The council declares their intentions. Tehran shows his lack of support for that idea. Slightly short chapter, as there wasn't much to tell.
14.
Call for War
"Oh, so we've got a choice, huh?" one of the council members asked hotly. "When did we get that?"
"You had a choice from the beginning." Tehran said. "Either you choose to do things my way or not."
The council members looked at one another suspiciously.
"And if we choose not do it your way?" one asked.
"Well, that would be most unfortunate, because then I would have to take action." Tehran said.
"So we don't have a choice." Marbles summarized.
"Well, that depends on how you look at it." Tehran said.
"So?" one of the council members asked. "Do we have a choice or not?"
"Oh, well, certainly you have a choice." Tehran said. "But if you choose wrong, then I have to get you to choose right."
"Then in the end you choose for us."
"Yeah, I suppose so. Wouldn't that be easier?"
"But where is our freedom?" one council member asked. "You are suggesting to take it all away, and for what? Just so you can have some power?"
"I have already explained it to you, you abuse that freedom, and now your losing it." Tehran said. "Maybe someday if you all behave, you can earn it back again."
"I highly doubt that." Marbles commented. "Tehran, this isn't about us at all. It's all about you. You, and the want to have power over us. You call yourself a good guy by..."
"What is your choice?" Tehran interrupted harshly.
"Well, that could take awhile to determine." Marbles said, folding his arms. "The council will need to convene and discuss the proposal, weigh opinions, and take votes to see where we all stand on the matter, and then repeat the process if need be. It's a very long and complicated process, Tehran, and it could take days if not longer to decide, and..."
"That won't be necessary, Dr. Marbles, we're already in agreement about what we want to do." one of council members said, standing.
Marbles blanked out for a moment. He had been trying to buy time with all of that. "W-W-We are?" he asked.
"Yes." the council member said. "And our answer for you Tehran is a flat out no. We will not surrender our rights to you. We will not allow you to take charge over all of Cyberspace, and we will most certainly will not agree to this proposal, no matter what the conditions. Tehran, we request you either leave, taking your opinions with you, or you settle with what you have and settle to stay in peace. Nothing less."
"And what makes you think I'll say yes to that any more than you to me?" Tehran demanded.
"If you don't, then you can fully expect a full-fledged war on your hands, Tehran." the council member said.
There was a rousing cheer of approval to this, to Marbles dismay, who knew that a war was probably the very last thing they were going to want in the end. Tehran narrowed his eyes.
"You can't defeat me." Tehran said.
"Oh, but we can, Tehran." the council member said. "After our encounters with Hacker, we have developed a great number of defenses and are more than prepared with a full-fledged war with you. Furthermore, we are in agreement, so it seems pointless to..."
"That wasn't a challenge, council member." Tehran said flatly. "It was a statement. You really cannot beat me. I am too powerful, not at all like what you encountered with Hacker. You don't even have a fighting chance against me."
"Maybe we don't." the council member admitted. "But with the aide of the CSEDS of the Real World, which they have already agreed to back us up one hundred percent, we have at least a fighting chance."
"Is that right?" Tehran asked, glancing at Hardson.
Hardson silently nodded.
"Oh, well, if that's all, we can easily correct that." Tehran said, pulling out a remote from his pocket.
Marbles's eyes widened, seeing that nothing good could come from that. "No!" he exclaimed, lunging for the remote.
But he wasn't fast enough. Tehran pushed the button on the remote, and a wave of energy, beginning on the far end of the room and moving to the other end, swept across the room. It didn't seem to affect the cyborgs in the room, but it certainly affected the humans, reacting like a brick wall had slammed into each one of them, knocking each one of them to the floor and unconscious. Alarmed, the council all stood and started talking at once in a state of panic.
"Well, fancy that." Tehran commented idly, looking over the unconscious members of the CSC. "Your Earthling bodyguards are all unconscious. Can't imagine what happened to them at all."
Marbles shot him a glare. Tehran returned the look with a cruel grin, and pulled out his radio.
"Phase one completed." he reported, indicating he had suspected this would happen from the beginning. "Proceed with phase two." he glanced out the window in the meeting room out at the armada of J-21s that still encircled the transport ship. He pointed at the disabled cybercoop. "Let's start with the ship the council arrived in." he said into the radio. "Raise shields. Fire at will."
Marbles managed to shoot Tehran a surprised look before a flash of light lashed out from the transport ship and completely destroyed the cybercoop, tearing it apart. The J-21s reacted instantly, firing instantly upon the transport with their laser cannons. The shots never reached the ship, being stopped by a translucent and seemingly impenetrable shield. The transport ship fired again, this time into the flanks of J-21s, destroying several.
The J-21s continued fighting for several moments, before they finally saw they were losing several ships in the time it took to fire several useless shots against the transport ship's shields, and finally turned away and fled. Even though they were retreating, the transport ship continued to take pop shots at them until they were out of range. Finally, silence fell again.
Tehran turned to the council and grinned his evil grin again. "You're all alone now." he said. "And under my control. Better still, you can only blame yourselves for it. You wanted war. Now you're prisoners of war. You wanted bloodshed, and bloodshed you have gotten." he leaned on the table with both hands and looked them all over. "Now, let's chat."