A happy December to you all! I hope I can brighten your holidays with this Christmas Carol AU. I've never really thought about doing a Dr. Tan story, but I thought this seemed like a good time to start. Roles have been rewritten, but the characters themselves should be relatively the same. Enjoy!
It was a cold, winter evening in the metropolis of Dance Central. The fact that it was Christmas Eve meant nothing to Dr. Tan, who sat alone in his office at the top floor of Tan Corps. Screens were positioned all around the room, playing footage from all over the building. Dr. Tan made sure none of his employees were slacking off; even in this busy holiday season, there was work to be done. His thoughts were soon interrupted by an incoming video call, which he pulled up on his desk monitor. The face on the screen belonged to none other than his son.
"This better be important Oblio, I've told you not to call me when I'm working."
"And a merry Christmas to you too father," Oblio replied, unfazed by his father's coldness.
"And what's so merry about it?"
"Christmas should be a time of joy and goodwill. Taye has invited us to Christmas dinner, why not join us?"
"I have no time for such foolish trifles. A day without work is a day Tan Corps isn't standing front and center in the world."
"Surely a day off wouldn't do any harm, father."
"That is not something I want to hear from you son. I'm expecting you to take over one day, and the company will not last long with that attitude."
"Money matters not to me father, nor does the idea of inheriting your legacy."
"And here I was expecting you to be grateful. Get out of my sight."
"As you wish. Still, do not hesitate to call should you change your mind." With that, the screen went blank, leaving the doctor alone in his office once more. At least, until an announcement came on the intercom.
"You have visitors at the door Dr. Tan." He pulled up the security footage from the front door of his office. There were two people, a man and a woman, waiting outside bundled in their coats and scarves. The man was tall, with short blond hair and wearing a pair of orange goggles. The woman was smaller in stature, with shoulder-length hair dyed a vivid shade of pink. She absentmindedly played with her arm warmers as they waited for some sort of response. Dr. Tan set up a relay to the intercom positioned by the entrance.
"State your business here," he announced to the couple at the door. The male spoke first.
"Hello, we've come to collect for charity. Are we speaking to Dr. Tan?" He said this in what Dr. Tan guessed was a light Russian accent. Tan let out a condescending laugh, though he didn't let them hear it.
"Yes, this is the doctor. What brings you to my company?" The young woman spoke up next.
"Well seeing it's almost Christmas and all, we were hoping you could spare some money to help the poor. Times are hard and folks are needing help supporting themselves. Every little bit helps." She said this in her cheery British accent, to Tan's bemusement. The male chimed in next.
"How much can we put you down for today?"
"Nothing," Dr. Tan replied curtly.
The two looked at each other slightly confused, obviously caught off-guard.
"Oh, did you prefer to make an anonymous donation? Because we can do that and-"
"I said nothing. I'm not giving you people a cent."
"But there are people starving out there! Surely you could part with a dollar or two?" Dr. Tan was wearing out his patience.
"You two are new here aren't you? I don't do charity. I worked day in and day out to get where I am now, and if these people knew what was good for them, they'd start doing the same. Now get off of my property before I report you both for trespassing."
"But-"
"Leave!" Both of them quickly scurried off without another word. Dr. Tan reclined into his chair, satisfied with himself.
Seeing as the workday was soon to end, Dr. Tan switched on the intercom for the building. Clearing his throat, he prepared to make his announcement.
"Attention all employees, this is a reminder that although I am giving you the day off tomorrow, I expect you all to be back at work on the 26th, no questions asked. Unauthorized absences will result in... disciplinary action. That is all." Dr. Tan gathered his personal belongings and made his way to the elevator. Soon enough, he was at the ground floor. Before he could exit the building however, he noticed someone waiting for him at the door. It was Rasa, one of his staff members. He had been with the company for quite a few years, and he did good work, but Rasa was often very vocal about his dissatisfaction with Tan Corps.
"Is there a problem?" Dr. Tan asked, feigning ignorance about the conversation that was soon to follow.
"You can't really expect us to come in right after Christmas."
"And I suppose you expect me to just waste this money just to have nothing get done?"
"It's the holidays. Some of us have families to go back to." The mention of the word "families" made Dr. Tan sneer in disgust.
"I'm being generous here. I'm not obligated to give you people any more time off then that. I'm ending this discussion, otherwise you can forget about any talks about that raise you were asking for last week." Rasa glared at him, but otherwise said nothing in response. Eventually he turned towards the exit, still visibly irritated.
"I'll see you after Christmas sir." Dr. Tan nodded, seeing his point had been made. He soon made his leave as well.
Dr. Tan made his way back to his manor, where he continued to work on paperwork and various files relating to the company. Maintaining Tan Corps. was no small task since his business partner passed away seven years ago. He couldn't afford a break, holidays be damned. The company was the only thing he had, they had, and he would do anything to ensure its success.
He continued to work, but found himself interrupted by a sudden power outage. The lights in his room then flickered erratically, and a figure slowly appeared before him. Upon closer inspection, he recognized it as one of his old robots, a model he codenamed ELIOT after his deceased business partner. It startled him for a moment, for he had only built the one model and had dismantled it long ago. There was no way ELIOT should be here, standing before him like this.
"Dr. Tan..." The robot called out to him, but not in its usual mechanical intonation. The voice was clearly human; not something one would expect to come from a body of metal and plastic.
"What is the meaning of this?! Who are you?" Dr. Tan shouted at the machine before him. The display on ELIOT's head where his face was positioned grew dim, and his head seemed to dismantle itself. Underneath was a face all too familiar to the doctor.
"Surely you haven't forgotten me already, old friend." The man beneath the robot's guise was the spitting image of Eliot Min, co-founder of Tan Corps. He had not seemed to age a day since his passing.
"Eliot... no, I know you're gone. This must seem some tasteless prank."
"Richard, I've come from the world beyond to warn you."
"I should be the one giving you a warning, breaking into my home for this nonsense." Dr. Tan reached out to the "fake" Eliot, only to find that his hand phased right through Eliot's body.
"Please, this is no joke. Your future is in jeopardy if you remain on this path."
"Surely hologram technology hasn't advanced this much yet," Dr. Tan mused to himself.
"Richard, what has happened to you? You aren't the man I built the company with so long ago."
"You know nothing about me."
"I would think I would, as your friend and former business partner. You used to have such passion for inventing, and now I find you here, obsessing over money."
"Just tell me what you're doing here Eliot, or whoever you really are... and why are you using my robot's body?"
"Like I said, I came here from beyond the grave to help you. As for this body, it would seem that my form has been slightly altered by your memory of me. I appreciate the sentiment of naming the robot after me by the way."
"Hmph. Who says I need any help? I'm doing just fine, in case you haven't noticed."
"You're becoming consumed by your greed Richard, but it's not too late to change. You will be visited by three spirits tonight. I pray they can help you see the error of your ways. As for now, I must go." Eliot began to fade out of existence as he finished the sentence.
"Get back here! I'm not through with you yet!" But no matter what Dr. Tan did, Eliot simply disappeared without a trace. He searched around his room for any signs of tampering, but found nothing. Resigning himself to investigate in the morning, he made his way to bed.
End of first chapter. A quick note, I could only write so much of this story and get away with not giving Dr. Tan a first name. So this is the story of Dr. Richard Tan, the Scrooge of this tale. There are five chapters, I hope you'll keep going and enjoy reading them.