[ASTA HQ] Wicked is as Wicked Does

As Carson, one of the most wealthy people around, travelled up and up, floor after floor in the pristine elevator of ASTA Corporation, even he had to admit: it was impressive to have just over a hundred floors on your company building, and then having the guts to place a few more stories on it, just for your own swanky home. Nothing less for the CEO of such a lucrative business, especially for one so engrossed in philanthropy. What good was all the joy and funds you spread if you can't sit back, and watch the fireworks from your own pad? And what a place it was. As the elevator arrived at floor one hundred and one, he stepped out to the lovely open space, sleek and modern much like his own, and cleaned to a tee. Swiftly, he followed on from the butler, a very attractive one at that, towards the prize, as it were – the big boss herself.

The way she stood out, in front of the Tokyo skyline, it got him all up in the moment, a very surprising thing for him: this was just a business meeting, but it felt more than that, somehow. The lighting, the positioning of where they were, it all fell straight out of a movie, and the Furlong Concern's proud CEO was the star. He adjusted his suit, as the white-haired woman began to talk to him, her words leaving the comfort of the balcony she was on, drifting out into the moonlit city below. Of course, he would respond in kind. “Sounds like someone's been doing market research, Sonya.” he said, as she turned to face him, a smile along her face. “The pleasure is all mine. The board over at the firm were practically itching to come along with me, trying to score some points in my good book. I can see why,” he kept talking, as he moved over to the balcony door; “The view out here is astounding. You get to take every detail of what makes it all so perfect to see in... that, and the city looks amazing, too.” he added, giving a smile back towards her. It was a playful flirt, he didn't expect it to go anywhere – after all, this wasn't exactly a date on makeout point. This was a serious financial discussion they were about to embark on... well, maybe a little more casual than the usual discussions. As casual as a three-story house on top of a conglomerate headquarters with two business moguls sitting in it could be, at least.

“ASTA Corporation, huh. Media, charity, clothing, merchandise, technology, even helping out that hero school. You've got it all figured out. Any way to get some money out of a pocket, you got it. All for a genuine cause. I love it. Real good shit, if you'll pardon the expression.” Carson said, taking out a card and handing it over. “I know, cliché. Not company policy, mind you - my policy. So, Miss Sonya... where do we start?”

Carson leant over the side of the balcony, gazing down to the streets below – being so high above everyone, it really made you appreciate the high life. Closer to the heavens, no one was watching, and no one could ever find fault in you. Surrounding yourself in splendour, off of hard work from your own ventures, scraping the clouds... Sonya knew. She knew exactly what business was all about. He felt some real kinship with her, similar to his normal workers – how come, though? Normally, he'd pass on this sort of feeling, but it just felt right here. Almost as if in meeting her, she became a different person.

She took his card, stared out overhead, the dancing lights of Tokyo all around, and then began to wax philosophical. She even posed a question to him, and before he could answer with something a little more on-brand, Carson took a moment of thought: What did he see? Sonya saw a new age, a turning point for heroes and the society they were building on. It was pretty lofty thinking, but then again, she was pretty involved in this stuff. He had two approached to the hero society; as long as they did good work and didn't encroach on of his business, he didn't mind having them around. The other being that they should prove useful to the people, or else they can get lost. A few heroes had cropped up and flopped big time. In a sense, it was a market. You never knew who was gonna be the biggest and best bet.

After pondering for a moment, and as he saw the woman of the hour looking at him with a bright light emanating from her eyes, Carson saw fit to reply. “What do I see?” he said, calmly. He spread his arms wide, basking in the glow of the city. “I see a real land of opportunity! Where you can make it big time if you play your cards well enough. I just got aces every time.” It was a genuine answer, from a business-like perspective. But he knew for a fact that's not what Sonya wanted. So he figured he'd pass a little more on about his real feelings. “...You know why I came here? Not the CEO Carson Furlong, but the man Carson Furlong? Cause uptight seniors in my line of field business didn't see it as viable. They tried to make fun of me for coming here, where some kind of travesty occurs every once in a while cause by people who're fed up with having pencils pushed down their throats. There's more vigilantes than the heroes, for god's sake!” Carson coughed slightly, holding his fist over his mouth for a moment, cleaning his hand at the same time, wiping the germs from it in a small blue glow. “You see what I just did? That's what I do, what my quirk does. I clean stuff up. I could never hack it as a hero, but some of them out there seem to think they can cause they got super strength or cause they can turn into a bat. Hero's not a title no more – it's a career opportunity. They say it's like the old comic books now, but I say that's – and pardon my language – bullshit.”

Carson sighed. He looked out to the city once more, wanting to sum his feelings up, one more time. “So you know what I see, when I look out to this city? I see the Land of the Rising Sun. On a cloudy day. A haven for the future, just a little change in the weather is what's needed. A jumpstart. Lord knows I'll try to do my part. That's my answer, Sonya.” he finished, turning to her. She looked like a totally different person, now. Being introspective could really burst your bubble sometimes.

After such a long diatribe, something Carson was used to, he could use a drink. He didn't lay himself out like that at all usually, but this meeting seemed like a perfect place to do something such as that. Was it her? Something about the whole thing was real offputting, but not in a bad way as such. Sonya was very interesting, much more than a media mogul. Could do with a bit more of a business-focused mindset, but whatever she had planned, it definitely was bigger than anything someone back home could have thought of. All the more alluring to the woman atop ASTA Corporation.

Speaking of her, she seemed pleased with his explanation of how he saw things in this wild city. She soon stepped off the balcony, and Carson followed suit, taking her lead through this swanky apartment complex. She was emitting this strange glow, a quirk by-product perhaps, he thought. The frost on the floor was a similar thing, all he could think of was how much of a hassle that was to clean up. Through the pool area, adorned with numerous plants, some of which were supposedly rarer than some metals in the world. Swiftly moving on from there, without enough chance to glance by at the serene pool, Sonya stepped into a hallway filled with monitors, which all lit up as she walked by, displaying numerous programs and information – one of which was some stock prices. Intrigued, he looked for a moment, before carrying on. “5 percent decrease, huh?” he thought, looking at some tech company. He might need to visit at some point. As he was looking, Sonya looked behind at him, about his answer. It was nice to be vindicated, of course, but being called intelligent when he already knew that was a bit much. “Well, I strive to impress. If I was so closed off, I'd never be the man I am today.” he said. His mind said otherwise. But he'd never admit it.

Stepping out from the halls of monitors lead them over to a dining room, very sleek and modern looking. The butler, who seemed to just be dashing everywhere or something, drew a chair out for him, and he took it, crossing his legs whilst facing the CEO of ASTA. Or rather, someone else. He couldn't pin who, but that woman was very different to the one he saw on the news or online. “Well, I can hazard a good old college try as to why.” he said, stretching out a moment in the chair. “If I was a lower man, I'd guess you wanted a piece of this,” he said, gesturing to his general self; “but that's clearly not it. No, you want me to join something much bigger, I can see that from you. More than just a partnership. An alliance perhaps? Some sorta super group.” He leaned in slightly for his next line of answering. “Oh who am I kidding. I'm not talking to Sonya Chernova now, am I? I'm talking to someone else here. You can choose if you want to enlighten me, I don't mind. It's in your own interests. At least we're talking business. I'll talk business to a baby if it can get me some sort of profit at the end of the quarter. But yeah, to answer your question; I think I know what's going on here.”

Now that Carson was fully talking to Ishtar, he'd need to play the field a little differently, as it were. An invitation to sit on the board of the largest company in Japan, while being the chairman of his own empire was incredibly tempting. Using it as a front, though? For something even greater than the company, a way to bind together the most powerful people in the country into one place for the sole reason of widespread fame and fortune? Impossible to turn down. Providing materials to villains, as she said her company did, didn't leave a dent into Carson. Funnelling the wrong stuff to the wrong people for the right price was a habit, but it was one that raked in the big bucks back home. In business, you live and thrive, or you die with no worth. Sometimes you needed to take a gamble with the seedier parts of the world, and indulge in the apple from the garden of Eden. Sonya was the snake, ASTA was the apple, and he was the human.

And apples always do taste sweetest right from the tree.

Carson was already decided, but he continued to listen to the woman, about her plans for society. She was laying bare her true identity in front of him, but he still kept his. No chance that was coming out, ever. Not in the face of this deal. Well... maybe if the times were tough. But that was neither here nor there; in the present time, in this beautiful penthouse among the starry sky of Tokyo, the deal was going to be struck. Exploiting gaps in the protection heroes brought to the country, keeping the 'good fight' going on both sides by supplying each with the tools they needed – it was like being part of the government at home. This was going to be a self-sustaining economy, for sure. Ishtar was a mastermind, clearly, but with a board of directors to grasp onto, it seemed like flattery would only go so far with her. Carson took his glass, and drank the rest before speaking to her. “Ishtar – you are without a doubt one of the most interesting people I've had the pleasure to deal with. You don't hide your feelings when in company, you show it all to the people who you trust. I'm honoured to be considered among those people.” he said, striking a smirk across his face before looking directly at her: “I'd be glad to join the board of directors. All in the name of change – and of course, profit.”