Ollie checked his watch as he walked through City Hall's empty corridors. 0455 hours. Just 5 minutes before the eting ti.
Stopping in front of a janitor closet, he opened it and pushed the cleaning supplies away from the back wall. He put his palm at the centre of the wall, and the wall disappeared, revealing a hallway that stretched into a T junction at the end.
Ollie walked forwards, turning right at the end of the hall and imdiately to his left was Location 15, guarded by two n side by side. Their black suits were in pristine condition, not a single smudge except for a crooked tie.
Jonathan's lackeys. Rookies too. Only fresh off the training grounds would have such clean cut suits on.
They nodded at him, stepping aside without a word.
Twisting the knob and walking into the room, the boardroom held six figures around a long mahogany table. Dr. Gray sipped a cup of coffee, only splotches of coffee stain here and there. Marc Black sat ramrod straight in his chair, rapidly shaking his feet and yawning. Jonathan occupied the head of the table, reviewing docunts and not paying attention to him when he walked in.
Lennard Xu gave Ollie the side eye. In just five years, this old asshole had spread his influence far and wide within mundane governnt circles. Besides him, Lily Grace twirled a blue pen as her eyes looked to him.
Su Wen stood at the front of the room. A projection screen behind her displayed a map of Vancouver's port district. Her suit hugged her shape tightly, but still professional. Though the dark circles under her eyes were evidence of multiple all-nighters.
"Now that we're all here," Su Wen tapped her tablet with the stylus, "let's address the situation in Vancouver."
Ollie took the last empty seat, next to Marc.
"Our agents in Vancouver identified multiple locations linked to unauthorized Aurian activities," Su Wen continued, tapping the map. Red dots peppered the map, where the densest were around the ports and inside of them. "The Jiuling have presented compelling evidence of organized cri operations."
Lennard Xu cleared his throat. "What kind of evidence?"
"Shipping manifests not matching containers. Security footage showing 'supernatural' activities," Su Wen used one hand for air quotes. "Most concerning are the ether signature spikes around these warehouses."
Ollie kept his best poker face on, though he couldn't slow down his heart. Those warehouses were vital central spots in his supply chain, carefully hidden behind shell companies and paid off warehouse managers.
"The Jiuling are requesting permission to conduct raids," Su Wen said. "They've already submitted formal paperwork through proper channels."
Dr. Gray set down his coffee with a slight spill. "They're looking for sothing else, I'd bet. Those are Jiuling tangn. They rarely go out of China. Farthest they go is around the Asian continent."
"They claim these operations are affecting their interests in Asia," Su Wen replied. "Sothing about contaminated goods making their way across the Pacific."
Lily Grace snorted. "Since when do the Jiuling care about Canadian territory? They're overstepping."
"We can't ignore their request without risking diplomatic incidents," Marc pointed out, crossing his arms, still shaking his feet. "The United Knights already increased their presence in Montreal. If we block the Jiuling here..."
"It could strain relations further," Jonathan finished. His eyes swept the room, landing briefly on each face.
Ollie wiped off a drop of sweat from his temple. There were contingencies in place. Operations needed to be moved, and evidence needed to be burned. Sacrifices needed to be made again to keep his operations in play. Probably best to throw in a couple of leads to dead ends here and there as well, just to satisfy the Jiuling for now.
"Alright. Then, what're they exactly looking for? Just sniffing at anything they think they got a sniff on?" he asked.
Su Wen changed the monitor to a docunt that outlined a table of items and locations found. "They've tracked several shipnts of contraband artifacts and relics entering their territory. They believe the source is sowhere in Vancouver."
"Contraband?" Dr. Gray leaned forward. "That's a serious accusation."
"They have proof, a lot actually," Su Wen said. "6 incidents in Shanghai last month alone. The civilians died in a mundane hospitals before the Jiuling could cover it up from the public. All died with an unexplainable cause of death."
"And they think we're involved?" Lennard's eyes narrowed, side eyeing Ollie.
"They think we're not doing enough to stop it," Su Wen said. "The United Knights agree with that statent. They've offered to send representatives to assist the Jiuling with raids."
European involvent would complicate things. The UK's thods were more thorough, their investigators were nigh impossible to bribe. Always the goody goodies of Aur.
"That's unnecessary," Lily tapped her pen on the table. "We can handle our own territory."
"Can we?" Lennard said. "These operations have been running under our noses for months, or maybe for years. Maybe there are even so operations we haven't uncovered yet. We need outside perspective."
Jonathan raised a hand. All eyes looked his way.
"What exactly are they proposing?"
Su Wen pulled out another map with multiple red dots. "Joint raids on these locations in Nanaimo, Surrey, Peterborough, and Kingston. Jiuling will join on west coast while United Knights joins on east coast while sharing intelligence and resources with them. They're particularly interested in the warehouses on those points."
Three of those warehouses were where Ollie stored so of the newer samples along with research equipnt and over-artificed guns. Not to ntion, Peterborough was a dust storage facility.
"Why those four points exactly?" Ollie asked.
"Allegedly, the locations in Vancouver have been smuggling over-tuned rift weaponry into Asia. Those have a high fail rate and induced casualties on their side." Su Wen's eyes flicked to Ollie just for a blink of an eye for him to notice. "On the east coast, United Knights tracked down a dust trail that led from Eastern Europe all the way to Ontario. There's also POI's on the Montreal port and Quebec City, but those ones aren't higher priority than Peterborough and Kingston."
"And we're assuming they have substantial evidence because…?" Ollie looked to Jonathan.
"United Knights already had been tracking this for the past 3 years. And the Jiuling is just being Jiuling. Don't bother blocking them Glory." Jonathan rested his chin on one hand. "Su Wen, on with it."
Su Wen cleared her throat. "Recent incidents have accelerated their tilines. More dust related deaths in both Asia and Europe. Modified formulas, and the branches point them to Canada."
Dr. Gray smiled, but not with his eyes. "Modified how?"
"More aggressive crystallisation, specifically targeting mundanes." Su Wen's eyes pointed to the folder on the conference table. "16 incidents of mundane crystallisation alone. Jiuling doesn't care, but the United Knights sure do."
"We should cooperate," Marc said. "No point in disallowing it if we've got nothing to do with it. Let the vagrant factions take the hit."
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Agreed," Lennard said. "Mundane governnt is already on the edge from the increased criminal Aurian activities. This'll calm things down."
Lily shook her head. "So you're just going to let other factions operate freely in our territory?"
"Why not? We don't lose revenue from this," Su Wen said.
"When do they want to move?" Jonathan said as he read one of the mundane incident files.
"Three days. They have teams ready to deploy," Su Wen said.
Three days. Too fast. Ollie needed to make multiple calls after the eting. Asking for a delay was basically asking to be pointed out as the main culprit in this whole debacle. The important point was the dust storage. The rest were optional.
"What about the United Knights?" Ollie asked. "How many knights are they sending?"
"Two units moving independently as one squad," Su Wen said. "They're particularly interested in the signatures around these locations around south of Kingston, Peterborough, and Oshawa."
"Didn't you say it was just Kingston and Peterborough?" Ollie asked. Those were either signatures from the production of creating dust for outside distribution.
"Oshawa was also on the list they've requested for, but lower priority."
"We should put together a task force," Marc said. "Our best agents working with theirs. Show them we take this seriously."
Jonathan nodded. "Su Wen, coordinate with both factions. Our people should stay back and let them lead. No need to lose out on dical expenses. Dr. Gray, you handle them if they ask anything about the modified dust."
"Of course," Dr. Gray said.
Su Wen tapped on her tablet. "There's more. Street cri patterns have shifted dramatically in the past three months."
The projection showed security footage from different cities. Old Montreal during midnight. A man disappeared into thin air while he was with people. Toronto's financial district. A man in a suit and tie taking the night bus suddenly exploded into bits, covering the whole inside of the bus with innards, skin, and bone. In Oshawa, two security guards patrolling around the warehouse had their heads blown into bits by high caliber rounds. Sniper location, unknown.
"Notice anything unusual?" Su Wen asked, freezing a fra.
Ollie's throat tightened. Financial district was where his HQ was. And that distinctive blue flash just before the man exploded, that was a modified staff. Highly popular in his bazaar's offense section.
"Criminals are using Aurian equipnt on the public," Su Wen continued. "That's a risk to all of Aur."
Lennard's chair scraped against the floor as he stood and pointed at Ollie. "Interesting timing, isn't it? These incidents started right after Glory's Bazaar expanded its selections in a specific section."
"Now hold up!" Ollie grinned raised his hands.. "Custor's are going to do what custors do with their purchases, right? I assure you, every item in my retail stores ets the Path's regulations."
"Really?" Lennard pulled out a folder. "Because these specs look awfully familiar. The ether signature matches your registered patents."
Dr. Gray interjected, "I'm sure Ollie vets out his custors with every purchase. The bazaar is already a certified retailer in the Path. What's the point of arguing this?"
"Vetted doesn't an safe," Lennard said. "Look at this footage from Vancouver."
The screen showed a clean hit. An Ice particle that disappeared the mont it hit the target and the target dropping silently to the ground. There was nothing to indicate that it was any kind of mundane technology that killed the target.
"Mundane MPs are getting nervous," Lennard continued. "They can't explain these deaths. No wounds, no poison, nothing their forensics can detect."
Lily twirled her pen faster into a spin. "The bazaar isn't responsible for criminal misuse. We all know Ollie runs a legitimate business."
"Legitimate?" Lennard snorted. "Like those warehouses in Montreal? The ones where witnesses report strange lights, people coming in and not coming out, and absolute silence?"
Jonathan turned to Ollie. "Silence?"
"Air stabilization magic in a convenient device that looks like a phone," Su Wen said. "Creates zones where sound cannot escape. Perfect for discreet operations."
Ollie maintained his easy smile, but sweat beaded on his neck. "Many companies produce similar equipnt."
"Not with these specifications," Lennard pressed. "The technology matches your patents exactly."
Marc cleared his throat. "As what was said before, we can't control what the custors do with the products. Besides, the bazaar generates significant revenue for the Path."
"Is that what we care about now?" Lennard slamd his hand on the table. "Profit? While criminals use our own tech on people?!"
"The Path needs resources," Dr. Gray said. "Ollie's innovations have funded critical research in my departnt."
"So he lined your pockets too?" Lennard glared at Dr. Gray.
Jonathan plopped down the mundane incident records back to the table. "Soone's supplying both intel and resources to these criminals."
"The question is who," Su Wen said. "And why the sudden escalation?"
Ollie leaned back. "I an look, my company keeps a detailed record of every sale. All of them can be put on the table for you to investigate."
"How convenient," Lennard sneered. "And I suppose those records are completely accurate?"
"You saying sothing about , Lennard?" Ollie's smile vanished instantly as his eyes caught on to Lennard.
"Just finding it interesting that your products keep showing up in criminal hands," Lennard said.
Lily stood up. "That's enough. Ollie's loyalty to the Path is beyond question."
"Is it?" Lennard challenged. "Because these energy signatures match equipnt only available through his company. The sa signatures we're tracking in Vancouver. Is it really beyond question? Huh, miss Blue Haven survivor?"
Lily's fist shook, her whole body tensed as if almost ready to pounce.
Dr. Gray spread his hands. "Hold on! Correlation doesn't equal causation. Other factors-"
"Like money?" Lennard cut in. "How much profit does the bazaar generate from these items?"
Marc shifted uncomfortably. "The bazaar's finances aren't relevant to this discussion."
"They are when those profits might be funding criminal enterprises," Lennard insisted.
Jonathan held up a hand. "Enough. We need solutions, not accusations."
"Agreed," Su Wen said. "The imdiate concern is stopping these attacks. Four major cities are reporting increased incidents."
The screen showed a map of the affected areas. Red dots clustered around Montreal's port, Toronto's financial district, Oshawa's industrial zone, and Vancouver's warehouses.
"The pattern suggests organized distribution," Su Wen continued. "Professionals using… high-end equipnt. We're not making accusations right now."
Ollie leaned back in his chair. "The bazaar sells to licensed buyers only. We can't control secondary markets."
"But you can control your inventory," Lennard said. "Put a tracker in each of your sold items."
"And risk destroying trust with our custors?" Ollie argued.
"The Path has bigger concerns," Marc said. "Our operations-"
"Our operations are compromised if we can't trust our own people," Lennard leaned forward, glaring even more at Ollie.
"This witch hunt helps no one. Ollie's research has saved lives," Dr. Gray shook his head.
"At what cost?" Lennard said. "How many civilians have died from modified weapons? How many cases are left unreported, huh?!"
"Su Wen, continue your report." Jonathan interrupted, voice projected with ether that stopped the argunt.
She nodded, switching to new footage. The footage showed the man who had exploded on the bus on an elevator going all the way up to his penthouse near Corktown. "The attacks follow a pattern. High networth individuals. No witnesses, no evidence."
"What about the two security guards?" Ollie asked.
"Third and Fourth sons of wealthy businessn from Indonesia," Su Wen said. "The raids need to happen on the facilities to calm the major factions. But we should also investigate these street-level incidents."
"Agreed," Jonathan said. "And Ollie…"
"Yes?" His voice remained steady.
"We'll need complete access to the bazaar's records. Every sale, every buyer."
"Of course," Ollie smiled brightly. "Whatever helps the investigation."
Lennard whispered sothing under his breath, and Lily gave him a glare.
"One more thing," Su Wen added, pulling up another docunt. "We've detected trace ether signatures of the caster near several Path facilities."
The room went quiet. Ollie's fingers twitched beneath the table.
"Which facilities?" Jonathan asked.
"Research labs. Storage units. Places that should be secure." Su Wen's eyes swept the room. "Soone knows our processes and protocols."
"An inside job?" Marc frowned.
Ollie maintained his cheerful deanor. "The Path's security is top priority. The bazaar would never-"
"Save it," Lennard snapped his fingers. "We all know what's really going on in those warehouses."
"Do we?" Jonathan asked, rubbing his chin while staring at Lennard. "Continue with what we know, Lennard."
For half a minute, no one spoke. Even Marc's shaking legs stopped, and Lennard leaned back in his chair.
After that half a minute, Su Wen continued. "The raids begin in seventy-two hours. All facilities will be searched simultaneously."
"To prevent evidence from disappearing," Lennard added.
Ollie's smile never faltered. "The bazaar welcos the investigation. We have nothing to hide."
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