DISCLAIMER
The following is a fan-based
FICTION
Satellite City is owned by Sam Fennah.
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- House of Banknotes -
(or 'How Locket wanted to make a new world order by controlling the old one')
Beta-Reader: Ant0nius
The park was rather quiet today. Birds were chirping, clouds were blocking part of the sun, but I wasn't too worried about the place I was currently in right now. No, the issue was… that I was silently waiting for a prompt to finally speak.
This wasn't merely a simple visit to the park to check on how Fleischer and Hyzenthlay were doing.
Locket smirked as she leaned back on the bench we currently shared, the two Kivs lurking by in two different bushes offering a degree of security in this meeting.
Security for the former Grand Voice, that is. I was left to the dogs if something unfortunate were to happen, and I wasn't shy from taking under consideration sudden interruptions from some jogging guy or girl.
Still, there was something incredibly odd about the setting of this rendezvous that left me equally perplexed and worried. I waited for a response after the curt greeting we shared and… I decided to test the waters once after a few minutes of utter silence had gone by.
"I… I don't want to sound disrespectful but..."
"But?" She pressed with a degree of curiosity.
"Why the park?"
The kivouachian hummed, turning away from me for a moment. Looking around, she momentarily continued the silence as she seemed to admire the scenery surrounding us.
"Albeit this world favors peace over war, at least in a sense of false representation, I feel that 'Earth' is more orderly than what the Kivouack once was," Locket pointed out. "In fact, I found myself less inclined to restore the old status quo… and think of a newer one."
I frowned, remembering that Ludwig had mentioned that the necessity for Hybrids was to repopulate the depleted Kivouack and then, possibly, create a different anything beyond Earth.
It was surreal, but the idea wasn't entirely conceived out of illegitimate distaste over humanity. Kivouachians had long been confused for deities, and their actions were either embellished or completely twisted to hide the devious nature of their deeds.
Diplomatic sharing of the plant wasn't doable. It just wouldn't work on a large, planetary scale with how people were quick to take arms at the faintest of frights.
"But would it work?" I inquired to Locket, and she smiled ambitiously.
"Of course it would," She rebuked with confidence. "I molded the anarchy that existed before the world Ludwig is struggling to recreate out of scraps."
"Wouldn't it be better to just..."
"Allow you humans to live in harmony and despair as you kill each other?" She interrupted again, and her smile widened at the annoyance I was currently displaying at this situation. "It would be amusing. There is no denying that. But then… the potential your race has would be wasted."
"Potential? We're weaker than Kivouachians."
"And you would be mostly correct with that affirmation," The red-haired Kiv confirmed. "But it's not prowess that determine the worthiness of a species. But the overall capacity to exist."
"...We can overcome adversities by capacity to adapt to those threats?"
"Indeed," She agreed happily. "This, coupled with your surprisingly common stubbornness, makes humanity interesting and worthy of serious consideration."
…
"You're planning to enslave us."
Strangely enough, her smile wavered at that comment.
"It would be the easiest way, but not the best path to take. Especially since it would be… draining on my loyal supporters," Locket rebuffed, her stare once more lingering over me. "I have ideas… borrowed by Fontaine and his current administration at Las Vegas."
I could remember explaining that her boss had a different degree of control over his sphere of influence compared to Ludwig.
The reason behind his successful centralized rule was his capacity to deal with multiple shady businesses at once. Trustworthy human proxies were used to create a thick layer of workers that dissuade people from suspecting that the grand scale of operations inside the city was controlled by inhuman beings.
The UK didn't have the same amount of… 'corrupt people' to work on. Way too many individuals were detached from that kind of reality, and the criminals there were mostly thugs and the local mafia.
To try and expand this system to the rest of the world would be…
"Not doable."
"If corruption was taken as the main element of control. Yes, that would become quite problematic."
I blinked, unfortunately realizing that I had just said this out loud and right to Locket's face.
"But I don't wish to use such a faulty and complicated system that would only be unproductive in the long run," She continued, almost gloating over my confusion. "No, I wish to focus on the thing that connects humans and Kivouachians so closely. The absolute element that rules their lives without a difference."
Was she speaking of money? The economy? Why would she make use of it? And how?
The chances of her managing to gain even a small percentage of control over the world-wide economy were abysmal at best, but that was if I took away the competition. Other humans with ambitious plans with their hold over their respective nations' economies.
"It wouldn't be easy."
"And that's a false understanding of how the world works," Locket rebuked. "In fact, let me ask you this: what rules the economy?"
"Money?"
I almost jumped as her finger pressed on my nose. "No. And that's what I suspected myself when I first started to study your world."
…
"Then, what is the answer?"
The smugness was now turning quite annoying, and yet I restrained myself from biting at the obvious bait.
"Why, the people that own the money."
…
"What?"
"Think about it. The world has a small percentage of humans that own most of the entire planet's wealth," She started calmly explaining. "While one can try to get a piece of that power by gambling their chances on success, the truth is that the old 'economic nobility' is truly leading the planet."
"That sounds so-"
"Silly to assume? Of course you can bash your head over it and hope this is all wrong. That what I know is just straight manipulation without proof and… yet you would be surprised by the sheer evidence left by the very leaders of this phantom system," Locket continued without hesitation. "Governments, trading, and even revolts are all waged through money. But from where and from whom? The answer is fairly easy to get. Those that have the coin to accomplish so."
"It's… It can't be the full truth," I rebuked fiercely. While I could agree that rich people held some sway on modern society, it would still be silly to assume that they were in full control. There were so many variables and elements that just couldn't be conditioned through money. "There has to be a limit to this."
Her smile, instead of faltering again at that opposition, grew wider and in a giddy way. I felt a chill go down my spine as she shook her head in clear amusement.
"Of course it does. But the limit is… negligible," She said, and soon her finger was back aimed at me. "You. The common individual that has individually no impact in society's existence."
W-What?!
"It is true that the world can't be fully controlled. At least, not without losing part of the potential you humans have," The former Grand Voice explained. "Which is why I don't really need to take over the world. I just need the head for the body to follow my guidance."
"Nobody likes a tyrant."
"But people like 'kindness' and prosperity when much needed," She remarked. "Which I could easily grant since I'm not bound by greediness of the coin. Power is my priority."
…
"And wouldn't it be just great for you? To finally have voice over matters that have plighted humanity as a whole for decades now, but none of your politicians was willing to address."
…
"You're offering me a position."
"Among the winners."
"Among those that will die against Ludwig more like."
She chuckled, and the noise got me tense as she seemed more enticed by the sudden rebuttal I had for her.
"I can see why someone like Lucy Lacemaker would be so keen of befriending you," Locket pointed out, her chuckles lessening to nothingness. "You're a comedian that strives in tragedy. May your base be your own despair or the one of those that have the unfortunate chance of meeting you."
...That is not-
"Look at that tree."
The order sent me in a brief panic and the authority in her voice forced me to look at where she was aiming her eyes at. I saw a distant white and red spot in one of the more distant trees. I narrowed my eyes to get a clearer sight over it and… I concluded that it was-
Lucy.
"She has been staring at us for a while now. You can say that… she is one of the reasons why I deemed it right to delay starting this conversation. I was wondering what could be the motivation driving her to come here alone and… I then realized that it was right beside me.
My neck felt tight as a tendril like limb sprouting from locket ribs grasped around it. It wasn't too tight yet, but the suddenness of the action caused me to start to fight back against the restriction.
"Look at her. So tense and easy to push around with the right input."
Why was she doing this? Spite? To bring Lucy under her control?
She sighed. "And I think that's enough. I don't wish for Ludwig to grow less interested in keeping this silly peace going," She released me and stood out from the bench before walking away. Silence, confusion and tension held me still for a few moments, but then I turned my attention to where I last saw Lucy once I was sure they were gone.
She was still there, her body easing a little bit as she noticed that I was now freed from that constriction.
Looking closer, I saw a strange look plastered on her face and, while I couldn't tell from the distance what it was, I merely raised my hand up and gave her a thumbs up.
It would soon turn out that this was taken as a simple invitation to reach my back and study the little red line that was now around my neck, with her lower paws grasping at my shirt as she stabilized herself while her frontal paws were onto my neck.
An awkward scene that began and ended with the same bizarre question.
What the heck was Lucy doing here?
AN
Next chapter might have a different perspective. Beware for some tough talking between Kivs.