Mirror Sky. Part 1 - Blissful Nemesis

20 - Peacekeeper

Oleg vanished as quickly as he appeared. After concluding one of his sentences, he switched off the Obscurity Shield, turned around, and left. He was a master of such sudden exits - no warnings, no goodbyes. Sergey forgot this quirk: an amusing part of the otherwise dead-serious character.

Sergey could now hear the rain and thunder, no longer cloaked by the Obscurity Shield. He exhaled and made a small gesture with his hand. It stopped the voice recorder app on his wristband, which he had launched when he distracted Oleg by getting in his personal space. He saved the recording of their conversation and went to his political account.

On the holographic screen projected from his wristband, he saw all the politicians related to him: chairmen and chairwomen responsible for the floors his apartment was on, representatives in charge of his building, deputies managing the county, and mayors controlling Radnik District. Above Mayors were only Governors and Elders ruling Vida Conglomerate and the whole City of Libra, respectively.

This whole chain was present in both the Ministry of Thermodynamics and the Ministry of Labor, equal in their power, responsible for material well-being from one side and social well-being from the other. Above both ministries, the Church was responsible for spiritual life and had a similar hierarchy, but with positions named differently: deacons, priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and patriarchs/matriarchs on the top.

Respectfully, the members of the Ministries were called politicians, while the ranks of the Church were filled with preachers. Sergey had a long list of synonyms for preachers and politicians, depending on his mood and how badly either group screwed up, ranging from chokers to white coats and ending with asspins and holyfucks.

He hovered over the smiling, animated picture of Oleg Woodberry, the Majority Mayor of Radnik District, and almost gave him his vote back but changed his mind at the last second. He turned off the screen and went down a narrow alley, streams of water running under his feet. He was so preoccupied with the recent bizarre conversation that he did not think about where he was going. However, he walked down that path so often that his feet subconsciously carried him to his destination.

Sergey had some time alone to reflect on his past.

Oleg has been in power for more than two decades, holy crap. Majority Mayor for eight years straight. It takes a special kind of sleazeball to stay in power for so long. I couldn't take it. I had a good run, though. Rough but fun.

Every day, people pledged or revoked their votes. Every day was election day. My seat was always on fire. One day I'm the Majority Mayor, half the people cheer me on, and I pass any law I want. The next day, I'm a Minority Mayor because I tried to high-five a person with no arms. I mean, he was getting them reattached later on; what's the big deal? Snowflakes... I had to team up with other Minority Mayors for a month afterward. Politics is so dull when you have to negotiate...

It could be worse, I guess. I could try to pass something against the people's will, like this idiot... I can't even remember his name. Remember his bill, though: Stocks and Stockholders, straight from the Kingdom of Men. What was he thinking? As soon as the public heard of it, his support dropped from 62% to 20% in five minutes. He teamed up with some other lazy greedy assholes and tried to push the bill anyway. By noon, the support of all involved dipped below 1%, never recovering. In a month, they were out of politics. They were even nicknamed the Suicide Squad. It was a massacre. A massacre that brought Oleg Woodberry to politics.

We hated each other from day one. We were in each other's way all the bloody time. This guy had a stick up his ass. Always so damn serious. Always bitching about my jokes and pranks. Called me a clown of a politician. Nearly banned the Assholes of the Wall. A worthless antisocial organization, huh, Oleg? The city still stands, thanks to it. But, to be fair, I was an asshole to him too. The Strip Debate prank was uncalled for. Hilarious, but uncalled for.