Chapter 372: End Run (2/2)
“I originally signed up for tactical,” she admitted. “I wanted to learn how to use my powers properly. They let me do the training because they let anyone with an essence set, but they pushed me into a management track. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I never ended up using cores.”
Jason chuckled.
“That drive you have is still very sexy.”
“Most men I meet don’t like that about me,” she whispered. “They want to slow me down, bring me to heel. They look at everything I’ve done for my own ambition like I’m filling out my wife resume and expect me to give it up and settle down.”
“You must know a lot of really dumb guys.”
“My mother likes to set me up. I never really got over this weirdo I knew in high school, though.”
“He must have been really good looking.”
“He had a chin that could cut glass, but he’s had a lot of work done.”
“I have not had any work do–”
His indignation was cut off by a pair of soft lips pressing into his.
When Jason and Asya returned to the main cabin, all eyes turned to them.
“What?” Jason asked.
Erika shook her head, although a smile played at the corners of her mouth.
“You could at least be a little discreet,” Yumi told him.
“Shade,” Jason whispered. “Did you soundproof the cabin like I told you?”
“You can’t soundproof social cues, Mr Asano.”
“Yeah, that’s fair. Where’s Emi?”
“In the cockpit,” Shade said. “I’m teaching her to fly a plane.”
“Oh, nice.”
Jason and Erika were sitting in the cockpit together while Emi was back telling her great grandmother all about what she’d learned. They relaxed with glasses of ice tea and looked out at the open sky.
“So, Asya,” Erika said.
“Uh, yeah. I know it doesn’t seem like the time.”
“It’s exactly the time,” Erika said. “I’ve been watching you pull deeper and deeper into yourself, Jason and I’ve seen where that leads when the only ones relying on you are me and Emi. I don’t want to see that when the stakes are so much higher. In times like these, you should take the joys you can find.”
“Thanks.”
“Maybe next time don’t take them in a confined space with my daughter nearby.”
“Sorry. It wasn’t really planned.”
“So, is this a thing, now, or were you just blowing off steam?”
“We haven’t talked about it but it’s a thing. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have concerns, though.”
“Like your plans to traipse off to another universe?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you worried that she’ll want to go with you, or that she won’t?”
“I don’t know. Both, somehow, if that makes any sense. My biggest worry is that she’s more invested than I am, emotionally. I’m not saying I don’t feel anything, but she’s further down that road than I am.”
“Baby brother, it doesn’t matter where you are now. It matters where you’re going. If you both end up in the same place, then great. If not, then you have bigger concerns than a relationship that didn’t work. Try and figure it out before you drag her off to another universe, though, yeah?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“She had a thing for you back in school, right?”
“It wasn’t wholly unreciprocated,” Jason said. “But then Amy…”
“Did it never occur to you that Amy finally taking you off the shelf right as you took a healthy interest in someone else wasn’t a coincidence?”
“I’m not a complete idiot.”
Erika looked at him from under raised eyebrows.
“I’m not!”
Emi was back in the cockpit while Jason watched her listen to Shade's flight instructions with an adorable look of concentration on her face. Asya opened the door, calling Jason back into the main cabin with the other passengers.
“I was just contacted by the Network,” Asya explained. “Details are still sketchy, but it’s looking like as many as nineteen countries are about to divest themselves from the Network.”
“Divest themselves how?” Farrah asked.
“The information I have suggests it will vary by country,” Asya explained. “We don’t have anything solid yet but none of it is good. Reports are ranging from expelling Network personnel to forcibly seizing Network infrastructure.”
“Doing that now is madness,” Akari said.
“No,” Jason said. “The grid is about to come back online. Assuming you knew that, it would be the perfect time to swoop in.”
“He’s right,” Asya said. “The EOA are making their end run. All the countries in question are having them take on the Network’s responsibilities.”
“The EOA doesn’t have the people or the resources,” Farrah said. “Or access to the grid.”
“Which is about to put the Network in an awkward position,” Asya said. “Does the Network fight the local government and stay present anyway? If we do, suddenly we look like a despotic force and support for us around the world dries up. If we accept being tossed out, suddenly we have a nasty choice. Either leave those nations to be overrun by monster waves, or give the EOA the tools, knowledge and access to the grid to stop them.”
“Giving the EOA the legitimacy and power it has always been after,” Jason said. “Which countries?”
“Indonesia is the lynchpin,” Asya said. “They aren’t happy about magical factions either ignoring or running roughshod over them. The EOA swooped in and made similar approaches to other nations. Venezuela, Myanmar, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, the Philippines, Taiwan.”
“Taiwan?” Jason asked.
“The Network is very established in China.”
“Ah.”
“What is the Network’s response?” Farrah asked.
“I don’t know,” Asya said.
“It doesn’t change what we have to do,” Jason said. “Not unless Japan is on that list.”
“It’s not,” Asya said.
“Alright, then,” Jason said. “It’s not like we could do anything about it, anyway. We do what we can do and leave diplomacy to the diplomats.”