Slumrat Rising

Truth tried to think very rapidly. This was a cop. A high end cop, but a cop. And cops didn’t ask questions that would benefit you. This was a fishing expedition-

Colonel Cho snorted. “The contents of Great White Mountain were not known to us. After it blew up, we were able to see who had been working there, and work backwards. Our analysts were very busy for a while. Since the Shattervoid are still here, ‘she’ didn’t die in the eruption.”

Truth nodded. That sounded almost plausible. Then he waited. Cho waited right back at him. They sat quietly for a few minutes.

“Oh, you are still on the hanging.”

“Yep.”

“Not the near infinite sums of money.”

“What money?”

“I did say-”

“I heard you.”

The room went quiet again. Truth thought it was pretty interesting watching the colonel’s face. He had a superb poker face, naturally. Unmoving. Truth could practically feel the thoughts darting around inside his head, like fishes hunting in a still pond.

“It’s a mitigation measure. There are too many changes, too fast, and they touch on too many interests. Building up on decades of preparation, but it’s all too much, too fast. There just isn’t a release that we can offer them that would be comprehensive enough to release the social tension. So a number of different factions collaborated to create a new folk custom.”

Truth nodded. Manufacturing authenticity was a core skill of any PR outfit.

“Need I say more?”

“Yes. Why no official party leader? I would think establishing or maintaining hierarchy would be desirable.”

“There is. The parties are de-facto led by the same one or two people in each neighborhood that has been targeted for management. In due time, it will be revealed that those people were tied to a higher power. Fortunate chosen ones.”

Sounded right. It also made some implicit truths about the relationship between the mighty and the masses explicit. This was nakedly sacrificing their own people, and to an extent, their own legitimacy, to buy time.

The people with an eye to the exit simply didn’t care any more, and for those looking to stay, replacing the corrupt old order would actually add to their legitimacy. Bringing an end to the chaos and wild cruelty of the Bad Times. Might find some capable subordinates, or convenient scapegoats, or both. Really, it was a plan with no losses. Immense returns on an investment with no capital.

They lapsed back into silence. Cho coughed. “So. About those tickets-”

“If the Shattervoid are still here, and I am still here, you know I haven’t put together the full fare.”

Colonel Cho nodded at that, smiling slightly. “Like I said, I’m representing a very wealthy consortium of people who would like to know your price for off world travel. And they do understand your… notorious disdain for money.”

“My what now?”

“Your conversation with Mr. Sung was, as you suspected, recorded. Twice-over. Once by the Sung clan, once by us. Ours leaked first, but theirs was only twenty minutes behind. It was quite interesting to watch.”

“Watch?”

“How the information spread, then the information about who had the information spreading.”

“Ah. And this meeting is being recorded as well?”

“As well as transmitting to people listening in live, yes. Once my shield charm activated.”

“Haah. Alright.” Well that wasn’t ideal. On the other hand, his adopted persona was wrapped firmly around him. He was the Hell Prince, yes, but those words didn’t mean what Cho thought they meant. Hell Prince sounded scary, but he was quite certain that the Propaganda Department, or whoever, hadn’t really thought about what Hell was when they came up with the name.

“So why did you lead off by offering money?”

“Money, as you pointed out, can mean different things at different times.” Cho settled back into his chair. “For example, we have a wealth of agents and a wealth of information.”

“Ah. You put me in a position to behead Starbrite, and in exchange you get to watch the apocalypse play out from far, far away.”

“Mmm. Well, we can offer other conveniences as well, but based on your performance thus far, I am quite certain you won’t use them.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Oh?”

“Kill squads, hidden armories, sealed demons, tactical and strategic level curses, specialized succubae and other seduction agents, essentially every vehicle manufactured anywhere in the world, custom spell work and custom gear, even extraordinarily rare natural treasures. Things that would once have been considered national treasures.”

“Jeon still has national treasures?”

“Didn’t say they were our national treasures.” Cho smiled like a shark.

“There’s the Jeon I know.”

“Interested?”

“Definitely. Gonna say no, though.”

“We knew you would. Frankly, we weren’t optimistic you would even take the meeting.”

“Curiosity, mostly.” That, and he was going insane trying to think of any way to find Starbrite’s traces.

“So. What does it take to buy our way off world? Incidentally, regardless of whether the Sung Clan ultimately takes your advice- here.” He handed over a thick folder. Truth opened it. Lists of names, ages, fitness for the draft. Three quarters female, Truth noted. Then pictures, a map, daily schedules. Training regimens.

“You decided to train Level Zeros.”

“The best of the ones who wouldn’t be missed, yes. Thousands of others have been recruited to reclusive, but heavily promoted, “elite academies.” Some of them really are elite academies, long established to train up the younger generations of top clans before they head to university.”

“Ah. Not everyone in those top families is going to make it off-world?”

“Most aren’t even going to try. All are making contingency plans.”

“Aren’t even going to try?” Truth cocked his head to one side.

“You think we don’t see the trap this world is in? We knew even before the Shattervoid stopped coming. We are a backwater. We scraped by selling cheap manufactured goods, importing the cheapest food and a bare few luxuries. And they are only luxuries by our standards!”

“Okay?”

“How many people are willing to go from being a local tyrant, living a life of utter decadence, to being a despised coolie, a refugee, a beggar on the streets of a strange city in a strange world?” Cho shrugged. “I’m angling to get me and mine out, and I have been very realistic with the family about what to expect. They are all currently medicated to manage the depression.”

Truth nodded and went still again. Processing. Everything Cho said was calculated. That had been his impression since he first got the message from the worm. Every word, every gesture, every pause. It was all calculated to operate on several levels. Invisibly shaping the listener’s reality, like getting the poison of Incisive the hard way.

“Building the new farms was a lot harder than the training camps. Hard to design for maximum production when you know you wont have magical inputs or labor.” Cho smiled faintly.

Ah. Now there is some bait. He has deduced some things, and now he is testing. Truth decided to test straight back.

“Nice to meet you. I’m off.” Truth stood and started walking for the door.

“Really? I know you said there was no plan, but this seems random even for you.”

“Show me some sincerity.”

“More than saving thousands of-”

Truth gave the colonel a look.

“They are being saved. They would surely die otherwise.” Cho kept his voice quite mild.

“Mmm. Good for them. How are you going to save yourself?”

“What more sincerity can we offer than “Whatever you want?”

“I want a lot of things. What can you offer me that I need?” Truth kept his voice mild too.

“Starbrite.”

Truth paused, smiling at the door. “Was the whole performance worth it?”

There was a startled pause behind him, then a little huffed out breath. “Yes. These things are necessary.”

“But why? We were always going to wind up here.” Truth didn’t turn back yet.

“Because we don’t know you. And we want our own assurances.”

“You know me perfectly well.” Truth turned and sat back down, sprawling in the chair. “By ‘you’ I mean IS and our studio audience.”

“You know that isn’t true.”

“Oh? Is the Hell Prince lying? Misleading you? Sowing division with his honeyed words? Who could have possibly guessed?”

“We can ease off on that, if it bothers you.”

Truth smiled his own shark smile. “How’s it working out for you?”

“Middling. Better than you might expect. It helps to have a face to pin the blame on.”

“Which is definitely the only reason you are doing it.” Truth waved the point away. “Cough up the goods.”

“We need an agreement first.”

“No.”

“We really do.”

“Then we are really done.” Truth shrugged.

“I’m not asking for your soul here-” Cho spread his hands.

“No.”

“Even a-”

“No.”

“Young man, are you sure you understand what “agreement” means?”

“Yes, quite sure, thank you.” Truth nodded politely.

“Then what’s all this? What’s the harm in establishing the terms of cooperation?”

“Because there are no terms of cooperation. There will be no cooperation. I’m hunting down Jeon’s leading families in the time between now and the collapse. If I’m still here after the collapse, the murder-per-minute rate will only go up. Send your armies. Send your old monsters. I don’t give a fuck who you send. The only, only, thing that is keeping people out of the murdered-in-bed lottery is if I have something more pressing to deal with.”

“Why do you hate them so much?” Cho sounded mildly interested. Truth just smiled. And waited.

And waited.

And waited. Cho kept staring at him. Eventually Truth shrugged and stood. He walked over to the filing cabinet, found it locked, broke the lock with a jab of his thumb, and ripped the door open. He then started browsing files. If he was going to be waiting a while, he might as well have something to read.

“Oh for God’s sake!” Cho kept it together pretty well, but Truth saw the red rising on the back of his neck. Well known fact- cops love keeping files, and hate other people reading them.

“Funny you say that. Not very funny, but kind of funny. Incidentally, how have you not caught this prick? I’ve done some awful shit, but “drowned his victims in fish entrails” is a new one for me.”

“He is very likely dead, fallen into an industrial fish ball maker.” Cho growled, eyes fixed on the folder. Truth shrugged and put it back. Then pulled out another. Cho reached for his needler.

“You know that won’t help. Better hurry, there is only so long these are going to keep me interested. You have already fished enough information out of me. Stop playing coy and cough- really? A real estate scam and he rates a file in your office? Looks like he only got away with two million.”

“Who he robbed matters a lot more than how much he stole.” He reached into a drawer and pulled out a gem. “We have spent more than a hundred years finding Starbrite’s footsteps. A century sorting false leads. We still can’t point you straight at him. But we can put you on his trail. If you can settle the matter of transport off world when the deed is done.”

“And being paranoid, your sponsors want more than an agreement, they want some degree of leverage over me beyond mutual destruction when the world ends.”

“Essentially.”

“No.”

“Mutual destruction is really your preferred option?”

“Yes.”

That appeared to actually surprise Cho. It was just a tiny flash in the eyes, a sudden flicker of a fin showing through the reflection on the pond’s surface. It might have been nothing, or left for him to find. Or it might be real.

Truth gave him a half smile. “I am what you made me, after all. Does the Hell Prince bend his neck? Does he compromise? Does he find a path of mutual support that respects the dignity of all peoples, most particularly the mighty who might threaten him?”

“You just said-”

“I say a lot of things. What I am saying now is this- Those who obey me shall prosper, and those who oppose me shall perish. I will make no agreements, nor accept any restraints. Give me Starbrite, or become the next sacrifice to the mob, strung up on a lamp post. There is no plan. I’m quite flexible. If I sacrifice enough of you, something will give me the answer I need. And if it doesn’t? Then I shall inherit my throne and make this world a Hell of my own creation.”

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