Gotham, another morning that was neither warm nor charming. The coffee machine gurgled as a hand reached to place a cup beneath it. As the steaming coffee filled the cup, Shiller held the coffee cup, seated himself in his chair and let out a sigh.
A chi rang from the table by the door as the doorman placed the newspapers delivered by the newspaper boy on the table before leaving. Just as Shiller got up to fetch the newspapers, his co-worker Anna rushed into the office, bag in hand.
"Oh, you're back from vacation?" Anna looked Shiller up and down and said, "You look much refreshed, vacations do seem to rejuvenate people, don't they?"
"I should rather say, life outside Gotham has this rejuvenating effect. A little extra sunshine is always beneficial." Shiller picked up the newspaper and settled back into his spot, eagerly starting to read.
Anna dumped her bag, picked up another newspaper, ruffled through it frowning and said, "The latest headlines are all about Moscow or xico, damn it, can't soone write about sothing more down-to-earth?"
Before Shiller could answer, Anna continued, "Our Central Intelligence Agency is really stupid, deciding to do it all on the day of his inauguration. Now they're being condemned, serves them right."
Anna tossed the newspaper onto the desk rather irritated and said, "Don't think I don't know. There were agents trying to plant caras in Gotham University previously, what do they think of our university?"
"You think it was the CIA's doing?"
"What else could it be?" Anna turned towards Shiller and asked, "You don't really believe it was his rivals doing, do you? I think it's just the CIA trying to slander, how could his rivals be that naive?"
"On the contrary, I believe that it's quite possible that it was another leader from the Soviet Union." Victor walked in and, placing his briefcase and umbrella aside, picked up another newspaper. As he stood by the coffee machine waiting for his coffee to brew, he glanced at the front page headline and said:
"Alright, no new developnts, they're accusing each other, mixed in with so squabbling from current affair comntators – aren't there any insightful comnts?"
"You think it's in-fighting? Still, even if it was, the CIA must be involved, they're good at getting mixed up in this sort of nonsense." Anna swiveled back around in her chair and started working on a lecture plan.
"You seem to have quite a grievance against the CIA?" Shiller asked.
"Of course. You weren't here yet when they ca by, guess how their cara planting plan failed?" Anna asked without raising her head.
"How did it fail?" Victor sat down with his coffee, looking intrigued.
"Their caras weren't waterproof."
"Cough! Cough!" Victor almost choked on his coffee, surprisingly said, "What were they thinking? Don't they know Gotham...?"
"That's why I keep saying they ssed up this job, they never miss a chance to make a blooper." Anna said with a scoff.
"I consider it conceivable that their caras not being waterproof is probably due to insufficient funds. As for why funds are insufficient...", Shiller shook his head without continuing, as Anna added: "It's just a question of whether they were foolish or greedy."
Shiller closed the newspaper, placed it aside, finished his coffee and started his new day of work.
When the window was opened, a gust of wind blew in, ruffling the edges of the newspapers. The front page of the top paper read "Contract Assassination? We will not tolerate such shaless slander!"
But this matter isn't sothing they can just deny to remove suspicion. The top leader of the Soviet Union is dead and was assassinated on his inauguration day. So, who's the pri suspect?
It can't possibly be Poland, can it?
In the midst of the cold war between the US and the Soviets, anyone who follows the news will know that they don't get along. So, who else could be responsible when one of the leaders is assassinated?
In this era, both sides are adamant about proving their superiority. They won't yield an inch, not just in practice, but in appearance as well. Such an assassination is terribly damaging to one's reputation and can be seen as a sign of weakness.
It's as if two top students are competing academically and one of them throws a punch. Isn't this equivalent to admitting to the world that the punch was thrown because he couldn't compete academically?
The current US governnt still values its reputation, or to put it another way, the impact of public opinion on them can still be devastating. Hence, they denied it outright and began an internal investigation to determine who was responsible.
Indeed. Those within Congress also believe that it was one of their own, considering that aside from them, nobody else has such a big grudge against the Soviet Union.
An assassination during the inauguration ceremony signals a show of protest and revenge more than actual intentions of murder. The person who did this undoubtedly held a grudge against the Soviet Union leader. However, the list of those who grudge against him is long enough to circle the globe, and the only one capable of successfully assassinating him is Arica.
Of course, their first suspect was the assassin dressed in a black and yellow uniform.
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