Chapter Sixty: Old Friends

Twelve.

The Authority Regulator was silent as he counted the bodies that had been arranged in a neat row on the side of the street. Twelve dead… They had been covered with gray tarps, the victims' bodies, but the Authority Regulator had seen them already when he arrived in Eastvale. Some of the corpses looked much worse than others, but…

The Authority Regulator blinked once, gave an imperceptible shake of the head. He had endured far, far worse than this while serving in the Commandos, millennia ago. Seeing friends, comrades getting blown to pieces had been commonplace on the Battlefield. But this…

"Bloody mess." The voice belonged to Arcturus, commandant of Lunar Sector Enforcement. He had already been present by the time the Regulator arrived. The high-ranking Enforcement Officer produced a cigarette from one of his jacket's inner pockets. He offered one to the Regulator, who declined. "Death count is at twelve, sir. So far, at least."

"I'm aware," the Authority Regulator replied, forcing his gaze away from the gray tarps. But that only served to provide him with the view of the wreckage. Flames still roared from the twisted, ruined remains of what had once been the Prince of Mind's tower. The explosion had been heard all over the Obsidian Moon, and with it came a shocked silence that gripped the entire moon as its citizens realized just what exactly had happened.

A Hero had been attacked. Someone had broken the Rules.

Noir would have been the Regulator's prime suspect, though the Archagent was off-world at the moment. Same with the Dignitary, of whom the Regulator was even more wary. No, it was obvious to the Regulator who was responsible, but it was also never wise to whisper about the Queen. He had no desire to experience the Silent Dungeon from an inmate's perspective, so he did not give voice to these thoughts.

"Do you have the report from forensics?" The Authority Regulator asked his subordinate, changing the subject.

Arcturus struck a match, drawing on his cigarette until the tip caught the flame and glowed cherry red. The Lunar Sector Commandant then shook his head, exhaling the smoke into the air. "The lab-rats are still examining the ruins. We're not sure exactly what kind of explosives were used in the bombing, but they were high-yield. Military grade, it seems. No sign of the Prince himself. I would expect he was vaporized."

"What am I to do about this, Arcturus?" The Regulator's voice betrayed none of the weariness he felt, but the Lunar Sector Commandant knew his superior well enough to pick up on it. "Things were bad enough before the Veteran started making noise again, but now…? I have a moon on the brink of rebellion. I have a Queen who never leaves her palace, a dissenter who never leaves the shadows, a populace caught in the middle who grows more and more unrestful with every new bombing, and now this… An attack on the Heroes. All the media spinsters in the kingdom would not be able to keep this under wraps. Skaia's cunt, what a mess…"

"You're acting-Archagent, sir," Arcturus reminded his old friend. "Surely you have the authority to-"

"Authority." The Authority Regulator spat the word like it was a curse. "Bloody joke…" The Regulator allowed his voice to trail off, taking in a deep breath through his nostrils before he said anything more. The odor of smoke filled his nose as he breathed in. As he exhaled, the Regulator became aware of a new sound, one that reminded him of the muffled beating of fan blades.

Whump whump whump whump.

"And here come the spooks, right on time…" Commandant Arcturus muttered, casting his gaze upward.

Sure enough, a transport was descending from the sky. It touched down in the middle of the street, allowing the side door to be slid open. A tall man wearing a dark gray suit and bowler hat disembarked, immediately began hollering orders to the nearest constables. "Clear out! This has been declared a restricted sector by order of the Queen-"

Wishing he'd brought his whiskey flask along, the Authority Regulator took a deep breath and strode towards the loudmouthed Agent. "This is a crime scene under the authority of L-Sec Enforcement," the Regulator informed the Agent, prompting the official in the gray suit to turn around. "State your business here."

"Not anymore it's not, acting Archagent," the Agent retorted, the corner of his mouth twitching in a faint grin. "Orders came in from the Black Queen herself. Jurisdiction of the Obsidian Moon has been relegated to martial law until the Wrathful Veteran and his dissenters are an unpleasant memory."

"What did he say?!" Commandant Arcturus started forward, his temper beginning to flare.

Sensing a potential storm in the making, the Authority Regulator was quick to stop his subordinate from doing anything unwise. "Silence, Arcturus," he hissed to his subordinate, quiet enough for the Agent not to hear. Not breaking eye contact with the Agent, the Regulator resumed the conversation. "I'm afraid that is unacceptable. The Crown has no authority over matters of domestic law enforcement. L-Sec Enforcement will-"

"I don't think you understand me," the Agent interrupted. "Lunar Sector Enforcement is history. All Enforcement officers are to report to their stations for debriefing and disarming."

"You cannot simply dissolve Lunar Enforcement on a whim, Agent," the Regulator argued, his voice beginning to tense up.

"All due respect, Regulator...I can, and I have," the Agent replied. "Now, you can stand aside and defer to me, or I will have you forcibly removed. I think you would prefer the first option."

"Forcibly removed?" Commandant Arcturus snorted, unable to contain himself any longer. "Is that so? You're going to forcibly remove me? With 'all due respect'...you and whose army?"

The Agent's gaze slid over to the Lunar Commandant. "You were in charge of Enforcement here on the moon, yes? Arcturus, is it? Good. Well, former-Commandant, to answer your question: me, and my army. They should be arriving right about now, if I timed this correctly..."

A shadow fell over Eastvale Ghetto. While it was dark most of the time in the ghetto, this shadow obscured the meager daylight that remained. The Authority Regulator looked up, his expression remaining perfectly neutral as he beheld the massive violet battleship that was moving into position over the ghetto. More ships could be seen higher in the sky, moving into high orbit over the Obsidian Moon.

Transports were dispatched to the surface. Three of these transports landed right on the street. Armored doors slid open, allowing heavily-armed Dersites clad entirely in black to emerge. They were commandos - elite troops from the Black King's army. Their presence at home did not bode well.

Neither the Regulator nor Arcturus moved as they watched the scene unfold around them. The commandos immediately formed up into teams and began coordinating with one another as they headed deeper into the ghetto. The Enforcers were disarmed on the spot and ordered to return to their stations, the forensics crew shooed away from their work, their equipment haphazardly packed up and moved away.

The Authority Regulator could scarcely believe what was happening. He'd known the Black Queen was not to be trifled with, but using the military to disband domestic law enforcement? Every fibre of his being was bending the wrong way. Over the years, his zealous adherence to the letter of the law had been tempered somewhat, but when he had to stand by and watch as that same law was made nonexistent…

"The Queen wants to see you, Regulator," the Agent informed the Chief of Enforcement. "Hop a transport to the Obsidian Palace. I would not keep her waiting too long, if you value your head remaining attached to your shoulders. As for you, former Commandant, you will report back to Lunar Sector HQ for summary debriefing. A pleasant afternoon to you both."

With that, the Agent turned on his heel and marched smartly towards the nearest commando officer, taking control of the situation. Arcturus and the Authority Regulator were left standing on the sidewalk in a stunned silence.

The Authority Regulator's mind was blank as he strode toward the heavy obsidian doors that served as the entrance to the Black Queen's throne room. The doors were open already - the Regulator could already see the Queen, poised on her amethyst throne like a cat ready to pounce. The Regulator could only wish that he felt less like the 'mouse' in the equation.

There were four commandos standing guard outside the doors, but they stood aside for the Regulator to pass. Their reflective glasses prevented any form of eye contact from being made.

The Authority Regulator strode into the throne room, taking great care not to reveal the apprehension coiling up inside him. No one liked being summoned to see the Queen. Hell, even Noir hates being summoned to see the Queen… The Regulator murmured to himself mentally. He then made sure he stopped talking to himself in his head.

The Authority Regulator approached the Queen, sinking to a knee and dipping his head. "Your Royal Highness-"

"Dispense with the pleasantries, Regulator, I did not call you here for idle chat," the Black Queen interrupted, uncrossing her legs, straightening up in her amethyst throne. She remained silent while the Authority Regulator stood back up, slowly and quietly tapping a finger against the throne's arm. She stared directly at the Regulator, prolonging the uncomfortable silence. The Regulator did not break eye contact, however, prompting the Queen to continue. "You came straight from the Obsidian Moon, no?"

"That is correct, Your Royal-"

"What did I say about the pleasantries?" The Black Queen's gaze grew even harsher.

"You said to dispense with them," the Authority Regulator echoed without skipping a beat.

"Correct." The Queen's mouth parted into a grin, revealing pointed teeth. "You learn fast. Now then, you came straight from the Obsidian Moon, no?"

"Yes."

"You've seen the wreckage, then," the Black Queen deduced. "The Prince's tower was destroyed by the Wrathful Veteran's dissenters, as you have just witnessed. Lunar Enforcement is clearly no longer capable of keeping the peace, so I have declared martial law until the dissention is crushed."

Another silence. The Black Queen's gaze bored right into the Regulator's brain, her harsh white eyes quickly becoming almost painful to look at directly. But the Authority Regulator did not even blink. Remaining still seemed to be the best option.

The silence dragged on for over a minute before the Black Queen spoke again. "Have you anything to say, Regulator?"

"No."

The Queen's grin vanished. "Then on to business. What I just told you was complete hogwash - I am responsible for the destruction of the Prince's tower. But you knew that, already - do not bother denying this. Why did you not say so?"

"Because I had nothing to say and you did not tell me to speak."

That earned a single nod from the Black Queen. "Very good, Regulator, very good. Keep that attitude and you just might live to see the end of this year. Now, you are keen enough to deduce that the Wrathful Veteran was not responsible for the attack. The commoners, however, are not quite so keen, as I am sure you are well aware. If they were to find out about such a thing, they might revolt. And if there is one thing we both have in common, it is that we cannot afford a revolution on the homefront, not with the war coming to a head. Would you not agree?"

"I agree." The Authority Regulator wished the Queen would stop asking him questions that were in the negative. It forced him to word his answers with the care a spider would put into weaving the perfect web. And while he was rock-solid under pressure, the Black Queen was an entirely different dimension of pressure cooker.

"Good." The Queen's grin returned. It did not reach her eyes, however. Her smiles never reached her eyes. "I would so very much loathe there to be any disagreement between myself and my Chief of Enforcement. Oh, and I no longer require your services as acting-Archagent. Noir will be returning to us quite soon. See that you are removed from his office before he arrives - I do not expect he would take too kindly to find you still sitting behind his desk. Would you not agree?"

"I would."

"You would...not agree?"

The Authority Regulator blinked once. "I would agree."

"I certainly hope so, for your sake." The Black Queen leaned forward, her grin widening a hair. "This business with the Veteran will soon be put to rest. I look forward to working with you to make him a memory." The message was clear to the Regulator: I am watching you. One false move, and you are dead. The Queen straightened back up, crossing her legs once again. She waved a hand at the Authority Regulator. "That will be all, Regulator. Take care you do not get lost on your way to the Amethyst Tower."

The Authority Regulator was yawning as he trudged through the entrance of his domicile. He lived alone in a flat on the eighth floor of an apartment complex. The complex was located in the depths of Everdark District, one of the more bustling population centers of Derse, not to mention a favorable choice of home for many members of Domestic Enforcement due to the abundance of pubs and lounges.

The interior of the Regulator's flat was very spartan in appearance. Many Dersites enjoyed going all out on the themes and decor of their homes, but the Regulator was not one of them. Why put so much effort into decorating an apartment he was so rarely able to return to, anymore? He spent an even fifty-percent of his nights crashing in his office in the Amethyst Tower.

The Authority Regulator yawned again, shed his coat, draped it over the back of his couch. He then trudged over to his refrigerator, retrieved one of his bottles of aged scotch. He took a glass, dropped in three icecubes before filling it. The Regulator sipped the scotch, giving a nearly inaudible hum of pleasure as the burning liquid woke up his tastebuds.

There had once been a time when booze had been illegal in the kingdom. This had given rise to an age of underground trade and smuggling, speakeasies, and so much organized crime it made the Regulator's head spin. The Authority Regulator enjoyed breaking up the booze gangs, he really did, but there had just been so many of them. But eventually the Black Queen was wise enough to allow the sale of alcohol in the kingdom, albeit under a tax.

What a time that had been. The Regulator was grateful for his scotch - he was in particular need of some liquid comfort tonight. He sat down on his couch and flicked on the television. He moved through the myriad channels of Derse's TV stations. Nothing much on, today...just news, news, and more news. Dersites loved a saucy tabloid.

As he flipped through the channels, the noise from the TV soon blurred together into an unintelligible hum for the Regulator. He was still back on that street in the Eastvale ghetto, back amidst all that burning wreckage and debris from the havoc caused by the destruction of the Prince's tower. He could not stop seeing those twelve bodies.

Another news channel.

...attack on the tower of the Prince, just this morning, leading citizens to begin questioning the effectiveness of Domestic Enforcement as a law-enforcing body...

The Authority Regulator muttered something under his breath about throwing all the annoying news anchors into the slammer, clicked off the TV. He drained the last of his scotch, left the glass on the coffee table, got back up to his feet. The Regulator yawned again, moved around the couch. He headed into his bedroom - the only other room in his flat - and started getting ready for sleep. He was going to need a lot of it-

The bedroom door creaked shut.

"Good to see you again, old friend."

"What the…?" the Authority Regulator whipped into action, turning on the lamp at his bedside, turning to face the source of the voice in the dark.

Another Dersite, shorter than the Regulator, was sitting in a chair next to the bedroom door, which he had just nudged shut. He was wearing an informal gray suit. An ugly scar marred the left side of his face, evidence of previous battles fought. The Wrathful Veteran gave a quiet chuckle. "Is that any way to greet a friend from the old days?"

The Authority Regulator was silent for a moment, meeting the Veteran's gaze. Then he said, "Should I be grabbing my pistol, right now?"

"You're welcome to, but you will not need it." The Veteran shrugged. "I'm only here to talk. How is Arcturus doing, these days?"

"He's out of a job, now," the Regulator replied bluntly. "Don't tell me you didn't know that, already. What do you want."

"Always so abrasive, AR… I'm glad you haven't changed too much." Another chuckle from the Veteran. Then he straightened up and the wry grin vanished. "But you're right, it's time I got to the point. I know all about what happened with Lunar Enforcement - the commandos are raking through Eastvale with a fine-toothed comb, looking for any sign of the Prince's body. They will not find it, old friend - the Prince is alive, and he is with me."

The Authority Regulator nearly gave a small start, but was able to contain it. Truth be told, he was not all that surprised - despite the shock of having a direct attack on a Hero take place right here at home, the Regulator had never been fully convinced that the Prince was dead. "...go on?"

"You've been straddling the fence for a long time, AR," the Wrathful Veteran said. "Keeping the peace is all well and good, but there comes a point when trying to do so could be likened to attempting to keep two planets from crashing into each other. You can certainly try, but you will be crushed to a pulp. And I've seen enough of my friends get crushed to a pulp."

"Are you trying to recruit me to the dissention?"

"I'm trying to tell you that Derse is about to become a warzone," the Veteran replied. "It's about to become a warzone, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Either you pick a side, or you get crushed in the middle. You saw what's happening on the Obsidian Moon, AR, you know the Queen is showing her true colors again."

"She is trying to keep the peace, as well-"

"She is trying to consolidate power! She is trying to strike while she still can, not preserve the peace!" the Veteran snapped, his calm demeanor finally slipping. "In case you haven't noticed, the Heroes have woken up. And we both know that when Heroes wake up, it doesn't mean we're about to all go out on a picnic and sit around a campfire with marshmallows. It means people are going to die. And you're deluding yourself if you believe the Queen puts any more value on our lives than she would a pile of cobra-consort dung."

"And what value did you put on the lives of all who died in the last uprising?" the Authority Regulator countered. "Billions in damages, thousands of poor souls dead...and I'm the one who had to clean up your mess. And I'll have to clean up this one, too. You really haven't changed, either."

The Wrathful Veteran grew very quiet. "AR…" he chose his words carefully, softening his tone. "Something is different, this time. I can feel it. I don't think you'll have to clean up my mess because, if the Queen succeeds in killing the Heroes, there won't be anything left to clean up."

The Authority Regulator hesitated. He swore at himself in his head. The Veteran was a radical. Why was the Regulator allowing his old friend to get inside his head? Having that last thought made the Chief of Enforcement let out a quiet sigh. Even after everything, despite all the differences and wrongs between them...the Regulator still considered the Veteran to be a friend.

"You, uh...you still have Can Town?" The Regulator finally broke the uncomfortable silence, not knowing what else to say.

The Wrathful Veteran blinked twice, thrown off by the sudden shift of topic. But he recovered swiftly. "Yes. And I expect you still have that ridiculous caution-tape cloak somewhere?"

That made the Authority Regulator hum with muted laughter, the first time he'd laughed in weeks. But when the laughter died, the gulf between the two estranged friends seemed even wider. "You should leave, old friend," the Regulator advised. "This is not a safe place for you."

The Wrathful Veteran looked like he wanted to argue further, but he did not. Instead, he rose to his feet, opened the bedroom door. Then he hesitated, turned round, reached into an inner pocket. He drew out a tiny object - a cylinder of black plastic, with a button on the top. He tossed it to the Regulator, who caught it out of reflex.

"Think on what I said, AR. If you change your mind, press that button. I'll come to you."

And then the Veteran was gone, leaving the Authority Regulator alone and in silence.