Chapter
4 – Less than Saints, Greater than Sinners
With support for Vincenzo being
greater than it’s ever been thanks to the attempted assassination on his life,
all that the Hydra Roundtable has had to do is defend our supporters from the
shadows, while the Campione brothers promote themselves in the light. The
Paradox Collective has been sending their foreigners and far-left supporters to
harass everyone into trying to vote for their candidate, so the Hydra
Roundtable and our allies have to step in to protect the people. If that wasn’t
bad enough, they’re using their contacts in opposing dictator-led countries
like Adler and Cocodrilo to send over their rigged voting machines to sway
votes, and today, my friends and I will be intercepting those voting machines.
In the Hydra Roundtable hideout, I
say, “This will decide the election. If these machines make it to the voting
centers, then the country is lost.”
“I’m still surprised that our main
import ally, Vito D’Accordo, couldn’t stop all the illegal imports from coming
in,” Suzuki says.
“The old man can only do so much in
his city. It’s not like he controls imports from all airports and docks in the
country,” Al says.
“Your family might as well have
full control over the country.”
“And it soon will be for the
betterment of everyone.”
“Heh. This is all weird and sorts
of strange,” Kelly says.
“How so?” I ask.
“We’re helping criminals gain
control of one of the most, if not the most, powerful countries in the world as
opposed to another criminal syndicate.”
“Remember, one criminal syndicate
is virtuous and does criminal things to safeguard its people and preserve its
honor. The other is not,” Suzuki says.
“I’m not complaining. Just saying.
There’s no such thing as honest governments nowadays, is there?”
“Not at all. That’s why we need to
fix it from the outside in,” Al says.
“And the difference between our
enemies and us is that we’re right and they’re wrong. We fight for truth and
justice while they fight for sin and falsehood. They murder. We execute. They
steal. We redistribute. Let’s get this done, and save our country,” I say.
Kelly, Suzuki, and I cheer as if I
made some kind of rousing speech. I nod at them as we put our masks on and head
out. We take up our positions in the warehouse and wait for the ships to get
closer to the docks. Looking around us, I see other people from the Hydra
Roundtable, people with clown masks, animal masks, and masks with fictional
characters, historical figures, and their own custom designs. Switching to
universal comms unique to my friends, me, and those in the innermost circle of
the Hydra Roundtable, I hear them talking about what they’re going to do after,
the patriotism and virtue of this work, the pay for this job, their theories on
who is running the Hydra Roundtable, and guessing it correctly to be the
Campione brothers.
Hearing them reminds me of my own
group during our first year, when we were in the middle circle of the Hydra
Roundtable. My own words and the points that my friends brought up enter my
head as the firefight starts. Strangely, remembering them keeps me calm during
the firefight and makes it pass by as if I’m doing some mundane job. We will
make this country and the world by our criminal deeds. We may have made some
questionable decisions here and there, but none were obviously sinful, at least
not to me. Even as we gun down everyone on the approaching boat and destroy the
rigged voting machines, I feel no shame or guilt, only satisfaction.
“We’ve discovered the location of
more rigged voting machines! We need your help chasing them down,” I hear over
the radio.
My friends and I race to the
location and find the truck speeding away. I drive close to the driver, and
Kelly shoots the driver, causing the truck to crash. Going over to the wreck,
we open it up, shoot the survivors inside, and blow it up.
“Requesting backup at our location!
We found a warehouse belonging to the Paradox Collective that is holding the
rigged voting machines!” I hear over the radio.
Not stopping for a second, my
friends and I drive out to the location and back up our allies. With more
reinforcements coming, our side becomes unstoppable, allowing us to move
through the Paradox Collective.
While finishing them off, one of
the injured enemies says, “You call us cultists and accuse us of using sinful
means of obtaining power when it is really you-”
I shut the man up with a bullet to
his forehead. I know I’m right and he’s wrong for the simple fact that we
submit ourselves to higher powers for a good better than us, while they try to
manipulate it for their benefit. They’re all wrong and in need of salvation. I
cross myself as a prayer for them and leave the warehouse to answer more calls
and send more souls to God for judgment. As the morning sun starts to rise, the
calls stop coming in, and everyone from the Hydra Roundtable and its allies
retreat into the shadows like night shift workers clocking out for the day
shift. When the day shift takes over, the citizens come in and cast their vote.
Vincenzo talks on live TV and streams across the internet to encourage people
to vote for who they think is the right candidate, while also making it obvious
who he thinks is the right one.
For some reason, his opposition
doesn’t say anything on social media, TV, or online anywhere. No one knows
where he or his cabinet are, as if they disappeared off the face of the Earth. The
Campione brothers didn’t sanction their assassination, nor do any of our
underworld know what happened to them, as we were all focused on destroying the
rigged voting machines, and our friends in politics and business don’t know
either, since they’re focused on spinning what happened last night as gang
violence, which it technically was.
“I guess that’s it then. We win,” I
say as my friends and I preemptively celebrate at a café.
“We won the moment Vincenzo survived
the assassination attempt,” Al says.
“Nothing says that a person has God’s
favor other than narrowly dodging a bullet,” Suzuki says.
“So, what? The other candidate and
his friends just ran for the hills?” Kelly asks.
“That’s what it looks like,” I say.
“And nothing’s going to be done
about that?”
“Not unless the authorities say so,”
Al says.
“There’s already an investigation
looking for them. I’m sure they’ll be taken care of appropriately, especially
when the new administration takes control,” Suzuki adds.
“As if they haven’t already,” Al
says.
“To a new, better future we helped
create,” I say with my coffee cup raised.
My friends and I toast to God, our
future, our friends, and ourselves. Sure enough, Vincenzo wins the presidency
by a wide margin. He makes his victory speech in the nation’s capital, where
one of the largest, if not the largest, crowds ever to come out for a presidential
speech comes out. Vincenzo has both a joyous and slightly devious smile as if
he just got away with the biggest heist in the history of the world, which he
really has.
At the podium, which is flanked by
bulletproof glass, Vincenzo says, “Friends, no family. Who am I to call you
friends when you’ve done so much for me that I consider you all my brothers and
sisters? Thank you for trusting my country in your hands, but as for you who
don’t, I pray and hope that I will gain your trust through my actions. I know
that you think I’m taking away your so-called rights to murder your unborn children,
but I’m sure we can both agree on limiting to the point of getting rid of the
tax agency and limiting the powers of the SIB will do our country good. A wise
mentor once told me that men make laws, but God decides what is right and
wrong. Therefore, my allies and I will sanctify our country by making laws
where necessary and getting rid of them where they are not. Do not be mistaken
that I will be breathing down your necks or be completely hands off. The
government I will create is one guided not by my own ambitions, but one guided
by God and what is true and good for all of us. I will not impose my beliefs on
anyone, because true love is given, not forced, but if you do anything to harm
or hamper the lives of my family, my fellow countrymen, even my enemies, then I
will bring down the full force of the law upon you. May God have mercy on all of
us and teach us all to get along and learn to love one another. May God bless
the United Chimaera States and help me to be the leader worthy to serve you. God
bless you all. Amen.”
The crowd says Amen and cheers for
Vincenzo. My friends, the rest of the Hydra Roundtable, and I celebrate as if
we’re just faces in the crowd, which we are. I suspect our job is not done yet,
and that this is just the beginning of our work, something that neither my
friends nor I mind. A life of crime in the shadows to affect what happens in
the light is what we chose, and is a life we wouldn’t want to live any other
way. May God truly help us to make this country a better place, worthy of His
grace, through us, His servants in the dark. Amen.
The End
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