.
Upon arrival, the card proves to have an embedded, encoded magnetic strip which keys to allow the elevator to access to the floor in question. And upon arrival, the young women would be greeted by a handsome blonde gentleman in standard business attire - top shelf, but still standard - who welcomes them and asks if they would like anything to drink, offering them seats in plush chairs to await … Ms. Frost. Emma Grace Frost.
Curious indeed.
Kate Bishop was curious about the meet, especially not the standard way of introducing yourself to a client. As she makes her way to the building, she turns to Sally as she looks around. "I thought this was exactly the type of thing we were looking to avoid?" She asks, somehow thinking that this is Sally's doing. Once seated and hearing the name of who would be meeting them, Kate sighs. "Why go through this? She could've just spoken to me at…" She blanches and looks to Sally before looking to the floor, feeling a bit guilty. Perhaps this has more to do with Kate than she realizes.
Well, there's no way Sally's not going to this meeting, and the time between invitation, acceptance, and now, is spent getting ready when she can. Shopping, hair, nails, alldone up to perfection. Even the suit is new, tailored even, and the heels too, brand new, for this meeting. A dark blue with faint cross hatching in white blazer and skirt, with a whit as they can get blouse underneath the blazer. "Don't worry, I mean she's not so mean as people make her out to be, she did give me that phone I have, the one I had no way of getting on my own before you met me." she says, "OH, you met her? She's great, isn't she?" Smiling to her partner (in more than one aspect), "Perhaps some iced tea for us." she says to the attendant, "What's wrong?" she asks once the gentleman moves off.
Kate Bishop raises a brow looking to Sally. "She's… a force… to be reckoned with. And right now I'm not quite sure exactly what kind of influence she has on you." She grumbles and sits straight, looking forward. "You even went… shopping for her. That's the first new outfit I've seen since I met you." She waves off any form of refreshment. "I used my father.. to make contacts. Ms. Frost was the first amongst many. I respect her, but I don't trust her, and I know even less about her." She checks the time on her watch.
"Yes, I went shopping, I had literally nothing to wear to meet somone of her stature, and the last time I saw her I was wearing the uniform for that electronic store employee theft case." she says. "I've met her twice, once when I was living on the street, and the other a little bit ago at the Embassy after I wrote her, thanking her. Had it not been for her, I might not be here." She leans in close, whispering something to Kate.
Kate Bishop walks into the office a the man shows them in. Not much unlike the livery who escorted her through the Hellfire Mansion. She even tries to get a good look at the man to see f he's one and the same." She nods to Sally. "People here don't do things out of kindness." She says, and just leaves it at that, dwelling over the issue of telling Sally about the Club or not. She just swallows and keeps quiet until they meet with Emma.
She leans in, snagging a hug from Kate as they are being lead in. "Well, i've had great dealings with her, as brief as they have been." she says softly.
After a few minutes - plenty for their chat - the young man returns and guides them into a gleaming, ultra-modern and very /white/ office, with hints of light blues and a good bit of gleaming silvery metal and glass. Nestled with all of this and quite comfortable from the look of it is the tall, beautiful blonde that both women are familiar with. She arises as they are shown in, and approaches to take each of their hands in turn, a brief but warm clasp and a smile.
"Good afternoon, Katherine. Sally. I am very glad that both of you could meet with me today. Please, come in, sit down. Make yourselves comfortable." OK, so it's just like any other business meeting. Except it's Emma freaking Frost.
Emma returns to her own seat behind her desk, and pulls out from a drawer two pale blue envelopes, each with a single silver-embossed 'F' on its surface. These she then lifts and pushes out across the desk towards the other women. "I realize this may be a tad disconcerting for each of you. I am personally associated with each of you, but under circumstances that would not normally lead to putting together your associations with one another." She leaves that there, for both to comment on as they see fit. "However, I am aware of what your company does. And I have reason to hire you. I have a problem, a question, and I need professional help to narrow down the answers to my problem. And I need those I can trust, and in whom I feel assured of clear discretion." And apparently, she has selected Defenders for Hire, Inc.
Kate Bishop nods. "Our discretion is assured, Your…" She stops. "Ms. Frost. I can understand why you've hired us. I've handed you quite the portfolio. I can only hope that we can look as good in person as on paper." She says seriously. "You need to keep this extremely close to the vest, or else you'd hire someone with a higher profile." She looks to Sally. "This is eyes only, you and me. Our associates are excellent, but I have the feeling this is to be top level discretion." She turns to Emma and picks up the envelope. "What's the job, Ms. Frost?"
"Ms. Frost, what is said here, and what is found out is for you. We'd never think of sharing one case with anyone else." she offers with a polite smile, looking to Kate as shse speaks to her, "I know, Ms. Frost is as much a public figure as Diana, I'd never risk their by sharing beyond the client." she whispers.
Emma watches the interplay between the two women with curiosity, but without judgement. She simply nods to acknowledge Katherine's words. "Just so. If you choose to delegate some of your work to your associates, the choice is yours. But they are not to know that they are working for me, and they are never to see those folders. What you disseminate from within them is your choice, but I would prefer that copies be kept to an absolute minimum, and destroyed after use. Minimize your electronic trail, ladies." She pauses, and then finishes the thought. "Lives may depend upon it."
Emma then gestures to the folders, indicating they should open them and take a look inside. The papers inside are a collection of printed out emails. The top of each page shows complete garbage - encrypted text. The bottom shows the same email, with the content decoded. Each presents a name, a location - GPS coordinates - and a date and time. Nothing more. "These messages have come into my possession. At this time, I am not at liberty to say how, or through or from whom. All I can say is that I need to know the meaning, the intersection of this data. Quickly, and privately." Her face shutters for a moment, and then she looks first at Sally, and then Kate, intently. "I know two of the names in there. I know them /personally/. And I cannot reach them."
Hell hath no fury. Somewhere, someone just signed up for a world of hurt. Just as soon as Emma finds out /who/ they are.
Kate Bishop nods to Emma. "We may have to consult others, but we can definitely keep it in house. Our associates are excellent." She says as she takes a look, and raises a brow, judging the body language and general "air" that Emma seems to give off. She looks to Sally and shrugs. "Planned kidnappings?" She turns to Emma. "I'm assuming that there's no good reason for these associates of yours to just up and disappear, so I'll skip the generic questions for a missing persons case." She turns to Sally to see what she can add.
Sally goes pretty silent as she looks over the open folder and listens to Emma make her wishes and intents known. That phone is pulled out, and she pulls up the map application and begins putting in the GPS coordinates to map them out and routes between the points, letting Emma and Kate speak, and she gets to work.
After a few long moments to collect herself, Emma pulls out two more files. These, interestingly enough, are not the same. They are much thicker, and have a red X in a circle on their corrugated fronts. Each is a fold-over and wrap folder, closed. "Inside, you will find everything I have on those I knew. What I need is as much detail as you can find on each of the others, whatever commonalities you can find between them, and anything you can dig up on their final movements and how these positions and timeframes relate for each, and to each other."
Then Emma answers Kate's question. "No. There is no good reason for them to have disappeared. In fact, each of them should have returned to school two weeks ago. That they did not was my first clue that something was wrong. When I was able to decade these messages, and spotted their names amongst them, I decided to take more directed action." When people like Emma Frost talk about 'directed action', mercenaries get hired, with big bank accounts and even bigger body counts.
Kate Bishop nods. "This will take some time." She says, standing as she gathers the folders up. "We'll have to make doubly sure before saying anything. If lives may be at stake, we can't afford to mess this up. We'll make sure to let you know when we have anything solid. We'll start working on it ASAP." She looks to Sally, and then back to Emma. "Is there anything else that we can help you with, Ms. Frost?"
Frowning, the phone is put away, "We'll make this a priority for that reason." she says to Emma. Moving to help Kate with the folders, "And, would you prefer our findings to be given in person, or though some other, secure means?" she asks Sally looking from Kate back to Emma.
"For now, Ms. Bishop? No. Just this." Emma responds. Then she glances at Sally. "My preference would be in person, Ms. Blevins. If that becomes a problem, we can and will make other arrangements. Thank you both for taking this case, and for taking this seriously. If you require any additional resources, please be assured: I will provide whatever I can."
Kate Bishop nods to Emma. "Either one of us has access to you. We'll be able to meet no problem. Thank you for your time. We'll do our best." She says, waiting for Sally.
She smiles, "Of course, Ms. Frost." she says with a polite bow of her head, soon moving to fall in with Kate.
Frost's Office - Frost Tower — Midtown East
This office is large and spacious, surrounded by two walls that are nothing but windows. The floor is carpeted in a thick, creamy white carpeting that seems new. The dominant piece of furniture is a large mahogany desk that stands just back from the center of the room, in front of a large, soft white high-backed office chair. The cushions, draperies, window blinds (usually drawn up to the ceiling), and paintings are all a softly brilliant white. There are several comfortable chairs near the desk. Bookshelves are placed along the solid side wall and filled with books and materials, most of which center on doctoral themes of behavior and psychology, business and corporate management, and some of which seem to be about more esoteric things such as theoretical studies in consciousness. A Pentium II workstation computer and PBX phone sits to one side of the desk. Its cabling is networked to both the building's Ethernet as well as a tiered-frame relay box to a fiber-T1.
*Obvious Exits:
* [O] - Frost Tower — Midtown East