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Chapter 22: From the Desk of Mordecai Crossbell - American Division (part 4)

Anger is not an emotion I experience often. I can vividly remember the few times I have been angered to the point of irrationality, and each time I was left disgusted with myself.

I am the master of myself, my body, and my emotions -- giving in to such base emotions like anger is and has always been beneath me. Every day I see... things, less than people clearly, who give in to their emotions and let themselves be manipulated, to think with clouded perspective and let judgement be lost to the whim of the moment. I am better than that in every way. Judgement bends to my will and not the other way around.

When I heard that Tin had escaped from my lab, however, I had felt anger boiling under the surface of my mind like a tea kettle left on the burner too long. It had taken everything in my considerable mental faculty to not let that anger explode out. I took that anger, which I envisioned as a ball of roaring fire, and pushed and condensed it with my mind until something that was once the size of a boulder is now as tiny as a pellet.

It is a beautiful thing, the roaring, glowing rage that I can experience, condensed into its purest form and white-hot like molten metal. This is the kind of emotion I allow myself to experience. In this condensed state it is pure, refined, divine. I let it seep into me and join the embers of the engine that drives me forward, and I feel alive like never before. I rise beyond driven, and I find myself more focused than ever before.

When I came out of my own mental state, I saw that I had Iron in a rather precarious position, pushed against the wall with my new cane, a caracal head of gold, clasped in one hand and the golden tip pushed against his throat right below his Adam's Apple. I flicked my gaze around the room and quickly drew back the cane, spinning it in my fingers before loudly slamming the metal tip onto the ground.

"Iron," said I calmly, pulling out a kerchief and wiping my brow with it while the tiger gasped for air and held his throat, "when I proposed a working relationship, I was under the impression that you were, at the very least, competent and able to follow directions."

The tiger wisely said nothing but glared at me. Good. Let him be angry and think without the clarity I now possess. Weaker men will always stumble where great men stride.

"I expected you to be able to keep your brother here. Alas, that is not so as we are now both well aware." I looked over the lab once more. It would be abandoned and destroyed by dawn. I liked this one but I had a few more hidden in the city. I will have my playroom back before long."

"You were the one who said he was locked up!" the tiger yelled. "I've been running my men ragged trying to--gah!" His words were cut short when I slammed the end of my cane onto his foot. I heard a pop of a bone. I looked at him passively.

"One thing you will need to learn quickly is that I am not one to argue my points. You work for me, you are being paid by me, you are my pet and my plaything, and when I say you have done a poor job, your answer is not to argue with me but to acknowledge it and ask how you can do better," I said slowly, almost hissing out the final words as I let the venom drip from them.

I could see the man was scared. I did not have to wear my mask to strike fear in the hearts of men. The mask just made it more fun.

"Now," said I as I put the kerchief back into my jacket pocket, "I believe your... elder brother, Nicholas, is it?"

"Nickel--Copper, aye," the tiger said with a wince.

"You changed that silly nickname your family uses. How adorable. I believe he is the one who freed Quintin. He is the only one who has been on my heels and the only one who can look into my purchase records. Out of everyone I am currently 'playing' with, he is the one who would most likely do something like this -- and he is family, and I assume you would do anything for family."

I watched as Iron opened his muzzle but snapped it shut. I purred with amusement and stepped over, stroking the top of his head gently. He was learning.

I continued: "I want you to look into your brother's movements. Figure out where he took Tin. I imagine he is with those... frustrating twins, and the twins are linked to my dear Simon. This may be the clue I have been waiting for."

"Y... Yes sir," Iron said, stepping back and lifting up his foot. Good, I did break something in it.

"You are capable so I am giving you a rare gift, Iron, a second chance. I've never given a third. Now get going. I have a meeting to get to and I do not want to be late."

---

If there was one thing I missed about London, it would be its opulence. I was raised within the walls of fine homes, palaces, ballrooms and dinner parties. I had been surrounded by structures older than I could fathom, and there was a sense of regality to affairs, buildings decorated and displayed with ancient works of art as a testament to the everlasting power a family or a group may have cultivated. It was growing among those people and their precious things that I found I enjoyed the taste of refinement and elegance. It was the backbone for my firm belief that I would always, if ever seen by another person, be dressed impeccably and carry myself as if I was better than those around me.

You did not have that here in New York. America, the colonies that had left England and been a thorn in the nobility's side. I always considered it a lawless, barbarous place... places so new that their roads were not paved with stone and the wilderness so dense that cartographers did not even go about making proper maps. Yet with New York you have the exception to the rule that America was the serf pretending to be a king on the world stage. This city had sprung up like a thatch of weeds and become an economic powerhouse in the world. Thus, anyone who wanted to maintain proper business relations and continue to make money had to have people and resources here, but it was lacking in anything refined. Buildings were "old" if they stood before the Civil War -- less than a century ago! In London that may as well have been a newborn. Alas, New York was much how I saw this country -- a place pretending to be more than the sum of its parts.

However, that is not to say there are no gems to enjoy, and Hotel Waldorf-Astoria was one of the few places I felt more in my element. It was refined and decorated and catered to a specific clientele. I stayed here when I came to New York for the first time, and I found the food wonderful and the help impeccable. It was one of the few things in this city that did not immediately disappoint me.

I strolled through the lobby and into the gilded lift, heading up and off. I did not check the address or room number, I knew it by heart already. I approached the door and rasped my cane against it gently yet firmly.

There was the sound of something knocking over on the other side of the door. I frowned and gripped the cane tighter. I doubt this was a trap but this was clearly a mistake.

The door flung open and standing in front of me was a ferret of average height and build, dressed nicely but also looking a bit rough around his edges. His fur was dark, almost black where it would have been brown, and his eyes were as sharp as daggers. I could tell he was sizing me up the moment we made eye contact.

"Mr. Tesla," I said with a charmed smile and held my hand out. "I do believe I am a touch early. I heard a loud noise from your hotel suite, is everything all right?" I knew how to act in these situations even if I did not really care one way or another if there was an issue.

When the ferret heard his name he beamed and shook my hand with both of his in a rather energetic fashion. "Ah yes! Mr. Crossbell! Thank you thank you! Come in come in. Mr. Lum is already here enjoying some refreshments, do come in." He moved to the side and let me step into what I almost thought was a laboratory.

While there was no flowing electricity here, the walls were decorated with blueprints and sketches of inventions. There were stacks of books opened and unfurled, chalkboards with equations on them and models of devices. I had heard that this "Nikola Tesla" was an inventor, but I had no idea he was one of the eccentric kinds. The ferret quickly zoomed further into the grand sitting room and moved some books away from the sitting area where another man sat.

Mr. Lum. The portly pine marten who ran Lumiere Electric, and the man I was solely keeping afloat with my contracts for Crossbell Tower. Lum had heard of this Tesla fellow, and I believed the three of us could fix all our problems -- and certainly make mine go away.

I stepped in and shook hands with Lum and took off my top hat, putting it on the peg near the wall. I sat down quietly on the sofa surrounding a mahogany coffee table. Lum and I made the usual small-talk businessmen make -- How was the office? Are profits good? -- things that tell you nothing but fill the dead air between two people who probably do not like one another.

The only thing that did not keep this a dry and drab meeting was Tesla. The ferret was pulling things from shelves and tables and wheeling them over. I shifted in my seat, not sure what this was about. I generally did not engage with the inventors when I hired them -- I had people who were better trained to manage their eccentricities. Tesla seemed to be one of those men who lived in his own world.

"Thank you for coming, Mr. Crossbell, and believing in electricity. It is the way of the future!"

"Indeed," I said and sipped my tea. "I hear a lot of good things about you, Mr. Tesla--"

"Call me Nikola, please," the ferret said and fidgetted. Too much energy, I imagined. "I believe someone of your calibre can use my first name, sir."

I smiled. The familiarity was such an American thing. But I went along with it and nodded. "Very well, Nikola, I've heard some stories about your inventions. I've also heard the detractors--"

"Philistines! Plebians! The fools who cannot see the way the future is heading. They're afraid, worried that I'll--"

I faked a chuckle and held my hand up. I noticed Lum was drinking whiskey. Tesla was going to be exhausting, I could already tell. "Nikola, you do not have to sell me, I fully believe in electric homes and appliances."

"I told him you may be interested in helping finance that Tower of his on Staten Island," Lum finally said and sipped more of his tea. "The one he says will be able to transmit electricity through the air and over vast distances."

"Yes, yes!" Tesla said and grabbed a blueprint and put it out in front of me, motioning down to it. "I believe, with some work and a little elbow grease, I can get my Tower to send electricity through the air all the way to London!"

I did not understand the science. I was no electrician, and physics was never something I particularly enjoyed. But I could grasp enough to know the man was either insane or remarkably brilliant. Enough that he could work even if nothing came to fruition.

"But you need more funding, as I understand it." I looked at Lum. "Do you think he could help us?" I asked the marten.

"Help?" the ferret said, quickly looking between the two of us with that jittery head motion of his. "How can I help you two? I'm just--"

"Nikola," Lum said with a grunt, "let Mr. Crossbell speak and you may have the answers you want."

Lum was definitely a man of business and out of his element even more than I was. Dangerous if Tesla was even remotely shrewd, but as it was, the man was almost unflinchingly honest in his composure. Pray for me and my goals.

"I do appreciate a man who is passionate about his work, Mr. Lum, but yes, I am indeed needing help." I looked Tesla in the eyes and held his gaze. "Historically, the people of our world do not embrace change easily. It is sometimes like pushing a boulder up a mountain."

"Electricity is meeting resistance on several fronts," Lum added quickly.

"For starters, homes in this city are not wired for electric lights. Newer buildings are having them included, thanks to Mr. Lum's aggressive contracts with the city builders, but gas lines work rather adequately and are already present everywhere. To put it mildly--"

"Why fix what isn't broken, eh?" Tesla said with a wry grin. "Comfort is the bane of change."

"Exactly," I said. "Change happens when the comfortable becomes unbearable. This can be a result of economic, political, social, or any other various reasons. Yet unless society is ready to rapidly develop, it can take decades for places to fully evolve. We are in one of those moments now."

"Electricity is the way of the future," Lum added again, "and it will be the dominant source of power given time. But its resistance is slowing down the evolution of our fair city, and so it is trying to walk in the mud. We're getting somewhere but it is very slow."

"So how can I help?" Tesla said in a remarkably calm voice. "I'm not a businessman, and I'm not what one would describe as good with people."

I grinned again and shook my head. "My dear Nikola, you are exactly what we need to make the city catch up to science. You are unique."

"Unique?" the ferret said, quirking his brow and looking between us. "I am an inventor, but you can find an inventor in anyone with half an education and a powerful imagination. You can find more successful people with more notoriety than I."

I shook my head and held up my hand to stop the ferret from interrupting me. "No, my friend, you are exactly what I want."

When Tesla did not try talking over me again, I continued: "As I have come to understand you and what you are trying to accomplish here, Nikola, you are pushing the boundaries of what this science has yet to uncover. Where more particular and practical men in your field would do things incrementally, you would much rather approach the problem from something big and grand."

"I... am afraid I don't quite follow, Mr. Crossbell," the ferret admitted with a frown.

"You are a spectacle, Nikola." I said with a grin but inwardly I was wary. Connecting the dots for this man was proving to be exhausting work.

"Your inventions, Nikola, are eye-catching," Lum added.

"I don't--"

I interrupted, "Those coils of yours, I have seen you throw the power and let the energy arch between them. I have seen you set dark rooms aglow with sparks of yellow and purple, and I have seen you talk to the audience as if it was full of your own family. When you are showing off what you can do, you shine, Nikola."

"I just... I just believe in what I do here," he admitted and rubbed the back of his head. I knew he was onboard at that moment, but I did not close the trap door just yet.

I grinned. "I want you to be the face of electricity, Nikola."

With a somewhat exaggerated gesture of grandeur, I stood up as if talking in front of a large audience.

"I want you to be giving demonstrations on what you can do, what you are trying to do, with sparks and colour and theories and plans! I want you to show people that science is not always clean cut, but it is wild and adventurous, and that getting behind you and the technology is exactly where they need to be if they do not want to be swept away into the annals of history!"

That got a laugh from the ferret. I almost scowled but held it back as I sat back down. This man was tiring. I looked at the two of them again. "Are you in agreement?"

"How are you going to change people's mind with just demonstrations, Crossbell?" Lum said, still sounding unconvinced. "It's one thing to entertain an audience, but it's a whole other to actually make them change their habits."

With a slow exhale, I leaned against the seat of my chair. "If the three of us work together we will be successful and very rich. Nikola's role is obvious -- people will be talking about electricity everywhere, from bars to newspaper articles. I want everyone to know about his inventions and what he claims he can do. I want him to demonstrate how safe it can be and how it can revolutionise the modern American home.

"Meanwhile, I will be working in the upper echelons of society. I am no inventor or owner of electric companies, but I am very good at dealing with people. I can convince those in power and those with contracts to change their mind about electricity, especially after the popular press that will be generated by Nikola. Lum, you will then be ready with deals of a lifetime. You will sell, initially, at a loss. You will eat the cost to wire buildings and city blocks and build power stations. You will make up for it quickly in profits from the monthly fees and government subsidies I plan to get for you."

Lum countered, "But what about the gas companies? They aren't going to just let us do this without trying to stop us both legally and illegally."

"Quite right," I said and shook my head. "American politics is so tied to money that it is tiring, but I have secured men of... fortune, who will be able to counter anything illegal the gas companies and their allies in the government can throw at us. I have also laid the groundwork to cut off those who oppose us at the knees. But the less you know about my clandestine plans the better. Simply focus on your tasks and everything will be handled. You both will have far more technical requirements than I, and I need you both focused."

"I'm in," Tesla said, and grinned. "As long as you agree to finance my tower and living expenses for a year."

"Six months," I said and then quickly held up a hand. "With a possibility for extension depending on how well you perform and if your inventions do actually bear fruit besides a sales pitch. Consider it a good faith investment and a chance to continue to earn my patronage."

The ferret was quiet for a moment but nodded. I looked at Lum.

"Very well," the pine marten said with a grunt and put his now empty glass down on the table. "But I swear if something happens--"

"You will not be linked to any of it," I quickly calmed him down. "I know how to do these kinds of things. I am very good at these matters actually. And I promise that the records will show no more than what we want them to show, that I am an investor in Lumiere Electric and also a patron of Nikola Tesla. Everything else will be above board."

Both men were quiet as they thought about it. I tapped the end of my cane down onto the hard wooden floor and stood up quickly. "Excellent, gentleman. You have both been very wise today and in less than a year all of us will be very, very rich--"

Tesla seemed offended by my remark. "I don't care about money! I just want to continue to work on my inventions--"

"You still need money to continue working on them, Nikola," I cut in sharply. Then I added with a softer tone: "And so you shall, Nikola. Continue to perform and you will be rewarded handsomely. But should you disappoint me in any way..." I let the words hang. I saw the ferret frown. Good, he was afraid of me. I had not even been particularly mean to the man, but I must have left an impression.

"If we're done here, I will send my boy over to your residences later today with contracts drawn up for you both to sign. I will need them back immediately so we can start moving funds around and get Nikola set up with the proper permits to demonstrate his unique inventions -- we have been stopped by paperwork before, and I am becoming increasingly more proficient, albeit begrudgingly, at cutting through it."

We had a few more minutes of pleasantries, fake moments of laughter and quiet conversation, discussing things unrelated to our businesses and hobbies and more about the world around us. It was all fake, however. None of us liked one another, and I could already tell that the three of us had come to an arrangement merely because it provided the best opportunities for all our goals. The moment this alignment shifts is when we will see who is the quickest to crack and sell the other two out.

I got up and left, putting the top hat back on and entering the golden lift once more. As I descended, I exhaled and shook my head, still contemplating the way they acted. They were beneath my skill set in all honesty, but here in the United States I did not have as many subordinates to handle matters like this, and I had a personal investment in the whole affair -- if I kept up blowing up parts of the city, I knew those foxes would appear again.

And I could not have that. I needed them still, for they would lead me to my Simon.

I climbed into my carriage and sat back. My Warrior was in front and we were off, heading back home.

I grinned as I thought about Simon. If he would not come to me, I would have to demonstrate my powers and flush him out. The city will glow and spark with colours all for him. It is my engagement gift to him. This will be a testament to my love and need for him in my life.

I palmed my groyne. I was erect again. It happened every time I thought about Simon. I looked up and saw my Warrior in the front. It would not be ideal, and I rarely had to do this anymore, but my own hand would suffice to calm me down.

With a quick tug at my trousers my hand vanished inside and curled around my penis, getting to work as I thought about one man and one man only.

_Simon. _