Stepping into the conference hall, Thea spotted nearly a dozen figures awaiting them. The central seat stood empty still. Occupying one spot to the left sat Walter Steele, the distinguished gentleman she had encountered once at the funeral proceedings. Destiny would see him marrying her Mother down the road - her future stepfather. Whether step-relations were equally common stateside, she really had no clue. In any case, this fine fellow would wind up dwelling alongside the Queen ladies in their opulent mansion for several years hence.
Walter radiated an encouraging vibe seeing her, like a senior approving their junior. Though touring her family's corporation today, with ownership not yet officially transferred, Thea remained an outsider still. Accordingly, she returned Walter's congenial smile gratefully. "Mr Steele, pleased to meet you again."
"Please.. call me Walter. And welcome to the company," Walter responded graciously, a touch flattered. By his impressions to date, the young lady had always kept others at arm's length, save for Robert, only emerging on extremely rare occasions previously for basic public exchanges like this.
Moira bubbled with delight currently at her daughter interacting so openly with Walter. It represented an excellent start to the day's events. She had intentionally avoided him the past few days, fearful that her blindsided daughter might stumble upon certain ambiguous scenes and completely misunderstand, sparking a total emotional collapse.
After all, a fifteen year old girl recently lost her father and brother tragically, hardly given any chance to process her grief and stabilize mentally. Were Moira to suddenly inform her, by the way, the man you thought was daddy in truth wasn't, and surprise again, mommy already has lined up replacement hubby number one. Such a preposterous mess would surely drive anyone insane. Even imagining the reversal of their roles, Moira felt only Gotham city's Arkham Asylum could hope to treat the psychological fallout. Yet shockingly Thea presented a picture of strength despite it all - did Malcolm's lineage gift greater emotional resilience?
Next Moira guided Thea around the room introducing her to the gathered executives individually. The gentleman heading the administration, this lady managed finances, etc. From the quick tour Thea gathered Walter still occupied his original Vice President slot. If memory served, he should eventually ascend to President. So had Moira not taken the role as indicated instead due to deviations in the timeline, or was her recall simply off?
Thea soon received designation of Assistant to the President AKA glorified PA...only the President was her own mother presently.
Indeed, upon further reflection the plot had shifted subtly in this aspect. Romantic sparks between Moira and Walter had ignited swiftly. Normally colleagues transitioning smoothly from friends then lovers and finally marriage within days as the two middle aged partners impulsively rushed into wedlock. The Board of Directors sanctioned Walter's appointment replacing Robert almost immediately afterwards.
However, Moira's extended intimate time now with daughter Thea necessarily distanced the ardent couple somewhat, stalling further advancement of their bond for the moment. Neither did she wish oversight duties over her precocious child to fall potentially on boyfriend Walter or anything so improperly ambiguous. Their relationship web already resembled a plate of tangled spaghetti - there was no need to complicate matters worse.
Hence multiple overlapping considerations left Moira with little choice except to assume President to oversee Thea's onboarding herself directly. Truthfully she had scant interest in the role, but for her daughter's sake, sacrifices had to be made!
The remainder of the corporate meeting proved exceedingly boring. Routine administrative affairs like resolving pay raise demands from certain divisions or laying off personnel in others constituted standard operating challenges. While the topics hardly qualified as trivia, they amounted to daily tedium for a huge conglomerate entity like Queen Consolidated.
Ever anxious that her daughter might grow terminally bored and start visibly yawning mid-session, Moira kept sneaking glances at Thea anxiously. Instead she spied the young lady sitting upright attentively the entire time, listening to each executive's speeches without impatience, even jotting occasional notes in her notebook.
Marveling at the grown up bearing, Moira swelled with immense pride. After nearly an hour, she concluded the proceedings, hoping everyone would continue shining brightly for the company's sake, and the masses dispersed.
As tea was about to be served, a middle aged man beamed "Miss Queen, might I ask for your impressions attending our meeting for the first time today?"
Immediately Thea judged this fellow neither dealt straightforwardly with her Mother, nor held the Queen family's best interests at heart. Soliciting a newcomer's suggestions so openly? Honest responses would get labeled arrogantly beyond her station, while demurring falsely might make herself appear an ignorant laughingstock instead. Clearly the chap sought to maneuver her into vocally falling into one of those traps for his amusement.
Hence Thea politely replied "Mr Andre, this being my first ever visit, I remain largely unfamiliar with the company still. I'm afraid i have nothing to say at the moment stage. Please pardon me."
Unexpectedly the Queen scion didn't take his bait at all, impressing the man. She exhibited considerably greater temperance than her infamous brother already. Still Andre prodded further "It doesn't matter, just speak your mind. We all served your father, you can consider everyone present people you can trust. No one here will ridicule any opinion of yours." He chuckled lightly.
'Uh-huh, so saying no one would ridicule, only to define her very failure to opine as a joke already.' Thea Internally fumed at the shameless fraud.
Glancing over her notation records though, she realized at once - the fraud headed the crucial Weapons Development Department she coveted dearly. Robert had terribly poor discernment of people, retaining this obvious malcontent for over three years already. But for her future aspirations, such a vital branch couldn't stay in his hands any longer. Hence she responded calmly "Mr Andre, I truly harbor little concrete opinion for the corporation currently. However...one question does trouble me, and I'd be grateful for your insights on that."
"Please, speak."
"Your own report mentioned the urgent need for our group to raise investment into weapons R&D efforts going forward. I've looked into the allotments from the past few years, season over season funding has expanded by a consistent 20% it appears. Might you explain the coincidence behind such precise scaling figures?"
Overjoyed she asked something so pedestrian, Andre breathed easier replying "There exists sound scientific basis behind that number - I have covered the details fully with the Vice President previously. The concepts are quite complicated for a young lady like yourself however."
Walter nodded in affirmation.
Predictably banal response from his standpoint. Thea maintained her tranquil demeanor. "Mr Andre, you have supervised the Weapons Development for 3 years now. Yet contained in your triannual research reports, 2004 lists 19 declared tech projects, 2005 contained 12, and 2006 shows 17 entries. Do the productivity fluctuations of our scientists obey such severe undulations usually?"
Sensing the discourse shift in uncomfortable directions preemptively, Andre nevertheless insisted "Indeed, research fronts experience pronounced peaks and valleys. This typifies the scientific process after all."
Thea smiled urbanely. "Specifically regarding project G-12, an anti-overload protective suit you listed in 2005 - why are details of the research we funded two years prior mixed among the range of current initiatives presented today still seeking financial support? Could you clarify the discrepancies present?"
'Could he clarify the discrepancies?' Andre felt traces of cold sweat upon his brow. To be frank, he had merely siphoned some extra research funds through bogus reporting previously. However now all assembled stared daggers at him. Surely no one present would accept more pathetic excuses.
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Exploiting vague project outlines to bamboozle the corporate heads had constituted Andre's standard ploy in recent years - none of those fancy President types ever grasped technicalities anyway. As long as some sufficiently scientific word salad got stuffed into the yearly reports to fulfill nominal oversight requirements, his job stood accomplished. Never had it occurred to him that a young lady might meticulously pore over weapons and equipment catalogs multiple times. Even with his fabricated initiative buried amidst layers of other entries, her sharp eyes spotted the anomalous name instantly. Now his only recourse was trying to brazen things out somehow.
Intestines knotted in regret, Andre stammered hesitantly "Per- Perhaps simply a peculiar coincidence... I'll re-verify with the staffs below if one of them had made a mistake listing upgrades to an existing project or something similar..."
Oh, so the presumption of ridiculing her had vanished, leaving bare obsequiousness now? Did he expect to slip away consequence-free that readily after insulting her previously? Thea fished out a document from her bag waving it overhead. "What I hold constitutes the index report downloaded directly from internal networks regarding that anti-overload suit. Cross-referencing your personal computer files should illuminate this clearly. After all, regulations mandate every project submitted to the former President required drafting detailed milestone expectations. Comparing those plans against the index report will settle things definitively."
Andre felt the urge to bash his head against the wall. This girl had mentioned commencing her role just yesterday. How could she already grasp standardized processes so thoroughly!? Moreover, how did she obtain his initial project outlines for comparison!? Did she...did she somehow hack his personal laptop!? With such ironclad evidence, even a ten year prison sentence seemed lenient.Visions of himself gripping iron bars arose unbidden. Unless he smashed his laptop immediately, no hope of preventing their inspection remained.
Alas andering destruction held no tangible benefits either. Spying Moira's piercing gaze upon himself, he could only gaze beseechingly back, praying for a chance of mercy from her to erase the catastrophe.
Instantly a chorus of recriminations sounded from the gathered executives.
"Miss Queen speaks accurately - Andre we would like for access to your personal laptop!"
"Oh Andre. I've always known you were somehow wrong!"
"Save your sniveling denials. Just texted my wife's cousin who's a CSI at the SCPD!"
Within moments, the formerly sedate conference room degenerated into a raucous bazaar atmosphere focused on pillorying Andre's selfishly fraudulent actions undermining the public welfare.
In truth, the prodigiously moneyed Queens cared little whether a subordinate filched modest sums here and there. At least Moira and her daughter considered such trivial graft benign. Even the scrupulously dutiful Walter operated an independent investment company on the side - who lacked some financial self-interest? But through sheer incompetence at deception, Andre had gotten hugely upstaged by a teenager. Such humiliation would stain executive pedigree for years. If anyone present switched jobs later, whispers of past association with the disgraced swindler would surely follow, perhaps even costing potential promotions. For the good of all, this fool needed to suffer lasting consequences.
As vocal criticisms cascaded down, Thea smiled slightly, stroking her chin reflectively before remembering her lack of any actual beard growth, turning instead to meet Moira's eyes. Glimpsing fury barely restrained on her mother's face over insulting treatment toward her daughter, Thea understood not to push too unyieldingly on her very first day. A subtle nod signaling to let the matter rest for now followed between the Queen women.
Initially Moira fumed at the situation intensely. She had deliberately exhorted everyone yesterday to treat her young daughter gently for the inaugural work excursion. What despicable wretches lurked within to so casually insult a child on her very first day over such petty graft. Of course Moira grasped perfectly the sorts they exemplified - without solid proof or catching them publicly off-guard however, directly acting held little promise. Not to mention, arbitrarily replacing someone might simply install an even greedier successor.
Thus Moira had maintained loose oversight, turning a blind eye to modest sums going astray, so long as boundaries got respected. After all, whether the Queen riches totaled hundred million or hundred and one million hardly mattered substantially. The key premise was never daring to overreach limits!l. Today Andre's audacity had clearly violated all acceptable norms.
While debating how to best shield her daughter from further harm, unexpectedly Thea had resolved matters herself with elegant aplomb, launching a beautiful counterattack that astounded Moira. Could she have utterly failed to recognize her own daughter's genius for executive leadership sooner? Given mere basic summaries yesterday, Thea had sufficiently grasped conditions to bring low a senior director today. As a teen, when had she developed such scintillating ability!?
To encourage and stand behind her darling daughter, seeing Andre's pleading gaze, Moira opted to ignore him pointedly until Thea signaled finally letting the incident go, whereupon she slowly intoned "This meeting concludes for today - everyone can please leave."
She deliberately avoided specifying any consequences for Andre however. On one hand, his appointment traced to a major shareholder's recommendation. Far more critically, as beloved daughter to Malcolm, Thea's circumstances demanded special considerations. With her sinister ex-partner's penchant for vendetta taking "you cross me, I massacre your family" to psychotic extremes, no need to bother with tiresome chitchat. That worm's fate already stood doomed.
As anticipated, Moira's instincts about her sinister ex-partner hit bullseye. Secretly the grand archvillain Shadow King Malcolm, his hidden dominion permeated all aspects of Star City, threaded by multitudes of loyal minions. Let alone a large corporation like Queen Consolidated - over a third of directors ranked as henchmen bought off or intimidated. He had monitored the day's events continuously through a live video feed.
Watching his precious daughter emerge boldly from her gloom to participate vigorously in discussions brought no small delight already. But Thea's subsequent unflappable poise, razor incisiveness, and commanding presence awakened memories of himself in those qualities. Albeit a feminine variant edition. Thankfully moderns entertained few compulsions about patriarchal prerogatives - with England and the Netherlands ruled by Queens presently, female leaders and inheritresses prevailed universally these days. Neither gender nor birth order impeded his little princess' glorious ascent.
Noticing Moira gently release anger on Thea's behalf, Malcolm saw no rush to intervene personally. Long beforehand, he had dispatched minions to prepare a special pier-side residence by the waters for Mr Andre to occupy soon. With thick sturdy pillars securing the edifice's stability, his new palatial home by the bay would never feel lonely even on the gloomiest nights. He would let the scum learn firsthand the wages of insulting his precious daughter.
Leaving the unimportant man's fate on track, nothing diminished Malcolm's swelling satisfaction at his brilliant girl's performance. As the saying went, contrasts enhance perceptions best - having a marvel daughter overshadowed his abject son most painfully.
He had tried every method to contact Tommy but got blocked relentlessly - calls diverted to voicemail, text messages left unread. Lamenting his sole male heir's disastrous floundering, in stark contrast his fabulous princess had already dashed 200 meters ahead right out the gates.
The master conspirator shook his head ruefully...