Power Struggle

Chapter Fifteen

  "Ah welcome back," Taz said as John and Sera walked into the room.

  "How'd it go?" Shannon said.

  "You should know, you were watching the live feed. You tell her." John said.

  "Well, we only saw one thing-"

  "It was sloppy?" John said. "Any of us could have and would have done it 1000% cleaner."

  "Ok John, keep in mind we know EXACTLY what we are doing. We have this down to a science. On top of that our Ace went from an 8.0 to a cripple. For how long? A year? She got her ability back and is now working with an ability that's equal to that of me and Shannon." Taz said.

  "As I was saying. We definitely think John did the right thing in holding you back a minute or two. We also think you were slow, and definitely sloppy. He saw you. Not much of you, but he did see you. Not that he remembers much after John kicked his head in."

  "He's not dead." John said.

  "How do you know?"

  "The life didn't drain from his eyes. Unlike that guy when we got jumped coming back from the mall."

  "Wait John-" Sera said.

  "I killed him Sera! Is that what you want to here? It was him or Taz. Unlike him, Kayden will get up tomorrow."

  As the three continued to evaluate and explain things to Sera John continued to be unusually hard on her. She had absolutely no idea why, she knew he was right though. She had made mistakes. While know big deal now, had it been someone else it could have been much worse.

Shannon ended the meeting by saying "we will continue to send you on these types of missions with John as your mentor until we feel you are ready for solo jobs. From there we will evaluate you until we think you can take on harder missions. The faster you listen and learn the faster you will be on your own. The faster you will be a true Crimson Spade.

  A few hours later John and Sera lay side by side in bed.

  "John," Sera asked.

  "Yeah," he responded.

  "Just curious, but why were you so hard on me in there?"

  "As your mentor it's my job, I saw it all first hand, therefore I have the best insight. Especially because I know the situation better then the two watching the screens." John said. "Besides. Once we put thos jackets on we are no longer ourselves. We are not John, Taz, Shannon, or Sera. We are the King, Jack, Queen, and Ace of Spades. The mission comes first. John Doe loves Sera. But the King of Spades feels the Ace is a new comrade. The relationship is professional."

  "Oh, I think-"

  "The Ace did something wrong. It is my job to make it known."

  "I understand." Sera said. The two fell asleep next to each other.

  The next morning no mention of the nights events. Just the way it should be. With Wellston being about an hour from Lock Haven the news of the kings brutal beating was definitely a discussion point if the school. And as John had thought the kid talked. People knew the Crimson Spades were behind it.

  Even Isen had wrote about it in the paper. Headlining Crimson Spades Strike Again it was the first time John had ever actually read the school paper.

  "How's it feel to be in the paper?" Shannon asked John when she was sure they were alone.

  "Why do you think I'm a spade?" He said suddenly serious. Shannon knew, atleast thought she knew he was just checking to make sure it was clear. "Get your ass back here!" John said taking off running. Shannon swallowed hard realizing someone could have heard her.

  When John caught the stranger it turned out to be Terrence. The lie tier who can turn invisible.

  "Why the hell were you ease dropping on me?" John said angrily.

  "I wasn't I swear!"

  "Bullshit! Why would be invisible right where I was talking to the queen!"

   "I was hiding! You scare me!"

  "I scare myself what the he is your point? Besides if you want to hide why be invisible RIGHT NEXT TO ME!"

  "John, let him go." Shannon said.
 
  "You realize-"

  "Yes, I do. We can deal with it later." Shannon said.

  "Taz's dorm after school." John said releasing his hold on Terrence.

  After school John and Sera showed up at Taz's room. John knocked on the door.

  "Tas-" was heard from the other side of the door.

  "-Chizzie" John replied. The door promptly swung open and John and Sera walked inside. Sera was very confused. "Change it to Besh-lo." or Iron Fish. John said.

  "What Tas-Chizzie not good enough?" Shannon asked.

  "We may have been compromised. Swallow is no long good.

  "John that is the only war time code the Japanese have not broke during World War 2."

  "Tas-Chizzie could be compromised. Change the code to Besh-Lo."

  "Fine, ok."

  "So any idea on how to unfuck this situation?" John said.

  "Terrence is part of the paper. He'll probably try to publish it. Me and Sera should be fine, but You two will most likely be exposed." Taz said.

  "I'll pay the press team a visit. I won't let Cecile publish the article." Shannon said.

  "No, we all go. She has problems with authority. We take her out of the room and talk. The last thing we need are people getting ideas." John said.

  "What if she still refuses?" Shannon said.

  "We beat her into agreement." John replied.

  "I think that Sean kid is on the press team," Sera said.

  "What are you thinking?" Taz asked.

  "Replace Cecile with someone who will listen to us." Sera responded.

  "Put a puppet in power. Good thinking.

  "Well, we go tomorrow morning. Deal with the situation then, if Cecile refuses, we beat her, then give little Sean her position. That call will definitely cause out crys  though."

  "We've talked a bit more in school, he actually seems to be a good leader. I think we can get people to follow him."

  "Cool, we have a game plan. Now it's time to set it In motion."

  With this the group spit. John and Sera went back to there dorm where they promptly fell asleep.

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Just an FYI the code words were actual historical code words used by Navajo Code Talkers during the second world war.

Tas-Chizzie (swallow) code for Torpedo Planes

Besh-Lo (Iron Fish) code for Submarine

That's all for this little informational section. Hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for the next Chapter out soon!

           ~WindTalker