Batten Manor - basement level
He hadn't slept yet. After the GAC meeting he'd had Kyle and Leo meet him down here and gave them their assignments. It's the single place in the city he trusted not to be monitored by anyone, by any means. Set deep under the earth, encased in reinforced concrete and a layer of his OmniPower energy absorbing and generating material and kept sealed away from the rest of the Manor.
He might be called paranoid, but there are secrets down here that he has no desire to give up to just anyone.
Leo he'd tasked with getting the facilities secure and safe from outside interference. With the outbreak, Ed had made sure to shut down his own portal to Earth (his Earth, as he thought of it - the way things worked around here, his couldn't be the only one, he'd reasoned), after making sure everyone working in this branch was informed of the situation. Most of them lived on the other side of it, after all, and he'd made sure to note that he had no idea when it would be opened again.
Most of the members of his staff here had no connections to anyone on the Earth through that portal - no wives or kids, nothing to keep them firmly tied. Kyle had seen to that detail himself, almost as if he'd seen such a crisis as this one coming.
In the midst of the myriad holographic interfaces surrounding him, Ed smiled to himself. There had been a reason he'd hired that man, and Pont never failed to remind him of that fact.
Along with making sure the industrial facility and the portal were secure, Leo had been given the assignment of assigning security for deliveries of supplies, including the vaccine and Kazon's nanomachine treatment, as well as the supplies and necessary equipment for a hospice at the Temple of Scathach. The employees he wasn't worried about - the delivery drivers would all be members of Batten Industries Security, and the other employees had been assigned berths on the industrial complex's grounds, where there was little chance of anyone attempting to get information out of one of them to succeed.
And then there was the vaccination clinics and quarantine centers to attend to, another security risk where trouble could occur, and not just from thuggish Japanese enforcers.
Which was one of Kyle's assignments, assigning personnel as necessary for administering the shots, keeping records, and now security as well.
As soon as he'd seen the man taking an interest in the virus discussion, he'd had a feeling. Some might call it a hunch - for him it had all come like pieces falling into place, a perfectly obvious conclusion to a rather simple equation. After all, they were interested in making a profit - what better way than to hold the whole city for ransom by putting a stranglehold on something that was desperately needed"
Well...whatever they do get, they won't be getting from him. Not without paying for it severely themselves, anyway.
He'd been working on things himself, as well. First, the case of the missing dragon, Icer, and the mysterious woman whom Icer had shown so much fear at the sight of, the one she had said was feeding her. And Oziendis, her captor.
That had been the only logical conclusion - the other two prime candidates were either dead or nowhere to be found on this world. The only other person he could have seen doing it would have been Howe, and the Playboy had his own sources on that front - he would have heard something if that fat sack had something to do with it.
But that wasn't the case.
He was turning to another of the holograms when the AI's petite golden figure appeared before him, clearing her throat with prim professionalism. "Yeah, Di, whatcha got fer me?"
"Mr. Heracleides has just arrived, sir, and Mr. Pontius has stated he will be here shortly. Shall I show them down here?"
He nodded, stepping out of the myriad displays floating around him, and headed for the bar on the other side of the working space. He'd just finished pouring two glasses of bourbon when his security chief approached, looking tired but satisfied with himself. Motioning to a stool, he held out a glass for Leo. "Alright, y'all've had two days, ol' hoss. Let's hear what ya've got."
He hadn't slept yet. After the GAC meeting he'd had Kyle and Leo meet him down here and gave them their assignments. It's the single place in the city he trusted not to be monitored by anyone, by any means. Set deep under the earth, encased in reinforced concrete and a layer of his OmniPower energy absorbing and generating material and kept sealed away from the rest of the Manor.
He might be called paranoid, but there are secrets down here that he has no desire to give up to just anyone.
Leo he'd tasked with getting the facilities secure and safe from outside interference. With the outbreak, Ed had made sure to shut down his own portal to Earth (his Earth, as he thought of it - the way things worked around here, his couldn't be the only one, he'd reasoned), after making sure everyone working in this branch was informed of the situation. Most of them lived on the other side of it, after all, and he'd made sure to note that he had no idea when it would be opened again.
Most of the members of his staff here had no connections to anyone on the Earth through that portal - no wives or kids, nothing to keep them firmly tied. Kyle had seen to that detail himself, almost as if he'd seen such a crisis as this one coming.
In the midst of the myriad holographic interfaces surrounding him, Ed smiled to himself. There had been a reason he'd hired that man, and Pont never failed to remind him of that fact.
Along with making sure the industrial facility and the portal were secure, Leo had been given the assignment of assigning security for deliveries of supplies, including the vaccine and Kazon's nanomachine treatment, as well as the supplies and necessary equipment for a hospice at the Temple of Scathach. The employees he wasn't worried about - the delivery drivers would all be members of Batten Industries Security, and the other employees had been assigned berths on the industrial complex's grounds, where there was little chance of anyone attempting to get information out of one of them to succeed.
And then there was the vaccination clinics and quarantine centers to attend to, another security risk where trouble could occur, and not just from thuggish Japanese enforcers.
Which was one of Kyle's assignments, assigning personnel as necessary for administering the shots, keeping records, and now security as well.
As soon as he'd seen the man taking an interest in the virus discussion, he'd had a feeling. Some might call it a hunch - for him it had all come like pieces falling into place, a perfectly obvious conclusion to a rather simple equation. After all, they were interested in making a profit - what better way than to hold the whole city for ransom by putting a stranglehold on something that was desperately needed"
Well...whatever they do get, they won't be getting from him. Not without paying for it severely themselves, anyway.
He'd been working on things himself, as well. First, the case of the missing dragon, Icer, and the mysterious woman whom Icer had shown so much fear at the sight of, the one she had said was feeding her. And Oziendis, her captor.
That had been the only logical conclusion - the other two prime candidates were either dead or nowhere to be found on this world. The only other person he could have seen doing it would have been Howe, and the Playboy had his own sources on that front - he would have heard something if that fat sack had something to do with it.
But that wasn't the case.
He was turning to another of the holograms when the AI's petite golden figure appeared before him, clearing her throat with prim professionalism. "Yeah, Di, whatcha got fer me?"
"Mr. Heracleides has just arrived, sir, and Mr. Pontius has stated he will be here shortly. Shall I show them down here?"
He nodded, stepping out of the myriad displays floating around him, and headed for the bar on the other side of the working space. He'd just finished pouring two glasses of bourbon when his security chief approached, looking tired but satisfied with himself. Motioning to a stool, he held out a glass for Leo. "Alright, y'all've had two days, ol' hoss. Let's hear what ya've got."