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Chapter 5:
Filing a Complaint
“Are the six of you certain he’s missing?” Super C asked Cripto and his team when they made it back to the break area.
“Exactly,” Cripto replied, “and I feel a bit horrible because we weren’t there in time to save him. All we found was the broken scanner, and a bunch more robots acting berserk.”
“They tried to do to us whatever it is they did to Cleotas,” Espio added. “But we escaped. It takes a mighty foe to trap a ninja. I wasn’t happy with fleeing, but the best we could do in that circumstances was to live to fight another day.”
“I also don’t know what happened next,” Cripto put in, “because at one point I sneezed a few times, and my powers saw it as the cue to act.”
“Let’s cross our fingers and hope it was something good,” Super C nodded, “but I don’t have a reason to be upset about that. What I am upset about is how Stanley had been taking an approach to running this company. I don’t normally picture a company like this making street signs or traffic lights, but they must have their reasons.”
Leo walked by at that point, having cleaned up the latest spill. “You got that, Leo?” Vinnie called.
“It’s all taken care of, don’t worry,” Leo replied, then noticing the others. “Oh, by the way, everybody, that’s Vinnie. He’s mainly teaching me and Knuckles the way around the building; the rest of it we pretty much got nailed down.” Vinnie gave a brief wave.
“Yeah. Listen, I’m sorry I had T2 swap you with me, but I felt it was an easier way to discover what was happening.”
“I forgive you. Have you been able to find any leads yet?”
“I have only been able to discover what Cripto and the detectives have found out so far, as well as the fact that including Cleotas, out of a possible 9,600 employees, 1,129 have been furloughed when Stanley took over the company, 817 got laid off, and 8 are dead or missing. That number may have changed because Cripto’s powers decided to act without him knowing what they were doing when he started sneezing.”
“And I did wash my hands.”
“Oh, good.”
“That happen a lot?” Charmy asked Cripto.
“It happens sometimes, but it’s so awkward; I don’t like to talk about it.”
“Oh.”
“Still,” Super C continued, “you’ve given me some reasons to continue the fight. Cripto and a few of you willing to join us, follow me.”
“What are we doing?” Vector asked.
“We’re going to file a complaint.” Super C messaged me and asked me to join him, and I said yes, not knowing what he was doing at the time.
“What do you want me and Knuckles to do while you’re doing that?” Leo asked.
“If possible, obtain a copy of the place’s building structure, layout, or whatever. Find us a map, or something.”
“Got it.”
When we got to Stanley’s office, we showed him and Allison the street sign that read “EMERGENCY!” on what was supposed to be the north-south sign (as indicated by the extra text), and “HELP ME!” on the east-west sign. “Do you know if somebody ordered a sign like that, or was it the system operating on its own, based on what Bendraqi’s AI does?” Espio asked.
“That we don’t know for sure,” said Allison, “because we got so caught up in all the melodrama. Some example we are setting, aren’t we?”
“It’s not worth beating yourself up over,” I said. “But there are at least eight people so far who are either dead or missing, and nobody has been able to figure out what’s going on.”
“Where was Cleotas when you last saw him?” Stanley asked.
“In the fulfillment section you previously didn’t show us, but that was when the black and blue CNG had you hateful and angriest to the maximum,” Vector replied, and we were able to bring up security camera footage. All we could see was the robot in question grabbing Cleotas from the backside, but we couldn’t see where it was dragging him. The footage cut off before the next part. Note that GLO used black dome-shaped cameras to film everything, but the pod we were watching it from, which also connected Stanley and Allison to all the systems powered by my old robots’ advanced AI, was also created by my robots without any prompting, which is why it was in the shape of a hard-boiled egg.
“Egg pods, I used to call them,” I said to Super C when introducing him to the pod.
“That’s how he disappeared, all right,” Silver grunted. “I wonder if that has something to do with the power surges?”
“We don’t know. But don’t ask us to call the authorities, because we are the authorities.” Stanley paused to clear his throat.
“Then you’d better be worthy of the jobs you’ve got, because there’s a man missing, and I’m not seeing any action taken for it. There’s a man missing, and I believe he’s not the first,” Super C replied. “Not that the street sign is any indicator.”
“We’ll look into it,” Allison promised. “You’ve got my word on that.”
“Mine, too,” said Stanley. “Just don’t go snooping around my office. Well, not unless your duty requires it. I may not be as mean as I used to be, but I am still skeptical of all of you.”
“Just you be certain you look into it. Your words you have spoken to me had better be worth something, because if anything else happens to one of us, one of our friends, or anybody else working in this huge establishment, you’ll not only have to answer to the police, or possibly even the city, state, or federal government,” the Cat of Steel concluded sternly. “You’ll answer to me.”
We turned around grudgingly to go back to our positions, and Super C turned to me and whispered, “Was that a bit too bombastic?”
“No, I think you did that right,” I said. I turned around briefly and said, “Later, boss.”
In the hallways, I expressed my concerns to Super C as T2 met up with us (since Super C buzzed him via the app). “If I lose my job, I lose my job,” I said, “but I have a fear that if you keep raising suspicious remarks like that, Stanley will go back to being the mean, hateful person that he was when the black and blue CNG got to him.”
“I don’t care,” Super C replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I detest bullying. I detest the presence of CNG. I detest people in danger. I detest conspiracy theories, and there is a mix of all four elements in this place.” He then whispered his idea to the tiger of purity, and the trusty number one agreed to take action.
“Say, Vinnie, could I ask you something?” Leo spoke up when back inside the janitorial room, keeping up his end of the bargain.
“What would that be?” Vinnie replied.
“You see, you know your way around the joint. Knuckles and I, however, might need a little bit of help.”
“How so?”
“We get easily confused.”
“Huh?” (Knuckles’s reply of “Huh?” was him strategically playing dumb.) “Oh, yes. Yes, we do.”
“And we can’t get our minds to wrap around the whole basic structure of this place because it is way too big. But if we had some sort of picture, or something...uh...”
“You mean a diagram?”
“Diagram, yes. Thank you. That was the word I was looking for.”
“Me, too,” Knuckles added. “With a diagram, we can find our way around, because otherwise, we wouldn’t last long at this job. It would take us forever to get to the next mess.”
“I’m not sure about this, but there is a diagram I can borrow.”
Because Vinnie was a maintenance man, he was working extra hours when others weren’t, so by the time Leo and Knuckles had clocked out for the day, it was starting to get dark outside. The night shifters were doing the jobs, also taking into account the power surges and interruptions, but the echidna, actually being attentive to detail in order to help out his friends, noticed that all eight of the missing personnel were daytime workers. He made sure he told Sonic about it, and Sonic, in turn, told Super C and me. He also began to get suspicious of Vinnie, since the man seemed to know everything about computers, codes, and hacking; this was evident when the man opened up a computerized safe with a code we thought only Stanley himself knew. (The code was originally set at random by my AI.)
“Won’t somebody get angry at this?” Knuckles asked.
“I don’t think so; besides, like you said, we’re only borrowing it. We’ll put it back.”
If you’re wondering, Tom the Patriotic Tiger, Dark Wolf, and some of the others weren’t involved in the whole mystery at all, but they were monitoring the whole thing from HQ. They were taking notes, and they promised to notify us in the event they knew something we didn’t know. I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but then again, anything is possible these days.
The next day, some other humans were entering their first day at GLO, though not all were aware of the issues. Those who were aware were still willing to have a go at it, because they needed jobs, and nobody else was hiring. This allowed Sonic and his friends more time to help with the investigation, since Stanley and Allison knew the G-52s were on to them.
Although Super C had originally considered having Cripto break into the office, he changed his mind. “I can’t risk bad PR for the G-52 organization and its allies,” he thought. “But at least we’re able to dress appropriately now.” (His thought was directed towards the fact that while Stanley still didn’t trust anybody at all, he at least was willing to accept the truth that my former enemies were really superheroes, and so, for the first time, they were able to wear some of their supercostumes. Leo, however, wasn’t wearing his solid battle armor he wore; he continued to dress down as a janitor. When I mentioned that he was the one doing all the bellowing back in what he considered to be the worst years of his life, the 1960s, the Parcels gulped at the thought of him doing it again. But he wasn’t going to bellow.)
As a result, Stanley made some changes to the systems so that the G-52s and Sonic’s team were no longer workers on the system, even though by the rules and regulations, they were still due to get a paycheck. Cripto and the detectives were also due to get one, for after all, the Chaotix Detective Agency never turns down work that pays, and this job pays a starting wage of $27.50/hour. Even though it was just one week’s worth of work, it was still resulting in my friends having to put “temporary worker” on the resumes and tax returns they were to file out in the future. The only possible worker still having a full time job was Chris Thorndyke, because he wanted a full-time job after no longer being able to make a living as a professional roller skater. (I’m not counting myself in this regard.)
Stanley and Allison, however, weren’t sure why the others still had ankle bracelets on them. (The robots had attached them to the ankles of my friends.) This was showing up on Allison’s electronic clipboard she used to do her job. The group opted to just wait for Allison to open the door for them, but then the door opened by itself. “Odd,” I thought to myself, because I was also with the group that was going into the office. “He didn’t have a sliding door yesterday. The only place I see these kinds of doors is Wal-Mart, or something like that.”
“When did you have that put in?” Allison asked as the pair made their way back to the office.
“I didn’t,” said Stanley. “I think the system did that by itself.”
The pair walked in and saw us looking at paperwork that Stanley normally didn’t want anybody to see, but they weren’t in the mood to snap at us just yet. Allison decided to announce her presence by stating, “I’d normally shout, ‘You’d better have a good excuse for breaking into this office!’ But because it’s you, I can’t say that. What I can’t figure out is why you’re still listed as being on the system and working when we technically laid you off according to the technicalities.”
We looked down and saw our ankle bracelets were on our legs. “Oh, no; the robots don’t know you guys quit,” I said. “I’m still employed, but they’re having me take the day off from the regular section so I could help you investigate.”
“Ugh!” Super C winced. “I forgot about those! That’s why I hate conspiracy theories so much; there’s too many factors to consider when working it out!”
“And this is where I’d snap, ‘I knew I couldn’t trust you morons!’, if I was still as mean as I used to be,” Stanley added. “But Harvey here, the real owner of the business, had me sign a contract stating that if I was to keep working here, outside of anything I’m sentenced to if I have to appear before Judge Marcus, I would not lose my temper. So you might as well have a look around. And don’t worry about the ankle bracelets. Let me fix something here, and you’ll be good to go.” He sat down to his desktop computer and made a few modifications to the system’s database, and our ankle bracelets (except mine) disattached. Each one took the bracelet and sat it back down on Stanley’s desk. (He didn’t dismiss Leo or Knuckles just yet due to the investigation.)
Sonic, Tails, and D.W. joined the others (Amy, Cream, Rouge, and Blaze) in the lobby and listed in via the G-52 app. “They’re in,” D.W. announced. “Now let’s hear what’s going on.”
In Stanley’s office, it was me, Super C, Cripto, and Team Chaotix, because Silver and Shadow were with the others out in the lobby. T2 would join us later. “I didn’t found the Chaotix Detective Agency for nothing,” Vector told Stanley. “But tell me this. Then again, you promised to change your ways, but if everything’s supposed to be automated with just a 12% workforce, why do you still need a clipboard?”
“Or a filing cabinet?” Charmy added.
“Why not?” Stanley replied. “I still like to have specific backup methods.”
“Team Chaotix, the finest detectives in the universe!” Cripto congratulated, although meaning to do so as an inside joke, and the three took turns giving the tiger of purity a fist bump.
“I’d open the cabinet for you,” Stanley continued, “but I lost the keys yesterday when one of the robots took it. I think they still think I’m as evil as it gets.”
Cripto snapped his fingers, and the cabinet unlocked. “How’d you do that?” the boss asked, stunned as ever.
“Special effects!” Cripto replied.
“Oh.”
Stanley got the appropriate paperwork that ultimately showed the eight missing workers in question. Back in February, three of the eight went missing, followed by two in March, two in April, and now that we were into the month of May, Cleotas. “These deaths in absentia are increasing and may continue to increase,” Super C remarked to the Parcels. “No wonder somebody or something made that street sign calling for help. And as the big boss and head of HR, I suggest the pair of you are guilty of some serious negligence!”
Just then, the lights went out. “Another power surge?” Charmy exclaimed.
“That’s not a power surge,” Allison shot back. “That’s a total system blackout!” She ran over to the egg pod and tried to examine the results. “No power anywhere. Not even down in the foundation levels or the levels above that where the robots load the signs on the delivery trucks, which nobody can get to now because it is fully automated.”
“Are we allowed to know what’s down there?” I asked.
“Not usually, but I’ll be honest.” Stanley shook his head. “I don’t know what’s down there either because I was so keen on making it fully automated.”
“I think I can help with that,” came a voice from the other end of the room as the sliding door opened. It was Leo, and Vinnie and Knuckles were right behind him. I could hear a “DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!” musical cue playing in my head.
TO BE CONTINUED
-----------------------------------------
Chapter 5:
Filing a Complaint
“Are the six of you certain he’s missing?” Super C asked Cripto and his team when they made it back to the break area.
“Exactly,” Cripto replied, “and I feel a bit horrible because we weren’t there in time to save him. All we found was the broken scanner, and a bunch more robots acting berserk.”
“They tried to do to us whatever it is they did to Cleotas,” Espio added. “But we escaped. It takes a mighty foe to trap a ninja. I wasn’t happy with fleeing, but the best we could do in that circumstances was to live to fight another day.”
“I also don’t know what happened next,” Cripto put in, “because at one point I sneezed a few times, and my powers saw it as the cue to act.”
“Let’s cross our fingers and hope it was something good,” Super C nodded, “but I don’t have a reason to be upset about that. What I am upset about is how Stanley had been taking an approach to running this company. I don’t normally picture a company like this making street signs or traffic lights, but they must have their reasons.”
Leo walked by at that point, having cleaned up the latest spill. “You got that, Leo?” Vinnie called.
“It’s all taken care of, don’t worry,” Leo replied, then noticing the others. “Oh, by the way, everybody, that’s Vinnie. He’s mainly teaching me and Knuckles the way around the building; the rest of it we pretty much got nailed down.” Vinnie gave a brief wave.
“Yeah. Listen, I’m sorry I had T2 swap you with me, but I felt it was an easier way to discover what was happening.”
“I forgive you. Have you been able to find any leads yet?”
“I have only been able to discover what Cripto and the detectives have found out so far, as well as the fact that including Cleotas, out of a possible 9,600 employees, 1,129 have been furloughed when Stanley took over the company, 817 got laid off, and 8 are dead or missing. That number may have changed because Cripto’s powers decided to act without him knowing what they were doing when he started sneezing.”
“And I did wash my hands.”
“Oh, good.”
“That happen a lot?” Charmy asked Cripto.
“It happens sometimes, but it’s so awkward; I don’t like to talk about it.”
“Oh.”
“Still,” Super C continued, “you’ve given me some reasons to continue the fight. Cripto and a few of you willing to join us, follow me.”
“What are we doing?” Vector asked.
“We’re going to file a complaint.” Super C messaged me and asked me to join him, and I said yes, not knowing what he was doing at the time.
“What do you want me and Knuckles to do while you’re doing that?” Leo asked.
“If possible, obtain a copy of the place’s building structure, layout, or whatever. Find us a map, or something.”
“Got it.”
When we got to Stanley’s office, we showed him and Allison the street sign that read “EMERGENCY!” on what was supposed to be the north-south sign (as indicated by the extra text), and “HELP ME!” on the east-west sign. “Do you know if somebody ordered a sign like that, or was it the system operating on its own, based on what Bendraqi’s AI does?” Espio asked.
“That we don’t know for sure,” said Allison, “because we got so caught up in all the melodrama. Some example we are setting, aren’t we?”
“It’s not worth beating yourself up over,” I said. “But there are at least eight people so far who are either dead or missing, and nobody has been able to figure out what’s going on.”
“Where was Cleotas when you last saw him?” Stanley asked.
“In the fulfillment section you previously didn’t show us, but that was when the black and blue CNG had you hateful and angriest to the maximum,” Vector replied, and we were able to bring up security camera footage. All we could see was the robot in question grabbing Cleotas from the backside, but we couldn’t see where it was dragging him. The footage cut off before the next part. Note that GLO used black dome-shaped cameras to film everything, but the pod we were watching it from, which also connected Stanley and Allison to all the systems powered by my old robots’ advanced AI, was also created by my robots without any prompting, which is why it was in the shape of a hard-boiled egg.
“Egg pods, I used to call them,” I said to Super C when introducing him to the pod.
“That’s how he disappeared, all right,” Silver grunted. “I wonder if that has something to do with the power surges?”
“We don’t know. But don’t ask us to call the authorities, because we are the authorities.” Stanley paused to clear his throat.
“Then you’d better be worthy of the jobs you’ve got, because there’s a man missing, and I’m not seeing any action taken for it. There’s a man missing, and I believe he’s not the first,” Super C replied. “Not that the street sign is any indicator.”
“We’ll look into it,” Allison promised. “You’ve got my word on that.”
“Mine, too,” said Stanley. “Just don’t go snooping around my office. Well, not unless your duty requires it. I may not be as mean as I used to be, but I am still skeptical of all of you.”
“Just you be certain you look into it. Your words you have spoken to me had better be worth something, because if anything else happens to one of us, one of our friends, or anybody else working in this huge establishment, you’ll not only have to answer to the police, or possibly even the city, state, or federal government,” the Cat of Steel concluded sternly. “You’ll answer to me.”
We turned around grudgingly to go back to our positions, and Super C turned to me and whispered, “Was that a bit too bombastic?”
“No, I think you did that right,” I said. I turned around briefly and said, “Later, boss.”
In the hallways, I expressed my concerns to Super C as T2 met up with us (since Super C buzzed him via the app). “If I lose my job, I lose my job,” I said, “but I have a fear that if you keep raising suspicious remarks like that, Stanley will go back to being the mean, hateful person that he was when the black and blue CNG got to him.”
“I don’t care,” Super C replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I detest bullying. I detest the presence of CNG. I detest people in danger. I detest conspiracy theories, and there is a mix of all four elements in this place.” He then whispered his idea to the tiger of purity, and the trusty number one agreed to take action.
“Say, Vinnie, could I ask you something?” Leo spoke up when back inside the janitorial room, keeping up his end of the bargain.
“What would that be?” Vinnie replied.
“You see, you know your way around the joint. Knuckles and I, however, might need a little bit of help.”
“How so?”
“We get easily confused.”
“Huh?” (Knuckles’s reply of “Huh?” was him strategically playing dumb.) “Oh, yes. Yes, we do.”
“And we can’t get our minds to wrap around the whole basic structure of this place because it is way too big. But if we had some sort of picture, or something...uh...”
“You mean a diagram?”
“Diagram, yes. Thank you. That was the word I was looking for.”
“Me, too,” Knuckles added. “With a diagram, we can find our way around, because otherwise, we wouldn’t last long at this job. It would take us forever to get to the next mess.”
“I’m not sure about this, but there is a diagram I can borrow.”
Because Vinnie was a maintenance man, he was working extra hours when others weren’t, so by the time Leo and Knuckles had clocked out for the day, it was starting to get dark outside. The night shifters were doing the jobs, also taking into account the power surges and interruptions, but the echidna, actually being attentive to detail in order to help out his friends, noticed that all eight of the missing personnel were daytime workers. He made sure he told Sonic about it, and Sonic, in turn, told Super C and me. He also began to get suspicious of Vinnie, since the man seemed to know everything about computers, codes, and hacking; this was evident when the man opened up a computerized safe with a code we thought only Stanley himself knew. (The code was originally set at random by my AI.)
“Won’t somebody get angry at this?” Knuckles asked.
“I don’t think so; besides, like you said, we’re only borrowing it. We’ll put it back.”
If you’re wondering, Tom the Patriotic Tiger, Dark Wolf, and some of the others weren’t involved in the whole mystery at all, but they were monitoring the whole thing from HQ. They were taking notes, and they promised to notify us in the event they knew something we didn’t know. I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but then again, anything is possible these days.
The next day, some other humans were entering their first day at GLO, though not all were aware of the issues. Those who were aware were still willing to have a go at it, because they needed jobs, and nobody else was hiring. This allowed Sonic and his friends more time to help with the investigation, since Stanley and Allison knew the G-52s were on to them.
Although Super C had originally considered having Cripto break into the office, he changed his mind. “I can’t risk bad PR for the G-52 organization and its allies,” he thought. “But at least we’re able to dress appropriately now.” (His thought was directed towards the fact that while Stanley still didn’t trust anybody at all, he at least was willing to accept the truth that my former enemies were really superheroes, and so, for the first time, they were able to wear some of their supercostumes. Leo, however, wasn’t wearing his solid battle armor he wore; he continued to dress down as a janitor. When I mentioned that he was the one doing all the bellowing back in what he considered to be the worst years of his life, the 1960s, the Parcels gulped at the thought of him doing it again. But he wasn’t going to bellow.)
As a result, Stanley made some changes to the systems so that the G-52s and Sonic’s team were no longer workers on the system, even though by the rules and regulations, they were still due to get a paycheck. Cripto and the detectives were also due to get one, for after all, the Chaotix Detective Agency never turns down work that pays, and this job pays a starting wage of $27.50/hour. Even though it was just one week’s worth of work, it was still resulting in my friends having to put “temporary worker” on the resumes and tax returns they were to file out in the future. The only possible worker still having a full time job was Chris Thorndyke, because he wanted a full-time job after no longer being able to make a living as a professional roller skater. (I’m not counting myself in this regard.)
Stanley and Allison, however, weren’t sure why the others still had ankle bracelets on them. (The robots had attached them to the ankles of my friends.) This was showing up on Allison’s electronic clipboard she used to do her job. The group opted to just wait for Allison to open the door for them, but then the door opened by itself. “Odd,” I thought to myself, because I was also with the group that was going into the office. “He didn’t have a sliding door yesterday. The only place I see these kinds of doors is Wal-Mart, or something like that.”
“When did you have that put in?” Allison asked as the pair made their way back to the office.
“I didn’t,” said Stanley. “I think the system did that by itself.”
The pair walked in and saw us looking at paperwork that Stanley normally didn’t want anybody to see, but they weren’t in the mood to snap at us just yet. Allison decided to announce her presence by stating, “I’d normally shout, ‘You’d better have a good excuse for breaking into this office!’ But because it’s you, I can’t say that. What I can’t figure out is why you’re still listed as being on the system and working when we technically laid you off according to the technicalities.”
We looked down and saw our ankle bracelets were on our legs. “Oh, no; the robots don’t know you guys quit,” I said. “I’m still employed, but they’re having me take the day off from the regular section so I could help you investigate.”
“Ugh!” Super C winced. “I forgot about those! That’s why I hate conspiracy theories so much; there’s too many factors to consider when working it out!”
“And this is where I’d snap, ‘I knew I couldn’t trust you morons!’, if I was still as mean as I used to be,” Stanley added. “But Harvey here, the real owner of the business, had me sign a contract stating that if I was to keep working here, outside of anything I’m sentenced to if I have to appear before Judge Marcus, I would not lose my temper. So you might as well have a look around. And don’t worry about the ankle bracelets. Let me fix something here, and you’ll be good to go.” He sat down to his desktop computer and made a few modifications to the system’s database, and our ankle bracelets (except mine) disattached. Each one took the bracelet and sat it back down on Stanley’s desk. (He didn’t dismiss Leo or Knuckles just yet due to the investigation.)
Sonic, Tails, and D.W. joined the others (Amy, Cream, Rouge, and Blaze) in the lobby and listed in via the G-52 app. “They’re in,” D.W. announced. “Now let’s hear what’s going on.”
In Stanley’s office, it was me, Super C, Cripto, and Team Chaotix, because Silver and Shadow were with the others out in the lobby. T2 would join us later. “I didn’t found the Chaotix Detective Agency for nothing,” Vector told Stanley. “But tell me this. Then again, you promised to change your ways, but if everything’s supposed to be automated with just a 12% workforce, why do you still need a clipboard?”
“Or a filing cabinet?” Charmy added.
“Why not?” Stanley replied. “I still like to have specific backup methods.”
“Team Chaotix, the finest detectives in the universe!” Cripto congratulated, although meaning to do so as an inside joke, and the three took turns giving the tiger of purity a fist bump.
“I’d open the cabinet for you,” Stanley continued, “but I lost the keys yesterday when one of the robots took it. I think they still think I’m as evil as it gets.”
Cripto snapped his fingers, and the cabinet unlocked. “How’d you do that?” the boss asked, stunned as ever.
“Special effects!” Cripto replied.
“Oh.”
Stanley got the appropriate paperwork that ultimately showed the eight missing workers in question. Back in February, three of the eight went missing, followed by two in March, two in April, and now that we were into the month of May, Cleotas. “These deaths in absentia are increasing and may continue to increase,” Super C remarked to the Parcels. “No wonder somebody or something made that street sign calling for help. And as the big boss and head of HR, I suggest the pair of you are guilty of some serious negligence!”
Just then, the lights went out. “Another power surge?” Charmy exclaimed.
“That’s not a power surge,” Allison shot back. “That’s a total system blackout!” She ran over to the egg pod and tried to examine the results. “No power anywhere. Not even down in the foundation levels or the levels above that where the robots load the signs on the delivery trucks, which nobody can get to now because it is fully automated.”
“Are we allowed to know what’s down there?” I asked.
“Not usually, but I’ll be honest.” Stanley shook his head. “I don’t know what’s down there either because I was so keen on making it fully automated.”
“I think I can help with that,” came a voice from the other end of the room as the sliding door opened. It was Leo, and Vinnie and Knuckles were right behind him. I could hear a “DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!” musical cue playing in my head.
TO BE CONTINUED
Cripto's Army: Green Light Operations (Chapter 5)
Chapter 5.
Bendraqi and G-52s © me and me alone
Sonic the Hedgehog © SEGA
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Category Story / All
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Size 120 x 120px
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