Chapter 23 - Diversion

Estimated reading time: ±8 minutes

The Legion and the Black Eagles still allow themselves to put the population at risk, they have stormed a few banks simultaneously. The Guild must act quickly if they want to stop them once and for all.

The only information we had was the banks attacked by the Legion groups and the Black Eagles, and that they all wanted to see me or they would kill the hostages. They destroyed all the cameras so that I couldn't connect to them, the disabled ones wouldn't have been a problem for me and that Drake knew it. And anyway, I worked on a spy system with mini-cameras on small drones.

Wamien: As soon as a team is ready, you leave, we have the green light for customs and I have put in an ID code so we can get through. Also, I placed mini drone spies in the cars, just arrive near the banks and I would organize myself to send them for recon and know who is in which bank. Sam: It's okay Wam! Let's get going.

I look at Sam and wish him good luck and he goes with Louann, Tim, Kameron and Marie. Sarah, Sandrine, Gaïa and Thalie left 20 minutes later. Bailey, Kemyanne, Hiro and Jack leave 10 minutes later. In less than 40 minutes, everyone left, and I, for my part, look through my mini drones as big as bees. Sam's team is 30 minutes from the first bank, Thalie's team arrived in 20 minutes, Bailey's team arrived in 35 minutes and Tiana's team arrived in one hour. I sigh and cross my fingers to make sure everything goes well.

Clara: Thank you for listening to me.
Wamien: That's normal, sweetheart. We don't know where Flynn is, so I'd better avoid any chance of falling in front of him and... melting down or whatever.
Clara: There, you got it all.

Clara comes to caress my shoulders and snuggle up against me. We're having a little chat while we wait for the teams to arrive. Thalie's team arrives first near their bank. Gaïa rolls down the car window and lets my drones out, which I send out for scouting. As I sneak into the ventilation ducts, I end up in the bank's lobby. No one seemed hurt, but everyone was tied up and kept calm, I quickly identified Jon, Kaya and Kyna. I text Sarah to inform her of who was there and how many people were there.

Sarah: So there's Jon, Kaya and Kyna. The hostages are with them in the lobby and Wamien confirms to me that they all have wrist and foot ties.
Sandrine: What is their power again?
Gaïa: Jon, elasticity, Kaya, ice and Kyna, succubus, or it's the other way around, I don't know...
Thalie: It's the other way around, Kaya is the succubus and Kyna the one who handles the ice.
Sandrine: Well, what do we do then?

Sarah sends me a message to find out what they can do against them.

Sarah: Wamien says that other than waiting for GenCorp's agents to arrive with a prototype inhibitor gas, not much. The important thing is to know who's there and if the hostages are all right.

In the meantime, Sam's team is coming. Sam does like Gaia, he lets my mini-drones out, this time it's easy to know who's there. From the vents, we hear Saeko complaining that she wants to kill people and Ray screaming that he has a plan and not to touch the hostages. When my drones come out of the ducts, I see Drake, standing near Saeko, as if they were going out together, Ray putting the hostages in line with guns. He is clearly controlling them to fire in case of problems with the police and Kellan who was sitting on the ground waiting for something to happen.

Bailey's team arrives, shortly after, at the bank that is being robbed. I can see that Renji, Gwen, and Yuu are present in this bank, which means that there is a good chance that Flynn, Suna and Hug will be in the last bank, the one where Tiana, Alexis, Theo and Isao go.

The GenCorp agents come with the inhibitor prototype, it has been tested and according to Darakei's calculations, it should replicate the same behavior as the gas before, except that this time it has managed to make it colorless.

The negotiator enters the bank that Sarah, Sandrine, Gaïa and Thalie are watching. They hadn't seen him.

Wamien: "Girls, did you see the negotiator come in?"
Sarah: Oh? Girls, do you know that the negotiator broke into the bank?
Gaia: What? No, we didn't see it! I'm going to check it out.

Gaïa gets out of the car and goes to the police showing a card that said she had the right to be there.

Gaia: Where is the negotiator?
Police officer: Inside, he does his job.
Gaïa: He is from GenCorp, right?
Police officer: Uh, yeah, I think so.
Gaïa: I hope he is from GenCorp. Otherwise, he'll get in trouble.
Police officer: We'll make sure he's a GenCorp guy.
Gaïa: Thank you.

Gaïa goes back to the other girls. Journalists were taking pictures of the scene and it was the same as other banks, already claiming that new humans were already trying to use their powers to enrich themselves and kill people.

It takes two hours before there are rifle shots from the Black Eagles. It is civilians who are hostage shooting at the police officers trying to enter Tim stood in front of the police to avoid letting the bullets hit them. In fact, while the shots were being fired, the Black Eagles were running away. The same goes for Jon, Kaya, Kyna, Renji, Gwen and Yuu's group. All that was left was Flynn, Suna and Hug holding the place. Demanding over and over again to see Wamien and face Flynn.

Tiana: You're an asshole! Wamien will never be in front of you, you don't deserve to have him there!
Flynn: It's not over yet! We'll find out where you're hiding and rule the world after we've killed you all!
Tiana: In your dreams, you poor bastard!

Alexis raises her hands and sends objects from all sides to Flynn, Suna and Hug to try to control them. Theo and Suna sent electric waves to each other, Suna had to pass through the electrical sockets and other devices, but Theo it was direct. It diffuses the waves towards Hug who quickly begins to feel the burned.

Hug: Ouch ouch ouch! I'll catch fire if it continues!

Hug retreats, Suna and Flynn soon escape as well. Tiana enters the bank and checks to see if they've left.

In the end, their plan had failed, they hoped that Wamien had been there to intervene and try to kill him. Flynn was convinced that by eliminating Wamien, he would eliminate The Guild. This was often the case in the stories he had read, eliminates the head and the rest will perish at the same time.

Wamien sighs and sends instructions to his friends to make sure that civilians are well. Thalie found the body of the negotiator in question, he had been slit his throat, clearly, the inhibitor hadn't worked. Darakei had to be informed of the situation. Journalists had taken tons of pictures, there would be as many anti-new human texts and for new humans, and in a few rare cases, new humans will write articles about what happened.

A journalist approaches Tiana, she has a microphone and her phone.

Journalist: What is your name and your team's name?
Thalie: Uh, my name? Why do you want to know that?
Journalist: What a question for the newspaper!
Thalie: We're from The Guild.

The journalist notes the name on her phone and asks Thalie a few more questions. Thalie doesn't want to answer and says they have to leave.

The Guild teams left the area to return to the base and make sure no one followed them.

I'm talking to Darakei on the phone.

Wamien: Yeah, Thalie says the inhibitor you sent with the negotiator didn't work because he got his throat cut.
Darakei: What? Seriously? I'm gonna have to rethink my formulas, then, damn it. I was sure it would work.
Wamien: I also understand that we will have to find names, because the journalists asked for the name of the group and the names of the members of The Guild.
Darakei: Yeah, it's true you're going to have to deal with journalists and all the media talk now. In my case, everyone already knows my name.
Wamien: It's also normal, you spoke in front of the spotlight at a press conference.
Darakei: Right, well, I'll leave you alone, I have a lot of work to do.
Wamien: All right, talk to you later, Darakei.
Darakei: Goodbye, Wamien.

I hang up and look at Clara.

Wamien: I'm serious when I have to find names for myself.
Clara: And costumes.
Wamien: Costumes?
Clara: Of course, I'd talk to Kemyanne about it, I'm sure she'll be happy to help with that.
Wamien: Costumes, like uniforms, you mean?
Clara: Exactly!

Clara comes to give me a kiss on the forehead to make me smile. I'm going outside to wait for the team to come back. I think about all this, fake names, costumes. And especially the fact that we have to stop The Legion and the Black Eagles once and for all.