Erica's life never felt like it made much sense. She was a person who was easily controlled, yet completely unwilling to let herself be taken over, someone who desperately tried to stay under the radar while everyone around her demanded more than she had the strength to give. When everything went topsy turvy at her humble World Alliance Bank branch because of a walking blonde natural disaster named Jessica, she got swept up in the chaos and ended up working for a bizarre criminal organization of superpowered psychics called the Chosen Ones.

Erica didn't fit in with the Chosen Ones. She didn't understand them at all, nor did they ever make any attempt to teach her the ropes. She just sort of slipped into their world by random chance, let Miss Planner put her on a team of analysts, and started getting involved in the craziest, scariest, most confusing things that she could possibly get her hands dirty with, all without really knowing why she was there in the first place.

The sick thing was, she wasn't terrible at it.

No, if anything, she was a model employee. Erica was conscientious and diligent in her duties, eager to learn new things, a reliable team player, and generally far more pleasant to deal with and talk to than the bizarre mix of religious nutjobs, homeless drug addicts, and professional killers who made up the Chosen Ones' core membership.

But she was what she was. An overachieving, unassuming office mouse whose entire identity revolved around pleasing others. Yes, Miss Planner gave her the fancy new job title of 'Market Research Manager-in-Training' and told her the fate of the world would one day rest on her tiny shoulders, but the idea that someone like Erica could be the next big boss in charge of the Chosen Ones' vast criminal empire was so stupid it wasn't even funny. It was a delusional fantasy Miss Planner concocted out of pure ego, or something like that, she supposed.

Erica wasn't cut out for the life of a psychic criminal. That was the plain and simple truth. But the Tower of the Chosen was a strange place that pushed people in strange directions, and meek little Erica somehow found a place for herself there amongst the monsters, murderers, lunatics, and tiny blonde sociopaths with god complexes.

"Good m-morning! Welcome... welcome... it’s a great Thursday morning here at the Tower of the Chosen! We're going to have a productive meeting today! Now... I think you all know this, but... it's our best quarter ever, and it's looking like our sales are going to keep getting even better in the months to... er... in the years to come..."

It was her first time leading the daily sales meeting, and she somehow felt more excited than nervous as she began her speech. Maybe it was because she knew exactly how hard everyone in the distribution division had been working lately and she wanted to congratulate them for a job well done. Maybe she was just trying her hardest to convince herself that she didn't suck as a manager.

Or maybe, just maybe... she was actually having fun? No, that was crazy, right?

"I've got some due dates to remind everyone about... we're rolling out the brand refresh c-campaign next week, and we're expecting sales to take a dip until things get back in balance, so please don't be afraid to reach for those discounts when needed..."

Her voice was quiet and soft as always, but the microphone picked up her tiny voice with surprising clarity and echoed loudly across the conference room filled to capacity with acolytes in black robes, businesspeople in suits, and freaks in raggedy clothes and mismatched pieces of body armor. She looked at each of them in turn, trying her best to give them all a big dose of positive energy for the day ahead. She caught a glimpse of Mr. Maxwell's proud smile in the corner of her eye and felt a surge of gratitude. He'd helped her find her place in the Tower, shown her the path, given her guidance, introduced her to people, and supported her when it would have probably made more sense to just walk away.

"Next Friday, we're finally going to start selling those luxury Rampage boxes to the higher end market, and that's a huge step forward for us, but we're also still working on the launch strategy with them... and the... ah, yeah... we're working through the final steps with our marketing team, but the date is final, so you can start putting the word out and getting those special orders moving..."

A hand flew up from the crowd belonging to a man in strange robes and oversized sunglasses that obscured half his face. Nobody she recognized. Erica was thrown off balance and paused for a moment before turning to the man, who gave her a thin smile.

"Yes...?" she managed to squeak.

"I wanted to clarify something about the new Rampage promotion, Miss Sheffield," said the man in a dry, creaky voice. "The marketing team told me they're planning on running the same basic strategy they ran last year with the Nuke Plus line. Do I have that correct?"

"Oops, my bad! I was looking at my... at the old version of my script. Yes, actually, they've got the marketing materials written up already and the sample copy should be in... in your inboxes by now... here, let me show you what it's going to look like... sorry about that, they didn't get the details in place until the very last minute. Looks pretty fancy, um, doesn't it? That's it for due dates, so let's move on to the next order of business here..."

Erica couldn't hide the fact that she got caught making a stupid mistake, but she quickly recovered her cool and switched gears smoothly to discuss the next item. She was relieved when she realized no one in the crowd was laughing at her.

You've got this, she told herself. Just relax, breathe, and remember what Miss Planner taught you.

"We do have... a few n-new team members joining us today... why don't you come up to the podium here and tell everyone a little bit about yourselves? The gentleman in the black jacket is Clay Pest, and he will be filling the role of... uh, retail sales representative. And the man in blue next to him is Mr. Brooks, who's our new client strategy manager alongside Ms. Daugherty... we're very excited to have them on board... um, let's give them both a big round of applause..."

Mr. Brooks and Clay Pest walked up to the stage with confidence, and Erica took a step back to make room, trying her best not to look flustered. She glanced around nervously at the crowd and swallowed down the hard lump that suddenly came into her throat.

She was really pulling this off! Maybe being a manager wasn't so hard after all!