Chapter Text
"Here you are Mr. Lehnsherr, " The bartender said, handing the tall German man his drink, “I’ve also checked and the next shuttle to the airport leaves in twenty minutes.” The bartender then gave him another smile and walked back to where ever she came from before. At ten in the morning, no one was exactly drinking besides him. Erik sat alone at the bar stool, swishing the amber colored liquid around, and gulping down a large sip, scowl marring his face.
"Excuse me, Mr. Lehnsherr?--”
At the sound of the new voice, Erik turned to see a brunette, place a suit jacket and briefcase on the bar next to him, following the motion with his eyes until he gazed at the man. He was tall, light haired, and thin. By the looks of him, he was definitely a businessman. His tie was perfectly aligned with his button up, his jacket was dry cleaned and his briefcase was real leather by the stitching. He took a minute and got settled into the seat on the other side of her purse, thankfully didn’t try to move her things to situate himself.
"Hello Mr. Lehnsherr, sorry to bother you, but I'm Sebastian Shaw." Mr. Shaw then held his hand out, smile still carrying on his lips.
"I’ve heard so much about you." Shaw states, retracting his hand after Erik refused to take it. "I know for example that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence back in 2008? You saved your insurance company what, 30 million dollars?”
Taking another sip of his drink Erik’s frown grew, as the man mentioned his old employer.
“And then there was that stolen identity case in Venice, I couldn’t believe how many millions of dollars you saved for your company, but I just know that when you needed them… What happened to your family is the kind of thing--"
Without warning Erik slams his now, empty glass down onto the bar top. "You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck about nine or ten times? We're coming up on that pretty quick."
The German’s eyes met his and he watched Shaw’s smile drop and a look of panic flashed over his features, putting his hands up in a gesture of defense, his face showing his regret in his words. “Look, I’m sorry. I just want to offer you a job."
"What kind of job?" Erik replied with a half lidded stare.
“Do you know anything about airplane designs?” he asked, looking a little more at ease.
Erik smirks, flagging down the waiter for another drink as he passes, "I could try giving it a shot. Just give me a pencil and one of those little rulers."
"Well somebody stole my airplane designs."
The anger that flashes across the once stoic man, only causes Erik to laugh. "I see… So then you would like me to find them? Correct?"
"No," Shaw says, shaking his head, the neutral headed look back in place. "I know where they are. I want you to steal them back."
Erik looks at him in mild surprise. "Steal them back?"
Shaw nods again. "Look, one day my head engineer just suddenly up and disappears with all my files and a week later, Harry Leland, my competitor launches an identical project? Come on, I'm not stupid."
Erik swirls the amber liquid around again. "And you’re sure Leland was the one who stole your designs? I mean stealing them back seems like a stupid risk, there are probably much easier ways…"
"Please listen to me." Shaw says cutting the German off. "At the end of this month I have a shareholder’s meeting. Mr. Lehnsherr, I’ve already spent, five years, and over 100 million dollars on R&D. If I go into that meeting with nothing to show for it? Then I am dead.”
Erik says nothing, taking another sip of his drink as Shaw quickly began to flip through the stack of folders inside his briefcase. He then pulls out a thin red folder and held it out for the other man. “Just look at the people I’ve already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?"
Raising another brow and setting down his drink, the German took the folder flipping through the papers.
Oh yeah, he knew them. He just didn’t know why these criminals would want to work with some CEO of a minor airplane company. Erik understood that he held lots of power in the stock market but this was a bit minuscule compared to the amount talent.
“Yeah, I’ve chased all of them at one time or another” the German mumbled, his eyes scanning information and names. He paused at the next criminal and gave Shaw a look.
"Mystique? You have Mystique?"
"Is there someone better?” Shaw's question was not smug but a genuine need for clarification that he had hired the best of the best. This guy was desperate if he was playing with fire like this lot.
"No…. but Mystique is insane…”
“Which is why I need you.”
Erik glanced at the folders again before moving his hand away to close it. The ex-insurance investigator placed it back on the bar, leaning back into the stool and crosses his arms over his chest.
“No,” he said sternly, “I’m not a thief.”
“I don’t need thieves, thieves I got. I just need a good honest man,” he held his gaze, “to watch them.”
“There's no way this is going to work.” The German said, his eyes leaving Shaw’s to glance at the master plan that was thrown across the bar top. “All of them have one thing in common. They all work alone. There is no way that they are going to work for you.”
“For $300,000 each, they will.”
That caught his attention. Erik leaned forward again, gazing at the man who seemed to be in more of a bind than he was. Shaw leaned forward aswell, at one point he had rolled up the sleeves of his button up to his elbows. Dark eyes met.
“Look, for running it, I’ll double it for you. I’m desperate here, Mr. Lehnsherr,” He whined, moaned, did that sad frown with his mouth that made Erik compassionate heart twitch. NOT. “And that’s just the salary, there’s a bonus." Erik perked up at that. "Laley is insured by I.Y.S, your old bosses. It’s a 50 million dollar intellectual property rights policy on these designs.”
His words hung in the air and for a moment Erik wanted to walk away. But something he couldn’t explain kept him still.
“Now my question for you Mr. Lehnsherr is… how badly do you want to screw the insurance company that let your wife die?”