Chapter 144: Means, Motive and Opportunity

Due to the massive repercussions of a single event like the raping of Seeker would have on the world, the Underworld organizations that would organize such events required a lot of security deposits. In fact, even for the rich individuals in this room, they had to place a massive deposit that totaled more than half of everything they owned.

This was so that if ever any of these men would try to renege from the agreement or end up causing problems for the organization, the hosting organization could simply take away their money.

All of these Sydians and Credits stood at the ready for Seeker to take.

"Yes, Sir. The number of um… perverts have exceeded our initial calculation. Four more have joined in this." A familiar security guard approached. Unlike the former guard, he was more calm and relaxed. It was one of Harker's trusted soldiers whom Seeker has met several times in his dealings with Harker.

"Why, Tyler. How fast of you! Already at Proficient?"

"It's all because of your care, General." The soldier saluted.

"Have you confirmed that their travel towards this place has been made in secret?"

"We have confirmed it. They have made great preparations long ago to hide their movements and they have done it well. The timing of each also had made it clear that they will be silent in social media and other public appearances for the next two weeks."

"Good. This is a perfect time for them to either commit suicide, kill each other or undergo a Programmed Slave surgery. Anyways, what do you have to knock them all out? We can't hurt them yet as we still have to analyze who we to kill, to do surgery on and so on."

"We have a tranquilizer gun that can stun them. It's designed like a real gun and can fire at the same rate and speed. But the impact is not lethal even if you aim for the head. I hope that this is convenient for you, sir."

"It's perfect. I can use that for the party upstairs." Seeker smiled as he noticed the unique gun on the soldier's waist.

"Has Harker prepared the operating room? We need to do the surgery immediately."

"The Doctors are ready to perform the Programmed Slave surgery." The soldier replied. He raised a small suitcase he carried and gave it to Seeker.

Seeker opened it and admired the sheer work of art.

"Pangean Eradication Technology and Bio Receptors. Two of Pangean's deadliest weapon. Untraceable by technologies are known to Earth. The perfect device to create spies. Did you know that even now, Russia has yet to perfect the creation of the perfect spy? They sought brainwashing techniques, which means to hide and kill emotions… But they were all too shallow. If people simply used human greed and the deepest desire of pleasure and vanity, we could easily control the world." Seeker smiled.

THUD!

A soldier had fallen and collapsed on the floor.

Seeker then noticed that even Tyler had a strange expression.

"Sir… About your pressure." He stood the closest to Seeker and was bearing the full power of it.

The other guards around the room were all having strange expressions. As if they were on the verge of collapse.

"Oh. Sorry. Let's knock them out first them." Seeker took the gun that was hanging by the soldier's waist.

Seeker then shot Levan.

BANG!

The gunfire caused many of the fear-stricken individuals to flinch in fear. Some even stumbled down and started squirming.

Levan fell to the ground as blood spilled out of his chest.

"What the Nutterballs?!" Seeker cursed.

"This is a real gun!"

"Ye-yes, Sir. That's my custom made gun. The tranquilizer gun is with Scribs." The soldier pointed to the other soldier who was carrying a gun that looked like the usual tranquilizer guns of the Pangean army.

Seeker cursed. Wounding Levan like this would lead to a mess in their plans. The excuse and plans that they have made for each pervert… The individual present was detailed and precise. But now, things had changed because Seeker was a trigger-happy person.

Seeker walked towards the other soldier with an odd expression and took the gun and immediately shot everyone who wasn't soldiers. After that, Seeker stopped releasing the powerful pressure.

"Give him medical attention. And I guess do the Programmed Slave surgery immediately.

The soldiers scurried to get the fallen Laven and started to carry him to the room prepared for their Programmed Slave surgery.

The soldier reached the door at the back and gave a loud knock.

"What the?! Why is that guy bleeding?!" A doctor cursed.

"We were expecting surgery for the brain and heart! We don't have the equipment suited for a damned gunshot wound! Especially something this critical! This bullet round penetrated through his lungs and made a large hole!" The doctor complained.

"Who's the genius who shot this man?!" The doctor cursed.

The soldiers hurriedly closed the door for fear of the Overcomer outside.

"Call Harker and have him send a medical team with all the necessary equipment for surgery. Have one of your men fake a heart attack on the public area so that you can call the ambulance." Seeker ordered hurriedly.

Several soldiers started to move immediately.

Seeker glared at Tyler who dared not to look Seeker on the eyes.

"I want that man alive. In the meantime, it looks like I need to quickly think of a way out of this." Seeker immediately activated Surmounting Thought. Taking the foundations of Arthur and Lennox's thought process through Seeker's studies of the two's brain cells, Seeker was able to divide his thoughts and created a secondary thought process. Although this was the first time he would activate it as the consumption was just too great, Seeker's current scenario required him to immediately think his way through this minor accident.

Although it wasn't as powerful as Lennox's thought process which Lennox could "program" to continuously calculate allowing him to perfectly change his cells to its lightning formation, the secondary thought process of Seeker allowed him to easily think and calculate faster than before. The only disadvantage was that Seeker had to force his cells to a temporary Surmounting state which consumed a lot of energy.

As Seeker started to use his mind to surpass the ways humans thought, it was then a strange sensation ran across his body. It was as if for a microsecond, perhaps even faster than that, Seeker's entire body went numb.

"Finally." Seeker thought to himself.

"Finally?" It was then that Seeker wondered.

"Sir?" Tyler asked as he heard Seeker mumble.

Seeker then shook his head at the peculiar event. As his mind started to think of what to do, he finally came up with a plan.

"Get me three back-ribs, two roasted chicken, two plates of rice, and what soup does this place serve? A screw it, get the two most expensive ones." Seeker ordered as he sat down. One of the guards immediately scrambled and placed the order.

"Get them here in ten minutes." Seeker's expression looked worn out. Without the same suit which had a stored energy costing, a single usage of any forced Surmounting ate up a lot of energy.

"Alright. Soldiers." Seeker called out. The surrounding soldiers approached Seeker.

"Select six from them and have them scheduled for the Programmed Slave surgery. Since I shot Levan due to someone's incompetence…" Seeker gave another glare.

The soldier, Tyler had a bitter expression on.

"Who'd expect that you'd just shoot people!?" Tyler cursed silently.

"Let's do it like this. Now that Levan's critically wounded, if he lives he'd take more than a month to recover. Making his future movements limited. Let's make it that he and that man went into a wager which escalated to them gambling five hundred million credits. Levan won, the other man got mad and shot him. So basically we'll be framing one of these guys. It's best if we make the person who shoots him another Programmed Slave. Who's the best candidate?" Seeker turned to ask Tyler.

"Amanda. She hates his guts. Even in the Underworld, it would only seem natural that a simple gambling bet between the two could escalate into this."

"Good. That seems like a good excuse for their disappearance. Turn both of them into Programmed Slaves. This means instead of planting the mind chip on these two, we'll just plant them with a bomb for now. How long until the next batch of those mind cells are ready?"

"Since we're running low after using our entire stock to turn those foreigners into Programmed Slaves, the next batch of working mind cells should be completed by the end of this week."

"Alright. Plant the bomb on their hearts and send these two to Harker. Instead of controlling them as Slaves, we can make Harker do his magic. I'm sure the threat of death should be enough for Harker to tread in Shameless Audacity."

One soldier immediately went out of the room to inform Harker.

"Use the money that Levan and Amanda prepared to rent me as the money for the gamble and make Amanda make a bet on the opposing side. We can add from Amanda's current money with these other people."

"Sir. Amanda is scheduled to go to China tomorrow."

Seeker was then surprised and smiled.

"Perfect. It looks like I can slip in and out of China easier. Alright. Do the same, but for Amanda, let's not turn her into a slave yet. It looks like we cannot risk any surgeries for her just yet. I need her to bring me in and out of China."

"Sir, what about your gamble?"

"Have Lynd be my replacement for the upcoming bet. We can make it that there was another attempt to kill me. And with Harker's recent alliance with Colestar, an assassination attempt is expected. Also, to make the bet even more dramatic, get Harker involved. Make him force Covenant to increase the players to face Lynd to one-hundred-fifty."

The soldier was stunned.

"The game settings of Lynd's play must be set to the highest level so that the bullets can be seen. This will ensure Lynd's victory. On the front, it will look like that Harker is showing off and challenging the underworld that he can make use of me and Lynd."

Tyler nodded in amazement. It wasn't even ten seconds when Seeker began to think and started giving out orders. And his plans were already this detailed.

"As for those who died via heart-attack, put all the money they brought now to be gambled against Lynd. Their defeat of the bet could be the cause of the heart attack. I want this organization to be part of the bet as well and make it look like these five borrowed five hundred million credits each. I think this would be reasonable grounds for a heart attack." Seeker laughed.

"We should have enough to turn the rest to become Programmed Slaves as was planned. Have them commit suicide. Some must have a videotaped confession, while others to write a letter. You guys get creative. Just remember the three most important factors in trying to cover this whole thing up." Seeker reminded solemnly.

"Yes, Sir. Means, Motives and Opportunity. We are to ensure that the means of murder cannot be traced to us, the motives of these men who commit murder will seem natural in the eyes of that outside, and that we or any organization that is tied to you do not have the opportunity to perform the act of murder." Tyler repeated.

"Good. Assume that Sherlock Holmes is on our tail. We have to make all these three factors work out beautifully that it won't point back to us."

"Seems a bit wasteful, sir. Can't we just make them slaves and use their money-making capabilities to support us?"

"No. The more we spread our net, the riskier it gets. As of now, even Presiders would find it hard to enter Pangea now that Harker and Colestar are allies. But these politicians, actors, and stars move around the world. If they get in contact with a Presider, then we risk them getting discovered. It's best to kill them and milk them for what they are currently worth."

"But wouldn't their deaths draw attention to the public and therefore make the Aragarians or the WGP wary?"

"These groups are poorer than the rest and aren't worth much to either to the Aragarians or the WGP so I doubt their suicides will have any negative effects. The expenses of turning them into Programmed Slaves should be easily paid by their wealth. Have them redo all their will and give the inheritance to a charity organization under Harker or any organizations belonging to Lennox. You can also make them give it all to Eagles churches and ministries and for those based on Pangea, make them give it to our orphanages."

"Sir, Yes sir."

"For now, our immediate action is to make them Programmed Slaves and have them ready their funds for the gamble against Lynd," Seeker added.

Suddenly, Seeker's expression was in deep thought. For a few seconds, he was quiet.

The soldiers had a strange expression first.

"Contact Lynd." Seeker finally ordered.

"Tell him I'll be leaving tomorrow. We are to make him fact two hundred players but tell him that he can use Peals of Thunder to scare or paralyze his enemies when necessary. If he asks about the possible effects of revealing Peals of Thunder, tell him that Harker's Path will fix whatever possible attention that will be aimed at him if he uses the path." Seeker immediately stood up and walked towards the door.

"Where are all their bodyguards?" Seeker then asked.

"They are at the penthouse."

"Now let's see if any among these men are worth being part of my army. I hope these seasoned veterans of the Underworld will be unlike those death-row prisoners. To think that some actually died in fear of me." Seeker clicked his tongue as he recalled the experimental sessions he did.

"Sir. General Harker asks if you can keep all alive and not go overboard. Even if they don't have the potential, General wants to try a different route and see if his Path can make others believe in you."

"Fear is not a good foundation for their faith in me." Seeker shook his head.

"For Cliff…. It wasn't just fear. It was amazement. For seasoned veterans who think they are at the top of this world, seeing something they cannot explain will birth more fear. So I don't think I can make a World Champion out of any of these. The weak that shames the strong. That's what we are looking for."

"General Harker still insist, sir. An Unbecoming is still useful for his own plans."

Seeker sighed.

"Whatever. I guess that man's not half bad. I doubt his plans will work… but he does thread on shameful audacity. Make sure that those Underworld thugs will be partying inside the enclosed walls. You are positive the acoustics upstairs are perfect?"

"Yes. We followed the same standards that have led to Sting's capture a few months back."

"Good. That building had great acoustic setup." Seeker recalled the amazing design and how Sting was unprofessionally captured by Harker's men.

"I'm going up then. What weapons have you prepared for me, this time?"

"A flail, a butcher's knife, and a large halberd crafted according to your specifications. Oh and uh… these tranquilizer guns." Tyler responded and pointed to the guns that the other guards were carrying.

"How many Aragarians have we confirmed?"

"There should be three on the penthouse, sir. All of them are in charge of the security of these men. Is it possible for Pioneers to be among them?"

"No. These are just Planteds. But we can use them to get to the Pioneers and learn more about the current situation of these Aragarians. Since it won't be a while till we can contact Pridgeon, we should do this."

"Are we going to have them undergo surgery?"

"No. Too risky. Since Programmed Slaves are Aragarians tech they might have technologies to detect them."

"Then how do we…?"

"We'll lock them up for now. But once she is out of her little cage, we'll ship them off to wherever she is."

"She?"

"The Tyrant Empress."