February 29, 2011

There she was: sitting on a desk, legs crossed, her raven hair cascaded downwards, ending with a subtle curve at the reddened tips. She was beautiful and she knew it. Judging by the way she was flirting with one of the Minister's bodyguards... Cragen smirked bitterly to himself, observing the scene before him.



She succeeded, of course. After all, Amaranth Viper always got what she wanted: a fact proven not only by the bodyguard's floo address she now possesed, but also by his Company, his life, his dream, that now lay in mercy of a wizard he found to be one of the most nerve-wracking ones he had ever encountered and this Vixen's Claws...

He inhaled sharply as her green orbs met his sapphire ones, clenching his jaw tightly, especially when he noticed her expression: a triumphant, victorious smirk. One he would give every knut in his vault for the opportunity to rip out.



"Professor Cragen. Come to empty out your office, have you? Well, no need to fret, my dear Professor. Ethan and I have already made the arrangements." Viper smirked, waving her hand, conjuring a box jammed, not at all arranged nicely, with all of his things. His entire life at ECHO crammed into a piece of cardboard...



He gritted his teeth together, most likey chipping half his teeth as a result, but he refused to show emotion. He refused to show how angered and betrayed he felt. At least, not now...

"How... kind... of you, Professor Viper. To steal my entire life's work and jam all my most treasured possessions into one box. How can I ever thank you?"

The smirk on Viper's face widened even further as she flipped her raven hair slightly, sweeping it to the other side. "Well, for starters, you could pick up the box, carry it outside, and never return with or without it again." she replied in a voice drenched with cold laughter.

Cragen winced, feeling a slight pang of pain upon hearing the cadence of cruelty escape Viper, who at one point he considered a daughter. How could he have been so blind? How could he not have seen her for what she truly was?



With much effort, Cragen forced a smile upon his face. "I'm afraid I cannot oblige, Amaranth. Did you not know? Once a Ministry lays off a Potioneering Veteran, they send him off with their own packing entourage?" he laughed dryly, mocking his own stupidity.

You don't know how you've betrayed me
And somehow you've got everybody fooled

However, before Viper could reply, or he himself add to that, another female voice filled the air. One all too familiar for she herself was a name on the list of those Viper had betrayed.

"You bitch!" Candace Cragen, Cragen's only daughter hissed as she approached the two. With a wave of her hand a beam of red light made its way towards Viper...

Ethan Addams was in a side-room connected to the one Amaranth Viper was at. He was going through some notes of his when he heard a familiar, masculine voice. "Cragen," he whispered, little more than an exhalation of breath. A smirk twisted his extremely pale-complexioned face. Quiet chuckling escaped him the moment he heard his name mentioned. They had both enjoyed unceremoniously packing the boxes, though who enjoyed it more was hard to tell.

It was interesting, Cragen's choice of words: '...jam all my most treasured possessions into one box...' Of course it would all fit in one box, what with magic expanding the capacity of said box. But let him think what he wished - the result was the same, no matter the technicalities. Where Cragen found cruelty, Ethan found amusement. Then again, it wasn't happening to him so of course the wizard found it funny.

Deciding he'd probably best get out there... and wish Cragen a 'fond farewell' without meaning a word of it, Ethan quietly stood and closed the difference between him and the door to where Viper and Cragen were located. It was about that time he'd heard Candace - whom he'd always just called 'Candy' - shout.

The unnatural red light of a spell being cast had Ethan out in the open and wand drawn in an instant, canceling out whatever 'Candy' had had in store with a shield. "Now, now... that's not very nice," he commented, a cold amusement dripping from the forced monotone of his voice. "What's done is done... now are we all going to settle down, or must we call security?" The fire in his dark eyes was of triumphant glee rather than anger, and spoke volumes of the wizard's audacity. Yes: after all that had been done, and what he and Viper intended to do, he had the guts to threaten - albeit hardly seriously - to call security.

"A disgruntled employee is such a shame to see, isn't it, Cara mia?" Ethan asked Viper with a twisted little grin on his face.

Cragen had only withdrawn his wand by the time his daughter emerged, casting a spell towards Viper. "Candace!" he hissed through clenched teeth, though he was sure he had chipped at least a few teeth when he heard a familiar voice comment in this icy monotone voice. "You!" he more or less roared, his blue eyes hardening into slits of chipped ice.

"You would dare threaten me with arrest from security guards from my own department? Guards I have worked with ever since ECHO's birth?" he belllowed, much to the amusement of Viper.

"Yep." she nodded after pretending to give it a moments thought. "Life's a bitch, isn't it?" she smirked before dissolving into giggles. "Indeed..." she breathed out at Ethan, smiling slowly at him. A feeling of warmth filled her from head to toe at the nickname. While she had been called various nicknames, both positive and negative, none had such an effect over her as Ethan's.

"Not as much as you are." yet another familiar voice called out, emerging from the shadows, revealing the remaining former ECHO heads: Fin, Munch, and Stabler.

"What's the matter? Didn't your parents ever teach you manners? Like, I dunno, not stealing, lying, or cheating?" Munch asked with a not so subtle hint of disdain.

Viper smirked. "No, they were far too busy teaching me to take what I can and given nothing back." with a snicker she added. "And how to hang mudbloods by their ankles..."

Fin glares, approaching Viper with his hand tight against his wand. "Oh, hell nah! Girl, I know you and Doc. Jekyl over here ain't threatnin muh boy!" he barked, attempting to corner Viper into a corner.

Viper rolled her eyes in disgust. "Sorry?" she scoffed. "Forgive me, but I don't speak 'American'"

Stabler said nothing, opting to watch his surrounding silently, though if one looked a little closer, they would see the sadness, sorrow, and hint of heartache in his eyes.

"Enough, all of you!" Cragen barked before turning to his daughter. "Candace, I'll see you at home later. Right now I've got business to take care of."Candace nodded in reply, obeying her father as she flooed home. Once he was sure she was gone, Cragen turned to the other witch and wizard in the room: his enemies.

"Why?" he asked in a simple, almost pleading tone. "Give me one good reason. One. One that has nothing to do with legal issues or methods. You both knew what this company means to me and yet that didn't stop you. You mecilessly stole an old man's dream and I demand to know why!" he cried out, almost on the verge of tears.

"Aye - me. You were expecting someone else?" Ethan quietly quipped in sharp contrast to Cragen's roar. If the loudness of the wizard's voice and the hostile countenance were meant to frighten him, Ethan decided that the other wizard was really starting to lose his touch.

He pretended to think about the question for a moment, but nodded when Viper verbally confirmed it just to add to things. If you're going to annoy someone, might as well go for overkill right? Her comment to the others elicited a snicker and smile from his lips toward Viper’s direction in return. The witch’s giggle sent a wave of delight down his spine, but had to quell the feelings for a later, much more appropriate time. Amaranth’s laughter was a highly-intoxicating music to his ears, and was something he could listen to again and again.

"Sticks and stones, mate," Ethan sighed in mock hurt upon hearing the voice of another ECHO former-head. "But if I am such a shame to see, then your reason for hiring me was...?" The wizard had a rather smart-aleck look on his face as he asked this rhetorical question.

“Lying?” he asked, faux astonishment replacing the previous emotion on his countenance. Looking to Amaranth and then back to Munch, the wizard added, “I hardly think that stating the illegality of the ingredient purchase was a lie. Just trying to maintain ECHO’s ... wholesome... image. Cara mia, can you believe the accusations filling this room?!”

Ethan snickered upon hearing Viper’s comeback, and formulated one of his own. “I recall a lot of moments when my parents taught me manners. I liked to wave at those moments when they floated right on by into one ear and out the other.”

The unusually pale wizard stepped between Fin and Viper. “I spoke American for the first four years of me life,” he chimed in. “Southeastern American, to be specific... rather different dialect, regrettably.” While the word ‘regret’ was in Ethan’s vocabulary, it certainly didn’t seem to be within his emotional range. “And I’ll take the Doctor Jekyll remark as a compliment – a classic of the nineteenth century I’ve always been rather fond of.” The smirk on his face seemed plastered there and rather unwilling to be removed from its place upon the wizard’s lips.

At Cragen’s shout, Ethan displayed a countenance of haughty triumph toward the others in the room. A raven brow quirked upward when the other wizard immediately suggested ‘Candy’ return home. It didn’t take a genius to come up with a few possible scenarios of what might come next. However, each scenario had Ethan gripping the handle of his wand tighter and tighter. If his complexion wasn’t already white as chalk the grip he had on said magical tool would’ve been rather noticeable.

"Why? Give me one good reason. One. One that has nothing to do with legal issues or methods. You both knew what this company means to me and yet that didn't stop you. You mercilessly stole an old man's dream and I demand to know why!"

Ethan’s face was entirely devoid of emotion at the detected plea. “Hmm. Why...” he muttered, the dark brown of his eyes turning from flat to contemplative. “If I tell you why... that’d take all the mystery out of things, wouldn’t it? But if you insist on spoiling the fun...” The forty-one-year-old wizard gave a shrug befitting a teenager, but kept rather annoyingly silent.

“What might this ‘why’ business be worth to you?” Ethan asked, grinning wickedly.

"I have lived my life with little regret, opting to move forward in life, never looking back. But yet somehow I find the day my path entwined with the both of your's the day I regret most, aside from the day my wife died." Cragen replied in a stiff voice, struggling to keep his emotions at bay.

Viper gaped, raised her hand and placed it over her heart in mock-pain, as though their words had ripped her very heart out. Maybe it would have worked on another group of males and ended with them feeling an intense, overwhelming guilt, but not the former ECHO fellows. not after what they had been through.

"Cut the crap, Amaranth. That's not going to work anymore. We know who you and Jekyll over here are!" Fin replied.

And we don't love you anymore... Stabler thought to himself, though he kept all emotions to himself, locked with his clenched jaw.

Viper shook her head, moving to stand beside Ethan. "I can hardly believe my eyes and ears, love. One would think they would want to exit with dignity instead of storming a fuss." she replied cooly with a smirk.

She stuck her tongue out at Candace as the older witch exited, obliging her father's wish. She never liked Cragen's daughter. She was far too nosey for Viper's tastes and somehow always managed to evade her and Ethan's charm.

The smirk deepened upon hearing Cragen's question, emerging full throttle upon hearing Ethan's response. A cadence of cold, heartless laughter escaped her as she tossed her head lightly, sweeping her hair to the side. "Oh come now, love, let's not be that cruel. As much as he is a fool, he deserves to know the truth..." Viper explained as she leaned closer to Cragen, whispering into his ear.
"For the thrill..." before returning to Ethan's side, bouncing with cheerfulness.

At the words cascading out of his former colleagues mouths, Cragen felt the stake both's actions had forced into his heart delve even deeper with each syllable they uttered. "I see..." he replied with as much dignity as he could before all hell broke loose and the dam that kept his river of emotion at bay erupted, releasing it all.

"Well, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that it was no fault of mine that caused this betrayal. It was merely the union of the two most selfish, vain people this world has ever witnessed, hungry for power and dominanace!!!" he hissed into own breath, beginning to pace back and forth in a maelstrom of pain and torment, but stopping to look both Viper and Ethan in the eye.

"I gave ECHO life. Not only my life, but its very own. Making choices, sacrificing myself all for the good of the world. Look around you! Do you think this was always here? This company, this wonderful mass of laboratories and highly trained experts was here as a result of my own blood, sweat and tears!!" he roared, a tear or two making its way down his wrinkled face before his voice cracked, into a tone barely above a whisper. "I built this foundation with my bare hands, and now you vultures have swooped in, seizing my life's labor, to build your own cursed tower upon it..."

Munch shook his head in disgust at Ethan and Viper, he and his former colleague's hearts filled with pain for their grieving former boss. "You two... You oughta be ashamed of yourselves..."

Fin glared at the two, adding his own thoughts. "I'd gouge your eyes out this very moment, but... how else would you two look at yourselves in the morning?"

"I have lived my life with little regret, opting to move forward in life, never looking back. But yet somehow I find the day my path entwined with the both of your's the day I regret most, aside from the day my wife died."

"Aww - well now I feel remarkably special - simply all icy and not-so-icky inside!" Ethan commented jeeringly, a small smile still on his face. The rest of the wizard's countenance practically dared Cragen to attempt to rip said smile from its owners mouth.

"One would think that..." Ethan agreed and wrapped an arm around Viper's waist. "Perhaps they merely desire some added publicity? I mean, they already made front-page news when that information 'leaked out'..." a mirrored smirk appeared on his face. If one were combine the smirky-sides of their faces together, they'd have a smiling face. Albeit a rather weird one... what with one-half Amaranth and one-half Ethan.

Ethan couldn't help but snicker at Amaranth's light-hearted rebuke to him for his own cruelty. "I suppose you have a point..." he sighed when Amaranth briefly left his side to whisper into the other's ear. "...even if it does spoil the mystery of the situation..." Ethan murmured quietly in Amaranth's direction with more than a small trace of humor splashing his vocal tones.

As Cragen started off on his rant, Ethan replaced the arm he'd had around Amaranth and gave her a gentle squeeze. He looked rather bored with the sentiments stated. However, at the words 'hungry for power and dominance', a noise that was none other than Ethan's own stomach growling became painfully yet hilariously audible. A stream of laughter escaped Ethan at the irony of it all, and to some ears it would've sounded like he was a bit mad... no, not the angry kind.

When it looked as though the former ECHO head would start up again, Ethan complied with the eye-to-eye contact though was on the extreme alert for jinxes. Before Cragen could get even two sentences in the forty-something-year-old wizard started to display signs of boredom. At being asked to look around, Ethan's attention 'perked up' and he looked around excitedly for a grand total of three seconds before returning to his original apathetic position. "It wouldn't be here without you - aye. We couldn't have gotten half as far on our own!" Ethan crowed with frigid, dark humor. He could have commented on the tears, but decided not to.

The wizard blinked upon being called a vulture, and gave a dry laugh. 'Now that'd be an interesting animagus form... perhaps I should've looked into that before...' Ethan mused, not really seeming to have paid attention.


"You two... You oughta be ashamed of yourselves..."

"Ought to... perhaps. Do we? ... Not really," Ethan retorted smartly. "But don't worry: we'll make sure to take excellent care of the place for you in your stead..." At the emphasized word, Ethan's eyes narrowed very briefly into slits and then returned to their normal size a second or two later. A wide smirk soon followed.

"Oooooooooh.... shakin' in me boots over 'ere, Fin," the wizard replied to the threat without seriousness whatsoever. The laughing smile on Ethan's face clearly indicated he didn't believe Fin meant what he said in the least. "Now really, gents...." Ethan paused to look Viper's way, "...and lady... how are we going to manage this situation? Are we going to take the dignified road, or are some of us going to be having a bit of a tantrum? Security is only a spell away, you know... but I'd rather be Mr. Nicey-nice and not have it come to that."

A feeling of warmth and safety filled Viper the moment Ethan's arms wrapped around her. Unconsciously, she leaned into the wizard, curling into the dark comfort, reveling in the touch. "Indeed..." Viper breathed out, resting her head lightly against Ethan's, smirking at the gags that escaped the other former Heads, and the firm clench from Stabler, as well as the sound of cracked knuckles. "I myself don't even get that much exposure!"

Munch snorted. "I would say you've been exposed a great deal enough. here it Britain!" he replied indignatly, while the others nodded their agreement.

Viper giggled in amusement at the sound of Ethan's stomach, glancing at the clock. "It is nearly cosmo time.", she replied as she conjured a few glasses of cosmopolitans and a small assortment of snacks, offering a few to the others.

Cragen frowned. "I don't dine with animals..." he replied.

Viper snickered. "How unfortunate. your daughter dines alone, then?" she jested before dissolving into cold laughter.

Cragen lunged forward as though he would strike the usurpers, only the combined strength of the others holding him back. "Forget about them," they managed through their teeth.

Viper rolled her eyes. "Honestly Cragen, it can all only go up from here. You've seen the financial paperwork. What damage could we do?" she asked, recalling how the papers on Cragen's desk had stated ECHOs accumulating debt.

Munch let out a dry laugh at Fin's statement regarding mirrors. "You're barking up the wrong tree, my friend. These people are the reason mirror companies stay in business! Tell me, I'm genuinely curious, is your home one gigantic mirror surrounding you so you can admire yourselves on a daily basis?" he sneered.

Viper smirked. "I've always been taught that if you've got it, flaunt it." she winked.

Fin rolled his own eyes in turn. "That saying refers to solely looks. Not ones ego and greed..." he glared.

Ethan couldn’t help but give a smirk – or was it a smile? – when Viper leaned into him. It only widened at the reactions given to him by the other former Heads of ECHO. At her comment, he leaned near her ear yet murmured rather audibly in a tone so suggestive it really wasn’t ‘appropriate’ to have been overheard, “At least not public exposure, eh?” The wizard snickered and set his not-so-sane brown eyes on Stabler for a brief moment.

He grinned at Viper’s amused giggle, a sound he deemed as one of the true musics of the world. “Is it really?” he inquired and glanced at a nearby clock when Amaranth conjured glasses and snacks. “Hmm... so it is.”

The smirk returned anew upon hearing Cragen’s remark, though he really tried to feign a sense of hurt. “How do you like that – here you are, trying to be polite – and a former colleague goes and says something like that! Simply heart-wrenching...” Ethan chimed in, his snickers completely destroying the mood he was attempting to convey. It really went down the tubes as he laughed with Amaranth in regards to her own, much more cruel remark and the reactions of those around them. “She does have a point, you know...” he chortled.

“Make that two very good points...” Ethan corrected himself upon the question posed regarding ECHO’s finances, or lack thereof it seemed, and summoned a cosmopolitan to his free hand. Before taking a sip, he leaned toward Viper and placed a rather innocent-looking kiss to her temple both in thanks and in a spontaneous display of affection. “What rule or law states that we have to dismantle ECHO or cause any damage to it at all? As Amaranth just said: things can only look up from here!”

The forty-something wizard smirked at Viper’s retort, having nothing to add to that aloud. Though, he was rather tempted. “I don’t believe we were talking about ego or greed... Amaranth, do you recall this conversation having anything to do with either of those topics?” After a moment or so Ethan decided ’What the hell? I’ll say it...’

“And you can flaunt those looks my way any time you like, Cara mia,” he said to Amaranth playfully, snickering.

A loud crack emitted from Stabler's knuckles as he watched Ethan wrap his arms around Viper and Viper respond by leaning in closer. Had this been what happened? Had this insane conspirator corrupted her? Turned the eternal flower into a god-forsaken weed? If that was the case then perhaps they shouldn't be hating them. After all, ECHO was known for its unity, its family-like bonds. If two people decided to forsake all that for a mere title and power, than perhaps they truly were pitiful.

"The lost ones indeed..." he muttered to himself as he watched Viper close her eyes in delight to Ethan's touch.

"Cheers..." Viper breathed out flirtatiously, her green eyes glowing with pure adoration for the wizard before her, as she held up the blood-red cosmopolitan.

A sneer shadowed her face at the verbal dirt inflicted upon her and Ethan. "Indeed!" she retorted with a smirk. "We may be cruel, but at least we're cruel with manners!" she replied in a tone drenched with amusement, a hollow cadence of laughter emphasising through.

A half-smirk and smile reserved only for Ethan graced her features as she added with a wink, her hands gently tracing and caressing Ethan's face, to the back of his head, playing with a lock of his hair. "The same could be said for you, love."

"Then why bother with ECHO then, if it has such a monstrous debt?" Cragen demanded, infuriated by the irritance that appeared over the debt ECHO had and who's irritation had only been feuled by their displays of "affection". The elderly wizard could not comprehend for the life of him how they could not understand that there was more to this world than mere sickles and knuts.

"And try not to use the words 'I', 'me', 'she', or 'he' in your explanation." Munch added disdainfully, looking down at the two as though they were a dirtied chunk of gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

“Cheers,” Ethan replied in kind and clinked his glass against Amaranth’s, then took a sip. There was a dark passion in his eyes that spoke volumes about him and his feelings for the witch beside him. After all, he didn’t call just anyone ‘Caramia’.

The wizard snickered at Viper’s retort but ultimately had to agree with her. He knew he was cruel at times, and would scarcely deny that fact. But, he did not always set etiquette aside whilst being cruel. Therefore, he – and Amaranth as well – were best described as ‘cruel, with manners’.

Ethan couldn’t help but grin at the countenance bestowed upon him by Amaranth. Was it him or was it suddenly getting very warm in here? A small amount of color stained the pallor of his cheeks: a blush, of sorts. His heart was beating at a quicker pace within his chest. If only they hadn’t had company at this very moment...

Attention shifted, with great reluctance, back toward said company when Cragen spoke. Ethan considered the man’s demand, and had opened his mouth to respond when Munch added his two knuts to the conversation. Brown eyes seemed to darken to nearly black purely out of venom rather than being indignant over being looked down upon. In fact, the wizard appeared as though he couldn’t care any less what they thought of him.

“Why not?” Ethan offered with a shrug, not really feeling as though they really needed to hear his and Viper’s master plan for the place. “Better than letting the place sit empty...” At first, Ethan was just going to leave it at that. But, he decided to add some more salt to the already open wounds. “And besides, we couldn’t have gotten nearly this far all on our onesies!”

Rather proud of himself that he managed to accommodate Munch, the wizard crossed his arms over his chest very much like an impudent child, despite the fact he was just entering his forties. “Take that – didn’t say any of those words, and mine ears don’t recall you saying anything about not using the words ‘we’ or ‘our,’” he grinned wickedly, snickering just under his breath.