Capital Turpitude

From XPwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
PHASE 1


Capital Turpitude
Capital-turpitude-small.jpeg
Dates run: August 9-14, 2011
Run By: Mon
Read the logs: Capital Turpitude


I think you betrayed us, Adrienne. And for that, I'm going to punish you.

Doing the Black Court's bidding out of fear for her friends, Adrienne Frost reaches out for help when things go way too far.


Cast

Adrienne Frost, Emma Frost, Garrison Kane

Firestar, Sparky, Nightcrawler, Wildchild, Wallflower, M

Jason Wyngarde - Phase 1, Belladonna Boudreaux-LeBeau

Timing

August 9-14, 2011

Plot Summary

Shaw Industries and Frost Enterprises have been recently engaged in a competing takeover of Eulud Pharmaceuticals, a small research firm that has been rumoured to be ready to introduce a new cardiac boosting drug on the market that would be worth a huge market share. Both have been skirmishing with their bids, knowing that Eulud is undercapitalized and has to accept a sale to someone. Sebastian Shaw, frustrated with the delays, has placed responsibility for the acquisition in Jason Wyngarde's hands.

Jason is not about to mess around getting the business. He uses the power of Shaw's banking connections to create 'anomalies' in the financial audits of 64 Square, and Adrienne's banks have frozen her assets until an investigation can be completed. He orders her to use her power on several drug samples at the Eulud Plant in Queens. If she is successful in her investigation, he'll make her bank problem go away. Adrienne tries to barter for leave to return to Westchester, having been controlled by the Black Court for more than a year, but is denied.

When Adrienne touches the pill samples, she sees them still packed in boxes, untouched, no matter how far into the future she goes, and assumes this means that the FDA will never approve the drug. Assuming the Black Court's plan is to use the information to let Emma buy the company at an inflated price and then let her take the financial hit, Adrienne finally initiates an 'emergency contact plan' she and Emma had in place and warns her sister, who pulls the Frost bid for Eulud, allowing the Shaw bid to go through for much less money than expected.

During a Hellfire Club party where Wyngarde and Adrienne are to meet, Wyngarde provides Adrienne with a key to Shaw's office with instructions to read a specific phone and write down what Shaw says. She sneaks in and does it, although Shaw seems to just speak the nonsense words 'GREEN', 'BRADSHAW', 'BLOUNT' and 'SWAN'. When Adrienne returns with the information and demands that Wyngarde drop the hold on her assets, he refuses, accusing her of contacting Emma and warning her to pull the Frost bid.

Chillingly, he informs her that Eulud is going to be destroyed tonight in a massive chemical fire, the work of Day trying to hide his drug running to Madripoor- which is already part of a joint FBI-DEA investigation. Shaw will reap the full insurance claim for the building and damages, will have all of Eulud research, and triple his profit from the takeover without having any liability for the criminal acts or the failed drug.

Wyngarde further taunts Adrienne that her punishment for betrayal is that the fire will unfortunately take place at the same time the DEA-FBI task force has a warrant to enter the building. Garrison Kane has been tasked to the team for the raid, due to his narcotics experience in Vancouver, where the Eulud shipments were rumoured to come through.

A few minutes after entering the building, Kane runs into Belladonna and a team of her assassins. During the fight, Kane is knocked unconscious, and the team is trapped inside as the fire rages through the structure.

Frantic, Adrienne is able to reach Emma to send a mental call to Charles and get an X-Men team over to the Eulud plant, while she heads over herself. The entire plant is an inferno. Fortunately, the X-Men are able to arrive fast enough to pull the agents out with only minor injuries.

Realizing that she has no money and no home at the moment, Adrienne hangs out at the site of the fire and deals with the realization that running away was never going to stop the Black Court. Emma arrives on the scene and offers a potential solution to her problems- by claiming Adrienne as a member of the White Court, Adrienne will be protected by the rules of the arcane society, which imply that Wyngarde can no longer harm her or use those she loves against her. Adrienne wants nothing to do with the Hellfire Club at all anymore- she hasn't gained a single thing from being a member that she actually wants anymore, and instead has lost just about everything she has because of it and has put everyone she's come to care about in danger. Since this has been what she'd tried to avoid over the past lonely year and it happened anyway, she's not too pleased with herself. But she recognizes that Wyngarde is too powerful to be dealt with via regular channels of law and order. The White Court seems to be her only means of protection, and she feels she has no choice but to accept her sister's offer, which will, to her delight, allow her to return to the mansion and become a teacher again.

Related Links

Hellfire Club

Allumwandlung in Azure and Gules

Santayana Effect

External Links

Capital Turpitude

xp_communications posts

x_team posts

Trivia and Meta

Meta

Plotrunner: Plot written by Dex, run by Mon. Poster by Mackinzie