rupert is dead?! :: hadley

Remy was not happy.

Today she had found out that Rupert, one of the clio that worked in the Earalas estate had been found dead in the Ramat river. This was after she found out Hadley had sent him off to Deilig to try to discover what the hell was going on over there. Rumor had it that Kole, the Deilig's overloridian, had been up to some fishy stuff. Remy didn't doubt this, but she also didn't condone sending clio you knew would be slated for death to do Hadley's dirty work of finding out just what that fishy stuff entailed.

Her heels clicked across the polished stone floor of the hall that lead to Hadley's office where he was working on something.

Any other adviser probably would have knocked, but she and Hadley had deserted those formalities long ago. She swung open the door and walked in.

Hadley was sitting at his desk looking down at some papers.

"Just the guy I was looking for," Remy said as she crossed the room. "Guess what I just heard?" She didn't elaborate, but her voice sounded disapproving.

Hadley was in the middle of some boring overloridian shit that had to be done, hating every minute of it. While he enjoyed the perks that came with his fate-given title, the obligations were a huge downside. Though most of the other overloridians thought of him as an irresponsible idiot, he did do his job and did it well. He was even pretty popular among his own clio. It was in his best interest to keep Earalas running and the clio happy, after all.

He was granted a happy distraction from his work when his adviser Remy burst in, apparently with news. She sounded mad, so it was probably about something he did. "No idea," he replied, turning in his chair to face her. "Something good, I hope?"

Ha ha, not judging by the look on her face.

"When do I ever come to you for something good?" she said, sardonically.

"Remember Rupert?" Remy asked. "Probably not, he was one of the little clio." Hadley didn't care much about the clio he employed. He didn't care much about anyone, really.

She didn't let him reply before she continued. "I just got word from Trey that they found his body floating down the Ramat river. Isn't that odd?"

Hadley probably wouldn't care, but Remy was furious. Rupert had been a good man with a family. What was going to happen to them now?

Oh, that. Hm, Hadley supposed he should have figured that that's what this was about. Of course his staff would be talking about it amongst themselves. "Oh, yeah, I did hear about that," Hadley said quietly, putting on an acceptably sorrowful expression. "I'll have to send my condolences and some money to his family."

He could tell Remy was angry with him, but it wasn't like he had forced Rupert to do anything. The guy had agreed to go to Deilig for some extra money.

Remy stared blankly at Hadley, who she knew felt no remorse.

"You think money is going to fix this?" she asked him, exasperatedly. "You realize a man is dead, don't you?" It was one thing to play with clio for pleasure, but this was taking it to a whole new level. "He's never coming back. He had three little girls at home, Hadley. They no longer have a father."

She knew what would come next. Hadley would ask her what she expected him to do about it. And she wouldn't have an answer. Nothing would make this better. All she could pray was that Hadley would see the light of day and realize that his games had consequences, but she knew that was a joke. Hadley knew and didn't care. Sigh.

"I wasn't the one who killed him, Remy," Hadley said, dropping the sorrowful facade since it wasn't fooling her anyways. "I didn't know someone was going to kill him. I wouldn't have asked him to go if I knew someone was going to kill him."

All of this was the truth, which was rare for Hadley. Sure, he knew it was a possibility that Rupert could get killed if he was too careless, but he hadn't expected it. If he had known Rupert couldn't handle the job he would have sent the more competent clio in the first place. He hadn't just wasted his life for shits and giggles like Remy seemed to think.

Remy rolled her eyes. "I'm so sure you thought it was completely safe."

It wasn't as if Hadley couldn't have sent a few men to do the job. How could one lonely man have defended himself if things went awry? He couldn't of, and that's why he was dead now.

"Did anything come from his death?" she asked, wondering if Hadley had at least gained a little information from Deilig. She was sure once Hadley heard word of the body he would have sent someone else. Perhaps they had had more luck.

Whether she agreed with his methods or not, she knew Hadley wouldn't stop until he knew full well what was going on with their neighbors to the north.

She came around and sat in one of the plush armchairs that sat near his window.

"I never said I thought it was completely safe," Hadley replied evenly. He, too, rolled his eyes when Remy came to sit and ask him what he had found out. Now that she had lectured him, suddenly she was interested. Typical. Couldn't handle the means, but still wanted to know about the end result.

"Well, I obviously learned that there's a group of clio in Deilig killing off people who get too close to them," he replied. "So I got some new intel and checked it out myself." He paused when she reacted with surprise. "Believe it or not, I don't ask anyone to do anything I wouldn't do myself."

Remy ignored his last comment, writing it off as an exaggeration. Hadley liked to think that, but it wasn't quite true. There had been plenty of other Ruperts in the past. Little tests Hadley sent out before he went in to get the job done by himself. He liked to know what he was walking into first.

"You went in?" she asked him. She was surprised he had put himself in that sort of danger. She pursed her lips and concentrated on him. "And what did you find?"

She would never set foot in Deilig, herself. Not after the rumors she had heard. That Kole overloridian was one sick bastard, by the looks of it. She found herself feeling relieved that Hadley had made it out alive.

Unlike Rupert, Vex reminded her in a mutter from his place at her feet. He didn't like how well Remy had started to get along with Hadley the last year or so.

"Oh, you know," Hadley replied thoughtfully. "Criminal activity. Black market, fraud, the drug trade. Pretty much what I expected. Oh, and Kole was there. We chatted. He's definitely running the whole thing," he added as an afterthought.

This wasn't information Hadley would tell to just anyone. It wasn't something he wanted spread around. He trusted Remy more than any of his other advisers or staff members.

"This should go without saying, but don't tell anyone," he told her.

"Why the hell would an overloridian need to be running stuff like that," Remy wondered aloud. Kole could have anything he wanted--it came with the territory. "It's like he's playing some game of his own."

Remy ignored the last comment, again. She ignored a lot of the things Hadley said to her. He knew he didn't have to ask her to keep quiet. He also knew she didn't have many other clio to talk to, even if she wanted to.

"What do you think he's planning? What are you planning?" Remy wondered what sort of trouble Hadley was about to get himself into.

"Planning?" Hadley asked. "There's no planning. He's just running a crime ring. I think he gets off on the power."

"And I'm not planning anything either," he went on. "I was just curious about it. And I'll keep an eye out now that I know about it." This was just another way to stave off boredom for Hadley. Boredom was his greatest enemy; he needed ways to stay entertained. Remy probably knew that by now.

So we're never going back there again, right? Nila asked hopefully.

Probably not, Hadley said, to his daemon's relief.

Remy wasn't sure if she could believe that. Hadley didn't mean for it to be a lie, but he also got bored quickly. It wouldn't be hard to believe if he snuck back in to cure some other curiosity he was having. She bit her lip wondering if next time he would be so lucky.

"Next time let someone know before you go putting your life in danger, would ya?" she asked him, letting it go. It was pointless to go on right now. She leaned back in the chair and rested her head against the wall. "If you'd gone missing we wouldn't have known where to start looking."

You're too nosy for your own good.

For his own good, he'll thank me later.

He actually probably wouldn't thank her, because he rarely did, but it would make Remy feel better. Jerk or not, Hadley was her friend.

Hadley almost laughed. He wanted to tell Remy that his life hadn't been in any danger, but that would undermine his earlier comment about not sending people to do things he wouldn't do. Killing an overloridian would draw way too much attention to Kole's group from some very powerful people. It would probably bring down his entire operation.

"I left some documents saying where I was just in case," he told her instead, which was true. "If I'd told you ahead of time you would have tried to stop me."

"Oh, Hadley, you think too highly of me," Remy said with a smile. "I would sacrifice you for the greater good."

She totally wouldn't, of course. She had morals.

Morals? Vex asked. Or because you'd be friendless if he died?

If they'd been alone, Remy would have scowled at him.

"No good could come from my death," Hadley replied, joking with her. "Then you'd be stuck with some sixteen year old who had no idea what they were doing."

Hm, that reminded him. He wondered how that little Amerie girl was doing. Had she followed his "advice"? Maybe he should check in with her sometime to find out. Either way, sooner or later she'd realize it was bullshit and probably hate him like the rest of the overloridians did. Oh well.

And that would be worse how? Vex wondered silently. Remy smiled.

"He would have me," she told Hadley. "We'd be fine." She breathed into her hand and rubbed over her heart like she was buffing an 'Adviser of the Year' star or something.

She thought back to her early days working for Hadley. He'd discovered how to run an eilemaiden as she watched. It was weird to think how much they'd been through together. It almost seemed like yesterday she'd come up to him and pleaded for a job.

"You'd miss me," Hadley insisted, half-joking. In reality, she probably would. She didn't really have anyone else. Why was that? he wondered.

Her and Sol, and maybe his parents would be the only ones he knew personally who would miss him, too. Everyone else would either be indifferent, such as his staff, or happy, such as the other overloridians. That didn't bother him, though. He wasn't the type to care what other people thought.

"And what makes you so sure?" she asked, raising her eyes. A smile played at her lips.

"A little new blood around here might not be so bad, Sterling," she told him as she rose from her seat. "A new guy to change things up a bit."

Vex rolled his eyes.

"Careful what you wish for, Remy," Hadley replied, smirking. "This new guy might not want to keep you around."

Hadley thought back to when he had first hired Remy. It wasn't long after he settled and took the job that she showed up, desperate for work. She hadn't had any real useful experience. He could have turned her down, or made her a secretary or probably even a servant, but instead he offered her one of the highest positions available; an adviser. It had been on a whim, too. He was in a good mood that day and wanted to see how she'd handle the job. Turned out she was actually pretty good at it, better than some of the old advisers who'd been working for overloridians for decades.

"Nonesense," she told him, walking back around his desk to the door. "Who wouldn't want all of this?" she asked, pointing her nose in the air and motioning down her body. She was grinning, but only half joking. She knew damn well she was great at her job and was good looking to boot.

"Can't get by on good looks forever," Hadley said with a shrug. He, personally, didn't care about a person's looks. They could be a supermodel, or the most hideous clio in Amelia. As long as Remy was fun to be around, he would keep her around. Of course, he knew he was in the minority opinion when it came to this. It was a funny little fact of life that people trusted good-looking clio more than the ugly ones. "They'll only get you so far."

Remy rolled her eyes and slipped out the door with a wave over her shoulder. She'd let him get back to his work. She knew he hated it, and he deserved it for her dismissal.

At least he had admitted she was good looking.