T
Literature
The Firm, chapter 2 It was an atypically late night for Miss Maely, she was away from work and ready to enjoy some much needed time off. She had planned on taking her kids to the zoo among other things…but her insomnia and anxiety keeps her up. She was about to attempt to sleep when she saw her phone light up and her boss's name was listed as the caller.  As the head of an innovative solutions think tank and an intel department, Jazmin is no stranger to the long sleepless stressful days and nights. All of this while being a young single mother of three, but the money's too good to pass up so she deals with the bullshit. Bullshit ranging from insensitive coworkers to unrelenting gossip. However, tonight's bullshit was completely unexpected and out of the norm. She was called into work by the CEO Maudeline Dembroski, needing her intelligent mind to decrypt a few emails from fellow staff. Jazmin had already cleared her  weekend scheduled off for family time.. but the CEO didn't care, her needs always come first. No matter what personal or physical cost to her employees…in her mind they are all replaceable. Jazmin got up out of bed and went into her bathroom to freshen up. She quickly does the bare minimum for her makeup before getting dressed. She slips out of her baggy shirt and fuzzy pants and into a business casual attire. Grey pleated slacks and a white button up blouse…with a matching grey vest. She stands in her room for a few minutes debating on whether or not to actually head in or not..hating the fact that she can't just wear something comfy into work. No you always have to dress appropriately even if you are only going to be there a few minutes. She puts on her small black leather heeled boots before grabbing her phone and purse.  As she left the confines of her cozy two story house, Jazmin hopped into her nice black truck and headed into the city towards the firm. The Firm is unlike any other fortune 500 companies. Most are dedicated to one maybe two fields of expertise, and have a distinct appearance. The Firm is a small two story bland building that seems much larger than it appears, it has a large number of employees plus its daily number of regular customers. But if you ask someone what the Firm specifically specializes in and no one will give you the same answer. Some come here for the financial support, some come for the tech support and others for the insurance companies housed within. But no one truly knows what the Firm does, but still comes to work daily and without question.   As Jazmin begrudgingly arrived, she pulled into the back parking lot and texted her babysitter again. Thanking her again for coming over on short notice. She sees a text from Miss Dembroski and reads it, noting the urgency of the situation. ["Miss Mealy, I need you to hurry up and get here. I don't care what you have to say to your offspring…they don't pay you, I do. These emails aren't going to open themselves and you are the only one who has the clearance level access them."] Jazmin turns off her phone and cusses under her breath. "Fucking bitch" before heading towards the employee entrance.  As she headed straight to her office, she checked in with the security guard, who looked at her quite curious. "Ma'am I don't see you on the schedule? Aren't you supposed to be on vacation with your family?" The tall muscular guard looks at the young lady.. one who only stands about 5'1", her reddish brown hair is pulled into a tight woven braid. It's quite clear to anyone around, that she is annoyed and not in any mood for small talk. "Well you know how it is, when the CEO calls you and requests your presence despite being well aware of your family time. She said it couldn't wait until Monday.. something about encrypted emails. Apparently the tech geeks like Bert or whoever can't figure it out." Jazmin replies by pulling out her id badge to scan in. The guard shakes his head but not in  agreement but in slight confusion, he however does grin at the mention of Bert. He puts a small note into a tablet..among other things. He lets Jazmin in, before replying smugly. "Well you should be grateful that you have a job, let alone a boss who respects your skills and talents enough to force you into this precarious situation. I know it must suck to have to leave your family to come in. But you should also keep your thoughts in check, you are a loyal employee, don't ruin it." Jazmin looks at the guard  inquisitively and perplexed. But she chooses to ignore him, after all he is just a rent a cop. She presses onward and tries to regain some focus. She walks past a few cleaning ladies and one of the people whom she shares office space with. As she goes by she hears them gossiping about her personal life…causing her to briefly stop and glare at the group. Jazmin walks away…muttering several curses and other profane musings. On her way she passed by a door that's almost always locked and a sign posted saying "Authorized Personnel Only." Jazmin stopped and walked back and noticed that today it was slightly ajar. Through the slim opening Jazmin peered in, discovering a dimly lit hall. She could faintly hear voices and what she thought was screams coming from the end. Jazmin was faced with a couple of options, ignoring her own curiosity about a door that shouldn't be open as well as the screams. It would yes eat at her for a little bit but her work would help drown it out…and it would ensure that she keeps her job. Or she could take a peek and satisfy her own curiosity…it was risky but the temptation only grew when she for certain heard a scream. As Jazmin cautiously grabbed the cold metal handle, she felt someone else's presence behind her. Before she can react her worst fears are realized by the unnerving familiar voice behind her. "Ahem Miss Mealy is it? Sorry, remembering people is a little too hard when you have so many employees. It would be so much easier if I could assign numbers to everyone…don't you think that would be easier. That being said I don't think your office is down this way is it?" Jazmin turns around and looks up coming eye to eye with her boss, Maudeline Dembroski. Maude stands about 5'8" and cuts an intimidating figure. For a woman who has just turned 40, she doesn't look like it at all. Her black hair is cut into an appropriate bob cut, framing her face perfectly. Her lips are never not covered in a glossy red lipstick, and her soulless teal blue eyes are traced in black. "Miss Dembroski, I was on my way to my office when I was stopped by what sounded like someone screaming. I was just going to check and see if anyone needed assistance or help. But why would anyone be screaming?? Wait hold up, you called and texted me but you seriously can't be bothered to remember what I look like or who I am?" Jazmin takes a step back to assess the situation, making sure she heard that correctly. "Seriously you would understand where I'm coming from if you were in my position. But that would also require more focus on your part…something you seem to be lacking." Maude retorts calmly, looking down on her employee. "Also you actually think I call or text my employees. God no that takes time and effort to care. It's an AI program that I use."  Jazmin blinks a few times before she takes her turn in this odd conversation.  "Okay, well that actually makes sense after listening to you…no offense but the AI has more personality than you. Also what is so Goddamn important about these emails anyway…and how come I'm the only one with the allotted clearance level. It just seems a little bit odd to me!" Maudeline smirks at the sudden burst of confidence and bravado the young lady mustered up. She gently nudges her employee to the side and grabs the door handle. "Well then, let's go squash your curiosity first and then I'll answer your question. Though I sense some animosity in your tone…I'd keep it in check if I was you. You have been employed here for a few years now, and you have the audacity to talk to me that way. You realize you in a roundabout way called me a nevermind it's not the first time I've been called that. Though you are the only one to say that I have no personality or feelings. …and I believe this is the only time I have requested your immediate presence. If I'm remembering you correctly.. that is."  Maude turns the handle and pulls open the door and motions Jazmin inside. Jazmin stood there tempted to actually speak her mind but more clearly and to the point, but decided against it. She walked into the new hallway and her boss followed by shutting the door behind her.  A distinct locking sound is heard and Jazmin is suddenly a little bit unnerved.  "You see Miss Mealy, most employees don't have access to this hallway and section of the Firm for very important reasons. But like I said since you were willing to risk everything to see what is going on…well you might as well see it for yourself." Jazmin bites her lip before responding. "Well I'm satisfied now, tell me about these emails..I honestly am more concerned about them than anything else. I had to leave my kids again to come in so…spill the damn beans…already!" The two women walk down a clean sterile hallway…all while being monitored and recorded. The hallway comes to an end and another door..the screams are nearly deafening. Maudeline stands in front of the door completely unaffected by the screams. She crosses her arms and looks defiantly at Jazmin, who has lost all color in her face and is starting to tremble. "Behind the door is the reprogramming room…where we send employees who either attempt to leak out the truth. Or employees who are no longer trustworthy or caught in an act deemed untrustworthy. We also use it for those who are wanting to quit and know too much…we like the secretive nature of the Firm. Those emails that I need you to unencrypt were intercepted and copied from your fellow employee Bert. He has been snooping around and using his own programs to discover all of the things we actually do. I just need you to unencrypt them and then you can leave…but if you refuse or try to send them to someone else, well let's just say I will personally reprogram you. So are you going to be a good loyal employee or are you going to refuse? Think about your offspring!" Jazmin is absolutely frozen in place.. her curiosity has been satisfied and her question was answered. The only thing was no she is in a winless position…she is screwed no matter what she does. A little voice of honest reason pops in her head and tells her to call her bluff…this has to be a ruse in order to test loyalty. Jazmin shakes her head and waves her arms in front of her as her confidence and bravado wells back up. "Okay okay, I'll give you props Maude. This is a clever way to get those employees who are wavering in check…but I'm not falling for it anymore. You can turn off the sound machine and you can drop the act. Bert is a little bit weird, but he has never been one to step out of his lane. We work together on numerous projects and I would know if he was up to no good. And I'm really getting sick of the way you talk about my children, just because you either can't have any or hate children…doesn't mean you need to be such a bitch to us who do. So no I won't help you out…because I don't believe anything that you just said to be true. Now I'm going to be leaving now and yeah I might just go find something else!!" Jazmin turns away proud of herself for actually speaking her mind for once. She starts walking away from her boss… Maudeline sighs sharply and shakes her head…"foolish child." She raises her finger on her left hand and as  Jazmin turns around to respond to the snide rebuttal…she feels something slide around her neck and latch on snugly, from seemingly out of nowhere. "What the fuck! What the actual fuck. Explain this right now…this is totally uncalled for!" Jazmin reaches up as she turns back around, desperately wanting to get out of this hallway and get some help. She bumps into the last person she expects to find. Jazmin takes a step back staring up at the  towering security guard.  "Hmmm I think I told you to watch your attitude!" He chides as he tips his cap to the boss. "Where did you come from?? And what the fuck did you put on my neck? What the fuck is going on….this situation has amplified really quickly…for no reason at all." The guard doesn't say anything else instead he simply tosses a remote to his employer before slipping away via a hidden door. Jazmin turns back very slowly towards Maudeline who holds up the remote. "I tried to act normal, I've been told that I need to act like a human being instead of a robot. But the problem with people today is they think way too much. Having intelligence is one thing but it's only useful when it's free of useless thoughts. You are a seemingly intelligent person based on what you do here…but you ruin it with your mouth…it's pitiful but it can be corrected." As Maude speaks the words assault her employees mind, striking fear and panic with every syllable. Jazmin is absolutely gripped with fear but is also incredibly confused as to what is happening. "What are you talking about?!" Maude turns on the remote and Jazmin feels a small bit of warmth…before she reaches up and tries desperately to find a seam or a locking mechanism. She looks at her boss as fear overcomes her…"I…I can't find a seam at all.. what did you do…look you better remove it at once. You are teetering on a very thin line between legal and illegal. Remove it and I will help you for free, just let me leave." Maudeline starts to laugh albeit only briefly…"Hahaha oh that's rich…and absolutely adorable. The collar is a true infinity collar, it is unable to be removed nor will it. Jazmin you really have had blinders on for some time haven't you. All fortune 500 companies dabble along the lines of legal and illegal…and again you had the chance to be able to leave. But enough chit chat…I'm growing tired of listening to your insufferable voice." Maude presses a single button and suddenly Jazmin's arms go from clawing at the metal collar to immediately at her sides. Her face is relaxed but extremely tense and terrified…she desperately tries in vain to move or speak but nothing happens. [Inside of her mind, Jazmin is petrified with fear…"what just happened…I can't move a single muscle. My mouth won't even remotely budge…. what is going on…this insane…I'm being kidnapped by my own body!!] Maudeline takes the time to admire the sudden peace and tranquility. "Ah that's better, I can hear my own thoughts…but I don't have time to listen to them. Turn around and walk beside me. But wait before you do that…I want you to walk like a pie-faced drunk and say "there's no strings on me!" Jazmin takes a few steps forward staggering and looking tepid with each step before saying as instructed…"there's no strings on me!" Maude's face turns to a disgusted look. "Ugh I thought it would be funny but your voice ruins it."  She shakes her head before walking towards the first door they entered from…and Jazmin to  her surprise, she walks relaxed and normal stride for stride with her boss. "You see Jazmin, we have been developing a way to streamline this reprogramming process…well my loyal employees have been anyway after I corrected them. And they came up with the collar around your neck…right now it's a simple control collar. You are completely under my control…well okay…your body is under my control. Your mind is scrambling trying to figure out how to recover…leaving you a prisoner in your own body. I imagine it is an extremely terrifying experience…and that makes it even better." As they walk Jazmin's mind is absolutely desperately trying to figure out a solution…her thoughts turn to her children she will never see again. ["Think damnit, I must find a way to win…I can't let her win…I'm sorry.. Maxi, Harvey and Jade…Mommy loves you.  I can't figure out how this is even remotely possible let alone how to get out."] She is no longer in control and that is in itself terrifying but the worst part of this all is how avoidable it all was. They leave the hidden corridor and make their way to Jazmin's office…and to her surprise, not a single employee stops to question what they witness. Including the gaggle of gossip ladies…instead they have something new to gossip about.. Jazmin's office is moderately sized and adequately equipped for her job. Maudeline picks up a framed picture of Jazmin's children and chuckles…"well I did tell you to think about them before you made your decision. Oh well your loss…now if you will be so kind. Sit down and do what I asked so nicely!" Jazmin moves without hesitation and sits down before moving into an almost autopilot state. She logs in to her computer and then into an override program, granting her effortless access to everything and everyone's computer. She located Maudeline's main computer and brought up her emails. Internally she is screaming and frantically trying to take back control…as her body moves on the demands of another. ["STOP PLEASE JUST STOP…. THIS IS NO LONGER AMUSING…. YOU CAN'T TREAT ME LIKE A ROBOT…IT'S ABSOLUTELY INHUMAN"]   After a few minutes, she has the emails in question unencrypted and Maudeline lets her read them. Jazmin goes white as a ghost while reading the emails, though they seem slightly doctored to her. ["Hhhm this doesn't sound like anything Bert would ever send or do. But then again considering what I'm going through currently maybe he was right to take a risk. I just hope these emails reached who they were supposed to reach. I want desperately wish I could forward this to everyone."]  Once she is satisfied, Maude pulls out a jump drive from her pocket and plugs it into the tower.  "Now be a good employee and return to your desktop and download the file from the jump drive. I'm going to try something unique and because I don't have any use for you once you have been corrected. You see I don't want to lose your intelligent mind but you no longer have a use for it. So I'm hoping to be able to download your mind onto a jump drive…just the good stuff." Without the ability to resist, Jazmin does what she is told…all while her internal panic has reached an absolute fever pitch. ["No no no no, please don't do this to me…I don't want to be a brainwashed drone or a mindless husk of skin. Please wait no……..!"] Jazmin is helpless as her hand moves over to the drive…. CLICK Internally Jazmin felt her heart dropping. She is slowly going to be reduced to nothing but some odd flesh robot for her deranged bitch of a boss. The term terrified beyond belief is nowhere near what Jazmin is experiencing. Outside tears run down her face otherwise she is completely motionless and silent. The first memory to be taken away from her was her first day of public school…["No, that is a good memory…it was comforting"]. As more of her past is removed from her memory she barely has time to say goodbye to her family and childhood friends, [.... I'm so sorry momma and dad, I will always love you.. fuck I can't even remember their names anymore, I can't remember anyone from my childhood anymore. I can't even picture what anyone or anything looks like. God this is demoralizing and dehumanizing…this has to be what elderly people deal with but at a slower pace. I'm watching a green bar slowly but surely fill up and my memories are gone for good. And that sadistic bitch wins!"] Next comes a mixed bag of memories but nevertheless important to what makes Jazmin herself. ["I know what is going to be leaving soon…my college days. I'm going to be losing my knowledge of everything that I learned my two degrees and all of those positive memories. But I'm also going to be losing all of the memories of the bullies and the humiliation."] It's not long and those start to slip away, one into a drive and the rest into the trash bin. Jazmin struggles with trying to remember what makes her unique but it's all being stripped away fast and without permission. She would've thanked this bitch for deleting the memory and the trauma of who her first child's father was but unfortunately it also means she no longer remembers she has three kids instead of two. ["Nooo, noo fuck noooo I know I have three kids…you bitch how could you do this to me…I survived worse and came away with something beautiful……and now I can't remember ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED. I CAN'T REMEMBER MY CHILDHOOD AT ALL…. NOT ONE FUCKING THING AND YOU JUST TOOK AWAY MY COLLEGE DAYS AND WHAT HAPPEN TO ME. ALL BECAUSE YOU DEEM ME WHAT…. BROKEN?"] Jazmin internally lashes out but it's failing to make a difference. Maudeline takes note of the progress and is quite pleased with how quickly it's going along. "Oh yes this is coming along quite smoothly.. Soon you will be a perfect employee. Everyone will be perfect employees once corrected. But since you thought so little of me..I have a special position for you." Maudeline quips while creepily caressing Jazmin's chin.  ["What do you mean you twisted bitch…stop this. It's clear you have won why continue to rub it in even more….NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"] In the middle of her internal rant and plea…the memories of her other children fade away along with the last few strands of her intelligent mind. Leaving her with minimal knowledge and no memory of her own existence. ["No I can't remember anything about myself, no matter how hard I try…nothing comes to me…I don't even know where I am or what I'm sitting in front of. Why I don't even know what I did to deserve this…whatever this is."] Maudeline waves her right hand in front of Jazmin's face as a final tear runs down her face. She looks at the screen…"ah one hundred percent complete. All useless memories and knowledge is deleted. All that is left is motor functions and simple basic vocabulary. Now for the final stage. But before I do just let me go ahead and empty the trash bin" Maudeline empties the trash bin effectively erasing Jazmin from existence. She presses another button and says "Install Slave program. Designate Maudeline Dembroski as Mistress Reduce name to simply Jazbot, set sexual orientation as Lesbian. Download complete knowledge of female oral pleasure. Set obedience level at 100 percent. Quell inter monologue and turn it into a ai to reflect current parameters. Turn the hair on the scalp into wig material" Maudeline waits for everything to download before releasing control and letting her toy have free reign. After five minutes she releases her toy and asks her a simple but loaded question. Jazmin struggles as her new programming is installed. ["Wait no…I don't want to download any of this…" Downloading……. Please don't turn it off.] Jazmin's internal dialogue tapers off and is turned into an AI program… "Who are you and who am I?" Jazmin turns around on her own and looks up at Maudeline and after a brief tense moment she smiles. "I'm Jazbot and you are my Mistress Maudeline Dembroski!"  Maude smiles "Perfect corrected employee..no more thoughts no more disobedience or back talk. Just simple obedience..but you are even better than other corrected employees. You are a living computer program…as well as my personal slave, now strip and remove your wig before kneeling. While you are at it, I want you to rub your smooth head and smile. After that turn your disgusting irritating voice into a more sensual robotic tone like Alexa." Jazbot gets up and starts to strip as she was instructed. "Why of course, my Owner." She coldly replies as she takes off her clothing and her hair now high dollar wig before rubbing her smooth head smiling. The naked human robot has two semi sleeved arms, the work is not great making it hard to tell what they are supposed to be. Her small perky b cups breasts are barely even to tell she is a female. Her rail thin body makes Maudeline wonder how she was able to have offspring without dying.  Jazbot kneels down and looks up at her Mistress and obediently submits "I belong to you Mistress, one hundred percent." As she finishes her vocabulary dwindles to practically nothing. "Good Jazbot, if you prove your worth more than a pleasure bot.. I'll upgrade your programming" Maude smirks. Unbeknownst to Maudeline, Bethany, a fellow think tank employee and was Jazmin's second in command, has come in to work on a small project in the adjoining office. She had accidentally overheard everything and was recording everything she was hearing. She was about to send it to someone else when…. "Beep beep" Maudeline's cold smile widens as she turns her attention to the adjoining office
