365: Takeover 2

Takeover 2

Zoe drove Dave to a nearby restaurant. The restaurant could only be described as chiq. It was made entirely out of wood with large wooden pillars supporting a high ceiling. There was a circular bar in the middle of the restaurant where the waiters moved to and fro as they took the customer's orders. A platform would then rise from inside the circular bar with a variety of food for the hungry.

The restaurant was almost full, but thanks to Zoe's wide network of connections, a waiter came and managed to find them a good spot fairly quickly, to sit at and enjoy their food near a large window.

Dave noticed several gazes looking over at their table. More specifically at Zoe. She was beautiful enough that Dave had repeatedly asked himself what kind of great deed he must have accomplished in this life (or his past lives) to be sitting next to such a lovely girlfriend.

But he then realized that most of the curious gazes remained on Zoe for just a short time before shifting their target upon him. He suddenly became the center of attention in a place where he knew no one.

It was a strange and awkward feeling, especially for someone who had been regarded as beneath garbage for a major part of his life, until all was clarified…

No one knew who spoke it first, but someone eventually muttered, "Mr. Skeletal," and this name spread like wildfire until the whole restaurant rose in an uproar. Seeing Dave flinch at the mention of his In-Game-Name had confirmed their doubts, and after picking up their phones and comparing Dave to his picture in the news, the people inside the restaurant were certain that the young man had to be the famous Mr. Skeletal. The world's rising star!

The customers no longer bothered with their food and grouped around Dave and Zoe, asking for autographs and pictures to update their social media biography.

Dave was shaken for a moment. He was not used to attention. At least behind the mask of Kis'Shtiengbrah, he could do whatever he wanted, and all would be related to the legendary Undead character that had turned Conquest upside down.

But the burst of attention in real life came too fast for Dave to adapt to. He could only utter incoherent words of thanks and forced smiles to take pictures. All at the expense of Zoe, who could barely contain her laughter at Dave's predicament.

Luckily for him, the manager came soon after it started and calmed the horde, asking them to go back to their tables to leave the clients to their food. The other restaurant goers reluctantly complied and went back. But they still stole glances at Dave from time to time, more than a few even taking some (not always) sneaky snapshots of him. Dave was certain that whatever discussion they were having before he arrived had now fully turned to discussions about him.

"How do you like it?" Zoe asked.

"The steaks are fine, not too chewy, quite decent," Dave answered absentmindedly.

"No, I'm not talking about the food, silly." Zoe smiled, "The fame. What do you think about it?"

"Not gonna lie, a bit scary. It felt like the first time I met the Legion, only then I sorta knew that it was all just in a game. Perhaps this is why super heroes always have a secret identity, maybe I should start wearing caps and shades whenever I go out, too." Dave joked with a rueful smile.

"Yes, everything has its price, but no need to worry. It's only like this during the first few days. Afterwards they will calm down." Zoe encouraged him.

"Yeah, hopefully," Dave said.

The two continued chatting as they ate their food. After an hour, they left the restaurant while Zoe left a nice tip for the waiter and thanked the manager for their earlier gesture.

The two rode back to Dave's penthouse, and Zoe stopped the car right in front of the door.

Dave looked up to the highest floor from the street, then turned to Zoe and invited her," Wanna come up?"

Zoe smiled but sighed, " I'd love to, but I have to go. I promised dad that I'd be back home early, and it's already late. Next time," Zoe said.

Dave didn't take it to heart and smiled back, saying, "Yeah, next time."

"Oh, right, I forgot. Uncle has finished up with the Webbs."

"That was fast," Dave sounded surprised.

"Yeah. He said that the trial was a piece of cake. The evidence on the Webbs was so concrete that they couldn't even ask for an appeal. John Webb managed to avoid jail time by the skin of his teeth. But the company is fully under your control now, Davey." Zoe shared with him.

"Holy smokes, your uncle is damn scary," Dave said.

"Nah, he's a teddy bear. Anyway, tomorrow, he will send you a few documents to sign, and you can officially claim the CEO seat of Sigma-Electronics. By the way, have you decided on a name?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, I did," Dave said.

"What is it?" Zoe asked.

Dave smiled and replied with one word, "Secret."

Zoe shook her head at Dave and bid him goodbye then left, the usual Zoe way—pedal to the metal, and wheels smoking on the asphalt.

Dave turned to the building and went inside. As he went in, he saw the same woman in black from the morning getting on the elevator. Yet now she looked exhausted. Her face looked ten years older.

Dave hurriedly walked in, and she stopped the elevator for him.

"Thanks," Dave said.

The woman kept silent and pressed on her floor number.

After a few seconds, she spoke, "Guess you didn't need the cologne after all."

Dave snorted a laugh and said, "Yeah. Guess I didn't. You don't look alright, you okay?" Dave asked.

The woman sighed, "Problems at work." Just as she finished her words, the elevator shuddered and stopped.

The lights turned off, leaving them in total darkness for a moment before the emergency light went on.

"Fucking perfect!" the woman swore, her elegance and cool attitude disappearing completely.

Dave didn't know if he should laugh or get scared.

She pressed on the help button, and after a moment, a person replied through the speakers on the elevator.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience. The elevator should be back online soon."

"What's going on?" the woman asked not holding back on the sass at all.

"Some rats seem to have bitten into the electricity cables, and the whole building is without electricity now." The man on the other side answered, choosing to ignore the other's attitude.

"God damn it, I don't pay 10,000 dollars a month for this kind of crap!" the woman swore once again and slumped down.

She sat on the elevator floor, her hand holding her chin and gave a long sigh.

"Bad day?" Dave asked. They were trapped in this situation and he felt that awkward silence wouldn't help make it any better.

"Yeah, shittiest one yet. At least you got to enjoy your date. I got my ass handed to me since morning, god damn pricks."

Dave sat down and spoke, "I don't want to pry, but what happened?"

"You wouldn't understand," the woman just said and ignored Dave.

Dave shrugged and kept silent. He had tried engaging, so if the other party did not want to, it was no good forcing her…

But apparently the woman was bothered enough that she spoke on her own, "I just got back from my vacation. All was damn good and dandy, even had a promotion in line. Then suddenly some idiot at the company ruined everything, and it looks like we are now going under."

"What do you mean?" Dave asked.

"Total bankruptcy. Someone bought out our company, and come tomorrow I don't know if I am going to keep my job or not. Shit, I won't be able to pay for this damned apartment any longer."

"If a company changes hands, it doesn't necessarily mean the full layoff of its employees," Dave pointed out.

"Yeah, but like I said, you don't get it. When you see me what do you see?" She asked.

"I see a woman stuck in an elevator with a random dude she doesn't know," Dave answered jokingly.

His remark made her smirk. "My name is Ophidia Dian."

"Apology accepted. I'm David Ruster," Dave replied. "As to your earlier question, I think I know what you mean." Dave mentioned.

"You do?" She asked seemingly unconvinced.

"Yeah, new employer means you'll have to start ass-kissing to keep your job. Probably worse."2

"HA! Someone finally gets it! Just imagine if it's some old wrinkled perverted fuck, shit. I hate my life. I won't mind if this damn elevator drops down."

"Hold it there. I'm not a fan of double suicide. Bad image." Dave interjected, holding both hands in front of him.

"Yeah, right. Your girlfriend won't like it if she sees you dead with another woman."

"Yeah or stuck with another woman in an elevator,"

Ophidia laughed again and said, "Tomorrow might be my last day at work, still it was nice to meet you, David Ruster. Also I am sorry about this morning. I was in a shitty mood and it was wrong for me to involve you in it. Hmm, strange, your name sounds familiar." She said a finger on her chin, trying to remember where she had heard it before.

"It's a common name," Dave quickly replied.

"Right. David Ruster. Seeing as we're gonna be stuck here for a while, tell me, what do you do for a living. I mean to afford living here, and having that fine a girl as a girlfriend means you must have some serious buck under you," she said.

"I work in entertainment," he replied.

"Huh, playing the 'mysterious' card. Well, doesn't matter, this might probably be the last time we see each other. Hang on to that girlfriend of yours, heck even your biz whatever it is. For us women, it's either ass-kissing or getting booted,"

"Yeah, real-world sucks."

Ophidian smiled and agreed, "Yeah, it sucks harder than a Saturday night whore."

The two laughed for a while, and then the elevator started moving again.

"We apologise for any incovenience, the elevator is now back on," the same man from earlier spoke through the elevator speakers.

Ophidia stood up and pressed the button that went to her floor.

"Best of luck," Dave said to Ophidia as she went out.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll need it. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to blow someone tomorrow. Damn I hope it's not an old dude," Ophidia left with a smile as the elevator door closed on Dave.

Dave shook his head and pressed his floor level. After he got inside he took a quick shower, and slept for the night.

Dave woke up to his phone ringing. The display read 'Samuel Silvana'.

"Good morning, Sam," Dave greeted the other stifling a yawn.

"Good morning David, you'll have to come over quickly," Samuel stated matter of factly.

"Where?" Dave asked as he got up from his bed.

"The company. You'll need to come here personally. We have some stuff to do and you have some documents to sign. It shouldn't take you more than half an hour. I called for a full staff meeting so people are waiting to meet their new employer." Sam informed him.

"Right, I'll be there in a jiffy," Dave promised.

He put on some clean clothes and went out. He took the elevator down to the bottom floor and saw Ophidia waiting outside for a taxi.

Dave felt a bit sad for the woman. Ignoring their earlier encounter she was quite interesting. Behind the pretense of appearance hid a person with an amazing personality. Dave liked her kind of people, she was true and honest around even a stranger. This gave him a favorable expression on the girl.

A thought suddenly crossed Dave's mind. Since she might be looking for a job soon, he could probably let her work for his company. He didn't want to see a woman like her being abused or molested by any wrinkled old dudes.

Dave hurriedly walked out, but he was a second too late to speak to her. A taxi had already stopped for Ophidia, and she turned to see Dave walk out, she smiled at him and made the 'blow-job' gesture as she got in.

Dave shook his head. The poor girl was gonna have a terrible day.

Dave called another cab and gave him the address to Sigma-Electronics. He also made a mental note to himself to help the girl once he got back home.

As Dave rode through the city streets, an electric car had caught fire and stopped the circulation. Dave sighed and relaxed back on the backseat. He started a conversation with the driver about random stuff until help came and removed the car from the street, easing the vehicles on their way.

After a bit more than half an hour, Dave arrived at the building. He got off and paid the taxi driver with an extra tip for the enjoyable conversation.

He walked through the front door, and the security was about to stop him, but when he recognised Dave, he backed away and let him in with a smile.

Dave smiled back. "There should be a staff meeting today. You know which floor?" Dave asked.

"Yes, all are gathering in the conference room on the seventh floor, Sir. You should go up. Everyone's been waiting for an hour now," the security man informed him.

"Right, thanks." Dave smiled, but contrary to the man's advice, he instead took his time heading up by using the stairs.

He still remembered what Samuel Silvana had told him as they went against Conquest's staff. The dominant party was the one to decide what time everything happened. So as the CEO he had every right to be late.

Dave got to the right floor and leisurely walked through the cubicles.

The employees working in the cubicles noticed Dave. He was hard to miss. Among the numerous people clad in office attire, only he was dressed casually looking entirely out of place.

Dave ignored most of their gazes as he continued through the cubicles and to the furthest halls. He saw several doors lining the wall and was confused about which of them was the one where the meeting was held.

Dave stopped and went back to one of the cubicles. A young woman was furiously typing some random numbers and letters on her holographic keyboard.

"You know where the staff meeting is?" Dave asked.

The girl didn't even look at Dave and pointed down the hall where he had just passed through earlier and said, "Third door from the left." Then she resumed typing.

Dave thanked the woman and turned to the door she pointed at.

Dave didn't knock. He just opened the door and entered.

A few dozen men and women dressed in suits were sitting along a table. Samuel Silvana was sitting on one of the more important looking seats and was relaxing in his chair. When he saw Dave coming he smiled, "Welcome David, you're here late."

"Yeah, there was an acci-" but Dave's words were cut short. His eyes met a familiar person who was looking at him with a shocked expression.

Dave grinned. This turned out to be a welcome surprise, yet apparently his reaction was not quite as surprised as the woman's, as her next words turned out to be: "Holy cow, now that's a blow-job I wouldn't mind giving."

All the eyes immediately turned at the woman who had just spoken, and as if just realizing that her words had been spoken out loud, she slapped both hands over her mouth in shock.

"And here I thought this meeting would be boring. It seems you two have already had the pleasure of meeting before," Samuel said with a bright smile. Dave was unsure if the man was speaking sarcastically or hinting that he was gonna tell on Dave. Only one thing was for sure, Dave sincerely hoped that this was the first and last time he would be facing this side of the Devil's smile.

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