Interlude X — Necessary Evils

  "...any soul who would join the genocidal crusade against my people: take heed. You have seen what we can do. Even a man at the top of your world cannot escape justice if we seek it. If you come, we will defend ourselves."

  Felix Wieczorek leapt to his feet, knocking his drink off the beaten old bar.

  "Holy shit," he gasped.

  "What?" asked Brian, staring at his own drink with a forlorn expression. The rest of the place was totally empty—the only person around for a mile or more was the owner of the little establishment, sleeping in his home behind the building.

  "They just… holy shit." Felix had to take a few moments to compose himself. "That girl just appointed herself judge, jury, and executioner, along with everybody who follows her."

  "She is insane," said Brian. "I already went over this."

  "Yeah, but now she's insane on a global scale." Felix took out his pocket notebook and pencil, scratching away as fast as he could. He needed to get ideas down fast, before he lost track of the story. Except… this wasn't just a story anymore, and he'd found himself at the center of it.

  Felix was a traditional journalist, with a degree from Columbia and years in the field as a reporter. He knew when to just tell the story, and when to intervene in it. Sure, Felix could play it safe, sell a ton of books and have his name plastered across every bookshelf across the country—hell, a few continents if he played it right—but… at what cost?

  This was the beginning of something huge. Felix hadn't been an activist since graduating nearly seventeen years ago, but he could never quite shake the desire to rabble-rouse for the sake of a good cause. He'd spent the early years of college diving headfirst into every worthwhile cause he could find, from the most ill-advised conservationists to the crazed ultra-socialist political revolutionaries. Sure, after the fact, he'd realize just how many of their ideas were completely impractical—but he didn't have the experience to make those calls back then.

  A decade and a half combing through the worst humanity had to offer—plus a dozen shiny prizes hanging over his desk somewhere back in New York—gave Felix the confidence he needed to finally take a step across the line. I can't just report this anymore. They need to be stopped, and this guy's the only one who's been doing anything about it.

  He shook his head as Brian continued watching Cinza's speech. "That girl just gave us exactly what we needed."

  "Us?" asked Brian, surprised.

  He swivelled on the bar stool to face Felix. They were alone in the bar this early on a Saturday, since most of Brian's men and women were either at home—or already on assigned tasks. Brian's surprise wasn't unwarranted. Until now, Felix had made it clear he was there to report the story and nothing more. He wanted to give Brian a voice, but not necessarily take his side, and Brian assented.

  Now, Felix couldn't stand by. Cinza and Hailey had shown just how far they were willing to take things. "She named you and where you are in front of the whole world. We can capitalize on that."

  "How? They'll be coming for me. She named me a murderer."

  "Well, you are, but that's not the point." Felix shook his head again, stringy brown hair whipping himself in the face as he did. "There's plenty of people out there who just saw what they did, and I'd bet all the cash in my pockets that she made a hell of a lot of enemies today."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "Hmm," said Brian.

  Felix clapped his hands together as he finished off the next phrase in the speech he was putting together. "All you have to do is reach out to them. You already said that the only reason we haven't moved yet is because we don't have the support we need, right?"

  "Not exactly." Brian shook his head, voice as exhausted and degraded as ever. Felix had noticed the man seemed perpetually on the verge of collapse, though he slept and ate as normally as anyone. "We don't know who we're looking for, exactly. I know a few, but it keeps spreading."

  "But you've got the…" Felix snapped his fingers excitedly, trying to think of the right word. When he got amped up, he often had difficulty speaking—one thing that had developed over the years, and the reason he usually let other people do all the talking while he just wrote it down. "The things."

  "The stones?"

  "Yes!" Felix cried. "The identifying stones. You've got a ton of them. If you combine that with the social crawling team I'll put together and the grassroots support we're going to get, we can track these monsters down. All of them."

  "Why would you help me?" asked Brian.

  "They just declared war on us," said Felix, shaking his head. "They think they're better than we are, that we're worthless. Just humans."

  "They do."

  "And they want to replace us." Felix got up and started pacing, working through his thoughts one by one. "Cinza's writing practically called for violent revolution in the margins. She never wrote it down outright, but you can tell if you're reading between the lines. She wants to form her own nation, but there's nowhere left in the world to claim, so she's going to do it right here."

  "In Washington?"

  "Yes, in Washington." Felix jotted down a few more notes—more ideas on what Brian could say. "You won't be alone after this."

  "I haven't been alone," Brian pointed out, though the words held no joy. If anything, the man was full of regret, and Felix couldn't blame him.

  He clapped Brian on the back, trying to offer some comfort. It was the most human thing he could think of doing, just to further contrast them from the monsters they were up against. "You couldn't have seen that coming, man. Nobody could."

  "Five dead," Brian murmured, taking a sip of his drink. "Five good men and women."

  "Another reason why we need better gun control," Felix joked. Brian didn't react in the slightest. "...Look, whoever they were, at least they aren't on the witch's side, yeah?"

  "What do you mean?" asked Brian, glancing up surprised.

  "Well, they tried to kidnap one of 'em, and forced their hand. Not something you do to an ally."

  "No, what do you mean by 'whoever they were'?" Brian nodded up to the TV, where the commentary on Cinza's speech continued unabated. Worthless talking heads… Felix mused. Do something useful for once. "They worked for Malton."

  Felix raised his eyebrows. "You really believe her?"

  "Why would she lie? Her people were attacked. She's the victim." Brian hesitated. "Unless…"

  Felix shook his head. "Nah, they were the victims for sure. I'm saying, they're using this opportunity to capitalize. Whoever those guys were, that was some serious special-forces shit, operating on American soil. The real players aren't gonna reveal themselves with the U.S. breathing down their necks." A slight smirk creased his lips. He couldn't help but admire her ability to play the press. "Cinza's playing this smart. She's picked a target for the public to shift blame on."

  "Malton?"

  He snapped his fingers, pointing at Brian like he'd just won a prize on a game show. "Bingo, Cornelius Malton. He's an established global figure, he's already got a reputation for being a little crazy, and he's a multi-billionaire. People hate the wealthy, and they especially hate the wealthy flaunting their ability to skirt by the law by writing a few checks."

  "So Cinza creates a villain, and makes herself into a victim of the rich and powerful," concluded Brian.

  "Exactly. It's David versus Goliath," said Felix, picking a biblical reference to help sell Brian on the idea. Not that Felix doubted he was right for a second, but he needed Brian to get to that place a little bit faster. Every little bit helped. "Only, the world doesn't realize that Cinza and her people are actually Goliath here, coming to stomp us all into the dust."

  Brian nodded. "That makes sense."

  "It's exactly what I'd do, to be honest," said Felix, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice, "if I were trying to start a revolution."

  "You think her goals are that lofty?"

  "Based on her writing?" Felix nodded gravely. "There's gonna be blood. We have to put a stop to it."

  "...How?"

  He grinned. "By starting our own."