The Fixer moved over and stood over the couch, watching the sleeping man. Eva went and stood next to the desk, lifting her right hand to her earpiece.
“This is Worm. Dirt is ready, need a hole. Mole actual, please confirm,” Eva said.
Whatever response Eva got, Felix didn’t catch it.
“That makes sense, didn’t realize you wanted to run for governor though. We can talk about your reasons later, but I think I already understand,” Lily said, competing for his attention at the same time as everything else was happening. “I’ll get on that immediately. Do you want to bury any of the candidates? I’m sure I could dig up quite a bit of mud.”
“No. If anything, we need to expand the playing field. See if we can funnel money into any of them to run a separate campaign apart from their party. We’ll need to use a…” Felix paused as a portal opened up next to the desk.
“… use a shell company. Make sure it’s not traceable back to us,” Felix finished.
“You want to increase the number of people running against you?” Lily asked skeptically.
“Yep. Their votes will be divided between the candidates. It’s why almost every political race ends up as one runner from each party. It’s how they solidify voting blocks,” Felix said.
A pair of hands reached out to the computer on the desktop and turned it sideways. They pulled the Ethernet cord out of the computer and pulled it into the portal.
“Understood,” Eva said, apparently to whoever she was speaking with. Looking at the rest of her team, Eva made eye contact with Miu. “Metal Detector will be done in ten minutes. Order is to stay with the dirt. Hole is to remain open until then.”
Miu nodded her head and stalked to the door, readying herself if anyone should enter.
“I… you’re right. I never really paid attention to politics,” Lily said.
“It’s a lot like corporate life, really. In this case, we want a lot of them running. Muddy the field and spread it around. When we find out who the financial backers are, and eliminate them, it’ll be chaos,” Felix said.
“As for what we offer, that’s easy. Jobs, protection, and separation from the guild of heroes. Our own brand of security, with regards to protection. Contracted out specialists who work with whatever needs and desires the companies or corporations have. It sounds terrible, but that’s how we win over the corporate backers,” Felix said.
Nothing was going on in Eva’s room, so he opened up the war-net map instead.
“Jobs, economy, and education will swing the masses over to our side. Jobs we’re already doing, so that’s just a matter of making it a known fact. Economy… well, the jobs take care of that. And the pawnshops tend to boost areas that we’re buying in. And education was the whole setup for us being here, which brings us back to the first point. Making sure everyone knows.”
Felix sighed and studied the map a second time.
Ioana and her team were deep into enemy territory. The rest of the security forces were fanning out and clearing everything behind her.
He imagined she wanted to get into the heart of this and tear it out. Remove the leader, end the resistance.
“That’s… all very clinical, Felix. Have you thought about this before?” asked Lily.
“Before Legion? No. It’s just what they’d want, isn’t it? It’s what anyone wants. Security, money, and the ability for their children to do better. It’s all rather simple. Everything else is detail work and an opinion that matches what the majority of the voting blocs want to hear,” Felix closed the war-net.
Looking back to Eva’s camera he found that nothing was changed. He didn’t think anything would change either, now that he thought about it. The attack was successful, and his IT people were on the guild’s network.
Access was always the hardest problem with any attack on a network.
“Sorry, Felix. I have to go. Another reporter is coming my way and I’m betting they want an interview, too,” Lily said.
“Knock ’em dead, dear. Give them that dazzling smile,” Felix said and cleared his windows.
“Will do, bye hun,” Lily said, closing the connection.
Felix looked out into the streets, watching as the stream of displaced citizens continued.
“This is Tip to Throne, actual,” said a voice on the war-net communications network.
That message could only be on the leadership channel if it was to Throne.
Tip would be Ioana as the spear tip. Throne being his own code that she generously bestowed on him.
Activating his own com link, Felix walked back to Victoria.
“This is Throne, actual. Go Tip,” Felix said.
“We’re under heavy attack and request assistance. Minimum force suggested is three wardens to neutralize threat,” said the Tip communications officer.
“Understood. Reinforcements en route,” Felix said.
Turning his head to Victoria, Felix lifted a hand.
“Send four wardens out to assist Tip,” Felix said.
“We only have two. I’ll get them moving,” Victoria responded, picking up a tablet she’d set down on a planter.
Felix frowned, staring down the street.
“I’ll go as well. I’m not at a warden’s level of power, but I’m sure I’ll be able to make up the difference,” Felix said, starting to go down the library steps.
“No! I’ll go instead, you remain here,” Victoria called out from behind.
Before Felix could argue, turn around, or change his mind, a number of refugees pulled weapons out of their clothes and began attacking his people directly in front of him in the line.
Guns fired, people screamed, weapons clashed on armor.
There were even clearly Super Villains in the sudden battle with the Legion forces.
Then Felix’s Supers sped out of the library to engage, and the battle escalated.
Three men charged straight for him, two with clubs and a third with a blade.
Victoria was out in front of him in a heartbeat, her sword speeding outward to pierce the closest man through the eye and into his brain.
He dropped like a stone.
Felix had been in action as well. He drew the pistol from his holster and racked the slide. As he pulled the muzzle up he was already slipping his finger onto the trigger.
He trained the iron sight on one of the hostile targets rushing him and then fired twice. Both shots struck the man center mass.
Moving to the next target, Felix pulled the trigger twice more. Again, both shots hit the chest.
Both enemies went down, groaning, screaming, bleeding out on the ground. Begging for help as they gasped for air.
Felix didn’t care.
They weren’t his people.
Marching forward, Felix maintained proper gun control. Looking for targets that he could fire on cleanly, he had no choice but to wait.
Clearing the dying men, Felix found two more targets and put two shots into each of them.
Eight spent, seven left in the clip.
Victoria danced ahead of him, her enhanced super powers making her a whirlwind of death. Her blade snaked out, skewering enemies on its length.
Legion security forces were highly trained. Drilling almost all day, every day. The simple reality was that their job was to prepare for situations worse than this.
They worked in tandem with their super partners, wardens, and coordinated the fight. Officers made snap calls on the communication line and the defensive line firmed up.
By the time Felix made it to the line of combat, his people had ejected the remaining attackers from the field. Who were then forced to cut and run, leaving behind their dead and wounded.
Confirming there were no active threats in sight, or on the war-net, Felix thumbed the clip release on his M9.
Catching the clip with his free hand he reached down to his left side and pulled out a fresh magazine. He turned the half spent magazine so that it didn’t fit right in the slot and slid it into the now empty space.
His goal was to make sure he could identify it later if he needed to.