Checkmate

James Rook became a confident man when he became an Agent of Golden Lion. He had been a confident man because he knew something that no one else did. He knew change was coming. He knew that he was going to be on the winning side after everything was said and done. He walked with casual purpose.

He walked like a man who had already won. It was important to understand that about Rook, because to those he worked with now, he was always confident. When they saw him walk through the doors a few minutes after Feedback killed Switch, they could only describe him as untouchable. He was radiating confidence in a way that simply should not be possible.

He might have known they were going to win before, but know it was certain. Not even Moira Singh herself could stop them. Not even god could intervene. Rook was wholly aware that he aligned himself with the devil, there was nothing else that could describe his employer. Anton Vask was a cunning and cutthroat businessman.

If Anton had taught Rook anything in their time working together, it was that there were no good people left in the world. They all died with the Old World. There were only two sides now, belief did not matter anymore. There were only the winners and the losers. The survivors and the weak. Rook was a survivor.

There was nothing misplaced about Rook's confidence. Before he accepted Vask's offer, he did his research. Anton Vask was from Bleak Barrow. He climbed his way up from the bottom, buying and selling whatever tech he could get his hands on until Golden Lion Enterprises saw potential in him. They brought him on board as an Acquisitions Analyst. They were right to do so. Anton Vask had an eye for the valuable. He had an eye for the overlooked. He found stock and share that were diamonds in the rough. Eventually they made him a Manager. Eventually they brought him up to Arcadia.

Once he was in Arcadia, Anton Vask learned how the world truly worked. He learned that he was no longer going to be working in Acquisitions. They had made him into something than a Manager, despite what they told him. They made him into an Agent and they gave him free reign of how to deal with the problems that arose in Clifton. He worked with the Security Force, he worked against them sometimes if it fit his mission. Eventually he was recalled to Arcadia and given an advisory role. Eventually he decided Moira Singh was not worthy of the clouds she stood upon. Eventually he decided she would fall.

It was only fitting that Vask retreated to Bleak Barrow when they entered the final stage of this game they were playing. Rook was coming to confirm what Vask would already know to be true. The end was here, they were one step away from checkmate.

Anton Vask's headquarters in Bleak Barrow was hidden behind a tech repair shop. Three guards stood at the front door posing as customers and a clerk. In the back room, one more guard stood to check identification and then it was Anton Vask himself on the other side of the door. He was watching everything unfold on the Network.

Rook knew not to wait for Vask to ask for a status report. He spoke as soon as he entered the room, "Our Agent in Console Ghost reports that our containers were picked up and that Console Ghost's watcher has been neutralized. He is en route to meet up with Console Ghost just before they open the containers."

Anton Vask nodded slowly, "And his orders are?"

"To create a blackout as the containers open. That way, those hiding within the containers will be able to take down Console Ghost without issue." Rook paused when he noticed that Vask's brow furrowed, "What is it?"

"What became of Jonathan Bassett?"

Rook opened his palm, the nanites pooled into his hand and created a hologram projector. An image of Jonathan Bassett walking through sand appeared between them. "With the snow he probably won't make it on foot, but it looks like he is going for DevTown."

Vask took a deep breath and folded his hands, "When I brought you on, you said that Jonathan Bassett was the most driven man you've ever met. When Moira blacklisted him, you urged me that he could be a resource, you said that he was a different man now. When he refused to come with you, you warned me that he was a threat. When you lost him in Raven Rock, you warned me again. Do you remember what you said?"

Rook nodded, the hologram vanished as the nanites retreated up Rook's sleeve. "I said that his involvement is the only thing that made me doubt our victory."

"And now?"

"According to our Agent in Console Ghost, they had a falling out. He tried to warn them that this was a trap. That someone… that we were manipulating them into starting a war with Golden Lion. They wouldn't listen, he gave them the intel they needed to steal the containers and then left."

Vask's brow relaxed and he looked toward a screen that showed three cargo craft parked in an abandoned warehouse in Raven Rock. "Tell me, Mr. Rook, do you think that a man like Jonathan Bassett would simply walk away?"

"The Jonathan Bassett that I knew in the Security Force would never." Rook shook his head, "but as I told you, he is a different man now. Before he had purpose, he had drive. When I sat across from him in the Concession just a hundred paces from where we are now, I saw that difference in his eyes. He gave up a long time ago, it is just now catching up with him."

Vask was about to say something in response but four rapid shots from the other side of the door cut him off. Rook moved in front of Vask and his nanites formed into a pistol in hand pointed at the door. A too familiar voice called out, "Rook, I just want to talk."

Vask put a hand on Rook's shoulder and spoke up, "Come on through, Mr. Bassett, but do so with your hands raised."

The door opened slowly, Jonathan walked through with his hands raised. Still wearing that black jacket with a bit of concrete dust on it, his service pistol hung loose from his belt. Rook's nanite pistol shook slightly in his hand, "How did you find us?"

Jonathan only said, "I had help."

Vask cleared his throat, "Carefully put your service pistol on the ground, Mr. Bassett."

Jonathan nodded and slowly lowered a hand to his belt. Instead of setting the pistol down, he just unclipped it from his belt and let it fall harmlessly to the ground. For good measure, he kicked it to the side, away from everyone. Once the pistol was out of the way, Vask spoke up again, "Mr. Bassett, you have come a long way to talk. Why don't you speak your heart?"

Rook noticed that something was wrong with Jonathan's face. That drive he had before, it was back but it was coupled with rage. A barely contained rage that made Rook's hand shake slightly. Before Jonathan spoke up, Rook cut in, "Boss, we need to move. We can take him with us if you want, but we can't stay here. If he had help, that means someone outside of this room knows we are here."

"It's okay, Mr. Rook." Vask said with confidence, "Once Mr. Bassett has said his piece, you can kill him and we can leave."

Rook sighed and did his best to steady his hand, Jonathan had seen the quivering barrel though. Rook knew that his old partner understood it was more than the shifting of nanites. Jonathan took a deep breath, "If I am going to die, I must have the truth. Your voice, I've heard it before, haven't I?"

Vask nodded slowly, "It is my deepest regret. Yes, you heard my voice in your father's bar. I am surprised that such a young boy could remember. I was wrong to assume that when you joined the Security Force that it was to squash the Cyber Gang truly responsible for his death, not the tool that pulled the trigger."

Rook watched the rage drain from Jonathan's face, it was replaced by a calm glow in his eyes. For a second he hoped that meant he would not fight. Then he remembered where he had seen that calm look in Jonathan's eyes. It was the same glow that Jonathan had right before he tossed the power core into the air. Something stirred in Jonathan's raised left hand.

Rook pulled the trigger on his nanite pistol. The black salvo burned through the air but dispersed against a shimmering silver shield that appeared in front of Jonathan's chest. Rook fired again, the shield moved to block the second shot as well.

Jonathan's hand dropped to the shield, the silver nanites formed into a pistol and Rook fired a third shot a second too late. Jonathan's shot struck Rook in the elbow, Rook's shot went wide and his nanite pistol fell to the ground as his arm went limp. Jonathan fired again, this time at the nanite pistol on the ground. It scattered into a million dead nanites.

Jonathan's hand was steady but the rage was back now. He took a step closer to Vask, Rook took a step out of the way. "Why did you kill him? He didn't know anything."

"Child." Vask spit at the ground, "He knew something. Even if he knew nothing of Console Ghost, even if the intel that brought me to his bar was wrong, he learned something that night that I could not let live out in Clifton."

"What are you talking about?"

Vask shook his head, "I understand if you can't remember, it was so long ago and you must have been hidden away somewhere close. I hardly remember it myself, but seeing you here tonight. You are the spitting image of your father so it is easier to remember the wounds I inflicted on him."

"What did he learn?"

All Vask said was, "My plans."

The worst part was that he said it with a smile. When Jonathan clearly did not understand, Vask continued. "Your father was stubborn and he was silent. I used every trick I could to help him talk. In my arrogance I figured that I might get him to align with me against… how do they put it… Those On High. I let slip the fact that I no longer answered to Golden Lion Enterprises. I saw the recognition in his eyes. I knew that he understood what that meant, why I was looking for Console Ghost. I wanted to use them."

"So you killed him."

"Even if he would have talked. He had to die." Vask's hand shimmered as a nanite pistol formed, "So do you."

Rook reached forward, grabbing Vask's wrist.

Everything changed. Rook was a survivor.

Jonathan's shot struck Vask between his eyes and Vask's shot tore out Rook's left kneecap.