COUNTERMEASURES FOR WAR

Percival’s legs shuttered against the rungs. The smell urged him to get out of the tunnel as soon as possible. He reached the top rung and slowly lifted the manhole with his cane. He was grateful he was alone, the less the better, especially where he was going. Ideally he would be at the meeting with SCIL, yet the part of the sewer they were convening at was impossible to traverse for his new legs. They were still in the midst of pairing with his nervous system, but if he didn’t do anything productive he was going to lose it.

Eiden saw Federal transports during the small insurrection. Washington only puts boots on the ground as a last resort. And the Mafia had spotted more Feds crossing the Virginia border into Carolina. The rumors of an Inquisitor quickly spread. Percival already had some likely candidates, but he couldn’t be too sure. There were ten High Inquisitors of the Inquisitorium and an unknown number of mid-level Inquisitors. Estimates were from 100 to 500. Yet, judging by the amount of Federal troops incoming, at least one High Inquisitor was involved.

Percival made sure his earbud was secure before leaving the sewer. He could hear them still slogging through the mire with only hushed conversation. Hopefully Alexa made sure he could hear the conversation, there was always the possibility that things could turn south.

The late morning light blinded him for a moment. He couldn’t hear anything but the sound of traffic several yards away. He exited the quagmire and sprayed himself down to neutralize the odor. The alleyway was rank with rotting trash and overflowed dumpsters. Percival kept his head low as he entered the moderately busy street, he prayed that a medical mask and readers was a sufficient disguise. Fortunately, the street block he was to come out on was controlled by the Scottish Mafia. The Scots had given them more reliable sewer line maps as well several safe havens. Eiden had not mentioned to him what he exchanged in return.

Percival crossed the street and entered a small tavern. He cursed under his breath as the earbud audio became almost incomprehensible. The tavern was quiet with a few clusters on the periphery. The barkeeper watched him all the way to the counter. He brandished the bandana Alexa gave him, making him an honorary Scot and marked him as a Patriot. Something he still couldn’t reconcile.

The bartender nodded and poured him a drink. He set his earbud and cane down. He sipped on it and eyed the door. Hopefully his contact would make it, it was his only insight to the internal happenings of the state other than Master. And it was becoming increasingly risky to access the internet from the tower.

The door chimed. The bartender looked warily at the entrance reaching under the counter. Percival eyed the newcomer carefully. He knew only one person who could march so boldly into hostile territory, wearing a full mask and newsboy cap to disguise himself. Percival waved him down. The bartender relaxed but was no less vigilant.

The old colleague sat next to him. “It has been a while, Percival.”

Percival nodded, “Indeed it has been, Aldred.”

Aldred declined a drink offered by the barkeep. “It can’t be helped, times have changed and so we must adapt. I see you have adapted,” He gestured toward his legs.

“An unfortunate consequence from an unfortunate plan.” He mirrored the gesture toward his face. “You have experience in that, no?”

He gave a small chuckle, “So is there any reason I am taking the risk to meet with you in person? Surely not just for a drink- or is it to evade meeting Eiden’s new friends?”

“Of course not. If anything I should be there to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed.” He took another sip.

“It doesn’t surprise me. Eiden provided them the perfect opportunity to crawl out whatever hole they were meant to be buried in. Makes sense they would want to ride off his success.”

Percival hated to agree. But, Eiden would hardly listen to him. “I need information.”

“Oh? Of what kind?” Aldred feigned surprise.

Percival glanced around, the other patrons were busing talking and the barkeep looked distracted enough with his dishes. “There is a rumor of a High Inquisitor in Carolina, is this true?”

Aldred didn’t flinch, “While I haven’t heard of anything in particular, it is plausible. The Emergency Command Structure has been implemented for Knights. I don’t doubt Washington is gearing for another round of ‘replacements’ in the bureaucracy. It's what they did during Greenland.”

He was slightly taken aback at the others' nonchalance, “I would think you would be more concerned, especially with your line of work.”

“My line of work is always under the watchful gaze of Washington, it makes little difference. In any case I am concerned about Iceland.” Aldred waived off his concern.

Percival frowned, the Council was taking an awful risk invading Iceland. They had to tiptoe into the invasion, with the caveat that the Royal Navy would just let them pass by. He figured that whatever they wanted with Iceland, besides the surface level strategic position it would give, the Danish would be about to withdraw in good order. “In regards to the scientist? Surely he will be evacuated before the Empire makes their move. Talks are still ongoing, no?”

“To answer your latter question, no they aren’t. Communication was cut with Denmark hours ago, and information out of the Union is being drip fed.”

“I see.” So war it was then, he thought.

“In regards to the former. Bohr is one thing, the Deep Earth Facility is another.”

“Never heard of it.” Master never made mention of any facility, only Bohr. He pondered what else the man knew about the Council’s long term plans.

“In short it's a drilling facility, studying the Earth and all of that. Before communication was cut with Denmark a report managed to come through, we haven’t been able to decode it completely but it suggests that they have pierced the upper mantle.”

“I thought that was impossible.”

“Technically it is possible, but not practical. Denmark had to have sunk half their GDP into the project. And that isn’t the point, what is important is the drill. There are some pieces of information that suggest a sort of field protecting the drill. Could be an energy field, which is impressive in its own right, but more interesting is the possibility if the field is coming from the drill itself.”

He chewed on that for a couple moments. Hesitation to believe the latter suggestion pulled back any hope he harbored. “And how does that relate to your project?

“If it is what we think it is… well it's simple. If you can materialize the field, then you can destroy it. And so far we have been unable to even detect one. Today is Edward’s first taste of experimenting, soon we will be able to see if this enterprise is even possible.”

“Let us hope so.”

Aldred’s phone buzzed. Confusion momentarily cracked his neutral facade. “I think this is my cue to leave.” He rose out of the stool and whispered into his ear, “The Governor is inspecting the University in a couple of days, I am sure that I can siphon more information from him. He certainly isn't happy about it.”

Percival nodded and watched him leave. Percival continued to sip on his drink. If the Council was one invasion away from ending their dreams of victory then they had to act quickly. His mind drifted to the powderkeg of the Empire. He hoped it didn’t come to that. Mexico City was an accursed city, it had taken far too much life.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. The group by the window along with the barkeeper had disappeared to the back. The rest left normally. Percival stood up carefully and walked to the door they retreated behind. He pressed his ear against it. There was nothing but silence. Percival slowly pushed it open, revealing an empty kitchen. He relaxed a bit and continued to look around. Voices came from deeper inside the building. He quickened his pace. After passing through a couple of rooms he landed in some sort of storage closet. On the far side there was a tornado cellar entrance.

He hooked his cane around the handles and pulled it open. Warm air rose out of the aperture along with fumes. Dim safety lamps illuminated a small staircase, each down was taken with care. A door slammed shut somewhere below. At the bottom was some sort of maintenance closet and an emergency comm terminal. Percival would be lying if he thought they had given all their secrets, access to the subway definitely provided a more convenient way of traveling in secret. It is a wonder how they got this passage, usually they were restricted.

He pressed his ear against the metal door, he could hear muffled talking. When the voices faded he made his move. Percival entered the tunnel cloaked in darkness. The fumes made his eyes water and nose burn. He traced a group of footsteps in the southbound and continued his pursuit. His stomach churned, it wasn’t too difficult to guess where they were headed. The question was, why? Were they going to crash the meeting between Eiden and SCIL? Betrayal was unlikely, they would have taken him hostage or worse. Maybe Eiden intended to intimidate them into submission. It would explain why the Mafia was so quick to ally.

There were a few subway lamps to guide his way. Percival breathed hard, he managed to make out the outline of them. A deep trundle echoed ahead of him. There was about a foot between the wall and the rails. He swallowed hard, he hoped he could make it in time. The group rounded a bend just ahead of him. Percival dug his heels in and dashed, his body’s reaction was instantaneous. Pain shot up his thighs and his energy began to slip. The train lights swept across the bend until they almost blinded him.

He cursed under his breath, they were gone. Percival flattened against the concrete wall as the train whizzed by, blowing his readers away. Once the train passed he continued the pursuit. He came upon two emergency stations on opposing sides. They were similar to the one he followed them through.

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Instinctively he knelt down, dragging his fingers through the warm mix of dried mud and rock. Buried memories of a sky thicker than ash surfaced. The ground itself was full of energy beginning to burst. He blinked, refocusing on the task at hand. Percival tracked multiple pairs of footprints to the right station. He pried open the rusty door to see an identical room, save for one detail. A small manhole half open at the center of the floor.

He tucked his cane into his armpit and lowered into the sewer. The ladder took him most of the way down before he had to jump. He landed clumsily into shallow water. Fortunately for him there was a large grate to his right and an open tunnel to the left. Percival walked the haste. His heart beat harder as his lungs struggled against the toxic air. Voices emanated somewhere ahead of him, he picked out the word ‘sovereignty’ from the echos. It was definitely SCIL.

A roar of laughter came after that followed by a thick accent, “‘Sovereignty.’ You haven’t been sovereign in over 100 years. When are y’all giving that up.”

Percival cringed, the conversation was not going well. The fact that a fire fight hadn’t started amazed him. He stopped just before the tunnel took a sharp right. He peered around the corner. About ten Mafia members formed a wall from the rest of the action. The tunnel converged at a Y intersection.

“Will you all just shut up. They are here because I invited them here. And if you could get down from your lofty abode you would see that an alliance would do better than some petty feud. The Dame is all of our enemy.” There was no mistaking Eiden’s voice and his bluntness.

An unfamiliar but definite South Carolinian drawl came from the last prong of the intersection, “That may be so, but where did you get the idea we would work with you. I must admit your band is fairly competent for its size. But seeing that you are even more naive than I thought, perhaps this was a mistake.”

“What does that mean?” Percival could feel every bit of Eiden’s self control ebbing away. He forced himself to stay put, Eiden needed to figure some things out for himself.

“What are your goals? You have only inspired people who were already discontent with the Empire, a small but vocal minority.”

“And what of the protests a few days ago?” His tone dared him to disagree.

“The wider citizenry is most definitely not on your side. We were monitoring the demonstrations, you didn’t see the larger counter-protest. The public will not follow you. Fear is the only way to break the spell of Imperial propaganda.”

“Fear that the Emperor cannot protect them.”

“They will only turn on you. There are coals still smoldering in Mexico. Waiting for someone to light the fire, one that the Empire cannot put out. It will give an opportunity for the Texans, Sierrans and Alaskans to secede.”

“And for South Carolina to secede.” Eiden added mockingly. “How short sided. There are thirteen other states you forget. The Emperor will crush it, just like the Civil War. If he doesn’t go then you have no chance.”

“States that will look for new leadership. And besides he will be too occupied with the Union. You presume that we are the only ones bent on bringing this Empire down. These things take time, rushing into this will only get you killed.” He finished.

Percival took this time to intercede for Eiden. He marched to the crowd. SCIL was no doubt in league with some Texan and Serrian separatists. The group from the tavern were in varying degrees of surprise as he pushed past them. The sudden motion drew attention from the higher ranking Mafia members. He raised his bandana to clear him of some suspicion. The leading SCIL guerilla noticed the infraction and was staring straight at him when he cleared the front line.

“You do not understand the lengths the Council will do to retain power.” He stated, ignoring Eiden’s stare.

The leader brushed off his warning, “And who might you be?”

“Second in command of the Patriots.” Elaborating no further.

“I had wondered where you were, now just William is missing.” He pointedly looked at Eiden. “I am Captain Waylon.”

Percival ignored his use of William. “You also have no idea how close the Empire is to dominating the world. There isn’t time to create the conditions to break the Empire all at once. In the end all Imperial elements must submit or be made too.” Percival gestured towards Eiden, “Eiden is correct, the Emperor and the Council must fall. But, as of now we need to delay the Invasion. The more of a secure position the Empire finds itself relative to the Union, the more assets they have to deal with internal threats.”

The tunnel rumbled as trains passed by. Waylon shook his head, “I thought you’d be the reasonable one. Granted you follow a child. You overestimate the Empire’s ability to deal with the Union. Taking Iceland is no cakewalk. The British have no intention to hand over the island. The Inquisition keeps any outsiders far from Washington, getting rid of them is a fool’s errand.”

Percival narrowed his eyes, he had not thought that SCIL was large enough to have connections to the Union. The news that the British would not roll over on their stomachs was somewhat reassuring. It also meant that Master was pulling the correct strings. He just wondered how long the British could stave off the French; that marriage was a troubled one.

“Not if someone has a claim to the throne.” Eiden walked ahead of Percival.

“That matters little, the Emperor is an elected position,” Baethen piped in.

Eiden kept a steady gaze on Waylon. “That may be so, but I know the Governors are opportunists at heart. They would follow anyone who says the right things, has the background, and the power to back it up.”

“The issue is, you have none of those things.”

“Wrong, I have one thing for now. It is only a matter of time to get the rest.”

Percival tensed. It wasn’t the time to show all of their cards. “Eiden is it really the time to go into such matters.” Eiden turned to with an irritated look, but yielded.

Waylon stared at them, no doubt interested in the interaction.

“I still quite don’t get how you y’all get to Mexico. The Dame has the State locked down like Fort Knox, and I think I saw Fed troops a few days ago.” The lead Mafia member pointed out.

“That is hardly any of your concerns. You imply we want to work with you.”

“And you think we do? All I’m saying is that the ‘Tea’ trade is your safest way to take you all the way to Mexico City. It just so happens you know on of the Major families involved with the trade.”

Waylon narrowed his eyes at him, “What’s your stake in this?”

He shrugged, “Just trying to help out some new friends. And I don’t think any of us have much choice when the Inquisitors come.”

Waylon didn’t buy the excuse and neither did Percival. Internal conflict brewed in the leader’s eyes, spreading to the rest of his retinue. “Fine.” He declared, silencing the uneasy whispers. “But we head to Tallahassee and then down through Texas.”

The new parameter didn’t faze him, “That can be arranged.”

The meeting went on for ten more minutes, filled with needless hassle over minor details. Much to Percival’s surprise it concluded peacefully. SCIL left almost immediately, taking their facade of strength with them. But their lingering murmurs of an Inquisitor showed the cracks in the act. Morale was going to be an issue. He wondered if any of them had the heart to face down anything more than police and a fragment of special forces.

Percival’s joints started to waiver from protracted exertion. He propped himself on the cleanest wall, putting him right beside the Scots. “Apologies for causing any alarm.” He said to the leader.

“Don’t worry about it. If you weren’t here this wouldn’t have ended as well.” He replied without a hint of sarcasm.

Percival nodded. “Percival.”

“Malcolm.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Eiden staring daggers at them. “I could’ve handled this without you.” He complained.

“I doubt that,” Alexa piped in behind him.

“If by ‘handle’ you mean a fire fight then yes you could’ve handled it,” Henry added, leading the rest of the ‘Patriots’ over to them.

Eiden looked like he was about to blow a fuse. “I had business in the area, I had no intention of coming here.” He stated diplomatically, “I was always on call to respond to any- difficult situation.” And should’ve come if he knew Eiden invited the Mafia. He mentally added. Percival brushed over his ear, expecting to feel an earbud. Must’ve fallen out during the chase, he reasoned.

“Eiden, there is much to discuss.” Malcolm pivoted the conversation “As much as I would love to ferry you around the entire Empire, it will come at a cost.”

“What kind of cost?”

“Oh no nothing major, just delivering ‘Tea’ on your way to Mexico.”

The rest of the conversation faded into the background, a high pitched but low volume whine caught his ears. It sounded like fans. Two red dots, barely visible in the foggy darkness. Without hesitation he lifted his cane and leveled it onto it. The sound was deafening, echoing off the concrete walls. But the shot made its mark. The lights blinked out of existence followed by a splash.

The sudden action elicited curses from everyone nearby, save for Malcolm; he traced Percival’s gaze. Malcom whistled and two of his men ran over to inspect what he gunned down. The confirmed his suspicion that it was a drone. But how?

It appeared behind the Scots. Which means whomever found them followed the Mafia’s route. “Alexa, the mic!”

Shock crossed her face before she ripped it from her pocket, crushing it under her heel and kicking it into the stream of sewage.

“We have to go, NOW.” Percival alerted everyone.

“To the tower?” Someone asked.

“No, they already know where we are and will probably be here within minutes.” Alexa rejected the idea.

Eiden stared at him, “What did you do?”

“We can talk about it later. This way!” he pointed down the corridor SCIL left through.

The allies retreated with haste. “This conversation isn’t over.” Eiden warned. Percival let the others pass him leaving him and Eiden alone. “You didn’t trust me enough not to listen in?”

“There isn’t time for this.” He stepped past him.

“And now because of that we are compromised, how are we going to contact Master now?”

“All is not lost.” He soothed his volatility. “Now we just have to figure out how to stir up a large enough disturbance in Mexico.”

Eiden frowned. “Any suggestions? Without Master we won’t have any information on vulnerable targets.” A slight bit of venom was placed on ‘Master’.

“I am sure your new friends would have that. Although I do not trust them.” He trailed off.

The younger snorted, “Neither do I, once they outlive their usefulness they can be let go. Isn’t there any friends of yours in East Texas that could be of use?”

The first part inspired some confidence in Eiden. Percival had to realize that Eiden was not dumb, just inexperienced. “Perhaps, Master’s betrayal is something that few know, therefore my prestige would be intact. It is dangerous however, with the Knights gone people will be more tight lipped.”

Eiden nodded, “Come on old man, before they get too far.”

As much as Percival was glad that Eiden and him reaffirmed their solidarity, it was a bittersweet affair. The giant cloud of smoke and ash that was Mexico city loomed over his head. Eiden will be tested and know what extent the Council will go to, to carve out the future that they seek. Master and Percival knew all too well and they will put an end to it.

For the Empire!