Chapter Text
Amanda’s morning routine was broken with a knock on her door. She was greeted by a teenage girl who couldn’t have been older than sixteen. Her eyes were darting around nervously. The way she was standing immediately gave away that she wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing. She was holding a large envelope.
“…Hello?” Amanda was trying to suppress her mild annoyance as best as she could, but she could tell some of it was slipping through.
“H-hello,” the girl stammered, shifting on her feet uncomfortably which briefly revealed the keycard she had clipped onto her pants. Under her name – which Amanda didn’t have the opportunity to read in the brief moment it was visible – was GameFuna’s blue triangle. The girl shakily handed her the envelope. “Mr. K-Kaminski has a j-job for you. H-he wanted me to stress that it is v-very important and that he wanted you to take care of it as soon as p-possible.”
Amanda took the envelope and put it under her arm. If it was from Kaminski, then she already knew what was in it.
She was confused as to why he would pull one of the summer interns from one of the game development departments to deliver such sensitive documents when he usually had Amanda meet him in person to receive them herself. Amanda didn’t want to immediately discredit this girl she didn’t know anything about personally, but it’s not like high schoolers are known for being masters of security.
“Oh, thank you… is that all?”
“Y-yes, ma’am,” the girl nodded.
They stood in silence for a moment.
“…Hey, by the way, are you… okay?”
”Mr. Kaminski freaks me out…” The girl's eyes were as wide as saucers at this point. “He lectured me about security and threatened me for fifteen minutes before he would even let me touch the envelope.”
“Oh. Well, yeah, that tracks. Guess how I would know. Don’t take anything he says personally, he is just a cranky old man,” Amanda said. “Hey, you know what? Before you go, would you like an orange juice? I accidentally bought too many of those little bottles and now I’m just trying to get them off my hands.”
”Oh.. sure?”
”Okay, well, stay right here. I’ll be right back.”
Amanda made her way to her kitchen, half-heartedly tossing the envelope onto her table. She would get to it in a minute, but for now she had other things on her mind.
Kaminski’s reasoning for involving a random sixteen year old in GameFuna’s business still alluded and perplexed her.
She took a small bottle of orange juice out of her fridge and returned to the door. She reached into the pocket of her leather jacket that was currently hanging on the coat rack nearby and retrieved one of her business cards. Amanda handed both the drink and the business card to the girl, who was now entirely avoiding eye contact.
”It was nice meeting you, but I really need to get back to what I was doing,” Amanda said, moving to shut the door.
“...Are you going to kill me?” the girl said softly, looking down at the ground.
Amanda swiftly opened the door again, causing the girl to flinch. “What?”
She looked back up at Amanda, a few tears running down her face. If her eyes were wide before, they might as well be about to pop out of her skull now. “N-nothing… just some rumors that are floating around… but… Kaminski said-”
“Okay, whoa, okay, look… I know I’m a bit scary looking, but I don’t have any intention of harming anybody," Amanda interrupted, a few bubbles of panic brewing in her chest. She was never good with comforting people.
Classic Kaminski move, Amanda thought. He's all about "security" until he can threaten someone into doing something for him.
Amanda laughed nervously, "Well, that’s a new one, I’ve never heard that one before.”
She had actually heard the rumors about her. They were mostly true, of course, but nobody — as far as Amanda and Kaminski was aware, at least — actually knew it for sure.
Thanks, Kaminski. Amanda mentally rolled her eyes. Confidential information will always be safe in your hands.
“I… I should get going. I'm sorry for bothering you. Thank you for the orange juice.” The girl said, turning and walking away.
”Don't worry about it. Stay safe out there,” Amanda said, shutting the door behind her.
She stood there for a moment, leaning on her hand on the doorframe. She took a deep breath. Kaminski was trying to make her job more difficult than it already was for no reason.
Amanda trudged to her table. She’ll just have to bring it up the next time she meets with Kaminski. Hopefully next time it will actually be in person.
Amanda just could not shake her encounter with that girl. She was growing increasingly more frustrated with herself. There was no reason to linger on it as heavily as she is, but she just can’t stop herself from thinking about what could have been.
What had Kaminski told her? Was she at least a bit aware of what was in the envelope, or did he just leave her entirely in the dark? She was absolutely terrified of Amanda, sure, but were those fears based in reality?
Or at least a reality she was aware of?
Amanda picked up the envelope and took it with her into her office. She sat down at her desk, pushing her keyboard out of the way to make space. She had little interest in finishing her morning routine at this point.
“Let’s see what’s in this thing,” she muttered, carefully tearing it open. The envelope held a manila folder. It would have looked like any other manila folder in the world if not for the blue triangle printed in the middle.
Standard affair, she had seen many of these folders before. If she didn't have to burn them once a job was complete she would have a sizable collection by now.
Amanda gently slid the folder out of the envelope, taking great care to not bend it in any way. She opened the folder, and her heart skipped.
Person(s) of Interest: KAYCEE HOBBES
Amanda stared at the document blankly. They used to be close friends, almost inseparable, but Kaminski insisted that Amanda begin to break away in order for her to dedicate herself fully to GameFuna. They slowly drifted apart after that. Amanda hasn't spoken to her in almost a year and a half.
She wasn’t actually that surprised that Kaycee incurred the wrath of GameFuna. She used to constantly get herself – and Amanda, by association – into trouble. Amanda was shocked that she hadn’t been fired ages ago, but she was still one of the few competent game developers GameFuna still had after that Lionel Snill guy bailed and completely disappeared with his development team's severance money a few years ago.
Amanda still wonders where he went sometimes. Her last major job was to track him down, but she was never able to find him. Even though he was quite scummy, even she couldn't help but admit he was incredibly smart about his movement. He must have known about what would happen to him otherwise.
The rest of the paper in the envelope was almost entirely blank. Despite how long she had been working for GameFuna at this point and her affinity for causing problems, GameFuna somehow hadn’t actually gathered much information on Kaycee.
This didn't matter too much to Amanda. She already knew enough about Kaycee to be able to find her. What she was actually looking for was the reason GameFuna wanted her dead.
She eventually got her answer. On the very bottom of the very last page, Mr. Kaminski had written in his recognizably neat, almost machine-like handwriting: IN POSSESSION OF UNRELEASED GAMEFUNA MATERIAL AND THE KARNOEFFEL CODE.
Amanda sat forward a bit. She could feel her heart rate rise a bit. Her main job this whole time was to eventually find and return the Karnoeffel Code to GameFuna, so it finally turning up in a place just within reach was the closest thing she would ever experience to a miracle.
But it would come at the cost of Kaycee's life, and Amanda was not sure if that was a fair trade. Did Kaycee deserve to die just so progress could be made?
Well... did any of those people deserve to die? Amanda's hands started to tremble.
It's not your place to question these decisions, only carry them out. Kaminski's words echoed in her mind. It felt like he was right next to her reprimanding her again. She squeezed her eyes shut to try and block him out. Do not let your own emotions and biases get in the way of doing your job, Amanda.
Amanda opened her eyes and reached for her phone. Kaminski was right. He has always been right, even if she doesn't like it.
Amanda opened the contacts app, revealing that Kaycee was still at the very top of her recently called list. Had she really not called anyone else since the last time they talked?
I guess it makes sense, Amanda thought, tapping on Kaycee's name to start a call. It's not like I have anyone outside of Kaminski anymore, anyway.
The phone rang for several seconds. Amanda started to wonder if Kaycee would actually pick up.
"…Hello?" Kaycee's voice finally greeted Amanda.
Amanda felt her heart melt. It had been so long since she'd last heard Kaycee speak that she had started to forget what she sounded like.
"Hey," Amanda paused. Every passing second felt like a knife was twisting in her chest. "Um, are you busy right now?"
"I mean… yeah. I am. But I can talk for a bit."
"Okay…" Amanda paused for a second, trying to steady her shaking breath. "Are you free at all this week?"
"I'm pretty sure I am?" Kaycee's voice suddenly carried a heavy twang of confusion. "Why?"
"Oh, I am just… thinking about you. I miss you a lot and I was wondering if you wanted to maybe hang out and catch up or something."
"Um… sure?" Kaycee replied. "I'm just curious as to why you're calling me about this right now?"
"Oh, uh…" Amanda silently pleaded for Kaycee to stop asking questions. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. "I just knew if I didn't call you about it now I would never get the courage to call you ever again."
There was a moment of silence. Amanda could just barely hear Kaycee's breathing.
"Aw… Amanda, I've missed you too." Kaycee's voice was now much softer. "I'd never be upset about you calling, even if you did call at a bit of an inconvenient time this time around."
Maybe Amanda's pleas were heard, because Kaycee only chuckled a bit at herself before continuing. "Anyway, I am available every evening this week except Thursday I think."
"Oh? What are you up to?"
"I'm going to go play in a Secrets of Legendaria tournament at Comics Land!" Kaycee said. "I would be happy take you with me but you needed to register beforehand like a month ago."
"Aw, that sounds like fun… I haven't played that game in ages, though. Maybe it's for the best I don't come along."
"Well, maybe we could play a few rounds together. Even if you don't have your deck anymore I would be happy to let you borrow one of mine."
"Maybe…"
There was another brief moment of silence before Kaycee spoke again. "Actually, now that I think about it, I think that this Saturday evening would work for me the best."
"That would work for me. Do you want me to bring over dinner too?"
"Sure, if you want to."
"What do you want?"
"Hm…" Kaycee paused for a moment to think. "…Surprise me."
Amanda sighed. She knew that was exactly what Kaycee was going to respond, but she had hoped that maybe just this once Kaycee would actually make a decision. "Okay, I won't keep bothering you, then. See you on Saturday."
"Sounds good! I've really got to get going now. See you on Saturday," Kaycee said, hanging up.
Amanda slowly put down her phone. She sat still for a few moments, staring out the window behind her computer screen. For just a few moments her life was normal and perhaps even going back to what it was before she took this job.
The reality of what she has to do suddenly slammed back into her. The world started to spin and Amanda felt like she was going to fall over even though she was sitting in her chair. She gripped her desk tightly and closed her eyes until everything was mostly still again.
Amanda made a silent plea for the second time that day, but this time it was closer to a prayer.
Kaycee, please forgive me.