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Merc's Metamorphs

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Chapter 29: Swindle

Merc didn't put too much faith in first impressions but, at the same time, Thaddius Reed Giddings was definitely not what he'd expected and the shift in perception was hard not to take at face value. By all accounts, the CEO of Legendary Unlimited was one of the most powerful men in the world, and yet he walked into the office with a casual gait, dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans. T.R. Giddings was a far cry from the well-polished, snappy-dressed business professional he was always presented as in the news conferences.

In fact, as Merc stood staring at him, the Kangacobra couldn't help but think how 'normal' he looked. And, if he was honest with himself, kinda hot in the early-40s kind of not-quite-a-daddy kind of way. The CEO had an easy posture as he moved to the dry bar set up in the corner of the office and grabbed what looked like a top-shelf bottle from the middle shelf and began pouring some into several tumblers. "Thank you for joining me this afternoon, gentlemen. I'm glad you were willing to meet."

General Glory stood up from the CEO's desk and stepped around the large desk. "You don't have to be so formal with these mercenaries, Mr. Giddings. Metas like this will come running whenever they hear the sound of coins jingling, and everyone knows that Legen--"

Holding up a finger toward General Glory, the Human finished pouring the drinks before speaking. "Joseph, I appreciate that you were worried about my welfare, but I am very confident that Merc and his cadre are not here to cause trouble."

The Legendary Hero's casual smile turned into a distinct frown. "Sir, you can't trust men like this. They--"

The CEO stepped behind the bar, picking up one of the crystal cups for himself. "I'll be fine, Joseph. Be sure to grab your Macallan on the way out, and I'll see you at the briefing later this afternoon."

Striding off like an impertinent teenager, General Glory snatched his tumbler off the bar. "Sir."

Merc's team waited until the Legendary Hero departed and it was Demon who spoke up first. "He certainly is a ray of sunshine, isn't he, Mr. Giddings?'

The Human laughed at that, his seemingly genuine smile lingering for a few moments before it faded, and the man let out a sigh, picking up and sipping at one of the remaining glasses in front of him. "I can imagine living for several hundred years lends itself to a lonely existence."

Merc's comment was much less amicable than Demon's. "Yeah? Well in his case, I think it's probably more that he's a prick."

Thaddius laughed once again, gesturing to the drinks in front of himself. "Social niceties are not one of his more practiced skills, I will admit, but it's an ongoing process, I assure you, gentlemen."

Bruiser's warning mental thought came through their telepathic channel. "He seems pretty relaxed for being in a room with four Metamorphs."

Chance was much more laid back. "Well duh! He's used to being surrounded by Legendaries, Bruiser."

The Orca didn't relent. "Stay on guard in case the drinks are poisoned... can't be too careful when it involves Legendary Unlimited."

Merc stepped up and grabbed a tumbler, holding it in a talon but not drinking. The rest of his group followed suit, likewise carrying their glasses. Turning to regard their host, the Kangacobra spoke, "So, Mr. Giddi--"

The man interjected, smiling. "You're not one of my employees so you don't have to stand on formality. Please... call me Reed, Merc."

It was Rook's turn to advise caution. "Everyone be mindful. He seems genuine, so it is best to hear him out... but Bruiser is right: do not trust him until we have reason to."

The Kangacobra continued to lead the discussion for his team. "So... REED... when ya gonna clue us in on why you set up this little meeting?"

The Human's smile perched easily on his lips. "I've heard so much about you, but I've never had the opportunity to see you face-to-face so I got curious."

Rook spoke up aloud for the first time they entered the building. "CEOs don't usually make it a point to invite a Metamorph group to meet with them just to satisfy their curiosity. 'No reason' isn't usually a reason a Fortune 500 company schedules a meeting."

Rather than being put off by being called out, Reed actually laughed. "Well... I suppose that is quite true as well. Curiosity in my case is usually a precursor to getting involved in some way. In this particular case, I was looking to extend a business proposition to Merc's Metamorphs in the hope that we--"

Merc interjected, setting down the drink in a talon so he could scratch his glove-covered palm. "Thanks, but I think we'll pass. Anything else you wanted to discuss, or are we done here... REED?"

The CEO's answer was rather opaque. "The future."

The Kangacobra narrowed his eyes as he regarded Reed, peering down at the seemingly unshakable man; few Humans could stand so close to an agitated Metamorph without showing any sign of distress. After remaining quite for several seconds, Merc pushed the conversation along. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Reed spoke casually, using obviously business-appropriate terminology. "Well, as a member of the Powered community, I'm certain that you've heard rumors about Legendary Unlimited and, shall we say, rumors of 'less than charitable' employment agreements uncovered by members of the media. We show occasionally in the news for reasons that... ah... let's just say, do not provide the best optics."

Demon snorted. "Like how Legendary abuses your Altered staff and contractors?"

The CEO nodded, gesturing to the Pit Bull. "Precisely. Situations such as that. I have no excuse or defense for such systemic lack of equality among our business practices."

Bruiser huffed, setting his own drink down so he could fold his arms across his chest. "Well, seeing as you're the CEO, I'd figure that you're the exact person who could change that if you wanted to."

Reed nodded to the Orca. "Precisely. And that is exactly what I am working to do, Bruiser. I want to change how Powered are treated... not just at Legendary Unlimited, but by the system as a whole."

Merc snorted, flexing and relaxing the muscles at the base of his tail as he rubbed his palm. He found it hard to believe what he was hearing, and didn't buy it. "Yeah? Pretty words if you're just looking for a good media release. How about your plans to put your money where your mouth is?"

The Human smiled. "So glad you asked."

The CEO pulled a remote out of his pants pocket and pressed a button; the room darkened and a screen emerged from the wall next to the bar. Rook's statement came through their telepathic bond. "Apparently he has a presentation ready."

Precisely as the Raven had suggested, a projector in the ceiling illuminated the screen, revealing several diagrams that were perfectly understandable despite Reed's explanation, which he immediately started. "As part of the newly minted 'Alloy Initiative', Legendary Unlimited is going to recruit Metamorph groups. By fourth quarter we anticipate at least 38% of our Powered field workforce being non-Legendary Heroes. By next year, the--"

Bruiser interjected. "Legendary already employs Metamorphs and your company has a longstanding reputation for taking advantage of them. I don't see how you're going to be changing a lot with this new initiative."

Reed nodded. "While I admit that our prior track record is less than stellar, the Alloy Initiative is going to change that."

The Orca huffed. "Please excuse my incredulity."

Merc knew that Juan (and by extension Bruiser) had a habit of using large words when he was agitated. Considering the situation, the Kangacobra thought it was perfectly reasonable. He doubled-down on his boyfriend's doubt. "Yeah... Legendary is just as likely to SAY you guys've turned over a new leaf just so you can take advantage of the next generation of Metamorphs who're willing to believe you. How'll THIS time be any different?"

The CEO smiled patiently. "This time, we are going to start contracting with Metamorphs like other organizations do."

Any members of Merc's group likely had any of a dozen dozen objections and twice as many options for heckling anything a representative of Legendary might have to say, but they all fell silent at that unexpected reveal. Legendary Unlimited had a history of using staff and only staff. The few exceptions were relegated to interns; they NEVER used contractors. As far as Merc knew, Legendary Unlimited had a control fetish and hiring contractors meant that they couldn't have those workers under their thumb.

Rook was the first to speak up, but he did so in their minds only. "Well... that is certainly unexpected."

Since Reed got no verbal response from the group, he continued. "I realize we have a long way to go to regain public trust on this manner.In order to ensure fair treatment and adherence to agreed upon contracts, Legendary Unlimited also plans to use a third party verifier, and self-audit using an independent guarantor."

Rook's surprise was evident in his shared thoughts. "No large organization uses a third party verifier. THIS is quite an interesting prospect and a significant change of pace for a mega corporation like Legendary Unlimited."

Merc fought to keep the Raven's surprise from bleeding over into his own voice. "I'm sure it's more complicated than that, Reed. You guys've been 'salary employee only' for so long it's not like you'll be able to change things overnight. How's that going to work?"

The CEO nodded, smiling warmly. "A very good question, Merc. Things like this take time, which is why we'll be handling things in phases. I've planned a 9 month workflow to implement it, and we'll be processing several short term test contracts to make certain that we do this correctly."

Demon set his drink down so he could lean on the bar. "Sure... sounds cool and all, but that doesn't explain why you called US here to talk about it. Not like we're shareholders or anything, right?"

Reed's smile didn't falter in the least. "Well, to be honest, I was looking to hire Merc's Metamorphs on our first contract so that you can experience it firsthand, and then provide some input on the experience."

For the second time in the meeting silence prevailed, though that was only an audible silence since inside the team's mental communication thoughts were bouncing around like crazy. Merc's Metamorphs was split on the possibility of accepting a contract from Legendary Unlimited; Bruiser couldn't deny the positives of systemic change while Demon argued that nothing good would come of it. Rook thought there was a definite benefit of 'keeping your enemies closer', while Merc just hated the idea of rolling over and accepting a commission from the same organization that elevated General Glory to a social icon.

In the end, it was Reed who broke the auditory silence. "I understand if you need some time to consider the offer... that's a perfectly reasonable request.

Merc shot back. 'Yeah... we'll take the time, but that doesn't mean we'll give you any guarantees that we'll take the job."

The CEO smiled, setting his own glass down as he stepped out from around the bar and held out his hand. "I understand completely."

He shook everyone's paw, talon, or hand on their way out. Merc headed for the exit, feeling more than a little off-balance from the interaction and it was obvious from the expressions of his teammates that he wasn't the only one.

* * * * *

Classes at the university dragged on and on for the next several days, making the week feel as though it lasted for a month. Frank had a lot on his mind, not the least of which being the actions undertaken by Merc's Metamorphs in Mexico and the follow-up meeting with the CEO of Legendary Unlimited. He was used to 'interesting things' happening in the world of Powered Heroes, but that was usually once a month, not twice in as many weeks. His course work ground along; the university was oblivious to the second life Frank and his boyfriends lived and classes waited for no student... Powered Hero or otherwise.

The two disparate lives did intersect during his Poly Sci class Thursday morning when Professor Monroe asked Frank to stay after the lecture for a 'brief discussion'. He wasn't really sure he wanted to engage on that level with the only person on campus outside his group who knew about his alternate identity but, he reminded himself, Professor Monroe had one of his own; the Chessmaster wasn't exactly a Powered Hero but he was up to enough cloak-and-dagger shit that he wouldn't want his identity to be exposed, so at least Frank had some collateral he could hold over his professor's head.

Waiting for the class to empty out took longer than expected-- mostly because someone else was hanging out for Frank. "Hey! Frankie! Dude! You. Me. Gym?"

Not bothering to hide his exasperated sigh, Frank turned to regard his classmate. "Hey, Chuck. Can't today. Monroe wants me to stay after class."

Chuck shot him 'finger guns' in a clueless, un-ironic way. "Next time then, my man! Not gonna take 'no' for an answer next week, Frankie!"

Frank offered a half-hearted smile, waving to the meathead as he mumbled under his breath "You will if I'm not around for you to ask."

He was so busy watching Chuck leave he didn't notice the Professor take a seat beside him. "Ever the popular social butterfly, aren't you, Mr. Garcia?"

Sighing, Frank turned to regard his instructor. "Not always by choice."

The professor was looking past him, holding his comment until the door to the auditorium had closed. "Popular enough to get an interview with the CEO of Legendary Unlimited."

Having anticipated that Professor Monroe would already know about that, Frank didn't even pause before shooting back his answer. "Like I said: not always popular by choice."

The middle aged man leaned back in the auditorium seat, letting out a soft sigh. "You are in quite the position to do some good, Frank."

He shrugged in response to the comment. "Sure... or royally fuck things up. Guess it depends on how you look at it."

Monroe sat up a little straighter. "Christopher tells me that your team had mixed responses to the overtures provided by Mr. Giddings."

Frank let out a scornful 'ha'. "Yeah... 'mixed responses'... that's a very casual way of putting it. Sure. We had the figurative deal-with-the-devil dropped in our lap. I think some hesitation is pretty damn well warranted... don't you?"

The professor chuckled. "Ah... worried about a swindle, are you?"

The young man laughed again. "We're not talking about me losing a few bucks, Professor... I wouldn't call being worried about Legendary messing around with us a case of swindling."

Monroe shook his head, smiling. "Ah... No... I mean the chess term, Frank. A practical application of tactics toward the end of a game when you're on your back foot trying to hold off an opponent's victory. If done correctly, you can turn it into a draw or even a win. All great chess players usually have something up their sleeve."

Rolling his eyes, Frank ground his thumb into the palm of his glove he mumbled out "Well, I guess I can see where Cy gets his chess metaphors."

The instructor laughed, reaching out to pat the young man on his knee. "Technically an allusion, Mr. Garcia, not a metaphor, but, yes, as my apprentice of sorts I suppose he's picked up a few of my traits."

Frank grabbed his backpack and stood up. "And here I thought you were a Poly Sci professor, not an English one."

Professor Monroe reached out and grabbed the free strap of the student's backpack. "Frank... I know you have some concerns, but Reed IS one of the good ones."

The alarm bells started going off in Frank's head and he reflexively yanked his backpack out of the professor's grasp. "Oh... so YOU call him 'Reed' too, huh? Let me guess: you're on his payroll?"

Rather than respond to the venom in the young man's words, his instructor surprised him as he smiled. "If I was on the take from a company like Legendary Unlimited do you really think I'd be so worried about trying to earn tenure at a state college?"

Frank really wanted to trust him, but, somewhere deep inside his head, Merc was screaming at him to kick the man in the balls and knee him in the face. Choosing instead to do neither, the young man wiped his ichor-y palm off on the back of his seat and walked out. "I'm not making any decisions until the team and I talk it over. Catch ya later."

* * * * *

The dull forward march of classes continued into Friday and, despite everyone's plan on finding time to get together, Frank didn't get a chance to actually sit down with all of his boyfriends until that night. All four of them sat together in the dorm at the table set up in the kitchen, eating Bandeja Paisa that Juan had made that afternoon. The conversation had started light with everyone going over their week, discussing the normal trials and tribulations faced by most college students.

It was Christopher who changed that, and he did so with a surprising amount of blunt, matter-of-fact ripping off of the band-aid. "I am wondering if everyone has given any thought into the proposal Merc's Metamorphs received from Legendary Unlimited."

Frank winced, especially when he saw the expressions on Juan's and Chance's faces. Clearing his throat, he reached across the table to put his hand on one of Cy's. "Actually, if it's all the same with you, I'd rather discuss something else first?"

The Asian student nodded, turning his hand over on the table so he could squeeze Frank's. "As long as it's not 'first' rather than 'instead of'. We really DO need to talk about Mr. Giddings' offer, but if there's something else to--"

Giving Cy's hand a squeeze, Frank interrupted him. "The guys and I were talking it over, and we decided that we wanted to ask you to move in with us."

Christopher's eyebrows raised and, for once, he didn't have an immediate response. Chance leaned forward, smirking. "Soooooo?"

Cy's eyes jumped from Frank to Chance to Juan then back to Frank. "All of you are of the same mind in this?"

Juan smiled wide. "Yes. Even though there's only two rooms, I already checked the university's charter on dorms and there aren't any regulations against it. We'd like to have you live here with us. What do you say, querido?"

Christopher responded with a muted smile. "Well... I would say that providing an answer to THIS invitation is much simpler than responding to Legendary. Of course I will."

With all of the tension building during the week and the uncertainty of the day-to-day with an unanswered question hanging over their heads it was little surprise to Frank that dinner ended. The four of them retired to the living room and, as everyone started getting hands-y, kisses were exchanged, caresses and gropes were offered in equal measure, and clothing was universally discarded. There was something thrilling for Frank in being with all three of his boyfriends, sharing them and sharing himself, and several sets of hands pushed him back onto the sofa.

Chance kissed Cy, and Frank smiled as Juan's fingers slipped into the elastic of his boxers. He closed his eyes, letting out a groan of joy as his erection was enveloped by eager lips and, a moment later, Chance and Christopher landed on either side of him on the sofa, very quickly pulling him into a three way kiss as hands began to explore his body. It was heaven, plain and simple... until the phone rang. Merc's cell phone. He and his boyfriends were attuned enough that "Fuck." was stated in three different languages by four individual voices.

Frank had to extricate himself from the pile of bodies, cursing as his saliva-dripping erection bounced between his legs when he scrambled for the bedroom. When the ring went off again he grumbled anew. "It's fucking PHONE CALL!"

Merc did business by text. What insane, troublesome asshole would go so far as to CALL him? Continuing a stream of curses, Frank called over his shoulder. "Get ready for a change, guys... there's no way in hell Frank is going to answer Merc's cell."

Everyone was already naked so at least he didn't have to worry about clothes tearing or limbs getting circulation cut off by elastic (both of which they'd dealt with in the past). Frank normally stood still during the transformation but he didn't really have a chance to hang around and wait for his Metamorph form. His first step was with a Human foot and he had to gauge his step differently as the next one was somewhere between Kangaroo and Human. The third step was a stumble as his foot-paw on the ground continued to shift, and when his next leg came down his foot was full-on Kangaroo.

He couldn't remember the last time he took on a Kangaroo form rather than a Kangacobra but, for a moment, as his body moved, he could feel the fur burst forth all over him and, for a split second, he was his original Metamorph shape, as he came to a stop by his nightstand a huge amount of the white fur fell out as sections of his body were rapidly covered in scale and he grit his teeth in his lengthening snout as the scorpion-like stinger pushed its way out of his fleshy tail.

It'd been so long that forgotten how uncomfortable it was when he went from one Metamorph form to the next but, rather than dwell on it, he opened the nightstand, grabbed the cell, and picked up the line after seeing that the number did not provide a caller ID. "Whoever the hell this is, I don't do business over voice calls. Send a god damned text like a mother-fucking civilized person."

The Kangacobra's muzzle went dry when he recognized T.R. Giddings' voice. "Oh. I'm sorry, Merc. I don't normally don't reach out myself so I'm not sure about the etiquette for this kind of thing. Should I hang up and contact you by text instead?"

Merc took a moment to formulate a response, having a hard time trying to figure out if the CEO was honestly consolatory or if he was just being an ass. In the end, Merc decided to just push on instead. "Well, you got me on the phone already Reed... it's a moot point now so you may as well just say what you gotta say."

The CEO's tone remained jovial. "Of course. My apologies. I won't keep you long-- it's after hours and, while I realize Metamorphs don't hold to the usual 9-5, I try to avoid being obtrusive."

The Kangacobra strolled out into the dorm's main room, only half surprised to see his boyfriends had continued in his absence. Bruiser was laying on the sofa and Rook was on knees in front of him, talon encircling the Orca's hefty girth it disappeared into the Raven's beak. Demon was behind Rook, a pawful of tail feathers gripped tightly as the Pit Bull was burying his bone. Sighing, Merc only slightly regretted having to take a break to answer the phone, but he intended to hop back into things as soon as he could. "Get to the point, Reed... you kinda interrupted something."

The Human on the other end of the line cleared his throat. "Of course. I'll make it brief then. I wanted to follow up regarding our meeting. I have a task coming up that will require Metamorphs, and I'm still interested in having your team complete a contract. Normally I wouldn't be so pushy but time is of the essence. I'd be willing to extend a one-off agreement in this case rather than make you commit to multipl--"

Merc sighed, moving to the sofa, and he climbed up as he locked eyes with Bruiser; the Orca grinned, sitting up as the Kangacobra moved into position. Letting his boyfriend engulf his member, Merc kept his answer simple. "We'll consider it. No promises, but send me a text with the place and time and we'll talk it over in person. Tomorrow."

Turning off the phone the Kangacobra looked down, smiling as the Orca began working him like a master. He didn't have long to focus as a firm grip grabbed his tail and yanked it to the side. A moment later he felt Demon's tongue up against his opening. Screw Reed, Merc thought; he had more important things to do.