10 Minute Tales

Jun 5

The meeting had started as she expected; a general summary of the business' profitability, an introduction of new workers, the same, tired blanket statements. She would have been bored to tears if it weren't for her frustration... and the introduction of one mister Kessler. He caught her eye; he was tall, very muscular, and there was something about his eyes that seemed to attract hers. Such a beautiful, deep brown colour they were... The boss cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to the meeting. 

"Alright, the news has been pretty good so far, right?" he grinned, knowing there were enough yesmen to populate an entire floor of the building. "Well, this is gonna be crazy. There've been rumours of a mole going around the office for a while now, and we thought we'd cleared it." Felicia couldn't help but sigh quietly. Here it comes... The so-called mole had been little more than an underpaid employee revealing a scrapped project name, certainly not enough to make anything of. However, the fact a leak had happened at all had been enough to scare the higher-ups into action, spouting drivel about corporate espionage and taking action on those responsible. The only thing that would make them take action was the thought of losing money. She blinked, realising everybody else was clapping. He must have made the announcement.

"Fantastic." a voice called over the crowd, making it fall to silence. Even Felicia was surprised; it was the voice of the person in charge of the entire building! "To have achieved such impressive results so soon. I could expect nothing less from you."

"Well, um..." her boss seemed genuinely flattered for a moment, but he soon regathered himself. "Yep, I just do what I have to do. All for the company, you know."

"Um..." Felicia found herself commenting. She seemed as surprised as everybody else. The room grew silent as every face in the room turned to look at her, including the suddenly-furious boss and the calm, quiet executive.

"Yes, miss...?"

"Felicia, sir..." she mumbled, barely loud enough to be heard. "I..." she hesitated. What was she doing?!

"You can speak, miss. We welcome all voices here - right, Marvin?"

"Yeah, absolutely." Marvin replied, the grin on his lips more forced now than she had ever seen. "Whatever you want to say, Felicia."

"I... th-the document, sir... it was mine."

"Oh?" The executive seemed surprised. "Well, I suppose if you can prove it..."

"What is there to prove?" Marvin suddenly interrupted, still smiling - barely hiding his anger. "She's been a troublemaker for a while, sir, always trying t-"

"I... I have the original document, sir. I can show you, i-if you'd like..." Never had something as simple as showing somebody something on a monitor terrified her so much, but at the same time she felt... incredible!

"Of course." the executive gestured to the laptop in the corner.

"Sir, I really don't think that's necessary." Marvin objected. There was a cold edge in his voice. The executive looked over.

"I do." he replied, frowning slightly. Never before had Felicia been so glad to see this man so angry. "Miss Felicia, please show us the document."

"V-very well." she stood up, unaware that every eye in the room and plenty from outside were now staring fixedly at her. All she cared about was being proven right for once in her life.

-----

I watched as she went to the corner. Power was unmistakeably flicking from her now; it was weak, but it was definitely there. She had no idea that her new persuasiveness was thanks to this energy. She brought something up on the projector - a document of some description. That's when her boss, the one they were calling Marvin, lost it. He started yelling, flailing his arms wildly, but the old man tried to talk him down. It wasn't enough, and Marvin lunged for her out of rage. But the anger wasn't entirely his. My eyes widened as I realised; this was the target's power at work. She could manipulate emotions! I nearly pulled the trigger to stop him, but Kessler moved fast, faster than I could track, and managed to take him down. He didn't even shed any blood, to my surprise - all he did was throw him onto his stomach and pin him. He looked at me again and said one sentence. "I don't think you should do that." It was clear he meant it for me, though everybody in the room believed it was for Marvin. The old man spoke louder for a moment, settling the crowd down and dismissing them early. The target moved back to her seat, presumably to gather her things, but the man asked her to wait. I frowned, shuffling a little. I was torn between tracking Kessler and the target, but with Kessler nearly at the stairwell I decided to keep my focus on the target. Kessler wanted her alive, too. Something was odd about this whole scenario.

-----

Felicia stood awkwardly beside the projection board, watching the last of the audience file out. The rush from earlier had evaporated with Marvin's frustrated attack; if it wasn't for Mr. Kessler, she might have been harmed by now. The thought alone sapped some of her strength, and she rested a hand against the wall.

"Are you feeling better?" the executive asked, frowning slightly. He had been surprised by Marvin's unanticipated assault as much as anybody else.

"I... I-I think so, sir..." she mumbled, calming down a little.

"Thank you for showing me the document was yours." he smiled. "That was brave of you."

"It... it's not the first work he's claimed as his own..."

"That doesn't surprise me." he sighed. "Marvin definitely had a way with people, but he chose to rest on his laurels and have others do his work." he turned his back and looked out at the office. The other workers were gossiping but were slowly settling back into work. "I'll assume control of this wing directly until we can get a more suitable manager."

"Yes, sir." Felicia nodded.

"You could be that manager?" he let her consider. "You've certainly had the experience here, and you've shown you can do good work."

"I-I don't think I'm suited for the pressure, sir."

"Very well. I hope you'll accept a compensation package, at least?"

"I would appreciate that, sir." she smiled, drooping a little as she relaxed. She would have been happy just keeping her job. This was definitely more than she was expecting.