First Sight

[leveraged_buyout]

Lucien Moreau wasn't in town often, and that was the way Damien liked it. The less he saw the man who sired him the better, and even when the household was full of his spies who undoubtedly reported every little detail back to the old geezer, at least Damien didn't have to see him.

But if old Moreau arrived back on an early flight and summoned for his presence, as much as Damien didn't want to, he obeyed those summons. It didn't matter that he was still abed when the butler delivered them 15 minutes ago, his father demanded to see him and Damien obeyed.

It was only down the hall and into Moreau senior's private studies, but it still felt like it was going into another world. Damien's loafers clicked loudly on the tiles as he walked down the long hall of the west wing, the original section of the mansion that he normally avoided altogether. This was the old man's wing, a part of the ancient mansion that was inherited down generations, unlike the newer east and south wings which were added only shortly before Damien was born.

Dressed up presentably in a three piece suit, hair quickly slicked back to battle the his bedhead, Damien knocked on the large study doors and waited to be admitted. He covered his yawn with a fist as he waited, mind still blanked by the early morning to ponder the reason for the meeting.

Comments

[a_very_distinctive]

"It's fine 'til I've got everything here wrapped up," he answers mildly. "But I will as soon as that's done." So long as getting it looked at means him giving it a good once over in the bathroom mirror, dousing it in antiseptic, then sewing it shut himself, anyway.

"An' yessir, I'll have someone on it first thing tomorrow morning." He doesn't even sound smug about it, and certainly doesn't add an 'I told you so'. He'd just as soon not have had this kind of immediate and object proof of the need for heightened security, honestly. "Are you gonna wanna sit in on the interrogations, or would you rather get back to your day?" he asks, tucking the soiled towel back into his jacket pocket and turning towards the main part of the house as he starts to walk.

[leveraged_buyout]

Damien grimaced just slightly at the suggestion of sitting in on what was guaranteed to be a gruesome interrogation and shook his head. "I have a meeting I'm going to be late for and will take most of the day. You can report back after you retrieve the pertinent details."

Together they walked, Damien needed to change and look respectable for said meeting, starting with a shower.

"The interrogation can start several hours later. Clean yourself up first, they aren't going anywhere. He assumed that Spencer was competent enough to have that taken care of.

[a_very_distinctive]

Eliot makes note of his distaste at the idea of being present and files it away. It's something he thinks the kid probably needs to get over if he's going to actually stick it out in daddy's world, but right now it's not his problem, and not something he cares enough to try and deal with.

"No, they're not goin' anywhere, but they might be just a hair more talkative if I show up lookin' like this." Still bloody, clearly indifferent to it, and with an obvious ax to grind. "An' I've had a helluva lot worse, this is nothin'."

[leveraged_buyout]

Damien looked far from impressed by that revelation, or at the suggestion that Spencer walking in dripping blood was a good look for the occasion. Clearly the man had some sort of experience with these things and this wasn't something Damien wanted to dispute him for.

"I'm sure you'll take care of it." Damien really didn't need to -or want to- know the details. He stopped briefly where this path would diverge from Spencer's, Damien going back to his room and Spencer to... wherever he was going.

"Call me as soon as you find out who is responsible. You have permission to interrupt my meeting." It would be a boring one that Damien would welcome an excuse to get out, if it wasn't already an excuse to get out of the interrogation to begin with.

[a_very_distinctive]

"That I will," he agrees in a rough growl. He's no kind of happy about this shit show, and he's going to take a perverse sort of pleasure in extracting the information he needs from his prisoners. "You'll hear as soon as there's anything to tell," he promises, and heads down the hall in the opposite direction. Towards the improvised holding cells that hadn't really required that much improvisation, in this virtual fortress of a house.

It's not more than a couple hours later that Damien's personal cell rings, Eliot's number flashing on the display.

[leveraged_buyout]

The afternoon meeting was a long tedious one, dealing with the year end summary of the company he ran in his father's name. It was one of the larger legal frolnts for his less than legal activities, which Damien suspected he put Damien in charge only because he needed someone there that he could control. Regardless Damien did good job as well as he was expected to, most of it was run by itself anyway.

The phone call came sooner than expected but couldn't have been soon enough. Excusing himself, Damien stepped out and into the privacy of a side corridor before answering. He skipped the niceties and went right to, "What did you find out?"

[a_very_distinctive]

Eliot's not happy, and it's clear in his voice when he answers. "You called it, boss. Your old man sent them to collect you." And hadn't cared how many bodies they might leave in their wake, including his own recently hired chief of security. Eliot's not any kind of impressed at being set up like that by his own damn employer.

"They've all been taken care of, you want any souvenirs t'pass along?" It's up to him if he wants his father to know he's been found out, after all, even if Eliot would just as soon pay Moreau Senior a little visit of his own, to let him know just how unimpressed he is with his employment policies.

[leveraged_buyout]

The news, while expected, still dropped like a bomb on Damien. Just because he saw the warhead being launched didn't mean he would receive it easily. It was worse when it was a long drawn out civil war as was this case.

Damien didn't answer for the longest time while he simply digested the news. Let Spencer think he was weighing his choices, or whatever he interpreted the long silence to be.

It was over a minute since Spencer's answer that Damien spoke. "No, just have clean up take care of it. He should already know they failed, no message to send back." Because, what was the point? Things wouldn't change even if they sent one of them back in a coffin addressed to his father. If anything, it may enrage the old man into something equally drastic. "Thanks for your hard work, that's all."

[a_very_distinctive]

Eliot considers arguing, that at least he should let his father know he's on to him... but maybe he plans to do it in his own, more civilized way. Or has other reasons he doesn't know, not having a lifetime of experience with the backstabbing old bastard. So he takes the response in silence.

"'S'what I'm paid for, boss." By the man who tried to, what? Take advantage of his perceived inexperience? He's not sure what to make of it, honestly, and not sure if he should actually stay on in the position, no matter how lucrative and prestigious it is... given the moss just arguably tried to kill him, even if he would have just been acceptable collateral damage in some kind of feud with his kid. "Gonna have some more hard work comin' up, though," he adds after a moment, not even really thinking it through. "I wanna can an' replace every damn member of staff your father had a hand in hiring, unless you've got reason t'absolutely believe they're personally loyal t'you."

[leveraged_buyout]

Damien had meant the comment as a dismissal, a front for him to retreat as well while he mulled over what a new sort of bastard his father was, but like always, Spencer couldn't take a hint. Instead his comment caught Damien off guard and made the younger Moreau pause in surprise.

"That would be replacing... everyone." Damien never hired any of the guards personally, it was all through the head of security, who was always hired by his father. He never even thought of such a bold move, mainly because he never thought it was possible. "Are you honestly thinking of replacing my whole household security?"

[a_very_distinctive]

"I'm thinkin' of replacing your whole damn household," he corrects. "From the dishwasher on up." Because there's not one of them who might not be a plant for the old man, or who couldn't be turned to one with a bit of leverage. Of course, there's no reason to think the bastard couldn't do the same with anyone else they might hire, he's got more than enough resources to bring pressure to bear on anyone they might hire. "It won't guarantee he can't just turn anyone we might hire, but it'd at least clear out anyone he's got his claws sunk into already, make it that much harder to pull off a repeat performance." And it'd send him a message as well, that they know what he's done... and whose side Eliot's on, which might not be one of his smarter moves.

[leveraged_buyout]

The declaration left Damien speechless and it created another pause before the younger Moreau could formulate his thoughts. "The old man will not let that slide easily." But Damien liked the idea. This was the first step towards fighting his father.

"You would do that?" Thus far Damien had been alone, perhaps with a few older hands who was sympathetic, but they were his father's people. They knew who paid the bills and who was in charge, even if Damien was the one they saw.

"Some of the staff have been here since before I was born, you won't be able to remove them." And perhaps there were a few that Damien wouldn't want to see them go from purely nostalgia.

[a_very_distinctive]

"Yeah, well, I'm not feelin' all that much like letting it slide that my god damn employer hired people t'shoot at me an' my men," he counters. Though, yeah, he knows he wasn't the actual target, just an... opportunity. Damien was the actual target.

"Sure as hell would. I was hired t'keep you safe and that's exactly what I plan on doing." Even if it means keeping him safe from the backstabbing bastard who'd hired him.

"Not gonna be able to or you don't want to?" he asks, curious rather than accusatory. "'Cause if you think they're loyal to you then it's all good."

[leveraged_buyout]

Damien was reluctant to admit it was in part that he didn't want to. It sounded sentimental if he said it, but some of them had watched him grow up, certainly more than his old man did. "They're not, but staffing is out of your hands. You may handle security, Spencer, but household staff is handled by Morrison." That was the ancient household butler, the man was older than his father. "Staffing goes to him."

Damien knew Spencer was upset, but this was his first time dealing with the old man. Growing up under his shadow, Damien was not particularly shocked by the turn of events. Incredibly upset by it, shaken perhaps, but not terribly surprised. He wondered if this was Spencer speaking impulsively following the whole situation.

"You are to keep me safe... You would do that even when it's against him?"

[a_very_distinctive]

"If the household staff's a security risk, then that falls right back into my lap," he points out mildly. "I'll just have a little chat with Morrison an' see what we can work out." And he absolutely will.

"I was hired t'do a job, an' I'm not gonna lie and say I ain't pissed the hell off at the bastard for hiring me then putting me in the line of fire for his pretty damn pathetic lackeys. Seriously, man needs higher damn standards for this kinda work." He does, in fact, sound almost as offended at how incompetent he'd found Damien's would-be kidnappers as he is by the fact his employer had sent them. "But unless and until I'm fired, you're the job."

[leveraged_buyout]

"I'm not a job," Damien huffed, but he was oddly pleased by the reassuring conviction he heard in Spencer's answer. It was strange, but his view on the younger man was slowly changing. Now Spencer was no longer merely an annoying redneck, he was still both annoying and incredibly unciviled, but possibly he could be considered Damien's ally.

"Go ahead and talk to Morrison. You probably can't get rid of the older hands, but feel free to switch out the others. It's time we got a new gardener anyway... He's messing up the rose bushes." Damien smirked and at this turn events. In the bad news he gotten today, knowing he do found a new ally was a spot of light to brighten his day.

[a_very_distinctive]

"Yeah, actually, you are," Eliot fires back unrepentantly. You'd think the guy'd be used to that after the way he'd grown up and the life he's lived, but apparently not.

"Gottit, boss. The gardener definitely goes." And while Damien might not be able to see his face, there is definitely a smirk in his voice. "I'll have a report for you by tonight, on who needs t'be let go an' who's stayin' on, and the remaining security upgrades we need t'finish off. Oh, and the cameras are already in your hall." Yep, definitely a smirk in his voice. He might be an ally, but he's still a redneck... and kind of an asshole.