"I hate to be like this Mr. Korah, but I'm afraid there's simply no way I can return your ship to you at this time. The people want answers, and you're not being very forthcoming with them on your own. And after you walked in here armed like that....?" The senator continued on, but Marcus had long ago stopped listening. He knew what was being said: the spooks weren't done with him yet. For now, he would have the privilege of sitting in this windowless security room while some senator used Marcus's misfortune to further his own political career.
It was bad enough that they had arrested him and shipped him off to New York after his crash, but it wasn't long before the media got wind of the incident. It didn't take much time after that that the politicians leaped into action, quickly promising investigations and whatever else they thought would give their poll numbers a quick boost. So here Marcus was, listening to another round of "can't help you until I've used this to win my election" sorely wishing he had just shot the guy in the first place.
As it was, the moment Marcus had showed up at the otherwise average skyscraper half a dozen alarms had gone off and he was tackled to the ground by a full security team. Apparently the Hellfire Club wasn't the only place having a little pow wow that warranted a private army's worth of security. Some meeting of the minds was going on at the top levels discussing things not meant for the common man. The guards quickly stripped the outlaw of all his weapons, handcuffed him, and tossed him into a tiny makeshift interrogation room before even bother to ask him what he was doing. Marcus then had to explain that Senator Fleischman had requested he come to discuss "permit authorization" to at least four different guards before one of them finally called the Senator down.
"You see, Mr. Korah, there's just a lot of red tape in a situation like this. Getting your ship released back into your custody would take time..." The Senator paused for a moment, letting the statement hang in the air. Here it comes, Thought Marcus, He's going to offer some deal in exchange for putting through the paperwork...
"However... if the public could be convinced you only have the best intentions... maybe the reassuring word of a respected member of the Senate...?" Fleischman quirked a brow and smirked towards Marcus. Yup... there it was...
"Of course, there's--" The senator was interrupted by the door to the room opening. Another nameless goon stuck his head in the door. Fleischman snapped at him, "What is it now? I'm in the middle of something."
"Um, sir... several guests on the top floor have called down to say a helicopter just landed."
"A helicopter? That's absurd, there's no helipad up there."
"That's what I told them, but they were quite certain of it..."
"Well get some men up there to have a look, and when they come back to say they haven't found any--" Once again the representative was cut off, this time by the distant, muffled, and unmistakable rattle of gunfire. Moments later the entire building shook on it's foundations."Was that... an earthquake? In New York?" Police sirens began to wail outside. "What is going on out there?" The senator demanded, now with a slight hint of panic creeping in to his tone.
The security guard paused for a moment, listening to his earpiece, "Sir, the building is under attack, assailants have made their way down from the roof. They've already hit the top three floors."
Fleischman's eyes widened, "Well then we have to get out of here!"
The bodyguard shook his head, "There are more of them outside on the ground, they've started killing anyone in sight near the building, we'd never make it out. We need to stay put and hold out here as best we can and wait for a chance to go."
Fleischman shook his head, now obviously panicked. He slowly backed away into the corner of the room, seemingly without realizing it, "No, no, no... there's got to be something..."
For the first time that day, Marcus smiled. He even laughed. He leaned back in his chair, propped his feet up on the table and laid his head back into his hands. A wide grin broke out over his face as he eyed the Senator. "Well now, Senator, I'd love to be of some help to you in this... but it seems I'm lacking the proper 'authorization' for my weapons, my ship... I wouldn't want to make anything difficult by using 'suspicious' devices in your fair city here..."
Fleischman's gaze snapped into focus on Marcus, and after only a moment of hesitation he nodded, "Yes! Fine! Whatever, you have my full authority, your weapons, your ship, they'll all be returned to you! Just... Help!" He pointed at the guard. "You, get this man his weapons back. Hurry!" The guard turned and raced off back down the hallway, sparing only a second to glare suspiciously at Marcus as he went. For his part, Marcus smiled pleasantly back at the man.
The gunman slowly got to his feet, stretching slightly and cracking his knuckles. He chuckled once more and tipped his hat towards his would-be blackmailer, and now blackmail victim, and made his way out the door. "You just sit a spell and get comfortable, Senator. Maybe start cutting through all that red tape you were talking about earlier. The big boys are going to have a little chat upstairs."
About halfway down the hall the bodyguard caught up with him again, reluctantly handing over Marcus's confiscated weapons. "Thank you kindly, now I would suggest that you get back to holding your dear senator's hand. Don't know if he'll be able to handle it all alone in that room." He once again tipped his hat and then quickly set about getting his pistols and knife holstered again.
He continued on, pushing open the side door and coming out into the ground floor lobby from a small door near the back corner. It was unsurprisingly full of frightened looking civilians, and equally frightened security trying not to look frightened for the sake of appearances. Marcus sighed and turned to head towards the elevators, pushing people out of his way as he went. If anyone really wanted to get pushy with him over bad manners at a time like this they could take it up with the barrel of his pistol.
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