Chapter Text
Monday, August 6, 2012, 0700 hrs
Algor Inc.
Manhattan, New York City
“Are you ready, Sir?”
Pausing to straighten his tie and smooth his hair, he nods once. “I’m ready.”
The butler nods stiffly and opens the door with gloved fingers. “The car awaits.”
“Thank you, Stanhope.”
He walks to the door and takes the briefcase that the butler hands to him with a curt word of thanks.
He flips open the morning papers the moment he’s seated in the town car, glances at the headlines, then turns the pages, speed-reading as he does. Then snorts at the sensationalist headings and briefly scoffs at the appalling standards of the news reports in this country.
He leaves the financial news for last, perusing everything in that section during the long drive across town, paying particular attention to the frequent mentions of Prism Dynamics and Algor Inc. in several reports.
But none of these articles prove to be remotely interesting. Instead, they’re mostly speculative pieces, with a touch of hysteria in them; in all, they’re poor attempts to substantiate rumours of all the talk of acquisitions, mergers and the rise of strategic alliances.
Again, he briefly wonders about the standards of the reports and the value of having such articles in print.
Tossing the papers aside, he snaps his briefcase open, pulling out the files on his latest conquest, preferring to focus on the core event for the day.
Another takeover, another triumph.
All the world’s a stage indeed.
His stage.
oOo
BREAKING NEWS
SHIELD TECHNOLOGIES ACQUIRED FOR $97.6 MILLION
by Roy Gallup for Bloomberg Businessweek
Algor Inc. will pay roughly $97.6 million to buy Shield Technologies (NASDAQ: SHLD) as the privately-owned conglomerate seeks to expand beyond its established business in craft-to-craft communication systems and rocket engine development.
Algor Inc. claims the acquisition of Shield Technologies will generate annual revenues of approximately $500m, but the company has yet to reveal the financial details of the deal.
The purchase price represents a 42 percent premium over Shield’s closing stock price on Friday, both companies said in a joint statement. Investors who hold the 95.7 million common shares in Shield will receive a 33 percent premium while 80.2 million Class A stocks will draw a premium of-
With a low growl, Darcy Lewis crumples the entire financial section of the papers and flings it across the office, watching with some satisfaction as it lands in a messy, crumpled pile that obstructs the narrow carpeted corridor. Almost immediately, a passing woman in a grey suit trips and nearly falls over that tangled ball.
Snorting, Darcy tucks her recently-dyed hair neatly behind her ears, uncaring of the startled looks thrown her way at the uncharacteristic show of temper.
Let them stare.
It’s her last day here anyway. She couldn’t care less, not when her life is pretty much over.
That stinking letter sitting in the far right corner of her desk has just made sure of it.
A veritable exaggeration? Maybe.
Because losing this job means that she’s going to kiss all that money goodbye. That university loan that she’s only just begun to pay off? Well, it’s adios and sayonara – to that too.
She isn’t the only one to lose this coveted position with Shield Tech, but she’s definitely the only one showing her unhappiness that openly.
Her cell beeps again and Darcy picks it up with shaking fingers, glancing through the short but concerned reply.
Don’t worry about rent. I can and will cover this until something else comes your way.
A small smile curves her lips. What would she ever do without that socially awkward, kind-hearted and brilliant roommate of hers?
Her fingers fly over the glossy screen of the phone, rapidly tapping out a quick message.
Thanks, doll, you’re the best. I really need this right-
The synthesised bass tones of Madonna’s Like a Virgin ring out suddenly, automatically garnering dirty looks from the rest of her colleagues sharing that cluster of work stations. Just her bad luck to have actually gotten co-workers who actually worship classical music.
So she likes cheesy music of the 80s and 90s. It doesn’t mean that they have to act as though the world had ended each time the latest pop tune comes blaring out of her iphone.
Not as though that’s going to be her problem anymore, isn’t it?
She takes the call immediately, not bothering to check the caller ID and barks loudly into the speaker, “What?”
“Darcy? Just calling to ask if you’re okay.”
Oh. Trust Jane to call and behave like the mother hen she unknowingly becomes when she gets really worried.
“Okay?” She snorts, then feels guilty for taking out her anger on Jane who’s undeserving of it. “Not really. He’s a bastard. With a capital ‘B’. There’s no other word for him.”
“Uh, who’s ‘the bastard’?”
Right, she hadn’t explained yet. “The new boss.”
“Oh. Listen, I’m sorry that this awful thing is happening and I thought you’d like to talk. For a while at least, before I get back to my desk and face my experiments once again.”
“Actually, I’d like to do more than talk. I want several bottles of beer to drown my sorrows and maybe a good fuck to top it all off.”
Meaningful silence greets her pronouncement. Okay, maybe that was a bit much.
Darcy sighs and explains patiently, “Jane, this job was everything to me. I know, I’m just a lowly secretary doing administrative work, but it’s paying the bills and the rent.”
“The secretary’s more important than you think. I’d be dead if not for your organisational skills. And I did say the rent payment’s covered for the next few months. Besides, I like having you around.”
“Thanks, dude,” Darcy says, absently twirling a stray lock of hair around a finger. “Hey, what do you say about doing something tonight? Girls’ night out. Let’s both hit up a bar or something. God knows I’m going to need all the booze I can take.”
Jane laughs. “You got that. I’ll clear my schedule.”
“Oh please, when are you ever busy at night? Ever since that mysterious, enigmatic co-worker scientist of yours left Prism Dynamics-”
“Uh, okay,” Jane interrupts hurriedly, “this isn’t about me, Darcy.”
“We’ll see about that,” she smirks then looks at her watch. “As much as I like to chat, I can’t. I’m officially fired at 5 pm today and right now, I’m expected to be in the conference room to listen to this new hotshot boss giving us a useless and boring welcome speech.”
“Alright. I’ll need to get back to my experiments too. Tell me all about it later.”
“Sure thing. See you at the usual?”
“Yup.”
Darcy disconnects the line and gets up from her seat with a groan.
The conference room is packed to the brim with reporters, other hotshots and many other suits waiting to hear the new CEO’s speech. She settles somewhere in the corner and cranes her neck to look…to no avail. It still seems as though everyone’s still taller than her even when she wears three-inch heels to work.
Abruptly, the noise clears.
“Welcome and thank you for being part of this very, very important milestone in our company’s history. Without further ado, I’d like to say that the many rumours you have heard in the past month do have some basis. We are pleased to announce that Algor Inc. and Shield Technologies have reached an agreement to merge and restructure their organisations so both can devote time, resources, and expertise to what they know best in the Aerospace industry. Our board of directors believe that this transaction, which follows a diligent and thorough review process by the board, provides outstanding benefits for all our stakeholders. Effective today, we will begin to put into effect a restructuring plan that will help us eliminate redundancy in our field operations-”
Darcy patiently half-listens to the first half of Shield Tech’s managing director’s speech, then tunes out the entire second half when he begins talking about meaningless platitudes about staff morale and organisational restructuring.
The speech drags on and she’s tempted to whip out her mobile again when scattered applause signals the end of it.
The room falls back into tense silence when a throat is cleared pointedly. A few seconds later, a baritone rings out in a cultured, upper-crust accent with perfectly enunciated tones and inflections-
Her jaw drops in disbelief.
No damn way.
Darcy risks a slight jump to see just who’s talking and barely makes out that tall, long figure clad in a snazzy black suit perfectly complementing his longish, lightly curling hair, speaking calmly and straight into the distracting, never-ending stream of camera flashes.
Isn’t that Jane Foster’s former partner in Prism Dynamics? The one whom she hasn’t stopped talking about since-
Hell.
Lifting her phone as high as her short arms will allow her, Darcy snaps a photo of Loki Laufeyson.
There’s going to be lots to talk about when she meets Jane later.