Orion
“They’ve been here four and a half hours and we’ve been waiting for six, Jax. We can’t do this forever. Our men are getting exhausted and they can’t go anywhere. Percy and Finn are especially getting tired, and I doubt they’re going to be so quiet for much longer. If we’re holding them here indefinitely, they’re going to need food, water, and—”
“No, they don’t. We aren’t their foster parents, and keeping them perfectly healthy will not make this go any faster. The closer to death that we leave them, the more likely the rest are to show up. You know that.”
“How pissed off are you trying to make them? You have no idea what they might be planning or what they’re capable of doing, and if our only line of defense is low on morale, they have a clear path in and out of here. And then what?”
“‘What they’re capable of doing?’ These are people that scammed a fucking small business charity in outer Cleveland, how likely do you think it is that they also have an army of military-grade helicopters at their disposal that will blow our walls out and rescue their friends?”
“It’s not off the table. We want the people and the people only, then we can finish this without causing more problems for ourselves. I’m just trying to avoid a hostage crisis. An armed standoff is the last thing we need.”
“Armed? With what? The most they could get ahold of is a fucking limited-capacity AR-15.”
“They have two million dollars, Jax! Do you not realize that? The Solaris scam was done professionally, this was not their first—”
“I don’t fucking care, Orion. I’m not changing course because of the slim possibility that they’ll find some mercenary online that will show up at our entrance with a tank.”
“Fine. I hope you're right about this, because people are going to die if you're not. We'll just have to see what happens.”
“I don’t care.” It’s those three words that effectively summarize the character of Jax. His blind overconfidence in his own decision-making is impossible to get around when it really matters. I’ve learned from his usual patterns that he is never going to listen to me when his mind is made up, but in none of those previous situations were we up against a force we’ve never encountered before.
When we crossed arms with Andromeda or The Gemini in Chicago, we had a plan. We had intel that backed up the plan. We were never caught off guard. But now, all we have is two people whom Jax decided to take hostage on a whim and who so far have revealed absolutely nothing useful to us. And now their allies are God-only-knows-how-far away and approaching fast. Jax has never lost before, and he seems to believe he can’t lose now. He thinks doesn’t need a defense plan, nor does he think he needs to think at all. It's simply only about impulse. It’s difficult to work with—but it doesn’t leave no room for opportunity.
In his impulses lies a lack of planning or consideration, but also malleability. The only times I know he takes my suggestions are before a decision is made. In the split-second before he lashes out, I can easily redirect him away from disaster. It’s like changing the direction of the tracks before the train gets moving. Maybe something can still be done to stave off the worst outcome of this, even if it bruises our collective egos. I'm the only one who sees the light in the clownshow the organization has turned into, even if I never get credit for it. Even if I remain five steps lower in the power dynamic and always second in Jax's mind to Keanu and Paris, I still have a form of shadow control over the direction of the Council. And if more than a ragtag band of misfits shows up at our front door and Jax fails to handle it, I'll make sure they know who to blame.
It’s almost 6:00, and the sun is beginning to set. Cleveland is four hours away from here, and Finn came through the elevator at 1:44. They could already be in Cincinnati and we wouldn’t know. Our security cameras are being closely monitored, but they don’t cover the entire city. They could have a sniper on a roof half a mile away. They could drop in by plane and land on our roof. Or they aren’t coming at all and lied to Finn to keep his hopes up.
The building was designed and the employees were trained specifically to give us an edge over intruders, yet nobody here is prepared for a possible attack. Most of the guards have ditched their guns and are slouching against the wall reading on their phones or talking to each other. The others are crowded around the conference room water dispenser, the same room Percy and Finn are being kept in. Some are staying in there, and I don't blame them. Finn even managed to chat up one of them before the conversation was abruptly shut down by a less-than-gracious Percy.
I pushed past the guards into the conference room. “All of you, out. More than enough time has passed for the others to show up and we don’t want them catching us off guard. Take the water dispenser with you if you need it so badly.” They all flooded out of the room, taking their water cups with them.
“You’re afraid, aren’t you?” Finn said mockingly. “They’re coming for you and you don’t know what to expect.”
“You don’t either.”
“Why are you even waiting for them? What do they have that you want so bad?” I didn’t answer. “Is it the money? Do you want the two mil back?” I turned around to face the doorway. “Hey, I’ve been thinking. That whole rumor of you guys working with the government and shit, is that true? Is that what this multibillion-dollar company has been working on?”
“I already said I don’t have reason to tell you anything, and yet you’re still asking questions.”
“Are you going to answer any of them? You said before you would give answers that helped me give answers. Would you tell me if I told you something in return?”
“No.” I left the room and shut the door.
Finn seems to think himself the main character in this story, acting erratically and pissing everybody off with a sense of invincibility. Part of that is what makes me concerned about the potential of who they work with. But then again, that also could be his intended effect. This all seems to be a game to him, where he can pick any dialogue option he wants and it won’t influence the ending. Like the story will continue with him no matter what. Either Finn is just winging it to keep extending his safety net, or he’s biding all of our time while the others figure out how to rescue him.
Percy doesn’t seem to be buying it, though. Telling when someone is lying is difficult, but I know when certain people are honest. She hasn’t said a word since pouncing on him earlier and has since looked like she was about to burst into tears out of sheer frustration. She clearly had a very different plan for negotiating her way out of here, and Finn dropped a bomb on the whole thing the moment he stepped out of that elevator.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Sir.”
I turned around to find the man in charge of watching the cameras. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Somebody is outside the building. He’s waving at the cameras a bunch. I think he might be friends with… them.”
“Good. Finally. I’ll have someone bring him in. Now go back to the security room and do not leave it again.” He quickly bolted away. “Kitchener! Wakefield! Hamilton! Front entrance, now!”
Four people we know of were involved with Solaris. The guards brought back one man. “We’re still missing one of you,” I told him. Jax was staying behind me at his desk in the back of the room, once again with Keanu and Paris at his side.
“Excuse me?”
“We know that four of you were a part of that ‘heist’ on Solaris. You’re number three. Where’s the fourth?”
He glared at me, looking almost like he was in shock. “How the hell do you know about Solaris? Is that what all this shit is about?”
“The fourth person. Don’t make me ask again.”
“I think I’m gonna make you ask again because none of this is adding up to me.”
“How so?”
“Because there was no fucking correlation between the Solaris job and investigating you! It was my idea to come here in the first place, and I only know about you because of rumors while I was in the military! This is fucking stupid!”
Jax cut in. “That isn’t what your friends said. We have three contradicting stories now.”
“They obviously didn’t say anything because they didn’t want to sell me out, you fucking moron!” He stepped forward.
“That could be true, but why should we trust your word above everybody else’s? You’ve clearly had more time to think about this.”
“Because they’re the ones you held fucking hostage! Do you think they wouldn’t say anything to get you to leave them the fuck alone? This isn’t shit that we regularly deal with!”
The conference room door creaked open with Finn poking his head out. “No fucking shit.” He threw open the door and stepped out. “Percy, get a load of this. Turns out that Adrian is gonna be our guardian angel today.”
“Adrian?” I repeated. “Huh. You aren’t one of the people that Linda named.”
“Who the hell is Linda?” Adrian asked.
Finn sneered, “The Solaris CEO? Remember?”
“No, I don’t fucking remember! Solaris was your job, I had nothing to do with that.”
“Don’t tell them that, dipshit!”
“They already know I wasn’t involved with it!”
“SHUT UP!” Jax shouted. He stood up from the desk and marched up next to me. “We were told there were four of you. Now we have learned that there are more than that.”
Percy finally leaned out from the conference room.
“You came with them, Adrian,” I added. “Where are they?”
“I didn’t come with them. They aren’t even here yet. I was staying in the city with Finn and Percy.”
“It’s been four and half hours since this started. I would think this is a little more urgent of a situation to waste half an hour before arriving.”
“Oh please, do you think I don’t see what you’re trying to do here? You don’t want the rest of them here so you can ‘negotiate.’ We’re just lure sitting in a goddamn bear trap to you.”
Jax took another step towards Adrian. “WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!”
“Okay, do you really wanna know what they’re up to? Fine, I’ll tell you then: they aren’t—fucking—coming! They are not coming here!”
And with that, the entire scene delved into chaos. Everybody began yelling at the same time, their voices overlapping one another and almost melding together like splashes of ink in water.
The catalyst was Finn and Percy both yelling “WHAT?” at Adrian in unison. Jax and some of the guards joined the chorus after.
“What are you talking about?!”
“You’re fucking lying!”
“Are you kidding me?!”
“They said they were fucking coming!”
“What’s even the point of this bullshit?!”
“We have not waited here for this fucking long so nothing could happen!”
“You’re wasting your time here!”
“You got us into this, asshole!”
“They are going to come here or you’re all fucking dead!”
“Why are you so fucking fixated on them?!”
“This is ridiculous!”
“And it’s already getting dark outside, are you fucking kidding me?!”
“Can we stop yelling?!”
“We are not going to carry this shit into fucking nighttime!”
“I refuse to be—”
“I have a bed that I could be sleeping in right now!”
“Guys!”
“I fucking refuse to believe that—”
“This is pointless!”
“We didn’t even know you were connected with Solaris!”
“Shut the fuck up!”
“We can leave now and never bring it up again!”
“Did any of you hear that?”
“Your security is full of fucking idiots, we could walk right out of here if we wanted!”
“Be quiet!”
“None of you are going to leave this fucking place!”
“Blame Adrian for this, he insisted on it!”
The arguing came to an instant stop when a booming noise pounded throughout the room, followed by the entire lobby careening forward as if the building was about to fall over. Finn fell onto the ground along with several guards and the rest of us quickly braced, only to fall over ourselves as the floor sprang back into position. The lobby went dead silent as the fire alarms broke out. If we didn't have the earthquake defenses built between every floor, that blast would have sent the whole building crashing down.
“I’m hoping that was for us,” Finn said while still on the ground.
I slowly turned my head towards Jax. “I told you to expect the worst.” I glanced around the lobby as dozens of guards scrambled and trampled over each other to grab all of the equipment they previously set aside and began surrounding the elevator. “Here it fucking is.”
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