Following

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 Chapter 80 Chapter 81 Chapter 82 Chapter 83 Chapter 84 Chapter 85 Chapter 86 Chapter 87 Chapter 88 Chapter 89 Chapter 90 Chapter 91 Chapter 92 Chapter 93 Chapter 94 Chapter 95 Chapter 96 Chapter 97 Chapter 98 Chapter 99 Chapter 100 Chapter 101 Chapter 102 Chapter 103 Chapter 104 Chapter 105 Chapter 106 Chapter 107 Chapter 108 Chapter 109 Chapter 110 Chapter 111 Chapter 112 Chapter 113 Chapter 114 Chapter 115 Chapter 116 Chapter 117 Chapter 118 Chapter 119 Chapter 120 Chapter 121 Chapter 122 Chapter 123 Chapter 124 Chapter 125 Chapter 126 Chapter 127 Chapter 128 Chapter 129 Chapter 130 Chapter 131 The Phone Call Louise's First Costume When Keyla was Here A Day at the Garcia House The Keeper Sibling Bonds Once Upon a Time in High School Lillie's Recipes Lightning the Mentor A Miraculous Medical Aide Louise's Day Off An Ethereal Fairy Eternal Youth A Miracle Manifests Three Generals Deep Thoughts Over Lemonade A Miracle of Science Three Branches, Three Days Dreams of Heroes The Makings of a Thief Girl Time Wishing for More Courtney Larsen, Age 15 A Greenhouse Tour Odin's Evening The Keeper's Evening Cleo's Seventeenth Birthday Never to Thaw Again 2617's New Arx Techs Payday Party Prime's Board Game Party Temperature-Regulating Potions

Arx Nubibus
Ongoing 1862 Words

Chapter 53

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Paris impatiently paced back and forth across the room. Manifest watched him anxiously while Itera and Jase talked quietly in the corner of the room. The new girl, Meadow, who he'd dubbed Scattershot, was elsewhere at the moment. Jase had her on some other mission, but she'd be back sometime in the next couple days. 

They were waiting for Mist. She'd snuck into the military complex, using the ducts and her Miracle, in the hopes that she could get ahold of Phantasma's autopsy results. Jase had given her a simple thumbstick she was to use to extract the files and they'd be analyzed back at base. If she couldn't steal the files without causing a big stir, she was to just try and read them and report back. Preferably by spying over a military officer's shoulder. 

It had been five hours since Mist had left. What in the big blue sky could be taking her so long? Paris had been impatient for the results, but he couldn't do anything until she returned. Had Mist gotten captured? Was she okay? Was there some kind of complication? 

The spinning thoughts drove him nuts. Phantasma had to be avenged. And this was the first step towards that. 

"Paris, wearing a track into the floor isn't going to bring Juney back any sooner," Jase said lazily, glancing at him. 

"How can you sit there so calmly?" Paris snapped back. 

"I trust my Juney. She won't let us down, even if it takes her a while." 

"But what if the military caught her?" 

"She's never been caught in the five years since I took her in. She's my best," Jase replied. "Besides, she's got her Miracle now. Nothing and no one can contain her." 

"What if they shot her in the back of the head when she wasn't looking? That girl is so flaky." Paris clutched his head at the idea, trying to stay calm. 

"She's plenty aware of her surroundings. Even if she looks like she's half-asleep most of the time." 

"Does she have eyes in the back of her head?" 

"Might as well. I dunno how she got such good spacial awareness." 

"Is there no worry in that head of yours?" Paris growled loudly and flopped down next to Manifest. 

"Don't worry, Paris," Manifest said with a wry smile. "June's a lot more trustworthy than she looks." 

"You sure you aren't putting too much faith in her? She's about as aware as a fish!" 

"She got you out of a military encirclement, didn't she?" Jase grinned triumphantly at Manifest's point. 

"That was a fluke," Paris replied. "She couldn't even occupy one of Achilles' goons during our last fight!" 

"Hey, Juney did her best," Jase replied. "She's more suited to this kind of mission anyway." 

"She won't even manage it. She'll get caught and they'll torture her and pull our hideout information out of her head and then we'll be at war with the military," Paris mumbled, his thoughts continuing to spiral darker and darker. "Do you have any other good fighters? Scattershot, Manifest and I can't hold back the entire military." 

"You don't need to worry about that," Jase said confidently. 

"How can you be so certain?" Paris snapped. 

"I'm tired." 

Mist's voice floated through the air as she came through the wall and landed in Jase's lap. 

"Good job, Juney. Get the information?" 

In response, she held up the thumbstick as she buried her face in Jase's shoulder. 

"Excellent work." Jase grabbed the drive and tossed it to Itera. "Pop that in the computer and see if Niko can't get anything out of it." 

"Password's in a text file," Mist muttered. "I had to hostage an officer. Stupid military and their stupid cameras." 

"What?" Paris asked, anxiety making his heart rate spike again. 

"They already know she exists," Jase said calmly. "Might be a bit problematic if they know we have the information, but it wouldn't be the first time they've been made aware of the Phalanx." 

"How'd you hold them hostage?" Paris asked. 

"Stranglehold. Now let me sleep. Jase, be my pillow." 

"Sure thing, Juney. Good work. Where's Niko at?" Itera put her phone away as she left the thumbstick on the computer desk. 

"Just texted him. Should be here in a couple minutes." 

"Holy crap, we did it," Manifest said. "June, you are seriously amazing." 

"Amazing wants to sleep." Mist drew out the last three words as long as she could. 

"We told you she'd pull through, didn't we?" Manifest asked, giving Paris a rough hug. "The Phalanx strikes again!" 

"Yeah yeah, great," Paris replied. "Where's the computer techie guy?" 

"On his way. Seriously, do you have any patience?" Itera asked shortly. 

A few minutes passed with Manifest in celebration mode before a lanky guy with long hair hanging in his face walked in. 

"Niko! Great to have you," Jase said with a smile. "Can you extract info from the little thumbstick Juney brought back? She said the password's in a text file on it." 

"Not bad, Juney girl," Niko said with a grin. "Our ghost strikes again." 

"Ghost got caught this time," Mist mumbled. "Had to strangle a guy for a bit." 

"Hey, you find the ghost, the ghost messes you up," Niko said with a shrug. "Now let's see what the military has on Phantasma's unfortunate demise." He plugged the thumbstick into the computer and started clicking through the files. 

Paris waited impatiently as Niko glanced through everything. Manifest looked eager, while Itera was completely unaffected as usual. And Mist was still taking a nap on Jase's shoulder. Seriously what kind of operation did she think they were running? This wasn't a preschool! 

"Ok, found the summary," Niko said. "Looks like...the conclusion is she died of a sudden heart stoppage or something. I can't understand these medical terms. But considering everything, this could easily be a cover-up, so you'll want to have a real doctor look at the rest of these, Jase. I can't figure out what most of the files mean since they're so technical." 

"Thanks, Niko. Is everything unlocked?" 

"One minute. I can remove the password requirement." 

"Fantastic. And since we don't have a doctor on board..." Jase grinned deviously. "Why don't we ask the rest of the city for help in deciphering her cause of death?" 

"Wait, you want me to release it publicly? These are confidential military files," Niko said, startled. 

"This is a very public inquiry," Jase replied. "Shouldn't the public know? And if the military really has nothing to hide, it won't cause them any major trouble. Really, they should have released the information themselves." Niko grinned back. 

"On it, Boss. They'll be available on the web by tomorrow morning." 

"Is that it?" Paris asked. "We're just releasing the files publicly and not analyzing them ourselves?" 

"We don't have any doctors here," Jase replied. "Or anyone in a medical field. It'd be better to release it into the wild and see what the fallout is. Best case scenario for us, an actual doctor looks at everything and publicly posts an analysis. Worst case, nothing new happens and we move on." 

Paris held himself back from getting angry. What kind of criminal organization didn't have specialists in every field? Was Jase really as big as he pretended to be? But he couldn't go against him for now. Everyone in the Phalanx had made it clear they were his people. Not Paris's. 

Now wasn't the time to usurp power from Jase. He'd have to go along with everything quietly for now. At least they had taken the first step to avenging Phantasma. 

 

"Shit!" 

Kyrie slammed a fist on his desk as he scrolled through the webpage he'd been sent that morning. Everything they'd had on Phantasma's death, posted for the whole world to see. He was lucky Luna had altered everything in case of a later inquiry, but this was not good in the least for him. The other generals would be breathing down his neck after this. 

His resignation wouldn't bother him. He was old enough to retire anyway. No, what would bother him was the idea of who might come after him. Would they stay teamed up with General Jenkins to keep Evans in check? Or would they sell themselves out to General Evans, thus sealing the fate of the entire military? 

The stress was gonna give him an ulcer, so help him. Why did this have to happen now of all times? 

"General Jordan," an officer called through the intercom. "General Evans has called a meeting to deal with the recent leak." 

Damn, thought Kyrie. But he pushed the button to reply. "I'll be there in ten minutes. His office, I assume?" 

"Yes, sir." 

Kyrie took thirty seconds to cool his head before putting on his serious general face and walking to what very well could be his execution. 

 

"What is your defense, General Jordan?" Evans asked, staring at him over the massive desk. Way bigger than the desk of a general needed to be. It wasn't like one of those old TV shows where there were stacks of paper everywhere. A general just needed a computer, a tablet and a few other doodads. 

"I think our question right now should be how we make sure something like this doesn't happen again," Jenkins said carefully. Kyrie didn't blame him. If Jenkins wasn't careful, both their heads could be on the chopping block. 

"Was there anything important in the leaked files? Were any other files taken?" Evans asked. 

"Everything related to Phantasma's autopsy. A member of Paris' group stole them. Because she took one of our officers hostage to get the files, we're confident we know exactly what they have." 

Thank heavens Luna had faked everything. 

"At least we can do damage control," Jenkins said with relief. "Evans, is there anything problematic in those files? Anything that could damage the military?" 

"I don't believe so. Jordan?" 

"Not to my knowledge," Kyrie replied. He trusted Luna. 

"Then can we do damage control first and dole out punishments later?" Jenkins asked, looking steadily at Evans. "Too much upheaval right now will cause more harm than good." 

A long pause made the tension in the room thicken until it was suffocating. Finally Evans opened his mouth. 

"Very well," he said with a sigh. "How do we deal with this?" 

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