Chapter 4 No.4

Lady Penelope Renard had fallen to the ground when a panicked lord pushed past her. She looked up just in time to see the missile in the final moments before it exploded. It had been coming for her. The missile had intentionally found her on the rooftop. That was the problem with being the leading candidate: there were many that loved her and many that resented her for being loved.

Nikhita was winded when the shockwave from the blast blew her and Koris to the ground. The stairwell protected them from most of the blast, but it still left her ears ringing. One of the ladies was hit so hard by the shockwave that she flew over the rail and right down through the never-ending spiral staircase. Nikhita didn't notice that. Time slowed as she lay helplessly on the floor and watched the fiery explosion consume the poor lords and ladies who had not made it out of the blast range in time. Finn was one of them. He had nearly been at the heart of the explosion. Though her ears were temporarily deaf to all sound save the annoying ringing, she swore she heard Koris scream 'no'.

Medics arrived quickly on the scene. Usually a squad of the quantity needed to help so many people would take a while to assemble, but with politicians' lives on the line they arrived within half an hour. Stepping over the slowly dying servants they rushed to the fallen lords and ladies with medical kits at the ready.

The damage done by the missile was without a doubt going to affect the upcoming election. The real question was how many lords and ladies had died... and how many of them had been candidates. The election had never been postponed in Manticore Metropolis and not even the death of every politician in the senate would delay it.

Only the precise impact point of the missile was charred black. The Parliament House was made out of incredibly strong metal that was virtually indestructible to any manmade weapons. Next to the small black circle lay the disintegrated remains of Lady Penelope Renard. Jordanis stared down at them expressionless with his arm raised so that a medic could seal the large gash across his elbow. It was less than an hour after the chaos and Lysander was already smoking again. He usually found that the long orange cigarettes helped relieve stress, though right then the 'magic sticks' were not working.

"Death lies on her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of all the field, " he murmured before inhaling more orange smoke.

"Hmm?" The medic looked up from her duty questioningly.

Lysander looked back: "Romeo and Juliet? No?" Her blank stare made him sigh. "Honestly, what are they teaching kids in schools these days?"

The medic blushed. She was young, but Shakespearian plays were not taught in the mainstream courses at Manticore Academy. Shakespeare was only taught in the Old Earth fine literature classes. The metaphors used in most of the plays were too hard for a student to comprehend as no Manticorians had ever seen frost blanketing a field. Their planet was a desert wasteland where frost would never form and flowers would never grow under the burning light of the Jhard.

The only living chairperson candidate was Lady Fae Sonata from the House of Rats. While staring down at Penelope, Lysander thought about how the House of Dragons was most likely going to choose him to be the new chairperson candidate. In that case; who would the deputy chairperson be? Strange things to think about in the aftermath, but there would be time to mourn the lost when he was in office.

Koris Young chose not to hang around the impact zone. He was stories down getting into his shuttle. Nikhita had advised him to go home and remain safe. There was always the chance that there were more missiles to come. Of course, she remained to help with the investigation as she was the chief of security for House of Oxen now that Renaldo Davys was deceased.

Based on what the security cameras had picked-up, the trajectory of the missile suggested that it had been a remote-controlled missile fired from downtown. The thought of any downtowner having that sort of weapon made Koris sick out of fear. He wanted to see the downtowners as equal to the uptowners, but he could not deny the state of anarchy the city below was in. If a madman had a stash of remote-controlled missiles in his possession then no one was safe. In times like these all the security personnel from all of the houses worked alongside the police to track down the culprit of such a crime. The police force was small as they were only needed for dealing with issues uptown and therefore they would certainly benefit from the extra assistance.

"Sssirrr, " A voice hissed behind him as he opened the door to his shuttle.

Koris spun around instantly before relaxing when he realised it was Ghoad: the new deputy chief of security for the House of the Oxen.

Ghoad was one of the few svellik remaining in Manticore Metropolis and virtually the only svellik who had a respected occupation. Ghoad was as new to her job in security. Koris had selected her himself because he wanted to see a svellik in the workforce. He had chosen her out of pity, but she certainly made a great security guard. The silver and azure creature stood at eight feet with her superhuman strength and a bullet-proof exoskeleton. Physically she was made to hunt, kill and yet her species had been so tranquil in the time they had ruled the planet.

Young clasped his chest melodramatically. "You scared me there, Ghoad."

The svellik was not one for making small talk. She got right to the point: "Nikhita ssssuggesssted that I essscorrrt you home."

He swallowed and looked up at the giant woman: "I do not think you would fit in my shuttle. It was only made for humans."