This choice: Head of Plus Size Research • Go Back... "Glad to be here I...wait, what kind of research?"
"Did I fail to mention that extra add on? Silly me." Liara grinned, her increasingly chubby face still not making that smile of hers any less venomous. Maybe it was that weird coloring of her eyes, Miranda thought. She didn't think that the Asari was the type for cosmetic enhancements, but then again she hadn't seen her as a businesswoman and, well, here she was. "In any case, I did want you on as the head of my...Expansive Research Division," Liara mused, inventing the name on the spot.
"Expansive Research?" Miranda repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"A bit more subtle then Plus-Size research, but more or less the same thing," Liara said, snapping her fingers. From a dark corner, a curvy little Asari stepped out, holding a tray with a bottle of dark red wine and two glasses. "Can I tempt you?" Liara asked as the young Asari filled the glasses and offered Miranda one.
"Where on Earth did you get a 1982 Latour?" she asked in amazement, readily accepting the glass and the bottle.
"I've lost count of all the one of a kind vintages I've collected at this point," Liara chuckled, accepting her own glass and taking a generous swig. "I have more connections now then I ever did as the Shadow Broker. I almost wish I did all of this earlier."
"You mean the corporate oligarchy shtick?" Miranda said innocently, taking a sip from her own glass and admiring the taste, missing the look of shock and murderous intent on Liara's face before returning to find her calm and menacing as ever.
"You found out about my plan..." Liara said coolly.
"Please, I did for Cerberus what you've been doing here for a few years. I just didn't know that the one filling the chair at the top was you," Miranda explained. "But made an educated guess, since it started after the news about the Batarians turning hostile again."
Miranda locked eyes with her fat CEO for a moment. "I...didn't want to see everything that Shepard died to save fall apart," Liara admitted softly, a bit of the kind-hearted scientist Miranda once knew shining through. Draining her wine glass as easily as she'd done the last month or so, the ex-Cerberus operative took the liberty of refilling it.
"I don't want to see it fall apart either," Miranda said. "So whatever it is you want me to do for ShepardTech, I'm all ears."
"Wonderful..." Liara leaned back, her sly grin reappearing on her face as her chair creaked dangerously. "You'll be exactly what I need for the next phase of this plan. But first, I need to show you something." Liara tapped a button on her desk. "Dahlia, darling, could you bring me that file we discussed?"
"Y-yes ma'am," came the voice on the other end followed by a static clip. Liara folded her hands in front of her as Miranda simply waited, sipping down on her wine until a moment later when the door opened up.
Miranda hided her surprise as the young Asari waddled in, panting and sweating. The poor thing was even fatter then Liara, her billowing thighs stretching her slacks to the limit with her pants button undone to make room for a sizeable gut and love handles stretching out the fabric of her own suit. Pausing to catch her breath, the girl let out a soft belch, and Miranda caught the sweet scent of Asari honey-mead. After another awkward moment, the out-of-breath Asari tossed the papers onto Liara's desk.
"H-here you go," she gasped.
"Thank you Dahlia," Liara said sweetly. Dahlia gave a curt nod that squished her own extra chins together, and turned around so suddenly that her tremendous rear end nearly smacked into Miranda on the way around. Flinching out of the way just in time, she watched openly as Dahlia waddled back out the door, fanning herself off with one hand as her hips bounced against the door frame.
"Who was that?" Miranda demanded as Liara chucked the papers in the nearby trash receptacle.
"My replacement as head of ShepardTech, of course."
Miranda needed a moment or two to process that. "I...you hired me on just so you can quit?!"
"Oh Miri, I'm FAR from quitting..." Liara smiled again. "I've bent the laws plenty to get this far, but sadly, one company dictating policy for the entire galaxy would be too bitter a pill for some to swallow. As far as the world knows, I'm going to be retiring in a week, when in truth I'm simply going to be moving to the head of a supercorporate entity to better manage the galaxy, and the only two people who know about this are enjoying this rather fine 1982 Latour."
"Ingenious," Miranda said coolly, not quite connecting the dots just yet. "So what do you need me for?"
"I need the executives of the companies I own following orders. What I don't need them doing is aspiring for more, or questioning their role in the plan. And they will do neither if they are kept...extremely comfortable. Like what I've been doing for my darling Dahlia back there." Liara clicked on her intercom. "Isn't that right, Dahlia?"
There was a soft hiccup. "Whatever you shay, Miss Shhoni..." Dahlia slurred over the intercom, letting out a punctuated belch before the speaker clicked off. Liara turned to look at Miranda, pondering the situation as she swirled the remains of her wine around in her glass.
"So you want a bunch of fat and happy executives," Miranda mused. "I think I can handle that."
Epicurean Executives: Miranda gets right to work, and Liara's puppets pack on pounds like it's nobody's business.
Top-Down Decadence: The 'Expansive Research Division' works like a charm, but it has the most dramatic effects on the two puppet masters, Liara and Miranda.
Indulgent Insurgence: Lawson doesn't just want this job, she wants to take over Liara's whole operation! And with the Expansive Research Division, it'd be almost too easy.
Profligate Pals: Liara has another old friend she wants to bring into her corporate plan.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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