Maniac’s Mayhem: A guide to being a corporate slave

 

Don’t say something stupid. Don’t say something stupid, is the thought that keeps playing through my head as I walk through the hallways towards the meeting room. As I am about to go into the meeting room, I catch a bit of a heated argument going on inside.

“I mean, even if it is her, how are we supposed to deal with it? We should hit her quickly and hard, take her out before she can do anything.” I hear Gerard say.

“No, we can’t, “Cierra says” We don’t even know for sure if they are the same person.”

“Cierra, you should put your own feelings aside in this matter. She poses a real threat, especially when she is so close to one of our holdings.”

At this point, I can’t really wait anymore. I am really curious what is going on. So I open the doors and walk inside.

“Sorry, I am late. Did I miss something?” I say when I come in, everyone is looking at me with wide eyes. Some even start frantically looking through the tablets that were in front of them. Scrolling to different media feeds.

“Not really”, Cierra says. “Maniac just showed up near one of our buildings, so we were discussing what to do.”

“There is no reason the involve this slut in that matter.” Miriam says.

“Mother, stop!” Cierra growls at her mother. “You wanted her here, so that means you can’t complain when she actually shows up.”

Her mother just stands there looking at her with her mouth agape. Well, this is awkward. But then again, it is the first time in a meeting where I have an actual team backing me up. How much fun can I have here?

"So, for what reason am I here, then?” I ask, to break the silence.

Victor then clears his throat “Evelin, can you explain to us why, with a report of blackmail and a bomb, you did not think it necessary to inform security even when it incurred extreme damage.” He says in a tone that brokes no argument.

“Because I had good reason to believe that it was an inside job, sir.” I say, without an ounce of hesitation.

“And what reason did you have to believe that? You only knew recently Felix Koch was a traitor, so there must be another reason.”

“The payment account, sir.” I say, trying my best to stay calm and neutral.

“And what about the account made you think that?” Victor says, in a way that makes me think he wants me to get to the point. Well, it sucks to suck, but wasting time is my speciality.

“The fact that I made it.” I say, in a sure tone.

Well, that catches everyone off-guard. Including my own team. “What do you mean you made it?” Anika hisses at me.

“Well, you see, when the financial department needed to be restructured some three-odd years ago, we got a lot of their job. Including making these types of accounts that bounce around in shell companies, making them virtually untraceable. We needed to build a hundred of them in a short amount of time. So it took me a while to remember that I made it.”

“Wait so they are virtually untraceable.” Zaine says, a bit of concern in his voice.

“in this day and age, it's way easier to track or attack a program than to defend it; usually, in my line of work, the question is not how well something is protected but for how long, and can we detect and track who is attacking us, so that we can send a more physical solution.” I explain.

“So, how traceable are these accounts?” Zaine asks, with a hint of fear.

‘interesting, Lyssa, investigate.’ I subvocalise.

But Lyssa’s favourite show is on.

“it would take a sizable team and budget to get it done within a year.” I say, running some calculations in my head.

“That is all good and all, but that security goes out of the window when you have the person that made it around,” Edward says.

“That is correct, and the main clue has been staring me in the face. Global Entertainment Risk Advisory, G.E.R.A. I kind of remember working on it because someone wanted to add Reliable Deductions to the end of it, but we advised against it because it would be too obvious who the account belonged to. Isn’t that right, Gerard?” I explain, while looking straight at the culprit.

“What, you think you can just accuse me without any evidence?” Gerard says, visibly very angry.

“Evidence, you say. I am sure, if you have someone else look into it, they will come to the same conclusion.” I say, with a bit more venom than planned.

“I don’t like your tone.” Gerard says. “Just because my sister likes you, does not mean you have a seat at the table.”

I look around at the table. Most people here look at me with contempt. “Where in the world did you get the idea that I want to sit at the table? I'd much rather be at home right now.”

“Sure you don’t,” Gerard says. “You show up at every event like you own the place. And we are supposed to believe that you don’t want to be there.”

“Shut it, Gerard. Give it a rest, will you?” Cierra shouts. “Why would you even threaten Anika?”

“Cierra, sweety, you should not listen to everything she says,” Miriam says. “She did dump you after all.”

“Her dumping me has nothing to do with Anika, and people blackmailing her and trying to blow her up.” Cierra says in a cold tone.

“Honey, you don’t really believe that, right? He is your brother. You two have always gotten along; do not believe everything outsiders have to say.”

Cierra turns to me. “Can you get in his augs?”

“I can, but..” I look at Victor, who has been following these interactions for a while now.

“You don’t have to. Gerald, did you do it, or do we have to put one of our investigators on the case?”

“Why does everyone always take Cierra’s side? Just because she almost OD'd does not mean she should get special treatment. And if giving her personal attack dog the newest gear was not enough, you also force one of the best hackers in the world to be her lap dog.”

OD? What happened, I don’t remember. Oh well, not important right now. “So your reasoning for doing all of this was because you were jealous. You blew up a building because you were jealous.”

“And what do you care? You owe us a huge debt, so you should just shut up and do as you are told. You should be working right now, not running around playing investigator.”

“Brother,” Edward interrupts “She is working for me, and I told her to investigate this, so technically, she is working.”

Uhm, what is this then? What is this little bastard scheming? I don’t think I care enough to find out. Honestly, this has been a very long day; I just want to resolve this and go to sleep, not think about what kind of powerplays are happening.

“Ooh, so that was why she was with Cierra again.” Miriam says, then turns to me. “You should not be with her anymore. You two broke up. Why even stay near her if you have no interest in her?”

“Because I care about her, I want her to be happy.” I state as a matter of fact.

“If you care so much about her, why would you break up with her then? ” she asks me.

So, we’re playing like this then. Okay, I bite or kick your shins in. I don’t like the taste of hag that much. But what to say? Because her family murdered mine, because I really need to sort myself out before I have any kind of relationship. No, that would just sound like I am whining. Let's just create some more chaos instead.

“I broke up with her because I was ordered to, or to be more exact, as soon as Cierra tries to marry you, you have to break up with her.” I say, while looking at Cierra’s dad.

The room goes deathly quiet. I kind of feel this intense need to burst out laughing, but I try to control myself a bit.

“What?” Cierra finally says, her voice tinted with disbelief. “Why, you told me that it was okay for us to be together and that you would allow me to marry her, and now it turns out that you don’t. What is up with that?” I can hear the vulnerability in that.

“Sweetie, that is not important right now. We want what is best for you. And she is not the best.” Miriam says, trying to calm her down.

How incredibly rude. I am the best at… well, I am still figuring it out, but I am definitely the best at something. Before I can articulate my dissatisfaction, a shouting match erupts.

“What do you mean she is not the best? Compared to any of you, she is the only one who showed me any kind of love or attention!” Cierra screams at her mother.

I can’t quite explain my feelings on this, but it is somewhere between satisfaction and amusement, and this warm, cosy feeling you get when you cuddle with someone warm.

“Enough!” Victor's voice booms through the room. “We are not talking about this now! We have personnel here who do not need to know about our private matters.”

“Then send them away because I am talking about it now, and you can’t stop me!”

“Fine.” Victor sighs. “Everyone whose last name is not Agroria can leave now; we will pick this up another time.”

I am the first one out of the door. I don’t need them to change their minds or think that they need me; as I am about to get to the elevators, someone grabs my arm. I look around to see that it is Anika. Well, fuck, guess I'm not leaving early then.

“Walk with me?” she says in a tone that makes it sound more like a question.

Anika walks to the stairs, and we start to descend through the building. It is quiet. Guess she is taking the stairs to clear her head a bit. At least, I think that is the reason, or Anika just wants to get her daily steps in. When we reach one of the parking floors, we stop decending and head into the parking lot instead. We walk up to Anika's car and get inside.

Once in the car, Anika lets out a deep sigh. “Well, fuck!”

“I think that I should apologise,” I say. “I could have done better. What I just did will only distract me from the main problem.”

She puts her hand on my head. “Don’t worry about it. The only thing they would have given me was a pay raise to keep my mouth shut; that is all. Not much else. They don’t want to harm their golden boy.”

“And you are just going to take that, and let all of this slide slide,” I say in confusion.

“Evelin, I am not like you; I have been trained to fight and kill. Not to think. I can do some thinking, but when I am in a room with someone like you, it is easy to realise that all I will ever be is a soldier under someone's command.”

“That is just kind of sad. No hopes and dreams or anything?”

“I want my children to be happy. That is why I have this job. It pays well, so that I can give them a decent life. But in this situation, I don’t even know if I can keep them safe.” There is something incredibly vulnerable in the way she says that.

“Then I guess it's good you don’t have to; they can stay at the samurai compound for as long as they need to.”

“Thank you, that means a lot; then I guess I will keep them there until this issue sorts itself out.”

“How are you so sure that it will?”

“Well, because if anything, you're good at holding a grudge. If I have to guess, he will not live for that much longer. And if you can’t take care of him, I might be able to convince Maniac to do it.”

I just start to laugh and giggle to myself. "I will see if I can get her on the case."