De'Vas Chronicles Book 4: Chapter 3

Miller stood behind Mrs. Grayson as she sat at the desk in the office. District Boss Ash’s office, the woman’s son. When Ash vanished during an attack in District 1, Mrs. Grayson had quickly settled into the role of managing the District. The notorious business tycoon, who had earned the nickname ‘The Empress of Business’ due to her combination of successful endeavors and ruthless takeovers of competitors, was now defying both requests by the US Government and the Council to leave De’Vas.

Even now, with several members of the Council standing before her, Mrs. Grayson focused on paperwork for District 114. She was calm despite the glares from beings who could threaten a city. However, she did have her allies.

Miller’s gaze shifted to the Council Members backing up his boss, who were sitting on the office couch. One was a silver-haired woman he knew was pretending to be Councilwoman Blackthorn, a banshee. A woman over eight feet tall with cat ears and tail sat beside her. This was Councilwoman Zara, a sphinx. Councilman Roc, a forest troll wearing a leather jacket with patches, sat on the other side of the impostor Blackthorn. He held a fork and was eating an entire coconut cream pie, which Miller didn’t see the man bring in with him.

Where the hell did he get that?

Miller’s attention was directed back to the assembled Council members against Mrs. Grayson when one of them spoke.

“Once again, Mrs. Grayson. As of today, the Goodwill Committee has left De’Vas. I’m afraid you’ve overstayed your welcome,” Victor, a regal-looking man with horns, tail and bat-like wings, growled.

His skin would sometimes shift to something more grey and rough, which Millar’s instincts told him meant this person was something dangerous.

“I’m a guest of District Boss Ash and his liege Councilwoman Blackthorn,” Mrs. Grayson said as she looked over some paperwork. She lifted her gaze toward the impostor Blackthorn. “Cleo, dear. Have I overstayed my welcome?”

The impostor smirked at the question and shifted to a more relaxed pose on the couch.

“Not at all, Vivian. It has been and continues to be a delight having you in De’Vas.”

Mrs. Grayson gestured toward the impostor and returned to the paperwork. She readjusted her reading glasses and picked up a pen to make a mark on the sheet of paper.

“There you go, Councilwoman Blackthorn says I haven’t overstayed my welcome. This is her territory within De’Vas, and her word is law here,” Mrs. Grayson said, only to look up from the paperwork with a razor-sharp gaze. “At least that’s in accordance with my understanding of De’Vas’s laws. Would it not be against the sovereignty of the Councilmembers’ territory to remove me if I have the blessing of Councilwoman Blackthorn without a vote? Or am I misunderstanding, and certain Councilmembers hold more power than the others?”

Silence hung in the air, and Miller saw more than a few of the Councilmembers glance at Victor, disdain in their eyes. Councilman Firebeard, the dwarf who had greeted the Good Will Committee, even curled his lip into a snarl. Victor paid no mind to his fellow Councilmembers' looks. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at Mrs. Grayson, who matched his intense gaze.

“This damn human is trying to drive a wedge between us! To hell with what Blackthorn says. Let’s drag her out of here and throw her over the damn wall!” an ogre wearing what looked like a homemade toga declared. “Who’s with—”

Click.

“What did you just suggest?” a cold voice asked from the doorway.

Miller’s hand stopped reaching for the pistol in his holster, and he did his best to suppress a smile. The old man had shown up.

Victor’s gaze shifted from Mrs. Grayson to behind him, and he saw several of the Councilmembers pale, though none as much as the ogre.

A forest elf with graying brown hair stood in the doorway. His hand gripped the sword’s handle at his waist, partly pulling it from the blade’s sheath. Murderous intent poured off the man.

“Oh, Rory! Is it noon already?” Mrs. Grayson said as she checked her watch. “I’m sorry, time slipped away from me. Councilmembers, please excuse me. This is an important meeting, I entrust you’ll see yourselves out.”

She smiled as she stood from the desk and started making her way to the door.

“Enjoy your date, Vivian,” the impostor Cleo teased, getting smirks from Councilwoman Zara and probably Councilman Roc. Miller wasn’t quite sure since the troll had whipped cream covering his face.

Mrs. Grayson just smiled at the trio on the couch, then shoulder-checked Victor when the Councilman refused to move out of her way. The man’s face turned fully grey as he let out a snarl.

“Watch it, human!” Victor growled.

Mrs. Grayson paid him no mind as she walked out of the doorway, Rory and Miller following close behind her. The three of them walked in silence to the elevator.

When the doors closed, Mrs. Grayson pulled two phones out of her pocket. She brought the screen up on one of them, then held it against the other as a blue bar began ticking up toward one hundred percent.

“That’s Victor’s phone, isn’t it?” Miller asked with a chuckle.

Mrs. Grayson didn’t even look away from the phone.

“Of course, you think I shoulder-checked him as a stupid power move?”

Rory clicked his tongue as he shook his head.

“Pickpocketing, Vivian. Really?” the swordmaster said, though his tone was teasing.

Mrs. Grayson just smiled as the phone hit one hundred percent and then tossed the other one to the floor of the elevator.

“The corporate world is ruthless, Rory. This isn’t the first time I’ve stolen and cloned a cellphone,” Mrs. Grayson sighed. “Honestly, the digital age has made corporate espionage rather dull.”

Miller watched as Rory rolled the translator ring on his finger. It was a common habit he’d noticed many do in De’Vas, and it usually meant the wearer was pondering a word.

“So we have a copy of Victor’s cellphone? I must admit, the devices are still an enigma to me, though I know Alyndra rarely is without her own.”

Mrs. Grayson nodded and slipped the phone into her pocket.

“The clone copied his files and will act as a mirror. We’ll be able to read his texts and listen in on his calls.

“There’s always the risk they discover this and turn it against us, but I doubt Victor will be suspicious when he finds his phone in the elevator. The stone dragon will probably assume it fell out of his pocket. I have a feeling he will underestimate me because I’m human,” Mrs. Grayson said with a slight smile.

The doors opened on the first floor, and three of them stepped out, leaving behind Victor’s cellphone on the floor of the elevator.

“Glad to be away from that racket,” Miller said once the door closed. He had not expected the elevator music would be the worst part of visiting De’Vas.

“It’s not that bad. Bo’s musical talent has improved a lot since he first started. He even has a few songs I actually like,” Mrs. Grayson stated.

Miller and Rory shared a surprised look, but said nothing. Instead, they followed behind Mrs. Grayson as she made her way through the Flatiron. The gang members waved greetings to her as she passed. Miller was quickly picking up who belonged to which gang.

Those with scales were usually part of the Frozen Scales. The gang members with animal ears and tails ran with the 114 Pack, and any girl with flowers in her hair and expensive taste in fashion belonged to the Poison Petals.

All three gangs were led by Ash’s girlfriends, though right now the second-in-commands were in temporary leadership roles. Faylen and Lilly had both left the district after Ash’s disappearance, and while Naomi was still here, she had thrown herself into training under Rory’s guidance. That’s what Miller had heard all of Ash’s girls were doing, training for what was coming.

They made their way past two checkpoints with guards until they arrived at a room with several guards standing outside of it, members from each gang. They greeted Mrs. Grayson with a wave, and then one stepped forward.

“Sorry, Mrs. Grayson, it’s procedure,” a large bearkin said as he pulled out a silver coin.

The coin was how they checked if any of them were changelings. A race of silver-skinned paranormals who could assume the identity of anyone, though contact with silver undid their transformation. One had recently tried to sneak into the Flatiron to attack Mrs. Grayson, though it had severely underestimated the woman.

“No need to apologize. If I ever refuse this check, then just attack,” Mrs. Grayson answered as she held out her hand.

Rory and Miller did the same, and the bearkin placed the silver coin against each of their skins. After a moment, he nodded, and a dryad moved to unlock the door.

The sound of rock music came from the room. Thankfully, it was better than the elevator’s music. Once they stepped in, Miller noticed the goblin, with tattoos on his body, working to hook up a computer monitor.

“Perry, I figured you would have this set up by now,” Mrs. Grayson said, her tone slightly irritated.

Perry held up his hands in defense.

“Easy, boss. I’m working as fast as I can to get everything set up right, promise!”

Mrs. Grayson looked unconvinced.

“I gave you permission to recruit the gang members to get everything set up. I had expected this to take perhaps an hour.”

Perry frowned.

“If I left it up to them, we’d have to ship in new parts. They’re not exactly gentle,” the goblin said. “After all, this is more than just a basic computer we’re putting together here.”

Miller heard a growl escape one of the beastkin guards outside the door at the goblin’s remarks. The goblin seemed especially skilled at getting on people’s nerves.

Whatever Perry was building here didn’t look like any computer he had seen before. Wires ran from the various motherboards, graphics cards, and parts he wasn’t even able to identify that were scattered on the table. All of which connected to three monitors. The whole setup reminded him of when a friend of his got into crypto mining, but more extreme. The goblin had even cleared out several stores of their computer parts in District 114 and even from Councilwoman Blackthorn’s other vassal districts.

Mrs. Grayson sighed.

“Give me an estimate, Perry.”

The goblin looked around at the mess of electronics scattered about.

“Five hours and I’ll have it set. Then we can run the decrypter on those blueprints. As long as your tech boys on the other side of the wall are correct, then this should be powerful enough to break that nasty encryption.”

Mrs. Grayson pulled out her phone and looked to be setting an alarm.

“Then I’ll return in five hours, Perry.”

The goblin made an audible gulp and seemed to hurry a little faster as he hooked cords into the monitor. Mrs. Grayson turned and looked at Rory.

“Well, shall we head to Mei’s Den for lunch? I want to hear how the school is doing, Principal Rory.”