- Sight of a Thunderstroke

Princy took a deep breath after the elevator doors closed before her, thinking to herself of that strange encounter with the beastly figure that had just run into her. She was relieved that she was no longer near a scary looking guy like that, but now also becoming anxious as it began to set in just how much time that scuffle had cost her, plus the fact she was running a little late already, must mean that Mr. Sundial would be mad at her. She was always more upset than others when people were mad at her, mostly because she always wanted to do the right thing, but with Sundial, it was completely different, or rather, much worse, as she predicted that herself about a minute in the future could attest to. As the elevator began to approach the 39th floor, she spoke to herself quietly. "It's fine, Princy, you just have to explain what happened, I'm sure he'll understand." She gulped as the elevator dinged once more, prompting the doors to slide open, revealing the 39th floor. "I hope…"

She stepped out onto the floor, and began walking over to the office on the left end of it, knocking on the clean wooden door after arriving. "Come in." A tinny masculine voice said from beyond the door, muffled slightly by the office's walls, separating it from the floor and the cubicles on it. Nervously, Princy took a deep breath through her nose before slowly opening the door and entering the room with the stack of papers in her hand. "Ah, Miss Andromeda." Said the same voice, now behind Princy as she had turned to close the door. "What a surprise," He continued, "I thought you weren't coming back, given it's been…" The metallic man checked his wrist watch, uselessly, as he already knew the time. "9 MINUTES, since I gave you the order to retrieve some GODDAMNED PAPERS from a PRINTER!" Princy turned back around to face the man yelling at her, her eyes only looking to the floor. "I-I'm sorry sir-" "Oh you better be." The man cut her off, nodding quickly his cube-like steel head covered in its slowly moving gears of various shapes and sizes. "Yes, Miss Andromeda, you had better not only be sorry, but give me at least a good reason for your RIDICULOUS delay." Princy took another deep breath through her nose, but as she opened her mouth to begin speaking, the machinoid before her cut her off, standing up swiftly in his fine grey vest and finer purple trousers. "But you will give that reason to me, AFTER the meeting which we are already nearly only on time for, which means we are…?" He said expectedly, waiting for Princy to finish his sentence while he walked over toward her. "Nearly too late…" The girl said defeatedly. "Precisely." The man said in an almost cheerful tone. "Drop those papers at my desk and meet me at the elevator." He turned his face to her as he stood at his door, opening it. "Quickly."

With yet another ding sound, the door opened on the 49th floor, a much quieter one than the rest, being mostly empty except for a pair of doors on the opposite end of the room, that Princy and Sundial walked towards in a swift stride. The machinoid paused less than a step away from the doors, prompting Princy to do the same, he turned his waist slightly to look at her from the corner of his camera eyes. "Now, I know I am tough on you, Princy, but I brought you here because I am confident in your abilities, and I want you to attend one of these meetings to get you a taste of what I personally believe you will get a lot more of in the future." Then, he turned back to the doors, extending his metallic right hand towards one of the door's handles, "For now though, just be quiet, and listen in." He opened the door, and quickly stepped into the conference hall, Princy following soon after him. The room was much fancier than the rest of the building. At least, that of the building that Princy had seen. The room was very clean, smooth, with paintings lining the wall, and good, bright, yet comfortable lights on the ceiling rather than those almost painful office lights illuminating the rest of the building. In the centre of the room was, of course, the main attraction, a large, rounded table that was much longer than it was wide. On the doors' end there was no chair, but aside from that, each side had multiple chairs, the opposite end having just the one chair; the head of the table. There were also two chairs in the room, one was much smaller than the rest, sitting near the head of the table, at the corner of the room, next to a door to the side of the room. On the small chair was a young girl, probably around the same age as Princy, if not younger, she guessed, that was looking at her phone with a deep interest, not paying any mind to the duo entering. She had bright, red hair, not ginger, but a deep red, one that didn't occur naturally, not in humans, anyway. Unlike everyone else in the room, the young girl was wearing more casual clothes, a thin, orange sweater and some basic jeans. The other chair not at the table was about the same size as those at the table. It was an office chair, but not of the same model as the others, and was seemingly put in here specifically for this occasion. This was further proven by Sundial sitting at the seat at the table closest to that empty seat, so, Princy assumed the far seat was for her, and took her seat in it, distanced from the table, but with the room being as small as it is, this would probably not be too much of an issue. 

Aside from herself, Sundial and the young lady, Princy counted only two others in the room, leaving a lot of empty seats, one of the figures both she and Sundial had to pass to get to their respective seats, the other was sitting at the opposite side of the table to her and Sundial. The figure they had to pass was an orc, a large, dark green humanoid with bulging muscles clear even through his suit and tie. He nodded to the duo as they came in, acknowledging their presence, but remained quiet, mostly inactive, even, beyond that gesture. The figure on the opposing side of the table, however, was a human, in white suit and tie, almost a complete palette swap from the regular suit and tie most were wearing, though currently the only two in the room doing so were Princy herself and the orc she had just passed. She recognised the man as Conrad Voss, the head of the products department, arguably the most important department in the whole company. "You're late." The man said, smirking. "Are you getting sloppy now, Sundial?" To this, the machinoid simply crossed his arms and leaned back in his tall chair. "Sloppy? Only biological beings have such weaknesses, I'm afraid. Then again, I suppose a man like you would know from experience, already." 

The man in the white suit chuckled, "You're just afraid to admit that those gears are getting rusty, you old bucket." The man paused, looking the machinoid before him dead in the eyes. "Even machines age, after all." Sundial began to raise his hand, about to retort when the doors swung open wide, taking the attention of everyone there, everyone looking over to the new arrival, including Princy, whose face immediately became a much more uncomfortable one as she saw the man she had run into just a few minutes prior, still with his entourage in tow. "Hm. I was expecting more to already be here." The creature said, looking back to his assistant for a moment, before turning back and walking towards his own seat, sitting adjacent to the head of the table, the lady following him taking the seat to the man's right, between him and Conrad. If the man did notice Princy, he at least didn't acknowledge it as far as she was aware, not that Princy minded this all too much. "Let's see…" The man said, leaning back in his chair. "We're still missing the boss, H.R....?" He looked over to the lady to his right, questioningly "And strategy, sir." The lady followed up on, ending his sentence. "Strategy, right. Thank you, Nimue." Nimue nodded curtly, looking forwards quite intensely, though Princy figured it just seemed to be her regular expression. 

Over the next few minutes, the two missing members of the board had come in, mostly in silence in the room, the beast Princy ran into earlier seemingly keeping at least Conrad and Sundial in check. It was 4 minutes after the appointment's scheduled time, and only seconds after the last member had taken his seat that the door on the side of the room opened, not slowly, but not in a rush either, and for the first time since the beast's entry did the girl next to that same door look away from her phones, to the man entering. This man, Princy was quite familiar with, David Dominic Vassilios, the head of the Naturheim company. A tall Elven man, with long, grey-black, hair and pointy ears. Something, however, seemed off, from the various pictures she had seen of him online. His skin, rather than the odd yet alluring pale she had known it as, was ever so slightly darker, more unnatural, sickly, almost green, or grey in appearance. Princy didn't mind too much, but it felt… strange. She wondered whether he appeared this way normally and what she had seen was edited, or perhaps he used make-up in the past. Perhaps this strange visage was new. Princy wanted not to focus on it too much, but the thought plagued the back of her mind even as the man slowly moved towards his chair, almost in a struggle as he did so. "Hello, everyone." The man said, in a somewhat considered, yet, seemingly healthy voice, not one nearly as sick as his body seemed, if ill at all. He gave a curtsy nod, seemingly towards the group in general, as he sat down, then looked at Princy. "Ah, Miss Andromeda, I imagine. I almost didn't see you there. I've heard good things about you from Sundial here." He claimed, before giving a soft, almost weak smile and chuckled. "Try not to fall asleep from boredom, yes?" Princy, not knowing how to respond, or if she at all should, just returned the man a solemn nod, prompting him to turn his attention back to the members of the board around the table.

"So," He said, "the truck situation, yes?" The lady that came in with the beast of a man earlier answered. "Correct, sir. How would you like us to begin?" Mr. Vassilios placed one arm on the table, leaning his chin on that hand in a very stereotypical thinking pose, he looked ahead of him for a moment before looking at Nimue. "Let's begin with costs, I suppose." The CEO took a deep breath, then turned his attention to Sundial. "How much did this little… incident set us back, Financial?" Sundial clasped his hands together on the table before him as he answered the man. "Well, including transport costs, hiring Bellato, and most of all, product cost… we're down nearly eight-hundred thousand SD." The machinoid turned to his left, looking at the orc at the edge of the table. "I'm hoping legal may be able to sue Bellato for some of its costs back, I'd estimate about a 31% decrease in costs if we're able to do so successfully." He then turned his head back to the CEO, concluding his report. "Including legal fees, of course." 

Vassilios nodded, turning his head to face the orc on his right. "I imagine that sounds about right, Legal?" To this, the orc nodded in response, retrieving a pair of thin, round spectacles from his suit pocket, which fit tightly but dapperly on his large head. "Certainly, certainly. Given our good history with the company, I believe they will settle out of court for a good fraction of the costs." The orc faced the head of the table, "My team will be attempting to bargain for as much as we can without courtroom interference. In fact, we have a first meeting with their lawyers just tomorrow." "Excellent." the man said, leaning back in his chair. "The rest will be a loss, I imagine…" Vassilios sighed as the conversation came to a halt, the board members all waiting for some signal, some words, an indication of Vassilios' train of thought, of how to continue, what steps to take next. Eventually, the elf spoke, "I suppose the capture of the criminals responsible would make for good public opinion..?" He spoke, asking this of one of the two last board members to enter the room: a human woman with curly hair, who answered with a smiling nod. Vassilios then turned his attention to the beast next to him "How's your investigation going, Security?" "Progress is being made," the beast immediately answered, as if he had been waiting for this exact question to be asked, not allowing a moment of silence between the two, then continued, his calm and deep, somewhat growly voice sounding throughout the room. "I've made contact with a detective of the police who has already found a lead regarding the situation, a person of interest he'll be working with in order to find the criminals who committed this offence." After the beast spoke, he looked around the room, looking at the reactions of the board members around, his slit orange eyes scanning each with almost a ferocity behind them, before quickly finishing off. "In order to report them to the appropriate authorities, of course." "Of course." The CEO repeated. "This… person of interest," Vassilios asked, "do you have faith that this person of interest will lead the police to the right people?" To this, the beast sat back in his chair, clasping his hands together on his lap, and he took a moment to consider his boss' question, and what his own answer would be. And after a deep breath taken, he answered, "I have faith in the detective. The young man… well, I was told he's intriguing."

The young man was, at the time, walking along the street, the afternoon sun's light covered out by grey clouds flooding the sky. He had a paperesque bag in his right hand, the other hand in his pocket, holding onto his phone securely. On his earlobes was a small, round device each, piercing right through, and though completely unhearable to anyone else, lest they were to get uncomfortably close to his side, they were pumping waves of sound into his ears as the man had his playlist on. Another reason for him to be holding his phone, in case a song came on that he didn't care for, or, quite simply didn't want to listen to at the moment. His eyes merely glanced at the various people ahead of him on the street, whether going in his same direction or the opposite, only a little check to possibly notice anyone with ill intentions. It didn't take the man long to get to his apartment complex, taking his phone out, he held it close to a small device adjacent to the building's door, so near it almost made contact, prompting a small buzzing sound to emerge from the wall-mounted device, and the door's opening to follow soon thereafter. He entered through the doorway as he put his phone into his pocket once more, turning it on for just the second he needed to tap his music off, something he'd grown so familiar to doing that he didn't even need to look at his phone anymore. Inside, the man walked to and pressed on the metal button a straight ways from the entrance, it then lighting up. The man reached up, now letting go of the phone in his pocket, to tap the small devices in his earlobes, causing them to split apart into two halves to fall into his waiting hand, before magnetically reattaching themselves together in it. Having used his left hand to do so, the man put the devices in his pocket, together with his phone, as he stepped into the elevator, pressing the button on its wall labeled '6'. 

About a minute later, the man stuck his keys into the lock on his door, it immediately opening without need for a turn, and the man pulled his keys out again. The man walked into his small, open, apartment, the open window across from him doing little to help light the place up, then closing the door behind him with a soft slam. He walked in further, into his open kitchen area, placing his bag on the countertop before he clicked his tongue "Should've changed that lock." He didn't even bother to give a proper look to the figure sitting on his couch, spread out wide with his legs and all four of his muscular arms. He didn't need to give a proper look to the man to know he'd have that same look on his face he always does. Marcus tapped on his stove, a part of which turned red, beginning to heat up. He squinted his eyes, just a little, thinking "Why are all of these people suddenly seeking me out now?" but thought not too much of it, just a coincidence that was, at least in his eyes, unfortunate. The man sitting across from him gave him a dumb, wide smile, one Marcus had hated seeing on a face so similar to his own so many times in the past. "Come on, Tiny, I don't need much from ya this time, I promise." Marcus closed his eyes, and took a breath, counting to 10 in his head as he reached for a can of olive oil from a set of cabinets above him. Upon opening his eyes, he just shook his head "I'm not giving you anything, dude, just, go. Leave."

"Pfff" The man's head fell back in his exaggerated gesture, rolling his eyes before responding. "Come on man, this is about last time isn't it? I mean…" He stood up, not without difficulty, taking a moment to consider the best possible words before continuing. "You know I didn't mean that, right, man? I mean, why would I be here if I did mean it?" Marcus didn't bother reacting outside of a small sigh, taking a carton of eggs from his bag, and placing it next to his stove. The man, now standing opposite the counter to him, waited for a response, eventually realising he wasn't getting any. "Alright, alright, is-is a response what you want? Cus… cus I'm real sorry man, it's just…" The man put his closed fist to his mouth, taking a deep, emotional breath, "it's just that… as family, I, I always want to be honest with you, and I, well, at the time, that was my, my honest opinion. I mean… you can't blame me for wanting to share with my own brother, right?"

Marcus took a pan, a skillet, from a cabinet at his legs, looking always either towards the stove, or blankly in front of him while doing so, his brother still waiting for a response, now awkwardly looking at the pan, then at Marcus, setting the pan down on the stove. "What, you gonna pretend I don't exist now? That's cold, man." Marcus' throat clenched, but he gulped it down, spreading a thin layer of the oil over the pan as it began to sizzle, the tiny bits of hot fluid not even flinching either of the brothers. He reached to his side, opening the carton of eggs, and he took one out, moving it over, until his arm was stopped in its tracks, "Marcus, I swear I just need-" "You need to get out." Marcus now looked at his brother, his head turned just a little upwards, eyes wide as he stared the man down. "You know damn well where the door is, too," Marcus shifted his head aside to his left just a little as a reminder to its location, "so go."

The man clicked his tongue, but let go, looking around the small apartment, but not really looking at the same time. "Fine." He let out an exasperated sigh, slowly taking his steps to the entrance of Marcus' apartment, standing still with his hand on the doorknob, and pausing. The man then looked back at Marcus, just through the side of his eyes, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say it smells like Needle in here." The man grew an obnoxious smirk, continuing, "You better be careful with smells like that little Markie, I'd hate for this place to get busted by the time I get the chance to come back." Marcus, after cracking his egg on the side of his pan, looked up a bit, before turning just his head to face his brother "Fuck off."

Grin clear on his eyes still, the man opened the door, before slamming it behind him. Marcus waited a few seconds, just as a precaution, then sighed, leaning back against the wall behind him as he looked up at his ceiling, losing himself in thought as the egg began to sizzle in the pan in front of him. "That detective first, then this guy shows up again… what, is Naturheim themselves gonna reach out to me next? Fuck, I need a drink."