Nine-to-Five 019 (Patreon)

Career Opportunities IV

~~~

Gerald dashed through the corridor, just barely avoiding the hail of bullets fired from the turrets. They were rubber bullets, but those still hurt if you weren’t wearing the proper equipment, which Gerald wasn’t.

He considered it extra encouragement.

A buzzer rang off as he reached the sixth checkpoint out of seven. Some would have paused to catch their breath. Gerald didn’t even blink, already moving to the next area. Were this a real mission, he’d have taken a moment to gather himself and scout the area. There was no need for that here. Gerald knew just about every permutation of the obstacle course by heart. It had been designed for a full team, but going at it solo helped him clear his head.

Lately, he’d been spending a lot of time analyzing the surveillance reports on Robards. It was fairly dry stuff, which made it easy to notice when a deviation from the pattern appeared.

Like the way Robards had been visiting that shop an awful lot lately.

Other than the office building where he worked, the small supermarket near Robards’ apartment was the only other place the man frequented. Every couple of days at first, but now it was happening daily. Every time, Robards would linger there a little more.

It seemed to Gerald he was waiting for something, and he wasn’t the only one who noticed this. Kirk had made sure to voice his opinion during his debriefing the other day.

“In fact, I think we might have been thinking about this all wrong,” he’d said.

Security lasers protected the next corridor. Invisible to the naked eye, but not to Gerald’s goggles. He dived in between them and flowed into a series of backflips and complicated pirouettes with flexibility and agility that belied his large size.

“We came into this thinking we were dealing with some big bad Exceed with an agenda. That’s not what we’re seeing, though. This guy has no life. Not really. Even when Luke went into his apartment, we barely found any traces of hobbies.”

Going into Robards’ apartment, even while the man was working, had been a gamble, but it had to be done. They weren’t going to make any progress otherwise. Luke had even installed Morgan’s surveillance devices. Thankfully, the Squires knew better than to ask how those little wonders worked.

Explaining Morgan was… difficult.

“He doesn’t fit the image of someone with an agenda unless that agenda is getting up in the morning and going to work. That’s all there is to it. To him. He’s not the brains. He’s a middle-man.”

Gerald grunted as he climbed into a vent. Kirk might have hit the nail on the head with that. They hadn’t found any of the files he got from the lawyer in his apartment. That meant he either kept them at work (highly unlikely) or on his person.

The store was probably a dropoff point. Robards was waiting for his contact to arrive, but it just wasn’t happening for some reason.

Gerald snorted. The sound echoed across the vents. His goal lay just below.

“Ain’t that just the most interesting thing?”

~~~

Even days later, Commissioner Donovan couldn’t remember that conversation without getting angry.

In the first place, the logic behind building the Disk so close to Port Stanley, a heavily populated metropolitan area, still eluded him. The Disk wasn’t a regular CHEM office. He’d have been able to work with that, but no. The Disk was a place where Exceeds were gathered and trained. He’d heard estimates there were as many as ten supers stationed there at all times.

He didn’t need that. Not now. Not in the city.

Donovan looked at the report on his desk, the one that he, in a fit of pettiness, had decided against sharing with Director Williams. His undercover agent had finally sent him something good. It seemed the Rough Diamonds were getting things back on track. It might not sound like good news to some, but it wasn’t the Rough Diamonds Donovan wanted to get at. It was whoever was behind them.

After their important members had seemingly vanished into thin air, the gang had been in chaos. Now that they were returning to some semblance of order, they might actually provide a halfway decent lead to the people behind Soma.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple.

Donovan glared at the window. So long as Slate kept flying around the city, the Rough Diamonds would be far too careful in their dealings. They were largely high-school drop-outs, but that didn’t make them stupid. Worse, he hadn’t been exaggerating when talking with Director Williams. There was a high chance Slate’s more visible presence would attract Exceeds with villainous inclinations.

At this rate, the Rough Diamonds would only act once things had grown far too messy to handle properly. However, if he shared that intel with Director Williams, she’d just try to insert her Exceeds into the operation.

He needed to push things in a different direction.

Slate was keeping himself confined to the docks, so perhaps… Donovan hummed thoughtfully. Yes, that could work.

Gathering information was only one of the many ways a spy could be used.

~~~

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

Her father laughed softly as he stirred the pot. Already the yummy smell coming from it had drifted to all parts of the first floor.

“I have it handled, princess.”

“Are you sure?” Amanda asked. She was sitting on the kitchen counter with her hands grabbing onto the edge. Her legs lightly kicked at the air without touching the floor. “If there is anything I can do...?”

“If there was anything I needed help with, I’d have already asked you, princess. Your old man is not so old that he can’t cook on his own. Not yet, at least.”

“Sorry,” Amanda said. “Didn’t mean to imply anything. It’s just-”

She trailed off.

It was just what? It was just the first time in a while her father was home before seven on a weekday? Amanda hadn’t even noticed he was there until the scent of his trademark bolognese sauce had called her down.

But saying that would just make things uncomfortable.

Ultimately, Amanda went with, “It’s nice having you here.”

Her father looked at her with warm eyes and a kind smile.

“It’s good to be here. Sorry, we haven’t been making enough time for you lately.”

“No, no. It’s okay,” Amanda said, quickly raising her hands. “You were busy with… work.”

Drat.

She ended up bringing it up anyway. No sooner had the last word left her mouth, an awkward silence fell over the room. None but the bubbling sauce and lone cricket outside dared to make a sound.

“Yes.. work,” her father said at last, his eyes far more intent on the pot than they should be. “But that can’t always be an excuse. We should have tried to make time for you, regardless. I just wish your mom were here. We haven’t had a family dinner in some time.”

Amanda’s lip trembled slightly at the thought of her mother. While she and her father were having a good time, her mother was being forced to steal information from her firm to give to that Exceed. If anyone there found out about it, she’d probably be fired. She could even lose her license!

As if sensing her turmoil, her father turned towards her and flashed her a smile.

“She actually is working right now, you know? No funny business.”

Amanda blinked.

“Really?”

“Something to do with that toad guy,” her dad said. His wooden ladle went down into the pot. “He’s still having some trouble.”

“Still?”

That had been weeks ago!

“Believe me, I know. Turns out there are lots of people who had their day ruined by those toads. Granted, most of that was easily dismissed nonsense. Only a few serious cases were brought against him. However, even now, people are coming forward to sue him through CHEM.”

He took a sip from the sauce.

“Hmm, that’s the spot. Want a taste?“ He offered her the other side of the ladle, and she gladly took a sip. A happy hum left her mouth.

Her father was the best cook.

“Good, right?” Amanda nodded and gave her father a thumbs up. “Anyway, as I was saying. You don’t have to worry. She’s just working right now. Perhaps with a little more zeal than usual, but that can be chalked to her wanting to make up for…”

For stealing information.

Her father didn’t say it, but she heard it just fine. Both of them did. It was his turn to trail off awkwardly for bringing up something they had both been trying to avoid saying this time.

It kind of made sense she got that from him.

“I want to help,” Amanda declared.

“What?” Her father blinked. “I already said I have it handled-”

“No,” Amanda cut in. “I didn’t mean it like that. Not with that. I mean… I want to help.”

“What do you... ? Oh.” Understanding dawned on her father’s face and left him frowning. “We already had this talk, princess. It’s good that you want to help, but your mother and I would both prefer it if you kept your focus on your internship. Don’t worry. We have it handled.”

“But I-”

“Leave. It.”

Amanda flinched. Her father didn’t shout, but the impact was the same. Awkward, tense-filled seconds trickled by.

“I think,” her father said after a while,” we shouldn’t bring up this subject anymore. Help me set the table, please.”

For a moment, Amanda seriously considered announcing she had lost her appetite and leaving. That’d show him! She had as much right to be involved in this as her parents. It was all their lives that were at risk. They didn’t get to shut her out of it!

Amanda also really wanted to have a normal dinner with her dad and talk about meaningless things.

No amount of temporary satisfaction or grandstanding could match up to that.

Besides, she was already going behind her parents’ back. In time they would know and thank her for it. Maybe they would ground her as well, but they’d be alive and grateful all the same. Until that time came, she could pretend.

That time wasn’t here now.

It was time to set the table.

~~~

Tim was starting to get bored.

Before Regum, gyms were places Tim had only watched from the outside. Fancy gyms, at any rate. There had been a boxing gym a couple of blocks away from his apartment. His dad had taken him there for lessons when he was small, but Tim hadn’t really taken it seriously. He had been too small to get much mileage out of it. Hadn’t even been tall enough to reach those little pear-shaped punching bags, which everyone knew were the coolest part of boxing. More so than the belts, even.

Anyway, he hadn’t taken those lessons for long. Didn’t help that there hadn’t been many kids his age there, and it wasn’t like that there were adults lining up to beat up children.

Well, there probably were somewhere, but that wasn’t the point.

The point was Tim didn’t have much experience with fancy gyms. It had all been outside looking in. Everything looked so cool and sleek, but that was back then, and this was now. As it turned out, running in place got old after a while.

Mostly because he didn’t get tired.

No matter how hard or how fast Tim ran, he didn’t seem to be getting any closer to finding his upper limit. If anything, Tim was only learning how much he had to hold back to seem normal. Even at its highest settings, the treadmill wasn’t forcing him to put in any effort. None of the machines were. Once the novelty of it all wore off, the gym was just a place where he couldn’t really show off.

He had lifted his bed over his head the other day.

In his head, Tim had known he could do it because his bed couldn’t possibly weigh more than 500 lbs. A bed wasn’t close to his limit. Not even ten beds were. Still, there had been something impossibly cool about doing it. It felt more real than a bunch of plates at the gym.

If Tim wanted to be pushed, he needed to find a small car to lift. A very small semblance of prudence that vaguely sounded like Amanda was the only thing stopping him from going down the parking lot and doing just that.

Tim knew exactly what sort of nonsense could happen if the wrong people found out about him.

Still, how long could he hold out?

As the days passed, something became more and more obvious to Tim. His body was bursting with energy like a little kid who ate all his Halloween candy in one night. He needed to move. He needed to act.

Running on a treadmill. Surrounded by the same walls and the same air was nothing but a lame imitation of the rush he got from jumping across buildings.

“Well, if it isn’t one of my two favorite interns? You’re going to wear out that treadmill at this rate, you know?”

Tim blinked and looked to the side. While he was all lost in his thoughts, Mr. Gerald had walked up to him. Like, the guy was barely three feet away.

He was like a puma or something.

“Aren’t we the only two interns here?”

“Don’t let little details like those get in the way of a compliment. I never do.”

Tim thought this over and nodded.

“Makes sense. Yeah.”

Gerald smiled. “Doesn’t it? Be sure to tell Alice that for me. She never gets it somehow. Anyway, I’m glad I found you here.”

“Because I am a growing boy, and exercise is healthy for me?”

“That too, but remember how you and Amanda helped escort one of our scientists here?”

“Oh. That.” Still keeping an even pace despite the treadmill being at near maximum, Tim tilted his head left then right. “Can you really call that escorting someone, though?”

“Sure you can,” Gerald said. “You brought him here, didn’t you?”

“I guess… Didn’t really feel like all that, though.”

“Most things don’t feel like all that. It’s okay,” Gerald said, brushing away Tim’s words with a wave of his hand. “Anyway, how would you feel about doing it again?”

“Again?”

“Pick someone up for us. Only this time, you’ll be dropping them off instead. Take them to the train station, get on the train with them-”

“You want me to leave the city?”

“You’ll only be going to Romi Town. We got offices there too, so there’ll already be a security team waiting for you to drop off the person you’re escorting. Then you take the train back. It’s all just for the sake of protocol. You’ll be back here by four. Sounds simple, right?”

“I… guess so?” Tim said dubiously. “Do I get paid?”

Gerald raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said it wasn’t all that.”

“Apparently, most things aren’t all that.”

Gerald laughed and slapped Tim on his back. Despite the difference in sizes, it didn’t hurt one bit. “Good one. Tell you what, I can tell you aren’t feeling too comfortable at the gym lately…”

Tim winced. Was it that obvious?

“It’s okay. I get it. The gym is not for everyone. There are plenty of ways to exercise. How would you feel about getting access to a more challenging place?”

The treadmill beeped as the program finished.

“A more challenging place?” Tim echoed as he slowly came to a stop.

“You didn’t think this was the only place where you could exercise in the building, did you?” Gerald asked. “My men don’t work out here for a reason. We got a nice obstacle course that I think you’ll find a little more challenging than a treadmill. You do this right, and I think I can get you in. We might even see about getting you transferred to my department if you like it.”

An obstacle course.

Challenging.

“So, how about it? You in?”

There was really only one answer.

~~~

AN: 

Upon reflection, this and the last chapter could have been merged. Now that I'm posting the story on RR, I'm seeing how I kept things a bit too slow in a couple of parts. While it was always the idea for things to take some time, there are scenes that could have been cut and scenes that could have been merged.