A Tale of Two Masks

Despite the message Ashton had sent the CEO the night before, his day began like normal. No surprise calls to the office. Just the usual office gossip. It sounded like the extreme plan to take the heat off of the Shadow Phoenix discussion by claiming the death of the first villain went through. Of all people, they had chosen RefRain.

Ashton had met him a few times in villain training. He was bright and talented, but had ended up on the wrong side of some minor law. To get out of paying fines, he had started as a one off villain at SI, but since he had done so well they hired him full time. The problem was his hero partner, Scubadude. Scubadude was completely hopeless as a hero, and once RefRain ran out of ideas to make their battles exciting, he was given a new role. Comedic relief.

At the time, RefRain had ranted furiously to anyone who would listen. He had started long before Ashton, and had even gone through a couple heroes. He got pretty quiet after being called to a private meeting by the manager who oversaw all the villains. Ashton wasn’t sure what had happened to him after that, and he doubted he would get any answers he liked if he asked, so he went about business as usual.

The problems started after his lunch break. A video leaking confidential information had been released, and SI had only caught it once it had already reached over a thousand views. Ashton was called to another meeting with the CEO, but this time all the department heads were there too.

“Have you seen it?” Amos asked.

Ashton, who was widely unaware of the passing internet trends had no idea what he was talking about. “Have I seen what?” he asked back, painfully aware of all of the eyes drilling into him.

In response, the CEO had his secretary pull a video up on the projector. “This.”

The video was titled “Secrets of SI Revealed 9th Reposting”.

The title alone promised bad news, but Ashton had a terrible sinking feeling when he saw RefRain in full costume on the thumbnail. With no other words, Amos directed for the secretary to start the video.

“Surprised to see me alive and healthy?” it opened, “I promise SI isn’t. My death, and every act I have ever done as a villain was all a sham. Listen close, and I will tell you everything.”

They skipped through the basic explanation of the inner workings of SI, to a special message just for Shadow Phoenix.

“Shadow Phoenix, if you end up watching this, please listen to their warning. It’s too late for me, but you still have a chance. Show those fakes at SI that they never should have mocked us! They can protect you from that awful place.”

Amos immediately stopped the video after that, seeming relieved by Ashton’s incredulous expression. “I take it you have no idea what this is about,” he guessed.

“Everything I know, I sent straight to you,” Ashton replied. He was confident because of his immediate responses. Had he been forced to reveal the emails here, things might have taken a turn for the worst.

“You did,” the CEO confirmed, “But I must ask, why do you think this mysterious force is so eager to recruit you?”

At this, Ashton paused, trying to think of anything he might have done as Shadow Phoenix to warrant this kind of attention. In the end, he could only think of the one thing. “Is it because I quit on camera?”

Amos did not seem to like that answer, but he didn’t have anything better. “Let’s hope that is their only reason for interest in you. Just in case, I will instruct another villain to use the same tactic and see what happens. It might just seem like they are following your example, though.”

“If he is all clear, we need to choose our next move before it is too late,” the head of HR broke in, “This is a serious information leak, and our partners won’t stand for it.”

“The next step is obvious, isn’t it?” a woman from the script department pointed out, “That idiot reveals his real name in the video. Anyone can find out he has a record. Let’s use that against him.”

“Tank his credibility? That might be our best move. If only we could all look as annoyed but confident as the famous Shadow Phoenix.”

Ashton had a distinct feeling that he was now involved in something he absolutely should not be. However, when he tried to leave, Amos shook his head. The discussion continued without him being able to leave or input anything.

In short, the police had already arrested Collin Mcshay, the true identity of RefRain, and were now working on the story that they would release to the public through their various connections. In the end, everyone’s stories were approved, each to be released from a different news medium to make it seem more legitimate. While they approached it from different angles, Collin’s arrest and criminal records were mentioned in each. With that set in motion, the conference moved onto their next topic; what to do with Ashton.

“We can’t just leave him in Hero Assignments. He is too easy to access,” one brought up.

“We also can’t send him back to being a villain. If he returns, it would be giving them exactly what they want.”

So this was why the CEO had stopped him from leaving. It was uncomfortable watching others decide your fate as if you weren’t there, but he supposed it was better than everything being decided without his knowledge. Without a solid place to interject, Ashton continued to just listen.

“How about we give him a higher position? No one will question it if he has a higher level of security.”

“What kind of position should we give him? We can’t just hand something out for free. He should at least be capable.”

Ideas for various positions from scriptwriting, to working in security itself were thrown around the table before Amos Wyndart himself spoke up.

“There is a position that matches his skill set perfectly,” he pointed out, “Let him be my personal assistant. Recently my secretary has been complaining that I send too much work her way that technically isn’t under her jurisdiction.”

There was some heated discussion for a few minutes, but the department heads were all convinced that this was the correct course of action. As usual, no one asked Ashton what he thought about the forced promotion. Then again, was it really going to be that much different from what he was already doing?

With everything decided, Ashton spent the rest of his shift moving everything over to his new office, and arranging all the appropriate documents for his exchange. Ashton wondered somewhat bitterly if he was the first employee to have to manage the papers for his own promotion. At least he was able to get a good idea of the pay increase involved, and that settled his annoyance at the situation quite a bit.

At the end of the day, Amos kicked him out. “I’ll be working you overtime plenty from now on, so take it easy today and tell your girlfriend about your promotion.”

Once he got home, Ashton obediently took out his phone, seeing the usual messages from Summer wishing him a good day at work. How would he even explain his promotion to her? There was no way he could tell her the reason, and jumping from a newbie in Hero Assignments to the CEO’s assistance was a ridiculous story. In the end, Ashton decided his best move was to be vague for now, and deal with any questions if and when she asked them.

“Good news, I got a promotion. I might have to work longer hours from now on, though.”

That message seemed fine, right? Unable to think of anything better, Ashton sent it. He hoped that whatever happened, Summer wouldn’t get dragged into this mess because of him. At least the mysterious messages seemed to have his interests in mind. Hopefully this meant that they wouldn’t pose much of a threat to his private life.