Spun Out of Control

Chapter 6: The Morning After Shakes

The Monday morning light felt like a physical assault, filtered through the high-end blinds of the IT department. Gavin sat at his desk, his back aching and his ego feeling even more bruised than his ribs. He tapped away at his mechanical keyboard, the 'G' and 'H' keys feeling suspiciously sturdy under his fingers. He had spent the entire morning being a literal ghost.

Jax spun his chair around, his eyes wide with a mix of pity and confusion. "Bro, you look like you got ran over by a bus. You okay? You’ve been silent as a NPC for three hours, no cap."

"I’m just locked in, Jax. Grinding through the tickets," Gavin muttered, not daring to look toward the glass-walled office at the end of the hall.

"Rose has been staring at your cubicle for twenty minutes, man. It’s giving major 'I’m going to fire you for breathing' vibes. Did you do something? Did she find out about the squirrel costume?"

"She thinks I’m a coward, Jax. A total L-tier human being who hides in closets while hero stuff happens. The vibe is terminal."

Just then, the double doors of the IT department swung open with a violent thud. A man walked in, and he was built like a human vending machine. He wore a leather jacket that strained against biceps the size of honey-baked hams and sported a scowl that looked like it had been carved out of granite. He marched straight toward Leo, the junior developer in the cubicle next to Gavin.

"Leo, baby," the man growled, his voice a gravel-grinder. "You’ve been dodging my texts. That’s not a great play. You owe the house, and the house is getting hungry."

Leo turned pale, his hands shaking so hard his mouse clattered against the desk. "I... I told you, man. I just need until Friday. The payroll is a bit delayed—"

"Friday is a fairy tale," the thug sneered, slamming a massive fist onto Leo’s desk, causing the monitors to wobble dangerously. "I think I’m gonna take a little souvenir from your desk. Maybe a laptop? Or maybe I take a finger and call it even?"

"Hey, bruh," Jax whispered, leaning toward Gavin. "Do something! Leo is actually terrified. He looks like he’s about to faint."

Gavin didn't need to be told. The blue tingle in his veins flared, not from spider-bites, but from the sheer, unadulterated annoyance of someone ruining his vibe. If I use my powers, I’m fired, he thought. If I don’t, Leo loses a finger. Absolute dilemma.

"Yo, boss man!" Gavin called out, his voice cracking just enough to sound pathetic. "You’re, uh, vibrating the whole cubicle wall. Some of us are trying to work here, no cap."

The thug turned, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Gavin. "What did you say, mouse?"

Gavin stood up, his foot deliberately snagging a thick, heavy-duty power cable snaking across the floor. "Whoa!" he shrieked, executing a perfect, clumsy-looking pratfall.

As he "stumbled," he threw his weight behind a heavy, metal filing cabinet that was perched on a dolly near his desk. It was supposed to be a light nudge; instead, with his enhanced grip and momentum, he sent the three-hundred-pound cabinet careening across the carpet with the speed of a runaway train.

CRASH.

The cabinet slammed into the thug’s shins, pinning him against the edge of the cubicle partition with a thunderous thwack. The thug let out a strangled yelp of pain, his face contorting.

"Oh! My bad, man! I’m so clumsy, fr!" Gavin scrambled up, his hands fluttering in fake panic. He grabbed a lukewarm cup of coffee and "accidentally" tripped again, flipping the entire contents directly onto the thug’s expensive leather jacket.

"You idiot!" the thug roared, trying to push the heavy cabinet away, but it wouldn't budge. Gavin had pinned the mechanism into the carpet pile.

"I’m so sorry! The floor is, like, super slippery today! It’s an OSHA nightmare, no cap!" Gavin reached out, grabbing a stack of heavy, hard-bound technical manuals from his desk, and dropped them—one by one—right onto the thug’s feet. "Whoops. My grip is just shot today. Total skill issue on my part."

The thug, now pinned by the cabinet, soaked in coffee, and pelted with textbooks, looked around at the entire IT department staring at him. His face turned a shade of purple usually reserved for bruised fruit. He yanked his arm free, stumbling back, his dignity completely annihilated.

"You guys are dead! You’re all dead!" he shouted, turning and sprinting toward the exit, his limp making him look even more ridiculous.

Silence hung in the room for a heartbeat. Leo sat frozen. Jax was staring at Gavin with his jaw dropped.

"Bruh," Jax whispered. "That was the most unhinged, 'oopsie-daisy' beatdown I have ever seen. You literally dismantled a loan shark with office supplies."

Gavin sat back down, his heart racing, and wiped a smudge of sweat from his forehead. "I’m just a clumsy guy, Jax. You know how it is."

He looked up and froze.

Rose Lee was standing at the threshold of her office, her arms crossed, her eyes narrowed into sharp, analytical slits. She was looking at the cabinet, then at the scattered books, then directly at Gavin. The silence from her office felt heavier than the cabinet itself. She didn't look angry; she looked suspicious. She looked like she was trying to solve a puzzle that didn't have all its pieces yet.

She took a slow, measured step toward him, her heels clicking against the linoleum with rhythmic, terrifying precision.

"Gavin," she said, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous frequency. "That was... a very interesting series of coincidences."

Gavin gripped his desk, his knuckles turning white. "Just an accident, Rose. I’m a total klutz. Fr fr."

"A klutz," she repeated, stopping right in front of him. She leaned down, the scent of vanilla and amber enveloping him like a velvet shroud. She peered at his hands, which were still glowing with a faint, dying blue light that she luckily seemed to mistake for a screen reflection. "You are either the luckiest man on the planet, Gavin, or you are the most dangerous person in this building. I’m not sure which one I prefer yet."

She turned on her heel and walked back toward her office, her posture as regal as ever.

"Jax," Gavin whispered, his voice trembling. "I think I’m dead."

"Nah, bro," Jax leaned in, his eyes gleaming. "I think you’re just getting started. That rizz? Unmatched. The office hero arc? Officially unlocked, no cap."