Kingpin

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***

- Shit!" Obadiah shouted in anger and threw the papers off the table. Her perfectly laid out plan had gone to shit. Anita had managed to survive the attack, and now she would be hard to reach. Stark isn't an idiot and will be much more careful after the attack. Obadiah won't get a second chance to catch her. - Where did she dig up that Afghan bastard?! What kind of test tube did they grow this mutant in?!

The woman in the austere suit lit a cigarette, trying to calm herself down. She didn't know about August's powers, but she had an idea of Scorpius' and Shocker's powers. Two of America's highest paid mercenaries could put the whole city on edge. Anita Stark's bodyguard would have to have similar strengths to them.

- Our company is not in the business of pharmacological research. This mercenary is not a product of our company..." Obadiah took a thoughtful drag on her cigarette, the anger in her eyes receding. - Is Ozcorp really involved here? Is Stark going behind my back to befriend Ozborn? No, that's complete nonsense: the super-soldier serum is still in development. Norma doesn't have a finished product. Maybe he's just a fluke of natural mutation. I need to gather more information on him, I need a history not just from when this mercenary appeared in Afghanistan.

The woman's conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing on the table. Obadiah put out her cigarette in the ashtray and picked up the receiver. There was an angry female voice on the other end of the line, who proceeded to slur Stacey. It was one of the major shareholders of the company who had survived the recent attack in the conference room and escaped.

Obadiah listened silently to the angry insults directed at her - there had been a lot of such calls today. The older woman on the other end of the phone promised to deal with Stacey and remove her from her position as manager of the company.

- Shit!" Obadiah swore again, switching off the phone and hitting the table with all her might. - Why aren't you dead in Afghanistan yet, Stark? It would have been so much easier with you dead.

Stacy stepped away from the desk and pulled out her personal phone. Dialing a number on it, she waited expectantly for an answer.

- I'll be there in a couple of hours, I have another good offer for you," Obadiah said softly, taking the anger out of her voice. Her caller on the phone did not respond and silently dropped the call.

...

The black limousine pulled up to a tall building. It was a huge tower of black glass and steel, towering over the corporate district of the city. It was the seat of all the power and wealth of New York's dark side.

The passenger door of the limousine opened and Obadiah stepped out. The woman walked inside the corporate building. There she was met by a couple of security men and they escorted her to the upper floors of the corporate giant and left her in front of large doors.

Stacy opened the door and entered a luxurious room decorated with gold and expensive wood. A tall bald man in a white suit sat on a huge throne, leaning on a cane. His eyes stared at Obadiah as if drilling into his soul.

- Do you like the portrait? - A cold voice called out, drawing Stacy in.

The portrait was at the end of a large room, and beneath it was the same throne. Only it was not the large man in the painting, but a white-haired girl in a white suit.

(Kingpin in a dress)

- Kingpin, I have a favour to ask of you again. Scorpius and Shocker failed, Stark managed to escape. I need mercenaries who can get the job done.

The girl on the throne grinned and then laughed, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand. Placing one foot on the other, Kingpin arrogantly replied:

- The two mercenaries sent were more than enough to kill the unprepared Stark. Who knew she'd have a super soldier next to her, none inferior to Scorpius? - The blonde's scarlet eyes met Stacy's frightened eyes. - That's right, you must have known about it, but you didn't tell me anything... How am I supposed to deal with you now for lying to me?

- I-I didn't know about his powers! - Obadiah replied fearfully as she watched Kingpin's scarlet eyes begin to slowly darken.

- Last time, you paid me with weapons and shares of Stark Industries. By withholding information on the Stark bodyguard, you almost killed my mercenaries. You've ruined my reputation, and now you owe me, Stacy.

- Owe me? If you help me take Stark down, I'll take over the company and give you 20% of the shares.

- I don't think you understand, I'm not gonna help you again. You'll pay for the last order, or I'll take it from you. You have until the end of next month.

- Wait, Kingpin, wait!" Obadiah shouted, realising where this was going.

- Get her out of here and don't let her in again.

A couple of women in white suits approached Stacey. Roughly breaking her arms, they dragged her across the red carpet of the room and threw her out of the room. Then they approached her again and forced her into the lift. Then Kingpin's men threw Obadiah right out into the street. The woman rolled down the stone stairs and hit her head on the pedestrian kerb.

- Madam, are you all right?! - The smoking limousine driver put out her cigarette and ran worriedly over to her boss.

- 'Yes, yes, I'm fine,' she put a white handkerchief to Stacey's bleeding head. - 'Take me back home.

...

August's relationship with Stark had begun to warm up. The girl stopped showing him her cold temper. He had access to the first floor, Anita was constantly calling him over for nonsense. Half of Pepper's duties to take care of the multi-billionaire fell on the mercenary. Which he was very happy about.

- August, get a soda from the fridge.

- Why can't you get it yourself? You seem to be walking normally with the help of this tin can....

- Don't grumble and hurry up and get me a soda, I'm really thirsty.

The mercenary sighed heavily and got up from the ottoman and left the basement workshop. Anita, in addition to allowing him to visit the first floor, began to let him into the workshop as well. She didn't give him access to the electronic lock, but she started calling him to come with her all the time.

August did nothing in the workshop and just kept Stark company while she worked on her new costume. "Mark Two" was already finished, and based on its prototype, the multi-billionaire was assembling a new armour.

While Stark was in the workshop, she was wearing the Mark Two suit. It fixed the girl's broken spine and helped her lower limbs make movements.

August went up to the kitchen and got a soda from the refrigerator. As the man walked back downstairs to the workshop, a thought crossed his mind. After rescuing Stark from the company, the system had given him a reward, followed immediately by a message about the end of the preparatory period. What the preparatory period meant was unclear to Augustus. The system did not respond to queries and simply displayed a timer with some kind of countdown. What would happen after the countdown ended, the mercenary did not know, but it could hardly be anything good.

- On the soda, don't bother me about such nonsense again.

- Thank you, what would I do without you? - The redhead said playfully and took the drink. Here was another oddity, noticed for Stark only recently. The girl didn't like to take something out of someone's hands directly. She used to ask for the item to be left next to her, but now she was brazenly exploiting the mercenary and forcing her to take everything for her.

The warming relationship with her employer has played havoc with August. It would have been better for her to go and keep sulking at him.

- August, my love, take me to the first floor and order a pizza, I haven't had one in a long time.

- Stark, are you confused? I'm not a courier, - the mercenary folded his hands in a lock: somewhere there must be limits to Anita's insolence?

- I'll pay you ten thousand dollars, but you pay for the pizza yourself.

- Twenty, - last time in Afghanistan August had been cheap, now he decided to get even.

- Hey, don't forget, you bled all over my sports car three days ago. You know how much it cost me to replace the interior and the broken windows?

- That was an involuntary measure, and you agreed to it.

- Now it's a compulsory measure too, or I'll starve to death. Or eat you," she licked her lips, stubbornly looking at August. - You know, I like the second option better ...

- All right, I'll settle for a tenner.

- I don't want to give you money, but I don't want to give it up out of principle.

*** 

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