The Systemic Lands

Chapter 182: Day 399 (6) – A Sad Fate

Chapter 182: Day 399 (6) – A Sad Fate

I released the force field. “Hello Laura.” She was sitting against the far wall and looked up at me. I see she got a regeneration from the last time I had seen her. Still, she looked worn, smelled, and her clothes were a bit dirty from her own filth. I looked at the waste bucket nearby that was emitting a foul smell.

“Michael. Come to gloat?” Laura asked slowly and with clear anger in her tone. While her body expressed the fact she was defeated, her mind was still going strong. I let out a small sigh. I was not here to gloat. I didn’t know where this conversation would go. I wanted to see if it was possible to salvage anything.

The conversation with Yaakov had given me hope. Unfortunately, that hope was quickly dying a swift and painful death.

“No actually. You aren’t staying here any longer,” I said. One way or the other this situation would resolved. I created the Ritualist. I was not about to create my next enemy.

“Going to kill me?” Laura asked. That was the question that needed to be answered.

“Maybe. I don’t know yet. I am inclined to nip the problem in the bud. But I also know you haven’t done anything besides question me. At least not intentionally,” I said, extending a small olive branch. I was curious if she would take it or turn it against me.

“Not buying into that nonsense about stealing and taxes?” Laura asked. She clearly wanted to burn her bridges. Did she think that her attitude would make me believe her trustworthy, or had she already given up and wanted to get a last few punches?

“That was the public explanation. You are a political prisoner more than anything else. Now I can kill you, but I am sure people will complain. Or I can let you go…” I trailed off.

“You want to know what I will do if you free me?” I nodded at that. “You are an asshole, you know that.” I let her have that. I was honestly curious what she would say or if she would try to save her life.

“I know that. Anything else you want to say or get off your chest?” I asked.

“That’s it.” She let out a long sigh and slumped. “I know things. Things you want to keep secret. You are really thinking about letting me go? I don’t plan to pointlessly beg. You can get Clarissa to grovel at your feet.”

“You really hate her.” Laura sat on the floor, then she looked up and grinned at me. This wasn’t a nice grin. This was the grin, of a person with one last card of revenge to play. Now I was curious. Take your best shot Laura, Clarissa had my trust. Nothing you could do would shake that.

“She was one of Ruth’s informers. Oh, you didn’t know that? Well she did.” I took a deep breath at the accusation. Laura clearly picked up on my shock. I schooled my face and took a moment to process the accusation.

“Was that before or after Ruth left my team?” I asked. Laura was silent. That was all the answer I needed. It was before Ruth left my team and before Clarissa started working for me in earnest. “So before, when Clarissa wasn’t working for me. I don’t hold that against her. Makes me wonder why you saved that piece of information until right now.”

“Would it have mattered?” Laura muttered, clearly realizing her ploy had failed. I doubted many people and did not trust easily. However, Clarissa had earned my trust and she was competent. She was truly irreplaceable.

The fact that Laura saved this until now, just showed me how troublesome she was. If Laura was truly on my side, she would have shared this information a lot sooner. Not wait until now to use it in a revenge ploy. She probably knew it was weak, which was why she didn’t use it before. It was the last arrow in her quiver and it missed.

“Before, maybe. Now, not one bit.” Clarissa chose that moment to walk back into the Prison. “Laura was just telling me how you reported to Ruth.” I turned to look at Clarissa. She didn’t hesitate to respond. She probably knew I would find out one day and her answered prepared.

“We talked, but that was before I was hired by you and before she left your team. After that, I haven’t spoken with her or had anything to do with her,” Clarissa said.

“Didn’t think to mention it?” I asked, curious how Clarissa would justify not sharing this information. While I wasn’t upset, she should have disclosed such a thing to me.

“I didn’t think it was important and that it would draw negative attention to myself,” Clarissa said. I turned to look back at Laura. Laura slowly got to her feet, and I readied myself for a fight.

“Clarissa, can she be killed or set free?” I asked.

“There would be trouble if she was killed. Some teams may cause issues and there may be a larger campaign to replace you than there would be long term. But it is manageable. If she was set free, she knows too much. There is a good chance she would run away to another city and become another Ruth,” Clarissa explained.

Unfortunately, all that was true. There was no other way forward. Maybe it was cruel, but I decided to ask Laura herself. Maybe she would come up with a compromise.

“If you were me Laura, what would you do? Or do you have another suggestion?” I asked her.

“Just kill me and be done with it. Stop toying with your food you bastard. I bet your mother was a donkey who was raped by a snake. I hope you choke on your own blood you asshole and die screaming in pain. The best thing to happen was when your legs were melted off. That was a good-“

Acid Shot. Laura was ready and already moving sideways from one side of the cell to the other.

“Acid Shot!” Laura used the skill, aiming for Clarissa who was quickly retreating backwards.

Acid Shot x6. A veritable flood of acid appeared in front of me and shot forward. Laura’s attack was completely overwhelmed and the entire cell was splashed with acid.

Laura melted quickly and I stepped back as my acid left the cell. Clarissa walked over to where was by the pillar. We spent moment looking at the mess and the few bits of Laura left that were melting away.

“Were you really considering letting her go?” Clarissa asked me in her usual deadpan. At she didn’t sound gleeful. She had pushed for this woman’s death and made me do the dirty work. I understood why, still I was annoyed.

“A small bit. I knew her. Always harder to kill someone you know.” I let out a long sigh. “I was hoping she would agree to house arrest. If she was apologetic and willing to work with me, I wouldn’t have instantly discarded the matter. I didn’t talk with her just to toy with her life.”

I may be an unrepentant murderer, but if you were going to kill someone, no need to drag it out. I had learned that lesson very clearly. I also learned that having people to manage things was important. While I didn’t expect a real threat to come from this, people would remember and they might resist the direction I wanted for this city and seek to undermine.

That was the problem with being the strongest and everyone knowing that fact. No one would fight me anymore. There would be no Battle of Blood for control of the city. Instead it would cloak and dagger nonsense and undermining my bureaucracy.

That was why I couldn’t get rid of Clarissa. Her life was tied to mine and my ability to be in charge was in her hands. She knew it as well, which is why I removed Laura from her position of power and killed Laura for her. It was why she could take a 10k point daily salary and knew she could get away with it. It was why I didn’t object to her hiring guards to protect her life.

If I was the King, she was my Hand and wiping up all the shit I didn’t want to deal with. It annoyed me, but as long as Clarissa didn’t cross my red lines, she had all the leeway she wanted.

“Do you want to spin it? Say she escaped and ran away?” Clarissa asked me. I considered that option for a long moment. The cover up was always worse than the truth.

“No. If anyone comes to you about her, tell them to speak to me. Other than that, say nothing. Let people wonder what happened to her. If they cause trouble and bother me, well, I know who to keep an eye on. But no sense lying about it or making something up. That is just asking for pointless drama later.” If anyone did complain, then they could take it up with my public relations tool, Acid Shot. It melted through headache inducing problems.

“Very well. The last two people?” Clarissa asked. I put my hands on the Prison pillar and cut the forcefield on both cells. Acid Shot x2. Both occupants were killed instantly or close enough. I noted that Laura took a few seconds to stop moving. The stats did do something compared to someone with no stats, just not enough against my Acid Shot to matter.

“As they say in the North. The man who gives the sentence, shall melt them person,” I said. I was done with this place. Prisons were terrible on Earth and the Systemic Lands.

“I think you got the quote wrong, but it is an admirable sentiment. Not many people in charge are willing to make the tough decisions or get their hands dirty,” Clarissa said.

I paused and Clarissa stopped walking as well before we could leave the Prison. I stared at her for over a minute. Each second the tension ramped up, but she didn’t look away. I wanted to make her sweat a bit. While I might trust her and she ran the city, I was ultimately in charge and it was time to remind her of that fact. “Tell me, did you think I would kill all of them?” I asked slow, enunciating each word carefully.

“I did. Yaakov was a bit of surprise, but I suspected that if one was let go it would be him. Thought you wanted to crush out any religion, not your own.”

“I do, but he was a new arrival. And was willing to have a rational discussion. The first person shouldn’t have even been a question. He caused chaos. This is a city of order. The second was clearly disturbed, throwing shit around everywhere. If she was calm and willing to talk, then who knows,” I shook my head before continuing.

“In the end, there was nothing I could do. We don’t have the resources to maintain a prison population. This place, don’t invest in it. At most, put people from the arrival who cause problems to be sorted out later. Anyone else, resolve it and don’t drag me into the issue. I don’t like making decisions like this,” I said very clearly. I wanted to make sure Clarissa understand I wasn’t her attack dog. I was the superstar and she was the butler of home at best.

“You think anyone likes it? Maybe an executioner instead of a legal system?” Clarissa asked.

“I get it. I am the Supreme Court around here. Still, don’t send cases my way going forward. Let me put it another way. I won’t be doing the killing next time. You will have to do it with your bare hands. I mean it. I will have you kill them yourself. So, if you think a case is that important, then sure,” I explained since this entire thing put me in a bad mood after I had been in high spirits from all the new buildings.

This entire situation was annoying, and I was annoyed for Clarissa putting me into this position. I think she got the message as neither of us said anything as we left the Prison, and we made our way back to my home.

What a waste of points and time.