Walking in comfortable silence with Heather, Drew watched as other people got to fight the rabbits, beetles, and birds that attacked the edges. None of them were a big enough threat to call him forward, although he did launch a few fireballs and acid darts at birds that came too close, mostly out of boredom. Although the target practice was good, when he did finally hit a ten-foot wingspan crow with an acid dart, the thing fell into the middle of the civilians. No one was hurt, thankfully, but it had been a close thing.

Snyder's smug dressing down was carried out in public, his shouts, which were easily loud enough for most of the group to hear, had him gritting his teeth in anger. Thankfully, a call for assistance from the front of the column cut the captain's rant short. Drew eagerly pushing forward to investigate the cause.

The sight at the front was reminiscent of the night before. Black shelled beetles at least seven feet long were fighting each other, while Robbi and a few of the others were trying to peck away at their shells, a few scratches from Robbi's blade and a half-severed leg were all they had to show for their efforts.

"Step back," Drew commanded, and when the other fighters did, Drew cast gravity field, the two beetles slammed into the ground with an audible thump. Following that up with both shocking acid arrows into the bigger one's head. Unable to dodge, the sticky substance ate through the beetle's hard outer shell and into the head, destroying what little brain the thing had. The second pair of acid arrows ate through the head of the smaller beetle.

Gravity field had prevented them from twitching, but as soon as its effects ended the two lifeless bodies spasming. "Someone go get Daryl and have him harvest these two, we should be able to get a bunch of good armor out of them."

Drew turned to walk back towards the center of the group, but Robbi put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, walk with me for a bit?" The former cop asked him.

Drew eyed Robbi for a minute, considering the other man before nodding and the two men walked around the still convulsing bodies. The rest of the column following in their wake, everyone giving the still twitching bodies a wide berth. The cop and the coastie walked far enough ahead of everyone that they could speak quietly and not be overheard.

"What's up?" Drew broke the silence.

"I'm not really sure how to answer that," Robbi said after a minute, he glanced back to make sure no one was close enough to hear before continuing. "What was that fuss about before the cockroaches?"

"Snyder." Drew snorted, "He got mad at me for not 'responsibly' killing that massive crow." Drew had given finger quotes around responsibly. "I think he was getting into full stride right as you called for help actually. So, thanks for the distraction."

Robbi shook his head, "This is exactly what we mean."

Drew considered his next words carefully, "I'm not sure I follow." He wanted Robbi to confess but didn't want to force the other man into it if he didn't want to.

"I... well, I haven't been completely honest with you. I have a communications device, a rock summoned like a glow stone, but this one allows me long-range communication with a group of people in the stadium."

"A group of people? The way you say that leads me to believe that they aren't really under the senator."

Robbi blinked and then nodded his head, "Yes. Look, it's hard to explain, but we believe that the old world is gone. America doesn't exist anymore. Which means that we shouldn't be beholden to the laws that America represented." Drew made a move to say something and Robbi held up his hand, "Hear me out first then you can argue.

"We believe in the constitution. We just think that the America that exists, that the politicians created these past few decades? That country doesn't represent what America should be. The two-party system has ruined America. The idiots on the left want the government to run everything and want to give socialism another try," he snorted. "It's failed every time it has tried, but hey this time will be different right?" Robbi rolled his eyes.

"And the right? They're just as bad, sticking to a tradition that doesn't mean anything. They can't pull their heads out of the sand long enough to start solving problems. They argue about inheritance laws for the ultra-rich while Flint doesn't have clean drinking water.

"The media has us so divided and distracted that most people don't even know what the real issues are. They are more worried about who Taylor Swift is friends with or if we should call him Bruce or Caitlyn. No one cares about the real issues." Robbi's voice had gotten harsh, the sword in his hands clenched in a white-knuckled grip.

"And then." Robbi held his hand out for emphasis. "Then we get a perfect chance to reset the whole thing. To start over and what do they do? They go right back to the way things used to be, like a dog to its vomit."

Robbi paused long enough for Drew to talk, "So what? What does that have to do with this device? What does that have to do with anything?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I'll tell you. The senator?" Robbi pointed towards the stadium. "He's a nice enough guy, but he doesn't have what it takes to lead people. He is a relic of the old world, not a product of the new world. We intend to make sure that we recast America, but this time with a better mold. People like you, people that have power, not because of some arbitrary number of zeros in a bank account or whose dirty laundry they know, people like you should be in charge."

"That sounds like a world where might makes right," Drew said quietly, glancing back at the group behind him. "Where the strong rule by walking all over the weak just because they can."

"No, it wouldn't be like that. If the strong come together and create a just set of laws and hold each other accountable for making sure they are upheld...the new America can be the country the old one was supposed to be. Not the one that compromise created. Hell, look at the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin couldn't even get the founding fathers to give people basic human rights. They had to compromise so that everyone would agree to sign it, and then they shoehorned the bill of rights on afterward, and even then, slaves were a thing for two hundred years!"

Drew shook his head, "Look, this isn't really the time to talk about this. Once we get everyone safe we can talk about creating a new world order. Or whatever it is you are going to call it."

"Well, that's sort of why I wanted to talk to you. I've been talking to my people. They're going to meet us at the bridge, we can make a break for somewhere else. If you come with us, nothing will be able to stop us." Robbi's tone took on a hint of desperation.

"I can't leave these people."

"You don't have to! We're going to take them all with us!"

"How are we going to feed them?"

"We have some of the food growers with us."

Drew glanced back once more, evaluating the people behind him. Robbi's vision of a new world was tempting, especially after his most recent talk with Snyder. The idea of the captain no longer being in command was appealing. But it sounded too much like a coup for him to be comfortable with it. Maybe, America wasn't in the best place, but this seemed like too drastic a move. Too much, too soon, they already had so many people who had given up.

There was also a part of him that was terrified of being responsible all these people. That part didn't want anything to do with 'leading' everything. Snyder was an easy target to shove off the aspects of leadership he didn't want. Sure, Snyder was an idiot and it was probably a bad idea to let him be in charge. But Hoffecker and Sarah were competent, and he had no problem giving them all the power, they would probably be much better at it than he was, and he had no idea how good this senator was. He could be amazing, or another Snyder, or something in between.

"Unless you are saying that we won't be able to walk away if we go to the stadium now, I think it’s too soon. These people need to rest, they need a safe place to regain their bearings. At least for a little while. They won't last long if we try to settle somewhere new. And they need food, I'm not convinced your people can provide that. If the situation at the stadium is as bad as you say, then I'll leave with you. But these people won't survive if we do splinter off now, and I refuse to let them get hurt."

Robbi frowned but then he looked back at the crowd following them and nodded his head, "Alright, I'll tell them we're delaying for a little while, a week maybe. That should be plenty of time for them to catch their breath and for you to see how the old command structure doesn't work anymore." He seemed so confident that Drew would take his side, it creeped Drew out a little bit.

"Think you can distract everyone for a bit? I need to call Gunther before they burn any bridges."

Drew looked around, they were heading up the main road through base--mostly because it gave them the greatest visibility. The had just passed a series of parking garages and were near one of the base's gyms. Just ahead next to the road was a small building that looked like it had once been a gatehouse for entrance onto the base. "We'll go investigate that guardhouse over there." Turning back to the group about twenty feet behind them. "We're gonna go check out the shack, we'll be right back."

The two men set off at a quick jog without waiting for permission, they distanced themselves from the main group quickly. The door was locked but Robbi's sword sliced through the latch with ease. The former cop stepped into the darkness while Drew peaked around the corner. There was a bunch of old electronics and a musty smell, but no massive bugs or anything like that. Seeing that the room was clear Robbi took the comm rock out of his pocket. It looked like a rock with several silver lines tracing abstract images across it.

As he began whatever esoteric activation ritual was required to use the stone, Drew examined the room. One section of the floor contained a thick grate with hinges on one side. Pulling out his light rods he shone it down, the pit was a manhole descending as deep as the light shone. "Some sort of emergency egress?" He mused to himself. Most of the bunkers in the area, and there were undoubtedly a lot of them, contained secondary egress routes intend to be usable if the main site was bombed or power prevented the elevators from working.

There were a couple dozen buildings on the base that could secretly house an underground bunker. Drew switched the leyline aspect of his mana sight on and scanned the area. Aside from the red node of the DIA building, there were a probably another dozen different ley lines all interconnecting in eight or nine different nodes under the base. And that number only became more numerous to the northwest in D.C. proper. In fact, that direction was a mass of tangled nodes and lines almost too bright to look at.

"Hey, I have Drew here," Robbi spoke into the stone

"What's wrong?" The and a voice came out. It was deep and masculine without any discernible accent.

Robbi cut straight to the chase. "Drew doesn't think the people will survive if we don't let them recover at the stadium first."

There was no response for a few seconds, which Drew took to mean they were discussing it. "Understood, standing down for now. We'll talk when you get back. Out."

Robbi put the stone back into his pocket and glanced at Drew before nodding his head. "I'm glad you're joining us, Drew," Robbi said putting his hand on Drew's shoulder and smiling at him before turning and making his way out of the building.

Drew smiled slightly before muttering under his breath, "I haven't said I will yet." He gave the grate a final glance and then followed him, wondering just what exactly he had just gotten himself into.