AN: This chapter came after a prayer and a reminder. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. The season finale is up next. I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Pagliacci-11
Chapter 87
Nicolette was walking quietly towards Sylvia's office. She knocked, and after a moment, the automatic door unlocked, and the door swung open. Sylvia wasn't present, and so Nicolette entered and sat down.
Sylvia's office was a beautiful location. The woods were very warm, the floor elegant and perfectly polished, so much so Nicolette could see her reflection in the veneer of the wood. Nicolette stood and circled to Sylvia's desk. A breathtaking masterwork from the carpenters of the State's labor office. It was a gift presented to her for her victory over the milk distributors that Natasha had established as part of the resource regulators. Nicolette ran her fingers over the handles of burnished bronze. So elegant was the metalwork that she was astounded, and this was to say nothing of the beautiful engravings on the wood itself.
Gently tugging at one of the right-hand drawers, she was surprised it opened, and she saw a beautiful and meticulous inside. Several notebooks were stacked on top of another in differing sizes, largest to smallest—a pencil case on the right side, all the pencils sharpened and nearly the same length. An inkwell was in the drawer's upper right hand with three geese feathers to the inkwell's immediate left, perfectly and precisely sharped to allow for an inch and three-quarter long writing quill. She saw a strange cloth wrapping an object in the far left, and she took it out. To her amazement, it was a handgun, and she unwrapped it.
She examined it a genuine Colt Model 1911 pistol with a full magazine and one in the chamber. It was in pristine condition with the initials J.B. engraved into the pearl handle. She looked deeper and saw a framed picture that was underneath the notebooks and everything else. She removed the notebooks quickly and found the picture. It was a black and white photo in an engraved gold frame with Sylvia and a group of young men and women dressed in all white pin-stripe shirts with jet black pants with black bands on either left or right arms by their placement. The men and women were a bunch of smiling and a festive bunch. In the back was a beautiful bar of brick and mortar, and it was a large grand affair. Sylvia sat among the group, back when she looked her actual age, long ago.
Nicolette chuckled, thinking, "Back when you were a beautiful woman, loved by all."
She opened the frame and took out the photo, and she flipped it over. It read as follows in Sylvia's handwriting, "Grand Opening of the Golden Finch after the Relief of McCallister. Too-ra-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-lay. Too-ra-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-lay."
Nicolette put the photo back and into the frame but before putting the drawer back in order, she was stunned at what she saw inside the drawer. She found that the drawer was given an inlay in the marquetry style of a newspaper. She read the following,
MCCALLISTER MASSACRE: RIVALRY ENDED AS THE RACKETEER LAID LOW BY PENROSE GANG!
Unrest happened last night as the McCallister clan was ambushed in a sudden attack at the Golden Finch; a fine-dining and drinking establishment in the north quadrant of Philmanberg at eight in the evening.
According to bystanders and patrons alike, the establishment was ambushed by twelve members of the Penrose family led by up-and-coming family leader Lisavetta Penrose. The massacre started outside the establishment when the Penrose clan approach from both the east and west sides of the establishment opened fire on the protective element outside the restaurant. After "casting the net," as the gang is so well known for, the six-man detail outside was dead before the carnage continued inside.
Inside, patrons ran for cover as the McCallister holed up inside the restaurant and the Penrose Gang pressed forward into the establish. From the coroner's report, the defenders at the window were quickly killed by a single grenade through the window.
Duncan McCalister, head of the McCalister Clan, was heard by all bystanders to say, "Keep fighting, lads! We'll keep fighting those bloodhungry sons of whores so long as we have breath!"
The fight lasted for all of twenty minutes, and from the eyes of this reporter, it was utter carnage within that surely transpired. McCallister family associates were viciously gunned down, so riddled with bullets; their bodies may as well have been checker-boards. Other McCallister soldiers who attempted to protect the establishment after being alerted to the battle were swiftly dispatched by Penrose Soldiers who fired on Ravenscroft Alley.
When asked for a statement, Lisavetta Penrose said, "What can I say? The old fucks made a wager against my sister; they lost. They bet again when they seized Arlington Arms—they lost. End of story. This little seizure is simply a form of collateral on debt collection to square things with the family. I wouldn't take it too hard if I were the servers. They'll be back serving and cooking within the month."
Arlington Arms was a prestigious grand hotel owned by the Penrose Family, seized ruthlessly in an equally gory massacre by the McCallisters four months ago. If this is truly a revenge tactic, the family has more than paid the price in the eyes of this reporter.
The "little seizure" was a killing blow to the McCallisters as most of the family and their lieutenants were reported dead at the scene. Some prominent members were reported by the coroner on the scene to have had their skulls crushed, some of the men's penile members cut off and shoved down their throats. A genuinely horrendous scene worthy of only the aptly named Faustus's Lounge in Lower Claireville.
A list of dead proceeded the article, and as Nicolette read, tears came to her eyes. A name upon the list of dead was that of her uncle, Phillip A. Mulrainey. Nicolette placed all the articles back into the desk and slamming the drawer shut; she ran down into the server room.
She scanned her card and yelled, "Cassius Dio, the Ministry calls you forward!"
The avatar came forward, "Overseer, how may I help you?"
"Who is Lisavetta Penrose?" She yelled.
There was a momentary hum, and Dio's avatar replied, "Lisavetta Penrose was the elder sister of Sylvia-Anna Penrose, the de-facto leader of the late Chief Minister Johnathan Barrow's criminal enforcement family, The Penrose Family."
"What was the Penrose Family function in full?" Nicolette yelled as she pulled up a stool and sat down.
"The Penrose Family was an in-house criminal organization control solution devised by Johnathan Barrow to be a form of People's Police for the people under the Ministry after the transition of power from the Deceivers into the Ministry. Its function was to be a primary instrument in building the perception of justice beyond justice by playing into the element of police corruption and perversion of law as an element of a glorified truth.
The Penrose Family, as a result, was allowed to be a criminal element on behalf of the Ministry designed to weed out the traditional criminal families throughout the nation, city by city. However, to keep the family from having too much notoriety and the illusion broken, another family formed after enough members joined from the civilian populace.
The second family was given the name Heringsdötir in Lisavetta's childhood friend, Kari Heringsdötir's honor. Combined, these two families on the surface were meant to resemble the appearance of two warring families. Penrose emphasized power through the tried and true bloodsport and sporting events by giving power to the people to compete competitively. This reinforced the view of having an in into the sports world overall. Additionally, gambling on the associated sports from the Penroses helped net a very healthy profit that went half to the family and half back to the State.
Meanwhile, Heringsdötir emphasized the tried and true vein of power through empowering the people through recruitment. Additionally, utilizing both the peddling of robust illicit booze beyond the recognized ministry board's proofs and providing a blend of goods from military-grade weaponry and painkillers to the populace and "enthusiasts" served as a primary vein of revenue.
Combined in vision and purpose, newer threats and crop-ups of criminal elements were either localized and obliterated or incorporated into either Penrose or Heringsdötir as "feigning gangs" as the families would need them. If the emerging gangs were not needed, they were broken up in terms of establishments and their property seized. That said, the Ministry more than knew that an allowance of outsider more traditional gangs such as the Yakuza, The Triad, LCN, various choice cartel families, they had to be allowed a vein in the populace's mind. This was so they didn't question so much the prominence of either Penrose or Heringsdötir."
Nicolette nodded and then, after a moment, asked, "Is Sylvia-Anna Penrose a Barrow, or is she a Penrose?"
"Sylvia-Anna was born Sylvia-Anna Barrow, but after the establishment of the family Penrose to serve as a government function, she joined the family and in the act of fealty changed her name to Penrose."
Nicolette nodded, "Is Sylvia-Anna Penrose classified as a C-4 under the political calibration of 1982."
"No," Dio replied.
"How is Sylvia-Anna Penrose defined in accordance to the 1982 Calibration?"
"Classified to your designation," Dio replied.
Nicolette nodded, thinking, "Okay, so that's a yes. Let me try one more question." She said, "What happened to Lisavetta Penrose? Is she still living?"
Dio answered, "No. Lisavetta Penrose was executed on June 4th, 1998, by then Magisterial Overseer of Arras, Aelita Schaeffer, on charges of irredeemable criminal behavior resulting in the willful murder of four-hundred and thirty-five people throughout her criminal career. She was executed by being dragged through the streets by cart-horse and incinerated at the Arras criminal crematorium as Magistrate Schaeffer deemed her crimes to be so heinous as not to merit the traditional burial. Her ashes were integrated into the Knockout Rose, which exists in Ministerial Garden J Section Twelve Pot Three."
Nicolette was stunned at this revelation, "That's why she turns the soldiers into compost. Because it was done to her sister, a thumbing of the nose towards Aelita." She thought. "Dio, one last question. What is the Knockout Rose use for in the current North-Gate doctrine?"
Dio replied, "They are used as the official flower for the memorial of the fallen officers and lower elite of the doctrine's servicemen and women. Rank is usually differentiated by the boldness of the color of the bouquet by specific plant cuttings at a certain time for such an effect. A bouquet of twelve such roses can be purchased for thirty euros any day of the week and at ten dollars for Memorial Day."
Nicolette nodded, "Thank you, Dio. Resume your primary function before I summoned you."
Dio disappeared, and Nicolette headed back up to Sylvia's office, if only a bit more controlled. She had the answers to a few of her questions. But more so, the picture of what she had been told in her early days of Sylvia's command was becoming more transparent. In some weird way, by some demented logic, she couldn't help but feel somewhat grateful to Sylvia. Sylvia had kept her from a hard life even after her uncle had died. His death had impacted her immensely, and yet, Sylvia was always there. She'd been her friend since the beginning. As Nicolette reflected on Lisavetta in the picture, she was amazed how just like Sylvia, she looked when Sylvia was a genuine adult. She'd chosen this new youthful body, and Nicolette had decided to be young alongside her. At first, it was for the chance to be a young girl again herself, but now she began to understand. It was in the form of advice that her Uncle Phillip had used.
"Sometimes, my dear little lamb, you must live life forward through the hardest slog, and even though it doesn't make sense, it's okay. You can only understand life in hindsight through all the slings and arrows of time. Only in hindsight could those slings and arrows be understood."
Nicolette could see the immense disparity between childhood naivete and adult jadedness and doublespeak through being a young girl once more. She could see how children were largely without any form of right and why this was done was simple. It was to protect the children from the harshness of life setting in too early.
Nicolette checked her watch and saw the date. She thought to herself, "Speaking of sheltering us from the harshness of the world—Sylvia's verdicts should be coming in soon. No wonder she wasn't in her office earlier. Even so, there's something more concerning. Does Sylvia truly know her family? Or has it been so long since she's been normal that she's forgotten?"
This thought remained with Nicolette, and soon her implant pinged. It was a message from Yolanda, "The verdicts are in from our first batch of targets. Boss wants all of you on base to report to the conference hall. I'll be listening in through extension as well as our agents abroad."
Nicolette quickly headed to the conference room and was surprised to see most of the full North-Gate team already assembled. Once roll-call had finished, all sat down, and Sylvia stood up.
"Our reports have come in from our tests to the gatekeepers. The reports were received five minutes ago, and so we will hear these in as close to real-time as possible. Our Ministerial Assessor is present to document the responses following Ministry Protocol to initiate our operations' next move. Nicolette, are you ready?"
Nicolette nodded, and she stood, "Yes, High-Commander." And she sat down, summoning a Ministerial Holopad onto her wrist from a small ring on her finger pinkie.
Sylvia pressed the play button, and all listened to the audio.
"Well, what do you think? It's an excellent deal, isn't it?" a man was heard to say.
"It's beyond promising, far beyond that. It's a bonafide certainty. But we can by no means release this to the common market as it stands. The wealth of research on the proteins this Perraudin woman presents is unprecedented even to our more educated specialists. I want you to see if we can enter into negotiations with the Penrose Firm, and while you try and keep them in a talk, we will try and obtain a sample from them. Once done, we reverse engineer the sample.
Once we have a lock on just how the creation process works, we should be able to duplicate it, corner the market, and drive this little one-hit-wonder out of business. Additionally, I want you to treat this as top priority security, and if any whisper of the protein's existence leaves the Eighth, I will hold you personally responsible for any loss of revenue incurred.
Our shareholders will be more than pleased at our newest breakthrough in this field, and once we harness this protein's power and can successfully reproduce it under our own brand, so many illnesses and diseases will be slowly phased out from the everyday lives of our friends and associates entirely. What is leftover, we will keep on reserve. After all, why solve a problem immediately when we can stick the people for what time we have left before word inevitably breaks out?
I can't deny, I've been anticipating this kind of thing for a long time, a true once-in-a-lifetime find. That is why we can't let anyone below the Eighth hear about this breakthrough, and we must prioritize our labs in Stockholm to the protein's study. If you can ensure this secrecy for me, Hall, I'll make you a twentieth percentile stockholder of the stock that this shit will generate."
The recording ended, and Sylvia said, "That was London. Berlin, Paris, and Rome are next."
She pressed play, and to the horror and stoic affirmation of all present, one by one, each city understood the power as it was phrased of the protein that Yolanda had created. Equally, they all wished for this power to themselves. Only Berlin was savvy enough to realize the rumor through the interconnectedness of the world of innovation that Yolanda would start a bidding war between the corporations. They knew this was coming, so they opted to buy Yolanda out first before anyone else could; however, that was where the difference ended.
All of the accounts had been reviewed, Sylvia asked, "Minister, are the actions taken by the probes before us counter-productive to the needs of the people of the civilized world?"
Nicolette nodded, albeit reluctantly, "Yes, High-Commander, they are."
"Are these actions against the Ministerial Creed of Equal Stance and Living for the People?"
"Yes, High-Commander."
"Under what violations is the entity of North-Gate justified in its actions of assertion against these entities and their affiliates?"
"The justification of Clause Three upon which all targets are guilty in the deliberate and nepotistic distribution of the resource of which they are presented. Upon Clause Five, that they have, without consideration or reproof from an outside source did with malicious forethought, seek to continue to bleed the unwitting populace of both life and monetary resource despite being shown product effectiveness. Clause Seven: That this callous and beastiel forethought of abuse of resource due to both monetary gain and Tier Ten exclusivity is how all of them act without knowledge of being observed and would only reverse themselves in their position if confronted. Finally, what is yet to be proved, Clause Twelve, that they may in all likelihood if confronted by someone beneath their circle who threatened to expose them would lethally eliminate such a whistleblower."
Nicolette finished her account and then said, "High-Commander, do we initiate the test of Clause Twelve?"
Sylvia nodded, "We need to be sure that this is the result across the board. Any deviation, no matter how slight, will be documented in the account of the field operations reconnaissance account."
Nicolette nodded, "It shall be done."
Sylvia nodded at her and, speaking to the assembly, said, "You know the hell of war that is outside our very door. This is very likely the actual last week of peace for all of us. The last week before war shows his gory mane to us. Brothers, Sisters, Friends, and Lovers: Eat while there is still the quantity of quality food; drink the finest wines available to you, and may you hold your lovers in the tenderest embrace one last time. Soon, the song will be sung and when it is, know that the actions of these savage beasts due to their greed have brought them to decimation.
Long live the Vision! Long Live the Grand Directive! Hail our fallen brothers and sisters! Hail to you all, our heralds of the new age!"
The Assembly resounded, "ALL HAIL!"
As the group disbanded, Yolanda stood in the silence of the infirmary. She thought, "It's nearly time, nearly time for all to be restructured." She cried slightly, knowing the hell sure to come. She couldn't deny the facts any longer; it was impossible. The forces were gathered and galvanized in their cause. Yolanda knew how it would start. The song would be sung by Sylvia herself, the snake under the roof of Kadic. The school function of the concert through Mercier would be the resounding trumpets sounding the end of this little slice of relative peace.
From there, the shadow workings would begin more ferociously bit by bit, nibbling at the hem of the enemy. Then once the full strength was gathered, it would launch in a devastating salvo. The Legions of Silver would advance, the people would be panicked, and in a panic themselves, the governments would seek to restore order by shutting off satellite communication to attempt to stagger what they were sure would be a cyber-attack. In their panic, they would fulfill Doctrine Thirteen and authorize legal extermination on themselves.
Sylvia had prepared for this, and her batteries of the coastlands and the volcanoes of the world were prepared. She would restore power, and much as Waldo and XANA before them, because she brought the nations out of genuine chaotic madness, they would love her. The defense of her actions to route the corrupt would be music to the easily placated masses, as was the case man times before and then in time, North-Gate would begin in earnest.
With its social policies to remedy the past's madness and corruption, law and order would be eventually reestablished with the truly disrupting and rebellious made public examples under her courts. In time, North-Gate would come to be the Pax Romana of the world, and it would be another victory in the books.
Yolanda went to her cabinet, took out a small bottle of scotch, and poured herself a stiff drink. She went to her personal radio, and after a twist of two knobs, the anthem, the announcement of the end began to play.
As she heard this, Yolanda had a stronger drink, and as she listened to the classic song, she wept silently and mouth the final words, the words of both the ending and the beginning.
"I am a Rock I am an Island.
And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries."
Meanwhile, Sylvia was at North-Gate headquarters, overseeing her personal armor's final touches and her weapons through training. She trained to the powerful music coursing through her head, her berserker's meditational tones.
Hide behind an empty face
Don't ask too much just say
Cause this is just a game
It's a beautiful lie
It's a perfect denial
Such a beautiful lie to believe in
So beautiful, beautiful, it makes me
Oh!
Suddenly, a tap on her shoulder, and she whirled around, prepared to strike, but Nicolette ducked and flipped backward and signaled to her ears.
Sylvia disengaged her music and asked, "Yes?"
"There's something I want to ask you," Nicolette asked.
"Well, I'd prefer you make it quick, no offense. I have to prepare."
"Okay, well here goes—how did the Penrose Family rise to be genuinely powerful as opposed to just being appointed by your father?"
Sylvia gave an exasperated sigh, "Never is simple with you. Alright, fine." Sylvia put up her weaponry, and as she disengaged her armor, she asked, "What do you want to know specifically?"
"What I want to know is this, how did you and your sister become so loved, and why was Aelita so hated?"
"Don't you read your history?" Sylvia asked glibly.
"Fuck the account! I want to hear it from you because you were there. What happened that allowed you to rise in power?"
"Good girl," Sylvia said with a radiant smile, barely concealing the creature which dwelled within, "Good girl, little bureaucrat, you're learning. Alright, since you asked. Let's have tea, and we discuss it." She tapped a nearby bell three times, sat down on a nearby recuperation couch, and patted the cushion next to her.
Nicolette sat down, and Sylvia said, "The answer to your question is a simple one. Merely, the law of action and equal and opposite reaction. See, Waldo was able to command most of our new-formed world, but he and XANADU knew the people were a bit too skeptical for his liking regarding the law. So, his mindset was that if the people felt so, why not indulge them? Through such an attitude, the Penrose Family was established as the deliberate counter to the State on the civilian level. If the public wouldn't trust the State, we needed an entity to shore-up the peace of mind of the people. We, therefore, became the people police and subsequently the people's army.
Our rise was a deliberate and illicit countermeasure to the State. In playing into the mindset of police persecution held by the public by default, we were able to keep a lid on more clandestine and dangerous criminal functions. Daddy, my father, gave my sister, Lisavetta, the full run of the primary operations of "danger and suppression of danger" as it was termed. As a young heiress to be, I was put in charge of the guts as it was Daddy's vision that a worthy successor knows the guts and knows how they work in case your crew gets cute.
Now, I figured out Daddy's policy very quickly and equally realized that Schaffer had no genuine desire to share Daddy's power. It was out of reluctance because he knew too much, and to kill him would have caused too big a scene. So, sister and I proceeded in our work for the State, and in time, as we flushed out and either eliminated or integrated potential enemies, pending how sis saw their talent, we prospered.
Needless to say, Schaffer was a touch miffed. Because he wanted to ensure the people were happier but also more law-abiding. But the old man didn't account for human nature, the nature to rebel. Daddy, however, did and from that made the Penrose Family. We cataloged and made a note of what the people desired most, and from that, Lisa and I learned that scarcity is hardly the whole answer to the equation. It's the forbidden fruit concept. The more illicit and wrong you make in the public eye, the more people want it. I can't explain how; they just do.
In his zeal, Schaffer oversaw Aelita's rise in the courts of Arras and into later the Capital. She was a very dedicate servant of her father, the iron fist, many called her. Now, she had a different view from my father and, because of that, would drum up accusations against critical members of the Penrose Family of fraud and robbing the State. Her father, out of animosity for mine, would pursue these charges, and one by one, key members were locked up. "
Nicolette spoke, "So, you rose to power by literally being the people's friend? A false friend, but a friend in their eyes no less?"
"Yes and no. See, I rose to be their friend through giving them the quality shit they desired for themselves. Top-Shelf Blue-Bottle Imperial; Government Brewed Marijuana by specialized chemists, botanists, and geneticists. A whole bunch of prime goods only available through the Penrose Family. That was my contribution. Lisa was the muscle and actual manager of the gang. She busted up rival gangs, derelicts, took their shit in a hostile takeover, and soon we made money from those establishments. But sis was different. She was a reverse Robin-Hood. The finest quality hooch, premium cigars, tobacco, food, all that was in the rich quarter for production but never was it sold to the rich. They'd get a snifter if Sis felt so inclined, but the prime stuff the poor were given first, for a change.
This didn't exactly sit well with Aelita when it came to her ears. She felt because we were a State function to control crime, that as payment for overlooking more grievous offenses, quality food, and all that should be given to the benefactors and sustainers of the State first, the poor would be served the paltry gleanings left over. After all, in her privileged eyes, it was the State's land that many of these grievous offenses took place on. Even for the sake of illusion, the Penrose Family hit the State more in the purse than they'd care to admit. Still, the crime was relatively low except for the outside forces we had to tolerate for the sake of a geopolitically open place to live."
Nicolette chuckled, "You weren't without privilege yourself, Sylvia-Anna. You did have a nice life by all accounts of those—"
Nicolette was met with a brutal strike to the face, and she looked in horror through bloodied hands soaked by her bleeding nose. Sylvia's eyes, for the first time towards Nicolette, were icy.
"Don't you ever tell me that I was privileged. My work came at the cost of my freedom. It was Lisa who soaked up the fame; she got all the glory and praise. I did the work, Nicolette. I did it. For years, I figured mix-ratios for robust and yet sweet and hearty beer; I worked diligently to make master strains of weed for the people to be doped but incentivized through meritocracy to work harder. I was the one who oversaw and maintained all our stills for our breweries and ensured their quality in addition to food imports and managing the crew armaments and allowances.
Why do you even think I cared enough to protect you after my sister smashed your Uncle's brains in with her bat? It's because I knew you were like me. You weren't really appreciated at home; your brother Martin got the majority of that praise. You were disinherited the moment he popped out your mother's snatch; that's just the way. But I cared for you because I cared to have someone like me among the wolves' circles, especially the higher level. But never again dare you to tell me that I had the privileged life. I did my work, no more, no less, and reaped the reward in money. But believe me, I wanted the fame my sister had too."
Nicolette trembled, still truly afraid of the woman before her. But she tried to compose herself. Suddenly, she was even more greatly shocked when Sylvia took a hot cloth and proceeded to wipe the blood from her hands and face. As she wrung out the rosewater, Sylvia looked at Nicolette.
"You know me far better than anyone else in this entire world. There's no benefit to me at all if I were to destroy you' it'd be my most significant loss. But know this, never assume anything about me, ever. Don't make false claims or claims without evidence. I have never done so to you, don't do it to me. I love you, but you are not indispensable. Aelita, when I came to her after she'd killed my sister, I tried to reason, but at the last second, she used her evidence, and she turned against me. Don't you turn against me."
Nicolette had a flashback of the film she'd watched with Frankie on her day off; it was Revenge of the Sith. Suddenly Anakin flashed before her eyes, "The Jedi turned against me, don't you turn against me."
It was at that moment, she knew. Nicolette knew that just like Anakin, to Sylvia, there was evil on every side; none could be trusted. Yet, treachery was the one thing she feared most. Nicolette knew, should Sylvia be betrayed, that a fate of truly hellish proportion awaited. She knew what she'd done to Hendricka, and she more than knew that happened to their former coordinator Amy. She was afraid of the being before her. For the first time, she was genuinely scared. Sylvia cared for her vision, but to betray her, Nicolette knew not even the homeland's generals were ready for such hell to be unleashed.
Nicolette got up, and she cleaned the rest of herself up as best she could, and she asked, "What are you going to do that's different from before? You said you'd spend time among the people here, and you have to a lesser extent, but why not be in a place of business that you target to affect true change?"
"It's not just business; it's cultural, a worldwide culture. My reports of India still confirm this to be the case, and the sad truth is that many things are going to be destroyed before this place has any semblance of hope for a better future.
I mean, for goodness sake, Nicole, do you not see it yet? You have an account of the charges against the elites. You have it before you. What more proof do you need?"
"What of those who are truly independent? Who aren't truly as strong at all as the corporations you'll attack? The structures you'll attack? What of them?"
"They will be accounted for. I won't butcher all of them arbitrarily. They will be assessed to practice and the purpose of practice, like in the old days. However, those who rose through manipulation and monopoly, they will not be spared.
They and their families will be eradicated; their wealth transplanted into the national treasury. Every dollar, yen, bat, euro, etc., will all be accounted for. For every banknote, they moved into numerous offshore accounts to avoid tax; for every single one, their bodies will be restored and destroyed over and over until their literal blood debt is paid.
The powers that be had no issue or qualm crushing the small woman, the weak man, the people who could do nothing against them to elevate themselves. Therefore, I will be just as indifferent when it comes to their punishment because of their indifference and flaunting of the law. I will be satisfied, and then when the blood-debt is paid, they and their families will be killed a final time, and then the account will be reconciled. Do they wish for their fill of the treasures of the world? Well, their thirst will be quenched, their appetites sated."
Nicolette nodded, "Sylvia, please, may I request something?"
Sylvia was surprised, "Go on."
"Let the rich be publically humiliated, do not kill them. They don't deserve the hell you say they do. They are people just as you and I literally became corrupted by money and the power it has over the world. Do you not believe in—"
"I don't believe that because of what they have done, a long and bloodied pattern of butchery, favoritism, nepotism, destruction of "lesser lives or the unintelligent" for their gain that they are deserving of mercy! Therefore, they and their affiliates, large and small, will be ended in such a way truly poetic of the ever-gluttonous wealthy who have more and more and never give back to the people that's of merit. They'll posture and throw fifty million at an institution to ensure their children get in and have preferential treatment. They'll restore the ancient marvels for grandeur's sake disguised as philanthropy. So, no, Nicolette, your request is denied."
"Sylia, Please! I propose something else; it's not sparing out of mercy. Instead, we spare them and make them work just as thanklessly and without compensation as they have made millions of others work thanklessly. Their merits mean nothing; all they have is enough to house and feed them. Let the shoe be on the other foot, and they are taxed as ruthlessly as they tax others and are exempt from those taxes. Is that not more poetic than an outright massacre?
If they must be massacred, please, let only the most grievous offenders be so publicly and eternally shamed. By that, you will come across as more loving and merciful, more nuanced, and a ruler of fairness."
Sylvia thought for a moment in silence, and she chuckled, "You speak very well, Nicolette—very well." She was silent a moment longer, and she replied, "I'll give thought to it. Now, please, I have work to prepare for. Let's enjoy our tea and enjoy the coming last week of peace."
Nicolette, a great deal more relieved, sat down while Sylvia tapped into her implant, "Prepare Experiment Thirteen. The project will go live as a test tomorrow at half-past Twelve."
"Of course, High-Commander. Who is our target?"
Sylvia thought a moment, "We'll start with our small exercise of justice." she replied, "Strike at Kadic, and when it strikes two in the evening, set off the synapses. It's time the children awaken to my form of justice. The Target is Mother Earth."
"Wise choice, High-Commander. We will calibrate the antenna now."
At Kadic, the antenna shifted in alignment, and the small ultra-sonic pulse went out. Yolanda, hearing this, knew what was going to happen. She rushed to gather the necessary materials and began feverishly to concoct the North-Gate Anti-Emetic.
As she processed the drug, she thought, "I knew you hated her. I know you hate him. But I didn't think you hated either one of them this much!"
To her shock, she froze as she heard the voice of Sylvia in her head, "You know what? You thought wrong. Make a double dose; you'll need that at least."
Yolanda shot up and went to her window. No student was at the window, and she immediately went outside into the main hall, again no one. Yolanda patched into her implant, "Where the fuck are you?!"
"Closer than you might think. Remember your purpose here; remember your mission. Am I clear, soldier?!"
The force of the yell was so intense Yolanda nearly collapsed against the wall. "Y-yes, High-Commander." Yolanda stammered, quite shaken," You've made your point q-quite well."
"Good. Now, get some rest, Mengele. You'll need it next week."
The implant disconnected, and Yolanda felt immensely sick. She took a dose of the accelerated Dramamine she had on hand from Maria, and after a dose, she stabilized soon after.
She went to the window, "Where are you?" she whispered.