Chapter 382: I Intend to Do Damage (1/2)
Annabeth Tilden and three silver-rankers were standing outside the main gate of Asano Village, facing Jason and Farrah.
“We didn’t betray you, Mr Asano,” Anna said.
“No?” Jason asked. “Then I guess the GDN spokesperson on the news stating that our association had been ended due to my increasingly dangerous and radicalised behaviour was a terrible mix up. I’m surprised Terrance made that kind of slip.”
“You set off car bombs in traffic,” Anna said.
“I’ll do worse before I’m done,” Jason said. “The thing is, Anna, I am dangerous and radicalised. I have been from the beginning. Remember when I first came back? Faith healing my way through a hospital and rolling a rolling gunfight in the streets? Since I started working with the Network I've been holding back but now you’ve cut those fetters. You opened the floodgates, Anna. You don’t get to complain when the water come through.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this, Asano.”
“As long as I eat the fact that you’re attacking me in the news, stay quiet and do as I’m told? Why are you here, Anna?”
”Can we talk where there aren't a bunch of hungry loons filming us on camera phones?” she asked. Just as she said, the fringe elements camping outside Asano Village had no short of people filming them as they spoke.
“The village is for guests, friends and allies, Anna. I’m not saying the village’s defences are impregnable, but if you want in, it’ll take more than the four of you.”
“We aren’t your enemy, Jason. I’m here to try and stop us from reaching that point. There are forces larger than either of us who see you as an antagonistic force, but if you’re willing to make some concessions, we can stop this from escalating into conflict.”
“Concessions?” he growled, taking a step forward that prompted her bodyguard, Nigel to step between them. Jason stopped, closed his eyes and after a moment, the tense rage passed out of his shoulders.
“This is you, genuinely trying to help me,” Jason said softly. “You want to mend fences; I understand that. I respect it. I’m sorry, Anna, but they haven’t told you why they turned on me in the first place, did they? It wasn’t about car bombs.”
“Then what?”
“Those greater forces you mentioned? I’m not sure how much they know, yet, but it’s only a matter of time before they realise that I have something they want. Something everyone will want. People are going to make some bad choices trying to get it and they will reap the consequences.”
“Is that a threat?” Anna asked.
Jason smiled.
“Since I came to this world,” he said, “I’ve been playing the essence user. It made sense to affiliate myself with the Network, given that their first priority was protecting the world from magic. That’s already changing. What’s coming will be a gold rush and an arms race, all in one. The old priorities will be gone.”
“So you say,” Anna said.
“Believe me or not, I don’t care,” Jason said. “I don’t need the Network or anyone but the people already standing with me. I’m done playing essence user and following the rules of this world. I’m an adventurer again.”
“What does that mean?” Anna asked.
“Adventurers get the job done,” Farrah said stepping up next to Jason. “We don’t have oversight or chains of command or public relations departments. We do what it takes, whoever or whatever gets in our way. The Adventure Society sees the job that needs doing and finds the people to do it. Right here, right now, the Adventure Society is us, and we’re the people for the job. We’re going to do what needs to be done and we’ll go through anyone or anything in our path, without hesitation, remorse or mercy. I like you, Anna, so I’m hoping that’s not you.”
“That’s what a threat sounds like, Anna,” Jason said. “This world needs saving. I don’t know if the people behind you understand the true threat or not and I don’t care anymore. Just don’t get in our way.”
“And what exactly does the world need saving from?” Anna asked.
“The dimensional incursions are getting worse,” Farrah said, “and the rate at which they’re getting worse in increasing. When we first arrived here, category three incursions were moving from the exception to the norm. Now we’re starting to see category four incursions. Do you really think they’re going to stop?”
“Are you claiming you’re going to stop the monsters from coming at all?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know,” Jason said. “It could just be that we stop them from getting worse.”
“Then why not work with us?”
“Anna, I’ve worked with a lot of good people at the Network. You’re one of them. But not a lot of the goods ones end up in charge. Think about the other members on the steering committee. Do you trust them to do the right thing? Someone knows that when I do what I have to do, the power you’re about to start fighting over will no longer appear. Anna, tell me that the people in charge will choose to address a looming threat over immediate gain.”
“You know I can’t.”
”Then you need to look at your own loyalties and priorities. When you go home to Susan and look her in the eye, I bet you feel proud at the work you've done each day. You should. If you want to keep feeling that way, maybe start thinking about how much you let the International Committee dictate your choices.”
“You’re not my conscience, Jason. I make my own choices.”
“Yet you came here to convince me to let you make mine?”
“There are people following you who will be caught up in your mess. Asya Karadeniz is throwing away her future by quitting the Network. Don’t take her down with you.”
”I actually hope you're right, Anna. I hope the Network doesn't lose its way. But the fact is, the Network and the monsters they fight were both incepted by the same person. Your house was always built on sand.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Network was never intended to protect the world from monsters. It was a regulatory measure so the dimensional incursions didn’t destroy the world too quickly. A stop-gap until either someone like me came along to turn things back or the world was destroyed. Either result gets what the founder wanted, which is to open the gates of an entirely different world to invasion.”
“Even if all that were true, and I’m not acknowledging that it is, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what someone centuries ago intended when it’s the people of today that control the Network’s destiny.”
Jason smiled.
”I like that,” he said. ”I hope you have ambition, Anna. With people like you at the helm, the Network really could be what I think we both want it to be.”
“Then instead of moving away from it, move closer. With what you have to offer, you could be a positive influence. Help me to make the Network everything it should be.”
“That’s not going to work, Anna. We both know that I chafe under restriction. I’m self-aware enough to know that I’m more trouble than I’m worth in an organisation. As soon as the group’s ideals and mine come into conflict, we both know what I’ll do. Call it independence or arrogance, but I work better from the outside.”
“It’s arrogance,” Farrah said.
“Whose side are you on?” Jason asked her.
“Justice.”
Jason chuckled and stepped towards Anna, only for her silver-rank bodyguard, Nigel, to move into his way.
“If I wanted her dead, Nigel,” Jason said, “You wouldn’t see it coming, let alone have a chance to stop me.”
“It’s fine, Nigel,” Anna said and he begrudgingly let Jason past. Jason held out his hand and Anna shook it.
“I hope that we can work together again, someday, Anna. You’ll soon be learning why it can’t be today, though.”
“If you really do need to save the world, you can’t do it alone.”
“He’s not alone,” Farrah said.
“I suppose not,” Anna said. “But I know you feel isolated right now, Asano, and perhaps inclined to lash out. Just give your actions some consideration before you do anything drastic…”
She looked around at the people filming them with their phones.
”…like having a conversation like this in front of people who are probably live-streaming it. But I guess that was the point of having it here, wasn't it?”