FIFTY THOUSAND FANS WERE IN A STADIUM watching a techno-funk band perform. From a mile away, was the LA Convention Center — where the Fundraiser evening gala event was to be held.

Behind the hotel building, were hills, where ordnance of the US army troops was stationed high — having a top view down advantage of the magnificently illuminated structure, and parameter that was gleaming brilliantly, like as in daylight.

At the side of the hotel premise, hung a giant banner of Madeline Cory's smiling face that occupied the entire eleventh floor, from top to bottom — endorsing the party’s self-proclaiming victory in the upcoming election.

At the mezzanine floor inside, were a team of Secret Service agents and the local e-SWAT police — in their tight routine security of body searching, the seven hundred arriving guests — checking for any hazardous items on them in batches, before they were allowed to take the elevators — to the gala dinner that was to be held at grand ballroom, at the eighth floor.

Agent Wolfe was overseeing from a top floor foyer, witnessing the K-9 dogs sniffing out for possible hidden-bombs. She had ordered another bomb sweep after getting the report from the FBI investigation that some of her Secret Service members who had gone behind her back doing unauthorized extraction-play — which ended up with the killing of four her agents, in Mississippi by the Aryan Sisterhood.

Wolfe was still really stirred up with Lucinda Gates’ reticent actions — but she had to stay focused with the ordained task at hand — which was to overseer the overall security at tonight’s Fundraiser...

It was Wolfe — who had initiated the collusion use of a Cory-double — if Cory was ‘to attend’ the LA’s Fundraiser — just like the ace of spades Saddam Hussein did in Iraq, using decoys for many long years ago — but it had to be in the highest level of secrecy too...

Even her step-daughter Samantha, Gates herself, the VP Mary Freeman — and even, many of her own Secret Service agents would never know about the switch, for the masterplan to lay the trap to work...

She now feared the signs of breaches in the recent West-wing’s trust and loyalty matters.

She intended to sort it out soon with a major revamp after discovering certain moles — some heads would roll soon — starting with the senior Agent Sian Harrison and other rogue agents, roped in by the authority of Lucinda Gates — in their partially failed clandestine mission in Mississippi, to rescue one of the Cory-twin.

Wolfe’s other anticipation was, whether the Preacher would take the pursuant bait — and boldly attacks LA tonight — despite the White House’s fraudulent press releases to the media that he would probably back off since his last defeat in New Orleans.

But, Wolfe knew he would come.

His entry would finally fulfil her promise for their definite showdown — like she had told him months ago, while Doran was still in Tombscradle...

Tonight, the bait is set — and she would take the Preacher out for good.

Wolfe privately communicated via a Bluetooth device, and it was received by Lucinda Gates on the eighth floor, of the gala event grand ballroom...

“Yes, Agent Wolfe.”

“Ms Gates, ‘the President’ is arriving in less than 5 minutes.”

The ballroom doors were soon opened by the guarded Elite soldiers — and the guests were ushered inside by a stream of hurried hostesses.

Above at the high gala dinner ballroom ceilings was a network of horizontal steel cables that ran across zigzagged — constructed for a surprise performance that was scheduled for the gala dinner guests, later that night.

***

The Presidential fleets of limousines were minutes away, passing the stadium of the roaring crowd with blaring music inside its vicinity. Samantha was mesmerized at the rah-rah actions that were going around, the packed concert stadium — where in less than two hours, her son Gillian was scheduled to perform with his band, The Kabuki Gods.

Uniformed police and the infantry of Elite Force soldiers were manning the crowd control of the Cory supporters cheering along the roadsides, at the passing vehicles that were headed to the LA Convention Center vicinity.

Samantha was in the same limo as the nervy Cory-double, who was still diligently mastering her speech notes — Samantha wondered why isn’t she holding a gin and tonic, on the other hand?

***

In the back area of the grand ballroom, banquet kitchens were in operational, where various international cuisines were prepared for the gala dinner. Busy chefs were in motion, while the waiters stood idle in a line holding large trays, for the subsequent courses of food pickup.

In the Chinese kitchen, dim sums were steaming in stacks of rattan baskets that were inspected by a female MasterChef — who was overseeing its quality to perfection. A group of infiltrated God’s Army’s Chinese triad was posing as female junior chefs, in white kitchen jackets. Their hands were busy chopping up, the a la minute Mise-en-Place garnishes, to accompany the food course...

The alert Oswald-Wu Leong's eyes were peeking over, at the two Elite soldiers guarding outside the kitchen door...

***

The fleets of limos soon arrived. Samantha alighted with Cory's double on the red carpet, shielded by Secret Service agents who kept the oncoming TV crew at bay.

At the same moment, a three-dimension hologram projection display came on — using the dark sky to pitch gigantic images of both Cory and her Vice President waving back. The crowd gathered behind the cordon and barricades a block away, became frantic and they cheered louder.

Hajja and Ramirez led their circumspect cadre of commando rebels into the hills — and they spied on their night-vision goggles at the purlieus of heavily armed army troops, stationed at the vantage points on the knolls which overlooked the hotel.

In an underground squalor sewer system which ran beneath the Convention Center — the picaresque Torres, who was also known as the Chupacabra — was leading the armed to the tooth, Army of Dogs cohort rebels — they were wading forward in the waist-deep of foul water, to circumvent detection.

***

The crowds in the gala banquet ballroom cheered and were in a standing ovation to the arrival of the waving President and her VP — who both made a grand entrance onto the main stage. Patriotic music blared on the sound system — and the lights dimmed for some pyros display that flared up. The distinguished guests roared louder when laser lights now displayed with the coming election slogans, sliding around, zig-zagging in the background stage walls...

The President and the VP held hands and raised it up to the applauding distinguished attendees — and the entire event niceties were watched — by Madeline Cory in her big screen, broadcasted back in Washington DC...

Agent Nolan the officiated security detail stepped inside the Oval Room...

“Madam President your transportation is ready, Ma’am.”

***

The roaring cheers in the ballroom were heard in the kitchens, at the service back-area. Female waitresses were picking up the dim sums trays as the first-course appetizers. Wu Leong and the rest were moving in a frantic pace, filling up the platting of the dumplings — while the Master Chef in front, hurried them by oaring aloud in Cantonese.

The last waiter left the pickup point, and the kitchen crew celebrated their arduous payoff with cold beers, with their satisfied Master Chef.

Wu Leong then slipped out by the door — and he walked in the corridor to the washroom. He meandered along with the racks of utensils and canned food along the passage. A stationed Elite SWAT soldier soon followed him, and the other uniformed female walked a few paces, behind her partner.

In the washroom, Wu Leong removed his white chef jacket. He was wearing a black singlet beneath, revealing the full-bodied dragon and phoenix tattoos on each arm. He removed the phoney brassieres he had worn under his singlet — and tossed into the trash-bin.

The door opened and the female soldier stepped in, and she instantly pointed her rifle at him. Her soldier-partner sneaked from the back and slit her throat — blood squirted — and the Elite-soldier fell down dead. The Caucasian female soldier who killed her spoke up in Mandarin...

“You are late — the target is already in the ballroom!”

Oswald Wu Leong glanced at the dead soldier on the floor...

“I know, clean up your mess.”

Wu Leong threw his white jacket on the growing crimson pool of blood of the corpse. He hopped on the tiled washbasin, opened the trap door at the ceiling, and heaved himself into the dark void. He started crawling in the dark passage — where a black sling bag had been placed ready for him...

It was his sniper-rifle — to assassinate the Snake-woman.

***

The master of ceremony, a famous standup comedienne was on stage — she was cracking everyone up with a list of things-to-do in case there was a terrorist attack. The Cory's double was laughing hard at the main table with a few prominent and prestigious captains of industrialists, who would be funding the coming election campaign.

The VP was seated with another group of laughing notable philanthropists — Mary Freeman did not find the humour funny at all — after the close call threats to her own life that she faced in New Orleans.

Samantha was among some of the eminent guests at another table but — ‘she is not there’— her mind was at the concert, sent numerous text messages over to Gillian that she would be arriving soon.

***

The five-piece trash-punk group — The Daughters of None — were doing their final song on stage. Their vocalist Lana Rickett was screeching her high notes to the rocking audience. She ran on stage, trashing props with the mic stand, the crowd went wild by her notorious act.

Gillian stood at the backstage — he was intrigued by her eccentric behaviour of destruction.

The lead guitarist jumped into a solo — and Lana ran up to the side to the monster speakers, where a bottle of bourbon was waiting for her, she downed it. Lana saw Gillian looking from the top floor of the back-stage. She waved to him and blew a kiss. He then got a glimpse of something handed to her by a roadie — she hurled it up and ran back to the centre of the stage...

Gillian laughed out to see the antiques of the ‘crazy-bitch from Cardiff,’ her self-proclaimed stage-name. She was holding a chainsaw and pulled the cord, and the power tool roared — while her guitarist did an equal explosive cacophony sounds with her shredding guitaring...

The stage lights dimmed off, Lana approached to a row of set-up metal pipes props — she grinded the metal-teeth of the chainsaw along the metal pipes to create the rhythm, to accompany the lead guitar's solo rifts. A hollow metallic sound with sparks was displayed out distinctively at the darkened stage. Gillian was fascinated by her creative showmanship, and so did the adrenaline hyped up a roaring crowd in front...

An event coordinator came from behind Gillian. “Mr Cory, you will be late for your makeup session, you are coming on soon.” Gillian looked around — Samantha had not arrived from the Fundraiser.

Gillian stepped into the changing room — and his two band members had their faces painted into Japanese Kabuki demons. They looked like the twentieth century's band KISS in make-ups, but only much fiercer in looks. Jeff the bassist called out...

“Yo Gillian, where did you go, man?”

Gillian sat on the chair looking at a TV monitor on the dresser that had a video-feed of Lana spinning in circles with the live chainsaw in her hand — before tossing it up in the midair. It fell into a huge wooden crate — resulting coloured bits of confetti spewed high out from the crate. The Daughters of None ended their set with pyrotechnics display — with the crowd deafening out, for an encore demand.

“Damn, she is wild when she is high!” the drummer Roger remarked. Jeff chuckling and next started teasing...

“You make great music-videos, Gill — but if you ever make a sex tape with her — make sure that ‘crazy-bitch’ does not have a chainsaw in the bedroom.”

***

Wu Leong started to assemble his rifle parts in the narrow duct end, looking out of a grilled ventilation panel perched, slightly above the ballroom. He noticed the lights turned dim — and a video presentation began in the ballroom...

A video recording of Madeline Cory appearing on the big 3-D screen, and she gave a commentary — with video images of ageing high-rise American city buildings that were deteriorating from lack of maintenance — because building construction was once a male-dominated industry — that was labour-intensive before the virus wiped them off...

The 3-D video further elaborated that after the post-Medusa outbreak — Japan had used ‘robotic workers’ in their construction industry to do manual labour — to rebuild and restored — their own cities and heritages in Metro Tokyo and in other many major cities.

The video showed dozens of three feet-tall robots teams — working in precise coordination. Some were scaling walls with construction material loads without any scaffolding but on attached suspended cables. Others were doing manual labour of lifting mixed concrete to a top floor which was used by other teams of robots to plaster walls at a swift pace. More of the similar exported robots were shown — building highways and bridges in Europe’s Germany and France.

The video presentation ended with Cory's double walking up to the stage, with a standing ovation from the dinner guests — Wu Leong was looking into the rifle scope but he could not get a clear-lock on the target, with too many movements of the standing guests...

He was given instructions to only shoot once the Preacher creates a diversion — but his trigger-finger itched...

The sniper had only one or maybe two opportunities to pull the trigger too — or else — his concealing position would be compromised by the tight security present around the President. The Cory-double now stood on the stage — but the crowd was still on their feet while listening to her, propagating her censorious, dominatrix speech.

“This is the future, ladies — to rebuild back our ageing cities. We cannot rely on anyone for any accomplishment anymore, but us, all here present here in this very ballroom for this great future plan — to restructure the society soon. With the majority of the youth today — those menacing free-males of this country, are now turning just into society’s future terrorist rebels, and they too cannot be relied upon — nor to be trusted in anything worthwhile, for our womanhood future...”

“Instead, we the female race of all economic industries will have come together — and to empower collectively into rebuilding this country back to the glorious pinnacle that it once was — we will all come together to pioneer and embrace this robotic technology — which will execute our future reconstitution in our New Order’s economic growth, in our future dominatrix universe...

“So here, with us tonight, we have some talented young scientists from Micha-Star Kimura Corporation — who are here to demonstrate a live-presentation on the precision of this technology now. Everyone, please now enjoy the show!”

Wu Leong was frustrated when Cory stepped out from the spotlight into the dark side of the stage again. The lights then dimmed to total darkness, the audience murmured. Laser lights cast, coloured 3D projection of the upcoming election hologram logos floated around the walls, while the music played — the strobe lights came on next...

It shone into the rifle-scope and the cursing Wu Leong was blinded by it — and could not take the shot when Cory stepped off the stage. Everyone then clapped when a solo searchlight from below sheened to the ceiling — to reveal the lines of zigzag steel cables suspended on top...

Two Japanese youth came on stage — an Intersexual and a young woman — both holding consoles that looked more like video-game controls. They nodded to each other before their fingers frantically worked on the buttons. Everyone from their tables witnessed a blue-robot controlled by the Japanese woman gliding on the cables above — they began to clap and cameras flashed. It started to do acrobatic solo moves like a Cirque du Soleil trapeze, hopping from one cable to the other with accurate precision.

A red searchlight next illuminated — and a second robot that was controlled — by the youthful, Japanese Intersexual scientist who was on stage — his bot then come into sight with sinister music overplayed, to the claps below. It was nerve-wracking to see the moving heavy load, which the red-robot carried, above the heads of the guest who were seated below.

The sinister robot hurled —the H-beam across the ballroom...

The bulky metal beam cart-wheeled in the midair, for a distance of a hundred feet across. Some guests below screamed, and scrambled off their seats. The first robot controlled by the Asian woman caught the H-beam, with its three-fingered clamp in perfect precision.

It then tossed the beam back to the sinister red-robot — which seized it, equally well with ease — despite the panic and screams, most were clapping and cheering from down below.

The robots started to display even more dangerous moves — and the crowd was now mesmerized by the gallant show. The house light kicked in, the juggling robots above were still hurling the H-beam to each other...

The sinister red robot was now just above the POTUS’ main table...

It was still doing its dangerous stunts, with Cory's double laughing, in the self-assurance of safety — while the captains of the industries were looking very nervous from their seat. The sinister robot's tried grasping the hurled H-beam — but the robot slipped the load from its clasp. Everyone in the ballroom screamed when they witnessed the H-beam falling down below — plummeting down like a gigantic knife — ready to spear into the presidential main table...

Some terrified women at the table scrambled fast, one of the waitresses fell on the ground screaming at the dropping beam from above. The blue-robot acrobatically dived to the lowest suspended cable — it clamped the other end of the beam at its tip — a near-miss — from crashing into the main table.

The blue-robot slowly rolled up — along with the swinging cable — with the H-beam secured in its clasped clamps...

Another standing ovation from the overwhelmed crowd broke out in accord, — witnessing the skilful and daring moves of the preeminent robot, to avoid the fatality down below at the president’s main table.

Wu Leong was cursing to himself in Chinese that he still could not get a clear shot on the Snake-woman with the spotlights now running on the rotating mode at the ceiling. The glare was blinding the rifle’s scope, which he was looking into.

Cory’s double was now back holding a mic again on the floor and was making an announcement, walking among the tables...

“Ladies, let me introduce you to the genius young billionaire, technological industrialist, and the scientist from Mecha-Star Kimura Corporation — who has envisioned this brilliant robotic technology invention — Dr Kenaki Kimura — and his lovely cousin and fellow inventor — Dr Suki Takahashi!”

The two Japanese youth walked on the centre stage and three other Japanese scientists in white robe followed from behind. They waved back to the entire roaring guests in the grand ballroom...

They were among the five students who were expelled from Masuda School of Technology in Washington DC — and were deported to Tokyo back in 2027 — after the fighting incident with dangerous weapons in the mall — with a fellow student, Marlin Petroff.

Tonight, they were feted and hailed — as industrial celebrities in Cory's fundraiser event — for their robotic technology invention, that would rebuild the American cities.