As I see the client leave, I immediately make my way towards Alliana, confused at what just happened.

“I’m sorry, TL I understand that the customer is always right but wasn’t that a bit too far?”

“That was not too bad, actually Vaughn.” Alliana chides while dusting off her clothes and taking off the gauntlets and throwing it in the air as it returns to Ama by merging with its body. “And besides, we always prioritize our customers. FCR, remember?”

“I understand, TL but…” I struggle to find the words to argue back at her, but her face tells me that there’s no room for argument. Heaving a sigh, I just show her my guns. “Why would you have me bring me these if I would not use any of it?”

“Well, better safe than sorry, Vaughn. You never know when you’d need those…Oh, Olivia. Mission accomplished.” Alliana then directs her attention to her headset.

“Indeed and you’ve handled the irate pretty well, Willingford.” I hear Olivia’s voice from my headset. “Lydia has gone to the director for a debriefing. The client has just sent a survey. Its 5/5 but as expected, he made a note to not let you in on any of his requests again.”

“That’s fine. He is a VIP customer. Is there no way to scrub it off?” She asks.

“You would need to consult the Quality Assurance department for that, Willingford.” Olivia responds. “I will however, make a note on your professionalism in handling this code blue.”

“Oh, geez. Thank you so much for that, Olivia. I owe you one.” Alliana heaves a sigh of relief as the line disconnects.

“Well, that’s that. Shall we head back to the office? Lemi’s feelings can only go deep.”

“TL, please.”

As we make our way back, I notice the arrival of several uniformed figures, clearly part of the response team, their presence bringing an official close to the incident. Alliana steps gracefully out of the car, her focus momentarily shifting to Ama.

"Excellent work today, Ama," she commends. With an almost imperceptible whirr, the automaton transitions into the shape of a sleek briefcase, indicating her standby mode.

Lydia, the assistant operations manager, approaches us with a welcoming smile, though her eyes hold the weight of the day's events. "Team Leader Willingford," she starts, "commendable handling of the code blue. However, I've gathered that the client's temperament was less than ideal?"

Alliana offers a nonchalant grin, her hand finding a friendly place on my shoulder. "All part of the job, Lydia. And I had excellent support from my Subject Matter Expert here—don't let all the kudos fall my way."

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Lydia turns her attention to me, a hint of inquiry in her tone. "Mr. Avelus, I understand you're yet to decide on your focus area? We can discuss your career path more privately. For now, let's head back. And, I must add, the social media team has captured some fantastic footage. Team Leader Willingford, your training in the machinist role certainly paid off. Any thoughts on guiding Mr. Avelus in the same direction?"

Alliana's laugh is easy and infectious, clearly designed to lighten the mood. "Lydia, I'm not one for micromanaging my SME. We're all about harnessing strengths, whether they lie in magic or technology. In the end, customer service excellence is what we aim for.”

…

Going back to the production floor, I tell TL that I’ll be going back to the team as she tags along with Lydia. Moving to our team’s cubicle, I head toward Neil’s desk.

“Oh, Vaughn. Shoot, I didn’t notice you.” He remarks while putting his headset. “How was the code blue?”

“You could say it went well.” I answer him with a grin. “TL wasn’t that flashy but with what happened today, I guess she proved herself to a legit Team Leader.”

“Wait, don’t tell me you doubted her? I mean she may look clumsy but from what I’ve heard, she passed her TL qualification test with flying colors though, for some reason, there was no fanfare to it and apparently, her result came in a few hours after the initial list was released to operations.”

“Yeah, I remember that party. Everyone was surprised when they announced TL’s name as the last qualified candidate for the supervisory role. A lot of raised eyebrows that day but with how she handled herself earlier, there’s not a single shred of doubt that she’s more than qualified.”

“What was it it like, Vaughn? Her specialty is more on the support side of things right? How did she handle that code blue?” Neil then starts asking questions excitedly but the phone on his desk starts ringing and with a sigh, he picks up his headset and answers the call.

“I’ll tell you all about later, Neil.” I chuckle while patting his back and heading back to my desk.

“Ah, sir Avelus.” A squeaky voice suddenly sounds a few blocks from Neil’s station. Turning around, I see square-faced girl with flaming red hair and green eyes waving her hands at me.

“Hi Liz. I’m sorry if I’ve been absent for quite sometime. How can I help?”

…

After helping Liz and a few others HCAs, a faint chime of the bell signals the end of our team’s shift as another team is waiting outside to take our place. Hearing the soft chatter of agents and the slight pop of headsets being pulled out of their stations, I close my laptop and also notice Alliana coming out of the manager’s office, bringing on what looks like a yellow bag of chips and a satisfied expression of her face.

“TL.” I call her out with a wave of the hand as she waves back. “Ah, Vaughn! I’m guessing everyone’s done for today?” She shouts back while turning towards SME Lemi, giving her a small nod before heading towards me.

“I’m sorry. The meeting took way too long. They wanted a full debriefing on what happened.” She groans while giving me her bag chips. “It was way too long that I grabbed Lydia’s chips with me.” She reveals with a snicker.

“Come on, TL. Isn’t this her favorite one?” I ask as she nods. “That’s the very reason I grabbed it but anyways, she pressed me on about your specialization. She wanted to make sure that all SME’s have their paths decided before the new fiscal year. Don’t tell me you haven’t decided yet.”

“I already have a few options in mind but, I kinda want to see what’s available for me.” I tell TL as she nods.

“Then if that’s the case. Let’s go on a meeting tomorrow so I can show you the Techtrae Bay and Arcanae Halls. It shouldn’t take that long but that should help with your decision.”

“Really, TL?!” My eyes light up in excitement as those floors are reserved for the Research, Development and Training Divisions who are continuously developing technological and magical skills and theorems for benefit of the company.

“Now, now don’t get too excited. You won’t get to see everything. Just the available specializations so that you could decided and, we can only do that if the workload is a bit lighter than expected. Workforce should have a forecast for the TL’s later.”

“I won’t hold my breath, TL but it’ll be nice if I can have the chance to see the Techtrae Bay and Acranae Halls. No other SME has seen it, save for Chelsea maybe.” I glance over the station from not too far away and see Chelsea talking with her TL, a big smile on her face.

“Yeah, that woman’s a bit too privileged for her own good.” Alliana whispers. “Although, I think she chose a Techtrae specialty, weapons development or something? I would need to check our records.”

“Good for her. Anyways, I need to get going, TL. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yep. I still have a few things to do at the office but I’ll see you tomorrow, Vaughn. Again, excellent work with the code blue.”