Chapter 39: Chapter 39
Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.
Chapter 20– Making Waves.
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"Wesley," Wilson says, addressing his most trusted confidant.
"Yes, Wilson. What can I help you with?" Wesley responds immediately, not wasting any time. James Wesley was a well-dressed, sophisticated man who appeared to always be in control, which he always wad. But he was in control for Wilson Fisk and helped manage the Kingpin's businesses.
"Have you dealt with the problem?" Wilson said, expecting results. He demands perfection from his right-hand man, and Wesley has always provided before.
"...Problem? There are a lot of them, but we are solving the most sensitive issues one by one. The Stokes have recently been hit by the Daredevil, so I am supplying some men from another gang to tide them over for now. There have also been a few issues with some pro bono law firms in Hell's Kitchen trying to bring a lawsuit against Union Allied Construction, but I have already contacted Parish to-"
"I meant the Batman. Why isn't he dead yet?" Wilson stifled a scoff at the name. Batman. As if there were not enough problems in New York already, but anybody thinks they can put a word before man and change the world. Fisk already knew that the Batman had not been dealt with yet, but he still asked. The man was a master of politics, social interactions and crime. He knew how to command a situation, how to manipulate it to the result he wanted and to intimidate to the precisely needed amount.
"I... He is very capable. As much as, if not more, than Daredevil. His actions are sporadic, and he is not working in an organised way. He is not coordinating his attacks to bring us the biggest damage. He is just attacking seemingly at random. Daredevil is hard to beat, but we can make plans to account for him since he is predictable, but we cannot predict Batman." Wesley explains as if explanations are enough. They are not, not when his business is being attacked.
"That is not what I asked, Wesley. I am asking why this man is still alive. He might not be attacking in a compounding way, but he is attacking multiple rings and damaging them. The sheer amount of assaults had begun to diminish our profits. Not even Spider-Man or Daredevil have affected my empire this much. He has attacked my organisation every night since the day after his raid on the AIM facility for the past month. He should have been dealt with after that attack. Instead, he cost us a source of high-tech weaponry and advanced technology and has continued to attack us." The most stinging act of the newly revealed nuisance is his assault on the AIM facility, which completely destroyed that avenue of resources.
"Sir, I am sure we can reestablish contact with AIM again. After all, we have something they need, and we want what they have to offer. This time our process will be more stringent and secretive. I will make sure of it." Wesley proclaims, eager to find something else to help Wilson's mood and distract him from his failure.
"Do not be foolish, Wesley. I thought you were smarter than that. The service we provided was nothing special. There are innumerous undesirables the world over, and nobody would look twice if they were to disappear. Anyone could have provided them with what they needed, they could have got it themselves, but those scientists don't want to spend time on anything but their experiments. We have permanently lost that avenue, so I want this man dead." Fisk explains and then demands, angry about such a significant loss.
"Sir, I had bolstered the number of men at all of our major operations due to the Batman's actions, but it had no effect. He is too strong, too fast. No matter how many men we may be able to station, they will not have any effect on him. Only someone like Bullseye or one of the other super-powered beings under us would have an effect, but we have no idea where he will attack, and so we don't know where to place them" Wesley is genuinely distraught. He is the point of contact between all the criminal elements and Wilson Fisk, who still maintains the legitimate mask of a businessman. The underlings have been harassing him for help, and he has had nothing to offer.
"Wesley, you still have a lot to learn. All you have been doing this entire time is reacting and not acting. Like a frog at the bottom of the well, staying in its place, never leaving the well. Waiting till something else comes into the well, and then either fighting it or dying to it. The frog should have ventured out of the well long ago instead of wasting away in fear. Do you understand, Wesley?" Sometimes, you cannot be direct. Saying things blatantly can often have the opposite effect, and people will turn away from it. People do not like to be told their realities. It is better to lure them in and let them discover it for themselves with a few nudges.
"Order a meeting for tonight, Wesley. I shall speak personally and dictate our actions going forward and resolve this problem."A plan is coming to fruition, one which will not fail and will have the desired effect. Wilson knows what needs to be done and how. Daredevil would not fall for such a scheme, but this new element is wild and aggressive. Which makes him vulnerable.
"Ah, speaking of resolutions. The Hardy girl has finished with her final heist and has acquired all the items needed. We no longer have any need for her skills or talents, though it would be a shame to rid ourselves of such an asset. How do you want to deal with her?" Wilson looked at his desk in thought, eyeing the ancient tablet on his desk. The thing that would give him his ultimate goal. Everything he has accomplished, everything he has worked for, is all just a fraction of what the tablet had to offer him.
Wilson Fisk, the poor fat child whose father was a crack addict. He had to commit his first murder at the age of twelve just to survive. From the start, Fisk was determined to be the best in whatever he did, and he believed physical strength to be a significant factor in building power in the world. Hence, he fanatically trained himself in various methods of bodybuilding and personal combat, finally concentrating on the Japanese art of sumo, which perfectly suited him.
In addition to his devotion to physical strength, Fisk realised the importance of intelligence while young. Being from a poor family, Fisk's formal education was limited. But he didn't let that stop him. He became self-taught, acquiring or borrowing and sometimes outright shoplifting books from libraries or bookstores in whatever he could find. Although Fisk learned a great deal in sciences and arts, he became particularly fascinated by political science.
He decided that another key to success would be in using political techniques in organising and directing groups of criminals. By the age of fifteen, his use of administrative processes to manage his growing gang of criminals earned him the nickname the Kingpin of Crime.
Fisk took control of and merged juvenile gangs that were used to run drugs for the various mafia families, started a minor drug war, and manipulated two mayoral candidates in an attempt to secure power and connections for himself. He began working for a Maggia boss, Don Rigoletto, as his bodyguard and enforcer. It was not long before he took over the operations of the Don Rigoletto and had him killed. And so began his empire, which blossomed into the unstoppable force it was today.
But all of that, everything he had done will seem significant before the power of this tablet. Then he will have indeed risen to the top, he would be unstoppable, and all would fall within his palm. But, unfortunately, the tablet was just a piece of a whole, useless without the other parts. But the location of those pieces remained unknown.
"Get Ms Hardy on the phone. I believe we should have a conversation and decide on her future going forward."
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In an undisclosed location, somewhere on the planet Earth, is a room where one of the most influential men in the world sits. Though contrary to his status, the room is bare. Grey metallic walls on all sides, a single fluorescent bulb in the ceiling powerful enough to light the entire room up. There are no windows, nothing on the walls and hardly anything on the floor.
All that decorates the room is a single desk placed near the back of the room, opposite the single-door entrance to the room. Suprsinglgyly disproportionate to the rest of the room's drab appearance, the desk is wooden with a certain elegance to it due to its carvings and indentures. In front of the desk is a single incredibly uncomfortable-looking metal chair, which anyone who has ever sat in it can attest to. Conversely, behind the desk is a single leather chair, but what was unique about this chair was not the chair itself but the man that sat in the chair.
A man with an eyepatch over his left eye, dressed in all black to better blend with the shadows, with a large black leather duster, underneath which could have been a whole host of dangerous items. Nicholas Joseph Fury sat behind his desk, working on the documents on top of his desk. He looked very well for a man that had lived through the second world war, but that is what the Infinity Formula does for you. Unfortunately, being long-lived is not as satisfactory as most people would think, and Nick Fury has learnt this over countless years.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Fury calmly but swiftly puts his pen down and then relaxes back into his chair, placing his hands on the armrest of his chair. Next, he subtly manoeuvred his finger over one of the hidden buttons on the chair, ready to press it at a moment's notice should it be needed.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone