Episode 1: Descent

[Tomas]

Walking to the head of the table, Ling, CEO of Jailbait Inc. cleared her throat, bringing the meeting to order.  She let her gaze take in her most trusted employees.  There weren't many of them, but they had all been here when she started the company.  And who would have thought it would have grown so much.  Who would have thought it'd have still existed after the whole Love Cookie/ISO mess years ago.

Again, she let her eyes gaze around the room at her underlings.  The eyes stopped on the one empty seat at the table.  Her eyes narrowed.  Quietly, she whispered, "Just where is Tomas?"

Taka, head of Security, frowned.  "Well, his ID passed through the scanners an hour or so ago.  He's somewhere in the building."  Not that he really cared.  Tomas caused more problems for him then anyone.
Well, anyone but Kwok.  That bastard.

Tallan, head of the Command Center, shrugged.  "No clue, Ling.  Hell,
knowing him, he probably came across some cute girl and started
flirting."

Ling rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything, the door to the conference room opened, and the missing man entered.  Unlike the others who were dressed in business attire, he came in wearing only a
pair of jeans and shoes.  A towel was thrown over his shoulders and his hair was dripping water.

"Sorry for being late."  Tomas yawned, his mouth gaping open as a hand came up to cover it.  "I had a long night."  Letting himself drop into the open chair, he turned his gaze to Ling.  "The check's with accounting.  Next time, send Kwok though.  I need to start getting some sleep."

Ling raised an eyebrow at all this, and gave a scowl to go with it.  "Send Kwok?  What are you, stupid?  If Kwok went out with any of our upper clients we'd go out of business for sure."

"Hey! Take that back!"  The man in question was easily offended by all this.  Not that it was something new, but they always went on and on.  Couldn't they let that damn incident go?  It wasn't like the goat minded, hell, it even enjoyed it.  At least, that's what Kwok thought.

"Why should they?  You're the one that mistook a GOAT for our client.  And then you..."  Ace gagged at the mere thought of what Kwok and the goat had done.  That was just plain...wrong.  Hell, the whole Kwok, Sera, Akane thing had been better then the goat had.  And that was saying something.

Tomas, however, gave a shrug.  "Fine then, send Serafita.  He's as good as I am.  Hell, he's probably better.  And I wouldn't mind staying here and keep you company while he's out, Ling, just like last week."

"WHAT!"  Tallan stood up and pointed a trembling finger at his shirtless riend.  "How DARE you!"  And why couldn't it have been me, he thought.

Tomas, however, blinked.  "What?  We're not allowed to get Chinese take out and eat in the cafeteria anymore?"  Tomas dropped his head into his  hands.  "Damn it, why doesn't anyone tell me these new rules BEFORE I break them?  Now I'm going to get fined again, aren't I"

"Tallan," Ling spoke with her authority voice, "sit down and shut up.  Unlike you, Tomas doesn't get girls drunk and try to seduce them."  She still hadn't let THAT particular incident go, either.  Before Tallan could
object, however, she continued.  "And Tomas, this is NOT permission for you to try to seduce me without getting me drunk, got it?"  

Tomas gave a slight shrug.  "Hey, I wouldn't do that.  Everyone here knows you have a thing for Sera.  I'd never try to poach on his territory."

"Territory?"  Ling almost growled the word, and the flat stare she gave Tomas spoke volumes.  

"Hehe," the man scratched the back of his head, "poor choice of words, right?"

"Yes."  Before the conversation could degrade more, however, Ling brought the meeting back to its point, which, oddly enough, was *not* whether or not she was Serafita's property.  "Now then, to start this
meeting.  It appears that..." She stopped and looked over the faces of those present.  "Wait a second...where is Serafita, anyway?  His chair isn't even here."  How was she supposed to run a meeting without her Sera to look at?  She'd be forced now to look at Tomas, or Tallan, or Taka, or even Kwok.  She shivered in fear.

Taka frowned.  "I'm not sure.  I passed him on my way here.  He was headed down to the showers it seemed.  He said he had something else to do and that Tallan had cleared him for it."

Everyone in the room to look at Tallan.  "Umm....I haven't seen him since this morning.  Some girl came to see him, and I got stuck with getting him for her.  He said he'd be here."

Ling blinked, and then her face drained to white.  Without hesitation she shot out of her chair and raced out of the room.

Taka blinked for a moment before shrugging and pointing to the open door.  "Follow her!"

The room emptied fast.

***

Meanwhile, downstairs in the lobby, the Angel in question was busy blushing bad.  "But mom...why'd ya have to come here?"  This was bad.  He had to be in a meeting, and here his mom was visiting and asking to
be shown around work.

"Sera, honey, I told you a month ago that I would be coming today."

Serafita sweatdropped.  He didn't recall that.

Hmm...but then, there was that mess with those chemicals getting loose from the tech labs three weeks ago.  Everyone kept forgetting stuff.  This could get to be really bad.

"Umm...mom, really, this isn't the best of times.  There's a big meeting I got to get to and stuff..."  The kind angel began to sweat.  He really, REALLY didn't want his mom to meet anyone.  The fact thatshe'd already met Taka was bad enough.  "Can we do this, you know,
tomorrow?"

++++

Everyone clattered behind her; vaguely, she heard her secretary wail that it would only end in tears; everyone knew what Sera was like with women.  Or rather, what women were like with Serafita.  Ling knew damn
well what women were like with him, and as a result, she was running very, very fast.

Serafita was not to be compromised.

She knew very well that the only reason he remained at his post was because she begged him to, pleaded with him to, would have done anything to get him to stay.  He'd signed onto the corporation when it was still fledgling, barely afloat; and now, four years and four
hundred million dollars made through varying degrees of legality later, he was very ready to leave.  She didn't know *why* he was talking to some woman, but it was worrisome, all the same.  As far as Jailbait Incorporated went, one of the most profitable divisions was undoubtedly the 'escorts unlimited' service, either that or the secret weapons development lab.  It was a tossup on some days (especially when Tomas was bringing her checks of uneasy origin).

They'd lost a fortune cleaning up the Love Cookie incident quietly.  Thankfully, that had cleaned itself up when she'd decided to sell small batches of it to the makers of sexual aid medicines, it was a backdoor
trade, but had made a pretty penny.  Thereafter, the ISO organization had been bribed with several of Jailbait's most vivacious wenches and prettyboys.  Oh, sure, Ling had felt bad sending them off to repressed
office workers, but they had to understand the pain of sexual disappointment someday.  She thought it would be a learning experience.

Even so, Jailbait was still in economic recovery, they couldn't stand to lose one of their largest moneymakers.

Hitting the last three steps, her shoes clicked against the marble of the lobby and Ling took two huffing lunges forward before leaning against the reception desk, breathing hard.  The receptionist, for her part, was paid moderately well to see and hear nothing of any oddity, so she blithely went on putting people on hold and ignoring the sudden crowd of high-level corporate officers in various states of undress.  
These things tended to happen a lot while Ling was in town.  Even more so when the "companionship program" was taking clients.

In the four seconds before her left lung gave out, Ling was able to see three things of great importance:

1. The woman in question was well within the age range of one of their
typical female customers.
2. She seemed a bit removed from wanting to be in Sera's pants.
3. She looked very, very frightened.

'Well then,' she thought, 'business as usual.'

"Who...is...this...lovely...woman?" Ling finally managed to huff.

Serafita wheeled around to see the entire boardroom behind him, his mother's eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open in horrified shock.  

If he weren't obligated to be so manly since that "incident" with Kwok, he would have fainted dead away.

And then Tomas opened his mouth.

+++++

[acetalon]

Ace interrupted Tomas by placing his hand over Tomas' shoulder.

"Before you say ANYTHING to her, think about who she is for a second,"  He whispered urgently.  "I mean, c'mon.  Flirting with Sera's client is...well, stepping in his territory."  

Not to mention the millions, maybe billions, that'll be lost if Sera goes AWOL because of it.

"Bah,"  Tomas shrugged Ace's hand off.  "I'm sure Lin-san wouldn't have a problem with it.  It would free up more alone time for whatever those two do when they're alone.

"Besides,"  he said, grinning.  "I bring in just as much, if not more, than Sera does from the companionship program."  

With that said, he turned around to address the lady next to Sera.

[Tomas]

Again, before Tomas could say anything, he was beaten to the punch.  Unfortunately for all involved, it was Kwok who did so.

During the brief attention that the conversation between Tomas and Ace drew, Kwok had managed to move himself next to the woman.  A sloppy grin came to his face as he looked at her.  She was a bit on the short side, had long black hair, and a smooth face.  He eyes were a sharp blue that seemed to take everything in.

Kwok, of course, was smitten.  "Hey babe!  Forget the half winged angel.  I'd love to show you a time that even a goat would enjoy!"

The woman's eyes widened and a shocked expression covered her face.  Then her arm came back and whipped forward, slamming into Kwok's face and sending him across the room and into the wall.

Tomas, seeing this, took a step back and pushed Ace forward.  "You speak to her.  I perfer my clients...gentler."

Ace blinked for a moment and started walking backwards, trying to force Tomas back.  "Uh-huh, not me.  Kwok can keep her."

Serafita, meanwhile, fell to his knees and barried his face in his hands.  "Why me?"

Lin, meanwhile, had caught her breath.  "I'm sorry about that.  There was an...accident awhile back.  Kwok never really recovered."

"Yeah," Tallan pipped up from the back.  "After doing Sera in the ass and Akane, I doubt he'll ever be the same."  There, he thought, that should make him look good.

[Kwokinator]

"Why you!!" Kwok almost leapt forward and retailiated, then he realized that his attacker was female.  A cute one at that. "Like you're any better, Tallan.  No one even knows WHERE you've been."

"Why you?" he walked forward and draped an arm over Serafita's shoulder, grinning like a madman. "Because everybody LOVES you, that's why!"

Tomas snickered. "Yeah, especially YOU.  I still remember your... bouts with Serafita."

"Gosh, Tomas," Ling paled. "Did you HAVE to bring that up again?"

[acetalon]

"Yes I do.  Every time I see Kwok alive and kicking I do.  He's burned that image into my head forever and I'm gonna make sure he knows."  Tomas grinned.

Sera's mom, who was fairly shocked by this point, unconsciously grabbed Sera's arm for support.  

It was the other way around in Lin's mind, that Sera would need medical care soon.  She swore that she heard bone cracking when Sera collapsed to his knees in pain.

"Hey now,"  Taka crowed, stepping forward with a large grin.  "Miss, if you were into that sort of thing you should have called me.  Kinky games are my forte."

[Tomas]

"What...what...what....kind of place is this!?"  The woman seemed to be hyperventleating to everyone present.  Here eyes almost whipped around as they took everone in.

Take, however, frowned.  "You don't know?  Why the hell did you come here then?"  Psycho bitches weren't his forte, and he wasn't really planning on sticking around, not if there was a risk he'd get smacked through the wall like Kwok.

Speaking of who, had stepped back from Sera when the woman grabbed onto the angel.  "This place does everything.  Why?"

"No," Tomas replied, "You do everything.  The rest of us have better taste then that."

"Hey!"

"You two stop that!"  Ling spun and pointed a finger at the pair.  "Just...stop."  Turning back to the woman, Ling gave a tired sigh.  "I'm really sorry about this, ma'am.  Let me and Serafita here help you to one of our offices, and we can discuss your needs.  And our fees."

"Needs?"  the woman turned to face Sera.  "Serafita, honey, what kind of place is this?"

Ling's face blanched at those words.  Honey?  She had a pet name for him?  NO!  Her life was ruined!

"Umm...Mom..." Sera blanched as he tried to come up with something, "this is...umm..."

At that point the room came out of its collective shock and screamed at an ear shattering volume "MOM!?"

Tomas blinked for a few moments.  "Well, shit, so much for the practice."

"Umm..yeah," Ace said.  Seeing as how there was going to be no fun cat fight between Ling and the new girl, he decided to go to other topics.  "Say...why don't you have a shirt on, anyway?"

"Oh, well, you know Meg from accounting?  the cute one with the red hair and the green eyes?"

With a sigh, Ace shook his head.  "i don't think I need to know anymore."

[Kwokinator]

Kwok seemed like he did, however, because he went and socked Tomas in the side of the face. "Damn you Tomas!  I wanted her!  She was hot!"

Tallan snickered.  Looking at the CEO of Jailbait Inc., he waved a hand over the non-responsive young woman.

"Hello?" he smirked. "Earth to Ling!  Earth to Ling!  Your man toy is still safe, it's just his mom!"

Ling blinked out of her trance.  "Just her mom?  Oh that's alright then."

Walking up to the woman in question, she bowed politely. "I'm Ling, Sera's girlfriend.  Nice to meet you, mom."

Said mom's jaws almost dropped to the floor at the introduction.

[acetalon]

Tomas wiped his lip and grinned.

"That was a wussy punch, Kwok!  I know you can do better than that.  Anyways you're too late.  After what _I_ did to Meg, she won't want any other man."


Tallan stepped up, seeing a fight coming on.  He tapped Taka, Ace, and Sera on the shoulder.

"If you guys don't mind, I'll take Sera's mom to Sera's personal quarters.  She might take it easier with less people to deal with.  Sera?"  

"Yeah, I'm coming."  Sera  lamented his fate and pulled out his room key, complete with a little keychain with a picture of Ling in a plastic case, and headed for the elevator.

Ace wiped his forhead as the three disapeared in the elevator.  They still had a situation here.  Kwok and Tomas looked prepped for war.

"So...uh, is someone going to break up their fight?"

[Tomas]

The fight, however, was already broken, as Tomas simply ignored Kwok and spun.  "Wait a second...personal quarters?  We have freaking personal quarters?  Here, in this building?"

Ace looked at his friend and nodded.  "Yeah, we do.  What, you didn't know?"  There was a dumb struck look on his face.

"Of course I didn't know!"  Tomas sighed and sat on the ground, the punch Kwok had aimed for the back of his ehad passing over him.  "Damnit, I really am the last to knwo all these things."

Taka looked at Tomas and blinked.  "wait a second.  Where the hell do you sleep at night?"

"In an apartment I got down on 3rd and Long.  Why?"

Taka blinked again.  "How the hell can you afford an apartment there!?  That area is like thousands of dollars a month!"

"I work.  I get paid.  In money."  Pausing and thinking back to Meg, "And other things.  But the money tends to be large, as I bring in alot in commissions.."

"So THAT'S why the security is so fucked up!"  Taka pointed a trembling finger at Tomas.  "You go in and out every night!"

Before Tomas could respond, he got kicked in the back, sending him face first in a slide across the ground, having him end up by Ling.  Getting to his knees, he reached for Ling's waist and pulled out her stun-gun.  "I need to borrow this for just a second."  Then, to the surprise of Sera's mother and no one else, he shot Kwok, who promptly dropped to the ground in a twitching mess.

[Kwokinator]

"Damn it, Tomas!" Taka glared at Tomas. "What'd you do that for?  YOU haul his ass outta here!  I'm not doing it!"

"But you're the security officer," Tomas smirked.

"And I should bust your ass for doing that!"

"Alright, guys," Ling looked at the arguing duo. "That's enough out of you.  Now one of you haul that..."

She looked down at the crumpled heap of Kwok. "... thing out of here.  I'm going after Sera's as-err... Sera."

[acetalon]

Taka grumbled as he reached for a small walkie talkie.  It would have been a whole lot more satisfying if Tomas had taken that taser to himself as well.  Taka did snatch the taser from Tomas' grip though and turn it off.

He called two guards out to "Take the 'thing' to sickbay."

Ace cringed as he heard Ling's plan to follow.  It looked like she'd make it in time too, as Sera's mom had gone into a state of shock and had fallen to her knees in the elevator.  Ace immediately slipped between the CEO of Jailbait and the elevator door.

"Sorry, Ling-san, but I forgot to mention at the meeting, but I there's something wrong with the elevator doors.  

"God, I hope I'm doing the right thing,"  he thought.  Things would go so much more smoothly if Sera and Tallan could explain this by themselves.  Well, he hoped so.

He looked at Taka, who radioed security to cut off access to the elevator once the doors closed.

Tomas, picking up Ace's cue, tapped Lin-san's shoulder.

[Tomas]

Ling turned to face Tomas and gave him a flat look.  "What?"

"I was just wondering where this room of mine was.  I'd kinda like to see it."

"How should I know?"

"Well, you are the boss here, Ling."

With a sigh, Ling looked over at Tallan.  "Hey, where's Tomas' room suppossed to be?"

Tallan, bringing his mind back to the present from who knows where, gazed at Ling.  "I don't know.  Ask Tomas, he's right here."  His eyes narrowed.  "And why would you want to go there?"

Shaking her head, Ling turned back to Tomas.  "There, does that answer your question?"

With a grimace, Tomas shrugged.  "Yeah, I guess.  I'm going to head up to the command center and take a look at the floor plans.  It should be in there somewhere."

"Right."  The elevator then came to a stop, and Ace stepped out.  Ling followed, leading Serafita and his mother.  Tomas stepped aside to let the others through.  After everyone was off, it began moving up again, taking the man from sight.  With the elevator gone, Ling finally had the guts to ask the question.  "Ace, what happened to the elevator doors?"

Ace looked back to Sera and his mother, blushed slight and gave a nervous smile.  "Umm, its not too important, right?"

Taka, however, totally ignored that nervous look.  "Sera was with a client, and she wanted to grmph."

Taka was cut off when Sera had leapt forward, slapping a hand over the security agent's mouth.  "Don't say another word, got it?"

Pulling his head away from Sera's hand, Taka blinked.  "What, don't say you and that woman were fu mmph ghrph gmmph"

Again, Serafita's hand covered the other's mouth.  "Just shut up."  His voice was clearly tense and his eyes were both twitching.

[ling]

Ling thougt that maybe Sera would die if she didn't do something really quickly.  She cleared her throat, the the hallway full of people turned to look at her; while she didn't seem to hold much authority over a roomful of guncrazed lunatics and sex-addicts, she was still their boss.  It was her name at the bottom of their checks, and they were technically her bitches.

"I think I'll go and take Sera and his mother to their quarters," she smiled graciously at the older woman, who still looked shellshocked.  Ace was impressed: it took the heart of a truly shameless person to maintain such a calm appearance in such conditions.

The elder woman and Sera both smiled hopefully at Ling.

The younger woman jerked her head to the left and muttered hatefully at her staff:

"Get out of here, guys, and clean this place up."

They all scattered to the four winds, and the trio, smiling painfully at each other, headed up to more private places.

[acetalon]

"Sonofabitch,"  Taka muttered as he walked around aimlessly.  "Its not my fault that the elevator gets stuck.  If that pansy with wings would just stop overshooting the weight limit of the elevator with all those girls..."

And dammit, what was the head of security doing worrying about elevator problems?  That was someone else's job.

He brought his attention back to matters at hand.  Namely, unfucking the security system and getting some pants.  Now that he knew who was messing with security, he could finally get some work done on it.  As for the pants, they could wait.

"Hey, Taka!"  Tallan came running down to meet him.

"Tallan, how'd you get here so fast?"  Taka asked, confused.  Tallan had ran in the opposite direction.

"Nevermind that.  You have the security cameras set up, right?"

"Yeah, of course.  They've been up since last thursday."  After the many, many incidents that had happened in Jailbait Inc., Taka was forced to take measures.  Well, most of the incidents revolved around the angel, which was driving Ling crazy.  She nearly threatened to kill Taka if he didn't put up extra 'security' by the end of the week.  Forced him indeed.

"Nice!  Sound too?"

"Only where its needed most."

"Sera's room?"

"Definitely.  Say no more, Tallan, I know what you're getting at."  Taka grinned.  Hey, Sera's mom was a potential security hazard, right?  The other crap could wait.


Kwok was still having seizures as the two soldiers dumped him unceremoniously on the ground.  

"Hey, he the one who, you know, with the goat?"  One guard asked.

"Yeah, that's him."  The other guard shuddered.  "Make sure you wash your hands before your shift is done.  It might be infectious."  He took his gloves off and tossed them in the disposal unit too.  "Lets go before he wakes up."

"Maybe we should tazer him just in case?"

"Nah, don't chance it."

[Kwokinator]

Kwok woke up.

"Ugh..." he groaned. "What hit me?  Hey, there's nobody here..."

Then he remembered.  Last thing he saw was Tomas pointing the stun gun at him.

"Grr..." he growled. "I'm so gonna get you Tomas..."

He kicked the sickbay door open and made his way to where he thought most of the people would be.