Epilogue: The Final Frontier, Mark II
If there was one fault the team that went under the aegis of "MBL Consulting" (or "The MBL" for short) most struggled with (other than charges of "unprofessionalism"), it was tardiness. Especially where meetings were concerned.
Part of the reason for that was that every one of them was very much an individualist (which was also why "teamwork" was another element often missing from the team) with his or her own personality quirks and personal differences between each other. And nobody wanted to be the first one to get to the meeting, the one who had to wait for everyone else. Likewise, few wanted to be the very last one to show up and keep everyone else waiting. And then there was one or two who simply didn't give a shit one way or the other. See what I mean? It was a team of individualists. And for some strange reason a team of these independent-minded individuals seemed to make it work for some reason... at least so far. The big blow-ups between the team members who were considered "rivals" for one reason or another (Danny & Priest, Dirk & Chance, and others) hadn't really happened... yet. But it was more like the situation was in a holding pattern. There was still the possibility that things could get ugly very quickly if the situation changed. For one thing, the "rivals" on the team hadn't really worked together directly much yet. And nobody really knew whether each could count on his or her "rival" for support if the team found themselves in dire danger and needed to work together in order to simply survive. That test hadn't really been put to them yet.
Now, as the team members slowly began to trickle in and finally fill the seats in the Fish Factory's Cafeteria, the sound of chatter between the "friends" in the group began happening, growing more loud as more people began talking. Everyone was wondering what the meeting was for. Almost everyone was wondering what the financial state of MBL Consulting was in. After all, it had only been two days or so since Kit told them how bad the situation was with the company. And while "the company" did not equal "the team," it was the source of the team's regular paychecks.
"Doc will be here in just a moment," Grissom said in front of everyone loud enough that everyone could hear over the din, which quieted down as most heard him.
"Dr. Quantos?" Chance asked. "Is he here?"
"Yeah," Grissom said. "He'll be chairing the meeting tonight."
"Where's Kit?" Danny asked.
"Any and all questions will be answered at the meeting," Grissom said. "Even I don't know completely what it's about. But I think the company's financial problems will be able to be worked out."
More murmuring. It was a few more moments before Dr. Quantos walked in and leaned against the dessert counter at the front of the cafeteria. A contrite-looking Kit Piper walked in behind him and took a chair in the corner away from the team. Another few moments before the chattering ceased altogether.
Dr. Quantos smiled as he cleared his throat. It had been awhile before he'd had to address an audience, even one as small as this one. "Hello, folks. And welcome back! I suppose you're wondering why I called this meeting today. Well, it shouldn't come as a surprise to any of you that the company's in some very deep financial straits right now. I believe Kit mentioned that the company was in danger of losing its outside funding from BountyLand Foods. Well, I'm sorry to say that this has been confirmed. Our company's lawyer has informed me that the deed our own Pete Glover attained for BountyLand Foods was only good as long as he was alive, and that, should he go missing without any proof of his death in the form of a death certificate, the ownership would revert to its previous owners as of January 1st. Most of you know that Pete was taken from us under strange circumstances which can't be legally proven, and so we've lost control of that company permanently.
"As well, the rebuilding project of our apartment complex in Puerta Mibela, although officially owned by Sam Dawson, has been paid for by MBL Consulting funds. The, uh, rather ambitious plans for its rebuilding which Kit green-lighted were reasonable so long as the funds from BountyLand were coming in, but now that MBL Consulting is reliant only upon its own income, the bills we've already incurred for the rebuilding project and have yet to incur are beyond our current ability to pay. It should also be mentioned that the Stormloader, our army-grade hovercraft, had already used up almost all of the millions that Pete had donated to the team when he was still with us.
"Gentlemen, we're broke."
This caused a flurry of more chatter, and a few hands went up, while others simply shouted questions at Dr. Quantos.
"Hold on, now, hold on," Dr. Quantos said, holding his hands up as the collective volume of the room rose suddenly. "I'm not finished. I'd like to ask everyone to please hold their questions until after I've finished speaking. I believe I will have just about all the answers to your questions.
"As I was saying, the company is broke. And unfortunately, the hovercraft cannot be returned due to its having been almost destroyed and now rebuilt, so we can't do much about that. As well, the company is under a binding contract with the construction company to complete the rebuilding project of the apartment, as ambitious as it is. We can't do anything about that at this point, either. It is imperative that the company begins earning an income for various missions at this time, as we desperately need the funds, but even that will not pay all the bills. We're going to need outside investors. Now, Grissom has volunteered to invest some of his own company's funds, and we have some other investors interested, but before I get to this next point, I have something else to say.
"I regret to inform all of you that Kit will be stepping down as President of MBL Consulting," said Dr. Quantos. Kit nodded as everyone looked in his direction but remained silent. "He's discussed his decision to step down with me earlier, and it comes from a number of reasons. Simply put, Kit feels that he has bitten off more than he can chew in the position he put himself in when co-founding the company almost a year ago. While he had grand plans and dreams of making MBL Consulting into a world-class, professional firm of troubleshooters, he simply was not prepared when our funding was pulled out from under us.
"As well, as some of you may have heard by now, Kit's daughters were kidnapped recently." The chattering began again, but Dr. Quantos continued quickly before the noise level grew too much, "Don't worry, don't worry... they're safe now, thanks to the efforts of our own Grissom Montag and Phil Smith, but unfortunately the girls' mother, Diana Piper, was killed during the rescue. Kit and Diana had been divorced for a number of years now, but he is quite distraught over it. Currently he is trying to attain legal custody of his daughters, now that their mother is gone. When she was alive he had joint custody. Understandably enough, Kit will be quite busy with his own family matters for some time to come.
"However, and this is something even Kit hasn't heard about yet--" Dr. Quantos grinned as he looked up at a downcast Kit. "--I think there is yet a place for Kit in this company. Not as president, but as our Chief of Sales and Public Relations. After all, sales are what Kit seems to excel at best." A slight smile and a look of deep gratitude splayed over Kit's face then, and he seemed to look a little less downtrodden at once.
"Now to come to our next order of business: Investment. As I mentioned, the only way this company is going to survive, assuming we want it to survive -- and I really think it could be a great vehicle for good in this world -- we are going to need some outside investment. As well, we are going to need to employ someone to actually run the company and get it back on its feet. None of us in this room have the right kind of experience in those matters, but I am privileged enough to know someone who does."
At that, Dr. Henry Quantos walked over to the cafeteria's kitchen door and knocked once. "We're ready for you now," he said.
A few moments passed as the entire team sat in anticipation and curiosity. Puzzled looks passed over the faces of each of them as they were kept waiting for that time. Then, finally, the door opened.
Out of the kitchen stepped a tall, dark-haired woman in a jade-green komono dress which had a dragon motif running from bottom to top. The woman, who had oriental features, was utterly beautiful and also somewhat ageless. She could have passed for a 20-year-old or a 40-year-old, though she simply held a knowing maturity in her eyes which belied her true age. She was statuesque and perfectly proportioned, and her long, raven-black hair was drawn up in a bun for this business meeting. She smiled softly and briefly as she stepped into the cafeteria and nodded at Dr. Quantos, who smiled back at her and gave her the floor.
"Hello," the woman said in a sultry voice in a perfect "Royal" English accent. "My name is Victoria Xiang, and I am the former CEO of the Mandelovia-based Malvan-X Incorporated. Some of you may know me under the informal title of 'Miss X'..." And she seemed to grin slightly as she paused to let this sink in.
Most of the members of the team had no idea who this woman was, but a few of the founders, such as Danny, Edulcore, Tobias, and Mick, as well as Kristogar, passed a glance amongst themselves as they recognized the name. They'd had their own run-ins with Malvan-X Incorporated, as had Chance in his own timeline, and they remembered all too well the fantastic destruction of that company which led to General D'goon's overthrow of the Mandelovian government and which caused the team to flee that country and settle in La Perdita.
"Allow me to tell you something of my own history," Miss X continued. "I was born in Hong Kong. Don't ask me which year that was, as I'm not obliged to tell you. After all, it's not polite to ask a woman's age." She smiled. "At an early age I found that I excelled in my studies, whether they were science, literature, or business, and by the time I finished grade school there were several universities interested in enrolling a person of my aptitude. I chose Oxford, and I spent four years at that fine institution in England, even though it meant leaving my home in Hong Kong. Upon graduation I was approached by a representative of the Mandelovian government. I had heard rumours of such happenings in the past, but these were only rumours, and none of my friends or acquaintances had actually known anyone who had come to the attention of the Mandelovians. Thus, I listened intently as he made me an offer.
"He told me that Mandelovia's immigration policies were among the strictest in the world, allowing only the most intelligent and brilliant individuals to actually become citizens. Since the 1970s, non-citizens -- such as your own Dr. Quantos -- had been allowed to have work-Visas and stay there for a limited period of time, but only citizens were fully embraced into Mandelovian society. As well, it wasn't until the 1970s that immigrants from non-European countries had even been allowed entrance into this rather xenophobic country. After visiting Mandelovia and being given a mere glimpse into the advanced science of Mandelovia -- which is far in advance of consumer technology anywhere else in the world -- I made the decision to become a Mandelovian citizen and join that nation's elite League of Science.
"The next few years were a joy for me. Using my business sense and my scientific aptitude, I bought a small Mandelovian company called Malvan-X and transformed it into the multinational conglomerate that it became. As I mentioned, Mandelovia had always been very xenophobic, but since more liberal governments had come into power since the 1970s, Mandelovia was beginning to open its door slightly more to the world, even going so far as to allow foreign companies to establish factories on Mandelovian soil and sell their products there. Likewise, before I took ownership of Malvan-X that small company was based solely in Mandelovia and had no business interests elsewhere, and I changed all that. Under my helm Malvan-X became a leader worldwide in several consumer technologies. In fact, it was beyond the cutting edge due to its possessing technologies unknown to the rest of the world.
"This all ended in 2002, almost one year ago. It was then that something -- or someone -- caused the destruction of every single Malvan-X building across the globe. Some have told me that my company's destruction was due to a rogue American agency, while others have inferred that it was caused by the 'bad luck' of one of your own former teammates, or a combination of both. Whatever it was, it ended my dreams for that company. With Malvan-X's destruction, I no longer had a home in Mandelovia.
"As well, the former liberal government of Mandelovia was overthrown by the right-wing head of the Mandelovian army, General Colton D'goon. All agreed that the liberal Mandelovian government up until that time had begun making changes to the traditional Mandelovian way of life too fast and too soon. Many Mandelovians resented the influx of outsiders to their country, and many more resented the outside influences of European and particularly American companies, such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola, which many saw as a corrupting influence on society as a whole. Mandelovia was losing its uniqueness. Therefore, it was not a surprise to me that General D'goon found a great deal of popular support behind his conservative movement. He promised to return Mandelovia to its rightful heritage, to the way of life it had lived for the past 500 years. And to some extent he did.
"But it meant that the Mandelovia which I had grown to love was no more. Moreoever, there was no one with enough influence to counterbalance D'goon's power, and in the interests of national security and the traditional ways of Mandelovia, he has turned my beloved country into a dictator state. Moreover, I fear that he may have ambitions of using Mandelovian technology and state secrets to gain power over other countries -- not by a coarse and foolhardy invasion, no, but through dominating the economy and politics of other countries. I have also heard rumours that he has gone on the one hand so far as to secretly employ a terrorist group called the Left Hand to keep the populace of Mandelovia in fear while on the other hand denouncing terrorism and putting into motion so-called 'Patriot Acts' which effectively limit the Mandelovian citizens' freedoms and rights even moreso, all in the name of national security. I'm sure you've all heard the saying, 'Never let your right hand know what your left hand is doing'? Well, D'goon has completely twisted the meaning of that phrase for his own purposes.
"Unfortunately, it looks like there are few at this time who have any chance of stopping him. I have heard rumours of a 'Heritage Movement', though, which seems to be a coalition of liberal and conservative Mandelovians who want to depose D'goon and actually return Mandelovia back to its traditional ways as D'goon had falsely promised. They do not wish to live in a police state any longer. Ah, but I do go on...
"After I left Mandelovia, I began traveling, using my vast fortune. I have spent the past year traveling all over the world investigating various incidents involving metahumans. Ever since my days at Malvan-X it has been an interest of mine. And it was just as I had begun to grow tired of wandering that I paid a visit to my former employee, Dr. Quantos, once the head of Research at Malvan-X. It was he who brought up the financial matters of your own 'MBL Consulting' and made a suggestion that I should invest.
"However, ever since arriving here at the island several hours ago by plane, I've been immersing myself in your missions and case files, and it has all been quite fascinating to me. As a team, you have a great deal of collective potential. However, it is untapped potential. Under the aegis of MBL Consulting some of that potential has been seen, but it has yet to truly flower. I believe that, if you hire me on as President of your company, I can create the most ideal conditions for your team to work, to be more effective in the world than you ever had before. From what Henry has told me about each of you, it seems that all of you have a noble spirit in one way or another -- you're not 'in this for the money' as such, but truly believe you can make a difference. Well, I believe in that goal. While the company is partly motivated by profit, the team is not.
"I can envisage a time when your team will be a shining example to the rest of the world of the good that metahumans can do. And I believe it is necessary now, more than ever, to construct a plan in which to enable that dream to come true. Your world needs you, gentlemen and ladies, and there is no more time to waste. I have many sources, some of which would be too difficult to explain, and I have heard of a great threat which will soon reach our world. It may be as soon as next month, it may be as late as next year, but it is coming soon. And you must be ready. We must all be ready. Thank you."
Dr. Quantos smiled and shook Miss X's hand, then addressed the team once again. "Folks, I would like to employ Miss X as our acting president, as she is really our best option, not only for rebuilding the company, but for making this team into a world-class one which will also help to gain freedoms for metahumans and humans worldwide while protecting the world from threats whether we're 'paid' to do so or not. I've been talking with Miss X over quite a few of her ideas for the company, and I've got to tell you that what she's said is only the tip of the iceberg. It's some really incredible stuff here, some of which might blow your collective minds.
"Anyways... she's agreed be hired on as President of the company on two conditions -- first, that 'MBL Consulting' as it is will be dissolved and reformed under a new name, which we'll have to come up with ourselves, and that she will retain the rights for the initials 'MBL' for her own purposes. I'm sure she can explain it much better than I can, but she would like to begin a project of her own she calls the 'Metahuman Board of Legitimation', a non-profit organization which will lobby for the civil rights of metahumans worldwide. She believes that, in time, this team will become the example of the good that metahumans can do in the world, as the world has already seen too much of the bad.
"The second condition is that I stay here on the island as well, to become the company's offical doctor. To this, I have agreed. All that remains is your approval. My own proposal in this matter is this -- that we give Miss X a 'probation period' of, say, four months, which will take us into May or so, in which she can begin rebuilding our newly renamed company. At that time, if we're satisfied with her efforts, we can keep her on, and if we're not, we can look for someone else. After all, you guys own the company, so it's all up to you. And, as a side matter, Miss X has also suggested that you guys elect an official chairman, vice-chairman, and treasurer in order to give leadership to the team as well as handle the team's own funds."
**********
Half an hour later, the individual members of the team formerly known as the "Revolutionaries" and the "MBL" left the cafeteria. So much had happened in such a short period of time, but it looked like things were beginning to turn out for the best. They were all-too-aware that they had enemies in the world who were looking for a chance to come gunning for them, so the fact that Miss X was able to salvage the rebuilding of their now-superscientific "Complex" was good news, indeed. The new Complex would actually be defensible like the old, ordinary apartment building couldn't be.
It wasn't as if none of them had their misgivings about Miss X, though. Danny, for one, didn't trust Malvan-X after they kidnapped him and did experiments on him back in Mandelovia, but on the other hand he trusted Doc Quantos, and he was willing to give Miss X the benefit of the doubt... at least for now. The majority of the others also voted in favor of giving Miss X a chance. After all, she was their employee and could be replaced if need be. And Kit just didn't seem to be able to do the job very well.
Mostly, though, it was a relief not to have to worry so much about where their next paychecks would come from. While under Kit they'd had very little to do for the past few months except rebuild since the hurricane struck, Miss X vowed to make sure the team members would be given a choice of as many or as few missions as they would like to take. Most of them, of course, would only require one or two of the guys to accomplish successfully, so it would probably be a while before the team got another big "group" mission as they'd just had. But the smaller missions would definitely help out in keeping them busy. Morale, which had been so low around the time of the Hurricane, was just beginning to pick up. And it would be necessary if they could only see what would be in store for them in the coming months and years...
