The PulseTeam, Book One: Origins

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Saving Allen International

Part One: Not The Only One

Well, as a result of Schlefta's trial, it turns out that a lot of higher-ups under me in the company were in on what Schlefta did to me, too. Most of them were forced, but the rest of them weren't.

Then I gets calls and reports saying that almost every employee of Allen International's bank accounts are dropping into the red. I get to work on this immediately, and I find that Schlefta has screwed me over one last time.

Turns out that in apparent anticipation of being caught and captured, he left a kind of retaliation protocol in the Allen International computer systems: A delayed response hydrogen bomb.

Now that's figuratively speaking of course, thank God, but I find that this hydrogen bomb has not only drained bank accounts, but I'm seeing something that can only be described as a financial nightmare. It is confirmed when the next phone call I receive says that the money that's disappearing from my employees' bank accounts is waterfalling into my own.

This gives me a near-migraine headache and I give up. So over the comm, I get a hold of DEELEX and explain to her what's happening, and she simply says, "I'm on my way, sir."

So I print out an I.D. card for her, and I wait. After about a good seventy-five minutes, she says, "Sir, I've been trying to get to you for the past fifteen minutes, but your receptionist keeps telling me that I need to have an appointment to see you. And sir, if I may, with an attitude like hers, it's a wonder this business can even survive, let alone thrive."

"I'm on my way," I say.

I take the stairs because right now, the elevator is moving way too slow for me, and I am just in time for my excuse to fire Grace: She stands up and demands of DEELEX (who's in her guise of Dealah Lexus), "Just what did you mean by 'an attitude like hers'? What's wrong with my attitude?"

"What I meant," says DEELEX as sweetly as she can, folding her arms, "is that, by the looks of things around here, you really should have been fired a long time ago, sweetie. You have a very bitter disposition, and your clothes are absolutely awful. And by that I mean that you barely have any on. Your clothes don't--not barely--don't cover up anything, and one strong gust of wind and you're practically naked!"

"You b****! Take that back, right now!"

"I'm neither with child nor do I have any canine DNA in my body. And no."

"Take it back, or I'll make you eat those words!"

"I've been threatened by way better than you, been through worse than you will probably be, and I'm able to deal out way worse than I receive, most likely unlike you, so... no."

"Why, you--"

And it all happens in slow motion: Grace lets out a horrible battle cry and lunges at DEELEX perfectly over her desk in an attempt to attack her, but as soon as she touches DEELEX, I guess some sort of physical self-defense programming inside of her matrix is activated, because DEELEX grabs her and does a maneuver on Grace that I can only describe as humiliating. Even though I can see the whole thing, I can't describe how she does it, but Grace ends up ungracefully being pinned down face first on the other side of the desk, and DEELEX holds Grace's right arm behind Grace's back. As it all happens, I wince from looking at it, because it looks extremely painful. And upon hearing Grace cry out in pain, I can only deduce that it actually is painful for her to be in that position the way DEELEX is holding her there.

And I see my window. I walk towards the two ladies, and I say, "Alright, ladies, break it up."

"With pleasure, sir," says DEELEX as sweetly as she did when she based out Grace.