Baddies Inc.

By LunaTheMoonGuardian

*Chapter One*

Spid- Er, Taranza's Here!

The dense fog hung over the tall, slim skyscrapers of Dream City. It still seemed dark and dreary outside, despite the fact that the sun was well over the horizon. Or at least, that was what Taranza could observe from inside his taxi cab. His view was obstructed by the sea of vehicles that surrounded the cab, but that was the least of his worries. He glanced at his orange watch for the millionth time.

'Great,' Taranza thought. 'I'm thirty minutes late for my new job! I really should've known that it was going to be rush hour...'

He sighed as he attempted to get his mind off of his tardiness. He stared at the pristine white limousine that was next to the vehicle, but mere moments later, he got uninterested in the activity of looking at the limo. He then picked up his grape-flavored Pep Brew, only to recall that he gulped it all down when he first got into the compact cab. Finding himself with nothing to do, he used one of his six hands to take out a newspaper from his dark brown briefcase. Taranza laid his back on the back of the brown leather taxi seat, and he started to search for something interesting in the paper.

"There's that one annual BBQ fest that I missed, a new world record that I could care less about, something about a new skyscraper... Heck, I could care less about this paper in general!"

Just as he proceeded to put the paper back into the briefcase, the taxi cab chauffeur finally reached Taranza's destination.

The cabbie said, "Welp, Taranza, we're here!"

Taranza stood up, which was a rather difficult feat because his back was extremely taut from sitting down so long. He stretched his spinal area for a couple of minutes to reduce the abundant stiffness that had piled up in said area.

The chauffeur, who happened to be a Sir Kibble with black-and-white checkered gloves, glared at him and snapped, "If ya don't leave, young man, then I'm gonna drive off with ya in tow!"

Taranza, who had been oblivious to the fact that he was still inside the cab, replied, "I'm sorry, sir! I must have been distracted by my stretching..."

The Sir Kibble gave no response. Seeing that the cabbie was giving him the silent treatment, he immediately got out of the taxi cab. Once he got out of the vehicle, a cold gust greeted him by slamming into his cheeks. Taranza shivered as he tried to utilize his green cape as a jacket of sorts. The building in front of him possessed a modern, sleek appearance, and the exterior's colors were mainly black with a strip of white on occasion. However, he couldn't notice the building, for he was rushing to the revolving door, which was the main entrance of the five-story tower.

Taranza let out a sigh of relief once he entered the main lobby. The room was still fairly chilly, but it was much more pleasant than it was outside. Like the exterior of the building, the interior had the same modern appearance and practically the same primary color scheme, with the exception of a little bit of gray. The floors were made up of white marble tile. The majority of the walls were windows, and what wasn't covered with windows was covered with various paintings and the occasional aquarium. But Taranza noticed two things above all else. The first thing that he noticed was the pungent, borderline overwhelming smell of disinfectant that took over almost all of the air in the lobby. The second thing was the sight that was a mere few feet away from him.

And what a sight he was. He was a white, legless creature with wings that were divided into several fragments. Red diamond-shaped tips were at the end of his wings. A glowing halo floated at the top of his head, and Taranza could spot a bandage that was right below the halo. He had two black dots for eyes and a massive smile. However, the most peculiar feature of him was the long, spiky plant that grew out the bottom of the creature; it resembled a cactus. Taranza's greeting that happened to be on the very tip of his tounge rushed back to his mind in pure shock due to the creature's odd appearance. The other unusual individual took this moment as a chance to utter a few words.

He indifferently greeted Taranza. "Hello. Do you happen to be Mr. Taranza?"

Taranza reluctantly replied, "Yes, sir."

"Ah. You were acutely belated upon your arrival, sir. I'll overlook this just this once, for it is your initial day here." After he said this, his smile transformed into a single, seemingly bloodshot eye in a matter of a few seconds.

At this point, Taranza really didn't know how to feel. He was humiliated that the other individual stated his tardiness, but at the same time, he was stunned by the creature's huge smile turning into an equally massive eye. The jolt of shock ended up being the victor of the duel.

After a several moments of hesitation, he uttered, "What is your name, sir?"

"My name is Zero Two. I am the head of this corporation, and I have one more item to endow to you."

At that moment, Zero Two gave an identification card to Taranza. The card listed his address, phone number, and e-mail address. It also had an image of him in the center, which was taken a few weeks ago at his interview to acquire this job.

He looked Taranza in the eye and said, "Welcome to Kracko Inc.."

The two were now sitting in Zero Two's office. This particular area was different from the rest of the building. It had soft, dark green carpet and crimson wallpaper. The room was chock-full of wooden bookshelves, which were stuffed with various textbooks. There was a wooden desk lodged between Zero Two and Taranza. Both of them were sitting in burgundy velvet chairs. The only thing that remained the same was the scent of disinfectant; it lingered like a friend that didn't want to leave your house.

Taranza asked, "What is my duty here, sir?"

The other individual replied, "Your main task is to manage and discipline a particularly poorly conducted employee."

"If he's poorly conducted, then why didn't you fire him already?"

"He is actually a good planner, and he has a decent amount of intellect. However, he uses these qualities only when he desires to, and he only puts them to good use around 3 to 5 times annually."

"Hopefully I can improve his behavior...where is he normally at anyways?"

"He is located on the third floor; his cubicle number is 16."

"Got it, sir."

And with that, Taranza left the office. The elevator was only a few yards from him, and he quickly floated to it. The elevator was made of glass; because of this, he could observe the city from it. He could also see the machines that made the elevator function. A touchscreen was on one of the glass walls. He went over to it, and he tapped it with one of his six hands. Upon this gesture, the device showed a screen that had five buttons on it, each one of them signifying which floor the elevator would take you to when you tapped one of them. Taranza tapped the button that had a 3 on the center. Just as he selected what floor he would go to, the elevator began to go down. He glanced outside of the glass wall for a few moments. Most of the buildings that were within his field of vision were slender and modern, but there were a few places that stuck out as older-fashioned to him.

Taranza arrived at the third floor. The third floor looked different from both of the floors that he had been on. It had faded blue carpet, white walls, and lots of cubicles. He glanced at the numbers the cubicles had on the fronts of them as he floated by. He did this until he got to Cubicle 16, where he was greeted with a high-pitched and slightly nasally voice.

The voice said enthusiastically, "Hey, hey, hey! How are you doing today?"

He looked inside the cubicle, only to find that a purple creature was waiting for him. He wore brown shoes and a jester hat that was teal on one side and red on the other. The hat had both circles and triangles, which were on one side each. The creature had one red eye and one blue eye. Both of his eyes were filled with eagerness and a trace of mischievousness.

Taranza replied, "Hi. I'm doing just fine. How are you?"

"I'm doing great! What's your name?"

"My name is Taranza. What is your name?"

Marx sung, "My name's Marx~!"

Taranza commented, "Well, aren't you an eager young man?"

Marx said, "Do you want to see my cubicle? Do you?"

"It would be a pleasure to!"

Taranza followed Marx inside Marx's cubicle. Its decorations consisted of a mishmash of blue, red, and purple, various shapes, comets, Marx's name drawn in several styles, and pictures of him. The teal desk in the cubicle was littered with a variety of items. The only item that stood out to him was the desktop computer. He glanced at the label to find out what brand the computer was; it was a Spectrum 4000.

Marx asked, "Do you like it?"

"Yes, I do! It looks wonderful."

"Thanks."

Taranza said, "How is your job?"

Marx replied, "Baddies Inc. is a coolio place, I tell you!"

Taranza shot a puzzled glance at him. "I thought that this building was called Kracko Inc.. I might have made a mistake, though."

"Kracko Inc. is the real name, but everyone and their mommies call this place Baddies Inc., so it just kinda stuck."

"Why?"

Marx paused for a moment, then he replied, "Erm...it's something about economic stuff...okay, I really forgot."

Taranza said, "That's okay. I might get something from the vending machine that I saw earlier. See you in a second!"

But before he could leave, Marx shouted, "Wait! I have one more thing to show you!"

"What is it?"

Marx stepped over to the desk, and he grabbed a card that he made for Taranza with his mouth. He walked back to him, and Taranza picked up the card from Marx's mouth.

"It's something that I made just for you!"

He glanced at the card that Marx made. It was made out of copy paper. On the front of the card, there was some pink handwriting that read 'To: Whoever the heck the new employee is'. Taranza opened the card, only to see what appeared to be Marx's posterior and some more pink handwriting that read 'Love, Marxie'. He sighed and closed the card.

Taranza muttered, "Gee, thanks. Did you really have to show me your hindquarters?"

Marx replied, "Aww, shucks!"

Taranza looked at the card again. 'This is going to be a long day...'

A/N: Well, this is the first chapter of my new fanfiction! I hope you enjoyed it, and constructive criticism is gladly appreciated. See you next chapter!