Olympian Complex

“Did a team of fae dopplegangers replace my team while I slept? I  know I didn’t hire such imbeciles for any project of mine.” The question, as so many the Director asked, was rhetorical. The fury behind it was not.

“Dawson. Are your team prepared for a mission?” The steel gaze pierced through Gregory’s nerve, causing him to stammer, struggling to explain. How could he explain?

“Ah, that is to say, they are not yet prepared for full tactical… ah, not that they’re unprepared, so to speak, just, there’s a bit of a…. not a setback,” he gulped, remembering Jared. “A snafu, perhaps, a…”

“Shut up.” hissed the Director. “Perhaps I should keep the children and terminate every last one of my staff instead!”

Nervous tension filled the silence as the Director paced. Terminate… She can’t do that, can she? She means fire, doesn’t she?

Doesn’t she?

“Incompetent fools!” Now her voice was reaching a fever pitch, her pacing rapidly losing the air of self-control. Was that tug of the collar, that sweat, due to Gregory’s nerves? Come to think of it, it was rather warm in the room, thought Paul…

“How was my boy captured?” asks Scott casually. “Or didn’t you get that information from the support unit? Were you too busy having tea and cookies to bather with a real debriefing?”

A slap rang out, sharp and crisp through the council room. None dared breathe, watching the scene. Eva stood half-crouched, panting, her eyes wild, her hands half-clawed; Scott pressed his fingertips to his cheek, eyebrows raised, a smirk on his face. A moment passed. Another. Finally, The Director straightened, tugging on the ends of her blouse to rid it of the wrinkles. She casually fiddled with her sleeves, lazily, the tiger in charge of its domain once more. The room relaxed a little, breathing resumed.

“There was a failed prototype from an earlier project at the dwelling, which I did not include in the briefing because it was beyond the weapon’s security clearance. It was assumed that the prototype was cryogenically frozen; they must have had enough warning to reactivate her before the attack.”

The Director gazed out at her team, her hard eyes inspecting each in turn. “Dawson, prepare your team for a mission. Robertson, feed ADONIS the information about the theft.” The Director turned to exit the room, her heels clicking as she crossed to the doorway before looking back, dark eyes twinkling, a hint of a smirk playing at her mouth. She was amused by something. Gregory nearly wet himself.

“And Scott?”

“Yes ma’am?” Scott didn’t seem worried – but then, he never did. Still, the use of his proper name unsettled Gregory and Paul a little – they could only imagine what Scott was thinking.

“See me in my office immediately.”