Snippet #1207607

(Soren "Nightstalker" Hawkins, 1st District, Melody's Residence)

Soren raised a dark eyebrow as the newest arrival brushed past him close enough for him to feel the disturbance in the air at her passing. He was careful not to allow contact, though he made no move to stop her. You never knew what could prove harmful to yourself when dealing with an unknown factor, and caution was never to be ignored. Apparently, this lesson was not one the woman had learned. Either that, or she thought herself informed enough to account for all the factors present. A ludicrous proposition, really, given present company.

Ophelia and Crawford were apparently both also in favor of wariness, assuming of course the older man hadn't crossed the line into full-blown paranoia years ago. The Piper was handling the situation with what he had come to take as characteristic ease, flowing smoothly from a rather subtly scathing comment into pouring everyone wine. The girl disappeared shortly afterward, and he might have made himself similarly scarce, having no particular interest in what this person desired of the Piper, but something she said made him reconsider.

"I intend to destroy the Levani, not send them away, not punish them or imprison." Well, that was a common enough motivation these days; Soren would not deny that the aliens' presence was an inconvenience for him, but a good number of his contacts were fully-bent on vengeance. That sort of thing happened, when most of the people you knew were supervillains with no heroes to take out their frustrations on. No, there was nothing new there, only more ridiculous posturing.

"In exchange, after my intentions are fulfilled, I will become your servant, obedient to your every order until I lose my life." Now, there was a new one. Clearly, this woman had never been subordinate to anyone in her life, that she would offer it so easily on a lifetime basis. People with pride didn't last long at the mercy of another, as he had discovered. Either they died, wills cleaved apart by subjugation, or they liberated themselves. Nobody who had ever known the struggle to remove oneself from a festering cesspool of a life in one of the lower districts would ever relinquish freedom like that, and he was slightly irritated at the suggestion.

He declined to pick up a wine glass; to drink would be to reveal his face. Rather, he studied those faces still present. Soren doubted very much that Piper would be the type to take the Groves woman up on this sort of offer; what use would the servitude of a mortal do one who was perfectly capable of seeing to herself?

Groves... he recognized the name. Scott Groves. Not a Super, if he remembered correctly, but a genius with a penchant for crime. The daughter was... yes. He'd been contracted by a Scott Groves, once, to obtain a government-controlled data storage system, for the filing of human genetic data. He hadn't asked why, obviously, that was not his concern. Most of his employers monologued at him anyway, and thus he eventually came to know what was going on. Groves had not, but he had seemed giddy, and continually muttered something about a "mutation." He'd never met the daughter, though apparently this was she.