As soon as they stepped into the Baxter Building they started talking again, for Ben though it was more like yelling. "He knew about NASA. What if he made the call to shut us down?"
"Ben, think about all the people we could help if this works." Reed said.
"Maybe you should think about yourself for once. You always let that guy push you around."
Nyx let out a dry laugh. "He lets everyone push him around."
Reed turned to face her. "What were you thinking back there?"
"I was helping you!"
"I could've figured something out."
"As if, then why did I even need to go?" Nyx waited for a response but nothing came. "Exactly. Maybe you need to learn to accept the fact you can't always do everything yourself."
Nyx stormed off and went to her room, she didn't come here often because she had her own place a few blocks away that wasn't big enough to see from across the city. But there were clothes in the closet that she kept in case she ever did stop by for holidays or just felt like dropping in. She went through them and started picking out a new outfit to wear for the meeting later, black skinny jeans with boots that were fashionable but didn't have a heel that was too high for her to walk in, for a shirt she chose to wear a t-shirt with a black cropped jacket that stopped just below her rib cage. After brushing her shoulder length black hair she looked at herself in the mirror one last time and walked out to where Ben and Reed were still talking.
Reed noticed what she was wearing and shook his head. "No, you are not wearing that!"
"Why? It's not revealing."
"That's not why! Do you not realize how fancy Victor likes things?"
Nyx glared at him. "I am not a thing, I'm a person. And if Victor says anything I'll teach him a lesson."
Ben groaned. "This isn't going to turn out good."
"Relax I'll be fine. Besides it's a business meeting, I'm sure Sue will be there to support me."
"Business meeting... right." Reed muttered. "That's why you're going his place for dinner."
"Exac-... Wait what?"
"He just called and said you'd be having dinner there."
Nyx saw the look in her brother's eyes and hugged him. "Don't worry about me. Besides I don't go anywhere with out a pocket knife and pepper spray."
"Please don't make him hate your brother any more than he probably does." Ben begged.
Nyx rolled her eyes before coming back with a sarcastic comment. "Yes it would be a shame if Victor Von Doom mysteriously disappeared off that throne of his and was never seen again."
With that Nyx flopped down on the couch to watch TV until Victor showed up to get her, Reed and Ben started lecturing her again but she turned to volume up louder until they couldn't yell over it. Reed gave up and went to his lab while Ben just went to the kitchen to get something to eat. Nyx turned it down and continued to absentmindedly watch the TV.
When the doorbell rang she turned it off and went to answer it but Reed had come back out and was already there. Victor greeted him without giving away any expression but turned and smiled slightly when he saw Nyx.
"Ready to go?" Victor asked as he observed her taste in clothing.
"Yeah." She waved at her brother. "Be back later."
Victor led her to his car and Reed rolled his eyes as he shut the door. To her surprise Jason got out of the driver's seat and opened the door for them, he nodded a greeting to her before closing the door and driving off.
"I see you know Jason..." Victor spoke up.
"He stops by to get coffee so often we kind of became friends I guess." Nyx replied.
"I see... Well unfortunately something came up and Susan can't join us for dinner."
Nyx wanted to ask him why Sue couldn't come but decided against it, Victor led her inside and took her to a large dinning room with a long wooden table in the center. Jason carried out some type of steak and wine before leaving them to talk.
"My men have been working on a special type of suit for this mission, after dinner I can take you to see them." Victor told her as soon as Jason left.
"Who's flying? Because Ben mentioned he'd like to."
"Susan already decided that and made it official. Have you met her brother?"
"Once, not for long though, he just stopped by to pick her up from the Baxter Building when her car broke down."
"Well the rest of the information is in this folder." He slid a file folder towards her and she glanced at it. "I hope Reed is happy about what I'm doing for him."
"He's thrilled." Nyx replied, in her mind she imagined her brother was pacing around at the moment waiting until she came back.
"Has he ever told you about me?" Victor asked suddenly.
"No... not until he scheduled the meeting earlier."
She took a few bites of her steak as he thought about what she said. When he finally spoke up it was a very short answer. "Interesting."
"So you were friends? In college?"
His mouth twitched. "Try friendly rivals... always working to be better. But I guess every game has its winners."
"Obviously."
"That was very deceptive of you... you knew I liked power." He studied her for a few moments. "It seems you have some observation skills your brother needs to use."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you saying?"
"Reed fails at things because he lacks the power to use his observations to his advantage and let's others tell him what to do... I was surprised when you did the exact opposite."
For the rest of their dinner it went on like that, she would answer his questions while giving away as little information as possible and changed the subject. Then Victor would tell her about that topic before relating it back to her, Nyx knew he was trying to learn how he could use her but she made it difficult while at the same time gaining background knowledge about him. After they finished eating he led her to a lab and she saw five blue suits in their own cases for tomorrow's flight.
"How did you get our measurements?" She asked.
He smirked. "Well they're made to be a little smaller than you look but will stretch to your size. They have to be skin tight to provide the protection we'll need."
"But there's only five suits... where's yours?"
"Not finished yet but they're going to bring it down in the morning."
Nyx looked at the suits once more before following him, she glanced at a clock and saw it was already ten o'clock... her brother would kill her when she got back. Victor noticed where she was looking and put an arm around her, he guided her back to the front door and Jason handed her the file she'd left on the table. Nyx walked out to the car and saw Victor following her; Jason opened the door for them once again before driving back to the Baxter Building.
"What time do we have to be at the launch site?"
"The time should be in the file otherwise just call me, my number is in there too."
Nyx felt the car stop and got out, Victor walked with her to the door and wrapped his arms around her.
"You don't seem like the gentleman type." Nyx told him.
Victor noticed Reed watching them from the couch. "Well I'm usually around subordinates or it's not needed."
Nyx pulled away and also saw Reed, who turned his back to them and stood up. Victor turned her head to face him again and closed the gap between them, Nyx tensed up and he pulled away.
"I thought you were with Sue." Nyx glared at him.
"No... of course not. That's why she didn't come. Obviously she still wants Reed so I decided to let her make her own choice."
With that Victor turned to leave, Nyx watched him get into the car before going back inside. Immediately her brother cornered her.
"What did I just see?" Reed demanded.
"It was nothing." Nyx replied.
"No it wasn't... I'm going to kill him!"
"Better do that after we come back." Nyx replied before dropping the file on the table. "All the information's in there."
Reed watched her go into her room and took a deep breath, yes he knew he was being a little too protective of his sister but that was his job, to protect her. He picked up the file and started to read it before setting his alarm clock to five a.m. and going to bed.