POI fic: Henchman #9 Book Club
TITLE: Henchman #9: Book Club
AUTHOR: whomii2
DISCLAIMER: do not own
RATING: G
SUMMARY: what happens in book club stays in book club...
John scowled as he let their unwelcome guests into the Library Lair. Well, unwelcome as far as John was concerned, but not by Harold, or else Reese would have been free to slam the door in their faces.
Still, as far as sometimes allies went, John supposed they could have done worse than Elias. Elias had previously been just your typical mob boss, although he had eliminated enough of his competition to become the undisputed King of the cities criminal forces. A King who had weathered several assassination attempts by rival gangsters trying to unseat him. Elias had laid low following the most recent attempt before emerging from the shadowy underworld to take a place in the spotlight as a full on Super Villain. Rumors abounded that maybe one or more of those assassination attempts had backfired and instead conferred some sort of superpower (not unreasonable when exotic poisons or radiation were employed). But no one dared to ask.
If nothing else the attempts seemed to have affected the man's dress sense. He sauntered past John in a diva-esque Super villain ensemble: purple jumpsuit with silver gloves, boots, and belt. Shiny silver helmet and lavender goggles large enough to fit over his glasses. (Reese and Fusco often joked the helmet was to cover up Elias' loss of hair). And a long flowing black hooded cloak for skulking in the shadows when he wanted to be less conspicuous. Fortunately his number-one henchman had stayed with his traditional outfit: black T-shirt, black jeans, steel toed-boots, and black leather jacket. The only color in the outfit was the shiny silver belt buckle of a grinning skull, which sported a crack in its cranium that mirrored the scar on Anthony's face.
As a mob boss Elias had had his hand in a lot of pies. He had extensive contacts who fed him all the dirt from jealous rivals, angry exes, ambitions underlings, and scheming politicians. He still used those contacts to keep tabs on the other competing super villains in the city. While he now boasted the flamboyance of the usual Super Villain and had pulled off some daring and flashy operations, he was still the subtle and careful planner that he had been in his mob days. He had once offered Finch a place in his criminal organization back when he was just starting out, and the two had remained on good terms even though Finch had turned him down and branched out on his own. Now that they were both super villains they had become BFFs. Finch's own information gathering tended to involve more ferreting into peoples' digital footprints, so between Harold's cyber stalking and Elias' old-school snooping the two could dig up anyone's skeletons. John would have to admit Elias was ruthless and had mad organization skills. If Reese wasn’t devoted to Finch then Elias might not be a bad boss. The two of them could certainly best any of their competition if they set their minds to it.
The two allies would get together Monday nights for a friendly chess game. They would make bets as to who would win, with Elias paying up with tidbits of secrets and juicy blackmail material and Finch forfeiting some trinkets from his lab depending on who won that week's game. Reese and Fusco would host Scarface in the library room with the large flat screen TV where they would watch football or some other sporting event (Finch had pirated all the channels) while their bosses played chess. They were often too loud and raucous for Bear, what with their cheering or booing as their teams battled, so the dinosaur had taken to hanging out in the other room with Harold. Elias had started to bring large bones as gifts to ingratiate himself with the velociraptor. Reese hoped that he wasn't digging up some former victims to obtain the snacks. Harold poo-pooed the idea when Reese mentioned it, saying that Elias wouldn't be so gauche as to give a hand-me-down used bone as a present -he would only gift something from a fresh kill. Reese didn't find that too comforting....but at least it wasn't cannibalism as far as Bear was concerned. He would just be sure never to try any dip that Scarface might bring to the festivities.
The Monday night get-togethers were rather an enjoyable time, and could be rather profitable depending on how the betting went. The reason for John's bad mood was that this wasn't Monday night-it was Wednesday afternoon. In addition to their love of chess, good manners, and evil plots, Harold and Elias also shared an appreciation for the classics. So John was forced to spend one afternoon a week scowling at Scarface while Finch and Elias discussed their latest novel of interest over tea and cookies. John wondered what other minions would think of their Evil Overlord’s book club. Since Anthony stayed in the room John had to as well in order to balance things out. So while their bosses discussed their recent novel over snacks, Reese and Scarface practiced their nonverbal communication while standing protectively behind their respective bosses' chairs. It was Death Glare versus Intimidating Stare. Anthony had an advantage in the scowl department due to his scar, whereas Reese was more the stoic unflinching type with a looming presence.
Fusco avoided most of the boring literary discussion by watching Bear and preparing tea and refreshments. Reese thought Fusco was the one more in need of a minder. While Fusco blamed the loss of a tray of cucumber sandwiches on Bear, John thought that the velociraptor was unlikely to be interested in finger food unless it contained actual fingers.
Initially John had attributed Scarface's staying in the room to spite over petty jealousy, as Elias had once complimented Harold on John's ability. That is until the day Anthony brought his own copy Flowers of Evil and joined in the discussion of French poetry. Who knew the other henchman was such a renaissance man? And it was Reese and Fusco who had the reputation for being snooty.
AUTHOR: whomii2
DISCLAIMER: do not own
RATING: G
SUMMARY: what happens in book club stays in book club...
John scowled as he let their unwelcome guests into the Library Lair. Well, unwelcome as far as John was concerned, but not by Harold, or else Reese would have been free to slam the door in their faces.
Still, as far as sometimes allies went, John supposed they could have done worse than Elias. Elias had previously been just your typical mob boss, although he had eliminated enough of his competition to become the undisputed King of the cities criminal forces. A King who had weathered several assassination attempts by rival gangsters trying to unseat him. Elias had laid low following the most recent attempt before emerging from the shadowy underworld to take a place in the spotlight as a full on Super Villain. Rumors abounded that maybe one or more of those assassination attempts had backfired and instead conferred some sort of superpower (not unreasonable when exotic poisons or radiation were employed). But no one dared to ask.
If nothing else the attempts seemed to have affected the man's dress sense. He sauntered past John in a diva-esque Super villain ensemble: purple jumpsuit with silver gloves, boots, and belt. Shiny silver helmet and lavender goggles large enough to fit over his glasses. (Reese and Fusco often joked the helmet was to cover up Elias' loss of hair). And a long flowing black hooded cloak for skulking in the shadows when he wanted to be less conspicuous. Fortunately his number-one henchman had stayed with his traditional outfit: black T-shirt, black jeans, steel toed-boots, and black leather jacket. The only color in the outfit was the shiny silver belt buckle of a grinning skull, which sported a crack in its cranium that mirrored the scar on Anthony's face.
As a mob boss Elias had had his hand in a lot of pies. He had extensive contacts who fed him all the dirt from jealous rivals, angry exes, ambitions underlings, and scheming politicians. He still used those contacts to keep tabs on the other competing super villains in the city. While he now boasted the flamboyance of the usual Super Villain and had pulled off some daring and flashy operations, he was still the subtle and careful planner that he had been in his mob days. He had once offered Finch a place in his criminal organization back when he was just starting out, and the two had remained on good terms even though Finch had turned him down and branched out on his own. Now that they were both super villains they had become BFFs. Finch's own information gathering tended to involve more ferreting into peoples' digital footprints, so between Harold's cyber stalking and Elias' old-school snooping the two could dig up anyone's skeletons. John would have to admit Elias was ruthless and had mad organization skills. If Reese wasn’t devoted to Finch then Elias might not be a bad boss. The two of them could certainly best any of their competition if they set their minds to it.
The two allies would get together Monday nights for a friendly chess game. They would make bets as to who would win, with Elias paying up with tidbits of secrets and juicy blackmail material and Finch forfeiting some trinkets from his lab depending on who won that week's game. Reese and Fusco would host Scarface in the library room with the large flat screen TV where they would watch football or some other sporting event (Finch had pirated all the channels) while their bosses played chess. They were often too loud and raucous for Bear, what with their cheering or booing as their teams battled, so the dinosaur had taken to hanging out in the other room with Harold. Elias had started to bring large bones as gifts to ingratiate himself with the velociraptor. Reese hoped that he wasn't digging up some former victims to obtain the snacks. Harold poo-pooed the idea when Reese mentioned it, saying that Elias wouldn't be so gauche as to give a hand-me-down used bone as a present -he would only gift something from a fresh kill. Reese didn't find that too comforting....but at least it wasn't cannibalism as far as Bear was concerned. He would just be sure never to try any dip that Scarface might bring to the festivities.
The Monday night get-togethers were rather an enjoyable time, and could be rather profitable depending on how the betting went. The reason for John's bad mood was that this wasn't Monday night-it was Wednesday afternoon. In addition to their love of chess, good manners, and evil plots, Harold and Elias also shared an appreciation for the classics. So John was forced to spend one afternoon a week scowling at Scarface while Finch and Elias discussed their latest novel of interest over tea and cookies. John wondered what other minions would think of their Evil Overlord’s book club. Since Anthony stayed in the room John had to as well in order to balance things out. So while their bosses discussed their recent novel over snacks, Reese and Scarface practiced their nonverbal communication while standing protectively behind their respective bosses' chairs. It was Death Glare versus Intimidating Stare. Anthony had an advantage in the scowl department due to his scar, whereas Reese was more the stoic unflinching type with a looming presence.
Fusco avoided most of the boring literary discussion by watching Bear and preparing tea and refreshments. Reese thought Fusco was the one more in need of a minder. While Fusco blamed the loss of a tray of cucumber sandwiches on Bear, John thought that the velociraptor was unlikely to be interested in finger food unless it contained actual fingers.
Initially John had attributed Scarface's staying in the room to spite over petty jealousy, as Elias had once complimented Harold on John's ability. That is until the day Anthony brought his own copy Flowers of Evil and joined in the discussion of French poetry. Who knew the other henchman was such a renaissance man? And it was Reese and Fusco who had the reputation for being snooty.