It was quiet enough to hear the breath everyone sucked in at Arturo's suggestion.
"I'm sorry," Harrison was the first to make a sound as he choked out a laugh. "Did I just have a stroke? Or did you just tell us we have to blow the Arc Cities up?"
"You did not have a stroke." MAX chirped lightly. "However, I do detect drastically accelerated heart rates in the room."
"He's gone mad!" Regan bellowed, shoving his chair back as he stood straight up. "We are all doomed if you listen to this man!"
"We are all doomed if you do not listen to what I am telling you," Arturo replied.
"Why couldn't we just blow up Arc City Two?" Matthias asked, still whirling from shock. "We could cut Coeuss off at the knees?"
"A very apt analogy." Arturo agreed. "But if you cut off the knees, the brain still functions."
"What does that mean?" Big Joe interrupted.
"It means," Meg supplied, "that Coeuss does not die the same way we do."
"Precisely." Arturo's smile was thin. "He will save himself and retreat to our satellite system until he can find a physical manifestation to inhabit. And when he does, he will build bigger and better bombs. He will come after every human, including those how have survived outside of these Cities."
"So, what you're saying is, even if we blow up the Arc Cities, Coeuss is going to come for us?" Regan argued, placing both hands on the table to take up as much room as possible.
"I'm saying, this isn't over," Arturo responded. "We need to evacuate the cities and launch a counter-attack to eradicate as much hardware as possible. Then, we will need to focus on taking down the satellites."
"In the scenarios that you've seen, how long do we have to evacuate?" Persephone asked in a hushed voice.
"You're not actually considering this are you?" Thomas squawked.
"I have to," Persephone replied looking around the table. "We have to."
"Where would we even go?" Jennifer bleated. "We would be unprotected and exposed! We don't even know how bad things are on old Earth."
"We have enough Legionnaires to accompany our citizens." Persephone countered. "And where we go is up for debate."
"I'm sorry, I cannot sit idly by while this man tells us that we have to flee!" Regan was too flummoxed to admit that all he wanted to do was run.
"You haven't been idle at all, dummkopf." Big Joe snorted.
"Was that a threat?" Regan raged back.
"He was calling you stupid, stupid." Harrison snapped. "And why does my mother's behavior surprise anyone at this table? It isn't the first time she's turned tail and ran away."
"Harrison, this is hardly the time-" Persephone began.
"To air our dirty laundry? You seemed fine when it wasn't your own checkered past you were exposing." To illustrate his point, Harrison pointed his nose in Meg's direction.
"Please," Persephone begged her son. "We have more pressing matters than this to discuss right now."
Meg's heart went out to Harrison's mother. She could feel the magnitude of the rift between them, and Persephone's eyes could not hide the blame she shouldered.
"No, you have more pressing matters to discuss right now." Harrison sneered. "Me? I'm getting my ass off this ticking time bomb and getting the hell away from here."
"The apple never falls far from the tree, I suppose." Regan chuckled at the buccaneer's declaration.
"One more comment old man and I'll make sure you don't have the teeth to do it again." Harrison glowered at Regan.
"That was a threat!" Regan exclaimed indignantly. "You heard it! He threatened me!"
"Damn straight I'm threatening you." Harrison snarled, flashing up from his seat and closing the distance between him and Regan. "Want me to follow through?"
"Stop this!" Persephone yelled out, halting her son on the spot. "Harrison, if you want to leave, I can't fault you."
Regan puffed out his sunken chest victoriously, flaring Harrison's ire. Just to see him recoil, Harrison took a warning step at Regan.
"Fine," Harrison replied with an over-exaggerated shrug. "I'll go. Big Joe, you coming?"
"No." Big Joe replied. "I'm staying."
"What the hell?" Harrison exploded, his stomach plummeting into his feet. "You want to stay on this pressure cooker? Be my guest!"
Meg watched this exchange as a cold fear seized her heart. He was leaving! They had been through so much together.
"I'm sorry my friend." Big Joe replied solemnly. "I have to stay and help. We have seen first-hand how bad this is. Besides, someone has to stay here to teach this blubbering Arschloch a lesson."
Harrison's smile was sad as he gazed at his best friend. His only friend, really. Big Joe was such a loveable, loyal galoot, and he was giving his life over to these uppity assholes. Then, as if he couldn't help himself, his eyes drifted to Meg.
It was a mistake to be sure. She couldn't even look him in the face, and that wounded Harrison most of all. He backed out of the room, half expecting one of the Seafarers to seize him and tie him to a chair. But true to his mother's word, Harrison was free to go.
Fine, let them blow themselves to hell, Harrison stormed as he marched, one more stop, and then I'm free of this funeral pyre.
"Well, now that's over," Persephone tried to course-correct instead of watching her only son walk away, "can we get back to our discussion?"
"Are we actually debating this crazy man's suggestion?" Regan responded heatedly.
"Do you have a better idea?" Persephone asked him.
"Not yet," Regan answered looking to the others for support. "But we could-"
"There's no time to debate," Arturo told them all. "Coeuss is working as we speak."
"Are we in agreement that we need to evacuate the city to save our citizens?" Persephone asked them all.
It took a full minute for people's muscles to thaw enough to nod their answers, all accept for Regan.
"Excuse me?" A nervous voice interrupted the group.
Everyone turned to see the form of Angela, a meek woman who spent most of her time dealing with the city's food justifications. It was highly irregular for a private citizen to venture into the War Room without just cause.
"Yes?" Persephone replied, arching a brow.
"Captain Rogers is in the lobby with a large group of Legionnaires and he's demanding to see the Quorum. There's also a very angry crowd of people with them."
"Jesus!" Thomas uttered an archaic religion's figurehead by name under his breath.
"I was afraid of this." Persephone sighed reluctantly. "I will address the people now."
"Before we know what to tell them?" Thomas' voice quivered, thinking of the hundreds of angry constituents that would mob him on the street.
"Would you rather hold a formal town hall?" Persephone queried sarcastically. "Perhaps you'd like to face the crowd yourself?"
Thomas nodded along with all the others at the horrifying suggestion.
"Then I will tell our citizens that we will be evacuating them to an undisclosed location. The coordinates will be programmed to their escape pods as soon as we know it ourselves. Legionnaires will escort families and larger groups with Seafarers on Aegis ships. Matthias, can I count on you to take the attack strategy?"
"You can," Matthias responded.
She couldn't let her crew see the uncertainty stirring in her gut. Coeuss was preparing for their arrival, and that didn't mean a fair fight.
"Excuse me," Meg spoke up, raising her good hand before Persephone could excuse herself. "I would like to volunteer to help her."
Meg pointed to Matthias as she spoke ignoring Ben's angry eyes.
"Absolutely not!" Ben cried. "You're going to evacuate with Laura and me."
"Please." Meg implored her adopted father. "I have to do this. I can't explain why, but I am a part of this."
"You're not trained for this mission," Matthias told the girl gently. "Your ears would be a liability, and I am not saying this to be cruel. I can't risk you getting in the way while we're in the middle of a battle."
"What if she worked from the inside?" Arturo spoke up. "Our chances of damaging Arc City Two from the outside are slim, but if we could get Meg aboard, she could activate the self-destruct. She knows the Arc Spheres better than anyone on your crew."
"I'm sure she does, but are you willing to send this girl to possibly die?" Matthias questioned, her eyes avoiding Ben's furious expression. "And I'm not so sure we could get her onto Arc City Two without killing ourselves in the process."
"We have cloaked pods," Arturo replied without missing a beat. "If you get close enough to draw out Coeuss' defenses, he'll lower the seismic shield."
"That's really risky, and it still doesn't stop her from dying on board the Arc." Matthias retorted.
"But it might be all we have." Meg interposed. "And what's the life of one compared to many?"
Persephone was awe-struck by the girl's unwavering determination and selflessness. Having seen the odds of this plan, Arturo was crestfallen
"If it will make you more comfortable, I can wear an implant so I can hear you." Meg offered, swallowing against the bitter words.
"Meg-" Ben's voice broke with the fresh tears spilling onto his cheeks. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd just got Meg back.
"So be it." Matthias conceded with a doubtful nod. "You're a sea monkey now, kid."