Raging Glowworm and Korruption 1x1

Glow

Punmaker Extrordinare
Sam hurried down the long hallway carrying a stack of papers. She needed to get these to the commander before he chewed her head off. That was one of the disadvantages of being in this bunker, you didn't get to choose what job you were assigned. In this case, it was the commander's secretary and errand girl.
A surge of panic ran through her as she quickened her pace.
He had told her to get these reports to him an hour ago but she got sidetracked helping two soldiers manuver a large box into a store room. The commander was not going to be happy with that excuse.
She was so focused on the ground in front of her that she didn't not see the other person coming down the hallway to her left.
"Ah!"
She crashed into them head on. The force of the impact caused her to slip on the hard floor and land abruptly on her backside
 
Sera stormed through the hallway, muttering under her breath. In this bunker, you didn't get to choose a job. It just so happened that she was assigned to be the one of the commander's military advisors. She was actually pretty good at it. Since the world was pretty much destroyed by the robots created by her father's company, there wasn't exactly any sort of major war going on. But now she had to advise the commander on what the soldiers' missions should be. Why they gave a 15-year-old that job, Sera would never know.

Recently, due to some chatter, the soldiers were behind on their tasks when the commander wanted them done at least an hour ago. Even though it was totally not Sera's fault, the commander was going to pin it on her. You did not want the commander angry at you.

Sera was so absorbed in muttering profanities that she didn't know that an unsuspecting girl was approached her before it was too late. The two crashed into each other, and the papers the girl was holding fluttered to the ground. Sera thudded on her right arm, groaning before standing up. The girl who crashed into her was probably around 2 years older than her, and a bit taller than her. Sera narrowed her eyes, faintly remembering the other girl.

"You're...the commander's errand girl, right?" Sera asked, not completely sure as she extended a hand out.
 
Sam looked up at the girl standing above her. She recognized her from somewhere.

"Yeah I guess you could call it that." She took the girl's hand and stood up. "I'm so sorry for bumping into you like that. I was in such a hurry I didn't see you coming." She said, a little flustered. She hurriedly began to gather the scattered papers on the floor; eager to get on her way. The commander was really going to blow his gasket now. She tried so hard to do her duty. She needed this job. It was either this or working in the green house on level nine. She couldn't stand gardening.

She paused; the fact that this girl seemed familiar started to nag at her. "Haven't I seen you someplace before?
 
"Yeah, I'm the commander's 'military advisor'," Sera told the girl, using air quotes as she said the word military. "But wars are pretty much the last thing we want at this point. So basically the commander is issuing commands to the soldiers through me. You know, making sure they're in top shape, that they finish their tasks in half the time the commander expected them to. It's kind of like your job, but I handle the soldiers and military and rarely do anything associated with paperwork." The strawberry blonde cocked her head. "In fact, I'm going to give the commander my report right now." Sera sighed. "The soldiers are behind. The commander's going to blow his top soon." Sera glanced at the papers the other girl was holding, then at the girl. She seemed frantic.

"I'm going to assume that you were supposed to give those to the commander at least 10 minutes ago," Sera said, fairly confident. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Sera, by the way. The commander always calls me Seraphina, or Miss Finley."
 
"Samantha," Sam replied, "but I usually just go by Sam." She shook Sera's hand. Sera had an air of authority about her. No wonder the commander picked her as his "military advisor". He liked people who could get the job done. Unlike Sam, who was very easily distracted. Though, she was slightly shocked that he would choose some one so young looking. She knew that they were low on personnel but didn't think they where that desperate. "Yeah, he was already pretty steamed when I left him." She shuddered. She was not looking forward to facing him. "I better get going..." she paused for a minute, "Say, I feel absolutely awful about bumping into you. Let me make it up to you. Can I buy you lunch in the cafeteria? I've got to get these reports delivered. We can meet up at say..." She looked at her digital watch. "Twelve hundred hours?"
 
Sera smiled. Sam was too nice. "It's alright," she responded to her offer. "I wouldn't want you to use your money on me. But I'd love to eat lunch with you," Sera looked at her watch. Meeting up at 12:00 would be cutting it a little close for her, but the amber-eyed girl would make it. "Sure," Sera replied. "I might be a couple minutes late, since I forgot to check on Troop B, but I'll try to get there on time." Sera smiled at Sam as she looked up from her watch. "I have to go," Sera called over her shoulder as she started walking forward. "Twelve hundred hours it is."

Sera started fast-walking as soon as she finished her last statement. Right, right, left, right, left, Sera thought to herself as she walked through the maze-like bunker. She poked her head in the doorway where Troop B was working, letting out an exasperated sigh at the sight of the soldiers' work. "The commander wanted all of this done an hour ago!" Sera seethed, causing the soldiers to jerk their heads up. "If you don't start hustling, I'll tell him to cut your food rations in half!"

(It was actually 12:00 over here in Cali as I typed in '12:00' o_O)
 
(Lol we must be in the same time zone hahaha. Love Sera's personality btw)

Sam smiled back.
"Great! I'll see you then!" She spun around and hurried down the hallway.

When she reached the commander's office her heart was pounding in her throat.
He's going to be sooooo ticked off. She raised a hesitant fist and rapped lightly on the door. His other assistant, Randy, answered.
"He's gone for the moment. Get those reports on his desk and get out before he comes back."
Sam nodded and hurriedly strode towards the desk. She plopped the stack of papers down with a thump. She was just about to leave when a folder lying on the desk caught her eye the bold lettering stamped on the front read:

CROWEL ROBOTICS CORP.

That was the name of the company her father owned! Why would the commander have any interest in that? She stared at the folder for several moments. The company name brought memories back to her. They were memories of helping her father with paperwork in the office, or tinkering with some of the robots in the basement with her brother, Ned; her mom chastising her for staying up too late learning how to code; all of these memories came flooding back to her in a torrent.
She shook her head. No. She wasn't going to think about that, because with those memories came the other ones; the bad ones.
The ones she drempt about every night.

She turned to walk away, but curiosity still nagged at her. Why does the commander want to know about her father's company? She stood for a moment; considering her options.
Well, I'll probably be court martialed anyway so why not?
She flipped open the folder and began to read.
 
(Aw, thanks!)

Sera glared at the soldiers. Usually, she was a bit nicer, but knowing the commander, he was going to blame it on Sera if the soldiers weren't finished. "I mean it," she hissed. "Finish this as soon as possible. Skip your lunch if you have too." Sera whipped her head 90 degrees to glare at a particular soldier who had a reputation of talking back - an 18-year-old named Devin. "Before you open your mouth," Sera hissed. "Don't give me any attitude. You have responsibilities, here." Sera turned to the others, speaking to them as a whole. "And you responsibility was to finish this over an hour ago." There was a period of silence after Sera finished her speech. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she snapped. "It's your food rations at stake! I'll be back after lunch, and if this isn't done by then, I'll make sure that you'll only get a third of your normal meal for two weeks!" Sera whipped around, storming through the maze-like hallways. The bad thing about being the commander's military advisor was that if the soldiers failed, the commander would pin it on you. But being the commander's military assistant gave you serious authority over the soldiers, no matter your age. Now I have to face the commander, Sera thought. Yay.

Sera stopped outside the commander's office, rapping the door sharply. One of his assistants, Randy, answered the door. "Hey, Ser!" Randy greeted Sera with the shortest possible variant of her name. "You're going to have to wait. The commander's out, but you can come in." Sera nodded brusquely before walking in. Randy noticed her pissed off attitude. "Okay, what did they do?" he asked, his tone exasperated.

"They're behind," Sera gave him a short answer. "By a lot." It was then when the strawberry blonde noticed the girl she bumped into earlier that day. "Hi," she called, furrowing a brow in confusion when she saw the brunette flipping through a folder. "Sam, right?"
 
The main computer is located in the basement of the Crowel tower. Sam read her eyes widened as skimmed the next few lines. Downloading the files discretely will be a problem. I recommend waiting until the underground factory is fully operational before commencing. She stopped reading. The main computer was what every robot that her father ever manufactured was linked to. Any software updates were uploaded directly to the computer, which transmitted the data to all robots simultaneously. That was how he was able to upgrade all the robots simultaneously. That’s how he caused the massacre of almost the entire human race.
According to this file, Commander Ricter was planning to manufacture a massive robotic army; using the sentient program that her father had developed. But that’s completely stupid! The program didn’t work! All the robots went insane! She searched the file for more answers. There was nothing. What was he planning? She was so absorbed in the file that she didn’t see Sera come in.
“Hi, Sam right?” Sera’s voice caused Sam to jump. She hurriedly snapped the folder shut and slammed it on the table behind her.
“H-hi! Sera! Hey, its good to see you again!” She stepped quickly away from the desk and nervously brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Ready to go grab a bite to eat?”
 
Sera narrowed her eyes suspiciously, catching a glimpse of the bold print on the folder.

CROWE ... CS CORP.
"Sorry, I can't right now," Sera apologized, her gaze not leaving the folder. "I have to update the commander on the soldiers' work. You can go ahead, I'll meet you there once the commander gets back." Sera's gaze lingered on the folder before she finally lifted her head. Crowe...cs Corp, the girl tried to piece together the title. Let's see...crowed, croweb, crowem, crowen, only the first was a real word. ...Crowel? Wait, isn't that the place where dad worked? Suddenly, Sera thought of something, whipping her head around to glance at Sam. She did look very familiar...Sam Crowel? Wait...she's Samantha Crowel? If the folder said Crowel, then it was probably something on the Crowel Robotics Corporation. That does make sense, but why would the commander have a folder on the company that literally destroyed Earth?
 
Sam nodded.
“Okay see you then.” She hurriedly strode out of the room; not wanting to answer any questions as to why she was reading Commander Ricter’s files.
Her mind was ablaze with questions as she made her way through the maze of hallways. An army of robots? Why? Why now? Why was he using her father’s program on them? Had he found a fix? She spun these questions around and around in her mind. She needed more answers; but how would she get them?
Sera. The thought came to her a moment later. She could ask Sera! Sera was Ricter’s military advisor she’d know! She’d have to be discrete about it though. She didn’t want to raise any suspicions. Sera was already going to be suspicious of her given that she was caught red-handed snooping through Ricter’s stuff.
She finally made her way to the cafeteria. Today’s menu item was pizza. It was disgusting but people ordered it anyway. It was either that or the cooks special soup; which was the stuff of nightmares. Sam got in line and took her slices. She looked around for a table. Finally, spotting one in the far corner she made her way over and sat down. She picked at her food; still thinking about what she had discovered in the commander’s office.
 
Sera tapped her foot, slightly impatient. Randy gave her a look and Sera stilled her foot almost immediately. Finally, the door creaked open. Sera straightened her back. "Commander Ricter!" she greeted, her tone a bit formal. The commander barely gave her a second glance.

"Report," he said curtly. "Now." Sera swallowed back her slight fear, and spoke.

"Everyone's behind, sir," she said, pausing hesitantly before speaking again. "By at least two hours, sir." Sera winced as the commander's eyes flashed and slowly edged away. The commander muttered a few incoherent words.

"Dismissed," he growled stiffly. As soon as he said the word, Sera bolted out the door, letting out a relieved sigh as she walked through the hallways to the cafeteria. She bought her slice of pizza - the day's menu item - before looking for Sam in the bustling cafeteria. Finally, she spotted the green-eyed brunette in the far corner and made her way over there.

"Hey, Sam," Sera greeted her sitting down. She looked around warily before whispering to the other girl. "I won't rat you out for the folder incident, but what were you doing with it?" Sera took a bite of her pizza, grimacing as she awaited Sam's answer.
 
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A surge of panic ran through Sam. Crap! She thought, how am I going to answer? She had hoped that Sera wouldn't ask about the folder. She franticly ran through several possible answers. All of them didn't work. She sighed, she'd have to tell the truth, at least part of it. She wasn't ready to reveal what she found in the folder to this girl. She barely knew her. She couldn't trust that Sera wouldn't report her to Ricter. She took a a deep breath.

"That-" she paused to collect herself. "That folder contained information about my father's company. I got curious and thumbed through it. That's all." She laughed nervously. "I couldn't restrain myself."

She looked down at her pizza
 
Sera narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Sam was not telling her everything. The amber-eyed girl took another bite out of her pizza, grimacing once again.

"You know," the girl said, swallowing her food, "my father worked in Crowel Robotics. If there was anything weird in that folder that you found out, I wouldn't tell Commander Ricter about it. After all, he barely pays attention to me, as long as I get my work done."
 
Sera's words jolted Sam out of her reveree. That's where I've seen her before! She was in the factory with her dad one day when Sam was with her father helping him inspect
assembly lines.

"Really?" She thought for several moments. It could be a trap, but she really needed more information and Sera was the best person to get it from. "Ricter's-" she paused again. Then she leaned over the table and lowered her voice. "Ricter's planning something."

She told Sera everything that she had discovered in the commander's office every sentence coming out faster than the last. When she had finished she took a deep breath, releived to get all of that off her chest.

"You can't tell anyone else about this" she pleaded. "I could get into so much trouble for this, and you could too."
 
"I won't say a word," Sera promised. She narrowed her eyes. "But Ricter isn't stupid. He knows that the program nearly massacred the human race. He knows that it didn't work. He probably does want a robot army that is slightly malfunctioned." Sera furrowed a brow, recalling her memories of the commander. "But he's also cocky. A bit arrogant. We all know that the robots destroyed our civilization. It's possible that Ricter believes he can gain control over the robots. If he does," Sera sucked in a breath. "He could use the robots to either destroy or kill something, which doesn't make sense, or he could force the people - or anything else - to bend to his will." Sera's mind filed through the information Sam told her. Her eyes widened.

"Wait," the strawberry blonde murmured. She though for a moment. "The information sounded like...instructions. Or a conversation. Unless Ricter enjoys talking to himself - which I believe he doesn't - he could be working for someone. Someone of a higher power. Or someone that knows something big about Ricter that he doesn't want publicized." Sera took a sip of water. "Thoughts?"
 
"I don't know." Sam shook her head. "It could be any one; another commander, a former employee of the company..." She paused, thinking. "We need more information. We need to know what he's planning. There's no way I can go back in there now." She shuddered. "If he sees me again he's liable to have me court martialed. Do you think..." She paused again, hesitant to ask such a thing of some one she barely knew. But she needed answers. "Do you think you can go back in there and try to dig up some more info? If you say no I'd understand. It's a lot to ask." She looked down again, embarrassed.
 
Sera bit her lip, thinking. "I don't know," she said hesitantly. "It's risky. But being the commander's military advisor, the commander sometimes places the responsibility of a troop solely on me. To do that, he occasionally gives me access to certain files." Sera narrowed her eyes, thinking. "On certain days, he does tell me his schedule - in a very vague way - so I can arrange my schedule to not scramble with his, therefore not putting us even more behind than we already are." Sera filed through her memories of Commander Ricter. "3 days ago," she said slowly. "He told me that he would be on business somewhere across the bunker. He said that tomorrow morning, at 5:30 AM, I would be able to get into the door and a pile of the people's tasks for that day would be on his desk. He ordered me to give them to the respective workers, and to tell them that all of the tasks had to be finished by noon." Sera snapped her fingers. "That's the perfect time to look in the file."
 
Sam nodded.
"I-I can stand outside the door as a look out or something." She was feeling guilty for asking Sera to do this all on her own. Sam was never a go-getter. She had always preferred to stand on the sidelines and watch every one else do the important work; even when she was younger. She reached down and picked up a slice of pizza. It was cold.
She grimaced. Yuck
 
Sera nodded. "Sure," she said. "In case you feel bad, there's no need. I've always been the reckless person in my family. I totally fine with sneaking a peek at the file." The amber-eyed teen grimaced as she finished her pizza, placing her plate near the cook's sink. She walked back to the table and sat down. There was a moment of silence before Sera's eyes widened.

"Oh, shoot!" she muttered, leaping out of her seat. "I have to check on the soldiers and get my next task, bye!"
 
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