apocalypsehowcomm | Event

Dogged

The message goes out to everyone on ADI's network. It seems to be something captured live. It's Pam Ruan, head of HR who holds a prosthetic finger up to her lips before whispering, "Everyone's pushing for transparency right now, right? Figuring out where threats are coming from and sharing. I think that should come at all levels. Let's see what Nia's talking about with Mr. Zyrian Steel, hmm?"

The camera flips around as Pam clearly creeps closer to an office door. There are muffled voices, and Pam sets the phone face up before using one hand to shove the thing under the door. The video shows a sliding picture of the office's bland ceiling for a moment before coming to a stop. The voices become much clearer.

"-down in Wolf Trap," a masculine voice is saying. Presumably, Zyrian Steel. "There's just no need for that."

"Zyrian, this ain't a negotiation." Nia Lehrer's voice is familiar to most people working at ADI at this point. They've likely heard her speak in some pre-recorded training videos at the bare minimum. Nia's tone is no nonsense and clearly on the edge of snapping in frustration. "You're not hiring us. I'm sending my people down to Wolf Trap next month. We've got evidence of those signalhead things being on the march, one down that way, your kick off for New Horizons in the park, and evidence out of there about the Lullaby Girl from some of my people."

There is silence.

"You remember her? Ava? Or Amber, it seems like. She's the one you gave us those Lucidio masks to help train our people against. Frankly, I'd be surprised if you don't remember her, Mr. S." Another drawn out pause. "You ain't been straight with me for a long time. You ain't been straight with ADI since Tawnya was Warden. You tell me you need us in Buffalo, payback for helping in Wolf Pen and Cortana and the mobile med units, and not only do half the staff come back with crab claws and whiskers, but I find out you're using us for business politics." There's venom in her tone. "Or were you just going to stay quiet about Etcher's enterprises competing with your own software companies? ADI is not your personal attack dog. You are our client. And I thought my friend. But I'm about 30 seconds away from firing you from both."

Further silence, then a heavy sigh. "And I was going to offer to send you and your staff on such a nice retreat." There's the sound of a chair being pushed back. "Warden, I think you misunderstand the nature of our relationship. You are the dogs. I am the master. I hold your leash. Or have you forgotten just how much technology I've donated to ADI over the years, how many of your systems run on things I built? We've had a mutually beneficial relationship up until now- Well… you and I have. Tawnya got to be a problem before the end, too. But I made sure that was taken care of."

"You self-aggrandizing son of a-"

"You're a much more practical woman than she ever was, even with those shiny ideals you hold so dear. You'll compromise for the greater good, to protect what's yours. Such a good Warden, looking out for her charges."

"What are you talking about? And get your hands the hell off my desk."

"Haven't you ever wondered about the title? Warden. Odd name for a leader of any organization, even one like yours. But maybe not so odd when you consider your more eldritch masters." A scoff. "The Hunt always does pick out the most oblivious avatars, doesn't it? What does a Warden do?" A beat. "She controls the monsters, Nia. Sniffs them out and contains them. And she goes after the poachers coming after her prey. Tell me, have you ever noticed how you're always picking up on threats far afield with uncanny precision. It's been getting stronger, hasn't it? Tawnya was the same way. As was her predecessor, I imagine."

"That's not- I wouldn't ever…"

"Wouldn't you, though? Every time you sent your own dogs after a threat, reveled in it, you were being such a good Warden, instilling terror in the hearts of your enemies, ADI's enemies. So many cults know who and what you are and they fear it. Fear the Warden of ADI, famed avatar of the Hunt. Even now, I know you've compromised yourself. Have you considered what that's done to you? You let that Visionary kid stay alive. I rather think that might have been the start of your slide, hmm? Making exceptions, just this once.

"Now," he continues, voice growing louder and footsteps starting toward the phone, "I realize this is a lot to take in, to think about. Why don't you do that self-reflection while I attend to other matters? You are doing good work, puppy. I need a dependable pet to take care of all those nasty pests who keep trying rituals. But no need to worry about the New Horizons launch, really. I'll just-" Zyrian pauses and everyone will have a view of a middle-aged caucasian man with dark, slightly graying hair and a beard. He's wearing khakis and a Hawaiian shirt, and he's looking down at Pam's phone.

"Well… fuck." He stomps a heeled shoe on it and the transmission ends abruptly.

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"You know...I actually hope you're right about that," replies Rae, attention drawn back to the laptop as she drags another folder over to copy onto the thumb drive. "Because I'm pretty sure you won't take my advice. And I know I'm not the kind of person to set a fire on my way out...not this time. So I really, really hope that I'm wrong about how this place is going to keep twisting up anyone who stays. But I'm out."

"You sure that's not just playing into their hands?" Admittedly, staying could also be playing into the hands of their enemies. But Cortana personally would rather stick with the people who are trying to fight.

"That'd require them to have hands," Rae reminds her. "But if you mean Steel, don't think I'm heading out into the hills to go into hiding. That bastard's got a few things coming to him, and everything that's happening here? That's the distraction. I'm not saying we can't do good in this world, just that this? This was what got Nia aligned with the Hunt."

Edited 2023-05-25 22:55 (UTC)

"What part of this?" Cortana rolls her eyes. "Working together? Being unknowingly manipulated by some rich asshole? Sparing an avatar?"

The first is smart, the second wasn't intended, and she's had her fill of killing.

"The manipulation, yeah," says Rae dryly. "And the artifacts that were let loose; they're bad news but none of them are world-ending threats. And the part where we're all instantly at each other's throats now that the wool's been pulled off our eyes, and yeah, the part where it turns out my boss is an avatar, just like her boss before her. If that doesn't tell you what this place really is, nothing will."

With an exaggerated roll of her own eyes in imitation of Cortana's, she pointedly breaks eye contact to go back to copying files to her thumb drive.

"Packing and running isn't exactly helping with any of those, Rae."

She frowns deeply as she watches her. Should she intervene, she wonders?

"Besides, I'm starting to think the problem isn't ADI so much as the entire approach to how we handle the entities."

"Packing and heading down to Wolf Trap to deal with Steel's bullshit, on the other hand...I'm not saying I'm out of the game, just out of here."

She's silent a moment, seeming annoyed with the conversation, but after a second her curiosity gets the better of her. "And what approach would that be?"

"Hunting avatars and cultists down, terrorizing them, reacting to attempts to end the world instead of working on ways to stop them from happening in the first place... it all just feeds one entity at the expense of another, doesn't it? Right now, we're just taking from other entities to feed the hunt." It's an effective strategy-encorage infighting and ensure no one enemy can gain enough power over the others to become a real threat-but she's not sure it's the ideal one.

"Point's not to terrorize any of them--and that is where we went wrong. Nia's had us waiting to go after the biggest threats, and maybe that's kept things stable because any one of them'll go into a lull for a good while if you smash their ritual, but it's also fed the Hunt, yeah. No, the point should be to nip it in the bud by finding and stopping them before they get a chance to start on their shit. And that's exactly what I'm leaving to do."

Event - Dogged

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