[center][img]http://s29.postimg.org/6xz582dif/RTJDanny_copy.png[/img][/center]

[center][i]“We're here to tell you all your false idols are just pretenders,
They're corporation slaves indentured to all the lenders,
So even if you got seven figures, you still a nigga.”[/i] – Killer Mike[/center]

[b]Gërdec Foundation
Manhattan[/b]

Danny Rand and Jeryn Hogarth stood in the corner of the large dining hall and spoke amongst themselves as people filtered towards their seats. Both men were in black tie. Rand wore it considerably better as Hogarth had attempted to squeeze into a tux he’d purchased almost half a decade ago and had already manage to spill ketchup down his front. Despite inwardly feeling awkward at the gathering of other so-called men of note Danny was outwardly relaxed. His speech to the shareholders meeting had been well received and given the situation in Harlem the leadership he’d shown endeared him to them even more. For forty-five minutes Danny Rand had been his father’s son. At the Gërdec Foundation dinner he would need to be more than that. The shareholders had a vested interest in Danny and Rand Industries succeeding. Here half the room were waiting for them to fail so they could strip the company down.

Danny took a sip of champagne and then gestured to the security lining the dining hall’s walls. “There’s an awful lot of security here tonight.”

“Can you blame them?” Hogarth shrugged his shoulders as he shoveled a sausage roll down his throat. “After that thing with Drayton the whole city’s on full alert. You think you’re going to get half of New York’s movers and shakers in one room after something like that without a small army at hand?”

Danny took another mouthful of champagne. Across the room an immaculately well-groomed man sauntered across the room. He was tall, six foot two at the very least, with a bald head and a black beard flecked with greys. Danny could tell by the way he was looking at them that he was their in.

When he was within a few feet Jeryn spotted him too and murmured to Danny under his breath. “There’s our man.”

“Wesley Phillips,” Jeryn said as he shook the man’s hand and pointed him in Danny’s direction. “This is Daniel Rand.”

Phillips outstretched one of his large hands and Danny took hold of it. It was smooth, eerily so, and despite his effeminate appearance Danny could sense a steeliness beneath the man’s front that he worked hard to keep hidden. Something about the man intrigued him and from the glint in Wesley’s eye it was almost as if he knew it.

“It’s a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Mr. Rand.”

Hogarth called out to a server and plucked a glass of champagne from him and thrust it into Wesley’s hand. Phillips took it gratefully and sipped on it as Jeryn ran through Wesley’s background.

“Wes is Chief of Staff to the Borough President of Staten Island by way of Goldman Sachs. He’s thinking about making a move back to the private sector and I told him we might be able to find a home for him at Rand Industries.”

Danny smiled knowingly. “A rather spacious one, I’m sure.”

“Indeed,” Hogarth nodded. “He thinks he can get us some face time with Diane tonight.”

A bemused look appeared on Danny’s face.

“Diane?”

“Gërdec,” Hogarth sighed.” As in the “Gërdec Foundation” Diane Gërdec. She was Deputy to Roger Kollek a decade and a half ago. She has more friends in this city than the rest of us put together and we’re going to need to get her onside if we want some of those fat government contracts.”

Again Danny seemed confused. “Why do we need her approval if she’s the [i]former[/i] Deputy Mayor? I don’t get it.”

“Sorry about him,” Hogarth said with a chuckle to Phillips as a look of genuine embarrassment appeared on his face. “He’s still a little wet behind the ears about how these things work.”

Again there was a glimmer of playful recognition in Wesley’s eyes.

“A clean pair of hands? Not many of those left in New York. I’m impressed Rand Industries lasted this long if it’s such a stranger to the dark arts, Mr. Rand.”

Hogarth chuckled whilst Danny peered over the edge of his champagne glass as he took a sip. Wesley maintained his gaze for several seconds too long before breaking it to look around the dining hall. After several seconds he spotted the form of Diane Gërdec. He set his glass of champagne down, weaved his arm underneath Danny’s armpit, and pulled him away from Hogarth and towards Diane’s large entourage.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

After some jostling and playful banter with Diane’s Chief of Staff the pair of them stood before Diane Gërdec in all her bountiful splendor. She was no taller than five feet, wore a royal blue blazer with large shoulder pads, and had thick, curly white hair that looked to be immaculately brushed. Between the old woman’s fingers with a cigarette which she puffed on despite the building being smoke-free.

Wesley unhooked his arm from Danny’s and thrust him towards the old woman with a smile. “Diane, this is Daniel Rand.”

Diane eyed Danny up and down before gesturing to her entourage to leave them. They muttered incomprehensively and shot Rand dirty looks as they made their exit to leave him alone with the old woman. Gërdec sat unmoving as she eyed him with bleary green eyes that were tinged with brown.

Finally she spoke with a heavy Brooklyn accent that took Danny off-guard. “Rand, eh? You here with a begging bowl like the rest of them?

His face blushed red and he tried to think of a retort but the abrasive laugh that came rushing from Diane’s lips cut across him. She flicked the ash of her cigarette free onto the expensive carpet below and took another long drag of her cigarette as she gestured to Danny to take a seat.

“I’m only kidding, kid. I knew your father before… Y’know, what happened with your mother and him.” Gërdec muttered as she studied him. “Did you know that?”

Danny shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he often did when people mentioned Wendell. “My father had a lot of friends in New York.”

“That he did,” Diane said as she exhaled a thick stream of smoke. “You on the other hand do not, Mr. Rand. You let that Brubaker fool run your company into the ground and now you’re here because you need an in. Am I right?”

Danny considered disputing it for a second but made Diane for a woman that would not think highly of him for doing so. He could feel both Wesley and Hogarth’s eyes trained on him in the distance. Instead of lying he simply looked the old woman dead in the eye and nodded.

“A man needs friends, Mr. Rand. You see that mess with Drayton this afternoon? That’s what happens when a man doesn’t have friends in a city like New York.”

Something about the comment sat uncomfortably with Danny and he squinted at the old woman as she took another drag of her cigarette. 

“What are you saying?”

“Nothing,” Diane chuckled. “Nothing at all.”

She blew another thick cloud of smoke out of her lugs and then coughed a few times. She gestured to Danny to hand her the glass of water that was a few inches out of her reach but he sat unmoving and allowed herself to strain to reach it. There was something in that laugh, Danny thought, as he watched the old woman glug down a mouthful of water to cool her blackened lungs. Finally she set it down and sighed contentedly before looking in Danny’s direction.

“You’re a lot less charming than your father was, Mr. Rand, but for his sake I’ll keep you in mind next time I speak with my friends. Perhaps your fortunes will take a turn for the better and one day you’ll be able to do [i]me[/i] a solid in my time of need. Should I ever need one.”

Danny nodded as he stood up from his seat, brushed down the front of his tuxedo, and nodded by way of confirmation.

“Thank you.”