Regardless of how laid back Fury acted, I fully expected that he would've torn through my apartment and bugged everything, or at the very least, his agents would have done so.
Fortunately, that hadn't been the case. It seemed he knew that completely invading my privacy wouldn't be a great idea when trying to negotiate with me.
Anyway, I felt that now was the time I had to make my decision regarding the Hellfire Club.
The club operated at a level far beyond Fisk, so it was practically guaranteed they had people in S.H.I.E.L.D. If the deal with Fury went through, I'd probably end up doing missions with some extremely high-level criminals and terrorists, individuals who could potentially be linked to the Hellfire Club.
If my involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D. were found out, the path into the club would essentially be closed to me. But if I joined before Shaw learnt about that, he wouldn't exactly be able to so easily kick me out. Doing so would be a major embarrassment for him, even more so if I had proven my worth.
The idea of being a part of both Hellfire and S.H.I.E.L.D. was a very risky plan, but the potential gains were massive.
To begin with, being a part of Hellfire would put me among the powerful mutants in the club. Mutants who I could farm fear from. Shaw already knew how useful I could be in suppressing Emma, so if I bullied the fuck out of the other members, he wouldn't give a damn.
S.H.I.E.L.D. definitely wouldn't appreciate me joining the club, but that was actually easier to deal with. Hellfire was one of the most secretive criminal organisations on the planet, a place that even S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't have solid information on. On top of that, once Fury felt more comfortable with me and understood my value, he'd realise it wasn't worth losing me just to surveil me.
Two-timing both organisations allowed me to farm fear from both mutants and whatever criminals or terrorists S.H.I.E.L.D made me deal with. It wasn't something I had to keep up forever, either, just long enough before I got my next ability.
The Yami Yami No Mi.
Of course, it was a Logia, so I knew it would allow me a level of invulnerability to physical attacks, but it also had a special effect according to the shop.
In One Piece, the Yami was able to disable the abilities of other Devil Fruit users. According to the shop, since there were no fruit users in Marvel, this ability would be rebalanced to somewhat affect magic users.
Plenty of the abilities in the shop acted like this, being altered to be more suitable within the world of Marvel.
Despite magic users not being a pressing issue for me at the moment, they were one of the scarier things I'd have to deal with in the future. I had no interest in being fucked around with by any kind of magician, Kamar-Taj or not.
Anyway, that was the side benefit. The main benefit was that having the Yami would give me a massive power boost, the kind of boost I was looking for before the Chitauri invaded.
And obviously, once I had reached that level of power, there was no need to be worried about Shaw. Sure, his ability to absorb kinetic energy and grow stronger hard countered me as I was now, but once I got my hands on a 'proper' ability, that would stop being the case.
It was probably too soon to plot about trying to take Hellfire for myself, but it was something to keep in mind.
So, with all that considered, I dialled up his number.
Within seconds, he had answered my call, a fact which startled me slightly.
I hoped he didn't have a crush on me. Apparently, a lot of rich old men like him happened to be into some freaky things I'd rather not be a part of.
"I've been expecting your call," He spoke before I even introduced myself.
"Yeah, so, when and where?" I cut to the chase immediately.
"Don't worry about that, I'll send someone over."
With that, he cut the call.
"Wow, does everyone just know where I live?"
---
When a black phantom pulled up outside my apartment at night, there was no question in my mind that it belonged to Shaw.
I sat down in the backseat and took a look at the driver. He was a professional-looking man who clearly had no intention to converse with me, something I was fine with.
As soon as I got in, he began driving.
We stopped at what seemed to be a clandestine office building. A man wearing a suit, separate from the driver, opened the door, nodding for me to follow him.
He guided me into the building and took me downstairs, revealing a private club, something which seemed completely out of place in a supposed office building.
Inside, Shaw was already waiting.
He occupied a corner of the booth with the authority of a man who felt he owned the room, which was most likely the truth.
I looked around; by all means, it seemed like a regular, albeit luxurious club. Plenty of beautiful women, most likely models, and plenty of well-dressed men who had most likely never once worried about money.
Nobody looked like a supervillain, and more importantly, there was nobody I could identify as a supervillain.
Shaw rose as I approached, extending a hand with a wide smile.
"I'm glad you called, Varis."
He spoke my real name, a fact which no longer unsettled me. That fat bastard Fisk clearly hyped himself up too much, seeing as apparently everyone could shoot right through his supposedly 'bulletproof' identity.
"Sure." I shook his hand without revealing any annoyance.
He settled back down, with me sitting across from him. A man appeared almost instantly to pour two glasses from a bottle that probably cost more than a car.
"No Emma tonight?" I asked, having glanced around earlier and not seen her.
"This conversation doesn't require her." He spoke pleasantly, but the statement itself was rather sinister.
"I'll get straight to the point, seeing as we're both men who despise meaningless pleasantries. I want you in the Inner Circle."
I raised my eyebrows slightly. The position he was offering was huge.
Was he that desperate to undermine Emma?
If that were the case, then perhaps he would be easier to deal with than I had initially expected.