Chapter 99 - [53]

A few hours earlier,

Emma was on her way to the Hell-Fire Club, today was an important day. If this meeting ended well, then The Hand and The Hell-Fire Club would be working together. Even though she wasn't keen on The Hand's way of doing things, but they needed support.

Attacking Wakanda not only made the club lose powerful mutants like Shaw and Sabertooth, but it also made them the top priority Black-Panther's kill list. If she could join or even make a deal with the Hand, the club's power balance would return.

Walking out of her room, she saw Blink. She looked rather worried. Well, she knew the reason, it was probably Armando. His power acted up again this morning.

"The kid hasn't woken up yet." Blink said, sighing. "We should…"

"After getting back we should take him to see the professor, maybe he or even Hank McCoy can help the kid," Emma said, she was also worried about Armando. It happened a few hours ago, suddenly Armando's powers started going off when he was having breakfast with the other kids. He started to morph, sometimes his skin would turn to a rocky surface, then it would change to a silver one, then to a diamond-like structure. Then it back to normal human skin he kept repeating it.

Mutants getting sick wasn't abnormal, but just last night the boy was healthy. Suddenly becoming sick is far from normal. So, she was worried. She even tried to calm the kid using her telepathic powers, but his powers didn't let her do that.

Shaking her head, she tried to clear her thoughts, as she needed to focus on the task at hand. Looking at Blink she said, "We should get going now."

The girl nodded, as blue energy spread out like clouds from her hands, opening a portal. Walking through the said portal, they were enveloped by the blue energy, the scenery around them changed. From her school's corridor to a neatly arranged room.

They arrived inside her personal office. Her office was a large room, consisting of a large table where she usually sat and some empty chairs, and bookshelves filled with books. It was a minimalistic office, and even though she liked playing it fancy, the room had little to no decorations.

Blink looked tired and worried, and Emma knew why. She could only sigh seeing the girl like this. "If you want, you can go back to the school after we get to the place." For Blink's teleportation powers to work, she needed to be in a location once, and after that, she could teleport there as much as she wanted.

"No…" but Emma stopped her as she placed a hand on her shoulder. Blink was a medical student before her powers manifested and after that everything went down hills for her. She was kicked out of school and her home, having nowhere to go she had to use her powers in order to survive, joining local gangs, doing all sorts of illegal stuff.

Only after Emma brought her in did she start a normal life again, and she could now pursue her life in medicine. And this would-be doctor was rather worried about her patient.

"Don't worry too much about him." Emma said, smiling. "Maybe it's just a normal side effect of his powers," she patted her shoulder. She looked at the door when she heard a knock, looking at her wrist watch, seeing it was already time for them to leave.

Walking out of her room she was greeted by her security. A few ex-military soldiers wearing fitted black-suits. Bodyguards was another thing she didn't need, but it was just to show off the power and influence of the Hell-Fire Club.

As she walked the guards followed, using the elevator to go to the ground floor, she saw Azazel, wearing a black tuxedo. Emma wondered how he managed to wear it with his tail. Seeing her, the red mutant flashed a smile, ignoring the girl she was flirting with just a moment ago.

"Oh, hello there Emma." Azazel said, smiling as he bowed his head a little.

"Hello to you as well." She said looking around, she was making an effort not roll her eyes. "We should start going? No?"

"Yes, of course." He said, "After you." He gestured to the black Rolls Royce limousine, as a body guard opened the door. Wealth was very handy in buying shiny things.

Walking towards the car, she ducked into her seat. Blink sat near her, while Azazel sat across them. Azazel like he was, opened the wine bottle and started drinking. Sharing a few bits of information with the red mutant as she waited in the car.

It only took them a few minutes to reach their destination. It was an old Chinese restaurant, by the name 'Rou-he-tudou Restaurant'. As their limousine stopped at the front gate one of the body guards opened the door, lending her a helping hand to get out.

This was supposed to be a Yakuza-Infested area, but then again she always suspected the Hand to have associates within the Yakuza mobs.

Even though the restaurant was old, it was well-built, with polished white walls and Chinese themed spherical lamps illuminating the place. The restaurant was big, but what surprised Emma was the sheer number of Hand members that were present. While Emma had brought only a dozen bodyguards, the Hand had brought more than fifty. And most of them were well known criminals of New York. Some of them were even mutants.

"Well, someone takes their security seriously." Azazel muttered. Emma had to agree with that statement, well they did hear that one of their new council members was attacked recently. Maybe that was why, then again The Hell-Fire Club also had the panther to worry about.

The Hand was an old criminal organization, originating from Japan. And old as in at least 500 years old, Emma wondered how old this organization was, why it didn't achieve their goals yet. The Hand has five council members that lead the organization now, and these five council members were called the five fingers.

And in this meeting two of the fingers(council members) would be present, this would decide the future of both of their organizations. Their first goal was to make a deal with the Hand Organization, maybe even try to combine the two Organizations.

As they were walking down the long corridor, the security personnel stood on both sides, making way and bowing their heads to show respect. This was the first floor, it was elegantly decorated with multiple chandeliers, well furnished walls painted with light pink, a few tables set up so neatly in order. All in all, this place screamed luxury.

Walking up to the second floor, the guards opened the door, this was where the meeting was going to happen. A white room, covered by transparent glass walls, one could easily see from the first floor up here. As the room was stationed in one corner of the restaurant.

"Oh, yes come in." Said one of the people that was already in the room. He stood up from his chair, buttoning his silver suit. By his looks one could guess that he was in his early thirties. Walking towards them, he extended his hand towards Emma.

"Hope your journey was a comfortable one." He said, shaking her hand. "My name is Murakami." Gesturing to the lady behind them, who sat on one of the seats of the round table, he said, "This is Madame Gao," He then proceeded to take his seat near the old lady known as Madame Gao.

Murakami looked too young to be one of the council members, he was of Asian origin. He had black hair and brown eyes, but his looks were anything but normal. He had a sharp jawline, and broad shoulders, coupled with his confident posture—he was as charming as a model.

On the other hand Madame Gao was more of a grandma, she was a woman of later seventies, wrinkled face, skin barely hanging from her face, thin limbs—she looked frail and weak. Emma wasn't someone who judged people by appearance, but this was hard to believe. 'Are they really council members?' she asked herself.

"Another one of our guests will be joining us soon. Let's start our meeting shall we." Murakami said when he saw Azazel look at the empty seat on the round table.

What surprised Emma was that she couldn't read their mind, it wasn't any physical or mental barriers like she was used to.

It was vastly different; they didn't have any mental barriers. She was sure, she could read their minds—but the thing was there was nothing to read. It was as if they had cleared their thoughts. This was her first time seeing any human mind so 'thought-free'. Even now while the man spoke he could hardly hear any of his thoughts. Maybe this meeting was going to be hard.

------- (A/N) ---------

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