Shale stood upon the podium, looking at the bouquet of microphones before him. He had only given the announcement that there would be a release an hour before, but the media had wasted no time in swarming the Frostbyte headquarters. Among the sea of hundreds of faces, he saw familiar reporters, journalists, and camera operators, several of which had once gone after him in an attempt to undermine all his philanthropic work. They all came up empty, of course, but it was always annoying when they went rifling through his trash.
He looked to his right, where several feet away, Derrek was standing, facing the crowd with his hands behind his back. Discord was standing beside him, fumbling with a puzzle cube, which he could tell was missing several stickers. He cracked a smile and turned back to the crowd and cleared his throat before gesturing to the event coordinator that he was ready.
The coordinator nodded and signaled to several people, and after confirming the cameras were ready, he began a countdown from five.
Shale did a final check of his notes, straightened his tie, and looked ahead at the main camera as the coordinator reached one. The recording began, and Shale began speaking.
“Good afternoon, everyone. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is William Shale, founder, owner, and CEO of Frostbyte Incorporated, the world’s leading developer of prosthetic limbs and internal organs, as well as one of the leading contributors to the largest environmental conservation charities. Over the last thirty-two years, I’ve done my best to make the world a better place for those who come after me, as I believe everyone should, but there’s only so much one can do from a seventieth-story office.
“I called this release to announce that, effective immediately, I will be stepping down from my position and will transfer ownership and control of the company to my protégé, Derrek Lloyd Snowe.”
He gestured to Derrek, who was still calmly watching the crowd. He gave a small smile and waved to the crowd as the cameras all briefly panned to him, before focusing back on Shale.
“On a related note, I would also like to take this opportunity to announce that I will be throwing my proverbial hat into the ring and will be running for the presidency in the 2036 election.”
This statement was met with a roar from the crowd, producing a din of questions as everyone competed with their microphones outstretched, trying to get a comment while Derrek stood out of frame, dumbfounded at this announcement. Shale had never mentioned anything of the sort to him before then, so it hit him as a big surprise.
“I will now turn the microphone over to Mr. Snowe, and he will give a brief statement. Derrek, if you will.”
He then stepped away from the podium, shaking Derrek’s hand as he made his way to his place, looking at Shale with the same expression on his face until he was before the bundle of microphones, at which point he adopted a neutral expression. He hesitated for a brief moment before speaking, but after a final glance to Shale, who elbowed Discord to direct his attention to the speech, he steadied his breathing and faced the crowd.
“Hello. As Mr. Shale just said, I am Derrek Snowe. Over the past several years, I’ve been working closely with Mr. Shale, learning everything I could from him. I didn’t know until recently that I was up for this—shall we say—promotion, but as soon as I was told, I put everything I had into preparing for this exact moment.
“There will not be many drastic changes to the way things are run at Frostbyte any time soon, as the last thing I want to do is make some naive decision from lack of experience. Over the next several months, I will be putting my all into my work, learning how to run this company as my predecessor has, then learning how to improve things from there.
“I am truly honored and humbled to be offered this opportunity, and I will not disappoint. Thank you all for your time. There will be no questions.”
He stepped away from the podium toward Discord and Shale, doing his best to ignore the wave of reporters trying to get a comment from behind the wall of security officers that was set up. Once he approached the men, they were ushered inside the building’s lobby, which was currently empty.
“Now that was a speech!” Discord said as he patted Derrek on the back. “Short, sweet, and to the point. Plus, it’s gonna put all the major shareholders in turmoil. It’s a win-win-win-win!”
Shale nudged Discord once more. “Any major change in leadership can have unpredictable effects on a company’s share price. Don’t let it bother you too much if there’s a drop. You did great out there, though. You’ll do the company proud, son.”
He and Derrek shared a smile and a handshake as something rang out from Discord in an obnoxious tune. He patted around his coat and pulled out an extremely outdated cell phone.
“Hold on. I gotta take this. You guys have a nice, heartwarming back-patting conversation in the meantime.”
He stepped away and stood next to a large potted plant, where he flipped the phone open to answer it.
“You’ve reached Discord, fastest hand in the West. How can I help you?”
“Do you mind telling me what the hell that was?” a gruff voice with a Western accent replied.
“Jer Bear! Haven’t heard from you in months. How’ve you been?”
“Cut the shit, Discord. Why the hell am I looking at the Devourer on TV right now? And why the hell is he taking control of Frostbyte?”
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“Politics, man. Crazy stuff.”
“Oh for the love of … aren’t you supposed to be the one who deals with this?”
“I am dealing with it.”
“By giving it control of the biggest corporation in America?”
“Hey, I had nothing to do with that. It’s been in the works for years.”
“Why is he even still breathing? You should’ve—”
The phone began ringing. “Whoop. Hold on. Got another call. Please hold.”
“Don’t you ‘please hold’ me, you son of a bi—”
Discord put him on hold and answered the other call.
“Discord’s sarcophagi and insulated wire. You wrap ’em, we zap ’em. How can we help you today?”
A deep, monotone voice spoke back to him slowly. “So you still live, and the Devourer does as well. Why is that?”
“’Cause I didn’t kill him, duh.”
“Why?”
“’Cause I didn’t want to, duh.”
“It is your duty.”
“So?”
“So it is what you must do, one must not stray from—”
The phone began ringing again. “Hold up. Got another call. Please hold.”
The voice grunted in exasperation, and Discord answered the call.
“You’ve reached Discord’s … damn it, I got nothing. What’s up, Sizzle?”
“You know we have to talk about Snowe, right? I’m guessing the others have already called?” a calm, masculine voice replied.
“Yep and yep. Got Jer Bear and big man on the other lines. You wanna get them together? I can get us a meeting with him so we can all work this out.”
“That would be best. Get back to me with the details, and I’ll make sure they don’t storm Frostbyte.”
“Aye aye, Captain. I’ll text you the deets when I have them.”
“Roger that.”
Discord hung up on all three calls and went back over to Derrek and Shale, who were still carrying on with their conversation.
“And that’s all you have to do to win over the board when they stand against you. Just remember to get Cheryl brownies, and you’ll be golden.”
“I’m no good at baking, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find a decent bakery somewhere. What do you think, Discord?”
“Definitely go with Cakes and Shakes. The shakes suck, but their baking is top-notch.”
“Noted. What was that call about?”
“Just some friends of mine that you’re gonna have to meet soon. Maybe we could set up a meeting in a couple of months so you can be properly introduced. But enough of that for now. Billy, what’s your plan? You really going through with this whole presidency thing?”
Shale smiled. “Absolutely. I’ve been mulling it over for the last decade or so, and now that Derrek is ready to take over here, I can go forth and give it my best shot without having to worry about all the work needed here. I know you dislike politics in general, but I do hope you’ll understand this is the best way for me to be able to make major positive changes in the world.”
“Now, hold up. I don’t dislike politics, but I absolutely hate politicians. Those money-grubbing bigwig hypocrites do nothing but push policies that benefit themselves and harm others, especially when a goddamn businessman decides to step into politics so he can do nothing but yell nonsense, call everyone opposing him a liar, and tax the ever-living shit out of the poor and cut costs to essential services so he can line the pockets of his other fat-cat business buddies. Not you, though. You’re genuine.”
Shale laughed. “I appreciate that, old friend, and I hope you’ll be available should I ever require your special set of skills.”
“But of course,” Discord said, reaching out to shake his hand. “No political assassinations though. I haven’t done those since the Ming dynasty.”
The three shared a laugh before Shale checked his phone and spoke once more.
“I must be going. My advisors are throwing a fit. I’ve got a list of people to meet before the sun goes down and who knows how many favors to cash in on. Derrek, just remember what I told you: keep your allies close, never compromise your morals, and above all else, do good. It’s all in your hands now, son. Do your best.”
He held his hand out toward Derrek, who shook it without hesitation.
“I will, and I hope you’ll do the same.”
They shared a warm smile, and Shale exited the building, weaving his way past the crowd as Derrek and Discord made their way back to Shale’s—or rather, Derrek’s—office. Derrek stood behind his desk, looking out the window at the city, admiring from a view he’d never truly appreciated until that moment. Discord poured them both a glass of Steel Barrel, handing one to Derrek as they both took a seat on opposite sides of the desk.
“Cheers,” they both said as their glasses met before they took a sip and enjoyed the flavor. Discord set down his glass and stuck his hand into his coat.
“I’ve been working on this in my spare time for the last couple of weeks. Just put the finishing touches on her last night. Figured now’s as good a time as any.”
He pulled his hand out of his coat and was holding a large pistol, laying it on the table in front of Derrek, who picked it up and began to examine it. It had a large trapezoidal barrel and was much heavier than the pistol Jeffrey had given him. He could barely fit his hand around the grip. It was silver with a deep blue trim and covered in intricate carvings, depicting a series of thorny vines that seemed to crawl along the barrel, flowing in flames at the muzzle.
“It’s a fifty-caliber Desert Eagle, the most powerful semi-automatic pistol ever conceived. I hopped over to Israel a couple of weeks back and picked her up. Been gradually working the carvings into it so she can affect more than just flesh-and-bone things. That baby can hurt anything from people to ghosts to gods and everything in between. I’ve been calling her Lillith, but feel free to call her whatever you want. She’s yours now, after all.”
Derrek continued to examine the gun, running his finger along the vines, getting used to the weight of it.
“I think Lillith suits her perfectly. Thank you, Discord. I really appreciate this.”
Discord smirked and raised his glass toward him for another toast, which Derrek happily obliged, and the two enjoyed their drink as the sun slowly lowered in the sky, eventually dropping over the horizon.