Sapphire Angel - Superheroine

Chapter 12 - Scheming

Demarco Dominick balled his fists as he slid into his office chair. As he sank into the seat, his large stomach prevented him from getting too close to the desk. Despite the extra distance, his eyes bored into the man sitting across from him. The head of his security detail, Joe Mathers, sat across the desk, his thick neck bowed and his eyes not meeting Dominick's gaze. Although not as massive as Dominick, the man's muscles stretched the arms and legs of his Fizzure uniform.

The Fizzure CEO knew why Mathers wouldn't meet his gaze. Dominick's security chief didn't want to give a look that would cause his boss to fly into one of his fits of rage. Good. Fear in his men could be a good thing.

"So what, Joe, she's like some kind of real-life superhero?" Dominick asked, his voice dripping with contempt. He ran a hand across the close-cropped afro on his head. The knuckles on his hand were rough, with the dark skin peeled and calloused. Those knuckles had struck too many walls and faces during Dominick's frequent explosions of fury.

Joe Mathers nodded as his already pale skin drained of color, creating a juxtaposition with his dark, short-cropped hair. "More or less, sir. I saw it with my own eyes. Twice now."

"Your story seemed far-fetched the first time. Stronger than any of our men, agile, bulletproof."

Mathers looked down, but didn't speak.

"But I believe you, Joe. It's no more far-fetched and crazy sounding than what we're doing. And I saw the video footage from the first encounter with her."

Mathers looked up, his shock obvious on his face. Dominick never admitted he was wrong.

"Your doubts were understandable, sir. Nobody would have believed a tale of a tiny costumed girl doing what she did."

Dominick nodded and rubbed his chin.

"Superpowered or not, we must decide what to do about Sapphire Angel. There are too many unknowns with her. What does she know? Why is she investigating us? Will she try something again?" Dominick paused, shaking his head, his jaw tight. "She's gotten in here twice so far. Our benefactor might have second thoughts about supporting this project if these problems continue."

Dominick rose from his chair and moved to the window as he looked down on the dark street, two stories below. They would lose their financing, and their ability to complete this project, if Sapphire Angel scared off the benefactor. Every test required rare components, and those components were expensive.

He wished he could trust the silver-eyed man to hold this deal together. He wished he could trust him, period. Hell, he didn't even know the guy's name. The irony wasn't lost on Dominick. For a CEO who micromanaged ever aspect of his business, he was flying blind. But the large man would fly blind and deaf if it meant a chance to save his daughter. He just wished he could trust the stranger.

No, trust wasn't enough. Dominick wished he could bypass the silver-eyed man, and go straight to the benefactor. Then he wouldn't need to trust the odd fellow, or rely on him at all. That wasn't the deal though. The deal was for Dominick to share the results of the project in exchange for money. Learning the source of the money wasn't part of the arrangement.

Dominick didn't want to consider why the silver-eyed man kept him in the dark. Perhaps the benefactor wasn't an individual at all, but a ruthless organization. Perhaps the organization planned to use Fizzure's work for terrible things. But it couldn't be any worse than what Fizzure had done already.

More perplexing was figuring out what the silver-eyed man gained from this arrangement. Dominick had never been able to piece that together. The man didn't work directly for the benefactor, so why was he facilitating this deal?

Dominick decided it was best if he didn't know. Again, the irony was striking. The Fizzure CEO prided himself on knowing every detail of his company's operations, but he was letting this one slide. Perhaps the silver-eyed man was worried Dominick wouldn't continue the project, if he knew who was on the other end of the pipeline. Dominick didn't need yet another worry weighing on his conscience. His daughter was all that mattered.

"I don't know how this Sapphire Angel woman has gotten a whiff of our plans," Dominick continued. "But we can't let her interfere. Any luck finding her?"

"None. We hacked into the servers of some local schools. We've dug around on social media. We've looked on modeling sites at the profiles for every woman within a 100-mile radius of here. Girls with her looks don't grow on trees, so if she was local, we would have found her. But nothing."
Dominick shook his head.

"Focus on the guy in the zombie outfit then," he said. "Perhaps we'll have better luck finding him. I don't know why she brought him with her, but he could lead us to her. Have you had any luck tracking him down?"

"Not yet, sir."

"You said the man looked hurt. Did one of your bullets get him?"

"I can't be sure. She was the one in the line of fire, and she wasn't affected in the least."

"Have some of our men check out the local hospitals. If they poke around, maybe we'll get lucky."

"I'll get on it right away."

"Go now. Our silver-eyed friend is being patient, but I don't know for how much longer." Or how long the people paying the bills will be patient, he thought. "We need to handle this Sapphire Angel problem, once and for all."