TheAbsurdist

Rather politely, he handed her a glass of the and nodded towards her. "Pleased to meet... all of you. And I find you proposition interesting, and I cannot say I am particular shocked that this has come about. Though..." He lifted a hand and cupped his chin in thought, staring far off for a moment before taking a sip of the scotch. "I do wonder how well prepared you all are. I mean, even I know better than to try a leveraged buyout without a firm understanding of the pertinents. I know that with my 'C' average, the MBA, and the law degree, so I just take for granted that everyone in this situation would gravitate towards that as well." Another sip, and his eyes flicked to Gray for a moment, as he moved around the table, switching back to a smile. "I would assume you have at least a more than passable understanding of the assets of the company, but do you have the understanding of the context of this? As when I was handed reins this was essentially the North American portion of Al-Misri holdings, and that was what, almost a decade ago now? How time flies. Hm." He paused at the opposite side of the table from Gray, looking at the man as he took another, slow, drink of his scotch. "Valuable then, but hardly a commodity to really go after like this. But that is different now, isn't it? Amazing how that happens. Just ten short years, under the helm of, let us be frank, a flippant jackass of a playboy," he spread his arms and turned a little bit, looking over the faces of his board, to Merge, and then back to grey. "Yet it is also amazing that you expect me to believe your offer. I know, I know, you are reasonable people, and I honestly believe that it is in good faith. But then men hiring you aren't reasonable. In a situation like this they couldn't allow for a liability to exist that could be disastrous to their profits. And I would be a liability, especially given that each stake in this company is insoluble, barring a three-fifths vote in the board. But you are reasonable. You wont kill me. Your employers will, with someone else. And your gloves stay..." looking down to Grey's hands as he drained the last bit of the scotch, and leaned over the table, his hands going to either side of the conferencing phone, "...white." "Ten short years. And my efforts have made this company desirable, enough to kill me over. Enough to send the stick and the carrot here to cow me, to make me capitulate. Did you really study up before taking this job Grey? Or did you stop at the tabloid stories, and the fact I have fantastic hair? When you should have given yourself pause and asked yourself a small question, what kind of man builds something like. Rather than steal something out of the hands of those who built it." The smile on his face became wolfish, the flippant tone, and occasional flirtatious looks were gone. Replaced with a glare that didn't waver. "I'll ruin that mystery for you, Mr. Grey, it takes a very unreasonable man." And then he let his power out, hands so close to that phone, that was plugged into an outlet. A direct line of electrical power, and it surged up to fill him. Game on.

He moved slowly through the air, not rushing towards the somewhat fallen Brute. One hand held up, and still pulsating with power, ready to knock him for a loop again. The other hand fished an earpiece out of a pocket on the inside of his jacket, and he put it in, activating it with a tap. "One for pick up, will hold until you arrive." He didn't need to add anything more, though he kept the small commlink on, in case. As the guy was too calm. "Just the one...? Is there anyone else who is going to introduce themselves to me?" Addressing the large man he had just fought.

Another blast came. This one hit hard as well. A lance of force striking the clearly punch drunk brute. "Yield." That was it, there was no fancy taunting or insults. He was angry because of the crowd gathering beneath, not for being watched, but because he knew the guy he was duking it out with didn't care about their safety, or he wouldn't have just been committing randoms acts violence, or seemingly random acts. He had no urge to really hurt the guy, but also wasn't going to baby him, and let him keep swinging until he was out. Asad was tough, but this guy was packing herculean strength that made his ribs hurt.

All-Out attack. Hit! 1d20+5=19

Now he was righted, and shutting away that he was being watched, so he unleashed another blast. This time he was in a port stable position, well as stable as possible while flying in the air with nothing seemingly holding it up. This time, though, he scored a hit directly on the big guy. Though it didn't mean he was particularly happy with being stared at by a large crowd. Maybe it was just that solid of a hit, of maybe he was trying harder, or maybe it was whatever that blasted mad scientist did to him, but that beam hit the brute hard in the chest. "You should know something biggie, no matter hard you hit me, I will get back up. And more importantly, I will HIT harder!" What Asad could not see was that all that power he absorbed was bleeding off as light, his eyes glowing white, matching the veins of glowing in pulses along his arms and encompassing his hands. Having absorbed impacts that would have tore a battleship in half had pushed his abilities, but it left him a surfeit of it to burn. And in the Brute, he had a target.

1d20+5=19 Blast hits.

1d20+5=9 Miss!

Asad did a barrel roll on that, to narrowly dodge the surging mass of the big guy, then righted himself, and sending out a blast of his own, though still off balance that the lance of kinetic force sailed over the big brutes head. So he yelled, "You SURE you don't want to talk to this out!?" Of course he didn't expect a positive answer, Brute looked liked the kind of guy who would take offense to actual discussion. But such was life, was it not?

And Asad, still facing the brute, rose back up quickly then, rocketing straight up and away. He was hurting, and he had to change how he was resolving this, or he was just going to get slowly ground down into nothing, fortunately one of them had range, and Asad had a whole lot of range. A whole heckuva lot of range.

1d20+13=28

Right now he was Amir, more than Asad. While a lot of people didn't understand the finer points of that distinction, Ms. Van Cleef. After all she had worked with him for the better part of a decade. She saw the smile, and the nod, and she knew. There was no need for secret communique between him, or any of the board. Not that they necessarily trusted him in this, as he had rather effectively not shown anything other than the playboy image too him. Though his reputation as an epic schmoozer was one of the selling points of this company. "Hm, well that is an interesting proposal. I mean on the one hand you made sure I wasn't here when you started this, but one the other you are threatening me. You are doing this wrong, I mean sure, you can replace me, but I doubt you're going to be able to replace what I do with one of those shapeshifters. Or the people I know. It's why I am still CEO here, replacing me is just too annoying, am I right guys?" Chuckling a little, scanning the room, mostly to see if everyone was okay, or if there had been any violence done yet. "Tough crowd, but why would today be any different? Eh?... I should stop with the jokes then." He sighed in a wistful manner, and shook his head, winking at the woman he walked in with and then glanced to the Gray Man, and he made his way to the liquor cabinet, opening it, and starting to pour himself a scotch. "Want some? It is old enough to drink itself, a nice single malt."

Asad stepped back, unable to resist switching to irritating, his voice becoming cloying and taunting "Aw, sweetness did I hurt you?" Grinning broadly, as he let the man half turn with the wild swing, and then held up a hand and unleashed a blast right at his face. "Don't take it personal pumpkin, you are a one trick pony. Me? I am a thorough bred." He immediately took a step back after the blast hoping that the next swing was wild as well, and he could start to use his movement to his advantage. Hoping the guy couldn't fly.

Second Blast 1d20+5=18

And it truth that might be the case under normal circumstances, but not so much with Asad. Who often times applied the adage, if you're going to be dumb you might as well be tough. Certainly the blows impacted him, but he did not crumple under them like the cars had. But sagged from the blows, and he blinked back the blur, and he growled a little, clearly more than a little annoyed. So a different tact was going to be needed. "So you can swing, good, good. Funny, I got a few tricks, myself." And that kinetic energy that was thrumming through him, he let out from an outstretched hand, a blast of concussive force impacting the big guy squarely between his shoulders. "Round two big boy!"

1d20+14=26 Blast: Hit 1d20+5=19

The blow did knock him back, but there was no resounding clap or shockwave, as he responded to the excess force, it didn't shed away, even as it impact blurred his vision. It was something he hated, a lot. That he had to get hit first. But that's fine, that's all good. Two can do that that. And he closed the distance between him and with with a leap and an overhead swing of his arm, for a hard punch. "Not bad, not the first guy who's hit me! And I can fight back a lot more than a car!" It was a wild sweep that he hadn't really readied for, but the big guy didn't look like a guy who normally dodged a lot of blows. Of course he didn't want to trade blows, but right now he had to do just that.

Swangin' room! Attack (1d20+5=18)

Spend an HP for a Reroll TOU (1d20+15=23)

It hits Asad. And for the Tou... Crud. TOU check (1d20+15=17)

Frowning shaking his head. Ah... this is going to be not fun. A long sigh escaping him. And then he rose into the air and landed in front of him. "I really didn't want this to be the scenario that plays out, but stop. Now. This doesn't have to escalate further." Holding one hand up to him. Asad was not an imposing figure, as Amir al-Misri was known as a smiling face, and not someone who could glower down a big monster. Rather he seemed resigned, and on a night like this, it made sense. It wasn't as if he expected tonight to play out to some magical evening and finding his soulmate, he wasn't so silly. However due to his recent absence he needed to get back to some semblance of his normalcy. And it seemed that what was had be re-evaluated. "But I can't let you continue this, you will hurt others. And I will not countenance that." Looking at the brute dead in the eyes, and not pulling back in the slightest.

Initiative (1d20+7=15)

Skill Mastery with Sense Motive, so 21, on that. Can't use IC at work. If you want I can roll when I get home.

He sighed, and moved towards the man, circling around him to put himself back in his field of view and so as not to startle him. "Hey... big guy, it seems you are, and I can assure you that there are better ways, more constructive ways, to express that anger than causing a traffic jam and a scene in Midtown. So how about you and I have a talk about this, maybe I buy you a drink or two. I can get this sorted out for you. There is no needed to this, I mean you are kind of ruining someone elses' day by pancaking their car. Would you like that to happen to you? I can help, just give me a chance." Asad kept his tone even, his hands held up and out, as he slowly closed the distance between them. Watching the man carefully gauging his mood, try to find anything there to seize upon, to see something in the brute's reaction to his words. Though he was expecting the inevitable blow. Fortunately, recently events made him less likely to flinch, and he had been enough times in his relatively short superhero career to know what an angry swipe from a massive paw like that felt like.

Silver tongue employed. Diplomacy Check v. Goon! (1d20+15=33)

He watched the big goon for a moment, and glanced around, as his sounded. Then he picked up his smartphone. "Hello? Bianca? There is a slight problem, if you check the news right now, looks like some sort of supervillain is blocking eastbound traffic. I don't know how long I will be, I may have to actually fight him.... Hm. I will try to make it quick, if it takes too long, I will take you to Paris." After a few moments, he hung up, and made a face, the woman was understanding sort of, as he was a feather to her cap, but that he did feel genuinely guilty about this and could convey such. And with a sigh, he got out of his car, and the leaped into the air, making his way towards the trouble make. Putting himself into full view, he slowly landed near the big guy, and folded his arms across his chest, standing there is his expensive, tailored suit. "So, how can I convince you to stop this. I have a date, and I would prefer that we could reach some sort of peaceable agreement to end this. That's okay, right?" His eyebrows lifted and he immediately was amicable and smiling, making his tone and posture non-threatening. Despite his reputation as a bit of a fop, his prowess is social settings made him positively devastating. Here he was trying to employ it to stop a fight from happening. A habit that got noted by certain publications, and that made them accusing him even more of being a dilettante. Right now he was just hoping he could resolve this faster with words, and possible with significantly less collateral damage that a big goon like this could cause.