Overview
A meta-narrative about my time at MetaCorp.
Genesis
January 13th, 1987
I am a victim of death, greed, and my own choices.
I was not around for the Brazilian Revolution, nor was I around for the long battle between UltraCorp and MAGNUM. But as I walk back to my apartment in the city, I would soon find myself conscripted into a new war out of choice. Violence and crime were rampant in the streets, and I would get sucked into it if I didn’t leave eventually.
“You have… one… new message.”
It was from an old business partner. They wanted me to call them back as soon as I could. As I punch in the digits to call back Ziffinon, I’ve unknowingly decided for an uncertain future.
“Hello?” the voice asked.
“It’s GameMaster,” I said. “You wanted me to call you back about a job you had in mind.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I’ve been asking around for people like you for the project. I’ve been working on it with QK.”
“What does this project of yours entail?” I asked.
“A new method of doing business,” he said. “This is one opportunity you do not want to miss out on, friend.”
I had worked for many different groups for a long time to get to a state of comfort. For as long as I could remember, I had been pushed around into these kinds of ventures. To take a gamble on something that Ziffinon had not fully explained yet seemed suspicious.
“You expect me to go with your plan?” I asked. “You haven’t even explained it yet. Whatever you have in mind is going to get swallowed up by the other corporations that control this city.”
“We’re not doing our business here,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Where else are we going to do business?”
“Two words,” he said. “Rosa County.”
Rosa County. An unincorporated part of the state newly constructed to accommodate big corporations in their business pursuits. What it lacked in architecture was made up in its lawless nature. There was no law in Rosa County.
“You think that we can make a name for ourselves in that hellhole?” I asked.
“You can’t trust anybody here,” he said. “This city’s packed full of gangsters.”
He sighed, signaling that what would follow would be his last attempt to convince me.
“Truth is,” he said. “Lowlife rumble in Rosa County says that there’s an opening for the next big corporation to take the throne. I’ve been on the hunt for people who can do big jobs. People who can pump the gas. People who can do some hits. You’re one of the best businessmen I know. And I’ve invited several of your friends to come work for me as well.”
For what little he had told me about his project, Ziffinon still managed to get my interest. He was one of the best drivers I knew, and if he were assembling a dream team of businessmen, then I’d love to be a part of it. I wasn’t going to miss out on something like this.
“Alright,” I said. “What’s the project called anyway?”
He paused for a moment. The next time he spoke would be the first time I had heard of the company.
“MetaCorp,” he said. “I’ve saved some money and bought a suite in one of those commercial buildings over there. Both me and QK are willing to help finance your travel and lodging in Rosa County.”
He had already made preparations. Ziffinon had gotten QK on it as well, which only made me feel more confident. QK had similar strengths to him, and they both made an excellent team. He knew that his plan was going to work, and I didn’t doubt him one bit.
“All I need from you,” said Ziffinon. “Is your complete trust. We need to keep this thing a secret. I promise you that no one else will know except me.”
I didn’t see any way out of my current situation at the time. The surge in crime in the city would continue to increase. Finding better work would take weeks. Joining Ziffinon in his venture would be like a fresh start for me.
“Well,” I said. “This job is still full of if’s. But if you’re confident in this, then let’s do it. I’m in.”
“Good,” said Ziffinon. “Pack your bags for Rosa County. Unless you’ve got any other questions, expect a plane ticket in the mail. I’ll see you soon.”
We both said goodbye, and I hung up. From this point forward, I became the bearer of the torch. I’ve been given the duty to chronicle what would be known as MetaCorp.
Time would not heal the wounds that would follow.
Congregation
January 14th, 1987
When I woke up the next morning, someone had slipped an unmarked envelope under my door. Inside was a plane ticket to Rosa County, a key, and five thousand bucks. There was also a note inside:
Come and make money with us. Head to Rosa County and meet me and the others at the designated address. I’ll be waiting.
– Z
Since I didn’t have a job at that point, I took him up on the request. I got ready and headed over to the airport. When I got there, I saw Warman all suited up in the waiting area. Warman’s like a brother to me, and I had no idea that he got hired as well. It would make sense since he has a lot of skill with flying helicopters. I went over to greet him.
“Yo, Warman!” I said.
He turned around and looked surprised to see me.
“Hello, brother,” he said. “You’re here for this MetaCorp thing too?”
“That’s right,” I said. “It looks like Ziff picked out everybody we know for this job.”
“Yeah,” said Warman. “I heard from him that more people are coming to Rosa County besides us for the job. I’m pretty sure that Avian is going to be there as well.”
Avian is also a good friend of mine. She did mercenary work for several different companies before I eventually met her. While she’s a stone-cold killer, I consider her to be one of my good friends.
“Ziff’s got a dream team in the works here,” I said. “We’ll be a force to be reckoned with like the Los Angeles Lakers are to basketball.”
“Don’t get your hopes up just yet,” said Warman. “I’m just as curious as you are to see what Ziff has planned for us.”
I nodded in agreement with him. As we stood there, a voice over the intercom announced that our flight was getting ready to leave. We both got a move on and headed for the flight terminal.
While the flight wasn’t remarkable, this was the only way to get to Rosa County. We got a cab ride through a harsh desert road to the only train station to the city. After getting off the train, we used our cash to buy ourselves vehicles at the nearest dealership.
We both drove to the address listed, which led us to the outside of a skyscraper. It served as a commercial building for other businesses. The MetaCorp suite was on the 50th floor, and the only way up was via elevator.
Inside the elevator, I looked at the buttons and noticed that the numbers only went to 40.
“Did you get a key inside your envelope?” asked Warman.
I nodded and took it out. As it turned out, the key opened a door indistinguishable from the rest of the metal plating. Inside were the buttons to the last ten floors, all of which were private suites. I pushed the button for the 50th floor and locked the door. The elevator took a long time to get to the 50th floor, and it stopped a couple of times along the way.
There were doors in each direction on the floor, which all had empty rooms. To the north was a giant meeting room where everyone was waiting for our arrival. Inside was a long table with several swivel chairs. Ziffinon and QK were here, along with Umi and a couple of other faces.
“Good to see you both,” said Ziffinon. “We’re expecting a few more people, so I can only guess that their flight must have had issues.”
I extended my hand towards Ziffinon and shook it, as did Warman. We both took seats in the swivel chairs and waited for everyone else to show up. Snarky and Avian showed up within the next half hour of waiting. I got up to greet Avian, and she looked delighted to see everyone.
“I’m glad to see some familiar faces around here,” she said. “It’s been a long time since we last saw each other, GameMaster.”
Even though Avian considers me a good friend, she treats everybody as business partners and nothing else when we’re doing jobs together. I wasn’t aware of what she did outside of work either.
“That’s everybody,” said Ziffinon. “We can start explaining our strategy now, QK.”
QK got up and brought out a whiteboard on wheels. He began to explain the initial strategy while drawing the plan.
“This is how our plan will work for now,” said QK. “The six corporations that operate in this town each have a building. Anyone who’s qualified in business can walk in and apply for a job. The same thing goes for the managers. Our strategy is to get MetaCorp members working at as many of these buildings as we can and take them over.”
Several of us nodded as QK further explained the plan. By controlling all of the corporations in Rosa County, we would be able to make one hundred percent of the money on all the projects that come in each day. We would deposit the profits into an offshore account and post our net worth within the next couple of weeks to promising investors.
“Our goal isn’t to exploit the system,” said QK. “But to have full market control. If the people working at one of the buildings won’t let us take them over, we’ll be complicit with them. Right up until we drive their business into the ground.”
QK explained some more details about their strategy, and they let Ziffinon talk once they finished.
“Secrecy is key to all of this,” said Ziffinon. “If word gets out of what we’re doing, we’re going to get a lot of attention. Do what you have to to keep this a secret. Once people start asking you about MetaCorp, deny any connection to it and feign ignorance. Kill them if you have to.”
After finishing, Ziffinon allowed people to ask questions about the project. Ziffinon said that he would consider hiring more people to help out once MetaCorp gets on its feet.
“If you have any objections to any of this, I’ll ask you right now to leave town. I won’t get mad and pursue you for it.”
No one objected. We all realized that we were going to be a part of something special.
“Good,” said Ziffinon. “We’ve got apartments rented out that you all can use for the time being.”
Ziffinon pulled out a fishbowl filled with keys to different apartments.
“Gee,” I said. “I wonder which apartment I’ll get to sleep in.”
“Very funny,” said Ziffinon. “We’ve only paid rent for the first month. You are all going to have to cover expenses after that.”
After explaining some other details, Ziffinon ended the meeting.
“Thank you, gentleman,” said Ziffinon. “I can’t wait to see you all tomorrow.”
Everyone got up and began to head for the door.
“One last thing,” said Ziffinon.
We all turned around.
“Don’t let me down.”
Emergence
January 15th, 1987
We all got up around 8 A.M. and met to discuss our roles. Ziffinon and QK would try to take over the Monsota branch at 9th and Abrash Avenue. Warman and Snarky would try to take over the Pentacom building at 1st Street and David Avenue. Avian and I would try to take over the Nexaco building at 2nd Street and Garriott Avenue.
The other three corps remained occupied with several employees, so we would need to hire more people before we tried to tackle any of them. People on the streets kept walking up to the companies looking for work, so we all agreed that we could hire them as long as they remained oblivious of our operation.
Since all of our targets had few employees, our collective work experience made quick work of them. As we each got intelligence from the fax machine, we all called each other about projects that we were getting. We also informed each other of any trades that we could make within our control. After work ended, we brought all of the money to the bank to deposit in our offshore account.
Of course, I made a few mistakes along the way. Avian and I were on a mission with someone who I had hired out of pity. Avian was worried that they would hear us talking about MetaCorp, so we both devised a plan to get rid of him. She told the guy to stand at the ledge across from the building of Nexaco.
“Here’s the plan,” she said. “You need to shoot at any Nexaco employees that walk out of that building.”
She walked up behind the guy and pushed him off the ledge. He screamed as he plummeted twenty feet to the ground. I laughed at the absurd length we had gone to keep MetaCorp a secret. Avian only smiled.
January 20th, 1987
I’ve entered a state of limbo. I’ve begun to lose track of the days.
For the entire week, we have done nothing but complete projects for MetaCorp. Today, we finally broke through and became the number one corporation in town. We all celebrated after we regrouped at the MetaCorp suite. For my role, I got invited into the Cabinet, where Ziffinon and QK discussed future strategies for the company.
Our profits had allowed us to allocate the space in the other rooms in the suite. We refurbished them to hold a barracks, a break room, and a room filled with financial records and any cash we kept on hand.
As we celebrated, I took the time to ask QK about our exit strategy. We had already made our point, and I didn’t know how long he and Ziffinon wanted MetaCorp to last.
“QK,” I said. “How long are we going to keep doing this? We’ll soon have eyes all over us.”
“We’ll keep doing this until we’re bored,” said QK. “We’ve made over 7 million dollars this past week. I don’t see any reason why we should stop.”
MetaCorp was past the point of no return. To stop now would leave everyone without a job.
Everyone in MetaCorp became increasingly committed to the company for the next few weeks. I needed the money. The rest was sheer boredom.
January 23rd, 1987
We had finished getting projects for the day, and we prepared to deposit the money at the bank. As we took the money out of each briefcase, I noticed that someone had followed me here.
“Hippy?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
Hippy was an old business partner of mine. He somehow must have found out that I was in town.
“Maybe you ought to tell me what’s going on here,” he said. “Where’s all this money even going? Is it going to a hedge fund or something?”
Both me and Avian looked at him with our arms crossed.
“I can’t tell you anything,” I said. “I can only ask you to leave.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, then looked at the money we were depositing.
“He said to leave,” said Avian. “Don’t make me use force.”
“Fine,” said Hippy. “Keep your little secrets.”
Hippy walked away from the bank and drove off. Avian looked back at me with concern.
“Do you think he knows what we’re doing?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Hippy’s innocent enough. I don’t think he’d do anything with knowledge of our operation.”
“Either way,” said Avian. “You need to talk to QK and Ziffinon about this.”
After we headed back to the MetaCorp suite, Avian pulled Ziffinon aside to address the situation with Hippy.
“Ziff?” asked Avian. “Hippy saw us at the bank depositing the money. Do you think he’ll be a threat? He could start telling people what he saw.”
“I wouldn’t worry yet,” said Ziffinon. “He’s the only person who has seen us deposit the money. Hippy will need a lot more evidence of a conspiracy if he wants people to believe him, and he’s not the kind of guy to dig up stuff. I would still be wary of him if I were you.”
She slowly nodded in agreement. Hippy later told me that he had tried to reverse engineer our future strategies, and he didn’t believe that it was what we were doing.
January 25th, 1987
Joe, and his best friend Les, were hired today. While I don’t know them as much as the other employees, Ziffinon vouched for their employment. They’re both good kids. Diamondo and Zark got hired as well.
As the Cabinet discussed strategies, there was a knock on the door. Snarky walked in and approached Ziffinon.
“Nothing personal, man,” said Snarky. “But I’m fighting MetaCorp. I can’t stand for you and this company anymore. As soon as I’ve taken care of business, I’m going to haul my beautiful ass out of here.”
“If you don’t like our operation,” said Ziffinon. “Then leave. I don’t care if you go out and form a rebel group because I don’t care. Good luck putting up a fight against us.”
Snarky looked pissed after Ziffinon said that to him.
“I’m going to be your worst nightmare, Ziff!” said Snarky. “You’ll see!”
He flipped the bird and stormed off. Ziffinon and QK laughed at his threats.
“Don’t you think that’s a bit hopeful?” I asked. “Snarky knows everything about our operation. And Hippy saw us the other day as well. That makes two people we now need to worry about.”
“Neither of them should be a problem,” said Ziffinon. “They don’t have enough support to put up a fight against us.”
I hoped that he was right. In time, this incident should have passed eventually.
It didn’t.
Old Blood
January 27th, 1987
Ziffinon and QK had invited me to talk in the meeting room early in the day to talk about several matters. They had hired someone to help reform MetaCorp’s current methods of acquisitions. Ziffinon told me that I would get a kick out of who it was.
As I stepped into the meeting room, the three of them turned around to face me. An older figure in a white suit stepped forward to greet me.
“There’s someone here I’d like you to meet, GameMaster,” said Ziffinon. “This is Ace. They are going to be helping us streamline the acquisition process.”
Standing in front of me was Ace Candy, the former leader of UltraCorp. Founded to help people get money, their organization was well-coordinated, reigning for a long time with little competition. It did not last forever, as an insurrection led by a group called The Order of MAGNUM caused UltraCorp to fall apart. The company disbanded, and the whereabouts of Ace became unknown.
I had no idea how Ziffinon managed to find Ace. To see him standing before me put me at a loss for words. It wouldn’t be later until I suspected that it was the other way around.
“Ace Candy,” I said as I shook his hand. “In the flesh. It will be an honor to work with you.”
“I’m sure it will be,” he said with little interest in me. “Let’s cut to the chase, Ziff.”
“Right,” said Ziffinon. “In exchange for a cut of the profits, Ace has helped develop a new method of acquiring projects.”
He directed my attention to the spreadsheet opened on the computer. There were several columns for each project building, with several rows indicating different floors and rooms. On the far right was a list of potential project names and a counter next to each of them.
“Here’s how it works,” said Ace. “I’ve incorporated Ziffinon’s strategy into this spreadsheet and improved upon it. Instead of relying on the intelligence found each day, we’ll use this spreadsheet to figure out what projects we need to find. MetaCorp members will raid the buildings and write down all of the projects on each computer. They will relay that information back to us, which we’ll put into the spreadsheet. Once we collect enough information, we’ll know which projects are worth a lot of money through the process of elimination since there is only one copy of each of them. And if we already found a project, we can go back and retrieve it.”
Ace had cracked the code. After years of being in the business, he had figured out how to exploit the current system. With our current control of the major corporations in town, we could keep all of the money for ourselves.
“This is incredible,” I said. “Are you going to explain to the other employees how it works?”
“Not yet,” said Ace. “If this spreadsheet fell into the wrong hands, then we would lose our most valuable trade secret. For right now, only Cabinet members will have access to this.”
“As if being the manager of Nexaco wasn’t already hard enough,” I said. “Now you want me to go out and get this information?”
“You can have unaware employees do the work for you,” said Ace. “We can use the spreadsheet to help them get the projects for us.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said.
Ace sat down and motioned Ziffinon to start talking. I had only just met Ace, and he was already prodding us around.
“The next order of business on the agenda,” said Ziffinon. “Is about Snarky and his little syndicate. They’ve called themselves the United Front Against MetaCorp, and they released a manifesto to the public.”
Ziffinon passed me the manifesto that Snarky had written. The manifesto was rife with hatred towards MetaCorp and communist gibberish. We all mocked the absurdity of their empty threats.
“I highly doubt that this group is going to be much of a threat right now,” said Ziffinon. “But we need to stay vigilant. We suspect that a person by the name of Riverence is helping them get on their feet.”
Ziffinon passed me one of the only photographs we had of Riverence. They were facing away from the camera, and the only detail I could use to identify them was their long orange hair.
“They haven’t tried anything yet,” said Ziffinon. “We’ll figure out what we should do once we get to that point.”
I nodded my head. Our mystique needed to stay secret.
“The last thing on the agenda,” said Ziffinon. “Is that Ace worked out a deal with the dealerships in the city. They will be supplying helicopters available for purchase. I know your brother, Warman, is good at flying, and so is Ace. We will experiment with using them in acquisitions this week. I think it will speed up our process significantly.”
Ziffinon wrapped up the meeting, and Ace shook his hand. Ace left the room soon after.
“Ziff,” I said. “How the hell did you find Ace? His presence will certainly help the company significantly. I can’t help but think that he wants more control over the Cabinet.”
“He was doing work for some associates of mine,” said Ziffinon. “He somehow heard of our operation and made me and QK an offer I couldn’t resist. I think his presence will ultimately benefit MetaCorp.”
“I think you should lean on the guy a little more,” I said. “He knows what this company needs, but he also seems to know how to get on your good side. But I’ll leave that to your professional judgment.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Ziffinon. “In the meantime, I need you at Nexaco.”
I nodded in approval and went for the door.
January 31st, 1987
Over the next few days, MetaCorp got a lot of mileage out of the spreadsheet. It helped the company soar past 10 million dollars in net worth, allowing MetaCorp to issue private shares of the company.
“You get 35 percent of the total shares since you’re the CEO,” said QK. “I’ll get 15 percent. The Cabinet members should each get 7.5 percent. We’ll split the rest among the other employees.”
“Excellent,” said Ziffinon. “It looks like this will work out after all.”
“And what if our employees don’t want to work here anymore?” I asked both of them. “Are you going to cash out their shares?”
“Well…” said Ziffinon. “I don’t know about that…”
“Then to whom does this benefit?” I asked. “Why allocate everyone’s total shares if you’re going to prevent employees from selling them? I don’t understand.”
“I plan on having QK cash out shares for our trusted employees,” said Ziffinon. “We were only thinking of doing that for public investors. If you start telling people to follow the money, we’ll have bigger problems. I don’t want our employees betraying us.”
“Fine,” I said. “You and QK can figure it out then.”
I shook my head in disappointment after I left them. Ziffinon knew that causing drama over the stocks would be unwise. He didn’t want to make everyone turn on each other, and neither did I.
I just hoped that Ziffinon would keep a level head.
Betrayal
February 1st, 1987
I joined Ziffinon in doing security detail at the bank at 5th Street and Bunten Ave. I decided to tag along as extra security this time around.
“I’m arriving at the bank,” said QK over the walkie.
While I waited, Les and Joe arrived. Joe took position by the bank windows. Les circled and perched at the sloped sidewalk overlooking the bank.
After a couple of minutes of waiting, QK’s private helicopter flew in and touched down on the ground. Almost immediately, he and three other employees walked out with several briefcases of cash that would get deposited in the offshore account.
“Transferring the money now,” a voice said over the walkie.
After they finished, I gave the thumbs up to Les and called Joe over to my position. The workday is complete.
Les drove back to the bank and picked up Joe. They went back to the commercial building, and I got in my car and followed them back there as well.
At the MetaCorp suite, Ziffinon and QK congratulated everybody on another day of successful work. The Cabinet had bought a bunch of food from the burger joint for everybody. Afterward, he called for the Cabinet members to congregate in the next meeting.
“Les,” said Ziffinon. “What’s your report on the counter-intelligence?”
Joe and Les were assigned to create counter-intelligence to throw off Gakmaster, a private investigator hired by UFAM. Since neither of them appeared to be in MetaCorp, the Cabinet believed in using them to throw off anyone that tried to question our employees.
“Gakmaster still doesn’t believe that either of us is in MetaCorp,” said Les. “We’ve produced fake documents and mailed them between myself and a fictional Brazilian investor. I planned to get the investigators to believe that a group of Brazilians is bent on dominating the market. The documents we’ve prepared connect me to the supposed CEO of MetaCorp. After we put the finishing touches on the documents, Joe visited Gakmaster in disguise and offered the documents in exchange for forty thousand dollars. They jumped at the offer since they had little information about us, and the only information available is speculative at best.”
Les pulls out a briefcase with the money that they received from Gakmaster.
“Good work,” said ZIffinon. “We’ll take thirty thousand to fund training for our employees. You and Joe can split the rest.”
There was a disgusted look on Les’s face as they handed over the money to Ziffinon.
“You’ve been doing good work for us, Les,” said Ziffinon. “Your stake in the company has been increased. That means you now own seven and a half percent of all of our shares.”
Les got excited over the pay raise since they probably wanted to cash out some of their shares.
Poor Les. They would be in for a treat.
February 2nd, 1987
As I walked into the MetaCorp suite, I began to hear the tail end of a heated argument between Ziffinon, Ace, and Les. It wasn’t going to end well. I got as close as I could to the door to hear what transpired inside.
“What the hell is your motive?” asked Ace. “Why withdraw from MetaCorp?”
There was a brief silence. Les was about to make their stand.
“Call this what you want,” Les began. “But I am not one to participate in wars. There will be a war in this lawless land. MetaCorp is a lawless company, and the people trying to take it down are just the same. I want my money, and there is no other way to obtain it other than blackmailing you for it.”
Ziffinon slammed the table and began an angry tirade against Les.
“I cannot believe I got you into the Cabinet on my dime,” said Ziffinon. “You will be paid nothing for your time here. The fact that even Joe isn’t siding with you here should tell you something.”
He got up and walked closed to Les.
“I told you things that were supposed to stay between only me and QK,” he began. “Because I trusted you more than anyone else in this city. Because I thought you were one of the only people in this hellish place that wasn’t a vindictive scumbag.”
He walked back a little and started pointing at Les.
“I don’t trust you anymore,” said Ziffinon. “You are a terrible human being. Get the hell out of my sight.”
Les stood motionless for a few seconds.
“LEAVE!” he yelled.
Les got up and went for the door. I could see them coming, so I tried to move back towards the elevator to look like I had just got there. Les bolted towards the elevator, not even looking at me.
I then heard a loud yell and the sound of breaking glass. I walked into the meeting room to find that Ziffinon had thrown Les’s chair out the window.
“Jesus Christ, Ziff,” I said. “I think you’re overreacting.”
“You don’t get it,” said Ziffinon. “Do you? Les told me that they want out. They wish to sell their shares and get paid in full. I laughed at them since I thought they were joking. I’m all like ‘Les, you can’t sell MetaCorp stocks.'”
He proceeded to laugh at the absurdity of Les’ request.
“Calm down,” I said. “Tell me what happened from the start.”
“Well,” said Ziffinon. “In the middle of the night, Riverence calls Les and grills them about MetaCorp. Les faxes over more fake documents to them to buy us more time. They most likely understood that there would be a war between MetaCorp and UFAM.”
His face changed from amusement to frustration.
“Unbeknownst to either of us,” said Ziffinon. “Les told Riverence that they would sell all of the information about MetaCorp – including the spreadsheet – for their 2 million dollars. We already knew that Les had made a few calls to Gakmaster and Riverence, claiming they withdrew from MetaCorp.”
“They’ve already contacted Riverence?” I asked. “There is no doubt in my mind that they will blackmail us! Snarky could have already done so as well. Why don’t you just let them sell their stock?”
He calmed down and put on a serious tone.
“Because it would set a bad example,” said Ziffinon. “I have no idea why QK wouldn’t let them sell their shares. Perhaps it’s that they asked for more than their stock was worth. They were only here for a week as well. Either way, they picked me up in their helicopter and tried to extort us, GameMaster. I couldn’t let them get away with that.”
“That’s understandable,” I said. “But we already have millions sitting in the offshore account. We could easily make 2 million bucks in a couple of days. Why are you getting worried?”
Ace and Ziff both looked at each other, then back to me.
“Look,” said Ziffinon. “We need to put the betrayal of Snarky and Les behind us. I’d hate to lose you too, GameMaster.”
Ziffinon got up and walked out of the meeting room. Ace, QK, and Umi were all looking at me.
“What?” I asked. “Am I not giving good advice? Snarky and Les have both left and are likely in UFAM. We seriously need to step up our game.”
Everyone agreed with me, but they all left the meeting room without going any further into the matter. There were several moments like this where I felt like the only rational voice in the room. All the Cabinet seemed to care about anymore was control over the money.
As they all left, I sat in my chair and looked out the hole in the window Ziffinon had made, contemplating what would happen tomorrow.
New Order
February 3rd, 1987
At the next Cabinet meeting, Ace had a big announcement to make.
“Gentlemen,” said Ace. “Thanks to the generosity of the Cabinet, I’ve founded my own company using 1.5 million dollars from the MetaCorp fortune.”
As everyone clapped, I could only stare at him in confusion. None of the Cabinet members asked for my input on the decision to fund Ace’s venture.
The company didn’t have a name at first. It went through several revisions, and Ace’s company later became known as United Stock & Trade. Ace accepted applications from all types of people.
“Soon,” said Ace. “People will come flocking to me as they seek jobs that pay well. I will have less of a role in MetaCorp from now on as I spend more time refining my company. Despite this, I invite you all to come to OXS tomorrow and see what I have planned.”
February 4th, 1987
United Stock & Trade was essentially a resurrection of UltraCorp. Ace had implemented methods he had used before with the money-making strategies of MetaCorp to create something unstoppable.
Ace hired dozens of employees off the streets to help serve him, and he brought in some older faces from UltraCorp to aid him. Avian was one of the more ecstatic employees that liked working there, as she enjoyed working in teams. I accompanied her a few times at the company, and I was surprised at how rigid the employee hierarchy was.
There were two teams – the ground team and the air team. The former wore blue suits, while the latter wore red suits. Anyone else who was available to either team wore grey suits. Both teams competed to see who earned more on the projects for each day. I’m not sure if this is still how the company operates, but either way, everyone got paid at the end of the day. Ace commanded each squad within the teams from OXS and requested updates via walkie-talkie.
United Stock & Trade is what MetaCorp should have been. A strong leader in charge and many inexperienced employees that were willing to do what it took to get paid. By the end of the first week, US&T had over 40 people employed.
Despite its success, I felt that it had significant ties to MetaCorp. Ace received extensive funding from MetaCorp, and they had some control over US&T. Ace has tried to dissuade any naysayers, separating US&T from MetaCorp. As long as he played a part in both groups, I remained wary of his intentions.
He wasn’t going to need MetaCorp forever.
Anarchy
February 6th, 1987
While I was at the burger joint eating my meal, three goons approached me and asked me questions about MetaCorp. One of them had long orange hair, just like the photo I had seen of Riverence. It had to be them.
“What do you know about MetaCorp?” Riverence asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said. “Leave me alone.”
“We’ve seen big groups like yours doing big bank jobs,” another one of them said. “Why? You got something to hide?”
I got up to face them.
“I already told you,” I said. “I don’t know anything. ♥♥♥♥ off.”
They pulled out a pistol and aimed it at my head.
“The ♥♥♥♥ did you just say to me?” they asked.
I put up my hands as everyone around me ran away, screaming in fear.
“♥♥♥♥ off,” I said. “I’m just trying to have lunch.”
“You’re going to tell us what we want to hear,” said the third goon. “Or else my buddy here will bust a cap in your ass.”
As I stood there looking for a way out, I noticed that Avian had walked into the restaurant. She aimed her M-16 at Riverence.
“You’ve got ten seconds to beat it,” I said. “Before my friend adds you to the list of MetaCorp casualties.”
They turned around and noticed Avian standing at the doorway. They dropped their weapons and put their hands up as they slowly inched out of the restaurant.
“Five seconds,” I said. “Or my friend will blow your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ head off.”
“♥♥♥♥,” said Riverence. “We need to get back to the crib and fast!”
They booked it and ran out the door, running for their ride.
“I thought I was toast,” I said to Avian. “Those guys had me in a corner. I guess I owe you a favor for that.”
“Just a couple of teenage punks,” she said. “I don’t think they knew what they were getting into when they joined UFAM.”
“If I had known that they would be trying that,” I said. “Then I would’ve brought more people with me. Something to throw them off.”
“I suspect that this won’t be the last time they’ll try something like that,” said Avian. “That Riverence fellow needs to stop trying to get in our way, or they’ll lose something important.”
February 11th, 1987
The past week has been the most stressful period for everyone at MetaCorp. There have been several reports of groups of white-shirts interrogating people across the city. While we got projects for each of the corporations, everyone noticed more of them waiting for us outside mission buildings. They must have figured out how to track our movements and who’s potentially in MetaCorp. Today, one of the more prominent incidents stuck with me.
While we transferred our money at the bank, a bunch of cars surrounded the exits.
“We need to work fast and get out of here,” I said to everyone. “Someone’s tipped off UFAM.”
A lot of white-shirts stood with MP5’s and Beretta pistols as we walked out of the bank. Standing near the middle of the bank’s parking lot was Riverence with backup. They must have gathered everyone they knew to surround us.
As I hid in the bank with Ace, Avian, and some other employees, Ace radioed QK for backup.
“QK!” said Ace. “Get everyone over here right now! UFAM has us cornered!”
“All units,” said QK. “We’ve got a situation at the 5B bank, and we need everyone over there. I’ll be flying in from the air.”
Ace was crouched and aiming his M-16 at the crowd. As I aimed my M-16 at the crowd, Riverence stared at me with a surprised look on their face. I looked to Ace and Avian as they both nodded in approval.
“I’m ready to kill Riverence,” she said. “It’s time we took care of them.”
I signaled them, and we opened fire.
The guy standing next to Riverence went down like a sack of bricks. They panicked and screamed “Attack!” before running away. Everyone started firing their weapons at us.
While they were strong in numbers, they weren’t as good as we were. We spent a lot of time taking cover and opening fire in short bursts. I managed to kill a couple of them, but they were getting closer. We didn’t bring much ammo with us, so we were down to the wire on our arsenal.
After a couple of minutes, I could hear the sound of QK’s helicopter coming, and I could see some cars barreling down the street. Their arrival quickly dispersed the rest of the insurgents, and we made a break for it. We would all regroup back at the MetaCorp suite as soon as we could.
We had all regrouped at MetaCorp late that night. While everyone else waited in the barracks, I watched as the other Cabinet members were having a serious debate over the events of the past couple of days.
“They knew we were coming,” said QK. “They were sitting there waiting for us. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this ♥♥♥♥, I think we’ve got a rat.”
“Damn straight,” said Ziffinon. “It doesn’t add up. How did they know when we would deposit the money?”
“GameMaster,” said Ace. “That person with the orange hair seemed to recognize you, and they looked close to Riverence.”
“What the ♥♥♥♥ makes you think I know them?” I asked.
“I don’t remember asking you a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing,” said Ace. “But we got a rat, and it has to be someone inside this room. Start talking.”
I couldn’t think. My mind raced over and over until I could find a potential explanation.
“Les,” I said.
“You better get real specific real quick,” said Ace. “What makes you think they have something to do with this?”
“He has a point,” said Ziffinon. “Snarky must have contacted them and convinced Les to join UFAM. It could perhaps explain Avian’s sudden departure.”
“She left?” I asked. “She said that she was ready to kill Riverence.”
“She called me and said that she’s through working here,” said Ziffinon. “She got harassed for being in MetaCorp, and she is refusing to say whom. All I know is that she’s promised me that she’ll stay quiet about her involvement.”
It was here that I realized that MetaCorp was more dangerous to some than I had previously believed. It was tearing apart people’s friendships.
“I trust Avian with my soul,” I said. “I don’t think she’ll pose a problem. UFAM must have lots of people working for them that watch our every move. You’re going to have to be more careful about who we hire from now on, and I suggest you stop sending invites to people until further notice.”
Everyone agreed with my suggestion.
“I’ll tell our other employees about our decision,” said Ziffinon. “If they don’t feel safe coming into work, then they don’t have to. I think we ought to put our operations on hiatus for a couple of days until this blows over. Lay low until they lose track of us.”
Everyone also agreed with this decision. We all got up and went to the barracks to tell the other employees our decision. I drove home not knowing what tomorrow would bring.
Providence
February 12th, 1987
At three in the morning, I woke up at the sound of the phone ringing. I couldn’t be sure of who would call me at this hour. The number was unknown.
“Hello?” I asked.
“GameMaster, it’s Avian. I need to ask you something serious.”
I hadn’t heard from Avian since she left MetaCorp. She had an urgent tone in her voice.
“Shoot,” I said.
“If you had to choose between Ziff or me,” she started. “Who would you choose?”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell the others this,” she started. “I highly suggest you leave MetaCorp. People are starting to find out. It’s ruining people’s lives. You will become a target for many people.”
“I know,” I said. “I don’t know what to believe anymore. This whole thing is getting out of hand.”
“Game… you’re fighting the wrong side.” she declared.
I could tell exactly where this conversation was going.
“I know that you got harassed for being in MetaCorp,” I said. “Is that why you want me to leave? Or is it because what I’m doing is wrong?”
A brief silence permeated the speaker.
“Both,” she said. “I used to be all in on this. You know that. I’ve stayed loyal, but I can’t stand for this.”
Remember the Nexaco employee that Avian pushed off the ledge? Her mentioning loyalty made me remember that. Avian used to devote all her time towards MetaCorp, but things had changed since then. Avian has always been a killer, but she now advocated for herself when it came to these kinds of battles.
“MetaCorp is crumbling from the inside,” I said. “While the Cabinet can keep pulling math out of their asses, people’s friendships are being torn apart over this. I don’t blame you for leaving.”
“Can I trust you?” asked Avian.
“What will it take for you to trust me?” I asked her.
“I need your word because I’m gullible like that,” she said. “I thought Ziff was cool, but I don’t know if I can trust any of them anymore.”
“You’re right,” I said. “But what makes you think Ziff would try to tear me apart?”
“Game, I only got paid $10k from MetaCorp.” she started. “They don’t pay their employees. I heard Ziff was planning to scam people by letting them buy their shares and not following up with them when they wanted to sell. I don’t know if he will go through with that plan or if that is true…”
“It’s already happened to Les,” I said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me. The whole point of this was to get on the leader-board, not fight over money. Why bother giving employees their fair amount of shares and not let them cash out?”
“Because they got greedy,” said Avian. “We kept working for them, and they wanted more power. We gave it to them.”
“Christ…” I said. “I feel like I’m in the middle of a conspiracy.”
“We are,” said Avian. “But there is an anti-MetaCorp group forming. I’m sure you’ve heard of it by now.”
“You’re talking about Riverence? The United Front Against MetaCorp?”
“Yes,” she started. “I’m surprised by their progress. They now have the support of another anti-MetaCorp group. They are ready to attack once more. If you can prove that you’ve left MetaCorp, then feel free to join us.”
“Gee Avian, I don’t know…” I said.
“If they find out about me telling you this, they’ll likely put me on their hit list too,” said Avian.
“I stand with you and your cause,” I said. “But I need to document everything that has happened thus far. Ziff started MetaCorp with his intentions for me to be in it. I am high up in the chain of command, and for me to leave now will cause a power shift.”
“Right…” said Avian. “It might just be me, but I see a problem in that. They want to keep the money for themselves. If you leave, they are getting your cut of the money.”
“I don’t care about the money anymore.” I declared. “I know damn well that I’m not going to get one cent out of them. What you’re saying makes sense to me. If they can control the accounts, they can control the flow of the money. I’ve heard that they’re putting money in other accounts to throw off UFAM. They don’t have to put it in the MetaCorp account. They can pocket that money and write it off. But it doesn’t explain why the Cabinet is throwing all of their support towards Ace.”
“Ace was always there, Game.” Avian declared. “I mean, he was the CEO of UltraCorp, for Christ’s sake. Look at United Stock & Trade. He is gaining support through that company as well. While they appear to operate legitimately, it would make sense for MetaCorp to use them to meet their ends as well. Despite this, I am still willing to work for them. I gotta pay my bills somehow.”
“I still have no clue how they found him,” I said. “Like, why would he help MetaCorp over anyone else? Why help this promising company refine their methods?”
“Because he is gaining from it too,” she said.
I started panicking. Even without legitimate proof, it all made sense. Avian did have a way with words.
“Avian…” I said. “We’ve stumbled on some Illuminati ♥♥♥♥ right here.”
“Game…” she said. “We were the Illuminati ♥♥♥♥. We were the bad guys. I don’t want to be the bad guy anymore. I’m hoping to make a fresh start with UFAM. They might be crooked, but you’re no worse than me until you leave MetaCorp. What are you going to do when this all blows over?”
“I can’t leave yet,” I said. “You made the right call in leaving with a good reason. I don’t know what will happen to me once Ziff finds out that I’ve been helping UFAM.”
“Join us,” said Avian. “Like I was in MetaCorp, I’m not a big dog in UFAM. If you think you can be a spy, then meet the leaders and discuss it with them.”
Irresponsibility
February 13th, 1987
I couldn’t fall asleep last night. Avian was serious about requesting my help. I promised her I would show up tomorrow to meet them. To keep working for MetaCorp without questioning its methods would be hypocritical.
She told me the address of their hideout, which led me to the Grandview Apartments. I drove over there before my work shift started. After I parked, I took time to look at the apartment complex. The walls showed no signs of decay. The building looked newer in comparison to the other buildings on the street.
Avian was waiting for me by one of the entrances to the building. I got out of my car and walked over to meet her. She then led me through the door and up some stairs. I followed her inside as she navigated through many hallways.
“So…” I started. “Who’s technically in charge of UFAM?”
“There are two different organizations,” said Avian. “The United Front Against MetaCorp and the Peace Walkers. Both groups have managed to get around fifteen recruits in total. They’ve convinced people to pool all of their resources for the cause. As for who’s in charge, it is Snarky and Riverence.”
“They seriously expect recruits to bring in weapons and support?” I asked. “That sounds like communism to me.”
“Oh please,” she said. “The last thing I need to hear from you is how bad they’re doing. If you’re going to help UFAM, then this will be their chance to improve. The next time they fight, they will become stronger because of your advice.”
We both stopped in front of a door numbered “49”.
“This is the door,” said Avian. “But it isn’t quite time yet. Let’s hang back.”
We moved back a bit so we could whisper before we went in.
“Look,” she whispered. “You’re still in MetaCorp. UFAM has given me a purpose, and I want to fulfill it. I’d be worrying less about their weaknesses and more about how you plan to help them.”
“You want me to help them?” I asked. “For all I know, there could be MetaCorp plants in there. I wouldn’t be so eager to trust them since you just left. You’re down to the wire on your cash.”
“I’m not saying that I’m right,” said Avian. “But I think that this road is worth crossing. If I don’t think this is worth it, I’ll leave. I promise.”
For as long as I could remember, Avian almost always kept her promises. I still wanted her trust in case things got bad.
“Alright then,” I whispered. “Let’s get into character.”
She nodded, and we both walked back to the door. We took a moment to calm our nerves.
She knocked on the door, and I heard the deadbolt getting flipped. Les was on the other side and looked surprised to see me. Once they saw Avian next to me, they opened the door fully so we could stroll inside.
There were a few young people who were caught off-guard by our appearance. The two guys who were with Riverence the other week were sitting at a table on the right with hamburgers and soda. On the other side were Snarky and Riverence. Their expression quickly changed from anger to confusion as we walked over to them. Les was walking back over to their table as we approached them.
“I thought you were joking when you said that Avian,” said Riverence. “I didn’t expect you to bring him here.”
“GameMaster is one of my closest friends,” said Avian. “You can trust him.”
Riverence raised their arms, inviting us both to sit at their table. Everyone else went back to whatever they were doing.
“Well,” said Riverence. “I’m sure you’ve seen me before. I’m aware of your status within MetaCorp. Are you willing to help us in our goal?”
“Am I going to get exposed?” I asked. “If they find out that I’m leaking information, then I’m through. No one is going to trust me to do business if word gets out.”
“I fully understand your concerns,” said Riverence. “I’ll try my best to make sure our secret doesn’t get out.”
For the record, Riverence wasn’t exactly good at keeping secrets. MetaCorp only knew of Riverence’s exploits because they bragged to different members of MetaCorp about their progress.
“Alright then,” I said. “What do you want to know?”
“We need names,” said Riverence. “We know a few potential people who are in the company, but that’s about it. Giving us the employee list would allow us to operate without fear of our secrets getting out.”
I gave Riverence a list of people I knew who were working in MetaCorp at the time. I detailed the hierarchy in depth to illustrate how MetaCorp worked. Riverence had a big grin on their face the whole time while I confessed their secrets.
Les had already leaked the spreadsheet, which threw me off. That spreadsheet was their number one trade secret at the time. If they found out, it would cause a commotion.
“River,” said Avian. “MetaCorp recently introduced three future employees. Do you think that you can get them on board with us as well?”
“I don’t see why not,” said Riverence. “We might not need extra intel from them, but it will give us an advantage when we try to sabotage their depo runs.”
We discussed a few other things while we were there. After that, River beckoned Avian to talk with her in private, leaving me alone with Snarky and Les. I decided to approach Les and see how they would respond to my presence.
“Les,” I said. “Did that blackmail plan work out for you?”
They stammered a bit. “Well…no. It didn’t. You have any idea why QK wouldn’t let me sell my stock?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I don’t believe either of you knew what was going to happen.”
“Well…” said Les. “I guess that makes sense.”
After talking to Les for a few more minutes, Riverence and Avian came back out from the back room.
“I’m glad you could come here today,” said Riverence. “You’ve been a big help, and I can’t thank you enough for this. I’ll call you if I need anything else.”
Riverence offered out their hand. I looked at them with contempt.
“No,” I said. “I don’t trust you yet. While this may be discreet for you, it isn’t for me. You’ve got a long way to go for me to trust UFAM.”
Riverence nodded slowly, understanding the circumstances. I had hoped that helping UFAM would get them to be quieter about their intentions.
It wouldn’t, and Riverence eventually became a victim of their demise.
Fear
I drove Avian back to her apartment. After that, I went back to the commercial building. Even with the increased amount of crime, there was hardly anybody out on the way there. When I got there, the only other cars in the parking lot besides mine were a white Town Car and a red helicopter.
As I walked into the MetaCorp suite, I noticed that the Cabinet door was open slightly. I got as close as I could to the door, and I could overhear Ace and Ziffinon talking inside. It didn’t sound like my presence would be welcome.
“Your appointment to the Cabinet is almost complete,” said Ziffinon. “I’ve already discussed the matter with the other members.”
“I take it that they were agreeable?” asked Ace.
“Definitely,” said Ziffinon. “You’ve been a great help to us, Ace. I can’t thank you enough.”
Ace basked in Ziffinon’s praise. It was what he desired.
“However,” said Ziffinon. “I’ve been receiving reports of attacks on our employees while they’re depositing the cash. The increase of crime in the city isn’t certainly helping any.”
“So what?” asked Ace. “Let it spill over into the rest of Rosa County. Let the bodies pile up in the streets. Once we get the ball rolling with Phase II, people will beg us to save them.”
Phase II? What did that entail? And why didn’t they tell me about it sooner?
“Hmm,” said Ziffinon. “I hope you aren’t underestimating the problem. The underclasses are getting desperate, and the increasing amount of crime won’t go away as quickly as you think.”
“Of course they’re desperate!” said Ace. “They can smell their deaths, and the sound they’ll make rattling their cages will serve as a warning to the rest.”
“We have other problems,” said Ziffinon. “We have intelligence indicating the group behind the attacks.”
“UFAM?” asked Ace.
“Formed after Snarky left,” said Ziffinon. “They’ve grown in size and scope. Les is with them as well. However, I have someone in place.”
A double within UFAM? Who could that be?
“A bunch of pretentious youngsters trying to take us down,” said Ace. “Their politics may be popular, but our methods are far ahead of theirs. They won’t last long against us, Ziff. We are the future!”
Ziffinon stood silent for a couple of seconds as he waited for Ace to finish.
“Now,” said Ace. “I’m a bit disappointed with the performance of the current project. You’ve reviewed the second revision of the spreadsheet?”
“Yes,” said Ziffinon. “We have enough data to predict what projects are located at each of the buildings each day. Once we refine it further, it should be operational within the week. I’ll explain it to everyone once you’re ready.”
“We’ve had to endure much during our time together,” said Ace. “But soon, we will control this city. Our vision will become a reality, and we will become kings.”
Ace paused for a moment. He turned around and raised his arm towards the city skyline outside.
“Or better than kings…Gods!”
While they finished their conversation, I went to the break room to get coffee. I don’t typically drink coffee, but I lost sleep because of last night. I put my coffee on the ground and stretched my legs on the couch.
The idea of Ace colluding with Ziffinon and QK without my knowledge scared me. Why leave me out of their plans? Ace seemed genuinely serious about transforming MetaCorp into something bigger. Perhaps he was trying to resurrect UltraCorp. Was he using Ziffinon and myself to gain an advantage?
I couldn’t think. All I wanted to do was sleep. Forget about my role in all of this and forget MetaCorp even existed. But Ziffinon would soon realize I had shown up, so I sat up and got my cup of coffee. I took a sip.
It was decaf.
I like to think reality played a trick on me that day.
I dumped my coffee down the drain and bought a Space from the vending machine. The machine made its perturbed screeches, ending in a loud crash. As I reached down and got the can from the slot, I looked up to find Ziffinon looking at me from the doorway. I cracked open the can as he walked in. I took a long sip.
“You look tired,” said Ziffinon. “I can’t recall the last time that happened.”
I lowered my drink. “I couldn’t sleep last night,” I said. “I thought I’d come in early in case you needed anything from me.”
He walked over to the counter and made himself a cup of coffee. He pulled out the chair next to the table in the room and sat down.
“I’m sure you’ve heard about our adversaries by now,” said Ziffinon. “We’ve received more details about who’s working for them. But that isn’t enough for us. I need you to do some digging and see what you can find out about them.”
“They already know who I am,” I said. “I can’t just walk in there and ask for a job. What are you suggesting I do?”
“Tail them after we do our deposit runs,” said Ziffinon. “We don’t even need to try our hardest to fend them off. They have to have a base of operations.”
What Ziffinon was asking me to do seemed like child’s play. There should have been a significant amount of research into UFAM already. Plus, I already knew where the UFAM HQ was. But I would have to play along with his idea.
“Seems easy,” I said. “As long as I don’t scare off UFAM, we should be good.”
Ziffinon raised the coffee closer to his lips.
“I’ll make a toast with you,” he said. “We will make an example out of them. And to this, I toast, for MetaCorp’s continued growth.”
I toasted my Space with him. He took a sip of his coffee and put the cup down. He tried his best to hide his anger in front of me. But he eventually got up after a few seconds and dumped the rest of his coffee down the sink. He most likely noticed the other styrofoam cup in the garbage bin.
“Why didn’t you tell me that someone had messed with the coffee?” he asked.
He walked over to the vending machine, repeating the same path I had taken a minute earlier.
I chuckled. “You want to know how I got to this point?” I asked him.
He put his money in and pushed the button. The vending machine made its infernal racket once again.
“Alright,” he said. “I give up. How the Hell did you get to this point?”
The loud crash deafened the room.
“I kept my mouth shut.”
“♥♥♥♥ off,” he said as he got the can. “See this as a rite of passage, GameMaster. Don’t disappoint me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his demise as I followed him out. Sadly, this would be the last time that he got angry at me for a good reason. It seemed fitting.
I spent the next few days feeding information to both sides. The power struggle intensified as UFAM and PW repeatedly attempted to stop MetaCorp from depositing. I spent a lot of time tracking them down for Ziffinon, despite what I already knew about them.
The pressure eventually became unbearable for me. I would have no control over what happened next.
Torn
February 18th, 1987
I had arrived late to the Cabinet meeting. I made my way over to my chair and sat down. Ace was going over a game plan of some sort.
“Screwing up over UFAM cost us big time,” said Ace. “But now we’ve paid that debt in full. Our inside man has told us where they’re at.”
He had a bunch of stuff written on the whiteboard. He was giving instructions to different people.
“If everything goes according to plan,” said Ace. “Then we’ve got ourselves one hell of a martyr. Now-“
“Excuse me,” I said. “But who are we killing?”
He paused for a moment to recognize my presence.
“Tonight,” said Ace. “We kill Riverence.”
I sat up in my chair.
“When are we going out?” I asked.
“Right now,” said Ace. “Once UFAM is out of the picture, nothing will be able to stop us.”
His words were flying through my head. All I could think about was warning Avian. After the meeting concluded, I got out of my chair and booked it for the door. Ziffinon followed me out to the elevator.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I gotta…um…”
“Weren’t you listening back in there?” he asked. “We’re doing this thing tonight. You better stop giving off bad vibes because you need to be there for this.”
As the doors opened, we both stepped inside. I pushed the button for the first floor.
He stared at me as the elevator doors shut.
As soon as I got to my car, I realized that my phone was going off the whole time. I got in and picked up the phone.
“Hello?” I asked.
“It’s Avian,” said the voice. “You need to get out of MetaCorp.”
“And you need to get out of UFAM,” I said. “I don’t know what you thought would happen when you joined UFAM, but MetaCorp found out where the base is. They will attack any minute.”
“I know,” she said. “Somehow, Riverence received word of that. I was planning on leaving UFAM anyway. I don’t like either side anymore.”
“Look,” I said. “I didn’t want you messed up in this. Your life is at stake, too. Call Les and tell them to meet at your apartment and hide there. I’ll call you once this blows over.”
“But why?” said Avian. “Why do you have to show up?”
“There’s going to be a massacre over there,” I said. “I have to be there. Ace is intent on killing Riverence, which should dissolve UFAM. You won’t survive if you’re still there.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she said. “But what are you going to do when this all blows over? I don’t think your cover is going to hold up for much longer.”
“What I know and what I can prove aren’t exactly seeing eye to eye right now,” I said. “I know I’m on thin ice, but if I could last just a bit longer-“
“I’m not getting a kick out of this,” she said. “You’ve already pieced everything together, and you’re more worried about your cover over your own damn life?”
I sighed. I heard the front doors of the commercial building open behind me. Everyone was getting ready to drive out to the apartments.
“Do I have to spell it out to you?” she asked. “It’s time to get out.”
I knew she was right. I trapped myself in a corner with no way out.
“I’ve got a good hand,” I said. “And I’m going to play it. You worry about yourself and Les for right now. I promise you I’ll make it out of this.”
She sighed. “Alright then,” she said. “I’ll see you when this is all over.”
She hung up the phone, and I noticed Ziffinon running to his car. The cars were all revving in unison as people started driving out. Ace’s private helicopter was starting up.
He smiled at me. I could only stare back.
We had to stop quickly outside the apartments. A bunch of them were already out there, waiting for us to arrive. We had driven straight first into a shootout.
I stopped my car and took cover. Everyone was doing the same as shots rang out on both sides. I looked out from behind my car and started shooting at them. Amid the confusion, I hoped that none of them would recognize me as I tried my hardest not to shoot too many of them. But as they fired more shots at us, we fired more shots at them. They were losing fast.
I was hiding behind cover as I heard a scream to the right of me. Ziffinon had gotten wounded in the crossfire. I ran over to him, trying to steer clear of stray bullets aimed at me. He had laid himself down on the passenger seat of his car.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I think they got my right arm. Maybe my chest.”
As I inspected him, we both looked up to hear the squeal of tires coming from the building. A white hatchback drove out into the carnage. Riverence was inside.
“Go after them!” he shouted. “I’ll be fine.”
“But you’re bleeding out!” I said.
“Just go! I’ll get help.”
“No,” I said. “You’re hurt pretty bad. We got to get you to a hospital.”
I shut the passenger door and got in his car. I put the gear shift into drive and started to chase after Riverence. As I heard him screaming in the back, I focused on Riverence.
I took Ziffinon’s phone from the cupholder and called Ace.
“I’m chasing Riverence,” I said. “I got Ziff bleeding out here in the back, and I don’t know how much longer he’ll last.”
“Go after Riverence,” said Ace. “I’ll follow you in the helicopter after we take care of the situation over here.”
“But what about Ziff-” I said. He had hung up.
“All this blood is scaring the ♥♥♥♥ out of me,” said Ziffinon. “I’m gonna die in here!”
“Just hold on!” I said. “Ace will be following us. Once I catch Riverence, we’ll get you to a doctor. Just tell me that you’ll be okay.”
There was no response from him. He almost started crying.
I pounded the steering wheel. “Just say the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ words!” I shouted. “You’re gonna be okay!”
“Alright!” he shouted. “I’m gonna be okay.”
“That’s better,” I said softly.
Ziffinon took out one of his bandages and tried to patch his wounds. Riverence made a sharp left turn, almost crashing into oncoming traffic. It sent Ziffinon flying to the other side of the car.
We drove all across the city before turning left onto 1st Street from Holland Ave. Riverence lost control and crashed the car into the gun store at 1st Station. I stopped the car and checked on Ziffinon.
“You’re gonna be alright,” I said. “I just gotta take care of Riverence.”
He nodded his head, and I got out of my car and walked towards Riverence. Their hatchback was totaled. There was glass all over the ground. Riverence slowly crawled out of the car and started to panic once they saw me.
Everything that had happened thus far all came to this point. I aimed my pistol at Riverence.
“Why?” asked Riverence. “After everything you’ve done?”
“I’m through with you,” I said. “I hope you can make it last.”
I had my gun trained on them as Ace and some other employees showed up with my car. They tended to Ziffinon while Ace slowly walked up behind me.
“Well done,” said Ace. “Riverence, Snarky, we got them all. UFAM is dead. Now, kill Riverence.”
I kept my pistol aimed at Riverence. Nothing was stopping me from shooting Riverence. But this wasn’t what I wanted. A lot of people died over this, and I wanted it to end.
“Do it already,” said Ace.
I lowered my pistol. “How many people did you and the Cabinet have to drag down for this?” I asked.
“It’s going to take some time for us to figure out what we’ve lost,” said Ace. “But in the meantime, just shoot Riverence already.”
“No,” I said. “I won’t.”
“Why not?” asked Ace. “They’re right there!”
“I’m through with killing people over this,” I said. “I can’t stand for MetaCorp anymore.”
I turned around and began walking away to my car.
“GameMaster!” shouted Ace. “Now you get yourself back here and finish the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ job!”
I continued walking towards my car.
“You just bought yourself a whole lot of trouble, GameMaster!”
I got in my car and shut the door.
“This is your last chance, GameMaster!”
I turned around and drove myself home.
Reconciliation
February 19th, 1987
In the morning, I got a call from Ziffinon. He told me that he wanted me to see him in the meeting room. I drove over there as soon as I could. Oddly, the streets were empty, as if it were the calm before the storm that started later that day.
I got to the building and took the elevator. To get to the 50th floor would take time.
As the elevator opened, I walked out and opened the door to the meeting room. Ziffinon stood at the other side, staring at the traffic outside. As he turned around, I noticed that his arm was in a cast.
The condescending look on his face told me everything.
Ziffinon sighed. “Well,” he said. “Why the betrayal?”
I stammered. To explain my thought process through all of this required a therapist.
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” said Ziffinon in a condescending tone. “We interrogated Riverence. We know everything now. You’re officially fired from MetaCorp, and by extension, United Stock & Trade.”
I tried to start over. “I’m sorry, Ziff,” I said. “But this company is past its purpose. I can’t stand for this anymore.”
A brief moment of silence. Ziffinon walked over to his chair and sat down.
“I just want to know who squealed,” I said. “You’re not going to tell me that.”
“Well,” Ziffinon started. “You first gave yourself away by refusing to shoot Riverence. Plus, they were bragging to Joe about having a rat. Our interrogation of them confirmed that.”
I tried to downplay my role. “UFAM and the Peace Walkers aren’t ready yet,” I said. “They wouldn’t know what to do with the information I’ve given them.”
“They have their front now,” said Ziffinon. “They call it The New Meta. 1.3 million dollars in funding. Ace can help us beat that amount every day we work. They don’t have anybody.”
“I could care less about who comes out on top,” I declared. “If I’m honest, the only reason I stayed this long was that I felt it was nice enough to hang out with friends. Then everything had to get political. Every meeting since the start of the month has been a clash over control of the money.”
He stared at me, eyes deadlocked with mine.
“Well,” said Ziffinon. “If I’m honest, I wish you would’ve started being honest much sooner. Had you told me that you were leaving and joining UFAM, I wouldn’t have cared. Snarky told me about his group and how it wasn’t personal. I wish you had done the same.”
He had me. It didn’t matter if my actions helped out UFAM in the long run. I violated the trust of one of my friends. To do that was as bad as spitting in his face.
“Look,” I started. “You are right. I was dishonest. But I can’t change the past. This whole thing has gotten out of hand. Drama is breaking out between our friends over MetaCorp.”
Ziffinon sighed and looked down.
“I’d like to remain on good terms with you,” I said.
He knew that there was truth to my words.
“I appreciate your honesty,” said Ziffinon. “But please, if you take issue with a project I have or anything I do, be honest with me. You and Snarky were the only chances UFAM had.”
“I’m leaving both sides,” I said. “MetaCorp can recover, but they won’t.”
“Good,” said Ziffinon. “Unless they can pull something big, barring something like recruiting Krypa or Uncle Knee.”
An idea began to form. It involved payback.
“Honestly,” I started. “I’d love to see if UFAM lost the other moles. Oh, that would be something-“
“There are other moles within MetaCorp?” asked Ziffinon. “If you don’t want to tell me who they are, then that’s fair.”
“Well,” I said. “You said Riverence bragged to Joe about having a mole, right?”
“Pretty much,” said Ziffinon. “They sent Joe explicit evidence of having a mole. They were smug about it too.”
“That ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!” I shouted. “What kind of idiot tells the enemy that they have a spy?”
“Riverence is so unbelievably stupid,” he said. “They’ve done more damage to UFAM than we have. I still sometimes cannot comprehend that one person could be as brain-dead as they are.”
We both chuckled at the sentiment. I confessed the identities of the three other moles – V85, BullRockLord, and GoofDog. It turned out that V85 was a double agent that fed information to Ziffinon for a week, which explained how they found out about my betrayal. However, he didn’t know about the other two moles, and I felt sure that it would piss off Riverence to no end. Anything to make myself feel better about what I had done.
I had some other advice I wanted to give Ziffinon as well. Maybe get his mind racing. He had been too naive while everyone started covering their asses.
“By the way,” I said. “I know that you and QK have access to the MetaCorp fortune. That’s probably for the best if you think about it. If QK is the only person who still has access, I would’ve told you that you had a big problem on your hands. Now that both of you have access to the money, I’d be warier of QK and Ace.”
He looked confused, but his expression changed after a second. “I see what you mean. With 5% of the total GDP in this city, it is best to have it in multiple hands…”
“Riverence might know when MetaCorp conducts business,” I said. “But you might not know as well.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “You think QK would take the money and run?”
“It’s possible,” I said. “With an accomplice, they could do it easily.”
“Neither of us is willing to burn bridges over the money,” said Ziffinon. “But I get what you mean.”
“The money is what makes MetaCorp viable,” I said. “If you want the company to last, you’ll have to change how the company gets handled.”
“I’m guessing you mean management?” asked Ziffinon.
“The Cabinet is fine,” I started. “But the employees aren’t. Some are fine working for the sake of the company, like our close friends. But nothing is stopping them from joining UFAM if they get bored. Or if they aren’t content with doing unpaid labor.”
“I’ve considered that somewhat,” he said. “After all, UltraCorp partly lasted for two years because it paid its employees.”
“The methods developed by you and Ace are great,” I said. “But having this kind of strategy in MetaCorp is risky. It’s bound to cause more problems.”
“You’re right,” said Ziffinon. “We need reliable people to keep the company afloat. That’s why we’ve cut off invites for now, but I’ll certainly take that into account.”
After discussing some other miscellaneous things, it was time to leave. My time here was up. People would start showing up for work.
“Well,” I said. “That’s that then. I’ve said everything I’ve wanted to. Do whatever you want with my advice.”
“Same here,” said Ziffinon. “I’m glad we’re still on good terms. You were a great part of my team. But you can’t stay here. If you ever want to get back in the game, fund a company of your own.”
Fund my own company? With everyone watching? What kind of advice was this? To stay in Rosa County and conduct business would be a death wish.
“No…” I said. “This city is going to Hell in a hand-basket. I think I’m through with this sort of stuff for now.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Ziffinon. “I’ve considered leaving myself.”
That was an unfinished thought that would wither away.
We said our goodbyes, and I walked out of the meeting room. I now knew that I was alone with no one from MetaCorp to fall back on. I would not receive compensation of any sort. Even if my coworkers didn’t have a grudge against me for my betrayal, there was no use in getting them on my side.
The elevator was not kind to me, as it stopped twice for no apparent reason on the way down. I walked outside and got in my car, heading for my apartment. There was only one person left I could trust. Avian and I both knew that the rioting would continue to escalate until it completely swallowed Rosa County. I needed to see her before things got worse.
Exodus
After I finished packing my things, I called Avian and let her know that I got fired from MetaCorp. I offered to explain the whole thing, and she asked to meet me at her apartment.
As I drove over to meet her, I decided to take one last drive through the city. There were a couple of burning cars in the streets. Riots took place at each of the company buildings. There were protests at Central over what happened to UFAM. The city looked like it was going under, and I couldn’t have cared in the slightest. I planned to leave and head back home.
As I found her apartment, I parked my car next to hers. It was a few feet away from a balcony, where you could get a nice view of the sunset. She found me outside, and we both walked up to each other.
We hugged each other for a bit.
“It’s finally over,” said Avian with a hint of both relief and sadness.
“Yeah,” I said. “It is.”
“The past few weeks have felt pointless,” she said. “I don’t know what I gained from it.”
“I’m just glad you’re safe,” I said. “Promise me that you’ll never pull that ♥♥♥♥ on me again.”
We both let go of each other, and we both walked over to our cars. Avian got on top of the hood of her town car and sat. I sat next to her as well.
A few minutes went by as we looked for miles across the desert. I eventually broke the silence.
“Now what?” I asked her. She shrugged.
“I used to believe in something greater,” she said. “Now, I don’t believe in anything anymore. Love and friendship, I guess.”
There was a brief moment of silence.
“Speaking of love,” she said. “I’d like to invite you to my wedding. It’s a couple of weeks from now.”
She smiled at me. I grinned and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I’d love to be there for that,” I said. “I didn’t know that you were getting married.”
We both hopped off her car. She opened her car door and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.
“Want a drink?” she asked.
I nodded, and she opened the bottle. Avian passed it to me first. I took a few sips and sighed before giving it back to her.
Avian gulped down the alcohol, and she cringed like she ate sour candy.
“Yep,” she said. “Stuff’s strong as Hell.”
We both drank until we finished the bottle. Avian was tipsy, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t too. She smiled and stumbled towards her car.
“Well,” said Avian. “It’s been one helluva ride. But it’s time to part ways for now. I’ll see you-“
She would hiccup.
“-Soon.”
I nodded and stumbled to my car, sharing our last laugh. She must have already packed as she sped off and left dust behind. I stared at the sunset until I felt better to drive. I wound up falling asleep.
I woke up a couple of hours later with a hangover. Despite it being nighttime, I noticed that Avian had left a briefcase inside of the car. There was a note and twenty-five thousand bucks in the case.
“Next time I need you quickly, I’ll try to give you a head start. Either that or I’ll drive myself out of trouble. I found a briefcase full of bills which I nearly had to leave behind. I had a feeling that MetaCorp wouldn’t get much chance to use them, and I thought it’d be a shame to waste them.”
– A
“Clever girl,” I said softly.
I shut the briefcase and started my car. I drove back to my apartment through dimly lit roads. Tomorrow, I will buy a plane ticket home and start over. Avian would have her wedding there in a couple of weeks.
To say that I didn’t feel anything over what happened to Rosa County would be a lie. MetaCorp and United Stock & Trade would continue to exist.
But I didn’t need them anymore.
February 20th, 1987
Ziffinon took the elevator up to the MetaCorp suite after getting lunch at the burger joint. He had made sure that he arrived alone at the building. To get to the 50th floor would take time.
He had done everything right for MetaCorp up to this point. He followed all the strategies. And yet, things weren’t working out. The company was well known to the public by this point, but no one knew who was in charge. Snarky and Les caused significant damage to their reputation. The actions of GameMaster had deteriorated his mental state, and his apology and confession of the other moles confused him. Everyone was fighting over control of the money.
Rosa County had become inhospitable because of MetaCorp. In its current state, MetaCorp would not last much longer.
He wasn’t sure what the future held for him at this point, but he felt that it would be alright. Ace would understand that this was all necessary for what was to come.
As the elevator doors opened, Ziffinon walked out towards the Cabinet door. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Ace eagerly stood up at his arrival.
“Ziff!” shouted Ace. “Everyone’s all here. We’re ready to discuss Phase II.”
Ziffinon looked across the meeting room. Ace, QK, and Umi were all here.
There was an empty swivel chair next to the chair he sat on.
Ziffinon let out a big sigh. “Alright,” he said. “Let’s get to work.”
He stepped inside and shut the door behind him.
Union
March 4th, 1987
Two weeks have passed since I left MetaCorp. Today is Avian’s wedding.
The wedding took place near the top of the Bolo Ty’s Casino. As I parked, several people I recognized were walking towards the building. Some of them I knew, and others were people who I had never met before. All of them had come together today to witness something that this city lacked in.
I headed inside with them up to the floor where the wedding was to take place. Some people spent time playing the many casino games they had there, but I just spent time chatting with people I knew. I spent a lot of time looking at the view outside. The cityscape looked amazing from up there.
There was one minor incident before the wedding. A fight broke out between a man I scarcely recognized and the groom’s father – Uncle Knee. As the man shouted, “♥♥♥♥ you, Uncle Knee!” Uncle Knee dodged their fist and proceeded to beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of him. The organizers struggled to stop them.
Before the ceremony started, rumors started to go around that the priest was sick and couldn’t make it. I approached the wedding organizers and offered to recite the pastor’s vows. Since no one else was willing to do it, they decided to go ahead with it.
Waiting for the bride at the front with me was the groom, SwordKid. We didn’t know each other that well, but I congratulated him.
I won’t go terribly into it, but I recited the vows as best as I could. Avian smiled at my willingness to step up to the task. After I said the pastor’s vows, they both kissed, and there was a huge celebration.
I hadn’t seen her this happy in a long time.
During the afterparty, I took time to reflect on previous events. Many people were still dancing, and I couldn’t tell where Avian and Sword were in the mix.
Suddenly, Ace came walking towards me from the sea of people. No one noticed his presence. I didn’t know if any of the other Cabinet members had arrived, and I wasn’t going to go paranoid over it. If Ace wanted to kill me, he wouldn’t do it at a wedding.
Ace invited me to talk away from where the action was.
“I’m a bit surprised to see you here,” I said. “I don’t think you got invited.”
“That’s not important,” said Ace. “I just wanted to ask you a question.”
“Shoot,” I said.
“Well,” he began. “Do you feel like you’ve lost anything from this?”
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“Not only did you get kicked out of MetaCorp,” he said. “But United Stock & Trade as well. You don’t feel like you’ve lost anything from it?”
“No,” I said. “I’m a successful businessman in my own right. If I want to make money, then I’m able to do so.”
“You can certainly say that about yourself,” said Ace. “But what about the lovely bride over there?”
We both looked at Avian and Sword dancing while everyone watched. She looked like she was enjoying herself with him.
“What about her?” I asked. “She already has SwordKid. She isn’t going to work for you forever.”
“My company has grown to over 100 employees,” said Ace. “When we are doing business, we can seize Rosa County by force if we wanted to.”
In comparison, UltraCorp had around 120 members, and they lasted for two years. Ace had done what had previously taken months of planning and did it in a couple of weeks. His success was due in no small part to the hard work of myself and the other MetaCorp members, which disgusted me.
“Look,” said Ace. “I don’t want to sound cocky any further. I want to talk to you later about United Stock & Trade. Tomorrow, perhaps.”
“About what exactly,” I said. “If you mind me asking?”
“I want to make sure you got the memo,” said Ace. “MetaCorp dissolved after what happened to you last month, and a lot of toxic ♥♥♥♥ has spilled out from it. It seems like things have calmed down since then.”
“I’ve already made up with Ziffinon,” I said. “What can you possibly say to me?”
“I now understand that you were on the receiving end of MetaCorp,” said Ace. “I want to make sure you know of my intentions and maybe offer you a job as well. You would make a great fit.”
“I’m stepping away from all this for now,” I said. “I’ll call you if I change my mind, but right now, I don’t want to be a part of anything anymore. Not after what’s transpired. Both you and Ziffinon are back where you were before.”
“I don’t understand,” said Ace. “What’s different between me and Ziffinon? What else is between us apart from our trust in each other?”
“That took me a long time to figure out,” I said.
He looked at me for a few seconds as I walked away. When I got close to the crowd, I turned and looked back where he had stood.
He had disappeared.
After most of the people had left, I joined Avian by the front entrance of the casino. She was watching the sunset, while her husband was chatting with his father.
She turned around and got up to hug me as I approached her.
“Thank you so much for filling in as pastor,” she said. “I didn’t know what we were going to do.”
“It’s nothing at all,” I said. “That’s what friends are for.”
We both sat down and looked at the sunset. We spent a lot of time reflecting on things, up until the sun was about to go down.
“So,” I said. “What are you going to do now?”
“Things might get better or worse,” she said. “But in the end, it won’t matter. We are out of it completely now.”
I felt conflicted as she said this, but as she grasped my hand, we both looked at the sunset, and I forgot about what I was thinking about at that moment.
“Our next mission,” she said. “Live. We are free now.”
After saying our goodbyes, Avian and Sword rode away in their car. Everyone else left soon after. I took time to reflect on everything that happened as I drove home.
Avian felt that she had been used to line the Cabinet’s pockets, which was a reasonable judgment. On the other hand, I had seen what money had done to some of my closest friends. MetaCorp used to be about having fun while we strived towards a shared goal. But the more I helped MetaCorp, the more I felt it overrode my caring of other things as I became increasingly committed to the company.
As MetaCorp kept growing, Ziffinon and Ace spent a lot of time figuring out ways to make money faster and more efficiently. As the company grew, they did more to dominate the playing field. I didn’t think negatively of MetaCorp until anti-MetaCorp personalities started attacking my friends as well as myself.
You can look at MetaCorp and say that they were a group that knew how to exploit the system. You can say that their veil of secrecy wasn’t anything that should have gotten people jealous. You could also argue that it was a complete waste of time, and I would agree with that.
The fact remains that I was a victim – of death, greed, and my own choices. I now realize that time does not heal wounds, as it just gives them space to sink into our subconscious. I left the business world by choice because my future seemed blocked by my past actions. In transferring them to the many pages I’ve written, catharsis now seems possible to me.
What happens next is no longer my story to tell. Whether United Stock & Trade will last or fall is not known. The torch will trade hands to another free soul, and they will bear the burden of reciting the chronicles of petty ambitions.
But from this point forward, I believe I can do whatever I want to.
I feel like a great weight has lifted off of my chest.
I am free.
Acknowledgments
I thank everyone who I told about the project for supporting me. It gave me a lot of encouragement.
I would also like to thank Avian A. in particular for her suggestions to the story. She contributed input about her character and suggested the ending. She also encouraged me to continue my work.
I would also like to thank Ziffinon and Ace for correcting me on a couple of things in the initial release.
Why did I create this? MetaCorp was honestly a breath of fresh air to me. I believe that this story is worth telling. Despite this, it flew under the radar for a lot of players. The little attention it received is mostly mocking in tone. The story of MetaCorp is bound to fall into obscurity.
After Les published their story about MetaCorp (“A Brush With Greed”), I felt I could make a definitive retelling of MetaCorp up until I left. I had a rough first draft after staying up one night, trying to remember everything I could during my time there. I worked on the later chapters first and spent a lot of time revising the first half of the story since this period is vague to me in memory.
This story is a testament to a war that lasted less than two months. UltraCorp lasted two whole years, and the only readily available information about it is a couple of pages long. The last thing I want from publishing this is to get people mentioned harassed for being on either side. Avian got harassed for being in MetaCorp, and I would hate to see it happen to anyone else.
Despite this, the behavior of some people involved in this story wasn’t ethical, either. There might have been a lot of manipulation within MetaCorp, and Riverence showed me a Discord bot they acquired which tracked known MetaCorp members. A bit crazy, wouldn’t you say?
Lastly, I don’t believe that United Stock & Trade is the same thing as MetaCorp. Ace got funding from MetaCorp, and several people are in both groups. He may not pay everyone equally one hundred percent of the time. But Ace has taken what made MetaCorp successful and applied it to a scalable company. In that regard, it will be the community’s reactions to it that will determine if Ace’s efforts are appreciated.
So once again, thank you. Thank you for reading my work. If even a single person manages that and enjoys what I have done, it will be worth it. And if you enjoyed it, please comment below. Rating it up would be nice as well. If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask below.