A Gallery of Faces

"Hey there, I'm here from the plumbing company. Is this Mr. Klaus' place?"

Samuel Emmett tugged at his hat, trying to hide his nervousness. He hoped she wouldn't take too long of a look at his uniform, else she might notice how unfitting they were on him. He borrowed them from his dad, and he was at least 3 sizes larger than his scrawny son.

"Why yes, please, come in." The plump, blonde woman at the door answered with a professional smile. "I'm Judy, his personal assistant. I'll show you to the issue."

Sam could feel the sweat running down his back. His andernaline was pumping, but he tried to keep his cool. He knew she should have no reason to suspect anything was amiss, but if she found out his true intentions, there's no telling what may follow. He wasn't the first who tried to look into the shady actions of businessman Gregory H. Klaus, CEO of the Klaus-Lindman-Industries nanotech conglomerate. It was no secret that KLI often partook in shady activity, but whenever any journalist tried to expose them, they would be out in the streets before they could ever publish their findings. KLI was simply considered too big to take down. Still, Sam took the risk.

Call it stupidity or resolve, he knew If he was the one to take down this billionaire it would finally be the break he needs to become a respected journalist. And besides, he had an actual lead.

His friend Lindsey brought it up last time they were hanging at her place; she was an accountant for the city, and when going over Mr. Klaus' books she realized the numbers weren't adding up. She couldn't quite prove it to be tax fraud, so she sent it to her superiors. The next day, all evidence of any wrongdoing was gone. Which is exactly why Sam was here tonight, in Mr. Klaus' penthouse, posing as an plumber. If he could find some financial records, perhaps he could prove just how much the man was embezzling.

Judy lead the fake utility man through the huge apartment, around a corner and up a flight of stairs. The place was grand, there was no denying that, probably thrice as large than the average suburban home, only suburban homes weren't usually on top of a skyscraper. It was adorned with a sleek modern design of stone and wood, with everything being either in shades of grey, rich brown, or some other dark shades of blue and green.

Sam watched the small woman walk before him, her tight blonde ponytail bobbing up and down with each step. Despite being so tiny, she certainly didn't lack meat on her bones, and Sam found himself getting nervous around her the way he usually was with girls. Well, most girls. He was fine with Lindsey, but she was a Lesbian so that didn't count.

After what felt like ages just walking inside the apartment, Sam arrived at the large bathroom accompanying one of the bedrooms, where he was shown the object of his long treck.

"Here, the faucet is dripping." She said simply, pointing at a ceramic... He wanted to say sink? It was always hard to tell with these modern designs. To him it looked like something between a bidet and a hottub. Sam got on his knees and inspected the pipes, the way his dad always thought him. Judy continued. "The boss should be back in an hour and he is not too fond of visitors, so if you see it takes you longer than expected please inform me." She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She would be cute if her face wasn't so cold.

He nodded, looking at the sink. He could fix that in two minutes, but he she didn't have to know that. The more time he had to search the place, the better. "It shouldn't take that much time. I'll keep you updated." He answered, starting to fidget with the pipes. He wasn't really doing anything, he just wanted it to seem like more work than it really was.

"Perfect. Payment was already agreed with the company, so when you're done, feel free to just leave. I'd be downstairs if you need anything." She smiled professionally, as Sam pretended to get out his tools. She watched him in silence for a short moment, her grey eyes sizing him up and down. "Aren't you a bit young to be a plumber?"

"Oh, I work with my dad." That part wasnt a complete lie. He worked with his dad as a teen, but he hadn't done any plumbing work since he went to college. It was the first time he was thankful for his dad forcing him to work during all those summer breaks. He did feel bad for doing this behind his back, but he knew that if his dad knew he'd just try to coerse him into quitting journalism and working with him full time. Besides, he couldn't risk telling anyone his intentions. He didn't even tell Lindsey yet.

"Oh, that's lovely." She smiled thinly, and was gone without another word. He stayed on his knees for a moment more, and only when he heard the sound of the oak steps did he get up.

He got up slowly, taking steady steps out of the bathroom, peeking out to the corridor to make sure he's safe. He heard the soft sound of keys clacking, assuming Judy was working on something. Good. It should hopefully distract her for the time being.

Trying to balance quickness with stealth, he began opening drawers, trying to search for anything incriminating. Banknotes, receipts, contracts... Anything that gave him any picture on the true nature of Mr. Klaus' financial records.

The slow drip of the faucet quietly marked the passage of time as Sam searched to little avail. He found some recipets, one page that appeared to be a part of some form, but nothing that could really help him. 10 minutes... 20 minutes... He knew his plausible deniability was running out. He had to find something soon or it might get suspicious.

A distant noise took him out of his trance, nearly giving him a heart attack. He instinctively ducked. Was that the door?

He heared low murmurs, sounding like a male voice talking, but he couldn't make out the words. Was it Klaus? Has it been an hour already? No, that can't be. Who then?

His curiosity got the better of him, and he found himself treading steadily down the corridor, hoping to get a better sense of the conversation downstairs. He stopped short of the indoor balcony at the top of the stairs that looked over the main area. Soon the voice became clearer. One voice was Judy's, but the other he didn't recognize. It didn't sound like Klaus, this voice was too deep.

"Judy, you can't be serious. I thought Greg and I had an understanding. We agreed, I can't do recruiting again, I-"

Judy cut him off. She spoke much more quietly, Sam had to focus to figure out what she was saying. "Be quiet, the plumber is still here." She scorned him. "Either way, I don't care if you don't want to be a girl again. Mr. Klaus wants you as his recruitor, that's final."

Be a girl? Sam couldn't make sense of what they were talking about, but it sounded important if they were gonna be so secretive about it. When he spoke again, the man's voice was much softer. Sam had to take a few more cautious steps to make out what he was saying.

"I told you that was my last time. I want to be with my kid, I can't be gone for a whole semester again. My boy needs a dad." The man had a slight eastern European accent. The clack of Judy's heels seemed to silence him.

"So be his babysitter for all I care." She answered. Her voice was even quieter, almost a whisper, but sharp a knife. "Mr. Klaus wants you on that campus. He says he doesn't trust anyone on recruiting like you. He says you have... A way with **** men."

"No!" He protested, and quickly quieted again. Sam assumed Judy must've given him some look to silence him. "Are you seriously asking me to be some 20 year old bimbo for the fourth time? I want to maintain some sense of dignity! Greg and I had an understanding, I was to move to surveillance. I hired that virgin Kyle specifically so he could do that in my stead."

Samuel allowed himself to inch forward and peek around the corner, down on the lobby. Judy was facing away from him, talking to a muscly pale man twice her size. Yet for all his broadness, he seemed terrified of the short woman.

"Mr. Klaus gave you a chance at the mayor's office, Ivan. You were the one who chose to spend the entire time fucking your secretary, and you messed up our tax reports. I don't care if you have to suck a thousand dicks, if Gregory wants you there, you're gonna be there. Now put on the mask."

Sam's brain was working overtime. The mayor's office... were they talking about what Lindsey noticed? His heart leaped at the confirmation. It wasn't hard to assess what they were discussing- clearly they were talking about using a hot college girl to recruit **** men for... Whatever it is they're doing. Only... They were making it seem as if Ivan was that hot girl, or was gonna become her somehow?

Ivan's tough face seemed sour but defeated. With an almost sassy groan he turned to the black brick wall behind him, pressing one. A keypad appeared out of the stone.

"Code?" He asked coldly.

"19990102. You ought to have it memorized by now." Sam scrambled for his phone, quickly typing it down. He almost gave himself a heart attack when he heard the typing sound, but quickly silences his phone. Luckily the two conspirators didn't seem to notice.

"How could I? I was too busy studying for midterms." Ivan answered in an impudent tone that was awfully unfitting for his booming voice. He finished typing the number, and took a step back. Sam watched in awe as the wall suddenly began to move, opening to show a hidden room behind it. He couldn't see what was inside it, but as if just to mess with him, Ivan started to strip his clothes as he entered.

"Who am I this year?" He asked from within the room as Judy turned to a drawer, pulling out some papers and an ID.

"Lexie Tang, 19, majoring in law and advertising. You'll be going to that community college up on the Bronx, the one where all the dropouts from the bigger schools come.. Boss wants you finding some legal minds and journalists to make sure the deal goes unnoticed."

"19, you gotta be kidding me! A fucking Sophomore?" Ivan answered, only it wasn't Ivan's voice that spoke. The vague European accent was replaced with a valley drawl, gone was the booming voice, replaced with a falceto. Sam blinked. Did he misshear?

"Freshman. You did a gap year in Ukraine." Judy answered, seemingly unphased by the change of the voice that was answering her. "You shouldn't have a problem coming up with stories from there."

Sam's eyes widened as the source of the feminine voice finally revealed itself. Instead of Ivan, out of the hidden room stepped a gorgeous, slim woman. She was standing naked, her perfect perky breasts crowned by flows of shiny raven black hair. Her face was both warm and sharp, looking almost like a young Megan Fox. She leaned on her hip seductively, looking down at Judy. Despite being half of Ivan's size, she was still taller.

"Har Har. Like anybody cares. All it takes is a pair of tits, a pretty face, and a promise to get one of their own to turn them." The woman, apperantly called Lexie, leaned forward and grabbed the doccuments from Judy. She browsed them briefly. "At least I have a driver's licence."

Lexie gave the doccuments back to her superior, wh then turned to put them back in the drawer. For a moment her gaze shifted upwards, and Sam ducked in panic. Did she see him? After a long moment of silence, she spoke again.

"Orientation starts tomorrow, we'll go get the rest of your IDs when you're finished dressing."

"Can we stop for more clothes? No offense to the boss but he really doesn't know how to dress."

Judy laughed. "And you wonder why he wants you on that job Ivan."

Sam swallowed his spit. That confirmed it. That girl... Lexie... She was Ivan. Somehow, something within that room transformed that hunk of muscle into a gorgeous, petite girl. And from the sound of it, that wasn't his first time doing it.

"We'll be out in a minute." Judy continued. "Close the gallery as you get finished. I'll go check on the plumber."