"Mr. Zakhrov, I have made my decision. Permission to report for duty." came Natasha's voice over the intercom.
Aaron felt a thrill of excitement at those words. He carefully schooled his expression back to its Stoic mask, and activated the door lock.
The door opened, and Natasha stepped inside, her eyes still a little red from crying.
"A wise decision Ms. Parker. Welcome once again to Sirius Software." he said, as he stood up and walked around the desk.
He walked up to her, and extended his hand.
Natasha took his hand, and shook it firmly, her eyes steady and unwavering.
"Come with me. It's time for your tour." said Aaron, leading her out of the office.
Walking next to Aaron in his black leather suit, Natasha didn't feel out of place in her own leather uniform.
"This is of course, the temporary office. This is the main server and render farm which we use to develop our games." said Aaron, as they walked through the main foyer. He led her to a small open-top logistics truck, started it up, and drove it out of the parking lot.
"Out here we have the main parking lot, down there is the security checkpoint, and over here is the mining robot factory." Aaron pointed out, as they drove around the complex.
Natasha marvelled at the sight of the long factory building, which was steadily pumping out boxes that were being loaded into shipping containers on the backs of semi-trucks.
"I thought Sirius Software is a game development company?" she asked.
"That's our core business, but these projects cropped up in pursuit of vertical integration when it came to building our headquarters. That is under construction over there by the way." said Aaron, pointing to a construction site where the metal scaffolding for a massive skyscraper was being erected.
Natasha's jaw dropped at the sight of large drones with thick heavy-duty cables attached to them like tentacles, hovering around the building's skeleton, welding the metal beams together with bright arcs of plasma.
She tore her eyes away from the drones, and brought them to focus on the building crew, who were controlling the drones with large terminal monitors, joysticks and pedals.
"Surreal!" she muttered to herself.
"That will be one of your main responsibilities as my new head of security. Ensuring that those idiots in the unions don't come anywhere near my precious construction engineers and drones. You can use the contracted guards until you can vet and hire our own." said Aaron seriously, as they drove past the construction site.
"U-understood sir." replied Natasha, still marveling at the sight of the drones.
"Over here is our mining operations. We mostly mine just small quantities of lead ore as part of our mining robot testing, so it is not a money printer." said Aaron, as they drove past small dark entrance through which a pair small automated carts loaded with ore were coming out.
"Just how much of your operations are automated sir?" asked Natasha, still trying to wrap her head around the scale of the operation. Her awe and respect for Aaron had grown significantly as the tour had progressed.
"Almost everything. Right now, security and engineering are the main manpower intensive departments, with security being the only one that is currently outsourced." replied Aaron, as they arrived at what looked like a water treatment plant.
"That is our water treatment plant, where we purify the lead contaminated groundwater, and finally. This is our main conference room." said Aaron, as they arrived at a small concrete building.
"Come on in, I'll introduce you to the rest of my core team." said Aaron, as he parked the truck and got out.
----
Natasha followed Aaron into the conference room, where a group of people were already sitting around a long rectangular table.
Aaron took a seat at the head of the table, and gestured for Natasha to sit down next to him.
"This is Harry Smith, my chief civil engineer, who is in charge of the construction and maintenance of our facilities." said Aaron, gesturing to a tall young man with short brown hair and hazel eyes.
Harry inclined his head in greeting.
"Next to him is his wife, Margaret Smith, who is technically not an employee, but she was gracious enough to design your uniform." said Aaron, gesturing to a petite and buxom young woman with soft auburn hair and gentle green eyes. Margaret smiled warmly at Natasha, and waved.
"Next to her is James McMillan, our electrical engineer, who is in charge of our power grid and electrical systems." said Aaron, gesturing to a tall young man with short black hair and blue eyes. James nodded in greeting.
"And finally, the old guy staring daggers at you is Andre Esposito our chief legal counsel." said Aaron, gesturing to a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair, who was staring at Natasha with open hostility.
"Mr. Zakhrov, may I speak with you in private?" asked Andre, his voice shaking with barely contained anger.
"If you're about to warn me that Ms. Parker here is a spy sent by Monica Goldberg, then save your breath. I already know, and it won't be a problem." replied Aaron coldly, his eyes narrowing.
"You knew? And you still hired her?" asked Andre incredulously, as color drained from Natasha's face.
"Let's just say that I made Natasha a counter-offer that she graciously accepted. And whatever Monica is up to is irrelevant." said Aaron icily. He rose and stood beside Natasha, she tried to rise, but he placed a hand on her head, forcing her back into her chair.
"I'm going to break it down easy for you and everyone else, Andre. I know you whisper behind my back that my obsession with control and automation borders on, if not is misanthropy. However, I ask you to take a moment and consider which is more misanthropic. Monica and others of her ilk who treat people like machines, replaceable, disposable, with a clear preference for quantity over quality? Or me who invests in a few but highly skilled and capable individuals, while relegating the grunt work to infinitely more efficient machines? Take this particular case as a perfect example. Monica hired Natasha as a disposable pawn. A pair of eyes and ears to be discarded once she was no longer useful. On the other hand, I offered her a position far better suited to her talents, a dormitory room, and a seat at the table of my inner circle. And guess what? It worked. Natasha's mine now. And you know what that means." he said, stroking Natasha's head in a blatant display of ownership.
Natasha struggled to maintain her composure. The fact that Aaron had hired her as his personal bodyguard and head of security despite knowing that she was sent to infiltrate Sirius Software by Monica had been a massive shock. His heady scent, and the gentle stroking of her head were making her heart race, and stirring feelings that she had long forgotten.
Andre pinched the bridge of his nose. "Every damn time. I have to keep reminding myself to put you in the crazy but not the stupid section of my mental filing cabinet." he said, his voice weary. He turned to Natasha. "Welcome aboard, Lt. Parker. Try to reign in your boss's more... eccentric tendencies. He can be a handful at times." he said.
"I-I'll try, Mr. Esposito." stammered Natasha, her cheeks flushed, and she squirmed slightly in her chair.
"That's not going to happen Andre. Just look at her, the poor girl's already head over heels for Master Zakhrov." said Margaret with a teasing chuckle.
"Hey! No hazing the newbie!" snapped Harry, giving Margaret a playful flick on her forehead.
"Sorry, sorry Master Harry." said Margaret, rubbing her forehead and pouting.
"Alright, now that all that is out of the way, let's get down to business. Harry, status report on the HQ construction." said Aaron, returning to his seat, while Natasha still burned with embarrassment, and arousal.
"The main foundations are complete, and the main superstructure is about 70% complete. We should be able to start the concrete pouring by the end of the week." reported Harry.
"Excellent. James, what's the status of the power grid?" asked Aaron.
"The main transformers are in place, along with the high-voltage cabling. We are still upgrading the step-down transformers, but that should be done by the end of the week as well." replied James.
"Alright. Andre, get that layabout out of the mine and over here. I've indulged him long enough." said Aaron, his voice cold and commanding.
Andre nodded curtly, and left the conference room. Harry, James and Margaret shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Natasha, having regained her composure, straightened in her chair, sensing the new tension in the room. She opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but Aaron silenced her with a raised hand.
"Natasha, stay. Everyone else, clear out. You've got stuff to do." said Aaron, his voice brooking no argument.
Harry, James and Margaret stood up and left the conference room, leaving Natasha alone with Aaron.
A thrill of foreboding ran through Natasha as she quietly waited for whatever Aaron was about to do.