Maven Goes To Work

The next morning Maven, in the form of Jennifer Sanders, reported for work at the Records Division of the International Energy Regulatory Agency’s New York office.
 
She took the subway with her best friend, Lucy, and the two friends chatted along the way, making plans for lunch at a new bistro a couple of blocks from the office.
 
The day went by slowly. Maven couldn’t just look up records on the rogue LFER agents behind the NYC Blackout on the IERA system…all computer systems are monitored. She’d be noticed, she reasoned.
 
So after lunch, Maven walked toward the Print Records Library of their office and looked down the hallway before making her way toward the room’s locked door.
 
But Maven wasn’t accustomed to walking in the high heels typically worn by her victim, Jennifer Sanders. She tripped and fell, her crash to the floor echoing down the hall. Darlene, her direct supervisor, quickly ran to the hallway and inquired, “Jennifer, are you OK?!”
 
“No…Yes…” she stuttered. “I mean, I hate these shoes.” She said truthfully. But her frustration grew. And she kept talking about everything she hated,
 
“I hate this place. I hate this city. I hate the fuckin’ elfers. I hate…”, but Maven had finally regained her composure and stopped herself from speaking further out of ‘character’.
 
“I understand, Jennifer.” Darlene smiled kindly.
 
“We all hate the LFER, don’t we, ladies?” she asked the group graciously as she attempted to diffuse the situation. The ladies in the office agreed, but looked warily at Jennifer…typically a stable and poised woman, now having cussed aloud after she’d fallen to the floor.
 
Maven didn’t make another attempt to enter the Print Records Library that day.
 
The next day, Maven waited for lunch to go to the Print Records Library. The other ladies were out of the office when she again set her sights on the locked door. But after almost thirty minutes of wrestling with an antique lock she’d never seen before, she cussed and went back to her desk, dejected.
 
She tried again the next day, but to no avail. She should’ve read up on the old Diebold locks used in the building, but her ‘friend’ Lucy had taken them out drinking that night. Maven had lost track of time and even enjoyed herself a little. But then she remembered,
 
“Lucy isn’t really my friend. I have her friend’s head preserved in a jar.”
 
The night ended after a few more hours with a headache, but she was as determined as ever to try again. So the next day, Thursday, she waited for everyone to leave for lunch and tried to pick the old lock again. Left, right, hold the pins upward. Then, *click*, the lock opened.
 
Maven quickly searched the rows of records and found a section called “Closed Committees”. She found the date she was looking for — February 2nd, 2072 — the date the report on the LFER Investigation was completed relating to the NYC Blackout.
 
Jackpot. The official report not released to the news media. She flipped through the report finding names, dates, and other potentially useful information. Maven took the 167 page report conducted via Closed Committee and placed it in her briefcase. Then she walked calmly out of the Print Records Library and closed the door. She sat down at her desk and began typing two resignation letters. A few moments later, she printed the documents and walked down to retrieve them.
 
She took both sheets from the printer and signed them both — one with the name Jennifer Sanders; the other with the name Lucy Creighton. She then sealed them individually and placed the letters in the inter-office mailing to the attention of Darlene Rhodes, expecting the letters to arrive the following morning. When Jennifer and Lucy wouldn’t be there.
 
Now there was only one loose-end remaining…
 
Maven found the phone she’d taken from Jennifer Sanders and opened it using her faceprint. She typed the following message to her best ‘friend’ Lucy:
 
“Hey Luc, let’s meet at my apartment for dinner tonight. Just you and me. Let’s have a girl’s night.”
 

---

Closing the door to the apartment she’d used for the last week, Maven had taken the form of the handyman and walked to the elevator. Once out of the building, she took the subway to the old neighborhood where her mother’s parent’s had once lived. Nearly abandoned, she wandered down the empty streets.
 
Maven felt a mixture of satisfaction and grief. She’d successfully infiltrated the IERA and had the unredacted report on the NYC Blackouts…but she’d had to kill her best friend in the process. It was necessary.
 
“I kill because I’m a killer.” She repeated to herself.
 
But Maven could smell the pain of people in the buildings nearby. Their pain…Her pain…it all became overwhelming. She began to take on the forms of the people she could smell. Cycling between their forms, she grew tired. But something snapped and she reverted into her ‘monstrous’ form.
 
Maven took a few deep breathes. She regained her composure in this form. But within minutes, she could smell the scent of two IERA agents coming for her.
 
”I’ll handle them just like Lucy…” she said to herself.