Nemesis

Chapter II - Oh So Nosy

[Manchester Orchestra Ft. Phoebe Bridgers - The Gold]

[22 October 2023]
[Ares Tech Headquarters]
[09:47]

"Miranda, did you hear? Ashton Burke was found dead in his penthouse!" The news caught Miranda's attention when she had begun to doze off. She had not slept a wink since her encounter with Kane. All she could think about was how much he intrigued her. After a failed attempt at getting some rest, Miranda stayed up and chose to work on designing brand new weaponry.

"Huh? Ashton's dead?" Miranda asked, shocked as she stood to her feet, trying to process this information. She checked her colleague's phone for the news. Her eyes widened further the more she read the article. The man had really died. "How'd he even die?" Miranda asked, and her colleague scrolled through the article in search of an answer. "It doesn't say..." He said not long after and Miranda rubbed her temples. "Fucking hell... you don't think someone killed him, do you?" She asked soon enough, and Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Why would you think that?" He asked and Miranda sighed. "It seems weird that when we're about to move our biggest haul of weapons yet, a middle-aged man of relatively perfect health suddenly falls to a heart attack. I feel like something's off." Miranda explained, earning a sigh from Jasper.

"And if they did kill him, it'd only be the Russians who'd want him." Miranda added, her hatred almost blatant in her words. She had quite a few eventful experiences with Russia in a series of actions that had led to the war, and her life was one of the many that were ruined. That was why she dedicated her life to creating weapons, she wanted to hurt their people as much as they had hurt her.

"Dammit, Miranda, you can't go around saying shit like that!" He warned, and Miranda rolled her eyes before she removed his hand. "Or what, Jasper? Who else would want the guy who approves our weapons operations? They might be doing this to slow down production and weaken our defenses." She spoke. "Like what, another nuke vaporizing New York?" Jasper joked, but the joke took Miranda on an unwanted trip down memory lane. And it was only filled with charred corpses scattered across a wasteland.

She grabbed Jasper by the shoulders violently, an almost terrified look in her eyes. "Don't joke about that, people in Florida died because of that, and the reality that they might attack again is very real, and it scares me..." Miranda soon realized what she was doing before she removed her hands, stepping away. "I'm sorry, but we can't halt production until we get a new supervisor." She added, and Jasper nodded slowly. He was a bit concerned. "Miranda, are you okay?" He asked, and she nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I'm just a little on edge, not enough sleep. You can get back to work, Jasper. I need to see Dain."

With that, Miranda left the room and headed towards the elevator. She did not understand, why was it so hard to keep herself calm at the thought or mention of nukes? Did they scare her that much more than she thought? Had the wounds not healed yet? "Fuck, why won't this war just end?" Miranda asked herself as the elevator carried her to the eighth floor. The doors soon opened, and she wasted little time making her way towards Dain's office.

The doors detected Miranda and allowed her through, where she caught sight of Dain sitting in his chair at his desk. He seemed to be staring at his computer intently as if he had come across a huge problem. "Dain, is something the matter?" Miranda asked and Dain finally lifted his head at the sound of her voice. "Miranda, we've got problems. With Ash dead, we need to stop design and production until they elect someone else for the position, and who's to say he's gonna be as lenient as him? On top of that, I've also got bigger fish to fry, but they had to throw this shit in my way."

Miranda had not seen Dain this stressed in quite a bit, and it was shocking. This situation seemed to be more dire than even she had anticipated. He knew that it was more than the business side of things that had placed him in such a state. The man who had died was his best friend and Miranda could tell that he was putting in the bravest face he could muster.

"I think it was the Russians." She almost blurted out, causing Dain to pause and look up at the woman, almost shocked. "You can't be serious." He said and Miranda walked towards him. "Who else would want Burke dead? They know what his main job is, so why would any American want the man who makes sure the Russians stay at bay dead? It doesn't make sense." Dain stared at Miranda with the same look, as if she were crazy.

"The body didn't even have any wounds, Miranda. For all we know, he could've been killed by a Popeyes biscuit." Dain said, slightly annoyed by the unfounded accusations she was making.

"We don't even have an actual cause of death yet, but you've already decided that he was killed." Dain added as he stood up, a stern expression now sitting on his face. Miranda rolled her eyes at his attempt to be threatening, but she still respected him, so she had a different suggestion in mind. "Fine then, how about I go to the upcoming conference in your place? I'll convince them to let us keep going with the weapons because we can't stop this next set of designs so suddenly. I'll also get some more info on the Ash situation, and you can deal with our other problem. We both win."

There was a smile on Miranda's face because she knew that the proposition was perfectly executed. Dain knew that Miranda was persuasive, despite how forthright she was, so the chances of them getting the chance to continue with their operations were higher if she attended the conference.

"There is no Ash situation, but you can go to the meeting." Dain said and Miranda's smile grew as she began to walk away. Her accusations were unfounded, but she trusted her instincts and intended to follow them. Another thought awakened in her mind. She stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Also, I wanna know what the conversation between you and that Kane guy was about yesterday, it seemed pretty heated." She asked, and Dain's joy seemed to be torn away from him once more. He took his seat, allowing a pen to play in his hand for quite a bit, to such a point that Miranda cleared her throat. "It's nothing important, just business." Dain finally said. However, the answer was far too vague for someone like Miranda. "This bigger fish you have to fry, it's got something to do with Kane, doesn't it? You want something that he has."

With that explanation, Miranda left the office, leaving Dain at a loss for words. He could never keep much from her.

[Burke Residence]
[10:02]

There was quite a bit of time that had gone by since Miranda's conversation with Dain, and in that time, she had taken the liberty to travel to Ashton's home - where he had been found dead - to pay her respects and perhaps even find something supporting her imaginative theory.

The conference was hours away from now, and their work had been halted, so Miranda had plenty of time to spare.

As soon as she had arrived, she instantly regretted it. The mansion was surrounded by a swarm of paparazzi, all looking to put the details of this unfortunate event on their workplaces' cover pages first. None of these people cared, all they wanted was the attention that came with Ashton's death. Miranda exited her car and aggressively slipped through the army that covered the house, hoping to find the entrance. Eventually, Miranda was faced with the door, and she swiftly took the opportunity, closing the door behind her as soon as she entered.

Inside, there was also a large amount of people, but these numbers were minuscule compared to the army on the outside. Out of all these people, Miranda could only recognize a young woman with jet black hair and pale skin, who seemed just about half her age - well into her teens. Her name was Orla, Ashton's daughter. She had been brought around to Ares Tech a couple of times and they had bonded then, forming a sort of sister relationship, so seeing the look in Orla's eyes made Miranda's heartbreak. Her reality had been shattered. Her hero was not invincible, not like she believed.

"Miranda!" Orla exclaimed as soon as she saw her, tackling the taller woman into a hug. Miranda's mind blocked out all the chaos around her, all she could hear were Orla's muffled sobs while she rubbed her back. If nature had truly done this, then it was far too cruel. Miranda clenched her left fist. 'Well, fuck.' She thought to herself, now more compelled to know how Ashton had truly died. "I'm so sorry, Orla, but you have to get strong now. It's only you. And I'm not gonna lie to you, shit is gonna get harder, it's gonna hurt even more," Orla cried even louder at that statement, knowing that it was all true. "But if anyone's coming out of it all stronger, it's you."

Miranda continued to console Orla until she seemingly succumbed to exhaustion. With that, Miranda smiled, placing her on the couch that was nearby before redirecting her attention to the group of people that had watched the entire scene and witnessed her one-of-a-kind maternal instincts.

"Hello, everyone. I just came here to pay my respects. We shared a close work relationship, y'know? So, I figured that I could at least pay Orla a visit." Miranda stated, prompting one of the men in the room to step forward and shake her hand as a show of gratitude. "Miranda, thank you for that back there, and I'm sure that this loss has been hard on you." The man said. Miranda was prepared to deny the statement but could feel tears involuntarily running down her cheeks. She had not realized that Ashton's death also had a hefty impact on her as well. Perhaps that was why she was determined to find the cause of Ashton's death.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Miranda said, wiping her tears while trying her best to maintain her composure. "I just need to see him, one last time, we hadn't talked in a minute."

"Well, I'm sorry to say, but Ashton isn't here, he's at the hospital for an autopsy." The man responded, and Miranda nodded in response. "Okay, well, thank you for your time. I'll be going now." She said as she began to walk away, opening the door to swim through the sea of paparazzi once more. In short order, she made it to her car, where she sat in thought for a bit. With that, she started the car, determined to find out what killed Ashton for her closure.

[New York-Presbyterian Hospital]
[10:34]

Miranda was quick to make it to the hospital and she exited her car with an equal amount of speed, swiftly walking towards the hospital entrance. She entered the building and turned to the receptionist. "Morning, Miss, how may I help you?" The receptionist asked and Miranda walked towards her. At this point, her movements were much slower because realization had just set in. She had no clue as to how she planned to get to where the autopsy was taking place, not without any relations to the family or any authority.

"Um, yes, I heard that the body of Ashton Burke was here for an autopsy, so I was wondering if it's possible to see it?" Miranda asked. She was already here, so she figured it was worth a try. "I'm sorry, but getting to see his body is not possible, it's a highly sensitive case, unless you're family, of course." The lady said. Miranda raised her eyebrow for a moment as a light bulb went off in her mind. "I am, my name is Miranda Burke, his eldest daughter," Miranda answered, and to her surprise, the woman nodded. She typed a few things down on her tablet, before a man arrived, ready to guide Miranda to her desired location.

This was it. This was the moment of truth, she had to find out what happened, her closure depended on it.

[Elordi Residence]
[10:39]

As he had anticipated, there was quite a bit of buzz that was on Ashton's death, plenty had a keen eye on the situation, but Kane's main concern in all of this was Dain. He was well aware of the relationship the two men shared, and how close they had gotten in their pursuit of victory over Russia. So, Kane knew he had struck home with what he had done. The chaos he had ignited placed him well off of Dain's radar for quite a bit, granting him enough time to get things in order. Perhaps now was the perfect time to return home, with all the knowledge he had. He would either be deemed a valuable asset, or a failure. And the latter scared him.

Kane was not only driven by failure, however, but he also had a love for his home, so much so that he had given up the job because he could not stand the idea of killing his own. Kane loved his country to such an extent that he could not just leave with what he had, he had to do more, or they would not accept him. Leaving Ares Tech was not a big enough blow, the murder of Ashton Burke was not a big enough blow. There was so much more he had to do, so much more to bring this country to its knees, and with Dain taken care of, the United States was his blank canvas, on which he could paint whatever he desired.

He stood on his feet, toiling away in his laboratory as he crafted a new weapon, something that would prove very useful to him in the future, but that was all interrupted by a ring of his doorbell.

"Hm, who's that?" Kane mused, leaving the laboratory as the doors behind him shut before its colors mingled with the white walls to become one. Once Kane reached the top of the stairs, he plopped down onto his nearby wheelchair before wheeling himself to the door, that he pulled open, moving a bit backward out of its way.

As soon as the door opened, Kane felt a stinging pain in his arm before everything went dark. Perhaps his plans were not going to go as smoothly as he anticipated.