Anti-antithesis

Before the aliens arrived, conspiracy theories tended to focus on the ancient past and old civilizations and how humanity was being controlled by lizard people, or that the Earth was hollow or flat. People didn't trust governments or scientists, and only one of those is still valid, tbh.

Once the aliens started warring on Earth, a lot of those theories disappeared. The International Flat Earth and Lizard Masters cruise vanishing in 2029 with a huge chunk of those voices certainly helped. But one theory that never vanished, and had even been proven in part a few different times, was that the elite of the world, the one percenters, all worked together to do things. Shady backroom deals, media manipulation, the works. It's still happening, just more overt.

-NotACorp pirate broadcast, 2055

Entering Black Log's office, I was once more reminded of my own and how bare it was. Morrigan would send over a Building team after my meeting was over in order to actually make the space mine. I had confirmed with her that we could install a portal between this office and my home on the way over, and I decided to have it link to my bedroom. We could make it so the portal only opened to certain individuals, and I would make sure to have an Assault Swarm stationed in the office as an emergency measure.

Considering this meeting was a more formal affair, at least I was approaching it as such, I decided to wear my formal wear that I wore to Blizzard’s Gala. I left my mask off, however. As I moved to sit on the blobby furniture, a blue jellyfish hologram appeared in front of me. “Morning, War Games. How you doing today?”

“I am doing very well, Black Log. And yourself?” I said, giving a polite smile.

“Ehh.” He moved his tentacles in a so-so manner, which was amusing to watch. “With all that has happened in the last week, I could be better. I'm missing my shows, you know.”

“Yeah, the last week certainly has been a lot. And, as I'm sure you have guessed, I do plan on talking about some of those things today.”

The Jellyfish sagged over and deflated a bit, sighing. “Yeah. Yeah, I know. The events of the other day are extremely regrettable. I- I have managed to mark every employee that is related to this issue, but I have run into a problem that I need your help to solve. Um, I forgot, would you like something to drink?”

I raised my eyebrow in question, but then my face cycled through confusion and slight shock, before returning to neutral. “Sure. Some water would be nice.”

His small table Bot arrived with a tall glass of water, which I took a sip from, nodding for him to continue. “So, Doma left behind a few protocols as she figured that something akin to this might happen. Not the kidnapping, mind, but rather a complete betrayal of the employees and managers. She was the one who played the political game in office to such a high degree, that everyone should have remained under her thumb. And seeing the blackmail file she shared with me, these idiots should have remained, well, maybe not loyal, but at least compliant. I know of nine managers and administrators who were paid off by Bestlé through decently hidden means, though. I had to enlist some help of my comrades in Intel to fully track everything, but I have the evidence. The problem is four of them fled the state last night, and three of them were found dead in their homes. The last two are hiding in the city in a bunker somewhere. I have put out bounties for the four who fled, using Doma’s slush funds for it, so I have no doubt they will be caught soon.”

“But you need Outsider's help in finding the last two, because they probably fell within the twenty percent of the city that is not monitored, right?.” I finished.

The jellyfish nods. “Yeah. Would it be alright if I commissioned her for the task?”

I thought about that for a moment. He asked to commission her, not asked if she could do it. Making it an official contract, and the first official display of what the Monster Box PMC could do. I turn to my virtual meeting room and see that Outsider is already there.

<How do you feel about it, Outsider? Want to give this type of job a try?> I asked.

I saw her face widen in a smile that was just a bit too big for her face, and her eyes of darkness swirled. {Oh, yes.} Her voice modulated in such a way that it sounded like there were multiple of her speaking, just slightly off from each other. It sent a shiver through me. {I would be more than pleased to hunt these human shaped refuse, if you would permit it. Oh, and I suppose, if you could ask if they are needed… or if they simply need to disappear.}

“Do you need anything from them once they are found, or is this simply a cleanup job?” I asked aloud.

“Hm? Oh, I need some biometrics from them in order to access some of their accounts.” he responded.

“And those would be?”

The jellyfish paused for a moment, but answered. “Blood, finger prints, and eyes. No voice identification, as those are too easy to spoof.”

“Alright. Call Bahamut and set up the contract. I expect Outsider will be done before Monday.” I said, taking another sip of water.

“Huh. You are a terrifying kid, you know that?”

I tilt my head as my face changes to one of slight confusion. “I mean, sure? I am a Samurai, so I can see that, but what makes you say that now?”

“Your whole vibe changed once I brought up work. Like, before it felt like you were being polite with your body language and tone, but the moment I brought up commissioning Outsider, you went cold. Your posture drooped slightly, your face went flat, and your tone… Man, you sounded like Hilda when she first started out here. Doma had to work extra hard to brighten that bitch up.”

Did I? I looked back over my memory from my Scouts perspective and, huh. I guess I slipped into work mode. Wonder how often I did that recently. Shame I can't code worth a damn, otherwise I would set a program to scrub through my memory footage, or even alert me to when that happened so I could try and, you know, not. Not like I could ask Cody to do that, too weird.

I can alert you if you slip into such a state again, if you would prefer.

<Please and thank you.> Synaptic is the best.

I know.

“Sorry about that, Black Log. Old habits and all, ya’ know?” I said as I leaned back into the couch thing, taking another sip of water

“Yeah. Habits. It's… it's not great that that is a habit you have, I'm not going to lie. I mean, I keep up with the other kids who were rescued, you know? And they are, just… you and your family are the outlier, Victor. I want you to know that.”

I… I choose not to continue this topic. I know how lucky we are, how our broken fixed each other. So I decided to shift topics. “So, I have a corporation related to food that is simply running itself right now. BeanTech is technically owned by my brother right now, but that's a placeholder thing. Do you have a company for me to transfer the holdings to?”

The jellyfish wiggled a bit violently in place. “Alright. Smooth like sandpaper, that was, but sure. Yeah, BeanTech. We have consolidated the others into New Arizona Food and Water and have placed it under some very, extremely well vetted people and systems. I will send some paperwork to Bahamut to initialize the transfer, if you like. We have already secured distribution for your hydroponics food, focusing on the undercity first and foremost as their food situation is, quite frankly, abysmal. Amazingly, your facilities are able to fully take care of the undercity, but only them. The last census indicated that they had fifty million residents spread throughout three layers, and we know there are more who didn't take part or stayed hidden. We are working with the locals down there, of course. You know how they get about accepting outside help."

Ah, yeah. The undercity. The slums, even if Bub did all he could to make sure it was, at least, structurally sound. The gangs and locals only accepted that little bit of help after literally years of Bub doing what he could to convince then that he was not installing any spyware to monitor them. They refused any bots, too.

“Well, that's good news. Should I expand our surveillance to include New Arizona Food and Water? Just to keep an eye on things and make sure exploitation and stuff doesn't happen.”

The jellyfish bobbed its head(?). “That would be great. Better to trust impartial AI with this sort of thing. I am hiring a decent number of agents to replace the idiots who leaked shit, but they will only be given access to a limited amount of the new system, a heavily monitored portion, mind you. We do this in order to show those who know, our higher ups and such, that we are paying attention to the city and its problems, yet also heavily restricting what can be sold. Cause, information will always leak.”

“And by keeping track of who buys what or who asks for what, we can know who to start digging into what. Plus, we keep the actually vital stuff under a much stricter lock and key.” I finished for him.

You're slipping.

I shift myself to sit up.

The jellyfish snapped(?) It's tentacles. “Exaxtamundo, War Games.”

“Could you explain why you hadn't done that until now?” I said, narrowing my eyes.

The jellyfish rubbed its head. “That was a decision of necessity, unfortunately. While I have been here for years, I was not the one who set up the system, neither were my brothers in intel, either. And I could not do any huge changes with no cause, due to the civilian side of things and the politics there. But, with this whole situation, I have been given carte blanche to overhaul everything. I can swear to you, this will never happen again.”

“Well, that's good. I'm sure Outsider will be more than happy to assist. Her minions are pretty smart and should be a nice upgrade to everything.”

“Minions?” The jellyfish asked, turning ninety degrees.

“Oh, right." I chuckle. "My commanders have dedicated units called minions, unique to each of them. Outsider's are Ravens wearing clothes. They are pretty smart and kinda combat capable, so they can help defend civilians in an emergency.”

“Wait, Ravens wearing clothes? I haven't received any reports of those around the city.” His voice sounded both confused as well as intrigued.

“Well, yeah. They can become invisible. We plan on having some of them eventually reveal themselves once we hit a certain density of them around the city, to get people used to seeing them. I, uh… will have to do a press conference eventually in order to both introduce myself and my PMC." I scratched the back of my head, a small amount of anxiety filled me at that thought. "We plan on introducing the Ravens at that time, saying that they will be an emergency warning system for antithesis, as well as public cameras for crime. They will only be visible on the streets and public sky bridges, even though they will be in plenty of buildings and the undercity as well.”

“You want to build up public trust and favor with the Ravens in order for them to be a unique feature of New Phoenix, rather than a new Big Brother, right?” The Jellyfish finished for me.

“Exactly.” I say, snapping my finger at him. “Once we have enough people trained, we can have rapid response teams act like the police forces of old. Bahamut also wanted to overhaul the legal system, but I put a stop to that. I would wait for Doma to return before I dare to touch the justice system.”

“Good call, but also not needed. The courts here in New Phoenix are well protected and funded. Damian makes sure of that.”

“Damian?”

“Ah, right. High Noon. His father is a defence attorney and his wife is a judge. Because of that, our judiciary is decently bribe proof, and if anyone tries to threaten either prosecutors or defense attorneys, High Noon acts to prevent that.”

“Alright, that is good to know.” I chuckled at a thought. “Crazy how Alice ended up how she did, if her family is a bunch of laywers.”

“I know, right! But what can you do?”

Shaking my head, I said, “I have a few other things I wish to discuss, if you don't mind.”

“Heh. A better transition than before. Sure, what's up.”

“Well, the next bit is rather… political. And I am very bad at politics.”

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