Anomalies: The Bringers of the Storm

Chapter 1 - Sunrises and Sunsets

Ace sat at his desk, typing some notes about his discovery. His fingers flying across the keys, but the precision of his word choice aired a sense that this time his report needed to be perfect. He finished the report and read it over. Fixing word choice here and punctuation here and there. He printed his report and collected his things when there was a knock on the door. It was Tamelia White's secretary. She peered in at him through the window on his door, somewhat daring him to ignore her. She was blocking the exit and he'd been avoiding her for the past week.
"You can't ignore me forever, Mr. Shifter!" She sang through the door, her voice slightly muffled, "So why don't you open the door and take the papers Mrs. White has for you?"
Ace opened the door, the girl was so young, to think she was already working a crummy office job at nineteen crushed Ace's soul. "Thank you, Tiffany." He took the papers from her and handed her some of his own, "These are for Mrs. White and Mr. Sanchez. Can you deliver them for me?"
The girl nodded, flipping through them to distinguish which papers went to which worker. She froze on one at the bottom and nodded again, "I can definitely deliver these for you." She spun like a ballerina and skipped away. She acted childishly. She always had, Ace had always wondered how she managed to keep her job, just assuming because she was a young woman and an office personality. Ace shrugged it off and headed to the break room to get his lunch from the fridge.

Tiffany, on the other hand, walked to the copying room to copy a document she didn't think Ace had meant to hand her. It was his report on his latest invention. A suit that granted the wearer the abilities and qualities of animals. A suit that gave the wearer abilities similar to those dubbed the anomalous or mutants, people like her. She set the file to copy, hitting the buttons and when nothing happened she hit them again. When it still didn't work she hit the machine in all the places she knew had worked in the past, clearly marked out by dents in the machine from other annoyed employees and their secretaries. The machine finally whirred to life and started to copy the document. When it spit out the paper she folded it several times and stuffed it in her bra. The office clothes she had didn't have pockets and her purse was at her desk. Where else was she supposed to put this secret, other than her bra? On the way out of the room, she saw one of the head bosses, Mr. Sanchez. She turned to him, "Mr. Sanchez, I have some documents for you from Mr. Shifter. Would you like for me to hand them to you now, or leave them on your desk?"
"Now will be fine Tiffany," he reached out his hand and she separated the papers and handed them to him, careful not to give him Mr. Shifter's report.
She waved and called, "Well, I'm off. Catch you later." She sped away to deliver the report to Mr. Shifter. What she didn't realize in her hurry was the extra copy spitting out of the machine, which was picked up by Mr. Sanchez. Tiffany delivered the papers to Mrs. White and then wandered the building looking for Mr. Shifter. She found him on his way back to his office from the break room. "Mr. Shifter?"
He turned, "Yes, Tiffany?" He seemed annoyed by her mere presence. "What is it?"
"You seem to have given me an extra paper. This seems to be a research report on some... suit? Like, some of the notes talk about mutant-like abilities?" She feigned confusion. Young blonde women tended to be taken as stupid which often helped her in situations like this, "Looks like it's straight from a science-fiction film," she smiled and offered it back to him.
Ace snatched it from her, "You wouldn't understand. You're practically a child." Some spit flew from his mouth when he spoke, "Heck, you shouldn't be working in a crummy job like this."
Tiffany wiped the spit from her blouse, "Sorry, sir, but that isn't your call." Her tone was much quieter and more melancholy than normal, "But I have a lot of people back home and we all work very hard to keep our funds substantial. My eldest brother works for parties, and my sister is a waitress. My father and middle brother fish while the youngest is twelve." Her gaze was cool and steely, "I'm doing my best to help my family, and if you don't like it you are more than welcome to pay for our living expenses." There was a moment of silence between the two, "That's what I thought Mr. Shifter." She turned to leave, the bounce back in her step, she spun around again, "I'm heading out on a lunch run for Mrs. White, can I get you anything while I'm out?"
"No, Tiffany, I'm quite alright." Ace nodded and headed into his office with his report.