Back in the mansion, Hannibal was in one of his brother's private studies conversing with a despondent look on his bruised face, puncture wounds in both of his hands and legless and bound to a wheelchair.
"I believed in this fair city." The man said. "This city made me who I am: A proud aristocrat married to one of the finest women a man could ask for. We lived in solitude, away from the retched filth whom I nailed to our forests with our city's pride. When the word got out somehow, we were attacked. Some hooligans came into our house, destroyed everything we had and robbed me of my legs. But even that pales in comparison to what they did after: What happened after, they came after my wife. They stripped her down and raped her while I was made to watched; they even cut my eyelids off in case I tried to blink."
The man felt himself begin to cry.
"She was a virgin; we lived our lives in chastity. And now, because of the circumstances, she had no choice but to do herself in. I went to the police, but they were of no use. They said they couldn't step out of the boundaries; they could only intervene if the hooligans came back. It was then I knew I had to turn to you, Monsieur Hannibal."
"You went to the police knowing I could've been of better assistance?" Hannibal asked.
"All I want is one thing, sir: Retribution."
"Mr. Dupre." Hannibal said. "You and my brother have been accomplices for years. You've done no wrong to this city and served her as you served your leader and Eternal Patriarch. But now you come to me on the day of my nephew's wedding, and not address me as your lord, asking me to commit murder. As much as I'd love to murder those rats, I'm not my brother and thus there is nothing I can do."
"Please, my lord." Dupre begged in tears. "All I want is vengeance for my poor wife. I'll do anything for you, you name it. Is it money? Servitude? I'll do anything to avenge my poor wife."
Just then, Will came through the door.
"Mr. Dupre, if I may…"
"No you may not." Hannibal said.
"…I'd be willing to help you." Will said. "You see, not long ago, something precious of mind was stolen. I can only guess that these hooligans are the same slumrats that broke into Zanbato Industries that previous night."
"So what do you propose to do?" Hannibal asked.
"We still have those prisoners in the Artemis." Will said. "Tomorrow, we can give them a little treat. Coax our common nemesis out of hiding by killing his kind each day he doesn't comply."
"Will, you can't authorize a public execution without a vote from the inner circle." Hannibal said. "And as part of the inner circle, I vote no."
"I can't authorize a public execution with the national army." Will said.
"Where are you going with this?" Hannibal asked.
"The circle has no authority over the actions of the Grand Army." Will said. "Since it's my project, I have full control."
"You bastard…" Hannibal said.
"As for you, Mr. Dupre, you will be given a special task once the rat comes to us."
"Yes, anything." Dupre said.
"Once he comes, I'll brief you with further info." Will said. "Revenge will soon be yours."
"Thank you, sir." Dupre said kissing his hand. "Thank you and may the Eternal Patriarch bless you."
"We start at dawn." Will said. "I want to finish early and quickly before Father's arrival."
Will and Dupre then walked out (wheeled out in Dupre's case) while Hannibal just sat there dumbfounded.
Back in South Paris, Olivia was rummaging through Caleb's belongings in the factory while Caleb and the rest of his gang were out doing their heinous deeds. The first things she noticed were piles of spoiled books with many pages torn out in each one. They were all written by the same author, Stephen King. She looked closely at the covers and could make out some of the titles: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Cujo, Rose Madder and others.
After setting the books down, she noticed a large box in the corner. She went over and opened the box to find a series of news clippings attached to sheets of paper. The clippings detailed events that happened around the world over the past century. The earliest clippings talked about environmental activists who overthrew the American government and launched a series of reforms involving nuclear power, which ended up killing hundreds of millions due to groundwater irradiation and Will III's economic policies that saved France at the cost of human rights.
Later clippings talked about oil sanctions on Europe and America and an event known as the Sun War, which killed half of America and Asia, an unchecked flu pandemic and a widespread American evacuation to Siberia. The last clippings talked about France's downward spiral after the Dunbar regime established a totalitarian rule, how Will III's successor led an invasion across Europe and killed everyone outside of France and later outside of Paris after the rest of France seceded from the capital.
"Amazing isn't it?" Olivia turned to find Caleb standing beside her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snoop." Olivia said. "It's just…"
"Don't sweat it." Caleb said. "You're curious, I understand."
"All the atrocities Will III brought upon." She said. "Are they true?"
"Unfortunately so." Caleb said. "Maybe not the Sun War, but everything he did in France."
"But he was a hero." Olivia said. "He saved France from collapse."
"He killed millions of innocent civilians at the start of his rule." Caleb said. "And for what? To put this country on life support instead of letting it die in peace; it's amazing what these animals will do for financial stability."
"But that's not a bad thing, really." Olivia said.
"The well being of a population outweighs the financial conditions of their home!" Caleb shouted. "America and the rest of the industrialized world got along just fucking fine 200 years ago in their worst economic crisis. And the one country that was completely unaffected by the crisis was so because of economic reforms that wiped out most of its people."
"I see." Olivia said. "And is this what you fight for?"
"Partially." Caleb said. "It's mostly for a personal reason."
"Do tell." Olivia said.
"The regime killed my parents." Caleb said.
"What?" Olivia asked.
"Four years ago, when The Wall was first built, the regime had my parents killed on the streets at part of the purges."
"But the regime has never set foot in the south when The Wall was built, unless…" Olivia then realized. "No…"
"That's right." Caleb said. "I'm a native North Parisian."
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