Chapter Text
"Noted. But that doesn't change things. I have nothing more to negotiate with the man bringing angels to my doorstep." Carmilla restates to Vox after Velvette's poor excuse for an apology. Just off to the side, the two sisters watch with scornful contempt for the two media overlords trying to persuade their mother.
Odette grip on her clipboard tightens as she is trying to keep some form of composure despite how hot her blood is boiling. Vox, over any other overlord she had to interact with on a semi-frequent basis, was always the most annoying to deal with. Every overlord meeting that he attended had him talking in corporate-speak and trying to pitch his half-baked, usually short-sighted business plans to the rest of the room.
Vox leans over the desk as he responds, "Mm. Are you sure that's me?" He starts to pace towards the window as he continues to say, "If I recall, it was... you who armed Charlie to slay the angels in the first place."
Odette glares daggers at the Vox as he paces about the office. Oh what she wouldn't give to curse him out of the room in the moment. Yet, she knew Clara would likely step in before to stop her. Which a part of her knows was the right move by her sister, given lashing out with the stakes this high would likely only make things worse.
Carmilla glances away from Vox and towards Odette and Clara. Her face displaying an ever so pained expression as she states, "Those were different circumstances."
Vox spins around from looking out the window and asks with mocking smile, "Was it, though? Because I'm just picking up where you guys left off." He begins to walk back towards Carmilla as he explains his point further, "See, you sit up here in your creepy factory, thinking you're above this war," He slams both hands on the desk and leans forward towards Carmilla. "When, really, you're the one who started it."
"Yeah under completely defensive circumstances you screen-headed moron. Damn what I would pay to mute you for the rest of eternity." Odette thinks as Vox's continues on his spiel.
He pushes even further over the desk and stresses in a stern tone. "Make no mistake, Carmilla. War is coming. You're either with me or against me." Even from an angle, Odette can see the mix between pained and worried look on her mothers face. Her nails start digging more into the clipboard, she starts taking quiet, but deep breaths to maintain her composure.
"And when the first shot fires, whose side do you want to be on?" He straightens himself and gestures to the sky, "Heaven's?" He then places both hands on his waist and really lays on the guilt of her decision to have ever aided the hotel in the first place. "You think they won't come for you?" Vox then motions with his hand to the knife that hangs as a center piece above her desk. Carmilla's gaze following as well to look up at the knife. "The one that supplied the princess with the knife that killed their leader." There is a twinge in Odette's chest as she catches a glimpse of her mothers expression. She can't say for sure, yet she looked scared, almost as if she was imagining a thousand what-ifs of what heaven might do for her role in the defence of the hotel and by extension the death of Adam.
Carmilla unable to meet Vox's eyes for a second as she tries to hide her worry. There is a small cracking sound that goes unnoticed by all, but Clara as the wood of her clipboard splinters from how tight her grip on it is.
Her eyes are trained as Vox meanders around the desk. At this point, she can't hide the how much disdain she has for Vox in the moment. "Help me protect Hell, Carmilla…" He rests his hand on her forearm for just a second. "…and I'll help you protect them." Vox turns and gestures to the two sisters.
In an instant, Odette's anger leaves her body as she is caught completely off guard by Vox's preposition. Her eyes grow wide at Vox's blatant use of her and her sister as mere pawns. Carmilla turns to faces her and Clara, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open as she looks at her two daughters and seemingly processes Vox's offer.
Dread floods into her mind as Odette can tell Vox struck the painfully right cord for her mother. Yet, she can only stand there as watch in worry as her mother turns away and rests her head in her hands on her desk.
With a sigh, she mutters,"I'll build your weapon."
Sparks fly off Vox's body as his face lights up and lets out a loud cackle before leering down at Carmilla with a sickly smirk. "I'm glad we could find this common ground Carmilla. I can already see that the partnership between our two companies will mutually beneficial. I'll share the full schematics with you now, " He waves his hand bringing up a hologram display again and taps a few things on it. After a few seconds, he closes it and goes on to say, "I'll be expecting daily reports on progress over the coming weeks. For now, Velvette and I have other matters to attend to."
Carmilla doesn't even look at her two daughters as she states with a exacerbated voice, "Understood, Vox. Clara, Odette, could you please see these two out please?"
Odette is still processing what happens that it takes Clara giving her a little nudge and a grim look. She wants so badly to say something, to lash out and smash that arrogant smile into his face. However, she knows that would make things worse then they already are so she just nods to acknowledge. The two sisters silently walk forward and motion in silence for the two overlords to follow them.
As they reach the door out of the office, glances back for a moment and catches a glimpse of her mother grabbing a bottle of brandy from one her desk drawers, same dejected expression on her face. As the two sisters lead the way, Odette can't help but stew in her own thoughts. "Why did you agree to help him, of all sinners? WHY HIM?! He couldn't have spelt out more clearly over his whole pseudo-political campaign, that he doesn't care about anyone's safety, let alone ours!"
The group all silently get into the elevator, both Odette and Clara just glaring at Vox and Velvette silently as they seem to be distracted with things on their phones. As the elevator begins to descend, she thinks some more. "Hell, there is how he went from his dumb musical act, that somehow worked with other overlords, to outright threatening mother… He is just doing whatever he needs to do to secure more power for himself!" There is a note of levity in the flurry of thoughts as a memory from a week ago resurfaces. "At least Clara and I still have the CCTV footage of that dense bundle of electronics making a fool of himself with those maracas… though even finding the humor in that is hard now given how things turned out today… Bloody hell, I need to know why mother gave into his demands…"
With a short chime, the elevator opens and the two overlords exit. The second the door closes with a hiss, Clara is the first break composure and curses aloud, "I wanted to punch that smug fuck's head in sooooo badly." Odette barely reacts as she is almost fully consumed trying to figure out why their mother gave into Vox.
Clara tries to get a head of why she thinks her sister didn't respond by saying, "Oh right… I know you wanted to object, but you more then anyone knows that it would've made an already hellish situation worse."
Odette, so tunnel visioned by one question that she doesn't even acknowledge what Clara said, asks under her breath, "Why did mother agree to help him?" Her voice, no matter how quiet is distant and especially monotone.
Her sister turns her attention in concern as the elevator comes to a stop and opens up the the main floor of the compound. Odette walks out, almost as if she is in a trance, however Clara grabs her by the shoulder and turns her to face her. Her brows knit together in a tight, worried line seeing the very empty look in her sisters eyes. Taking a deep breath, she tries to respond to her question, "Mum did it to protect us… Hell you saw how that waste of electricity had to scare her with what-ifs about our own safety to get her to crack."
She pushes hers sisters arm off her shoulder. With a little more energy in her voice, Odette counters, "But he couldn't have made it clearer that he doesn't give a damn what happens to us. How couldn't mother see that?" Clara eye contact shifts to the side as she seems to need a moment to come up with an answer.
"I don't think that it really mattered to mum after he planted the idea that we needed to pick the right side in the coming war. And… she realistically didn't have a choice since he declared war on Heaven. As standing alone against almost every other overlord aligned with Vox would've left us in a vulnerable position."
Odette eyes grow wide with shock, she backs up a few steps before refuting what her sister said, "Mother did have a choice though. We are the sole reason anyone can defend themselves from Heaven's forces in the first place. If Heaven did attack again, we could defend ourselves on our own terms instead of becoming puppet for Vox's cause and following him to the grave. Come on Clara, she refused to work with Vox last week and it should've been no different today."
Her words hang in the air, Clara sighs as she seems to try find the right words to respond to Odette. A subtle grimace forms and she clenches her fists, before bemoaning, "Sis, as much as I hate Vox and how he talked to mum, you have to admit that he had a point. Heaven, no matter if we aligned against Vox's forces, likely wouldn't care if they decided to attack again. If anything we would be a explicit target due to the role we played in the defense of the hotel." Clara tries to close the gap the two, but Odette keeps her distance.
"If they wanted to retaliate for Adams death or even respond to the declaration of war, they would've attacked by now. They know we have the ability to kill them now, so giving us more time to prepare is the last thing they would want to do if they wanted to retaliate." Her voice grows steady louder as she continues on her point. "Yes, there is no changing the fact that Heaven has the blood of millions on their hands. However, what does aiding Vox with his holy war do but end in the death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands more. All for what? Helping some egomaniac with delusions of being a god become a full blown DICTATOR?!" Both her arms shoot up to really stresses the end of her point. Her heartbeat is racing and breathing is a series of deep breaths.
A deafening silence floods the hallway as the two sisters avoid each-others gaze. Odette mind is a thick slurry of thoughts as she really did think that Clara would see things the same way she did. Along processing the pit that has formed in her stomach from actually yelling at Clara. Of course it isn't the first time she has had an argument with her sister, far from it. It's that the stakes of what is being argued over have never been this high. "Why you too Clara… dammit… Okay just calm down… things got way too heated so maybe there is still a way to convince her…"
In effort to try and extend an olive branch, she sighs, "Clara… I get it, it feels like there is no other choice with Hell being on the to the brink of war. But we can't let Vox's fear mongering blind common sense. We have a choice, we make the stand here and now against Vox and the propaganda apparatus that he leads." Every word she chooses is carefully picked to attempt to really bring the point home. Clara turns to face her sister, but she doesn't meet Odette's pleading eyes, "All we need to do is go into mother's office and convince her to call off the partnership with Voxtek. Us together might be enough to get through to her. Please I can't do it without you…"
In her heart of hearts, that inkling of hope burns bright as she waits in bated breath for her sisters response. Clara bites the inside of her mouth, then wipes her hands down her face before meeting with Odette gaze. "I'm sorry Odette…" That one moment of eye contact tells her more then a million of words could. It pierces her heart like an angelic knife and puts her at a lost for words. For the first time in a very long time Clara, the one person she truly could trust with anything, wouldn't help her. She wants to be angry at her, the same way she was upset at her mother for agreeing in the first place.
But she can't shake how her sister looked at her, that sickly familiar mix of between guilt and fear that painted her face. The look of someone who is conflicted with the choice they made.
Odette considers still storming into her mother office, yet if she couldn't even convince her own sister it she doubts her mother would be any different. That pit in her stomach is more like an endless void now and her mind is a cluster fuck of emotions. No even having the words to respond to Clara, much less look at her, she walks forward and around Clara back towards the elevator.
Clara stands frozen for a second before she turns and tries to reach out to her sister, "Wait Sis don't go…" Odette pauses, but chooses not to even look at her. "We don't even know what Vox wants us to build… maybe its naive to think, but it could just be a bunch of smoke and mirrors… or just infeasible to begin with… Meaning all of this could be for nothing…" She falters a little, likely realizing how empty her attempt at optimism is.
She is about to continue walking when an idea pops into existence thanks to something Clara said. Resuming her way towards the elevator, she thinks about how much the silent treatment must be hurting Clara. So just before getting into the elevator she musters the most stable tone she can and looks back at her sister to say, "I need my own time to process this… so I won't be responding to texts or calls for the next little bit." Clara hangs her head long, but nods as to say that she understands. She feels find leaving it at that and watches her disappear as the doors slide shut.
Leaning up against the back of the elevator, she feels drained of all energy and life after that conversation. She takes a series of deep breath trying to ignore those feelings for now and focus on the idea she had. Vowing under her breath, "Vox, you better hope you've crossed all your t's and dotted all your i's on those schematics. If this weapons design is as poor as your phones, I'll find the flaw in it… And by Satan I'll find some way to use it to convince the others to not build your weapon…"