The Garbage Collector

What comes when entities go wrong?

The Story

One cycle, long ago, an entity named Brostin left Memree for the first time. He reached Nexus with dreams of fortune and fame, working hard on his first day at his new job. Day after day, Brostin worked more than resting at home, flocking to every request and task available for him to execute. He helped many of his coworkers, gaining many friends, and was sought out as a dependable colleague. Many cycles have past, yet his rankings in the processing center he worked at didn't change much. Frustratingly, he started to take home extra cookies every day, a free perk offered to employees as a treat for their hard work.
Soon Brostin was not satisfied with just extra cookies. He started to grab the free tea bags from the break room. Then he targeted the complimentary bananas. Soon he reached for fancier fare that was not complimentary, but snuck out of the community cafe with various goodies without paying for them. Brostin's sneaky skills developed steadily overtime, all started when he first grabbed additional cookies. His coworkers, once supportive, became suspicious of his behavior and stayed away from him in fear of getting in trouble.
With only one upgrade after several ultra cycles, Brostin took his accelerated advancement into his own hands. He eventually took home extra resources that weren't processed that day, a serious offense if caught. His home was soon filled to the brim with bytes, clothes, and fancy decor, relishing in his spoils without regret. He would recklessly gamble his cryptocurrency and find his way to high-end parties in restricted levels of Nexus. Brostin felt that his life was going to change for the better.
After coming home from a few days of debauchery, Brostin found many of his things gone from his home. Angry and flustered, he went to work that day only to find that he has no longer access to his processing center. His friends and neighbors seem to not have any memory about him. Frantically heading back home, Brostin found his house completely gone. Instead he found a sleek form of a body, mechanical, red-eyed, and chrome-colored. Without thinking he yelled and spat at the figure, demanding to know why his address disappeared.
"I am the Collector," it answered casually, "and my job is to take out the garbage."
Then Brostin was no more.

The Moral of the Story

Don't take more than you're supposed to. Don't take more than necessary. Just don't.

I don't think The Collector is real. There must be entities out there getting away with more than taking more than their fair share of cookies.

— A skeptical entity