Chapter Text
Mark pulled into the parking space and put his vehicle in park. He turned off his car, got out and locked the doors, before heading to a glass door under a sign proclaiming 'Echo Valley Journal'. He loved working as a journalist: finding a topic, gathering facts, writing an article on it; it was his dream job. Ever since he was a child Mark had enjoyed the process of figuring out how things happened and then sharing his new knowledge with others, so each morning he was overjoyed to finally have a career that used both his talents and interests. Of course there were some down sides. He had to get up earlier than he would like, the company 'encouraged' the employees to exercise by making them use the stairs and he was on the third floor, and he was on the very bottom of the ladder meaning he rarely got any stories bigger than the high school's football games.
Mark's mood soured as he remembered the recent chance he had for a big story. It was stolen by Ivan, a coworker he didn't get along with well in the first place. The story itself was a generic one on their city's local superhero, Septiceye. Normally he would not of been upset about it, he was use to losing stories, but had Ivan somehow gotten an interview through email. And he didn't even care! Ivan acted like it was nothing, like it wasn't the first time anyone had communicated with Septiceye. Mark would cut off his arm if it meant he got the chance to talk with the hero he looked up to! Well, not his arm, maybe a finger. Or a toe.
Realizing he was scowling, Mark smoothed out his expression before opening the door marked with a large 3. Avoiding looking in direction of Ivan, he headed to his desk, smiling at a few people as he passed them. He had barely sat down in his seat when Alisha tapped him on the shoulder.
"Richard wants to see you in his office," she said when he turned around.
As Mark stood up he wondered what his boss wanted. He knocked lightly on the door and after he heard a "Come in" he opened the door with a bright smile.
"Don't do that. This hard enough without..." Richard cut himself off, shaking his head, and gestured to the chair in front of him.
Sitting down cautiously, Mark asked, "What's going on?"
"You're a good employee, Mark. You're hardworking, loyal, and passionate about your job. But the company is making some cut backs." Richard sighed when he saw Mark was still confused. "You're being let go."
"...Oh."
"Even though I argued for the potential I see in you, you haven't been here as long as some other people. And the personnel that I thought would be a better option got some publicity recently so, yeah. The company is unwilling to lose him. I'm sorry Mark."
Mark took a deep breath and stood up. "It's alright. I get it."
Richard stood up as well and put out a hand to shake. "It was nice working with you. You are a talented journalist and I hope you know you can always use me as a reference, if you need it."
"Thanks," Mark said and left the office, heading to his former desk.
After packing his minimal belongings, Mark turned around to leave only to find Ivan standing in his way.
"Did wittle Markie get fired?" Ivan said condescendingly before leaning in close and lowering his voice, as if telling a secret, "Of course you did. You don't have the balls to do what is necessary to get anywhere. The world of reporting is competitive and you aren't intelligent enough to outsmart anyone, you don't have the guts to get your hands dirty, and you aren't strong enough to fight your way to the top."
Mark clenched both his jaw and hands at the smug look on his ex-coworker's face. He was tempted to show Ivan just how strong he was.
Mark saw himself swing a fist toward Ivan. He saw Ivan standing in a bar. He saw Ivan's nose get broken. He saw Ivan sidestep a drunk swing by an unknown man. He saw the fine he had to pay and his perfect record blemished. He saw Ivan make sure the other man went to jail for the night. He saw the trouble he had with getting a job because of 'anger issues'.
As satisfying as punching Ivan would be, it would just cause more problems. So Mark stepped around the obstacle in front of him and muttered, "Leave me alone."
Since it was the last time he would ever be inside this building, Mark took the elevator.