44 Chapter Forty-Four: The Game (2/2)

”Is a traitor really trying to order us around?” One of the officials ask.

”That's not an order” Ruby says, ”it's a threat”. Ruby then throws a small bolt of reactive endo far off to the right. Ruby then controls the magic to bend around and curve, then pierce through five of the officials. When the bolt hits the ground, it causes the ground the crumble and the soldiers to collapse. Ruby grabs the last official by the collar of his suit and lifts him up. ”You were warned” Ruby says as she throws him to the ground with an immense force. As the official hits the ground, face first, you can hear a loud snapping sound that caused Robin, Demetri, Satomi and Mikoto to flinch.

”So that's the power of a Mage” Vivi says.

”I really need to learn how to do that” Mikoto says.

At the end of the day, the crew rendezvous at the police station to talk with Chief of Police Zhang Wei. Siran had already changed back to his human form before they returned to Hong Kong. ”It's finished” Siran says, ”but they seemed to already know The Six Guns were involved. According to the military officials, they were hoping we would step in so they could launch an attack on you guys”.

”Then they had the same plan as we did” Zhang Wei says.

”The same plan?” Siran asks. ”You guys weren't just trying to break free of The Ly'Lum? Why are you trying to launch an attack on them?”.

”This is war, Siran” Zhang Wei says. ”They wanted this fight, and we'll bring it to them”.

”Then does this mean that China can openly state their involvement with The Six Guns?” Satomi asks.

”Absolutely not” Zhang says. ”We've succeeded in our mission. No matter what they claim, we can still go forward with our plan, and above all, deny any involvement with The Six Guns”.

”But why?” Satomi asks.

”Because” Zhang says, ”we don't need to be mixed up in your controversy. We still have an image as a country to withhold”.

”Does this mean we can't depend on China's support in the future?” Siran asks. ”We'll eventually need your support in Omnia”.

”I wouldn't depend on it if I were you” Zhang says.

”God damnit!” Siran yells, ”we're so close! All we need is support from maybe a couple nations and we can stop this conflict before it grows too big to handle!”.

After the talk, The Six Guns walk out of the police station again and are met with Ying who offered to escort them back to where they're staying. ”So how'd it go?” Ying asks.

”Like wiping your ass with sandpaper, how do you think it went?” Siran asks angrily.

”Not good then?” Ying asks.

Siran sighs and says, ”No, and now we have to worry about this conflict growing bigger”.

”I'm sorry” Ying says.

”It's not your fault” Siran says, ”we should've seen this coming. At least it felt like we were helping for a while”.

On the news later that night, the same reports were seen in both China and Omnia. Restlessness was stirred amongst civilians as the news reports that ”China has declared its pulling out of the treaty with Omnia as they claim that they can no longer trust Omnia after an attack was launched on their soil. Omnia and The Ly'Lum government claims that China was involved with The Six Guns and that the infamous outlaws were behind the attack on their soil, but China denies any claims of their involvement with The Six Guns. Both sides have agreed to no longer honor the treaty, as both sides declare that the other side is to blame for the attacks on Chinese territory. Meanwhile, rumors about Siran, the leader of The Six Guns continue to spread”.

Later that week, the crew was getting ready to leave. On the day they were leaving, they heard that The Ly'Lum were launching an attack on China and their forces were already in the county again. Before they left, they met with Ying and Zhang again.

”You absolutely can not stay and help with this fight” Zhang demands. ”We can't risk letting everyone know that we've had any involvement with you guys. You need to get out as soon as you can. We won't accept any responsibility that relates to you from here on out”.

Disappointed with Zhang's answer, Siran and the rest leave. Ying escorts them to the nearest airport. ”I'm sorry about all of that” Ying says, ”but don't worry about us! China is stronger than you think. We can take care of ourselves, and I'll be here to make sure our people are safe. You can count on me”.

Without saying a word, Siran holds out his hand with that familiar black smoke-like substance. Ying looks down and asks ”What's that?”.

”It's pure endo” Siran says. ”It regenerates itself, and after absorbed into your body, it'll increase your capacity for magic. This should help you with your fight for your home”.

”Oh, uh, thanks” Ying says, ”but I won't be needing it”.

”Just take the damn thing” Siran says. Ying hesitantly takes the endo from Siran, and then Siran says ”Hopefully we'll meet again”.

As they leave, Satomi was calling someone on her phone. Before she hangs up, you can hear someone on the other side of the call say ”That's fine intel, thanks for your work” before Satomi hangs up.

”Who was that?” Finn asks.

”First Lieutenant Haru Nakamura” Satomi replies, ”squad leader and operative of the SAT (Special Assault Team). I told them about The Ly'Lum making their move on China and our involvement with China as well as their denial of our involvement. With The Ly'Lum attacking so close to home, it'd probably be in their best interest to at least check out the situation, likely leading in Japan directly helping China with this conflict”.

”Why are you doing all of that?” Alex asks.

”It's called covering our asses” Satomi says. ”If they can gain permission from the President of the People's Republic of China to support them under the pretense that The Six Guns sent them, then we'll likely gain their support later. If not, we at least cut down the likelihood of The Ly'Lum succeeding their attack on China”.

”Great idea” Siran says, ”thanks for thinking about that”.

Meanwhile, in Omnia, The Mages are gathered for another conference. ”The attacks on China will proceed as planned” James Markwood says, ”and once the world starts pointing their attention even more at The Six Guns, then it'll be hard for those bounty hunters that they call 'Hunters' to ignore them any longer. Soon, even the Hunters will be after Siran's head. When that happens, then we are already prepared to send in CH-Mk. 217 and pass it off as another Hunter. I call it 'Predator' and it'll likely match Siran in power. The test with normal endo extracted by the MTRU proved that it was controllable, but test with Naris's and Siran's endo extracted by the MTRU proved that the endo alone can control it. It now almost has a mind of its own. It can move and motivate itself, and with a simple change of AI, it'll become fixated on hunting Siran alone”.

”Hasn't the Predator's actions proven it to be out of our control?” Agatha Reese asks.

”With a simple change of AI” Garreth Hood says, ”it'll then have a goal. What it does from there is not our problem”.

”How much magic did you give it?” Jack Tobin asks.

”More than any human can handle, that's for sure” John Steichen replies.

”Everything is going well so far” James says, ”so now we just wait for the opportune moment. We already have our AI prepared, we just need to drop it wherever The Six Guns may be waiting”.