Symon stood in front of the ornate white doors. Two Vida Guardians held their posts on either side. They were his people. He had many others throughout the Cathedral, fulfilling his backup plan.
He could not bring himself to open the doors. Not yet. Something held him back, but what? The plan was in motion. His reasoning was just. Why was he hesitating?
Suddenly, Symon heard voices coming from behind the door. The voices were quiet, but they made him shudder.
"I'll begin, shall I?" said someone. "Why wasn't this trial resolved at a deposition?"
"I was wondering the same thing," someone answered. "Joe, Naisha? You were present at the depositions. Care to comment?"
"There was just one deposition," said Joe. "And Symon butchered Rin."
"Or she allowed herself to be butchered," said Naisha. "So Symon wouldn't treat her seriously."
"That can't be legal, can it?"
"It's not," said Joe. "However, when the trial is a circus - all you need is to get the applause. Plain and simple. We cannot go out there and call foul play now. Nobody will listen. It's too late."
Symon closed his eyes. Applause. Such a simple plan, yet so powerful. While he relied on the bureaucracy of the Church, on a sure verdict backed by centuries of precedents, his opponents went with simple applause. Brilliant.
He should have foreseen it. Were there other media circuses before? Plenty. The Church had rendered the right decisions regardless and dealt with the public uproar later.
However, now was the perfect storm. The continuing war. The disabled defenses. Sergey Sage. His own historically bad performance at the court...
Rin played him good. He almost admired her for it.
"Also, we were the ones who made this whole thing into a circus," said Naisha from behind the door. "We can't turn around and blame Rin for playing dirty."
"When you say we, you mean the Church as a whole," said Joe, "That's fair. But we all know who in the Church is to blame for this mess. I want to put these knotty old hands on Symon's throat—"
Symon felt a sudden surge of determination. He opened his eyes and knocked on the door. Without waiting for an answer, he entered.
He found himself inside the sacred all-white deliberation room at the head of a long table of arbiters.
"You aren't supposed to be here!" exclaimed Naisha.
"The circumstances are dire, so we have to bend the rules," said Symon.
"The circumstances are dire, alright!" exclaimed Joe, clenched his hands in fists, and stood up angrily. "What the FUCK was that, Symon?"
Everybody in the room looked at Joe in shock. Symon did not show his surprise.
"Look at me," Joe nodded. "Swearing. I haven't said a foul word in seven decades, Symon, but today you gave me a good reason! You're an embarrassment to the Church! This is the most botched, pathetic performance in court I've ever seen! Do you realize what your stubbornness will cost us now?!"
"I can sense the filth in him," Naisha quoted Symon, rubbing her forehead. "You must be, the way youngsters put it, high out of your holy mind."
"We claimed we could do so for centuries," said Symon.
"But never have we tried to demonstrate this ability in front of the whole city!" yelled Joe. "Great! Another white lie went bust! Exactly what we need right now! Have you seen the polls after we left the courtroom? Ninety-two percent are in favor of letting the spawn and his defenders go! Ninety-two!"
"All of it doesn't change the fact that the spawn has to die," said Symon. "We must save our city. I'm here to make sure you'll make the right decision."
"This is outrageous!" said Naisha, getting up and flipping her long hair over her shoulder. "You can't expect us to render a decision in your favor! Not with the whole city up against us! We do that – we might as well sign away our judicial powers to the Ministries right now! If we're still alive to do so!"
"I didn't ask you to decide the case," noted Symon, "Only to decide to kill the spawn and his defendants. With no verdict."
The faces of Joe and Naisha twisted with rage.
"Who do you think you are?" asked Joe. "Guards!"
Symon heard metallic steps behind his back.
"We need a bold move," Symon raised his hands, asking for permission to finish. "A decisive move. We need to restore the defenses. We need to kill the four traitors and the spawn to do that. We need to appease the Gods."
The room looked at him in silence. He went on:
"Think about it. The people are angry, sure. However, once the defenses go back up, the war ends, the material crisis ends, Sergey Sage shuts up, and everyone will be forced to admit that they were grossly misguided by the Ministries. Not only will we not lose our judicial power – but we'll also solidify it for centuries ahead."
"And if we're wrong," said Naisha, "The people will tear the whole Church and us to pieces."
Such a lack of faith at the highest levels!
"You don't think we're wrong, do you, Matriarch Naisha?" asked Symon.
"I'm not taking that risk, Symon," Naisha said through her teeth.
"Too bad it isn't up to you," said Symon. "Who's in favor of my plan?"
Everybody but Patriarch Joe and Matriarch Naisha raised their hands. All of them were his people — some things Rin could not stack in her favor.
"Gods help us, you're going to do this," said Joe. "What has become of us?"
"Maybe our critics are right," said Naisha. "Maybe we deserve to go down. When was the last time any of you opened the Bible of Balance? What you're doing is an abomination to Gods!"
"Abomination to Gods?" Symon flared with anger. "The spawn is an abomination to Gods! Treason is an abomination to Gods! What happened to this city is an abomination to Gods! What happened to my daughter is an abomination to Gods!!!"
He thought of Anna. He dove into the treasure chest of good memories he shared with her. This time, he remembered how she hugged him when she got admitted to the Boot Camps. She was mad at him for days about something, but when she got a letter, she kicked the door into his office, leaped over his desk, and knocked him on the floor with a hug. At first, Symon was frustrated, but then he got infected with her joy. Her joy was always so infectious.
Symon's rage subsided, yet his pain flared. He continued calmly:
"What we are doing," he pointed at other arbiters in the room with both hands, "Is the right thing."
He nodded to the guards behind his back.
"Take Matriarch Naisha and Patriarch Joe to their chambers and make sure they don't get in the way of divine justice."
***
The atmosphere in the courtroom was lax. The audience was chatting and laughing, pointing fingers at the prosecution bench. The fact that Bishop Berg, the plaintiff, darted out of the room amused them the most as they heckled and verbally harassed those who remained.
Sonya had to use all her military training not to join the fun. The sounds of the crowd were music to her ears. Artur, Tom, and Dan looked like high college roommates chilling on a lazy evening. All was good.
The only person on the defense bench not happy was Rin. She was nervous, sitting with her hands locked in front of her, both knees jerking.
"You killed it, Rin," Tom said and patted her on the shoulder. "It was a thing of beauty! How did the worst lawyer in the world turn into the best in two weeks?"
Rin remained silent.
"Oh, you botched the deposition on purpose!" Tom's eyes and smile widened. "That's brilliant! You lured Symon into a trap and embarrassed him before the whole city..."
Tom trailed off. His euphoria deflated, and his face changed with a sudden realization.
"You could've ended this whole thing on our first deposition," he said. "You deliberately pushed it to trial!"
The ugly puzzle was arranged in Sonya's head too. Tom was right! The whole trial could have been avoided!
"Is that true?" Sonya asked. "It is true, isn't it? Why did you do that?"
Rin kept ignoring them. Sonya and her friends stared at her silently, which did not bother Rin.
"What's taking them so long?" Rin broke the silence. "How long does it take to come back with a guilty verdict?"
Sonya held her breath. Rin planned for them to be sentenced to death. Then why bother pulling off such an amazing defense?
"What're you talking about?" asked Dan. "There's no way they'll convict us now! The city will massacre them!"
Rin said nothing. She looked at her wristband and saw the timer go past the forty-five-minute mark. She scoffed strangely, like she knew something would happen, yet she could not believe it when it did.
"What's going on?" asked Sonya. Flaring up with anger at Rin's silence, she reached over Tom and punched her in the shoulder. "Answer me!"
Rin gasped, rubbing the sore spot. Her face contorted with a variety of unreadable emotions. Then, she spoke:
"Ok, listen to me very carefully. Vida Guard is about to come into the room. They'll come up with a bullshit excuse to take you away. Whatever you do - don't let them."
"What?" Dan shook his head. "What do you mean?"
"Why would we say no?" asked Tom. "What are they planning to do - shoot us? After everything?"
"Rin..." Artur tried to pitch in.
Sonya, however, had enough of obscure language and half-truths.
"Listen," she hissed at Rin in the meanest sergeant whisper she could muster. "You want us to cooperate? You must come clean! We have a much better chance of fulfilling your plan if we know what the fuck it is!"
"Keep it down!" exclaimed Rin and glanced back at the audience.
The crowd was too focused on harassing the prosecution bench to pay them any mind.
"This is not about you," said Rin. "You and I are just pawns in a much bigger game."
A new wave of heckles pierced Sonya's ears. Annoyed, she glared at the audience, then at the meek prosecution bench.
Suddenly, the sounds of the crowd got muffled in her head. The situation became crystal clear.
"It's a hit job on the Church," she said, turning back to Rin. "You propped up the case, dragged it all the way here, paraded it before the whole city. All of it to humiliate the Church."
Rin closed her eyes for a moment. Her iron defender persona began to crack. She looked vulnerable. Guilty.
"Who's behind it all?" asked Sonya. "The Ministries?"
"You better stop talking," said Rin. "I advise it as your lawyer."
That's all the confirmation Sonya needed.
"You keep talking then," said Sonya, boiling with rage and showing none of it. "What is going on right now?"
"Look," said Rin. "The Supreme Court is stacked against you. I made sure of it."
"You what?!" Artur managed to exclaim quietly. "You can't be serious!"
"You gotta be the worst..." began Tom.
"The only even-headed people there are Joe and Naisha, the omniscient arbiters," Rin pushed through the protests. "Because my other clients did not want the trial itself to be compromised. You will be sentenced to death. It's inevitable."
"You motherf..." Tom started, but Rin cut him off again.
"Then, you would be rescued by the city. This incident would end the Church's monopoly on judicial power, thus removing the last legal lock from the Shrine of Genesis. We need to get there and restore our defenses no matter what. The city's survival depends on it."
"Fair enough," said Sonya, clenching her fists again. "However, by the looks of it, it's not happening?"
"The ultimate goal stays," said Rin. "Only the play changed. It just got more dangerous for you."
"What's the new play?" asked Sonya.
"The Church will attempt to execute you without the verdict," said Rin. "They'll gamble on the Shield and the Turrets springing back to life and swinging the public opinion in the other direction."
"They wouldn't dare," said Sonya, feeling chills.
"Oh, wouldn't they?" asked Rin, having the audacity to be sarcastic. "You should be thankful for this trial. It brought the city to your side. Had I dismissed the case, some yahoo patriot would have killed you a long time ago just in case it would have helped the city defenses! Now all you have to deal with are fringe religious radicals."
Rin looked straight ahead, conflict raging in her.
"Thanks a lot!" said Dan, also sarcastically.
"She has a point," said Tom.
Sonya looked at Tom in disbelief.
"You aren't on her side, are you?" said Sonya. "She fucked us!"
"Look, the play is screwed up, no question about it," said Tom. "But with the whole city at stake? And we would be better off too!"
"She should have brought this plan to us!" Sonya whispered angrily. "She should have asked for our consent! This is bullshit!"
"I couldn't risk it," said Rin, not looking at them. "Besides, your reactions during the trial had to be genuine."
Sonya was ready to bet that Rin had never been so close to getting slapped across the face.
"That's gotta violate half of the Lawyers' League conduct rules!" Sonya said instead.
"You have no idea," said Rin bitterly. "My professional integrity was the price for this thing to work."
For the first time, Sonya heard a hint of shame in Rin's voice.
"It better work," said Rin. "It better-"
Before Rin could get any absolution for her sins from Sonya, the courtroom doors flew open, and a group of twenty Vida Guardians walked in.
Sonya's blood turned to ice as she watched her potential execution squad marching down at her. The guardians formed a solid wall of steel and weapons in front of the defense bench.
The crowd behind Sonya quieted down.
"Follow us," said the sergeant of the group.
***
Valentina hid Alexander in an empty classroom at the Pyramid. Awaiting the trial's results, she killed time by teaching the kid how to talk.
The boy restlessly conquered the hearing world. It turned out that he already knew the alphabet and was a competent reader. His comprehension of the speech made good leaps every day. However, one thing lagged behind the rest - talking. It proved to be the most challenging.
"Ear," said Valentina and pointed to a word written in holograms on the wall.
"Eeyer," Alexander repeated.
Valentina sat down in front of him and pointed at her mouth.
"Ear," she said again slowly, exaggerating every movement of her mouth, tongue, and lips.
Alexander paid close attention to her, bobbing his head, trying to get a closer look at the tongue's movement. Even though he had average learning abilities, he possessed the attention span and patience of five seasoned scholars. Throughout the lessons, the child never wanted to take a break, even hated when Valentina forced him to take one, and was a tireless learner, spending days absorbing every bit of information he could.
"Eear," said Alexander.
"Good, but make E shorter," Valentina said and signed. "Ear."
"Ear," said Alexander.
"Good job!" said Valentina and then pointed at her ear. "That's an ear! You know what it does! Hear. Repeat after me. H-e-a-r."
"Hear," said Alexander.
He turned to the wall.
"I hear," he said.
"You do!" said Valentina.
Then, she heard it too: heavy footsteps of several people sounded in the corridor outside.
"Hide," she said.
The boy knew this word well. He jumped off his tiny chair and hid under the table. Valentina went to the bulletproof teacher's desk, pulled an assault rifle from under it, and ducked.
The steps stopped by the door. Knocks followed.
"Vida Guard, open up," said the voice.
Valentina squeezed the rifle tighter.
A gun fired outside, and an armor-clad body dropped to the floor with a clank. Quick steps sounded, followed by an avalanche of gunfire. Even through the closed door, the fight was deafening. Bullets bounced off the walls and doors as muffled screams and curses filled the room.
Valentina checked on Alexander. He was still under the table, his hands pressed against his ears. Good instincts.
Just as suddenly as the fight began, it stopped.
"Blissful Nemesis," a familiar voice yelled from the outside.
Valentina remotely unlocked the door using her wristband. Zhen, in black armor, winded yet unharmed, jumped into the room. He pointed a weird-looking assault rifle outside, ensuring that nobody was coming with him. He then shut the door.
"Where's the kid?" asked Zhen. "Is he alright?"
"He's here, and he's fine," said Valentina. "Backup plan then?"
"Backup plan," confirmed Zhen. "Is that a functioning classroom? With the security in place?"
"Yeah, I checked," said Valentina, demonstrating her gun.
"Good," said Zhen. "Dammit, I told the Patriarch we'd be better off at the Cathedral's top! Now we got five units scouting the floors, all from VG. They dragged the Enlightened into it too. We aren't going to sneak past—"
Somebody knocked on the door.
"Open up, you piece of shit! You'll pay for this! You hear me?! I'll butcher the spawn in front of you and make you choke on his blood! Where are the damn bombs?!"
Valentina jumped under the tiny table and pulled shocked Alexander out. She ran to the back of the room and hit the wall in a specific spot. Zhen jumped in just in time as a metal curtain fell from the ceiling, separating a portion of the room with a food printer and plenty of space for them all.
"Lie on the floor and cover your ears!" Valentina said and signed to Alexander.
The boy went to the corner, lay down, and looked at her. She covered her ears and nodded at the kid, who, understanding the cue, covered his ears too. Both she and Zhen took their spots by the shoot holes and looked outside. The curious kid gingerly got a view out in the same way. Valentina wanted to scold him, but she was out of time.
An explosion shook the walls. The classroom's armored door flew in, and bounced off the teacher's desk, wall, and ceiling, before settling on the floor. A group of people in white power armor rushed in.
Valentina killed several attackers with armor-piercing rounds through their heads. Zhen's gun, strangely but reassuringly, fired blue flashes of light, killing and setting the targets and everyone standing behind them on fire. The fire alarm sounded, and sprinklers kicked in, showering the new portion of Vida Guardians from above. Valentina ran out of armor-piercing rounds, and the remaining ammo did no damage to Vida Guardians.
While Zhen held back the attack, she rushed to the food printer, yanked it off the wall, exposing the escape chute, and called for Alexander to jump in. He did not hear her and kept looking outside with wide eyes.
Meanwhile, Zhen failed to stop the hordes of advancing enemies on his own. Vida Guardians soon reached the curtain and began placing bombs on it. Valentina rushed to pick Alexander up. She was too late. Explosion.
***
Dazed, Alexander observed the scene.
The metal curtain was blown to pieces. Both Zhen and Valentina lay disfigured on the floor, half-submerged in red water. Their blood was sprayed on all surfaces in long maniacal strokes. The sprinklers in the ceiling worked tirelessly to wash the scene.
Through the haze of dust and steam, Vida Guardians emerged. Alexander remained still. They could not see him. One guardian kicked Valentina and flipped her over. She was missing half her face and her right arm.
Alexander's heart dropped.
"Target three confirmed."
Two guardians together turned Zhen in his heavy armor over. The armor looked almost intact, except it was riddled with small holes. Zhen was not moving.
"Target two confirmed. Plasma shrapnel did him in."
"Finally. The bugger dropped over two hundred of ours. ID?"
Zhen's mask got removed. The pulverized head leaked out in messy chunks and smeared the chest plate. Alexander held back vomit.
"DNA scan shows no name. He is a male, in his forties."
"No name, huh? Plot thickens. Who the hell is he?"
"And who is he working for? The ministries? Not many people have access to power armor."
"That's for the investigation team to figure out."
Grief was burning Alexander up. He felt tears streaming down his cheeks. Zhen and Valentina were dead. They were dead because of him. They put their lives on the line to keep him safe and stayed true to the end.
"What about target one?"
All the white featureless face masks in the room turned to Alexander. He drew his breath and felt a rush of panic. He needed to run. He could not let Zhen and Valentina's sacrifices be in vain. But what could he do against all those armored people?
"Target one is dead."
Dead?
Alexander looked down. There was a small body. Dressed like him. The head was missing, and the rib cage was torn open.
It was him. He blinked in confusion. What was happening?
"Report to the Center. We got him."
"Now what?"
Good question. Alexander was trying to comprehend how he was and was not dead at the same time. He did not see anything, but he felt his body! He felt his beating heart! He tried to move, to make a few steps. Amazingly, he did. He made two steps forward, despite having no body. His steps made no splashes, but he definitely moved.
Standing over the dead body of his double, Alexander felt a push from it. The push was powerful, yet it did not throw him off balance. The whole room was stretching and going away into the distance. Soon, it turned into a blur and vanished into the darkness.
He blinked again.
Suddenly, the room was back, but it changed. The metal curtain remained intact. Zhen and Valentina were still ok, pointing their guns outside.
He looked down. He had his body again. He patted himself to make sure it was all there. He made a couple of steps and produced splashes.
The boy was stunned but massively relieved that Zhen and Valentina were okay. He only hoped the other room would not come back. He listened to his senses and looked around. He felt no push. The room has not stretched either. He was safe, for now.
The boy approached the metal curtain and looked outside through the shoot hole. All the guardians were there, frozen in place. A weird smell filled the air, suppressing the smell of wet dust, burned flesh, blood, and hot steel. He knew this smell. It was ozone. It came after a thunderstorm.
He had never heard thunder before but felt its power with his whole body. He now had this feeling on top of the sharp crackling sounds he had never experienced before.
The bright flash and horrific screams came from the mangled door frame at the far end of the room. People were dying just out of sight. They were dying by dozens. All the guardians turned their backs on him to face the new unknown threat. The sounds of the massacre were getting closer. The water kept pouring on them as they nervously and silently glanced at each other, jolting at the sounds of thunder.
Something dark entered the room and drew a chaotic white line through the air, lightning jumping off it in all directions. The five guardians closest to the door fell on the floor, sliced in half. A dozen more followed, pierced by lightning bolts through their heads and hearts. The darkness, drawing thin white lines, continued to move with astonishing speed, bouncing off the ceilings, walls, and floor. Cut-off heads, legs, and torsos flew in the air. Those still whole fell on the ground, burned alive with electricity. Most guardians did not even have a chance to scream as black and white death was reaching them one by one.
All the Vida Guardians in the room were dead in just a few seconds. The darkness stopped, and Alexander took a good look at it.
Standing in the puddle of water, ashes, and blood was a figure of a woman in slim dark armor. She was holding a sword with glowing white edges above her head. Faint lightning bolts were jumping off her weapon, producing sharp crackling sounds. A sleek assault rifle on her back remained unused, as she did not bother to go after it while fighting thirty people at once.
Alexander could not take his eyes off the woman despite just witnessing how deadly she was. His curiosity got the better of him, and he moved to get a better look, hitting the metallic surface of the curtain with his knee.
It hardly made a sound, yet the dark figure suddenly turned her head and looked at him. Alexander's flight instinct kicked in. He made a step to run to Valentina. The figure disappeared from outside with a blinding light and reappeared behind Valentina's back.
Moments later, Alexander ended up pinned to the floor by Valentina's limp body. He saw Zhen lying not far back, his armor steaming lightly. The boy's ears were ringing. He could not breathe, getting crushed by the weight of his caretaker. He thrashed from side to side and managed to inhale some air.
Zhen and Valentina had died before, and he got them back. He died, too, and came back. Maybe he could do it again?
He refused to believe that this was the end. With his mind, he tried to push the room into the darkness and get another one, a better one.
The one where he would see his family again.
The overpowering scent of ozone made him dizzy as he saw the figure with the sword growing over him.
Despite his best efforts, the room remained in place.
***
Sonya analyzed the situation. Artur, Tom, Dan, Rin, and she were unarmed, facing a unit of Vida Guard. What were their options?
"Follow you where?" Rin asked the Vida Guardians as if it mattered.
"It's time for lunch," said the guardian.
"You should bring food to customers," said Tom. "Not the other way around."
Tom was buying them some time. However, Sonya still could not think of anything. Retreat into the audience? Could they all beat the reaction time of the elite guardians? Maybe if they all did it at the same time and, by some miracle, did not bump into anyone. Was there any way to pull it off?
"Follow us," said the guardian.
"Ok, fine, but let me order first," said Tom. "I'll have a grilled-cheese sandwich and a cup of fruit, please."
"That's an order," said the guardian.
"It totally is!" said Tom. "You should probably be writing it down, though."
The audience produced scattered laughter.
"Get up," said the guardian, angrier. "And follow us. Now."
"Oh, sure thing," said Sonya. "Just tell me this. Will we walk down a dark corridor with no cameras and witnesses?"
"Where we will be overcome with a sudden, irrational, and nonsensical desire to run?" continued Artur.
"Leaving you no choice but to shoot us?" finished Dan.
Rin signaled them to be quiet.
"We aren't leaving until we hear the verdict," she said.
The sergeant guardian looked at his subordinates and nodded. They started tightening the ring around the defense bench.
Suddenly, Sonya got grabbed from behind and pulled into the crowd before guardians could reach her. She saw her friends and Rin disappear into the crowd too.
Looks like there was a plan for them after all.
The guardians went airborne using Fireflies on their armor and jumped in the middle of the audience, trying to catch the fleeing group. One guardian nearly landed on Sonya's head. She dodged just in time. People working together isolated the guardian from her, allowing her to escape.
Dozens of civilians hung on each pursuer throughout the room, stifling their movements and shamelessly exploiting the AFF in the guardians' armor. Sonya was making her way out through the thick mass of bodies. She saw glimpses of her friends close by.
Suddenly, gunfire erupted. One of the guardians was flying above and shooting in the air, spreading chaos and panic. People were bumping into the escaping group from all sides. More bullets were fired, just over the heads of the audience.
Sonya was not about to have dead civilians on her conscience.
"They'll kill someone!" she yelled, turning away from the exit. "We have to give up!"
"No!" yelled Rin. "They would not dare! Keep going to the exit!"
"I'm turning myself in!" Sonya raised her hands. "Don't shoot!"
"No! Stop!"
She ignored Rin. Soon, she felt a steel hand on her forearm yanking her in the air out of the crowd. Carried by the guardian over the sea of people, she saw Artur, Tom, and Dan turning themselves in and getting airborne too.
The guardians landed them all back in the middle of the courtroom. The crowd attempted to charge, but the guardians fired in the air again, depleting the crowd's courage and making it stop. The guardians tried to escort Sonya and others out, but the people blocked all the exits. Their faces were more than determined: the guardians must get through them first.
"Let us pass!" bellowed the sergeant and fired in the air.
The crowd stood unmoved and looked at the guardians with hate.
"Or what?"
"You gonna kill us all?"
"Did you bring enough bullets?"
From the depths of the room, chairs flew at the guardians. They were cursed and booed from all sides.
"Let them go!" yelled somebody, and soon everyone was chanting. "Let them go! Let them go! Let them go!"
The sergeant gave his colleagues another nod. Sonya was forced to her knees. She felt a cold gun barrel pressed to the back of her head.
Sonya fought the rising panic.
Be brave now. Be brave.
She glanced at Artur, Tom, and Dan in the same situation on the right. They all looked straight ahead, their faces made of stone.
Sonya used her remaining strength for one thing - staying calm. For her unit.
"Let us pass, or they die right here!" she heard the sergeant yell above her.
"No!" Rin finally forced herself into the front row. "Nobody moves. You want to kill them, huh? Do it here with the whole city watching!"
Rin pointed at the multiple journalists in the room providing a live stream of this mess. Sonya hoped that Rin was daring the guards, not offering them suggestions.
Then, Sonya heard the safety on her executor's gun click. This was it.
She stole one last look at Artur. He was looking back at her. She could not ask for more.
Everything went dark.