Trigger: POV

Where are the strings that pull me along?

The hate of following against your will.

But a puppet on strings has no right to choose.

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I heard those words, it genuinely reverberated through my room and probably through the facility too, along with a LOUD church bell.

It also startled the shit out of me, I sprang from my bed and was already in my full E.G.O suit. I was out and looked around, everyone around is either scared or ready for a fight …

And then… some kind of red light ring washed over all of us. Instead of the panic I expected, everyone seemed more calm.

Why did that felt like I was hugged?

"So… what the fuck?" I glanced behind me, seeing a somewhat sweaty Dakota looking around. Seems like she got caught in the middle of training.

Amelia walked behind her and shrugged with a confused frown, "Question of the day… the answer is probably Abno bullshit."

Sighing at her response, I simply shrugged, "I'm just happy whatever it was, it didn't instantly kill us."

Bethany huffed from behind me, "Yeah… kind of surprised it didn't, considering our luck and all that." Wow, her hair is a mess.

Suddenly Gonzales pounced on me, an arm now over my shoulder, "AHAHAHAHA! We survived another day, Comrade! And we are going to be together in the new department after all!" Oh yeah, that's happening.

BongBong was next to Rober, both looking incredibly confused, "So it was only a light show?" Asked Rober to no one in particular, BongBong throwing a shrug at him.

I chuckled for a moment before flatly saying, "No, we aren't THAT lucky." We all nodded at that. Understandably, a few mutters of agreement flying among us.

"I wonder how management is handling this." Rober spoke with curiosity, everyone threw glances at each other.

Dakota broke the silence, "It's probably a goddamn nightmare scenario over there." She is… probably right.

I glanced to my right and saw an angry Tiffany just walking away from the dormitories, "Huh… guys, I'll be back in a bit."

Amelia instantly opened her mouth, "Oh great. Early in the morning and he is already going to pull a 'Him'."

"We really can't deal with more crazy stuff, mind our mental state." Groused Dakota with a grin, and I chose to give them both flat stares.

"With that attitude, you both will be single forever."

That got the reactions I expected, but I was already going after Tiffany. Couldn't see their faces… I did hear them, though.

"You motherfucker!"

"I'll gouge your eyes out!"

I do wonder what's wrong with Tiffany, I thought she was already doing better. So what has her so agitated all of a sudden?

Hopefully it isn't anything too bad. I should also look for Angela and see if our plan is working out fine… and if Bell didn't do anything stupid.

She is just that kind of mischievous.

POV Change: Manager

"...Then we have no idea what did that?" I asked the Sephirah around me. Hod the… 'insecure ball of stress', who also joined my group of 'can actually talk to' Sephirah. I still think that's a stupid thing.

Yesod sighed, "I took a look at the recordings of today. Shortly after I did that, I saw static and words appeared instead." That's not a good sign.

At all...

"What did it say?" Malkuth asked the unspoken question. Really, I feel like we shouldn't try to find that out… if only because these kinds of situations never end well for us.

Yesod sighed, "Do not fear, I will guide you." I took a deep breath and let out a grunt of very real annoyance.

Angela's eyes narrowed. Great, now she is mad… just what I needed, "Right… so we have an Abnormality out and about, doing whatever it feels like." I summarized while rubbing my eyes.

"Seems so… woke me up from my nap. At least it should try not being so loud…" I, for one, give one nod to Netzach. If it's just going to give us a scare, at least it should not be so loud…

But of course that can't be all there was to it, "Something HAD to happen. It can't have just been a light show." I said, seeing if anyone had any ideas.

Hod rose her hand, "Uh, there was a spike in the Enkephalin readings… the same one's that usually affect the Ordeals. That's what we call them, right?" I gave her one nod… before slacking in my chair.

"Great, that just makes me even more anxious." Netzach chuckled at my reaction, which is bad, but he sounded nervous too.

Angela glanced at Malkuth, "I may have an idea of our culprit, but it isn't something that can be brought here." I threw her a blank stare.

"It's on the floor of a Sephirah that isn't here, right?"

"That is the right answer."

"Goddamn it."

That is such… a DUMB rule here, I'll kick whoever 'A' is if I ever meet him. Why would you make my job arbitrarily harder!?

"Right, just… do that. Hod, seems like our first day together is up to a rocky start." I said, trying to get the stress off me with a small joke.

Hod laughed nervously before glancing at Netzach, "About that… can I ask for a transfer for Tiffany? And give you our new employee back to you." Netzach gave her one long stare.

I would, too. Hod's already getting two experienced agents and is now asking for a third one.

"Can I ask why?" Netzach broke the silence with a direct question.

Hod looked bashful, "Tiffany has been doing amazingly after my program and I want to congratulate her by making her the leader of Training." Huh, that doesn't sound so- why is everyone so tense all of a sudden?

It was like a Fixer that was already celebrating their promotion, just to get demoted.

Netzach seemed like he was about to say something, stopped himself... looked around as if asking for help, got none and decided to finally speak up, "Sure?" He sounded… really unsure of his answer.

And when Hod shined with excitement and looked in my direction, I just gave an unsure thumbs up. Hod clapped her hands which… hurt my ears listening to it, "Thank you! I'll go ahead and prepare for the day!" She left quickly, a lot of skips to her steps.

I glanced at everyone, "What was that all about?"

Angela and Yesod sighed at the same time, frowning at each other, and Yesod spoke first, "I'll send the… program she spoke of. You'll get it after that."

"You might want to lower your expectations." Advised Malkuth dryly.

It can't be that bad… right?

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About an hour had passed. Afterwards, we didn't get anywhere about the issue of whatever happened, so the meeting ended uneventfully.

Yesod also sent me Hod's rehabilitation program… it's a thing, that much I can say. Had Malkuth not pulled a rank putting whoever Tiphereth is in charge of Enkephalin dosages, I'd have agents high off their asses.

Even putting that aside, it kind of seems half-assed. Sometimes it looks like it's taking the right direction, like being patient with the agents and asking mild stuff, like how has their day been.

Then suddenly bring up the reason they are afraid or going insane, shove it in their face by insisting, and then just prescribe drugs if that fails.

I wasn't a psychological expert, but that didn't sound like the right approach.

Putting those documents on my desk, I stared ahead and could only mutter to myself a small string of curses, because nothing can ever be easy…

Suddenly my monitors were filled with static, making me jump in place, but I calmed down when it settled in whose calling card this was.

The green version of L Corp's logo appeared, and with it the voice spoke to me once more.

"It's time to talk about the second truth."

I choose to remain silent. It's not like he has the time to speak with me for long periods of time… or so, whoever that is, says.

"How much do you know about the company?"

I mussed that for a second, the answer is probably always going to be not enough. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd be lying if I said the secrets aren't killing me.

"I have seen many 'Managers' in my time, I have seen how the company exploited them. Did they tell you that you're special?"

Kind of… but it doesn't seem to be for the right reasons. I feel like the Sephirah know me, not by any kind of report either, and it's not that anyone tried to sugarcoat how horrendous the job actually is.

"Pulling the wool over your eyes, filling your ears with lies, saying that you are remarkable and resourceful, and that's why you were hired?"

Please, I have never heard bigger lies… from them. I'm barely a functioning Manager, there is a reason there is a goddamn Sephirah for each department. Actually that just means every Manager wasn't that competent, hell Angela's compliments are just void and seem to be said out of reflex.

But again… you aren't exactly wrong.

"Don't trust the company."

Why would ANYONE trust a company? ...Desperation aside, of course.

"It is a company, everyone desperately wants to work for. I suppose that same kind of desperation led you here."

I would certainly like to know what led me here, but seems like even my own reasons are classified, and I'm not allowed to know them.

But who knows? Angela and Yesod seem like prime candidates for that one… and they wouldn't tell me anyway.

"But harvesting energy is just half of the business in this place. Of course, every Wing is more than they appear to be."

At this point? That was expected.

"However, this company runs much deeper than one might expect."

That… was a bit redundant.

"There was a time when everyone worked hard for the same goal, but we lost integrity along the way, and things went downhill from there."

I perked up at that, I wasn't sure why that caught my attention. 'B' was obviously part of whatever the company was at some point… but why did it hurt to hear those words?

"What the company gives you is definitely not a gift, you were not hired because you are a 'remarkable' person."

"Then why am I here?" I asked, just wanting straight answers for once.

"...Because you wanted to."

What the- the static and logo were gone, and I quickly snatched a beer under my desk, opening the can and downing the whole thing in one go.

I threw the can against a wall and leaned back on my chair while rubbing my eyes…

Because I wanted to? Just who the hell am I?