Raging Glowworm and Korruption 1x1

"Bye, see you tomorrow." Sam called after her. She got up from her seat and threw the rest of her pizza in the trash. She wasn't hungry. After placing her plate with the others she made her way through the crowd of people to the cafeteria exit. She was just about to enter the hallway when she almost ran into commander Ricter. She stumbled back in supprise. The middle aged man glared at her down a hooked nose.He was at least six feet tall. He towered above Sam.
"You," Ricter growled, "you've got a lot of explaining to do."
"I-Im sorry sir. We got behind. I tried to get those reports to you as soon as I could." She placed her hands behind her back and looked down. Her heart racing. He didn't find out about the folder did he?
"Lucky for you, I have not the time or the patience right now to have you court martialed. Half rations tonight. Dissmissed."
"Y-yes sir." Sam saluted and hurried her way past him. She could feel him staring holes in the back of her neck as she walked quickly down the hallway. That was close.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Ricter had Sam running everywhere for him, delivering messages, getting coffee, typing up reports. By the end of the day she was exhausted. The evening meal at the cafeteria was meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Sam's favorite. She sighed as the cook only gave her half a portion. She ate quickly then made her way to her sleeping quarters. She flopped on her bed, not even bothering changing into her sleepware. I hope nothing goes wrong tomorrow. She thought as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
 
"What is wrong with you?!" Sera ranted at the soldiers, who barely did anything in the past hour. "When I report this to Commander Ricter, I will make sure that you only get a third of your food rations, every meal, for the next two weeks!" A soldier opened his mouth, about to protest, but Sera beat him to it, whirling around to glare at him.

"You," she hissed. "What's your excuse? I gave you an hour, and you barely did anything! You have ten seconds to explain, starting now!"

Usually, Sera wasn't this daring when it came to ordering around other people, but she was mad with power. She could wear down the soldiers until their backs broke if she wanted to. Of course, she'd never do that, and Ricter would get mad if the soldiers' labor wasn't productive to the underground society. But Sera had authority, and boy, she was going to use it.

She opened her mouth to snap at the soldier when he didn't answer, but a deeper voice interrupted her. "Troop B, this should've been done at least 3 hours ago!" Sera turned around slowly to see Commander Ricter, and like the entire troop, she cowered under his gaze. Only foolish people would talk back. Ricter turned to the strawberry blonde.

"You," he growled as Sera swallowed nervously. "Tell Troop D that they won't have work tomorrow morning. They were by far the most successful today." Ricter glared icily at the soldiers who stood behind Sera. "Quarter rations for the next 10 days!" he barked. This wasn't the first time Troop B slacked off. Ricter turned back to Sera.

"After you check on Troop D, supervise Troop C's fitness assessment," he growled, turning around. "And don't be afraid to use the whip." As Ricter left, Sera could practically hear the soldiers behind her gawk. The whip was rarely ever used, especially on Troops C and D - they were the most industrious and obedient.

Sera spent the rest of the door supervising and leading Troop C's fitness assessment, which had gone extremely well. After she reported the results to Ricter, she ate her dinner and made her way to her sleeping quarters. Sera quickly slipped on her sleepwear and eased herself into bed, drifting off into a light sleep.
 
(Oh my gosh, Sera is awesome! Those poor soilders. )

Sam was standing in her father's office. They had just finished touring the factories and her father was telling her about the new program he had developed.
"You see, Sammy, it's all about patterns. If you find the pattern in human thinking it's really quite simple to replicate." The gray haired middle aged man smiled warmly at her. His eyes danced with excitement. Now that we've got it implemented-

BOOM!
There was an explosion. Sam screamed and fell backwards. Black smoke filled the office. She started to choke,its acrid taste filling her mouth
"Dad!" She yelled, "DAD!"
Smoke had completely filled the office. She crawled around blindly on the floor searching for the door. She was coughing violently. She started to feel dizzy. She wouldn't be able to stay consious much longer.
"Help," she called out horsely "please help."
Two blue glowing eyes appeared in the black smoke. Metallic fingers reached out to her.
She screamed.


Sam jolted awake. She was breathing heavily, her back completely coated in sweat. Her throat felt dry. She slowly got up from bed and went into her small little bathroom. After splashing her face with cold water from the sink, she walked back to the bed and sat on the edge, put her face in her hands, and sobbed. These dreams came every night. She never could seem to escape them. No matter how tired she was.

The alarm clock went off. Sam wiped her eyes, reached over, and switched it off.
After a quick shower and changing into a new uniform, she strode quickly out of her room and into the hallway. It was fairly empty. Only the occasional squad of soldiers and other military personnel could be seen scurrying by, assigned to their various duties. She made her way to Ricter's office. She stopped a few feet away from his door and casually leaned against the wall across from it. It would look like she was waiting to see Ricter. She hoped Sera would show up soon.
 
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(Thanks! I'm really sorry for the extremely late reply, I thought I already responded to this when I actually didn't :p)

Sera woke up, slowly easing herself out of her bed. Her sleep was always silent, with practically no nightmares to disrupt the lulling darkness. She showered quickly, making little sound, as she always did in the mornings. She changed into her uniform and kept her head held high as she strode through the hallways. A small squad of soldiers nodded brusquely to the strawberry blonde girl as she passed by. When Sera first received her position, she found it rather silly, but she was the soldiers' commanding officer, believe it or not.

She headed towards Ricter's office, already spotting Sam. She was leaning casually against a wall a few feet away - it was almost too casual, but no one really noticed. Sera quickly typed in the day's code in the keypad - it would change tomorrow, so that Sera couldn't break in - and the door slowly eased open. She looked around the hallway, spotting no one, and beckoned at Sam to follow her inside.
 
(That's okay. No biggie :) )

Sam saw Sera beckon to her. She hesitated for a moment. Am I really going to do this? What if we're caught? She almost turned and walked away, but she stopped. I need answers. Her father's bots had already caused enough destruction in the world. She wasn't going to let it happen twice. She took a breath, glanced both ways down the hall to make sure no one was watching, and walked quickly past Sera into the office.

It was empty of course. Ricter's desk stood at the far end of the room. Filing cabinets stood at either end of the wall behind it. A pile of folders were placed in the middle of Ricter's desk. Sam walked over and started to thumb through them. They were just regular reports and order forms. After scanning the last one she placed the folders back on the table exactly as she found them. She looked at the cabinets.

"He probably wouldn't keep anything about the robots in there." she wispered "Where does he keep his classified files?"
 
Sera bit a lip. "It's behind the door that's always locked," she whispered back, gesturing to a locked door behind the cabinets. "No one's allowed in that room, and literally everything in there requires a different password." The amber-eyed girl tipped her head. "But knowing Ricter, he wouldn't call his little robot folder 'classified'. There are high officials who are allowed to look at classified files, so he could get caught and removed from his position. No, there's probably a secret cabinet - or something. A place where no one of importance can catch him red-handed." Sera narrowed her eyes, murmuring as she attempted to think up some info.

Think, think, think, the girl commanded herself. Where would someone like Ricter place his little secrets? Sera snapped her fingers.

"Of course," she muttered. "It's either in plain sight disguised as something else, or in a secret compartment that is hard to spot. Probably a mix of both." Sera walked to a certain cabinet. She didn't do the filing work or anything like that, but she had always noticed a specific cabinet that looked...out of place. She didn't know why, but it just did. Back when she was fresh into her job, she rarely had much to do (to be honest, Ricter didn't fully trust her back then - he still doesn't), so she had always noticed the little things that she brushed off when she started getting a heavier work load. She peered behind it, her eyes flashing when she realized the back of the cabinet was much different than the others. "Probably this one," she told Sam. Sera furrowed a brow. She knew it was the one, but she had absolutely no idea how to open it. She turned to the brunette.

"The back of this cabinet looks like a hidden compartment," she declared. "But at the same time, it doesn't look like a thing someone would open. Space is tight, too. Any ideas?"
 
Sam walked over to the cabinet and peered behind it. It was different. There appeared to be a faint rectangular outline on the back. It was a slight indentation. It was subtle enough that no one who was looking for it would notice it. Sam traced the outline with her finger. Weird. She pressed on it slightly. It didn't budge. What is this? She wondered, she glanced over to the wall. There was nothing there either. Except...

There was a small circular indentation at the far end; no bigger than a quarter. It was just out of reach. Sam would have to walk around the other side of the cabinet to reach it. She made her way around the cabinet, not before grabbing a pen from the commander's desk. She reached around the side of the cabinet and stuck the pen inside the indentation. Something clicked. A rectangular frame, similar to the indentation in the desk, shot out the wall. It aligned perfectly with the outline on the back of the cabinet! Sam started to push the cabinet against the wall. It wouldn't budge. It was too heavy.

"Hey, can you help me with this?" She whispered to Sera.
 
Sera nodded briskly. "We have to be quiet," she whispered back. "I may be the soldiers' commanding officer, but they won't hesitate to rat me out if they suspect me." The strawberry blonde shoved the cabinet, wincing as it make a screeching sound as it moved an inch. She tried again, gently nudging it, yet applying enough pressure to move it. Sera grit her teeth. The thing was damn heavy.

"Almost...there," she rasped. "Seriously, what's wrong with this thing? Even with a weird compartment, cabinets aren't this heavy."
 
"I have no idea." Sam grunted. She threw her shoulder into it. The cabinet moved slowly but surely.
Finally it reached the wall. There was a small click and the sound of something sliding as the the frame and the indentation on the back of the cabinet met. Sam stepped back and held her breath.
Nothing happened. Confused, she walked around the cabinet. No secrete drawer had popped open. She glanced at the wall. There was nothing different there. What just happened? She heard the click and sliding sounds something must have unlocked. She yanked on one of the cabinet drawers.

The whole thing swung open like door. Sam almost fell backwards in surprise. What in the world? She stared in wonder at what was before her. Inside the cabinet the floor had disappeared there was a ladder leading down what looked like a dark shaft. Where does that lead to? She turned and looked at Sera
"Well, I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that."
 
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Sera jumped back in surprise as a cabinet suddenly swung open in a rather unnatural way. "Whoa," she muttered. She did not expect that in the slightest. The strawberry blonde stepped forward, almost hesitantly. She slid down the ladder, landing on her feet. Sera looked up a Sam.

"Come on!" she called. "I feel like Ricter went overboard here, but as long as this thing's open..." Sera looked around the dark shaft. The light from above spilled through the "doorway", but it was still hard to make things out.
 
Sam stood there uncertain. "I don't know..." She looked nervously behind her. "If we're caught-"
Loud voices suddenly came from down the hall. One of them was mostly definitely Ricter's. He was shouting something about over due reports.
"If those aren't on my desk by this afternoon-" The footsteps grew closer "I'll have your head on my desk instead. Have I made myself clear?" Crap!
"Coming!" Sam squeaked. She hurried inside cabinet and shut the door behind her. She hurriedly clammered down the ladder after Sera. "That was close," she said between breaths. Her heart was racing a mile a minute. "Too close." She looked around the dark shaft. "Where are we anyway?"
 
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Sera stiffened as Ricter's voice thundered, the angry tone evident. Sam squeaked and rushed down the ladder. "That was close," she panted. "Too close." Sera nodded in agreement.

"Heck yeah," she muttered. "I have absolutely no idea where we are, but hey, there's no harm in looking around. Sera looked around for a light, patting the "walls" of the dark shaft randomly. Finally, she pressed a button, and the room glowed with a faint light emanating from the center of the shaft.

"Whoa," the murmured. The walls were filled with tattered books and files. "Damn, this place is worth keeping secret."
 
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(There was supposed to be a "was" in that "that close" Sorry about that. XD)

Sam stared in awe at the large shelves of files. So much paperwork. She thought. She could hear muffled footsteps above them. She hoped Ricter wouldn't decide to come down here. It would be very difficult to explain what his private secretary and military advisor where doing in his secret file room. "No kidding," she replied. She looked around at the two rows of files. "I can look through this shelf." She pointed to the one to her left. "And you can look through that one, there's bound to be something in here." She looked up at the ceiling. "And it's not like we're going to be able to sneak back out any time soon." She checked her watch "At least not until he does his mid-morning inspections."
 
(Ah, okay, that makes a lot more sense)

Sera nodded silently, sauntering towards the shelf that was to the left of the one Sam was currently checking. The strawberry blonde sifted through the paperwork, shoving away the folders that weren't needed. The amber-eyed teen aimlessly shuffled through the files, stopping abruptly as she noticed a familiar title.

"It's this one," she told Sam, pulling out a folder. CROWEL ROBOTICS CORP. Yup, definitely this one.
 
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