Chapter Text
The starting pay was enough to silence any concerns in regards to the multitude of non-disclosure agreements Ezra had to sign. The interview was promising, Ezra starts tomorrow. Being slated for the desk was an odd feeling though, even if his field was a unique one. That daunting feeling was juxtaposed with optimism. It feels like life would actually begin now that Ezra found a means to chip away at his student debt. He was told the government was involved, which was enough to have Ezra stop asking questions.
It seems like all his bases were covered—healthcare, housing, food. Pan-Co would take care of Ezra. There was little he had to move into his new dorm. Ezra had been living out of his car while searching for this job, and thankfully it didn’t take too long. There were a couple stipulations though, chief among them being that he was required to wear formal clothes. Luckily, he had a suit from the old debate club at university. It felt nice to walk down the sidewalk all dressed up.
Ezra is an industrial and organizational psychologist. Essentially, he’s someone who works to optimize the workplace. Or as Ezra himself describes it: “Being the ego between workers and management.” The ego of course being a mediator between unconscious desires—management, and morality—workers.
Ezra wasn’t very present in current events. But it was very hard to ignore this headline: “Breakthrough in Space Travel” which read on a television screen at the coffee shop Ezra stopped at on his way to the first day of work. The news anchor went on to outline the discovery of some new planet, the only picture of which being what could only be described as a clump of gray pixels. He sipped his coffee, a strong cappuccino. Ezra sighed and got up after finishing the hot cup. He walked out onto the busy morning street and slipped into the flow of foot traffic.
Walking into the building was a unique experience. Ezra walked over to reception and mentioned this was his first day for work. The receptionist called someone down to come and whisk him up an elevator and show him to his new office.
“Hey, my name is Jane! I’m the HR director.” She explained.
“I’m Ezra.” He said.
“Nice to meet you Ezra.” She said, extending her hand.
They shook hands and she showed Ezra into the office, whose name was on the door, as well as a title—psychologist.
“This is your office, and your nametag should be on your desk.” Jane said.
“Settle in for a bit, and make sure to check your emails for tasks.” She continued
Ezra nodded and she zipped right out. Must be a busy woman. Ezra put his nametag on his blazer, pinning it in place before sitting down at his desk. There was a note stuck to the monitor detailing log in information for the computer. Ezra logged in. He spent some time getting oriented. The rest of the day was essentially just training. Though the actual job wasn’t much, just counseling employees and providing input on disputes.
Ezra was moved into a dorm, provided by Pan-Co. It was just a few blocks away from the office too, so his car was practically useless for Ezra, who was the kind of person who would rather save gas at every turn. He woke up and got dressed. Leaving to walk down the sidewalk to that same coffeeshop from yesterday. He got the same thing. The news still went on about some major discovery in the great beyond or whatever. Ezra didn’t really pay attention, lest he risk being late on his second day.
He entered his office and sat down. Logging into the computer and checking his emails. Ezra got his first job—providing recommendations on what to do about two employees who got into a dispute about the wetness of water in the breakroom. Ezra scoffed and suggested they both be told not to argue over menial topics.
Eventually Jane walked into his office and sat down. She began to speak.
“Hey Ezra. Management just told me to come and make sure to remind you about some things.”
“Okay..?” Ezra seemed to ask.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious, just a reminder is all. It’s about those silly NDAs you signed before you were hired. The company doesn’t want any competitors getting a hold of some things.”
“Alright.” He said.
“Alright! Don’t worry about it. Just don’t talk about work outside of work and you should be okay.” Jane said.
She clapped her hands together, stood up, then left. Afterwards, Ezra settled into his chair and decided to look into Pan-Co, doing a brief cursory search on the company. Most of the results were irrelevant, and the few that mentioned Pan-Co properly depicted the company as a financial beneficiary for medical research. The weird thing was, Pan-Co’s relation to another company that sells plushies. Every document where Pan-Co is mentioned, also mentioned this odd little toy company—Explush which sold these plushies, they were relatively popular when they came out Ezra remembered.
He used to see them occasionally not too long ago, the plushies. They looked like some hybrid of various animals, dark fur with a distinctly rat shaped head and two protrusions out the back of the head, spikes that resembled large reclined ears at a glance. They had big orange ended fluffy tails. There was also a white variant. Ezra had one on the dashboard of his car. But that’s nothing but nostalgia. The relation of Pan-Co to Explush was strange. It was like they were linked together but by nothing solid.
Ezra didn’t look any further though, all else was dead ends. Instead, he went off to the break room to have himself a cup of coffee. Though unfortunately, they were out of coffee grounds. He settled for water instead. Ezra walked back into his office, sat down, and typed at the computer. Consulting minor things. His day was over soon.
Sometimes, he’d have an employee referred to him and sent to his office to talk. Usually, they complained about either other employees or management’s newest decision. But mainly this job was quiet, simple, easy. And by god were the paychecks large. It’s been a month so far, and that time really did fly by for Ezra. Ezra was always told that things used to be cheaper, due to inflation. But now he was experiencing that feeling for himself. Getting paid what seems like so much, only to realise how little purchasing power that money had. It’s already 2050 though, time flies, as does the cost of living. Which was why Ezra was so relieved to have such a prestigious job.
Pan-Co seemed to be some sort of imaginary company though, there was little documentation on it other than it seeming to be some sort of laboratory corporation. The layout upstairs seemed to indicate this as well, that and the lab coats. Ezra worked on an upper floor, above him was that lab, and he hasn’t been up any further. Something about this place seemed odd, but Ezra was no detective, nor had the time to do more digging. Most of his time was spent working on reports and consultation.
Jane knocked on the open door to Ezra’s office, he turned and waved.
“What’s up?” He asks.
“Hey! Did you get the email about the survey?” She asked.
“Oh, the one from management right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m about to have a look, I’ll give my suggestions back to you to pass up to management.” He said.
“Yep! Thanks! Have a good one!” Jane said.
She left and Ezra went to check out the survey in question. It was about break times, and when they should be scheduled. Some of the phrasing on the questionnaire was phrased in a way that indicated management wanted to reduce or eliminate breaks entirely. One question especially stood out: “Do you feel your performance would increase if your break was consolidated?”
Ezra obviously suggested some pretty major phrasing changes and sent it back off to Jane.
When he got home, Ezra purchased two more blazers and trousers. He genuinely couldn’t complain. His biggest concern was losing this cozy job. But his good rapport with Jane told him even that wasn’t a big deal. All he had to do was work on affairs and he was good. Ezra was satisfied. It seemed like not much could go wrong. But he shouldn’t have let his guard down in the face of all of the oddities he discovered.
Something rattled above him as he typed a report on the importance of keeping the breakrooms stocked with coffee grounds. Ezra was distracted, and his head panned up. It sounded like a noisy upstairs neighbor. Ezra looked back down and continued writing. Explaining to management that it’d be highly appreciated and would increase productivity to have a consistent means of coffee. Ezra just finished the report and sent it to a representative at management.
The roof shook again and Ezra looked up again. He scratched his head, this was different. No matter. All of this typing about coffee had him wanting a cup. He left his office, leaving the door open as he went to the break room and struck up a conversation with one of the HR associates. Ezra started to make a cup as they had a brief conversation about some construction going on nearby the office.
They exchanged goodbyes and Ezra went back. Though there seemed to be a bunch of those lab coat guys running around looking for something. One of them stopped Ezra on his way back to his office and asked him:
“Have you seen anything weird?”
“Uhh, no, I’m just getting back from the break room.” Ezra explained.
He lazily brandished the cup of coffee and sipped it as the lab coated man scoffed and walked by. Ezra approached his office, but was stunned when he saw the door closed. He didn’t really think about it. Instead, he opened the door, walked in, and closed it behind him. Ezra heard something shuffle behind him. He turned around, and didn’t see anything.
Ezra sipped his coffee and stared at that half of the room, until he heard something scuffle, this time, his eyes narrowing on whatever it was under his desk moving around. Ezra’s eyes widened.
“Wha- .. Who’re you?” Ezra asks.
“Go away!” They said.
Ezra looked back at the door. This must be what all those researchers are looking for. Ezra slowly walked backwards and placed his hand on the door.
“Wait, Wait! Don’t do that!” They begged.
Ezra slowly moved his hand away from the doorknob and crouched down.
“Okay, then tell me what you’re doing in my office, whatever the hell you are..”
“C-Close the blinds..”
Ezra did so, closing the blinds that faced into the building. Then he looked under his desk from where that voice. He asked:
“Okay, what’s the deal, why are you hiding?”
Ezra almost gasped when they crawled out from under his desk. And then he stood up. He stood about five feet tall and had a distinctly rat shaped head, covered in dark fur and with orange eyes. Four spikes shooting off the back of his head. This was.. one of those Explushies. Or at least what they were based off of. He was wearing cargo pants and a sort of dress shirt. His outfit resembled most closely a soldier's, covered in pockets and with an embroidered velcro name plate. “Flynn” over his right breast pocket, and “S-11104” over the left.
“Where’d you come from, Flynn?” Ezra asks.
“Upstairs.. The lab.”
“Why’d you leave?”
“They were going to do another experiment on me. I.. I didn’t want to.”
“Sit…Sit down for a moment, bud.” Ezra tapped the chair in front of his desk.
Flynn took a seat. Slowly. Ezra could see the worry plastered all over his face. He sat down across from Flynn and put his hands together in front of him on the desk.
“My name is Ezra. And I take it you are Flynn, correct?”
“Yeah…”
“Okay. I have a question, Flynn. Where exactly are you heading to?”
“I..I don’t know, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize. You don’t know? Can you tell me what city you’re in?” Ezra asks.
“What’s a city?”
There was a pause while Ezra rubbed his head. The NDAs are starting to make sense now.
“Okay. I don’t know where you’re going, and clearly neither do you, Flynn. But I know you aren’t going to get very far.” Ezra says. His head panned toward the closed blinds, footsteps hurrying past.
“I’m.. T-They’re gonna hurt me for this.. I can’t go back!” Flynn protested.
“Hey, hey, calm down. Relax, I’m sure it’ll be fine okay?”
“Ezra?”
“What’s up Flynn?”
“What.. What do I do? What do-”
Ezra suddenly hugged Flynn, who was silenced. A couple of tears welled up in his eyes, and he wiped them away. Ezra crouched over and looked at Flynn. The hug did a very good job of calming him down, Flynn stared at the ground in front of Ezra.
“Flynn. You should go back. I’ll walk with you okay?”
“O-Okay..”
Ezra took Flynn from the chair and walked over to the door. Slowly opening it and letting Flynn walk out at his own pace. Ezra and they approached the stairwell with Ezra’s hand placed on his back, guiding Flynn. They walked up the stairs and entered the lab. The two of them were immediately approached by a researcher, who was about to grab Flynn until he clasped Ezra’s arm.
“We have to take it back to its room!” The researcher said.
“Just, show us the way.” Ezra said.
The researcher nodded. He led Ezra and Flynn down some halls, opening doors with a keycard while he dialed on his phone and began speaking.
“Call off the search, someone found 11104. Yes. We’re taking him back to his room.” The researcher went on.
They were eventually taken to a door, it was opened, and inside appeared to be an ordinary room, looking like something out of a home. Ezra nudged Flynn and he reluctantly walked in, looking back at Ezra as the door closed. The researcher then led Ezra into a conference room. He asked Ezra to sit down and he closed the door after leaving him alone. Ezra watched as people gathered outside of the meeting room and all started arguing. Which was broken up when someone in a suit showed up and exchanged words with the group. Soon after, everyone began filing into the room and sitting down.
The man in the suit spoke to Ezra first.
“Where did you find that experiment?” He asked.
“Experiment? You mean Flynn?” Ezra gingerly asked.
“Yes, Flynn, Where was he?”
“He snuck into my office while I was out”
“And how did he get in?”
“I.. Left the door open.”
The man looked around, then sighed, he gestured over to one of the researchers.
“This one tells me you convinced the experiment to come back, is this true Ezra?”
“Yes…”
“How?”
“I just.. I talked to him.” Ezra explained.
“You’re a psychologist, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. You can get back to your office then. Do not utter a word to anyone else about this.”
Ezra nodded and left. Back to his office. The rest of his day was a blur in the face of whatever the hell that all was.
When Ezra came into work the next day, he wasn’t able to get into his office—for one—his door was locked while a whole team of guys cleaned everything—and second—he was immediately brought to Jane’s office. Where she asked politely for him to take a seat. Ezra did so without question or hesitation, figuring he was in a whole lot of trouble. He sighed, quietly.
“I don’t know what you did, or how you did it. But management wants you.. Well.. Promoted.”
His face went from worry to shock.
“Are you messing with me?” He asked.
“No, no! You’re getting a promotion, a big one too!”
Ezra was brought to head to management, where he met with that same man in the suit he spoke with yesterday. The man explained that Ezra was having his office moved upstairs, given the circumstances that occurred with Flynn. My job wasn’t going to change, he explained. But the people—and now non-people—Ezra would be dealing with would change. The new office was cleared. The man handed Ezra a keycard to access the upper floors, and he was reminded not to tell anybody anything.
Ezra left that office and entered the new one. The office was slightly larger, and the furniture more premium. He logged into the computer and did what he usually did—check his emails. There was a new one—highlighted—that instructed him to remove all previous emails, disregard previous instructions, and prepare for a significant change in the nature of his work. Ezra stared at the screen, aloof. The email was from the director of research: Dr. Theo. It appears this is who he’ll report to now.
This prompted him to do a little more digging about Pan-Co. Something is obviously up here. Pan-Co and Explush were clearly related, yes, but this doesn’t explain why Pan-Co is a seemingly almost non-existent company. Explush on the other hand—the paper trail didn’t go cold. Ezra uncovered a multitude of shell companies, and eventually followed a paper trail all the way up to a company named Pantheon.
He rubbed his eyes, Pantheon? What is Pantheon doing with medical research and making these experiments. The same Pantheon that creates weapons of war; missiles, radars, firearms, even aircraft. Ezra’s investigation ended when he received an email from Dr. Theo, outlining a new directive starting tomorrow. Ezra was to interact with Flynn given how well they got along last time.