Pudder's second law: Anything that begins badly ends worse
Riley walked down the corridors of the Centre, being escorted by a sweeper on her way to the SIM Lab for the morning. The automatic doors to the familiar lab opened swiftly once the guard had swiped his keycard in front of the locking device and Riley was directed inside while the sweeper took up his post outside of the door. She stepped inside the large room and walked over to the director of her project, anxiously wondering where Mr. Lyle was.
"H-Hello Mr. Raines." She said quietly, hoping against hope that Mr. Lyle hadn't had to investigate another of Jarod's hiding places. She hadn't quite gotten over her last pretend with Mr. Raines and wasn't looking forward to working with him again quite so soon. Before this assignment, she had never before had to spend so much time with the man, but now, it was as though his presence never left her. She needed an escape-- a break from him. She needed some time where she didn't have to be perfect.
"Riley." Mr. Raines acknowledged her while looking over what she now recognized as a SIM file that he was holding in his hands. Her hopes sank to somewhere in the region of her shoes and she resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't escape him for long. Mr. Raines took no further notice of her and Riley was only too grateful for the absence of his undivided attention. He always made her want to disappear- quickly and silently.
Where is Mr. Lyle? Did they really find Jarod's new hideout so quickly? Why does Mr. Lyle have to go on every raid? I wish he didn't just leave me here- at least he gave me notice last time. Stop wanting things you can't have, Stupid...
Riley waited patiently until Mr. Raines was done perusing the papers before voicing the thoughts running around her head.
"Mr. Raines?"
"What." He growled.
"M-May I ask a q-question sir?" She asked timidly, his unfriendly tone making her decidedly more nervous.
Raines gave her a dismissive nod- looking slightly preoccupied.
"S-Sir. W-Where's Mr. Lyle?"
He snapped the folder shut in his hand and dropped it down onto the desk next to him. "You won't be working with him any longer."
"What? But why?" Riley blurted out, unintentionally raising her voice slightly in distress at the news. He can't have meant that-- he meant something else, right? Mr. Lyle hadn't left her to him-- he couldn't! They'd worked together forever! He wouldn't just abandon her, he wouldn't. Riley backed up a few paces as Mr. Raines advanced on her, a pronounced scowl growing on his face. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and slapped her, admonishing lightly "Don't show emotion Riley... it threatens your objectivity."
She shook the blow off, forcing her mind to focus; she hadn't failed to notice that he hadn't answered her question. She took a breath to calm herself down before asking again. "W-Why am I not working with Mr. Lyle anymore?" Did I do something wrong?
"Mr. Lyle was killed Riley. You're working with me from now on."
Riley felt her chest constrict and her mouth become impossibly dry. Dead. No. Not Dead. Couldn't be dead. Not Dead. It must have been a full minute before she fully registered Mr. Raines interesting choice of words. Was killed? Not died? What does he mean was killed... Killed by someone else.
"I...I don't understand what that means Sir. How do y-you mean 'was killed'?"
"Jarod murdered him Riley... Mr. Lyle is dead."
Riley stared at him. Mr. Lyle...killed by Jarod? Impossible... it can't be real... not true... please... not true... Riley swallowed against the bile rising in her throat and shook her head to dispel the rampant thoughts.
"Come here Riley. You have a simulation to perform."
Riley's gaze was fixated on the ground, looking at it as though it might give the key to her salvation. "I-I don't want to do a SIM t-today Sir." She mumbled defeatedly, shaking her head lightly in a daze.
"What?"
"I-I don't want to do a SIM today sir." Riley brought her gaze up from the floor.
"You don't have a choice in the matter Riley... You will perform today's simulation without complaint or you will feel the consequences... Am I clear?" He told her, gravelly voice hitting her ears and making her reconsider for all of an instant.
"I'm not SIMing today. I'm not SIMing Jarod, Sir." Riley's voice lost its stammer as she became more confident in her statement. She wouldn't pretend today... not Jarod... not today.
Raines backhanded her with enough force to knock her to the floor. "You will do as told Riley." He growled, pulling her up by her upper arm and toward the center of the room.
"No! He killed Mr. Lyle! He's gone. He left just like Sarah and it's Jarod's fault and I'm. Not. SIMing. Him! I'm not doing a SIM today." Riley struggled out of Mr. Raines grasp.
"Riley. This is Jarod's fault. All Jarod does is cause pain."
Riley shrank down against the wall behind her. Her head buried in her arms. "I hate him."
"Good Riley. Jarod deserves to be hated. He's a very bad person Riley. He killed Mr. Lyle."
"I want to kill him." She said quietly, heat pricked at her eyes and she pushed back the stinging wetness, she couldn't cry- she wouldn't let herself.
"Good Riley." Raines pulled her head up out of her arms by her hair and delivered a relatively light slap across her face, causing a large red mark to appear on her cheek. "That's very good."
-
-
Miss Parker flung open the door to Lyle's office, waltzing in like she owned it. She stopped as her eyes registered the many boxes filled with personal affects dotting the room. "Knock much?" She heard Lyle's voice behind her- he was cleaning out his desk.
"What are you doing?" Parker was so confused that she didn't even manage a nasty retort.
"I'm packing. Are you blind?" Lyle said, indicating the stripped office around them.
"Landed ourselves another cushy assignment did we?" That just figured didn't it? Lyle, golden boy of the Triumvirate, got the best assignments, the best rewards. And none of his failures ever seemed to matter.
"Not exactly." Lyle said in a clipped tone, "I'm being transferred."
"Huh?"
"Wow Parker. Very articulate." He said snidely, picking up the box from his desk and moving it over to stand by the wall.
"Cut the crap Lyle. What are you talking about?"
"What were you- dropped on your head as a child? I told you. I've been transferred. I'm moving to a different division- away from here. You can break out the party hats now."
"What about Riley? Is she moving with you?" Parker asked, as much as the little twerp annoyed her, she was making the search for Jarod marginally easier, and that was saying something.
"No." Lyle said shortly.
Parker walked over to the desk and placed both hands on the flat surface. "But she's your project."
Lyle dropped into the chair behind him, for the first time in the conversation looking truly angry. "Not anymore. She's Raines' now. I've been pulled because I was too 'emotionally invested'." He said sarcastically. His voice lowered to a mutter of disbelief that was directed more at himself than Parker. "I devoted eleven years to that project... And they're pulling me like it never even happened."
"So they're giving her to Raines? What the hell will that achieve? Riley can hardly get out a full sentence around him." Parker said, it was plain that the corporate machinations were at work once more. The Triumvirate would hardly make a decision like this on their own, would they? Not when they had been perfectly fine with Lyle being the girl's keeper all this time. Raines must have had something to do with it. She was sure.
"Well it doesn't matter anymore- she's headed to Africa and I've been barred access to her. Ten-to-one odds Raines is going to try to make her hate me. Look Parker- I still have to pack my apartment and I'm on a flight to God knows where by five tonight. If you see Raines, do me a favor and shoot him. It doesn't seem that I'll be given a chance any time soon." Lyle got up from his perch and looked around the office a moment to see if he had forgotten something. He looked back up at Parker. "Do it right. Don't miss." He told her mockingly, and Parker suddenly felt much less sorry (not that she was ever sorry for bad things happening to Lyle) about his plight. Lyle turned and left the office, and a few moments later Parker followed suit.
-
-
"Broots!" Miss Parker barked as she entered the pursuit team's office.
"Miss Parker?" The man jumped as his name was called.
"I just got some really interesting information from Lyle."
"What was it Parker?" Sydney asked, moving around from behind his desk.
"Lyle's been kicked off of Riley's project-- he's leaving the Centre tonight, and they haven't even given him the destination."
"Bet Lyle didn't take that well." Broots said, looking over interestedly from his positionin front of the computer terminal. "God, that means that little kid's gonna be with Raines now."
Parker nodded. "It gets worse. I did some digging on my way over here; she's being transferred to Africa."
"Africa?" Sydney parrotted. "To Triumvirate Headquarters?" He clarified with dismay. "She'll never survive there!"
Broots turned back to him monitor, shaking his head sadly. "Why would they give her to Raines? She can't work with him."
Parker just shrugged through her feeling of dazed confusion. "I'm betting he had a lot to do with it." She finally answered. "He's always had a lot of clout with the Triumvirate-- he just put it to good use."
Sydney sat down in front of his chess game, looking over the pieces absently. "Of course. With him as Riley's sole mentor he can control which simulations she does, how she performs them- and for whom. Riley is a powerful asset for Raines, she is the most fruitful pretender seen since Jarod, and they've given him complete control over her. If Raines plays his cards correctly, he could have the Triumvirate eating out of his hand."
A slightly sick look crossed Parker's face before she regained her composure, "I'll personally slit my veins before I see Dr. Demento in charge around here. Not happening." She said determinedly. Parker paced around the room before making a decision. "Broots. I want everything that you can dig up on Riley's project that's recent. I need to know what he's been doing now that Lyle's out of the picture... maybe there's something in there we can take to the Triumvirate."
"Well okay, but I'm going to have to hack into the Centre mainframe."
"Has that ever stopped us before?"
"No. Not really. No."
"So I don't expect you to have any problems then. If you need me I'll be in my office."
-
-
"Miss Parker?" Broots stuck his head through the door to Miss Parker's office.
"What have you got Broots?" Parker asked eagerly, walking over to the nervous technician.
"Well, I have this friend down in the surveillance room, you know, Pinky-"
"-Where's the brain?"
"What?"
"Never mind." She brushed off carelessly.
"Well, anyways, he got me in to see the DSA archives, and tada!-"
"Thinking about going in to magic Broots?"
"No. If I made myself disappear now I wouldn't be able to give you this." Broots said, producing a small disk with the current date on it.
Parker snatched the disk from Broots hand with a smile on her face. "Broots, you're a genius."
"Watch it. Saying that around here can get people killed."
"Nah, just taken captive." Parker said as she headed down to Sydney's office. Broots hurriedly scrambled after her, telling her the rest once they had reached their destination. "There was also a memo; apparently Riley is being transferred by this time tomorrow."
"What's the hurry?" Parker asked; a little peeved that they had almost no time to plan anything.
"Perhaps your knack for offsetting Raines' plans..." Sydney said.
"When that ghoul goes around here acting like he owns the place, he deserves to have some of his plans foiled. If his head grew any bigger he wouldn't have the ability to support it."
"So you're really doing him a service...?"
"Precisely."
Broots, tapped a few keys on the computer and turned around to them. "Miss Parker, I have the disk ready."
"Lets see what little horror Raines is creating in his funhouse this time." Parker said, joining him over by the monitor, leaning over his chair so that Broots had to hunker down in it. At one point in time, he might have told her she was 'in his personal space,' but he didn't bother anymore-- it was better just to move himself. The DSA player's screen faded in and Broots leaned forward as he slowly took in what he was seeing.
-
-
"Riley. This is Jarod's fault. All Jarod does is cause pain."
Riley shrank down against the wall behind her. Her head buried in her arms. "I hate him."
"Good Riley. Jarod deserves to be hated. He's a very bad person Riley. He killed Mr. Lyle."
"I want to kill him."
"Good Riley." Raines hit the girl forcefully across the face, causing a large red mark to appear on her cheek. "That's very good."
-
-
the disk went blank after that, it must have already been edited, and they were left staring at a black void. "He's teaching her to hate Jarod..." Broots said quietly.
"What he's doing is creating another mindless sociopath." Parker bit out, turning her back on the screen and pacing away.
Sydney folded his arms in front of him and scowled, giving a huff like an angry bull. "I cannot believe that monster would tell those sort of lies to a child."
"Can't you, though, Syd?" Parker amended for him. "He's done it before."
Broots swallowed against the sickened feeling clawing it's way out from his stomach and up his throat. "Does L-Lyle know about this?"
Parker shook her head, "He's already left."
"Are we going to tell Jarod?" He asked timidly, posing the question that was on all of their minds.
"No Broots. We're not going to say a thing." Parker said, turning around and giving both men pointed looks as she turned to leave. She looked around behind her, "Oh Sydney, you might want to check your e-mail, tonight."
Sydney nodded his head in agreement. "I'm sure I'll do so Parker. I was going to stick around tonight in any case; seek a little Refuge with my bonsai plants before turning in."
"Oh? Good Luck with that. I'll see you both in the morning." Parker grabbed her coat up and left the room, and neither coworker had any doubt that Jarod would be recieving an e-mail that night.