Yowzah Oneshot Collection (3)

164(M)

            The Games We Play.

                  doctorrsong

Chapter 1
Chapter Text
“Don’t you understand how much of a boost this is for the company?” the little weasel of a man who called himself the vice president of her industry whined. “There is so much money to be made with drone manufacturing. You can’t just…just decide to shut down that branch!”

River raised her brows slowly, watching as the man’s beady eyes widened and sweat began to trickle down his sallow skin. She kept her silence for a moment longer, simply reveling in the power her gaze held. “Mr. Harper,” she said quietly, “I do believe I am the president here. I can do anything I very well please.”Including disposing of you. It was unspoken, but she knew he had caught her meaning.

She was bluffing, of course. She didn’t actually have the means to get rid of him. If she did, she would have done so already. She wasn’t one to equivocate. No, unfortunately Harper had been digging his home in the company for a long time, and uprooting him would be no easy matter.

“Thousands of people will lose their jobs,” Harper pressed. “You wouldn’t want to put them out on the streets, would you? They have families.”

River gave him a withering look, and he practically shrank back from the force of it. She stood from the plush leather chair, smoothing the material of her dress down over her thighs as she did. The pencil hem hugged her hips sinfully and she didn’t miss Harper’s eyes following her hands as they adjusted the material. She was always aware of the reactions her body tended to elicit.

She was a practical woman and she knew how to flaunt what assets she had, but she was also an intelligent woman, and she knew that her charms would be wasted on the cretin standing before her.

“Don’t believe you can guilt me into keeping the drones, Mr. Harper,” she said acidly. “Those people won’t be let go. Just think. If I terminate you, I could keep at least twenty of them on your salary.” He blanched and gulped uneasily, but she pressed on without missing a beat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, you’ve made me late for a meeting.” She made a dismissive gesture with her hand that she knew would leave him fuming for days.

He clenched his jaw, obviously attempting to squash down the rage that was undoubtedly simmering under his skin. “I’ll get started on terminating the project right away, ma’am,” he said, turning stiffly and leaving her office abruptly.

She sighed when the door closed behind him, allowing her shoulders to slump slightly as she sank back down in her chair. The leather creaked under her but she paid it no mind as she looked at the schedule on her desk. The entire surface of her desk was a touch screen, and her fingers were quick as she crossed off the meeting she had just had with Harper. She made a note to herself to double-check that the man wasactually doing what she had instructed. Men like Harper had a way of looking like they were agreeing with you while they were really just planning the best way to stab you in the back.

As she flicked back to her schedule, she noticed the name of the man waiting to see her now. She hadn’t had a chance to look through her planner to see what her secretary had scheduled, and so her hearts began to pound as her eyes fixed on that name.

John Smith. 3:15PM – Details unspecified. Representative for Onyx Co.

River took a steadying breath. There were a huge number of John Smiths running around. Even in the 45thcentury, the name had continued to be one of the most commonly used. But damn her if her hearts didn’t start racing just a bit every time she heard it. There was always a chance that it was him.