Previously on Corporate Shadows
Zara, operating under the alias "Nyx", arrived at Aegis Corporation headquarters for her new assignment as bodyguard to Victor Ruthford, CEO of Aegis Corporation.
After gaining access to the 577th floor with a visitor keycard—a security flaw that immediately caught her attention—Zara met Victor in his impressive office. Their initial meeting was tense, with Victor clearly unhappy about having a bodyguard imposed by his father, whilst Zara maintained she wouldn't be caught dead working for Aegis under normal circumstances.
Over expensive whiskey, they attempted to establish working parameters. When Victor shared his daily schedule via neural link, Zara noticed he was actively hiding meeting details from her—a point of contention since she couldn't protect him without knowing his whereabouts. Their discussion was interrupted when a maintenance worker arrived, leading to Zara drawing her weapon before Victor called her off.
Victor grudgingly agreed to grant Zara camera access to monitor approaching visitors, though his reluctance to cooperate fully was evident. With numerous security weaknesses already identified, Zara was left to assess the situation as Victor dismissed her to attend his next meeting.
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I don't like it, Victor thought to Aiko.
[--Neither do I, but I don't see a way around it yet.--]
She's going to want in on top secret stuff. How do we know she's not a corporate spy?
[--Do you really think your father would make such a blunder?--]
That gave Victor pause. His father may be ruthless, domineering, and manipulative, but he was no fool and, when it came to Aegis, he wouldn't risk their competitors getting any advantage. Well, no, he was forced to admit. But that just makes me want to know what business he had with her handler, and who that even is. I get that we can't trust Lynx Security after they dropped the ball last night, but surely we could keep this internal.
[--I think it's okay to trust her. At least regarding how Aegis is run. We'll reschedule the problematic subjects for a week or so, until things settle down. And… don't mention me.--]
If it were possible for Aiko to sound apprehensive, they certainly did just then. Victor tried to convey a sense of reassurance. Don't worry. There's only one person I trust with knowledge of you. I know you never wanted Chameleon to know either, but what's done is done. I don't intend to spread the knowledge of your existence. You can just be my VI program.
[--Thanks. I think. A VI. Such a downgrade.--]
Victor almost laughed aloud but managed to school his expression right as his connection through to the finance meeting went through. Thankfully, this meeting was only one that let him touch base with the various departments in Finance. It was rare that he actually needed to make any decisions or produce any data to back up his reasonings. A good thing too considering all the distractions in the room.
Is that Chameleon behind me? he asked Aiko.
[--I figured you knew since you let a maintenance man in when there is nothing wrong with your Luminal panel.--]
Lucky guess.
[--And you wonder why you need some outside security.--]
Can you open a private channel with them? Something our little observer won't be able to detect?
Outwardly, he said, adding a bored drawl to his tone, "You're on mute, Richard." The man in question on the call flushed with embarrassment at being called out on his blunder by the CEO, but at least he fixed the problem quickly.
"Can you hear me now?" the man asked.
A chorus of yes's and the meeting continued, with Victor only half paying attention to what was said, his leg bouncing beneath the table; he normally paced when he took these calls, he could walk several kilometres in a day if it was filled with meetings. But now and then it was judged important to show his face. Normally, he would do these face to face meetings in person (which was even more draining since he had to hide all his tells), but since it was scheduled to just after meeting his new bodyguard, he opted for virtual instead.
'Hey, Victor, what do you think of her?' Chameleon's voice sounding in his mind. The sound of it didn't match the body of the mature man Chameleon was projecting, but Victor couldn't decide whether it was a masculine or feminine voice. Made sense considering Chameleon's unique set of circumstances, but it was still strange. It was rare that the two of them ever communicated this way; it was difficult to keep three communication lines open and separate, even with Aiko's help, and would be impossible if the meeting was actually important.
'I'm not sure, to be honest,' Victor replied. 'She seems confident in her abilities, and she's taking the role seriously, even if she gave the impression that it's not something she has experience with. Which is worrying.' As he replied, his eyes watched the woman in question, Nyx, roam around his office. He couldn't tell what she was looking for—bugs or something maybe?—but she appeared alert and in control. Confidence or arrogance? Her gaze continuously flicked between him, Chameleon (or the maintenance man they appeared to be), and whatever she was doing. 'What have you discovered?'
'Not a lot. Which is weird. I can't find anything connecting her alias to her real name, but there are some mentions of 'Nyx' on the dark web. She's a Ghost.'
'A Ghost? You mean like the fairy stories of the Ghosts that will carry you out and drop you in the ocean if you don't behave? That no one can ever find?'
Chameleon snorted and turned it into a cough so they wouldn't appear suspicious. Well, less suspicious anyway. 'The part that no one can ever find, yes. Dropping kids in the ocean? Doubtful. Though maybe the stories have roots somewhere…'
'Focus, Chameleon,' Victor reminded them, before they could drift off into irrelevant musings. 'So she's a Ghost. What else?'
'A top-notch assassin for hire, apparently.'
'Seriously, my father thought it appropriate to hire an assassin to guard against assassins?'
'Well, makes sense in a way. Who better to know how one might act?'
Victor supposed it made a twisted kind of sense, but he still didn't like it. He was supposed to trust someone who specialised in taking hits on people for money, with his life? And not just his life, but with top level Aegis secrets?
[--Not all secrets. We can keep a lot of things from her, and she doesn't seem particularly interested in the details of your job--]
What makes you think that? She already got my itinerary, abbreviated as it is.
[--There's been no attempt to hack into or otherwise access your conference call. She's watching you, but doesn't seem to care what the meeting is about, despite knowing it's a meeting with Finance. If she were a corporate spy or acting on the behest of a competitor, then she would have demanded access to the meeting, if only to listen in.--]
What Aiko said made sense, but it didn't immediately discard the notion in Victor's mind. She could still be buying time, trying to gain our trust first.
[--Oh, I don't doubt that. But you have your own secret weapon with Chameleon.--]
That was definitely true. And it looked as though Nyx had no idea that the maintenance man behind him was anything other than what he appeared to be.
'Is this the first time you've seen her in person? I mean without using the cameras?' Victor mentally asked Chameleon.
'Nope. Rode the elevator with her as well. She paid me as much attention then as she is now. Got the feeling that she knew I was looking at her, but so was everyone else in the building. Not every day you see someone dressed like she is in this sector. Low-level maintenance staff like Mitch-y here are below the notice of most people. It's why I like them.'
'Mitch-y?'
Laughter couldn't really be conveyed through a neural link, but hints of emotion could (or at least they could be with the sophisticated link that Aiko provided) and Chameleon had definite tones of mirth in his reply. 'Just a little nickname I gave this particular fellow. Cute, eh?'
Victor attempted to convey an eye roll in return, but, being on a camera call, he couldn't actually do the eye roll without Martha thinking he was impatient with her. Well, he was, but it wasn't like he would give such an obvious cue like that about it; he was far too well trained for that. It had been years since he had given in to a yawn during a boring meeting. No, with his hands steepled before him and looking into the recording screen as he watched the meeting, he gave the impression of full attention.
Meanwhile, however, 'If you can, I'd like you to see if you can dig into my father's past.'
'Ooh, juicy!'
'Just don't get caught. I doubt even I could help you if you are.'
'When have I ever gotten caught? Don't answer that,' Chameleon cut in just as Victor was about to do just that. 'Am I looking for something specific, or just some succulent secrets?'
Chameleon certainly had a way with alliteration, Victor thought to himself. 'I'm mostly interested in what his past is with who I'm guessing was Nyx's handler. She mentioned him briefly, not by name, but I suspect it has to do with the favour you mentioned you heard him call on. I'm sorry, I don't have much more to go on.'
'No problem. I've found more with less. And at least it'll keep me nearby in case you need me.'
'I told you already, I do not need a babysitter. I apparently have a stone-cold killer to fill that role.'
'And that's exactly what I worry about. I'll only be a few floors away, regardless.'
"All done here, boss," Chameleon said aloud from behind Victor. "Ciao!"
Victor rose a dismissive hand in farewell, but didn't take his eyes from the meeting in front of him. As CEO, that was more of a response than would be expected towards a lowly maintenance worker as it was, but he already had a reputation for not snubbing the lower employees, so it wasn't completely out of character. He saw Nyx watching Chameleon leave until the door slid closed behind them, before she moved to the window to look out at the plaza.
Knowing the meeting was about to wrap up, Victor actually turned his full attention to it. Aiko had been summarising it in the background if he actually needed to peruse what was said, but since he would need to make some closing statements, he figured he could at least pay attention now.
"What are you looking for?"
Nyx straightened from where she was bent over, looking under a side table. The meeting had ended five minutes ago but his new 'bodyguard' (if she could even be called that for all the attention she was paying to it) didn't seem to notice, instead searching through his room, under every piece of furniture, behind every decoration.
"Bugs," she said simply, sparing Victor a glance before going back to it, running her fingers along the underside of the table.
"I highly doubt there would be any bugs in here. If there were I would be aware," Victor said, only his cool control keeping the irritation from creeping into his voice.
"Doubtful."
She thinks she knows more about technology than I do, Victor complained to Aiko.
Aiko was suspiciously silent.
"Considering it is Aegis that manufactures most of the technology used today, I highly doubt-"
"It makes the stuff that goes to market," Nyx cut in, not even bothering to turn to look at him as she spoke. "I mean, I know Aegis also does black hat ops, but so does practically every other megacorp. You're only able to detect the stuff you use. I can detect the stuff you don't."
"How?" Victor demanded. If she was going to search through his private areas, the least she could do was explain how she was doing… whatever it was she was doing.
"Trade secrets," Nyx said.
Victor let out a sigh and tried to get himself under control. What was it about this woman that got under his skin so easily?
Nyx, meanwhile, had moved to his windows and knocked a knuckle against it. "This needs to be replaced," she said.
"It was just fixed. You saw the repairman earlier."
"That's what a luminal is?" she shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It won't stop a bullet."
"It's bulletproof," Victor said, confident he had finally got one up on her, but she only shook her head.
"Against standard weapons, sure. But my rifle could get through it, no problems."
"Rubbish," Victor scoffed.
Nyx finally turned to look at him, one dark eyebrow raised. Without a word, she shrugged her jacket off her shoulders, raised the rifle that was nearly as tall as she was, glanced out the window and pulled the trigger.
Victor jumped as a crack sounded, followed immediately by the tinkle of glass. He stared at Nyx, who was calmly reloading and pulling her jacket back over her shoulder.
"You broke my window," he said stupidly.
[--Seems she knows what she's talking about,--] Aiko said, finally making a comment.
Quiet, you, Victor snapped.
"And now you need to replace it."
"What if your shot hit someone?" Victor demanded sharply. He strode over to the window and looked out past the cracks that radiated out from the bullet hole. There didn't seem to be any alarm being raised, but with a shot that powerful, who knew how far it went.
"I didn't. I aimed it between the buildings and timed it for a gap between the sail rotations. I only shoot those I have orders to, not indiscriminately," Zara said and, unless Victor was mistaken, it sounded as though she were offended at the very notion. A killer offended at being accused of killing. Preposterous.
"Here are a few suggestions for replacement. I recommend the Escutcheon, but it's up to you," Nyx said, and there was an access request to his neural link.
Keep her out, Victor warned.
[--Naturally.--]
Victor accepted the request, and three files were sent to him. No further access attempts. Fine. He glanced at the files. They were listings on some kind of store he didn't recognise. The Escutcheon that Nyx mentioned was by far the most expensive, but it seemed to offer the widest protection, with the only exception being some specific kind of explosive he didn't recognise.
[--It hasn't been used since the last world war. Don't think you need to worry about it.--]
"Escutcheon it is," he said.
"Must be nice to have money," Nyx muttered softly enough that, were it not for Aiko's enhancements, Victor wouldn't have heard.
Of course I have money, has she already forgetting who's office she's standing in? Victor said to Aiko, deciding it would be best to keep that comment inside his head rather than alert her to the fact that he could hear her; he had to keep some advantages to himself.
[--I hope Chameleon comes back with more data on her. It would be helpful to know what kind of approach we should put forward.--]
Agreed.
"I suppose you have other ideas as well?" he asked aloud.
"How much time do you have?" Nyx asked, folding her arms across her chest and leaning back slightly against the now-broken window. For all that she obviously knew it wasn't black market bulletproof, she seemed to trust it would hold her weight.
Don't suppose we could just push? I could blame you and-
[--Don't you dare.--]
Victor would have smirked if he were alone. Instead, he said, "I have twenty minutes before I have to leave for my next meeting. Which I suppose you'll want to come to."
"Naturally."
Could you send a message out to those attending that meeting to take Project Cross from the agenda? And that we will have an outsider at the meeting. Other than Project Cross, everything is to be discussed as normal, and participants are to act as though she is not there, Victor instructed, feeling the mental acknowledgement Aiko gave before handling that for him.
"All right. What do you have so far?"
"Firstly, how many people have access to your schedule?"
"The board of directors and senior management. They are sent my schedule for the following day in the evening. Why? Surely you don't think any of them could be an assassin."
Nyx shrugged. "Could be. Send me their personal files so I can look into them."
Victor's eyes narrowed. "The senior management, I can consent to. But you'll have a hard time convincing the board of directors to agree to that."
"Then you'll just have to sweet talk them into it," Nyx said with a smile that almost—almost—made her look innocent. "I also want to switch things up a bit. Change the location of the meetings at the last minute, that kind of thing. You're too predicable as is. If I were sent to take you out, and I'm able to get a hold of your schedule, it would be a simple matter. It's honestly a wonder no one's done it already. Take you out, take your father out, boom, instant instability in the company."
"There is a chain of command for a reason-"
"Yeah, and they'll be the first to be gunning for your execution."
"And we have security."
"Really? Because you could have fooled me. Can you get me that camera access yet?"
Aiko?
[--Fine.--]
"Great, that's a start. I can check for any blind spots that an insider could discover, and any that an outsider could. And then-"
Victor winced as a high-pitched alarm began ringing in his head.
"What's that?" Nyx demanded, her voice loud as though to speak over the sound even though it was only heard in their heads.
Victor strode back over to his desk, where he had his pistol still attached to the bottom of it. "Breach alarm," he said as he went. "Means someone-"
"Get down!" Nyx shouted as she ran towards him, shoving him under the desk and ducking down herself as the door slid open and a blinding white flash filled the room.
In the next episode, Zara’s skills as a bodyguard are put to the test as she must protect Victor from this new threat.
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