"Ghost?"
For a mont, the entire room fell into a stunned silence as they stared at the signature blinking on the projector. The presenter, who had set it up, glanced around nervously, briefly convinced that sothing had gone wrong with the equipnt.
When everyone recovered, Lukas whipped his head toward Lucian.
"Master, you an to say..." he trailed off, eyes lighting up with barely restrained excitent. "Ghost is finally on our side?"
The mont the words left his mouth, hushed chatter erupted around the table as everyone leaned toward one another.
Lucian let them carry on for a mont, studying their reactions before nodding to himself in quiet satisfaction. He had expected as much.
Ashley was the only one who had no idea of the influence and reach her other persona carried. To her, Ghost was simply a mask — a na to credit for everything she had done. And to keep Ghost from being linked back to Ashley, she had taken care to fra her more vigilante-style operations than the things "Ashley" or the Di Carpios were involved in.
"Ghost — isn’t that the person behind the collapse of the SD Pyramid Sche?"
"Yes, but he also brought down a man who had reigned over corruption for fifty years. He was involved in the disbandnt of a rapidly rising organization too."
"But isn’t he Marshal Di Carpio’s backer?"
"Did Marshal lend him to us?"
"Master, did you reach another agreent with Marshal?"
Voices overlapped as people spoke of Ghost’s contributions to the underground and how quickly he had built such a formidable reputation. Then so turned to Lucian directly, eyes sharp with curiosity.
Ghost was undeniably a valuable asset, especially for their faction. These were n who had never wanted to cross Lucian, who had fought just as fiercely for him as those who wanted him gone.
Which was precisely why they were concerned.
"Ghost’s talents — particularly in gathering intelligence — would be a trendous benefit to us," one of them said, drawing the room’s attention. "At the sa ti, I’m not certain he is soone we can fully trust."
"Anyone who backed a man like Marshal Di Carpio has a questionable worldview, at best."
One after another, the sa concern surfaced in different words.
Whatever Ghost’s own achievents, one fact remained: he had backed Marshal Di Carpio. The docunted overlap between Ghost and the Di Carpios was limited, but it was enough to cast doubt on his character.
Lucian raised a hand, and the rapid-fire questions stopped.
"Let’s clear up a few misunderstandings," he said. "Ghost never had a formal agreent with Marshal. At most, they shared an interest in specific matters. Ghost is an independent operator with no ties to anyone — until now."
Everyone exchanged glances before settling their attention back on Lucian.
"Second," he continued without pause, "Ghost is soone every person in this room can trust. You may not be aware of this yet, but Ghost has already been working with on several of the recent issues that have co my way."
Lucian glanced briefly at Gustav, then at Lukas. Both furrowed their brows, unsure what he was referring to. It took less than a minute for understanding to dawn on them — there had been instances where Lucian received intelligence well ahead of anything their own people had managed to send.
The profiles of those behind the cargo ship abduction, for one.
Lukas nearly choked on the realization. He rembered telling himself that either Lucian had stopped trusting their intel, or soone at Ghost’s level had co to his side. At the ti, he had dismissed the latter as simply impossible.
Who would have thought?
"I am certain all of you have heard Ghost’s na at least once in recent years," Lucian continued in the sa calm, asured tone.
He paused, reading the room. The reactions were mixed. So still held their reservations, which Lucian understood. Most of these n had survived this side of Dominion precisely because they were careful.
He gave a single nod. "If anyone is opposed to this, you may say so now. I will hear it without consequence."
Silence settled over the room again. The hesitation in their eyes was plain, but no one spoke. Not when they also understood what having Ghost on their side would an: a stabilizing force for Lucian’s currently precarious position within Dominion.
And everyone in that room knew their fates were bound to his.
They could not afford Lucian falling from power.
"If there are no objections," Lucian said, leaning forward and resting his arm along the edge of the table, "I would like to officially introduce a new mber of this board."
His gaze shifted to the screen. "Ghost."
Every head in the room slowly turned to follow.
Ghost’s signature — a silly little blanket ghost — continued blinking on the screen.
Then, a few seconds later, a deep, almost ghostly voice filled the room.
"Hello, Dominion. My na is Ghost. I look forward to our partnership."
As if to add a friendlier touch, the blanket ghost blinked once more. This ti, it was hugging a domino with a small heart floating above it.
A joke, perhaps, they thought — until text appeared beneath it with a dramatic flourish of animated effects.
It read:
[Ghost
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