Next will be attacking the group of essential backers that are holding the governor and lieutenant-governor in place. That’d be whoever is funding them, and whatever business is gaining. Leaders of voting blocks, businesses, or religious leaders.
I’ll pin that one back to Lily for later. For now… I’ll just send an email to the marketing team to get them working on a ‘Felix for governor’ build up.
Start framing this whole thing as a failure to protect the citizens and how Legion could do better, and already has.
I imagine Lily already knows exactly how this came to be and whatever measure was passed for it to happen. They’ll need to sync up to get the right ads out.
Elections are only a few months away and this’ll be a firebrand to burn them with, and set myself up as governor.
Finishing up that email, Felix flipped back to the war-net map of Tilen to review what had changed in the last few minutes.
His forces had expanded out to the police cordon on each side. The rear had already been secured.
The rest of the push would be straight into where the prison break occurred. Re-establish peace and allow work crews to get in and start restoring power to the people.
Everything really was on track and going according to the plan.
Which means this is where it goes wrong, isn’t it?
Cycling to Eva on the war-net, he opened up her camera.
Miu was still using the pen-light on the roof, but there was now a clear difference. A thin line of blue energy was spiraling round and round in the same spot Miu was working. The energy was cycling downward at the same time, slowly sinking into the roof itself.
Then all of a sudden, the section of the roof that she’d been working on fell inward. Light flooded up from the hole and bathed Miu’s face.
She had an evil grin spread from cheek to cheek.
Miu dove into the hole headfirst. The Fixer followed behind, then Eva.
Turning off the camera, he found he couldn’t watch. His stomach had flipped over and twisted in on itself.
Felix wasn’t a brave man, he wouldn’t watch what could be his people diving into a trap or worse.
Changing the screen back to the news, he did his best to not think on it. For now, there wasn’t much to do but wait.
Chapter 12 - Always Watching -
There wasn’t much else he could do right now. He could hunt down whatever station Lily was talking to now. He didn’t think it’d be anything different than what she said the first time around.
It’d be the same message, maybe with a few different words, but the same statement.
Bracing himself, and realizing that there wasn’t much else he could do right now, he linked into Eva’s camera.
And pulled up a view of Miu holding someone down to the ground. She twisted the person’s head up, revealing it as a pretty young woman. Her forearm flexed around her windpipe and the woman spasmed, then went limp.
Miu released the woman almost as soon as she passed out.
Reaching down, Miu took a hold of the back of the woman’s head. Glancing around at the hallway they were in she seemed to assess her options.
Eva tracked the same place Miu was looking, and they found a cord snaking out of a runner. The runner wasn’t secured very well and the cord had started to slip upwards.
Miu stood up, holding the woman like a doll and held her over the runner as if she were measuring something.
As cool as could be, Miu slammed the woman’s head into the steel doorframe halfway down. There was a sickening pop and crunch as her skull was stove in on the hard edge.
Miu released the woman and let her fall naturally. Leaning down, Miu inspected the work.
“She’s gone. The swelling in her head will take care of her,” came a male voice from the side.
Eva’s head swung around to the speaker. Felix found the Fixer staring at the body.
“Good enough. It’ll look suspicious for sure but… not that we were ever here, but more like someone murdered her. Let’s go,” Miu said.
That’ll be an ugly tombstone. Died by possibly tripping.
Felix flinched when the call incoming screen popped up in front of his view. The sound was ear splitting and dominated his entire helmet.
Damn it! I need to change that setting. Somehow. This is when it would have been a good idea to get a F.A.Q.
Felix mentally smashed at the accept button on Lily’s phone icon.
“Hey there,” Felix said, minimizing the window.
“It’s a magical battery. I had Felicia put a discharge tip onto them,” Lily said.
Huh? What… oh. I sent her a screenshot of the thing.
“Ah. Alright. Was interesting to watch. Cut right through the roof,” Felix said, watching through Eva’s camera again.
“It’s definitely a useful item to put in a tactical kit. I can’t make them that quickly, so don’t go expecting everyone to have one,” Lily said.
He could hear people talking in the background. It sounded as if she were in the middle of someone giving an interview in fact.
“Sorry about the noise. Some administrator showed up and is trying to do damage control. Too bad for them the documents relating to the zoning approval by the governor are already making the rounds on the net. Shame that the lieutenant-governor is also on the same approval,” Lily said. Felix could hear the smile in her voice.
“Have I mentioned you’re quite good at this whole corporate thing? You really missed your calling,” Felix said.
Miu stepped to one side and pointed to a door. The Fixer walked up and pressed his forehead to it.
“I won’t deny I’m enjoying myself. Did you watch the broadcast?” Lily asked.
He wondered if she was fishing for a compliment. Admittedly he had no reason not to compliment her.
“I did. You looked amazing. I’ll be asking for a high resolution digital copy of it for me to watch later,” Felix said.
The Fixer shook his head and said something to Miu.
In response, Miu turned and kept moving down the hallway.
The sooner they found what they were looking for, the better. Every minute they spent wandering around was more time to be discovered.
Miu at least had experience as an internal security guard for the guild, and knew the normal patterns and protocol.
Every major city had a guild, but they all shared the same procedures. It was a hell of a gap, but honestly, how often did they have to worry about someone who was foolish enough to break in?
“And here I thought you were already captivated by me,” Lily purred into the phone.
“I was, I just realized that you’re a natural ten, that goes up to eleven when she wants,” Felix said.
Miu gestured to another door and the Fixer pressed his forehead to it.
Several seconds later he nodded and stepped back.
“Well, everything is exactly as you asked. What’s next?” Lily asked.
Miu stepped up to the door and then opened it, charging inside.
The Fixer and Eva followed behind, shutting the door after all three were in. It was a rather simple office space that any manager or director would probably have.
“For you? I need you to keep playing the beautiful PR lady for now. Though when you get back to a computer, I could use you putting in some time at a terminal. Need to find out who the funding for the politicians are. We need to neutralize their spending power as quickly as possible. I’m going to be a third party candidate, so we’ll have to plan for both Democrats and Republicans. The sooner we shut down their money, the better. After that, we’ll need to look into what public works they were sponsoring and which ones were favors and to who,” Felix said.
Felix watched as Miu picked up a man slumped over a desk and laid him out on a couch. She adjusted him into as close to a natural position as she could.