It was a shocker for all the employees of the company Brand Franc. According to the news website, Open Secrets, the owner of the company fell ill. It was hard to believe this was recent when he was in top shape and health. This was a problem for the business. But then, the CEO took on the position of company president. He could’ve given his sister the role of CEO. To the employees’ surprise, he hired a young woman, barely in her twenties, being the new CEO.
Some were in disbelief, others felt offended that they would work under someone ten to thirty years younger. When the new CEO was introduced, there were forced smiles and emotionless clapping. Some racist employees were bothered by the fact that she was of Asian genetics.
“Good Morning, my dear…employees. My name is Azula. Now as you may have heard, the former C.E.O”, she said as if she had never heard the word until recently. “Has inherited a higher position (with more stress that could cause a seizure) and thought of hiring me, his best choice of a leader. I will make it my mission to make this company thrive as well as work all of you to the bone. If I sense that one of you is not pulling your weight or gives me reasons to be suspicious, I assure you I will cut you out. So as long as you follow my lead without questions then we will be just fine. Now resume your tasks at once! I will be in my office”.
As soon as she left, the employees started whispering to each other. “Joyce, can you believe this? She looks way too young!”
“I’ve never heard of this girl before”.
“First day and that girl is already threatening to fire us?!”
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One morning, a blonde girl woke up in her apartment. She rubbed her eyes while moaning tiredly before moving out of bed and taking a shower. She ate about twenty blueberry pancakes with a chocolate bar and coffee. Not the healthy breakfast but she wasn’t completely human.
Standing up she went to the mirror to command the symbiote spiders to shift into her outfit for the day. Black V-shaped crop top, pink belted pants, elbow-length latex punk gloves, and black ankle flat boots, complete with wavy hair combed to one side. She was ready to walk out, but then she smacked herself on her forehead. She rushed back then came out with her earphones and her Samsung phone.
We cannot start our day without music.
Yes, that would be a serious crime.
Gwen just laughed at that, ignoring her apartment neighbor’s annoyed side glance. She walked out and across her neighborhood. As she was scrolling through her long list of songs, she felt a shudder after hearing some men whistling. She would’ve just punched them but instead, she made a rude gesture with her hand. Walking by, she noticed a corndog stand. Paying and then eating her three snacks, she just tuned every sound the city made out of her head. She felt like everything turned pink and imaginary musical notes floated all over the area. Only music could have this much power. Sadly, everything shattered when someone bumped into her. Spilling hot coffee onto her vest.
She was lucky she had her phone in her pocket but she still felt like a burning pan accidentally made physical contact with her belly. Hissing then snarling, she looked up at a young man dressed as a chauffeur. “What the hell man?!”
“Clarence! Don’t tell me you’re making a fool of yourself, on your first day”, a voice of a posh arrogant woman called from behind Gwen. She turned to face a young Asian woman with dark hair tied into a bun, with two strands laid on both sides of her face. She also wore red lipstick, sunglasses, and a red fancy pantsuit. The man quickly bowed as if he was East Asian even though he looked Arabic.
“I am so sorry Ma’am, I will pay for another cup of coffee”, he apologized as if he was talking to a princess from an ancient kingdom. Gwen just balled her fist, mainly because neither of them noticed her.
“Hey! My top just got ruined”, she scowled at the lady who just scoffed and smiled mockingly.
“And that’s my fault how? You were the one who wasn’t paying attention. My idiot chauffeur was not able to dodge some blonde bimbo with her head in the clouds”, she snickered then turned to walk away.
“Excuse me?!” she glared. “Why couldn’t you carry the coffee yourself, princess? Instead of treating this man like a slave, why don’t you treat him like a person?” She yelled.
The woman just laughed. “Exactly the kind of reaction I would expect from an uneducated peasant”, she retorted while she still had her back facing Gwen. “Clarence! Get me another coffee, the one you are holding now reeks of a peasant smell, and pay for coffee with your wages this time”.
The man bowed and rushed back into a coffee shop. Gwen was in disbelief. The posh woman just walked away, not waiting for her chauffeur.
I would love to smash her head against a concrete wall.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
That bitch has some nerve, but we are better than that. I doubt we’ll ever see her again.
After a deep breath, she walked off to an alleyway. Hiding in the nearest store, to use the bathroom, a man came by and called in a serious tone. “Gwen?”.
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Azula was in the Mercedes Benz, in the back seat looking out the window. The driver was focused on the road ahead, too intimidated by his employer to start a conversation. She knew this, her reputation was made clear to him and anyone else in a position below her. It was working just as she expected. But that girl who called her princess. Of course, she just called her that because she had an attitude/authority problem and knew nothing about her. And yet, it felt like she did know one of her biggest secrets. It was also the first time someone yelled at her out of anger in this city. She should just forget about her.
Later in her office, Azula was informed that they finally found an artist for their ad campaign to advertise the new Punk-Shake. It was hard to understand that this company worked on various products like fashion, cosmetics, devices, and now energy drinks. The company was rising into power, meaning it was her “mission” to make it the most successful.
Then she summoned her lackey who worked in the film department, her name was…Prudy…no Judy?”
“You may enter”, she answered her secretary's intercom. The lackey was none other than a plus-size white woman with grey hair.
“Good morning, ma’am, I have come to inform you that the artist we contacted has just accepted our request to sponsor her”.
“Thank you…”, an awkward pause when she realized she had completely forgotten the older woman’s name. To try and cover up this fact, she looked down at her digital desk screen. “I assume that this muse is preparing herself for the filming and photoshoot?”
The woman seemed to be panicking but tried hiding it, with poor effort. As the CEO was just moving files around to seem she was preoccupied, the old woman finally answered. “Yes, but she is already prepared, and would like to visit the company tomorrow”.
“What are her conditions?”
“Privacy and a high wage, adding to the list is additional food”.
Azula just sighed. “Trying to make us think we need her more than she needs the company?” She giggled maliciously. “She must realize that she was not picked by her talent, but rather because of her youth. Such childish conditions, give them to her but pressure her so she knows her place, you hear me?”
The woman nodded at that. “Name”, Azula stared at her. The woman froze but began smiling softly.
“Ruby, my name is—”
“The name of the muse!”
“Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy Brock”.
Azula’s eyes widened. “Brock, is that not the last name of that reporter?”
“I believe his name is Eddie Brock, from the KRON7 news channel”.
“How interesting”, Azula said, “You may be excused”.
The woman nodded and walked out, closing the door. Azula was trying to recall previous mentions of Eddie Brock being a father.
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Gwen was at the food court after calling the company. She was with her ex, Marshall. She agreed to catch up with him. “So you finally accepted their offer”, he smiled. “Pretty smart of you to show them that you’re not cheap”.
“Just needed to be confident”, Gwen chuckled. Marshall stared at her with a bright smile.
“You also knew what you were worth since we first met. Why you didn’t reject me? I don’t know”, he confessed. Gwen blushed but then cleared her throat.
“So is that why you decided to have brunch with me?”
Marshall sat back with his arms folded. “I just wanted us to catch up and be friends, and now I think we should celebrate, now that you’re going to have extra money”.
“Don’t expect any payment from me”.
“That’s fair”.
Later that night, the two were walking to the sushi bar, then they were chatting. “Wait hold on. Wait hold on. You mean to say that you caught a peeping tom, with his foot stuck in the toilet?”
“The strangest thing is that I’ve seen criminals do embarrassing things like that but I almost laughed at that scene”.
Gwen burst with laughter, “I forgot there were lighter sides of being a cop”. They spent an hour catching up, but then Marshall picked up his walkie-talkie. There was a shoot-out.
“I am about to head to the shootout over”. He replied. “Sorry Gwen, but I need to head out—”
He stared at nothing by the other side of the table, his ex-girlfriend nor her belongings were there. She just vanished.
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At Brand Franc, minor employees were watching the news of San Francisco’s residential female vigilante.
“Isn’t it weird that since Life Foundation shut down, freaks with powers just randomly appear?” A Bengali woman asked.
“I don’t think they just randomly appeared, maybe that Drake guy did something”, a young man theorized.
“Has that Ghost Spider chick gained more weight?”
“No, maybe it’s just her ass”.
“Everyone, get back to your cubicles! The CEO is coming!” Secretary Sean alerted. It took less than a minute to lower the volume of the flat screen and for everyone in the department to resume filling in files.
“Speak of the devil, she’s here!” an employee muttered softly. The CEO, also known as Azula, was already present and eyed everyone in the office.
“Which one of you…”, she spoke with an icy tone. Some flinched. “Is going to keep an eye on the singer this company is sponsoring?”
There was silence, this seemed to please their employer. She was always dressed as someone who is a dangerous girl boss. Nobody in this company was foolish enough to cross her, despite how youthful she was. She raised her forefinger and then moved it around to decide who to pick. She made an inaudible ‘ah’ sound. “You! Plain Jane”, she said pointing at a middle-aged brunette in a basic office worker outfit.
The woman stood up and gulped in fear. “Yes ma’am?”
“What is your name?”
“Victoria”.
“Well, good news Victoria, you will be in charge of keeping our musical asset in check. So follow me to the sixth floor”, Azula commanded as she walked off to the elevator. Everyone was in disbelief, not to mention it was humiliating. Victoria would be sure to slip up, the only thing they could do to help was pray.
As the elevators went down, Victoria kept adjusting the pair of glasses she was wearing. Azula didn’t make any eye contact or speak. It was awkward. Then as they made it to the sixth floor, they walked out of the elevator and into the photo shoot.
As Azula walked in with Victoria following behind, the photographers and makeup stylists cleared a path. When she walked to the singer, she cleared her. “Welcome Miss Stacy, it is a pleasure to sponsor you—“, she froze with shock as the singer turned to face her.
To Azula’s horror, she was face to face with the peasant who whined about the coffee earlier.
“You?!” They both yelled in disbelief.