The hivemind is conquering for me?

Zeona sighed as she watched a live feed of Talos’ vision get impaled by the ice lance. It was a shame. The man-cum-cyborg was the perfect vessel for her powers. He thought he was in love with the very woman that killed his wife.

It was the perfect scheme. Still, not all was lost. Zeona had profited immensely from this little game of war. Her contacts were constantly supplying both her and Timmy’s organisations. A constant flow of hard credits had been acquired. All it took were a few hundred thousand lives. No biggie. Humans breed like... Humans. The population would skyrocket by the next generation. Like always.

”Lady Zeona, is everything ok? I was walking past and noticed a sombre expression upon your face.” An elderly gentleman asked with a concerned expression upon his weathered face. He was dressed in a black suit and tie, looking very formal. Zeona wasn’t at her apartment, she was in her ’real’ home in one of the most exclusive private estates on Ecumenopolis 4.

”I am fine Sebastian, I just have just received some troublesome news. However, the future looks bright, we will be making for home very soon it seems” Sebastian tried to stay neutral with his expression, but the elation of finally travelling home after all these centuries was something he truly wanted. ”Very good Lady Zeona, I will begin preparations at once.”

Zeona watched Sebastian leave before sighing as she picked up her communicator. Zeona had very few people close to her in Spartari, but there was one with who had irrefutably weeded her way into her artificial heart.

The communicator rang and in moments it picked up. ”Hey Zee-Zee. Is everything ok? I feel a disturbance through the communication, do you want to meet?” Zeona smiled, Delilah always knew how she felt. it was instinctual for her.

”Bar, an hour? What I have to say needs to be done face to face.” Zeona said simply, prompting Delilah to reply. ”Well, I had a rare day off and am already here. I’ll see you soon sweetie.”

Zeona looked down at her communicator sweetly. She felt this sense of unease as she did not want this friendship to end. She hadn’t connected to another person like this in centuries. She could truly say, while it being platonic. She loved Delilah.

She was about to reveal a truth to her and depending on how brainwashed Delilah was... She didn’t want to think about that prospect. She had already killed 90% of her household to weed out the traitor, she couldn’t lose someone else so close to her.

See tried to stay optimistic however, She knew D was a big softy.

...

An hour later, Zeona entered the Speakeasy and by the bar an urgent news bulletin was on full volume. ”In breaking news! We have received reports of mass loss of life coming from what is referred to as ’Cartel Verenya’s territory’ Deep in the southern hemisphere mega continent.”

”The facts we have are as follows. Cartel Verenya has been a neutral party in the ongoing gangwar that has been plaguing our south these past months. It is still unknown why fighting has broken out there, but the numbers of active personal is estimated to be in the tens of thousands and nobody seems to know why such a large scale loss of life has broken out now compared to to more frequent skirmishes the gangs are known for. Also-”

Zeona walked away, uninterested. She knew more than the news anyway. As she walked, she gained quite a few looks as she was not in her usual disguise and her arms and hair were flaunted for all to see.

After entering her and Delilah’s usual room, all her worries melted away instantly. ”Hey Zee-Zee. Woah, letting it all out today? What’s the occasion?” Delilah said as she walked over and placed a drink into Zeona’s hand, followed promptly by a hug.

After a couple of seconds, Delilah attempted to pull away, only to find she was stuck. ”Um, Zeona? Are you ok?” She asked, her tone laced with curiosity and worry. Zeona pulled back and then reached out with her hand to caress Delilah’s face. ”Much better now... I assume you have seen the news?” Zeona said before moving to take her seat.”

Delilah nodded. ”How could I not? Massive brawl between your gang and the other gang? Whole northern hemisphere is looking to the south with a morbid fascination. I am just glad you are here, I don’t trust that unstable sub leader of yours at all anymore. He is too dangerous to be around.”

Zeona smirked slightly. ”Talos is dead. Timmy is mortally wounded, but being a Psionic being, he could survive all that damage, especially with his age, he wouldn’t be so reckless and throw away all his hard work after all.”

Delilah felt the sub context of the conversation barrelling towards her and decided to intercept first. ”So, with your business seemingly under siege, what are you going to do? Start over?”

Zeona chuckled inaudibly before taking a sip of her drink. ’I’m going to miss this place...’ She thought. This little home away from home. Her speakeasy. She had some good times here, especially in the last few months.

”I’m leaving Delilah. I have come here to do what I needed to do. It could have lasted longer, but Talos was getting unstable like you said. He needed to go before the potential inkling of danger of him turning against me came to present... It’s why I set up a deal with Verenya to help me take him down and end the war. How else could Timmy have known where the secret base was?”

Delilah’s eyes went wide with surprise. ”You sold out Talos to Timmy?” She asked, prompting a silent nod from Zeona.

Delilah feigned slight shock, but inwardly, she was laughing hysterically. What were the odds? Not only did Sophia use Jinx’s position as a live anonymous tip towards Timmy and his faction, but his very boss had finally decided to scrap him! This was gold!

Delilah didn’t dig too deep into Zeona’s thoughts, that wasn’t her job and could be construed as suspicious, especially right now. ”So, you said you are leaving? Where are you going?” Zeona told Delilah instantly and once more, She did her best not to appear surprised by the information she had received.

”-Since I need a good way to clean this money, I am going to spend a couple years there before heading for home. And...” Delilah watched as Zeona showed a rare moment of pure vulnerability.

However, she steeled herself quickly before simply stating. ”And I want you to come with me.” Delilah did a visual take back. ”Go with you? Zee, I can’t do that, I have a very important job here. I can’t just pack up and leave!”

A silence crept between the two of them a moment. Zeona expected this and took a drink from her glass, before looking at her face in the reflection. Thinking about home made her tap into her subconscious and the face she saw staring at her in her reflection was a stranger.

She then looked up at the simple woman before her and smiled. This was her friend. Delilah deserved to know who her friend actually was. With her determination steeled. She gazed directly into Delilah’s eyes and uttered the words.

”Delilah, I am a...”

...

The battle was still ongoing, gunshots firing in the distance as the two, now sworn enemies were fighting to the death. The news of the conflict had naturally received word at the respective home bases and mayhem unlike anything throughout the entirety of the war so far broke out across the south.

Meanwhile, Inside the warehouse, the eye of the storm. A woman let out a whistle at the carnage around her. As she did so, a billow of smoke emerged from her puckered lips. With her shotgun resting behind her head, she spoke up to her cronies.

”Fan out, we are here to retrieve Jinx, if she is still alive. Then we need to find out where White Death is. The longer we stay here, the longer we are exposed.” Fume explained before she and her cronies got to work checking through the bodies.

She turned over the body of a dual blue cybernetic eyes Talos millitaman with her boot only to realise he was still alive, barely. She watched as the man went to mouth ’Spare me.’ But all that was spared was a shotgun shell straight to the face at point blank. ”No.”

She continued this a few more times before one of her cronies shouted. ”Fume! Over here!”

Fume hurried over to where she was called and the one that called her, as well as those that had just arrived all pointed with their eyes towards the woman in question. Fume gasped in shock at the state of Jinx.

Her face was smashed to smithereens and her skull was cracked open. You could even see the brain sitting inside from a certain angle. Fume couldn’t believe what she was seeing. ”Jinx... You were one boss bitch... I liked having you around, you didn’t try to curry favour with Timmy like many of us did with sexual advances and that was admirable. You will be missed.”

Everyone bowed their heads. Jinx was highly respected among the savages of White Death’s organisation, her death would actually be mourned...

”Aww Shucks guys, If I still had eyes, I think I would cry.” A voice suddenly spoke causing everyone of the veteran killers to scream in fright. One in particular high pitched wail managed to yell out.

”How the fuck are you still alive!!!”