WHAM!!!

The stack of folders slammed onto the edge of the desk and stood at a daunting foot high. Each one was bulging with what seemed to be well over a hundred documents, most crammed full of small font text. Already deep in another major project, the mousy woman seemed to dread lifting her head from her computer. She could delay it as long as possible, but soon she had to look up. As she did the light reflected from her glasses, hiding the dismay in her eyes as she saw the several piles of fresh paperwork.

“Going to need this by the end of the week. Tina.” Came the derisive order from Eva. She loomed over the desk’s edge and tapped long, black nails against the folders. Contempt radiated from the woman like an aura, her eyes narrowing to dare her assistant to object. 

Tina wouldn’t of course. She was much too spineless for that. Her true feelings and thoughts were writ clearly across her face for the world to see. An agape jaw and widened eyes as she forgot to breathe for the moment. A deep inhale was followed by a gulp as she paused, struggling to find words she could say diplomatically. “This too ma’am…?” She asked with a sigh hanging over every syllable. 

“Naturally.” Eva wrinkled her nose and leaned further in, all but towering over Tina. “Unless, that will be a...problem?” A single word. A complaint. A rude comment. The bitch only needed to give Eva an excuse and it could all be over. 

“...No ma’am…” Tina said after a hesitant delay. “It shouldn’t be any problem at all. I’ll just...stay in the office a bit later than usual for today. And tomorrow.” She tried to meet Eva’s invasive stare with a forced smile. Her assistant may not have had much of a spine, but her resilience after weeks of this treatment was impressive if nothing else. “...And maybe the next day.”

“Well whatever it takes.” Eva shrugged. “Just be aware that our budget has to stay tight to prepare for the waves of new hires. So no overtime.”

“Yes ma’am…” Tina adjusted her glasses. “Of course.”

“Good.” Eva nodded. “While we’re at it by the way, I couldn’t help but notice your desk.”

“My desk?”

“Yes. I’ve been receiving complaints about those little dolls you have.” The woman stated, pointing a lithe finger towards a trio of figurines to the side. Some kind of ‘Anime’ thing as far as she could tell. She didn’t know, nor did she care frankly. “They look unprofessional. Remove them when you leave today.” 

Weeks of relentless unpaid overtime hadn’t gotten through to Tina as much as that one demand had. Genuine alarm flashed across her eyes and she bit her lip to stifle frustration. It only lasted an instant, and an instant was all Eva needed to recognize it. Her gaze turned to the trifecta of desk decorations. Some sort of blonde angel wearing a robotic suit, a second blonde in an armored blue dress, and then a woman in a black robe with messy green hair. The whole lot of them were rendered in some sort of short and cutesy style. A shared brand or some such.

“Y-Yes ma’am...Of course.” 

The hopeless anguish in that little mumble was enough to quirk the edges of Eva’s lips. The littlest things always seemed to bring the most joy. “Good.” She said with a nod. “Be sure to have all of this on my desk by the end of the week. You were the one who organized this deal. Now you have to honor your commitment.” 

Tina visibly sank into the depths of her desk with her head held low. On either side were the piles of work gathering all around her and in the span of a few minutes Eva had easily doubled it. Her glasses slid along the bridge of her nose and her face fell from view. Eva could only speculate the depths of the frustration wracking the shorter woman at this moment. Perhaps it could be the moment Tina finally snapped, she wondered. Then her assistant let out a sigh and lifted her head with a resigned look about her. Back to work she went; and satisfied with that, Eva turned and left her to it. 

A month had passed since that fateful meeting, and in that short time R.E.I. had entered a state of flux. The announcement of the CEO’s departure to more of an advisory background role had made waves throughout the ranks; as had him choosing Dana as his successor. The vote to approve her was unanimous and there was nothing to be done to stop her rise at this point. The transition was already well underway. Besides, the company had its hands full planning for and meeting the demands set by their new contract with Amazon. New jobs and plans had to be charted out, filled, and acted upon. In truth, Eva was unironically quite busy - Which meant Tina was quite busy. 

The conniving bitch had learned to rue the day she had betrayed her magnanimous boss. She thought it was funny to hand Dana the company? Well she wasn’t laughing now. Eva didn’t know what Tina expected would happen, but with everyone else busy there was nothing to curb Eva’s ire. Her growing distaste for her pathetic assistant had since boiled over into an unending inferno within her. From which there hadn’t been any escape.

Sadly, Eva couldn’t simply fire her outright. That was a step too far and would draw attention she didn’t need. It was, however, easily within her power to make Tina’s life a living hell. That was the beautiful thing about having a heavy workload and a subordinate. Eva could delegate to her heart’s content. Project after project without relent, taking away the little things that got Tina through the day; sooner or later the woman would break. All Eva needed to do was sit back and watch her wear herself down to nothing before discarding the husk. 

Mess with me, you little shit? Eva thought bitterly. Even the mere memory of what happened was enough to keep the rage going strong. A silver lining, at least, was finally seeing it start to wear Tina down. The girl kept herself guarded well, but it was becoming more apparent. Her performance was declining. Her appearance was often disheveled and it was increasingly hard not to notice the bags under her eyes. In addition to her own job she was in essence doing Eva’s as well, and it most certainly showed. Meanwhile for Eva, it allowed for plenty of time to muse over what to do next to her treacherous aide. 

None could say they were spared the wrath of Eva Rhodes. Wherever she walked, people had learned to toe the line now more than ever. In Tina, however, she found a lightning rod she could focus on. It didn’t stop her from berating the sloppy work of a subordinate or calling out a shoddy appearance when she saw it mind you. She still needed to run a tight ship after all. Besides, however bad these plebeians thought they had it, it was nothing compared to seeing that blonde skank next to the former CEO being ‘taught’. The very thought was enough to make Eva...

Ugh, god she needed a drink. Something a lot stronger than coffee. Alas, in the office coffee was all she had to work with. A trip to the break room was in order. Eva took a deep breath, a faux smile naturally found itself plastered onto her face as she walked.

A month ago she was on top of the world, strolling through these office halls like she already owned them. Even if her gait looked the same, it rang far more hollow now. To hear some of the whispers, a number of people were working on filing formal complaints, emboldened by the knowledge that she wasn’t going to be at the top of the pyramid anytime soon. It wasn’t particularly concerning. She was virtually untouchable after all, but still. At times it all felt like sand slipping between her fingers. The more she struggled to grasp what should’ve been hers - The more it slipped away.

God dammit, what happened to her? She was Eva Rhodes! Physical perfection incarnate dressed in the finest business attire money could buy. There wasn’t a single hair out of place or a blemish to be seen. Her work record was immaculate. Yet, it all felt like it was leaving her. Vulnerability, even if imaginary, was a feeling she didn’t care for.

These days her fingers had a way of slipping into her pocket. Not the most spacious place, granted, but more than enough for her little comfort object. The ultimate reminder of the power she still had; even if she sometimes didn’t feel like it. The little car she kept, her one memento from the worthless trash who dared dump her. Her fingers ran along it, pinching an object virtually indestructible to her touch; and yet helpless against her embrace all the same. 

While she walked, Eva toyed with it between her fingers, briefly envisioning it driving around. Or trying to at least. The wheels would spin themselves out in the depths of her pocket, and on the floor...Well...That was a lovely scene in its own right. The tiny thing lost in a track of endless carpet fibers and trying to flee from her giant footfalls. She imagined the muffled thuds of her heels magnified beyond recognition. A constant parade of explosions closing in as the vehicle pushed itself to the peak of human engineering - And Eva would merely walk. Long and slow, deliberate steps while the minuscule thing moved as fast as it could to escape her heels. Perhaps it would even break down at the most crucial moment and its poor, idiotic driver would look up just in time to see the instep of the woman he dared wrong. Then it would come down and Eva would go on with her life.

It was pleasant to imagine, empowering even. The more she worked with reduction technology the more enjoyable such fantasies had become. She rolled the vehicle around her fingers. She closed her eyes as her thumb found what felt like the roof of the car and for a blissful moment, it wasn’t a car between her fingers. It was her.

That tiny, pathetic thing squirming at her mercy. Screaming in the abyss of her pocket where she was unheard, tears staining her face. She would struggle against Eva’s fingers to no avail, begging for it to stop, but it never would. The digits pressed in as hard as they could from either side, but her durable plaything remained. She would know pain and pressure unimaginable, yearning for it to end when it never would. Her boss...Her god would never let it be so easy. 

“I’m sorry Ms. Rhodes! PLEASE! I’m sorry for betraying you! Make it stop!”

Oh if only. If only. If. Fucking. Only. 

“Eva?”

As oft seemed the case, reality had a way of interrupting whatever wonderful musings Eva had. The voice burst her bubble and brought her crashing back down. She blinked in a daze, seeing that she had finally reached the break room at some point. How long she had been standing at the doorway was hard to say, but judging from the look Dana was giving her it was long enough.

“Ah, sorry about that.” Eva said sheepishly. 

Dana stood by the coffee machine at the counter, a fresh brew dripping into her disposable cup. Concern briefly crossed her face, but she managed a polite smile. “Tired?” 

Eva took the out and ran with it. “Yeah. Lots of late nights lately. Getting everything together for when things kick off.” She returned the courtesy with a smile of her own.

A look of understanding dawned on Dana and she nodded, reaching up to brush a number of golden locks off of one of her ears. There was a subtle clinking of earrings unseen beneath her hair and she sighed. “Feels like I’ve been hearing that a lot lately. Alan’s team is swamped, and word is Tina’s been spending a lot of late nights again. Very late nights.” She added pointedly. Her coffee was ready, but the woman remained still with her gaze rooted firmly on Eva. 

“Yeah well, we’re all working hard lately. Some maybe more than others.” Eva dismissed. Her future boss could shoot her all the judging looks she wanted - She wasn’t her boss yet.  “She’ll be fine. She’s tougher than she looks.” Like a fucking cockroach. 

“Maybe. She does have a habit of taking on too much work.” Dana murmured thoughtfully. Her tone and visage remained doubtful, even if she was too polite to voice full on accusations. The interrogative look she had said plenty as is anyway.

“Just, take it easy on her. For me?”

God that saccharine blonde schtick got old after a while. Eva fought to hold back an eye roll. Like it or not this was to be the person she would answer to. Like any unpleasant twists life threw her way, she would adapt. It was in these early adapting days though where she had to watch herself and bite her tongue. 

“I’ll see what I can do.” Came the diplomatic reply.

It wasn’t much, but it appeared to mollify the future CEO. Dana sighed and grabbed her coffee, reaching for a lid from a nearby container of them and taking a few servings of creamer for good measure. “Please do. I haven’t seen her at the gym in weeks, and I’m starting to miss my little workout buddy.” She said while turning around.

Surprise among surprises. Eva blinked. In a rare moment she genuinely had no idea what the hell the blonde was saying. “Workout buddy…?” 

Dana broke off from jazzing up her coffee to peek over her shoulder.. “Oh yeah. Used to see her every Saturday over at Globo Gym. Ya know, the one on Warwick?”

As a matter of fact, Eva did. She passed it regularly when going grocery shopping. It was a positively gaudy oversized building. “I had no idea. She never really struck me as the fitness type.” Nor did she ever care to ask, frankly. 

Coffee prepared and in hand, Dana turned. She was blowing into the opening slit on her cup while nodding to her friend. “You’d be surprised. I used to see her every week. Tried asking her and she said she still goes sometimes. I guess all the late nights make it too rough to go in the mornings though.” She shrugged. Considering how many late work days Tina had to be pulling these days that seemed a logical reasonable assumption.

“Anywho, can’t keep Dan waiting. See you around Eva.”

Eva offered a slight nod and watched the woman off. Dana tossed a handful of empty creamers into the garbage can by the door, and within a minute the gentle thumps of her pumps against the carpet had trailed off. Finally alone, Eva walked up and began to prepare her cup. A fresh Keurig was slotted in and she hit the button to let the device do its magic. Within the minute a fresh cup was brewed, and unlike some people she didn’t need to water it down. Eva brought it up to her lips and sipped, lips curling in as she savored the bitter taste.

So the little brat liked to go to the gym, eh?

Interesting.