Chapter 43: The major’s offer

They entered the NYCEM, Serenity checked her bullpup, and Jessica led them upstairs. Their entrance had been noticed on previous visits, but this time they actively drew stares, as if the vast majority of the folks loitering in the lobby knew who they were.

They weren’t the friendliest stares.

Made James feel like he was walking into a slaughterhouse and these people had lined up to watch.

They entered an elevator. Jessica was tense but calm, while Serenity kept fidgeting, tapping her hip as if seeking the presence of a gun and permanently disconcerted by her lack of one.

The elevator doors opened and someone’s aide recognized them, spoke into their phone, then stepped up with a polite smile. He was young, in military fatigues, blonde haired and blue eyed with a strong jaw.

“Mr. Kelly? Warrant Officer White. Major Hackworth would like to speak with you.”

“Good.” James glanced sidelong at Jessica, who nodded. “He here?”

“He’s remote, but I’m going to spin him up in a conference room. This way?”

“Spin him up?” muttered Serenity. “What does that even mean?”

White pretended not to hear.

A moment later they stepped into a small cubicle of a room, just large enough for the three of them to squeeze in around a table, with a large flatscreen on the wall. White spun up Hackworth, which in the end meant he just got him on a remote video call, and then left the room.

“Kelly, Miles, Serenity.” Hackworth’s untouchable Errol Flynn’s looks were starting to look a little frayed. “Congratulations on your successes. Can you give me a quick debrief on how your assault went?”

“Major Hackworth.” Despite himself James felt reassured at the sight of the man’s face. “Good to see you, too. The assault was a success.” And he outlined in broad strokes their plan, its implementation, what they found, and how their teams had leveled up as one entity, resulting in a huge boost of power.

“Outstanding,” said Hackworth, sitting back and sipping from a styrofoam cup of coffee. “We saw nothing like that with Operation Urban Angel. Now, don’t get me wrong, a number of our men achieved some remarkable ranks, especially those manning the Black Hawk miniguns and the Bradley chainguns, but overall our progress in the ranks was uneven, which is what’s caused us this current dilemma.”

James frowned. “How so, sir? I heard your mission was a success.”

“It was, insofar as we cleared the target and extracted a number of civilians. But we took heavy damage from the demons who swarmed our armor. Their arm-blades can cut spaced laminate armor with frightening facility, and they were smart enough to go for treads and wheels. We were overrun, and only the caliber of our boys and the sheer intensity of our firepower allowed us to get the hell out of there. In the end we had to call in a bombing run, which resulted in the demolishing of several city blocks, the destruction of the enemy fortress, and the loss of who knows how much leveling experience.”

“I still don’t see how that concerns us,” said James.

“The reason being that our boys - most of them - signed up to the US military because we promised them they’d become part of the world’s greatest fighting force. And I believe that’s still true today, but that video your posted from the center of enemy territory, standing calmly over their fallen queen and reporting total victory, has caused some botheration amongst the ranks.”

Serenity laughed. “You saying we out-militarized the military?”

“No, I’m saying that your personalized approach has revealed benefits to utilizing this new magic system the way it’s apparently been designed to be used, and which the military currently doesn’t harness. Now, I’m pushing to rearrange our formations from the squad level up to capture this synergy you’ve discovered, but nothing moves fast in the armed forces, and by the time my suggestions are implemented, if at all, it could be kingdom come. Which our boys know and have a profound appreciation of, so when they see you calmly claiming to be Supplicant Level whatever, they get itchy and start wondering if they’re fighting for the right outfit.”

“Wait, what?” James gave a sharp shake of his head. “What are you saying? That our success in the hive made your men…?”

“Wonder if they wouldn’t do a better job defending our country working for the DRC. Our MP’s have already arrested a dozen privates and specialists trying to sneak off base and go AWOL in order to make direct contact with you.” Hackworth pinched the bridge of his nose. “And the worst of it is that I understand why they might make such a hare-brained decision. These are men and women who have been forged into weapons from the moment they entered Basic. They’re almost universally patriots, and they want nothing more than to be the cocked fist of the US, ready to smash whatever foe rears its head into smithereens. But Operation Urban Angel had us forcing an exit on our own turf, while your own mission was able to stroll into enemy headquarters like it was a day at the park. With the official line being that nothing’s going to change, and everybody aware of the deadlines we’re facing, it’s no wonder that our men are starting to entertain unwise possibilities.”

Jessica had gone very still. “I don’t know much about military protocol, Major, but I’m quite sure you shouldn’t be sharing this with us.”

“No, of course not. But I don’t particularly care for protocol, I care for winning wars, and what your DRC has done is both revelatory and inspiring. There is a core contradiction at the heart of the military, in that we have to marry adaptability and the need to evolve with the times with trained and conditioned loyalty blended with a sincere respect and love for tradition. As with any major institution, bureaucracy and hidebound reactionary attitudes often win out over the need to innovate. But the writing is on the wall. Either the US Military adapts to these new circumstances, or Operation Urban Angel will be but a sign of what’s to come.”

Hackworth rubbed at this face tiredly and stared blankly at them, lost in his own thoughts for a moment. James stayed silent. Let the man mull over what to say next. Serenity went to speak, but James touched her knee under the table and she fell silent.

“Now, the problem we’re facing is that some important people see the DRC’s successes as a threat to the military’s integrity. They’re pushing to have your members qualified as a rogue militia, and the CIA is interrogating the mayor’s office over the permissions granted to your department.”

“Iverness,” said James with distaste.

“The very same. He seems to have taken a unique dislike to you, Kelly, and is pressuring people to install comprehensive oversight on your activities and to review every decision that you have made thus far.”

Jessica hissed under her breath.

“All right. So we’re being seen as a threat,” said James. “How do you suggest we proceed?”

“With your major… absent, shall we say, from the decision-making process, you’ve lost your key local defender. The governor is more than happy to acquiesce to the military’s demands, and Iverness has Commissioner Morgan running scared. Resistance will only heighten their determination to control and neuter you.”

“Ridiculous,” said Serenity. “We’ve done everything right. We’ve fought, we’ve killed, we’ve stayed out of everyone’s way, and they want to punish us for doing a good job?” Her laugh was bitter. “Even with the apocalypse hitting the world stays the same.”

“No good deed goes unpunished,” agreed Hackworth. “Which I why I called this meeting. I have a proposition for you.”

Jessica placed both hands flat on the table. “How do you know they’ll agree to place us under your direct oversight?”

Hackworth smiled grimly “You’re sharp, Ms. Miles.”

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“Wait, what?” James glanced from Jessica to the major. “Place us under what?”

“The only way I can see that insulates you from Iverness’s manipulations and placates the brass is to bring the DRC into the US Army and make you a special branch with its own command structure and oversight.”

James sat back. “You guys can do that?”

Hackworth looked pitying. “We can do whatever we want as long as we get the right people to agree. And as I see it, either the DRC becomes a new special force, or it gets crushed and sidelined.”

Serenity turned to James. “We could just leave the DRC. Get the right crew, communicate informally with everyone through TikTok, and keep on trucking.”

“Technically, yes,” said Hackworth, his fatigue showing through once more in his despondent tone. “But in practice, you’d find yourself detained indefinitely. Your continued successes are seen as a threat to the military’s integrity, remember.”

“Shit.” James rubbed at his beard. “So we become like a new Navy Seals?”

“Ha.” Hackworth’s bark of laughter lacked all humor. “Let’s not actually compare your outfit to any existing branch of the special forces. I may be a rogue element, but even I balk at that comparison. You’d be a unique entity that I would seek to place under my own oversight, and which would then be granted the ability to operate according to an amalgam of your own operating procedures and military protocol.”

“Sounds like a shit show,” said Serenity. “You can’t even guarantee that we’d be under your protection.”

“True.” Hackworth sat back. “But it’s the best I can do. I’m already on thin ice. I can’t do any more.”

James nodded thoughtfully. “I appreciate this, major. I really do. You’ve been a huge ally throughout this nightmare. Do you mind if we discuss amongst ourselves for a moment and then call you back?”

“That’s fine. Don’t take too long.”

And Hackworth ended the call.

“Shit,” said James, sitting back with a big exhale. “How the fuck do we navigate this mess?”

“It’s ridiculous.” Serenity looked like she wanted to leap to her feet and pace, but the room prevented her from doing so. “How the fuck does it make any sense for us to just give the military everything we’ve created? They’ll stifle us, tell us what we can and cannot do, ruin everything we’ve managed to build so far.”

“Jessica?” prompted James.

Jessica was frowning and staring off into the middle distance. She blinked slowly, removed her rimless glasses and cleaned them absent-mindedly on her blouse. “I suppose I should have seen this coming. It was inevitable. When people in power are scared, they seek scapegoats. But we couldn’t have approached the situation differently. We needed your outreach to draw prospective members. Everything we’ve done has been necessary, with the natural terminus being… well, this.”

“Which leaves us where?” asked James.

“If we don’t take up the major’s offer, I think our best-case scenario is new leadership and an auditing of all our decisions taken thus far. There’s plenty for them to object to, from my liberal approach to acquiring funds to the militarized nature of our members.” She raised a hand, forestalling Serenity’s objections. “I’m not saying they’re right to object. I’m saying that if they choose to hew to the law, they have enough ammunition with which to take us apart.”

“Our members would simply quit,” said James, thinking of Sarah. “They’d probably quit if we joined the military as well.”

“Not necessarily,” said Jessica. “It would all depend on how we presented it to them. What the military asks of us. The devil is in the details, but it’s the details that I excel in mastering.”

“You think you can work this?” Serenity raised her eyebrows. “This is the military we’re talking about.”

“These are strange times.” Jessica sighed. “And I can’t guarantee anything. But the plain truth is that we’ve been too successful. Either we adapt, or we die. And in this case adapting might mean working more closely with Hackworth and the military.”

Serenity looked to James again. “Or we could leave.”

James frowned down at his hands. Thought of the ballroom, how the thousand people who’d shown up had shone with potential, a means to make a real difference in what was to come. If he and Serenity walked away, sure they could keep on fighting, and maybe they could even keep Crimson Hydra together.

But Crimson Hydra would never be enough by itself.

They needed everybody to keep advancing, working together, leveling, and preparing for what was to come.

“We need to save the DRC,” he said heavily. “And you know what? It may be bleak of me to say, but I don’t think the old ways are going to last for much longer. Nemesis 3 might be the push that sends things into a tailspin. The military, the government, all the old ways of doing things, they’re hanging on, but if they don’t adapt, they’ll fall apart under the stresses.”

“You mean we’ll outlast them?” asked Serenity.

“I think so. If we preserve enough integrity to keep our teams together and just keep killing demons and wiping out symbols, we’ll keep leveling and growing more powerful. That’s all the really matters. And when the time comes that folk like Iverness and the others are gone, we’ll still be there, standing together, united, and strong.”

“The devil’s in the details,” said Serenity, unconvinced. “It’ll depend on what they ask of us.”

“Correct,” said Jessica. “And that’ll be my fight. As a Deputy Commissioner I have some say and can work with Morgan and Hackworth to achieve the best transition possible. And if we don’t like it? Well, we can cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“Fair enough.” James considered them both, then nodded. “Let’s get Hackworth back on the line. Let’s see where this rabbit hole goes.”

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