The clicks and clacks of our shoes against the stone stairs filled the otherwise empty cubic area that the stairs occupy. These staircases are always really cold for some reason too. The place feels rather desolate and there's still three of us here. I can't imagine what it would be like travelling these stairs on your own.
I imagine it's got something to do with the air conditioning but still having cold air blow against your face as you walk up a seemingly endless number of stairs is rather off putting. We haven't even gotten beyond 10 steps yet and I'm already feeling like this is going to last forever.
Just as I'm resolving myself to this long, lonely and perilous journey however the door below us opens and out comes the receptionist lady once more. What does she want? This doesn't seem good. I look around at the others and they appear to be thinking something similar.
Tommy gets back into his act as the haughty girl and asks "What do YOU want? Finally ready to do your damn job?!" He practically screeches at her. I could feel the real irritation and slight panic coming through in those words. It was Tommy's job to get us past the entrance and he had I imagine he hoped that was that.
We all stare at the woman with murder in our eyes like a sheathed dagger. Myself and Marianne were ready to cut her down if she made any sudden moves here. We knew this is enemy territory and we were treating it as such. Anyone who isn't part of the team is an enemy. We all wait with baited breath for what she has to say next.
"I forgot because I was in a rush but I require you to identify yourselves. Make it quick and I can hand these cards over to you. Otherwise you won't be able to get anywhere past here." She explained in a business like tone with some haste to it before showing us what looks like a plastic card in a holder with a string attached to it. She then takes out three of them and practically dangles them before our eyes in an attempt to get us to hurry it up.
Yeah without Mainframe's help I suppose we would need that to enter anywhere other than here. Obviously she was confused and perhaps obligated to get us to carry one of those around or we would be considered intruders. Not that we aren't actually intruders.
"Do your job woman!" Half shouted Tommy exasperated still using that extremely annoying voice that almost made me grimace despite knowing how fake it is.
"I am now hurry up. I've got something else to do." Says the receptionist trailing off into a murmur and glancing back at the door she just came through. I can see the regret in her eyes from here. Clearly she needs to be at her desk for something and she came here just to give these to us despite how Tommy treated her.
Still we can't just name ourselves. It would be a serious issue if the records were to be investigated and they were to find these strange visitors with fake names wandering about. Giving our real names is obviously out of the question because some of us are famous and even the ones that aren't still know not to waste their real identity like this.
"Just call me Miss Abendroth." Says Tommy scowling at the reception lady. Apparently he was going to take the name of the person we met while walking through town. I'm not sure he knows enough to use that name given that we only met the man once but still.
The receptionist's eyes widened and she stared for a moment at Tommy looking utterly confounded. She did however give us the cards and before she left Marianne stopped her with a growl. "Wait a moment."
The intimidation in her voice probably wasn't intentional but it was enough to stop even this busy woman in her tracks so perhaps it was for the best. "You are not going to write this down in any records. Is that understood?" Asked Marianne in her low voice. The receptionist looked back at her and scowled.
"I have to record visits fro-" She started speaking about company policy or something but before she could finish Marianne cut her off.
"You will not record it. Just because Milady is willing to endanger her safety does not mean her family is. If we hear word of this you and yours will lose more than your job. Is that understood?" Said Marianne and this time she was trying to be threatening. She was barring her teeth at the receptionist and a feeling of pressure pressed down on everyone in the room.
The woman gulped but nodded "I don't have time for this I didn't see anything. Those cards are anonymous anyways." She said quickly before looking at Marianne as if asking for permission to leave. She granted that permission with a small nod and the woman scurried off like an animal running from a predator.
Even I noticed that she broke her usual business like speech at the end there. Bet Marianne scared her shtless. Well that's not surprising. Still I don't think Marianne would come up with something that intricate on the spot so I guess that was Mainframe's doing. Though I suppose Marianne could manage it maybe?
Seeing my questioning stare Marianne gave me the answer "Mainframe ordered me to act like her family didn't want her to be doing this and to play the role of bodyguard. I do believe it suited me well." She smiled that ferocious smile once more and no one had the will to retort any more even if we wanted to.
We continued up the stairs without further incident. Well it was surprisingly boring for a secret mission to destroy a branch of nearly the biggest corporation in the known universe but this was what a merc's work was all about really. Despite how it was depicted when I was a kid…
"The walking is always the hardest part." I murmured as we continued to climb step after step, all of them looking exactly the same as the last and no end appearing to be in sight. There was a door every floor so at least we knew that we were now on the second floor level at least but still this was taking ages.
"Staying alert through these parts of the mission is often the hardest job we have. I mean we train so much not for the life and death fights but for the ludicrous amount of walking we have to do." Tommy replied to my murmur with a rye smile.
"The fitter always wins the fight. Mental fortitude is simply another form of fitness. Something you two apparently have yet to develop to it's peak." Interjected Marianne in her low voice. Yet despite how intimidating she usually seemed there was something incredibly serene about her voice now.
Her eyes were closed as she climbed up the stairs. That's actually rather a feat in and of itself actually. Also you talk like we're the ones without mental discipline but you're practically sleeping on the job. We do actually need to stay alert during times like this you know.
"I can feel the criticism in your gaze Amelie. I trust you do not think I am lax." Said Marianne as though she was reading my mind before turning towards me with her eyes still closed and exuding a pressure I couldn't help but be impressed by.
"So you can still see me like that huh? Impressive." I said genuinely in awe of her skills. I'm feel taught like a string pulled to it's limit and I still lose concentration pretty often and then there's Marianne who's walking along as though there isn't any danger at all and is practically asleep yet still more alert than me.
"You gotta remember Marianne's from a bunch of warriors. Wouldn't surprise me if she learned what to do in her downtime from her parents or something." Explained Tommy with a sigh before suddenly straightening up realizing that he loosened up a bit too much.
"We are taught that there are several types of downtime and you should use each in productive ways." Explained Marianne and I thought she was going to lecture us on how to use each type of downtime and whatnot but she just kept walking with her eyes closed as though that was the end of the conversation.
Ok now I'm kind of interested but the fact she didn't talk about it might mean it's a secret thing she's not willing to share. I can tell I'm getting lax by the fact that I'm having silly thoughts like this. I need to keep up my vigilance.
Though as it turned out that faux vigilance was for nothing as I came upon the tenth door on the stairs. No real problem encounters through the entire way. Because of that myself and Tommy were a little too relaxed when we finally found ourselves in front of the 10th floor door.
"Mainframe could you open the door for us please." I said staring at the holder on the side of the door. I'm fairly certain that the visitor card the lady at the desk gave us wouldn't let us get onto the 10th floor. Even if it would we don't really want her knowing what we were up to. We could make excuses saying that we went to get the guy ourselves and he was on break or something but if he wasn't actually on break then we'd have some real issues so best to leave this to Mainframe and get in undetected.
A few seconds after I made the request the panel next to the door glowed green and we heard a click from the door's direction. Impressed by the speed she completed that request but not really surprised we opened the door and walked into what we presumed would be an empty hallway.
Except we forgot that Mainframe only has access up to the 10th floor and not on it. This is where the employees take their breaks and that includes the security guards. So obviously it has more security than the first 9 floors which only contain receptionists and call centres among other such mundane stuff.
So finding a pair of security guards beyond the door shouldn't have really been a shocking discovery and yet upon spotting them me and Tommy only barely managed to stifle our surprise. 'Of course there are security guards here' I berated myself as I realized how lax I was becoming.
Seeing us casually stride through the door the guards walked up to us. The first thing I noticed about them was their musculature. Not that they were particularly muscly though they certainly weren't your average Joe in that department either. What really surprised me however was the way their muscles had been built.
Their frames were lean. No excess fat, or really, no excess anything. It was like their bodies were specifically built to do every movement efficiently and quickly. If I wasn't trained in combat myself I wouldn't have even noticed how built they were. In fact I would've thought they were quite thin and wiry for security guards.
Knowing what I do however I recognized the way they were built. "Excuse me ladies but can we help you." One of the guards said with a disingenuous smile on his face. These guards are clearly trained to kill and nothing less. They're trained to efficiently strike down their opponents and leave the scene as fast as possible.
I continued to berate myself for my relaxed attitude as Tommy responded to them having seemingly realized the same thing judging by the mostly disguised panic in his tone. "We are here to pick up a friend. You guard dogs can be so rude sometimes honestly. They give you sturdier chains. Look you babboons"
Tommy proceeded to wave the visitor's passes that we all had in their face like it was some piece of meat and they were lions he was leading by the nose. "These mean we have permission to be here. So go do your job." Tommy said haughtily in that annoying voice again before attempting to walk past them like he owned the place.
I could see and feel the murderous urges in their eyes increasing the more Tommy insulted them and I couldn't blame them. Is this really the right attitude to take? Is he sure they aren't going to stop him out of spite? I eyed the guards warily as Tommy strode up to them.
I could almost feel Marianne's gaze behind me as she appeared to be sizing them up as well. If they made any sudden moves we were ready for combat and it was likely obvious to the two guards. They seemed to signal each other with their eyes and then moved to the side one of them saying "You're free to pass missy." with what was likely supposed to be a gentle smile.
I let out most of the tension but still kept my attention focussed on the guards as we walked by them and deciding to keep up the act I gave them an apologetic look as I walked past them. I'm not sure how well I faked that look but hopefully they bought it enough not to investigate us or take Tommy's provocations seriously.
We continued to walk down the corridor until it came to a turn and taking one last look back at the guards who appeared not to have moved we turned the corner out of sight. As soon as we did I let out a sigh of relief, though I kept it quiet knowing we were likely still in audible range.
Tommy beside me appeared to be relaxing himself again as well though this time he kept up his vigilance and while I was relieved as well this at least made certain I wouldn't get so relaxed in enemy territory again.
Once we'd walked a good distance away. Good enough that they couldn't hear us I asked "So where do we need to go?" To no one in particular. I knew we had to go to the break room and scan an employee or two but I didn't actually know where the break room was.
I also made sure to keep my question innocuous just in case the guards followed us or someone else was listening in. "Matty's in the break room just up ahead." Explained Tommy staying in character. Which meant I had to deal with that annoying voice but I was getting used to it by now so I didn't mind as much.
I looked around the hallway. It wasn't really what I was expecting from a company that had so much money at their disposal. The walls and ceiling were a pure black and that seemed to be the material's original colour rather than a design choice. The floor was carpeted at least but it didn't feel nearly as nice as the carpet we had on the ship Mainframe lent us.
Actually I'm not even sure it would match up to the ship we were sent back home on and I know for a fact that ship wasn't particularly well furnished. There wasn't much decorating the walls either. In fact they were incredibly clean. There was the occasional whiteboard in the halls that we walked by but they didn't have anything interesting on them and the walls were otherwise barren.
The whiteboards did have something written down sure, but it was organised and mainly consisted of work notes. On the bottom right hand corner of the whiteboard was a section labelled notes for employees/colleagues. That only contained stuff like 'Matt make sure that project's done by tomorrw' or 'Abby we need more stationary supplies go fetch some for our cubicle' all rather mundane really.
Other than that the rest of the whiteboard appeared to have random phrases and sentences arrayed in an arrangement that likely made no sense to anyone outside of the people they were intended for. Things like 'deadline tomorrow finish x1 first' and stuff like that. All of the stuff they were supposedly finishing appeared to be written in code even on the whiteboards here because I had no idea what an X1 was.
"Are most companies so paranoid about leaking business secrets that they even have the whiteboards written in code." I mutter confused having never worked in a company before now. I became a merc straight from the orphanage and while office politics is a familiar term it's one thing to hear about it and another to understand and experience it.
"Yes this is actually fairly standard. Though I do think the physical and virtual security are a bit above average for companies in their field it's not uncommon to have employees encode notes, emails anything and everything that could leave evidence of what they're working on. Especially since Flux deals with the military." Explained Tommy as he also took a look around at the whiteboards and the nothing else around us.
"What about the lack of decorations then? I figured there'd at least be a few coffee stains on the walls or a better carpet." I say looking down at the clearly worse than average carpet under my feet. I wasn't particularly bothered about the carpet I've been in worse places but it's still weird.
"Ah that's a Flux thing. Most companies keep things cheap with their décor and such but they do at least pay some attention. Flux on the other hand." Said Tommy gesturing to the carpet and the completely bare walls.
"They spend so little on this stuff because they don't actually need it. See most offices are dolled up for anyone important who comes to visit. Companies have to make an impression on their clients after all. But Flux deals with military guys and pretty much no one else. So all the fancy décor would actually be more likely to do harm than good. Plus it's cheaper." Explained Tommy before stopping.
I stop beside him and realize that we've arrived at our destination. The sign on the door said employee break room and was made of some sort of metal that appeared to have been carved with a laser considering how detailed the text on it was. The door itself was just a fairly standard wooden door with a brass handle. The problem was actually how bare the door was. It was painted white likely to make it stick out from the black surroundings but apart from that there was no customisation on the door at all.
"This looks kinda bare for a break room. The one at the orphanage was filled with stickers, kids drawings and whatnot. I guess this place is more professional or something." I mumble to myself staring at the incredibly boring door in front of me.
"Nah most companies allow a moderate amount of customisation in the break room. Flux is a little inflexible on this point though. Considering how little the break room is used they say that if they have the time to customise it they should be working." Said Tommy before knocking on the door and returning to his haughty posture.
Sure he'd been talking in that annoying voice this entire time but I had kinda forgotten that and seeing his posture become so straight so quickly kind of impressed me. Before I could dwell on it though the door was opened and out came a man with glasses and whiskers on his face. No ears on the top of his head though which was a little strange.
We could only see his face and hair but we already got the impression of a slovenly middle aged guy. His eyes were drooping and there were large bags under them. He looked kind of lifeless and his gaze was ineffectual. As though he was taking in his surroundings but not quite comprehending them.
"Haven't seen you before. Newbies or here to get us back to work?" Asked the man before yawning and opening the door the rest of the way.
"Either scenario come in. I'm sure we can get away with resting while you beckon us." he mumbled to himself and presumably I wasn't supposed to hear that. Or I was and he just didn't care if we reported him for it. There were probably quite a few complaints like that.
Tommy looked around the room and appeared to realize something as his eyes went wide for a second before settling back down into their usual resting position. What was up with that? I wondered to myself for a moment as I looked at Tommy's face seeing the traces of surprise all gone.
Disregarding Tommy's strange reaction I had a look around the room. It was really plain. In fact it was just as boring as the rest of this place. There wasn't any life here at all. The first thing I spotted was a tabletop and cabinet pairing at the back of the room.
The tabletop appeared to be made of the same black material as the walls and wasn't just a big cube of stone. This was actually looked like a proper table for once with the rounded corners and everything. It looked to be around the length of a human lying down against the wall while being wide enough to accommodate said human with a little space left over.
On the table was a number of cups that appeared to be stacked up neatly but in reality were just shoved onto a corner of the table. The cups appeared to be both dirty and clean. Dirty in the sense that they had a lot of stains on the porcelain they appeared to be made out of and given that the cups themselves were white it was fairly obvious.
On the other hand they were clean in comparison to the other stack of cups on the opposite end of the tablet. They still had stuff in them. It appeared to be a brown substance so likely tea or coffee or perhaps another similar beverage. Honestly there are so many coffee alternatives around now that I wouldn't be able to tell them apart even if I examined them with a microscope.
These cups were stacked a lot more haphazardly than the 'clean' ones and looked like a house of cards on the verge of collapse. The cups or I suppose mugs would be more accurate, were all the same white though they all had stains in different places. Some of them even managed to stain the handle somehow with coffee like liquid.
The stains also varied in shade from a dark brown to a flaky light brown to even black mouldy looking stains. Honestly I wouldn't drink out of those cups for hygiene reasons. In between the two stacks of cups a good distance away from either stack was a sink in the middle of the table.
The sink was also filled with dirty mugs just as bad as the furthest right pile. It was your typical office sink just without the hot water. Now that I thought about it the stairway was rather cold but maybe that wasn't from air conditioning but more from the outside air leaking into the stairway?
That's a kinda scary thought so to distract myself I took a look at the cupboards above the tabletop. They were a simple wooden affair. Large with one handle that would open the door and inside would presumably be a number of shelves though no one was actually near it so I can't know for sure.
One of the cupboards actually didn't have a handle. It appeared to be broken because the part of the cupboard that had a handle on all the others, there were only 3 by the way, had a screw coming out of it. Presumably the cupboard had been broken and nobody bothered to fix it.
That whole corner of the room said it all and the rest of the room wasn't much better. There was a table and chairs in the middle left of the room where a number of people sat. They all looked like your typical office workers but they all had the same lifeless look in their eyes as the whisker guy who lead us inside the room.
Who could blame them though? I mean they were sitting on WOODEN chairs around a tiny table made of the same black stuff as the rest of this building. Ok seriously what is that stuff? I bet it's cheap judging by how much they're using it.
The table was a good few feet smaller than the chairs and if you placed a cup down on the table you'd have to bend down and practically touch your toes to get it back. The people sitting at the tables appeared to agree as they were holding their mugs in their hands and sipping from them mechanically before placing them down in their laps and not even glancing at the table.
Well what's the point of the table then? I wondered as I watched them completely ignore it and the man who lead us inside went to sit at one of the wooden chairs. He also looked to be expecting the same of us. Oh I don't want to go anywhere near those things.
There were only 7 or so chairs and 5 of them were taken up counting the guy who just sat down. Meaning that 1 of us would remain standing and quite frankly I think I'd prefer that. The chairs weren't totally unusable given that they weren't creaking or the like but they were still made of wood and without any cushions attached.
That has to be incredibly painful for anyone to endure. How can they just sit there with mugs of whatever that is in their laps without a care in the world? Looking closer at the beverage made it seem even more and more like muddy water the more I looked at it. Sure coffee doesn't look all that pleasant either but the way that smells it might as well be muddy water.
I'm still a fair distance away from the concoction and I could already smell the beans practically filling the entire room. In fact the whole room smelled of this odd bean-like scent and now I knew why the smell was incredibly strong.
Tommy wrinkled his nose though I was unsure if he was playing it up because of the character he was playing or if he just genuinely disliked the smell or feeling of the place. Likely a mixture of the two.
Regardless he went to sit down and both Marianne and I decided we wanted to stand behind him and act like bodyguards in stead of sitting down on those chairs. Well that was my reasoning anyway. Marianne was probably more interested in safety concerns but I just couldn't deal with those chairs.