Jane

Walking through the hallways of the corporate building, Jane didn’t bother hiding the scowl on her face. Fifteen minutes earlier, she was purchasing new weapons from the armory before she was met by an armed escort. Two Alpha agents who she identified as Tony Dusk and Hunter Arcane walked a few steps behind her, flanking both sides.

Jane wasn’t an idiot. Both of these agents were close associates of Michael Cynosa. And that meant they were strong and capable agents, even more so than herself.

Both agents had heavy-hitting guns with them. Tony was equipped with a plasma minigun while Hunter held a crack shot cannon. Both weapons were deadly to an agent, even against energy shields.

She knew that the executive board wanted a word with her and the topic was going to be light-hearted. Sending an armed escort carrying heavy weapons wasn’t exactly an invitation for a manicure.

She opened a private channel with Allen and gave him a brief heads up. “Remain on standby. We might have complications.”

The trio made their way to a set of double doors with a pair of Alpha agents standing in front. When Jane stopped a few steps in front of the doors, the pair of agents turned and pushed the doors open.

Jane walked through the doors and her pair of escorting agents walked in behind her. The doors behind her closed and Tony and Hunter remained near the doors. She looked around and spotted Bobby Obsidian, another agent who worked closely with Michael. He also carried an automatic shotgun along with a deathdealer greande launcher.

It was obvious this was a classic intimidation tactic.

In front of here were a bunch of corporate suits sitting around an oval-shaped table that took up half the room. The giant windows on one side of the room were unobstructed and they allowed the sunlight to pierce through into the room. It didn’t do much to alleviate the tenison in the room.

She spotted Chad Eisenworth standing at the window with his back turned to her. The senior executive turned and locked eyes with Jane.

“Ms. Sunheiser, have a seat please.”

“I’d prefer to stand,” she said. “I doubt this meeting will take that long.”

Chad gave her a raised eyebrow before softly exhaling. “Very well then.” The executive walked over to an empty seat across from the window and sat down. Jane looked around the table, specifically studying each of the executives.

One of them was a man in his early fifties with a receding hairline and grey suit. He patted his forehead with a cloth and quickly put it back into his inner pocket. Another executive on the other end of the table shifted in his seat while exchanging glances at either side to his peers.

Nobody was excited to have this meeting.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Jane said. “I know everyone else here would rather be anywhere else but here.”

The meeting didn’t get off to the best start as the silence hung in the air and extended beyond a short moment. While Jane was technically beholden to the orders of these suits, she was still a superhuman agent who could tear up the entire room in seconds if she wanted. The purpose of having three of Michael’s powerful teammates in the room was clear cut from the beginning.

“Alright then,” Chad said, the first to break the silence. “We are aware of your intentions to launch a rescue mission for two of the members of your squad, Dan Orion and Li Phantom.”

“And?” she said, not bothering to hide it.

“As of now, we cannot authorize a rescue operation for those two. The rest of the board has decided to write those two off as acceptable losses.”

Jane’s gaze cut through the air as she stared at Chad. To the man’s credit, his composure didn’t waver.

“Acceptable losses?” Jane said with an added edge to her voice. “You dare write off members of my team as mere collateral? The fact that we lost hundreds of agents from that bombing at the Combat Games should be extra incentive to get those two back. Their combat footage throughout the tournament is out there to see. They’re the highlights of the entire tournament.”

“I understand that,” Chad interjected.

“I don’t think you do, but go on.”

“The loss of life and the dip to our recruitment figures was an unfortunate black eye to the shard, but we’ll recover in time. Since that incident, Michael has ben invaluable to convincing our young talent to take the Arctic serum. Soon, the number of our upcoming talent will be equipped with the same abilities that Dan and Li possess.”

An executive sitting beside Chad also piped up and said, “Soon, agents like those rookies of yours will be a dime a dozen. Our resources and senior talent shouldn’t be wasted on this pointless crusade of yours.”

The executive didn’t even bother making eye contact with Jane and mostly looked toward Chad while making his point.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“That’s bold talk for someone who won’t look me in the eye,” Jane said stepping closer to the table. Bobby and the two agents behind Jane shifted in their positions. They didn’t raise their weapons at her, but she could see Bobby tightening his grip on his shotgun and straightening his posture.

“Look, I get it,” she continued. “You guys are focused on the growth and profit for this shard. It’s your job after all. But I would have thought you all would have been a bit more grateful to Dan and Li being among the first few users of the Arctic serum. They practically field tested that next generation serum for you, willing allowing themselves to be guinea pigs for these new powers. As their squad leader and teammate, I don’t appreciate them being treated as trash to be tossed aside. Let me remind you all that it was their participation in Michael’s heist that got back the stolen shipment of serums. They were in way over their heads for that dangerous mission and they came back alive. They’re the reason why you can even line up candidates for the new serum.”

Jane intruded into the space between two executives and put her gloved hands flat on the table.

“Even if you only see them as assets for the Alpha Corp, they’re assets worth preserving. And to me, they’re my boys. Valued teammates and friends who will grow to be powerful agents one day.”

She didn’t expect ruthless businessmen to understand her sentiment towards Dan and Li. In a sea of young kids who were brainwashed by the Alpha Corp’s marketing and only signed up because of the glamourized lifestyle of an agent, those two in particular had potential to stand above the rest.

Chad exhaled. “Sorry Jane, but our decision still stands. You cannot indulge in this personal crusade just to rescue two agents held captive by Kodak.”

“The conversation doesn’t end here,” Jane said. Her voice was calm while still having an icy edge to it. While most of these executives were at least twice her age, she could see the beads of sweat running down their faces and necks along with the uncomfortable tics such as adjusting their ties and shifting in their leather seats. “I have followed all of your others with little reservations, even if what I had to do was reprehensible. I’ve been complicit and even participated in cover ups, false flags and the silencing of dissenting voices within our borders. But abandoning my teammates is where I will draw the line.”

Jane looked down at the executive on her right. She was a woman in her sixties with her greying hair and skin that shared the texture of a prune. In front of the woman was an alcoholic drink in an intricately designed, elegant glass.

She grabbed the drink and looked down at the female executive. “Is this yours?”

The woman looked up at her and gave a slight nod.

“The only reason you can even enjoy this drink in this prestigious building is because of the efforts from agents like me, agents like Dan and Li who serve the shard and keep our territories safe.” Jane illustrated her point further by pouring the drink onto the table until the glass was completely emptied. She placed the glass upside down onto the table. Jane did this all while maintaining eye contact with the female executive. “Was that rude of me? If agents such as myself weren’t around to keep you feel safe, an invading shard could swoop in at any time and blow your head off. Everything you enjoy right now can easily be taken away by our enemies. Remember that, dumb bitch.”

“That’s enough Jane,” Chad said, his voice calm but firm.

Bobby stepped around the table and raised the barrel of his shotgun at her. The spinning of barrels and the ambient electrical whine of a crack shot cannon from behind her indicated she was pushing her luck.

“You’re not going on this rescue mission and that is all,” he said. “Is that understood, Sunheiser?”

Jane locked eyes with Chad, then glanced up at Bobby who still pointed his shotgun at her. “Crystal.”

She slowly turned around and glanced at both agents with their heavy weapons primed and ready. She cut through the space between them before pulling the doors of the room toward her. She exited that miserable place without looking back.

As she walked through the halls on her way to the nearest elevator, she was occupied in her own thoughts. Regular employees and fellow agents alike staggered and scurried out of her way as she cut through the daily traffic within the corporate building.

“Those uppity fuckwits don’t know shit,” she muttered under her breath.

The elevator ride down to the ground floor was uneventful. She had pressed her thumb into the controls of the elevator and reserved the entire ride to herself as she slowly descended down the building in isolation. Jane held the same scowl and crossed armed as she stood right in the middle of the elevator without budging.

When the elevator doors opened, she stepped out and walked through the lobby at a brisk pace. Everyone from workers, agents and civilians alike stepped out of her way as she made her way out of the establishment.

Jane walked past the fountain in the front courtyard and reached the outer perimeter of the fancy corporate building and stopped. She looked around at the polished marble tiles along the ground and the advanced security system consisting of sentry turrets placed along the perimeter walls of the place.

None of this architecture would be left standing if it weren’t for the hard work of her and the rest of the Alpha agents.

“You seem to be in a bad mood,” a deep voice cut into her thoughts.

She jerked her head to her left and at first didn’t see anything. Then her eyes rested a faint but transparent humanoid outline leaning against the perimeter wall. The nearly invisible distortion on the wall transitioned into the armored form of Michael Cynosa.

“Forgive my teammates, they’re just following orders after all,” he said casually.

“Cut the bullshit Michael,” she said. “Do I need to tell you how unproductive that meeting was?”

“No, probably not,” he said. “But I do have something you might want to hear. I have precise coordinates of where Dan and Li are.”

She narrowed her gaze on her former mentor. “Their armor beacons were disabled at some point during their trip through Kodak territory. Their last recorded locations showed they deep into enemy territory. Any further East and they might as well be in the Pacific Ocean.”

Michael gave a low chuckle and stood up from the wall. “They made a slight detour. Judith Blight has plans for them and there’s still time to get our boys home.”

Jane bristled at the mention of Judith’s name. She didn’t take her eyes off Michael. She was grateful for Michael’s info about the exact whereabouts of her two teammates. But something about this was off. Michael was no stranger to subterfuge and working in the shadows, putting pieces into place from behind the scenes. She wondered what methods Michael used to track her two boys and how he knew for a fact that Judith was involved.

She was also highly suspicious of Michael willingly helping her out, even though three of his teammates were up at that meeting clearly on the side of the executives. It didn’t take a combat genius to see the glaring conflict of interest.

“So, do you want to hear it or not?” Michael said.

“Tell me everything I need to know,” she said. She approached the man and stood in front of him, staring directly into his eyes. “I’ll get them back at any cost.”