Marvel: A Tale of Shadows

 They walked into the restaurant just as the sun was setting. It was a high grade Japanese restaurant. He had never come here before but he knew for a fact that most people had to make reservations ahead of time by at least a few weeks.

"Wow…" Felicia was probably caught off guard by the lack of people. She was prepared for the place to be packed with people, since it was so popular.

Ethan nodded, "as expected. Mister Fisk probably rented out the place." He was dressed in a simple dress shirt and pants. While Felcia was in a matching open backed dress. Her hair was done up with a Japanese comb holding it together. "I have a feeling we are going to be gone for a few hours. Hopefully Laura will be good with video games and leftovers."

"Oh, she will be fine. Since you have been busy and on a different schedule with us. You might not know but she has been wearing herself out with gymnastics and martial arts practice." Felicia explained as a waitress strutted up to them.

She gave a bow, "I assume you are Mister Hilt and Miss Hardy. The Fisks are expecting you. Right this way." The woman was dressed in a seductive japanese dress that showed off her legs.

They followed the woman to a table where there was a rather large man and a woman with black hair and white bangs. The man was dressed in a white suit with a purple tie while the woman had a purple dress. They stood up as Ethan and Felicia approached.

"Mister Fisk, it is a pleasure to meet you." Ethan shook Wilson's hand while Felicia and Vanessa Fisk started a conversation.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mister Hilt. I hope you don't mind but I have a feeling we are both just accompanying the ladies while they get acquainted. How familiar are you with the ladies' family?" Fisk asked as they sat down next to their respective partners.

"I have only met Felicia's father. Who from what I understand has never met Miss Vanessa." Ethan explained as he secretly took in the surroundings. The tables were mostly moved away while the windows had curtains covering them. Hidden around the room were bodyguards.

To be fair, he also spotted at least three groups of guards outside as well. One was in an SUV across the street. Another was sitting at a coffee place across the street. The last were hanging out in the alley by where this restaurant presumably has a service entrance for the kitchen.

"Ah, how unfortunate. Might I ask how you and Miss Hardy met?" Fisk asked as he took a sip of sake. The waitress came with a warm cup of sake for the table. It seemed Fisk and Vanessa had started a bit early. So now another bottle was coming out.

"Actually, I thought she was being molested. But she was already kicking one of the prick's asses when I arrived. Not much for me to do. So I just walked her back to her place." He explained as he poured himself a cup of sake.

"Hmm… that kind of thing has been happening more often. It is unfortunate, but I feel like a big but slow change will soon come to New York." Wilson observed as he leaned back. "I have a feeling I know what it is as well."

"It is the tide of new." Ethan responded as he took a sip of sake. Savoring the warm feeling as it went down his throat. "New mutants, new super people, new technology, and new problems."

Wilson narrowed his eyes as he leaned forward. "Why are you so confident that there will be new problems? It might just be the same problems with different skins." He started tapping the table slowly, probably a nervous habit.

"Because… what can and can't be done will expand. Our current perception of what is possible will more than likely be shattered. I would not be surprised if we had to start worrying about demons and stuff like that." Ethan shrugged as he thought back on one of the many lessons he learned from Frigga.

The fact that there were other dimensions. As well as the fact that every once in a while the walls between the dimensions break down for a time. Not to mention that of all the dimensions there was the only one with abundant life.

"Hm… I suppose. I have heard rumors of magic and similar things." Fisk responded.

Which probably meant that Wilson Fisk had directly interacted with magic before. Or at least something similar. Ethan had heard rumors that the man had dabbled in just about every 'super' field when he was getting an edge over his competitors.

"With all these heroes and rumors of vigilantes we might just see some crazy magic stuff on the news one day." He made the statement nonchalantly but as he expected it had an impact as Fisk very slightly flinched.

"Hmm…" Fisk appeared ready to start a discussion but it was stopped in its cradle.

"Wilson, did you hear about this?" Vanessa asked as she gave a glare that honestly gave Ethan shivers. Maybe the rumors about her being involved in Fisk's underworld businesses were true.

"Um," Fisk seemed as surprised as Ethan was. "I am sorry honey, we were not listening. What were you talking about?"

"Well apparently there have been a large number of child kidnappings in New York. Felicia has done an analysis of the regions where the children went missing. Apparently the majority are in the poorer regions where crime is rampant, like Hell's Kitchen." Vanessa's words sounded almost accusatory.

"I… have not. We should look up more about that when we get back." That was Fisk's discreet way of saying, that is a problem we need to remedy.

Ethan looked over at Felicia who shrugged and gave an innocent smile. "Jean and I have been talking about it for the last few days. Apparently the federal government is being uncooperative."

"Makes sense, the increase of natural born mutants is powder keg. But I have a feeling there's something else going on." Ethan answered with a sigh as he thought about the research he had been doing for the last week. The facility he was watching had shipped off both children corpses along with children to other facilities. It irked him to no end.

"Hmm… I suppose we could start building walls and a standard at a state level first. That would force their hand." Vanessa responded, Ethan watched as the gears began to turn and the woman began planning.

"Do we have to get so involved?" Fisk asked with a worried look.

"Of course, what if we have a kid in the future and he becomes a mutant? What would you do then?" Vanessa asked with a voice full of venom.

"If you do go down this path you should be careful. The majority of the businesses have already set up a standard. Most are anti-mutant but there are some pro-mutant groups you should be careful of as well." Ethan interjected as the waitress placed a set of bowls in front of them.

"I think we should move onto a lighter conversation." Fisk suggested.

—-------------------------------------

"Well that was certainly an interesting experience." Felicia opened the door and kicked off her heels. "The food was good at least."

"You say that as if the conversation and company were bad." Ethan chuckled as he closed the door behind him.

"It wasn't. Vanessa was actually really nice and seemed genuine about being my lost aunt. But did you notice how she might have a direct hand in how Fisk operates in the underworld? I mean I only mentioned it and she got set off immediately." Felicia stretched as she walked into the living room.

"Yeah… that was kind of strange." Ethan began relaxing his muscles. He had unconsciously tensed up during dinner.

"So when are you leaving again?"

"Tomorrow night. We will steal a food transport that is enroute and arrive at the facility early in the morning two days from now. All the prep is done, I just need to rest and meet at the separation point. So I plan to stay home and sleep so I am well rested." He explained as he stretched.

"Okay, good to know. Have fun, Laura and I are going to be doing survival training with Paine for the next week. But tomorrow we are going clothes shopping."

Ethan shook his head as he walked into his room.