Chương 1263: 24
Volition 3.2
"Sir," Captain Heroux stood at attention in front of me uniformed and unarmed.
I clicked a part of the desktop wallpaper and the door to the room locked with a click.
To his credit, Heroux didn't even flinch, calmly staring at me. I wondered if he was able to notice any discrepancies. I was sure he could, but he wouldn't act without being certain of the situation. After all, Coil routinely used a body double, and nobody knew who the man behind the mask was. Even if I acted a little differently, wasn't it natural to assume that I was just another scheme of Coil's, sitting here in Coil's private office like it was perfectly natural?
"At ease, Captain. You are one of my most trusted men. I called you here to have a little talk. Nothing too serious. Have a seat," I said, gesturing him to sit down.
He nodded and did as told.
"You've been with me for quite some time now, Heroux, and led a great many successful operations. You were here before this base was built, even, and you've served me well as our organization, business, and territory grew," I said, pretending to be familiar with him using the info from his personnel dossier and performance notes.
"Yes, sir," he replied neutrally.
"In recent times, Brockton Bay has reached a boiling point. Tension between the gangs have been rising steadily and the PRT is buckling under the pressure. With the events of the last few days, the sudden defeat of Lung and Oni Lee and the rise of a new hero team, one could say that the situation is about to explode," I explained, drawing an ominous picture. "And with this base's construction nearing completion, so too is our organization at a critical juncture—one of both crisis…and opportunity."
I closely observed the expression on Heroux's face, unchanging as it was, his eyes widened marginally to reveal a glimmer of interest.
"I will be blunt. I am not interested in being a common villain. You have seen for yourself how we operate. You have been in the military, and you must…recognize the differences between our organization and the so-called villain gangs of this city," I said, pausing for a long moment with an upwards tilt of my head.
Heroux took the hint and answered. "Yes. We are disciplined, organized, and well-equipped. We are functionally closer to a private army than a gang."
"Precisely." I nodded and leaned forward. "Do you know why that is? Do you understand why I built the organization this way, what it is that we have been working towards all this time?"
He was quiet for a moment, a hint of caution in his expression. "Sir, you give us orders and we follow them. It is not my place to know your grand designs."
"No need to be so stiff, Captain Heroux. I am not testing you," I said. We both knew that was a lie, but it had to be said. "Much like myself, you're an ambitious man. You must have had some guesses. Humor me, call it curiosity. What do you think we are working towards?" It was a bit of a leading question, and a way to build rapport, as I alluded to our mutually ambitious nature.
"If I had to guess, then…a greater calling. Something beyond simple money, territory, and petty crime. Something that goes beyond just this city, maybe. Something you need a professional army for, and not just a small group of capes like the other gangs."
I chuckled slowly. "You're exactly right. That's a very good answer."
My expression got serious again. "You remember the crisis when Professor Haywire opened a portal to Earth Aleph? The first thing on people's minds."
Finally, I got a noticeable look of surprise from him this time. "You mean…war?"
"Right again. In those days, when people realized there was a whole other world of resources, the possibility of war immediately came to mind. And Bet would win, because we had all the capes. We avoided war back then…but our world has since been ravaged by the Endbringers, entire nations devastated, and in the midst of the chaos, parahuman groups like the Yangban and Red Gauntlet have risen. You have been deployed to Asia as US military tried and failed to support its allies in times of great upheaval, so you have seen first hand how parahumans and the Endbringers have all but destroyed the old order."
"I cannot deny your words. I left the military because I lost faith in its ability to achieve its mission, you know this, of course. The US may be a superpower still, but that power is no longer backed by the army, navy or air force, nor even by nuclear weapons, but by parahumans. And even that is a questionable thing, if the state of lawlessness in this country is anything to go by," he said.
"The existence of other worlds is not a secret anymore, and despite the tenuous peace we have agreed to with Aleph, do you really think that this state of affairs can last, knowing what you know about the way Bet is going?"
He frowned. "You think that there will be war with Aleph?"
I unlocked the door, and stood up. "Walk with me."
He stood to follow, and we exited the room into the hallway. Between my office and the base's entrance were over ten guards and multiple sets of heavy metal doors. But we wouldn't be going past all of them.
I strode purposefully in towards a certain room away from the eyes and ears of any guards and employees. It was the room Coil had reserved for Dinah once kidnapped, and currently empty so it did not need any guards.
We stopped in front of the door, and I turned around to face Heroux.
"Aleph is not the only other world out there, and Professor Haywire will not be the only parahuman that can find a way to access other worlds. When the Endbringers have destroyed half the world's cities in a decade, what will the desperate people of Bet turn to? Even without the possibility of refuge in another world, Bet is destined to descend into chaos. I know not what would emerge, but the status quo cannot last! Today villains and gangs can hold territory in a city, a decade from now perhaps parahuman warlords will rule nations and worlds!" I gestured grandly to emphasize the point.
"The question is, what role would you want to play in such a future? Are you satisfied being a mere mercenary, or would you aspire to be part of something greater, with all the privileges and responsibilities that would entail?"
Heroux was a smart man, and I could see the understanding in his eyes, as I alluded to a position of power within a new world order.
"I…would be a part of something greater, sir. A part of the empire of your rule," he said firmly, holding his right hand over his heart and bowing his head slightly.
My lips curled into a smirk. Now all I needed was one last move to convince this man that I was the "true" cape behind Coil, who never showed his men his power until the Undersiders, to the point where people thought he might be unpowered.
"Very good, Heroux. I require loyal and capable men like you. Now rise and look upon the future!" On one hand, I took out an access card.
I held out my other hand with my palm facing up, and Agate flashed into existence with a multicolored display of lights, floating freely in the air. She would become my symbol, the absolute proof of who I was without revealing my face.
I gripped onto Agate and directed her at the door. A rainbow beam emerged from her tip and struck the door, engulfing it in light.
Then I unlocked the door, which opened automatically, and on the other side was—
A blue sky and fresh air, a magnificent view from a great height that looked out into vast plains and forests, with the daylight sun shining brightly in the air.
Heroux's eyes were wide open as he stared.
I walked through and waited for him on the other side.
He was taken out of his stupor once I did so, and quickly followed after me, almost stumbling as he crossed the threshold to the peak of the small mountain that we now stood on.
He turned this way and that way, looking around in wonder, before marvelling at the unnatural rectangular gap in reality we just stepped through.
I waited silently for him to get his bearings.
"This…is this another world?" He murmured, still not quite believing what I had been implying all this time.
But that was a simple matter to solve.
"Take out your phone and check your GPS. We are out in the open, high in the air, with nothing blocking the signal," I suggested.
He did so. He looked back at me with a new vigour, after confirming that the signal was gone.
"Take a good, long look. A whole new world, vast untapped resources, continents of unoccupied land, untouched by the ravages of the Endbringers and capes. This one is untouched by human civilization, even, free of pollution in the air and oceans," I swept out my arm gesturing to everything below us.
"And…it's only one of many more…" He murmured, looking out at the horizon. "Yes, I understand now…what you have been working towards…!"
"There is much work to be done, and a long road ahead of us. It will not be easy, but I am sure it will be rewarding. As of today, your salary is doubled, and you are hereby promoted to the rank of Major. But remember, you must tell no one of what you have learned today about my power, our eventual goals, or your promotion. Know for yourself what lies ahead, but those who are not worthy do not need to know, until the time is right. Everything you have seen and heard today are classified strictly to yourself and me, and your salary raise will be paid from a different source."
He gave me a military salute. "Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"
"Ah…and that includes Coil, Major Heroux. You should be aware that he is merely a puppet of mine, unaware of our true aims. Should I desire to speak with you as my true self, I will call you by your new rank, or wield this symbol of my power," I said, raising Agate again.
"Understood."
O O O
"Sir," Captain Reynolds stood at attention in front of me uniformed and unarmed.
I clicked a part of the desktop wallpaper and the door to the room locked with a click.
"At ease, Captain. You are one of my most trusted…"
O O O
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