RUMBLE! Mouse looks up at the ceiling above her desk. CRASH! The florescent light fixture shudders and a piece of ceiling tile falls SMACK! right in the center of her desk. Mouse puts her elbow on her desk and lets her chin rest in her palm. “Why does every problem around here start with a loud ruckus off page?” she says out loud to herself.
Mouse power-walks to Politenessman’s office. She bursts in, much in the way Stan would. “Politenessman, I thought you and the others went upstairs to check on these loud noises?”
“Ah yes, Office Manager Mouse. About that,” Politenessman starts while putting down his cup of earl grey tea. “We investigated the disturbances, and while most of them stopped after the Delightful Greeting Card company finished moving in, well, as it happens a rather large employee by the name of Decimator has taken up permanent residence precisely above your work station.”
“So, you’re saying I’m going to have to live with this?” Mouse sighs.
“Discrimination against sizeable musclebound men is frowned upon in this day and age, I’m afraid,” Politenessman replies.
Mouse retreats to her desk defeated. She sits down and attempts to get back to work. Not soon after, the steady pounding begins directly overhead once again. She sighs and rubs her temples, feeling a headache forming.
Above Mouse in the offices of the Delightful Greeting Card company, Decimator sits at his desk working on a new drawing. Decimator has a very specific way in which he likes to work. The muscle-bound behemoth listens to music while creating the loving images presented in his disposable stationery. Decimator has two earbuds plugged into each lobe. He rocks back and forth at his drafting table, tapping his heel on the ground to the beat.
Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but Decimator’s heels have the strength of a freight train. Each innocent tap packs a wallop that would obliterate any formidable foe. The floor beneath him begins to crack.
KABLOOM! Decimator’s tapping quickly weakens the floor to the point of collapse. The strong man falls through and gets stuck half in, half out of the ceiling. In the POW! offices below, Mouse, now covered in dust, looks up at the bottom half of Decimator hanging out of the ceiling and asks, “Why me?”
Mouse brushes herself off and glares at the problem. “Well, that can’t stay there,” she says and leaps up, taking hold of one of Decimator’s feet.
Up in the Delightful Greeting Card office, Ice Queen, Kill-Switch, Whisper, and Bossman stare at the ridiculous predicament that Decimator has gotten himself into. Bossman shakes his head. They all take hold of Decimator and attempt to pull him out from their end. Unbeknownst to them, Mouse is pulling with all her super strength from below.
Both parties yank and pull in their respective directions, trying to free Decimator from his prison in between floors. The impressive strength of each side cancels the other’s out. It appears as if Decimator is stuck indefinitely.
Soon the employees of Delightful Greeting Cards grow tired of this unwitting game of tug-of-war. They give up and get back to work. Only Bossman remains, still shaking his head. “What am I supposed to do now, boss!?” Decimator asks. Without answering, Bossman takes the paper and pencil from the drafting table and places them on the floor in front of Decimator so that he can continue to work, stuck in the floor or not.
One level below, Mouse sits in her desk chair, surrounded by dust and debris. She stares up incredulously at the muscular legs dangling out of the ceiling. “I could have lived with the noise,” she mumbles to herself.