Anya stepped inside a room alongside Lora that filled with cameras left and right, with a sizeable green screen in the middle, big lights surrounding the area on both sides and seats with a few tables scattered all around the set, some with clothes left on them and others with food.
"I like it, I like it. So, we're uploading a video or something or...", Anya took a look around.
"Just the two of us in a live transmission. I've got the best cyber security staff two floors down working on giving us access to Chronos Plaza's largest screen right now. Once they crack than, it'll be easy to attach the transmission to other screens as well, given some genius decided to have one main outlet in the big screen coupled by HDMI plugs for literally 100 more that we can access if we get in just one panel. Always advocated that we split it up for better security, but the city of technology was confident in their firewall systems. I'm sure it'll reach throughout the commercial districts deepest corners with it, as we also have staff that actually have written down access keys and administrator logins for some of the locks that are in place on the access panel.", Lora informed her.
"Alright, so how do we do this? Got your words ready and everything?"
"I'll write them down, you just show them to me from there while we're live."
"Need some help with the wording as well? I've got you heavily covered on that."
"Kinda young for you to do so, but hey, you're Anya Golver. If you're running the biggest multi-billion company on the planet as a vice, I'm curious to see what your skillful young mind has to offer in this forced PR disaster."
"Watch this.", Anya said with a smug.
She quickly grabbed a pen and a notebook, beginning to write down an upmost amazing manifesto using her experience, having Lora loom over her head in amazement with the words that were finished by her pen.
She gazed with amazement, "Wow...damn...", she still, couldn't move her eyes away, "You played the suffering card too, holy...", she kept on looking, "Oh, that's some nasty flaming of the competition. Yeah, no doubt in my mind. You are more than worthy for the position you got there."
"Hey, money follows money. I told you I had a few tricks up my sleeve. This should be way more than enough to flip the edge upside down when it comes to the public, whaddya think?"
"Mrs. Golver, I think we should pluck that in the computer there and get ready for a performance."
Anya chuckled, "I'll type it down now. You put on some small makeup and everything, make it look like you've been through hell. Remember the basics."
"We've got this.", Lora heard a beeping sound coming from her waist, picking up her radio, "Alright, we're setting it up.", she closed the radio, "Yeap, they're already ready. I knew they weren't taking that long with it. Now, let's get everything into motion."
"Wait, don't you want to practice your words first?"
"Given the gravity of what I'll talk and my assumed position, even if I stutter my words it'll be a plus. Just adding to the ambiance."
"Alright then. How do I manage this, by the way? I don't want to screw something up.", Anya looked at all the buttons.
"Hit the power button and let it roll. The light will turn green by itself when we are online, my guys will simply redirect the recording to the giant screens for us. The hard part never was getting the message out there, rather than how predictable the almost immediate shitstorm will be after. I'd be lying if I didn't say I had to deal with some really nasty cases of PR disasters, but I still am a bit out of my waters since I am now trying to back step and actually cause one instead of quelling it.", Lora put on some makeup.
"What's your worst one? Mine has gotta be those really shit conditions my dad once had my guys working down at the storage facility.", Anya booted up the devices around her, from cameras to lights.
"Oh yeah, the scandal that was done in less than 3 days you avoided being on the news for. How even?"
"Weird case of divide and conquer. I obviously joined everyone's side, talking down my dad while simultaneously increasing the working conditions to help them better live their work lives and ease their anger. Few days later and the Reingard Post treated me as a queen fit of succeeding the asshole that as my dad."
"Pardon me, that doesn't sound like divide and conquer. Your dad was still in the deep end there."
"I diverted all the spotlight to me, where I'm set for succeeding my father's company in about 2 years, year and a half from now. Talked over it with him as well, and he agreed with that approach."
"Hold up...your dad allowed you to do this to better portray yourself while smearing his image? Sounds...off, about how the great Gado Golver would treat himself."
"He's an ass, but he's still my dad. For all I know, he might still have a little bit of the same he did when I was little still in him. Now, how about you?"
"Three whole months of overtime to quell the anger of basically everyone, when one of our idols had the stars align to where, she was given a skimpy outfit, the outfit was too small and...well...the concert just didn't go well at all."
"Do you mean that went up, went down."
"More or less. Can't remember how many prayers I did in the bathroom brakes I pulled off that it was at least an 18+ concert with such themes, that her melons rolled on tape for and instead wasn't one of Musica's idols catered towards a young audience. Yeah. Imagine that then. Thirteen hour shifts with no breaks, but I at least got paid really, really good once this was over, plus half a month of paid vacation. Managed to mitigate it to getting out on the news, but only on local media. Can't imagine how Delpha's reputation would take the hit if it made national news, since these bastards are craving for drama, ever since the 2100s, having their asses consistently kicked by online platforms."
"You tell me. BetterVid is all I got when I need to learn a couple of new barista tricks for myself."
"You learned how to be a barista?"
"Nah, I just adore alcohol dude. Hence why, for personal use, I've found some of the absolute best, most bread winning combos of all time. Maybe I can give you a twist if you come by Reingard sometime. I know Sonia and Nikki already love it."
"You bet I will if I have overtime the likes of that again. Now, are we booted up?"
Anya checked the computer, "Right about...done. Get into frame. And record. I'll get the text rolling, made it short and sweet, added a lot of extra gas into every part and replaced the lighter in the end with a lit torch to make sure we really manage to get the crowds going. And, go.", she pressed the record button.
"Give them a second to redirect me...", Lora waited for the green light.
As soon as the green light lit on top of the computer, Lora's face completely changed, taking on the look of anger and determination, as she watched the words start to scroll by the screen, readying herself to speak out against Neviro. Down by the Chronos Plaza, the main and all surrounding screens had been instead switched to show a direct shot of Lora's face, nearby onlookers lifting their heads up high, waiting in anticipation for what she had to say, taken by the irregularity of events that unfolded in their once quiet, full of normal and daily life city. Even traffic began to stall, as drivers moved their heads out of the windows, or got out of their cars entirely to witness the event that was about to unfold. Nearby law enforcements were instead looking up, before turning to look at each other, from police to actual military forces scattered throughout the city, not having heard what she had to say, but knowing full well it wasn't good at all for them.
Lora began to speak, "My name is Lora Rivers, top of my class in Delpha University of Advanced Economics and Musica's PR director. Or...that's what I used to be. That's what many of us used to be. Normal, every day people, before being forced to turn into soldiers, after a multitude of extreme work measures were brought upon us by Neviro, shifted the industrial zone into a war zone instead. We did this not to protest, but to protect our friends, family and loved ones from experiencing what we did for a few weeks, for years to come instead. We were directed into forcing a hostile monopoly of company HQs, transportation facilities around the globe and enforcing nearly unaffordable living conditions via an economic disturbance that would only benefit Delpha itself, while letting the rest of whomever remained outside to suffer. Something which would only help to destroy Delpha in the long run, leave our city state detached from the world and possibly even considered a threat to be taken out. Additionally, a culture of exposure and constant harassment was quickly developed inside offices from mules, leading to a further mental strain in a situation we already knew was deeply harmful to everyone. One individual was to thank for our long lasting resistance against both military and police forces. Gaz Matune. He trained mere employees, men and women who never took the optional military service of our city, in forms of tactics, military discipline and skillful use of guns. Thanks to that, we have been at a stalemate for a little over half a year now, and yesterday that stalemate was broken. The DPD and their undercover officers claimed their first life, that of Gaz Matune. They killed him in cold blood while he tried to save his daughter from the grasp of, not our officers, but Neviro's grunts while they attempted to kidnap her for being a person of interest. She would have been executed. Their sadistic minds would've killed her in front of her own father before they did so to him too, had it not been for the intervention of our ally forces and his sacrifice in order to protect her. Now, with Gaz gone and him being the glue that kept the rebel forces together, as well as constant negotiation for the military and the DPD not to enter in and slaughter all of us in order to return order via planting a favorable to Neviro work force, we send you this message. To him, we are replaceable. He has turned Delpha into his personal empire, a company where he himself declared being the chairman and deemed every single soul in it to be a doll for him to play puppet master on, able to pull the strings and snap them to his will before replacing us with a new one. Our livelihoods, families and even our physical integrity were threatened between every single order we received, once all CEOs were killed on sight when they first broke in our company HQs undercover, giving him full control. We will make our last stand here. Else, Delpha will be a thing of the past. This was a message from which I wanted to portray the bravery, gratitude and general thanks to those who stuck with us, fought and taught us what little they could throughout this short half year journey. Today marks the end of that journey...and with it, I hope not the end of the lives of those we cared for. Since our own are...not guaranteed anyway.
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She closed off her message, before the screens abruptly turned from her face to the usual transmitted advertisements. To every single official personnel's horror, silence befell the city in an instant. No car motors going, no horn sounds of any kind of talking on the phone like everyone used to do in their daily lives. The publics eyes shifted from the screens to every nearby officers or worse yet soldiers on standby, judging them before forcing sweat to go down their entire face. And then it happened. The cling of metal colliding with another surface, having someone make the first move tipped the mimetic nature of everyone else in sight causing loud yelling, screams and swearing throughout the streets, as like electricity, that wave encircled the entire city. Within moments of a scenery filled with daily, though obstructed life, turned into an all out outrage, items, fists and yelling flying around the streets, as local news hit the ground running to cover the ongoing escalation.
Lora and Anya started heading down to the office where all the other workers who connected them were both looking at Anya's phone while the breaking news played, both smiling at the result of their efforts. Finally coming down from the elevator, they met with a bunch of other members of the rebel army, some taking guard while others sitting and clicking away on the keyboards of their computers. A large table was set in the middle of the room, with a bunch of screens now playing the same breaking news footage as it was on Anya's phone, Anya then sitting at the first chair in the middle of the room.
"Hell yeah, a thousand percent as planned. Now, for the other half of the news, did it go as planned?", Anya turned to Lora.
"I'm trying to see from my people out there in the raging crowd...come on...", she anxiously waited.
As soon as Lora heard the beeping of her radio, she picked it up faster than water for a dehydrated traveler in the dessert, almost shutting it off by clicking near the wrong button, before tapping the correct one and getting into contact with her men.
"So? Say it!", she eagerly said.
"Fake rounds! Both DPD and military!", the man replied.
A loud wave of cheers and happy yelling then erupted from all the technology specialists, other personnel, Anya and Lora as everything went according to plan, raising their morale to it's peak.
Anya calmed down a little bit as she jumped off the chair, "Right, Lora! Tell everyone here the rest of the plan while you're at it, the others down bellow too! I'm gonna help Lass with the float and everything, ok?"
"You got it Mrs. Ana. Exemplary work on those words as well, master of both PR and business indeed.", Lora happily said.
Anya smugged, "I'm just doing my job. Now, I'm off. See you on the battlefield!"
Meanwhile a couple of kilometers away from the Musica HQ, Lass was rapidly ordering a bunch of rebels towards the warehouses along with Yuno, having gained easy access to them through sheer brute force of breaking locks and knocking down doors. Between all the company labels on the warehouses, a moment of confusion set in, forcing him to call none other than Anya.
"Hellow.", Anya answered the phone with a joyful tone, "Before anything, hear me out big guy. Yours truly made perfect work of it. Everything exactly as planned, and we've got the ball rolling! Even got them bastards to use rubber bullets, how 'bout that?"
Lass was relieved, "Thank god. Now, since you're done, help me out here. I just got the men Lora appointed me to the warehouses and I've already ordered them to empty the Musica warehouse clean, our trucks can handle way more than it. I've got a couple of tech giant companies at my sight here, so which one do you think would serve you better with their equipment?"
"Let me check my emails real quick...", Anya paused briefly, "Come on, got damn data plan...ah! I see that I signed a significant amount of things for L.A.B. that could be very useful. Obviously for a weapon manufacturer. Their sign should be around, it's in a very old like language in text, should say 'Le Armament Beta'.", she said with an accent.
"Yeah, got it. So, just strip the whole thing clean?"
"Yes, I'll just send them the stuff back once they rule it off as damages due to protest."
"So we've got a big scrapping situation in our hands...better get to it.", Yuno said.
"Got it. I'm off.", Lass ended the call and turned to the rebels, "Alright, strip the Musica and Le Armament Beta warehouses clean. We've got 7 tracks, will probably only need 6 of them so send one back with the people inside to recuperate and start exercises on the plan Lora has set up. We have around 20 minutes to get this clean and move back according to plan, so go!"
A rebel approached Lass quickly, "Mister Lass, scouts spotted movement on the backside fence!"
Lass quickly drew steel, "Focus on what you're doing, I'll go with these three. If you hear gunfire or anything of the sort, drop everything down and retreat. I refuse to have you guys press on with this. Don't start with the 'Obsulyte user commanding me' bullshit again either, I can take the hits, you can't so that's that. Reminder that if you don't follow me either, Lora is gonna give you an early retirement once this is over. Now, you three, on me. Let's go!"
He headed to the back of the warehouses along with the other scouts, taking an immediate defensive position as soon as he arrived, having all three of them pin themselves on the spot and hold their ground, while he took a step forward.
"Still, be careful dude...taking a hit isn't worth it if it's lethal.", another young rebel said.
"I didn't sign up for this either, but I can't get out now. Now shut it and wait...", Lass slowly moved towards the back fences.
"I'm getting ready to jump at whatever I see as well. Careful, Lass.", Yuno got ready.
An eerie moment of silence came across them, as Lass tightened his grip on his big sword, while the other scouts did the same on the triggers of their guns, pointing at the general direction aside from Lass himself, getting ready to fire a hail of bullets towards it. Lass moved further ahead, looking behind a pile of boxes and realizing that there was indeed, a big gap at the barbed fence, spreading out way more than enough to fit a person through. More silence came from above their heads, as it felt like the air stopped passing around, all of them starting to sweat at the fear of death coming towards them in the form of a bullet from a surprise attack.
"There's a gap, big one.", Lass confirmed with the others, "Back out-"
Just then, at his right a clinging sound was heard, as a metal beam fell down on the concrete ground, having him jump towards in and everyone turning around to immediately start firing towards the general direction, Lass landing a wide area slice that hit nothing as a precautionary measure to hit anything he could. In less than ten seconds, when they all emptied their clips around Lass, they all stopped firing to reload, having Lass showing them the back of his hand and signaling them to stop.
"Dammit, this is getting too tense! Lass, I'm getting ready to boost your Obsulyte flow instead of jumping out! We might need more defenses than offense right now!", Yuno worryingly said.
He turned the corner slowly, before he heard another banging sound that made his hand holding his sword raise up to his chest and preparing to land another attack. It wasn't long before he realized that there was a cat, rapidly trying to climb up some more boxes to escape, slipping on and off before it turned to face Lass, running away quickly again.
"Oh, you have gotta be kidding me.", Yuno said, being annoyed to the fullest.
Lass exhaled heavily, "Holy shit...I should be putting that rebellious spirit of adventure to rest someday soon."
"Yeah, you and me both. God..."
A scout approached him, "Dude, a cat? For real? Screw you.", he slapped the other scout on the back of the head.
"How the hell was I supposed to know?! We've been doing back and forths with the military and the DPD for half a year, I'm not taking any chances to receive a bullet at the back of my head."
"Then simply go home and leave the rest to people who actually care to change the world?", the third scout said.
"Enough guys. Let's just go back. We're done here anyway."
Lass directed them all to go back, having arrived in a retreating bunch of rebels, before they saw them all calmly coming out of the back, and Lass signaling them to move along with their work in order to finish it. Not long after, despite the minor setback, almost all of the contents of the warehouses that were signified of interest were emptied. Having loaded everything up, Lass got in the back of one of the many cars that were spread around the area, looking out to his side at the loaded trucks following them along, having an even bigger form of relief reaching his heart after he managed to successfully and peacefully complete his task. However, Lass still couldn't shake off the recent anxious situation, as even being face to face with a possible death scenario was enough to worry him about much more.
"Still worried?", Yuno asked, "At least we didn't go all out like in Kaci."
"That gap...", he worried once again, forcing his fist against his mouth.
"Hey, boss guy. Sorry, like I said, but it's all good. We got everything, the guys worked real fast and we didn't break a single thing. Everything went as smoothly as it could have after that, boring kind of smooth I'd say. It's all good.", the scout that made the mistake reassured him.
"I guess so. Anyways, we're not done yet. Anya will be waiting for all of you in order to assist with the float assembly, and possibly, add ons to it. You can talk it over with her when we arrive. I've got more things to handle with other troops afterwards. I just hope Gaz's teachings are good enough for all of us to get through this. Strength in numbers that outweigh even your own military should give us an edge good enough to win."
A few minutes later, Lass successfully arrived at the front of the open area, finally being able to unload and relax at the sight of all his friends. The trucks quickly turned around as every single rebel in the area rushed to help quickly unload all of the crates and items in them. Within less than ten minutes time, the open area had become a scrapyard of all sorts of different components, all waiting for a directed assembly. However, it would appear as not all jobs were catered to everyone, as few were the ones who did further than common carry work.
"So...why are we doing this again? I thought it was going to be like a BRICK kit, where's the instructions?", a rebel said.
"Good question, where's part A goes on C and B under, in a giant commercial float of a multi-million company meant for people to stand on.", another rebel said.
"Hah...at least we have the engineers from the architect and real estate company working for this.", Lora sighed.
"Get those on the stage there, that's for the hanging lights above. I'll do it.", Anya directed.
"Figured the add ons for it yet?", Lass asked.
"Yeah, I'll be adding one of these shield things that go on war machines in the middle. Just increase the energy flow with a small Obsulyte energy based core that hopefully will last, while also being powered up by Terna on stage and we should be good. I could assemble guns too and strap 'em on here, like a lot of them, but I want us to look like the good guys here."
"I think we are already the good guys, by a long shot.", Yuno said.
"Not if we pop out with a war machine when we played the victim card in public we won't be. Expect all the LivePost and Semori! posts to burry us to the ground before we even set out. Plus, the plan is today, and we are stretching it like hell already, having about a thousand people working on this."
"You surely know a lot about weapons too. Let me guess, it's the job?", Lass sarcastically asked.
"Well, assuming that everyone who's able to drink can also make you look like cheddar cheese with what's on the black market unlicensed in Reingard, you bet your ass that if I wanted to middle man and sell these things I'd have to study this. Took me like 9 months after I aced the exams for it to even be eligible to sell these puppies. That and my father stepping in to speed things up. less I wanted to wait more."
"At the very least, this one makes sense. Should we go check up on Risa and Terna? I don't see them around.", Lass looked for them in the crowd.
"The star and your friend are in the studio bellow in the HQ. They've got something special going on.", Lora informed them.
Anya went to open her mouth before Lass stepped in, "Say one word and you'll be counting teeth by the end of it."
Anya cleaned her throat, "Friendship, I meant to say. What, have you never heard of it? It's all the main character needs in all the HotMovie and anime I watch.", she smugged.
"Let's just...go check on them. I know you two are about to escalate it, and I'd rather have at least the goddess present before hothead and tomboy start killing each other.", Yuno prepared himself for the worst.
"Common theme?", Lora asked.
"Very. Got my taste back in my home of Kaci. Surprised you're not surprised or have made any comments on me yet.", Yuno answered.
"I've seen a lot of people, animal hybrids and even more...disturbing, on my work travels."
"Eh? Like what?", Anya curiously asked.
"I don't really know, because I only saw them from my tainted windows from the company limo. Must have been like 2 or 3 years ago. In any case, big, black, gooey monsters are everywhere, so I'm kind of glad to see you're a more intelligent being than them. Anyway, on with it, we got work to do."
"That we do. You guys go check up on Risa, I'll stay with Lora and the engineers to finish this up. Main stage behind me is almost done, I'll make modifications to have soldiers stand on it and the shield, so we should be fine."