Jae10
Creative!
Constructive!
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~Catch of the Day~
She stood there, sulking, as tears ran down her face. It was happening. He was really going to leave. How could he…? How could he just ignore her like that? She reached for his hand and managed to briefly clutch it before he shrugged her off.
Taken aback, she murmured hoarsely, “Why…? Why are you leaving?”
He did not look at her as he packed more things into his backpack; cans of food, clothes, his music, and strangely, a crumpled piece of paper that had been torn but taped back together among other things.
When he did not answer her she felt more than just crushed. She felt fear, so much confusion and…anger - so much burning anger that her fists trembled beside her.
“Seth…” she whispered, her voice rattling intensely. “Please, Seth…please don’t leave me. Why can’t I come with you? I don’t want to be alone. Please…”
He paused, sighed, but still he did not face her. How could he face her? Then he felt he could never break away and he so desperately needed to go. To disappear for a while. “Nicki, I have to do this. There’s something I must do. If I don’t…you’ll suffer – we both will.”
“But-but why!? What is it? Does this have to do with those men that keep snooping around asking for you?” she cried. “I…I don’t trust them…Please, don’t go with them Seth. You’re my big brother! I don’t have anyone else…” She ran and embraced him just as he finished swinging the heavy backpack onto his shoulders.
“Nicki-”
“No!” She shouted and wept. “What if I don’t ever see you again? You have to promise me. Promise me you’ll come back.”
“I do promise,” he said, hugging her in return. “Look.” He knelt down, pulled something from his coat pocket and held it before her eyes. It was a small, hand-crafted metal charm. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was suppose to be, but the design was magnificent and so abstract.
Dazed she asked, “What is it?”
“Something I made. Keep it safe, until I come back, okay?”
She smiled, the last time she ever remembered smiling. “Of course. You’ve promised and now I promise. I won’t ever lose it.”
She hugged him again and when she let go, he was gone.
Kardinal blinked.
“Are you here to see Professor Eugene Smash?”
Within a second, she instantly remembered her present setting and rose to greet the young man that had come down to see her.
“Yes. Kardinal,” she introduced herself.
Kardinal was a tall, slender woman. She stood at least an inch or two above her escort. Her slacks were neatly pressed and she wore a dark blazer above a crisp, navy blue dress shirt. Everything about her appearance was in order and well tamed. Even the long crimson ponytail that hung straight down her back contributed to the subdued manner of her presence.
“I’m Dr. Hughes. I’ve been working closely with the Professor for these past few years.” They briefly shook hands. Her fingers were noticeably cold. “Hm, sorry about that. Maintenance can really overdo it with the air conditioning down here. Not to mention, we’re in the middle of autumn.”
“It’s fine.” She remembered how her own office was practically set to sub zero. In comparison, waiting in Yercom’s main lobby was like waiting at the beach. “Is he ready to see me now?”
“Absolutely, just follow me this way.”
Jack slowly led her past the main lobby’s information desk and paused at one of the lifts.
“Why don’t we take the stairs?” Kardinal quietly suggested.
Puzzled, Jack replied, “The stairs? It’s much quicker to get to the Professor this way. I’m sure you must be anxious to see him since you came all this way.”
She nearly recoiled at his presumptuous manner. She had little tolerance for anyone who dared to question her, very little tolerance. However, retaining her cool, Kardinal remarked, “I’m not in much of a hurry and a short tour of the facility happens to entail the purpose of my visit. Now, I would like a glimpse at each floor and we can walk the whole way, if you don’t mind.”
“Erhm, sure then.” Despite the cordial spirit of her tone, there was a hint of ferocity behind her dark, burgundy eyes which caught Jack slightly off guard. Further perplexed, he obediently led her off through a door, approaching the first flight of stairs. There, she paused.
“What’s this?” She peered cautiously at a cellar door directly adjacent to the stairwell.
“Oh, that’s just the basement. Not much to look at in there except the spare generator and janitorial equipment. Shall we move on?” She caught one final glance at the basement entrance, turned and nodded.
As they passed through each floor, Kardinal trailed behind Jack at her leisure, visually absorbing her surroundings. Every floor was vast and had multiple rooms with doors clearly marked, displaying the purpose of each one. She was silently impressed with the organizational skills of Professor Smash and the interests of his studies.
The second floor consisted of labs dedicated to the research of gene splicing, providing diagnostics, and omni dimensional testing; the third – a toxic chemical research lab, infection quarantine, and there was even a Zen & break room; upon the fourth – there were labs that specified on animal/human hybrids, development of super power extraction (which was of keen interest), rabbit/kitten genetics, and time portal experimentation.
Jack had started his lengthy ramblings as soon as they walked onto the second floor, explaining the individual progress in each of Yercom’s scientific divisions.
As they advanced, a number of researchers would occasionally stride past, but very few bothered to glance from their paperwork or the projects they toted to notice the pair. Kardinal chose to remain silent, concentrating on the layout of every floor and composing a mental schematic of the entire building. Jack seized the moment to observe her much more intensely. The austerity of her eyes troubled him and he pondered over many possible reasons for her trip to Yercom. Why’d she insist on prowling through every floor? Building inspector perhaps?
No, he sensed her purpose in being there was much more serious than that. The incident…it has something to do with that. Of that he was certain.
“Professor Smash is not here everyday. He’s usually overseeing the Academy and, normally, only checks in for scheduled appointments. I suppose you’re here to discuss some very urgent matters with him.”
“Indeed.”
Her expression never changed and she remained as unreadable as the moment he’d met her. She surveyed a small group of technicians heading for the elevators.
“Any questions before we go see the Professor now?”
“I have no questions.” Kardinal cast her dismal eyes upon Jack. A wave of mild discomfort passed over him and he almost looked away.
“Very well. He is waiting on the fifth floor. There are still a few more labs there we could quickly go over before I take you to him, if you’d like.”
“There’s no need,” she retorted. “I wish to see the Professor now.”
Charming… No doubt about it. Everything about this mystery woman radiated trouble – the unpredictable kind.
Inwardly frowning, he nodded and proceeded to the fifth level.
“Ten minutes til we air Maxi,” a backstage technician announced, poking her head into Maxine’s private dressing room and then hurrying off to go check-in at the sound booth.
Maxine’s cosmetologist managed to finish pinning back her dark, curly hair into a stylish bun. “There we go. Finished with that.”
“Thanks Stephanie,” she muttered, observing the style in a mirror which was graciously handed to her. “Perfect. I was hoping to get another sip of coffee before we start this afternoon’s bit.”
She yawned, still exhausted from working late the night before. Once a story presented itself, there was no rest until she had reviewed all the details of her written report and gotten an official approval from her boss for it to be aired. The latter was something she had little trouble achieving.
For anyone else this process usually took a few hours to a few days to get done; every passing minute increased the chance of another newscast snatching up other wildfire stories & claiming the public limelight. Fortunately, Maxine was not just anyone else and she got things done in half that time.
These days, the media scavenged the city for news like alley cats foraging the streets for a tasty morsel. An exclusive interview with one of Yercom’s chief scientists about the sudden deaths of three of its researchers was a tasty morsel indeed.
Stephanie began fixing her suit collar and addressing some light blush. “You know Warren’s been a tight wad the whole day since this morning. He’s barking orders at everyone, even the janitor.”
Maxine put in a pair of pearl earrings and watched them dangle by the edge of her chin. She then tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear and managed a faint grin.
“Eh, what’s new? He’s always like that.”
“Yea but, he’s much more of jerk about it. Believe me; it’s gotten ten times worse…”
At that very moment, just outside the room, she could hear her boss’s voice booming throughout the corridors. Startled, both Stephanie and Maxine paused to listen to the commotion. He was screaming curses at one the techs who’d just informed him that city towing had removed his car for parking beside a fire hydrant.
Something crashed and there was more swearing, followed by the sound of scurrying footsteps.
“Sir, camera two is down!”
“Thanks for stating the obvious!” Warren shouted. “What idiot left these cords sprawled here?!”
“But boss, they’re suppose to be there,” another one of the techs answered.
“Shut it! No one asked you!”
“Err, sorry…”
“Somebody better get a backup cam soon before I’m officially ticked off,” he growled.
There was a hard knock on the door that made Stephanie jump and without bothering to open it Warren grumbled, “Get a move on in there. Maxi, you’ve got five minutes left. If it’s a second more, I will personally come in and drag you out by the collar.” He stomped off to go scream at more quailing subordinates.
As soon as he’d gone, Stephanie gasped, “Unbelievable jerk…” She caught Maxine’s vague smirk.
“What are you smiling about? This is all your fault isn’t it?” She gave Maxine an accusing glare. “Did you bug Warren at some God-awful time this morning…again? Jeez Maxi, you know what he’s like when he doesn’t get a full eight hours worth of sleep.”
“Uhh, well, I did wake him only for a moment at around two and asked, no, I begged him to let me do this story today instead of tomorrow. It’s all about timing and I know Warren. He’s a lot more agreeable when he’s half asleep.”
“Not without its consequences though…”
“Oh trust me Steph, this story’s the catch of the day. It’s Yercom we’re talking about here – the city’s saving grace. This news needs to be addressed to the public, pronto. Anyway, Warren’s the one who asked me to get this interview done in the first place. I’m the best he’s got.”
“Over zealous much?”
Maxine gently stood after snapping the clips to her heels in place. “Just doing my job. It’s too bad I couldn’t get an even earlier slot this morning. I let Peterson take over that Pleasanton homicide for me - gruesome stuff. I’ve no qualms about giving up it though. Now, where’d I place that report?”
She peered around before Stephanie found it on a spare stool standing next to the dressing room closet and passed it her way. “Here.”
“Thanks again Steph.” She smiled radiantly. “Am I good to go?”
“Yup, another job well done. And since you’re gorgeous now, there’s absolutely nothing for Warren to fuss about.” They both laughed. Stephanie glanced at her wristwatch. “Well, two minutes…you’re really pushing it Maxi. You better scram before that troll comes back to fulfill his threat.”
“Ah, right.” She hurried from the dressing room, and gripping her afternoon report tightly, headed down the hall towards the stage room.
Yercom wanted a clear message delivered to the people and she was honored with the privilege to relay that message in the best way possible. Everyone knew that the precious material, Titan steelweave, was becoming scarce now and perhaps this sudden incident with the three researchers was a discouraging setback. After all, it had been three years since the Chaos Riots and Maxine was sure that all who had survived, every mortally scarred soul, would not want to be reminded of violence ever again.
Yet, this growing remnant of citizens needed assurance from Yercom that their city would not stay fallen forever and that the last shred of madness still lurking outside, where the cold, haunting horror of a desolate past still existed, would be permanently ended. It was that hope she held in the palms of her hands, ready to be spoken from every HAL Droid and vid screen within the city limits.
With a minute to go, she arrived inside the studio. Camera men were hastily sliding their equipment into position at her station.
In fact, the entire SCNN noon crew was present. Lydia Porte, over the noon weather, was beginning to finish up her weekly forecast as anchors Erick Vaughn & Anne Lykmen were being prepped to introduce Maxine’s report on Yercom.
Warren was waiting near the lighting panels, looking rather relieved when she showed up. His attention soon returned to one of the techs sitting beside him. Everyone was so preoccupied, taking care of the few technical details that still needed to be handled and hardly noticing her at the moment. This routine rush hour was very typical at the station, every week, every day. There was usually no need to worry about her until the last possible second.
Maxine felt vibrant, ready to face the world - to voice Yercom’s concerns and their endeavors.
She started to take one step when something from the nearby row of curtains shot out and grabbed her from behind. There was no to think, no time to struggle, not even a spare second to scream before a long, piece of satin, white material drenched in chloroform blanketed her face.
She could feel her entire body go numb as the world she was prepared to face shrank into obscure darkness.
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