The Fastest Esper (5)

Redmond sat alone on the sofa in her workroom, overseeing all operations on her territories. Tiredness painted her complexities, but her eyes were still pushed to be sharp with the help of coffee mugs–it was already her fourth.

In front of her was a desk with a messy stack of photos and papers. All of them were concerned about what was happening then, which Redmond dubbed "The Crown War."

With Pavlov's demise, its resources, territories, and throne were ripe for the taking. Nobody predicted his syndicate would crumble in a few days. Confusion, lack of leadership, poor organisation, and enemies on many sides had hit them hard.

They had some groups and associates, but they chose to wash their hands as they did not want to risk themselves against the wrath of the whole Podzemgrad's criminal world. Only Redmond dared to do so. Even then, she had to deal with the repercussions.

So far, she had dealt with them with diplomacy, concession, deception, and intimidation. It also bought time for her men to improve their defence and consolidate their position while granting assistance to the remnants of Pavlov's syndicate.

However, there was no guarantee that things would always go smoothly as she hoped, and doing this would certainly be harmful to her and her men in the long term. Still, she had already doubled down. There was no way of turning back.

She took a chug from her mug and stood up. With the mug still in her hand, she walked to the holotable at the centre of the room. It had the size of a billiard table, slightly bigger. It emitted a hologram made of rays with different colours, drawing the map of the entire Podzemgrad.

Blue denoted a swath of her territories located southwest of Podzemgrad. The inner districts at the city's exact centre were marked by yellow. Then, grey and black marked the gangs and syndicates' territories, with black colour symbolising the most powerful groups. The biggest was on the north side, where the Black Scorpions based themselves. They almost occupied half of the northern side of Podzemgrad.

The rest of the map was drawn white, except territories marked with red colours meant places where a conflict was taking place.

Almost all of them were marked on Pavlov's former territories. Pavlov had three large chunk territories and tens of smaller enclaves spread across the city.

The largest of the three was located on the northeastern side of Podzemgrad, which was already a giant free-for-all battlefield between gangs and syndicates. The second largest was in the southeast, which shared the same fate as the former. The third neighboured Redmond's territory just to their north, which was already brought into her protection. The rest was either abandoned or taken by other groups already.

Aside from Pavlov's territories, the conflict also occurred in other areas. All of them were extensions of which gangs and syndicates fought for their shares of Pavlov's domains.

One such particular place that caught her attention was Regra, located in the eastern part of the city–a territory that had been relatively peaceful before despite some skirmishes. At least compared to what was happening at that time.

It had been reported that the Black Scorpion gang and the Markov Syndicate had been involved. It was something that did not sit well within her mind.

Markov's involvement still made sense to her because of their proximity to Regra. The Black Scorpion was the one that piqued her interest.

They were always all over the place and ever present when involved in a conflict. However, Redmond thought they had overdone themselves this time, especially the amount of personnel they had committed to the scene.

"It doesn't make any sense," she mumbled to herself.

For years, the Black Scorpions were not interested in Regra in any way. They had no reason to. For a long time, Regra was always a source of manpower. Even Redmond had compelled and blackmailed people in the past to force them to join her ranks.

However, manpower was never a problem for a big group such as Black Scorpion. Even if they did, the number they committed was out of the ordinary. Their sudden involvement caused a lot of suspicions. She also wondered whether a number of espers joined them as well.

"What are you doing, Tan Meng? What do you seek in those rubbles?" she mumbled again, mentioning the Black Scorpion's head. If only she had a way to seek such information, she thought.

Redmond had hired three espers, but they all were assigned to guard her territories. It was hard to hire more at that time due to high demand and limited numbers. Those genetically-engineered superhumans had proven themselves to be a powerful asset.

Yet, they could become a poisonous thorn as well, which was why she had a degree of distrust of them, unlike the Black Scorpions. She would only hire those who would not betray her, making the pool even lower.

She only had one person that she could entirely trust. However, in some ways, the technocrats had hijacked her for his service, and she could do nothing about it. In fact, she had distanced herself from him because she did not want to be involved deeper with the technocrats. As much as she respected and feared the man, ultimately, their relationship was only pure business.

From this moment, you are alone.

Those were the last words she said to Takagi. After that, there was no contact between them. They would only connect with each other if there was an update regarding the mission, so Redmond kept her lines open for possible communication.

Finding the one who was responsible for causing the whole disaster was also equally important. Not to mention, its existence could cause more problems in Podzemgrad.

"Excuse me, Madam."

A man's voice came from the outside after some knocks on the door.

"Come in."

The door then opened, revealing the back of the two guards in front of the door and a middle-aged man with a greyish, military-like uniform with half of his face implanted with cybernetics. His hand held a thick file of documents.

"Rudolf." Redmond gestured to the man to shut the door.

He obeyed and walked to the room's desk. "I bring updates for our situation, Madam."

"The outlook?"

"It's bad." He put the file on the desk and joined Redmond at the holotable. "The tension along our eastern border has reached a boiling point. I think conflict is inevitable."

"The bastards." Redmond said in disgust." Who has instigated those vermin? Surely, they can't act on their own."

"Not sure yet, Madam, but we're working on several leads."

"Keep sniffing, Rudolf. If the conflict breaks out, you know what to do."

"Yes, Madam. We will show them no mercy."

Redmond nodded and drank her coffee. "What else?"

"We have accepted another group of refugees. Around one hundred and twenty-three, to be exact."

"Do we still have a place for them?"

"Yes, Madam, but I'm afraid we will run out of locations to accommodate all of them at this rate."

"I'll think about that later. We have more pressing matters. Move on."

"Reports suggest that Black Scorpion has intensified their presence in the conflict. Some of our spies in the north reported that Nightshade was moving towards Regra with five hundred men, seemingly to reinforce their troops there."

"Is that confirmed?"

"Yes, Madam. Evidence and trails provided by our agents and hackers have supported the intel."

"When will he arrive?"

"It is possible he's already arrived by now, Madam."

"How's the situation in Regra now?"

"The conflict is still in a stalemate, both on the northern and eastern front. As you already know, Madam, Markov and other syndicate forces have brought their own reinforcement, possibly with some espers with them. However, I expect it will be changed by the next hour or two."

"Of course, it's the old weasel we're talking about." Redmond then changed the topic. "What about the bees?"

"The Bezopasnosti haven't moved from their nest, but they're on high alert."

"Any chance of them crashing the party?"

"Little to none for now."

"Yeah, They're happy to see us killing ourselves, that's why." Redmond snickered. "What's next?"

"This time is about our… backlogging," Rudolf cleared his throat. "We almost ran out of papers, Madam."

"Then find more papers."

"We've tried, but-"

"These papers have saved our lives for years, Rudolf," she said. "I know it will be easier to use electronics, but you know how capable hackers are these days, no?"

"...Yes, Madam."

"Then find some more papers. Use a goddamn stone tablet if we have to."

Rudolf replied with a slow, single nod. Redmond then drank her coffee until her mug was empty.

"Anything else, Rudolf?"

"Regarding that, Madam…" Rudolf cleared his throat yet again. "If you remember, you ordered us to keep Phantom in our tabs."

Redmond stared at him and narrowed her brows. "I do."

"I don't know if this has any importance or relation to-"

"Spill it, Rudolf."

Rudolf paused and looked at Redmond for a second. "Last report suggests Phantom was heading towards Regra."

Redmond deepened her voice. "...For what?"

"Info suggests that he wants to meet someone. We don't know any more beyond that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Rudolf walked towards his file on the desk. "We also have his picture attached to this document."

"It's fine," Redmond said. "There's no need to show that."

She then looked towards the floor with a pensive look. Her mind was focused on her own thoughts. For some moments, her lips shut tight. Her eyes then moved towards the hologram once more. Her attention was nailed on Regra, and she stared at it for some time without saying a word.

"Regardless of his intentions, it will become a big problem if he meets Nightshade," she mumbled. "Do we have men that can be called upon near him?"

"Unfortunately, we don't, Madam. We have redirected them elsewhere."

Redmond shook her head. "Follow me, Rudolf."

She then briskly went outside the room. Rudolf followed from behind.

"Excuse me, Madam. What are you going to do?"

Redmond said without looking at him. "We have to tell him."

"Who?"

"Phantom."