The constant shouting was starting to aggravate Adele, she had pulled another double shift in the hopes of being able to pay rent by the end of the month. Taking a napkin and molding it around her finger, she cleaned the edge of the plate finally satisfied with its presentation.

“Is the order ready?” A gruff voice echoed behind her.

“Yes! Head Chef!” Adele replied in a mock sing-song voice. She was sick and tired of this job, but again it was a simple means to an end.

“Fine, you can have your smoke break now... but wash your hands when you get back in!” The Head Chef spat at her as he looked at the perfect display of plates.

Sighing to herself, Adele reached into her pocket and pulled out her rolling tobacco. Putting a filter between her full lips, she slipped into the bathroom to roll herself a joint. Glancing up at her reflection, she groaned inwardly. The bags under her eyes were getting worse, she really needed to start sleeping more but those assholes in the flat above her were adamant about learning tap dancing or some other meaningless shit.

Sliding her fingers in, she pinched a small lump of dried tobacco and started smoothing it out in her palm. With her other hand she deftly started arranging three skins, licking them as she went, it was a regular activity that had long lost any artistic flair. The knocking on the bathroom door surprised her, causing the filter to roll into the sink and eventually into the drain. A look of pure hatred washed over her face. Biting her lip, she tore off a piece of the cardboard box and used it instead. Slapping her taut ass, she felt the familiar lump of her lighter.

“Just a minute.” Adele said in her fake friendly voice as she finished rolling the joint. Opening the door she was instantly shoved out of the way by the reigning bitch of the Kitchen, the sous chef, Karen.

“You’re not getting paid to piss, I need you over at the pastries 5 minutes ago!” Karen said as she looked down her nose at Adele. Before the young woman could say a word, Karen stormed into the bathroom with a package under her arm and locked the door.

Glancing at the Head Chef who was busy shouting at a porter, Adele decided to delegate the work. A tall awkward looking guy that was relatively new to the team was cleaning the plates, his eyes darting everywhere around the room whilst trying to avoid bringing any attention to himself.

Adele moved beside him, leaning her body against his, pressing her chest against his arm. Thomas jerked upright at the action, his face awash with panic. Adele went up on her toes and whispered into his ear, “... I need you to go and get the pastries into the oven.”

Thomas almost ran away from her, causing her to smirk ever so slightly. She outranked him in terms of seniority, which was one of the only bonuses of so many new people entering the kitchen.

With her scapegoat at the pastries, Adele twirled her fingers, revealing her joint and walked out the back of the building where all the bins were kept. She looked around lazily before spying a bucket lying on the ground nearby, kicking it over sharply, she turned around and sat down heavily on it. Lighting up the joint, she looked around lazily to see if there was anything of interest going on.

She worked as a chef in the most awkward company she had ever encountered. They essentially whored themselves out to the highest bidder, working as a catering group for high end businesses. This weeks lucky winner of their services was some science-wanker auction. She instantly hated the clients after the first day when a number of her meals were sent back with trivial adjustments required. “Not enough paprika... Gnocchi lacked enough bite, the quail egg was overcooked.”

She was hoping to catch the eye of one of the bidders, they clearly had money and she needed money. Bit of flirting, go to theirs, tease them endlessly, make them beg for it, and then milk them dry for everything their worth... it would be a lot more fun than making food for the ungrateful bastards.

Halfway through the joint, she heard a door slam open. Quick as a flash, she was off the bucket and hiding behind the large garbage bins. Looking over the lid of the bin, she watched as a large heavyset man started berating a younger man in a waistcoat. Obviously a waiter had fucked up or something, Adele thought to herself.

“You lost it? It’s an experimental fucking prototype, how can you fucking lose something from the truck to the table. It’s literally a few steps!” The heavyset man was as close to shouting as possible.

The younger man started objecting, “The chef said it was their equipment, I delivered it to them!”

“Well, fucking find it! Fast! It’s supposed to be in the next auction. When you get it, hand in your nametag and uniform, and don’t even think about asking for a fucking reference!” The man said as he returned into the building, slamming the door behind him.

The young man stood in shock for a few moments before ripping off the name tag and throwing the waistcoat to the ground. Instead of returning to the building to search for the missing item, he simply stormed off in the opposite direction.

Adele grinned, it was rare for there to be any drama during her workday. Thinking idly to herself about what the package would be, she thumbed her cracked phone screen. Going into Tinder to see if there was anyone worth her time.

A large clattering noise from inside signalled that it was time for her to go back to the kitchen. Dropping the butt of her joint, she ground it finely into the ground with the toe of her converse shoe.

Adele walked into the kitchen only to hear a roar from the Head Chef.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?”

Thomas was standing at the side of the ovens. At his feet was a huge tray, with pastries littered all over the floor. His mouth started opening and closing with no words coming out. He looked to Adele for help, but she just gave him a clueless look.

Karen came out of the bathroom at the sound of shouting, she took one look at the scene and then back at Adele. “What happened?!”

Adele widened her eyes and gave her best shocked expression, “He insisted on doing it himself... I think it’s some bravado bullshit, said something like women can’t handle themselves in the kitchen.”

Karen’s nostrils flared at the comment and stormed over to the hapless young chef who now had two people roaring at him.

Adele smiled inwardly as she went into the bathroom to quickly spray her face with water. As she was about to leave, she looked down at the floor. There was a box underneath the sink that she was sure wasn’t there previously. Looking back to Karen, she figured out what had happened. “Nosy bitch wanted to steal the auction shit?”

Picking up the box, Adele went back outside knowing that the argument would last at least another few minutes. She glanced around, nobody was there and the waistcoat and name badge were still on the ground.

Opening the box, she was disappointed to see a tiny gun shaped device. “Stupid rich fucks with their nerdy little toys.”

“CloneTech Duplication Enhancer.” Adele read the name aloud. Shrugging her shoulders she looked to see what else was in there. “Pfft, another fucking one.”

Beside the small gun was yet another device that looked like a car key button. Underneath the two devices was a bound book that looked to be hundreds of pages. “Ugh, instructions, fuck that.”