Chương 77: 75: Flag of Truce

Please think of the most embarrassing moment of your life. That time in kindergarten when you wet your pants. The moment in the sixth-grade play when you froze on stage. That incident at your first real job when your manager politely corrected your grammar, and you realized you'd been pronouncing a word wrong your whole life. You had that moment; I know you can think of one. That was how I felt when the Sarathi knelt to me. This, though? This was on a whole different scale. I'd thought "nicely showy" would be good.

I figured maybe a white flag would appear next to me and a suppression zone of some sort would subtly indicate that offensive abilities were unavailable. Instead, a glowing golden mist surrounded us, flowing outward until it covered the healing tent, a few hundred blankets, and far, far too many people. That alone would have been bad enough. But trumpets sounded. Yes, literal trumpets. And then an angel floated down from the sky and landed next to me.

White wings, glowing golden halo, a hundred percent artificial, and the System just fucking with us. But how in the world was I going to tell our audience that the System was composed of lying, lying liars? In a voice that reverberated through the enclave like a divine PA system, the angel announced, "Attention, residents of Team Fellow Survivors.

A Flag of Truce has been activated by Olivia Thorne, First Defender, Preliminary Challenger Top 1%, Rift Keeper, World First: Rift Clear, World First: Rift Close, Unconventional Diplomat, Universal Translator, Citizen of the Multiverse Rank 1. For the next eighty-eight minutes, System-based offensive abilities are suspended within the affected area. This is a non-aggression zone. Please do not be alarmed." I cringed, covering my face with my hands.

I mumbled through my fingers, "I didn't know it would do that, I swear." I dropped my hands, crossing them in front of my chest.

"But you know, good news, proof that I'm not a threat, right?" Nat was still staring at me. Everyone was still staring at me. But then the doors behind her flew open, and Emma flung herself through them, hurling herself at me like a bowling ball aiming for a pin.

"Olivia!" she shrieked, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Huh. I guess you do know her," Nat said, as I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do with my own arms. Hug her? Pat her back?

"Oh, my god, Olivia, I'm so happy to see you, I'm so glad—" Emma pulled away from me, her expression changing.

"Wait. Where's Zelda?"

"She's fine," I said hastily.

"Probably mad at me, because I left her home so none of your people would freak out about an animal in the enclave, but fine."

"Oh, good." Emma put a hand on her own chest and took a few deep breaths.

"I can't believe… wait. What are you doing here? How did you get here? Did you know it was me? I held spaces for you and Jack and his family, but I didn't actually think you'd ever make it here. It was more wishful thinking than anything else. I can't believe you found us. Did you find Jack, too? Is he here?" Back in the scenario, there'd been a moment where I'd looked at Emma and thought the System was practically creating an uncanny valley with how good she looked, considering everything we'd been going through.

This was not that moment. She looked exhausted, stressed out, and as dirty as everyone else in her enclave. And there was a weird glow around her head that had to be mana, but looked gray and kinda… gross. Not thinking more about it than, "ew, that's icky," I tapped [Mana Absorption] and pulled the gray stuff away from her head. It was unpleasant. The feeling of it on my skin was like cobwebs, that sort of sticky, skin-crawling revulsion.

Emma straightened, energy pulling her upright like a ballerina, her body snapping into a perfect line.

"What did you just do?"

"You had something..." I gestured feebly. I wasn't sure I could explain it. Emma stopped, exhaled, put fingers on her temples. Then she said softly, "That fucker." She glanced over her shoulder at the building behind her, and repeated the words, this time with an angry snap.

"That fucker!"

"Are you okay?" I asked. The gray stuff had been so essentially wrong that I hadn't thought twice before pulling it off her. It was like seeing a mosquito on a friend's shoulder—you didn't think, oh, maybe that mosquito belongs there, you just swatted it.

"I'm fine. But we're kicking the mayor out. I'm done with her."

"Um, the town council…" Nat started.

"Yeah, fuck them, too," Emma snapped.

"If they want to leave because I'm not putting them in charge, they're free to go. No one's keeping them here." Okay, so I'd just arrived, and I was already making waves.

"Get them down here," Emma said to Nat.

"They're all sitting up there on the third floor coming up with an action plan." She put mocking finger quotes around the last words.

"Tell them I want them down here now."

"Em, are you sure you want to—" Nat began.

"Rock the boat?" Emma said.

"I'm flipping the whole fucking canoe over. And those assholes can drown for all I care." The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Right. Okay. So… yeah." Nat gave me a look. It was a look that basically said, "Look what you've done, you asshole. Deal with it." It's possible that I responded with a smirk. I mean, I don't know for sure that my expression was a smirk, but… okay, yeah, it was. She deserved it, though. I mean, I kind of liked her take-no-shit attitude, but she'd sent a woman with a screaming baby away without the slightest hint of sympathy. As far as I was concerned, give no compassion, get no compassion.

Nat disappeared into the building. Emma crossed her arms, hands tightly gripping her upper arms.

"I can't believe I…" She shook her head.

"I almost fell for it. She's been trying to convince me to hand control to the town council. The legally elected representatives." A pause.

"I almost did it. I was going to do it. And then whatever you did—my head cleared and I just—god, I've been so stupid."

"Charmed, I think?" I suggested.

"Charmed? She's not charming. She's a snake in sheep's clothing. I wonder if they were all in on it. I wonder how she did it." Emma's last words were almost to herself.

"I meant she used some kind of ability on you. A spell or something like that."

"Right." Emma heaved an exhausted breath. She glanced up at the angel floating mid-air.

"I thought she had a cleric class. I only let her in because we needed healers so desperately. And then—" The doors opened behind her. Nat emerged first, five people following her, all of them blinking in the golden light of the Flag of Truce zone, eyes going wide at the sight of the angel. All of them wore clothing that suggested they'd been indoor people before the apocalypse. One of the two men still had on a suit and tie; one of the women wore a pencil skirt with heels.

The last one out the door had to be the mayor. She was maybe sixty, silver-haired, exuding a warm, grandmotherly energy that didn't reach her eyes. I did a quick [Analyze]. Rosalyn Guilford, Level 7, Mind Mage.

"Level 7, Mind Mage," I said, speaking clearly so that all of them could hear me. Rosalyn had been focused on the angel, just like the rest of them, but her eyes swung to me at light speed. She stepped forward, her hands reaching out to clasp mine, saying in a crisp New England accent, "I don't believe we've met, I'm Rosalyn Guilford." Simultaneously, she sent a gray mana tendril spinning in my direction.

"No!" I shouted, stepping back.

"Be careful, that's—" The angel intervened, leaning down from the sky and touching the mana with a single extended finger. (Was it deliberately imitating Michelangelo? Knowing the System, probably.) But the mana sizzled at its touch, dissipating into the air, tiny flecks like ashes floating to the ground.

"The Flag of Truce is in effect for another 84 minutes," the Angel announced.

"System-based offensive abilities are not permitted within the truce zone. This is your first and only warning. A second offense will be met with consequences." My heart was pounding so hard, I felt like I could barely breathe. I was gulping air as if it were water. I took two, three shaky breaths, and then glared at the mayor.

"The last person who tried to use a mental attack on me died. His head exploded and his son wound up wearing his brains." My lips quivered a little, and I pressed them together.

"If you aren't ready to discover what that feels like, don't use mental attacks on people who outlevel you." Rosalyn looked appropriately appalled, dropping her hands.

"It's not an attack," she objected.

"It's not even—it's harmless!"

"Uh-huh," I said dryly.

"The System disagrees. And so do I." I looked at the town council members. Interestingly, the two who were still wearing their professional clothes had their own gray halos, but the other two didn't. With a tap of [Mana Absorption], I pulled the gray cobwebs off them. The guy in the business suit responded first. Every muscle in his body went taut; his hands clenched into fists.

"What the hell was that?" The woman in the pencil skirt looked confused. She put a hand to her head.

"What happened? I don't understand. Rosalyn?" The look she directed at the mayor was more hurt than angry.

"It's a minor ability, really. Barely worth mentioning." The mayor took a breath, then said, the voice of reason.

"We all want what's best for our community. I know we can agree on that." She kept talking. I tuned her out and watched with [Uncanny Insight]. She might not be using an offensive ability at the moment, but she was using something. A passive? A trait? Something that gave her words more weight, made her listeners more open to suggestion. Maybe not as strong as the attack ability was, but something along the same lines. And the woman in the pencil skirt was susceptible.

I could see her face softening, agreement appearing in her eyes. I put my fingers to my ears, pressing them closed and started singing, "La-la-la-la-la-la." As soon as they all looked at me, I said loudly, "She's still doing something. Maybe not an attack but manipulation of some sort. Designed to make you believe she knows best, I think." The fingers in my ears were for show, of course. There was no way some little Level 7 Mind Mage was getting through [Mind Over Matter].

She was also taking a ridiculous chance, in my opinion. The angel hadn't said what the consequences would be after its first-and-only warning, but surely she realized the System didn't make empty threats. And if she didn't, it was an angel. How could you possibly pretend to be a good guy when an angel called you out on your shit? Obviously, it was just a System projection, not a real angel, but still.

"Yeah, I'm done," Emma said. Her eyes went distant for a moment, and then the mayor disappeared, followed by the rest of the town council, one after another.

"Em, you can't just—" Nat started before stopping with an exasperated sigh.

"I guess you can, but all our problems remain." She waved at the crowd.

"What the hell are we gonna feed people? Great, we're safe from the fucking monsters, but we're not safe from starving."

"Well, no fucking mind mage was gonna fix that, either," Emma yelled back at her.

"We need useful people, not politicians!"

"And are you gonna be the one to organize—" Nat's face was turning red, her own volume rising.

"Hey, hey!" I raised my voice louder than either of them, a skill gained from yelling at dogs across my yard.

"Maybe this isn't the right place for this conversation? Maybe we take it down a notch and talk like reasonable grown-ups? Like, inside, even?"

"And who the hell are you?" Nat demanded.

"Another mouth to feed?"

"What, you weren't listening when the angel introduced me? World first, world first, unconventional diplomat?" Honestly, all the titles felt a bit cringe. But if they were useful, I'd use them. Emma laughed.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard that announcement. You were top one percent in the challenge? Jack and I only got top 50. How the hell did you get past the lizard? I swear, that thing's gonna be giving me nightmares for the rest of my life." I shuddered at the reminder of the end of the scenario. It wasn't the lizard, but Jack and Emma's deaths that would haunt me.

"Plenty of nightmares to go around these days, I guess."

"Yeah." As if reminded, Emma waved at the people gathered around us.

"Sorry, folks, nothing to see here. We'll let you know when we've got news." She turned back to me.

"I don't suppose you do have news? Do you know anything about Jack?"

"I don't. I meant to go looking for him today, but then I found out that you had an enclave and…" I shrugged. Emma stopped moving.

"I have so many questions. Weren't you in Florida? Isn't traffic insane? Aren't there dead cars everywhere, blocking all the roads? And all the planes are grounded, everywhere. How did you get here? Did you drive, skipping North Carolina on the way?" I laughed. All totally fair and valid questions.

"Also, how did you get inside our supposedly restricted enclave?" Nat asked. I snapped my fingers at her.

"Best question yet."