Chapter 5 #2
Not Rowan’s type, but well suited for a billionaire.
Assuming Andrew slept with it.
“Jay,” Andrew said as he came to a militaristic halt in front of them, barely acknowledging the bot despite speaking to it.
Hadn’t its name been Ray last time?
“Who do we have next?”
Whatever its name, the bot dutifully pointed its tablet toward Andrew.
“Mr. and Mrs. Rangecroft,” Andrew read with a brief glance at it. “A married couple?” he asked with a thinly veiled sneer.
“Siblings, sir,” Raina said.
“Ah,” he replied, as if deeply uninterested and scanned the tablet again. “Both of you are exemplary employees with impressive reviews spanning years, with Raina Rangecroft nearly at fifteen, and Ronan Rangecroft having hit a full decade with us only a few months ago. Well done.”
“Um, it’s Rowan, sir,” Rowan corrected.
Andrew held his gaze, shifting from disinterest to annoyance.
Great.
“Well, I see no red flags or concerns with either of you.” Andrew gave another brief scroll of the tablet. “So we can keep this short. As veteran employees of Andreas Tech, I have only one question: Anything new for me?”
“Oh. Uh…” Raina trailed off as Andrew’s gaze landed on her first. “I… was planning on working on a new algorithm for behavioral responses, sir, but—”
“Planning isn’t something you can show me now, I assume?” Andrew said with a shift in his forced smile.
“No,” Raina said just as stiffly. She wasn’t one to play well with authority figures. None of the Rangecroft siblings were. “I didn’t realize we’d be talking innovation today, Director—”
“Innovation should be part of every day, Mrs. Rangecroft.”
Rowan could tell Raina was holding her tongue to correct him with Ms.
Andrew snapped his attention to Rowan. “And you… Sibling Rangecroft?”
Rowan wished he had picked up his tablet before standing. He had expected more protocol, imagined fighting to even get the chance to voice his idea, and now he was being handed the opportunity without resistance. “I… um…”
“Mr. Rangecroft, I have quite a few more of these today, so—”
“I have a lot I can show you concerning a new surge protector!” Rowan blurted.
Andrew tilted his head. “Go on. Give me the thirty-second pitch, and I’ll decide if it’s worth my attention.”
“Okay, um… well…”
“Mr. Rangecroft—”
“Lightning struck my bot last night!”
That caught Andrew’s attention, so Rowan bolstered himself to press onward.
“Since charging stations run on the same circuit in high-rise buildings like mine, every bot along my same grid was fried from last night’s storm. Except my M.I.L.O. unit because of the prototype surge protector I installed in it. There are still some kinks to work out but—”
“Your bot survived a direct lightning strike?” Andrew asked, taking a step closer that caused his assistant bot to move forward too. It must be programmed as a bodyguard as well. Many were, especially those owned by powerful elite.
“Y-yes.”
“You are part of the A-model line, correct?” Andrew glanced around their workstation as if he was suddenly unsure of which floor he was on.
“I am, but I needed to prove the surge protector would work even in more advanced bots, so I installed it in my personal B-model.”
Andrew scrutinized Rowan with a cold stare. “Jay!” he called, once again without looking at the bot directly—he was definitely sleeping with it. “Set up a time for Mr. Rangecroft to show me his findings next week, bright and early Monday morning.”
“Yes, Master.” The bot pulled up Andrew’s calendar immediately to comply, leaving Rowan in awe that this was actually happening.
He had worked here for a decade, and finally, he was going to do something worthwhile.
“Thank you, Director,” Rowan said.
“Think nothing of it, Mr. Rangecroft. But don’t disappoint me.” Andrew glanced once more at Raina, then turned on his heels. “Jay!”
“Yes, Master. We are ready to move to the next floor.” The bot turned just as abruptly to lead the way, and the pair disappeared in the same direction they had come from.
“Showoff,” Raina teased, bucking Rowan in the shoulder. “But go, RoRo! It’s a good thing I don’t care about moving up in this company, or I might be jealous. Just promise me that if you become some big wig around here, you’ll still buy me lunch once a week.”
Rowan laughed. That had been their standard arrangement ever since Raina had gotten him this job. “Deal.”
Milo had indeed survived a lightning strike, Rowan knew now how to replace Milo’s parts without issue, and Director Andreas wanted to hear more about his surge protector.
Despite everything that had happened last night, it was all turning out for the better.
Notes:
Lol, maybe THAT’S what we in the biz call foreshadowing. ^_- Anyhoo…
Rowan hero names: Crimson Thunder, Zeus, Damask (okay, I actually really like this one, even though it just means red, which means he'd definitely be a Superman type with no mask, or at least no cowl covering his hair), Lux (crap, I like that too!)
Rowan fake villain names: Speed Thief, Umbra/Sombra (oooo, for being Milo’s shadow, love it!), Silhouette, The Poacher
Milo villain names: Captain Platinum, White Lightning (ahaha, this and Crimson Thunder would be pretty funny), The Ivory Bandit, Swiftpocket
Which would YOU choose?