[center][img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/9/99/MoonKnight.png/revision/latest?cb=20150218201439[/img][/center] [color=ed1c24][b]“You’re rebuilding his mind? How do you mean?”[/b][/color] Marlene looked honestly perplexed. [color=598527]“I mean it quite literally, my dear. Due to events in his past, my employer and your friend has a mind which is in a somewhat precarious state.”[/color] DuChamp looked at the butler sternly. [color=0054a6][b]“How often?”[/b][/color] [color=598527]“I beg your pardon?”[/color] [color=0054a6][b]“This has happened before. You don’t seem bothered enough by the fact this is happening, and you seem to feel comfortable that you know what you’re doing.”[/b][/color] Samuels glared at the Frenchman, as if considering whether he should give any kind of answer. [b]“Tell him.”[/b] Grunted Spector, anxious for all of the boring harping on this topic to be over. [color=598527]“Yes. More than a handful of times.”[/color] [color=0054a6][b][i]“Sacre bleu…”[/i][/b][/color] Jean Paul muttered to himself. [color=598527]“But this was the first time that he’s been surrounded by… friends.”[/color] Samuels still wasn’t sure the pair could be trusted. [color=598527]“Which Mr Grant has assured me, that you are Mr Duchamp.”[/color] [color=ed1c24][b]“How exactly have you been ‘rebuilding his mind’?”[/b][/color] Asked Marlene, trying to get back to the initial point. [color=598527]“My employer, and your friend, has had complications arise before in his life. Due to these issues, he entrusted myself - and in case anything happened to myself, Nedda - with the ‘passcode’ and a set of instructions for how to re-construct his mind if ever he experiences another break.”[/color] [b]“My word, what kind of host have I been?”[/b] Grant quickly rose to his feet and beamed a warm smile to Marlene and Jean Paul. [b]“Would anyone care for drinks? We cover most domestics and imported. Jean Paul, I’ve taken special note of some of your suggestions over the year, and was able to procure a rare Cheval Blanc ‘47 Saint Emilion…”[/b] [color=0054a6][b]“Tha-- that’s over a hundred and thirty thousand dollars a bottle!?”[/b][/color] [b]“Well, generally priced thereabouts, yes. I must say, I got into a bidding war with Tony Stark over it at a charity auction a few years ago. It came to three hunder and eighty five thousand, and I’m not sure if he was really thirsting for the bottle or just didn’t want to get beaten over it. A Ms Potts seemed to take issue with his excess and distracted him, took his eyes away from the prize. Fortunately, Samuels and Nedda don’t put up quite so much of a fight.”[/b] He winked at his butler, who nodded in return. [b]“And I wanted to ensure I had that bottle for when I was finally ready to tell all to my best friend, and ask him something so important.”[/b] Jean Paul’s heart skipped a beat as his first thought about his secret may involve his sexuality, before he composed himself and waited to see what he had to say. [b]“I need you, my oldest friend… to fly for me.”[/b] [color=0054a6][b]“Pardon?”[/b][/color] [b]“Come with me.”[/b] [color=598527]“Sir?”[/color] [b]“It’s alright, Samuels. I think we’re well beyond that. You too, Marlene.”[/b] Steven led the group through hallways, until he got to an old metal junker elevator. They piled in and Samuels pulled the lever, and with the loud clanking cacophony of the elevator it took the group down, down, down... [b]“In recent years, I’ve found that I have my own shortcomings which need to be addressed. These issues brought me to a crossroad.”[/b] Down, down, down… The pair of friends looked on with curiosity. [b]“As I’ve worked wonders in the stockmarket I’ve found an incontrovertible fact. Most people who work the market view it as an immutable fact; this world is comprised of winners, and losers. The hunters and the hunted. Almost to a man all of my peers view it as such. If you work the stock exchange in any capacity it’s impossible to argue. But I came to a different conclusion than most.”[/b] Down, down, down… into a subterranean concreted area that looked too big to be a bunker, but too cosy to call a hanger. He turned to his friends and smiled. [b]“I find the predatory devouring of innocents to be intolerable.”[/b] Grant held his arms out, gesturing to the entire structure as if it explained what they were looking at. Jean Paul raised his eyebrow, perplexed by where this was going. Samuels opened the elevator door with a clank, and Steven led them through. [b]“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ve engaged in this myself. Early on, before I knew exactly what I was doing. When I was looking at investments as numbers on a screen ticker. It doesn’t take much experience in this industry, however, to realize that it’s easy for a man to lose sight of the fact that these numbers have greater consequences. Human consequences.”[/b] [color=ed1c24][b]“Marc, I’m not sure I follow what you’re trying to tell us.”[/b][/color] Marlene said. [b]“Steven.”[/b] He corrected. [b]“But that’s ok. Because Marc and I happen to agree on this point. It’s why he’s let up enough to let me properly explain our newest paradigm.”[/b] [b]“They don’t understand what the Hell you’re talking about… use english, you smarmy--”[/b] Marc suddenly growled to himself, with desperate desire that his friends properly understood. [b]“I apologize profusely. I chose a two-pronged approach, first; I changed my business practices and ensured that proper due diligence was taken to cause minimal harm, whilst still hitting windows to ensure these efforts maintained sustainability and long term profitability… but second; we launched the concept design and procurement requirements for the Moon Knight project launch.”[/b] [color=ed1c24][b]“Moon Knight?”[/b][/color] [b]“Uh, yes. I believe you saw the armour and accoutrement before…”[/b] he said, pointing to a glass case where the white and silver suit from the previous night was displayed on a mannequin. [b]“As I said, Spector and I both agree on this issue. Innocent people are getting hurt in this world, and such a thing is intolerable. We formed a partnership, with the intention of utilizing my funding, and his… special skills and will power, to create something which can attempt to curtail this preying on the innocent in criminal and social situations. Whilst, I continue to have my impact on the business community, and where possible the political…”[/b] [color=ed1c24]“Political?"[/color] [b]“Chicago has a long, strong history with public corruption. Along with its high violent crime statistics, it makes Chicago an almost unique case.”[/b] [color=0054a6]“Almost unique?”[/color] [b]“Well…”[/b] Steven offered a knowing smirk, [b]“I’ll just say I’m not surprised that it was in Gotham, of all cities, where someone obviously has decided to form the same conclusion and bankroll the Batman. My advice, from someone who does well reading market trends, would be to watch Hub City like a hawk. Another protector will stand up soon from over there, mark my words. But what form they take, well, that’ll be the question...”[/b] [color=0054a6]“You really think that’s what’s happening in Gotham?”[/color] DuChamp asked. [b]“I may not know exactly how to go about what I’m doing, but I know my idea being put into action when I see it.”[/b] Grant glibly replied. [color=0054a6]“And you expect me to, what? Fly into battle with you and be some kind of french sidekick? Fly into battle with you on our own trademark hang gliders? Marc, you’re being crazy. You didn’t come up with this when you had another ‘break’ did you?”[/color] [b]“Hang gliders? Ha! No. Yes, my friend. I agree with you, that would be crazy. See, what I had in mind, was for you to fly… that!”[/b] Steven pointed to a massive awkward-looking monstrosity of a helicopter. [color=0054a6]“Can-- can that thing even fly?”[/color] Steven smiled, knowing if nothing else he’d piqued his interest. [b]“Tops out at 220mph. With a ceiling of 10,000 feet and an unencumbered range of 1,000mph, if you strip down the cannons and--”[/b] [color=0054a6]“I know what unencumbered means. How? How does it even fly, I can’t believe this can even stay in the air...”[/color] [b]“The back-end swivels up and the main rotor’s on that. Underneath it has three repulsor-based engines…”[/b] He turned and winked at DuChamp. [b]“The wine wasn’t the only thing Stark has ever lost out to me…”[/b] Before turning and continuing to walk around the helicopter. [b]“Which help get the thing to altitude as it swivels. Has stabilizers here and on the other side… designed to hold up even under harsh Chicago winds…”[/b] [color=0054a6]“Even if this can stay in the air, there’s no way this thing won’t immediately be traced back to you. Stark engines? Top of the line expensive technology? Someone out there designed this and they’re going to know exactly who you are when we take to the air in this...”[/color] [B]“The man who designed this is… no longer with us. I paid an exorbitant amount of money for a top level foreign designer who was in his twilight years. He had no family and I came into all copies of the design when he died. As for the construction… this has been getting built for quite some time. Small orders of parts here and there intermingled with other purchases over the years. Incidentally, we have enough spare parts to make about 6 more if we want… or do minor repairs for years.”[/b] Grant walked around behind DuChamp and flicked his hat off of his head and caught it. [b]“This thing has been killing people, Jean Paul, a lot of people. And hurting many more. Tonight is the last night of the full moon, and maybe the last night of this insanity. We could try this out and see how it works. Think about how many more it might kill tonight. That could be on us. That could be on you. If we can do something about that and we don’t… is that the kind of Jean Paul DuChamp you want to see in the mirror tomorrow? In ten years? In twenty?”[/b] He gave the Frenchman’s pilot cap a faux polish and sat it on his head at a jaunty angle. [b]“Or do we want to be the kind of people who stop it?”[/b] Jean Paul thought about this. There were few opportunities for him to fly regularly. What else was he going to do, buy himself a chopper and sell flying lessons to rich assholes? For a man who grew up on the adrenaline of combat, and with the intention of making a positive impact on the world for France, it didn’t seem particularly enticing. [b]“As for your safety, the cockpit glass is made of a firm multiplex that’s around three times the thickness of your standard--”[/b] [color=0054a6]“Okay.”[/color] [b]“Really?”[/b] Grant beamed, almost surprised he didn’t have to continue his sales pitch. [color=0054a6]“Okay. I’ll fly around a lunatic with an incomplete mind to inevitably get himself shot in the face by some [i]gangbang-air[/i] or urban domestic terrorist… I guess I’ve ridden this crazy train this far, might as well see where it stops.”[/color] [color=0054a6]“...I also have to see how in the world this [i]monstruosite[/i] stays in the air.”[/color] [b]"Samuels, the Cheval Blanc ‘47..!"[/b] [center][h1][b]🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑[/b][/h1][/center]