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| Where your footsteps always fell; Eric | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 18 2011, 09:27 PM (211 Views) | |
| Wonderman | Nov 18 2011, 09:27 PM Post #1 |
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Invulnerability, Flight, Ionic Powers, Loving Every Minute of it
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Nov. 11th Morning. Williams Industries His keycard still worked, which meant the codes were still the same. Simon found that strange. He had expected Eric to change the locks the instant he had walked out the door. Heck, given how strongly his brother disagreed with his decision, Simon wouldn't have been surprised to see a poster with his face on it, warning that if someone were to see him they were to 'shoot on sight' or some other such dramatic reaction. But that wasn't the case. It seemed to be business as usual as Simon walked into Williams Industries, the company his father had built from the ground up, the same one he walked away from shortly after the man's death. People walked back and forth, tending to their business, barely noticing Simon as he entered meekly. The few whose eyes he did catch, met him with polite nods and closed mouth smiles. It was as though nothing had happened or that, if it did, they were far too busy to care about the fickle whims of the boss' son. Maybe they had expected his return. Maybe the only thing that was surprising them was that it had taken so long for the man to show face here. If they thought he was returning for good though, they would be sorely disappointed. Simon wasted no time boarding the elevator, taking it to the top floor, and turning to the right. At this point, he wasn't surprised to see his office still unoccupied, his name tag still placed on the door. His key still opened the door. Of course it did and, inside nothing had changed. It was as though this room had stopped itself in time, waiting for it's owner's return. Simon waived off the strangeness of the situation and pressed forward, opening the drawer of his desk and examining the contents. It wouldn't be long before his brother got wind of his return but, if he was lucky, he would find what he was looking for before he had to deal with it. |
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| Eric Williams | Nov 20 2011, 04:36 PM Post #2 |
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"Of course, Peter, we'll take care of all the customs arrangements; your people won't have to worry about that. But you're sure your factory can handle the volume? Product management predicts we'll be shipping six thousand units a week once we announce; any delays in manufacturing would kill us." Eric Williams waved his secretary (she insisted on being called an "executive assistant," and a title was cheaper than a raise, but in the privacy of his own mind she was still his secretary) into his office as the manufacturing rep filled the phone lines with pretty-sounding lies about their state-of-the-art production capacity. He ignored it: according to his corporate intel sources, Peter's factories would take an extra week to get fully operational. Which was fine with Eric, since his own shipping and distribution network was several days behind schedule as well; this way, Peter would absorb the penalty charges for late delivery. Not ideal, but sometimes damage control was the only option a man had available to him. He muted the phone while Peter droned on. "Yes, Carla, what is it?" "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Williams, but you said you wanted to be informed right away if the other Mr. Williams ever used his keycard; he --" "That sounds great, Peter," Eric said abruptly, cutting them both off. "Listen, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this short -- an urgent matter just came up, you know how it is. Anyway, that sounds great; I'll have Legal draw up a contract to make it official. And we're still on for golf Tuesday, right? ... Great. See you then." He was already halfway out of his office when he hung up the phone. "Nice of you to visit, Simon," he called out as he entered his brother's office, not having bothered to knock. "We don't see nearly enough of you these days. Though I suppose the government keeps you too busy to spend time with family. Mother says hello, by the way." He'd promised himself he wouldn't pick a fight, that he'd be civil, but Simon always did have a way of sparking his temper... especially lately. "Speaking of family: any news from your girlfriend's father? Last I heard of him was when he violated every FCC regulation ever written to murder a priest and declare war on the entire civilized world. Is the family having you over for Thanksgiving?" |
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| Wonderman | Dec 10 2011, 06:49 AM Post #3 |
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Invulnerability, Flight, Ionic Powers, Loving Every Minute of it
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Brothers. It's a relationship that's fascinated the human race since the beginning of time, ever since Cain murdered Abel in the world's first and worst case of sibling rivalry. Unlike sisters, brothers were not expected to be kind, giving, or even civil to each other. Brothers fought with words and fists. They tested each other and pushed their counterpart to manhood in uneasy and often overtly harsh manners. For Simon and Eric Williams,this was certainly the case. There was love there. Of course there would be. Neither of the men were that particular sort of monster who could turn an unfeeling eye to their blood. It's just that, that love was often wrapped up in anger jealousy, pettiness, misplaced loyalty, and more than anything, a complete and utter disrespect for each others' boundaries. Simon was, of course, as much to blame for this as his brother. No one person can completely dictate the flow of a relationship. In truth, that sort of barbed back and forth might have been the only way the brothers knew to react to each other. Perhaps it was their way of coexisting peacefully. But it was sure as hell annoying right about now. "Are you done Eric?" Simon asked, impatience coloring his words. He continued shuffling around in his drawers, trying his best not to lose his temper with the man. " I get it. You don't approve. Of my girlfriend, of my life choices, of any of it. You don't have to keep telling me. Though it might do you well to actually get to know Wanda before you started judging her. I think you'll find that she isn't anything like you imagine." He slammed the drawer shut, frustrated with the search. "I need the cufflings dad left me. Where are they? I left them here. I'm going to an event and," he sighed audibly, imagining the reaction this next bit of information would elicit from his brother. "And I can't afford to buy another pair." |
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| Eric Williams | Dec 10 2011, 11:40 PM Post #4 |
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"Damned straight I don't approve, Simon!" The office door slammed behind him angrily as he tried and failed to keep his temper under control. "Jesus, can you blame me? She's not even human!" He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. It was true, but he regretted it anyway. "OK, OK, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Look, Simon, this isn't some braindamaged redneck you're talking to, this is me. Mutant, human, Chinese, midgets, teenage boys, Democrats, whatever, I honestly don't care. But Wanda friggin' Maximoff? Jesus, Simon, she's, like..." he waved a hand expressively in the air searching for a word sufficiently emphatic, then threw his hands up as he gave up the search, "oh hell, I don't know what she is. The point is, neither do you, Simon. Neither do you." He shook his head, leaned against a windowframe, sighed heavily. He didn't know why he was getting into all this again; they'd gone through it all before, many many times, to no avail. There had to be a way to reach him, to make him understand that his mutant girlfriend, her criminal brother, her terrorist father, simply couldn't be trusted... that Simon's feelings for her were just another reality-warping trick, a foothold into SHIELD, or something even more sinister. And somehow, sooner or later, Eric would find that way. But whatever it was, arguing with him like this wasn't it. He rolled the sleeves of his jacket up and uncoupled his cuffs. "Here you go, brother-mine," he said, depositing his cufflinks on the desk near Simon. "If you're not going to listen to a word I'm saying, I can at least be good for something. And you know what, Simon? Maybe you're right: maybe I should get to know her. Except she's gone into hiding with her nuclear-powered brother-in-law and I don't even know where she is. Nobody does, do they? Except you? So, OK: how about she joins us for Thanksgiving?" |
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| Wonderman | Dec 14 2011, 12:15 AM Post #5 |
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Invulnerability, Flight, Ionic Powers, Loving Every Minute of it
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Simon wondered if all brothers were like this, a combustible mixture of love, hate, and rivalry. He thought he had left that behind when he abandoned the company. He figured that would be enough to tell Eric 'Game over. I'm not playing anymore.' As it turned out, they were back to basics in about two seconds flat, with Eric throwing judgment all over Simon;s life choices. It was fine. He had expected it. When he left for SHIELD, a low ranking job with SHIELD at that, he imagined his brother would be more than a little confused. Who throws away a billion dollars to work as a prison guard? Simon had tried to explain himself, let Eric see his reasoning, but it was no use. His brother thought he was going through some sort of early midlife crisis or taking their father's death in a curious way. No matter how much Simon tried to explain his thought process, Eric never seemed to understand. But this, talking about Wanda this way, it took Simon by surprise, much as Wanda did herself when she swept into his life. "Eric! Eric!" he shouted. "That's enough. I know her. I trust her. And most importantly, I don't need you protecting me. I know you think I'm crazy for wanting something different than this," he said, gesturing to the grandeur around them. "But it's my choice. It's my crazy." He walked past and swooped the cufflinks from the table, throwing them in his pocket. "And I don't care who her father is. What's more, I appreciate it. It makes her stronger. If you're serious about meeting her, then maybe we can work something out down the line. Right now, I just don't see it. Until then, I want you to promise me you're going to trust me Eric. I'm a big boy. I don't need you looking out for me anymore." He turned toward the door before looking back. "Oh, and do you remember that time at camp, when I knocked your front teeth out. Call her less than human again and you might get a repeat performance." |
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| Eric Williams | Dec 18 2011, 07:04 PM Post #6 |
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Eric sighed and sat on the edge of Simin's desk, shaking his head sadly. He could appreciate his brother's desire to have his choices taken seriously, but when it came to this... relationship... Eric wasn't even convinced it was Simon's choice. Wanda Maximoff had turned a tank into a flower bed, had turned the air around Mutant Town into a force field, and had turned a low-ranking SHIELD agent into her personal lap-dog. Was Eric seriously supposed to believe that the last of those was a natural event? It was implausible on the face of it. But Simon didn't see that, and it was clear from the conversation thus far that no matter what Eric said, he just wasn't going to. No surprise, really; Simon had never been big on listening to his little brother, or on taking his family responsibilities seriously. But this wasn't just another case of big brother flaking out; this was bigger than that. A lot bigger. Eric didn't know how big yet, but he intended to find out. Somehow. "Yeah, I remember, Simon. And I'm sure what with your SHIELD training and weapons and everything you could take me down almost as quickly as when I was eight. Except, of course, for how building security works for me, not you, and for how assaulting a corporate CEO will probably get you fired. Are you sure you want to go there?" |
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| Wonderman | Dec 21 2011, 06:26 PM Post #7 |
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Invulnerability, Flight, Ionic Powers, Loving Every Minute of it
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"Yeah, yeah," he smiled when his brother hinted that security could be in the door in seconds. The truth was, no matter how mad he might be with his brother, he didn't hate him. He could never do that. In hos own way, Eric was looking out for him. He only wanted what was best for Simon and, to Eric, running around in a uniform trying to save the day and making googly eyes with the daughter of America's most wanted mutant didn't fit that bill. What Eric didn;t take into consideration was that maybe he didn't have all the facts. He couldn't see things the way Simon could because he had not been there to see it. He, like Simon until very recently, was held up in his tower, working on papers and bills. "You're a very powerful man and all that. I still remember you running around naked through the neighbor's sprinkler though." He chuckled and headed toward the door. "Wasn't that long ago, come to think of it. Look, I get what you're doing, but I need you to trust me. If I'm making a mistake, it's mine to make. And besides, if I do, I'm sure you'll be right there to tell me exactly where I went wrong. You're lucky you know, to know where you want to be, to have it so down by now. Dad would b proud of you." He headed to the door, looking back one last time at the office that was once his. "And eat something Eric. You look thin." |
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7:34 PM Jul 11