((This sort of...diverged. I hope it pleases anyway! The executives are rather new territory for me >_>))
President Shinra has a sick sense of humor. It isn't so much that Scarlet shares it, but she likes the games it leads him too.
So when the president wants to redirect army resources, but would be more amused to leave it's director out of the plan, she accepts the challenge immediately.
Besides, she's had a certain fondness for Heidegger since the beginning. He's not the best strategist, but there's a ruthlessness there she admires readily.
Scarlet see's the game play out before her employer has finished his proposal. The weapons she settles on are not the spark and steel she prefers, but it will be fun to stretch new muscles. There are many prizes for her this way, and the board already shows her there is no real way to lose. __ As head of Weapons Development, Scarlet has no lack of opportunities to track down the head of Public Safety. Meetings. Weapon tests.
Once, in the aftermath of a spectacularly successful detonation, one that scattered ice and steam, she runs her hand down the arm of his uniform in what is, and isn't a moment of pleased camaraderie.
Once, as a meeting headed by Public Development, and thus of no interest to either of them drones on, she passes him an expense estimate on a new model she's working on; a battle suit, with a questioning eye.
Once, when the model is complete, and she's demonstrated it's control herself, she let's him try it, and she brushes her lips over the scar above his eye before the pilot hatch hisses shut.
Heidegger did not go to the same university as ShinRa or Scarlet, does not hold the same degree's. All military this one. But military means maps still, and in after-moments he studies blueprints over her shoulder with a sharper eye than she expects.
Yes. She has a certain fondness. __ “What are you playing at Scarlet?”
“Exactly what you told me to play at. You don't want him asking any questions do you?”
She could see President ShinRa if she wanted to, as she leans into the mirror to fix her lipstick. His reflection will be caught somewhere in the upper corner. She looks at herself instead, and likes the way her lips and her nails match, starting to look a little bit like weapons, but maybe that's only because she already knows they are. “I know what I'm doing.” She informs him out of habit.
“I am beginning to doubt that.” Having finished with her armor she turns to face him in the doorway, knowing he expects to be invited in, feet already on the wrong side of the threshold. President ShinRa really does believe he owns all the world already. The little stab of pity this inspires amuses her. “You'll learn someday.” She pats his cheek as she brushes past him. She has work to do; schematics spread on the desk in her bedroom that are far more interesting than him. __ When Heidegger finally pulls her into a spare room at one of the presidents many and extravagant social functions, finally acts on the seed if intrigue and disloyalty she had sown years before president came to her, she lets him. She doesn't have to pretend at enjoyment when he finds her lips in the sudden quiet of the closed door. And she only feels a little bit of guilt. His eyes close but hers do not, finding the security camera she knows is hidden in the corner instead. She knows the president is watching, and she grins her triumph through the lens.
Her triumph. Not his. The president will have the space and the manpower for his little bit of doomsday insurance. She'll never run short of funding again, and she'll have the whole of ShinRa's army for the asking. She wonders if he even actually looks at his account distributions, or the actual allocation of emergency command chains.
"Queen takes King" Scarlet/Heidegger, Scarlet/ShinRa T
President Shinra has a sick sense of humor. It isn't so much that Scarlet shares it, but she likes the games it leads him too.
So when the president wants to redirect army resources, but would be more amused to leave it's director out of the plan, she accepts the challenge immediately.
Besides, she's had a certain fondness for Heidegger since the beginning. He's not the best strategist, but there's a ruthlessness there she admires readily.
Scarlet see's the game play out before her employer has finished his proposal. The weapons she settles on are not the spark and steel she prefers, but it will be fun to stretch new muscles. There are many prizes for her this way, and the board already shows her there is no real way to lose.
__
As head of Weapons Development, Scarlet has no lack of opportunities to track down the head of Public Safety. Meetings. Weapon tests.
Once, in the aftermath of a spectacularly successful detonation, one that scattered ice and steam, she runs her hand down the arm of his uniform in what is, and isn't a moment of pleased camaraderie.
Once, as a meeting headed by Public Development, and thus of no interest to either of them drones on, she passes him an expense estimate on a new model she's working on; a battle suit, with a questioning eye.
Once, when the model is complete, and she's demonstrated it's control herself, she let's him try it, and she brushes her lips over the scar above his eye before the pilot hatch hisses shut.
Heidegger did not go to the same university as ShinRa or Scarlet, does not hold the same degree's. All military this one. But military means maps still, and in after-moments he studies blueprints over her shoulder with a sharper eye than she expects.
Yes. She has a certain fondness.
__
“What are you playing at Scarlet?”
“Exactly what you told me to play at. You don't want him asking any questions do you?”
She could see President ShinRa if she wanted to, as she leans into the mirror to fix her lipstick. His reflection will be caught somewhere in the upper corner. She looks at herself instead, and likes the way her lips and her nails match, starting to look a little bit like weapons, but maybe that's only because she already knows they are. “I know what I'm doing.” She informs him out of habit.
“I am beginning to doubt that.” Having finished with her armor she turns to face him in the doorway, knowing he expects to be invited in, feet already on the wrong side of the threshold. President ShinRa really does believe he owns all the world already. The little stab of pity this inspires amuses her.
“You'll learn someday.” She pats his cheek as she brushes past him. She has work to do; schematics spread on the desk in her bedroom that are far more interesting than him.
__
When Heidegger finally pulls her into a spare room at one of the presidents many and extravagant social functions, finally acts on the seed if intrigue and disloyalty she had sown years before president came to her, she lets him. She doesn't have to pretend at enjoyment when he finds her lips in the sudden quiet of the closed door. And she only feels a little bit of guilt. His eyes close but hers do not, finding the security camera she knows is hidden in the corner instead. She knows the president is watching, and she grins her triumph through the lens.
Her triumph. Not his. The president will have the space and the manpower for his little bit of doomsday insurance. She'll never run short of funding again, and she'll have the whole of ShinRa's army for the asking.
She wonders if he even actually looks at his account distributions, or the actual allocation of emergency command chains.