Anonymous Dark Britain (A Watch_Dogs Legion crossover)

53. Espionage 101

Present time...

Meanwhile, in the DedSec HQ, Eddie Green is there, with all he can find, Zoisite and the heroes, Declan and some new gems, David and the Crystal Gems, Adora and her friends and of course, Erin, Mia, Aventurine, Cindy, Venus, Sophia and Jessica. Oh, and the American DedSec, Simon's group. There, they're watching a call on Bagley's screen, and the call is in fact a video call from Richard Malik.

Richard: "I'm here. Are you ready to begin?"

Bagley: "Here's the gist: Malik's intelligence checks out. A rogue faction of SIRS officers framed DedSec for the bombings to consolidate power over the government. But now they've noticed that some people are standing up to the new order and they're blaming you."

Richard: "I believe that these are the people you call Zero-Day. I don't know their names but it's safe to assume they have a ringleader. And in my experience overseas, removing the leader--

Glimmer: "So, we take out the leader, we take out the rest of this group, right? But um...why now than before?"

Richard: "2 weeks ago, a shell company connected with Zero-Day's operations imported 40 kilograms of Semtex from an old Soviet bloc depot, but it never left London. Which means Zero-Day is planning a bombing that will make those earlier bombings look like a bonfire. And I think I know why."

Bagley: "As we're all now painfully aware, false flag attacks are a common propaganda tool for despots. Kill a load of people, and the rest fall into line behind whoever says they won't let it happen again. In this case, Zero-Day."

Richard: "Which means we both want to discover who's pulling Zero-Day's strings and stop them."

Bagley: "We need to get hold of the personnel dossiers of anyone connected with the earlier bombings and their cover-up. Then Malik and I can analyze their common connections and work out who's in charge of Zero-Day."

Richard: "And I'll be on the comm to observe."

The briefing ends and Sabine is on the line and Eddie leaves to get a drink.

Sabine: "So if Malik's right, Zero-Day are some kind of shadowy cabal of spies who blew up half the city to secretly take control of the government. But now they're pissed off that someone's standing up to them so they're going to do it again. That's awful."

Bagley: "I agree! You'd think they'd come up with something besides another bombing. Bit of a double beat, isn't it?"

Apatite: "So what are you insinuating Bagley, it's our fault since we're standing up to Zero-Day?"

Sabine: "Cut that victim-blaming shit. I'd rather get blown up a thousand times than lie down just so some wannabe tyrants can stamp on my face."

Apatite: "Hm. So, who's going to head over to SIRS HQ?"

Simon: "I will."

Apatite: "Wh-what?"

Simon: "I'll do it."

Apatite: "Then I'll come, shotgun."

Simon: "Right. Let's go."

They leave the DedSec HQ and head to the surface where Simon hacks into a cab and he gets inside it.