“Shadow has more honor than we gave him credit for.”

Nadia rolled her eyes at Steele. Of course he didn’t know what he was talking about. Unlike the rest of them, Steele was born and raised in the upper echelons of society. His mother was cousin to the head of the Zobu family. He wasn’t born or raised in the slums where people stole, lied and cheated to survive. His own household was over the guards posted in Taisao City, so whatever mishap happened at the market would be easily taken care of…though he would not really move himself. That would be taken care of by his City General, Mandu.

And Mandu was a crafty, thorough individual. A criminal mastermind of the highest degree, he was zealously loyal to Steele and, in turn to the rebel cause he served. An oddity, in Nadia’s experience. Whatever happened between Steele and Mandu must have been so significant that a cutthroat criminal whose way of life was double-crossing people would become loyal to anyone.

“I would go for the word smarter,” Dai said. “When that alarm was tripped, I didn’t think there would be a way to escape. Even with the skills I have, I wouldn’t be able to take down enough of them to escape. Shadow is better than his reputation.”

Nadia nodded. “I’ll be honest, I thought we were done for.”

“He didn’t have to kill them though,” Steele frowned.

“Well, it was us or them. The kid did what he had to do,” Dai said.

Nadia could feel the distress in Steele’s eyes. He might be with the rebels because he believed things should change, but those were still his people. His family’s people. Steele volunteered for this mission because he didn’t want people killed. But people did die and it was tearing Steele apart from the inside even though he didn’t show it outwardly.

As for Nadia herself, she was only glad she was still alive. Until today, the rebellion was nothing more than a nuisance. It was a nameless rabble dissatisfied with the way the Magnate Families ruled. And because of that she pushed for this move. Wanting the rulers to know that people would actually fight back. When she was planning it with Dai and Steele, she was excited, but being actually in it…It frightened her. They actually could have died!

Silence hung in the air as they sat in an enclosed opulent room in an exclusive restaurant that Steele created himself. Built for the rebel cause, it had several closed rooms and secret entrances and exits. But because of the exclusivity he put on the place and how good the food tasted, it had become so popular that people were willing to pay insane amounts of money to be part of the exclusive club. And in turn, the money was used to fund the rebel activities.

“Worried about your family’s losses?” Dai finally said to break the silence.

Steele shook his head. “The families of the guards that died and were maimed. They are good, honest folk. Making a living. And they have to suffer because they’re employed by my family. I hope that armor is worth all this.”

“Once I break its component pieces, see how it’s made, I can equip our people with this. Keep them from getting killed,” Nadia said. “I know you’re risking a lot for this, Steele. Your reputation. Your standing. Your whole life. To be honest, I still can’t believe that you’re actually turning your back on your family. Not just because you can see gains if we get the upper hand, but because you actually believe in our cause.”

“I saw beyond the richness of this city, Nadia. What I saw…” Steele shook his head. “I thought we were doing good work here. Providing jobs, creating jadetech that would improve lives and protect people. Then they took me to The Games.”

Nadia frowned. “It’s chilling enough to have people kill each other or get killed by something else for the entertainment of the rich. But that only happens once a year. You have the mining quarries where people suffer and die every day and the Magnate Families don’t care. And don’t forget how they just get what they want. Just last week, they seized a land from an old widow just because she had some jade deposits under her land. They killed her for resisting and called it an accident, saying that her jadetech was so old and unstable it blew up.”

That brought silence to the room. Not only did the incident cost the life of the woman, but the buildings surrounding her house has been burnt and cracked where they surrounded the house. No one cried out for justice. Everyone knew how the Magnate families fought over the land offering the woman better and better deals with harsher and harsher threats. The rebellion tried to help, but she refused. In the end, Nadia knew they should have done something instead of hanging back and watching it happen. What was the point of the rebellion if they couldn’t help anyone?

“We need to start moving openly,” Nadia said, “We can’t continue just poking at them. We’re not helping anyone with weak actions.”

Dai glanced at Steele, “If we do that, we can no longer be seen with you, Steele.” He shook his head. “And I really wanted you to be the leader. The one we will follow. I don’t know a better person than you to truly lead this, but we can’t expose you. You live in the heart of the lion’s den.”

“Besides, I’m not one of the oppressed. People might think the Magnate Families are behind all this just to put one of their own as a supreme dictator. What about Nadia.”

Nadia waved her hands vigorously. “No! No. I can’t. I relate better to jadetech than I do people. Besides, we get all the plans and advice from Dai, so maybe you should be in charge.”

“As you said, my dear, I’m just the planner and the advisor. I’m not a leader.” Dai said. “I can’t even get people on board with the idea, except you, Nadia. Mandu was the one who got all of our members and supporters. And even if we did want Mandu to be the leader, he would rather continue to serve you, Steele.”

“We can ask him if he wants to be our leader when he returns,” Steele said.

“Believe me, kid. He won’t budge. I’ve seen fanatically loyal men in my time. He will not want to be over you. Maybe for fear of relapse into his darker past, or something as serious, but whatever the reason, lording himself over you will be a betrayal to him. Whatever you did to gain his loyalty, you have it and you have it forever.”

Nadia sighed. “So we find someone to be our leader. Someone who is loyal to the cause, charismatic and someone we can work with. That’s not such a tall order.”

“No one said it’s going to be easy,” Dai smirked at her. “But we need to move and move fast. This, thus far, has been our biggest attack on the Magnate Families. If they think we were buzzing flies before, now they will think that we’re a bunch of hornets. And no one likes hornet stings. They will act.”

Steele nodded. “We set something big in motion. Soon, word of it will spread. More people will look for us and join us. It’s probably why Mandu is late. And a direct assault on a Magnate Family’s base of operations will begin alerting all of them. They will soon talk about measures against us. Not just reacting to us but actively seek us. By then, we have to be ready.”

Nadia sat back taking a deep breath. She was the one who wanted to push things. She told them they needed to do more. To really start hurting the Magnate Families and let them know that the people of Taisao were not happy. Dai warned against the repercussions but they went through with it anyway, prompting Steele and Mandu to make sure to delay and confuse the Magnate families until they were ready. But they could only do so much until the Families moved. And without a leader—a face to unite them—they would not be able to hold the rebellion together.

“Let’s call for several meetings in town. Search for candidates, test them after. See if there is anyone who would be suitable for the job. We find him, we act as his council and we make our plans bigger,” Nadia said.

“We’ll have Mandu vet them,” Dai added. “And we see who can work with this council.”

The door opened and in walked Mandu. The large, fair-skinned, light-haired man had multiple scars on his face, but despite them, he was charismatic, and his mere presence drew attention. Nadia thought the man was a natural leader. It was why Steele placed him where he was.

Mandu closed the door behind him and sighed, looking at Steele. “We have a problem. Your father is calling for you. Tomorrow the Magnate Families are calling a meeting for the ‘rebellion threat.’ He wants you to come up with a solution to solve it and present it to the meeting.”

“We don’t even have a name yet and already pain is coming,” Nadia closed her eyes.