The Nefarious Marionette!
San Diego
Following Marcy’s gaze towards the door, Lisette’s mouth turned upwards into her own smirk. The other girl’s proposition was sorely tempting, and she would have normally jumped at the prospect of revenge for her earlier humiliation. But that was just it: her whole life, Lisette had just been reacting impulsively. Even when she chose to become a villain, when she thought that she’d taken control of her own destiny for once, nothing had really changed. Though things were going to be different from now on, if she had anything to say about it. Shaking her head, the villain met Changeling’s gaze with a glimmer in her eyes.
“No. Even if we killed him, we’d get hunted by whoever replaced him - and the Bratva would be after us as well. If we made it out of here alive, we’d just be back to where we started. A pair of small-time villains on the streets, dismissed and ignored.” Lisette spoke the last few words with a hint of bitterness, recalling how the Young Bloods had dismissed her at the gala, and that stupid feeling of helplessness as she’d raced away in her tattered dress. Clenching her fists by her side, she resolved never to allow herself to be in that situation again. Never.
“We’ve got to be more patient than that.” Pausing for a moment, Lisette mulled over their options, the gears quickly grinding together in her head as she ran through all the schemes and plots that she could imagine. Slowly, the outlines of a plan began to emerge. It could work, but they’d have to be careful. “For now, we should keep acting normal. We’ll have more freedom to act once they lose interest and get distracted by something other than us. When we get our chance, we’ve got to make the most of it. And not just to get our revenge, we have to try to change everything if we’re going to get what we want.” Lisette offered the other girl a smirk. “Although the revenge is going to be nice, too.”
Steven Short
San Diego
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Steven raced forward into the office, his eyes wide at the sight that greeted him. Breathless from his less-than-ideal commute this morning, he’d even had trouble scanning his ID to get into the Channel 2 building. It was a situation only made worse by his desire to get back to the notes in his cubicle. He was close to a breakthrough in the story, and he was itching to get into the thick of it. And yet, now there were two of the building’s security guards standing over his desk, moving their grubby mits all over the stacks of paper and notepads that littered across it.
Seeing the furious man storming towards him, one of the security guards’ mouths turned into a frown. Shit, I thought they’d already cut his building access.
“Mr. Short, I need you to calm down before -”
Not listening to a word that was being said, Steven ripped a cardboard box from the man’s grip. As he glanced inside, his gaze narrowed as he saw that it was haphazardly filled with a collection of items that had been swept from his desk.
“The fuck?” He muttered, before glancing back up with a scowl. “Alright George Orwell, who gave you the right to go through my stuff? I’m only late by a couple minutes for crying out loud!”
“I did.”
The eyes of all three of the gathered men turned towards the female voice, along with those from some other curious onlookers who were quietly peering at the developing scene from their own cubicles. Standing with her arms folded across her chest, the woman struck an authoritative pose as she offered Steven a scowl at the scene he was causing.
“You did?” He said, confusion evident in his tone.
Met with the cold stare from his editor, a stare which he’d become all-too-used-to at this point, Steven glanced between the woman and the security guards for a few moments before things started to click. And when they did, his reaction was immediate.
“Oh, you are kidding me, Melissa. Why? What is it that I’m supposed to have done?” Steven demanded, feeling his confusion quickly being replaced by frustration. “If it’s still about Bart complaining that I crashed his interview, you and I both know that I boosted his ratings by asking an actually tough question. That arsewipe should be thanking me, not hounding me with complaints.”
“Firstly, watch your mouth when you’re my newsroom, Steven.” Melissa said, maintaining her cold expression. “And you know that I couldn’t care less about Bart complaining that he got shown up. I covered you that time, since I think you actually were doing some decent reporting.”
Steven frowned, not having expected the response. “Alright, I’ll bite. If it wasn’t Bart, then what was it?”
Melissa scoffed. “The fact that you even have to ask gives me all the more reason to kick your behind out of here.” Storming forward, she jabbed a finger harshly into Steven’s chest. “You broke into that gala, specifically after I told you not to. I stuck my neck out for you, and all you had to do was keep your head low while I cooled off some heads. But no, the intrepid Steven Short just couldn’t sit on his hands for a couple of days!”
“That’s what this is all about?” Steven said, genuine surprise creeping into his voice. “Oh come on, you know that I couldn’t just let them get away with such a clearly picked-out media gallery. Every story about the Supes after that would’ve just made me want to throw up. Besides, I didn’t actually publish anything about it.” Yet, Steven had to admit. But he figured that was a bit that he’d best leave unsaid.
“This is serious, Steven. I can’t remember the last time that I was getting emails from people this high above my paygrade, and they are not happy. After the stunt you pulled with Kabuto and Ashen Moth, they were already on edge, and now it looks like you’re getting blacklisted from the network.”
Steven blinked. “Blacklisted? Now hold on a second, that seems a bit extreme don’t you -”
Not letting him finish, Melissa sounded exasperated as she interrupted. “It’s not just Channel 2 either. I reached out to my contacts in the other networks, hell, I even tried calling some of the papers, and this is blanket. You are persona non grata in all of San Diego right now, and I need you out of this newsroom before you bring this shitstorm down on the rest of us.” She fired a scowl at the reporter, his expression slowly dawning with realisation at the mess that he’d found himself in. “But that’s what happens when a call comes in from Jordan Scott’s office.”
Steven’s eyes shot open. “Wait, this is all his doing?” Pausing, the reporter’s mouth turned upwards into a grin for what seemed like the first time all day. There was a glimmer in his eyes as he turned back towards Melissa. “I knew that he was involved in all of this, somehow. C’mon, Melissa, this is the surest sign yet that I’m onto something big. That bigwig is trying to use his influence to cover up the truth, and he knows that I’m getting close to blowing open this whole can of worms. The Young Bloods, the Wonder Foundation, Scott Industries, the whole fucking Super-NASL Complex is in on it, I know it!”
Melissa’s scowl deepened. “Or you pushed a very wealthy and very powerful man far enough that he actually bothered to notice you poking your nose where it’s not wanted. Not everyone liked how hard you’ve been gunning for the Young Bloods either. Face it, Steven - you picked the wrong fight this time. You’re canned.”
Trying to think fast, Steven almost pleaded with the woman. “You don’t believe that, I know you don’t. Taking risks and sticking up to the powers-that-be is part of the job. We could really hit it big with this story, the whole network would be begging for -”
“This isn’t just about you, Steven.” Melissa snapped. “I’ve got a whole newsroom to worry about, and this is hardly the first bloody time that you’ve rustled the wrong set of feathers. And even if I wanted to change things, this decision comes from the top. I can try to smooth things over, let you know when things quiet down, and you can reapply for a new post. It might even help if you come out with an apology and -”
“An apology?! Fuck that shit!” Steven blurted out, although the stern glare that his outburst evoked from his boss immediately made him regret it.
Glaring at the reporter, Melissa felt herself bristling at his stubbornness. Glancing at the pair of security guards, she offered them a curt nod. “You’re fired, Steven.” Turning on her heels, she began to stride away. “Grab your things and get out.”
