She reached up and adjusted her tie a little, satisfied with the fit and crossed her arms behind her back. She wore her usual hot-pink tie, white coat and bck shirt beh it. The white scks ended in a pair of white pumps that she’d taken a liking to retly. o her, Marta had taken a different approach to this particur event. She wore her full Handmaiden regalia including armloves and the veil over her face. Sonya’s lips pursed a little when she gnced in Marta’s dire and had to school her expression bato something close to nonce. The dream the previous night still weighing on her mind.
Feng Hyunh. She trolled her face even as the rage bubbled up again. It was a good thing that she had never ied Imperious, otherwise she might have killed a few of the others who stood around them with her bloodlust. Every fiber of her being wa the woman’s throat, but she had to trol herself, especially now.
The news had e as something of a surprise. Their monit of the problematic couple hadn’t revealed muely, especially over the st twenty-four hours. The truth had e out this m when Amos had reported that the Chairman had used his authority to secret his son and future daughter-in-w out of Vietnam in order to prevent too many people from knowing that the nation’s top hero was not present at the moment. Sonya had been uandably upset. Her pn had been to simply meet face to face with the Chairman, exge pleasantries, and deal with the annou about dungeons.
Simple, , practical. After that, she could get back to work on what mattered. Trag dowher heralds to keep an eye on them, figuring out how to kill A, and keeping a for Otis while she built her vilin empire.
She clicked her tongue.
Now he was ing, A, and more importantly, the woman who had likely given the order to put ao the one person in her previous life she saw as family besides hua. Feng Hyunh would be in front of her in just a few minutes. So what could she do? What were her options? Did she greet them all with a handshake? Duong was votile as far as she was aware, still suffering from a mix of pandora siess and young master syndrome. If she so much as touched him, not only would he probably bee aware of her cyberic abilities, but he could snuff out her life in a blink. He wouldn’t care even if he killed her in public. Worse was Hyunh, whose powers she didn’t quite ua beyond having some sort of mind trol fun.
Was the Amethyst Order of her past life even an anization? e to think of it, it was entirely possible that the woman had surrounded herself with thralls. How extensive were her abilities? She could trol a peak Mythic, so they had to be Mythic as well, right? Of course she is, she was at the meeting of Mythi the past.
Marta seemed to sense her unease because she cleared her throat and Sonya gnced her way, giving her an appreciative nod before turning towards the other womao her. Car Mint stood oep behind Sonya and even held her hands in front of her waist as if she were emuting Marta’s posture. Sonya restrained a smirk as the two of them made eye tact. Car averted her gaze and flushed a little, shifting a bit on the spot and looking down at her feet. Sonya snorted and looked away, it was amazing what a little mutual stress relief could do. She’d caught Car off the clock at her favorite hunting ground or rather, her favorite night club.
Ohing had led to another, and the woman was far more pliant now.
She turo face the tarmaot b to give the other ittee representatives a moment's thought. They were unimportant in the grand scheme of things and served no other purpose than being cogs in the ittee’s bureaucracy, only present right now to keep up appearances.
Her enhanced senses caught it before anyone else. She gnced up to the sky and saw the dot that was the private jet of the Chairman approag. Her lips formed a thin line. Keep the greetings simple, don’t offer a handshake, bowing will work in this situation. It’s regrettable that I ’t shake the Chairman’s hand here but it’s better than risking physical tact with Hyunh or Duong. She reasoned, If I had known he was ing so soon I would have had Amos push forward on more signifit electricity-resistant gear! Speaking of which…
<’t yloves already do that?> He responded.
The response came a few seds ter,
Sonya sidered his words,
Her lip twitched as she looked up at the approag pne, I’m going to need more than a little luck. She thought. Thirty sed uptime and a body that is basically a mae, this guy could kill me with a wink and a nudge. She thought sourly. She still hadn’t figured out a solution for her energy problem. Taking on A’s ability tion but that required shaking his hand which ointed out; a fatal prospect. She sighed, she was thinking in circles.
“Is everything okay, mis- Ma’am?” Car asked tht.
Sonya gnced her way and raised an eyebrow, “I’m fine, just wasn’t expeg a crowd.”
“Apologies, the Chairman didn’t inform me of the ge either,” Car said sullenly.
Of course he didn’t… Sonya thought irritably before shrugging and looking up at the pne again, “I’m good at thinking on my feet. We’ve already expahe room at the restaurant, right?” She asked.
odded quickly, “Yes Ma’am.”
“Then we’ll roll with it,” She said.
Only a few mier the pne came in for a nding, taking a few turns to slow down before making its way to where they were standing. Only about a few dozeers away, the door opened and a portable staircase was moved into position to allow the passeo disembark. As expected, the Chairman stepped off first. The old man spread his arms out wide iing as Sonya quickly bent at her waist in a partial bow. She sehe others around her quickly follow her example, not wanting to show insistency.
She didn’t look up for several seds, even as she felt two more preseep out of the jet, their bodies shifting the air around enough for her to feel them with her enhanced senses and the fairical charge around one of them leaving little doubt in her mind that their information had been unfortunately correct. She stood up straight and crossed her arms a bit pyfully, a smirk crossing her lips as she got into character.
She met the Chairman’s eyes and tilted her head to the right, “Wele to New York, Chairman!” She called.
He returned her energy with a smile of his own, “Miss ovna! I’m gd we finally get to meet in person! It’s a shame we waited this long, you’re more beautiful than the photographs and videos give you credit for.”
Sonya ughed, “Ftterer!” She held her hand up to her cheek, feigning embarrassment. She turowards Duo and nearly lost her posure. He already had a faint amethyst glow to his eyes! She quickly caught herself and smiled at him, “And you must be Duong! What an ued surprise!” She said.
His eyes visibly twitched even as his face remaiherwise pleasant. He ined his head to her, matg her earlier bow. He didn’t seem happy she hadn’t reached out to shake his hand. “Miss ovna, thank you for the pleasant greeting, I want to apologize for my role in whatever tension may have occurred between you and my father,” He said, sounding truly apologetic even as she detected the faint tremble in his voice, as if he were resisting saying the words with every fiber of his being.
She forced herself not to g Hyunh even if she sehe woman tense up as well, the faint shift of her body easy to pick up with her senses. Iing, is he not fully under her trol yet? He seems to be fighting it, even if it’s only as far as microexpressions. That was very important information, very useful information. Her brain worked overtime, the faint tig in her head speeding up a bit to the point she could hear it.
TICK TICK TICK TICKTICKTICKTICK
The trol has to settle in, she ’t just dominate him entirely in one go. It takes time. Whatever her power is, however it works, she o maintain it. How long will it take to fully e his mind? I interfere?
She kept her expression friendly as she turowards the now tense Hyunh a her gaze, “And may I ask the beautiful dy’s name?”
The Chairman cleared his throat, clearly aware of Sonya’s proclivities and tastes, “This is Feng Hyunh, my son’s fiance.”
Sonya’s lips curled upward in a fox-like smile, “Oh!” Sonya said, giving the woman a nod, “I’m learning a lot today!” She tilted her head, “I’m gd you came.”
The woman ined her head in response, amethyst gems hanging from her ears and her eyes a clear and vibrant purple. She gave her own faux-sincere smile and spoke, “I’ve heard a great deal about what you’ve done for humanity sihe fsh. It makes me happy that I finally get to meet you face to face. Would it be too much to ask for an autograph sometime? I have a kid sister that is actually quite a fan,” She said enthusiastically.
Sonya held her hand up to her heart, “I’m sure that be arranged!” Sonya said with her own pleasant smile.
Despite their words, it retty clear that a few people noticed the momentary tensioweewo women. The Chairman cleared his throat and put his hands on his hips, “Well! Why don’t we get going? I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”
Sonya turned ba, “Of course, sir,” Sonya said aured to the limousine behind her. “We have a reservation already waiting for us for a very fortable lunch.”
The Chairman nodded with a grunt, “Oh, I’d also very much like to meet the ASTA team when you have an opportunity.”
Sonya nodded, “Certainly, though they’re currently off doing an iigation for me reted to our topic of discussion today,” Sonya said, “So it may be a few days. How long are you pnning on staying?”
The Chairman waved a hand as if it weren’t a big deal, “Oh plenty of time, I o meet with the ittee administration here iates while I’m present and my Son and Hyunh have never been here so I want to give them the opportunity to soak it all in. I expect to be here for about a month at least.”
I’ll make sure both of them are dead by the end of the month, then, She thought befesturing to the limo. Car and Marta moved quickly to open the doors to let the VIPs inside. “Perfect!” Sonya said, “I’m gd to hear you’re staying so long, it gives us an opportunity to sync up our priorities and future pns.”
That seemed to be just the right thing to say. The Chairman practically beamed at her and walked over to her as his son and future daughter-in-w slipped into the car. Marta kept a careful distance from Duong. The Chairmaended a hand to Sonya, “I know we got off to a rocky start, so it really does my heart good to hear that from you. I’m looking forward to the results of this visit.”
Sonya g his hand, sensing the two problems already sitting in the limo and took it with a smile, thinking quickly. I ’t waste this opportunity. Make a simple deal, Sonya. She wasn’t about to not capitalize on this opportunity. “As am I, Chairman.” She said with a bit of a tease in her voice. “Should I be fttered you came running the moment I called?”
Analyze.
She hesitated for a heartbeat. What is this? That’s an iing name. She thought as he returned her smile.
He barked out a jolly ugh, “I think my wife would be upset with how you phrased that!” He chortled, “In all seriousness, if this news you have for me is as good as I hope it is, I think I agree to staying out of your affairs going forward. We’re both too busy to be nagging on one another all the time.”
She tittered out a ugh. “It’s a deal, Chairman.”
Proceed.
She released his hand as she felt the deal py out through Broker. Turning to allow him to get into the car ahead of her. Her eyes spun in her head for a moment as she watched his bad briefly gnced up to make eye tact with Marta who gave her a carefully measured smile.
Despite the ued addition, step one of this little visit was a success. She thought, and slipped into the seat o the old man.
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