TBoB - Book 3 - Chapter 34 - Mental Anguish

This is a little rough, and I want to to another pass, maybe rewrite it completely later, but I have to take my family to airport, so got to run

“Ughhhh…. Someone shoot me, this is torture!” I moaned quietly as I watched the small group of people sitting around the conference room in front of me argue about the more inane things. In the corner of my eye I caught Deadbeat reaching for his rifle, so I turned and shot him a dirty look. “It’s a figure of speech! You’re not helping,” I snapped.

The peace talks had been going on for several hours now, and I swear it took them over an hour to just introduce themselves. Despite there being two different sides to the conflict, the talks had almost immediately broken down as each of the four participants had their own demands, and none of them were willing to make concessions. 

Instead, all four corporate representatives had decided to yell at each other.

“You call this reasonable? Now that Helmar’s betrayal has been revealed you’ve lost close to twenty five percent of your defenses. Our armor could easily overrun your remaining forces and put an end to this conflict by the end of the day,” the petite brunette woman at one end of the table yelled. That was Ellen Warden, the Applied System Dynamics representative. She had long brown hair pulled back into a single ponytail, and a neat business suit. I wasn’t sure what position she had at Applied, but she looked like a lawyer to me.

“And by doing so you’d not only cripple your own forces, but have to spend months rebuilding the infrastructure and command structures we already have in place,” Steven Phillips replied with a smarmy smile. “We both know you need the supply lines to Denver to be reestablished as soon as possible, you wouldn’t risk the loss. Now we’re all reasonable people here,” he started. I snorted at that, and despite being over twenty feet away I could tell that everyone heard me, but most chose to ignore me. “So I’m sure we can come to some agreement. All we need is a few concessions.”

“Concessions my ass,” Ellen hissed. “You still want us to pay a premium on everything you’re selling, despite the fact that we could wipe you off the map. Your ‘concessions’ are worth about as much as the industrial grade toilet paper they’re printed on.”

I sighed, and started tuning the group out again, this was the exact same argument they had two hours again, practically word for word. Before I completely zoned out however, I heard something I didn’t expect.

“This city has Teddy, and her bears. Do you honestly think you can fight through them? Don’t make me laugh,” Phillips said.

“You leave me the fuck out of this,” I yelled. It was pretty much the first thing I’d said since everyone arrived, so everyone turned and looked at me. “I thought I made myself clear before, but apparently not. My bears will engage the antithesis, and defend themselves when attacked, but I’m not getting involved in your conflict.”

Steven paled, while Ellen looked at me strangely. “You’re not going to get involved? Then why are you overseeing security?”

“Because I was bribed, and ending this conflict is in the city’s best interests. I don’t give a shit who’s in control.” 

Although Steven was relatively composed, the other two CEOs with him were not. They were panicking. “I was told you were supporting the city, and that’s why you destroyed the superheavy,” Ellen said cooly.

“The superheavy which attacked my perimeter around the incursion, and which I publicly declared Helmar to be at fault for?” I replied. “Although I’m pissed you were stupid enough to let a piece of hardware like that go rogue, it’s not like I’m going to take it out on you.”

As soon as I finished explaining, Ellen started packing up. I noticed Steven shoot me a dirty look, before clearing his throat. “So we may have exaggerated our position slightly, but we’re still willing to negotiate.”

Ellen smirked. “Exaggerated slightly? You told us that Teddy was pissed by our unprovoked attack, and would be joining the defenses after the incursion was completed. The only way to prevent that from happening, was to talk peace. Now that I know that’s a lie, there’s no reason for this farce to continue.”

I sighed. “Please don’t just run off and immediately start the fighting again. Yes these assholes lied to you, but now that you know the truth you can negotiate from a position of power. If they don’t see reason, you can still kill them later.”

“I don’t appreciate your tone Teddy, you’re supposed to be on our side here,” Steven hissed.

“I’m not on anyone’s side, Steven, that’s what it means to be a neutral third party,” I hissed back. “I would have expected a fancy CEO like you to understand that.”

“Applied System Dynamics came to this meeting under duress. We were told that you’d be observing this meeting to ensure that a peaceful outcome was achieved,” Ellen told me. “While we would like to achieve a mutually beneficial agreement, I do not think that’s currently possible given the attitude, and demands, of the other parties here.” She shook her head and glanced across the table. “If you ever decide you want to take us seriously, then you can send your terms directly to my office.”

It was quite obvious that she had no intention of continuing, so I hopped out of my chair, and just as I did the entire place shook violently.

I quickly flipped open my augs and sent a quick message. [Mirage, the fuck was that?] 

[Missile strike against the dome. It was intercepted, but there are more coming. The attack is coming from within the city, and the opposite side of the grounds, so I can’t protect the building.] he replied within seconds.

[Wow… so glad to have you guarding the perimeter.] I replied, my message dripping with sarcasm.

[Shut up and evacuate the attendees, there may be another strike coming.]

The doors to the conference room burst open, and the squad of bears that I had waiting outside rushed in. “What’s going on?” one of the attendees, who I hadn’t bothered to learn the name of, asked as one of the bears grabbed him.

“There’s a minor issue with the location right now, so in the interest of safety I suggest you follow my bears to the nearest vehicle. It’s nothing to worry about,” I explained.

“Nothing to worry about? That sounded like an explosion!” Steven snarled. 

“And the building is still standing,” I replied. “Do you want to stand here, and risk a second attack, or would you rather listen to my mild platitudes and get the fuck out of here?” 

Before he could reply I turned away from the man, and rushed to catch up with the rest of the representatives, who had already left the room. I was recalling all my bears, evacuating them back to the Kodiaks, when the hallway shook. Much more violently this time. “Keep moving!” I yelled at the group.

I moved one of the Kodiaks up through the hole in the dome, hoping that it could prevent a third strike. As soon as it was above the roof I could see the city’s AA batteries firing wildly. They were optimized for dealing with small antithesis, not conventional weapons, and as far as I could tell none of them were even close.

In the distance I could just make out several missiles being launched from the far side of the city. I’d been picturing something small, like the handheld models, or those launched by planes, but these were on an entirely different scale. Rocket artillery. If that’s what had hit the dome, I was surprised it was still standing.

“Fucking RUN!” I yelled. 

All around me the bears went into overdrive. Half carrying, half dragging their charges forward. Steven was lagging behind, so I grabbed him by the front of his expensive suit and threw him to Bob before sprinting towards the exit. 

I watched as a couple of the missiles were caught by the AA, detonating above the city, but it looked like at least one was going to get through. The Kodiak’s anti missile system spat particle beams at the massive weapon, but it wasn't enough to stop it. Thankfully having the Kodiak floating directly in the breach did… or at least it lessened the blow.

The resulting explosion still shook the complex, and the hallway behind me started to collapse. Bob and I literally threw ourselves into the back of the nearest waiting Kodiak as the flaming wreckage of my other vehicle plummeted down and smashed into the convention center. 

I scrambled to my feet as the Kodiak took off, automatically following the vehicles carrying the other delegates. I stared out the back as the convention center caught fire. It wouldn’t survive the night, even without another missile strike.

“I’m going to sue you for assault, do you even know who I am?” Steven snarled behind me, still hanging from Bob’s arms.

“Shut the fuck up!” I shouted back at the man. “Someone just tried to kill you and the rest of the deligates with a fucking missile strike, and you’re complaining that I saved your life? You should be worried about finding out who’s responsible.” I silently ordered Bob to drop the man, then crouched down beside him. “Oh, and I haven’t forgotten that you tried to use me to trick your enemy into surrendering. Even if you somehow manage to make it to the end of this war unscathed, I’m done with this BS. Expect there to be consequences.”

“It was for the good of the city,” Steven mumbled, but the man couldn’t look me in the eye.

“Bullshit, it was the good of your company.” As the Kodiak slipped into the vehicle gate the entire complex shook as another missile strike occurred. A massive section of the dome collapsed inwards and crushed the smaller building within. “I hope your little deception was worth it, because you’re going to face the full consequences soon,” I told the man. “Now, get out of my vehicle.”