Nike might not have cared about her subordinates’ lives, but the costs associated with training an agent couldn’t be cheap. She was doubtless willing to cut them loose if the need presented itself, but all Sara was asking for was a conversation. If Nike refused, all it would do was legitimize Sara’s claims. Even if Nike made the attack herself, it would still leave Sara a few seconds to leave the people in the hall with some parting words. That was Nike’s weakness, and Sara was exploiting it to its fullest.
“I’ll say it again.” With Nike still silent, Sara gave her a taunting smile. “If you want to know who I am, just know that I’m the one person you’ve been desperately trying to find.”
“You’re off your rocker, kid. You seem very confused, and it’s making it awkward for everyone,” Nike replied with a heavy sigh. “But fine, say your piece. At least that’ll give me a chance to set things straight.”
Nike had agreed to the debate. In her view, it was better to refute Sara’s claims directly than to let her spread baseless “truths.”
Despite the way Sara had backed her into a corner, Nike’s confidence never wavered. “I’ll have you know that getting to have a conversation with me is a big honor,” she said, tossing a punch at Thanatos’s face for no good reason. “Even getting hit by me is a highly prized reward. But I guess you prefer your abuse verbal?”
“You know, I happen to be into training, myself.”
Sara drew a stun gun and knocked her hostage out. Then she made a ring with her thumb and index finger and stuck them in her mouth.
“This is Last Code: The High Plain of Heaven—a soaring world of flight.”
A sharp whistle echoed through the hall, and a menagerie of animals gathered around Sara.
There was the valiant hawk who’d been flying under the lecture hall’s ceiling. There was a plump pigeon. There was a black dog who’d grown too big to really be called a puppy anymore. There was a swarm of mice who came surging forward as a group. And there was a white-haired cat who eyed the mice with keen interest.
The Genesis Army agents gasped at the sheer volume of creatures she commanded.
Nike was more composed. “What, those collars?” was all she said.
Each of the pets at Sara’s command was wearing a small black device—a device Erna recognized.
“They’re recording devices,” Sara said proudly. Her hawk landed on the desk beside her, and she patted his neck. “With some help from these little guys, I can gather intel from anywhere from the tallest of buildings to the deepest of caves. If you think I’m just some random lunatic, then you’ve got another thing coming.”
The Last Codes were a set of spy tools that Annette had designed especially for her teammates. To Sara, she’d given a set of mechanically enhanced collars.
Nike shook her head in exasperation. “Well, that’s just not true. You could never build a bug small enough for an animal to carry. What would you do about the battery?”
“With tech from Vice-Admiral Grenier’s secret lab—I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Playing dumb is basically a confession. That’s where these were developed.”
During their vacation in Marnioce, Lamplight had been shown a laboratory whose owner had been carrying out experiments in secret in order to realize his dreams of staging a coup against the Lylat government. Nike had already crushed that coup and sent Grenier to the guillotine, but Annette remembered his laboratory well. It had been full of all sorts of gadgets, packed to the brim with cutting-edge technology.
Sara went on. “This can’t be your first time seeing them, though. From what I hear, a couple of them got left at the site of the Bertram Mines strike.”
The animals must have found a good opportunity to detach them.
With that, Erna became sure of something.
I thought that was one of Big Sis Sara’s gadgets.
She thought back to the device they’d found up near an inaccessible part of the ceiling. The Genesis Army had overlooked it, but that was hardly their fault, considering that it was designed specifically to respond to Annette’s radio.
Just like her and Annette, Sara had gone to the Bertram Mines as well. Her job was to win over the Royal Guard, and tracking their movements had taken her to the exact same mines as Erna.
But…
When Erna looked at the collars Sara was so proudly showing off, unrest gathered in her heart.
The High Plain of Heaven wasn’t nearly as mighty as Sara was making it out to be.
Nike was absolutely right that modern-day technology wasn’t capable of building a transceiver that simultaneously had high fidelity, a long battery life, a tiny size, and a long wireless range. In truth, The High Plain of Heaven was nothing more than a set of tape recorders small enough for Sara’s pets to carry. They gave off a small signal to help track them down, but that was all.
The only reason Sara had arrived with such perfect timing was because Annette had swapped out the battery, recorded their intel, and gotten it back to her. Sara was putting on an act, plain and simple.
When Erna realized Sara’s plan, she shuddered.
Just like Nike used lies to take control of the Knights of Valor, Big Sis Sara is fighting back with lies of her own.
Nike had fed them a false eyewitness, stirred up their hatred for the Galgad Empire, and showered the secret society with flattery in order to win them over. Now Sara was trying to bluff and fib her way into winning them back.
Erna’s chest tightened at what a harsh road Sara had in front of her. She was going to have to spin up a more compelling story than the lies Nike had come armed with.
“So, we’re back at the question of why the Genesis Army’s leader went out of her way to come here in person,” Sara said, addressing the lecture hall as a whole. “Let me start from the end. There was a different truth altogether hidden in the Bertram Mines’ strike. That’s what the Genesis Army has been trying so hard to cover up. That’s why they locked up a journalist who found out about the explosion, why they forced the mayor to refute the local reporting, and why they planted an agent among the miners to take anyone who noticed the cover-up and lead them down the garden path. It’s why Nike had to ultimately step into the ring herself to threaten and brainwash you.”