Maniac’s Mayhem: A guide to being a corporate slave

After spending some good quality time in the hospital, we are both released. Anika is mostly fine. She needs some stitches and a few normal blood transfusions, but that is not too bad, considering she was in an exploding building. We take a taxi back to Anika’s house, and I help her onto the couch.

“Well, that was something”, Anika said. “I can’t say that I ever had a building dropped on me before.”

“The second time is a lot better than the first time it happens, is all I can say about it.”

She gives me a weird look “The second time?”

“Yeah, the first time was during the incursion. It broke my entire spine.”

“Evelin, are you okay? Are you good? Do we need to call someone?” Anika says, concern in her voice.

“I am fine, got it replaced with a better alternative. So we are all good.”

Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and the both of us tense up. I slowly creep to the door and look through the peep hole.

“What the hell are you two doing here?” I say while opening the door.

“Both of you are injured, so we thought we would cook you a meal”, Cierra says, while walking inside.

I look at Sam. “You know how to cook?”

“I know how to turn on the stove,” she says, while following Cierra to the kitchen.

“Well then,” I say, sitting down next to Anika, “you know those things most bodyguards have to test for poison in food?”

“Yeah, I have one. Why are you asking?” Anika asks.

“We might need it in a minute.”

Anika looks at me, then at the kitchen. “They would not poison us.”

“Not on purpose, no, but I think this is the first time Sam has touched a pan, and the last time Cierra cooked for me, I got food poisoning.”

Anika looks at the kitchen again, a bit more concerned. “It should be fine. right”

I shrug. “it depends on how many toilets your house has.”

While we wait for the food, I go back into my programs, trying to find any indications or clues, but honestly, this is getting more frustrating by the hour. Then again, this was my job, so I should be used to it by now. But I have never faced someone this competent and with such a high budget before.

At some point, they finish cooking, and we all sit down to have a meal. And colour me surprised, but it is actually delicious. Something about msg or something: sorry, I am not much of a chemist. All I care about is the taste. After we finish, I go back to the kitchen to do the dishes.

“So, has Lyssa found anything yet?” Sam asks, as she grabs a plate and starts to dry it.

“What do you mean?”

“I know you want to do things yourself, but Evelin, 83 people died in that explosion; it’s time to ask for help.”

“That is fair, I guess. Fuck, Lyssa, can you check the shell company?”

Lyssa can, but it's well protected. Even with Lyssa's superior processing speed, it will still take a while

“Wow, so somebody actually built something samurai proof.” Sam says.

Yeah, you should be proud of yourself.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Every programmer has a unique style. It’s like handwriting. But you only really see it on bigger projects. Samanta's coding is like a weird collage of pieces of code derived from different sources, making it look like some patchwork art. Whereas Evelin’s looks like a fitted bog of strings and processes going wherever she thinks it can fit, the only good thing about it is the automatic security it has because no one can understand this.

“That felt personal somehow.” I say.

“I mean, your coding is pretty unreadable.” Sam says. “But does this mean we can track the person down by checking their coding habits?”

Yes, that is what Lyssa is referring to.

“Okay, cool, then, who wrote it?” I ask

You both did well, mostly Samanta, really, but I can detect both of your unique styles in it.

“What?” I say, completely stunned. Sure, it sounded familiar, but I did not realise it was that familiar.

“So, this is from the time where the financial department got restructured, and we got a lot of extra work from that.” Sam says.

“Well, fuck! That was like three years ago, and there was so much back then. I think I made like 50 accounts like this.” Sam says.

“Yep, and no record of everything that had to be deleted. At least we know now that it really is an inside job. So, do you remember whose account this could be?”

“Uhm, not really, but if I know you, you probably have a record somewhere.”

“I do, but it is in a notebook where I write down important details so they can’t be tracked. I am unsure if I wrote this one down, but it is worth a look; we have to go and pick it up.” I say, when I hear the doorbell again. “I got it.”

I walk back out of the kitchen and towards the door. There is a delivery girl standing there with a package. I slowly open the door.

“Package for Anika Nowak,” the delivery girl says.

“Thanks,” I say, a bit awkwardly, as I take the package. “Anika, you order something?”

“No, why?” Anika says from the couch

“Well, because you just… ooh, please don’t tell me this is another bomb. That is a bit off the cuff.”

Everyone instantly tenses up. I carefully put the package down on the table. Anika slowly gets up, and grabs some kind of device out of a closet.

“Scanner. If it is a bomb, this thing will tell us." Anika then proceeds to scan the package.

“Okay, it's nothing”, she says, and gives me the scanner while she opens the box.

I am still looking at the readings of the scanner when I suddenly hear a scream, and I see Ankia holding a severed arm. Well, that explains the biological material the scanner was picking up.

Anika releases another wail of agony, and you know, there is something indescribable about the pained scream of a mother who fears for her child. It’s a sound that I definitely don’t like, and I swore I would never have to hear it again if I had any choice in the matter. Hell, that sound is the whole reason I decided not to run away, but instead stay and find a way to burn this company down.

But this poses a very different problem. Where did the arm come from? Based on the size and Anika’s general reaction, I have a pretty good guess. But I didn’t want to accept that, so I open the hotel cameras. It's somewhat weird not having to hack into those. I cycle to the footage of the common rooms since we did not put cameras in the individual rooms. I find the image I was looking for and put it on TV, then turn to Anika, who is ugly crying ,and clutching the arm.

“Anika, there is something I would like to say,” I say in a low tone.

“Shut it, I don’t care!” she shouts at me, while giving me an angry look. “You think this is a game or something? Look where all your overconfidence got you. My son is likely dead or close to it, and you are just here, telling us every time, not to call for backup just because of what? So you can find the people yourself to inflate your own self-worth?”

“Well, ouch, that stings a bit.” I say, while pointing at the tv, and when she looks at it, I say, “That is live btw, I don’t know whose arm that is, but it is not your son’s.”

You know what? That face of pure relief and joy might be worth going through all the abuse she just threw at me, maybe.

“So, who’s arm is that, then?” Cierra asks.

“Uhm, well, that is a good question. Most likely, some poor street kid had an unfortunate end.” I say.

“Unlikely,” Sam says, “Those scanners, aren’t they supposed to find the poison, and the human body as well.”

“Honestly, the poison detection on these things is pretty… ooh”, I say, coming to the same conclusion.

“Yeah, that is most likely not a human body part.” Sam says.

‘” Great,” I say, while picking up the fake arm. “Any clue who is selling fake human body parts?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Cierra says “but would a synthetic meat plant be able to do something like this?”

“Uhm, probably in their testing labs, I guess, maybe. I did hear that human flesh is similar to that of a pig, but I am unsure of the specifics.”

“Then, should we call my brother?” Cierra asks.

“Sure, I am technically working for him now, so can I do it?” I say

After receiving a round of nods, I walk to a quiet room, which so happens to be one of the kid's rooms. It is filled with stuffed animals of all kinds, most of which have probably been extinct for a decade now. It's such a shame. When I am done thinking about that, I called Edward. Luckily, at some meeting a long time ago, I did get everyone's phone number.

“Hey, Evelin, I thought I told my sister that you could come in on Thursday; I don’t really have anything for you at the moment.”

“Ahh, well, you see, I kind of need something from you.”

“Sorry, I can’t give you any advice on my sister. Her love life is none of my business.”

“No, wait. What? Why do you even think I want your advice on that? I need some help on synthetic meat.”

“Why don’t you call one of our experts? Sure, I oversee the business, so I know a bit, but I am not an expert.”

“Well, I only have your number, and I guess I am in need of help from both fronts; you see, after we crawled out of the exploding building, there was an arm delivered to us, made out of synthetic flesh.”

“Wait, were you responsible for that building exploding? Is that why we have a family meeting today?”

“how the fuck am I supposed to know? I just want to find the person that is responsible for it. “

“I see, so what about this arm you were talking about?”

“Right, so we got this arm delivered. It looks like it is made of synthetic flesh, and it is as close to a perfect replica as you can get.”

“When did you start investigating this?”

“Like, last night or so.”

“Yeah, if I would have to guess, it's either from us or from Myca co; any other company would not be close enough to be able to create and deliver in that time frame.”

“I see. Well, this all feels extremely expensive with the bomb and synthetic arm. Only companies or someone with a lot of money could have done this, which is why I would like to get a list of any rank eight managers or above. If that is possible,” I ask.

“I can, but I should not be sending it to a random employee.”

“Fuck yeah, of course, you can’t. Well, send it to Cierra then. She can look through them.”

“I can do that. If you have nothing else, I need to get back to work. I'll see you on Thursday in the blue sky bar.”

And with that, the call gets disconnected. I make it back to the living room which has become a lot more crowded. Why is there an entire armed protection squad here? I spot Cierra in the mess and am about to approach her to inform her of the data when one of the squid guys steps in front of me and pushes me; I get sent straight into the wall.

“Stay clear. Only authorised personnel are to get close!” the woman shouts at me, while aiming her smart rifle at me.

“Fuck, do that again, and I'll shove that rifle up your nose.” I say, brushing myself off.

“What was that? Just because you used to sleep with one of our bosses does not mean you are the boss of any of us.” The girl screams at me.

I feel this heat rise inside of me as I gnash my teeth. Then, I unleash my programs. First, I disable the smart rifle, turning it into a fancy brick. Then, her augs and cybernetic eyes, and lastly, her cybernetic legs, so that she falls to the floor.

“Why don’t you take a nap and cool off for a bit,” I say in a neutral tone.

“What did you do? It is dark!” she screams, while using her hands to feel around her.

Anika then walks up to me, and drags me back into the room. “What are you doing?”

“I just, fuck; I am getting frustrated. Maybe the bot was right, and I am just an arrogant prick.”

“Well, I don’t know much about hacking or any of the other stuff you do, but I feel like you have every right to be arrogant.”

“Thanks, but that is not going to fix the issue. Whoever is doing this knows how I think, where I would look, and is countering my every move.”

Anika puts a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I am sorry for lashing out at you earlier; I know you can keep my family safe, so we have all the time in the world to find these bastards.”

“I will try, but I would like it to be sometime before New Year’s, really.”

“It’s April, and can’t you use your samurai gear to get some stuff to help?”

“I wish. I only have 14 points, so not going to get far.”

Correction, 15 points.

'wait how?'

You received 1 point for saving Anika's life.

I turn to Anika. “So, how many more exploding buildings are you willing to stand in?”