Mortimer Todd was a lowly office slave, literally. He knew this well. So very well. And, if he ever were to forget his place, those he "worked" for were to be sure to remind him. Reminders from one of the Senior Partners of Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe could oft be lengthy and severe. Mortimer, wishing to avoid anything like he'd been witness to during "orientation class" - he still had night terrors at the thought - had developed kissing arse and sucking up to an art form. And he, Mortimer, over many years service, had become a Maestro.
Throughout his tenure with DCH - and he intended to continue for many, many more to come being as DCH's "retirement plan" was a bitch - he had also developed weaseling out of work to a high art. Thus, stumbling back from Dickey's Dirk and Dagger and a twelve martini "lunch hour" where he and the blonde piranha with whom he kept company did their own "work," he was in no particular hurry.
That was until he rounded the corner to saunter through the Marketplace...
Lilah stands in the street in front of where DCH's office building had once stood, staring at the hole filled with rubble." A narrowing of cool eyes as she shakes her head in disbelief." "No way." No freaking way!"
She'd been working as Howe's new assistant for only a few weeks but there had been no hint of anything like this!" The least the demonic trio could do is keep their employees informed!" The scowl takes root on Lilah's face as she gingerly begins picking her way through the rubble in her three inch heels towards the crater that DCH's office building has become.
"How odd." The rubble seems so contained." Lilah notes mentally before coming to a stop before the hole in the ground." Down in the smoky depths, dozens of men have formed a line, working hard to move debris." Searching for survivors perhaps?" A handful of others stand across the hole from her, the ground around them littered in mounds and mounds of what look somewhat like body bags." Two men in particular are yelling at one another. " "Hey, look, I don't know where anyone was in this building, Mister. I don't know anyone who worked in there either." I don't know these people!" So back off!" I can't help you in identifying these remains."
"Then find me someone who can!" You're the Fire Chief, aren't you?!" I'm just the morgue attendant." My job is to bag "em and tag "em." " Lilah begins tap, tap, tapping an impatient foot, staring at the pair of men waiting for them to take notice.
Lilah Morgan. Mortimer's expression suddenly looks as if he's just been force fed a bottle of bitters. The dame is lovely to look at, no doubt, - legs from the ground to the heavens - and for about a second and a half before they'd actually spoken or met he had immediately scoped that piece out as one to tap. Then, she spoke to, or rather around, him and the ace he held up his sleeves, - the reason he was a lowly office slave in employ to DCH - the "gift" used by one like him to acquire such prize tail seemed to slide right on by ice queen Lilah.
Yes, Mortimer Todd now loathes Lilah Morgan. Ego is a fragile thing. He also considers her presence at the firm to be suspect. Still, she is Howe's assistant and above Mortimer in the pecking order. Hat in hand he races over to the devastation, gaping wide-mouthed, simpering as he picks his way across the rubble to where the Ice Queen stands impatiently.
"Crap!" Mortimer stumbles over a lumpy bag three feet from Lilah, falling face first into the remains of a mail clerk. "Wha....What in hell has happened, Lilah....Um..." Gaining his feet, brushing off a few bits of charred flesh from his knees, effecting a slimy bow and letting his eyes linger just a touch too long at Lilah's cleavage, Mortimer clears his throat. "Apologies, I meant what has happened, Miss Morgan, of course?"
Lilah turns to look at Mortimer, the scowl firmly intact." "Wonderful." You survived." How lovely for the rest of us.?" She obviously doesn't mean it." "Where the hell have you been"!" What the hell happened here?" Did you know to expect this, because I sure as Hades wasn't informed." You'd better tell me where the senior partners are right here and now, or I am going to add you to the pile of already dead!"
Oh, and by the look in red, glowy eyes she means it." However, before Mortimer has the chance to answer her rapid fire questions, the two men on the other side of the hole begin waving at them and calling out loudly.
"Ho, you two?" Work here?" Know anything about these people?" The Fire Chief looks as if he's seen better days.
"Hey"!" You look like you might be able to help us over here!" screams the morgue attendant over the Fire Chief.
Lilah turns to face the two waving men." "About time, I must say." Have you seen our, um, er, Bosses, the three senior partners, by any chance?"
The two men simply stare blankly at Lilah before at last the Fire Chief shakes his head." "Aww, no, lady." We have no idea who we've, erhm, ah, found." Using that last word very loosely. " "Damnit!" Lilah snaps, looking over her shoulder at Mortimer." "You'd better start talking, little man, before I take that "gift' of yours and make it work on men too!"
No, Mortimer does not like Lilah Morgan, and the fact she has the uncanny ability to put his balls in a vice, so to speak, every time she deigns to acknowledge him, only adds fuel to the flame. Though, lest he end up like poor Stew Burger, Mortimer appropriately gulps at her threat and, wincing, inclines his head respectfully.
"Again, sincerest apologies, Miss Morgan. I was running dire errands for Mister Dewey, Miss. Utmost importance, highly classified, you understand. Mister Dewey trusts me implicitly with very delicate matters. Like his right hand I..." The scowl on Lilah's face is deepening and her eyes flash impatient anger. She's well acquainted with Mortimer's diatribes of faux self-importance. Her foot takes on a rapid-fire staccato of tapping meant to move him along.
"Yes, yes, of course. As for what has happened here, Miss, I haven't the beginnings of a clue. Normally, there are contingencies in place to prevent just a thing from happening. As you well know." She ought to know, at least, he thinks. Narrowing his eyes on the woman suspiciously. "As for the Senior Partners..." Turning, he begins picking his way carefully around the edge of the crater slowly. "When I left on those important errands, Mister Dewey was on his way to Mister Howe's office to meet up with him before they were to meet with Mister Cheetham in the conference room. That would be, I believe, over this way, Miss."
A worm-like bow and he points, sweeping his hand out to allow her to take the lead. Mortimer was a kiss-arse, a brown-nosed suck up, but he was far from stupid. He enjoyed breathing, among other things the mortal world provided.
For a moment, all Lilah did was watch Mortimer as he picked his way through the debris." Did he say they had actually been inside the building?" Does that mean, (Lilah can't help the excited leaping of her heart), they might be dead and DCH up for grabs?" A delicious smile moves artfully over her face then is quickly replaced with a concerned frown." No need for others to see her triumph, her glory' yet. " The two men are still waving to the pair so Lilah waves back, calling over to them her voice trained to reflect the shock and horror of this situation." "We'll be right there." But our Bosses may have been *inside* the building!"
Yes, that should mean something to them, and give her enough time to work her way over there after she figures out if the senior partners really were inside the building when it went up." Quickly she follows after Mortimer. " "So, worm, " addressing Mortimer, "All three senior partners were inside, am I getting that right"!?" Lilah keeps the glee from her voice in the asking." "My, but this is going to be a loooong night!" " But she continues to follow behind Mortimer until he steps into the hole that is." Lilah stays back, moving now around to the two men who'd been calling to them moments before.
"What's he doing down there, he's likely to get himself killed!" snaps the Fire Chief. " "Yeah, but at least we'll know his name," retorts the morgue attendant. "That is, if this lady knows his name?"" Both sets of eyes fall to rest on Lilah. Lilah shrugs lightly." "I didn't really know anyone here." You see, I've only just arrived??" A little white lie. Compared to the whoppers she's told in the past, it won't mean much of anything in the long run." "Sorry, boys, but if you want someone who can help that would be your man there.?" Finger pointing to Mortimer. " Yes, Lilah does enjoy passing off the attention, it leaves her time to think while watching Mortimer look for the departed senior partners." It's good to be Lilah tonight!"
"Egotistical, self-important, bitch," mutters Mortimer, facing away and moving down into the hole as Lilah leaves him to do the dirty work. "Who does she think she is?" He continues to grumble, making his way towards the area where he knows the conference room the Senior Partners were using used to be located. 'Please,' he thought, 'do not let it be Lilah who takes the helm if the unthinkable has happened.'
And, unthinkable it most certainly is, that any of the three, let alone all of them, could have actually succumbed to death. Distrustful, he looks over his shoulder to Lilah who was now pointing his way as she spoke to the Fire Chief and the Morgue attendant. Effecting a sniveling smile, he nods just as he arrives in the area he thinks was once the conference room he seeks.
"What a mess!" He calls out needlessly to Lilah. Then he spots something amongst rubble and, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he dabs at the sweat gathering on his upper lip. No, it can't be!
Lilah sees it on Mortimer's face." A look." A look that screams he's found something and it isn't nice." Squaring her shoulders, preparing to look utterly devastated when in reality she isn't, Lilah stands in stoic style beside the two men as all three of them watch Mortimer.?" He is busy directing some of the men already in the pit towards his grisly discovery." And grisly it is indeed! " The first body unearthed is burned so badly, recognizing it is more than difficult." Only the shoes are relatively intact." The second body seems even worse off, the shoes looking more like they've just come from the microwave than off the streets." The third body has a bit more flesh and expensive suit bits left, but it, too, looks as if it's been dragged through behind six hurried stallions. " "I think that's it!" calls out one of the men as several others struggle to bring their finds upwards.
The morgue attendant is also moving off now to help them." "Lemme grab a few bags?" muttering as he goes. " "That's it," thinks Lilah, "That's three of them!!!" They're dead, and I can seize control!" " Indeed, this is the night to be Lilah and her spirits are lifting with each passing moment. " "How you know it's them??" Asks the Fire Chief, who happens to be still standing by her side. " In a flash, Lilah's frown comes back." She gives a cold-hearted shrug." "Who else could it have been?"
Throughout his tenure with DCH - and he intended to continue for many, many more to come being as DCH's "retirement plan" was a bitch - he had also developed weaseling out of work to a high art. Thus, stumbling back from Dickey's Dirk and Dagger and a twelve martini "lunch hour" where he and the blonde piranha with whom he kept company did their own "work," he was in no particular hurry.
That was until he rounded the corner to saunter through the Marketplace...
Lilah stands in the street in front of where DCH's office building had once stood, staring at the hole filled with rubble." A narrowing of cool eyes as she shakes her head in disbelief." "No way." No freaking way!"
She'd been working as Howe's new assistant for only a few weeks but there had been no hint of anything like this!" The least the demonic trio could do is keep their employees informed!" The scowl takes root on Lilah's face as she gingerly begins picking her way through the rubble in her three inch heels towards the crater that DCH's office building has become.
"How odd." The rubble seems so contained." Lilah notes mentally before coming to a stop before the hole in the ground." Down in the smoky depths, dozens of men have formed a line, working hard to move debris." Searching for survivors perhaps?" A handful of others stand across the hole from her, the ground around them littered in mounds and mounds of what look somewhat like body bags." Two men in particular are yelling at one another. " "Hey, look, I don't know where anyone was in this building, Mister. I don't know anyone who worked in there either." I don't know these people!" So back off!" I can't help you in identifying these remains."
"Then find me someone who can!" You're the Fire Chief, aren't you?!" I'm just the morgue attendant." My job is to bag "em and tag "em." " Lilah begins tap, tap, tapping an impatient foot, staring at the pair of men waiting for them to take notice.
Lilah Morgan. Mortimer's expression suddenly looks as if he's just been force fed a bottle of bitters. The dame is lovely to look at, no doubt, - legs from the ground to the heavens - and for about a second and a half before they'd actually spoken or met he had immediately scoped that piece out as one to tap. Then, she spoke to, or rather around, him and the ace he held up his sleeves, - the reason he was a lowly office slave in employ to DCH - the "gift" used by one like him to acquire such prize tail seemed to slide right on by ice queen Lilah.
Yes, Mortimer Todd now loathes Lilah Morgan. Ego is a fragile thing. He also considers her presence at the firm to be suspect. Still, she is Howe's assistant and above Mortimer in the pecking order. Hat in hand he races over to the devastation, gaping wide-mouthed, simpering as he picks his way across the rubble to where the Ice Queen stands impatiently.
"Crap!" Mortimer stumbles over a lumpy bag three feet from Lilah, falling face first into the remains of a mail clerk. "Wha....What in hell has happened, Lilah....Um..." Gaining his feet, brushing off a few bits of charred flesh from his knees, effecting a slimy bow and letting his eyes linger just a touch too long at Lilah's cleavage, Mortimer clears his throat. "Apologies, I meant what has happened, Miss Morgan, of course?"
Lilah turns to look at Mortimer, the scowl firmly intact." "Wonderful." You survived." How lovely for the rest of us.?" She obviously doesn't mean it." "Where the hell have you been"!" What the hell happened here?" Did you know to expect this, because I sure as Hades wasn't informed." You'd better tell me where the senior partners are right here and now, or I am going to add you to the pile of already dead!"
Oh, and by the look in red, glowy eyes she means it." However, before Mortimer has the chance to answer her rapid fire questions, the two men on the other side of the hole begin waving at them and calling out loudly.
"Ho, you two?" Work here?" Know anything about these people?" The Fire Chief looks as if he's seen better days.
"Hey"!" You look like you might be able to help us over here!" screams the morgue attendant over the Fire Chief.
Lilah turns to face the two waving men." "About time, I must say." Have you seen our, um, er, Bosses, the three senior partners, by any chance?"
The two men simply stare blankly at Lilah before at last the Fire Chief shakes his head." "Aww, no, lady." We have no idea who we've, erhm, ah, found." Using that last word very loosely. " "Damnit!" Lilah snaps, looking over her shoulder at Mortimer." "You'd better start talking, little man, before I take that "gift' of yours and make it work on men too!"
No, Mortimer does not like Lilah Morgan, and the fact she has the uncanny ability to put his balls in a vice, so to speak, every time she deigns to acknowledge him, only adds fuel to the flame. Though, lest he end up like poor Stew Burger, Mortimer appropriately gulps at her threat and, wincing, inclines his head respectfully.
"Again, sincerest apologies, Miss Morgan. I was running dire errands for Mister Dewey, Miss. Utmost importance, highly classified, you understand. Mister Dewey trusts me implicitly with very delicate matters. Like his right hand I..." The scowl on Lilah's face is deepening and her eyes flash impatient anger. She's well acquainted with Mortimer's diatribes of faux self-importance. Her foot takes on a rapid-fire staccato of tapping meant to move him along.
"Yes, yes, of course. As for what has happened here, Miss, I haven't the beginnings of a clue. Normally, there are contingencies in place to prevent just a thing from happening. As you well know." She ought to know, at least, he thinks. Narrowing his eyes on the woman suspiciously. "As for the Senior Partners..." Turning, he begins picking his way carefully around the edge of the crater slowly. "When I left on those important errands, Mister Dewey was on his way to Mister Howe's office to meet up with him before they were to meet with Mister Cheetham in the conference room. That would be, I believe, over this way, Miss."
A worm-like bow and he points, sweeping his hand out to allow her to take the lead. Mortimer was a kiss-arse, a brown-nosed suck up, but he was far from stupid. He enjoyed breathing, among other things the mortal world provided.
For a moment, all Lilah did was watch Mortimer as he picked his way through the debris." Did he say they had actually been inside the building?" Does that mean, (Lilah can't help the excited leaping of her heart), they might be dead and DCH up for grabs?" A delicious smile moves artfully over her face then is quickly replaced with a concerned frown." No need for others to see her triumph, her glory' yet. " The two men are still waving to the pair so Lilah waves back, calling over to them her voice trained to reflect the shock and horror of this situation." "We'll be right there." But our Bosses may have been *inside* the building!"
Yes, that should mean something to them, and give her enough time to work her way over there after she figures out if the senior partners really were inside the building when it went up." Quickly she follows after Mortimer. " "So, worm, " addressing Mortimer, "All three senior partners were inside, am I getting that right"!?" Lilah keeps the glee from her voice in the asking." "My, but this is going to be a loooong night!" " But she continues to follow behind Mortimer until he steps into the hole that is." Lilah stays back, moving now around to the two men who'd been calling to them moments before.
"What's he doing down there, he's likely to get himself killed!" snaps the Fire Chief. " "Yeah, but at least we'll know his name," retorts the morgue attendant. "That is, if this lady knows his name?"" Both sets of eyes fall to rest on Lilah. Lilah shrugs lightly." "I didn't really know anyone here." You see, I've only just arrived??" A little white lie. Compared to the whoppers she's told in the past, it won't mean much of anything in the long run." "Sorry, boys, but if you want someone who can help that would be your man there.?" Finger pointing to Mortimer. " Yes, Lilah does enjoy passing off the attention, it leaves her time to think while watching Mortimer look for the departed senior partners." It's good to be Lilah tonight!"
"Egotistical, self-important, bitch," mutters Mortimer, facing away and moving down into the hole as Lilah leaves him to do the dirty work. "Who does she think she is?" He continues to grumble, making his way towards the area where he knows the conference room the Senior Partners were using used to be located. 'Please,' he thought, 'do not let it be Lilah who takes the helm if the unthinkable has happened.'
And, unthinkable it most certainly is, that any of the three, let alone all of them, could have actually succumbed to death. Distrustful, he looks over his shoulder to Lilah who was now pointing his way as she spoke to the Fire Chief and the Morgue attendant. Effecting a sniveling smile, he nods just as he arrives in the area he thinks was once the conference room he seeks.
"What a mess!" He calls out needlessly to Lilah. Then he spots something amongst rubble and, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he dabs at the sweat gathering on his upper lip. No, it can't be!
Lilah sees it on Mortimer's face." A look." A look that screams he's found something and it isn't nice." Squaring her shoulders, preparing to look utterly devastated when in reality she isn't, Lilah stands in stoic style beside the two men as all three of them watch Mortimer.?" He is busy directing some of the men already in the pit towards his grisly discovery." And grisly it is indeed! " The first body unearthed is burned so badly, recognizing it is more than difficult." Only the shoes are relatively intact." The second body seems even worse off, the shoes looking more like they've just come from the microwave than off the streets." The third body has a bit more flesh and expensive suit bits left, but it, too, looks as if it's been dragged through behind six hurried stallions. " "I think that's it!" calls out one of the men as several others struggle to bring their finds upwards.
The morgue attendant is also moving off now to help them." "Lemme grab a few bags?" muttering as he goes. " "That's it," thinks Lilah, "That's three of them!!!" They're dead, and I can seize control!" " Indeed, this is the night to be Lilah and her spirits are lifting with each passing moment. " "How you know it's them??" Asks the Fire Chief, who happens to be still standing by her side. " In a flash, Lilah's frown comes back." She gives a cold-hearted shrug." "Who else could it have been?"