Mr_DC
Been a while
"Ooo, climbing into bed with me? Not even gonna buy me flowers first?" Mantis winked. She covered her mouth and faked a giggle. "Just be gentle, I'm innocent." She fluttered her eyelashes before dropping the act and laughing. "That's got to be the biggest lie I've told yet." She joked and moved aside to make room for Cow.
"I just saw her." Crow pointed a thumb above his shoulder. He tried the blink away the blur from his eyes as he leaned in towards the ruined armor. "How did she survive that?" He asked. "That looks like a tank hit it. The armor must be pretty tough." Crow commented, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and giving his own armor a tap. "I guess that means us pilots have a better chance of surviving a crash." He looked at Condor before looking back to Magpie. He never felt as alive as he did when going through vicious dogfights with his equals. Even when he was destined to carry out a forced landing, he enjoyed it. It was what he was meant to do. "It should happen to us, though, right?" He chuckled. They were Beasts exactly because they weren't getting shot down. Not that many planes to go around for a mercenary company.
Wolf walked past the two guards in front of One's door and opened it after knocking twice. Like usual, One wasn't alone. Swan was sitting on one of the sofas but she wasn't writing anything down or reading. The girl was simply staring ahead. Things changed after her previous mission. Perhaps she finally cracked. Finally decided to drop out of the Program. If that were the case, it would be Wolf who would be stalking her in the middle of the night and going for the kill like she had done many times before. It was one of the things she couldn't trust her team to keep quiet about. Always so quick to brag, even when it was obviously detrimental.
"Sir." Wolf nodded to One sitting behind his large desk. His office reminded her of the countless she visited back in her corporate days. So many men spending so much money on lavish details which made them feel better about themselves. They were only asking for her to bring them down a peg.
One's office... Wasn't quite like that. Sure, it was so different compared to the rest of the base that one might think they entered a portal to a different era but it wasn't luxurious. No fancy paintings on the wall, no marble statues or golden door knobs. Just hardwood furniture, padded leather, and plenty of full bookshelves. The office was even pretty small. Not that much larger than a Beast's room. One did have expensive liquor in the globe in the corner but Wolf pinned that to diplomatic visits. She never saw him offer it to anyone when she was in the room. The office did, though, lead into two other rooms which, for all Wolf knew, could have been filled with gold bars and antique paintings.
"Sit." One motioned his hand at the sofa opposite to the one Swan was sitting on. The sofas were surprisingly sturdy. Beasts in full armor could sit on them without even a creak of the wood. Almost everything in the base was reinforced for such things. "Let's watch." One motioned his hand at the screen above Swan while Swan watched the screen above Wolf. He stood up and walked around to stand in front of his desk. It was the president. A failed project for One. He was lucky only a handful of people knew about it.
"My fellow Americans." Those were the words One would grow to hate, spoken by a man he already hated. The president was young. Surprisingly young, even. Being in his mid-thirties, no one expected him to win the presidency, least of all One. It was his puppet that was meant to win. The old fossil who made no decisions of his own. It was One's campaign as much as anyone's and he was the one who invested massive funds into the campaign. It was his associates in politics who pulled strings to make things certain. They even cheated to get that extra edge. All polls were expecting One's candidate to win. He didn't.
Somehow, democracy prevailed and One lost. He was stuck with a president who not only wasn't easily bent but replied in an aggressive way when offered a chance to work with One's group. Now everyone buried their heads in the sand, expecting the worst. Everyone went dark and cut connections until the storm blew over. All One could do, though, is wait.
"...charges of corruption." One rolled his eyes. The president was talking about his predecessor. He worked extensively with One but when his term was done, a lot of things surfaced. Problems One tried to not to solve but distance from himself. "...and after an extensive investigation, our intelligence services found that there is a group within the government working to enrich and empower themselves at the detriment of the people they are meant to serve." One clenched his teeth. That wasn't good. Not good at all. His associates have been made. "This group received assistance from various groups but many of them fall under the umbrella of Epsilon Corporation."
One felt his knees go weak. The president called out one of the biggest companies in the world for, at best, inciting corruption. If it stayed at that, the legal team in Europe would still be able to get them out of it. If it went beyond that... One would have a problem on his hands. The president went on urging people to stay strong and declaring a national emergency to combat the internal threat. One couldn't listen to it. His tower of cards grew too tall. Now the table shook and it threatened to come crashing down.
"Damage control." One declared. "Wolf." He turned towards the red Beast who simply wasn't sure what the situation meant for them. "We cannot allow rumours to surface. Make sure your team acts on anyone spreading stories."
Wolf's eyebrows slowly inched up. Cracking her knuckles, she asked. "How far are we allowed to go?"
One didn't hesitate. "You're allowed to do what is necessary." He nodded and looked at Swan. She was staring right back at him. "If you want to learn..." One raised a finger towards her as Wolf left the office. "You will stay. You don't learn when things are going great. You learn when things are going poorly." Straightening his posture and tie, One added. "Besides, you need to learn how to be strong. You can't break as you had with Rat. Be strong." He said and headed to the door.
"I..." Swan began but stopped when One opened the door. "I..." She tried again. "I'm just a student..." She crossed her arms on her chest and cast her gaze down.
"Stay and learn or leave and study." One said and closed the door, leaving Swan alone in his office.
As One exited his office, his phone rang. He didn't have time for calls. He had to address the soldiers. Assure them everything will be fine. That the accusations are false. "Yes?" One answered.
"It's... Me." The familiar whisper came from the other side. One felt a wave of relief wash over him. Snake wasn't compromised. "Figured you wanted to hear from me after that stunt."
One smirked, making his way to the main hall. Snake always made One more confident about his choice of Beasts. Just his existence meant One still knew what he was doing. "Yeah." One slowed his pace down so he could hear everything Snake had to say before reaching the troopers. "Go on, tell me what you know."
"The arrests started yesterday. This was just shaking the tree to see who else falls out. Most of your people have been taken in and, from what I hear, they are talking to get themselves off the hook."
One cursed. Cowards. All of them. There was never a relationship of absolute loyalty but they could have at least been concerned about what One would do if he found out about their betrayal. "What about Sinclair?" One asked through his teeth.
"The speaker isn't suspected yet and he isn't running. He's playing his part well." The whisper on the other end of the line paused for a moment. "More and more departments are turning their attention to you."
One stopped, rubbing his forehead. "Can we... Just look into the possibility of blackmail or... Assassinations. Of those arrested."
"I think the Asian branch might be more suited for that. They have more agents. More... Disposable agents. I can carry it out, though, if that's what you think is best."
One shook his head, continuing on his way. "No, no... You're right. Just keep me updated as the situation develops." One requested and hung up. At least there was still someone in Washington he could rely on.
"Your attention, please!" One raised his voice to silence the murmurs in the main hall. The large groups of soldiers began turning towards him, following his raised hand as he approached the centre of the room. "Soldiers!" He stopped, trying to get the attention of the few who still didn't realize it was One that walked into the room.
"Holy fuck." Mantis scratched one of the scars spreading across her cheeks. "That sounds like it could be a problem." She frowned but shrugged. She wasn't into politics and there were people brighter than her worrying about what that meant for them. "I say that calls for a drink." Not taking her eyes off Doe, Mantis leaned towards Cow and whispered loud enough that Doe would hear her. "Sneak us something nice, will you?"
"I just saw her." Crow pointed a thumb above his shoulder. He tried the blink away the blur from his eyes as he leaned in towards the ruined armor. "How did she survive that?" He asked. "That looks like a tank hit it. The armor must be pretty tough." Crow commented, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and giving his own armor a tap. "I guess that means us pilots have a better chance of surviving a crash." He looked at Condor before looking back to Magpie. He never felt as alive as he did when going through vicious dogfights with his equals. Even when he was destined to carry out a forced landing, he enjoyed it. It was what he was meant to do. "It should happen to us, though, right?" He chuckled. They were Beasts exactly because they weren't getting shot down. Not that many planes to go around for a mercenary company.
Wolf walked past the two guards in front of One's door and opened it after knocking twice. Like usual, One wasn't alone. Swan was sitting on one of the sofas but she wasn't writing anything down or reading. The girl was simply staring ahead. Things changed after her previous mission. Perhaps she finally cracked. Finally decided to drop out of the Program. If that were the case, it would be Wolf who would be stalking her in the middle of the night and going for the kill like she had done many times before. It was one of the things she couldn't trust her team to keep quiet about. Always so quick to brag, even when it was obviously detrimental.
"Sir." Wolf nodded to One sitting behind his large desk. His office reminded her of the countless she visited back in her corporate days. So many men spending so much money on lavish details which made them feel better about themselves. They were only asking for her to bring them down a peg.
One's office... Wasn't quite like that. Sure, it was so different compared to the rest of the base that one might think they entered a portal to a different era but it wasn't luxurious. No fancy paintings on the wall, no marble statues or golden door knobs. Just hardwood furniture, padded leather, and plenty of full bookshelves. The office was even pretty small. Not that much larger than a Beast's room. One did have expensive liquor in the globe in the corner but Wolf pinned that to diplomatic visits. She never saw him offer it to anyone when she was in the room. The office did, though, lead into two other rooms which, for all Wolf knew, could have been filled with gold bars and antique paintings.
"Sit." One motioned his hand at the sofa opposite to the one Swan was sitting on. The sofas were surprisingly sturdy. Beasts in full armor could sit on them without even a creak of the wood. Almost everything in the base was reinforced for such things. "Let's watch." One motioned his hand at the screen above Swan while Swan watched the screen above Wolf. He stood up and walked around to stand in front of his desk. It was the president. A failed project for One. He was lucky only a handful of people knew about it.
"My fellow Americans." Those were the words One would grow to hate, spoken by a man he already hated. The president was young. Surprisingly young, even. Being in his mid-thirties, no one expected him to win the presidency, least of all One. It was his puppet that was meant to win. The old fossil who made no decisions of his own. It was One's campaign as much as anyone's and he was the one who invested massive funds into the campaign. It was his associates in politics who pulled strings to make things certain. They even cheated to get that extra edge. All polls were expecting One's candidate to win. He didn't.
Somehow, democracy prevailed and One lost. He was stuck with a president who not only wasn't easily bent but replied in an aggressive way when offered a chance to work with One's group. Now everyone buried their heads in the sand, expecting the worst. Everyone went dark and cut connections until the storm blew over. All One could do, though, is wait.
"...charges of corruption." One rolled his eyes. The president was talking about his predecessor. He worked extensively with One but when his term was done, a lot of things surfaced. Problems One tried to not to solve but distance from himself. "...and after an extensive investigation, our intelligence services found that there is a group within the government working to enrich and empower themselves at the detriment of the people they are meant to serve." One clenched his teeth. That wasn't good. Not good at all. His associates have been made. "This group received assistance from various groups but many of them fall under the umbrella of Epsilon Corporation."
One felt his knees go weak. The president called out one of the biggest companies in the world for, at best, inciting corruption. If it stayed at that, the legal team in Europe would still be able to get them out of it. If it went beyond that... One would have a problem on his hands. The president went on urging people to stay strong and declaring a national emergency to combat the internal threat. One couldn't listen to it. His tower of cards grew too tall. Now the table shook and it threatened to come crashing down.
"Damage control." One declared. "Wolf." He turned towards the red Beast who simply wasn't sure what the situation meant for them. "We cannot allow rumours to surface. Make sure your team acts on anyone spreading stories."
Wolf's eyebrows slowly inched up. Cracking her knuckles, she asked. "How far are we allowed to go?"
One didn't hesitate. "You're allowed to do what is necessary." He nodded and looked at Swan. She was staring right back at him. "If you want to learn..." One raised a finger towards her as Wolf left the office. "You will stay. You don't learn when things are going great. You learn when things are going poorly." Straightening his posture and tie, One added. "Besides, you need to learn how to be strong. You can't break as you had with Rat. Be strong." He said and headed to the door.
"I..." Swan began but stopped when One opened the door. "I..." She tried again. "I'm just a student..." She crossed her arms on her chest and cast her gaze down.
"Stay and learn or leave and study." One said and closed the door, leaving Swan alone in his office.
As One exited his office, his phone rang. He didn't have time for calls. He had to address the soldiers. Assure them everything will be fine. That the accusations are false. "Yes?" One answered.
"It's... Me." The familiar whisper came from the other side. One felt a wave of relief wash over him. Snake wasn't compromised. "Figured you wanted to hear from me after that stunt."
One smirked, making his way to the main hall. Snake always made One more confident about his choice of Beasts. Just his existence meant One still knew what he was doing. "Yeah." One slowed his pace down so he could hear everything Snake had to say before reaching the troopers. "Go on, tell me what you know."
"The arrests started yesterday. This was just shaking the tree to see who else falls out. Most of your people have been taken in and, from what I hear, they are talking to get themselves off the hook."
One cursed. Cowards. All of them. There was never a relationship of absolute loyalty but they could have at least been concerned about what One would do if he found out about their betrayal. "What about Sinclair?" One asked through his teeth.
"The speaker isn't suspected yet and he isn't running. He's playing his part well." The whisper on the other end of the line paused for a moment. "More and more departments are turning their attention to you."
One stopped, rubbing his forehead. "Can we... Just look into the possibility of blackmail or... Assassinations. Of those arrested."
"I think the Asian branch might be more suited for that. They have more agents. More... Disposable agents. I can carry it out, though, if that's what you think is best."
One shook his head, continuing on his way. "No, no... You're right. Just keep me updated as the situation develops." One requested and hung up. At least there was still someone in Washington he could rely on.
"Your attention, please!" One raised his voice to silence the murmurs in the main hall. The large groups of soldiers began turning towards him, following his raised hand as he approached the centre of the room. "Soldiers!" He stopped, trying to get the attention of the few who still didn't realize it was One that walked into the room.
"Holy fuck." Mantis scratched one of the scars spreading across her cheeks. "That sounds like it could be a problem." She frowned but shrugged. She wasn't into politics and there were people brighter than her worrying about what that meant for them. "I say that calls for a drink." Not taking her eyes off Doe, Mantis leaned towards Cow and whispered loud enough that Doe would hear her. "Sneak us something nice, will you?"