Binding Foxgirls II

by Simon Archer

  “Hey, hey,” I called, waving my arms in the air to attract some of their attention.

  But it didn’t work. A couple of them toward the front looked over at me absent mindedly, but no one answered or addressed me. Whatever was going on must be really bad for people to be ignoring the goddamned CEO.

  So, I decided to try to push my way to the back, where my office was or barring that, to the cylindrical chamber leading to the board room. Sure enough, pushing and shoving only got me so far, and I was able to press through to the side of the room, but not the back.

  People were packed in all the way up against the door leading to the chamber, kind of like they looked packed together like sardines down in the street below. It got to the point where I was practically shoved up against the door as I pulled my ID out of my pocket and waved it against the scanner. Well, I more shoved than waved, but it worked anyway.

  For a second there, I was worried that the people around me would say to hell with the rules and try to follow me into the corridor, but they didn’t, opting instead to gaze longingly after me. Well, at least some semblance of protocol was still being followed.

  I collapsed on my knees and gasped for breath once I was safe and alone inside the cylindrical bronze hallway. Man, it was claustrophobic in there, so much so that the air was hot and heavy from all the excess breathing going on.

  After taking a minute to catch my breath, I rose and made my way down the long hallway and to the board room entrance, continuing to take long, deep breaths as I did so. Man, I hoped someone would be waiting for me in there. Otherwise, I could be stuck alone in the boardroom for the foreseeable future.

  Luckily, when the second door swung open in response to my ID scan, Malthe, Kira, and, for some reason, Clem waited for me inside.

  “Nic, thank God,” Kira sighed with relief when she saw me, rushing over to the door and grabbing one of my hands with both of hers. “Are you okay? It took you a while.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said dismissively, wanting to find out what the fuck was going on. Then, turning to Clem, “I thought I sent you to the south side?”

  “You did, but shit hit the fan right before we left,” Clem explained. “I sent Lin and Cindra down there without me, and Kinley went with them in my place. I’ll join them as soon as, well…” He threw up his arms in the air and shrugged.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. “Why are there so many people outside? Fuck, why are there so many people inside?”

  “We think it was a preemptive strike,” Malthe said, his nose buried as usual in his tech. “Or even a response to you guys blowing up the tunnel and all those goons. Who knows?”

  “Pre-emptive strike? What are you talking about?” I asked, looking around wildly at my friends, trying to figure out what they were talking about. “Somebody better start from the beginning.”

  “Okay, okay,” Clem said, taking a deep breath and scrunching up his face as if he were trying to think of where and how to start. Seeing this, Kira butted in to help him.

  “So right after you left, we got to work just like you told us to,” she began. “And Lin, Clem, and Cindra called an air car to take them to the south side, also like you told us to. But then, right when they were about to leave, the power went off.”

  “The power went off?” My jaw dropped open. “What’s that supposed to mean? TelCorp’s never lost power. Well, except that one time Malthe hacked in before I even knew he existed, but that was only for a couple of seconds.”

  “Pretty cool, wasn’t it,” Malthe grinned, looking up from his computer and reveling in his past success.

  “Okay, but you’re on our side now,” I said. “So the only way someone could shut us down is if someone better than you came along, and I don’t see that happening anytime soon, especially considering that our enemies hate tech.”

  “I don’t think this was a hack, though,” Malthe said, suddenly serious again. “This was something else. There was no hacker’s signal to track, which means that if it was a hack, you’re right, whoever it was is even better than I am, and also like you said, we all know how unlikely that is.”

  “Well, if it wasn’t a hack, what was it?” I asked, sitting down next to him and staring at him intently.

  “Around the same time that the power outage happened, or right before, some people swarmed our building,” Malthe continued. “I think they wrecked our power source somehow, but then it came back online since I installed so many backups.”

  “Who are all those people? They’re still out there. What do they want?” I asked, pointing in the direction of the streets below, though there were no windows in the board room to protect the board’s secrecy.

  “Good question,” Malthe said. “I’m pretty sure they’re from the conglomerate, based on what they’re wearing in the vids we’ve got from right before the power went down.”

  “You mean they’re dressed as binders?” I asked. “From which corp?”

  “Yeah, the new one, the conglomerate,” Malthe answered. “Seems like they’ve got new logos already and everything.”

  “That was fast,” I said darkly.

  “It’s all happening very quickly,” Kira said, worry stretched across her face.

  “Okay, so did we catch the guys?” I asked. “The ones who attacked us, I mean.”

  “That’s why I stayed,” Clem explained. “I sent Kinley down to the south side in my place so Semra and I could try to track them down. But they were gone. Or rather, a bunch of other people showed up, so it was pretty much impossible to find them in this whole mess.”

  “Okay, so has anyone else gotten into the building?” I asked.

  “No, our drones seem to have scared the first ones off, and no one else’s tried to get inside,” Malthe said, and I sighed in relief.

  “But they’re still trying,” Clem warned. “And they’re going to be successful eventually, at this rate. There’s just too many of them. It’s impossible to hold them off forever, even with our resources.”

  “Especially when so many of our forces are on the south side,” Kira finished for him. “Not that I think that’s a mistake, they should be down there. But it just means we’re more vulnerable than we would be otherwise.”

  “Yes, that is unfortunate,” I said, leaning back in my chair and cupping my chin in my hand as I mulled this all over. “Are they all from the conglomerate, then? There’s a helluva lot of people down there.”

  “They were at the beginning, we think,” Malthe said. “Or at least they were all people here on orders from the conglomerate. Or the tunnel people, who the fuck knows at this point. They’re basically the same org if we’re right about the new CEO being one of them.”

  “It looked like some of them were there on orders from the conglomerate, or the tunnel people, that is, who were there to blend in and distract,” Kira clarified, seeing my confusion. “But then it just turned into a whole mess. Not that it wasn’t a mess, to begin with, but you know what I mean. Anyway, now there're all kinds of people down there. Who knows who’s from where.”

  “Yeah, Semra and I were pretty much certain when we went down there that a good chunk of the crowd was just brawlers or passers-by trying to make trouble,” Clem said, shaking his head. “Messing with TelCorp’s just an extension of the riots at this point. They’ve got the whole place surrounded. It’s turned into a whole different beast, which now that I think of it, probably was their whole plan, to begin with.”

  “Probably,” I said, biting my lip. This was getting bigger and bigger and worse and worse by the second.

  “Speaking of the crowd, how d'you get in here, boss?” Malthe asked me. “The front doors are completely choked by these people.”

  “I climbed,” I said simply.

  “Of course you did,” Kira said, rolling her eyes.

  “So why’s there such a huge crowd up here?” I asked, remembering what the place was like when I came in. “And the lower floors are practical
ly deserted, it’s like they all came up here.”

  “That’s because they did,” Kira explained.

  “The top floor was the first to have its power come back online,” Malthe interjected.

  “Right,” Kira continued. “And people were freaking out, so they came up to the top two floors looking for answers, hoping to find you.”

  “That’s ironic, considering they all ignored me when I tried to figure out what was going on and where you all were,” I said, giving a hollow laugh.

  “Well, just like with the crowd outside, I think the one inside has taken on a life of its own,” Kira said, pursing her lips.

  “Are they upset? Worried?” I asked, looking around the room at my friends’ faces.

  “All the above,” Clem shrugged. “Some of them fled, the rest came up here.”

  “Fled?” I repeated, a sense of dread filling my stomach.

  “Yeah, just like people seemed wary during the board meeting,” Clem continued.

  “Except more so,” Kira added. “It’s even worse with the regular employees. Some of them have already transferred to work for the conglomerate. I groaned.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. “I thought we vetted these people?”

  “We did, but that was when we were at the top of our game,” Malthe said. “It’s different now. They’re different. They have families to feed just like everyone else, Nic, and I’m pretty sure they all want to be able to go home to those families at the end of the day, too.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it,” I sighed. “But are they being directly courted by the conglomerate? Any of them contacted by the tunnel people?”

  “No, nothing like that,” Malthe said, shaking his head. “I’ve been keeping close tabs on the burner call map, and they’re still not talking to anyone at TelCorp. But the conglomerate did release a statement saying they’ll take any TelCorp employees, no questions asked, and match their salaries.”

  “How’re they managing that?” I huffed. “We already pay three times what everyone else does, at least.”

  “But now all they’re resources are combined,” Malthe reasoned. “Plus, they’ve got whatever resources this underground organization has at its disposal now, too.”

  “Unbelievable,” Clem said. “I really thought we had loyal people here now.”

  “No, Malthe is right,” I told him. “They’re scared. This is an unprecedented situation. I can’t really blame them, honestly, but it does fucking suck.”

  “Damn right, it does,” Clem grumbled. “And there’s a hell of a lot of people with families sticking it out here with us.”

  “That’s true, too,” Kira sighed.

  “Are we keeping track of everyone who’s left? Monitoring their communications?” I asked Malthe. He nodded.

  “Sure thing, boss,” he said. “No one’s been able to give important information to them. These are just low-level employees. I’ve changed all the access codes and everything, and I’m gonna keep changing them every fifteen minutes so no one can get in.”

  “Good,” I said, nodding curtly. “Keep up the good work.”

  “So what are we supposed to do, Nic?” Kira asked, her voice small. “What now?”

  “Well, do we have any idea why they’ve attacked us, other than the obvious I mean?” I asked. “Did the conglomerate release a statement about that?”

  “Nah,” Malthe said. “But I’ve been reading their e-mails and messages. They’re scared we’re gonna mess with their business, stop them from starting up again. A valid concern, too, based on our meeting this morning. So they figured, why not try to shut us down before we even have a chance to strike against them?”

  “Fair enough,” I reasoned. “They planning anything else?”

  “Hard to tell,” Malthe said, grimacing at his computer. “I think they figure we’re watching, so they’re not saying much electronically. But they do seem pretty hellbent on dealing with whatever we throw at ‘em.”

  “Doesn’t mean they’ll actually succeed,” Clem said. “The fact that they’re preemptively attacking us shows that they don’t think they could beat us one-on-one.”

  “Or they just want to flick us aside like the best we are,” Malthe said grimly.

  “That’s a happy thought,” I said sardonically, shooting him a look. “But I think Clem’s right. I think they’re worried about us, and that’s why they’re doing all this. Either way, we have to deal with them. Just like we have to deal with everything else.”

  “Speaking of which, how was Parliament?” Kira asked, and everyone turned to look at me intently.

  “Weird…” I said, my voice trailing off as I remembered everything that had happened during my long conversation with the Prime Minister, which already felt like so long ago. “The only person there was Halit, other than the security guards, of course.”

  “You mean all the other members just bolted?” Clem asked, incredulous. “That soon after the session? No way.”

  “I guess they were all afraid of slipping up, saying something wrong, or running into some trouble maker like me,” I reasoned, shrugging. “The whole place was deserted. It was like a ghost town or something.”

  “Weird,” Clem said, his mouth still hanging open with shock. “Usually, these political types will jump at anything to get some airtime, hang around forever after even the most minor legislation passes.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “But these aren’t usual times, obviously.”

  “So did you get to talk to Halit?” Malthe asked.

  “Yeah, but can you look something up for me real quick first?” I asked him, pointing at his computer. “Have there been any more burner calls at Parliament? Or at Halit’s apartment building?”

  “I don’t think so…” Malthe said, his voice trailing off as he studied his computer screen, which once again donned the map of the city with red dots indicating the burner calls, intently. “No, there’s nothing.”

  “Good,” I said, breathing another sigh of relief and letting my shoulders relax a bit. “That’s good.”

  “Why do you ask?” Malthe asked. “Anything interesting happen?”

  “Yeah,” I said, leaning forward on the table as I told the story. “I mean, well, sort of. I didn’t learn anything super new, per se, but I did confirm a lot.”

  “You mean, Halit squealed?” Clem asked, even more surprised now than he had been about the other Parliament members disappearing. “No way.”

  “Way,” I confirmed. “It didn’t take much to convince him, honestly. I knew he didn’t actually like going against us like this. He hates all this just as much as we do, the tunnel people just spooked him is all, convinced him they were more powerful than we are. So he went along with it since he didn’t think he had much of a choice.”

  “What did you have to say to convince him to talk?” Clem asked warily. I winced.

  “I did end up telling him about the tunnels last night,” I said, bracing for the impending talking to that I knew was incoming. Sure enough, Clem stood up and placed his hands on the table with such force that it nearly flipped over.

  “You what?” he roared. “Here you are, sitting here telling us we can’t tell our friends and allies, and you went and told the guy who’s behind all of our problems? Are you fucking kidding me, Joch?!”

  “I know, I know,” I managed, rushing to assuage his worst fears. “But it quickly became clear to me that he needed some reason to believe that we’re positioned to defeat these people. That we have a shot here. The reason he ended up going against his conscience and doing all of this shit is that he was convinced that these people have such a hold on the city and everything in it that there wasn’t any chance TelCorp would come out on top. Telling him at least a small part of what happened last night gave him some hope.”

  “And if he just turns around and tells whoever’s in charge of this secret org everything you told him?” Clem asked, still furious. “That’s what you were worried about, isn’t it? Why
you wanted to know if he made any calls?”

  “Well, they don’t make the calls,” I corrected. “These other people make all the calls. They just answer them above the surface.”

  Clem gave me an even angrier look this time.

  “Okay, okay, but your point is taken,” I rushed to say. “I get why you’re upset, I really do, but I don’t think there’s much this guy can squeal about, anyway. The tunnel people already know we broke in and found out about them, most likely. The only thing he could blab about is that we know about the burner phones.”

  “You told him that we know about the burner phones?” Clem asked, his voice flat now that he’d expended most of his anger, which somehow made him seem even more upset.

  “I know, I know,” I said. “But once he started talking, I really wanted to get more info out of him. That’s why I went down there in the first place, after all, right? To get him to squeal?”

  “And what’s to say he won’t squeal to them all over again?” Clem asked through gritted teeth.

  “I guess nothing,” I said, shrugging. “But I’m willing to make that trade-off for more intel. I did learn some new stuff, even if most of it was just a confirmation. And either way, he wants to be on our side. So now that he thinks we have a shot against these people, I think he’s more likely than not to work for us.”

  “And what’s stopping them from convincing him that they’ve got the upper hand all over again?” Clem asked.

  “I guess that’s on us,” I said, as calmly as I could manage. “The more we fight against the conglomerate and do everything we can to get our city back, the less likely anyone is to be convinced that we don’t have a shot.” Clem looked at me for a long moment before giving up and collapsing back into his seat.