ALL NOVEL Chapter 50: Chapter: 50
Chapter: 50
My eyes widened as I looked at the certificates in front of me. "There's absolutely no way these can be real, right?"
"Is there any treasure?" Behind me, Frank Jr. asked as he tried to peer into the safe with his sister. The two siblings were excited at the prospect of discovering some 'secret treasure.'
"Aw, it's just some boring paperwork? Why would someone put that in a secret safe?" Lisa asked me. I wondered the same thing. If these stock certificates were indeed real, why were they hidden away? It didn't really make any sense. With these papers I now held in my hand, I had the controlling interest of Oscorp!
[Wilson Fisk ran a secret criminal empire. If his identity as the majority shareholder of Oscorp was discovered, then his life of anonymity would be over. Government agencies would have been scrutinizing all of his financial transactions much more closely.]
The two kids soon lost interest and sat down on the nearby couch to watch TV. Meanwhile, I was still scrutinizing these documents. This was a game changer! Oscorp wasn't quite at AIM's level when it came to genetics, but they were close. The Green Goblin formula was basically the super soldier serum with a touch of insanity on the side. If they solved that though… I'd have an alternative to saving the world's people than completely relying on Extremis. Plus, I can't say that having my own company wouldn't be pretty awesome! I could kick out Norman, and the Green Goblin would never come to be… along with a whole bunch of other super villains now that I thought about it. Oscorp should have really been shut down for all that…
[Billionaires never get punished for anything… and now you're a billionaire technically.]
"First things first," I said as I shuffled the certificates in my hands. "I need a lawyer."
"Hey, Miss Layla, do you wanna watch Star Wars?" The kids called out to me from over on the couch. Oh right, I was technically watching these two for the moment. Their dad should be a bit better tomorrow.
"I suppose I can call a lawyer tomorrow." I hopped over and plopped myself next to them. Woah, the Star Wars actors were all different in this reality. I wonder if the story is still the same?
…
The next day Frank was doing mildy better and took over watching his kids. I know he wasn't the kind of man who would impose on someone more than absolutely necessary.
"So, Layla, what made you choose our firm? Not that I'm complaining, mind you. If anything, we're ecstatic to have the business of someone so high profile," Foggy Nelson said across from me. I was currently sitting in the office of Nelson and Murdock. Next to him, Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, also looked curious as to why I was here. He also seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with my presence. That was disappointing because I was inwardly fan-girling being in the presence of one of my favorite heroes.
"You put on quite the gruesome display in Central Park two days ago. Are you here looking for legal representation after what happened?" Matt asked me.
Legal representation? For what?
[You did kill 6 people… and 2 of those were technically active-duty soldiers.]
'Oh… you know it still is a bit weird that not a single government agency has come to talk to me about that.' Now that I even had a physical address, I would have expected it even. They must just still have no idea how to deal with an actual Angel.
Matt noticed my confusion, probably with his enhanced senses because he obviously couldn't see my facial expression. "Your existence has been all the major news organizations have talked about for the past few weeks now."
"Speaking of, can I get your autograph?" Foggy asked me.
Matt turned and gave his friend a glare that caused me to laugh.
"Sorry, that was unprofessional…" Foggy said.
Matt continued. "As I was saying, you've been somewhat known as a loose cannon as everywhere you've gone, you've left a trail of bodies behind." He said while frowning at me. I remembered Daredevil had a big problem with killing. Which was odd because he worked with the Punisher on occasion.
I supposed he wasn't wrong about that. It's not like any of those situations were my fault though. "R-right, I suppose it may look like that, but honestly, I'm not some bloodthirsty Angel of Death. Before I came to the human world, I spent hundreds of years peacefully in Heaven."
"Hundreds!?" Foggy exclaimed. Matt also looked startled at the revelation. Whether that was because of my age or the fact that Heaven actually existed, I wasn't quite sure.
"W-well, be that as it may, you've still left quite the impression on the people of the world. There have been many calling for your arrest, which is why we assumed you came to us," Matt said.
"Yeah, we're pretty good at criminal law and getting people who were falsely charged acquitted." Foggy said. "We can also help you with public relations. Our newest hire, Miss Karen Page, is actually a brilliant paralegal, and she specializes in that."
"Hm…" This meeting was turning out to be more interesting than I originally anticipated. I supposed I had been basically running roughshod all around the world, and the common people were probably freaking out over my existence. "Are the people really that freaked out about me?" I asked the two of them.
Both nodded firmly. "Oh yeah!" Foggy said. "Evil Wizards and magic were literally exposed to the world during the attack in Monaco, and no one seems to care about that! The only thing anyone wants to talk about are Angels being real! It's made people wonder what else is real out there." Foggy said with a laugh.
"Pretty much everything is real." I replied bluntly, causing him to choke on his laughter.
"E-everything?" He squeaked out. I nodded to him.
"Are Devils real too?" Matt asked me. I noticed that Foggy gave his friend a strange look. From it, I was able to interpret that he was already aware of Matt's alternate identity.
"Yes, Devils are real. They're not exactly well-liked by the rest of the supernatural community. In fact, everyone pretty much hates them." I said.
"Why's that?" Matt asked.
"They invented a method to turn other races into Devils in order to 'bolster their numbers'," I said while using air quotes. "In reality they're just tricking all of these new Devils into slavery. Sometimes they don't even have a choice as Devils can just kill people and revive their corpses as their eternal slaves."
The two of them gasped. "That's horrible!" Matt exclaimed. I agreed. The truth of the matter was that the majority of Devils weren't as kind as Rias Gremory was.
"Any Devils who try and go against their new masters… meet with unfortunate ends," I finished cryptically. There was no reason to fully get into the evil piece system and the concept of stray Devils with them at this time.
"Is that so…" Matt said with a touch of somberness. I wondered what he was thinking, so I used observe on him.
[Matt Murdock, AKA The Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Lvl 7 — Matt is currently upset that he has based his vigilante image on beings who are not only real but worse than he imagined. He's seriously contemplating changing his vigilante moniker.]
"Well anyway, I suppose I should tell you both why I'm really here today. I am interested in everything else we discussed, but for now, I wanted some help with these—" I said as I reached into my inventory and pulled out the Oscorp stock certificates.
"I'm sorry, I can't read those," Matt said. Oh right, he was blind. I hadn't been treating him as blind the whole time because I knew he could actually "see." He wasn't able to actually read though.
"T-these are… how did you get these! You didn't kill someone for this, did you!" Foggy exclaimed as he gave me an accusing look.
I should take offense to that–but I could understand where he was coming from. "Of course not! I discovered them fair and square! So, can I do anything with them?" I asked.
"What's on those papers, Foggy?" Matt asked.
"These are all stock certificates for Oscorp. Real ones! All these together should make Layla here the majority shareholder and therefore owner of Oscorp!"
I smirked when he said that. Layla of the Fallen— billionaire businesswoman had a pretty good ring to it.
"Really!?" Matt asked. "Where did you get them?"
"Should I actually tell you two that?" I asked them. I don't really know if these were all acquired legally.
"NO! No, you should not!" Foggy said. "Plausible deniability and all that. The fact of the matter is that you have them, and that's all that matters."
"If no one can prove you acquired them through less than legal means, then officially you are the owner of Oscorp…" Matt added. I did a fist pump at hearing that. "So you want us to help facilitate your control of the company?"
I smiled. "You bet I do! How soon can I take control of the company?"
The two of them gave each other a glance— which was funny because one of them was pretending to be completely blind. "Um? Immediately?" Foggy said.
…Immediately… I liked the sound of that. I couldn't wait to call up Tony and brag I was now almost as wealthy as he was.
XXX