Chapter 21: **Chapter 21**
In the two months since Alkasha had shown Elektra how to access her subconscious, the assassin had improved by leaps and bounds in more than just her ability to use Chi.
Her first spar with Natasha after she had figured out how to enter a meditative state where she was both aware of the real world and deeply connected to her subconscious had to be seen to be believed. The two of them had always been poetry in motion when they fought and both had mastered unarmed combat to what I had considered the absolute pinnacle of possibility but as they fought that time I became aware of just how much further you could go.
Elektra was steadily and visible getting better with every punch, every kick, every block, every counter. Murakami and Alexandra had each gone to K'un-Lun almost thirty-six hundred years ago and when they had been banished both were already some of the best martial artists around, since then they had both expanded and refined those skills as they picked up (and mastered) countless other styles and invented their own. More importantly in many ways, both had the relatively unique advantage of being able to learn from even fatal mistakes and of being able to spar against one another with lethal intent. Even without any Chi use those two could beat Natasha, Matt Murdock, or pretty much any other near peak human, like a red headed stepchild. They had no flaws and would, without even thinking about it, shift styles seamlessly within combat to whatever was the most perfect counter to their opponent's style.
And that was all bleeding through as the spar continued. The fight had started with the two of them on relatively even ground, with Natasha having a slight if detectable advantage. By minute five that advantage had disappeared, by minute seven it was clear that Elektra was the more skilled, by minute fifteen it was obvious that Elektra had shifted it into a teaching spar and was taking the opportunity to show Natasha how to improve.
When they eventually stopped, hours later, Natasha had a huge smile on her face as she said "This is such bullshit. I love it. You are going to be in this ring every free moment we have though, Elektra because I learned more in the past three hours fighting you than I have in the past decade of my normal training."
Elektra laughed "Gladly. It is nice when the student becomes the master."
In the two months since then, spars like the one that had just ended became a nearly daily occurrence for them
Natasha laughed at a joke of Elektra's that I didn't catch as they left the ring and said "Any progress on figuring out Chi?"
Elektra sighed, the levity gone for the moment, "Less than I would like. The fighting comes easy when we spar, it's like the move or counter just pops into my head whenever I see it or it would be the correct choice and once it does the knowledge just becomes part of me like it was always there. The languages are the same way, a relative handful of samples of a language and the translation or a few words spoken and it just seems to click and suddenly I'm fluent."
"But the Chi?" Natasha prompted quietly.
Elektra shook her head in frustration "No, once I find the key for it I think it will come just as easily as the rest but finding whatever will prompt the instincts into life isn't something I figured out yet."
Natasha wrapped her in a quick hug and said: "You'll figure it out, and with the bastard on ice Matt is fine for now."
"I know, but it still frustrates me." the younger women replied.
I gave a slight cough, interrupting the moment before saying, "I'm guessing there also hasn't been much progress with accessing their actual memories as opposed to just their instincts then?"
"No, just disjointed flashes." she answered before shifting the topic "Any progress on planning our war against the Hand?"
I gave a nod of agreement as the three of us started heading towards the cafeteria "Some. I think that we should try and rip them out of New York first."
"Why?" Elektra promoted, even as it was clear that elation was warring with the expert strategist in her.
"First, because it will better protect Matt." I said, holding up a hand to stop her retort before it left her lips I continued "Elektra, regardless of all other considerations you are one of us and you care about him deeply. That means the rest of us have to care about him because something happening to him will hurt you. If you want to be all pragmatic, something happening to him would greatly affect your morale and you are one of our primary field operatives so keeping you mentally together is a high priority."
Natasha nodded her agreement as she said: "He's right Elektra, you know how important focus is in combat."
Elektra sighed, clearly fully willing to be convinced on this topic, and said "Fine, what's the second reason though?"
"Because the Hand clearly wants it." I replied before explaining my reasoning "You were there at last weeks Black Thorn meeting - Madam Gao and Murakami's new right hand, Yonsu, both approached Fisk about getting into business together. That is two of the five Fingers operating in the same city in concert. Then you have what we got from that underboss we grabbed with Stick, Alexandra has started shifting resources from London to somewhere else for the first time in a century."
"And I've been busy infiltrating over the past few days, a lot of those assets are flowing into New York City. Between the immigration, FBI, and MI-5 records I got access to, it looks like she has moved at least a thousand people, and not just hitters. Cooks, musicians, even her housekeeping staff have been between Heathrow and JFK half a dozen times in the past three months." Natasha contributed.
"So that makes at least three of the Fingers interested in the City, meaning that they want something." I finished.
Elektra nodded agreement before sighing and saying "And then there is me. We know that the previous Iron Fist never left K'un-Lun so they obviously didn't decide to create me because he was giving them trouble. That means they either expect trouble or are planning something so important that they want every resource they can get to ensure success. Fine, it looks like New York is a focus of theirs. Next reason?"
"Resources, both ours and theirs. It's come to my attention that Madam Gao is basically running Rand Enterprises." I responded.
"WHAT? I knew they had resources but a major multinational conglomerate is under their thumb? I thought the Meachum's had that all sewn up since the Rand's died, don't they control like seventy percent of its stock?" Elektra exclaimed in shock.
I nodded and said "I figure that they have multiple major corporations under their control, but in the case of Rand it is precisely because of the Meachum's that they have that control. It seems that Madame Gao cut a deal with Harold Meachum to resurrect him after his funeral in exchange for his basically being her puppet, and through him, she pulls Ward Meachum's strings. And thanks to Natasha," I nodded at the redhead as we grabbed plates of food, "we got access to Rand's servers."
I opened a portal to the dining room in my quarters, Elektra saying "Anything interesting in them?" as we passed through.
"Only that I think Meachum was dealing with the Hand even earlier and I think he had the entire Rand family killed." Natasha said dryly as she went to the wine rack and asked: "Is the '96 Riesling good with you?"
"Yeah, that was a good batch. And since Elektra seems to have lost her words there are no objections." I answered for the both of us.
Elektra shook her head slightly "Yeah, that's fine, but what is this about him killing the Rands?"
As I cut my steak I explained what we had found, directed by a little judicious meta knowledge on my part, "Well it seems that Rand Enterprises was up to some dirty business in China, in partnership with a front company that traces back to Madam Gao through a few dozen shells. Given the purchase and delivery orders for chemicals and lab equipment along with the employee and shipping manifests it looks like they were developing synthetic drugs of some kind."
Natasha picked up the explanation as I started to eat "And the server access logs and corporate records show that Wendell Rand was looking into it while everything involving this project was being run and overseen by Harold. Shortly thereafter Wendell decides to take his family on vacation to China and files a flight plan for an airport only three hours drive from the facility. On the way, his plane met a tragic accident and was lost in the mountains, all the Rand's presumed dead."
As she took a bite I finished up, "It's interesting to note that Wendell was to be met at the airport by a full security detail from Executive Solutions, not Rand Enterprises and that ES had their entire stable of operators on the ground in that area of China at that time."
"So you think that Harold was working with the Hand under the table, Wendell got suspicious enough to hire an entire army of mercenaries to make sure that no one objected when he went to investigate, and Harold had him killed when he caught wind of it?" Elektra summarized.
"Pretty much. To return to the main point though, the Hand has major resources in NYC that are vulnerable and we already have our own resources to build up. Fisk is a useful but ultimately disposable tool and through him, we control almost sixty percent of New York's underworld now. Raith Industries has a major presence with Raith Financial having just completed its new headquarters on Wall Street, and Wolfram & Heart is a respected law firm now with lots of connections." I said, thinking about the three billion dollar skyscraper that had been a royal pain in the ass to build given my desire for some modifications that wouldn't show up on any blueprints and the law firm that I had first created way back in 2001 in preparation for this particular fight.
With Natasha's ability to infiltrate and our computer resources, insider trading was a walk in the park and so Raith Financial had taken the markets by storm over the past five years. Wolfram & Heart likewise had its reputation helped along by a little less than legal help. While it was much more selective in its clientele than its namesake, and no one working there knew about the helping hand they received, the reality was that they benefited greatly from our extra legal help.
Elektra was silent for a few minutes as she ate, before nodding decisively and saying "Ok, I agreed that New York seems like a good place to really start our war. I take it you have at least a tentative plan?"
I nodded, sipped my wine, and said "I do. I think that its time Elektra Natchios makes her mark on the Big Apple. A little judicious records modification since you joined us five months back has shifted approximately a billion dollars worth of my assets into your name, more than enough that your purchase of Wolfram & Heart won't raise any financial eyebrows. Especially when they hire Matt Murdock shortly afterwords and you put him in charge of the pro bono division with a very healthy budget, everyone who investigates will just think the smitten heiress with more money than sense is blowing money on her boy toy."
Elektra coughed as she choked on her wine, "You gave me a billion dollars?!"
I shrugged "It's just money and you needed a legitimate cover. I've always planned on having you take a public role, we need to diversify our public operations away from Raith Industries and me and that means a public face who is in the know and won't raise suspicions. I planned to have Natasha here take the role back when I recruited her but SHIELD, HYDRA, and various intelligence agencies have her picture so until we can get Extremis up and running we can't have her publicly associated with our legal operations."
"Fine, although sometime soon, we are going to have to sit down so you can brief me in on everything you've been up to." she said, and waited until I nodded my agreement before continuing, "Ok, I publicly head to NYC as the newest heiress and socialite on the scene and establish myself as a player. Makes sense but I figured you had more in mind."
Natasha spoke then "We grab Harold Meachum and stuff him in one of the nicer prison bunkers here on Mars. Instead of the Hand using him to control Rand Enterprises, we do. Then we start cleaning out the people they have infiltrated and replace them with our own from Black Thorn, that should help Fisk out without tying him to any of our legitimate business and any investigation that the Meachum's or anyone else ever carries out will lead back to him being the one to kidnap Harold. At least in time."
"Denying the Hand a major resource, helping our pawn, and directing attention away from us. I like it. Now let's work on the details." Elektra said, leading the way into the sitting room.
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