Democracy vs Corporatocracy

Chapter Forty Three: The Shock Of Assassination

June 15th 2041

It had been a few days since the Governors of the New England State Governors pledged loyalty to the Freedom Democracy League and to secede to the League should a Second Civil War break out. It was the talk of New Boston and there was much speculation for as to what would happen next. The High Council was of course still in negotiations with the Governors for as to what would happen once secession took place, but everyone knew that the future of the Freedom Democracy League was very bright indeed. It was two PM and Julia was in her apartment in the North Village with Lucas and was looking down at the streets below. Not long after Julia had been bought to the League ten years prior, she and Lucas had fallen in love with each other and had been dating since. Marcus of course knew, but kept it secret because he didn't want to humiliate them. The two of them had lived in their nice apartment for about a year and were doing their best to make ends meet. Julia was of course wondering what was next for the League now that New England was (sort of)on their side. "Would they secede if the U.S Government do something real bad?" Julia thought to herself. Julia wasn't sure, but what she was sure of, was this feeling that something bad was about to happen. It was the kind of feeling someone has when they know that something bad is gonna happen, but their not sure what it is. Julia had had this feeling all day and could feel herself getting very worried. She had been a bit reassured by the fact that Maria was in the early stages of pregnancy and She would soon become an aunt, but She still had that feeling. But suddenly, She then heard a knock on the door and went to quickly answer it. She opened the door to see Matthew and Hanako, who was holding their two day old daughter in her arms. Julia smiled and said "Congrats you two". Matthew happily said "She came one month early, weighing eight pounds, seven ounces. About average for her". Their daughter was in a pink onesie and while she had inherited her mothers features, she had her fathers skin colour. Julia looked at her and said "Hey there little one, I'm your auntie Julia. What's your name?" Hanako laughed and said "Her names Heiwa, it means peace". Lucas finally exited the kitchen and happily asked "I take it that would be Hanako JR?" Hanako laughed and said "Her names Heiwa". Julia looked at Heiwa with a loving smile and said "Just You wait until Your Uncle Marcus and Auntie Maria have Your cousin". Julia then asked the loving couple "Why don't you two come on in?" They happily obliged and came in.

Just as Matthew closed the door behind them, the tv turned on by itself and the words "NEWS ALERT FROM THE LEAGUE NEWS SERVICE" started coming out of the speakers. Little Heiwa started crying, but her mother calmed her down with "It's okay, it's okay". The four of them sat down at the couch and Julia worryingly said "This can't be good". The League had set up an official news service seven years prior and the signal was heavily encrypted so that the Corpos couldn't intercept it. It was then that the logo of the League News Service appeared and then the screen changed to show the news anchor, Louise Olsen. Louise had ginger hair, was wearing a black suit and had a face filled with shock and horror. It was then that she cleared her throat and said "We apologise for interrupting this program for breaking news". Meanwhile, every other tv and billboard in New Boston had the same broadcast come on and little did they know that they were about to get the shock of their lives! Louise cleared the sweat from her forehead as she said "Two hours ago, the New York based resistance group known as "The American Avengers", led by Colonel Joe Amerigo, sent an urgent message to the Freedom Democracy League. It is with shock and horror that I announce that just this morning, five hours ago, the CEO of MegaCorp, Alvin Avarus....has been assassinated". Julia, Lucas, Matthew, Hanako and the people of New Boston gasped in shock when they heard these words come from Louise's mouth. Alvin Avarus, the man responsible for all of America's suffering had been assassinated? Lucas asked with shock in his voice "How did that happen?" Louise then explained "The assassin was the son of the CEO of a company that MegaCorp had bought the rights to. Outraged that he wouldn't inherit the company his father had promised him, he murdered Avarus during a press conference. We will now show the footage, though I should warn that some viewers may find the following footage disturbing". The footage that the American Avengers had gotten came on the screen and it showed the press conference where Avarus was assassinated. He was an old man in his fifties and had an entirely bald head. He was Caucasian, wore an incredibly expensive suit and an extremely expensive gold watch. He cleared his throat and said into the microphone "Our new autonomous drones will be used by the police starting next month. They will patrol the streets of New York and will react to crime in real time, ensuring pub-". That was when a loud gunshot was heard as a man in a white hoodie fired shots at him with a pistol. The shots went right through his head and created a hole where his brain was meant to be. The crowd started panicking and two MegaCorp grunts quickly gunned the assassin down after he shouted "That was for stealing my birth right!"

The footage stopped and the screen turned back to Louise as she said "The assassin has been identified as thirty four year old James Morgan, who was so outraged that he would not inherit MorganCo after his father and that his son would not inherit the company after him, that he actually assassinated both his father and Alvin Avarus". Hanako gasped with horror and said "He murdered his own father!? How horrible!" She then held Heiwa tight and started rocking her with her arms. Trying to ease not just Heiwa's fear, but her own. Julia was especially shocked and got even more worried as Louise said "Joe Amerigo has reported to us that this had thrown their plans into disarray. As they sought to first assassinate all future heirs to MegaCorp and then Avarus himself so as to prevent a power struggle. But now it seems that the executives of MegaCorp will now fight like hyenas to get control of the company. Now for a message from the High Council". The screen then changed to show Chief High Councillor Marcus Libertad and the rest of the High Council. They were in a room within the Governors office of Massachusetts and the Freedom Banner of Democracy was held up on the wall behind them. With the same shock the people had in his voice, Marcus said "It is truly unbelievable that Avarus was assassinated and while I'm glad that he got what was coming to him, I am disheartened that we shall never be able to put him on trial for all he did to America and it's people. Joe Amerigo himself told me of how he feared that a power struggle would ensue if they assassinated Avarus first. I hoped to avoid that as well, but now it appears a power struggle is inevitable. We are going to have an emergency meeting between the Freedom Democracy League, American Avengers, Governors of the New England States and the Continental American Militia. We will meet at the Old North Church on the 20th of June in five days at nine AM and debate our new plan on what to do now that Avarus has been assassinated. Till then, Democracy Prevails". The rest of the High Council saluted Marcus and said "Democracy Prevails" in unison. The broadcast then turned back to Louise Olsen, who said with uncertainty "There you have it folks, the assassination of Alvin Avarus. Who knows what the Freedom Democracy League will do next to stop MegaCorp's plans of tyranny and injustice?". The broadcast then came to an end and an image of the League News Service's logo appeared as the words "We apologise for this interruption, we shall now resume your regularly scheduled programming" came out of the speakers. The screen then changed back to the Walking Dead, which Julia and Lucas had been binge watching for weeks. It was an episode Julia had watched earlier, where the survivors defeated the Whisperers. Darryl and Negan were witnessing Beta's death at the hands of a herd of Walkers and Negan had just realised Beta was a well known country musician prior to the zombie apocalypse. As Negan asked Darryl if he knew who Beta was, Darryl coldly replied "Yeah, nobody".

Julia then turned off the television and just sat there in shock. Matthew's eyes widened as his mouth dropped with shock. Hanako was gently rocking Heiwa to sleep and said with fear "I'm scared to raise my baby in this world". Julia then stood up and called Marcus on her phone. Of course the only reason the Corpos hadn't detected the phone signal, was because of Project Plain Sight, which shielded phone signals inside from anything that could detect them. Marcus picked up and asked "You saw that, didn't you?" Julia asked with uncertainty "Yes, are we going to go on the offensive?" Marcus merely answered "Only if we have to, but for now, we must recover from the shock of assassination". Julia then asked "Have Joe Amerigo and Preston Garvington even agreed to a meeting?" Marcus cleared his throat and answered "I used the communicators they gave me after we took down Gapple in Operation Grappling hook two years ago. They're both coming to the Rebellion Conference". Julia finished with "If the executives of MegaCorp really do fight like Hyenas for what's left of MegaCorp, then the Second American Civil War is right at our doorstep". She then finished the call, little did she know that she could not have been more right about the War occurring very soon.