Hugo Alonso rushed to his employer’s room.

To the outside eye, “rushed” might have seemed an exaggerated word. Hugo’s gait was long and quick, but not hastened. His footsteps merely sounded on the tiles on the top floor of his employer’s building, not pounded. His breathing was natural – plenty of long breaths filled his lungs with enriching oxygen before elongated exhales released the carbon dioxide into the air – and not panting.

Yet for him, these lengthened strides and brisk pace was anything but calm. Which was unfortunate, as Hugo’s employer required a veil of experience and expertise in all facets of business. Even when exciting news had reached his ears.

Hugo took another deep breath as he stopped outside his employer’s room. There was a screen on the right side of the closed door. A little green light glowed in the top right corner, signifying Hugo’s employer could be interrupted. Hugo placed his wristband on the screen, waited, then entered the room as the door slid open.

It was with effort he kept to his natural gait: slow, deliberate steps almost entirely silent over the room’s plush carpet. In truth, he’d walked much faster as a child. Under his employer’s tutelage, however, Hugo had adjusted to many things to more match the powerful man who sat before him.

Hugo’s employer was sitting on a long couch, staring at the Linick skyline with a large glass of red wine in his hand.

“Hugo,” his employer said, voice barely above a whisper. Like his gait, Hugo had also trained his ears to hear and understand his employer’s preferred volume of speech. “Come, join me.”

Hugo could never disobey his employer’s requests. One did not turn away from a Titan, so why would one do the same from a Titan among men?

Hugo circled the couch, which revealed a second glass of wine on a table before his employer.

“You already know what I’ve come to report?” Hugo asked.

“I had my suspicions,” his employer said. “Now you’ve all but confirmed it. Come, sit. I still wish to hear it from you.”

Hugo’s employer patted the cushion next to him with hands larger than Hugo’s face. Hugo took the wine and sat, as close to the arm rest as he could. Hugo’s employer was right next to him. He wasn’t worthy to even have his knee brush against his employer’s.

“Word just came in,” Hugo said. “The experiments worked. Our time table won’t need to change. They actually trapped a Titan.”

“Good for us in the short term,” his employer said. “But with damning implications. We’re years behind the Republic, perhaps even by decades.”

Hugo’s employer narrowed his large, brown eyes at the Spire: Linick’s main governmental building. It soared in the distance, like a proud beacon for lost children to find hope and comfort and a way home.

“Which one?” his employer said. “There were at least five, by my last count.”

“The two Air types and one Water type managed to Interlink with children before our men could get them,” Hugo said. “The Fire type hasn’t been seen moving yet.”

“So the Land type?” His employer nodded, then remained motionless in thought. It was in times like these where Hugo was reminded of ancient carvings of large men, sculpted from onyx. Dress one of them in a tan suit and Hugo’s employer would fit in so naturally next to them. “That will do. It’ll have to be. But keep your eyes out for the Fire type.”

“Absolutely,” Hugo said. “There’s something else.”

“There always is.”

“They’re bringing the Titan over already, in a truck. It should be here by this evening.”

“I figured. So there must be more to report.”

“They’ve been able to do some preliminary tests already. Dr. Wagner claims he’s already been able to extract some of the Titan’s power.”

“Already?”

“Yes.”

Hugo’s employer remained in silent contemplation. Then, he raised his wine glass. “Call the necessary people. I want all the experiments ready to go the moment they bring the Titan into the city.”

“Of course.” Hugo clinked his glass against his employer’s.

His employer took a sip, then rose. “And remember to actually savor it, this time. We have a long road ahead of us, but remember to celebrate the little victories as they happen.”

“Of course.”

Hugo rose and sipped the wine. Dark, bitter, yet delicious. Just like the job they’d completed and the task ahead of them. In a few seconds, Hugo would make coded phone calls: in several hours, labs would be prepped, lawyers would have documents ready, the Peace Keepers and police informed of their responsibilities, and some unwilling citizens of Linick would find themselves at the heart of a revolutionary experiment.

But that could wait a few more moments, as Hugo savored the celebratory sip of the wine.