May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 64: Appropriate course of actions

After their quarantine, Aila and Bella did as they promised Felix. Most of the hyenas are in attendance and are already waiting for them. Stephen and Judith are also present as this is really something they need the two adults to participate in. After all, none of them are convenient enough to show up at any conference that the government might ask them to confirm their identities.

Cindy is also around to make a record of this meeting. Something about this was her original work and she is not letting the circumstances take away the position she has worked hard to get. Her burning passion regarding this was so overwhelming that they just allowed her to do what she wanted. Besides, this was the only activity she did that has not made her too stressed out or tense as of late.

“So what was the government’s message for all bases?” Aila asked as she took a seat on the makeshift council table of theirs. Ever since their first ever war council meeting, the others have been obsessed with making it formal or at least similar to those they once saw in TV and movies. The only thing missing was the totems and antique decorations to complete the set.

“Well, there is this file they sent out to everyone who can still connect to the lines and signals,” Alexa said as she pressed the projector to show the said file. With the fall of many facilities all over the world, sending out these files to anyone who could still access the internet was far and between. It can be seen that the government is a little desperate to connect with the people they could cooperate with.

“I had checked if there was some sort of tracking thing on this file or something, but I found nothing like that. Though I did use this as an opportunity to sneak into their database, I found some interesting things that may or may not relate to our families one way or another.” Alexa said with nonchalance as Harry looked at her with skeptical eyes.

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Jerome asked, as he remembered doing the same back when he was still so ignorant of how sinister the internet could be. He remembered, on the other hand, he ‘checked’ did the same and messed up with his computer as a result. He had to junk the computer and work hard to replace its busted computer in secret.

“Everyone is busy with so many things that they mostly did not notice my breach,” Alexa carelessly replied. “Besides, even if they did, it would be a piece of cake to take care of them. I did not just protect my idols on the internet for nothing after all.”

“Didn’t we have a talk about not doing illegal things on the internet back when we were fourteen?” Felix grimly said, hearing Alexa actually doing some ‘things’ for her idol. He might excuse her being rampant now, as most laws are no longer in effect, but hearing her directly mentioning something borderline dangerous, he cannot sit still. “I am pretty sure hacking others' computers to do something damaging to others is a crime for all I know.”

“Um about that…” Alexa wanted to make some excuses. “I only defended my—”

“Regardless of the reason,” Felix said with finality in his tone. “Didn’t you know that doing something like this is so dangerous and the punishment for them is also so severe that you might end up on death row? Looks like you haven’t learned enough from that one time you were almost arrested and tried for hacking into the security database.”

“...I’m sorry.” Alexa said as shame became visible in her face. “I admit I had been quite arrogant since no one had caught me after that incident.”

“Can we talk about this later?” Liza inserted herself in the scolding session. “Let’s address the reckless things Alexa has done later, okay? We have something more serious to deal with here.”

The two ceased their session and returned to the task at hand. Though it can be seen that they were definitely not so done with their exchange, especially Felix, who was so vexed with the fact he knew.

“Anyway, I found out Jerome’s family has done well and has established a foothold, as Aila has told us.” Alexa said as she opened another projector to showcase the list of bases and their leaders. “Almost all of our families have one way or another still remained a bigshot in this time of chaos. I don’t know if it was just a tendency present in the family, but it is honestly annoying that they could still do something towards us when they found us.”

Most of the hyenas grimly read through the list as they too thought of the same as Alexa. They have finally left their influence, but it seems that they still have to hide their tails until they are strong enough not to be swayed by them. Although they are well off at the moment, the influence of their families is not to be sneezed at, especially when they have a myriad of people under them.

“As agreed on, we will take the front if it is needed.” Stephen said as he took note of the hidden worry the children had in their faces. He had his own helplessness in his volunteering, but he is more or less just resigned to it, just to let the seedlings grow. “If we need to show off my full lineage to bluff our way out, I will do so. But I hope during that period of time you kids will grow enough that I don’t need to take the stage later on.”

Judith smiled a little at her husband as she remembered some memories. “As much as my husband is used to doing things like that. He is already too old to play his old roles. Promised or not, some of the people on that list know my husband and they are sure to do something in regards to him and to the base he is protecting one way or another.”

“...you were quite a badass when you were younger, uncle?” Jerome was unable to believe what he was hearing. He might have seen some things and tendencies of the older man, but he really cannot imagine him being so unruly as to earn such praise from his wife.

“Adults were once children too.” Stephen summarized his darker history. “Enough about that, talk about what to do with this publishing the base location that the country was asking.”

“Ideally, we should not publish our location as a precaution,” Harry said as he looked over the series of texts the file contains. “The goal they had was to make an archive of sorts about the possible places and powers to survive the end of the world. Currently, it will do us good to cooperate, but it is a different story when it comes in the future. It is inevitable that, in the face of interest and benefits, this record will be a source of danger for us.”

“Considering that most of our families are leaders, they might also use this as a way to find us. No offense to you, uncle, they know about you as they are investigating about Aila. You showing up in public is also showing our feet as long as they take a wind of us living.” Eugene recited. “I could already imagine my parents keeping an eye on you even when they don’t know of my existence here. “

“That said, there are no secrets that do not leak. One way or another they will find out about your kids.” Stephen was not worried about being recognized. He only imagines the faces of those who looked down on his daughter when they come to know that Aila is not so lowly as they think she is.

“For sure, my uncle will reach out to us if we publish our case.” Felix said as he remembered his beloved uncle. “My brother might also be in tow too when that happens.”

“‘...so no announcement of our base?” Cindy cut in.

“Not completely.” Aila refuses, as one day their supplies will dwell and some of them are not convenient or possible to be substituted by other materials. For example, fuel, they will definitely need that until they find alternatives to supply their needs.

“We can keep the line of communication and normally make a mutual relationship through cooperation,” Bella said as she pointed out a line that works well enough for their situation. “It is still a dangerous thing to do, but we really cannot afford to close ourselves from the outside no matter how much we like to.”

“Exchange of information?” Travis voiced out. “Are we going to share the knowledge of enhancers?”

“No, we are not sharing that information.” Aila immediately shut down that question. “We can sell out any information, but we definitely do not give out our core technologies. That is just bad business, no matter how you look at it.”

“But what information will we give out when they also state the info needs to be useful to them too.” Albert pointed out. “We don’t know as much as they could have.”

“We have Aila to fill that one out.” Bella shamelessly sold Aila for that matter. She might have memories like Aila, but she did not want others to know about it. So Aila sacrificed for her friends. Besides, Aila really does not know some knowledge from somewhere she does not know.

Aila definitely had some protest in regards to being anointed so suddenly, but she ultimately closed her mouth in the end. Among all of them, she is really the most suitable scapegoat to throw.

Others remembered Aila’s status as a ‘rebirther’ and found themselves nodding at the feasibility of it working out. But Albert burst everyone's bubble as he mentioned the existence of Alfred, who was more or less the same as Aila. They might get unwanted attention from that guy if they carelessly just rely on Aila on the information side.

“Ah how did I forget about that guy.” Bella's tone was dark unintentionally as she said so. “Eliminating that guy was the best course of action, but I’m sure Aila will have a thing or two about me doing something like that.”

Aila only glared at Bella for her slip up, but immediately remedied the situation as best as she could. Their friends were startled at the malice deep in Bella’s words that she had to control the mood enough to not let them question the sudden animosity of Bella towards Alfred. Aila is simply not prepared to deal with the question they might throw the moment they start firing them.