How To Get Away With Sophia

It took two days to stop wondering what she was doing here. Nothing was going to come from that.

I needed to get her out of here before Lynx realized who she was.

I couldn't believe that I'd been so out of the loop that I missed the government changing and an election happening.

The Democrats were back in power and Sophia was the Secretary of State.

Apparently she rose to fame after the foiled bombing of the UN meeting in Geneva a year and some months ago.

It did not feel like a year and some months, it felt like years. But to be fair I'd done so much since then; gone to another planet, fought against an alien invasion, infiltrated a global shadow organization, and was now holding an embassy hostage as a prelude to a Panamerican war that could become global if the Stiff continued to push the Norks’ button.

She looked just as beautiful as ever. I spent all of yesterday morning watching her on CCTV. She still was so fierce, so defiant, and just as concerned for the common people.

Back in Geneva she'd refused to leave the building until everyone was evacuated, here she made sure to stand up for any hostage that was picked on and did her best to protect the Nork Foreign Director from Lynx biting remarks and Chasm’s sass.

I couldn't have her remain here. I was supposed to leave tomorrow and I needed to get her out.

All I had to do was find the nukes first then my mission would be a go.

“Where are we on that?”

M was combing through the networks of the South American telecom service providers, searching for the private lines of Mario Moriarty (La Pantera Negra), Aldo Gustavo “Volcàn” Sanchez, Carlos “Mordida” Romano, Gavy “Sanguinario” Fernandez and the other Cartelists.

Once she got it, she'd be able to access their devices. Stiff’s end was secure, we couldn't find the nukes through him, he had Cerberus. But the Cartelists, they didn't have an AI running things for them. Through then we will find out the nukes drop-off points and then I'll take action.

Tomorrow was going to be my last day playing David Olsen. M was already planning to lead the CIA to the penthouse. There they will find enough info to catch Lynx and everyone else in Stiff’s organization once I bailed.

Things were coming together nicely.

***

M got what I needed that night, the location of the nukes.

When Lynx called for a meeting that morning, I saw my opportunity to set things in motion.

The team converged in the Director’s office. Only Trojan and the grunts were absent.

The meeting was attended by Lynx, myself, Chasm, Hammer, Cyborg, and Steel.

This was exactly what I'd been waiting for. Cyborg was out of the control room.

Lynx started the meeting by having everyone give a report of how their side of the mission had gone the previous day.

I was the last to give a report. After the report I kept waiting to see if she had something else important to say, maybe more orders from Stiff, but there was nothing.

She was just grilling Cyborg about everything he'd seen monitoring the hostages through the CCTV.

Knowing that I wasn't ever going to get a chance like this, I decided to get a move on.

“Eh, if you'd all excuse me, I really need to use the restroom,” I said, standing up and hurrying out of the room, making sure to walk awkwardly.

I close the door, shutting off Chasm's laughter to my departure.

I hurried across the corridor, heading for the lower floors where the hostages were being kept.

“Where’s she?”

“In the commissary,” M told me.

“Is she alone?”

“Yes, one of Chasm's guys is standing guard outside.”

I nodded. That was alright.

I reached the commissary and saw him, Chasm’s Yellow, near the door.

Him and I exchanged a nod when I approached. I pushed the door open and closed it behind me.

I looked around the room and saw her sitting down at a far back corner in the room, eating. Even disheveled and dirty, she still looked beautiful.

The hostages hadn't had more than two options for change of clothes and there were only four bathrooms in the building so things have been a bit uncomfortable.

I walked up to her and sat down across from her. She looked at me and froze then glared.

“What do you want?” She asked, with more than a little hostility.

“Wait, you don't remember m-” I paused, remembering I was David, cosmetically configured to look like Mr. Park. It was the height of stupidity to have expected her to recognize me.

“What do you want?” She asked again, her voice defensive this time as she noticed I was staring at her oddly and being a bit too familiar.

“Um, this might sound strange, but I know you. You helped me stop the bombing in Geneva over a year ago.”

She froze, looking at my face intently then scoffed and sneered at me. “Funny. What's your plan here? Get close to one of the hostages and use them against the others?”

No, that plan was already in place and it was called Trojan, I thought.

“I’m telling the truth,” I told her, softly, trying to convince her.

“Right,” she said, “you guys seem well connected and coordinated. It must not have been hard for you to get hold of my report of what happened during the U.N crisis.”

I took a deep breath and wondered how I was going to convince her of my sincerity.

“You’re an idiot, you know?” M told me mentally.

“What?” I responded, through the same medium.

“Take off the mask. The cosmetics that make you Park were done on the mask and David is the mask. She'd never believe Park or David, she need to see Clarke to believe.”

I flushed at how simple that was.

I didn't say anything to avoid giving M more ammunition to mock me.

I immediately took off the mask and Sophia jerked back.

She stared at my face in shock then glanced at the futuristic disguise mask I held in my hands.

“You…what did you do?” She stuttered.

“I told you. I'm the one who you helped in Geneva,” I told her. She nodded and I continued speaking, now that I had her trust. I began telling her of how I'd infiltrated Stiff’s organization.

Deciding to trust her some more, I revealed that I was a Bastion and introduced her to M.

“Hello, Madam Secretary.”

Sophia looked around, startled by the disembodied voice.

“You aren't lying,” she said, as if just realizing that all I told her was the truth.

I nodded. “We don't have much time. I'll be leaving soon and I want you to come with me. I need to get you out of this building. If they realize you're the Secretary of State you will be in more danger.”

Immediately, her face clouded and she faced me with expressionless regard. “I’m not going to leave and abandon the other innocents in the embassy.”

I muttered a curse and glared at her. How had I forgotten this was how she was, always more concerned about the safety of others than her own wellbeing?

We got into an argument that almost lasted too long, and might have. It almost nearly ruined my plan.

“Clarke, behind you!”

I turned around and saw Cho Han Na standing at the doorway and watching us, hand pressed to a comm in her ear.

Moving before I could think, I used the Power of Motion to superspeed towards her in just a single step.

Her eyes widened, but before she could do more than get surprised, I struck a blow to her head and she fell down to the ground, knocked out.