Chương 190: Book 3 - Chapter 35 - Negotiations

"So I have some good news and some bad news," Stalking started as soon as she called back.

"Which do you want first?"

"I can guess the bad. Mirage is behind the 'disappearances.' Which would make the good… I'm allowed to beat the shit out of him?" I said hopefully.

"No, Teddy!" Staking barked, before pausing slightly and letting out a long sigh.

"Well, he did admit to taking custody of the other council members, but he claims it's to protect them from you. He apparently thinks you're prone to emotional outbursts and anger."

"I am not!" I half shouted before receiving a disapproving look from Hel.

"He believes that if the council was left in your hands, they'd likely end up dead before the end of the day," Stalking continued, ignoring my outburst.

"Or so he claims," I hissed.

"So the bad news is he's counter-kidnapped the remaining council members. What's the good news?"

"He's willing to discuss the situation with a single representative of your group at his office. If you can convince him it's worth it, he'll surrender them to you."

"He'll surrender them, just like that?" I scoffed.

"After working so hard to protect them?"

"Working hard to keep them alive," Stalking corrected.

"At least according to him."

"Yeah, well, forgive me for not believing him. Where is this office of his?" Hel looked at me suspiciously.

"Evelyn, please don't tell me you're thinking about going yourself."

"Why not? I'm apparently the reason that he went out of his way to fuck us over. Either I convince him I'm trustworthy, or we'll have to take the council members by force!"

"Or, you know, we just leave them in his custody until it's time for a trial," Hel huffed.

"I trust him just about as much as he trusts me. If we leave them in his custody, he may allow them to run off or something!" I growled.

"I don't get how two people, who are usually so reasonable, can turn into such children when dealing with each other," Stalking sighed.

"You'll find Benedict in his office on the top floor of the Millier Hardlight Sciences building. Please, at least try to be civil."

"I'll do my best," I promised.

"Thank you, Stalking."

"You can call me Charlotte, darling. At least, so long as you and Benedict don't kill each other or destroy part of the city. Be good!" Stalking chirped before hanging up. Hel eyed me suspiciously.

"I'm not going to kill him," I grumbled.

"This will be a nice, calm conversation."

"Evelyn, I know you. This won't be a nice, calm conversation, but I trust you're smart enough to not go overboard," she replied.

"I'll call the others and see if I can get an update. I guess now that we have a couple council members, we need to arrange for a fair trial." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"We're already spread pretty thin between the camps and the replacement government." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Try and give Zetta and a couple other samurai a call," I suggested.

"I doubt you'll find someone interested in helping us with all of it, but you might find someone willing to help with one of our 'projects'."

"I'll do that," she agreed.

"Now run along to that meeting of yours." I grunted in response and headed back towards the Kodiaks docked to the back of my craft. Behind me, my little squad formed up behind me.

"This is a bad idea, boss," Bandit growled.

"You're walking into the lion's den."

"You should just let me take care of him," Bob agreed.

"No taking care of him!" I snapped as I stepped into the smaller craft and slammed the close door button.

"You two are only coming in case of emergencies. I promised everyone I'd be civil, and I'm going to try my fucking best."

"You're the boss," Bandit sniffed, before falling silent. After the Kodiak undocked, I took a couple deep breaths, doing my best to keep calm and figure out what I could possibly say to Mirage. The insufferable prick. I really doubted there was much I could say to convince him, but I was certainly going to try. It took a couple minutes for the Kodiak to cross the city and arrive at my destination.

Miller Hardlight Sciences didn't look like much from the outside, just another skyscraper, nowhere near as ostentatious as I expected from Mirage. The penthouse office had a private landing pad, so I directed the Kodiak to land there. Popping open the rear ramp, I approached the massive set of glass walls that separated the office from the outside world. A pair of delicate glass doors slid open at my approach. The interior of the office was more like what I expected of Mirage.

Expensive real wood furniture, tons of bookcases with real books, and immaculate purple and gold upholstery everywhere. At the back of the room, sitting behind a mammoth, ornate wooden desk, was the man himself.

"Of course it had to be you," he sighed.

"I was hoping to talk to someone reasonable."

"I can be extremely reasonable," I told him as I slowly crossed the extremely large office.

"I have yet to see that," he sneered. He pushed himself away from the desk and swiftly moved to the middle of the office to intercept me.

"You're probably the most irrational person I've ever met!"

"I didn't come here to argue," I growled.

"I came here to find out why you took those council members and what it'll take for you to surrender them." The man stood up straight, slicked back his hair, and looked down at me.

"I need to hear a reasonable explanation why they're being arrested and a guarantee they won't be harmed while in custody. I've known these people for a long time. They deserve a fair trial."

"Why wouldn't they get a fair trial? Just because I'm involved? I'm sure that Charlotte told you there are four other samurai cooperating with me, yet you still refuse to cooperate. Did you honestly think that I'd drag them out into the middle of the street and shoot them in cold blood?"

"You could have," the man said begrudgingly.

"I have never, once, killed someone in cold blood," I hissed, balling my hands and muttering under my breath.

"You're lucky Hel injected me with that serum earlier."

"Look, I know you and I have this rivalry, but interfering with a joint operation just because you hate me doesn't make you a hero to these people. It just makes you a dick."

"You're really not doing a good job of convincing me that I made a mistake," Mirage grumbled.

"Because I'm not trying to convince you that you made a mistake. I'm sure you'd already heard the news about what they attempted. And that we've already sent them to the Family for holding; your connections with them are too good for you not to have heard about that. You didn't do it to protect them you did it to fuck with me." Mirage stared at me, his jaw clenched, but didn't say anything.

"Honestly, I don't get you. Sometimes you seem like a decent person, but other times you act like nothing more than a corporate douche. Can you just fucking cooperate with Hel and the others, even if you don't want to cooperate with me?" Mirage huffed and started pacing back and forth, his neck red. I don't know if it was out of rage or embarrassment.

"Even Charlotte has decided to work with us. If you don't want to hand the council members over to me, hand them over to her. Unless you think she's untrustworthy," I said, pausing for a moment and raising an eyebrow.

"Or you think they're innocent."

"Of course not!" he snapped, before taking a deep breath.

"I'll contact Charlotte and arrange to transfer them to Family custody. Everything should be fine as long as you're not involved." He closed his eyes for several seconds before nodding.

"It's done I've sent a message to Charlotte so she knows where to pick them up. I assume you're happy with that? Are we done here?"

"Almost," I replied, bobbing my head. Mirage had just enough time to raise an eyebrow before I socked him in the stomach. His hardlight projector flared and softened the blow, but it was still hard enough to cause him to double over. Once his head was at my level, I smashed him as hard as I could in the jaw. This time his projector protected him from most of the force, but the punch still sent him sprawling.

"Stop being a fucking asshole!" I shouted, nursing my bruised fist.

"I know we fucking hate each other, but that's not a fucking excuse. Just fucking mind your own business next time!" Mirage just looked at me, stunned, as I tried to gently kick him. Again his projector protected him.

"You're just lucky Hel fucking calmed me down before I came here. Otherwise I would have done much worse," I growled.

"I hope this is the last time we have to deal with each other like this. Goodbye, jackass." With that I turned on my heel and stormed out.