Episode 5: Cold Reception
Previously on Corporate Shadows
Victor Ruthford received a cold, business-like message from his father following the previous night's assassination attempt. A bodyguard named Nyx had been arranged to protect him. The lack of personal concern from his father was typical of their relationship, which had always been defined by performance and results rather than genuine care.
Chameleon, Victor's shapeshifting friend and ally, arrived at the office with valuable intelligence gathered on a previous job. Among the stolen files was a disturbing report about "Subject 7"—a child who had died during tests of prototype technologies. Most had failed but it included a successful "Prototype AIKO" trial. This raised questions about the Aiko that Victor knew.
Chameleon conducted further surveillance of Nyx as she made her way through Aegis headquarters. They discovered that Nyx was a "Ghost"—someone with virtually no digital footprint or recorded history. Concerned for Victor's safety and suspicious of this newcomer's true motives, Chameleon disguised themselves as a maintenance worker to monitor the situation closely, positioning themselves to intervene if Nyx posed a threat to their most valued friend and protector.
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Zara stepped into the main lobby of Aegis Corporation and tried to put forward the image that she belonged there. She did belong there! The head of the board of directors himself gave her this assignment! It didn't matter that her dress and weapons didn't fit in with the crisp and clean suits with that little Aegis logo that everyone around her was wearing. This was her work attire, just as the suits and uniforms were theirs!
So, now she just had to find where Victor Ruthford's office was, introduce herself, and get a rundown of what was what so she could get an idea on how exactly this whole thing was supposed to work.
Striding up to the reception desk, she stood there for a few moments, waiting for the woman to stop typing and acknowledge her. When she finally did, Zara said, "I'm here to see Victor Ruthford."
"Name?" the bored tone asked.
Zara hesitated a moment, then said, "Nyx." That was the name Adrien had used on the call last night.
"And do you have an appointment?" the woman droned, clearly not caring about the obvious alias.
Did she have an appointment? Adrien hadn't mentioned anything of the sort. "He's expecting me," she eventually said. "If you could just direct me to his office-"
"I'm sorry, but without an appointment, I-" The woman cut Zara off only to be cut off herself in turn when the call light lit. She held up a finger to tell Zara to wait and pressed a button. Her eyes glazed over as she listened to the voice on the other end. Zara was about to tap into the line when the woman said simply, "Understood," and the call ended. Her gaze focused back onto Zara. "Mr Ruthford will see you now," she said, no sign of surprise or care in her voice. She handed over a keycard that had VISITOR written across the front of it. "The elevator behind you. Take it to level 577."
With that, the woman dismissed her by turning her attention back to the terminal in front of her.
Zara looked at the keycard with a grimace as she approached the elevator. That was something that was going to need to change. There was nothing more insecure than a physical access card that anyone could get a hold of. Seriously, how did a company as large as Aegis get anywhere with security so lax? It was no wonder there was an assassination attempt; the only wonder was that it hadn't been successful. Absently, she pushed the access card into the reader and selected floor 577, removing the card and slipping it into her pocket when she felt the elevator move. Perhaps this was how she could actually get the job done. She could find all the ways she would attempt to assassinate the CEO and then come up with ways to counter them. And the first thing on her list was to get rid of these antiquated security methods!
Briefly, she wondered what Adrien would think of them. Surely even he, with his love of older technology and the inability to remotely hack them, could see the danger inherent in these kinds of measures.
The elevator doors dinged open at floor 574 and an older man in an apron with a utility belt stepped in. Zara saw him watching her out of the corner of his eye, though he at least was trying not to openly stare like most of the suits had when she arrived, but she thought nothing of it. He appeared to be a structural engineer or something, probably to assess the building after the explosion or some other menial task. He didn't have a card to access the levels like she did, though, and she wondered what was different. His apron had the Aegis eye on it, so maybe there was some employee-specific clearance or something. Zara added it to her mentally growing list of things to find out. He stayed in the elevator once it opened at floor 577 and Zara stepped out, putting him from her mind.
The room she stepped into looked like a small lobby. There were black benches lining both sides of the room—where people could sit and wait for their meeting, Zara guessed—marble flooring and, behind the benches, floor to ceiling windows. Zara frowned. Both windows looked as though they were looking out over Aegis Plaza, the area she had stepped off on when she first arrived at level 573. But that was impossible; they were facing opposite directions. And then it clicked. They weren't windows at all, but screens made to look like windows, to give the lobby an open feeling instead of being closed and claustrophobic.
In front of her was a closed door, and Zara took a steadying breath as she approached it. No time like the present, she thought. This was just like any other job, just get in there and get it done.
Raising a hand to knock on the door, she froze when it slid silently open.
"Welcome. Nyx, I presume."
Zara blinked. The voice had come from a man at the end of the room, as he strode around from behind a desk. His entire presentation was immaculate and just exuded powerful confidence. And the room that was his office was just as impressive. Large and open, the floor was carpeted dark grey, fluffy carpet, not that cheap but durable kind that offices of lower levels used. On one side of the room were the floor to ceiling windows Zara was learning was common for the Aegis headquarters, in front of which was a large desk that looked more like a command station described in one of her old, pulpy science-fiction novels. There were displays and datapads all over it in an organised, chaotic fashion. Next to the desk was a holographic projection, but instead of the usual Aegis logo of the blue shield and an eye in the centre, it displayed a plant in stunning detail, giving the impression of a real potted plant.
"Ah, yes, I am," Zara said, and she took the offered handshake. His hand was warm and firm, no hint of roughness. An elite's hand. No, she thought, this wasn't like a normal job. This was weird. And uncomfortable. There was a reason Adrien was the one who lined up the clients and Zara carried out the work. She let go of the hand and transferred her grip to her gun's shoulder strap. "Your father wanted me to be your bodyguard after an assassination attempt?" Zara hated the way her voice rose as if in question, as though asked permission, when really she was just nervous.
"Yes, so I was told," Victor replied, his voice a dry monotone. He held a hand out, gesturing towards the other side of the room to where his desk was, where two couches were sitting opposite each other, with a fully stocked bar off to the side. "Please, sit, make yourself comfortable. Despite whatever my father may have told you, my life is not in immediate danger. We can afford this time to relax and get to know one another and discuss how to handle this whole affair."
Well, that seemed as good a plan as any. Zara made her way over to the couches and removed her rifle, resting it upright against the seat before sitting down next to it, instinctively taking the couch facing the door she had entered through. From here, she could also see behind her to the windows and the desk through the bar's mirror. For all that the couch looked sleek and firm, it was surprisingly comfortable. She could probably sleep in it if she had to. Actually no, scrap that. It was far too exposed with those huge windows just there, but if this couch could fit in her apartment, she would totally replace her old worn one with something like this. She expected Victor to sit opposite her, but instead, he moved over to the bar. "Would you like a drink? I have whiskey, vodka, wine, both red and white, and non-alcoholic options as well, if you prefer."
How on earth did he source all of those? But then, look who she was referring to. Head of one of Neo-Echelon's most successful companies, practically a prince in his own right. Of course he would have access to alcohols she would never have even dreamed existed.
"Whiskey," she said. If she was going to drink, she may as well enjoy the good stuff. Adrien would have had her hide if he knew—she had always been told to never drink while on the job, especially not from any unknown sources, and if she had to for a cover, then just pretend. But fuck it. Adrien wasn't here. He had left this job in her hands to handle however she saw fit. And she saw fit to have a depths be damned drink to calm her nerves.
"Good choice," Victor said and, judging by the bottle that was half empty, it was a good choice and one he partook of. Or just one that his guests drank. But he poured them both a glass and offered her one before sitting on the couch opposite him. "Please, tell me about yourself," he said.
Zara rose an eyebrow. "What is this, a job interview? Sorry to tell you, but I wouldn't be caught dead working for Aegis." She took a sip of the drink and her eyes widened slightly before she caught herself and schooled her expression. It was good. Of course it was good, it was Victor Fucking Ruthford's personal supply.
Victor, rather than taking offence at her comment, simply smirked. "Is that so," he said, though his tone made it clear it wasn't a question, and that it wasn't even a surprise she felt that way. "And yet, here you are. Well, despite whatever impressions you may have of myself or my company, my father did not see fit to give me any useful information on you or his previous dealings with you. My question was not to interview you for a job you already have, with or without my input, but to attempt to determine what effect your presence will cause in the day to day running of my job."
Victor's voice was icy as he said this, and there was no hint of the smirk that had previously crossed his features. His expression was neutral, but there was something about his eyes that hinted at a carefully controlled anger. Zara considered herself skilled in reading people—it was useful to be able to read a room as soon as she entered it, to determine threats, weaknesses, potential allies, and so on—and what she read from Victor in that moment was a very definite 'don't fuck with me' vibe.
She took another sip of her drink. Standard intimidation tactic. Not that it would work on her, but noted.
"Well, I don't know what previous dealings your father may have had. He initially contacted my handler, and I got the impression that they had worked together in the past but, I don't know what your father is like when you try to question him about something he doesn't want to talk about, but my handler doesn't take it well. Tends to lead to violence if I push too hard, so I don't. And frankly, I don't really care; their past has nothing to do with me and this job. This job involves protecting you."
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and let her eyes sweep over the nepobaby before her. No sign of a weapon hidden away on his person. And she hadn't spotted any real security systems beyond some cameras and what was obviously a neural link connection to the local infrastructure that allowed him to open the door remotely.
"I admit, I'm usually the one pulling the trigger rather than protecting someone from being shot, but we both deal with the hands we're dealt, do we not?" she said, her question rhetorical. Some hands dealt were decidedly more privileged than others. "Today, I think it would be best for me to mostly observe. There's already been a few areas where security simply must be improved," she said, waving her keycard to make her point obvious, "and I'm sure I'll find more as the day progresses. Do you have a daily itinerary or something you could send me?"
"That wasn't provided in your dossier?"
Zara shook her head. "Do your own research," she quoted in a fair estimation of Adrien's voice, an imitation that went completely unacknowledged; Victor clearly didn't remember the old man even if he remembered Victor. She waved a hand dismissively. "Nevermind. Suffice to say, what I know was a basic profile of you, what was publicly reported last night, and that there were also shots fired."
There was a remote access request to her neural link from Victor, which she accepted and was able to view a calendar with various blocks marked off and a line through the schedule, indicating the current time. This was a time designated to 'Initial meeting w/ Nyx'. Next was an hour for 'Remote meeting w/ Finance', then a two-hour block for 'Meeting w/ Bio-Mechanics L578-6'. There was an hour designated for lunch and, as she watched, a block of time was removed before she could focus on it.
"What was that?" she asked. "What you removed. Something about a chameleon?"
"A meeting that was just cancelled. My… virtual intelligence automatically manages my calendar and removes or adds meetings as required," Victor said.
Zara's eyes narrowed at the pause, mentally filing it away as something she should remember to press on later. Likely it was nothing; he just didn't want to tell her the name of whatever program he was running to do that, company secrets or whatever. But if it wasn't, then it could be something she needed to know.
Turning her attention back to the schedule, she could see that Victor's entire day was laid out similarly. Officially, it seemed he finished work at 1800, but there were other scheduled calls throughout the night. And the rest of the week was similar. Was being a CEO just attending meetings all day, every day? Even the lunch hour had a name attached to it. She could see edits being made in real time, changing names to acronyms, obviously in an attempt to hide details from her.
"You do know that I'll need to accompany you to these meetings you're trying to hide from me, right? I can hardly protect you if I'm not with you," she pointed out, sending the calendar away so she could focus entirely on Victor; she had memorised the next few hours at least.
"I'm well aware," Victor replied, his tone making it clear he wasn't happy about the fact. "Not that there is really any risk while I attend standard meetings and take investor calls."
"There shouldn't have been a risk at a stakeholder meeting late at night, either, and yet here we are," Zara pointed out. She finished her drink and put the empty glass on the side table. "Look, I get that you're not happy about someone external coming in and watching over your shoulder. I'm not exactly pleased to be on babysitting duty. But here we are, so we-"
She broke off when Victor held a hand up to stall her. Oh no he didn't! How dare he try to shush her! She took a breath and was about to berate him when she caught sight of a silver flash over his eyes as the door to the office slid open. Zara leapt to her feet, a hand on her sidearm. A young man stepped through the door in a maintenance uniform and immediately froze, hands up in front of him.
"Woah, hey, I'm just here to fix Luminal panel!" the man said, eyes wide.
"Stand down, Nyx. If you're seriously going to shoot my staff, I'll find another method of protection," Victor said from behind her.
Zara scowled, but she let go of her weapon, allowing her jacket to fall back into place, covering it again. The maintenance man released a breath and stepped across the office to the window behind the desk, no doubt to fix that Luminal panel, whatever that was.
"That wasn't in your schedule," she said, returned her attention back to Victor, who looked just as annoyed as she felt. Good.
"Not every encounter is in the schedule. I put in the request a few hours ago, there was no need for it to be added. I have access to the cameras throughout the Aegis levels, I can see who's at my door and prevent it from being opened if there's actually a threat," he said.
Zara nodded. That was something, at least. "Good. I want that access, too."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. I'm not saying I'll take over your monitoring, but I need to see who's coming if I'm to assess their threat level."
Victor sighed, and a hand rose slightly before falling back to his side. A nervous tick or something? "Fine. I'll get it to you by EOD. But for now, I have another meeting to attend to," he said before striding over to his own desk and sitting behind it, bringing up several panels in front of him and seeming to mentally dismiss Zara. Well, at least now she could have a look around the room in peace.
In the next episode, Zara attempts to implement some new security protocols, much to Victor’s annoyance, and Chameleon continues their covert surveillance.
Coming Soon
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