5

Seeing the older man was unsettled Stanley saw an opportunity to go on the offensive. "I noticed that all of the workstations on this floor are current where all of the lower floors are struggling with ancient equipment. Can you explain that?" he asked.

The man wasn't really paying attention to him as he fussed with his rings. "Their workstations are perfectly functional. There was no need to upgrade them."

Stanley looked at the man in surprise. "That decision falls under the purview of the CIO."

Mr. Pfister was beginning to look a little desperate to get the rings off but they looked stuck. He was also beginning to look a little... green. "Yes, but the PO's are approved by me so nothing is purchased without my say so. So, I decide."

Paloma took Stanley's arm and quickly pulled him away as she could see he was starting to get angry.

She got him into the elevator and they rode it up to the top floor. "We need to speak with your mother," Stanley grumbled to Paloma. She nodded and they made their way down the hall. When they got there her executive assistant, Felix, asked them to take a seat.

They must have been there for ten minutes when Mr. Duncan entered the waiting room and was directed to go straight in to see the CEO. Stanley's eyes were wide with shock as he took in the ripped state of the Security Officer's suit and a splash of what looked like blood on the man's arm and cheek. Paloma placed her hand on Stanley's arm to keep him seated and it calmed him down. Another ten minutes passed then Mr. Duncan emerged with a smile on his face. He nodded and winked to Stanley and left.

"You may go in now," Felix said.

They rose and entered the office. Ms. Villamor gestured for them to take the seats across from her desk.

They sat and Stanley immediately slid forward on his chair. When the woman turned her dark eyes on him he felt it like a physical shock through his body. She was just so lovely!

"Muh-Ms. Villamor, I d-d-don't..." Paloma put her hand on Stanley's arm and he felt himself calm. He kept his eyes on the surface of the CEO's desk. "...believe I'll be able to resolve this company's technical crisis without an immediate adjustment in policy. The CIO must be the one who decides on what purchases are made for the company's IT requirements, not the CFO." He looked back gratefully at Paloma and she smiled at him.

"I don't believe that will be an issue for us any longer. Mr. Pfister is no longer working for VRL. I believe you will find his replacement to be much more reasonable," the woman said with a wide smile.

"But- but I was just speaking with him-" he said in shock.

"And you left him in a very talkative mood. When Mr. Duncan spoke with him after you left he confessed to embezzling from the company with Mr. Hokensev's assistance. This gave us grounds to... fire him for breach of contract. He was... escorted from the building. We won't be seeing him again."

Seeing the stunned look on Stanley's face she glanced at the clock and smiled. "You've had a very busy first day. It's well past eight so why don't you head home and we'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Uh, thank you Ms. Villamor. Good night," Stanley said as he got to his feet. He admitted to himself he was tired. He was eager to move forward with this project but he needed to sleep. He also had a long commute ahead of him.

Paloma followed him out of the office and down the hall to the entrance of his office.

"I guess I'll head home and I'll see you in the morning," Stanley said, fidgeting.

"See you in the morning. I'm so glad you're part of the team," Paloma said with a smile.

Stanley's head spun a little and he nodded with a grin of his own. "Thanks! Good night!"

He made his way to the elevator lobby and was surprised when the two security agents nodded to him as he waited for the car to arrive. He nodded to them in return and took the elevator to the lobby. Mr. Duncan was there and nodded to him as he left. The man was wearing a new black suit and there was no sign of the blood he'd seen earlier.

Stepping outside Stanley felt an incredible rush of joy shoot through his body. He had a job, a challenging one at that, doing something he loved and was being paid quite handsomely for it! He wouldn't be just working on one small component of the company's tech but would get to work on all of it! Not only that, he had a beautiful woman assisting him. A woman he could actually talk to without swallowing his tongue! He hoped this would help him be able to speak with other women and maybe even meet someone he could date! He walked north towards the subway station his mind lost in his memories of Paloma's smile.

He was passing an alley a short distance from VRL when a hand reached out and yanked him off his feet, tossing him deeper into the dimly lit alley. Other hands took a grip on his arms and dragged him further in then yanked him up to his feet. He was being held between two very strong people he couldn't see.

Suddenly a bright light was shining in his eyes and he blinked away the tears. He looked to see who was holding him and... he still couldn't see them. They were still shadows. His mind shied away from that as he squinted against the glare to look towards the headlights. Someone was standing between them, backlit.

Stanley couldn't see his features but he was tall and wearing a tailored suit. Broad shoulders and a slim waist. Maybe he was a swimmer? Stanley had heard that swimmers had this kind of physique.

"Mr.... Garin, is it? Stanley Garin?" The voice was deep, rich, and cultured. He couldn't place the accent.

"Y-Yes? Who are you?"

"Well, that doesn't really matter right now does it? Now that I know who you are I have what I need," the voice said with amusement.

"I- I don't understand. What do you want with me? Why are you doing this?" Stanley was starting to get scared. Today was turning out to be really, really weird.

"Give it to me!" the voice barked as he faced sideways towards someone out of view. Stanley saw his profile and the man had the perfect features of one of those Michelangelo statues.

An arm reached in towards the man holding a 4" metallic cube. The man took it and walked towards Stanley until he was just two feet away. Stanley's eyes widened in surprise. The man was beautiful in an unearthly way. He was smiling at his prisoner, enjoying the look of awe, basking in it.

"Stanley, you are going to do me a favor. Not because you want to but because you won't really have any other choice." He gave Stanley a smile as if he found himself rather clever. "You see, in this quantum paradox trap is a demon. A truly nasty one but it's my demon. It's under a binding to me so when I let it out of the trap it's going to enter your body and become you. Then you'll go home, get a good night's sleep and start your workday tomorrow as my personal minion inside VRL."

"No thank you please," Stanley said, his voice wobbling in fear. This guy was insane. Demons? Who knows what was really in that little box.

Surprise flickered across the man's perfect features and he barked out a laugh. "Oh my, that was precious! So polite! Sorry, I'm still going to do it. Nice try though." The man nodded to the people holding Stanley and they reached across to rip his shirt open to expose the skin of his hairless chest.

Stanley cried out in fear then felt the cold metal of the cube pressed against his sternum and looked down to see it. It was difficult to look at as the ornate patterns on the sides of the cube seemed to be moving in multiple directions at once. He glanced up to see the man smiling with his brilliant white teeth exposed.

Then he heard a click.

An explosion of light and electricity blew the smiling man backwards, tossing him bodily up and over the car. The headlights blew out and the alley fell into shadow and after images of the lightning.

The shadowy men holding Stanley's arms weren't so lucky. They were tossed sideways to impact the brickwork of the buildings, like bugs on a high speed windshield.

Stanley was the epicenter of the explosion and didn't emerge unscathed. The rebounding shockwave returning from the brick walls on either side of him slapped him down to the ground where he lay dazed. His eyes were rolling but when they became accustomed to the low light in the alley he saw dark figures bundling the tall man into the back of the car. Then it screeched backward out of the alley and accelerated away. Stanley felt eyes watching him and someone stepped out of the shadows and stood before him.

He had to be hallucinating from whatever explosive had been in that box. The being standing before him was red, covered in blood, and naked. Very naked. He looked up to the face and yellow eyes glowed as they pinned Stanley in place.

"I should thank you for freeing me but... that's not what I do."