Charlie McGee (charliemcgee) wrote in parabolical, @ 2007-12-21 16:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | charlie mcgee |
Who: Charlie McGee (closed)
What: Taking care of company business.
When: The morning following this scene.
Where: Wolfram & Hart
Rating: R ; violence, language, and death (all that fun stuff)
Status: COMPLETE
The acting CEO of Los Angeles' most notorious law firm was pissed. So pissed, in fact, that she had arrived at work late simply because she didn't trust herself not to flay everyone inside alive on sight. She couldn't honestly remember being this angry in a long, long time and had spent the three hours between receiving the news and actually going into the office in a deep state of meditation in order to calm herself enough not to burn her penthouse to the ground. And still, even after using every relaxation technique she had in her arsenal, the woman was livid.
It had started at seven a.m. She was just stepping out of the shower when her cellphone rang. Wrapping a towel around herself she had made a mad dash into her room, searching through her jacket pockets until she found the device. In retrospect, she really wish she would have let the voicemail pick up. At least then she could've enjoyed a cup of coffee or two before being hit with the mother of all bad news.
The Senior Partners were furious.
Apparently, during the early afternoon the day before, a demon had attacked the young Luke Skywalker. Now, why this angered the Senior Partners, Charlie wasn't sure nor did she want to know. That wasn't her issue. Her issue was that someone from her office had ordered the attack. Oh, yeah. And unless she found out and 'dealt with' whoever was to blame, they were going to hold her personally responsible.
Needless to say, Charlie was going to be needing to buy a new phone because her old one had gone up in flames a few seconds later. As had her computer, her alarm clock, and her bed. She'd calmed down a little by the time the inferno had leapt to her drapes and had willed the blaze away, yanking on her clothes and going into the living room to meditate. Three hours later she was still angry, but she also had a plan.
Entering the building she tipped her head at the security working the door and made her way across the lobby. Within fifteen steps her assistant was at her heels like the good lapdog he was, bumbling on about how she was late and he'd re-scheduled three different meetings and she needed to call the Toyko office and... Charlie cut him off with a look.
"I want all department heads in Boardroom A in fifteen minutes. If they're not there, they're fired," she snapped. The elevator doors slid open with a ding and she stepped inside, turning to glare at the shocked man. "NOW!" she snapped and he jumped, scurrying off to do her bidding. The elevator doors slid closed just as a dangerous smile filled her face.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, every department head in the Los Angeles division was sitting in Boardroom A, speaking in low voices among themselves. Charlie watched them all on the monitor in her office for a good ten minutes, letting their own sense of paranoia and nerves get the better of them. And when they were just about to jitter out of their own skins with anticipation and dread, she made her entrance.
"So," she said as she flung the doors to the Boardroom open, causing every last one of them to jump slightly and turn to look at her as a whole, "I want to know which one of you thought it would be a good idea to piss off the Senior Partners." She paused at her chair at the head of the table, hands gripping the leather backing tightly as she fixed each of them with a furious look. "Well? Who was it? Who thought sending a demon after the son of their pet project was a smart move? You've got five seconds to fess up or I'm going to hold you all responsible."
Standing up, she crossed her arms over her chest and waited. She knew whoever had done it wasn't going to come forward. She wasn't counting on that, though. No, Charlie was counting on the others, in an effort to save their own skin, turning on the one who was to blame and she wasn't disappointed. In less than three seconds, everyone had slid their chairs away from the table and all but scurried to the walls of the room - as far away from the line of fire as they could get while still being present.
All, that is, except for one.
Charlie's hazel orbs locked onto the only person left sitting. William Richards, Head of Tactics. She really should have known. He was the one with some of the best demon contacts in the city, as well as one of the biggest voices of opposition to the employment of Padmé Amidala. He, apparently, didn't believe having the woman close would enable the firm to get close to her husband. Charlie remembered him voicing this opinion several times to Lindsey, with Lindsey shooting down his suggestions to take a 'pro-active stance' at every turn.
"Oh Billy," she finally spoke with a shake of her head, making her way slowly to where the man still sat, watching her with a hardened expression that couldn't hide the discomfort in his eyes. She paused a few steps away, the light smile replaced with a hard look. "You are such a fucking MORON. Now stand up and face your punishment like a man."
When he didn't immediately rise to his feet she shrugged. "Suit yourself." And with a slight arche of her eyebrow, the seat burst into flames. The man was promptly on his feet as a murmur of shock resonated from the others in the room. She held up her hand and they all ceased speaking at once, her gaze never leaving her target. "You really didn't think I'd do anything, did you?" she questioned, continuing without giving him a chance to answer. "You really thought you could make a power play behind my back and paint me to be the idiot if it didn't work out. A pity for you that the Senior Partners had me out of the office yesterday."
At his widened eyes, she nodded. "Oh, yeah. See, I'm not just their little lackey like you - and so many others - seem to think. I'm... special. They need someone to get a job done, they send me to do it. Yesterday was one of those times. So, I'm covered." She narrowed her eyes. "You, however, aren't."
Now, that wasn't entirely true. While she had been doing a job yesterday, the Senior Partners didn't allow that to serve as an excuse. But that was the reason they were giving her a stay of grace to deal with this herself. And deal with it she would. In a pretty major way.
He opened his mouth to say something, then, and Charlie shook her head. "Oh, no. The time for you to explain is over. Now, it's time for you to pay."
A few things happened at once at that final word. Charlie's long, blond hair blew back from her face in an unseen gust of wind, the window at the far end of the room shattered, and William Richards burst into flames. He let out a screech of agony and began flailing about, reaching for the acting CEO. He got ahold of her wrist and she stared down at it in mild amusement. It didn't burn her, of course. She couldn't be burnt, but it did sort of... tickle.
Pulling her arm free in an almost lazy manner, she raised her attention to the only part of him that wasn't on fire - his eyes - and gave him a chilling smile. "I guess it's a little late to point out that you're fired, right?" she quipped, then sent a fireball at him that flung him through the air and out the now-broken window.
His scream could be heard for a few seconds until it abruptly stopped. A loud screeching of tires followed, then yells from the pedestrians who had likely witnessed the fall. Charlie paid no attention to any of that, though. She instead turned to the remaining department heads and reveled in the stares of fear, awe, and horror she was receiving.
"If anyone else gets the bright idea to try and go behind my back for any reason, I'm going to make what happened to that piece of shit seem like a walk in the park. I may be young, and I may not be a lawyer, but I am your boss. And I am not someone any of you want to fuck with."
Then she turned and headed out of the room, pausing in the door to add a flippant, "Oh, and Merry Christmas," before heading out the door and down the hallway. Her fun for the day was over. She had a firm to run, after all.