The Solution (2nd Edition)

Sarah

Xen and his team disappeared backstage. The crowd was left in one hell of a frenzy, and of course, Robin was at the center of it. "Mr. Secretary, tomorrow had better not be a waste of our time!" she screeched angrily.

    Darcy was also keen to protest on his soap box. "Robin, I couldn't agree more! Especially as I could be in São Paulo instead! The South American relief effort needs all the hands it can get!" The English gentleman was referring to Brazil's on-going lightning snow storms; the damage it was causing; and the lives it continued to affect.

    But all that aside, I'd had enough of their tantrums. "Be quiet!" I blasted. "I've never witnessed so much negativity coming from the good guys."

    Shocked and surprised, the Green Justice campaigners looked back at me with hatred. "Miss. Wong, we're not the good guys," Robin declared, also leaning over her chair to get in my face. "We just represent the people, and in a moment, I'll inform them of the nonsense that's gone on here." After a bitchy head to head, Robin broke her stance. Then she lifted her wrist and beamed out a recording holoscreen. It had nothing on mine and Mikey's AV Holo-Suite, but she only needed a basic recorder to upload something antagonistic to WorldTube. 'Xen, you think you were clever to invite me to this useless Press Conference ahead of your summit. Well, the fact remains that on behalf of my organization, I will always be publicly vocal, front row seat or not. Therefore, I look forward to tomorrow's revelations, as pointless as I imagine they'll be - that's all.'

    A second later, the lioness shut it down, grabbed Darcy by the scruff of his cub-like neck, and probably headed back to the harsh plains of Africa.

    Eventually, the crowd's rambunctiousness simmered, and Chon got me and Mikey's attention. "Come on, let's get out of here." Once again, Chon's shoulders were slumped, and we did our best to support him. Minutes later, we trickled out of the center and continued walking until meters away from the rear hologate exit. The plan was to leave in an A.I.D.E taxi we'd reserved. Sadly, that never happened. Before the gate had opened, a gust of strong air whooshed through the holobars and ruffled us inside out. On the other side of the gate, a hovermobile had shifted past recklessly on the elevated street. "What on earth was that?" I squealed, disoriented and hesitant to move forward again.

    "Floatin' cherry blossoms...that's what," Mikey said. Unusually, his eyes were frightened, low, and fixed on the heap of pink petals scattered along the rain-soaked pavement.

    "Oh shit. Oh, fucking, shit," I wailed. I was sure I knew what I was looking at. "They're from 'her', aren't they?"

    "T-They are," Chon stuttered. "It's The Pink Lady's calling card, alright. I've seen it too many times not to be certain. Guys, if we can, we've got to keep this under wraps and warn Xen as quickly as possible. With The Rising Clans possibly involved now, The Solution just got fucking serious."

    More to the point, none of us wanted to end up marked by The Pink Lady. Or slaughtered in any type of gruesome massacre.

End of Chapter 9