Ramjammer
Confirmed Memelord
"Anything yet?"
The question drew a prolonged sigh and an eye roll from the woman sitting in front of the monitor. The man standing just at her shoulder frowned in response, clearly in no mood.
"No, nothing. The same as yesterday, and the day before, and-"
"Don't get smart." He cut her off sharply. "Nothing happened today or yesterday, so what? The point is, it's happened before and it can happen again."
The woman slouched in her seat, lips pressed into a thin line. She clearly wanted to argue, but wisely chose not to. He wasn't wrong, and she well knew it. Instead, she resumed staring at the screen in silence, eyes tracing over the shapes barely discernable on the screen. The man did the same, arms crossed and brow furrowed in worry. There wasn't much to see. A dark room, sixty square meters of steel. The depth was less clear. Waves lapped gently at the edges of the room, liquid submerging whatever lay within and keeping it hidden from view. It was for the best really, and the man fought back an unconscious shudder at the idea of the room being drained for any reason.
"A simple Non-Newtonian Fluid. The more it struggles, the harder it'll be to escape."
That's what the researchers from HQ had told him. The science of it didn't really matter to him. As long as the shit worked, he couldn't complain. So long as the liquid remained just that; a liquid, they were safe.
Well, as safe as they could reasonably so long as that thing was in there. If it were up to him, it'd be destroyed. Wiped clean from existence and forgotten about forever. But that was impossible, or so the eggheads said. So he had to submit himself to sitting on his ass and watching screens all day, his finger on the trigger in the event of the slightest hint of activity. Definitely not the kind of security detail he'd imagined when he signed on. Sure the pay was good, but it was nowhere near worth the stress. Barely more than a dozen of them out in the middle of nowhere with any sort of help thousands of miles off. The first, last and only line of defense between the rest of the world and the thing they kept locked up down there.
The man felt his skin prickle uncomfortably as his thoughts strayed towards things better left ignored and he sucked in a breath. A hand reached towards its twin and he silently grasped the studded ring on his finger and counted each individual bump. A grounding exercise, one he'd used often because even far beneath his feet under yards of earth and steel it could still get him. Just knowing it existed was enough.
"Just...monitor it. " He finally mumbled, shifting awkwardly away from the monitor and shambling towards the door leading to the adjoining hallway. His partner didn't seem at all concerned with his shaky demeanor and watched him only briefly before she resumed staring boredly at the screen. Her blase attitude filled him with as much jealousy as it did irritation. Some people just weren't as affected by it, it's why they got stuck watching it. Whatever hooks it used to dig into the mind just couldn't find the right purchase on some people. The nightmares were milder, their time under was longer.
"Their deaths come sooner." A vindictive little voice inside of him said. People like her were the first in line to get thrown into the grinder because of their 'talents'. Better to be normal. Especially with an employer like theirs. More often lately, he'd been wishing that he was far below average. He'd have never been chosen if that had been the case.
The air was growing uncomfortably thick inside and he felt himself growing more and more claustrophobic with each passing second. His steps grew more hurried, and he paused only briefly to throw on a parka before bursting through the door at the end of the narrow hall and out into the harsh sunlight.
Summer in Antarctica had far from ideal weather, but it was miles better than being stuck inside. The air was uncomfortably dry, but it was fresh. Below forty and free from the taint of that thing. He shivered violently, in part from the harsh gusts of wind that scoured the valley and more from nerves. Barely a month into a six-month stay and he was close to breaking down. Maybe it wouldn't be too soon to call the whole thing off? The Boss would be angry. But surely she'd appreciate his honesty, right? He wasn't fit for the job and shouldn't have taken it. Then again, he couldn't imagine a scenario in which she'd be happy to send a transport all the way north for one person. Even if she were to be so generous, he'd surely lose his job. And it didn't bear thinking about what would happen afterwards. He was effectively stuck.
The cold was utterly unbearable and growing more so by the second. He'd risk severe frostbite unless he went back inside, but even that was preferable to submitting himself to that thing's influence again, no matter how minimal it might have been.
"I really don't get paid enough for this shit." He mumbled through chattering teeth before lurching back inside. It was a good thing they stocked plenty of alcohol on site with the rest of the supplies. He'd be needing it for the rest of his stay. And, provided he didn't blow his own brains out, a new liver when he finally got to leave. Hopefully, whatever sorry bastards they sent up next would be better suited for the task.
They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Allister didn't say that out loud of course. It was rude, to start. And he wasn't in the mood for a fight. Not from the small group in front of them, and certainly not from Lorette who was lurking inside the building just behind him.
Well, putting them at the bottom of the barrel wasn't exactly fair. They ticked all the boxes in terms of what Apex absolutely needed. Otherwise they wouldn't have been called for. But it was clear to Allister that only one of the people present had a background relevant to the job, and the rest were at varying levels of ability.
"What they don't know, they'll learn."
Lorette's words came to mind so abruptly that had Allister not known any better, he'd have thought she was communicating telepathically. Fortunately for him, that was not one of his Employer's many talents. Being at the woman's beck and call was hard enough as it was without her taking up permanent residence in his skull.
He coughed into a gloved fist, stepping further outside and wincing as a gust of autumn wind struck him. The onset of early evening in the fall was a quick affair. Low afternoon light yielded to darkness in the blink of an eye, and the cold was quick on its heels. Allister bowed at the waist slightly, holding the door further open for the people waiting outside it. They'd been kept waiting long enough.
"Good evening, I'm glad all of you could make it." He said airily, as if he hadn't spent the past several minutes staring at them somewhat critically. But that was in the past, and therefore no longer his problem.
"We apologize for the wait. We've had a lot of people to get through today." He continued while ushering them all through the door as quickly as he could. They'd no doubt be happy to get out of the cold and happier to get things over with. He couldn't imagine how happy they'd be with the offer they'd be getting, however. Most weren't at first. He could hardly blame them for it. He certainly hadn't been. But the alternatives were of a kind he, and most, weren't comfortable ignoring. The fallout was Lorette's to deal with however, and she typically did so well enough. In her own opinion anyway. Others had less than stellar reviews of her methods.
The inside of the building was as nondescript as the exterior. There wasn't much to see aside from a single hallway marked sparsely with doors. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead as Allister led the small group down the linoleum tiled hall, only looking up for the barest of moments to eye a light that had burned out. "I should get someone to change that." He mumbled to himself before falling back into silence until they'd presumably reached their destination. A single door, as unremarkable as its many copies stood in front of them, and he paused briefly, hand on the knob. "The Madame will be with you shortly, you may wait inside for her...." He trailed off and looked momentarily thoughtful as his eyes scanned the small gaggle of people warily.
"I should warn you all that she is somewhat eccentric. She means no harm, but the Madame has grown used to a certain method of doing things over the years. I hope you understand." He finished somewhat lamely. Eccentric was an understatement, and he knew it. But he certainly couldn't open up with a list of the woman's foibles. It was better to let the poor fools discover that on their own.
Allister, and by extension the people with him did not have to wait long for to do so. The door swung open soundlessly, and he spent only a half second searching for the light switch before flicking it on. The room he'd set aside for them was mostly empty in that a woman sat behind a table lined with files, and in front of it several chairs meant for her visitors. She said nothing. Staring at Allister in dead silence and the man fought the urge to grit his teeth as his blood pressure spiked.
"Well, it seems you won't be having much of a wait as she's already here. Hello Ma'am." Allister said tightly.
Lorette blinked once and leaned sideways almost imperceptibly to stare past Allister's shoulder. "You brought my winners. Good, we can get started."
Allister shuffled to the side and allowed room for the people behind him to pass. He gave the group a look that could only be interpreted as 'This is the shit I was talking about.' before turning his gaze back to Lorette. "Not yours yet, Madame."
Lorette only let out a noncommittal grunt in reply, and Allister rolled his eyes. "I'll leave you to it then. I'll be just outside, call if you need anything." He exited the room wordlessly, leaving the hapless group alone with Lorette who continued to give them a look one would only find on the face of a Fox in a henhouse. Her gaze only broke away at the sound of her phone buzzing, and she reached into her jacket to pull it out and stare wordlessly at the screen.
'Why are you like this?' were the only words written and Lorette frowned softly. Allister just didn't get it. Most didn't. But that was everyone else's problem. She tucked her phone away and gestured wordlessly at the chairs in front of the table. "Have a seat. You probably want to get this over with, don't you?" She asked of no one in particular. It didn't matter who she addressed really, the offer was the same for all of them. Their answers might vary, but that was something she could live with so long as the results were as expected. And they would be. Nikhil was never wrong.
Lorette played idly with the edge of one file, brow wrinkling softly as she squinted under the harsh lights.
"I apologize if I seem a bit addled. It's been a long day and the last group tried my patience more than I'd have liked. I've got a bit of a migraine you see."
She slapped the cover of one of the files softly before looking back up. "But that's not your problem. And not why you're here." She said pointedly before leaning back in her own chair to resume staring at the five in front of her. They were a motley group, same as the rest. But that was to be expected, and it was only temporary. "Now as your future employer I've a great deal of expectations for all of you. Expectations that I know you can live up to." Lorette eyed each of them in turn, her gaze having not lost its predatory gleam.
"But I'll admit that what I'm going to ask of you is a lot harsher than what I ask of most. You know, I hear all those rumors. About what goes on behind the wall." She began, not feeling the need to elaborate. 'The Wall', as it was so succinctly named was about as much an urban legend itself as what supposedly went on behind it. Circling the greater part of Apex's Headquarters, the clearance one needed to see the other side of it was high. And it cut the Officers that had that distinction from a different cloth than those who remained outside.
Most people assumed that given Apex's status as an International Arms Dealer, they were merely protecting their assets along with the intel of all parties they were on contract with. That didn't stop the rumor mill from running. The conspiracies surrounding the cluster of towers that marred Arnvista's skyline were such that more than a few people had braved the application process for the explicit purpose of proving them. If any had been successful, they'd remained distressingly silent on the matter.
For her part, Lorette didn't care to either prove or disprove those theories. So long as they kept focus away from what was really happening, it was an annoyance she could tolerate.
She didn't know if her most recent acquisitions believed any of the rumors surrounding Apex. It didn't matter. None of them were true.
"What I'm going to ask you to do for me. It's worse than what you may have heard in a lot of ways. I will not lie, and I'll spare you the pretense. If you agree to what I'm offering, you're going to be putting up with the kind of shit that the pay just barely justifies." She said blandly. It was the understatement of a lifetime. But she didn't want to scare them right out of the gate. They would have plenty of time for that later.
"What I want from you is going to test you in a lot of ways. You'll realize just how weak you really are. Mentally, spiritually, and physically. I was." She sighed, opting to stare down at her hands resting on the table. "I still am. I'm reminded every day."
Lorette squeezed her eyes shut, a sharp pain lancing across her temples in an abrupt reminder of just that. A weakness that only a mortal woman could lay claim to.
"Because, that is the price of power." Her eyes snapped back up, though she didn't seem to be staring at anyone in particular. Lorette's gaze was far away, either lost within her own thoughts or somewhere beyond even that.
"Genuine power. Not this silly shit the rest of the world thinks that I care about. Oh yeah, the money is nice. Connections are always helpful. But that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about, and what I want to give all of you is the kind of power that would let you strike the face of God if you wanted. And, if we do things right you just might be able to."
Lorette swept the files away to the edge of the table and leaned forward in her seat. "The application process covers the basics. I need to make sure you're fit enough to handle this. But I've read your files, and I can honestly say that if we were just a regular Private Security firm, only one of you would have made the cut. No, all of you have something else in you that can't be quantified in the number of laps you're able to run. That potential makes all of you qualified candidates for the kind of greatness we used to write stories about. Heroes, demigods. Call them whatever you want. It's the same thing here. That's what I want for you. That is what I'm offering you."
Lorette's eyes flickered towards the door and what enthusiasm she'd drawn forth dampened slightly. "Call me crazy. I don't blame you. But if I'm too crazy to deal with, you can leave now. In fact, I'd suggest it. Because once you've stared into the face of power, you'll never forget it."
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