This is what he does best. Interweaving mountains of contradictory bullshit into a web of cohesion that somehow works, using methods that should not.

  And yet there Lou sat, his fingers crashing into the keyboard like the Norse gods shattering the plains of old. That might sound over-dramatic.

  But that's how it felt.

  Just as Lou forges the truth of webs within his immobile fortress, the men and women of the Arch Legion smash hammers into red hot steel. Burly stakes built both as a defense, and a statement to any who are foolish enough to question their ownership of this hangar.

  Rifles spewed hellfire, followed by lead, as their users got soaked in the rain. The cries of true gunfire far exceed the whimpers on mutant nature's skies.

  And there Gilbert stood, louder than it all as he spoke of his orders, and his followers listened. Gaining discipline and skill from the orders of a man, not a machine.

  First, they forged the stakes.

  Then, they'd be heaved outside.

  Then, they would be planted upon the fences.

  For if the murals of the old base were visages of the past— these defenses were a dare for the future. Their future.

  And even then, it didn't take long for those forging to finish where they left off on the outside; a few men and women of the defense team amongst those who frequent attacks.

  Crosby, Lex, Yukon, Chad, Delta and the others who came in from outside. They were out there for almost an hour.

  They were more drenched in sweat than rain water.

  But the Neosun was high in the sky; penetrating through the atmosphere. The dawn of midday drew closer, and with it would end the first round of function.

  And so Gilbert brought in his troop, and Lou dismissed the nerve team for a snack.

  Crosby waved his mate to go feast while he brings his food with him.

  It was the leadership meeting table, where the rest of them— John, Amy, Lou, Gilbert, Gary— resisted. All with the burdensome knowledge that some of them will have to give speeches to the staff once they finish eating.

  It couldn't be far enough away.

  “You look like hammered shit.” John banters with Crosby, who is slightly late. He almost spat out his food as his reply came to him.

  He chew it up and swallows, then talks. “Why? You jealous?”

  “Ha!” Gary yells as he points at John and slaps his knee. Both John and Crosby give him an eyebrow, the latter speaking in reply.

  “Man it wasn't that funny.”

  Gary continues to giggle and snicker, pulling his hand on John's shoulder. “Oh, oh John, you jealous? You know there's a bit of truth in every joke! Ha!”

  “Jesus Christ I think he's going senile.” John comments.

  “Hey!” Amy exclaims while Gary still cracks up.

  Lou slams his palm down on the table.

  “Everyone! Shut up! We should've done this hours ago. I'm going first because half of you are playing silly cunts.”

  John gives Gary a couple of shakes to snap him out of it. Everyone is in good spirits, and so no one makes a fuss. Lou gets up from his end to go opposite the plane-whiteboard. He writes a name on there on bold letters.

  “Have any of your heard of a man called… Lawrence Kilmeade? Or Larry K?”

  “I have.” Says Amy, raising her hand. But no one else does, and it makes sense Amy would raise hers, and so Lou says. “Yup I'd hope so Amy. But no one else. Mkay…”

  He scribbles another name on the plane in bold.

  “Has anyone— heard— of a certain… Douglas De Shult?”

  “Oh! Oh I think I know that guy!” Gary says as he leans forward. Amy raises her hands again. It rings a bell for John but he doesn't say anything. “Yes, Gary?” Lou points to him.

  Gary clicks his fingers as he tries to remember. “That's the… that's the uhh… the… the President… right?”

  “Correct!” Lou exclaims as he puts the head back on the felt.

  “And Lawrence Kilmeade is the opponent! The red part candidate!”

  “Lou, what the Hell good is politics to us?” Amy asks flatly, her head resting on her palm. Lou is quick to reply. She is unsure if his energy is stress or the contentsphere is really just getting to him.

  “Amy. I won't treat you like you're dumb. Larry K was the senator of Baja State, along with a certain man you might know of. Do you know of James Mourner?”

  “James Mourner?!” Amy asked, taken aback at why the Hell he's being mentioned. “Yeah, what about him?”

  Lou smiles devious, and a plan must therefore be in the making.

  “James Mourner and Larry K are both red party senators from Baja State just below El Dorado and Oregon-California. James Mourner, if you don't know, was also the former vice presidential candidate of the Red Party back in the 2080 election cycle. Eh? Eh?!”

  “Huh.” John commends, surprised at the revelation without fully comprehending it. “Didn't James have a wife called Jane as well?”

  “What? Mourner was gay.” Corrects Lou.

  John raises an eyebrow as he swears Infodump and or SERaMACs told him he had a wife. He can't recall why he remembers that. Oh well.

  Oh, to think back to a time when he named SERaMACs Infodump on the way out of Detroit. Oh, how times have changed.

  Oh, shit, yeah, that's right, listening to Lou.

  “Yeah, not a straight man. Anyway— he and Larry are both from the same state. The place was given by Mexico after the Old Horizons Memorandum in 2062 and… has a population of less than one million.”

  Lou scribbled on the plane the info he spoke. Crosby, silent until now, is very confused. “A whole state with less than a million people? That's less than Burgurville.”

  “Yes Crosby. Good math. I'm getting there.” Lou oozes with sass as he finishes writing something.

  “Essentially, I've got in touch with a few connections that might get us in touch with his campaign.”

  Amy throws her hand up with wide eyes, alarm bells ringing at the thought. And Lou expected it, immediately diffusing her, all while the other sits and listen either confused or concerned.

  “Uhuhuh. Not yet Amy. Let me finish. We're not about to go on a political campaign. Just think of it like this, alright? The candidates that are supposed to lose are hand-picked out of tiny states by action committees which are, of course, funded by establishment figures. They are meant to lose from the get go. And if James Mourner was hunted for treason to their cause, which, we all know he was… whose to say Larry isn't opposed to a little cooperation?”

  John puts his hand on his chin and nods at the prospect. Amy lowers her arm and disarms the alarms in her head. Gary is also nodding, though much more solemn. Crosby is scratching his head but that's okay, and Gilbert is definitely listening.

  “Well at least half of you seem to get. What do you think John?”

  “Sounds like a plan.” John answers.

  “But before we start shaking hands, it would be good to give the staff a heads up. And seeing some of the arguments as of recent… I don't wanna open that can of worms.”

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “I'll talk to them John. I'll do it.” Offered Amy, someone he wasn't expecting to do it so willingly. He is pleasantly surprised.

  “Oh great! We'll do it after this meeting alright?”

  “Will do.” Amy confirms.

  Lou removes himself back to his seat, speaking until he sits down.

  “That was the main thing. My team has been doing amazing work otherwise. I wouldn't have caught half the deals or opportunities I have without them.”

  John cracks a smile as Lou sits down, funneling the attention on himself onto another. “Gilbert. You're been rather silent. How about you come up and tell us about what's been happening?”

  Gilbert is oddly quiet. He gives a nod and stands, moving to where Lou stood, ahead of them all.

  “Well, you'd be blind not to see half the shit I've been organizing.”

  He says, his voice lost and hoarse from too much yelling over gunfire. He grabs the felt Lou left for him and draws a rough scribble of the base perimeter. He scratches on where various systems and implements are before turning about to face them.

  “My God where do I begin… well, we have officially marked the inner and outer perimeter, and we've scouted the abandoned facilities near the strip for supplies. There is a surplus of LPG and LNG in both the broken hangars opposite us. We've also located an ammo cache of five five six ammunition on the one next to us.”

  He looks back at the drawing for a second to recollect everything.

  “Oh yes, we've also set up defense around the perimeter. We've repurposed some barbed wire on marked sections of tarmac and… spiked all of the entryways for vehicles, so you'll need to let me know to move them before you exit or honk out when you come back.”

  “Oh great…” Crosby mutters under his breath.

  What a cheek. He doesn't even know how to drive.

  “Anything else to add to that?” John asks.

  Gilbert looks around like John asked someone else. Of course, he figures out he wasn't asking someone, reacting accordingly.

  “What? Can't you hear the fucking bullets being shot in the range or then setting up the dust bag or on the machines?”

  John scoffs, almost like he actually knows he's in a position of authority. “Point taken Gilbert. You may be seated.”

  John's eyes drift over to Crosby who sits opposite him.

  “You wanna say a few words?”

  Crosby replies as he always does.

  “I want a big, fat nutrient block to eat. Oh, and some water.”

  “Sure thing then. But be back with it quickly.” John issues it to him.

  Gary seemed happy in the background standing underneath a wing in some shade, and so his eyes finally fell on Amy.

  “Alright Amy. As I recall from this morning, you have a few things to say?”

  “Mhmm.” She hums, standing up and going to the front like the others did. He recalls her only sitting when she's spoke at meetings, and so it was a nice change seeing her getting up there.

  “Hello everybody. So I've been doing some research kinda like Lou, and I've learned some interesting information. Mainly about SERaMACs, but I also learnt some stuff about…”

  She grabs the felt where Gilbert left it and draws a skull with a crown on it next to the name she speaks.

  “Gauth— Van— Hulsieg. Anyone know who he is?”

  Everyone shakes their head. Even Lou does. They seems to have forgotten it since John last brought it up in passing.

  “Gauth Van Hulsieg is the boss of the Kubaal Aetheon Trust. Like, the big boss. He is the guy above all bosses.” She turns back around to scribble what she's about to say somewhere on the plane, then back around to speak.

  “He pretty much owns, like, sixty percent of the world's whole wealth. And he has his hands in like, most of the companies that exist so… pretty much he's the main guy we're fighting.”

  “How… how the fuck did you find this?” Lou asked. Amy smirked and pointed the felt tip at him.

  “Aha. I'm glad you asked. That brings me on to my second point… SERaMACs.”

  She pulls her digiphone out and puts it near the middle of the table. She turns it on, revealing the text SERaMACs left on the screen.

  It won't turn on past that. All in can display are these words.

  “What I cannot answer is more important than what I can.”

  And every got a good before she started talking.

  “I've been more or less uhh… interacting with the AI because it seems to have a certain affinity for me and, well. Because I'm allowed.”

  Lou’s face was becoming more upset the longer he looked at the screen. Gilbert clearly disapproved. John noticed it so, and so gave her a look to encourage she gets to the point faster.

  “The uh, so the thing told me that it was gonna kill Gauth Van Hulsieg. And I was like, uh no way that's true! But then I remembered that we heard of him before I spoke to SERaMACs, so I can't be fake. But then it told me that it failed to kill him and…”

  She looked back at John who gave a look of encouragement.

  The others, clearly listening now though still apprehensive.

  Obviously, that wasn't quite what SERaMACs said.

  But she's trying to talk to convince, not just to inform.

  “And uhh… and it also showed a bunch of ways it's been helping us, like diverting flights overhead or even helping John escape while he was being chased through changing traffic.”

  The others are starting to ease off now, and so she concludes her point. “But now it's gone and done that. And I think the reason it is helping us is because… maybe that update messed with its systems or something.”

  Gary tilts his head from his not-so-far observation.

  “Update? What update?”

  Lou turns to Gary to explain for her. “Something must've happened a while ago to screw with SERaMACs. It's been a lot more… unhinged this past week. We assume it was an update.”

  Gary nods with acknowledgment.

  Amy takes the brief time of attention on Gary as her cue to sit back down beside John, who leans over while patting her back.

  “You did very well Amy. Good job.” He whispers. His praises make her blush slightly, not that anyone noticed. As John stands, he sees Crosby again who must've gotten back in time. His focus was so stuck on Amy he hadn't noticed. “Got all of that?” John asks him.

  Crosby replies after sipping his water. “Clear as mud.” Which means yes to John, and so he continues until he is in front of them all again.

  The whole thing is just different.

  It feels less like a meeting and more like a rally.

  “Well… boys. And girl. It seems that things are on the up for us. And it's about damn time too. I've been eyeing up our next target, and while Crosby’s contacts have been great, I want us to try our own thing out.”

  John looks to Crosby specifically, putting his arms behind his back as he asks. “Have you been in touch with Donovan?”

  “Yup! I've just got to sort out transaction details with Lou.”

  Crosby confirms. John turns to the table at large.

  “Great. I'll be looking forward to what you two can acquire for us. But with regards to what will be our next target… I was thinking of something clever. It won't be glamorous. But I believe we should target infrastructure points. Superhighways, hyperrailer tracks, shit like that. Very low risk stuff, so we can send multiple teams at once.”

  Gilbert folds his arms at the back.

  “Destroy infrastructure in a time like this? That's not so bad actually.”

  “You can thank Gary for giving me the advice. To be honest, he's been a lifesaver since he's been back.”

  John and Gary give each other a respectful nod.

  As a few people come around back to the main area, the sight signals to them all that the meeting must soon be over.

  John and Amy have speeches to give.

  John wraps up his talk rather unceremoniously to allow the rest of leadership to prepare for what is about to come. The rain was gushing outside, with the wind quite subdued. Yet no one seemed to care to notice. Because why would you when you can see what drives you?

  “I think that'll be us for now. Meet again this evening. Go sort yourselves out, me and Amy gotta prepare our speeches.”

  “You got it boss.” Crosby tells him.

  “Will do.” Gilbert dismisses as he shoots up elsewhere.

  “Sounds good.” Lou says as he gets back up from his seat.

  “Good shit man.” Gary says, giving John a pat on the back.

  They all leave the two for elsewhere to attend things, support others, or otherwise just be productive.

  And so as a few more finished eating, John and Amy look at each other. And something's… there. Is something… rekindling?

  No… you can't rekindle something that wasn't quite there, right?

  Both felt butterflies. Both through it was because of the speech. Ahh, it must be me. They should probably say something instead of just staring.

  “Do you wanna go first or me to go first?” John asks.

  “I'll go first.” Amy replies.

  John sits down next to her. “Well then, tell me… whatcha gonna say?”