KillamriX08"Emperor, an employee has requested to see you."
He snapped awake, drool running down his chin. He blearily raised his head to see Theo standing over him, a rather neutral expression on his face.
"They are waiting to be let in."
"Uh, just hold up a sec."
Sitting up in his chair, he stretched a little as he wiped the drool off of his chin. He stood up, straightening his lab coat and making sure his hair pins were still in place and that his hair was neatly tied up.
"Con, check their employee ID please." He said aloud.
"Yes, master." she said from somewhere behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Con, staring out of the window as always.
"No ID found." she said after a few moments.
"Ugh, damn it." Alto said to himself. "Not this again…"
Now that Alto was a CEO, he’d been introduced to the world of corporate espionage. It was sort of a rare occurrence, generally speaking, but last time he'd had to deal with corporate espionage, he'd blown out all the windows in his office.
A lot's changed in five years…
He looked back at Theo, who now had a physical form. He'd made the physical manifestation program not long after the destruction of Aperture, and ever since then Theo and Con had rarely ever gone back. Theo mainly stayed because he was more useful to Alto in his physical form, but Alto didn't really know why Con stayed around all the time. She seemed to be very interested in the world, and how it worked. Not that she ever told him, but it hardly really mattered. He could see it in her eyes.
On another note, he'd given them free reign over their appearance. Theo had been fairly straight forward, he was about average height, short black hair and dark eyes. For some reason he always wore a butler uniform, not that Alto really cared that much. Con however was somewhat more interesting. She looked about 10 or 12 years old which fitted her voice somewhat, she had short black hair which only went just past her ears, but she also had mismatched eye colours, one blue and the other hazel. She'd tried a few different clothes in the beginning when he'd first activated his program, but in the end she'd settled for a rather airy yellow dress.
But in the end, it may as well have been wallpaper. In reality, they were really just his arms. He looked down at them now, the true forms of Theo and Con. Theo was his left arm, a seamless, grey-blue metal-like construct. The glowing circle on the back of his left hand pulsated softly. Con was his right arm, a complex looking piece of machinery made entirely of black steel. His right arm’s complexity was really just to satisfy his sense of aesthetic value.
Alto stifled a yawn as he sat back down into his chair.
"Theo," He said as he rested his chin on his hands, "Send them in."
"Yes, emperor."
Theo walked towards the heavy double doors that made up the entrance to his office, tugging on one of the knobs and pulling the door open. He said something to the guest that he didn't quite hear, but he knew it was something along the lines of ‘Mr. Ganze will see you now’ or something.
Alto watched as Theo led a woman with long black hair holding some kind of clipboard into the room, and took his place beside Alto’s desk.
"Mr. Ganze sir," the woman said, holding her clipboard out, "Here is the monthly financial report."
He looked at the clipboard for a few awkward moments. It was completely blank. He put his head in his hands and sighed.
It's her...
"Sal, are you even trying?"
"I-I'm sorry?" she said in a worried tone.
"Sal, it’s the middle of the month," Alto said, "There's nothing on that clipboard, and I don’t even handle financial reports."
"Oh, right. The woman said, her voice becoming more childish and juvenile. "I forgot about that."
As Alto watched, the woman slowly changed form into another little girl. She looked to be a little older than Con, but she still wouldn’t have been over 12. She had sandy blonde hair, similarly coloured eyes and she also had cat ears and a tail, for some reason or another (kind of like this).
"Why do you like that form so much anyway?" He asked wearily.
She skipped around the table over to Alto’s side.
"Because," She said, jumping up and putting her arms around his neck. "I know how much you like it...” she whispered in his ear.
Alto sighed as he pushed her off, letting her drop onto the floor.
"C'mon!" She said, pouting slightly, "That’s no fun."
"You know I'm working, right?" He said, "Why are you even here?"
”I wanted to see you!” She said sweetly, opening her arms widely, as if gesturing for a hug. Alto didn't oblige.
"If you only wanted to see me, you could've just asked you know." He turned to look over his shoulder to see Con staring at them with a kind of wistful look in her eyes. Well, she always looked wistful, but she was more wistful than usual right now. "Uh, hey Con?" He said carefully, "Do we have any messages?" He saw the wistful look fade slightly, as she replied.
"Yes, we have received a call from the Reformists council."
"Oh, the council," He said, "I wonder what they want with me. Con, play it back, please."
[-----]
"So, Cedric wants me to do stuff." He said after finishing the message. "Hey Theo, have I got anything coming up?"
"You have no appointments, emperor."
"Alright, thanks Theo." Alto pulled out his phone and sent a message back to Cedric specifically. It was sort of a secret, but he had the phone numbers of all of the people in the Reformists council.
<May as well drop the pretense, Illegal Stuff Pty. Ltd. Is just me right now, plus a couple of part timers. I’ll do the job for $5 total if it’s interesting enough, I don’t need an extra $10 million. Just tell me when and I'll go and visit Gary.>
He pressed send, then got up and stretched. Sal popped up from under his desk to look at his phone.
"Who's Cedric?" Sal asked.
"He’s an old acquaintance I suppose." Alto replied, "I don’t know him that well though."