Chapter 40: Work Cell
March 10, 1984. It was another Saturday and Sullivan dropped off Alexander at the Creed Comics Headquarters.
The little warehouse was still the same, in the area between San Fernando Valley and Burbank, with the exterior being plain but its interior should be in full production mode.
Alexander was looking forward to the renovations and just as he was about to enter... a guard sounded out to stop him.
"Hey, kid!"
The security person surveyed the obvious grade-schooler carrying a stack of folders and couldn't but be suspicious. "I can only let you in if you know someone inside if you don't, then could you tell me what your visiting in for?"
Alexander inwardly judged the guy with a passing grade and didn't intend to escalate things into a drama. "I'm Alexander Creed. I'm visiting in because I do know everyone inside should be waiting for my instructions."
The security guy was quiet for a while as it took some time to process the information. He felt his back drenched in sweat and scolded himself for laughing at company rumors.
Seeing that he was still internally conflicted, Alexander had to urge. "Mr. Security, can I be allowed to go in now?"
"Of course, of course!" Mr. Security was then awoken back into his senses. "It is nice to finally meet you, little boss. I've heard so much about you!"
"All good things I hope." Alexander quipped back at the man's praise and headed in.
"Haha." Mr. Security could only dryly laugh as he saw the boy not turning back as he went inside.
He was just hired last Tuesday and the company gossip about having a little boss was something that he never believed.
The fact that all of it was true was enough to raise his awe at the boy. He read the already printed Dragonball comic book and relating that creation to a boy was an amazing discovery.
Fortunately, he hadn't been too rude and done things by the handbook so he hadn't annoyed the little boss too much.
He then went back to post knowing the undeniable truth of the company rumors and the relief that he wouldn't be sacked from this recently acquired job.
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Alexander didn't know what the security guy was thinking about as he just surveyed the rearranged first floor.
It wasn't as decadent and empty as last week due to the new employees and furniture that was brought in.
On one side, there are tables to accommodate employees for their lunchbreak and on the other side are the true office employees in charge of accounting, marketing, advertising, legal matters, and all the other backbones to keep the company running.
It was still shabby but enough to deal and accommodate the company's recent needs.
Dividers weren't really set up yet and everything on the first floor was just open space.
As such, his entrance was noticed by everyone who isn't busy enough.
The recruits had no clue about the new little entrant or whose child he is, so they just kept quiet and observed.
Just as they were about to keep to themselves, a lady who recognized Alexander called out.
"Little boss! Little boss! Glad to have you with us."
It was fortunate for the newcomers to have a second floorer lingering around to enlighten them about what they might have dismissed.
Every newcomer stopped what they were doing and stood up to give their greeting. The lady was clamoring and yelling 'little boss' which was enough to tell them about the boy's identity.
Alexander just went with the pleasantries and got to know the new people's responsibilities.
After that bit of acquainting and getting up to speed with where they are progressing, Alexander didn't stay for long as most of his days are going to be spent on the second floor.
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As he was taking the stairs, the lady who recognized him tagged along to not make it too lonely on the way up.
She was part of the colorist group that Alexander worked with so they at least had some passing knowledge of each other.
"Little boss, want me to carry those folders for you?" The lady asked as she noticed the new folders. She could more or less guess that they were new issues that they were going to work with.
Everyone on the second floor knows that their little boss is scarily productive and way too creative for them to match with.
"Distribute it to the rest and ink it as always."
Alexander didn't want to stop her goodwill and just handed it over. He also wanted to know their progress and so he simply asked. "How's the group's progress while I was busy with school?"
"We've already recreated, inked and fine-lined all the Dragonball issues and the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle issue you sent, little boss."
The lady announcing-ly recounted while also adding her inquiry that bugged her for quite some time.
"Everyone couldn't help but feel impatient about the 30th Dragonball issue that you've been keeping, little boss. It is the last piece to conclude the entire first arc and you've left us with a cliffhanger of Goku being on giant monkey form."
"Number 30 is among the folders you are holding along with a few more issues to start the next arc." Alexander simply gave her the good news while also inserting important inquiries. "What about the coloring progress?"
"We're stalling on that as ordered by Mr. Sullivan, little boss. We need your input so that our color choices wouldn't conflict with the themes you had in mind."
Alexander gave a nod of approval. The color stalling decision delayed quite a lot of production but there is nothing that can be done about that as the school still hasn't agreed on his requests for leaves of absence.
"What do you think about the first arc so far and what's your impression about the Turtles, then?" He also took this time to do some insider market research before they joined with the rest of the second-floorm team.
"Goku and Bulma's adventures have now been sentimental to me as I've also worked on the re-sketching work, little boss." The lady answered with honesty.
"As for the Ninja Turtles, I don't have much to say about them yet but they are hilariously interesting in my opinion."
Her answers, whether they were deliberate or genuine, were doable enough for Alexander to feel relieved.
The market response is the true indicator of everything but an employee's positive remarks to her boss are also an important benchmark.
After all, one can't expect to impress the mainstream audience when insiders aren't impressed with what they worked hard on.
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This brief but informative stairway chat has already given him an impression of the employees' work ethos.
His recent interactions with the security guy and the new backbone recruits also gave him a brief outlook of who and what he would be working with.
Creed Comics was now a balanced company with complete personnel. His grandfather's additions made it akin to a well-functioning cell with all of its necessary organelles.
The only thing to worry about is whether this working cell could make an impact on the organismic society it would be thrown into.