Stragenah Co-op was in an uproar, the news was sudden!
'TO THOSE IT MAY CONCERN; REPORT TO THE 47TH FLOOR CONFERENCE HALL! ALL ARE EXPECTED TO BE PRESENT WITHIN 2 HOURS!'
The message was directly sent to the countless departments all across the building. Secretaries had copies to relay to their superiors. Calls were made to retract important staff out on quests.
There were countless conference rooms within the enormous building, but some rooms and Floors were not easily accessible, such a floor being 47! Just as 40, where Oliver had been assigned residence, a special card was required to unlock such privileged areas; if not, the elevator would not stop at said floors and will just continue its ascent, or descent.
Even the staff tasked with maintaining these restricted spaces were solely hired to tend to them and would not be spotted on common floors. Their uniforms were different and rumored to have built-in accommodation facilities within their alocated workplace, hence, few rarely spotted such ghost workers. They were as unreachable as the 'golden' floors where they basically resided.
Now, having a whole floor dedicated to hold a meeting was unimaginable. It was big enough to hold thousands, the facilities and equipments residing in such a 'room' would be on a league higher than the norm. Unlike the 3-hour duration allowed to Oliver and Talbot, this was not the case for the staff. In two hours, the halls were finally stepped into. The people felt as though they had landed on another planet!
The floor was of marble, its material that of onyx- it held intricate patterns along its expanse. Black dress shoes tapped on the beautiful lime floor as heels clacked beside the gents, a melody amongst the shuffling of feet.
Rather than the espected all-business setting the multitude had come prepared for, they were elegantly surprised by the atmosphere of the 47th floor. It was more suited as a Ball room than a hall for holding meetings.
As if telepathically agreed upon, the men had opted for the formal attire; spotting bowties and various shades of suits. The ladies came in dressed in gowns, ditching their everyday work attire. Despite being from different departments and professions; the staff of Stragenah were in some way linked; no matter how rare it was for them to meet.
And this being a once in a lifetime occasion, they had dressed for it! As the numbers kept increasing and the hundreds of men and women began sharing speculations on why they had been summoned; more people joined in the hall.
Unlike the multi-coloured but formally dressed bunch, this new addition were in uniforms and had seemingly appeared from different entries than the guests had come through. They numbered in the fifties. The men were dressed in unblemished white-and-gold tuxedoes; the white being more prominent while the ladies were elegantly wrapped up in 3-piece black suits. The men had on black bowties while the ladies spotted golden ones.
They all had masquerade masks over their faces; portraying an aesthetic server cluster. They were breathtaking, their presence plunging the hall into silence. A moment was allowed for the admiration of the beautiful clique before a riple began and the masked bunch rearranged themselves.
They parted as a pair walked amongst them and stood at the front. Now, there existed two groups and a representing pair was at the forefront. The new additions were dressed differently and wore gold-themed masks.
On the gent's side stood a man dressed in a black swallow-tailed coat with a red tie.He was a contrast to the handsome white swans tailing him. With his back straight, he represented the 20 or so men behind himself.
On the ladies side was a fit lady dressed in a gold themed swallow-tailed coat and a white bowtie. The fabric embraced her enticing curves and did justice to her-above average height for a woman. With an unwavering gaze, she represented the 30 refined black panthers behind her.
Well, time to get this party started.
The leading male figure cleared his throat and his voice reverberated through the multitude with ease; yet no one noticed any sound amplifying equipment on his person.
"We welcome you all," he greeted.
"We are overjoyed to be attending to you this eventful evening," this time, the lady beside him spoke,"I am Swan and he is..." Despite her tall figure, she had quite the angelic voice.
"You shall refer to me as Raven. Now then," the man waved his right arm and the squad behind him moved to his right and arranged themselves in a neat line in front of him and abrubtly turned to face their left.
"Allow us to be of service," Swan continued, being in perfect sync with Raven. Following suit, she clapped her hands and the clique behind her stepped to her left and lined up before they too turned to their right in unison.
"But, where shall we even seat, the hall is bare...literally," a voice pointed out amidst the crowd of Team Stragenah and a murmur began.
"Worry not, everything is as should be," Raven and Swan announced, their voice feeding off each other.
And when the crowd quieted down, the duo clapped their hands, and before their stupefied gazes, across the espanse of lime onyx, certain sections of the floor began to part. Then from those organized trenches, rose white marble tables, varying in size and shapes all along the hall. A podium rose and on top of it were different quality arrangements. Plush seats were the last and with that, the magic came to an end.
'You know, I think these floors are restricted coz no one can fucking afford them!' The various occupants of Stragenah Co-op had an enlightenment.
Raven and Swan's teams led the people to their seats. Surprisingly, the summoned tables were just enough to cater for the 870 gents and ladies, not even an extra seat remained. The only untouched area was the raised podium with a long table and 7 seats. The middle one was designed like a throne while the others flanked it on both sides. The six had name tags on the table before them while the throne remained anonymous.
The crowd settled and started introducing themselves. Twenty minutes later, trolleys were pushed into the grand hall and dishes were served, various cuisines were presented and the chefs amongst the crowd curled their toes as they underwent food orgasms.
At some point, they had heard commotion above them as blades tore through air, but thought little of it, after all, choppers were not that rare an occurrence for them. Stragenah building had 3 helipads even, and they occasionally had such visitors; there even existed a reception hall on the upper floors for guests coming by air.
It was 6 in the evening, and the final guests began making their appearance. Five men sauntered into the hall, and to emphasize on their importance, the ones showing them to their seats were Raven and Swan themselves. And as the only free table was on the podium, the elderly- but- well- dressed and fit men walked past the dining crowd and shuffled through the seats at the raised stage; each to their alocated spots.
A couple more minutes later, a well kept middle-aged woman popped into the hall and Raven went over and offered to carry her purse and coat, which she accepted and slid off her grey reefer coat. She wore a white Cossack and matched them with grey Lazzo pants. She sashayed to her seat and the duo took the stage once more, their voices merged into one.
"The Board Of Directors have arrived, we are pleasured to be of service to you all," Raven and Swan offered a low bow, though their tones remained flat as if the six before them were nothing more but common people.
"What, the B.O.D? What the hell are they doing here?" However, the entrepreneurs of Stragenah did not share the duo's calm.
"Are we getting fired? What...what did we do?"
"Com...come on man, no need to exaggerate...other companies have their B.O.D drop in for dinner I bet?" Someone whispered, trying to calm themself rather than their colleagues.
"The fuck are you on? Have you forgotten of how they relieved 20% of us last time coz our revenue was below expectation that year? A fucking meal? No way! We definitely are done tonight!" Another groaned, increasing the weight of the situation.
As all this was being discussed -not at all in whispers as should have been expected- the center of attention were being served some delicacies. Not bothered the slightest by the blubbering of those below them, they struck conversations amongst themselves, exchanging pleasantries as they awaited the main reason of such a sudden summon to be revealed.
No sooner had the big six settled, than another entry made their way into the hall. Again, Raven and Swan went to receive the newcomers.
These entries were two men of similar height but contrasting complexions. The first was dressed in steel blue pants with a tucked-in white shirt. He wrapped a brown belt around his waist and wore brown shoes. His blond hair was styled in an undercut and the bulk of it combed to his right, paired with that was a neatly trimmed stubble. He was deemed the personification of elegance by those who laid their eyes upon him. He was talking to the man beside him, and his gray eyes gleamed with restrained mischief.
Now, the other man had a long sleeve knitted sweater with a cable knit pattern, the sweater was grey and of turtleneck style with a folded-over collar that is secured with 3 toggle buttons. His pants were coffee khaki pants with white shoes. He had the top of his long hair pulled into a man bun while his sides were plaited into complex intricate designs.
In spite of his stature, the clothes he had on added to his hidden charm; and the way he carried himself -he walked with his arms behind his back- made him irresistable to look at. His hazel eyes stared forward and his features remained apathetic, only the slight nodding of his head showed that he was aware of the man's rambling beside him.
"Who are those guys?" The whispers began.
"New members of Team Stragenah?" The crowd became engaged as the men walked past them and onto the podium.
The multitude gasped as they watched the hazel-eyed gent unceremoniously take a seat on the wooden throne. The man he came with stood beside him as Raven and Swan too flanked his sides. A great silence ensued and the people almost forgot to breathe. The six beside him were wide-eyed as well. The throne belonged to the last member of the Board whom they had only heard of but never seen over the years, hence, this man taking this seat could only mean one thing...
"Now, let us get to the reason why we all have gathered here today," the man on the throne uttered.
His voice made a shiver begin at everyone's tail bone, climbing up their spines. The fact that the hall was silent added an oomph to his voice. Raven and Swan unconsciously straightened their backs and held their breaths.
Though emaciated, the man seated on that throne had the aura of a king. That fact was undeniable!