Shock and Outrage

Gloria's words hit Valerie like a shockwave. Her knees gave way as she tried to process what was happening, her expression blank with shock. She collapsed to the ground in a sitting position, her legs folded to the side while she tried her best to contain her breasts with her arms.

Her friends were much quicker to react. Priya took off her blazer and draped it over Valerie's shoulders, while Nina crouched down next to her friend and hugged her reassuringly.

Iris and Hawk erupted in outrage, walking forward in unison and positioning themselves in between Gloria and their friend, colleague (and more).

"How dare..." Iris started, seething. There was murder in her eyes as she approached the woman. Hawk intercepted her and stopped her with a gentle arm on her shoulder. He glanced at Iris and gave her a look as if to say, Let me try to reason with her.

"Miss...Gloria," he began, reading the name tag on her lapel. "This is a drastic step. As Valerie has just shown, she's one of the best we have. Surely this isn't the way to go about things."

Gloria seemed entirely unfazed in front of the taller and physically imposing man. "Agent Hawk," she calmly replied. "Might I remind you that you're also in probation, just like Agent - former Agent, I should say - Valerie. I have a whole file on you too. I order you to stand down, unless you want to make things worse for yourself."

There was a flash of rage in Hawk's eyes, but he composed himself. These are Organization grounds, he reminded himself in his head. Don't do anything rash. There were cameras everywhere.

"You can't do this," piped Iris from behind him, clearly not showing the same restraint. "Who the hell are you anyway? What gives you the authorization to fire anybody?"

"I'm operating under the instructions of Chief himself," Gloria proclaimed with pride. "I have full permission to evaluate every employee in the Organization and and their future employment in this agency. As you're no doubt aware, this includes field agents."

"That's ridiculous," Iris replied. She pulled out her phone from her purse and began typing furiously. Iris was herself pretty high up in the Org's hierarchy, and she had a lot of pull in her department. Hawk saw that she was looking at the Organization chart, while asking some of her coworkers to verify Gloria's claims.

To both his shock and hers, everyone replied with the same thing. Chief was absent until further notice, and he had nominated Gloria to act in his stead. For all intents and purpose, the former administrative assistant now had unchecked power.

They gazed at each other in shock, not knowing what to do. That's when they heard Valerie's voice from behind them.

"You planned all this," she said, rising up from her position on the ground. Hawk and Iris wordlessly parted for her as she walked up to Gloria until the two of them were face to face. "You knew this was going to happen. You set me up with the suit."

Despite Valerie's seething tone, Gloria remained the picture of calm as she looked Valerie directly in the eye. "Serious accusations, Miss Valerie. Do you have any evidence to back your claims?"

Valerie's palms balled into fists. She knew what had happened, but she also knew that she didn't have any definitive proof. Not to mention, Gloria had likely made sure there would be no proof to find.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence in the arena as everyone glared at Gloria, who seemed to almost revel in the attention. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally spoke again, staring directly at Valerie.

"Well, if you have nothing else to say, then I suggest you vacate the premises with immediate effect."

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