List of candidate

38.4% - Almond M. Chaveil

22.7% - Lora H. Tolcin

17.4% - Joy L. Nicam

13.9% - Ronald K. Dola

7.6% - Samsy S. Sacre

Late at night, in front of The President House, a huge building that looks like anything but a house, a bit away from the centre, in the middle of a giant garden. Of course, there were guards, camera and everything you would expect, but the worrying part was the security system and the turret. They have lasers here, so even with flux and foresight, it could get dangerous.

“Sam, are you okay? You look tired.”

Alice was here, and the same as me, she was wearing a black infiltration suit. I don’t really know where they got them, but I didn’t bother to ask.

“Yeah, I couldn’t get much sleep…”

“Wait, didn’t you spend the night at Lara’s place? Don’t tell me…”

“Shut up, I didn’t do anything to Lara! God, what’s with you all about that! It’s not like I am a player.”

“Well…”

“Fuck you.”

I took out my scroll and called Marie.

“Hey, how many time until the start of the mission?”

“It depends, I am almost finished here, so I guess it is whenever you want.”

“You guess? Okay, it’s not like the whole success of the struggle depends on that mission.”

“If you don’t like the way I am handling this, you can still jump through a window with an improvised parachute.”

“Sigh, we’ll start right away, Alice will contact you later.”

“Roger.”

I hanged up. Damn, I will never be able to forget my parachute act, will I?

“Alice, time to go.”

“Roger.”

“Why are you both saying that? Who is Roger?”

I was a bit reticent to do it, but I once again took a pill. I passed out and slept the whole day yesterday because of those -Lara was really freaked out by the way- but I guess there's no choice. I tried to active a thermal vision in order to detect detectors or things like that, I can see in the dark, so why not? But I failed miserably. Maybe I am not high level enough? Who knows…

Anyway, our best bet was to rely on the foresight mode, and it worked perfectly. At one point, I managed to walk naturally in a hallway, and I was exactly in the dead angle of one camera and two guards. Well, the fact that I had a partial invisibility was also important I guess.

Oh, and Alice managed to copy that instantly, and she’s even better at it know. Adding the fact that she was already good at hiding her presence and the sound she makes -I think someone has an i-talent like that back then- even I couldn’t see her anymore. In fact, after several minutes I thought she wasn’t there anymore. Damn genius.

Obviously, the security doors were all hacked for the evening, and Marie got the map of the place beforehand. In fact, it was really easy to get inside. Running around the building, it was as if it was designed to be infiltrated. I mean, seriously, who put a giant plant the exact size of an adult in the middle of the corridor? Who has designed this shit?

Of course, I couldn’t really think of that during the infiltration itself, because I in foresight mode.

And so, we arrived at the said first strategic point. Here, it was time for me and Alice to separate, she would go to a secret room to hack something, and I would continue forward toward Chaveil’s office.

The timing was important, the electricity will be shut down in the room for exactly twenty minutes starting at 2 am -it was confirmed he doesn’t sleep full nights, and that’s why he often work that late. Right now I was with Alice in a closet, waiting for the right time to move.

“Hey, what hours is it?”

“I don’t know, I don’t have a watch. Take out your scroll if you want to know.”

“Seriously? I thought there was someone with this i-talent… what was his name again? Timothy!”

“Don’t know him…”

“You mean… you have the talent to copy all other i-talent, without restriction, and you didn’t do it with everyone?”

“Sorry, I never thought knowing what hours it is could be useful.”

“There’s no way… you probably have it but you never used it. Try guessing the hour.”

I took out my scroll, it was only 1 in the morning. As it would approximately take me ten minutes to get to Chaveil’s office, we’ll have to wait for a bit longer.

"Hum… 1:11 am"

“Okay, I take back what I said, you don’t have it.”

“Like I cared.”

"Not too far of though, it's 1 am."

“So… we’ll have to wait an hour like that? I don’t mind, but it’s pretty tight here…”

She was right, even though it was quite large for a closet, it was still too small for two people to comfortably fit in. I kind of avoided a disaster by getting us back to back when we entered.

“Hey… we never really managed to get time just the two of us. I mean, after we met back a month ago.”

“Yeah… a lot happened.”

"Marie told me about your reunion during the 10th struggle, and about how nobody really wants to go back on Earth…"

“Your the same, right?”

“…what about you?”

“…”

It's not that easy, I am not the person you think I am. I am not the person they think I am. Back on Earth, everybody said I was a hero, but it's not true. Horrible things happened during the purge. Horrible things I had to do. Horrible things I want to forget. So yes, I want to stay here, but the others… I don't want to abandon them either…

Sigh, if only I could say that out loud.

“I don’t know. I didn’t really think of it.”

“I know what you’re thinking.”

Does she? Has she become telepath, on top of everything else?

“You just want to be with Naomi, right?”

"Oh… well, I guess you're right. I wouldn't consider going back if she stays here."

“You never told me. Why are you both so into each other?”

“It’s not like we are THAT much into…”

“Come on… it’s so obvious. Even Mar and little Chong have noticed.”

“Sigh… would you stop calling Harue like that? And are you sure you want to know?”

“You see me as your Sister, I don’t see I can get lower than that.”

Well, she is not wrong about that… Dammit, I wonder why is she so serious about it. It’s not like she would have any trouble finding someone.

“Okay, I owed you one anyway.”

I checked out the scroll to be sure I couldn’t get away with the time, but we still had at least ten minutes ahead of us. I guess I can’t avoid it.

"I don't really know about her, but as far as I can remember, I was in love with her. Even when she was our gloomy neighbour and I could only glance at her from afar. Fortunately, we became friends, and things after another, we ended up where we are. I can't really tell a specific reason, I just think she's perfect."

“Che, the only reason she’s with you is because you saved her ass during the purge.”

“He he, it’s not that simple.”

Shit, my left shoulder is killing me.

“I thought you were about to tell me the whole story…”

“I told you mine, the rest is on her part. And honestly, I’m not sure a closet in the middle of a building we are infiltrating is a good place for this kind of chitchat…”

“You have a point. But don’t think it’s over. One day, I’ll make you fall in love with me, sister or not.”

“If you say so…”

After some awkward minutes during which none of us had nothing to say, we finally moved on to the next step.

The infiltration was as easy as before, and I got to my destination right on time.

Oddly enough, there was no one guarding the president office. Only a bunch of camera and detector in the corridor and in front of the door of the office itself. Once again, I passed those without any difficulty, and swiftly go inside the office.

The man was here. Of course, he was here, I have seen it already. However, he didn't seem that surprised by my presence. He was startled when he saw me getting in, but as soon as my face was visible, his expression calmed down, was he expecting me?

Not like it matters.

“Mr Chaveil.”

“You do know I have an alarm system.”

Yes, I know, and he currently has one of his hand on a big red button under his desk. However, as he pronounced these lines, the light in the office all shat down at the same time.

“Oh, I see you’ve come prepared. But did you really think it would be that simple?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“… really?”

“Okay, I see you’re waiting for the power backup to get the current back but I have someone on it already.”

“Is that all you have?”

Oh, is that a hint of anxiety I see on his face?

“If you’re hoping for the second and third backup to activate too, I got that covered as well.”

That was Alice and Marie’s job.

“…”

“Everything has been taken care of, it’s just you and me.”

“So, it comes down to it. Violence.”

“I am desperate enough for that.”

"I should have known you would come to me. But I didn't think it would be so soon.'

“It’s actually later that I wanted, your security system took my team half a day more than scheduled to be hacked.”

“Half a day? Are you joking?”

I approached him, and grabbed him by his necklace.

“Do you think I’m joking right now?”

“…”

I slightly lifted him in the air, I don't want to hurt him, but I have to if I want to match my vision. Immediately after, I suddenly let him go, and he fell down on his but.

“I’ll get straight to the point…”

“Is it about Kind?”

“I don’t have time for that.”

“You think I killed him, right?”

“…”

"You think I am the rich villain who is controlling everything. You think I only care about my benefits. Because it would be too hard to look deeper, right?"

"I know you didn't kill him."

“And that’s… what?”

"He was old and had health issues, it was common knowledge. You were part of the problem but you didn't kill him directly, that much I know. I also know about your past."

“What? How did…”

"You may look 30, but you are way older than that. And when you were younger you had a really good friend, called Mark."

It took time to connect the pieces, but Marie unravelled that yesterday. This guy knew Mark and witnessed his treason, probably because of that he set himself into politics, and opposite to Monty, he lost himself along the way.

“Ha…”

“Hum?”

“Hahahaha!”

What is so funny? I didn’t even make my proposal yet…

“I guess I won my bet.”

“A bet?”

“If you made that much effort to come to see here now, it must be because you want to blackmail me, right?”

“Yes.”

"Then it must be because you want to use the ECA"

His Exceptional Creation of Amendment, something with the same power as a law, but which can be applied in a matter of hours at the will of The President. It looks like authoritarianism to me, but it’s our only chance to legally win this now.

“Yes.”

“Haha, okay.”

“What?”

"You win. I still have this year ECA, it's all yours."

Oh… it’s getting even easier than I had expected.