CHAPTER 19: FEAR LURKS IN THE FORTRESS (THE SAURCLE)

THE FORTRESSAURUS, THE SAURCLE’S SECRET BASE

A mysterious cloaked person enters the conference room in the Saurcle’s headquarters, The Fortressaurus, and sits in their respective chair. The long table is surrounded by multiple members of the Saurcle. The hacked news alert was heard across all of Nexeria and was the talk of the town; on top of that, Tiga’s report that the Tri-Squad had been defeated reached them too. Their hidden plans were all but revealed to the public enraged everyone at the table. Glowing orange eyes filled the room, akin to a growing fire.

“My Ladysaurus...” The underling speaking has his throat slit before he could utter another sound by the cloaked person who just sat down.

“I don’t need to hear any excuses, reasons, or any other nonsensical answers. I need to know what The Saurcle’s great defenders, Hellasaurus Rex, plan on doing about this leak, and if those answers sit well enough for Don Dimetro.” The cloaked woman says, staring at everyone, waiting for someone to speak up among them.

“That new position seems to fit you nicely, eh, Vogelryx? I say this has to be the fault of The Dusk Clave. What’s the point of having a mole in the government if they don’t do their job? They control the media, don’t they? How could they let that happen? I say we just go eliminate the mole and the rest of them; then just install an entire group of plants in the government like we should have in the first place.” One of the cloaked men at the table says with his chest sticking out. This wasn’t the first time he’s complained about how they worked, and it wouldn’t be the last.

“Baalade… You’ve always had your strong opinions, but never enough vision. Your plan is too chaotic; you can’t just massacre a government and implant a new one. Look what happened the last couple of times! The first time got that nosy vampyre elected, then we got into a battle with the Deathborne. We don’t have the ability to bribe or threaten everyone without revealing ourselves. It’s why we’re in this predicament.” Vogelryx stared at the cloaked man, who was grinding his teeth.

“It’s not as chaotic as you think, and it would instill fear in the people. Scared people are easier to convince. Especially if we have the Deathborne take the blame for the murders.” Baalade, the cloaked man said with devotion to his ideals in his voice.

As the two headstrong leaders trade words, one of the cloaked men looked at the floor, lost in his thoughts.

“Saurk it, Mafisto, this is all your fault, isn’t it? You’re nowhere to be found, and last we heard, you were fighting the Tri-Squad with that saurkin’ bounty hunter. What happened to the bashasaurus bros? Bro?” He says quietly aloud, unbeknownst to himself.

Another cloaked member whispered to him.

“You’re mumbling, Dyablow. If you have an idea, you should share it with everyone.” She gave him a smile of encouragement.

Embarrassed at his mumbling, he smiles back at her.

“Sorry, Blastomet, I don’t have any ideas currently; I just want answers about why Mafisto left.”

“I get that, I understand you were close. Now if you excuse me, Baalade sure could use some help in there.” The cloaked woman moves forward and enters the war of words.

“I understand what it means to instill fear in others, Baalade. Granted, getting the Deathborne to be the scapegoat would be good, but that doesn’t erase the broadcast, neither does killing the mole; it might cause more suspicion on us.” Vogelryx explains.

“But if they are paralyzed by fear of the death of a government official, they won’t bother with the broadcast!” Baalade invokes.

“People; people, calm your tails. We’re losing focus and just wanting to argue. Now I think Baalade is on the right track, but we need some fine tuning to it. We need to light a fire under our mole’s ass, not kill him. Have him use our enemies to our advantage. Instilling fear is a good plan; it just needs to be in the right people.” Blastomet says with a smirk on her face.

“Baalade, she’s right, and I think your passion can be that spark for our agent. Go instill that fear.” Vogelryx smiles.

“I’m glad that we’re seeing eye to eye now.” Baalade smirks as well.

“Me too, also while you head in to Nexeria; I’ll leave it to your team’s personal brand of violence to deal with our other issues of the traitor and his friend. Tiga of the Tri-Squad reported they were defeated by them; but they aren’t the heavy hitters your team is, so I expect them not to be trouble.”

“The Tri-Squad is good at assassinations, but no one can match Hellasaurus Rex in a fight. Consider their coffins filled.” Baalade says with a smirk. He turns around and looks at the other cloaked members of the Saurcle.

“Team, let’s go RAISE HELL!”

The other cloaked members of Baalade’s team raise their hands with him.

“RAISE HELL!” They all shout in unison.