Nine-to-Five 020

Career Opportunities V

~~~

“You’re going too, Ammes?”

“Valerie told me about it,” Amanda told Tim. It was early in the morning, and the two were down in the lobby. She shrugged. “She said if I said yes, they could make it an intern activity. Give us a tour of the Romi Town branch.”

Amanda doubted anything else at Regum, no matter how fancy, could compare to The Blade. A tour wasn’t the reason she said yes. She was doing this for the same reason she had agreed to pick up someone at the airport the other time. Regum’s sudden shortage of security was her fault. Her going meant whoever was guarding went.

It was the least she could do.

“Neat!” Like always, Tim took everything in stride. Amanda envied him for that. “Say, do you know who we’re supposed to escort?”

Amanda shook her head. “Valerie didn’t tell me. It might be another scientist.”

If so, Amanda was looking forward to this. After they dropped off Doctor Roper at Regum Tower, her mind kept coming up with questions she wished she could have asked about Regum’s forays into nanotechnology.

This time, she’d brought a list.

“I am afraid I must disappoint you, Ms. Collins. You will be escorting me today.”

Amanda’s heart flipped inside her chest. If the voice wasn’t a telltale sign of who was behind then, the sudden chill that ran through their bodies would be. Matilda Martel stood before them in a black business suit that didn’t have a single wrinkle in it. Her hair was styled in an elegant bun, not a single strand out of place. Her eyes were cold. Measuring. Almost dissecting them.

This was the woman they were going to spend the next few hours with.

“Gah!”

Tim had a gift for verbiage. Who knew?

~~~

Port Stanley’s Moore Station was one of the city’s most historic buildings. The station had been built back in the mid-1800s. Though it had undergone several renovations and had been expanded far beyond its original size, there were still remnants of the old train station to be seen. The front of the building, for example, was almost exactly as it was when it first opened, with its red bricks and colonial-style architecture. The City’s Restoration Committee had several times commissioned bricks of the exact same shade of red to be made when repairs were required.

Of course, steam locomotives no longer left this station. Now, it was sleek, high-speed trains that departed every day to cities that would have been days away in olden times and arrived there in a matter of hours. Such was the passage of time and the progress of technology.

“Hey, they have t-shirts here! And candy! Can we buy candy!”

“Mr. Lewis.” Ms. Martel’s soft yet cold voice instantly had Tim standing up straight. He even stopped pointing. “You are meant to be escorting me. Not playing around.”

“Right.” Tim nodded several times. “Sorry.”

“You can buy food once we are in the train.”

“Yes!”

Amanda turned her eyes away from the sight. Tim kept pointing at everything and everyone on their way to the platforms. As usual, he had no idea how to act.

It shouldn’t be an advantage, but it was.

There was something about Ms. Martel that put Amanda automatically on edge. She was her boss. There was a pretty explicit power dynamic that didn’t change just because they were in a casual setting. She wasn’t Tim. She couldn’t immediately get over her shock and make a fool of herself like it was no big deal. Amanda was too self-aware for that, which meant her every movement felt horribly stiff and awkward to her right now.

“Do we have tickets?”

Good Lord! What was wrong with her voice!

“We do.” Without even reaching into her purse, Ms. Martel produced three tickets and held them up so they could see. “We will be taking the 9:00 AM train to Romi Town and will be there in three hours. After we are picked up at the station, you will be given a tour of the facilities before returning here on the 3:00 PM train.”

As she spoke, Ms. Martel handed each one their ticket.

“Is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Yes, Ms. Martel.”

Ms. Martel did not smile, but the glint in her eyes was approving.

“Good, let’s get on the train then.”

It honestly felt more like Ms. Martel was escorting them than the other way around. As they neared the platform, Amanda caught a glimpse of someone.

Tim looked back at her. She had stopped walking.

“Something wrong?”

“What? Oh! No. I’m okay. Just thought I saw someone is all.”

It was probably her mind playing tricks on her. She had only seen his picture once. There was no way it was him. Even if it was, it didn’t really matter. Just because the Exceed who accidentally made it rain toads over the city was on the train with them didn’t really change a thing.

~~~

They had a nice compartment for six all to themselves. Considering they were only going to be traveling for a few hours, it was maybe a little too much.

Still, awfully nice, though.

“Comfy,” Tim said, lightly bouncing on his seat. “Way better than a bus seat.”

“I am glad you approve.” Somehow, even though it shouldn’t matter, it felt like they had passed some sort of test with that. “However, do stay still until the train leaves.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Tim even saluted. That was the sort of presence Matilda Martel had. The barest hint of disapproval from her caused people to straighten up. Amanda got the feeling that if she spent enough time around her, she would be able to balance books on top of her head like a model.

“Eh, ma’am?” Tim raised his hand like it was a classroom.

“Yes, Mr. Lewis?” replied Ms. Martel. Amanda could have closed her eyes and sworn she was back at school.

“Eh, you said I could buy some food here. Not that I’m really hungry, but I haven’t ever had train food, so I was wondering how that whole thing works. Do we wait for someone to come over or…?”

Tim trailed off instead of going on for another five sentences. Yet another testament to Ms. Martel’s intimidating presence.

“You will wait until the train departs. Food is sold in the lounge cars. Upon leaving the compartment, you will find a map to your left.”

“Got it.”

And so started a fifteen-minute wait until the train left the station. No doubt, the entire rest of the train was busy with activity, but their compartment was utterly silent. Ms. Martel had taken out a small notebook and was making annotations as she went along, occasionally nodding or humming to herself.

Tim and Amanda waited, each doing their best approximation of a statue.

Tim’s was particularly fidgety.

When the train began moving, though the door and windows were closed, it was as if a breath of fresh air had come into the room.

“So…” Tim said after a while. He pointed at the door with his thumb. “Can I…?”

“You may go.” Ms. Martel took out a ziploc bag from her purse and handed it to Tim. “Here is the money you will use and a list of items you will buy for me. Ms. Collins, do you want anything?

“Huh? Ah! No, it’s fine!” Amanda raised her hands and shook her head, startled at having been addressed.

“She will have what I am having,” Ms. Martel told Tim. “Off you go.”

It was a clear dismissal. Amanda wouldn’t have been surprised if Ms. Martel made a shooing motion with her hand, but she didn’t.

Tim nodded, closed the door, and left the two of them alone.

Amanda gulped.

Amanda had always had the misfortune of running into her teachers outside school. At the mall. At a restaurant. On the streets. It seemed to happen to her more often than most. Since she was a good student, they were always more likely to recognize her than they would the quiet kid who sat at the back of the class.

It was always a horribly awkward experience.

Amanda did not need people other than her parents asking her about the homework she may or may not be doing. She certainly didn’t need her parents talking to her teachers right in front of her. It wasn’t that she had anything to hide or be ashamed of. It was the principle of the thing!

This was worse. Every second she spent with Ms. Martel made her feel as if she was being graded on some invisible scale. Every time she did something, she was automatically failing. There was an itch in her neck, but Amanda didn’t dare scratch it in front of her boss.

“I have told this to Mr. Lewis. I will now say it to you. I am not an ogre.”

“Huh?”

“I understand people often find me intimidating, but I will not bite or fire you for breathing the wrong way. Do you understand?”

“I… yes?”

Ms. Martel’s eyes narrowed. “Is that a question or an answer?”

“An answer!” Amanda said, with her face as red as it had ever been.

“Good.” Ms. Martel smiled as much as someone like her could smile. Amanda breathed easier. “There is no reason to be nervous. Relax, Ms. Collins. Enjoy the view. It is quite lovely.”

It was. The high-speed train had already left the city behind. The farming fields of Kentland stretched into the horizon.

“Have you done this trip before?” Amanda asked. “You...hm... seem to know a lot about this already.”

“I have. I visit Romi Town a few times a year to deliver a short seminar on new company guidelines. I quite enjoy traveling by train.” Ms. Martel’s smile grew by millimeters. “It is the best form of travel. There is no turbulence and no traffic. The tracks have been laid out long ago. All that is left is for the vehicle to follow them all the way to its destination.”

Ms. Martel brought her hands together. The sound produced was not quite a clap, but it had Amanda straightening up anyway.

“But enough of my hobbies. I am actually glad it is just the two of us here now. I have not made myself available as your superior, a decision I stand by. However, considering recent events, I have been looking for an opportunity to talk to you.”

Amanda blinked. “You have?”

“I am not unaware of your situation.”

“M-my situation?” Amanda raised her hand to brush a loose strand of hair that wasn’t there. Ms. Martel’s gaze was penetrating. Knowing. “What situation? Everything is fine with me. Is this about my work?”

Had to be.

What else could she be talking about?

“Gerald told me, Ms. Collins,” Ms. Martel said to her in a softer voice than any Amanda had ever heard from her. “Did you really expect he’d be able to increase your security and put additional resources into protecting your family without notifying anyone?”

Amanda’s silence was telling.

“I see. Well, allow me to tell you otherwise. Considering the potential repercussions, Gerald has informed myself, Ms. Steiner, and Mr. Cadogan of your predicament.”

Amanda’s eyes went wide. Mr. Cadogan too? The CEO of Regum knew?

It wasn’t that she thought it’d always be kept a secret. She’d just never given the matter much thought to begin with, and her subconscious had made a lot of assumptions without her input. The idea of Gerald immediately informing the rest of the company had never once factored into her thoughts.

“Amanda,” Ms. Martel began, using her first name for the first time, “this is a serious matter. Your life has been threatened. The life of your family has been threatened. We will not diminish the matter by treating this with anything less than absolute seriousness. You will be pleased to know the bodyguards assigned to you are merely one wagon away. They have reported no suspicious activity. No one has followed you on your way to Regum Tower or from Regum Tower to the train station.”

“That… does make me feel better,” Amanda admits.

Even though it prompted the question of when exactly had anyone told this to Ms. Martel. They had been with her the whole time, and she hadn’t picked up any call or received messages.

“As it should. Now, have you received any threats since the last time you talked to Gerald?”

“No.”

“Good. Have you informed your parents of the actions you have taken?”

Silence.

Ms. Martel gave her a look. Amanda looked away.

“Ms. Collins, it is not my place to tell you what to do outside work hours, but you have a responsibility to your parents. You chose to unilaterally take action. I cannot fault you for that.”

“You can’t?”

“Oftentimes, it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Had you consulted with your parents, they would have likely forbidden it. That would have been detrimental to them. Regum is uniquely suited to helping someone in your situation. Though most likely born out of desperation, choosing to go to Gerald was the correct choice.” Ms. Martel’s eyes narrowed. “However, neglecting to tell them will only make things harder. There is no scenario where they will not find out what you have done. Either through us or through you.”

“I… I get it,” Amanda said, looking down and biting her lower lip. “I guess I… I wasn’t thinking properly. I thought I could tell someone else, and I wouldn’t need to think about it anymore.”

“Things are rarely so simple, Ms. Collins. You have an enormous responsibility on your shoulders. You should endeavor to act in a manner that matches it.”

That was the mildest, fanciest “grow up” ever thrown at her. Still, Amanda couldn’t deny the truth of it. She hadn’t wanted to face her parents properly.

She sighed.

“You are right, Ms. Martel. I will...” Amanda trailed off. Not because of anything Ms. Martel had done or due to any inner realization.

There was a frog on the floor.

No. Not a frog, Amanda realized.

A toad.

That was when the door was kicked open.

“Hands up!”

Two men in ski masks burst into the compartment. One of them brandished a gun at them. Amanda didn’t care about the other. Her eyes remained frozen on the weapon.

“Cell phones, purses, and valuables now!” Someone yelled at her. A bag of some sort was thrust in their direction. Amanda remained frozen.

“Didn’t you hear! I said-”

“You are interrupting.”

All eyes turned to Ms. Martel, who was so calm and composed she might as well be drinking tea.

“Ms. Collins and I are in the middle of an important conversation. The yapping of dogs is neither helpful nor wanted.”

One of the two men moved to hit Ms. Martel with the butt of his gun.

Time slowed.

Amanda could see with crystal clarity as the hand moved towards Ms. Martel. She saw the complete disinterest in Ms. Martel’s expression and the anger in the man’s eyes. She saw the bag the other man held was not empty, meaning they were not the first these two had held up today.

She acted.

Amanda leaped from her seat and rushed at the robber. It was a short distance. Barely two feet. Not enough to get any sort of running start. Yet, she hit him with so much force, she slammed the man against the doorframe and cracked it. As the first man crumpled onto the carpeted floor, Amanda turned around. The second man was in the process of widening his eyes.

Not knowing what else to do, Amanda punched him in the face.

It was a clumsy punch. By all means, it shouldn’t have done much.

It sent him flying out of the compartment.

His head banged harshly against the hall, robbing him of consciousness. Amanda stared at the two downed men in surprise. The whole thing took maybe two seconds. Perhaps not even that. Amanda looked down at her first as if it didn’t belong to her. It was small and dainty, yet she had just knocked out a grown man with it.

“Decent, I suppose.”

Amanda looked back. Ms. Martel remained on her seat, untouched by the commotion.

“Still, this is quite a surprise.” Ms. Martel stepped out into the hallway. Amanda could only stare as she bent down and took the fallen gun and patted their assailants’ bodies, probably looking for other weapons. “Not just the thieves, but our little friend over there.”

The toad was still in their compartment.

It croaked.

“There’s an Exceed on the train,” Amanda blurted out. “I thought I saw him on the platform. He is the one who makes it rain toads. He’s one of my mom’s cases. They... appear when he’s stressed.”

“And having a gun pointed at your face tends to be stressful,” said the woman who hadn’t even blinked when put into that situation. “If his stress builds up, he could make more toads appear. Harmless, I suppose. Unless they appear inside the engine, of course.”

Horrible possibilities danced in Amanda’s head.

“We have to do something!”

“I am glad you agree.”

Ms. Martel threw something at her. Amanda reflexively caught it.

“Huh?”

She looked down.

It was one of the ski masks.

~~~