The Reaper’s Legion

Chapter 56

...And Now the Stick

-Cassandra Vera’s P.O.V.-

‘What the fucking hell?’ I thought, trying to keep from flinching at the ‘man’ who’d walked in. Anger and disdain rolled off of him, and I’d felt the biting retort die on my tongue as he glared at me. ‘This is what killed Wolven.’ I thought to myself, complicated emotions contorting. At once I was in awe at what this man had accomplished, as well as disgusted at what had to have happened to him, and admittedly afraid at what he was now. Was he even human anymore?

‘Get it together, girl,’ Interrupting my moment of panic, I pushed all of those thoughts into a box. I’d have to sort that later, I had another contender to work with here. This was the leader of the Legion, he’d have the power and authority to execute our demands.

‘Alex’s demands,’ my traitorous thoughts reminded, ‘now that most everyone seems to be hopping on his coattails and stealing all of my work.’ The bitterness I felt towards Alex in that moment was deep. Out of seven people in my inner circle, four of which were people I’d brought in myself, the vote did not pass. The best possible circumstances, ones that I’d engineered from the start with hard line processes and careful maneuvering - and admittedly a hearty serving of luck - had come to nothing in that moment. Doug was right, my Order had become a trainwreck.

It was obvious, only one other person had voted in favor of the conditions, in spite of my having explicitly informed the bulk of them ahead of time that should such conditions arise, we should take them. I wasn’t a dictator, I would never push this ahead of anyone, but this… this wasn’t what I wanted.

But I wouldn’t give up on the Hunter’s Order. People deserved a way to succeed by the strength of their own backs. We needed a way to gain power on our own, outside of the control of Bulwark, or the Civic Orders. On the level, the Legion was barely a factor, they just harvested the Matter Energy. They gave a healthy chunk over, but it just didn’t feel right to have all of our ‘needs’ determined by the Bulwark.

Having an independant order, one capable of managing the city, to show an alternative style of government built upon individual contribution and oversight, rather than that of a whole and potentially corruptible group, would show that the individuals who hunted could then serve to directly stimulate economic development and ongoing wellbeing of Gilramore. The fact that it hadn’t happened properly yet was regrettable, but I’m certain that eventually the wealth would trickle through the system, from one person to the next. The stratification that was occuring now wouldn’t be forever, and the people who were in power now would have to continue hunting biotics in order to maintain that power. It would be a self-facilitating process.

At least it should have been. Doug had more information on my own organization than I did. Alex taking what amounted to taxes from people under him in return for favors and access to certain places, shops, goods, and other benefits made for a very problematic situation. How long has that been going on?

That was the kind of stratification that would last the ages, a pyramid scheme. Only with this, that would undoubtedly create a dictator in time. Hadn’t he been aware of that? How toxic that system would become?

Was I anyone in a position to say anything about it, though?

I dragged my thoughts back to the present to keep from feeling existentially tired. We could only do the best with what we had, and even then, usually only the next best thing.

“I wouldn’t know,” I answered, managing to smile, “greed must be something you and the Legion are quite familiar with, is it not?”

‘Put him on the back foot, politically maneuver him into a position where he would look back publically.’ I reminded myself, setting up my approach. Organizations, of course, had to be careful of public opinion, lest it turn against them.

When his smile vanished, replaced by smoldering fury, I didn’t even have the time to consider that I’d made an error in my tactics. The words ‘He doesn’t like politics,’ echoing in my head like hammer blows.

“It seems you’re misunderstanding something here,” His red eyes seemed to stare through me, “The only reason why this meeting happened was because Doug wanted to have a congenial and frank conversation with you and your organization. To be considerate of your position, if you will.” The man looked around, “All of this was built by us. Gilramore is still here, because of us. Thousands of biotics form the bedrock of our strength. Our foundation was tested in fire, baptized in blood and more than our fair share of death.”

“So to have some upstart, fledgling group too cowardly to step up to the plate,” He seethed, “come here, into my home, with the gall to demand from my Legion consolations?”

His incredulous eyes met mine, “Tell me, did you think this was old earth? Do you think this is some game? I’ll be perfectly transparent here; I don’t give a single fuck about what anyone thinks about how I run my Legion. You want a shot? Than you’re going to play by our rules.”

My brain sputtered in disbelief as I grappled with what he just said, “Th-that’s not how that works! You don’t get to dictate how people live! How is that fair at all?”

“Fair?” A look like he was talking to a rock flashed across his face, “I don’t care if you think it’s fair. I could be having the Legion hoard every single biotic - oh, you know what, that’s happening.”

I watched as his eyes flashed red briefly, confusion racing through me.

“There, now the Legion’s just going to kill everything in the badlands. I’d recommend staying far from the farms, also, considering I’ve just given clearance to shoot anyone unauthorized trying to enter them.” He smiled, teeth bared.

“That - wait - you can’t do that!” I leaned forward, clenching the chair with my fingers hard. This was not how this was supposed to go. I turned my attention to Doug, who seemed just as helpless as I did.

“Yes, I can. I did.” He stated matter-of-factly, “Everything outside of Gilramore is the Legion’s jurisdiction. If you want that changed, you’ll have to play by the same rules we do. Not the selfish, childish games you’ve all been playing, picking up scraps from biotics barely worth my people’s times. Now, let’s make sure you understand what I expect of your little club.”

I bridled with outrage at the man, but he steamrolled past as I struggled for a response.

“If you want to go hunt, you can, but you’ll be doing it just like we are at the border. We will not give you access to our resources, including our information or our artillery network, since you haven’t paid for a drop of it.”

“Those are for the people!” She spat, “You’d be willing to expose people to danger outside of Gilramore, just because they’re not Legion?”

“Yes.” He leaned forward, “Yes I damn well would. You think we’re going to hold your hand? You want to step up, then do it. Pay your fees and you get access to what the Legion has been paying for every step of the way. If you think you deserve to be an organization, then you’re damn well going to give back to the city. The simple fact of the matter is that we’ve fought for our power. You won’t even have to go through what we did, you’ve clearly got enough Matter Energy stored up to limit how much danger your people should be in.”

I searched for a retort, but this man was, frankly, a form of political suicide. “You’re literally saying that you don’t want to give up any of your power, you know that, right?”

“What of it?” He sat back, “I’m no tyrant over the people, not like what you people are breeding,” he spat acidly, one that I couldn’t help but wince at, “You want to do something in Gilramore? Be my guest, I don’t care. That’s not my jurisdiction. The moment you entered my arena, the wilds, you were under my jurisdiction. And on that note, where were you all when Gilramore really needed help?”

I opened my mouth but felt my tongue heavy with lead. ‘We could have helped!’ Was the response that almost left my lips. But we didn’t.

“You need to prove yourselves capable of at least this much. Gilramore has no need of an organization that will be nothing but a parasite.” He casually remarked, the scathing statements thoroughly having worn my patience thin.

“The price of any organization and individual will be as follows,” he began, “Fifty percent of all of your earnings will go to The Bulwark for allocation as needed. For that, you receive artillery support, emergency dispatch from any nearby Reaper team within reason, and information regarding any biotics. You will share in information found outside of Gilramore for the good of all humankind. If you wish to be recognized as an independent organization, you may register with The Bulwark and work on modified rules as the Legion does. We pay 20 percent of our earnings, but are required to hunt a certain number of times on a bi-weekly basis.”

“You will be expected, as an organization, to contribute to the raiding of hives, assassination of Unique’s as they appear, hunting of biotics, reclamation of territory, and in emergency situations to man the defense alongside Bulwark in the event that it is required. You’re in luck, many of these things will be easier than ever before thanks to the work we’ve already done.” He watched me, insuring that I was still listening, “Finally, you will be allowed to do with your personal Matter Energy as you wish, but you are not to create transactional interactions that create dependance strictly upon your organization.”

He shrugged then, “That one is more of a guideline, really, it’s not necessarily a problem to have favorite vendors, honestly. It’s just to keep you honest, don’t maliciously abuse your power, which should have been given, but apparently we need to say that officially.”

“You are such an asshole.” The words left my mouth before I could clamp down on them.

He laughed, “Perhaps. But that’s how it’s going to be now.”

“We won’t stand for this, this isn’t right. The people won’t think it’s right, either.” I started to say, but felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as the power armor he wore buzzed.

“Then they’re welcome to do better, if they can,” he rose from his seat, “This conversation is over now. The Legion has made its stance perfectly clear, I think. If you make something of yourselves, we can talk about your little club becoming a real organization.”

He gestured to the door, “You can see yourself out.”

I was baffled at the callous treatment the man gave, and almost listlessly I rose, moving to the door. Somehow, our deal had reversed in the worst possible way.

‘No, not the worst…’ I considered things, ‘I can still work with this, but my Order might not.’ My breathing hitched as I crossed the portal from the room, doing my best to keep myself under control. For better or worse, my Order would change.

A message pinged into existence from the Obelisks then, a general message. The sender was listed as ‘The Reaper’s Legion - ‘The Reaper’’, and as soon as I viewed the contents, I knew that these changes would happen fast.

And surely enough, Alex messaged me minutes later.

“Lets see what this is about, then.” I murmured, having a feeling that my Order was about to get much smaller.

-Matthew Reaper’s P.O.V.-

“Well… that was something.” Doug breathed out as I sat back down across from him. We kicked our feet up on the low coffee table between us.

“Mmm.” I hummed in response, “It’s probably going to get really noisy politically. Just point them my way if they have a problem with it.”

Doug shook his head, “I’m not too worried about Bulwark, I think Charlie’s been waiting for something out of you. As for the Orders? Well…” He leaned back and stared at the ceiling, “Most of them probably won’t care too much. If anything, this gives an official framework.”

“I should have handled that months ago,” I clicked my tongue, feeling void of any particular emotion, “It is good to see you, though.”

He snickered, “I’m glad to have you back around. At least now we can do the bad politician, good politician schtick now.”

“That we can,” I smiled, “shame it came down to the stick, though. I genuinely think she might have what it takes.”

“Mm,” he agreed, “Hopefully this doesn’t break her.”

I cringed, “Yeah.”

We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, just taking it all in. Finally, he spoke up, “A lot of things have changed in the last month. You met my new assistant-in-command?”

“Derrick, yeah,” I nodded, “good man. I left him in the lobby to advertise that I’m back in action and we have a big operation coming up.”

Doug breathed in and out slowly, “You haven’t even been back a day and you’re already getting in the thick of it?”

“It’s who I am.” I murmured, adding mentally ‘Now, anyways.’

“Well, I’m sure that the fallout from all of this’ll hit either way.” Doug sat forward, “So what’s coming up?”

I sent him a packet of information containing the Gen 2 biotics information. After a few moments to allow him to read through it, I spoke up, “You probably already know it exists, but it resembles a Unique I’d encountered earlier. That’s where the left arm went at the time,” I gestured, “Given that, I’d say it’s safe to say that there are a lot more of those where they came from.”

“Mounting a scouting mission?” He looked to me, then frowned in thought as I shook my head, “Then you’re mounting an extermination expedition?”

“Just so.” I nodded, “I plan on leaving in two days. We’ll mobilize half of the Legion - good job on recruitment, by the way - and we’ll use the opportunity to pull in anyone trying to prove themselves worthy of having an organization. Anyone who registers with us will share in the Matter Energy gains, but will be looked after by us.”

“That’ll give us the opportunity to look for more talent, head off public opinion on the availability of biotic hunting grounds, and give the Hunter’s Order an opportunity to prove themselves at once,” he murmured assessingly, “Yeah, that doesn’t sound bad. I’ll work over a few other details too, we can take some willing volunteers from The Bulwark to get some experience. Any idea where we’d be heading first?”

As ironic as it was, I was looking forward to the expedition. The place that had been hammered the hardest by biotic meteor fragments, the very same place where my now distant and hazily remembered family met their end would be our destination.

“Damond. We’re going to take back Damond.” I looked to him, seeing comprehension dawn in his eyes.

“Good.” I saw his eyes grow hard, “That’ll get a lot more people involved.” We both shared a look, recognizing one fact over any other.

Revenge was an excellent motivator.