Mingle

Although Destiny had convinced Talia to put in place SOME emotional suppressant field, it was as bare bones as it could get. Fortunately, however, nobody was violent. Most of them just assumed it was a joke.

After the video ended, Morgan, Katie, and Helen all immediately left the meeting room and started collecting their things before heading for the elevator. Katie was pestering Helen to validate how absurd the situation was while both Helen and Morgan fumed silently. Nobody was going to stop them from leaving the building.

Kenna, the cougar with daughter issues just broke down crying. “I… I really needed this.” She sobbed into her palms. Mitch was quick to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, his new apprentice attaching herself to his hip for guidance. What a savior complex, Morgan thought to herself, turning away from her sworn rival.

“I… I don’t understand.” Sandra shook her head, refusing to look anywhere but at Mitch.

“We’ve been tricked.” He shook his head, crouching down and slipping a business card into Kenna’s lap. “Hey, this was cruel. I had no idea. You email your CV to the address on this card and I’ll see to it that it gets to everyone in my network.” He looked up at Sandra with kind eyes putting on a brave face. “You, too.”

He turned his attention to Rachel and Naomi, both of whom were passed out. The mellowing emotional field was enough to push both of them into slumber on account of their sleep deprivation. At first Destiny was certain that this was going to make for bad television. At that moment it was just depressing. A crying mother, distressed sorority girl, sleeping addicts—the silent elevator ride wasn’t exactly thrilling either.

But Talia understood the power of the edit. The contestants were trapped in a box filled to the brim with landmines. It would only be a matter of time before someone would step on one. Destiny just hoped it wouldn’t be too much too soon.

“How could you pull such a cruel joke?” Mitch finally turned his attention to Destiny, finding Kenna inconsolable. “We uprooted our lives for this job!”

Destiny smiled wide, deciding to commit to the performance, even if she thought it was stupid. “I assure you, you have not been deceived.”

“You preyed on such vulnerable people. Students, parents, people out of work–I mean you brought those two drug addicts here for what? Laughs?”

Destiny was beginning to see why Mitch had been selected to be the first boss instead of someone like Morgan. He could have an edge to him. Not just giftcards and handshakes, he had principles. Corrupting him would be fun.

“Only one of them is a drug addict. The other is a porn addict.” She corrected him, to his horror. “And yes, they’re here for laughs. The same as the rest of you. That doesn’t make your situation less real.”

Morgan

Of course it had been too good to be true. $85,000 starting salary at a company she couldn’t research, selling a product she couldn’t find, in a building she’d never heard of. And HIM. Of course HE was a part of it.

Morgan slipped through the office with her head held high and dignified. She wasn’t giving these freaks the satisfaction of a reaction. She didn’t need to know how the trick was done, nor would she entertain for a second their attempts to smooth over this ‘tv prank’ with some payout. She was going back to her apartment and getting a lawyer. This was not the contract she signed.

Grabbing her purse from the cubicle she’d left it at, she rifled through it in search of anything missing as she made her way to the elevator. “Helen, a TV show could be fun!” The one girl with messy hair argued to her sister, trying to placate her. Morgan recognized that look in the taller one’s eyes. Furious determination. Morgan knew it well, and so knew that one would land on her feet in this world. Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a business card and handed it to Helen, interrupting the pleading sister.

“You give me a call when you’re ready for a real job.” Then she turned around and walked into the open elevator with its too many buttons. Helen and her sister followed her in.

“Weird kind of prank.” Katie admitted as they scooched in. Obviously this was a trick. There was no building in Seattle this tall, and there was no way they could see the Space Needle from the west side of the building. She had sussed something was fishy, but a fake elevator and TV screen windows should have been higher up on her suspicions.

“Illegal kind of prank.” Morgan scoffed, examining the panel. She was certain that the elevator did actually function, but it most certainly did not have so many floors available to it as the panel would suggest. Rolling her eyes, Morgan examined the panel, finding the button labeled LOBBY. The other buttons were white acrylic that lit up, but the button for the lobby seemed to be covered in cardstock paper with a black and gold art deco pattern of the company logo. She pressed it without a second thought, watching as the cardstock evaporated under her finger, the button transforming into the white acrylic like its brethren.

A business card of the same black and gold pattern appeared in her hand, and as the doors to the elevator slid shut, she felt a compulsion outside her own control to lift up the business card and read it.

PUNITIVE CARD:
EXTREME PUNISHMENT– Because you are the first to leave before the work day is over, you have been issued the following punishment:
Why the Rush?: All modes of transportation you take are now powered by anal insertion. The larger the insertion and more vigorous the pumping, the more effective and fast the trip will be.

Ugh, thought Destiny, so extreme! That should be a challenge punishment! Not some random tripwire! But she knew that such was the nature of Blitzing. The goal was to try and eliminate someone early. To spiral everything out of control to drive up engagement.

The business card disappeared, leaving her hand empty and the elevator stopped abruptly, shaking violently and sending her crashing into the wall and Katie to the floor. Staring at her hand having just seen a business card materialize and evaporate, Morgan realized that they were watching her. She didn’t know how they did the trick but it didn’t matter. She was giving them a reaction. So she steadied herself, took a deep breath, and grabbed her phone, dialing 911.

“What the fuck?”

“Helen, I’m scared!”

“Relax, I’m calling 911. If these psychos don’t start the elevator it’s gonna be another million they owe us.”

After a few rings, a voice answered. The same voice as that insane bitch who gave the orientation. “Hello, your call cannot be placed as you are in a separate dimension. Please don’t try again.” Her phone clicked and the line dropped.

They were blocking her signal. Great. They needed a saturation attack, surely one of them would get through. “Get your phones and call 911.” She ordered the younger women.

“W-what? I thought you—“ Katie sniffled as Helen wordlessly reached for her phone.

“They’re interfering with the signal. One of us is bound to get through if we keep trying.” Morgan said sharply. She pulled the phone from her face and sent her finger to the redial button. She recognized too late that the button on her phone was now black and gold. As soon as she pressed it, another business card appeared in her hand, which she was compelled to read despite herself.

PUNITIVE CARD:
MODERATE PUNISHMENT– We told you not to try again. Making false emergencies has netted you the following punishment:
Phone Privileges: Your smart phone has all backgrounds replaced with pornography.

“What the fuck was that? Where did that card come from?” Katie shrieked, piercing Morgan’s ears.

“Oh, ew. Dude.” Helen said, glancing at Morgan’s phone. The background displaying a looping gif of a woman furiously masturbating.

“They hacked my phone.” Morgan flipped the bird to the camera watching the elevator.

“Woah, what the shit…” Helen lowered her phone, having gotten the same message as Morgan. And like Morgan, she pressed the redial button, a card suddenly appearing in her hand.

PUNITIVE CARD:
MODERATE PUNISHMENT– We told you not to try again. Making false emergencies has netted you the following punishment:
Jacked from Jilled: 15% increase to muscles involved during last masturbation session.

Disappearing a moment later as she suddenly jerked her body in reaction to some uncomfortable feeling. Instinctively, her hand slipped under her shirt and she gasped. “My—my abs!”

“What? What?” Katie cried.

“I’m shredded! Th-the card I couldn’t look away. Katie I don’t think they were fucking with us up there!”

Morgan tried to tune the two of them out as she once again pressed the lobby button, trying to get the elevator to start its descent. One press, nothing. Another, nothing. Soon she was slamming the button in rapid succession without results. When she could no longer ignore the sisters, she saw that Helen’s shirt was now unbuttoned, Katie running horrified fingers over what were admittedly gorgeous abs.

Oh great… trapped in an elevator with two young pretty girls taking their clothes off. It was too obvious. They were really jumping the shark. “So you’re in on it?” Morgan accused trying not to go ballistic and give them a reaction that would make good TV. The girls both looked at her with a good performance of fear.

“N-no! I swear, I saw her abs this morning and they were nowhere near this… oh my god, get me out of here!” Katie began spiraling, jamming her finger into the lobby button as if Morgan hadn’t tried that already.

Morgan commanded eye contact from Helen. “I’m not sticking anything up my ass, so just make the elevator go already.”

“What? Nobody was… Wait, you bitch! You’re in on this! Listen, just let me and my sister go, ok?”

“Yeah, right. Me in on this? You’re the one with your shirt open.”

“You magicked me into being jacked! I needed to see to believe.”

“Not buying it.”

“WHY WON’T THIS STUPID THING WORK!?” Katie slid her hand across the panel, desperately pressing each button. They all illuminated but nothing changed. The door stayed closed and the elevator stood still.

“I’m not putting anything in my ass so drop the act. I’m leaving.”

“Nobody’s telling you to put something in your ass!”

“Will you shut up with the crying, you fucking bimbo?” Morgan snapped at Katie. “I’m not falling for it.”

In an instant, Helen’s powerful hand wrapped around Morgan’s neck and she was being shoved into the elevator doors. Her head banged against the metal, the pain dulled by the shock.

“You do NOT talk to my sister that way.” Morgan could only nod in terrified agreement. They could hit her? This couldn’t be for TV. Not REAL TV. She began to realize that as insane as they were, her captors were more dangerous than she realized. “We’re not in on—“ The feeling of fingers around Morgan’s throat suddenly vanished, along with the woman.

No puff of smoke, no mirrors. Morgan’s eyes had been wide open and watched as the woman turned into open air. This wasn’t real. How could it be? This had to be a dream.

Yes! A dream! That explained everything. The impossible architecture, her body sometimes acting on its own, the absurd situation—all of it part of some weird sex dream. One that regetably involved the bastard who stole her job.

“Ohmygodwhatthefuck!” Katie pushed herself into a corner, pointing at the space her sister had just been. It was a high pitched shriek that hurt Morgan’s ears terribly to hear.

“Stop! Fucking! Screaming!”

“Ok! I’msorryi’msorry! Please just bring her back! I promise she won’t hit you again! Please!”

“I’m not in on it, ok? This is all just one big weird dream. And whenever I realize I’m dreaming, it means my alarm’s about to go off.” Morgan shook her shoulders free of goosebumps, closing her eyes and waiting for the scream of her alarm.

But all she heard was sobbing and pleading.

THE MEETING ROOM—SANDRA

Sandra felt a swirl of emotions, her fists balling up beside her and angry tears coming to her eyes. She had been so nervous—so excited! All for it to have just been some kind of practical joke? She wanted to start crying. She wanted to start raking her fingernails across the face of the CEO. But her new friend, Mitch, placed a gentle hand around her wrist, as if sensing what she was thinking. He was crouched down trying to comfort Kenna, the woman who was crying about paying for her daughter’s school,but he looked up at Sandra for a moment just to include her in what he was saying.

“Hey, I know this is a huge kick in the teeth. But they’re filming right now. We cannot give them content, ok? Let’s just keep our heads high and go, yeah?” He wore a brave face once again reminding Sandra of her dad and she calmed down enough. “Let’s all go to Starbucks and start calling lawyers together, ok?” He turned back to Kenna, rubbing her shoulder. “Yeah?”

She could only nod. But now that Sandra was calm, she could think. And her thoughts bothered her. “During the presentation,” she started, knitting her brow, “I couldn’t… do anything.” Mitch nodded, his calm expression marked with a hint of concern.

“Me neither.” He admitted, but quickly shook his head and stood. He was back to looking resolute and comforting. “Sandra, why don’t you help Kenna to the elevator while I try to wake up our other two friends?” He pointed to the two slumbering women in their seats.

Sandra nodded, taking over for him as she began consoling and guiding Kenna out of the room. Mitch was glad to see that he was right to give Sandra a responsibility so she could exert some control and ground herself. He always had a knack for identifying hidden leaders, and Sandra certainly was one.

Mitch ignored Talia, attempting to rouse the sleeping women from their seats. Rachel’s was a face he hadn’t anticipated seeing ever again. He had only recognized her after a few moments as their initial interaction months ago hadn’t been very long. She was homeless, sleeping in the dumpster corral outside his old job at an industrial shoe manufacturer. There had been a batch of their rainboots that had accidentally been dyed a horrid neon green color that nobody wanted to buy, so instead of calling the cops like his boss wanted him to do, he gifted her a pair, recognizing her shoes as having been effectively melted in the Arizona heat.

But that was the extent of their interaction. Seeing her pop up not only hundreds of miles away, but in the same building falling for the same ruse? It was serendipity. Or something much harsher.

Her eyes blinked open and she looked down at him with a resigned but spacey expression. “So, I suck your dick and I get paid?” She asked. For Rachel, this wasn’t exactly a mean spirited prank. For the most part, it was roughly what she had expected, except with some extra theatrics and words she didn’t fully understand. But ‘cock addict’ and ‘pussy addict’ she could at least infer from.

“No,” Mitch assured her. “No, I’m not asking you to do that.”

“I can do it.” She argued, trying to sit up better. “Please, I need money.”

“I’m not a part of this. They tricked us.”

“I need the money. I came so far.”

“I don’t think there’s any money, ma’am.”

Rachel’s eyes widened. Everything she’d done her whole life rushed past her. Mostly her mistakes. Mostly the drugs. Watching her family distance themselves and grow without her. Watching her sister excelling while Rachel stripped copper from pennies and wires behind dumpsters.

This was the culmination of her life? Could people be so cruel as to send her across the country for nothing more than the cost of rain boots and a bus ticket? $85,000 was enough to pay off her credit card debt. She was paralyzed in devastation until she saw the girl next to her, a pretty young asian girl, slip a hand down the front of her pants and start giggling that Rachel snapped.

“Please be real.” Naomi muttered, Mitch averting his gaze in shock. “Please, more than anything, let this be real.”

“Give me my money!” Rachel launched herself at Mitch, tackling him to the floor. Just as her hands went to claw his eyes, she pooffed out of existence. Mitch, heart racing, laid on his back panting in disbelief. He knew what he’d just seen. And it terrified him more than the raging heroine addict clawing at his eyes had.

He turned to Talia, who looked down on him, unimpressed as ever. “What did you…” He couldn’t finish his sentence.

“She’s safe. And so are you, now. Violence against employees is not tolerated here at Harem Incorporated. Oh, seems someone else just tried something inadvisable in the elevator.” She shook her head. “Rachel and Helen are unfortunately going to receive an additional punishment for assaulting fellow employees.”

She clicked a button on a remote and the projector suddenly displayed a new poll.

Due to Helen’s debt of 2 BP, her punishments will be somewhat harsher.

Mitch watched in horror as the numbers began to fluctuate. Destiny was growing nervous. So much voting this early? They hadn’t even gotten to the Best Girl—or rather, the Employee of the Week—Poll, yet. And all those transformations? Surely she couldn’t be serious putting all that on the table! But Destiny promised. First round, she’d let proceed as normal. As much as it pained her. But she’d be having some choice words with Talia that evening.

“You’re sick.” Mitch crawled backwards, away from Talia.

“Well, as their manager, this decision would usually be up to you.” Talia didn’t move an inch. “But we fear you may not be quite ready for the responsibility of your position. If you’d like, you can make the decision yourself and prove us wrong. But you’ll have to select two options from each. Just to show you can be ruthless.”

Mitch shook his head. This was insane! All of it was insane! Even choosing made him complicit in such evil! No, he couldn’t do that to anybody. Well, nobody but himself. “Punish me, instead.” He stopped crawling, trying to slow his breathing. Destiny cocked her head. And Talia, for the first time Destiny had seen, gave a small smile. Just a slight split of her lips, but a definite smile. “You said I’m their manager. I’m responsible for their failures and mistakes.” These girls were young and had their whole lives ahead of them. They couldn’t get wrapped up in this weird sex magic and get robbed of their identities and decency.

“Go on?” Talia purred.

Mitch stood up, straightening his tie and fixing his blazer. “I directed the girls to find snacks in the break room without checking policy.” He tried to keep a calm expression, knowing he was basically throwing himself under a bus hoping to stop it before it hit someone else. “I poorly explained the situation to Rachel and instigated her violent reaction. While she acted out of line, I could have done much better at addressing her feelings.

Talia thought for a moment. “They’re going to like you in the Employee of the Month poll, I think, Mr. Mitchell.” She nodded. “Finance will move the drink debt to your corporate account. Expect the matter to be resolved some time after voting concludes, today.”

“But that won’t stop the debt from influencing the resulting… changes.” Mitch argued, trying not to get too animated. He didn’t know what Talia was capable of, but surely she could have moved the debt with less than a snap of her fingers. She was trying to have it both ways.

“I’m afraid these things take time, Mr. Mitchell. As for the violent outbursts of your team, you will be held responsible if you so insist, but we will not suspend punishment for such gross violations of company policy that threaten employee safety.”

Not another poll, please don’t make another poll, Blitzer.

Talia pressed another button on her remote.

And she’s doing another poll. Interactivity isn’t the same as engagement, genius!

That did it, Destiny had to say something. This was just too much!

***

Destiny appeared before a camera in the lobby, putting on a clearly forced smile. She knew Talia would be checking the polls religiously. She Destiny had to go to the comments. “Hello viewers of this, uh, ‘exciting’ show of Harem Incorporated. My name is Destiny, one of the show runners this season! And, well, I’m addressing you, dear viewers, to solicit your feedback as to the performance of our show, so far!

We are quite early in, and have already had a lot happen, and even more, uh, scheduled to happen. With this said, we are quite early in and are thus, very responsive to audience feedback… we have a poll or twelve to prove it! And we’ll have another one soon for the Employee of the…” Destiny sighed, exacerbated. “It’s the Best Girl Poll, ok? Everyone knows what the Best Girl Poll is, we don’t need to cute everything up with hastily conceived corporate equivalents.”

“A-anyway! Before that, I just wanted to gather some opinions about the direction of this season, so far. So, in the comments, we would love to hear from each of you about how this Blitzing is going! Is it too much? It’s too much, isn’t it? Just say it’s too much and that you need to have some breathing room with the characters before they’re transformed repeatedly and that it’s kind of bullshit that transformations can just… happen because you found a business card or something. I mean, that was a bit extreme, right? Right?

“Ok, well, good talk. Hopefully. Seriously, get in the comments and let us know what’s not working, what is working… what’s not working—anything, really.” Destiny stood, awkwardly swaying for a moment, unsure how to end her spiel. It had been so long since she was in front of a camera.

“Here’s the Best Girl Poll. Okbye!”