Claim to the Throne (Artemis, open)

[shaungallagher]

That's a neat little trick ya got there...I wouldn't count on it so much though..."

Shaun said offhandedly as he watched Artemis with a glint of amusement.

Shaun started walking away pacing the length of the room as he spoke."You know I'm sort of offended, that you think I would go through all the trouble to setup this meeting...and I wouldn't do my homework...That wouldn't be very professional of me now, would it? And what kind of man would I be if I didn't put certain contingencies in place to stop old Loki here?"

"You're going to just have to take my word for it for now I suppose, but I guarantee you NO ONE would believe you were me for more then a minute or two...anyone who mattered anyway...Really I came here to offer a peace treating...I don't see any reason for their to be bad blood between us now. "

"For old Victor here..." he said he pulled a vial from his pocket and stared at its silvery contents. "I have literal liquid power..." he said draining the vial and smashing it against the ground...his eyes now resembling the bestial intensity of Victor's own.

"And you Arty...I admire your work I really do...that performance you did in New York...Marvelous...I have it on tape if you want it...brought the whole block down and all that..."

"All I want to do is help to spread your message across the world...and provide you with the Men and the Power to be able to ensure the Your Dominance. I want this group to change the world...and I think you are the men to do it No more petty squabbles and half-baked plans to foil other factions."

"I'm offering an olive branch here, bearing gifts, no if you guys don't want to accept it that's fine, but I suggest not attacking someone you know nothing about."

[rhyme]

Artemis’ nostrils flared as he breathed out heavily through his nose. He didn’t buy Shaun’s words of friendship for a second. This man was clearly a manipulator like himself. The strutting about of his connections made that clear and his whole tone and manner. It got on Artemis’ nerves highly.

He brushed aside the comments directed to at his ego. From anyone else he would have enjoyed them but coming from Shaun it sucked all the fun out of the destruction he did in New York.

“Would be interesting to see really, heard the person who brought down the block had brown hair though, and clearly, I do not….” He said pausing when he realized he was still as Shaun so he indeed did have brown hair.

“…anyway if you want to change the world, you would need me not me need you. So I’d step back a bit sonny and learn your place below me, or maybe on top if you are good.” He said to try and throw the other man off center with a wink. “Since if you are any good at your job you would know that changing the world is what I do.”

With that an invisible pulse of power emerged from Artemis’ only detectible by the rising of the hair of one’s neck or if they possessed extra senses or abilities that made them more attuned to the local reality. ((Song))

The door behind Shaun faded from view. It still existed but it was clouded by the large amount of darkness forming. The shadows in the corner grew darker and larger. The entire room darkened and became spookier. A damp chill rose in the previous comfortable room. It became like a horror movie within that room.

Shaun heard the music at its normal pitch. It was comfortable not loud enough to hurt or drown out the conversion but not soft enough to be easily ignored. Creed though got a much softer version since Artemis didn’t want to put himself at worse odds with the man and he knew the man didn’t really like his power.

This was a subtle threat on Artemis’ part. It was to remind Shaun that whenever he was near Artemis, he was ALWAYS playing by Artemis’ rules. Even in a strange land Artemis would have home field advantage.

[shaungallagher]

Shaun clapped politely at the display.

"You see this is what I was talking about. I'm seriously a big fan, I'm jealous even...This power... This sort of destruction...It's nothing less then art."

Shaun's voice was enthused, even gleeful as he spoke: "Imagine what you and an army of the Brotherhood could accomplish! You could give the world a show that they would NEVER forget. You could show the world just how ignorant and foolish they have been!...Show them the power and the beauty of us mutants!...And all I want to do is help..."

Shaun took a few steps forward and looked into Artemis's eyes:

"Now just imagine that I could give you the power to have all of reality bend at your very whim, your very thought. No more illusions, No more Tricks, just pure power! With that and an army of souped up Mutant's by your side you could take over the world, and you could do it in style."

"All I want to do is provide this for you, take care of recruitment, get us some money, and of course provide everyone here with Power."

"Now of course if you don't want to take my little miracle drug, that's up to you. I'm just Saying the power is clearly here for the taking."

Shaun's beast like eyes glowed bright red as if to emphasis his point.

"All I want...is to help you change the world...Give the world a tour that they will Never forget. And at the end of this world shattering tour, the people who remain will love and adore you as a revolutionary, and as a artist. I guarantee it.

[Victor Creed]

"I never said I was going to attack you. Just that I dont make deals with kids." He also refused to follow any orders given by kids. Victor smirked more as Shaun went ranting upon what he could do for the brotherhood. He continued to just stare at him with arms folded over his chest.

"But if you want to be an advertiser then go right ahead. Provide the men and the 'power'.." He really didn't care if Shaun went on a recruiting spree. But it was funny watching Artemis practically have a seizure as Shaun entered the equation.

Victor's interest was peaked at the 'liquid power' display. Oh so it made your eyes glow. Big deal... He supposed there was more to it but Shaun did a bad job showing it.

"You seem to be taking this all too personally Artemis." Victor smirked towards him before he continued to speak whild talking to Shaun. "Like he said..can't we just all get along?" A dark chuckle came from him for a moment, more enertained at the show that was going on more than anything. Victor was nototrious for not getting along with people but this Shaun guy didn't seem so bad...as long as he didn't step out of line.

And there Artemis went with his illusions again. "That's enough." Victor snarled. "We have other things to deal with than fighting amungst ourselves." While he never really called himself a leader, and never would be what people consider a 'good' leader to be. If the situation called for it he had no problems barking commands.

[rhyme]

Artemis had to chuckle then when Shaun talked about making money for the Brotherhood. Artemis could already do that much easier. He could literally make money for the Brotherhood. It was how he paid for anything really. He would buy it, an hour after he left the money would vanish. It would be the cashiers problem or the banks problem that their funds weren’t all there.

Victor hit the nail on the head when he said Artemis was freaking out. He could live with working with Creed on running this place. Even if Creed wouldn’t admit it, they would still have been equals since they were so different. They would almost never clash since they would be worrying about different things. Shaun though, they were so much alike, it would end up with one subservient to the other and Artemis would rather go freelance then be subservient to another mutant.

“Fine, and Victor, for the record, that wasn’t illusion.” He said as he let the music stop as the place returned back to its normal condition. “And Shaun, I don’t need your help in making reality ‘bend to my whim’ it already does so. All theses tricks and illusions are because I enjoy an art of subtly when I act. Sometimes it is better for a lone assassin to slip a vial of poison into a targets drink then roll a group of tanks down Main Street to take out the target.”

“And Victor, I think I would rather try and join up with the Exiles, at least with Red, I know where I stand.” Artemis commented bitterly.

[Victor Creed]

Surrounded by children. Even a friendly chat with Logan would be a nice change of pace. But everyone that ended up being around him lately was just a kid. If not still a teenager than barely old enough to call themselves an adult.

"wait..." Victor pressed two of his fingers at the bridge of his nose for a moment before he lowered his hand to look at Artemis again. "Did you just give me an ultimatum? 'If Shaun stays I'm gonna go play with my other friends' is that it? Grow up Kid." Sure he had to admit that Artemis did come in handy, more than once, but he wasn't going to placate his whining. But unfortunately he did have a point.

"Then again, you are the third wheel here Shaun." His eyes turned back to Shaun. "You want to help out. Help. But you have no rights to anything here, until you prove you can do what you say. You dont want to do that, then don't let the door hit ya on the way out." Victor was still suspicious about this little vial he had. While the idea of it seemed promising, it seemed to easy. And easy things always seemed to have the worst side effects.

[shaungallagher]

Shaun smiled slyly.

"Of course I wouldn't have it any other way." Shaun reached into coat pocket and retrieved two syringes as he spoke: "As for power, that is easy enough." Tossing one syringe to each of them he warned: "This stuff here will give you immense power, put your mutant powers at their maximum potential, but the stuff is still experimental right now. That being said however, I have been taking this stuff for going on two years now, and as long as you take a dose a day there really isn't anything to worry about. I estimate that within a year or so my body will have fully adapted and the power increase will have become permanent. The same would happen to you too if you continued to inject it on a regular basis."

"Now if'in you're bein afraid now, that's alright. The choice after all is up to you. Now I understand that you have no reason to trust me, so if your worried I have poisoned these or contaminated these I will inject yours and give ya another from my pocket here. Beyond that, what can I tell ya? Stuff is experimental it has its glitches here and there, but it's safe enough for the non-timid. Again the choice is yours I won't be gettin offended either way."

"Now as for the recruitin and the money gettin, as I've told ya before I got connections, and am pretty well off, if I do say so myself, I know my way around business and have no problem fundin this place. In return I simply get more manpower and resources to make more money and continue to work on our little miracle drug there."

"Now my recruitin plan is pretty long term, have to build the right kinda 'image' and all that ya know, but If your doubting my abilities I could go get us some guys in the next couple days to prove my skills, but that be up to you."

[rhyme]

Artemis caught the syringe between his fingers. He stared at the silver liquid as he held it above his head to let the light pass through it. He then let it drop, it fell about a foot before it froze in the air at his eye level. Purple energy surrounded the vial as Artemis’ eyes glowed with the exact same colored energy.

Thirty seconds later his eyes stopped glowing and he blinked rapidly his eyes dry from being open for an extended period. He then grabbed the vial and pocketed for the moment. He found that it was carbon based and contained none of the toxic heavy metals that were common to poisons though it could still be a naturally created poison like from a snake or spider.

“Interesting, I don’t detect any large amount of metallic compounds but it still has this luster and color. At least it isn’t laced with Arsenic, lead or some radioactive compound. And we have been fine without large sums of money. Why would the Brotherhood need all these things you bring about. Seems like it just adds more complexities without bringing about any rewards. I don’t know much about the business world but I doubt you could get much done if anyone knew you had connections with mutants.”

[shaungallagher]

"See that's just it, if we create a corporate front we will have a legitimate presence in the world, as opposed to simply being labeled a terrorist group. With enough money, and enough influence we can shape the world toward our political agenda. Instead of being labeled as criminals and thugs we will be labeled as visionaries and revolutionaries because it is those who are in power who write the history books. Not only that, but by having a favorable image we no longer have to recruit any mutants, they all simply come to us believing that we are the best option, which gives us in turn more power to deal with. With more resources and influence comes more power, its plain and simple really...By the end of this the Brotherhood could quite possibly be the most powerful group in the world."

Shaun was confident in his prediction. This was a turning point in history, and he was determined to be at the forefront of it all, by the time the governments realized what they were doing, it would be too late, their power would simply overwhelm them. The age of the Brotherhood was about to begin.