Brought to Heel Ch. 01

Conall tapped his fingers against the desk as he looked at the email which had just arrived in his inbox and in that of all the other site directors. It had come from Director Eon Santos' email address and purported to actually be from the Director themself. This presented somewhat of an issue, as Director Santos' site had been confirmed as lost to an all-out containment breach by metahuman individuals mere hours before.

Which meant... Either someone had gained access to Eon's email and was sending messages pretending to be them while the real director hid, or Eon themself had been changed into a metahuman and was now emailing the other site directors to - taunt them?

It was impossible to tell which was which from the email alone. Conall had never been especially close to the other site director, and so far as he could tell, it seemed to be legitimate, but again - he didn't know them particularly well.

"To my esteemed former colleagues,

You're probably all acting as if I am dead right now, but I can assure you, I am alive and very well. Better than ever, in fact. I presume you're all going to pretend this email never existed, as a way to save face regarding the significant blow this has dealt to Orpheus as an organisation as a whole. However, if any of your number sees fit to contact me, I may decide to share some insight as to what happened in site Epsilon-1, in order for you to analyse the information. Surely you wish to know as much as possible to prevent a similar situation occurring in your own site, no?

I await a response from anyone humble and courageous enough to reply to this email. You may also contact me privately via my aeonsofeon mail account if you wish to avoid the scrutiny of your peers. I promise not to tell on anyone who does. ;)

Yours metahumanly,

Eon Santos,

Former Epsilon-1 Site Director"

Conall chewed on his lower lip - terrible habit really - as he considered whether to take the bait and reply. It was bait, he was sure of it, but he wasn't sure exactly what kind.

Was that even Eon's actual email address? Conall did a quick search of the address online and found it included in the contact info section of what was apparently Eon's personal Friendbook account. Which meant the likelihood was a little higher that the other site director really had sent that email... If they had been transformed into a metahuman, what could their goal in sending out such an email be? Aside from gloating, of course. That part was clear enough.

They were probably hoping to arrange an in-person meeting with whomever decided to contact them back. Then tempt that person into a situation where they would end up changing, too. That was the usual modus operandi of any metahuman.

All that said, Conall was curious what had happened in Epsilon-1; moreover, he couldn't imagine what sort of chain of events could lead to a site-wide containment breach and the mass transformation of every single Orpheus agent and member of staff, all the way up to the director. Conall's limited impression of Director Santos was that they were well-organised and highly competent in their role, not a person to take any unnecessary chances. Yet Epsilon-1 was the first modern site to fall.

Didn't he have a duty to his own staff to find out what happened, to gain whatever insights he could that may help avoid the same outcome occurring in Phi-2? After all, if Epsilon-1 and its highly experienced director could fall like that, the same would more easily happen in other sites, unless they could learn from Epsilon-1 and its mistakes. It was more than likely that his own site possessed the same shortcomings as Epsilon-1, if not moreso. If Conall did nothing, it was only a matter of time. He was responsible for the safety and wellbeing of everyone in Phi-2, which meant he had to do better than waiting for that to happen. He had to know more.

If he was to contact Eon, however, Conall would have to be cautious. They were sure to try and trick or tempt or convince him to see their perspective, so he would need to stay on guard. He should avoid meeting in person or giving them any information about Orpheus' plans. It was a shame, really, that Orpheus had lost one of its best and brightest - but all the more reason not to underestimate them, as Eon would doubtless be using their intellect to subvert Orpheus' goals from now on, if given half a chance.

Conall tapped his fingers on the desk again as he considered which email to contact them on. It was almost certainly more sensible to use his organisational email from Orpheus, since if he ended up doing anything inadvisable, it would leave a paper trail for the other directors to look for if need be.

But... To be frank, he would already be doing something inadvisable - even downright stupid - in contacting Eon in the first place. He had a good reason for it, but he doubted the other site directors would see it that way. No, there were no actual rules against corresponding with a director who had become a metahuman, but that was because firstly, it had never happened before; and secondly, it was so clearly a bad idea that it didn't even need to be codified into a rule in the first place.

Who would take bait so blatantly obvious as to make a laughingstock of Orpheus for employing so gullible a person as site director? No-one, aside from Conall.

He took out his personal mobile and started to compose an email to Eon's mail from his own email address. At least this way his questionable decisions wouldn't have a paper trail.

"Dear Director Santos,

It was a shame to confirm that you and your staff have indeed all become metahumans, although doubtless you no longer see it that way. It was good to work with you. Epsilon-1 was exemplary for Orpheus as an organisation.

You said you may potentially share information about how site Epsilon-1 was compromised, could I ask for said information? I wish to use it to improve the safety of Phi-2 and ensure the welfare of my staff. I am acting under my own volition, without the approval of the other site directors, and will keep whatever insights you provide to myself. I would rather not face the censure of the directors for daring to contact you in this manner. Your understanding on the matter is appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Director Conall Hennessy,

Site Phi-2"

Conall chewed his lip again as he triple-checked the draft email. He had no idea what sort of metahuman Eon had become, so it was best to avoid any sort of language which a fae could use to gain power over him. Unfortunately, the side effect was that it made the email very curt, since he had left out many of the usual social niceties. He read over it a fourth time for good measure, making sure there was nothing - aside from him contacting Eon in the first place - that could possibly be used as leverage against him. It seemed to check out.

Conall pressed send on the email and then instantly regretted everything. This could be his whole position, his whole career. It would be all of ten seconds' work for Eon to forward his email back to the other directors' inboxes and ruin him.

Were they vindictive like that? He'd never known them well enough to tell.

He sat back in his chair in a kind of disbelieving horror at his own stupidity, staring fixedly at the wall in front of him. Before he could get any deeper into self-recrimination than that, his phone pinged with a notification. He unlocked it and saw a reply from Eon. That was fast. If he was lucky, it wasn't even a message gloating over how foolish he'd been to send them a message so completely against organisational protocol.

"Dear Director Hennessy,

How kind of you to still use my former title. I am delighted that at least one of my erstwhile colleagues would see fit to reach out to me. We never did get to talk much that wasn't strictly business, which is a shame. It could be a rather isolated position to be in at times.

It's Phi-2 that has a performance of the onsite orchestra once a year, isn't it? It would have been nice to hear it at least once, but I was always too busy. I expect I will still be kept occupied, albeit in rather different ways.

Don't worry, I won't tell anyone in Orpheus that you've contacted me. I promise.

I would be more than happy to explain how Epsilon-1 finally succumbed, but there's no reason to rush, now that I finally have a chance to simply talk. You need not keep calling me 'director', either. I won't be disappointed.

Kind regards,

Eon"

The relief that washed over Conall as he read the email was incredible, as were the heights his eyebrows climbed to. This was definitely some kind of trick. More than likely of the 'convince him to meet in person' variety. He would have to keep on guard for more flattery, for being cajoled or convinced. That wasn't to say that he minded getting to talk to Eon... He had always admired them a little.

But he would have to be cautious.

"Dear Eon,

I'll drop the title if you insist. I suppose I don't mind simply talking for a while. Although I do hope to discuss Epsilon-1 before too much time has elapsed, as I expect a review of security procedures will be carried out on all sites soon, and I want to know what to watch out for in my own site.

Yes, I do think it's a shame that the site directors never get much chance to speak with or socialise with each other. Especially when professionalism dictates not getting overly close to our staff.

I'm flattered you remember the Phi-2 orchestra. That's my own pet project, a way to improve site morale and provide a regular and enjoyable non-work activity for staff. Do you enjoy music? I myself am a flautist, and I find playing music relaxing, as well as listening to classical and orchestral music primarily. It has a way of transporting the mind away from everyday concerns, of calming the emotions, and aiding in focus, I feel.

I highly appreciate your discretion on the matter. Personally I feel there's nothing wrong with simply corresponding by email, but I may be the minority in that opinion.

Kind regards,

Conall Hennessy"

After reading over the email multiple times, Conall sent it off and sat back with an expression of disbelief at his own decisions, albeit with a slight amused smile playing at the edges of his lips. Suddenly it felt as though he was emailing a penpal instead of a metahuman-transformed former colleague. As long as he remained vigilant, that was probably fine, although it felt distinctly surreal.

In his head, he was still picturing Eon as he had last seen them at the meeting of all the site directors, but who knows what they looked like now. Or even what sort of appendages they were using to write the emails they sent.

The next reply from Eon didn't come for another few hours.

"Dear Conall,

As expected from site Phi-2's guard dog! Don't worry, I do intend to throw you a bone in regards to information about what happened to my site. Please entertain my desire for conversation until then. Isn't it droll to be strictly business all the time? I think it is.

Now that we're in contact, I'm looking forward to talking more. It's a refreshing change. As changes often are. ;)

Of course, not many workplaces of any kind can boast of having an orchestra, so it did stand out. How sweet of you to put that much effort into the wellbeing of your staff, it sounds like you care quite a lot for them. If you happen to have a recording made of one of your concerts, you could send it my way, yes? I would enjoy getting the chance to listen to one, even if it isn't live.

I would say I enjoy music, yes, although I doubt I'm as passionate about it as you are. I don't tend to limit myself as much to any one genre - as long as I find it pleasing to the ear and fitting with my mood, that's enough for me. It can be enjoyable to whip up the emotions instead of calming them. Music may soothe the savage beast, but sometimes one wants to be a bit beastly. That's simply my own personal opinion, however.

Honestly, I'm more passionate about movies than I am about music. (Although a good soundtrack adds so much to a movie!) It's not an exaggeration to say I'm a bit of a film nerd. One of my favourite things to do of an evening is pop on a movie and settle in to do some knitting or embroidery as I watch. Yes, that's my big secret, I like to watch movies and knit. ; p Not exactly fitting with the image of a site director for a secret organisation, but that's real life for you. People are just full of surprises. Like you, when you chose to get in contact with me! It really was a pleasant surprise.

What's your favourite film? I promise I won't judge your taste in movies (too much).

Kind regards,

Eon"

By the time Eon's email arrived, Conall was at home and sitting on the couch, idly browsing the web on his phone. So he didn't even try to stifle the audible "what?" he let out when he read the first line.

Phi-2's guard dog? People didn't actually call him that, did they? He knew he had a reputation for being a bit aloof, but that was just embarrassing. Maybe Eon had made that up on the spot to get a rise out of him. He hoped so. And, 'throw you a bone', too. Seriously? What was with the dog expressions? He couldn't imagine them as a canine metahuman, if that was what they were getting at. Whatever it was about, they must have made up the guard dog thing about Conall to match the other turn of phrase. The alternative, of it being some staff nickname for him, was too mortifying to even contemplate.

'A refreshing change' and the winking face... Conall looked at it bemusedly, the corner of his mouth quirked up slightly. That was kind of dorky. Yes, of course, they were a metahuman, but it was so unserious. And smiley faces? He wouldn't have taken Eon for unprofessional, but maybe he'd had the wrong idea of them.

He was absolutely sure they were buttering him up about the orchestra, but that didn't stop it feeling nice to have it remembered and commented on. A recording of one of the concerts, hmm... There should be a CD on his shelves somewhere. He'd have to take a look before he emailed back. Hopefully they'd enjoy it, even if they weren't 'passionate' about music.

The mental image of the other site director - former site director, he reminded himself - sitting down to watch a movie and knit was kind of cute, honestly. Incongruously cosy, even. Conall chuckled quietly at the 'that's my big secret' bit. It really was a shame they'd never spoken much before now. They probably would have gotten along, even if Conall was a bit shit at socialising with people he didn't know already.

Eon was laying it on a bit thick with the pleasant surprise bit, though, Conall thought with a wry smile. His gaze went to his shelves when the question of favourite films was brought up. Another reason to have a rifle through his media library.

He'd mull it over. He wasn't going to email back tonight, anyway. As much as he wanted the information they had, being over-eager wouldn't get it from Eon any sooner if their insistence on chit-chat was anything to go by, and he had a schedule to stick to, anyway. Especially since he needed to get up for work in the morning.

Conall still had no idea what kind of metahuman Eon was, but he couldn't help trying to guess now that they had emailed back and forth a little. He thought maybe he was starting to get an idea, especially with that 'sometimes one wants to be a bit beastly' line. Not angelic or eldritch, that didn't fit them. There were angelic 'beasts' but he couldn't imagine them as an angel metahuman, composing emails with little winky faces and dispensing with formalities as quickly as they did. Angels tended to delight in formality and protocol, most of the time. Though there were now and then exceptions that gave the research teams a headache - at least as far as he remembered from back when he worked in research. Eldritch didn't feel right either. It simply didn't.

So they were fae or demonic. Probably. Not that narrowing it down a little changed the precautions he needed to talk in corresponding with them. Nothing a fae could latch onto or use to 'rules lawyer' into gaining power over him with, and no giving away information a demon could use to tempt him. Simple enough, really, so long as he kept reminding himself.

He did have a little look through his shelves for the concert recording before he got ready for bed. Nothing dangerous in sending them some music.

In the morning he shot off a quick email to say he was going to look through his music collection for a recording of the orchestra playing together, and that he'd get back to them when he found it. It took barely a minute for them to reply that they'd be looking forward to it, and not to forget to tell them what his favourite movie was later. Well, whatever they were doing after getting transformed, they weren't sleeping in during the week.

At work, Conall kept wondering what Eon might actually tell him about Epsilon-1, once they'd decided Conall had made enough small talk to 'earn' the information. It was frustrating, really. He went over all the security protocols, lab and research safety guidelines, field training manuals, and departmental reports for his site, but he couldn't identify any particular areas of weakness to focus on. There had to be some - a site didn't get overrun with metahumans for no reason - but it didn't get any clearer to him the longer he reviewed Phi-2's security.

There was no up-to-date information on Epsilon-1 available on Orpheus' systems. At the time that Eon had texted the other directors to report the sitewide blackout of official communications, Epsilon-1 was already disconnected from Orpheus' security and information networks. Email, intranet, internet access, site intercom, all down at once. That's why Eon had to literally text them all to raise the alarm. Now nobody - except for the former staff of Epsilon-1, presumably all transformed into metahumans by this point - had any clue of how it had happened, or what was happening in the site currently. Eon certainly wasn't telling.

Not that he disliked emailing Eon thus far, but it was frustrating. This was important. Conall had his staff to think of. An exchange of small talk wasn't a difficult price to pay for information, but the uncertain timeframe was harder to swallow. Eon had all the power there and could keep stringing him along as long as they wanted, and there was nothing Conall could do about it.

Despite the urgency Conall felt over getting insights into Epsilon-1's fate out of their exchange, once he was at work it was just another day. And a boring day, at that. Meetings, expenses to sign off on, departmental reports to review. In between, Conall continued looking into Phi-2's security and anything else he thought could be a vulnerability, but no matter how desperately he searched, he couldn't find any major issues. Some smaller ones, yes, that he would pass on to the section heads for them to address, but nothing glaring. The dichotomy between the urgency of Phi-2's security inadequacies and the utter mundanity and boredom of his everyday duties was almost too much to bear.

By the time Conall got back to his apartment in the evening, he was near ready to flop into bed immediately, but he remembered he'd told Eon he would look for a recording of the site orchestra. He went through his music collection top to bottom and eventually found the CD he was looking for. The orchestra's charity concert CD from two years ago. Conall smiled to himself at the memories that brought up. Everyone had done their best and practiced so hard and it had paid off beautifully. Conall never felt so close to his staff as when they all created music together, the barriers between departments and different levels of seniority melting away temporarily to be replaced by a sublime shared experience. He took the disc to his computer to rip the tracks from it and send them to Eon.

While the CD was being ripped, he had a look at his rather more meagre collection of movies. He wasn't much of a film buff, and mostly watched them on online subscription services, so he didn't own that many DVDs. Would it be too predictable of him to choose a musical? Although really, movie musicals didn't engage him as much as the stage ones. Not a musical, then. He had a few cult classics from back when he was in college and had movie nights with his college friends. Good times. In the end he picked the one he had the fondest memories of watching back then. It was the closest to a 'favourite' film that he had.

It was silly, but he hoped Eon would be impressed with his choice. Maybe Conall didn't socialise enough if he was worried about the former-site-director-turned-metahuman being disappointed with his film choice, but their conversation was enjoyable so far, and it would be a shame if they lost interest. Especially since he still needed whatever intel he could get from them. Conall chewed on the inside of his cheek as he wrote up his email to Eon and attached the best files from the concert CD, and tweaked the wording of the email pointlessly for a few minutes before sending it off.

Their reply came in the morning.

He was wolfing down his breakfast in a hurry as he read it. Eon thanked him for the recordings, and more than that, they said they'd seen the movie he mentioned and thought it was pretty good, and that they wouldn't mind watching it again sometime. They mentioned something about movie nights being better with company, which Conall supposed was in response to him saying he chose it because of memories of watching with friends. Some other stuff about the cinematography, too, which he honestly didn't notice before. Eon really was a bit of a film nerd, then. The rest of it was mostly inconsequential - more chatting like they wanted to get to know him - but they had high praise for the orchestral performance, and even with as obvious flattery as it was, the praise for something he was instrumental in had him smiling to himself as he went out the door of his apartment.

Conall was still unreasonably pleased with himself by the time he arrived at work. It was noticeable enough that his secretary Marcy commented on it, and asked if something good had happened. He'd said that it was nothing, really. But he still took time out of his lunch break to reply to Eon's email.

As the back and forth of their exchanges continued, it was easy to let replying to Eon's correspondence become not only a habit but a little highlight in his both monotonous and stressful days. Not that he ever lost sight of the reason he originally reached out to them, however. Every time something Eon had written made Conall laugh, he made sure to remind himself of the purpose of contacting them in the first place, so there was no chance he could forget.

No, he was determined to get whatever information he could from Eon, even if he knew they were stringing him along quite a bit. Maybe they were testing him, to see if he would get impatient...

Conall tried not to get too wrapped up in his thoughts when it came to that. He'd have to ask eventually, of course, but he was afraid if he did so too soon, Eon might get capricious and say no. So he let their email exchanges get longer and longer, and the days passed by, and he continued fretting about whatever vulnerabilities his site might have in common with Epsilon-1.

He was half convinced they had never actually intended to tell him anything by the time Eon finally mentioned that they would hand over some information to him. Conall's eyebrows raised when he read their email. If he wasn't at work he would be tempted to punch the air in celebration.

"Dear Conall,

I suppose it's long past time for me to provide you with the intel you asked for about Epsilon-1. I hope you don't think too poorly of me for dragging this out so long - I have been enjoying our exchanges immensely, and was somewhat afraid that you would lose interest once you got what you wanted.

But you're not that kind of person, are you? I hope we can continue our correspondence afterwards, because I look forward to your replies each day.

In any case, I promised you information, and I do keep my promises. How about the security footage from the day when Epsilon-1 'fell'? I have kept the recordings, which I believe will be highly useful to you in identifying potential inadequacies in Phi-2's security procedures.

You'll find them all in a folder here:

[pretendlink]

I hope it proves to be illuminating material for you. There is a large quantity to look through, you'll find, so a systematic approach will be beneficial.

That aside, I look forward to hearing from you when you have a chance.

Kind regards,

Eon"

Conall's fingers itched to click on the link they had sent him immediately, but he made himself wait. Who knew what exactly was in those security videos? Well... Probably some very inappropriate activity, knowing what metahumans tended to be like. He didn't want to get caught watching that at work. Even if he was the site director.

He replied to Eon immediately. That he could do at work. Which was even less advisable, when he thought about it, but at least it wouldn't feel like accessing PornClub at work.

"Dear Eon,

Thank you very much for sending on those security videos. Let nobody say you don't keep your promises - although you did keep me in suspense for a while!

I haven't had a chance to look at any of them yet, that will have to wait until this evening. Hopefully I'll find something useful in them.

I don't think I am the kind of person to drop a conversation once I have what I want, no. Besides, I have also been enjoying our emails, so I have more than enough reason to continue corresponding with you.

Hopefully that will set your mind at ease. I haven't had a chance to watch the film you recommended in your last email yet, but I will have to prioritise the security footage first, especially if it's as extensive as you say. I'll let you know once I have gotten around to watching the film afterwards, but I have to first prioritise anything that can help me keep my staff safe, you understand.

Again, thank you for sending on the link to access the footage.

In gratitude,

Conall"

With that email sent, Conall settled back into his desk chair and into an afternoon of fidgeting. He wanted to see what was in those videos now.

He would once the work day was over.