Chapter 23: Danger Closing In From All Sides
"See… it's not me who we should-" Before Louise could finish that sentence, his phone rang, the loud buzzing cutting the girl off before she could get to the meat of the conversation. Normally when Jim was talking with people who were using such serious tones, he'd ignored it but he knew from the ring tone alone who this was.
And you didn't ignore Wilson Fisk when he called you directly.
"I'm sorry, gotta take this," Jim explained standing up and walking out of the room as fast as he could. The father walked all the way to the kitchen, his ear pressed up to the phone while his free hand hit the answer button.
"Mr. O'Reilly," Fisk said the words in his own typical fashion, he was constantly out of breath.
"I regret to inform you that some of my contacts have discovered that your former associates have put a bounty for you, only twenty-thousand, they're not interested in having you dead… yet," Jim felt his heart leap into his chest, even though he knew that this could happen, he hadn't expected it so soon. "But I have need… of your services in the future. So just in case of any unforeseen obstacles, I shall send you to my tailor, prepare for Wesley to pick you up tomorrow morning."
With those words spoken Wilson Fisk hung up, causing Jim to let out a sigh, one that was more from regret than from relief.
Fisk wasn't someone that liked to talk to underlings, at least not for more than a few simple words. The fact that he had spoken directly to him at all, told O'Reilly more than one thing.
Jim rubbed his jaw, scratching his chin with enough force that there was an audible noise as his nails made contact with his beard.
"Pop?" Louise spoke, causing her father to jump in shock at her rather sudden appearance in the kitchen. "You okay?" her face was shifted into a deep frown, one that only showcased concern. "You look like a ghost just popped out of the wall and attacked you… it's not Grandpa is it? Back from the dead to haunt you for taking all of his money?"
"What?" Jim blinked, taken aback by that rather odd non sequitur Louise just shown his way. "Your Granpa's still alive and money? Guy's not got a penny to his name? What are you talking about?"
"Could've just died," The young girl smile, the rather dark attempt at humor now apparent to her old man.
Jim chuckled slightly, not because the joke was funny but because it at least worked at taking his mind away from the news he'd just received. "Then the money would've came from the life insurance."
"Well, I wouldn't worry about that," The father shook his head, placing his phone down on the kitchen counter with a nonchalance that should've only existed when a parent's child didn't have sticky fingers. "Me Dad's probably going to outlive all of us at this stage."
It was then a thought entered his head, something else that could distract him from the mistake he had made yesterday in trying to warn Sean. What was she going to say not a minute ago?
"So what were you going to say earlier?" he asked, walking around his young girl and reaching into their fridge to grab a cold drink. "Sounded pretty dang important."
"Dang? Really, Pop?" Louise rolled her eyes at him, leaning back onto the counter and slyly sliding the phone into her pocket. "It was about Pat… "
When she trailed off this time, Jim couldn't help but feel the air start to thicken from the tension that was building.
He turned around to face her once more and her eyes were looking to the ground, giving off the vibe that while not ashamed, Louise wasn't sure if she should tell me whatever it was.
"Look… if something happened," he laid his hand on her shoulder, giving her the softest smile that he could. "You can tell me, I would never judge you."
"It's not about me," she responded, still acting much too meek for his daughter but then Louise looked back up to Jim with a sad expression, one that the man never liked to see on her face. "Pat was investigating some blackouts, found a lead, went to talk to her and-"
It was then that Louise went into detail, though talking so fast that Jim needed to tell her to slow down to elaborate on some parts but eventually Jim managed to get the idea that she was truly trying to get across.
"And you're saying that his reaction about this is subdued?" Jim asked, deciding to try and cut towards the part of the story that seemed to bother the girl the most. "I'd expect him to be really angry."
"So would I!" Louise threw up her hands, exploding with emotion and motion that knocked Jim's hand off her shoulder, which was something the father was more used to seeing from her than the rather dour mood she'd been displaying prior.
"But I guess since it didn't work on him," she frowned, shoving her arms under her armpit. "Pat just doesn't get that the woman was trying to-"
"Let's not say that out loud," the father interrupted her, placing his hand once more on her shoulder. "It's only working you up more. How about I have a talk with him? See if I can't get him to open up, maybe bring it up to Ben."
That seemed to actually calm her down, Louise sagged down and closed her eyes.
"Thanks, I'm just a bit worried that he's holding in his rage-"
"-and with his power… imagine just what kind of carnage he could unleash if he was to break."
x-x-x
(Pat Doyle)
"Jam Donut," I stared at the thing before taking a bite out of the pastry with great gusto. The jam exploded across my lips, causing me to lick the strawberry goodness, "I love them, thanks Ben!"
We were sitting outside of a cafe, enjoying a quiet lunch while discussing the developments that had been uncovered by the retrieval of Doctor Octavius' personnel files. Since it seemed to be a break breakthrough Ben had decided that he'd treat me to a meal and we'd talk over that.
Ben himself sat at the opposite end of the table from me, his left hand tapping away at the table while his right slowly brought his cup of coffee to his lips. It was a light blend, while a heavy coffee drinker Ben kept the heavier stuff for late nights working.
"Sounds like a dangerous woman," he said, tapping a folder containing the Doctor's files while setting the drink down on top of it. "Especially if not even Tony Stark would keep her on."
There was an insult, though one that I didn't understand at the time.
"I thought he's calmed down since the whole Iron Man reveal?" I questioned, finishing the donut off in a single bite and then wiping my sugary hands off a tissue that was part of the table's arrangement before shrugging at the other man. "I've only heard of one drunken binge, for him that's amazing!"
Ben chuckled with a smile as if he was enjoying my naivety like someone would when they found a puppy biting their tails. He leaned forward, his eyes staring into mine while also humming up a jaunty tune.
"Listen," he eventually told me, wagging a single finger at me. "The man can have the best of intentions, but as his hard-partying last night proves, it ain't so easy to change yourself."
"Hard-partying?" I asked, lifting a brow. "Just when I thought he was turning things around, what did he do this time?"
"Partied in his Iron Man suit," Ben informed, his face much more serious than it had been just seconds earlier. "Apparently his military friend got his hands on one of the other suits, the two briefly fought and then Colonel Rhodes even managed to run off with the thing… according to my sources."
If I had been drinking, this would've been a spite take moment.
"That's worrying," Was my response instead, dragging the file out from Ben's hold. "And hopefully something that I won't have to deal with later."
"What plan on getting into a fight with the US Military?" he whispered to me, trying to keep this part of the conversation away from curious ears.
"Heck no, I'm just worried about mech suits getting passed around to Police Units in the future," I informed him, remembering briefly the stories of military hardware getting passed to such units in my own universe, one where there wasn't the chance of a Hulk dropping in on you.
Here, Some Police Units will be chomping at the bit to get their hands on this stuff, especially if the American Government spends as much on their weapons as I think they will. "Things will only escalate if that happens."
From there I realized that we had gotten off-topic, so I brought things back to what started this discussion.
"So from what I've gotten from her profile is that the Doctor's ego has gone through the roof," I said, running through the details out loud with Ben, an exercise that he started with me to help me work through things.
The idea being that he'd ask me simple questions or to elaborate on somethings to get me truly thinking about the details and how they connect. "The Blackouts started in her building, though it's likely since they no longer happen in that apartment that the Doc's either shielded the place or has taken them to another building."
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