Chapter Text
Harry Welsh had a funny feeling that today was not going to be a good day. In fact, he knew it wouldn’t. From the moment he woke up that morning he was already dreading getting dressed, and walking out onto the boat that would take him to land, and getting picked up by some fancy car that had a fancy driver with a fancy uniform. Entering the huge building in the middle of the city didn’t exactly ease his nerves either, since waiting on the top floor was a rich, arrogant snob who he had a slight dislike towards.
Walking through the foyer towards the front desk, Welsh glanced around the clean, white walls and scoffed at the oversized portrait of the man himself that took charge of the building, Herbert Sobel. After signing in with the receptionist, who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else but there, Welsh made his way through the security gates, and up to the top floor through the elevators. As he stepped out, he was greeted by a tall red head, a grin plastered on his face.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Welsh laughed joyfully, practically running out to hug the chuckling man in front of him. “If it isn’t Richard Winters.”
“Good to see you, Harry.” Winters smiled happily, patting the man’s arm as they separated. “It’s been a while.”
“Yeah it has,” Welsh grinned. “Six months at most.”
“Sorry I missed you at the other meetings,” Winters said as he gestured for the other man to follow him. “The company’s been busy with the new projects.”
Welsh snorted. “More projects for Sobel to get his hands on, huh?”
“You know Sobel,” Winters replied, opening a door that lead them down a long hallway. “He picks the projects he thinks he’ll get the most money from.”
“Hm,” Welsh hummed. “Thankfully you’re the one handling my little project.”
Winters chuckled quietly. “That’s because I have faith in you, Harry. I know your research is for doing good.”
Welsh mumbled, “Don’t think Sobel will agree after what happened the other day.”
Winters stopped then, just a few feet away from Sobel’s office door. The corporate executive turned to the smaller man, and talked in a hushed voice.
“Look, Harry,” he began. “What happened the other day, I’ll admit, hasn’t gone down well with the bosses around here, especially not Sink, but don’t worry, I’ll do everything I can to make sure you get another chance and don’t you give up, alright?”
Welsh nodded, slapping his friend on the shoulder. “You always were a ray of sunshine, eh Dick?”
Winters just shook his head with a laugh, before he knocked on Sobel’s door.
“HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?”
Welsh flinched as Sobel’s voice grew louder and higher pitched with each word, he looked over at Winters who seemed just as uncomfortable as he was.
“How does this happen, huh?” Sobel asked annoyed, slamming a newspaper down on his desk, where Welsh read the headline ‘Test Shark Escapes Underwater Labs’. “One of your damn sharks escaped, and you expect me to back up your bloody project after that? I’m wasting my money on a failure!”
Welsh wanted to roll his eyes and scream at the idiot standing in front of him. “Mr. Sobel, I’ll admit there has been some problems at the facility, but something like this has never been attempted before!”
“I don’t care!” Sobel huffed, just like a small child having a tantrum. “Some teenagers almost died and I would have been in the shit!”
“Sir,” Winters cut in. “With all due respect, those kids were fine. Harry has the best team working for him, they followed the sharks every move and got it back to the facility within minutes.”
Sobel snorted. “And?” he crossed his arms over his chest, challenging the red head. “You expect me to change my mind just because his team know how to babysit those… things?”
“Mr. Sobel,” Winters continued, seeing Welsh getting edgy beside him. “Like Harry said, what they’re doing there has never been done before, and if they succeed it would help so many people,” he saw that Sobel was getting bored with his speech, so he added, “And the money the project would raise would be ten times the amount or more of what we payed out towards it.”
That got Sobel’s attention, and Winters glanced over at Welsh, egging him on to continue.
“He’s right,” Welsh took over. “The results would be incredible. We’re so close to reactivating the dormant human brain cells, and think of what we could do for all those men and women out there suffering from Alzheimers.”
Sobel hummed in response. “Isn’t there some sort of hospital for that?”
Welsh wanted to punch his lights out, but continued. “You’ve obviously never known anyone with Alzheimers, Mr. Sobel. But I can tell you it’s the worst feeling in the world having to watch someone you love fade away right in front of you.” He said, seeing Sobel fidget uncomfortably. “By the end my father would constantly ask why my mother wasn’t at home, and time and time again I’d have to remind him that she was gone, that she was dead.”
“We could end all that, Sobel.” Winters added. “Harry’s project can end all those men and women’s suffering with just one pill.”
“Give me until Monday, forty eight hours” Welsh said, standing his ground as Sobel looked like he was about to toss them out and take a nap on his desk. “I’ll give you results that will sky rocket your stock price, or I’ll pack it all up myself and be done with it.”
Sobel looked from Welsh to Winters, that last line of Welsh’s embedded in his mind. Winters could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes as he looked out the window, tapping his chin like he was in deep, deep thought.
Then Sobel droned, and sat back down. “Alright, Mr. Welsh. Forty eight hours, and in that forty eight hours I want you, Winters, to go down to that facility and check on the progress. I want to know just how close you are to getting this done.”
Winters and Welsh both nodded in agreement. Their forty eight hours had begun.