“Obviously there was at least one more, idiot. Get your scrawny ass over—oh, there you are. Stand in the bay,” Felicia said, stomping over to a large pod.
It was reminiscent to the medical pods she’d been building for the hospital ward.
“Uh, alright? And what is this going to do exactly?” Felix asked, stepping into the indicated position.
“Put your armor on, what else? You ask the stupidest questions sometimes. It’s a wonder we’re doing as well as we are,” Felicia grumped.
“You know what? I’m going to cut funding to your department one of these days. Just to see what you can do with a shoe-string and some gum,” Felix said, looking up into the darkness of the machine above him.
“No. You won’t. You like the toys I build you too much. Stop whining and put your arms down or you’ll lose them,” Felicia said, slapping a button he only noticed as she hit it.
“I’ll what!?” he shouted and pressed his arms down to his sides. “Swear to god, Felicia.”
The Dwarven woman snorted and moved to the other side, holding up a tablet.
“It’s more or less the same as your last one. Just better firmware and some onboard hardware. Nothing out of the ordinary. You’re so damn hard on everything though, I decided to shield it a bit more. That’s a bit more power draw than I thought it would be,” she said absentmindedly, staring at the tablet.
“What is? Wait, if this is the same suit, why this alcove thing?” Felix asked, still holding still.
Before she could answer, or choose to, the whole thing roared to life around him.
Metal doors slammed closed in front of him and shut him in the darkness. Felix felt his body being pressed in tight by padding, and then become rather chilly as his clothes simply ripped away. Unable to prevent a shriek from escaping, Felix wanted the ride to be over.
He also suddenly wondered if this was anything like the corpse-o-matic sausage machine.
Before he could finish that thought, the padding was pressing down on him again.
A series of rapid clicks and a hiss was the only warning he had before the entire thing opened up again and he was staring through his helmet at Felicia.
“Going to hurt you,” Felix said, his voice coming out at a natural volume through the helmet.
“No. You’re not,” Felicia said, looking up from her tablet. “Everything is fine. Your gear was already packed up. Sorry. I’ll have it shipped to the operational base. Get the fuck out of my lab.”
Waving her hand at him, Felicia wandered off, going about whatever it was she had been doing.
Mr. White stepped up and gave him a grin. “She must like you. Always takes the time to actually talk to you. Other than me, that’s rare.”
“Hm. Anything I need to know?” Felix asked, looking at White.
“No. It really is the same as the previous, just some upgrades in it. Anything you need?” White asked, holding up a tablet.
“No?” Felix replied without any confidence.
“Great. Use the elevator in the back, it’ll take you to the staging area.” White left as quickly as Felicia had.
I think I need to hire someone with a bit more of a social personality down here. Like an assistant or something.
Heh… or an Andrea.
Plotting his own version of revenge, Felix trod over to the elevator and waited with the crates.
He synced his system up with his phone and then dialed into Lily’s.
“Felix? What is it. I’m trying to get ready with my department,” came Lily’s voice
“I need to get a hold of the governor. Make sure he’s on board with us actually moving in to assist.”
“No one can find him. His lieutenant-governor has taken over for now but he’s not being proactive in the least. He’s honoring the deal we made with him, but he’s useless.”
“Damn. Get him to agree, just a yes in a written format, preferably with a signature. I’ll get everyone moving as if he had already done so. I’m going to go set up a forward operating base in the city. Probably a library or something mildly government based. Better sense of authority.”
“Alright, I’ll get on that. Are you heading back to your room or—”
“No, heading down to the staging area. You use the portal in my room. Signing off,” Felix said and promptly disconnected the call.
Pulling up the war-net, he activated the mobilization process formally.
All the lights immediately dimmed. Blue running lights came to life along the sides of the walls. On every display a single word showed up: “Mobilization”.
Five seconds later and the monitors returned to normal.
The freight elevator turned on, and took its load down to the staging area.
During that ride down, Felix began to contemplate a run for governor. It’d solve a number of problems, put him charge, and give him more than enough leeway to leverage Legion desires.
Felix for governor. Governor Campbell?
Governor.
Felix stared out at the streets below from the top of the library steps.
The early morning sun was providing them with some light to see by. A lot of their arrival and setup had all been done in the darkness with limited visibility.
This location wasn’t where the reporters were, though. That was elsewhere.
Far, far from here, the reporters were trying to interview refugees from the safety of the police barricades.
Where Lily was. Doing her job.
Being the face of Legion and putting on a show for the entire country to watch.
Watch a company take control of a city, quell a riot, return order to the city, and establish peace.
No, where Felix was was where the operation was actually being run from.
All along the perimeter of the library were his security forces. They were dressed in full gear for an assault or defense.
Kevlar enforced armor and helmets with automatic rifles in hand. The entire area was on lock-down. It was also where refugees were being directed, and funneled through manned barricades.
His people were screening the refugees for weapons, then sending them into the library to be processed.
Fixers were actively screening the refugees as they went by and were processed. Working alongside their armed counterparts in similar gear. They were discreetly tagging anyone of interest for one reason or another to be picked up. Those special people were grabbed by Telemedics and dropped at SC:HQ to the tender mercies of the rehabilitated Death Others.
Those survival-driven Andreas had taken it up as their personal duty after returning to Prime. They seemed ideal to be guards and interrogators. Loners who preferred to work in the dark and quiet with situations that seemed unpleasant. Felix could only imagine their personalities were skewed from being Death Others.
Not that they acted any different around him, but he didn’t doubt they were probably different.
When Legion arrived, Felix and his crew had quickly broken into the library. The basement was promptly cleared and pulled apart. It was now a fully functioning medical ward, and the entire building was a refugee center.
There was also a steady stream of Legion vehicles making runs from the library’s enclosed parking lot to the front line of the police barricades.
For the wounded who couldn’t wait, the Telemedic squads were making the leap from site to site.
Legion as a whole had gotten their formal approval from the lieutenant-governor in the form of a signed letter to act within the confines of the law to bring order to Tilen. Which meant Legion was free to act with impunity.
And illegally, provided there were no witnesses.
The sound of gunfire, distant shouting, and muffled thuds that were probably explosions could be heard. It was all coming from deeper in the city.
Once the power went out, and there wasn’t any possibility of getting it back on any time soon, sections of the city had broken down to rioting and looting.